Prime Minister Stephen Harper dines on seal meat on August 18, 2009, to show his support for the Canadian sealing industry
The Canadian Prime Minister’s office recently released a photo to the media showing Mr. Harper – along with Human Resources Minister Diane Finley, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq and Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl – munching on seal meat during a recent visit to Iqaluit, Nunavut.
The Globe and Mail reported spokesperson Andrew MacDougall sent an email to the press announcing: “The Prime Minister said, ‘I really enjoyed eating seal meat and look forward to having it again.’”
In a shocking and symbolic political statement earlier this year, Governor General Michaëlle Jean publicly carved a freshly slaughtered seal in audacious opposition to the E.U. ban, then turned to the woman beside her and asked, “Can I try the heart?” Defence Minister Peter MacKay christened her “Canada’s new Braveheart” for this brazen act of defiance, and added, “I would encourage all Canadians to try seal. It’s a wonderful product.”
Harper argues that the sealing industry adheres to the “tightest standards” of any industry involved in the sale of animal products. If these standards assert that sealers must bludgeon the skulls of baby seals and drag their squirming bodies across the ice before skinning them (often while still alive), then I suppose he’s right.
According to PETA, “…sealers routinely hook live seals in the eye, cheek, or mouth to avoid damaging the fur, then they drag the seals across the ice. Many of these gentle creatures may not even have eaten their first solid meal or taken their first swim before they are slaughtered for their skin.” 99 percent of all seals killed for the hunt are between three weeks and three months old.
In a 2001 study commissioned by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, it was reported that many Canadian sealers were not using the hakapik properly, which contributed to “considerable and unacceptable suffering”, and added that in 17 percent of cases observed there were no visible lesions in the seals’ skulls, which means approximately 55,000 seals may have been skinned alive.
In a recent news conference, Prime Minister Harper addressed the European Union’s ban on the import of Canadian seal products that was finalized this July: “There is no reason the seal industry should be singled out for discriminatory treatment by Europeans or any other nation.” The Canadian government has already launched an appeal of the E.U. ban to the World Trade Organization.
Mr. Harper has always been an outspoken supporter of the Canadian seal hunt, claiming this industry is essential to the survival of communities in Northern and Atlantic Canada. However, the E.U. ban would not affect the Inuit populations in Canada, as it would still allow the trade of seal products derived from hunts carried out by indigenous communities that contribute to their sustenance.
The total allowable catch (TAC) of seals in Canada for 2009 is 280,000 harp seals, 8,200 hooded seals, and 50,000 grey seals, which amounts to 338,200. There are also a number of seals that are “struck and lost”, which the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association reports is approximately 16,250 annually.
It would appear that the sealing industry is a Canadian gold mine, judging by all the fuss from the government to stop the E.U ban on seal product imports from Canada. There is virtually no market for seal meat, so these fluffy babies are being killed for the coats on their backs. The startling truth is that the life of a Canadian seal is reduced to a mere $14, the current value of a single pelt.
The Canadian seal hunt is a barbaric practice that causes unimaginable suffering to thousands of baby seals every year. Despite public outrage and pressure on the government to stop the hunt, the massacre continues. Please speak out against this cruelty and urge the Canadian government to stop the seal hunt.
A young seal witnesses the bloody remains of his murdered mates
Bip woke to the sound of screeching, just as she had almost every day of her young life. Boo and Bim were not in her cage, and she feared the crying and screaming was coming from her brothers. She glanced to the corner of her room where her mother’s cage was kept and was relieved to see that The Coats had not taken Mae as well; at least she wouldn’t lose every last member of her family this morning. The screeching eventually stopped, likely because the terrified monkeys had given in to exhaustion and accepted defeat.
Soon after, two of The Coats returned to Bip’s room with Boo and Bim hanging limply in their arms. Boo was unconscious, and though Bim was still awake, he was completely listless and unresponsive to the sights and sounds around him. Both monkeys were covered in blood, and The Coats joked about looking like axe murderers with all the blood splattered on their once stark white lab jackets. They forcefully threw Bim and Boo back into their cage and left the room, still laughing about the blood on their coats. Bip tried to shake words out of Bim, but her frightened brother simply sat hunched in the corner, staring blankly at the hallway across the room. She was finally able to wake Boo and convinced him to tell her what had happened.
“They held us down while one of The Coats approached with a big tube. They got to Bim first, and shoved the tube down his throat, pouring a horrible greasy substance into his stomach. I could tell it was terribly painful; Bim squirmed and cried and blood kept coming up through the tube. When they were finished with him they walked over to me with the same tube, laughing about how much blood could come out of such a small monkey. I tried to fight them off and get away, but they hit me in the face with a pipe over and over…and I guess I passed out.”
Bip had not been taken to the grease pit before, but she usually met with the same fate as her brothers, so she feared that was where she’d be headed the next time The Coats came for her.
A week earlier, her leg had been broken by one of The Coats as she struggled while a tube was inserted into her nose. She was left in her cage for days without any kind of painkiller while the inexperienced vet toyed over what to do about the break. He finally decided to amputate Bip’s leg, as it seemed to him “the easiest way”.
Bip and her brothers were born in Covance, a drug testing laboratory in Virginia. She’d accepted the daily abuse at Covance as a normal part of life, simply because it was all she had ever known. But her mother Mae had been plucked from the Jungle a year earlier and struggled more with life at Covance than those who had been bred and born there.
Bip was used to suffering and had witnessed many horrific procedures during her time at Covance, but nothing could have prepared her for the nightmare that was about to unfold.
Later that afternoon, The Coats came back to collect Bip and her mother. They held them by their arms and legs and carried Bip and Mae into a massive room with dozens of small, clear tubes on one side and a monkey morgue on the other. Bip couldn’t take her eyes off what looked like hundreds of dead monkeys separated into two categories: unexpected deaths, marked with red tags, and planned deaths, marked with yellow tags. What frightened her most was that the majority of the monkeys in the morgue had red tags dangling from their feet. She recognized some of the bodies as her friends, but was shocked by just how many monkeys had spent their lives and died in this facility.
Before Bip could linger on that thought for too long, she was shoved head first into one of the tubes, then watched as her mother, writhing and sobbing, was put into a tube beside her. Mae told Bip that she loved her and asked her to be brave, though it was difficult for Bip to see passed the utter terror in her mother’s eyes; she was sure this would be the end of them both.
A needle was inserted into one leg of each monkey that had been placed into these tubes and a substance was infused into the monkeys’ veins for 10 minutes. Bip was relieved when the infusion finally stopped, but the real suffering began only five short minutes later when she and the other monkeys were bled for testing purposes, a procedure that took place eight more times over the 12-hour period that followed. Bip felt herself losing control of her body, and within hours of her first dosing, she was completely unable to move. She overheard a few of The Coats discussing what this torture was for, and all she could make out was that they were testing a new pharmaceutical product.
On the tenth day of the tests, the monkey to Bip’s right was hunched over in a small cage, and she wondered if there was any life left in him; her mother was in a tube to her left, and she watched in despair as Mae began to convulse violently. One of The Coats approached her mother’s tube and simply noted Mae’s condition on a clipboard. They did nothing to help Mae, and her shaking body eventually came to rest. Bip’s mother was dead. Her lifeless body was dumped out of the tube into a pile of monkeys that had succumbed to the cruel tests at Covance.
The tests continued for two weeks, during which period all of the monkeys involved in this procedure had suffered tremendously. Many had swollen or “dead” legs, most suffered convulsions and several had vomited all over themselves while stuck in the tiny tubes. All experienced severe anxiety and indescribable fear.
Two days after Christmas, the torture finally ended. The Coats injected one last dose of a different substance into Bip and the rest of the monkeys that had survived this trial, once and for all ending the suffering they had inflicted on their helpless test subjects. All of the monkeys were moved to the other side of the room and labelled with red tags.
The above story is a dramatization of actual atrocities that were committed at Covance. Thousands of monkeys continue to suffer abuse, neglect and psychological torment in drug testing facilities, and millions of animals experience the same torturous existence in research facilities across the world.
Bioculture (a company that sells primates to various testing labs) is proposing the construction of a breeding facility in Puerto Rico. Please do your part to stop this from happening, and go to https://secure.peta.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=2259 to send a letter to Puerto Rican Governor Luis Fortuño asking him to stop the construction of this primate breeding facility.
Serving up scrumptious vegan fare, old skool gangsta rap and inspiring socially conscious quotes, The Foundation is my all-time favorite restaurant – vegetarian or not.
Mood: Nestled on the corner of Main and East 7th (two blocks north of Broadway), The Foundation is a funky spot with a very laid-back vibe. There is no ceiling lighting; the retro tables are candlelit and string lights are hung sparingly around the space. Hipsters congregate and discuss politics and religion skinny jeans over pints of Red Devil Pale Ale (which is brewed only three blocks away). You’re likely to hear Dr. Dre, Snoop or N.W.A on the speakers, and when they’re not playing it obscenely loud, the unexpectedness of hearing old school rap at a vegetarian restaurant is actually quite appealing. If you’ve found yourself in the misfortune of being stuck here with a really boring date, at least you can entertain yourself by reading the quotes they’ve painted on the walls by the likes of Margaret Mead, Malcolm X and Mahatma Gandhi.
‘Tude: The Foundation has a reputation for providing poor service, but I’ve eaten there at least a dozen times and have never had an issue. The food always comes out really quickly, even when the restaurant is packed (which it happens to be most of the time). The staff is not irritatingly perky; just friendly enough and efficient, which may come off as rude or inattentive to those more accustomed to an Earl’s-type atmosphere. True, they almost never come to check on you after you’ve been served your food, but there are usually several servers wandering around so you can get someone’s attention easily enough if you need something.
Food: This is the BEST part about The Foundation, just as it should be with all restaurants. What makes it even better is that the food is delicious to meat-eaters and vegetarians alike. I’ve taken five or six omnivores to Foundation and all have loved the (mostly) vegan food. The nachos do have real cheddar cheese, and I hear they’re amazing, though I haven’t tried them myself. A personal favorite is the satay salad, which throws a party in your mouth for only $7. The katered affair is a diverse appy platter that boasts garlicy hummus, tangy yam dip, spicy broccoli and tofu, and sweet salads, accompanied by slices of toasted Iranian flatbread and tri-color tortilla chips. The lunch menu differs from the dinner menu, so be sure to stop by for some noontime deliciousness as well.
Katered Affair
If you’re looking for food that’s both healthy and tasty, this unconventional dining spot offers plenty of interesting menu items. Take your meat-eating friends to The Foundation to show them that vegan food can actually taste good – really good.
It’s not uncommon to encounter vegans in Vancouver, but when I talk about veganism to people back home (the good ol’ Albertan prairies), I’m usually met with looks of bewilderment. The most common response I get is, “But…what do you eat?” Most people regard vegetables as those pesky plants that fill in the remaining one-third of the plate that isn’t covered with meat. They couldn’t possibly imagine entirely eliminating meat from their diet – and dairy? What am I, CRAZY?!
The answer is no, I’m actually quite sane. And healthy, for that matter. Veganism is not unnatural, oppressive, or unhealthy, contrary to popular belief. The wonderful truth about veganism is that you can still eat delicious food (I enjoy cooking and eating far more now than I did in my omnivorous days), you’ll feel much healthier (I have way more energy and get sick much less frequently), you’ll look great (guaranteed weight-loss, since you’ll be eliminating all those nasty trans and saturated fats), and you’ll be doing your part to save the planet (did you know that the United Nations has declared livestock the greatest threat to the environment?).
Humans are the only species that drink the milk of another species. Gross.
My motivation for becoming vegan was purely ethical; I had always struggled with the idea of eating animal carcass, as well as the brutish treatment of animals raised for food, but upon doing a bit of research into the practices of the dairy industry I was equally appalled by what I found. My biggest concern was with a particular ingredient in cheese, a microbial enzyme known as rennet, which comes from the stomachs of slaughtered new-born calves. I would never eat veal, so it just made sense to cut cheese out of my diet as well, as utterly heart-wrenching as this idea initially seemed to me. ( I love cheese, and giving it up has been my greatest struggle with veganism.)
I could talk endlessly about the cruelty of factory farms and the arguments for becoming vegan, but I wanted to dedicate this post to simplifying the matter for those who are a little confused about what we vegans actually eat, as well as what we don’t eat.
Obviously, we don’t eat meat in any form. That means no chicken/beef/pork stock, which, unnervingly, is found in a lot of vegetable soups. That would also include any product containing fish or fish-derivatives, like some curries and Worcestershire sauce. We don’t eat eggs, or anything containing eggs. This means we’re unable to eat many baked goods since eggs are almost always used as a binding agent. We don’t eat butter, milk, buttermilk or cream. (Again, this means avoiding most baked goods.) And as I mentioned above, we don’t eat cheese.
There are also a few sneaky ingredients that most people aren’t even aware belong to the meat or dairy families. They include:
Whey: a cheese by-product; the liquid that remains from curdled and strained milk. Now that just sounds grody. Most margarine contains whey, so choose the yummier, vegan-friendly alternative Earth Balance instead. Casein: a milk protein; casein is almost always found in soy cheese, so you may think you’re being a vegan superstar by going for the soy cheese alternative at the grocery store, but unfortunately casein is still a dairy product. Gelatin: found in Jell-O, Gummi Bears, Jujubes, marshmallows and Island Farms Yogurt (to name a few), gelatin is a by-product of the meat and leather industries. It is derived from the collagen inside the bones and skins of animals, predominantly pigs and cows. Pepsin: a digestive enzyme derived from the mucous membrane of pigs’ stomachs; sometimes used in the manufacture of cheese as a milk-curdling agent.
Yves veggie chicken burgers - totally vegan and free of preservatives!
There’s a wide array of meat-alternatives on the market that can help you to make the switch to a vegan diet, most of which are actually quite tasty. Head to the vegan/vegetarian section of your local supermarket and you’re sure to find veggie sausages, ground round, sandwich “meats” and burgers galore. There’s even such a thing as veggie “chicken” nuggets! The lovely thing about these meat-free alternatives is that they won’t clog your arteries and raise your cholesterol, or expand the circumference of your booty.
Many omnivores claim vegan diets lack protein, but the truth is that protein from vegetables, soy products, grains, legumes and fruits is far healthier than meat protein, and it is incredibly rare for vegans to develop protein deficiency, assuming they have a varied and balanced diet. Some fantastic meat-free sources of protein include tofu, tempeh, chickpeas, soybeans, lentils, kidney beans, wheat, rye, brown rice, broccoli, yams, zucchini, spinach, cauliflower, grapefruit, orange, melon and cauliflower.
When making the switch to veganism, it is crucial that you do some research to educate yourself and make sure you’re getting enough essential vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin B, calcium and iron. Fortunately, these are easily found as supplements at your local pharmacy or grocery store. You’ll also need to read labels very carefully to be sure you know what’s in your food.
There is also the matter of veganism as it applies to clothing, make-up and hair products, but that’s another topic for another day.
The streets were alive with pride in Vancouver today as an estimated 700,000 spectators flocked to the streets for the thirty-seventh (31?) annual gay pride parade. From feather boa and sequin-clad drag queens to Jack Layton and several NDP supporters to the Beacon Unitarian Church, thousands of enthusiastic paraders strutted their stuff through the streets of downtown in the name of equality, not to mention fabulousness.
After I got over the initial irritation of having to look over the shoulders of dozens of fellow spectators to get a view of the flashy floats, I was incredibly pleased to see such an enormous turnout. The crowd was formed of people from all walks of life with conservative-looking middle-aged men and modestly-dressed old ladies mingling with the likes of flamboyant LGBT supporters and dashing young men in barely-there skivvies. It was an inspirational display of Vancouverites coming together for a good cause and
The streets were alive with pride in Vancouver as an estimated 700,000 spectators flocked to the streets for the annual gay pride parade. From feather boa and sequin-clad drag queens to Jack Layton and several NDP supporters to the Beacon Unitarian Church, thousands of enthusiastic paraders strutted their stuff through the streets of downtown in the name of equality, not to mention fabulousness.
Once I got over the initial irritation of having to look over the shoulders of dozens of fellow parade-goers to get a view of the flashy floats, I was incredibly pleased to see such an enormous turnout. The crowd was formed by people from all walks of life, with conservative-looking middle-aged men and modestly-dressed old ladies mingling with the likes of flamboyant LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) supporters and dashing gentlemen in scanty skivvies. It was an inspirational display of togetherness and support within the community and an uplifting reminder of the progress that has been made with the gay rights movement.
Lovely ladies, photo courtesy of http://www.vancouverpride.ca/
It was refreshing to see a heterosexual politician playfully dance around with his cowboy hat in the air, but I had to remind myself that Canadians are particularly tolerant and accepting folk and there are still many countries where the gay community is stifled rather than celebrated; we’ve come so far but still have a long way to go.
Homosexuality is considered criminal and gay pride parades are banned in many parts of the world. In Russia, gay pride parades, which Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov has dubbed “satanic gatherings”, are deemed unlawful. 40 of around 70 activists were arrested last May when they ignored the ban and proceeded with their demonstration. Two organisers of Moscow Gay Pride were arrested earlier this year for holding banners in the city centre and charged with “propaganda of homosexuality”. As if criminalising the right to peaceful protests or demonstrations isn’t bad enough, far more serious human rights violations continue to exist in the international gay community.
Homosexual and transgender people are frequently discriminated against, harassed and even tortured and murdered on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. In Iraq, police commandos and militants are encouraged by clerics to murder any suspected homosexuals. There are many accounts of gay men being arrested, tortured and gang raped by groups of police officers, and the U.N. released a report in January of this year citing the existence of religious courts that sentence accused homosexuals to death. In 2005, leading Shiite Muslim cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani issued a religious decree stating that gay and lesbian individuals should be punished and killed in “the most severe way”. It is also not uncommon for Iraqi homosexuals to be disowned and often murdered by those closest to them to avoid shaming their family name.
Fabulously fierce
I’m not trying to put a dark cloud over the festive showing of support for the LGBT community in Vancouver – the sky was, in fact, filled with rainbows – but I think it’s important to remember that discrimination and abuse based on sexual orientation still occur worldwide and there are thousands of citizens who are denied the basic human right of equality. Anti-gay bullying and violence still exist in thousands of schoolyards around the world, and even in a city as liberal as Vancouver, hate crimes continue to occur. Gay rights are human rights, and equality should be universal.
The purpose of gay pride parades is to raise awareness and encourage the heterosexual majority to accept and embrace the LGBT community. The themes of this year’s gay pride parade in Vancouver were “educate, liberate, celebrate”, and those goals were certainly accomplished. The general feeling among the crowd was “be as gay as you like, we love you all the same.”
It’s hot. And I mean really hot. I’m going to Bikram’s yoga as often as I can because it’s much cooler in the studio than it is in my apartment. I can’t keep up with the laundry; I’m soaking through my clothes within 10 minutes of putting them on. Every time I try to hug Flint we slide right off of each other and land on the floor in a pool of sweat. I know I’ve been hoping – okay, praying – for a heat wave, but 40 degrees on the coast is like a million degrees on the prairies. I’m just not built for this, God.
I think I’m becoming delirious. I had an entire conversation with a four-inch llama last night before I realized I was actually talking to shoe, and earlier today I found myself surrounded by a group of frightened children as I sobbed and writhed in a kiddy pool I had commandeered. I’m a real misery to be around, too; I don’t even like myself right now! I’ve experienced a greater spectrum of emotions (mostly the bad ones) in two days than I have in the past five years.
I’ve been doing rain dances nightly while the neighbors yell at me to put on some clothes and threaten to call the cops. (By the way, please forgive me for the nine profanities with which I responded.) I’ve also been stepping on all the spiders I can find, which is difficult for me, God, but I’m sacrificing my morals for the greater good.
This must be punishment for the hell, err, umm…stress we’ve been putting on the environment in the last century. But let me just remind you that I always do my best to use public transportation, recycle, turn off all lights that don’t need to be on, buy eco-friendly products and organic food, carry reusable bags, and most importantly, refrain from eating our lovely bovine friends. Since cows account for 9 percent of carbon dioxide emissions, 65 percent of nitrous oxide (I know, that’s a bad one), and 37 percent of methane gasses (those nasty heat-trappers) produced by human-related activities, I feel pretty good about doing my part to decrease greenhouse gasses.
Oh gracious, merciful God, please grant us deliverance from these scorching temperatures and oppressively muggy air, and Iwill do my best to spread the word about global warming. Also, please make soy ice desserts, fans and misters fall from the sky if you won’t give us rain; I promise I’ll be good for the rest of the year.
I loved baking with my mom when I was a kid. She always let me lick the beaters clean while we waited for the cookies to bake. I even had my own Company’s Coming Kids Cooking cookbook, which made me feel pretty badass. After becoming vegan, I begrudgingly said goodbye to the wonderful world of baked goods because I just assumed it wasn’t possible to make decent-tasting treats without using eggs or butter. But let me tell you: I was wrong.
After discovering the supreme yumminess of carob chips while grocery shopping at the market down the road, I decided I wanted chocolate – or carob – chip cookies, and I wanted to make them myself. I browsed dozens of vegan cookie recipes on the web and borrowed bits and pieces from several, made a few slight adjustments, and eventually came up with my very own carob chip cookie recipe. These cookies are delicious! I can’t believe I’ve been in the dark about vegan cookies for so long, so now, I’m showing you the light. Enjoy!
Vegan carob chip cookies, fresh out of the oven! Mmmmm.
Ingredients:
1 cup cane sugar
1/2 cup Earth Balance natural buttery spread, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup vanilla almond milk (or soy milk)
1/4 cup apple sauce
1 cup carob chips
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
Cooking Instructions: 1.) Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Warm Earth Balance in the microwave for about 20 seconds. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix sugar, Earth Balance, vanilla extract and cinnamon.
2.) In a small bowl, mix vanilla almond milk (or soy milk), applesauce and carob chips. Combine this mixture with the sugar mixture from step one.
3.) In another medium-sized bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt, and stir. Mix about half or two-thirds of the dry mix with the wet mix and stir well with a spoon. Pour in the rest of the dry mix and continue to stir until the two mixtures are completely blended, and then mix with your hands. (My favorite part!)
4.) Roll the dough into approximately 1 to 1 1/2-inch balls and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Squish the dough balls down a little bit so that they end up looking more like cookies than perfect spheres. Place cookies on the medium rack in the oven and cook for 35 minutes. (If you’re using two cookie sheets, you may want to switch racks halfway through the cooking time for even baking. )
5.) Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes on a baking rack (if you don’t have one, a plate works just fine).
I practiced yoga for the first time on a beautiful beach at sunrise in Goa, India about a year-and-a-half ago. I’ve always been fairly flexible and inclined to twist and bend and stretch myself in various ways (in fact, there was a time when I wanted to be a contortionist), but up until that lovely morning in Goa I had only ever done pilates. The Indian yogi – who, by the way, was one of the sweetest, most interesting people I’ve ever met – kept asking me to demonstrate the postures for the group, so I knew yoga came somewhat naturally to me. It was an incredible experience and one I’ll never forget, but this type of yoga (a variation of sun salutation) was more of a meditation than a workout.
Not me, but a guy doing yoga in Goa
After doing some research on the different types of yoga upon returning home, I found a particular form of yoga that sounded interesting, vigorous and generally terrifying: Bikram’s yoga. The website told me this yoga consisted of a fixed set of 26 postures performed over 90 minutes in a room heated to 104 degrees Fahrenheit, or 40 degrees Celsius. I’m not one for extreme temperatures, but I definitely prefer extreme heat over even moderate cold, so I figured I’d give Bikram’s yoga a try.
I started sweating immediately upon entering the sauna room and began to worry about what I’d gotten myself into. I took note from the 20-or-so others in the class and lay down on my towel facing the back of the room, which in this case happened to be windows all the way across with an incredible view of the mountains. I thought the serene view might make the class a bit more relaxing: it didn’t, but it sure was beautiful. The class began and I found myself sweating profusely with the very first posture, Pranayama, a breathing exercise. Yes, you read right, breathing. The teacher instructed us to tighten our entire lower body and abdominals throughout the exercise, which was more muscle tensing than I’d done since breaking a sweat while attempting to open a particularly stubborn pickle jar. The class continued with the postures becoming increasingly more difficult and my towel becoming increasingly more pool-like. I was dizzy and nauseous and thought I might actually die on a number of occasions, but I made it through the entire class without leaving the room (or dying), and vowed to go back the very next day. It was certainly the most difficult workout I had ever done, but it was also the most gratifying. I felt muscles working that had not been worked in…ever. My heart rate must have been around 190bpm, and I likely lost a few pounds of water weight. I also had an intense emotional release and cried a bit at the end of the class, not because of pain or frustration or my eyes attempting to flush out the gallons of sweat that had flooded into them during the class, but because Bikram’s yoga had ushered me into a full-out catharsis. For starters, I felt extremely proud of myself for making it through the entire class, but some of the postures had also opened up my heart and released pent up emotional baggage that I had been carrying around for far too long. (FYI: camel pose, or ustrasana is the motha of all heart-opening postures, and I’ve grown to actually look forward to it.)
Camel Pose
I continued doing yoga three to four times weekly at the mountain-view studio (the Bikram’s studio on Kingsway and Boundary) for about three months, but switched to a studio closer to home thereafter. I found that both the studio in which you practice and the instructor who guides you through the class have as much impact on the effectiveness of the class as does the type of yoga you choose to practice. To that, Bikram would likely say that you should be able to practice yoga with a calm spirit and smiling face in the burning pits of hell, to which I would respond, “Pshaw.” Though the studio part of the equation is more a matter of aesthetic appeal and comfort than a determining factor of an effectual class, a good teacher plays a huge role in a successful yoga experience. I’ve been in classes before with teachers who have such strong accents that I have a very difficult time deciphering much of the dialogue, which can be a major problem for a beginner and slight annoyance for the more advanced student, as it is very unlikely that these teachers will guide you into deeper practice with improved form if you can’t understand anything they say.
Bikram Choudhury (founder of Bikram's yoga) "assisting" with a posture. Thank Krishna the instructors don't do this in the classes I attend.
Conversely, a good teacher can lead you toward a better understanding of each posture and its respective benefits, and may also assist you into deeper meditation and less laboured breathing. In my class today, Joe, the instructor, adjusted my form in standing bow and completely changed the posture for me. It turns out I was lowering my body before creating the back-bend, which is apparently the wrong way to do it. I’ve probably attended over 100 classes and had no idea my form with this posture was incorrect until today. My favorite type of teacher is one who reminds us why it is we are putting ourselves through this torture (to improve our entire well-being in everyday life), as well as the particular physiological (muscular, endocrinal, nervous, skeletal, etc.) and emotional benefits of each posture. I used to detest teachers who physically adjusted my form (I was all, “I’m sweaty and panting and irritable – DON’T TOUCH ME!”), but now I really appreciate it, since it is sometimes difficult to understand the necessary adjustments with verbal instruction alone.
I practiced yoga for another three months or so at the new studio (a two-minute walk from home), but I started to find my pocketbook dwindling and foolishly decided that I couldn’t afford to continue with Bikram’s yoga any longer. (More recently, I’ve come to the wiser conclusion that good health and overall well-being is worth at least $99/month, and I’ve made sacrifices in my lifestyle to pay for a yoga membership, even with my income being halved.)
Standing bow pose, or dandayamana-dhanurasana
Almost three months had passed since my last yoga class and I started to feel like my body was becoming deconditioned. I planned to get back into yoga, but I had some trouble actually getting my butt in gear. And then, on one fateful evening in mid-January of this year, I decided to do a complete overhaul on the arrangement of my bedroom furniture – alone. After an hour of moving every piece of furniture (bed, desk, big bookshelf full of books, dresser full of clothes, etc.) into every possible position in my room, I realized there was only one way to arrange my bedroom, which was exactly the way it was set up before I began moving stuff around. The only thing that came of my furniture rearrangement and subsequent disarrangement was a badly pinched nerve in my lower back, which later evolved into intense pain and a sensation of numbness or heaviness down the entire back of my left leg. The pain worsened in the days that followed and I eventually visited my doctor for a diagnosis, who instantly recognized the injury as sciatica.
This pose is particularly good for preventing and curing sciatica
The sciatica affected me for months following the initial injury, and I found myself rendered almost completely useless; I had difficulty sitting at my desk at work and often had to stand for periods while typing, walking on inclines or up stairs was particularly painful, I could hardly lift my leg without experiencing excruciating pain, and even bending over to tie my shoes became extremely difficult. I felt incapable of performing any type of exercise because of my limitations with everyday activities, which, in hindsight, was a misjudgment and a faulty conclusion based on fear.
Five months later, I was still experiencing intermittent sciatica and had not attempted any form of physical activity since the injury. Naturally, my butt and thighs had come to closely resemble cottage cheese and I was soft and flabby all over, but even worse, my entire body ached and I felt like an old woman with even the slightest of movements. I knew I had to make a major change.
I had not forgotten the wonders yoga can do for an injured and deconditioned body and I figured stretching in a hot room would be one of the safest activities I could do to get back in shape and rehabilitate. The first class back in Bikram’s yoga after my seven-month hiatus was definitely a bit of a strug, but I felt the greatest sense of relief; it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I had built it up to be in my mind and I only noticed my sciatica with one or two of the postures.
I’ve been doing yoga almost daily for three weeks now since my return, and I can already notice tremendous changes taking place. The composition of my body is steadily improving; muscle is replacing fat in many different parts of my body and everything is becoming somewhat less jiggly. My emotional well-being is also improving; there’s nothing like having to meditate for 90 minutes to survive intense heat while contorting your body in incomprehensible ways to make you realize your other problems are relatively insignificant. But in all seriousness, it takes a great deal of dedication to devote an hour-and-a-half of your day to self-induced (but character-building) suffering, and surviving each and every class simply reminds me of my strength (both mentally and physically), patience, self-acceptance and determination. It is also very humbling and inspiring to have a class full of people struggling and surviving in their own ways right along with you.
My girl Sadie demonstrates the end part of janushirasana with paschimotthanasana, or head-to-knee with both legs stretching
You’ll have to check your ego at the door each time you enter a Bikram’s yoga class, not only because you’ll be surrounded by confronting mirrors while you do your thing in barely-there booty shorts, but also because your strengths and weaknesses will differ from class to class and you’ll have to accept your difficulties as they are each day so that awkward pose won’t become impossible pose and cobra pose won’t make you want to coil up and die.
Ultimately, I do yoga because it helps me to achieve balance in my life. Bikram says, “It’s never too late, you’re never too old, you’re never too sick to start from scratch again, to be born again.” And I believe him.
Benefits of Bikram’s yoga:
promotes weight loss (burns around 800-1200 calories each class!)
aids detoxification through excessive sweating
strengthens and tones muscles
stimulates nervous system
improves circulation (good for cellulite reduction!)
strengthens joints and bones (spine is the big one) to prevent future injury
improves range of motion/flexibility
great cardio workout
increases endurance
improves mental discipline and reduces stress through meditation
flushes/smooths out blockages in arteries preventing cardiovascular disease
balances hormonal levels
improves posture and alignment
regulates digestive system
helps to lower blood pressure
improves lung efficiency and capacity
helps with a whole slew of ailments including diabetes, asthma, constipation, anorexia or overeating (regulates appetite), bronchitis, insomnia, obstructive lung disease, scoliosis and kyphosis, back pain/spasms, menstrual disorders, osteoarthritis, colitis, etc.
When I began writing this article several days ago, the Sri Lanka civil war was raging out of control with no foreseeable resolution. Then, on the afternoon of May 18, 2009, I heard a reporter for CBC radio announce the “end” of the Sri Lanka civil war, as the army had apparently killed the Tamil Tiger’s leader and gained control of the last parts of land held by the Tamil militant group. I was more than a little surprised to hear that the fighting had finally stopped; since 1983, the Sri Lanka government had been faced with the seemingly inextricable problem of a highly sophisticated and financially powerful guerilla organization unrelentingly standing their ground in this 26-year civil war, and I, for one, did not see this (so-called end) coming. The fighting has finally (if temporarily) stopped, and the Sri Lanka Army has successfully disbanded the Tamil Tigers, but this is not the end of Sri Lanka’s problems; the war-torn South Asian country now faces a massive humanitarian crisis, and the political unrest that caused this almost three-decade-long civil war has not been resolved.
One of South Asia's most beautiful countries has become a bloody battlefield
Though the Sri Lanka civil war has received increased media exposure in recent months, there is still a dangerous lack of accurate reporting from this area. Journalists have been almost completely banned and facts and figures released by the Sri Lanka government are often questioned for accuracy, as NGOs and eyewitness accounts often contradict their official statements. Furthermore, almost daily reports of continued conflict and mass casualties has very marginally, if at all, affected death tolls and combat statistics in the last several years. It is difficult for the international community to properly assess the humanitarian situation in this fragile country, as most humanitarian groups and journalists are still not allowed in the areas hardest hit by the war.
With all of the inconsistencies, illusions and untruths surrounding the Sri Lanka civil war, it’s difficult to properly comprehend the gravity of the situation for thousands of Sri Lanka citizens, and only those directly involved or affected by the fighting know the truth. It is important to remember that both sides of the conflict are using extensive propaganda to gain support, and much of the information provided by both parties is extremely skewed and often inaccurate. Additionally, following the SLA victory, several sites supporting or affiliated with the Tamil Tigers were taken off the web, such as tamiltigers.net and tamilnet.com, though tamilnet.com has since restored their site. I cannot confidently separate fact from fiction with this issue, but I will attempt to examine some key points of this conflict based on the information I’ve been able to assemble.
What’s all this fighting about?
The two main groups at war with each other are the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the Tamil Tigers or the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). LTTE formed in May 1976 in response to the segregation and oppression imposed upon the thousands of Tamil citizens living in Sri Lanka, spanning back as far as the late 40s, following Sri Lankan independence from Great Britain in 1948.
The mostly Sinhalese government of Sri Lanka began a colonization scheme shortly after Sri Lanka gained independence, which consisted of removing thousands of Tamil citizens from their homes and offering these now-vacant houses to Sinhalese citizens. In1948 the Sri Lanka government passed the Ceylon Citizenship Act, which essentially deprived more than one million Tamils of their citizenship, denying them the universal human right to nationality. In 1956, the government replaced English with Sinhala as the official language of Sri Lanka. Many Tamil government officials lost their jobs and all government administration was offered only in Sinhala, even in areas that were almost wholly Tamil-speaking. Outraged Tamil citizens and Tamil Federal Party members of parliament staged a non-violent sit in protest of this legislation, but the demonstration was unsuccessful, as it was broken up by a Sri Lanka nationalist group while police watched the violence that ensued – and apparently did nothing to stop it. Riots broke out in the two years following this incident, during which properties were burned, Tamil citizens were assaulted and up to 300 people were murdered.
A Tamil citizen is pulled from his vehicle and beaten during a riot
Then, in the 1970, the Sri Lanka government attempted to remove Tamil culture from their country by banning the importation of all Tamil books, movies, magazines, etc., from Tamil Nadu, India. A few years later, the government raised entrance marks for prospective Tamil students wishing to attend university, requiring that Tamil citizens achieve higher marks on these exams than their Sinhalese peers to be granted entrance. The Sri Lanka government also imposed district quotas further limiting the number of Tamil students admitted to universities. The result of these education restrictions was a less than 15% Tamil student population in post-secondary schools. Apparently the government was attempting to deprive Tamils of their education to make them more compliant and less-informed, and ultimately less likely to revolt against the Sri Lankan government’s agenda for ethnic recomposition.
In the late 70s and early 80s, the Sri Lanka government began to detain, torture, and often kill Tamil citizens – mostly youth – in an attempt to gain information about Tamil militant groups that may be forming and planning to unite against the Sinhalese government. In 1981, a Sinhalese mob several-hundred strong destroyed many culturally important Tamil sites, including a newspaper office, marketplace, parliament building and library containing many culturally significant and irreplaceable Tamil documents and manuscripts. It is reported that members of the police force were involved in this rampage (and the killing of four civilians), though again, this could be propaganda, and must be considered a possibility rather than a fact.
In July1983, known as “Black July”, a group of Tamil Tigers ambushed a military convoy and killed 15 SLA soldiers. The backlash that resulted would become the major catalyst of the Sri Lanka civil war; a massive Sinhalese mob formed, armed with voter registration lists of Tamil citizens and seeking sanguinary revenge. An estimated 3,000 Tamil civilians were murdered, their homes pillaged and burned to the ground, their women raped and assaulted, while SLA soldiers and government officials stood by and watched the carnage unfold. Witnesses to the attacks reported the Sinhalese mob stopped traffic at busy intersections to determine the ethnicity of passengers in the vehicles, and set ablaze those vehicles containing Tamil passengers while they were trapped inside. Approximately 20,000 Tamil citizens were left homeless initially following the riots, and when the number of Tamil citizens in makeshift shelters rose to 50,000 the Sri Lanka government (with the help of India) began to send thousands of displaced Tamils north to India by boat. Black July served to even further radicalize Tamil militant groups in Sri Lanka – which were largely comprised of youths – and the LTTE emerged as the strongest force among them.
Young LTTE fighters
What’s happening now?
It is certain that Velupillai Prabhakaran, leader of the LTTE, along with the entire senior command, has been killed, though there have been contradictory reports as to how and when this occured. The International Committee of the Red Cross reported LTTE offered to surrender to the SLA through their organization, which is somewhat surprising considering the supposed LTTE policy of death-before-surrender. The people of Sri Lanka were overjoyed with the news of an end to the relentless civil war that had ravaged their beautiful island nation for nearly three decades; there were parades in many parts of the country and the national flag doubled in price.
The Sri Lanka Army
Despite the massive wave of relief sweeping over Sri Lanka and much of the international community, the reality of the situation is that thousands of Sri Lanka citizens are left to deal with the scattered pieces of their broken lives, and the extreme polarity of media coverage from Sri Lanka only further exacerbates the plight of the many civilians affected by this war, as their situation is likely not being accurately represented and therefore cannot be properly addressed.
The United Nations and some NGOs have provided support to Sri Lanka citizens in Internationally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps; however, no humanitarian organizations were permitted inside the conflict zones during the war, and I have been unable to find information on the current status of the civilians that were trapped in these areas. According to ochaonline.un.org (the site for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), there are approximately 230,000 citizens in IDP camps, and a further 175,ooo requiring relief support. The United Nations has also placed the total number of civilian casualties since 1983 at 80,000 to 100,000, with approximately7,000 civilian deaths since the beginning of 2009. The Sri Lanka government has reported over 6,000 SLA casualties and nearly 30,000 injured soldiers, as well as 22,000 Tamil Tiger casualties since July 2006, a period the Sri Lanka government has referred to as the beginning of the “Eelam War IV”, or the final stage of the civil war.
Young casualties of the Sri Lanka civil war
Now that the SLA has gained control of areas that were once contained by the LTTE, the government will be responsible for the welfare of the estimated 100,000 citizens that were trapped in these conflict zones. The Sri Lanka government has labelled the LTTE a terrorist organization and portrays the defeat of the Tamil Tigers as liberation of Tamil citizens, though it is very difficult to believe that these people will be cared for properly by the Sri Lanka government, as the SLA has also been accused of committing atrocities against Tamil civilians. Several reports surfaced during the war of attacks on makeshift Tamil hospitals by the SLA, and careless military shelling and firing in so-called “safe zones” killed hundreds of innocent Tamil civilians. Not surprisingly, the Sri Lanka government has accused the LTTE of human rights violations as well – often holding the Tigers responsible for accusations made against the SLA – including claims that Tamil Tigers used civilians as human shields. Both sides have been accused of conscription and even abduction of children to be used as front line soldiers, with UNICEF alleging 506 child soldiers remained in the LTTE by the end of 2008, despite their agreement in 2007 to release all recruits under 18 years of age. The Tamil Peoples Liberation Tigers (TMVP) – a political party reported to have been working with the SLA – has also been accused (by the UN) of abducting children from IDP camps and recruiting child soldiers for the war, as well as committing assassinations, torture and extortion against LTTE members. With the government using miliary tactics to address a political situation and displaying very little regard for innocent civilians caught in the crossfire, there is significant concern that the thousands of citizens affected by this war will not receive proper aid from their government to rebuild their lives.
A civilian at the site of another attack for which neither side took responsibility
26 years ago, the Sri Lanka civil war began as a result of political unrest due to the segregation and discrimination of thousands of Tamil citizens living in Sri Lanka, who were simply pushing for equality and self-determination. Today, this political unrest remains and the nationalistic fervor that spurred some of the most tragic human rights violations in the country’s history is at an all-time high. There is significant distrust and strain between the Sinhalese majority and Tamil people, and this political divergence has only become more volatile throughout the civil war. Sri Lanka’s problems are far from over, and without democratic resolution of the issues that caused the conflict in the first place, this war-torn country will never see peace and is in grave danger of a bloody relapse. Tamil diasporas all over the world have not forgotten the atrocities committed against their people in the almost three-decade-long war, and it is likely that the LTTE or similar guerilla organizations will rise from the ashes with a prolific vengeance and substantial financial support to carry out their retaliative agenda.
The video below is a report from Al Jazeera, and I think it is an accurate and straightforward representation of the current state of Sri Lanka. Another excellent source of unbiased information is http://savingsrilanka.wordpress.com, a blog dedicated to exposing the real truth about the plight of Sri Lanka.
The Bright Eyes video above, First Day of My Life, shows various couples and families (and even a sweet lil pooch) listening and responding to the song, and is a beautiful display of genuine, blissful love. It’s a wonderful reminder of the goodness in people and the pure, sweet energy that arises from this kind of love.
Today is Mother’s Day, and I’m dedicating this lovely video to my dear, sweet, Ma, who taught me how important it is to love unconditionally and allow yourself to be loved right back. My mother is an incredible person with love bursting out of every pore of her body, and I’ll be forever grateful to this wonderful woman who raised me to understand the importance of genuine love. Thank you ever-so much, Mommy, for growing me, feeding me, loving me, nurturing me. Thank you for teaching me patience and acceptance, humour and silliness, how to open myself to joy and overcome sorrow. Thank you for showing me the beauty in every breath and learning to see with my heart instead of only using my eyes. Thank you for encouraging me and always believing in me. I love you SO MUCH, Mama, from the first day of my life until the very end.
Serving up scrumptious vegan fare, old skool gangsta rap and inspiring socially conscious quotes, The Foundation is my all-time favorite restaurant – vegetarian or not.
Obviously, we don’t eat meat in any form. That means no chicken/beef/pork stock, which, unnervingly, is found in a lot of vegetable soups. That would also include any product containing fish or fish-derivatives, like some curries and Worcestershire sauce. We don’t eat eggs, or anything containing eggs. This means we’re unable to eat many baked goods since eggs are almost always used as a binding agent. We don’t eat butter, milk, buttermilk or cream. (Again, this means avoiding most baked goods.) And as I mentioned above, we don’t eat cheese.
I started sweating immediately upon entering the 
