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Unvaccinated Ryerson students to be removed from winter courses

by Nicholas Parker
written by Nicholas Parker
A student walking across the street towards the Rogers Communications Centre building (Ryerson University Facebook)

Ryerson students who are unvaccinated against COVID-19 or whose status is undeclared are in the process of being removed from their winter semester courses that are to be held in-person.

The action from the school comes after a notice was sent to students stating those who wish to not upload their status, or get vaccinated by Dec. 15, will “be removed from any in-person winter courses, and may lose access to key Ryerson systems, such as RAMSS.”

This decision may leave up to 3,600 students at risk of being unenrolled, according to numbers released in a Ryerson compliance presentation for winter 2022. The date of this document is unknown. Out of the 3,600 students, approximately 2,000 are undeclared and 1,000 do not intend to get vaccinated. 

According to a statement from Ryerson, about 300 students have been removed from their in-person courses as of last week. 

One of the students facing removal is a third-year dance major attending Ryerson. On The Record agreed not to disclose her identity. Before the deadline, she submitted a request for a religious exemption to Ryerson only for it to be denied. In her request, she stated that her beliefs and morals went against procedures such as vaccinations, which she had previously explained to the school in various emails. 

Aside from her religious concerns, she has other hesitations as well, which she says were also communicated to the school administration.

“I explained my living situation and I had basically said, ‘if I do get vaccinated, my parents would kick me out of the house.’ I had proof by my therapist, who I was speaking to for so long on how to deal with that stress, because I was so conflicted on what to do to prove that is an actual reality,” she said. “The school is kind of putting me in a predicament where you either choose your education, or you choose your family and your religion.”

Both of her parents had lost their teaching jobs due to similar vaccine mandates. “We have our power off right now just to save money and it’s getting really cold. And I am doing my homework in flashlight lighting. This is how severe it is,” she said.

Alexey, a second-year global management major, also submitted a request for a religious exemption for his Eastern Orthodox beliefs. His exemption was ultimately denied. On The Record agreed to not disclose Alexey’s last name. 

Currently, Alexey is still attending his winter classes, which have been moved online until further notice. He believes that it’s only a matter of time before he is removed from his classes.

According to Ryerson, unvaccinated students are still able to complete courses which have been deemed online for the rest of the semester. But the number of those courses is limited. Still, they state professors could make course-level decisions to provide materials for students to continue working online – but it is not expected that students will always have this option.

Many of the students interviewed who were removed from their courses said they felt unsupported by Ryerson, as the school did not attempt to offer any alternative solutions, such as a possible hybrid system for the remaining weeks of the winter semester.

“I’ve tried to ask if there’s some way to accommodate us,” said Bela Georgiev, a PhD economics student attending Ryerson. “If people see me as a threat, I respect that and I’m OK to do online schooling.”

Georgiev has yet to disclose her status to the school, as her rationale revolves around principle and not supporting the system. Currently, her RAMSS account has a hold on it which does not allow her to enrol in any courses. She was also a teaching assistant for Ryerson in the fall semester, but had been removed due to vaccine mandates at the university.

“I believe that if we start to pick people apart, depending on what type of medical interventions or procedures they’ve chosen to have, I think there could be a lot of problems with that,” said Georgiev.

Georgiev stated her friends at University of Toronto had livestreamed and recorded lectures for later use and questioned why Ryerson can’t implement similar processes.

Similarly, Curtis Heinen, a third-year urban and regional planning student, has not disclosed his status to the school because he believes that the mandates are not appropriate. Heinen said that he was given the option to declare and still maintain enrolment in online elective courses, though he would be held back from his required courses, as they would be in-person.

“I’m taking a principled approach. I don’t think it’s right. I don’t think the university has a right to take that information,” said Heinen.

Heinen stated he has no issue with any of the social distancing requirements and even the vaccines themselves, though he has an issue with the mandates and potentially delaying the education of students over their choice. 

When asked about how Ryerson plans to accommodate these students, a spokesperson in the communications office reiterated that students must be vaccinated in order to attend classes and encouraged students to reach out to their academic advisers for next steps. 

“Innocent until proven guilty, now you’re sick until proven healthy,” said Georgiev.

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Ryerson announces return to in-person learning

by Sydney Ingram
written by Sydney Ingram

Image info: Exterior of Ryerson SLC (Alex Guibord/Wikimedia Commons)

The university will begin a gradual return to campus on Jan. 31 and expects there will be a full return to in-person learning a month later, Ryerson president Mohamed Lachemi announced Wednesday.

The rapid spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 delayed Ryerson’s plan to return to on-campus learning for the start of the Winter semester.

The school announced on Dec. 16 that classes for the Winter 2022 semester would be held virtually until Jan. 30, in response to soaring COVID-19 cases in Ontario.

However, after being given assurance from public health officials that cases are projected to decline in the coming weeks, the university said it is “confident” that a full return to campus is safe for students, faculty and staff. It said a full return to campus is expected by Feb. 28.

“A return to in-person learning is in the best interests of students,” Lachemi said in his statement. “We know that the collaboration and conversation that happens in classrooms and labs, the access to in-person supports… and the community and relationships created by on-campus extracurricular activities are just a few of the benefits of returning to campus.”

The return to campus will be program-specific. The university said more information will be available for faculty and students in the coming days.

“I hope that many of you will welcome this return and see it as an opportunity to begin a post-pandemic way of living, learning and working,” Lachemi said.

More to come.

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Ryerson defers in-person return to end of January

by Elena De Luigi
written by Elena De Luigi
a blue building at on a bright blue day
Ryerson University’s Student Learning Centre (Alex Guibord/Creative Commons)

Most Ryerson University students will not be returning to the classroom until the end of January, according to new safety measures announced Thursday. 

Winter semester classes, which begin Jan. 10 for engineering and some architecture students and Jan. 14 for all others, will be held online until Jan. 30.

The university is expected to shift back to in-person learning and teaching the following day. 

President Mohamed Lachemi announced the new measure on Thursday as new reported cases of COVID-19 in Ontario soared above 2,000 for the first time since May 2021. 

It also follows a scathing On The Record investigation, which exposed the university’s proof of vaccination system as faulty. 

“We know the immediate weeks ahead will be critical in managing the spread of the Omicron variant,” Lachemi said in his announcement. “This move to a modified start of term will help ensure the continued health and safety of our community.” 

The university said more information would be sent to students and faculty in the coming days. 

Some exceptions are being made for programs that require in-person instruction. 

“We have been planning for a broader in-person return for some time now, and remain committed to in-person learning, while also prioritizing the health and safety of our community,” Lachemi said.

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Reduced TTC service and existing delays heighten students’ commuting concerns around wait times, overcrowding

by Kayla Zhu
written by Kayla Zhu
The interior of the TTC 506 Carlton streetcar. (Chelms Varthoumlien/Unsplash)

Fourth-year creative industries student Daniel Song commutes to work three times a week to the Jane and Steeles area, taking the York Region Transit’s (YRT) 91 Bayview bus and then the TTC’s 960 Steeles West Express bus.

He says the wait times for his hour-long commute to work are “really, really bad.” 

“When it says it’s arriving in four minutes, my expectations are already so low that I assume it’s probably coming in 10 minutes,” Song said.

Before the pandemic, Song would commute downtown by Line 1 regularly to go to class and hang out with friends on the weekends. But with frequent weekend closures on the subway, it would take him much longer to get home by shuttle bus.

“It’s unreliable and I think it’s pretty unacceptable for people who depend on public transportation to not have dependable service,” he said.

Now, during the pandemic, Song says there’s the added stress of getting infected with the virus on transit. He said he feels “a little bit more confident” using public transportation to get to work since getting his second dose. 

However, with the new Omicron variant and the recent service reductions, he said he doesn’t feel “completely safe” on transit.

Some Ryerson students, like Song, say they are anxious about returning to campus next semester with recent service reductions, existing delays and other COVID-19-related issues that riders say have exacerbated wait times and overcrowding on the TTC. 

On Nov. 16, the TTC announced service cuts across 57 bus routes, one streetcar route and the Line 2 Bloor-Danforth subway due to staffing shortages caused by the transit operator’s vaccination mandate. These reductions took effect on Nov. 22.

However, according to TTC spokesperson Stuart Green, the proposed cuts never really “materialized” due to higher-than-anticipated vaccination rates and the TTC is offering “almost identical service” as before Nov. 22.

“As of [Dec. 7], we’re putting out around 95 per cent of the service that we were putting out pre-vaccine mandate, whereas we had scheduled 90 per cent,” he said.

When creating schedules for November, the TTC had planned service based on the prediction they would have 90 per cent of their employees vaccinated, but as of Dec. 7, the agency has a vaccination rate of 94 per cent.

Green said this means the 57 bus routes that were included in the Nov. 22 cuts are “not seeing the level of service decrease that was originally envisioned.”


However, Shelagh Pizey-Allen, executive director of transit advocacy group TTCriders said some riders have seen wait times double or triple since Nov. 22, when the proposed reductions took effect, even on bus routes unaffected by the cuts.

“Some riders have been reporting wait times of 30, 45, even 60 minutes. This is completely unacceptable and could have a long-term negative impact on transit ridership and the climate,” she said. “If people cannot rely on the TTC, more people will switch to driving, even if they can’t afford it.”

In addition to the recent service reductions, TTC buses have already experienced 26,772 recorded bus delays this year between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31, according to TTC bus delay data.

Cleaning was the leading cause of bus delays during this period, accounting for one-third of all delays, according to an On The Record analysis of TTC bus delay data. 

In 2020, cleaning only accounted for about six per cent of delays and was not listed as a reason for those incidents in 2019. The TTC recorded 26,953 delays between January and August 2020 and 44,279 in 2019. 

So far this year, the average timeframe of a bus delay was about 17 and a half minutes.

Since January 2020, the TTC has been cleaning and disinfecting “all public places with a focus on touch and grab points, such as buttons, railings, handles and straps” daily due to COVID-19. 

The Toronto Star reported in August that each TTC bus is cleaned twice a day, with the process usually taking about five to 10 minutes per bus. Cleaning protocols include spraying surfaces and common touch points with a hospital-grade disinfectant. 

Green says the TTC had taken buses out of service for a midday cleaning when most routes don’t have the “same level of service” as the morning. He said certain buses would normally be out of service at midday anyways because there was little demand for them and the operators would be working on split shifts – working separate sets of hours in both the morning and evenings. 

However, the TTC still logs these buses as having been taken out of service for cleaning, even though it technically wasn’t in service. Buses that were in service and scheduled for a midday cleaning would be temporarily replaced with a “run-as-directed” or RAD bus, before being taken out of service, according to Green. RAD buses do not appear on schedules.

“The service on the street was not impacted by the cleaning schedule,” he said.

Now, the TTC only cleans buses once a day and no longer pulls vehicles out of service for cleaning, as Green said the TTC now knows surface transmission “isn’t really a concern” for COVID-19.

August Pantitlán, a Ryerson aerospace engineering student who writes about transportation and urban planning on their blog, August Street, said they feel confident commuting knowing the risk of COVID-19 transmission is low on transit. They also mentioned the TTC CEO’s report released in October, which found 97 per cent of transit riders followed mask mandates properly.

However, Pantitlán said they do feel less safe taking the TTC for a different reason – there has been an increase in security incidents in the system. According to the October report, there was a 21 per cent increase in offences against customers in this year’s second quarter compared to the previous one.

“This isn't specific to transit, as many complex social issues have been exacerbated by the pandemic and its associated economic hardships across the city,” said Pantitlán.

Since they can’t drive, Pantitlán depends entirely on public transit to get to campus, their volunteer work and everything else. 

“It is convenient and frequent to use, although it is not always reliable,” they said. “Bus bunching, where multiple late buses show up together, overcrowding due to cut service and the lack of rapid transit access across the city are some of the major challenges facing the system.”

While the TTC has always experienced delays, issues that Pantitlán mentioned – unreliable service, bus bunching and overcrowding – pose additional safety concerns for riders during the pandemic. 

Pizey-Allen said while cleaning buses is important, increasing service and encouraging mask use is the best way the TTC can make riders feel safe.

“More delays means longer wait times and more crowding. The TTC should be focused on winning riders back with frequent service that we can rely on,” she said.

Third-year Ryerson urban and regional planning student Hayden Poon says he’s excited to go back to campus. But similar to Song, he is worried about regularly being in crowded transit environments in light of the new variant and the recent TTC service cuts.

His commute to campus from his home in Markham, Ont., takes more than one and a half hours one-way, and he needs to pay fare for both the TTC and the YRT.

Poon, who is also involved with TTCriders, said he anticipates the November service cuts will reduce the capacity of vehicles and result in longer wait times for his buses. 

“The buses will also be very crowded. I will get on the bus anyway as I don’t want to be late for class,” he said. “This could increase my risk of getting COVID-19.”

Poon said these delays aren’t a COVID issue and have always existed, but the problem of reliability and overcrowding is even more prominent during a pandemic.

“[The] TTC has serious reliability issues that [cause] you to never know if the next bus, streetcar, or subway will actually come,” he said. “We are playing a gamble when riding public transit.”

Pizey-Allen says reduced service on public transit impacts essential workers, women and racialized and disabled riders the most.

The 41 Keele and 102 Markham routes were included in the 57 bus routes affected by the proposed service reduction, even though the TTC identified these routes as overcrowded early in the pandemic.

Pizey-Allen said these routes serve working people who depend on transit and run through neighbourhood improvement areas and industrial employment zones.

“These cuts are unacceptable and unfair because they could have been prevented,” she said. “The TTC could have hired more operators months ago, but has been operating [with] ‘just enough’ service because of underfunding.”

A financial update published for the TTC's Nov. 29 meeting mentioned a 2021 funding shortfall of about $103 million. The update said the financial impact of COVID-19 on the TTC has been primarily offset by government support at the federal and provincial levels.

Pantitlán similarly finds the TTC service reductions to be “unacceptable for Canada’s largest city” compared to transit systems in Montreal and Vancouver, the latter which has rebounded to 55 per cent of their pre-pandemic ridership numbers.

“When reliability falls apart, so does our city,” Pantitlán said. “The TTC needs to prioritize reliable, timely and sustained service if it intends to regain lost ridership. It is especially pressing to ensure transit remains an attractive option over cars in the context of climate change and rapid population growth.”

Pizey-Allen said the group TTCriders is calling on Mayor John Tory to reverse the service reductions by securing emergency transit operation funding and making the TTC conduct a hiring blitz.

To make up for the shortfall in labour, Green said the TTC has offered more overtime hours to employees, invited recently retired employees to work again and hired more staff.

As of Dec. 7, he said the TTC has hired “close to 300-plus operators” and will have about 450 by the end of the year.

“Come January, we should see all of that service back, in addition to all of the employees that are coming back because they have completed their vaccines,” he said. 

Song echoed the need for more funding for the TTC, from both the city and Ryerson. 

“I think as a school that has as many commuters as it has, the fact that we still don’t have a subsidized transportation program or pass is totally bogus,” he said. 

Poon said he’s even more concerned about the TTC’s operation in the winter with extreme weather conditions, anticipating transit will be even more crowded with vehicles breaking down more often in snow and frigid temperatures.

Ultimately, Poon said he will still take transit to campus next semester.

“I am dependent on public transit for my education at X University,” he said. “Public transit is critical to students who commute to campus. If public transit fails, students fail.”

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From the RCC to the Scotiabank Arena: Aidan Lising’s graphic design journey to working with the Leafs

by Akanksha Dhingra
written by Akanksha Dhingra
Throughout his time in journalism school, Aidan Lising never let go of his desire for creative work. (Photo provided by Aidan Lising)

Like many other university students, Aidan Lising was confused, doubtful and just trying to figure out what worked best for him.

While he worked hard pursuing journalism at Ryerson University back in 2019, Lising always kept his passion for graphic design on the side. 

During the November blues of Lising’s senior year at high school, he remembers sitting down with his parents and having a difficult conversation — telling them that, while he didn’t know what he wanted to do, he wanted it to be creative.

“I knew I wanted to do something they did not want me to do,” said Lising. 

Like many, Lising’s parents wanted him to pursue a stable career. They wanted him to be a lawyer, doctor or nurse — all things he was not passionate about. 

“It was a big deal to tell them,” Lising said. “I told them I would keep my STEM courses, I will do my math, but I also told them I want to do something creative.”

In 2021, Lising designed the graphics for a Toronto Maple Leafs giveaway promotion.

From what started as a hobby in high school, to getting his design displayed on a big screen in front of  over 18,000 people, Lising said, “Working with the Toronto Maple Leafs was definitely a dream come true.” 

Lising says he’s always been a creative kid. “Even back in school, if there was an opportunity to create a video or do some designing, I just used to get so excited.” 

In a sense, he knew what programs he was applying to for university, he just didn’t know what he would end up doing.

As he promised to his parents, he applied for the nursing programs at both University of Toronto and Ryerson. And then there was his third choice: journalism at Ryerson.

“I was like, Ryerson journalism, ah screw it, whatever,” he said. Little did he know what life had planned for him. 

“I got into all three … but I was not looking forward to studying biology for the next four years, I just took journalism not knowing where it would take me.”

Lising spent a lot of time in his first year adjusting to a wealth of new experiences. He says he spent a lot of time in his professor’s office probing about the journalism program and wondering if it was right for him.

He said the experience was scary at one point, but connecting all the dots to his current job, he feels it all worked out.

Finding his passion for graphic design in university

During his time at Ryerson, Lising frequently pursued design projects alongside his journalism studies.

When two of his friends reached out to him needing a graphic for a sports article, Lising realized his art held value. 

Working for the Ryersonian, the Eyeopener and other student publications further helped him realize the importance of graphics in journalism.

“Everything needs a design on the side,” Lising said. 

During his last years at Ryerson, Lising often helped the student newspapers in a production capacity.

“That moment of time, while working on layouts, designs and graphics for The Eye, I realized that it is what I wanted to do. I knew what to hold onto.”

That’s when he decided he was going to focus on visuals.

“It was a pretty huge deal because something I made was now on physical paper and all around campus,” Lising said. “Even if people did not know it was mine,  people were seeing it.”

The big bet: landing a gig with the Toronto Maple Leafs

On a random November day when Lising was busy doing his daily chores, he got a call from Brent Smyth, a friend and fellow j-school alumni, who works with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Smyth asked if Lising would be interested in helping out with some calendar designs for the Leafs. 

“I was shaken for a while but I knew it was a great opportunity,” said Lising. “At the end of the day, it’s the team I freaking watched while growing up.”

Lising did not need to think twice before agreeing to the big opportunity.

Lising sent the team ideas with some examples and to his surprise, they were “blown away” with his work. 

He says the Leafs loved what Lising did and even changed their idea to match what he suggested.

“They sent me files and told me to do what I do — my magic,” Lising said.

He worked all Friday and Saturday designing the calendar.

After finishing his project and sending his designs over, he went for a walk. While he was out, his phone did not stop ringing with praise from the Leafs’ creative team. 

They loved his work.

“The texts said, ‘This is so amazing, it blew my mind,’” Lising said, remembering that joyful moment. “I was so giddy and happy, it was dark as hell outside but so bright inside of me.”

To someone who did not even know what he wanted to do in his first year of university, to working with the Toronto Maple Leafs, one could say life has it all planned for us.

“The idea that something that I made on my small computer, was now in front of 18,000 or more people on huge screens. It definitely was a dream come true,” said Lising.

Something Lising created in the little room that serves as both his office and bedroom in his family home in Scarborough, Ont., was now shining on the big screens at Scotiabank Arena.

“It is such a rewarding feeling,” he said. 

Lising said people in creative fields, like journalists and designers, are expected to be a jack of all trades.

He explained how much hustle is needed to succeed in the field and how every creator is expected to be good at everything. 

“It’s like you are betting on yourself,” he said. ”You are basically standing by your work because you believe you do kick-ass work.” 

Looking back, he said the confused first-year version of himself would have been proud today.

“If my current-self would talk to the fourth-year me, I would have been like, ‘Dude, you did this for the Leafs. That’s so crazy,’” he said. 

Following your passion and standing up for what you believe in is what Lising can say about his journey in the end.

“We really should enjoy the small victories, step back and soak in the air sometimes.”

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Majority of city workers in compliance with COVID-19 vaccine mandate

by Emma Kunzelmann
written by Emma Kunzelmann
Vaccine mandates have been put in place at many workplaces and schools. (tortensimon/Pixabay)

The City of Toronto has announced 98 per cent of its employees are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. 

A city mandate requires all employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and staff must prove their vaccination status. 

A press release issued Thursday states 99 per cent of employees have disclosed their vaccination status of at least one dose, and 51 employees have returned to work after previously not complying with the mandate.

Employees were expected to be fully vaccinated by Sept. 13.  

Recently, the city extended status review meetings for vaccines to the week of Jan. 2 from Oct. 31.

Ontario’s Ministry of Health has advised eight weeks between COVID-19 vaccine doses.

This extension provides employees who reported getting one dose with enough time to get their second shot before the new year.  

According to the release, there are currently 31,627 fully vaccinated employees, 428 employees who reported being partially vaccinated and 550 employees who are on leave for not complying with the policy.  

Ryerson University also has a vaccine mandate in place.  

In August, the school announced staff, students, faculty and any visitors coming to campus must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Proof of vaccination can be submitted through the RyersonSafe app or website. 

By Oct. 18, anyone who planned to be on campus had to be fully vaccinated and prove it by the Nov. 1 deadline.

Ryerson has imposed more restrictions on those who still haven’t provided their vaccination information.

The university announced students who didn’t upload their vaccination status by Nov. 21 would not receive their winter timetables. 

By Dec.15, all students who either haven’t provided their vaccination status or aren’t fully vaccinated are expected to be removed from all in-person classes for the winter semester.

However, Ryerson’s proof of vaccination system has proven to be unreliable.

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What the Basin Media Hub means for the future of Toronto film

by Severina Chu
written by Severina Chu
The Basin Media Hub will offer more domestic shooting locations, and more job opportunities as a result. (Brands & People/Unsplash)

The recently announced Toronto Basin Media Hub aims to solidify the city’s influence on the mainstream film industry.

The proposal for a state-of-the-art film, television and media hub on Basin Street first came in late 2020 by CreateTO, an agency established by the city of Toronto to manage the city’s real estate assets.

A year later, the project was approved and on Nov. 16, Mayor John Tory officially announced Hackman Capital Partners and its affiliate, The MBS Group, as the developers and operators.

The proposed $250 million project aims to build an accessible, dedicated space for media creatives.

It will include eight sound stages, production office space and workshop and production support space, according to a news release. 

“The Basin Media Hub will be a vitally important, purpose-built asset in our rapidly growing inventory of space,” said Marguerite Pigott, the city of Toronto’s film commissioner and director of entertainment industries, in an email statement to On The Record.

Canada has become a top destination for filming, with cities like Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto becoming well-established production hubs.

According to Pigott, Toronto issues over 3,500 film permits per year for over 1,500 productions in the city.

For many American productions, the low value of the Canadian dollar makes the country an economical alternative shooting location.

Productions also choose to film in Canada because of the accessibility to a diverse spectrum of terrains, ranging from cities to mountains to oceans. 

“From a creative perspective, there’s so much potential here,” said Karen Harnisch, a producer in Toronto and assistant professor at the School of Image Arts.

With shooting space in high demand, Harnisch believes the Basin Media Hub will be an advancement in the city’s film infrastructure, making more production activity possible within the Greater Toronto Area.

However, the increase in space comes with a question: who will be able to access it?

“The parties that end up being able to scoop up studio spaces are the streamers and studios that have deep pockets,” said Harnisch, an alumna of Ryerson’s film studies program. “Independent producers and filmmakers often do get squeezed out of those sorts of opportunities and it’s quite likely that this new studio space will really be monopolized by those bigger players.”

In that case, Harnisch believes looking at the big picture is important.

Even if studio spaces are dominated by big names, these productions require large crews and will often look to employ local, independent talent to fill these positions, which is a good starting point for these creatives.

There have been some Canadian productions that have managed to make a name for themselves in the mainstream.

Shows like Schitt’s Creek and Workin’ Moms have enjoyed international recognition thanks in part to the rise of streaming services, with Netflix even choosing Toronto as the location for its Canadian corporate office. 

On the other hand, Canadian films are still looking to achieve that breakthrough amongst international audiences, while also trying to contend with tent-pole films and well-established franchises.

“Canadian films have always had a really hard time getting a foothold in both international and domestic theatrical releases,” said Harnisch.

“While we’ve had some really incredible creative and critical success in terms of domestic productions, we haven’t seen that home run commercial success just yet,” she said. “As a feature film producer, it’s almost like a moment of reckoning for our domestic industry.”

Although Toronto hosts a high number of productions every year, it’s relevant to note how many of them are actually considered true Canadian content — being authored and produced by Canadian voices and featuring Canadian talent.

In a November news release, the city of Toronto announced a $1 million fund alongside the Basin Media Hub to “support and encourage Canadian content creation.”

With Canadian creatives often finding it more feasible to join an American production, this fund hopes to keep local talent within the domestic industry.

“Generally speaking, when there are more jobs in Toronto, more creatives stay here. So growth of the industry generally supports talent retention,” said Pigott. 

For Marina Purdon, who works in various art department roles on sets, the hope is to stay in Canada for as long as she is able.

“​​I would love to be a part of the next great Canadian project and stay here as long as I choose to,” said Purdon, a former student of The Chang School’s certificate program in film studies.

She says that it is very encouraging to see Toronto’s film industry grow with direct support from the city, like with the Basin Media Hub.

“I want to see more recognition from other countries, as well as Canadian voices and stories being heard and told,” said Purdon. “We are a huge country with a minimal population, but the stories are rich and wonderful.”

Experts believe it will be important for projects dedicated to amplifying Canadian stories to ensure they are accurately representing the country’s diverse population.

Associations like the Indigenous Screen Office and Black Screen Office have been working for representation in Canadian film; carrying that work into the future will be the key to a successful domestic industry.

“I believe that our country is still working through a lot of issues and the way that we will tell stories about those issues is so much a part of our processing and healing,” said Harnisch. “But as a Canadian producer, I have made a conscious choice to stay in the Toronto area and I believe in Canadian content.”

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Ryerson’s proof of vaccine system leaves room for errors, experts say

by Elena De Luigi
written by Elena De Luigi
The RyersonSafe app is where Ryerson University staff, students and faculty are required to upload proof of vaccination, which is necessary to be on campus. An On The Record investigation has found the app approves every single submission, regardless of whether or not the person uploads their real vaccine receipt or a selfie. (Elena De Luigi/On The Record)

Ryerson University’s proof of vaccination system is expected to be put to the test in full force come January when tens of thousands of people are expected to return to campus. 

The system came into effect in September to comply with provincial mandates, and allows students, staff and faculty to submit their vaccination status through the RyersonSafe app. 

Users can log into the app, select the type of vaccine they received, and the date of each dose.

They are then prompted to upload a photo of their government-issued receipt which specifies the person has received two valid doses.

Once a person submits proof, a green QR code with the word “approved” pops up, and a confirmation email is sent to their inbox.

LISTEN: What Ryerson isn’t telling us about the return to campus

The idea is that the QR code is used to quickly ascertain a person’s vaccination status on campus.

Want to go to a game? Show your code. Want to visit the library? Show your code. Want to go to the gym? Show your code.

However, a lengthy On The Record investigation has found the RyersonSafe app is programmed to greenlight every single submission — regardless of whether or not the person uploads actual proof of vaccination.

According to Ryerson president Mohamed Lachemi, there is an internal auditing process to check the validity of each submission.

But a request for an interview with internal audit services was denied by university spokesperson Jessica Leach. She said she couldn’t say more, citing confidentiality.

The RyersonSafe app creator, AppArmor, did not respond to a request for comment. 

On The Record conducted an experiment with three people: two students and one staff member.

Each person was asked to upload false vaccine information along with a random photo to see if the RyersonSafe app’s software would recognize the difference. 

Screen recording shows a recreation of when teaching assistant Sarah Samuel submitted her false proof of vaccination to the RyersonSafe app for an On The Record experiment (she used editor-in-chief Elena De Luigi in lieu of her real supervisor). Samuel submitted false proof of vaccination twice, first with her first dose receipt and fake dates and second with a selfie, botched dates and vaccines. Both submissions were instantly approved. (Screen recording courtesy of Sarah Samuel)

In lieu of real proof, the three people uploaded a meme, a selfie, a view from a window, and a copy of one of the participant’s first-dose receipt.

Each time, Ryerson’s vaccine approval system instantly accepted the submissions and provided green QR codes allowing each participant to get on campus.

However, even once internal audit services became aware of the false information submitted by the three volunteers, it did not appear to take steps beyond emailing the staff member to implore them to give the correct information.

The staff member kept getting that greenlight each time they uploaded a false photo and fake vaccine dates. 

Liam Ruddy, a fourth-year political science student who participated in the experiment, said he now feels that Ryerson’s system is operating in a way that is designed to “make it look as safe as possible, when in actual fact, it’s not.” 

“I got that little green approved mark for literally uploading a meme,” he said. “That does not convince me in the slightest.”

RELATED: Ryerson 1 of only 7 Ontario universities choosing not to publicly report COVID-19 cases — even as a new variant sweeps the globe

Sydney Brasil, a graduating journalism student who also participated in the experiment, said it’s difficult to trust what now looks like a system that accepts submissions assumed to be made in good faith when providing vaccination records.

“If it is an honour system,” she wondered, “then how safe are we?”

If the information uploaded is never verified, it could potentially make people less inclined to follow the university’s pandemic policies, said Vass Bednar, executive director of the master of public policy program at McMaster University.

Teaching assistant Sarah Samuel received this email after submitting false proof of vaccination information to the RyersonSafe app for an On The Record experiment. Samuel first uploaded her first dose receipt and fake dates. Then she submitted a selfie with botched dates and vaccines. Both submissions were instantly approved. (Screenshot courtesy of Sarah Samuel)

“The institution is doing as much as it can to ensure a safe environment,” she said, “But at the end of the day, if people are putting others at risk, they should be held accountable, not Ryerson.”

Twice, teaching assistant Sarah Samuel put the app to the test. 

During both experiments, the app accepted her false submissions — a first-dose receipt with botched dates, then a selfie with fake dates and different vaccines — immediately, giving her a green QR code.

Four or five days after Samuel made her second false submission, Brian Reny, an employee in the university’s internal audit services office, followed up, asking her to resubmit actual proof of vaccination.

She did.

“I don’t know whether to trust this app or not,” Samuel told On The Record. “In a world where [everyone] is so misinformed right now, in terms of COVID, having more robust security, or internal audit tracking would alleviate stress.” 

Submitting false proof of vaccination could lead to criminal charges and jail time.

Under the Reopening Ontario Act, forging false documents comes with a $750 fine, which is subject to change. 

“These are the real consequences for this kind of behaviour,” said Constantine Karbaliotis, a privacy lawyer at nNovation LLP in Ottawa.

Karbaliotis said the repercussions students, staff or faculty could face if Ryerson caught them submitting false vaccine information depend on how serious the institution views the behaviour.

(Lachemi previously told On The Record that he doesn’t see “a need for us to police our community members.”)

However, Ryerson has been tightening vaccine restrictions over the course of the semester.

In November it imposed limits on receiving winter term schedules for those who hadn’t shared their vaccination status. 

The next step, according to the school, is to remove students who do not comply with the vaccine mandate from in-person classes.

Students risk losing access to key systems like RAMSS.

Students could also be disenrolled or suspended under Policy 61, the student code of non-academic conduct.

Faculty and staff have until Jan. 7, 2022 to be fully vaccinated or risk facing non-compliance measures.

In a statement, a university spokesperson said employees could be subject to “confidential” disciplinary action if they were found to have submitted false proof of vaccination. 

On Oct. 17, Rebecca Thompson, a fourth-year urban sustainability student who previously uploaded real proof of vaccination, uploaded a photo of the street outside her window as new proof to the app.

She plugged in botched dates and vaccines and pressed “submit.”

Not even 30 seconds later, a green QR code popped up on her phone, and a confirmation email landed in her inbox. Thompson waited for an internal audit employee to follow up, but they did not. 

“As an employer, or as an educational institution, or as a business establishment, you want to make sure that it’s a safe environment,” said Karbaliotis. “If you’re not actually enforcing a policy, or [holding] people’s feet to the fire about it, it’s very hard to discipline an employee for breaching it.” 

According to Ryerson’s office of administration and operations, submissions to the RyersonSafe app are initially auto-approved to “ensure speed of approval and access for our large population of community members.”

In the app, everyone is required to legally attest to the accuracy of their submission, and there is an expectation and requirement of compliance, it said in a statement.

“If, during a review of documentation uploaded to RyersonSafe, there is concern about the validity of a submission, the affected community member is followed up with and non-compliance or false submissions are addressed accordingly,” the office said in a written statement. 

“Health and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic is the individual and collective responsibility of all members of the university community.” 

The university said its internal audit services can forcibly change a green QR code to red if a person it identifies as having submitted false information fails to provide real proof.

It also says the app provides a red QR code for people who indicate they are not fully vaccinated. 

Throughout this fall semester, several students told On The Record that the university is rarely checking to see if they’ve submitted their proof of vaccination, or if they’ve completed the COVID-19 screening questionnaire each time they attend campus.

(The university said QR codes are checked at “certain campus locations before entry,” like the Mattamy Athletic Centre, the library, and others.) 

Lachemi previously defended the university’s COVID-19 vaccination policy, saying there are no plans to have campus security check people’s proof of vaccination as they walk through the door.

As of Nov. 25, 97 per cent of full-time employees have submitted their vaccination status. Of those, 97 per cent indicated they are fully vaccinated.

For part-time employees, 84 per cent have confirmed their vaccination status, and 99 per cent say they are fully vaccinated. 

The university said the majority of employees who have not yet provided their vaccination status have contracts that expire on or before the end of 2021.

The rest are either pursuing full vaccination or are not working on campus as a condition of their employment. 

As for the full-time student population, 93 per cent have submitted their proof of vaccination, with 96 per cent of them indicating they are fully vaccinated. 

The university has repeatedly declined requests to share the number of medical exemption requests that have been made and approved, citing privacy and confidentiality reasons.

Lachemi previously said it is “a small number.”

Lachemi said the university is aware of who is fully vaccinated or not based on a list of students attending in-person classes.

However, he wouldn’t say whether the university solely relies on the RyersonSafe app data to curate that list.

If it does, that could mean that not everyone the university thinks is vaccinated, actually is.

“I got that little green approved mark for literally uploading a meme. That does not convince me in the slightest.”

Liam Ruddy, Ryerson student

Ryerson told On The Record it uses the RyersonSafe app to track the status of everyone’s COVID-19 vaccination record so it can follow up with those who are not in compliance.

Thompson, who uploaded the view from her home as “proof,” now counts herself among those feeling unsafe.

After participating in the experiment, she’s skeptical of whether the university’s COVID-19 policies are actually working.

“It definitely makes me question everyone else’s vaccination status … Literally anyone can say they’ve been vaccinated [even] if they haven’t with this system, which is a little nerve-racking because people could just be lying, going on campus without their vaccines,” she said. “The whole reason we have this system is to prevent that. So if the system is broken, or not doing its job, then what’s the point of even having it?”

Ruddy said he was “insulted and disappointed” when he saw the system accepted his false information.

It makes him feel like the university’s policies give its community members a false sense of hope ahead of January’s in-person return, he said.

It’s possible that the RyersonSafe app’s automatic greenlight in cases where a person falsely submits proof of vaccination is the result of a failure to thoroughly test parts of the app during product development, said Lakshmi Baskaran, vice-president of engineering for SEDNA Systems. 

“When you build the software, you [must] ensure that the software is thoroughly tested, especially in a product or an app like this where the product or an app deals with a user’s personal identification information,” Baskaran said. “The software should be tested to ensure that there are no loopholes.” 

She suggested the university subject the RyersonSafe app to more negative test cases to close the loopholes and make sure the app does not approve fake vaccine information and photos.

For example, Baskaran explained, a pending process could be put in place to give the university time to review each submission.

Then the school could ensure it is only approving vaccine certificates once they are verified.  

“We as software developers have to ensure that the products we build are safe, secure and reliable,” she said, calling it an “ethical obligation.”

The university did not respond to a question about whether it would consider implementing a pending process that does not automatically greenlight people who submit proof of vaccination even if the “proof” isn’t real. 

The easy fix, Karbaliotis said, is to use the province’s certificate.

That certificate also operates a QR code system. Businesses can use it, but they aren’t mandated to. Karbaliotis wonders if that might change. 

“It’s tied to your name,” he said, so it will “prevent the editing of PDFs approach, which is allowing this kind of craziness to go on.”

READ THE FULL SERIES: The great campus return?

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AudioFeatured StoryGreat ReturnOn CampusRyerson NewsStudentsThe Great Campus ReturnTopTop stories

What Ryerson isn’t telling us about the return to campus

by Rachael Masih, Naama Weingarten and Masih K
written by Rachael Masih, Naama Weingarten and Masih K

Graphic by Masih K

Winter is coming, bringing with it Ryerson University’s long-awaited mass return to campus. The schools is confident in its health and safety plan. But others? Less so. According to a Ryerson Faculty Association poll, 68 per cent of respondents think winter is too soon for a return.

At issue? A lack of clear communication from the university, the adequacy of existing health and safety guidelines, the emergence of the omicron variant and Ontario’s rising case count.

In this episode of On The Record, we explore the university’s transparency—or lack thereof.

We’re joined by a special guest: our very own editor-in-chief, Elena De Luigi. De Luigi tells us about the flaw she’s found in Ryerson’s vaccine submission system, and the questions it raises about the sufficiency of the university’s safeguards.

RELATED: Ryerson’s proof of vaccine system leaves room for errors, experts say

Key points

1:26 — Ryerson’s plan for the return to campus

6:30 — The Ryerson Faculty Association’s response

9:15 — Ryerson vaccination policy

10:47 — Investigation into the RyersonSafe app

15:48 — Ryerson’s covid case reporting process

A few university responses trickled in after we recorded. Here are the highlights from spokesperson Jessica Leach:

  • On why the university is confident in its vaccine system: “Community members are required to legally attest to the accuracy of their submission.”
  • On the RyersonSafe app’s automatic greenlights: “Submissions to RyersonSafe are initially auto-approved to ensure speed of approval and access for our large population of community members.”
  • On the followup to incorrect greenlights: “The affected community member is followed up with and non-compliance or false submissions are addressed accordingly.” 
  • On the value of QR codes if they’re not checked at every building: “QR codes are just one element of a multi-faceted approach to health and safety measures on campus.”
  • On why the university doesn’t say where confirmed cases happen: “Given this small number [of cases], there is an increased risk of community members being able to determine the identity of an individual based on the location, date, and/or circumstances of the case information, even if information is shared anonymously.”

Who we spoke with in order of appearance

Ian Sakinofsky, president of the Ryerson Faculty Association

Jeffrey Siegel, air filtration specialist at the University of Toronto

Mohamed Lachemi, president of Ryerson University

Elena De Luigi, editor-in-chief of On The Record

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Featured StoryGreat ReturnPandemicStudentsThe Great Campus ReturnTopTop stories

Pandemic learning left students with ADHD behind. Here’s how a campus return could fix that

by Simone Gavros
written by Simone Gavros
Courtesy of Pixabay

In high school, Reta found the rigid class structure and strong sense of community to be grounding. It allowed them to do fairly well academically. 

The 20-year-old — who On The Record is only identifying by their first name due to worries about family finding out about their diagnosis — started at Ryerson in September as a first-year arts student.

Suddenly, they were in charge of staying on top of their deadlines independently. They lost the ability to socialize in person, making the shift even more isolating. It got to the point where they felt like they were “dying academically” and starting to miss their high school environment.

“I always felt like a fire would get set and I would be putting it out, and then another fire would be set,” Reta said. “Basically, I couldn’t manage my time.”

Reta always had a strong suspicion that they had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) but last year, during a brief stint at Seneca College, they chalked it up to the usual post-secondary experience. The jarring experience of shifting to a university workload in an online learning environment pushed them to book an appointment at the university’s medical centre. Reta received a diagnosis in October.

Education experts say it’s been a challenge for students with ADHD to make the jump to online learning in an education system that is already not designed for students with a learning disability. 

RELATED: Why compassion is key to making January’s return to in-person learning smooth

RELATED: Students, profs find the ‘silver lining’ in remote classes

With a return to campus imminent, the issue is even more prevalent, as students with ADHD, who have managed to adapt, face the challenges of reintegrating to in-person learning. Since research into the impact that remote learning has had on students with ADHD is an evolving topic, researchers say it’s still too soon to tell what the long-term effects will be — but they expect it’s going to have a significant impact.

“We’re still in the process of learning exactly what happened to students during the pandemic, and actively thinking, ‘What are the lessons that we can learn and take moving forward,’” said Ken Chatoor, senior researcher at Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO).

It’s not uncommon for online learning to make someone realize they have ADHD, said Annie Desrochers. She’s often the first point of contact as the resource navigator at the Centre for ADHD Awareness Canada (CADDAC).

“Many of the phone calls that I got of the post-secondary education students were students who did not know prior to [the pandemic] that they had ADHD,” she said. “All of a sudden, because of the change of the way they had to learn, it was made evident that they struggled.”

ADHD affects about three to five per cent of adults, according to CADDAC. It’s estimated that 1.1 million Canadian adults have ADHD.

Brittany Burek, a psychology PhD candidate at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, describes the process of searching and learning online as non-linear. Burek is currently studying topics relating to online learning comprehension for post-secondary students with learning and attention disorders.

She says students can go in all sorts of directions and end up down rabbit holes if they get distracted, especially when looking at a screen that can both entertain and teach.

“For neurodiverse students, there’s a greater chance of that happening more often and/or it being more impairing,” Burek said.

Figuring out strategies for staying on task is all about knowing your individual strengths and weaknesses, especially for students who made the jump to an environment dependent on self-regulated learning, said Burek. 

Being online gives students access to great tools like spellcheck and bookmarking to find information easily. She recommends setting short timers just to get going on an assignment, talking with peers to increase clarity, and even creating a different profile on your computer for work and for play — suggestions students can carry with them when they make the switch back to in-person.

Although online learning has been a difficult adjustment for neurodiverse and neurotypical students alike, the distractions are more extreme for students with ADHD. They may have executive functioning challenges that impact behaviours like time management and prioritizing tasks, according to an ADDitude article.

Graphic by Zehra Raza

Reta said learning online has been a learning experience in itself — but also a journey of growth.

In-person classes, which Reta had in high school, held Reta accountable because they would know a professor would be looking for their face and would feel guilty if they didn’t go. With online recorded lectures, it was a different story.

“I would rather bite off my own fingers than watch it on my own time,” they said. “There doesn’t seem to be any sense of reason to do it, even though I know logically I should.”

Reta said they’re a little scared when it comes to getting back into an in-person routine. They wonder whether in-person delivery will be as beneficial as they think. After all, Reta knows that online learning has its upsides and downsides, and the pressure to perform will make a campus return a little more stressful.  

“I’m an undeclared [major], so right now is a very pivotal time,” they said. “I have to keep my GPA up if I want to apply to specific majors.”

Cher — a Ryerson student who is only being identified by her first name out of fear her diagnosis might impact her employability — had a terrible online learning experience. Once the pandemic hit, she had to set up her own at-home workspace, which came filled with distractions. Family intrusions, friend intrusions, and easy access to kitchen snacks made breaking focus all too easy. Once that happened, it was hard to get back on track. 

Cher said she was able to find a good working rhythm following her ADHD diagnosis three years ago, thanks to studying in the Student Learning Centre. Seeing other people working helped motivate her.

“You miss everything,” Cher said of the virtual shift. “You miss going to campus, you miss interacting with your peers, you miss seeing your professor and looking at them, and taking notes as they speak to you.”

To combat getting distracted, Cher finds it useful to keep visual reference of her tasks by writing them down. She estimates how long each task would take, and checks them off her list as she completes them.

“I always felt like a fire would get set and I would be putting it out, and then another fire would be set.”

Reta, student with ADHD

Reta uses note-taking as a strategy to keep themselves on track. But they also stress the importance of staying engaged with other students — be it on Discord or a WhatsApp group chat. It’s a way not to feel so alone, they said.

Robyn Stephens, a clinical neuropsychologist and assistant professor in psychiatry at the University of Toronto, worries about the social and emotional development that students with ADHD have been missing out on for nearly two years.

People with ADHD typically have a disconnect between intellectual maturity and emotional and social maturity, Stephens explained. While their intellectual maturity and abilities are often well-developed, their emotional and social maturity has been clinically found to lag behind by a year or two. The lag eventually catches up, she said — sometime before a person’s mid-20s. 

“Now they’re going back into the classroom…potentially three or four years emotionally and socially behind their peers,” Stephens said. “There’s a lot of work that’s going to need to be done on helping these students learn and develop their social and emotional coping skills and interactive skills.”

HEQCO’s 2020 study on lessons and recommendations for remote learning stresses that post-secondary schools should keep some tools in mind when moving into the winter semester. 

“A big part of it will be giving people options and keeping those options that were there during the pandemic that worked for people. Make sure that they’re still available to people as you move forward,” said Chatoor, the HEQCO researcher.

Thanks to the Neurodiverse Students’ Association created earlier this year, Reta and Cher said they were able to connect with other neurodiverse students for a sense of community they’ve long been craving.

“There’s a little bit of increased compassion and understanding,” Reta said. “I love that because you don’t always get that sort of understanding from a group.” 

RELATED: More online therapy key to dealing with growing demands for mental health counselling

RELATED: Amid worsening mental health, students are anxious to return to in-person classes

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