Hot cars can kill dogs, inspector warns -- by Barbara Elve

“I was only gone 15 minutes,” is a familiar refrain to Kitchener-Waterloo Humane Society inspector Gary Boes. He was on campus at noon on Wednesday to investigate another incident of a dog being left in a car as temperatures soared.

The culprit, parked in the Hagey Hall service area, managed to make a getaway before the inspector and UW police constable Roman Hlavac arrived on the scene. However, Boes, using an infrared thermometer, found the interior of a car parked in the same area to be over 50 C.

A dog can withstand temperatures of 41 C for only a very short time before brain damage or death occurs, he said. Especially vulnerable are young or elderly dogs, or those on medication. “When heat advisories are issued, they apply to animals, too,” he says, advising people to take extra precautions to ensure their pets don’t overheat.

Under the Criminal Code of Canada, says Boes, a person convicted of failure to provide suitable food, water, shelter and care for their animal can be fined, imprisoned and have a criminal record. “It doesn’t look great on a resume,” he adds.

It’s not the first time he’s been called to campus this summer, and he hopes getting the word out will prevent future incidents. “Temperatures inside a parked car — even with the windows open and in the shade — can reach very dangerous levels even on a relatively mild summer day.”

UW police staff sergeant Wayne Shortt echoes the warning. “The inside of a car becomes a furnace very quickly.”

Anyone observing an animal suffering on campus should contact UW police at ext. 4911 with the exact location of the pet in distress and the vehicle licence number. Off campus, call the Humane Society at 745-5615.

Grants help 'internationalize' courses -- last of three articles by Barbara Elve

Another faculty member who will be making use of a "course internationalization grant" this year is the well-traveled Doris Jakobsh (right). Her focus on women in world religions, especially those in Eastern traditions, has been enhanced by the use of an internationalization grant to purchase films, including Women of the Sand (about nomadic Islamic women in the Sahara), The Sisters of Ladakh (about Tibetan nuns), and Bearing the Heat: Mother Goddess Worship in South India.

Because many of the courses she teaches explore Eastern religions, Jakobsh says she is "literally forced to internationalize to keep the course materials vibrant and timely."

For Religious Studies 348 (Gender in Asian Religions), students watch weekly films that "portray the religious realities of women in Eastern religions." The films spark class discussion, and guest speakers -- also funded by the internationalization grants -- complement the film experience with talks about their own reality as immigrants from Asian countries.

The use of both films and speakers helps students "engage more effectively in the course materials," says Jakobsh, and personalize learning "through the voices of real people."

Lowell Ewert (left), director of the Peace and Conflict Studies program, will use his internationalization grant to support the Human Rights in the Marketplace (PACS 324) course he teaches this fall.

"I chose this course because it deals with emerging international issues surrounding how businesses and corporations are attempting to be more human-rights sensitive in their work," he explains.

Guests from Asia and the Middle East "who have first-hand knowledge about the connection between human rights and business" will visit his class via speaker phone. Among them: an artisan who sells crafts to a fair trade organization, a representative from a bank in Egypt "which has adopted an interesting lending strategy based on human rights," a child worker in Egypt "who has been associated with a small business that received a human rights-sensitive loan," and others.

"The purpose of incorporating these persons into class by phone is to enable them to speak from their own perspective. Too often others speak for the poor, and I would like to invite those with first-hand experience to reflect their own views on the difficult and challenging topic of business and human rights," he says. Ewert himself has extensive international development experience, including field work in Lebanon, Jordan and Kazakhstan.

In an effort to encourage more faculty members to apply for the grants, Brandt's office is working with Teaching Resources and Continuing Education to offer workshops on a regular basis for professors and teaching assistants to exchange ideas on how best to internationalize their courses.

Students call for national accord on education

The Council of the Federation, comprised of Canada’s 13 provincial and territorial premiers, meets in Banff this week to discuss important issues such as energy, health care, and education. Student groups across the country, including the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance and the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, are taking the opportunity to lobby for support of higher education. On Wednesday, UW’s Federation of Students issued a press release calling on the premiers “to make higher education a priority.”

“We urge all premiers to seize the opportunity to begin serious discussions on improving the state of post-secondary education in our country,” said John Andersen, FEDS president. “The Council of the Federation is a key opportunity to begin discussions on a Pan-Canadian Accord.”

The release continues: Creating a Pan-Canadian Accord goes hand-in-hand with the creation of a dedicated federal transfer earmarked specifically for post-secondary education. “A dedicated transfer payment and a Post-Secondary Education Act similar to the Canada Health Act, would provide the framework for a national strategy for improving quality and ensuring accessibility and quality from coast to coast,” added Howie Bender, vice president education.

“The design of this transfer arrangement will require federal, provincial and territorial agreement on a vision, a set of principles, and an action plan that will ensure funds are invested in post-secondary education while respecting the provinces’ jurisdictional right to set their own post-secondary education priorities,” said Bender.

 

 

 

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