The University of Manitoba, as it exists now, was established in 1877 through an act of provincial legislation to allow various colleges in Manitoba to confer degrees to their students. These colleges, operating in various neighbourhoods and municipalities, worked together through an affiliation with the UM to increase their programming and adopt the degree programs present in Eastern Canada at the time. The original founding colleges were the Catholic St. Boniface College in St. Boniface, Manitoba; the Presbyterian Manitoba College in Winnipeg, Manitoba; and the Anglican St. John’s College in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Old St. John’s College at the turn of the century, courtesy of Archives and Special Collections

At its inception, UM was more like a network of affiliated institutions collaborating on educational matters such as mandatory courses and graduation criteria- but operating in a diverse way according to the linguistic and denominational needs of the communities they served.

The UM continued to expand, with more colleges joining the university such as the Manitoba Medical College in 1882, the Methodist Wesley College (later United College) in 1888, the Manitoba College of Pharmacy in 1901, and the Manitoba Agriculture College (the current administration building) in 1906. The latter was the beginning of the Fort Garry Campus.

Astute students may make two observations. Wesley College? Doesn’t that share a name with the Wesley Hall at the University of Winnipeg? That is correct! In fact, Wesley College and Manitoba College merged to become United College which, in 1967, became the University of Winnipeg. Another college, Brandon College, which joined in 1938, also became its own institution in 1967 as Brandon University. More recently, the Université de Saint-Boniface (USB) became its own institution in 2011. Throughout its history, different institutions have joined or left UM depending on their educational needs. St. Andrew’s College, for example, is one of the newest additions to UM network, while USB remains affiliated with UM. In some instances, the affiliation process isn’t as simple as just joining. The Catholic St. Paul’s College, for example, joined UM in 1931 when the Catholic Church bought the former Manitoba College building, before eventually relocating to the Fort Garry Campus. As illustrated, UM is much, much more than just the Fort Garry Campus.

Another observation astute students may have made related to the Fort Garry Campus. Despite the Agricultural College joining in 1906, the UM has operated since 1877. Where, then, was the UM? Until the 1960s the UM actually had a downtown campus on Broadway. Its centrality made it a stone’s throw from many of the colleges affiliated with the university. The building sadly no longer exists, and Memorial Park is where the campus once was. All that remains are some of the stones from the foundation which are outside of the Armes Building. See if you can spot them by the date inscribed on the stone next time you have classes there. In addition to the Broadway campus, the UM also made use of the former Law Courts as the university grew.

Today, UM has four colleges with their own student associations and student services: St. Andrew’s College, St. John’s College, St. Paul’s College, and University College. Consider joining one of the colleges to find your community on campus. UM also has numerous campuses and programs providing education and research opportunities across the city of Winnipeg and the province of Manitoba.

This has been but one quick dive into the history of UM. The Archives and Special Collections has compiled a list of web resources with information on UM’s past. For students wanting to engage with UM’s past, the Archives and Special Collections are located on the third floor of Elizabeth Dafoe Library and can be contacted at archives[at]umanitoba[dot]ca. Thanks to the dedicated work of archivists and researchers, students in the present can better understand what it was like for students in the past, and to connect the programs and education of UM in a larger chain of post-secondary education in the province and Western Canada.

The names on the sides of the memorial are weathered and faded now, as are the memories of the men behind them, and even awareness of the monument itself. The Manitoban published articles about it in 1949, 1951 and 1963, and it was featured in a 1994 UM Alumni Journal article about WWI memorials on campus. But little has been written since then to remind the UM community of what it represents.

Before University Centre was built in 1970, the monument had a more prominent location across from the Administration Building. Although it has not moved far from its earlier location, the area has built up around it and it is now in an isolated spot that sees very little traffic.

The 11th Field Ambulance supported the 4th Canadian Division and was at many of the major battles in the First World War. Its role was to evacuate the wounded to medical stations away from the front lines. It was dangerous work, and many were killed in action as they tried to aid the wounded.

Diary of the Eleventh, held in the Elizabeth Dafoe Library, details the unit’s mobilization and active service in France and Belgium. It was written during and after the war by members of the unit at the suggestion of their commanding officer, Lt.-Col. Heber Moshier, who was killed in action in 1918. It was donated to the library in 1955 by Christopher T. Best, who had designed the memorial and was a member of the 11th.

Photos of the officers of the 11th Field Ambulance are held in the Faculty of Medicine Archives  and Archives & Special Collections holds issues of the unit’s trench newspaper, called M & D (Medicine & Duty), which was published by the soldiers during the war . The Archives also has two artifacts from the 11th that were donated by Dr. Thomas A. Pincock on behalf of Dr. James M. Brown, who became a professor of agriculture at UM. Both had been members of the unit. The first artifact is a circular Red Cross badge that would have been worn by the soldiers on their sleeves. The second item is a strip of cloth with pointed ends and a Red Cross in the centre. A note with the item refers to it as an ‘epaulette,’ however, several WWI experts that were consulted suggest that it may be an armband.

In honour of Remembrance Day, and to rekindle the memory of the fallen, visit the digital presentation about the memorial and the lives of the men it commemorates. They were, and are, more than just faded names carved in stone. They had friends and families and hopes and dreams for the future – a future that was cut short for them.

Lest we forget.

Wayne Chan [BSc/93, BA/00] is a research computer analyst for the Centre for Earth Observation Science. He is an avid researcher who loves history and contributes stories discovered from his research.

“It’s a tremendous collection for anybody interested in music history, the history of Winnipeg or even the writing and publishing process,” says Heather Bidzinski, the university’s Head of Archives and Special Collections, who calls the Einarson Collection one of the most significant acquisitions of contemporary music history in the post-secondary institution’s own 56-year history.

Einarson’s donation coincides with the publication of his 21st book, Words and Music: The Stories Behind the Books, which across 318 pages puts the author at the heart of the narrative, subtly making the case that the quiet, buttoned-down high school history teacher is just as fascinating as the artists who have seized his fastidious attention since he was a Grant Park student with hair down to his shoulders and a guitar strap slung around his neck.

To read the full story, please visit Winnipeg Free Press. 

Backstage Pass celebrates the acquisition of the John Einarson Collection by Archives & Special Collections. The collection represents the writing career of noted music historian, broadcaster, educator and UM alum John Einarson [BA/73, CERTED/78].  

John Einarson is well-known for authoring over a dozen books including biographies of Neil Young, The Guess Who, and many more rock legends, as well as opening for Led Zeppelin with his band Euphoria at 17. As a musician turned archivist herself, Heather Bidzinski, Head of Archives & Special Collections, is “thrilled the University of Manitoba was chosen as the repository for this rich assortment of interview materials, photos, draft manuscripts, and recordings.” 

Backstage Pass: Behind the Scenes of John Einarson’s Words and Music, is an exclusive look at the creative process and fascinating journey of John Einarson from stage to page. The exhibit peels back the layers of Einarson’s exciting career from opening act to award-winning author through photos, artifacts and papers from the John Einarson collection. 

The exhibit will be open to the public from October 10, 2024, to March 31, 2025, at the University of Manitoba Libraries Archives & Special Collections (330 Elizabeth Dafoe Library, 25 Chancellors Circle)  

Archives & Special Collections is open to the public Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. 

At the University of Manitoba, Bisons are at the centre of health care, finance, Reconciliation and so much more. Wherever there’s a challenge, you’ll find UM alumni leading the charge. Explore the Bisons at the Centre campaign and meet the alumni shaping Manitoba and beyond. 

“I congratulate all of these researchers on their success in expanding the scope and impacts of their research programs,” said Dr. Mario Pinto, Vice-President (Research and International). “This funding advances UM strategic priorities for research with, by and for Indigenous Peoples, among others, by providing critical platforms, one of the four Ps in our Strategic Research Plan”.

Dr. Lara Rosenoff Gauvin (Anthropology, Faculty of Arts), Dr. Laura Kelvin (Anthropology, Faculty of Arts) and Heather Bidzinski, (Archives & Special Collections)

The Heart: Multiple Pathways to Indigenous Heritage Rematriation

Guided by The Respectful Rematriation and Repatriation Ceremony at UM and Agvituk Heritage Access and Care, “The Heart” project is part of an ongoing transformation of heritage research, policy and practice in Manitoba and Canada.

This new research infrastructure will include a physical centre on campus and a mobile unit for the repatriation and rematriation of cultural heritage currently housed at the UM. It is supported by a part-time Elder-in-residence and a technology suite for community-controlled work.

Dr. Rosenoff Gauvin

Dr. Kelvin

Heather Bidzinski

Dr. Brosowsky

Dr. Nicholaus Brosowsky (Psychology, Faculty of Arts)

The Immersive Cognition Laboratory

This project seeks to understand how we focus our attention in everyday situations using advanced virtual reality technologies including eye-tracking motion-capture VR and a driving simulator. The research will inform actionable solutions to improve road safety and provide better cognitive health support for the aging population.

Trainees in the Brosowsky lab will gain a deep understanding of behavioural science and will high-level technical skills empowered to address public safety and healthcare challenges in Canada.

Dr. Alley

Dr. Karen Alley (Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources):

Imaging Inaccessible Ice: Glacier Monitoring at the Ice-Ocean Interface

By obtaining detailed observations of the interactions between glaciers and ocean water, Dr. Alley seeks to better predict the rate of future global sea-level rise. 

This project will deploy autonomous vehicles using ice-penetrating technologies at ocean-terminating glaciers in Nunavut in collaboration with local communities. Complementary infrastructure will monitor ocean and atmospheric temperature, as well as ice-front calving, glacier speed and surface hydrology.

Dr. Gao

Dr. Xiaopeng Gao (Soil Science, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences):

Optimizing Soil Fertility Management for Better Grain Nutritional Quality

This research aims to address soil fertility issues to enhance crop production and improve nutritional quality, thereby supporting Canada in producing higher-value grain products and strengthening its global competitiveness in the grain market. The newly funded infrastructure includes a growth room, UV spectrophotometer, and specialized root-testing lysimeters, enabling Dr. Gao to simulate climate change scenarios and investigate nutrient flow from soil to plants to humans.

Dr. Marcogliese

Dr. Beattie

Dr. Paul Marcogliese and Dr. Robert Beattie (Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences):

Functional Integration of Neurogenetics in Development & Disease

The Marcogliese and Beattie labs have found synergies in studying the genetic roots of neurological disorders affecting movement and will use newly funded automated tools for state-of-the-art precision motor assessment in animal models.

In combination with the newly acquired high-end super-resolution microscope which allows for tracking changes in motor and neuronal function at the single-cell level, the team aims to generate high-quality data that will aid in diagnosis and enable the assessment of drug efficacy. These advances are critical for targeting disorders with little to no effective treatment strategies.

Dr. Mendelson

Dr. Asher Mendelson (Internal Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences):

Microvascular Physiology, Exercise, and Muscle Research Facility for Studying Critical Illness

Dr. Mendelson seeks to establish a UM Microvascular Physiology, Exercise, and Muscle Research Facility located at the site of clinical care at Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg and UM Bannatyne campus.

This facility will comprise state-of-the-art tools to evaluate microvascular blood flow, oxygen utilization and muscle strength during exercise. Discoveries from this research will improve diagnosis and treatment during and after ICU admission for Canadians suffering from critical illness.

Dr. Rosell

Dr. Cristina M. Rosell (Food and Human Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences):

Platform maximizing the value of co-products from plant-protein processing

Canada is a global leader in plant protein production, however new techniques used to obtain high-purity protein from cereals and pulses also generates copious waste.

Enhanced by this new research capacity, the Rosell lab will offer a unique interdisciplinary training environment while adding value to nonprotein co-products. By improving the sustainability of Canada’s plant protein industry this research will alleviate environmental and economic impacts of undervalued waste.

Dr. Uyaguari-Diaz

Dr. Miguel Uyaguari-Diaz (Microbiology, Faculty of Science):

Promoting equitable access to safe water in First Nations and urban communities by assessing water safety and security

New sequencing tools and sample preparation platforms provided by this funding will allow researchers to analyze microbes and antibiotic resistance in the water infrastructures of First Nation communities of Manitoba for the first time ever.

Studies enabled with this new infrastructure will generate the metagenomic libraries needed to identify clinically important pathogens with antimicrobial resistance in the environment. The long-term goals of Dr. Uyaguari-Diaz will develop new diagnostic tools identifying human and environmental health risks facilitating rapid remedial actions in affected communities.

Winnipeg’s Weather Station History

St. John’s College, ca. 1880s. (Credit: Archives & Special Collections)

Canada’s meteorological service was founded in 1871, and a station was established in Winnipeg at St. John’s College in the same year. By 1873, Winnipeg had two official weather stations: St. John’s, one of the university’s founding colleges, was a Chief Station, which made eight observations daily. A second station, operated by James Stewart at his downtown drugstore, was a Reporting Telegraph Station, responsible for transmitting observations daily to Toronto and Washington, DC. In May 1882, the college assumed both roles, after Stewart’s resignation.

At the time, St. John’s College was located in the North End, on the shore of the Red River in the vicinity of St. John’s Cathedral. A meteorological observation tower was added to the river side of the building in 1874, and the college’s first anemometer (measuring wind speed and direction) was installed there.  The instrument was dedicated to the memory of Margaret Macallum, whose father was the headmaster of the Red River Academy, the forerunner of St. John’s College. It bore the inscription: “In memory of Marie Margaret Macallum. This register of the winds, one of the latest triumphs of science and art, has been planted on her natal place, the earliest centre of civilization in this lonely and boundless land, by her bereaved mother and sister, MDCCCLXXIV”.

Page from St. John’s College meteorological register for April 1876. Note the comment for April 19 regarding the river rising and the appearance of geese and cranes. (Credit: Archives & Special Collections)

How Observing Worked

As a Chief Station, college staff or students had to take observations every three hours, day and night, and record them in a meteorological register. Three of these daily observations were telegraphed using a special weather code to Toronto and Washington, DC, the headquarters of the Canadian and American weather services, respectively, as there was a reciprocal agreement between the two nations to exchange weather information.

By the 1920s, the St. John’s weather station was in disrepair. An inspector commented that the instrument enclosure (Stevenson screen) was located near a playground and was subject to frequent tampering. The inspector witnessed firsthand people going up to it and shaking it “to pieces”. He noted dryly that “this was not conducive to good records”.

After observations at St. John’s College were discontinued in 1932, the official Winnipeg weather station was moved to the UM’s Fort Garry campus and located on the second floor of the Chemistry & Physics Building (now 55 Chancellors Circle), but its data is considered part of the St. John’s College climatological record.  The station remained there until 1938, when it was moved to Stevenson Field (now the Winnipeg Richardson International Airport), where it continues to operate today.

Location of weather station in the former Chemistry & Physics Building (55 Chancellors Circle), ca. 1930s. Note the anemometer on the roof. (Credit: Archives & Special Collections)

Another station may have operated on campus in the 1940s, but very little is known about it. The geographic coordinates provided by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) place it in Assiniboine Forest, which may be incorrect, as other metadata locates it at the Fort Garry campus. It appears to have been maintained by the Department of Soil Sciences and was perhaps related to the department’s research. At the request of the University of Manitoba, a government station was re-established at the Fort Garry campus in 1961 and operated until 1968. Located near 264C Freedman Crescent, it was probably installed to monitor weather conditions for the nearby experimental agricultural plots in the oxbow of the Red River (known as the Point Lands). A weather station operated by the Department of Plant Science since 1995 continues to be situated in the Point Lands.

Observing Weather on Campus Today

Although the university no longer hosts any official ECCC weather station, meteorological observations have continued at various times on campus. In addition to the station operated by Plant Science, the Centre for Earth Observation Science (CEOS) in the Department of Environment & Geography had a weather station and all-sky camera system atop the Wallace Building from 2004–2011.

Since then, a meteorological tower has been running at the Sea-ice Environmental Research Facility (SERF) in the Smartpark Innovation Hub, along with a targeted weather balloon program that began in 2013. If summer severe weather is possible, trained Atmospheric Science students will launch a balloon that provides vital atmospheric data for weather forecasters to assess the likelihood of severe storms in the Red River Valley. This balloon program is supported by UM researchers and ECCC.

UM student Shayla Trippier launching a weather balloon at the Sea-ice Environmental Research Facility (SERF) in 2023. (Credit: John Hanesiak)

UM Archives & Special Collections has an original meteorological register from St. John’s College for 1876. It is currently on display in the Archives Reading Room as part of an exhibit related to the “Silk Dress Cryptogram”, a mysterious code found in a Victorian-era dress that was recently solved. The code turned out to be weather observations from 1888, one of which was from St. John’s College.

Additional Resources & Images

Link to “Breaking the Silk Dress Cryptogram” article: https://canwin-datahub.ad.umanitoba.ca/data/publication/breaking-silk-dress-cryptogram/resource/ed7d67d0-5563-4747-8a32-380fc413fda3

“Since telegraph companies charged by the number of words in a telegram, codes to compress a message to reduce the number of words became popular,” wrote researcher Wayne Chan from the University of Manitoba, when explaining the topic in an academic paper published in August of 2022.

For example, Chan notes, “A phrase such as “The crew are all drunk” may be substituted with a codeword such as “CRIMPING.”

It’s not all that different from what people do with texts on their cell phones today, Chan explains.

Read here

All trails lead to Win-ni-peg /
Where the prair-ie road-ways join /
All rails lead to Win-ni-peg /
By the Red and A-ssin-i-boine

On the eve of Winnipeg’s 150th anniversary, it may come as a surprise to learn that the city has had an official song for close to 100 years.

In 1925, “All Trails Lead to Winnipeg” was selected by Mayor Ralph Webb as Winnipeg’s official melody. The song, composed in ragtime-style by Jonathan Hughes Arnett, won the mayor’s prize of $50 for the best song and music about the city.

The song was widely promoted and copies of the sheet music could be bought for 35 cents. In the words of Mayor Webb, “It is a wonderful song, and, with the musical accompaniment, is likely to become very popular. In fact, I am most hopeful that the citizens will take it up and make it a real Winnipeg song. It is my intention to have it sung at all theatres and at all gatherings of men and women, and I will try also to have the schools take it up.”

“All Trails Lead to Winnipeg” was performed publicly for the first time by the Rotary Club Minstrels at the Walker Theatre on March 25, 1925. In subsequent decades, the song was performed at milestone civic anniversaries, including Winnipeg’s 75th anniversary in 1949 and its centennial in 1974. (Although Winnipeg’s incorporation was on November 8, 1873, the anniversary is usually dated from the first civic election and first city council meeting in January 1874.)

Jonathan Hughes Arnett was a schoolteacher who had taught in various communities in Manitoba, including Gilbert Plains, Treherne and Wawanesa (about which he wrote a song). He was a well-known local musician who often led the singing at church services and camp jamborees. In addition to songs about Winnipeg and Wawanesa, Arnett penned compositions about Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Canada, as well as spiritual songs. He died in 1953 at the age of 74. Among Arnett’s descendants are his grandson, UM alumnus E. James Arnett [BA/59; LLB/63], who was the president and CEO of Molson Breweries, and James’ eldest son, actor Will Arnett.

The University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections acquired a copy of the sheet music for this song in 2019. The cover of the six-page folio shows a photo of Winnipeg’s skyline and an illustration of cars, trucks and trains all converging on a golden gateway. At the top are two sheaves of wheat flanking the original City of Winnipeg crest. On the verso side of the cover page is a list of songs composed by Arnett. The musical score has a Canadian and American copyright of 1925. On the back cover of the folio is the song, “Wawanesa, You Are Calling Me”.

Recordings of “All Trails Lead to Winnipeg” seem to be few and far between, but a piano rendition of the song was performed by local musician Grant Simpson in 2020. According to Simpson, he came across the song while he was living in the Yukon and kept the sheet music on his dashboard as he drove a U-Haul to Manitoba five years ago. After settling in Winnipeg, he decided to try his hand at performing it during the pandemic.

The sheet music is part of the ephemera collection in the Archives & Special Collections Rare Book Room in the Elizabeth Dafoe Library. Please view the library catalogue for more information, or contact Archives & Special Collections.

Wayne Chan [BSc/93, BA/00] is a research computer analyst for the Centre for Earth Observation Science. He is an avid researcher who loves history and contributes stories discovered from his research.

Louis Slotin during Manhattan Project, ca. 1944. Credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Shortly after 3:20 p.m. on May 21, 1946, University of Manitoba alumnus and physicist Louis Slotin walked out of a laboratory at Los Alamos, New Mexico, home of the Manhattan Project. He didn’t seem much different than he had been moments earlier, but he knew that he was now a dead man walking.

With the war over, Slotin had been looking forward to returning to the University of Chicago in the fall, and was demonstrating a critical mass experiment to his replacement, Alvin Graves, and six others.

The demonstration was one that he had performed many times before. It involved a softball-sized plutonium core nestled in an upward-facing hemisphere of beryllium. As another hemisphere was slowly lowered over the core, neutrons were increasingly reflected back, edging the core towards criticality. The risky procedure was nicknamed, “tickling the dragon’s tail”.

Wanting finer control, Slotin removed the shims that acted as safeguards to keep the two hemispheres apart – if they closed completely, an extremely dangerous super-critical state would be initiated.

Tilting back the upper hemisphere with his left hand, he used a long screwdriver as a lever to slowly lower the open side of the hemisphere over the core, until only a narrow gap remained.

Suddenly, the screwdriver slipped and the hemisphere slammed shut over the core. The men in the room saw a bright blue flash of light and felt a wave of heat wash over them. Slotin immediately yanked away the hemisphere to stop the chain reaction, but the damage was done.

A re-enactment of Slotin’s criticality experiment. Credit: Richard G. Hewlett, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Being closest to the critical assembly, Slotin received a massive dose of radiation — several times the lethal amount. Because of his quick reaction, the other seven people received lower exposures and would survive.

Slotin knew exactly what lay ahead. His friend, Harry Daghlian, had died just nine months earlier performing a similar experiment, but using tungsten-carbide bricks. He was at Daghlian’s bedside every day as his friend died an agonizing death over the course of nearly a month.

Slotin’s parents arrived from Winnipeg four days after the accident. He was still in good spirits and was sitting up in bed. But by the fifth day, his condition rapidly deteriorated as his white blood cell count plummeted and his gastrointestinal system began to fail. On the eighth day, he was placed in an oxygen tent and fell into a coma. He died on May 30, nine days after the accident. He was 35 years old.

Louis was the eldest of Israel and Sonia Slotin’s three children. The family lived on Alfred Avenue in the North End until 1933, when they built a house on Scotia Street. Slotin attended Machray School and then St. John’s Technical High School. Excelling academically, he was only 16 when he enrolled at the University of Manitoba. Slotin graduated with a B.Sc. (Hons) in 1932, and received the University Gold Medal in physics and chemistry. He completed an M.Sc. degree a year later under the supervision of Alan Newton Campbell.

After receiving a doctorate at King’s College London, he became a research associate at the University of Chicago, where he helped to build its cyclotron. In 1942, he was recruited for the Manhattan Project and was transferred from Chicago to Los Alamos in 1944. There, he helped assemble the core of the first atomic bomb used in the Trinity test.

Crowd attending funeral service outside the Slotins’ home on Scotia Street, Photo: Winnipeg Free Press / published June 3, 1946 / reprinted with permission

Thousands turned out for Louis Slotin’s funeral on Sunday June 2, 1946, filling the street in front of the family’s home where the service was held. Among those in attendance was future UM chancellor Henry Duckworth, who would later call Slotin “one of the genuine heroes of the Atomic Age”. Because of his service to the United States government, Slotin’s casket was draped in the American flag. He was laid to rest at the Shaarey Zedek Cemetery.

Today, a short walk from the family’s old home, lies a small park at the foot of Luxton Avenue that is named in his honour. A plaque there details Slotin’s life and untimely death.

Wayne Chan, is a research computer analyst for the Centre for Earth Observation Science, but he is also an avid researcher who loves history. Please check out this feature on Chan in UM Magazine. 

A simple stone cairn in front of one of the University of Manitoba’s grand buildings, passed daily by thousands of students, contains a little-known secret.

Inside the base of the Tyndall stone monument are the remains of Prof. Arthur Henry Reginald Buller, known as one of the university’s original six professors and for whom the Buller Biological Laboratories building is named.

That makes the cairn more of a tombstone.

“I think it would change the way people interact with that section of the campus [if they knew], for sure.… It’s a very odd thing to kind of think about,” said Jaron Rykiss, president of the University of Manitoba Students’ Union.

Read the full CBC article here.