As a proud naturalized Canadian and fan of all of my students, I knew there was something about Canada (besides prorogation and climate-change avoidance) and increasingly about the UBC environment that bothered me. The women’s hockey team’s post-win choices and the death of one of our UBC students have clarified it. The attitude goes like this: “Hey, there’s something to celebrate—we need a drink!” What about, “Something to celebrate—sweet, what more do we need?”

It is at the least bemusing to see the justifiable pride over medals morphing into pride that, “See, we are a party town,” when basically that means, “Hey, we know how to drink/use/get messed up!” Yes, we do. Is this actually an achievement? Really?! Certainly not if we consider the ravages of substance abuse and addiction in Canadian society.

Perhaps in addition to the post-Olympic resolutions of greater health and fitness, using transit and addressing homelessness, we can add taking a hard look at the prevailing belief in our society and on campus that we don’t know how to enjoy ourselves, honour people, delight in life, have fun and party without substances. Then, perhaps we can prevent yet another generation stricken with addiction and its losses.

—Anneliese Schultz,
Continuing Lecturer
French, Hispanic & Italian Studies