Newfoundland and Labrador had the highest rate of increase of university tuition fees for international students from the 2017/2018 to 2018/2018 academic year, but the province still has the lowest fees in the country, according to an analysis of Statistics Canada data that uses to track tuition fees.

The increase of tuition fees was a response to cuts in government funding for Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN)’s operation budget in 2015, said Sofia Descalzi, the Canadian Federation of Students’ provincial chairperson.

New international students in Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN) paid at least 28 per cent more than those enrolled in the years before. Despite the increase for new students, tuition fees for students who were enrolled before fall 2018 will not increase until 2021.

David Sorensen, the university’s communications manager, said the government has provided additional grant money to cover tuition increase for any domestic students but not for international students.

“While we have experienced budget reductions for several years, we have focused these as much as possible on the administrative side of the university,” he said.

Christine Neill, an economics professor at Wilfrid Laurier University who studies tuition fees, said provinces usually don’t fund universities for each international student in universities like they do with domestic students.

“For domestic students, someone in their family or themselves is usually paying taxes in order to provide support for government revenues in the province. In the case of international students, they don’t,” she said.

Neill also said international students are not part of the government’s constituents. This means the government doesn’t have to provide the same services to international students as they do with their constituents.

While the province saw a spike in tuition fees from last year, the province still has the lowest tuition fees in the country.

International students, Neill said, usually are less affected by tuition fee increase.

“People who are studying internationally don’t, in general, come from low-income families. The evidence suggests that if they think quality of the education is good enough, they can afford that,” she said.

Descalzi said the tuition fee increase for international students isn’t fair.

“International students already pay an exorbitant amount for the same education than other students,” she said. “International students should not be bearing the cost of education down to their shoulders because of the decisions the provincial government has made.”

With the tuition fee increase, Neill said, international students will try to look for other ways to support themselves.

“Based on my research, people do try to increase their hours of work in response to tuition fee increase. It might mean that they will try to find employment at higher rates than they would otherwise,” she said.

Despite the increase of tuition fees for international students, Sorensen said, the university has increased services for international students like the renovation of the university’s Internationalization Office.

“We’ve had some budget challenges, but we’re making sure students are getting the best support possible,” Sorensen said. “In the next few months, the international office will be moving from its current location to a renovated space and will expand programs to adapt to the needs of current students – not only international students but the needs of local students to gain intercultural competence.”

The number of fatal injuries from traffic accidents is highest in 24 year olds, according to an analysis of the Government of Canada’s Annual Road Safety Report from 2014 to 2017.

Since Ottawa is a city that has three major post-secondary institutions, young adult residents are worried about what this means for the future of their driving.

On Nov. 14th, 2017 around 5:30 p.m., Hannah Anderson’s car was rear ended at the intersection of Bronson Avenue and Kippewa Drive. Anderson was 21 years old at the time.

“I ended up rear-ending the car in front of me because of the impact my car faced,” she said.

Just two weeks earlier to Anderson’s accident, the Ottawa Police Service released a statement saying, “the Gatineau Police Service and Ottawa Police Service’s Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) will focus on red light running and stop sign violations during the month of November.”

STEP is implemented under the Safer Roads Ottawa program, which aims to reduce collisions on Ottawa’s roads, raise public awareness of road safety issues, integrate the work of City departments responsible for road safety, and improve communication, cooperation and collaboration among road safety agencies, according to the Ottawa Police Service.

“Intersections during rush hour are always a scary place to drive through, but traffic controls do seem to help with accidents,” said Anderson.

The now 22-year-old is currently working in Alberta and says the province uses photo radar for speed, red lights, crosswalks, and school zones.

“These extra precautions are helpful to catch dangerous drivers and in correcting their bad habits which can cause collisions,” she said.

Ontario is working towards creating new opportunities to help drivers combat unnecessary collisions and establish safer roads for both drivers and pedestrians.

“Ottawa residents have identified traffic safety as a top priority. The Safer Roads Ottawa Program is committed to using available resources to make Ottawa roads safer for residents,” said the Ottawa Police Service.

Although the Ottawa Police Services’ goal is to increase road safety for Ottawa’s citizens, there is still a lot that needs to be done to help those affected by past collisions heal from the trauma.

“I was scared to get behind the wheel of a car and it took a lot of courage to finally get my driver’s license,” said Alexandria Ouellette.

Ouellette was in the passenger seat of her mother’s car when it was hit by a truck which sped through a red light.

“The car completely flipped over, we were lucky to only leave with a few bruises and cuts from the glass but the fear I felt remained for a long time,” she said.

As the city continues to progress and move forward with extra precautions like STEP and encouraging residents to regularly report accidents, the idea of safer roads being implemented encourages young drivers to come to terms with their experiences.

“I had to do several weeks of physiotherapy to help with my injuries, and the amount of stress I felt was overwhelming, but I am learning to be more confident in my driving again,” said Anderson.

“I’m a lot more careful driving in rush hour now, but as careful as I am I don’t have the ability to control other drivers.”

The number of fatal injuries as a result of traffic accidents in Ottawa has increased by 45 per cent since 2015.

“As hard as we try, accidents can’t be eliminated. It’s from human error that they start and the only way it can be helped is if the city takes precautions,” said Ouellette.

The number of tornadoes considered disasters is on the rise, according to an analysis of data used by Public Safety Canada.

The Canadian Disaster Database contains detailed disaster data for over 1000 events since 1900 that have had a significant impact on the area that it occurred in. Examples include flooding, winter storms, and pandemics.

In order for an event to be considered a disaster, it needs to fall under one of the listed criteria, which include: 10 or more people killed, 100 or more people affected, injured, or homeless, an appeal for national or international assistance, and more.

Ontario currently has 19 tornadoes listed in the database, and the tornadoes that ripped through the Ottawa-Gatineau region on September 22 are likely to join the list.

“There are currently over 100 families that are without a home following a path of destruction that occurred in just a few moments,” said Mayor Jim Watson at a September 26 City Council meeting, adding: “it is heartbreaking to see.”

By Public Safety Canada’s standards, this would qualify it to make the list as more than 100 people have been left homeless. More than 30 homes in the Dunrobin area will require complete demolition, according to Mayor Watson, with more expected following inspections.

The number of tornadoes listed as disasters in the database has increased by 200 per cent in the last decade. While the 2000s saw a total of two events, so far there have been four events since 2010.

But don’t be so quick to assume it is a matter of climate change, stresses Dr. Jason Mah, who teaches natural disasters at Carleton University.

“There isn’t a direct link,” he said. “Climate change is impacting the water cycle. The natural disasters with the closest link to climate change are hurricanes.”

This is because hurricanes draw their power from warm ocean water, which is a direct result of climate change, he explained. Meanwhile, tornadoes are formed when a jet stream causes a collision of warm, moist air and cold air.

“There were 58 tornadoes in 2009, and 56 in 1980. It’s not exactly compelling evidence that there has been an increase in the number of tornadoes,” Dr. Mah said.

However, he did add that natural disasters occur around the world every day, “it’s just that we live in a very safe environment here in Canada.”

“These types of events are rare for the Ottawa region,” he said, adding that while the change in climate may not create more events; it may shift the regions that see large-scale tornadoes like the ones that get added to the Disaster Database.

Tornadoes are measured by the severity of an event based on estimating wind speed after assessing the damage caused, measured on the Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale. Of the seven confirmed tornadoes in the Ottawa-Gatineau region, two measured at EF-03 according to The Weather Network.

According to Mayor Watson, there are no estimates on damages as of yet. However, when an EF03 tornado hit Goderich, Ont. in 2011, there was $130 million in damages, according to information from the Insurance Bureau of Canada website.

If the September 22 tornadoes are added to the Disaster Database, that will make it just the second tornado event to occur in September in recorded Ontario history, as well as the latest ever in a calendar year. The most popular time of year for tornadoes is between July and September, with the most incidents in the month of August.

While Ottawa recovers, officials are more focused on those efforts than they are concerned about this being added to the Disaster Database. “Ottawa is resilient, our city has always been resilient,” said Mayor Jim Watson.

A brief timeline of ‘disaster tornadoes’ in Ontario. Data from the Canadian Disaster Database.