Born and raised in British Columbia, I have learned about the rich Aboriginal culture and history that runs through the province’s veins. Because of this, I am no stranger to the positive impact that the aboriginal peoples have on the province, especially pertaining to the environment. Mentioned in this article, the Tsilhqot’in are declaring an area that includes the proposed $1.1 billion Prosperity Mine by Fish Lake a tribal park therefore cancelling the project.

The controversy of this situation lies in the fact that the proposed area is located outside of the Tsilhqot’in titled land. Although the Tsilhqot’in have the intentions of maintaining the environment of this land, the mine project was approved by the provincial government and they should have the right of way in this situation. This relates to an article where the writer is critical of the line, “Existing treaty and aboriginal rights are hereby recognized and affirmed,” in the constitution. The writer feels that the Aboriginal Community has an excessive amount of power when it comes to negating these kinds of projects and that the, “interpretation of those 10 words has become a recipe for investment-killing litigation.” While I don’t fully agree on all of what he says, he does raise some points. British Columbia’s economy relies on utilizing the resources it has and shutting down these projects can negatively affect the economy and minimize the amount of job opportunities. This raises the question: Who is right in this situation? 

I believe we’re all aware of the Ebola epidemic that’s facing Africa. With reports coming in that the death toll has reached over 3,000, it’s safe to say that this outbreak is cause for major concern. Although this sets the stage for a modern day disease-horror film, it’s possible that this could become a different horror all together. Another thing to look at is the economic impact that the outbreak has on Africa. The African economy, especially toward the West, is facing serious problems as the sickness is spreading. According to this article, it’s speculated that the economic impact of the Ebola crises could increase 8 times over in the fragile countries.

Africa’s fast economic growth could be put at a halt if this outbreak continues. Furthermore, the economic effects could become international. Hypothetically, if the disease were to reach some of the more well off areas of Africa, it could spell problems for the nations who depend off Africa’s import and export businesses. Although the international economy will be affected by the Ebola outbreak, the addition of powerful African countries could really turn the heat up. If possible, more countries should definitely consider donating and helping out with the cause or this outbreak could get even worse than it already is.

The Occupy Central Hong Kong protests have been a very hot topic in the news as of recent. It is a well known fact that these protests will affect sales seeing as though the stores in the protest areas aren’t easily accessible any more. However, these protests have the potential to negatively affect sales more than previously expected. According to this article, the protests happen to coincide with the Chinese holiday, “Golden Week.”

Golden week being celebrate in China

During this holiday, many mainland Chinese travel to Hong Kong and engage in exuberant spending. Because of the protests, it is expected that store owners will miss out on $2 billion Hong Kong dollars. However, it is impossible to determine how much this will actually cost the people of Hong Kong. In fact, travel warnings are being issued out to many countries telling them to avoid the protest areas so it’s really hard to tell what the actual economic repercussions will be. Although its unfortunate that the holiday and the protests line up in such a way, it’s rather interesting to see how this will affect the Hong Kong economy. However, it will really hurt store owners in the areas of protest.

ISIS, a terrorist organization wreaking havoc in the Middle East, is unexpectedly hurting companies all over the world. It turns out that, ‘ISIS,’ is a relatively common name or acronym and, not surprisingly, it belongs to more than just the terrorist group.

The name ISIS belongs to an app, as well, and they are changing their name to avoid confusion.

According to this article, “‘Isis’ is part of more than 270 product, service or business names among active federal trademarks, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.” However, there are many more people being affected seeing as though companies do not need to register their names. People are actually returning and avoiding items with the name, “ISIS,” solely because of the association with the terrorist group. It’s interesting how something as simple as a coincidental name can bring such a negative impact onto businesses. In fact, some businesses are changing their names to avoid being associated with the terrorist organization, including the University of British Columbia. The ISIS Research Centre in our own business school has the misfortune of sharing the name with the other ISIS. According to this news article, UBC is dropping the name of it’s research centre because of the negative reputation it holds.

The ISIS Research Centre of UBC is located within the Sauder School of Business