Volume 43, Issue 3

Mourning Mahsa Amini

Hundreds Rally in Solidarity With Protesters Facing Military Repression in Iran

Diane Yeung

“Jîn! Jîyan! Azadi!”—Kurdish for “Women! Life! Freedom!”—was chanted by hundreds of Montrealers as they marched along René Levesque Blvd. on Sept. 21.

On Wednesday evening, demonstrators called for increased media coverage of the re cent protests that have erupted in Iran since its police allegedly killed 22 year-old Mahsa Zhina Amini. Amini was detained by the socalled ‘morality police’ in Tehran on Sept. 13 for not wearing hijab according to the stan dards of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Police and state officials claimed that Amini suffered a sudden heart attack in their custody, and was then transferred to the hospital where she died on Sept. 16. However, witnesses and other detainees said she was severely beaten in custody, and CT scans that were leaked to London-based news site Iran International showed “severe trauma to the skull.”

Amini’s death sparked widespread con demnation by Iranians, drawing protests in 80 cities across the country. Videos circu lating on social media show people ripping and burning their hijabs, and setting fire to police cars. Ebrahim Raisi, president of Iran, has since ordered a crackdown, and declared “decisive action” on the protests.

“In my country, men and women are fighting against the armed forces of the gov ernment empty-handed,” said demonstrator Diana, who did not want to provide her last name for her family’s safety, to the crowd on Wednesday. “And now, we all shout togeth er—all the Iranians—freedom for Iran!”

Among the crowd were young Iranians, many of whom have family members cur

rently living in Iran. They feared that giv ing their full names would endanger their family, but felt compelled to speak out against the crackdown nonetheless.

“The internet has been cut off in a lot of the parts of the country, and people need to hear about it,” said Saba, who also did not want to give her last name. “We’re assuming there are mass murders going on, that the government’s shooting people in protests.”

Reports of internet restrictions in re cent days have been a cause for concern. In November 2019, the Iranian govern ment announced a significant increase in fuel prices, which resulted in coun try-wide protests similar to the movement in recent days. Under orders by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the coun try fell into a week-long internet blackout.

Amnesty International said in a sum mary of its investigation into the 2019 blackout that “an unknown amount of evidence of crimes and serious human rights violations was lost as a result of the shutdown.” Still, the investigation found that at least 323 people were killed within the five days of the blackout, and Reuters reported “about 1,500 people were killed during less than two weeks of unrest.”

On Wednesday, the crowd marched from the Guy-Favreau Complex to CBC Montreal headquarters, demanding wider coverage of the unrest in Iran. Steps from the entrance of CBC’s offices, an Iranian Canadian woman cut off sections of her hair as the sun was setting behind a silent crowd.

“I want non-Iranians to speak to the media and amplify our voices to the rest of the world,” said Hengameh, who chose not to disclose her full name. She was attending the demonstration alongside her two children, both of whom are students at Concordia. “I hope the Canadian media will be our voices, and [report] the suffering of our people.”

Protests continued in Montreal on Satur day, where hundreds more took to the streets outside of Concordia University’s Sir George Williams campus. The week’s demonstra tions were organized in part by the Iranian Student Association of Concordia University.

In speeches on Saturday, ISACU warned of the crackdowns on protests in Iran, say ing that the government’s restriction of internet access could result in a potential “bloodbath inside the country.”

“No more silence, no more lies! We will not be victimized!” chanted Banafsheh of the ISACU as she led the crowd. “Say her name, say her name: Mahsa Amini!”.

ConU Administration Responds to Fall Reading Week Strike Student Associations Gear up to Strike between Oct. 3 and Oct. 7

Zachary Fortier

Ten student associations within the Arts and Science Federation of Associ ations have voted to strike in early Octo ber. Citing burnout and a lack of mental health resources as a primary reason for the strike, thousands of students will not be attending classes.

These political developments have not gone unnoticed. A plurality of mem ber associations who have voted for a strike received emails from their re spective department’s chair.

“Concordia respects the freedom of students to express their views and to peacefully protest. Striking students may not prevent others from entering or leav

ing our buildings and classrooms,” wrote multiple department chairs to their student associations. The Link obtained multiple copies of nearly identical emails from four separate departments.

Payton Mitchell, ASFA’s communica tions coordinator, said students should not let the administration deter them from picketing classes. “Concordia can make as many rules as they want; we have a constitutional right to protest. Picketing is a form of protest, as long as students are nonviolent,” she said.

Mitchell, alongside Academic Coordinator Lily Charette, had a meeting with Concordia Dean of Students Andrew Woodall. Accord

ing to the ASFA executives, the dean kept his language casual and non-confrontational.

ASFA Mobilization Coordinator Ashley Torres was let down with the university’s response.

“I’m very disappointed that they ha ven’t tried to actually come up with re sponses to our demands,” she said. “They haven’t asked themselves ‘what can we do to support students, and why are all these students going on strike?’”

On Sept. 21, the Concordia Student Union passed a motion allowing member associations to get reimbursed for their strike-related expenditures through the union’s Student Space, Accessible Edu

cation, and Legal Contingency Fund. CSU External Affairs and Mobilization Coordinator Julianna Smith took the in itiative on this motion.

“A strike is a community bonding activity—it’s inherently political, but it brings a community together,” Smith told The Link. “The administration is obviously shaking in their boots.”

Students in the science college, soci ology, anthropology, teaching English as a second language, political science and English departments will also be voting on the strike in the coming days.

PHOTO IVAN DE JACQUELIN

PHOTO COURTESY NIYAYESH GOLESTANI

PHOTO IVAN DE JACQUELIN

“We Still Have Hope:” Mamadou Konaté Seeks to Delay his Deportation

The Ex-CHSLD Worker Gathered With Friends and Supporters Outside Immigration Office

Sarah Jesmer

Standing shoulder to shoulder, mul tiple community speakers recounted Konaté’s familiar story outside the Immi gration, Refugee, and Citizenship Canada office within the Guy Favreau Complex. Around 30 supporters and friends came together to protest and uplift Konaté on the morning of Sept. 22 on René-Lévesque Blvd.. His lawyer is still trying to find ways to keep him in the city he has considered home since 2016.

permanent residency and stable status is coming to a head–and not for the first time.

Konaté has been served a deportation date from Canada’s Border Service Agency, set for Sept. 30, 2022.

“My feeling today is joy because I have the presence of my friends… It makes me forget about the sadness in my heart,” said Konaté between hugs and smiles from friends.

Konaté served as a janitor at multiple resi dentials and long-term care centres (CHSLD)

lum-seeking healthcare workers faced by bal ancing their life threatening work with their precarious status. Despite this rare adjustment, only select nurses and orderlies claiming refu gee status could potentially be fast-tracked to permanent residency. Konaté was not admis sible to the Guardian Angel program.

Amelia Orellana—a friend of Konaté’s, a former roommate and a representative of the Collectif du soutien à Mamadou—pre sided over the vigil that morning.

“It’s really frustrating, and we feel real ly powerless because we know all the work that he’s done,” Orellana said. “We have a lot of rage. It’s really not a surprise because we know that the government works like that, and profits off [the work force] of people that have no papers.”

CBSA issued a deportation date for Konaté in 2021. According to Amnesty International, a Canadian judge issued a stay of his deportation until Konaté’s fed eral legal proceedings ended, taking into account the humanitarian risks of sending him back to Côte d’Ivoire. According to Konaté, he faced death threats in 2016 from the rebel group he was formerly involved with: and now CBSA has given him a new deportation date for Sept. 30, 2022.

“We really hope that this time is going to be different,” said Orellana. “With the new lawyer, we hope that something is going to change. We still have hope, because without hope, we cannot continue. But it’s hard.”

Mamadou Konaté’s name has become a cornerstone in recent provincial dis cussions about immigration rights and COVID-19-era care. Nearly seven years into building a life in Montreal after mov ing from Côte d’Ivoire, Konaté’s fight for

throughout the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as in other public service sectors like Hydro-Québec. He said he now works at Concordia University as a cleaner.

Quebec adopted a new immigration policy during the pandemic in 2020, which was cre ated to recognize the particular struggle asy

This is not the first time he’s faced deportation. Konaté’s case stands against a federal law within the Immigration, Refugee and Protection Act stating that anyone who is suspected of overthrowing a government by force cannot become a permanent resident in Canada.

Konaté is from Côte d’Ivoire. He said he was enlisted into a rebel group during a coup d’état when he was 19 years old, but was never involved in any violence. He fled the country and arrived in Canada in 2016.

Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, Konaté’s new lawyer and the former president of Quebec Immigration Lawyers Association, took over the case from Stewart Istvanffy. He explained that there’s still hope to postpone Konaté’s de portation while they apply for a new pre-re moval risk assessment. These assessments are used before “removal from Canada” to deter mine if someone will face torture, persecution, or physical violence if they leave Canada.

The Collectif du soutien à Mamadou hopes this new risk assessment officially af firms what Konaté knows, which is that he faces danger if he returns to Côte d’Ivoire.

“I don’t speak today for just myself, I speak for everyone in the same situa tion. Change the decision […] but change the system for all the immigrants, all the people in this situation.”

- Mamadou Konaté

PHOTO SARAH JESMER

“What we’re asking for generally right now is time. We need time to have answers for all the legal procedures that are ongoing right now,” Orellana said.

“It’s a battle for status that others in Montreal are fighting for as well,” said Konaté. “I don’t speak today for just my self, I speak for everyone in the same situ ation. Change the decision […] but change the system for all the immigrants, all the people in this situation.”

Ze Benedicte Carole, a spokesperson for community group Solidarity Across Borders, said at the vigil, “I am here today to denounce this injustice […] and even, this criminality. It’s criminal what is lived by Mamadou.”

SAB has not only spoken out for Konaté, but has repeatedly fought against the depor tation of its community members, such as Jat inder Singh. Their latest public action came just days before Konaté’s vigil, where they called for the mass regularization of 500,000 migrants with precarious or no status in Can ada. While everyone has their own story, Ca role said the same message they’d like to send through all their actions is status for all.

- Amelia Orellana

Cliche-Rivard, who is currently running as a Quebec Solidaire candidate, was not the only political figure at the vigil. QS’s Andrés Fontecilla, who serves as the Member of the National Assembly of Quebec for the Laur ier-Dorion riding, also spoke to the crowd.

Fontecilla said that Quebec’s current provincial immigration policies will be scrapped and rebuilt from the ground up if QS is elected, but he stopped short from talking about specific numbers related to immigration targets.

“We think this [new] program [of regu larization] has to be the most generous and large,” said Fontecilla. “We work with all groups who support this cause.”

Quebec, unlike other provinces, sets its own immigration targets. This year, it is set at around 52,000 migrants, according to Quebec’s Immigration Ministry. This number does not include cases backlogged from previous years. It is projected that the cap will stay around 50,000 if the Coalition Avenir Québec is re-elected. Liberal party

representatives have promised to increase this number to 70,000, and QS has said that their goal is between 60,000 and 80,000.

The Oct. 3 provincial elections could turn the tides for immigrants seeking permanent status, but Konaté’s future in Canada will re main in the lurch until at least Sept. 30.

“It's sad, but still, we continue to ask to change the system so that all people can have a normal life,” said Konaté.

Quebec Elections: How to Vote on Campus

Those Eligible Can Vote Early From the Comfort of Concordia

Zachary Fortier

O n Oct. 3, millions of Quebecers will head to their respective poll ing stations. All Concordia classes will consequently be cancelled, as per the Quebec Election Act.

Concordia staff and faculty will be relieved of their duties at 4 p.m., allotting them enough time to cast their ballots. Unfortunately, there is no way for any body—students included—to vote on campus on Election Day.

However, there is a workaround! The provincial government mandates CEGEPs and universities provide fa cilities for those eligible to cast their ballot from campus in advance of the general election on Oct. 3.

Advance voting will take place in the atri um of the J. W. McConnell Building, com monly referred to as the library building. The dates are as follows: Sept. 27 and Sept. 28 between 9:30 a.m. and 8 p.m., as well as Sept. 29 between 9:30 a.m. and 2 p.m..

To make up for the change in schedule, classes that were supposed to take place on Oct. 3 will take place on Oct. 12. Any classes students would have missed on that Monday will get transferred to the following Wednesday schedule.

But who is eligible to vote? readers may be wondering. In order to cast your ballot, you must be a Canadian citizen aged 18 or older as of Oct. 3. Additionally, you must have been

living in Quebec since at least April 3 of this year. You cannot have been stripped of your voting rights or be living under curatorship. If you want to vote on campus, you need to live in the Westmount-Saint-Louis district.

Most importantly, your name and home address need to be on the list of electors. The deadline to add your name is Sept. 29, a mere four days before the election. You will have to go to your returning officer’s office in-person in order to register your name. Those only registering this week are ineligible from vot ing on campus because the deadline for early voting registration closed on Sept. 19.

When you make it to the polling sta tion, you will need a piece of government

identification. Quebec driver’s licens es, health insurance cards, Canadian passports, status cards, and Canadian Forces IDs are permitted.

If you don’t have any of these to prove your identity on the list of elec tors, you have three options. Either bring a person who can attest to your identity under oath, present two docu ments with your name and photo or bring two documents containing your name, address and date of birth.

Finally, remember that polls on Election Day close at 8 p.m..

“We still have hope, because without hope, we cannot continue.”

GRAPHIC NADINE ABDELLATIF

PHOTO SARAH JESMER

See the video here:

Thousands of Climate Protesters Fight for Future Generations

Indigenous Speakers Invite Others to Pave the Way to Climate Justice

Iness Rifay

When National First Peoples Rights Committee Chief Normand Pilot and artist Shanipiap were invited to speak during the biggest climate protest of the year, they were hundreds of kilometers away from Montreal.

Despite the distance between the city and their Uashat Mak Mani-Utenam and Matimekush communities, respectively, accepting the offer was a no-brainer. They embarked on a thousand-kilometre long trip to share their message with the pro testers. The cacophony of people demand ing a wealth tax and immediate, concrete climate action through their megaphones went silent to listen carefully.

On Sept. 23, thousands of students and workers gathered at the George-Étienne Cartier monument under the early after noon sun. The Montreal climate strike, organized under the Fridays for Future movement, was one of many that occurred around the world. In Canada alone, over 150,000 people took to the streets.

“It is our duty to take care of our Moth er Earth. Our duty is to stop big corpora tions from eating Mother Earth,” Shanipiap said. She called Northern Quebec’s forests “Earth’s lungs” and explained that unless they are protected, the planet’s natural eco system could be disrupted.

Shanipiap expressed with urgency that their situation is “extremely difficult” and that it needs to be known. “My sister, for example, is asthmatic and can’t even open the windows of her home because of how much pollution there is outside.”

Back in Matimekush, destructive for estry, petrol and mining companies lay waste to the land and create environ mental problems that directly impact the communities living nearby. Families are in danger of contracting diseases that worsen their quality of life.

“[The Canadian government] has tried to genocide us for years, but we’re still alive and fighting for our survival,” Shanip iap said. She is especially hopeful that her community’s children will continue to de nounce the harmful systems of power that wreck their land.

Much like Shanipiap, Pilot encouraged future generations to continue the fight af ter them. Before coming up to the statue to speak, he and his wife offered tobacco to a nearby tree in prayer for a healthier climate.

“With all the destruction caused by multinational corporations, we might not have any trees left for our children, for our grandchildren,” Pilot said, while pointing to the children standing next to him. “Can adian banks are stealing the land of all In digenous communities for profit and plan to leave nothing to our descendants.”

The efforts of people like Pilot and Sha nipiap have not gone to waste either. Chil dren as young as 13 years old were deter mined to skip school for the protest. They demanded climate justice so that they and others can live in a healthy world.

Elliot Paquin, a student at F.A.C.E Ele mentary and Secondary School chose to attend the protest despite the two-hour de tention punishment it earned him.

“When I told my parents and teachers that I want the planet to last longer than it’s predicted to, they tell me that it doesn’t matter because I’d be dead by then,” he said. “It does matter, because there are other people who will be alive, and I want those people to have a life and be happy.”

Gabriel Marcotte, Paquin’s classmate, added that “I recently started to love living again, and I want a future for myself,” he said. “But if the planet is just going to burn soon, why am I going to school? […] I want to show people that there are children who want a future, who want to live.”

After the speakers finished, the protest ers made their way down to Place Canada where more speeches took place, followed by resounding chants.

Full photo essay available online!

“Canadian banks are stealing the land of all Indigenous communities for profit and plan to leave nothing to our descendants.”

- Shanipiap

PHOTO IVAN DE JACQUELIN

PHOTO IVAN DE JACQUELIN

PHOTO IVAN DE JACQUELIN

PHOTO IVAN DE JACQUELIN

PHOTO LILLY JUNOD

Electric Guitar, Black Music History, Time Travel, and Opera, Oh My!

Ambitious Backstage at Carnegie Hall: An Opera About Racism and The Electric Guitar Makes its Debut

Nadia Trudel

Backstage at Carnegie Hall made its debut at Centaur Theatre on Sept.23.

The latest work by electric guitar extra ordinaire—and Concordia graduate—Tim Brady and his eponymous music ensemble Bradyworks follows iconic jazz guitarist Charlie Christian (Ruben Brutus). Minutes before a performance at Carnegie Hall with the Benny Goodman sextet in 1939, Charlie suffers a panic attack and meets a mystical time traveler (Alicia Ault), who launches him on a journey through past and future,

Rockhead’s Paradise. He’d regale his son with stories from the club, which received artists including Louis Armstrong, Nina Si mone, Sammy Davis Jr., Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald before its demise.

According to its playbill, Backstage at Carnegie Hall promises to explore “the in dividual and social cost of racism.” and to “examine the impact of generations of ra cial and class-based trauma and the role of music in evolving discussions about racism.”

To bring to life a story centered on im

me), an important figure in the fight to de segregate artistic spaces, as she sings about the importance of joy in music and “Black boy joy.” The number sounds like Dwyer’s acknowledgment of how much Black rep resentation focuses on suffering and trauma. This number might have felt more satisfying if the opera were to end with the audience being able to see Charlie finally perform at Carnegie Hall. Instead, the show closes with Charlie walking onto its stage..

As an opera about the electric guitar, the instrument plays a surprisingly subtle role in the ensemble, which veers towards the haunting and the melancholic rather than the rocking. Still, the music main tains exciting, experimental, dramatic flourishes, and plays well with the voices of leads Brutus and Ault.

encountering Montreal’s first Black club owner Rufus Rockhead, opera singer Mar ian Anderson, a 2014 BLM protest in To ronto, the founder of Gibson Guitars, and Charlie’s deceased father.

Though he doesn’t remember the ex act origins of Backstage at Carnegie Hall, composer and artistic director, Brady, has long been a Christian connoisseur, having played electric guitar for 50 years.

Brady was also inspired by his fath er, who once made work permits for the American musicians who performed at

portant Black musicians and tackle racism, Brady reached out to Black Theater Work shop, which put him in touch with play wright and first-time librettist Audrey Dwyer.

While Backstage at Carnegie Hall devi ates from many traditional opera norms, it certainly delivers on the camp thanks to its use of time travel, some awkward enuncia tion, and Benny Goodman (Clayton Ken nedy) breaking the fourth wall to talk to conductor Véronique Lussier.

It is a joy to see Christian meet contralto Marian Anderson (Frédéricka Petit-Hom

There’s a satisfying contrast between their voices: Ault’s more classic musical theater opera style versus Brutus, who has a background in gospel and jazz vocals be fore he was motivated to continue his vocal training through opera.

“What motivated me to make sure I got into this project was the fact that opera is more of an elite form, it's not accessible. So writing subject matters that go against the grain of the people who go see these shows, I would say is a definite opening. It's a change, it's moving forward, it's evo lution,” said Brutus. He then compared

Backstage at Carnegie Hall to the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess, which featured a Black cast, saying it was made to give Black people access to a historically elite and white art form.

During an interview with The Link, Brutus said to Brady, “The fact that you're using opera as a medium to say this, I think you get it a louder voice because if this was a musical, I don't think it would get as much traction.”

Though certain elements could alienate Backstage at Carnegie Hall from opera, its ambition roots it firmly within the genre. As if the opera wasn’t ambitious enough on its own, this is only the first production in what’s intended by Brady to be a four-part cycle called Hope (and the Dark Matter of History). Future installments will feature the time traveler character and promise to tackle abortion rights, climate change and artificial intelligence.

Brady explained, “I realized there was a very fertile artistic territory and dealing with a time traveler, I wanted to do more than one opera with a time zone. So I took these other ideas and formed them into what I hope will be a coherent cycle.”

Most people are unfamiliar with opera, but with the premise of Backstage at Car negie Hall, Brutus said, “I think we're gonna have a real mix. I hope so. Classical people are going to come and non-classical people are going to come and opera goers are go ing to come. Some of them are gonna love it, some will hate it. As long as they don’t leave indifferent, I’m okay.”

“What motivated me to make sure I got into this project was the fact that opera is more of an elite form, it's not accessible.”

- Ruben Brutus

COURTESY PIERRE-ETIENNE BERGERON

Coffee or Tea? Man or Mango? The Choices One Must Make

Satirical Novel Makes a Comeback After 24 Years

Mariana Chajon Oliveros

Well-written, funny at times, but not quite stimulating, Man or Mango was a fun, easy read that I would recommend to someone going on a long train or bus ride to visit family. It doesn’t fit any other pur pose in my mind.

Lucy Ellman’s novel has been re-pub lished by Biblioasis this fall. Ellman was born in the United States, but now lives in Scotland. Man or Mango is unsurprisingly set in the United Kingdom. The novel fea tures a cast of bizarre people living excep tional lives. Among the main characters, there is Eloise, a self-defined hermit lady with two cats, George, an American poet writing an epic on hockey, and Owen, a widowed father with what seems to be an undiagnosed mood disorder. Narrated al most entirely through internal monologue, it is a very chaotic, yet straightforward read. This novel is clearly satirical, I would venture to say even absurdist. The charac ters are mostly caricatures and, for the most part, have no depth. They only start being properly developed in the last 50 pages of the novel. Despite their caricature-like na ture, the novel is not lighthearted in any way. All the characters in this novel are iso

lated, lonely and unhappy in different ways. It seems as though, in that universe, no one can be happy. This doesn’t make or break the novel, but I found it took away from its potential. As a satire, I feel like it should have made a more nuanced, or more po tent commentary, but its one-dimensional ity made this fall flat.

Ellman uses interesting literary tech niques, such as a series of listicles. For ex ample, the hermit’s listicle of how long it takes her to recover from different social interactions has 45 entries, including:

“Unavoidable chat with neighbour –(outdoors) two hours (indoors) three hours

[...]

Pretending not to be in when coalman comes – half an hour

[...]

Remembering social encounters from the past –(pleasant) twenty minutes (not so pleasant) two hours (painful) four hours (downright pitiful) days”

While this listicle was fun to read, there are so many in the novel that they get re petitive, and not as humorous. However, they do highlight the comically niche inter ests of a lot of the characters.

For the character of George, Ellman capitalizes certain words in his thoughts, which was a technique I really appreci ated. This way of emphasizing George’s rants made them a lot funnier. For ex ample, when he is visiting Connemara, he goes on a guided tour to Samuel Beck ett’s uncle’s granddaughter’s house, who lives on an island nearby. These are his reflections on the granddaughter:

“In fact, I’d decided it was quite pos sible we’d get MARRIED. It wasn’t love, I just want to live on an island.

She said she’d meet me on the shore and row me over. I observed a lot of brown water lapping against pebbles as I waited for her – pretty CALM considering I was about to meet my future BRIDE.”

His self-awareness, highlighted with the capitalized intonations that almost sound to me like a voice crack when read ing them, is hilarious.

However, this book disconcerted me a little. Its satirical contents are funny, but not observational or clever enough. Overall, I wasn’t satisfied with its contents enough to praise it. I can’t recommend it further than as a last resource for entertainment.

COURTESY BIBLIOASIS

Poetry, Video Games and Tarot Cards Collide at Indie Event

Book and Tarot Deck Launch Entertain Crowd of 70 Sophie Dufresne

that her team has been working on video games for the past five years.

“We decided to open up a studio re cently, and we want it to be about poetry [and] living in balance with technology and nature,” she said.

She added that she believes that na ture and technology inform each other. “That’s kinda how we evolved as humans— through what we create,” Dawkins said.

This event is an invitation to our commun ity to join us in creating meaningful experien ces and technology that matters, she explained.

On Sept. 23, Anteism Books hosted the launch of two poetry books, Place by Alexei Perry Cox and Wet Dream by Erin Robinsong, as well as a deck of tarot cards by Apocablyss Studios in the publisher’s gallery in Outremont.

Outside the small venue, Perry Cox, who also teaches at Concordia, and Mi chael Nardone, a writer and editor who works with Anteism Books, greeted atten dees from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m..

“Alexei Perry Cox and Erin Robinsong are really dear friends of mine, and they’re both incredible poets,” Nardone said. “I was really excited about their books and wanted to do a launch for them.”

He added it was “two different events fused together” with the tarot deck launch happening at the same time.

Upon entering the studio, chatter filled the air, almost drowning the indie music played by the DJ. Near the back was a small bar and a friendly dog wandering from person-to-person, seeking attention.

Paloma Dawkins, founder of Apoc ablyss, a multidisciplinary company that fuses video games and poetry, told The Link

The

The tarot deck Apocablyss launched during the event contains characters from several video games Dawkins has created over the years. She gave an example by ask ing The Link to pick a card from an array of extras facing downwards.

The card picked was Strength, which Dawkins explained “is about how it takes strength to love.” It features a scene where Casper—a character who follows the player throughout the game Songs of the Lost— reaches a hostile guard dog.

Ashley Obscura, a Concordia alumnus who was The Link’s Fringe Arts editor in 2010, is a poet and a publisher who works with Apocablyss.

“Erin and Alexei are amazing poets and we [at Apocablyss] were so excited be cause we feel like the concepts that are in their new books are so in line with things that we’ve been thinking about,” she said, explaining that their lore “is trying to find bliss within the apocalypse.”

Many Concordia students in attendance said they were there for Perry Cox and to support her book launch.

From 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., the poets read from their featured books as a crowd of over 70 people huddled together to listen. Tarot card readings were given for free throughout the evening until 11 p.m..

The H-shirt Times Chapter 2: The Interview

Cèdre Obeid

The man was standing there— looked like he stepped out of a nightmare— Recalled the memory of a flare That never reflected as a mirror (Because of a broken glass)

Because if (we) touched the grass It could have never been greener Than the leaves of flowers newly blooming In my garden of secrets

Because this love was dooming The outlet Of a greater one I just met.

Now I don’t have to hide behind shame Now thy ego cannot divide blame

Because I am safe and sound There’s no number to count I am truthfully bound

To the fall

Sinzce I recall That it was all Just a nightmare.

PHOTO SOPHIE DUFRESNE

What P.K. Subban and Zdeno Chara Meant to the City of Montreal

Montrealers React to Subban and Chara’s Retirement From the NHL

Dylan Buvat

Two polarizing NHL players announced their retirements from professional hockey this past week: P.K. Subban, loved by Montrealers for his flashy on-ice play and bubbly off-ice personality, and Zdeno Chara, who couldn’t touch the puck at the Bell Centre without receiving a resounding “BOOOO” from attendees.

Subban, who called it a career at the young age of 33, has forever left his mark on the city of Montreal. Whether it was tak ing time to meet with fans, young and old alike, donating $10 million to the Mont real Children’s Hospital in 2015, or per forming the ice bucket challenge to raise money and awareness for Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Subban always sought to give back to his community.

His generosity, with both his time and money, has not gone unnoticed. Long-time Canadiens fan, Brianna Losinger-Ross said she experienced firsthand Subban’s kind ness and larger-than-life presence.

“My little brother was getting sur gery at the Children’s hospital in 2012 or 2013,” said Losinger-Ross. “My broth er’s surgery had been postponed and we were [very disappointed].”

However, when Losinger-Ross and her family arrived at the hospital that day, they were greeted by a room full of chairs, prepped for some sort of celebra tion. They knew right away that some thing special was going on.

“It turned out P.K. was going to open up the atrium, and there was a huge party [for the children],” continued Losinger-Ross.

Losinger-Ross, who felt strongly about the Montreal Canadiens and their star player at the time, was incredibly grateful for Sub ban’s willingness to take time out of his busy schedule to spend the day with the children at the Montreal Children’s Hospital.

“Even though he is a super busy man, he took the time to meet my little brother beforehand, and hang out with him before surgery, which, obviously, my brother was stressing out about,” said Losinger-Ross. “As he was leaving, and before my brother was out of surgery, we were walking to the elevators and that’s when my family and I met P.K. Even though he saw a lot of kids that day, he still remembered my brother.”

“He meant a lot to my family, but now he means even more,” continued Losinger-Ross.

Her feelings towards Zdeno Chara, however, were closer to distaste than love. None theless, as a fan of hockey, Losinger-Ross understood that the six-foot-nine defenseman was good for the game and helped fuel the long-standing ri valry between the Montreal Cana diens and the Boston Bruins.

“I have been a Habs fan my entire life, and honestly, he was really fun to hate,” said Losinger-Ross. “After the Pacioretty hit, I am sure everyone in this city didn’t like him too.”

Die-hard hockey fan Matthew Skelhoren shared a very similar sentiment. As a Cana diens fan in the very city that bleeds bleublanc-rouge, there was only one so cially acceptable emotion to have towards Zdeno Chara, and it definitely wasn’t love.

“You can’t not be happy for that guy, he did so much for the Bruins, but as a Habs fan, you have to hate him,” said Skelhoren. “But you can also set that aside. Like, we hate playing against him, but we’d love him on our team. And ‘il était temps,’ as we say in French, for him to retire.”

When asked about his feelings to wards P.K. Subban, Skelhoren’s face lit up. He explained that Subban was unapolo getically himself throughout his career, which was commendable considering how the media would often scrutinize his lackadaisical nature.

“I really liked him,” Skelhorn said with a grin. “I really liked how he changed the game. It’s rare in hockey that we find a per sonality like that. We should celebrate this guy, especially for what he did for Montreal.”

As a person of colour, Subban was also a symbol of equality and representa tion in the NHL, which encouraged and inspired kids of all backgrounds to pur sue professional sports.

“One of my friends on my team, who was a minority, took his number and was inspired by him, and I was inspired by him too,” said Skelhoren. “He is a big inspiration on how you can just be yourself on the ice and outside of the rink.”

Alexandre Taddio, who grew up watching P.K. Subban, was not too sur prised by the former Habs player’s re tirement announcement, as the player had always been destined for a career in broadcasting, Taddio said.

“When we saw him, at the end of sea son, broadcasting playoff games, it was just normal that he [retired],” said Taddio. “So I am not really surprised. It’s meant to be”

Zdeno Chara, who played profes sional hockey through four different decades, had been hinting at retirement for years. At 45 years old, it was finally time to hang up the skates.

“It’s sad, but at 45 years old, it’s about time,” said Taddio. “Chara was a good play er, and I liked him. If I had a player like that on my team, I’d be [thrilled].”

These two players brought passion, heart, excitement and dedication to the sport of hockey every season, and were tre mendous leaders on and off the ice within their respective communities. Thank you for everything, and happy retirement P.K.! Oh, and you too, Zdeno.

GRAPHICS MARILOU BRICKERT

Stingers 55, Martlets 3: Stingers Hoist KellyAnne Drummond Cup

The Most Important Game for the Women’s Team Ends With a Win

once more, as she pierced the Martlets’ defensive line with a skilled step for the score. She converted a difficult attempt from wide of the goal posts, as the Sting ers’ lead increased 21-0.

In the 31st minute, Robinson played the ball forward with a kick. It was corralled by the Stingers, and Concordia found them selves near McGill’s try-zone once again. The Stingers used a set-play to push the ball out wide as it managed to reach winger Mia Simard, who maneuvered around her opponent for the try. A missed convert at tempt made it 26-0 Concordia.

Concordia rallied for one last try before the end of the first half, stringing passes together effectively. The Stingers pene trated into McGill territory as Galarneau scored. Robinson missed the convert and the scoreboard read 31-0.

In the 21st minute, fakes and dekes, along with tough running, led to another Concordia try. Stingers’ back Madeleine McTavish was credited with the score. With the convert, Concordia was up 43-3.

Two more tries were tacked on for Con cordia. They came at the hands of winger Siana Marquis-Bilquard in the 36th minute, and scrum-half Meagan Comeau during added time. The Stingers began celebrating as Robinson converted her last kick. The Kel ly-Anne Cup was hoisted. Final score 55-3.

“I think it’s been a rough season so far in terms of who we’ve been playing against,” Robinson said. “We seemed to be clicking. Everyone on the field was clicking together which was really nice.”

The Concordia Stingers’ women’s rugby team achieved a decisive victory over the McGill Martlets on Sunday, Sept. 25. The match marked the 18th annual Kel ly-Anne Drummond Cup, celebrating the life of former Stinger Kelly-Anne Drum mond who passed away in 2004.

The game itself is an important part of Concordia’s season.

“For us, it’s the most important game of the year,” expressed Head Coach Joce lyn Barrieau. Barrieau said there are still components of the game for her team to work on, but the extra motivation was a factor in the Concordia win.

In the 12th minute, McGill stalled in their own zone. They were awarded pen

alties and successful on line-outs, yet two turn-overs granted Concordia possession close to the try-zone. After a penalty dis cussion ensued, Stingers’ captain Mahalia Robinson caught the Martlets line sleeping. She scurried in for the score and later con verted the kick making it 7-0 Stingers.

In the 17th minute, Concordia read the overlap that developed on the wide side, the ball was spread out and forward Roxan ne Galarneau delivered the try. Robinson converted the extra point and made it 14-0.

Concordia continued to press on. Af ter Stingers’ forward Janay Francis was penalized for a performed second-move, Concordia regrouped in the 25th minute. Robinson’s strong play was showcased

Shut Up and Dribble:

Fellas, is it Gay to Date a Woman?

McGill capitalized on a Stingers’ penal ty in Concordia’s zone, as they managed to put points up with a penalty kick. The first half ended 31-3 in favour of Concordia.

The second half resulted in much of the same dominant play by Concordia. Their momentum was apparent from the Martlets' inability to escape being near their own goal-line. Mishandled pass es and penalties awarded out to both squads did not help. In the 18th, Con cordia broke the trench-like front put up by McGill when Stingers’ winger Emma Marshall received the ball in space where she plunged in for the try. Without the convert, Concordia was up 36-3.

The Stingers look to continue this win ning play as they take on the Université de Sherbrooke Vert et Or on Friday, Sept. 30. Play starts at 6 p.m..

Elias Grigoriadis

The partners of famous athletes have been the subject of massive public interest from the moment people started caring about sports. It’s a byproduct of being involved with some of the most famous and revered people on the planet, but sometimes, it can get ugly.

The internet—famously known for being a welcoming and supportive environment— has made a habit of abusing or insulting these partners for the simple fact of being in a relationship. That habit reared its ugly head again earlier this month when international soccer star Kylian Mbappé was seen with French model Ines Rau.

This made massive headlines not only due to the fact that Mbappé is one of the most prominent athletes on the planet but also due to the fact that Rau was the first openly trans woman to be on the cover of Playboy . Social media, in a typical display of tact and grace, did exactly what one would expect from it. A barrage of transphobic, homophobic and all-around disgusting comments proceeded to flood every social media platform carrying the story.

I don’t know if the two are actually together—and I personally don’t give a shit about who athletes date because the details surrounding their personal lives are only theirs to disclose. However, the sheer vitriol towards the alleged couple highlights just how disgusting some sports fans still are and makes me embarrassed to share a community with them.

This isn’t exclusive to small burner or troll accounts doing this to get into a row either, people with thousands of followers and even more influence are going viral for transphobic comments—and they are being applauded for it.

Transphobia, both casual and outright, have been a staple of the sports world for some time. With trans athletes competing at higher levels and more high-profile athletes im mersing themselves—either socially or romantically—in the LGBTQ+ community, it’s being seen as a threat: a threat to the inherent cis-heteronormativity that has been present in modern sports for over a century.

I genuinely wish I was naive enough to be surprised by this reaction, but I am not. The soccer world can talk at length about how tolerant they are and how they’re trying to make the game accessible for everyone, but when this kind of shit is not only commonplace but expected, then your community is broken beyond repair.

Kylian Mbappé’s Girlfriend is Transgender and the Internet was Unsurprisingly Shitty

Conor Tomalty

COURTESY KYRAN THICKE CONCORDIA STINGERS

COURTESY KYRAN THICKE CONCORDIA STINGERS

GRAPHIC BREEA KOBERNICK

Stingers’ Weekend Wrap-Up: Sept. 23-25

The Week of Cup Games and Pre-Season Tournament Play

Men’s Soccer: Fifth place in the RSEQ

Women’s Rugby: Fourth place in the RSEQ

Still licking their wounds after their crushing loss to Laval, the women’s team took out their frustration on the last-place McGill Martlets on Sunday, Sept. 25. The extra motivation of the Kelly-Anne Drum mond Cup aided in their dominant win 553. (More on this story on page 11.)

Next game against Sherbrooke Sept. 30 at 6 p.m..

Baseball: Ontario University Athletics league play

The bats were cold in the double-header against Queen’s University on Sept. 24. Things turned ugly when they dropped the next two against Laurentian 3-1 and 13-5 respectfully.

Next game against McGill Sept. 28 at 7:30 p.m..

Let’s talk Stingers…

Football: Fourth Place in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec

The 60-14 loss against the Université de Laval Rouge et Or on Sunday, Sept. 25 was painful to say the least. Other than this defeat, the defence has been solid throughout the season, so this is a set back that requires maintenance.

Next game against The Université de Sherbrooke Oct. 1 at 1 p.m..

Women’s Hockey: Theresa Humes Cup

It was a solid first game for the women’s hockey team coming out with a 2-1 win over the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. The game on Saturday, Sept. 24 re sulted in an overtime loss against the Uni versity of New Brunswick Reds 2-1, and a dropped 3rd-place game against the Uni versity of British Columbia Thunderbirds 2-1. The returning players have shown their skills, yet there are still kinks to iron out be fore the regular season.

Next game (Exhibition) against St. An selm College Oct. 2 at 3 p.m..

Men’s Hockey: Pre-Season

The men’s team had to play games less than 12 hours apart at 7 p.m. on Sept. 23 1 p.m. on Sept 24 respectively. Despite this, the team came away winning both matches, beating Toronto 6-3, and Toron to Metropolitan University 6-4. There are still two pre-season games to be played, but these wins are a good sign.

Next game (Pre-season) against the University of Waterloo Sept. 30 at 7 p.m..

Although the men’s squad picked up their second victory in a hard-fought effort against McGill on Friday Sept. 23, they also picked up their second loss at the hands of league juggernaut Université de Montréal on Sunday, Sept 25. The men’s team will have their work cut out for them moving forward.

Next game against the Université du Québec à Montréal Oct. 2 at 1 p.m..

Women’s Soccer: Seventh place in the RSEQ

The women’s team’s position turned from bad to worse over the weekend. With a loss during the Erica Cadieux Cup on Sept. 23 to McGill, and a deflating 4-0 defeat against Montreal on Sept. 25. At 0-4-3, it’s obvious the group has plenty of room for improvement.

Next game against Bishop’s University Sept. 29 at 6 p.m..

Men’s Rugby: Sixth place in the RSEQ

The Sunday, Sept. 25 Dave Hardy Cup Game was heavily needed for the men’s club. A 24-17 victory against McGill bumps the defending champion Stingers up the standings. At 1-2 on the campaign, the squad hopes to progress further, as they set their sights on the last place team.

Next game against Sherbrooke Sept. 30 at 4:30 p.m..

MEN’S RUGBY

SCOREBOARD

FOOTBALL

L 60-14 vs. Laval Sept. 25

W 24-17 vs. McGill Sept. 25

WOMEN’S RUGBY

W 55-3 vs. McGill Sept. 25

WOMEN’S SOCCER

L 2-1 vs. McGill Sept. 23

L 3-0 vs. UdeM Sept. 25

MEN’S SOCCER

W 2-1 vs. McGill Sept. 23

L 4-0 vs. UdeM Sept. 25

BASEBALL

L 1-0 vs. Queen’s (Game 1) Sept. 23

L 1-0 vs. Queen’s (Game 2) Sept. 23

L 3-1 vs. Laurentian (Game 1) Sept. 25

L 13-5 vs. Laurentian (Game 2) Sept. 25

FOOTBALL

Saturday Oct. 1 vs. Sherbrooke at 1 p.m.

WOMEN’S RUGBY

Friday Sept. 30 @ Sherbrooke at 6 p.m.

MEN’S RUGBY

Friday Sept. 30 @ Sherbrooke at 8 p.m

SCHEDULE

WOMEN’S HOCKEY (Exhibition)

Sunday Oct. 2 @ St. Anselm at 3 p.m.

MEN’S HOCKEY (Pre-Season)

Friday Sept. 30 vs. Waterloo at 7 p.m.

Saturday Oct.1 vs. RMC at 5 p.m.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Thursday Sept. 29

@ Bishop’s at 6 p.m.

Sunday Oct. 2 @ UQAM at 3:30 p.m.

MEN’S SOCCER

Sunday Oct. 2 @ UQAM at 1 p.m.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL (@ Carleton)

Saturday Oct. 1 vs. Carleton at 6 p.m. Sunday Oct. 2 vs. UBCO at 12 p.m.

Conor Tomalty

People’s History: The Norman Bethune Square Often Forgotten Canadian Surgeon and Historical Figure

Anthony Issa

When you walk on Guy-Concordia St., near the Sir George Williams campus, it’s very possible that you’ll stroll past a marble statue of a man next to the Tim Hortons. A popular spot among pi geons, the life-sized sculpture portrayed in a military uniform is of Norman Be thune, a Canadian surgeon.

Here is the story of the man behind the statue and how one of China’s great revolu tionary heroes made his way near our campus

Bethune: His Life and Legacy

Norman Bethune was a Canadian sur geon, an advocate of universal healthcare and a member of the Communist Party of Canada. After having a near-death experience with tu berculosis in 1926, he took up thoracic surgery in Montreal at the Royal Victoria Hospital and later at the Montreal Sacred Heart Hospital.

During the 1930s, Bethune’s time as a surgeon in the city changed his views on medicine. He became disillusioned with surgical treatment, as he thought one of the main issues of healthcare was the commodi fication of medicine and the inaccessibility of treatment for those living in poverty

In a paper he published in 1932 for the Canadian Medical Association, Bethune

made a strong statement on the situation of Canadian healthcare at the time: “There is a rich man’s tuberculosis and a poor man’s tuberculosis. The rich man recovers and the poor man dies. We, as a people, can get rid of tuberculosis, when once we make up our minds it is worthwhile to spend enough money to do so. Better education of doc tors, public education to the point of phthi siophobia, enforced periodic physical and X-ray examinations, early diagnosis, early bed-rest, early compression, isolation and protection of the young are our remedies.”

Inspired by the Soviet model, Bethune began advocating for a universal healthcare system in Canada, but his advocacy fell on deaf ears by his peers in medicine and the fed eral government. That did not stop Bethune from providing healthcare to the poor work ing class, marginalized groups and youth, at the Children’s Art Group and the Montreal Group for the Security of the People’s Health.

During the Spanish Civil War, Bethune served as a frontline trauma surgeon, sup porting the socialist Republican govern ment. He was responsible for developing a mobile blood-transfusion service for front line operations to help soldiers who were dying from blood loss.

Monument Donation

But enough about the revolutionary himself. How did Montreal end up erect ing a monument in Bethune’s name? The truth is, the city itself didn’t construct the memorial. It was donated in 1976 by the People’s Republic of China when diplomat ic relations began with Canada. Before that, Bethune’s status as a communist tarnished his reputation and his legacy as a surgeon in Montreal had been forgotten.

The sculpture was allocated to the city of Montreal, as Bethune resided in the metropol itan area. For three decades, Bethune’s statue stood isolated in the middle of traffic on Guy Street. It was only in 2008 that the City of Montreal undertook a $3 million renovation project of the Norman Bethune Square.

In 2009, the statue was moved to a more quiet part of De Maisonneuve Boulevard next to the Tim Hortons we all know and love.

Monument Then and Now Comparison

The Bethune monument has remained untouched or vandalised by graffiti since its arrival to Canada decades ago, pos sibly because he remains an unknown figure in our history books.

While Bethune’s legacy might be lost to time in Canada, the monument is far from being lonely, with pigeons resting on top of the statue’s bald marble head. Sometimes, historical figures hide in plain sight, and it only takes a spark of curiosity to under stand why certain monuments arrived where they are today.

Later on, the surgeon travelled to China during the Sino-Soviet and Japanese war. He provided surgical aid to the commun ist rebels, who were fighting against the Japanese imperialist army and the rightwing nationalist party of China, the Kuo mintang. Bethune joined the Chinese Communist Party’s Eighth Route Army and helped to bring modern medicine to rural China, treating sick villagers and wounded soldiers on both sides of the battlefield.

During one of his surgical operations, he cut his finger which became infected. Not even two years into his expedition, Bethune died from blood poisoning on Nov. 12, 1939.

Bethune’s sacrifice during the Com munist party’s war efforts earned him deep respect and martyr status from his allies and Mao Zedong, the chairman of the Communist party and the founder of the People’s Republic of China.

To honour his legacy, there are numer ous statues and memorials in China. There are also hospitals and foundations in the country under his name, such as the Nor man Bethune International Peace Hospital and the Norman Bethune Medical School.

He is buried in China at the Cemetery of Martyrs in Shih-chia-chuang. A cere mony is held at his tomb yearly on the anniversary of his death.

PHOTO ZÎ DE

PHOTO MARION ELISSALDE

PHOTO LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA

PHOTO IVAN DE JACQUELIN

I Might not be Able to Have Kids One Day

I’m Both Relieved and Anxious About Something I May Never Want

Autumn Darey

When I was a kid, getting married and having a family was the only life option I really ever knew. All of my older family members were married and my cousins married and started families before I went to high school.

I was asked by family members and family friends how many babies I was go ing to have and what kind of man I wanted to marry before I even knew what puberty was. The idea of not having children or get ting married, even as I got older, was tout ed as an exclusively male luxury. The only people who could get away with not having kids or getting married were men, and the few men in my family who didn’t follow societal conventions were people I didn’t know about until I was much older, by which point, they had already died. I was a girl and therefore had to get married and bear children(in that order, preferably).

As I got older, that idea has become something that isn’t attractive or even pos sible for me and an increasing number of people I know. Last fall, I was unofficially diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.

I’m clearly not shy when it comes to talking about issues I’m going through, and I’m willing to bet that I’m not the last per son you’ll hear about with PCOS. In fact, up to 1.4 million women in Canada are liv ing with it, diagnosed or not.

What causes PCOS is not known in large part because, historically, medicine hasn’t cared about women or our issues. For ex ample, women have different symptoms of heart attacks, but because of the way re search has been done, the early warning signs they experience are missed 78 per cent of the time, making them more likely to die or have a second heart attack compared to men. Women also make up two-thirds of people living with Alzheimer’s, but we don’t know why because we were only looking for the differences between men and women.

What we do know is that PCOS caus es issues including excessive hair growth, missed and irregular periods, infertility and increased cancer risks.

When I got my diagnosis last year, I was conflicted, and in large part, I still am. I don’t currently want kids and ha ven’t for a long time. But this illness has potentially robbed me of the option to have kids on my own with a future part ner. Since the research still lags behind in terms of explaining what causes PCOS and its possible treatments, I won’t know if I can have kids or not definitively until I start trying to get pregnant.

While I’m starting to come to terms with possibly not having children, I’m also trying to decide how to approach the sub ject with future partners. Some people are adamant abouthaving babies, and I don’t want to spend time building a relation

ship with someone who wants something I may not be able to do. On the other hand, I also don’t want to be with someone who only views me as an incubator, hell-bent on keeping sperm as pets.

Just because someone can’t bear chil dren doesn’t mean they don’t want them. Many people who deal with infertility issues will spend years and thousands of dollars trying to conceive or adopt.

I know that I have time to decide what I want, as more and more people nationally are giving birth around the age of 31. If I can’t have my own children, fostering and adoption are always possibilities, despite how difficult they can be.

As I work through my own thoughts on the issue, I keep coming back to anger. There is so much that modern medicine can tell us, but there is also so much that was deemed unimportant because it didn’t affect the people—namely rich, educated white men—who were allowed to study damn well everything for most of history.

I feel angry that when I brought up this issue to medical professionals as a teenager, I was told “that’s just how per iods are.” They shrugged off the excruci ating pain I was in, telling me to take a Midol if it was “that bad.”

I’ve had more and more conversations with family members and friends who

thankfully are willing to talk about this. They’re sympathetic to the physical pain I deal with, and the emotional difficulties that I continue to work through. I’ve gotten few er questions over the years about marriage and kids, but it still occasionally comes up, and I have to decide how to approach it with brutal honesty or polite redirection.

No matter what direction my life takes, I’m glad that I live in a place where not having children is the worst thing a woman could do.

GRAPHIC JULIETTE ULIANA

Vote Him Out

Over François Legault’s first term as pre mier, Quebec’s atmosphere has taken a dramatically rightward shift, creating an in hospitable environment for a wide array of marginalized communities.

The premier’s rhetoric, combined with his actions, have proven time and time again that this province, under his government, is an un safe place for those who do not fit the mould of a so-called real Quebecer.

The Coalition Avenir Québec’s half-decade of harmful actions towards immigrants, religious minorities, Indigenous people, unhoused people, allophones and women has dealt a devastating blow to any crumbs of social progress which existed in a pre-CAQ Quebec.

Through his legislative agenda and rhetor ical style, Legault has repeatedly singled out members of vulnerable communities with one strong, grotesque underlying message: you are not welcome here. His list of failures is too long to enumerate, but he has created unspeakable damage to Quebec’s social fabric.

In 2019, protesters poured into the streets as Legault signed Bill 21 into law, an act which barred public servants from wearing religious symbols. That same year, he introduced a Que bec values test for all new immigrants. His mes saging has been consistently anti-immigration, demonizing immigrant communities of col our the hardest.

His hostility towards these communities has been a prominent feature of his first term, while continuoudly denying the existence of sys temic racism in the province. In 2021, when an Atikamekw woman, Joyce Echaquan, died be cause of systemic racism in the healthcare sys tem, Legault failed to take concrete action.

The premier’s neglect of the provincial health care system has been one of his largest failures since taking office. Nearly 16,000 Quebecers have died of COVID-19. Quebec has Canada’s highest rate of COVID-19 casualties by province, largely due to poor policy decisions surrounding long-term care facilities and contradictory health measures.

While trying to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in January 2021, Legault imposed curfews that made it illegal for unhoused people to be outdoors past 8 p.m.. He has repeatedly ignored the voices of marginalized people, only intensifying their hardships.

According to the Collins English Diction ary, stochastic terrorism is defined as “the pub lic demonization of a person or group resulting in the incitement of a violent act, which is sta tistically probable but whose specifics cannot be predicted.” Beyond a shadow of a doubt, François Legault meets these criteria.

But how does King Frank feel about his chan ces of victory this election cycle? Untouchable. The CAQ is still polling at sky-high numbers, shielding him from any criticism of his actions over the past four years.

Legault’s “l’État, c’est moi” attitude is wholly undemocratic, and is weakening Quebecers’ faith in a better tomorrow. This election has become a three-way race for second place, and morale has hit rock-bottom.

Hope, however, is not lost. Comparatively progressive parties challenging Legault’s grip on power have been increasing their chances of forming a concrete opposition.

None of this is possible if we don’t vote. Making our voices heard is one of the only tools we have against an increasingly despotic premier who could not care less about people who are different than him.

Take the time to look up your candidates, familiarize yourself with the major parties’ pos itions and vote strategically. Every vote purpose fully uncast is a vote for the status quo. On Oct. 3, cast your ballots in droves.

Volume 43, Issue 3

Tuesday, September 27, 2022

Concordia University Hall Building, Room H-645 1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. W. Montreal, Quebec H3G 1M8 editor: 514-848-2424 x. 7407 arts: 514-848-2424 x. 5813 news: 514-848-2424 x. 8682 business: 514-848-7406 advertising: 514-848-7406 Letters Michelle Pucci | Advisor: Laura Beeston

TYPESETTING by The Link PRINTING by Hebdo-Litho.

CONTRIBUTORS: Dylan Buvat, Breea Kobernick, Anthony Issa, Sarah Jesmer, Paul-Émile Landez, Menel Rehab, Nadia Trudel, Juliette Uliana.

House Ads: Adam Gibbard

Cover: Ivan de Jacquelin

editor-in-chief coordinating editor managing editor co-news editor features editor fringe arts editor sports editor opinions editor community editor copy editor interim creative director interim photo editor video editor interim graphics editor business manager operations manager computer technician distribution

OPEN MOHAMMAD KHAN OPEN

ZACHARY FORTIER

MARIANNE LIENDO-DUFORT

OPEN JAIME KERR

CONOR TOMALTY OLIVIA INTEGLIA

SOPHIE DUFRESNE

MARIANA CHAJON OLIVEROS

MARILOU BRICKERT

IVAN DE JACQUELIN

AUDE SIMON

NADINE ABDELLATIF

RACHEL BOUCHER

ADAM GIBBARD

ANURAG MOPALA

GUY LANDRY

GRAPHIC PAULE-ÉMILE LANDEZ