Volume 43, Issue 5

Abortion Access in Montreal: An Uphill Battle

The Life-Risking Consequences of Insufficient Reproductive Care

Maria Cholakova

On June 24, the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a case that made access to abortion services a fed eral right in the country. It al lowed each state to make its own law on the legality of abortion and its accessibility. The decision sparked major outrage from both the U.S. and people around the world alike. It also led to conver sations about the importance of abortion access, leaving many in the dark about their rights.

Abortion in Canada is legal in all provinces and is publicly funded, but the cost varies from province to province. In Quebec, abortion is free for anyone with a Régie de l'assur ance maladie du Québec card.

For out-of-province or inter national students at Concordia, Blue Cross insurance covers fees. Refugees covered under the In terim Federal Health Program will be able to get the service at no cost. Otherwise, clinics might charge differently for their ser vices. For instance, Clinic Med icale Femina would charge a non-insured patient $875.

So, where can you get an abortion?

Quebec has a total of 70 regu lated centres that provide abor tion services. Some of them are private, others are local commun ity service centres and a few are integrated health and social servi ces centres. All that is required is to call an abortion clinic to sched ule an appointment.

It is important to note that Quebec offers two types of abor tion services: surgical and medic al abortions. The choice is made by the patient after a consultation with a health professional.

Medical abortion is done at home by taking an abortion pill and is usually recommended if the pregnancy is under nine weeks. It consists of two medications: mife pristone and misoprostol. Mife pristone blocks the hormone pro gesterone needed for a pregnancy to progress, and misoprostol helps the cervix to relax and the uterus to contract to expel the embryo.

Surgical abortion involves surgery and is performed at a clinic. It is usually for patients up to 24 weeks pregnant.

“Luckily, in Montreal, we have access to many clinics,” said Maude Côté-Leduc, a family doctor at the Clinic Medicale Femina. “However, abortion services vary in some other cities and provinces and may not be able to admit you immediately.”

Côté-Leduc added that we should not overlook society's pressure on patients. “We often hear people say that abortion is used as a birth control method,” she said. “However, I can tell you for certain, coming here as a pa tient is never an easy decision.”

Society puts a lot of pressure on birth control intake, explained Côté-Leduc. The public blames people who get the service, she explained, yet birth control is seen as something everyone who could

“I don’t think that necessarily we should worry that abortion will become illegal, but what we do need to worry about is abor tion [being] so inaccessible to so many people,” said Bravo.

“There is still so much stigma around abortion, there is still such a profound misunderstanding about the changes the body goes through,” Bravo explained. This is why Bravo encourages the use of abortion doulas, a provider of emo tional and physical support before,

for the cause within the commun ity. Having vocal medical activists would bypass the need for polit icians to speak on the topic.

Mostly clinics—and not hos pitals—are the main provider of abortions. This results in civil ian donations keeping the clinic up and running, for it to be ac cessible to everyone.

“I would say my procedure in Montreal was pretty straight forward,” Yeung said. Protesters and doctor intimidation were not a

“It is always portrayed as some thing traumatic,” Bravo said about the representation of abortions in the media. “But it is never por trayed as just taking a pill in the safety of your own home, experien cing some cramping, and not hav ing to go through with a pregnancy you don’t want or can’t support.”

“I think it all comes to educa tion, clarity, and the stigma of per sistently being told that it is such an intense and serious procedure,” Yeung pointed out. “For me, it was an easy decision. This demand for a tragic story is a problem.” For her, abortion is healthcare.

Bravo also talked about the harmfulness of Crisis Pregnancy Centres. She stated these centres are often affiliated with the church and hide behind a pretense of helping people who seek an abor tion but steer them in another dir ection—such as adoption or keep ing the child and continuing with the pregnancy. Many of the centres practices were recently criticized due to their pro-life stance.

According to ARCC statistics, almost 22,000 abortions are per formed in Quebec per year.

When Yeung was 24, she had to book an appointment with an abortion clinic. “I got scared because, after a failed Plan B, it is possible that the fetus is at tached outside of the uterus,” said Yeung. “It could be an ec topic pregnancy, where it could kill you or the baby.” She went in to get a surgical abortion under the impression that she would be fully sedated, but that wasn’t the case. “It was really painful and I was jolted awake,” she added.

get pregnant should take, regard less of its many side effects.

Galya Bravo, vice president of Abortion Rights Coalition of Can ada, said there is much to be worked on in the country. In her opinion, the overturning of Roe v. Wade made abortion more salient—in stead, Canada needs to broaden the conversation about accessibility.

Diane Yeung, a journalism student at Concordia, believes that Montreal and Canada aren’t socially better than the U.S. “Just because it’s accessible here, doesn’t mean it is [accepted] or normalized,” she added.

Although the U.S. and Can ada differ in their abortion rights, there is still much to be worked on.

during, and after the abortion. This service aims to help people like Yeung, who had been in Montreal for a year and a half on a work visa at the time of her abortion and felt isolated due to her family not being in the same country.

In May 2022, the Canadian gov ernment announced $3.5 million in funding for abortion care. As en couraging as that is, governmental funding isn’t the only thing needed. More information from the med ical community and governmental transparency would benefit those in need of the procedure.

According to Bravo, there is a lack of doctors, physicians, and administrators of abortions act ing as strong and clear advocates

part of her experience, she clarified. “[The doctors] didn’t ask me ques tions,” specified Yeung. “Even with a foreign passport, I wasn’t asked about my status. There wasn’t a sense of pressure around the experience.”

In Bravo’s opinion, this is why education and advocacy for the abortion pill are so needed. “[The abortion pill] is something that you can get in the mail, something that you can do at home, at little to no cost with safety to access and dis creet at the same time”, she added.

ARCC advocates for the abor tion pill's accessibility, aiming to make it available in pharmacies. For now, the abortion pill can only be taken if you get an appointment with an abortion clinic.

Women are not the only ones that are struggling with access to abortion. Many people with a uterus—such as transgender men, non-binary individual, and other members of the LGBTQIA+ com munity—don’t find medical spaces accepting of them. Countless clinics are only equipped with cisgender women doctors and may not be as comfortable for some members of the community, making it even harder to seek the help they need.

An ARCC report states that 45 per cent of LGBTQIA+ pa tients have declared having one or more unmet healthcare needs in the past year. An al ready marginalized community should not be even more mar ginalized in healthcare.

GRAPHIC NADINE ABDELLATIF

Concordia University: Champion of Greenwashing

University’s Partnership With RBC Criticized by Student Climate Protesters

Olivia Integlia

On Oct. 21, over a dozen pro testers gathered outside the Guy-Concordia metro station, in front of a Royal Bank of Canada branch. Climate Justice Action Concordia organized a peaceful event, denouncing their univer sity’s role in the climate crisis.

Protesters held anti-RBC signs, handed out flyers to passersby and discussed the bank’s involvement in the fossil fuel industry.

“Today, we are here as stu dents of Concordia as part of RBC Off Campus Week, which is hap pening all across Canada,” said protest organizer Mac Findlay. “Students are calling for RBC to leave campuses because they are the biggest fossil fuel funders of all banks in Canada and they are jeopardizing our future.”

RBC On Campus is an initiative to teach students about financing. Various universities across Canada are affiliated with the bank and offer students access to “student-focused financial advisors.” This initiative is a part of its RBC Future Launch project, which is committed to do nating $500 million over ten years

to help youth enter the workforce.

While the project’s initiatives in 2021 included donating three scholarships to "Indigenous, Black and all youth", its actions demon strate an ironic lack of considera tion for youth and minorities.

In the last fiscal year alone, RBC invested $208 billion in the fossil fuel industry, including finan cing part of the Coastal GasLink pipeline. “We are looking to en gage with students on the role [of] the top five big banks in Canada— TD, BMO, CIBC, Scotiabank and RBC—are playing in the fossil fuel divestments,” Findlay explained.

Since its early stages, the pipeline project has been heavily criticized. Despite its proponents claiming that Coastal GasLink gave significant consideration to the surrounding Indigenous communities whose lands the pipeline would cross, as well as the project’s environmental impacts, activists have consistently opposed its construction.

The 670-kilometre pipeline will run through a number of environmental habitats, severely affecting ecosystems and poten

tially pollut ing waterways. Moreover, the project runs through Wet’suwet’en territory. RBC is “jeopardizing the future of Indigenous peoples by supporting fossil fuels and […] disrespecting Indigenous sovereignty,” Findlay said.

Findlay also stressed the ur gency of spreading awareness now more than ever. “They are beginning to drill on [Indigen ous] land, which is something that [the community has] actively been resisting for years now,” he said. Drilling officially began in September 2022 and is expected to finish by the end of the year.

During the protest, CJAC members forced RBC employees and clients to face their banners upon walking in the bank. “All we are trying to do is raise awareness and there’s not really much we can do until we are on the inside, and until many people start hav ing a problem with how RBC is investing its money and what they are funding,” said Allegra, who

did not want to disclose their last name, another protest organizer.

Allegra discussed how no torious RBC is for greenwashing. In its 2020-2021 annual report, the big bank made several com mitments to sustainability and Indigenous rights, including de creasing its emissions, becoming a leader in sustainability and con sulting “technology experts and Indigenous leadership.”

“It is really easy to say one thing and do another […], you can kind of get away with it […] if people aren’t informed about it,” Allegra explained.

CJAC is also urging Concordia to act by cutting ties with RBC in solidarity with climate justice and

Indigenous communities. “We are studying under an institution that is funding all these terrible things […] like climate chaos and violence against Indigenous peoples,” said protester Mia Kennedy.

Concordia’s Climate Action Plan, drafted in 2018-2019, pledged to go carbon-neutral by 2024. This pledge included reducing the CO2 “emissions from indirect sources.” And yet, the funding for RBC con tinues, Kennedy said.

“[Concordia’s] branding is be ing clashed with the truth behind the institutions with the money that we are paying them,” Kennedy said. “This is our money.”

PHOTO SOPHIE DUFRESNE

Did You Hear That? or Am I Going Crazy?

Students Tell Their Tales of the Evil Energies Haunting the Grey Nuns Building

Dallas Calvert

For the hundreds of first-year students living in Concordia’s infamous Grey Nuns building, midterms are far from the only force contributing to uneasy, sleepless nights.

The expansiveness of the deso late, whitewashed hallways alone bring a sinister sense of liminality to the residence.

“Everybody here is on the same wavelength…especially in the last week,” said Griffy, a first-year aero space engineering student. “I've had more than a few people go, ‘have you guys been feeling off recently?’”

A final, paranormal piece may complete the puzzle of students’ anxious energies that seem to arise, especially around Hallow een season: inexplicable and un canny encounters with ghosts in the Grey Nuns building.

Though they may be frighten ing, students say these occurrences are not surprising, due to the pe culiar past of one of the univer sity’s main residence buildings.

The Motherhouse of the Grey Nuns, a Canadian religious order of Roman Catholic sisters, was built in 1871 and used for more than 130 years as the headquar ters for their operations.

Besides housing over 1,000 nuns, the Motherhouse also served as a hospital and orphanage. The bodies of 232 nuns remain buried in the building’s crypt, located in its basement. Because of the infec tious diseases that caused many of their deaths, the bodies cannot be exhumed and moved.

Sharing space in the basement alongside the nuns’ corpses is first-year studio arts student Ruby Cluclow. They had a few things to say about their crypt companions: “I was so worried when I was reading up on all the stuff that happened here […] there has to be so much negative shit attached to these nuns who have been complacent in all of that shit.”

Cluclow was not wrong: on Val entine’s Day in 1918, a blazing fire broke out in the orphanage above the hospital, sparked by a nursery worker suffering from what was referred to as an arsonist delirium.

Firemen and recovering soldiers left their sickbeds to try and save the burning babies, but they were beat en back by the flames. Sixty children were confirmed to have died that day, but there are theories that there were additional casualties who were cremated in the fire.

This building's hair-raising his tory makes it the perfect setting for an escape room or a haunted house—if only Concordia allowed candles, matches, or lighters in the building. Perhaps the spirits could

be reasoned through spiritual cleansing or holding a seance. The university purchased the building in 2007 for a hefty sum of $18 mil lion, spending an additional $15 million on renovations.

Alas, the refurbishing efforts did not cleanse the building of its paranormal character, as students are still subject to spooky situations. “The bricks of this place are stained with disease and the blood of nuns,” reasoned Griffy. “Nothing can wipe away that, not even a new fresh coat of paint or a couple new electrical outlets here and there.”

Another Grey Nuns resident couldn’t seem to wipe away the weird energies: first-year mechanical en gineering student Pascale Bonn, also lives in the building’s most haunted hotspot, the basement.

Bonn recounted eerie events reminiscent of scare-tactic stor ies, like how saying Bloody Mary three times in the bathroom mir ror might make her appear. “I would wash my face and look into the mirror and then I would see the shape of a nun,” she said. “It was on the blank wall behind me […] but it was just a projection of a shadow or something.”

This frightening sight trig gered Bonn’s sense of fight or flight: “I would immediately close my eyes and be like ‘No, no, no, not happening.’”

These unnatural energies at work seemed to be especial ly attracted to people who have already had experience dealing with supernatural situations. Bonn pointed to the direction of her neighbour down the hall, Tatiana Elliot. “They are a ghost magnet, they’re from Edinburgh […] a notoriously haunted place,” Bonn said. “And they’ve been get ting cheerios placed in random spots in their room.”

Bonn and Elliot’s fellow base ment dweller, Zach Johnson, a studio arts and art history major, has also been subject to relatively harmless hauntings, which they think are “kinda cool [as they’re] not afraid of the paranormal.”

They told their TMI tale of weird washroom visits, where they would hear “loud thuds and the voices of children […] like playful screams.” There is a day care at Grey Nuns, but the nois es were coming directly from the burial site, only 15 to 20 feet away from that bathroom. Even in their fearless frame of mind, Johnson said it freaked them out. What a paranormal way to poop!

The basement isn’t the only setting that students report get ting spooked. First-year psych ology major Emma Clark lives on the second floor and was “in denial, not wanting to admit that this place has the weirdest feeling.” She attested to seeing “black floating orbs […] like a shadow and then it would be dark in the center [...] it would move […] If I looked at them too quickly they would disappear.”

Clark was raised Pagan and practices witchcraft. She said her encounters with the paranormal help ease some of her anxiety. “It is a little off-putting at times, but at the end of the day they don’t really hurt you,” she said. “You can’t get physically harmed from it, as long as you know what’s happening.”

“A little off-putting” may be an understatement, as a majority of residents would agree that they feel an underlying tension of unset tling physical anxiety, unrelated to normal mental triggers. Some stu dents told The Link they are at times afraid of dying in the Motherhouse. That is no way to feel in a place called home, students said.

Many students have point ed fingers towards the repeated hauntings, blaming them as con tributing to their building case of dissatisfaction towards their stu dent housing conditions.

“I hate living here. But not just the ghosts, everything,” Bonn said. Beyond the building’s unusually usual occult activities, students are far from pleased with their standards of living in the Motherhouse.

PHOTO IVAN DE JACQUELIN

“I would wash my face and look into the mirror and then I would see the shape of a nun”

— Pascale Bonn

PHOTO IVAN DE JACQUELIN

PHOTO IVAN DE JACQUELIN

The Ghosts of Grey Nuns

A Haunting History of the Grey Nuns and Their Motherhouse

Autumn Darey

In 1752, a farmer named Jean-Baptiste Goyer owned a plot of land near the heart of Montreal.

Goyer was quite the negligent farm owner, according to Mark Leslie and Shayna Krishnasamy, au thors of Macabre Montreal. He was more interested in spending time at the tavern than tending to his farm.

In May 1752, Goyer an nounced to those around him he would be taking a trip to Que bec City. At the time, such a trip would have taken a week. While he was supposedly on his voyage, his neighbours, Mr. and Mme. Favre, were brutally murdered. Their bodies were hacked to bits, and their money stolen.

Once word got out of the mur ders, Goyer began blaming illegal fur traders for the crime. He went as far as buying people rounds of alcohol if they would listen to his theories about the killings. His money never seemed to run out, despite his farm doing so poorly.

Eventually, Goyer confessed to the murders, and sentenced to death. The method of his execution is disputed: some said his body was tied to the back of a carriage and dragged through the streets, others said he was bound to a wheel, beat en until his bones broke and left to die. No matter the method, he was buried with a blood-red cross to mark his grave.

In 1969, when Dorchester Blvd., now known as René-Léves que Blvd., was widened, the cross was moved. Goyer’s body, how ever, was not. The homicidal farmer’s final resting place likely rests somewhere under the road.

Goyer’s plot of land would even tually be transformed into the Motherhouse of the Grey Nuns, now Concordia’s GN building.

For those educated in Quebec, the story of Marie-Marguerite Du frost de Lajemmerais may conjure memories of high school history class. Born in Varennes in 1701, about half an hour from Montreal, she would go on to be taught by the Ursuline Order in Quebec City between the ages of 11 and 13; she later used her knowledge to edu cate her siblings.

Around the age of 21, in 1722, Marie-Marguerite married François d’Youville. The mar riage led to her involvement in various religious and charitable organizations in the colony.

The d’Youville family enslaved people. Marcel Trudel, Quebec historian and author of Canada's Forgotten Slaves: Two Hundred Years of Bondage, explained that

these people were the d’Youvilles’ “personal property,” the same way livestock were. Trudel recounted how various individuals from the d’Youville family, including her brother Philippe and her father Pierre, owned, bought and sold human beings.

Trudel recounted how a 1731 notary document noted d’You ville inheriting two slaves from her husband when he died, as well as a Sioux woman and an additional In digenous woman. Trudel also noted how various hospitals and religious officials owned enslaved people.

On December 31, 1737, d’You ville secretly founded an association, the Sisters of Charity. The women would take on projects helping the sick and dying, most notably during the smallpox epidemic of 1755 and the Seven Years’ War, which rocked New France.

Général de Montréal had more slaves than any other women's re ligious community,” wrote Trudel.

According to William Henry Foster, author of The Captors' Nar rative: Catholic Women and Their Puritan Men on the Early Amer ican Frontier, “[i]n addition to being confined in cells, the prison ers were subjected to an exhaust ing schedule of domestic work in other areas of the hospital.”

In 1765, a massive fire con sumed the Hôpital Général, spread ing over five blocks from Rue du Saint-Sacrement to the hospital. Three people died in the fire, which left 215 families without homes and the Grey Nuns without a hospital.

Following d’Youville’s death in 1771, the Grey Nuns continued their mission in Montreal, as well as out west, giving the godly green light to the expansion of the geno cidal, colonial project of Canada.

While the British expanded westward, the Grey Nuns were one of multiple orders working as nurses and teachers in residential schools across so-called Canada. The nuns were active participants in cultural genocide, tasked with what was called “civilizing” In digenous children. Indigenous chil dren were ripped from their fam ilies and forbidden from speaking their languages or participating in their cultural practices.

The Grey Nuns were involved in over a dozen schools. Many surviv ors have said they had insufficient or rotten food, frequent breakouts of illness and sparse medical care. Other survivors recounted physical and sexual abuse during their con finement in the schools.

In one particularly horrific lo cation, St. Anne’s Indian Residen tial School in northeastern On tario, administered by the Grey Nuns, students recounted how an electric chair was used on them throughout the 1950s and 60s. Some were as young as six; the reason the chair was used is dis puted. The nuns also used a cat of nine tails, a whip with nine flails, on the children. One survivor, Chris Metatawabin, described the whip as having “the steel things in it that can rip you apart.”

According to the National Cen tre for Truth and Reconciliation in Winnipeg, at least 89 children died at the Holy Angels Indian Resi dential School in Fort Chipewyan, Alta., another institution where the Grey Nuns worked.

At one point, d’Youville was accused of stealing an enslaved Indigenous person from her step-father, Doctor Timothée Sylvain. She also accepted en slaved people as “gifts” in addi tion to those she owned.

During her marriage, d’You ville would have six children, four of whom died in infancy. Her hus band, François died in 1730. The two children who survived went on to become priests.

The sisters would come to be known as the Grey Nuns, in large part because of their grey frocks.

The hospital the nuns worked in, the Hôpital Général in the Old Port, utilised the labour of enslaved people and prisoners. “The Hôpital-

In Montreal, the nuns con tinued to work in hospitals, car ing for the sick and dying. Their commitment to the cause would be tested in the 1840s, as a new wave of immigrants arrived.

As hundreds of Irish immi grants arrived on the shores of Montreal, fleeing the second con secutive year of crop failures dur ing the Great Famine, a typhus

PHOTO IVAN DE JACQUELIN

outbreak ravaged the community in 1847. That year, 90,000 Irish emigrants sailed for Quebec.

The nuns worked in the fever sheds in Pointe-Saint-Charles, caring for their patients over the course of nearly two years. They also cared for some of the rough ly 3,000 orphaned Irish children whose parents died in the journey to Quebec; the Church helped place—not adopt—many of the orphans into settled families. An estimated 6,000 famine refugees would die in the Pointe.

The Grey Nuns lost 13 of their members to typhus as they tend ed to the sick in the fever sheds.

Those nuns, along with hundreds of convent members and others, are buried in the basement of the Motherhouse, adjacent to where students now live.

The only nun whose body was able to leave the Motherhouse’s crypt was d’Youville’s. Her body was disinterred and reburied in Varennes, where she was born. The other nuns’ bodies remain in the crypt for concern of spread ing the illnesses they were buried with if they were to be exhumed.

The building’s construc tion began in December 1868. Its primary undertaker, Victor Bourgeau, became known as the architect of the Grey Nuns. He had worked on three previous projects for them, the chapel for the Hospice St-Joseph, the Refuge Sainte-Brigide and the renova tion of a building in Chateauguay.

Bourgeau’s vision for the Mother house, an H-shaped complex with a chapel at its centre, was never fully realized—the western por tion of the structure was never constructed. Bourgeau died in an accident on his way to a meeting with the Grey Nuns in 1888.

Tragedy would be a running theme plaguing the Mother house. In the early 1900s, parts of the building were being used

as a hospital and orphanage. One floor was occupied by recovering soldiers, and the floor above was occupied by orphaned children.

On Feb. 14, 1918, fire struck the Motherhouse.

By daybreak, over 60 children under the age of four were dead. Soldiers and nuns made it out of the flames, saving dozens of chil dren as firefighters worked to ex tinguish the blaze.

It was later discovered that the fire was intentionally set by Berthe Courtemanche, who was hired as a nursery worker only six weeks prior. She was tried for the crime, but was deemed unfit

to stand trial at the end of 1918. Courtemanche was then trans ferred to Hôpital Saint-Jean-deDieu, a psychiatric asylum where she would die ten years later of pulmonary tuberculosis and ca chexia, a wasting syndrome that causes muscle and fat loss.

Following the end of World War II, the Grey Nuns set up vari ous missions in Africa and South America as their numbers start ed to drop. In 1959, Marguerite d’Youville was beatified, one of the steps in her canonization pro cess, which took place in 1990.

As the nuns’ numbers con tinued to dwindle, they decid

ed to sell the historic building. In 2004, Concordia University would purchase the Mother house. Once the purchase was finalized in 2007, the plan for the takeover was supposed to take place in 2022. It is likely that Concordia University knew about the investigation from the 90s and the crimes perpetrat ed by the Grey Nuns when they bought the building.

However, once the last of the occupants left in 2012, Concordia started renovating early. From 2013 to 2014, the space we know today was created. Initially, the Mother house was slated to house the Fine Arts department, but plans were changed. Today, the GN building serves as a student residence, con taining beds for 600 students, a reading room, a nursery, a garden and various classrooms.

While the legacy of Marguerite d’Youville and the Grey Nuns is of benevolence and charity, their role in slavery, colonialism and residential schools over the course of centuries proves otherwise. There has been no recognition by the Grey Nuns on their website of their involvement, and they do not seem intent on paying settlements.

The nuns were part of the 2006 Indian Residential Schools Settle ment Agreement, in which they promised to raise $25 million out of $79 million for survivors. However, the Canadian govern ment quietly discharged Cath olic entities from the $25 million and legal fees in 2015, meaning survivors may never receive that money. The Grey Nuns sold the Motherhouse to Concordia for $18 million two years before the settlement agreement.

The Ontario Provincial Police interviewed 700 victims and wit nesses involved in the tragedies at St. Anne’s Residential School between 1992 and 1998, one of the schools run by the Grey Nuns. Of the 74 suspects identified, only seven were charged, and five were convicted for their crimes.

On October 20, 2022, The Su preme Court of Canada declined to hear an appeal from a group of Residential School survivors from St. Anne’s to hand over thousands of unreleased documents from the investigation by the OPP.

Based on its current website, Concordia has yet to acknowledge the harm done by the Grey Nuns or their role in residential schools. When reached for comment, Con cordia Spokesperson Vannina Maestracci said the university will “be looking at these pages soon in order to revise them.”

As of publication, the uni versity’s website has not been updated.

PHOTO IVAN DE JACQUELIN

COURTESY BANQ

PHOTO IVAN DE JACQUELIN

The Cap’s Been Popped

Federal Government Lifts 20-Hour Work Week Limit for International Students

Ivan de Jacquelin

Ottawa announced that from Nov. 15 until the end of 2023, the 20-hour work week limit for international students eligible to work off-campus while studying will be lifted.

The goal of this measure is allegedly to “help Canada’s post-pandemic growth and pro vide a boost to thousands of em ployers looking to add to their staff for the upcoming holiday season,” Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said in a press confer ence on Oct. 7.

The federal government hopes this trial period will fight Can ada’s widespread labour shortage hitting every province. While this change was presented as good news for both students and em ployers, some question that in creasing the workforce might not be the appropriate response to the

depreciation of the value of wages.

“It changes how you’re protect ed,” said Naomi Levy, an assistant at the Concordia Student Union’s Housing and Job Resource Centre.

“If people are in situations that are dangerous or where their rights aren’t being respected, [...] (that measure) protects them more than if someone works off the books getting paid under the table.”

It’s hard to predict the impacts of this policy, the reality being that many students did not wait for the government’s green light.

“Officially, on my paycheck, [my employers] pay me 20 hours, but they’ll increase the hourly rate to make it match the number of extra hours I did,” said Vlad, a Concordia international student from Iran who works about 30 hours a week, and wished to re main anonymous.

Peter, an international student from France who also wished to remain anonymous, recent ly started a new job in a restau rant. The student reports missing hours on his paycheck and says he doesn't know when or how he’ll be paid his extra hours.

“I work around 25 hours a week,” Peter said. “My manager wants everyone to work more, and doesn’t pay us for it.”

Swane Lebrun, an inter national student from France, works 20 hours per week at a medical clinic, but works an ex tra five to 10 hours babysitting, which is typically off the books.

“I’m fine with the 20-hour limit,” Lebrun said. “Babysitting gives me extra pocket money and I can still use that time to study, but I couldn’t handle more hours at the clinic with the course-load I have,” she added.

Val, who is from Switzerland, works at a pizzeria on Place des Arts. He said that his bosses rely so much on international stu dents that whenever a study per mit-holder exceeds the cap, they get paid in cash. He is scared, however, that without the 20hour limit, some students might neglect their studies to start work ing full-time. “I have friends who wanted to drop courses to make more money, but the limit kept them in school,” Val said.

Levy, along with other labour advocates, believe that incentiviz ing students to work more is not an adequate solution. “If [the gov ernment’s] goal was ultimately to ensure that international students are not working over 20 hours and if they didn’t need to, then the answer would be to increase the wages,” Levy added.

The minimum wage, in Levy’s opinion, is by no means a living wage, especially for people jug gling work life and their studies. “If you raise the cap, then people might feel more pressure (to work more), but people who need the money are going to work those jobs,” they said.

As the unemploy ment-to-job-vacancy ratio reached a historical low of one in the first quarter of 2022, com pared to 2.3 before the pandemic, the reality of the labour shortage is undeniable.

The change brought about by the federal government will allow students to legally work more hours and get appropriately paid. How ever, as long as minimum wage doesn’t keep up with Canada’s ris ing cost of living, advocates say the problem will only rage on.

GRAPHIC NADINE ABDELLATIF

The Rocky Horror Show’s Triumphant Return

MainLine Theatre Hosts Cult Classic Following COVID-Induced Time Warp

Naomi Waters

The Rocky Horror Show returned to the MainLine Theatre on Oct. 20. Running until Oct. 31, this is the first time the production is being held following a two year hiatus due to COVID-19.

The Rocky Horror Show is a musical theater production that debuted in 1973. Since then, it has been taken on by various different directors over the years. It follows newly-wed couple Brad Majors and Janet Weiss, as on one dark and stormy night they stumble upon Frank N. Furter’s mysterious mansion. From that point on they are greeted by a colourful cast of odd characters, sexually explicit encounters and Rock and Roll Music. The play is known for its queer characters and disregard for puritanical values. It is considered a queer cult classic, and is trad itionally screened each Halloween.

The setting was quaint, intim ate, and the house was completely packed. Everyone involved—both cast and audience members— seemed completely enthralled by the show. It was a wonderful kick off to this year’s long awaited edi tion of the Rocky Horror Show

In the spring of 2022, it was announced the production would be staged once again, with rehearsals commencing in August. Many cast members ex pressed their enthusiasm about the production and eagerness to get back into the scene.

Amy Blackmore, director of this edition, said she was confi dent to take on this project once again and that it was “a grand re turn.” She added she was happy to see that Rocky Horror was ex panding into the mainstream, since it “promotes the idea of be ing yourself, also being allowed to play with your sense of self.”

This is exactly what was so spectacular about this production: the absolute gender-fuckery, lack of respect for puritanical values and cis-het-normative art. The show disregards protestant values of sex before marriage, repression and heterosexuality, blurring the defined binaries of audience and performance. There were many callbacks between cast members, the audience, and the director. Throughout the show, the director and audience would often inter rupt the cast members and they would give improvised responses. The fourth wall did not exist, and the crowd was living for it.

Many characters who have traditionally been played by cismen were played by non-men in

this edition. Frank N. Furter and Riff Raff, for instance, were both played by women. By experi menting with the gender roles of characters, the production in turn makes mockery of gender roles in their entirety, as well as play with audiences expectations.

Stephanie Mckenna, who played Frank N. Furter, said she felt confident in her ability to take on the iconic role. For her first time taking on the role of Frank N. Furter, she described that, “there was pressure initially as a lesbian women playing Frank N. Furter.” Since then, she has felt more than confident to take on the role despite the misogyny.

Mckenna pulled off the char acter with amazing charm. A graduate of John Abbott’s with a degree in professional theater acting, this was her sixth time playing Frank N. Furter. She com bined the essence of the character while at the same time bringing in her own style to create a perform ance that was genuinely engaging and entertaining.

Megan Vera Starling, who played Riff Raff, said that she “fell in love with the Montreal show, and jumped on the opportunity to join the production.” Star ling said “that there was a type of gender expression within the role.” This comes as no surprises as she is a drag king, this cast ing choices goes along well with gender and sexual liberation that is woven into the show.

Starling’s performance was a highlight of the production, with their background in opera and rock theater serving the character well.

The overall show was fantastic, every single performance stood out, and there was no better cast and crew to take on this produc tion. With a cast of 25, including five band members, and twenty actors the production was close knit. Every member played off each other well, because of their long time familiarity with each other, and eagerness to return. The band played the classic Rocky Horror show tunes with energy and the drummer even did some rim shots off bad jokes from the audience.

The Rocky Horror Show is run ning every night from Oct. 27. to Oct. 31. Tickets are priced at around $25 for students, seniors, Quebec Drama Federaton mem bers, and accessible price, $30 for regular, and $50 for VIP.

Mian le linn Oíche Shamhna

Abdallah Hamade

Once again, it’s that time of year, When all humans suc cumb to fear,

Humanity’s joys and sorrow, Are sadly mine to borrow,

As I continue to mourn the flowers in my garden.

My Moon Flower, tainted black with my rage, In the end she had helped me turn a page.

Unlocked the doors of my mind, The ones which for so long I hid behind.

The death of my shell, The rebirth of what once fell,

I thank you my Moon Flower for breaking this spell.

Resplendent lotus, black as night,

You were the one who drove me to fight.

Many years now have you been gone, Long has it been since I enjoyed the dawn.

Powerful as you were, you could not subdue me, Powerful as I am, I taught you how to see.

I long for our banter and miss you so dearly, For you are the one who re vealed my needs clearly.

Rose, Rose, I could not forget, Please forgive me, my dearest rosette.

In this garden you are my Queen, How I miss those eyes of em erald, green.

You have taught me to pay re spects to the dead, These three days I no longer dread,

Samhain is a time to mourn and guide, Those lingering spirits on life’s final ride.

Of all our promises, I have kept but one,

And with this, hopefully that deed be done.

Our souls remain, eternally bound,

As per your wishes, a new happiness I’ve found,

Every year on these three days, I vow to continue and help those part ways,

Guiding spirits from the mor tal plain,

From their anguish they can refrain,

As the child of Life and Death, I will eternally honour that re quest.

One day I shall join you three in my garden,

And accept punishment for my sins, As my heart gets warm from your lovely grins.

May my three flowers bloom again this year for Samhain.

The Fox, Snake and Owl.

Stephanie McKenna as Frank N. Furter.

COURTESY MATHIEU SAMSON

Mundanity, Mystery, and Magic in Japanese Literature Argo Bookshop’s Literary Workshop Offers Taste of Japanese Culture

Aminah Hannan

Floating cherry blossom petals.

Snow-peaked mountains. Glitzy, futuristic cities, Samurai.

These are a few of the images often invoked by people talking about Japan, that faraway land that exists somewhere between mystery and myth in the Western imagination. Keen Japanophiles might attribute the popularity of some of these representations to manga, the Japanese graphic novel and one of the nation’s biggest cultural exports. In other literary circles, Murasaki Shikibu, Kazuo Ishiguro and Haruki Murakami may be some of the names that resound with more familiarity. Yet, even as Japanese aesthetics are recognizably trendy in Hollywood, much of the country’s literature re mains locked away, unknown and inaccessible to Western hobbyists and academics alike.

Cultural initiatives such as the Argo Bookshop’s annual Japanese literature event may help demysti

fy some of this experience. Held on Oct. 20, the workshop cur riculum spanned from the dawn of imperial court poetry, haikus, prose and theatre trends across centuries, all the way to beloved mainstream Japanese authors, of fering a promising glimpse into a literary tradition that is historic ally rich but often overlooked by Western audiences for its linguis tic and thematic complexities.

Moti Lieberman, the event’s host and passionate Japanese literature expert, pointed to the distinct narra tive structure of Japanese stories as a possible reason for this divide.

“We have a Japan book club, and people are often dissatisfied with the endings because they don’t wrap up the way they ex pect,” he said. A returned expat who is fluent in the language, he believes many readers are used to a Western-Christian story telling tradition, which ordinar ily favours resolute conclusions.

“Western books will have some body have an epiphany, and then maybe the good guys are saved. Japanese storytelling doesn’t have that. Stories can end in an abrupt way and are more open-ended.”

Unusual structure and an em phasis on aesthetics, minute details and play-by-play pacing in some novels frustrates new readers, said Lieberman. “It’s something you have to develop a taste for.”

A lack of available translators also means that Western audiences only get a small selection of texts published in a language they can read, he explained. And it is typ ically only those that have won literary prizes or sold well. Ac cording to him, this skews the per ception of Japanese literature for many people, who will conceive it as being exclusively high-minded and focused on abstracts.

Although abstract ideals are indeed present in classical books, "there is also a lot of science fiction,

mysteries and romances. All of that stuff exists in Japanese literature too," he said. Manga and light novels are widespread across genres, and can be a first gateway into learning about Japanese customs.

Lieberman added that the simple kanji characters and annotations in those works are a valuable resource for language learners. “The media is just different [from literary pieces]. Giving the people that opportunity to engage is important if they are curious.” And hopefully that curi osity, once piqued, will lead them to the book aisle down the line.

Aidan Olley, a recent Asian Studies and History graduate from the University of British Colum bia, counts himself as one such person. Attending the workshop at Argo was an opportunity to learn something new about a country he hopes to work in, he said.

“Literature has been a blind spot in my studies about Japan,” said Olley. “I’ve read a few au thors for class—we did The Tale of Genji and some poetry from Matsuo Basho, but I want to see what [else] I’ve been missing.”

Olley credits the discovery of manga in his adolescence in part for his growing curiosity about Japan. One of his favourite works, Mushishi, is a supernatural medi eval adventure set across a range of locations across the country, he said. The vivid locales, com plex imagery and art style from

The Ember Glows: “Music that will Remain Timeless”

the critically acclaimed work left a deep impression on him.

Speakers from the Japan Ex change and Teaching programme in Canada participated in the workshop, encouraging audacious attendees to embark on an ad venture working abroad. The JET initiative, funded by the Japanese government to promote cultural ties between the country and other nations, offers college graduates the opportunity to teach English in Japan while immersing themselves in the language and culture.

Steve Busby, a former partici pant and ambassador of JET, says his experience living in Japan en riched his perspective of the world. “It's fascinating in every way, and yet there are so many things I can not relate to, as someone who's male and from Canada,” he said.

He added that the country and its cultural heritage offers much to those willing to scrape past the surface. “It [feels] cliché, but I think Japan is like an iceberg. From our limited perspective here, we can only experience the very tip of something that is so deep and vast and beautiful.”

For those looking for a taste of something sublime, the Argo rec ommends Makioka Sisters, Snow Country or Sputnik Sweetheart as excellent introductions to the world of Japanese wordcraft.

Montreal Rockers Celebrate New EP, Secret Concerts, and Each Other’s Company

Sophie Dufresne

The Ember Glows, a Mont real-based quartet influenced by new wave and post-punk music, released their EP Where Spirits Play on Sept. 23. Initially created as a side-project in 2019, the band became each member’s main music priority thanks to the chemistry the four had. Martin Saint, lead singer and one of two guitar players, noted that an im portant reason for this chemistry was that they are all friends.

“We’re not just four mercen aries who hooked up to do music. We genuinely enjoy each other’s company; hanging out social ly such as tonight, even without instruments in our hands,” said Saint. “I think this [chemistry] is something—I hope, at least, that people can feel in the music: in the chemistry, in the silences, the ebb and flow.”

According to Richard Bunze, lead guitar, Where Spirits Play has

received lots of positive feedback from Europe and North Amer ica, though Saint acknowledged that they seem to be more popular among European listeners.

Andrew Wieler, the Metal Direc tor for CJLO, Concordia University’s radio station, said The Ember Glows are unique for a Montreal band, since the city doesn’t have many post-punk or new-wave artists.

“The Ember Glows [have] a spe cifically ‘British new wave feel’ to [them] that I don't really think has been tapped into in any other band from here,” Wieler said in a writ ten statement to The Link. “This is a rare instance where a band is so spot on with their own description that writing anything about their sound feels like plagiarism.”

The Ember Glows used to be on Spotify, but have since re moved themselves from the plat form. Among the many reasons for this decision was the stream

ing service’s affiliation with mil itary investments. Saint said that he is still on Spotify as a solo art ist and he is very cautious about not being a hypocrite.

“[This news] came out last year and we opted out, we were just like ‘why are we on it if we don’t even like the platform,’ and

it gives the least amount of money to the artists than any of the plat forms,” Bunze said.

Saint doesn’t believe that the band is hindered by not being on Spotify.

“It’s not easy, but it shouldn’t be. You have to earn [the respect of your audience],” he said. “People can

smell phoniness from a mile [away], so if the four of us are genuine […], then we hope that this is music that will remain timeless,” he added.

On Nov. 12, the band will be playing at The Fungeon, which Bunze described as being an underground DIY venue that just opened a few months ago.

“It brings us back to the days of just doing it yourself,” he said about the site, which is at an undisclosed location. Those looking to attend the concert either have to be invit ed by the band or ask around until someone coughs up an address.

“We don’t necessarily want to be rockstars,” Bunze said. “The dream is to sustain yourself on music […] music is a massive part of our lives and we have to play it; we love it.”

Saint agreed and added they want to play for the right reasons, not to simply be on a billboard.

COURTESY BRYAN GAGNON

SCHEDULE

WOMEN’S HOCKEY

Sunday, Oct. 30 vs. Bishop’s at 3 p.m.

MEN’S HOCKEY

Friday, Oct. 28 vs. Queen’s at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29 vs. Nipissing at 7 p.m.

FOOTBALL

Saturday, Oct. 29 vs. Laval at 2 p.m.

FOOTBALL

(Quebec

RUGBY

SOCCER

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL (Preseason)

BASKETBALL (Queen’s

HOCKEY

Women’s Rugby vs. Carleton Ravens Game of the Week: Bronze Game Set as Conclusion to Chaotic Campaign

Conor Tomalty

The Stingers women’s rugby team gets set for the final game of the season, wrapped up in the Bronze consolation game versus the Carleton Ravens on Saturday, Oct. 29.

After beating Université de Montreal on Saturday Oct 22, the Concordia Stingers have prov en to be the best university team on the island of Montreal. The win was also significant because it punched their ticket to the Bronze game where they get set to face off against Carleton.

The Stingers experienced as many highs as they did lows this year. When they opened their sea son with a 59-6 defeat to Univer sity of Ottawa they responded the following week with a win against Bishop’s University. When the ma jority of their starters became in jured, the inexperienced players stepped up. The most recent ex ample was the 69-0 win over Mc Gill University on Oct. 15.

All this to say, Concordia has dealt with adversity well. The team barely missed the fourth place ment in the standings due to UdeM scoring more points throughout the year. Concordia scratched and clawed their way into the Bronze

game by fighting through each round of the postseason.

Carleton had a slightly bet ter situation in 2022. At 4-2, the Ravens claimed third place in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec standings. The two top performers came from fly-half Vanessa Chiappetta and versatile back Maya Addai. The two rank sixth and seventh respectively in the U Sports scoring leaders. They have combined for 142 of the Ravens’ 230 points scored.

Concordia and Carleton played earlier in the year, re sulting in a decisive Carleton vic tory of 48-13. This time around, the Stingers have grown into a squad with good chemistry. This aspect will not guarantee a win, as only time will tell in the results of the Bronze game.

Carleton has a home-field advantage, therefore Concordia fans will not be able to rely on the Stingers cast. Nevertheless, the Ravens will be streaming the event on their YouTube page, CU Ravens, viewers can also search youtube.com/officialravens. Kick-off has yet to be deter mined.

Stingers’ Weekend Wrap-Up:

Postseason for Some, End of Season for Others

Tomalty

Let’s talk Stingers…

Football: Shaughnessy Cup

The football team came out victorious on October 21st in an overtime thriller against rivals the McGill University Redbirds.

A back-and-forth shootout af fair that came down to a Jaylan Greaves touchdown reception and an Isaac Fulham sack sealed the deal for Concordia. Quarter back Olivier Roy had 387 yards passing, the bulk of which was amassed by receiver Jacob Salvail. Salvail had 141 yards receiving on 12 catches and one touchdown. With this loss, McGill was elimin ated from playoff contention.

Next game is against the Uni versité de Laval Rouge et Or on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 2 p.m..

Women’s Rugby: Won Consola tion Semi-Final

Continuing with positive news, the women’s team punched their ticket to the consolation final

game on Oct. 29. Coach Jocelyn Barrieau’s team nudged out a 2315 win against the Université de Montreal Carabins on Oct. 22.

The end of the year for them has been a battle to claim the final spot in the bronze game. Captain Mahalia Robinson had 13 of the Stingers' points, with try contri butions from full-back Madeleine Mactavish and forward Kendra Harrison.

Next game is the consolation final against Carleton University on Saturday, Oct. 29. The time is still to be determined. More on this on page 12.

Men’s Rugby: Finished fifth in the RSEQ

The men’s team’s story is less fortunate. A loss against University of Ottawa on Oct. 22 cemented a fifth-place finish for 2022, a shock ing finale for the defending prov incial champions. It is one thing for the prominent juggernauts of the Quebec division to not win the trophy, but not even qualifying is

remarkable. Nonetheless, coach John Lavery will recoup for next season, as this early exit provides newfound motivation.

Women’s Soccer: Finished fifth in the RSEQ

With a loss to UdeM on Oct. 23, Concordia does not qualify for the playoffs. Ending the year with a record of 5-6-3, they im proved upon their results from the 2021 season. As much as the women’s program had hopes for postseason play, they will have to turn their attention to 2023.

Men’s Soccer: Finished fifth in the RSEQ

Much like their counterparts, the men’s team was booted out of the bracket after their 4-2 loss to UdeM on Oct. 22 4-2. Many of the now senior players will not be returning next year, marking 2022 as an underwhelming last hurrah. Despite this, the young talent will now take control, so it will not be a complete program restart just yet.

Baseball: Lost Quebec Finals

McGill’s solid pitching is what spelled Concordia’s downfall last weekend. The Stingers lost both games 4-0 and 8-1 respectively. Redbirds starting pitcher Cinch Smith threw seven innings of one-run ball with five strikeouts and five hits allowed in game two, while Stingers pitcher Nathan Lavoie was dealt the loss as he was tagged with six earned runs in the affair.

Women’s Hockey:

Coach Julie Chu’s team has opened their season at 1-1. A loss in the opener against UdeM 4-2 on Oct. 21 and a victory in the RSEQ championship rematch against McGill 3-1 on Oct. 23. Emmy Fec teau had two points over the week end with one goal and one assist, and goalie Jordyn Verbeek made 18 saves on 19 shots.

Next game against Bishop’s Uni versity on Sunday, Oct. 30 at 3 p.m..

Men’s Hockey:

The men’s team lost against Ontario Tech University 5-4 on Oct. 23 despite outshooting the Ridgebacks 37-28. Stingers’ winger Charles Tremblay led the team by two points during the match. At 1-1 on the year, Concordia rests in

Shut Up and Dribble: The IFSC Has Failed Elnaz Rekabi

The International Federation of Sport Climbing Provided No Protection for Iranian Athlete Amidst the Country Crisis

August Fallone

The International Federation of Sport Climbing’s spine less statements fail to live up to the courage shown by this boul der and lead finalist in the 2022 Asian Championships in Seoul.

On Oct.15, Iranian climb er Elnaz Rekabi competed in the women’s boulder and lead climbing finals at the 2022 Asian Championships in Seoul. She competed without a hijab amid protests in Iran surrounding the death of Mahsa Amini. In the days that followed, conflicting answers about her whereabouts and wellbeing left the public rightfully concerned.

After radio silence from Rek abi on Monday, the IFSC released one vague official statement on Oct. 18. This six-sentence long announcement is void of emo tion, humanity and comfort, saying only that they are “fully aware of the news,” and that they will “continue to monitor the situation” as Rekabi returns to Iran. They also “support any efforts to keep a valued member of our community safe in this situation.” The lack of effort in this statement feels outright dis respectful to the seriousness of the situation. The federation has made no clear action to back up these claims of support

Another statement—only five sentences this time—was released Oct. 19, confidently announcing that Rekabi has “safely arrived in Tehran, Iran,” while news outlets like The Guardian questioned how safe she really was. The same mor ning, a now unavailable Instagram story on Rekabi’s account writ ten in the first-person offered an apology for the trouble she caused, stating that her lack of hijab was an accident due to being called to climb earlier than expected.

I’m not here to speculate on whether or not Rekabi’s lack of head covering was an accident, although she did not compete in one, and had plenty of time in be

tween the two finals to retrieve it, but even if her statement is true, it does not mean she's safe. Wheth er she intended it or not, Rekabi is now a symbol of the protests.

It seems clear that her state ments, as well as the statements of the Iranian government and the IFSC, cannot be taken at face value. The IFSC, however, seems to have done just that.

It released no follow up state ments since Rekabi’s arrival in Iran, making me question just how much they are “monitor ing the situation.” Their Oct. 19 statement said they “will wait for her to return to the IFSC circuit of events at the beginning of the

seventh place in the Ontario Uni versity Athletics eastern division standings. The season is still young, with more exciting play to come.

Next game against Queen’s University on Friday, Oct. 28 at 7:30 p.m..

Women’s Basketball: Non-Con ference

The women’s team experienced a lacklustre preseason, yet things turned around for the young squad when they beat Trinity Western University 72-65 on Oct. 22. Areej Burgonio and Serena Tchida were exceptional on both ends of the court, combining for 45 points and nine steals. The two vets have their hands full with providing the experience many of the freshman players are lacking. It will be inter esting to see how the year unfolds.

Next game against Univer sité du Quebec à Montreal on Nov. 3 at 6 p.m..

Men’s Basketball: Queen’s Tour nament

The men’s team concluded the tournament with one win and two losses. All three games were close in scoring, as the point dif ferential for the Stingers was - 2. The provincial runner-ups have faced tough competition this pre season, with anticipation high to see how the group performs dur ing the 2022-23 season.

Next game against UQAM on Nov. 3 at 8 p.m..

2023 season.” That sounds like a nice way of saying they plan on doing nothing more to protect and support the athlete.

Other professional climbers, as well as the international climb ing community, have voiced their concern and support for Rekabi, showing a care for one of their own that isn't matched by the organization. The IFSC has no excuse for their neutrality backed by meager well-wishes when a member of the community is clearly in danger. The climbing world is holding its breath hoping that Rekabi finds some form of protection, but it seems she won’t be getting any from the IFSC.

GRAPHIC BREEA KOBERNICK

Allyship or Islamophobia?

Selective Activism Exposes Your Prejudice Menna Nayel

About four months ago, before moving here from Ottawa, my mother and I visited Montreal. As we took long walks from one des tination to another, she rolled her eyes and called me lazy every time I suggested we get an Uber. “It’s only a 15-minute walk,” she argued.

I had a protective gait as I walked by my hijabi mother. Scanning everyone around us, analyzing every look we got. After all, Montreal is home to Bill 21. At some point during our many walks around the city, I wanted to pop into our hotel room to pick something up. We were only about a five minute walk away from it. I pleaded with my mother to come with me, but she refused. “I don’t want to go back, I want to keep walking,” she said.

Finally, I gave up and rushed to the hotel without her. Later that night my mother confessed that after wandering into a Phar maprix, a man shouted at her to “go back to her country!”—I was infuriated, kicking myself for let ting her walk around alone.

During the height of the Iran protests, as I sat in the metro, I saw a man opposite from me holding a sign that advocated for Iranian women. I couldn’t help but think of my mother’s experience just a few months ago. I couldn’t help but wonder if that man sitting in front of me would have created a sign, taken a metro and stood alongside Muslim women to show his sup port. Maybe I’m being pessimistic, but I don’t think he would’ve.

As a woman and a human be ing, I feel touched that the world is taking notice of the battles women of color face. I feel relieved that people with influence are finally shedding light on the oppression.

As a Muslim, however, I feel fear ful. Not because powerful women are standing up for their rights, but because I know the world will use this cause as an excuse to further justify their Islamophobic acts.

“If you defend Iranian women taking off their hijabs and you don’t defend French women who want to wear them then you aren’t the ally you think you are,” was a reposted tweet I came across by a man I had never heard of, Shahed Amanullah, managing director of Frost Capital.

I wholeheartedly agree. If you act like that, you’re not pro-women: you’re an Islamophobe seizing an opportunity to criticize the religion.

A plethora of questions invad ed my brain. Why is no one pro testing the fact that Bill 21 forces Muslim women to choose between their religious choices and mak ing a living? Why did the entire world disregard France's decree prohibiting hijabi mothers from participating in their children's school activities? What about the life-threatening Islamophobia in India? Why did everyone ignore the Middle East when it united to boycott French products? Where were the protests then?

I came to the conclusion that one of the major reasons Iranian women are receiving global sup port is because their cause aligns

with western ideals—women tak ing their hijabs off. In France and Quebec, however, the struggles of Muslim women are consistantly ignored because they do not rep resent western ideals—women keeping their hijabs on.

Along with questions about the public’s reaction, I also contemplated my future in this city, this province, and this country. What if I choose to wear one? Will I also be harassed like my mother? How will a hijab affect my career as a journalist?

My mind immediately rushes to a tweet I had stumbled upon where CBC News anchor Ginella Massa had to clarify: “I can be in solidar ity with a woman’s right to choose what she does with her body, with out changing what I have person ally chosen to do with mine.”

As I aimlessly scrolled through TikTok, a certain video jolted me into fury. Tiktok user @Planetb thebook posted a video criticizing Muslim women for their hijabs. “If you are refusing to take it off even for a day, especially at your workplace…to show solidarity with what’s happening in Iran… You are guilty of bowing down to this sex obsessed body worship ing…You have a dirty disgusting mind; the rest of us do not.”

The hatred and rage pouring out of that video made it difficult to watch, especially knowing it was directed towards fellow Mus lim women. I couldn’t understand how a grown woman could spout the most senseless, brainless and ignorant collection of words in the span of a single minute.

Later that night while taking a walk along Old Port with my hijabi friend, an intoxicated man leaned forward at her, and shout ed, “SCUM!” He did not direct his words at me or our other friend walking with us. He spoke to her, and only her. I protective ly wrapped an arm around her shoulders and steered her away. With a sick feeling in my stomach, I thought to myself, “I’m looking straight into my future.”

The next morning I picked a random podcast to listen to as I do everyday. This time, it was Cana daland’s Shortcuts #823 A Star is Torn, which discusses a Toron to Star article by Vinay Menon. Titled “With the death of Mahsa Amini, it’s time for Hollywood to fight for Iranian women,” Menon referred to niqabs as “halloween costumes,” before the line was edited out. He predicted Holly wood would stay silent regarding Iranian women for fear of being called Islamophobic.

I Am Italian and I Am Unsurprised by Current Italian Politics

Right-wing Views Have Always Existed Among Italians

Olivia Integlia

When I told my traditional Ital ian mother that I no longer identified with my culture, she im mediately began to cry. She couldn’t understand why I was turning my back on my community.

As a second-generation Ital ian, I was deeply immersed in the culture’s beliefs and practices. I grew up in the East End of Mont real, an area composed of mainly Italians. I went to school with Ital ians, I did activities with Italians and I only became friends with

Italians. Stuck in an echo cham ber, I was comfortable and saw none of the problems that existed in the community—or maybe I just chose to ignore them.

It wasn’t until I started study ing at Concordia that I had a cul ture shock and was immersed in a variety of different beliefs. Sud denly, I detached myself from my friends, I forced myself to aban don my strong accent and opened my eyes to the different cultures around me.

This story isn’t one of aban doning culture and finding ful fillment elsewhere, however. It’s not as easy as I hoped. While a part of me felt disgusted by Italian culture, another part felt mad at myself for turning my back on the community that raised me.

I spent years trying to under stand why I felt so detached. And suddenly, with the election of far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Italy, it all made sense. While Italy can be praised for its delicious food and architec

ture, its political climate is one that has not aged well and has generations of Italians stuck in a deep-rooted far-right mindset.

Media outlets mischaracterize Meloni’s party as the “first farright-led government since the end of the Second World War.” In reality, far-right ideologies have been ingrained within Italian pol itical thought for decades. From Mussolini to Berlusconi to now the rise of the Brothers of Italy under Meloni, the lean towards the right is only growing.

I know Menon’s statement to be completely false because Hollywood never shies away from an opportunity to be Islamophob ic. How can he say that when the movie American Sniper exists and has been endlessly praised?

As each of those occurrences transpired over the course of two days, it felt as though my fears were materializing in front of my eyes.

I often find waves of feminism seem to exclude hijabi Muslim women. The greater public tends to forget Muslim women when they chant the phrase “My body, my choice.” I feel the urge to remind everyone that wearing a hijab can often be a choice and must be re spected. A hijab is part of my reli gion, but oppression and abuse are not. If you call yourself a feminist, or even an ally, you cannot be se lective about what type of women are worthy of your support.

Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, in coalition with Berlusconi’s For za Italia, work side-by-side, each using their independent platforms to push far-right views. Their par ties succeeded in the 2022 snap elections with a total vote of 44 per cent of the public’s support. In Meloni’s campaign, she advocat ed preserving traditional family values and proposed several an ti-immigrant, anti-women and anti-LGBTQIA+ policies.

Unfortunately, Meloni’s beliefs echo the views of Italians around me. I had been told my whole life by elderly Italians about the im portance of the role of a house wife. “Olivia, you need to find yourself a man who will provide for you as you stay home and cook and clean for the kids,” I was told time and time again.

GRAPHIC NADINE ABDELLATIF

And yet, this kind of thinking is not limited to the older genera tions. My high school classmates thought this way too. I was told by multiple Italian boys that I had no right to be in school, or even pursue higher education, as I was only good for bearing children.

Thinking back to my years in high school, I’m ashamed of how normalized these conservative be liefs were to those around me. I walked through the hallways of a predominantly Italian school and heard sexist, racist and homophob ic slurs on the daily. No one ever spoke out against it because no one ever saw anything wrong with it.

I was numb to these comments. I knew they were wrong, but I too had fallen into groupthink. I gave up on speaking out against it be cause every time I did, I was shut down, ignored or laughed at—as if it was so foolish to think that all human beings deserve equal rights.

Recently, I thought back to my former classmates. Not all of them were raging bigots, most of them probably weren’t. So why then, did we all sit idly?

My conversation with my mother, a few months ago, offered clarity to this question for me. “I hate being Italian and I am embar rassed of my people,” I told her. She disappointedly leaned her head down and couldn’t look at me as I muttered those words. It was the first time I had ever made such a bold claim against my community and I was reproached with shame.

Italians are not supposed to question those older than us. It’s considered a sign of disrespect. Therefore when a family mem ber makes a sexist claim at the dinner table, I was always taught that I should just keep quiet, as responding would be rude.

More importantly, we aren’t sup posed to criticize our community. I was surrounded by strong Italian na tionalists. “Italians are amazing. Italy is the best. Our culture is perfect,” I was told repeatedly. Questioning would appear as nonsense.

I think this is a large part of why Italy’s government is reflect ive of right-leaning views. Strong Italian nationalism and the trad itional practice of not question ing authority allow such views to be passed down through genera tions with little criticism.

My classmates, as well as myself, accepted these beliefs because we’d heard them from relatives, whom we were taught to never question. Some people, unfortunately, are so indoctrinated that they see nothing wrong with it, and they perhaps even agree with the bigoted re marks that fill the community.

Healthcare Struggles

Reaching My Neurosurgeon Is Impossible

But that doesn’t make it right. I can still appreciate parts of my culture without being sub missive to outdated views which were problematic then and are problematic now.

Meloni’s platform is harmful and will bring Italy steps back from the progress the world has made.

While my fellow Italians continue to endorse a party that advocates against the rights of minorities, I will not stand by and defend my people. It’s time to swallow our strong pride and acknowledge the problems of far-right views.

Iwas born in Quebec and have been living in the province since 2009, but I’ve been on the waiting list for a family doctor since 2018.

If it’s this hard for Quebec cit izens to navigate our healthcare system, I can’t imagine how diffi cult it must be for immigrants and permanent residents.

If I had a family doctor, I would ask them what I can do to get rid of my daily crippling headaches. I have a neurosurgeon at the Mont real Neurological Institute, collo quially known as The Neuro, who has been following me ever since I was transferred from the Mont real Children’s Hospital in 2018, but he is extremely inaccessible.

In June, I emailed his office say ing I urgently needed to speak to my

neurosurgeon and they responded saying I should go to the nearest emergency room if my condition was deteriorating because reach ing him would be difficult. It's now almost November and I have still not been able to contact my doctor despite following up several times.

In one of my emails to The Neu ro, I even requested to be referred to a neurologist since my ques tions might be better answered by someone whose job is to deal with non-surgical neurological problems.

My request was completely ignored.

I only see my neurosurgeon once every few years following a magnetic resonance imaging scan to ensure my neurological condi tion isn’t getting worse. I quickly learned that his job is only to ensure

my MRI scans don’t get worse, not to evaluate my symptoms, which can’t be measured objectively.

When I last saw him in May, I tried telling him that my head aches were worsening, but he just pointed to my most recent MRI scan and said, “this looks the same as your 2018 scan, so you’re fine.”

He then proceeded to tell me that if I ever get “a really bad head ache,” I should go to the nearest hospital because it could be a sign that my condition is becoming critical. This answer would be echoed by his entire office every time I would ask them to relay a message to him.

I told the neurosurgeon that I get headaches every day and he proceeded to change the subject to ask me what I was studying in uni

versity. I couldn’t believe I had wast ed an hour of my time in the wait ing room just to have a ten-minute appointment consisting of my doc tor gaslighting me and refusing to address any of my concerns.

Although my doctor’s behav iour is wrong, I know he isn’t en tirely to blame for not having the time to give proper follow-up care to his patients. Quebec’s medic al system overworks doctors of every specialty, giving them way too many patients to keep track of. They inevitably end up priori tizing people with serious, urgent needs over those with seemingly stable conditions. My neurosur geon must believe headaches can be treated by any doctor or even pharmacist, but Concordia Health Services has turned me away on

one occasion under the pretense that I should speak to him.

In August, I went back to Con cordia Health Services for an un related reason, but when I hesitantly mentioned my headaches, hoping I wouldn’t be sent to The Neuro again, the general practitioner told me about a rehabilitation centre that specializes in chronic head aches. Located on de Maisonneuve Blvd. W., it is a mere 700 metres away from Loyola campus. He was surprised that my doctor hadn’t told me about it, and I joked about neurosurgeons not caring about pa tients with inoperable conditions.

Jokes aside, I consider myself very privileged for never having needed surgery. That said, I don’t understand why I don’t have ac cess to a neurologist if neurosur geons will take years to see pa tients who don’t need surgery.

Of course, even though Con cordia’s doctor gave me a referral, I still haven’t heard back from the rehabilitation centre concerning the application I filed the day I saw him. It’s barely been three months, afterall. I’ll be lucky if I hear back before 2024.

When I think about the hoops I have to jump through every time I need to speak to a doctor, I can’t help but wonder how people with worse conditions than me get the help they need. If the health system works at a snail’s pace for everyone, people who urgently need medical attention might not get it in time, and that’s a terrifying thought.

Sophie Dufresne

PHOTO IVAN DE JACQUELIN

GRAPHIC NADINE ABDELLATIF

Concordia Doesn't Care About Your Mental Health

When Alex, a Concordia under graduate student who didn’t wish to disclose their real name, started ex periencing worrying symptoms related to Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Dis order and Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, they reached out to Concordia’s Counselling and Psychological Services. Upon emailing CPS to seek an appoint ment with a psychologist, however, they were met with silence. Only after three emails did they receive a response. By this point, Alex said they were suffering from extreme dissociation and lapses in memory, and that they feared for their life. The representative Alex spoke to was unaware that they had attempted to con tact CPS twice before.

Alex’s experience is one that countless Concordia students can relate to, and it can not be chalked up to a single communication error. Students at this university face systemic barriers when accessing mental health ser vices, precisely because the administration doesn’t take our health seriously.

For one, there is no university-run crisis line or drop-in space for those seeking im mediate relief to mental health crises. Instead, Concordia’s webpage on mental health re directs students in these situations to external resources—such as Suicide Action Montreal.

Concordia does offer immediate aid to those experiencing crises related to sexual assault through the Sexual Assault Re source Centre’s drop-in clinic which is also riddled with its own problems. If the uni versity has the funds to establish a drop-in centre like this one, why can’t the adminis tration establish more resources to address other mental health crises?

The lack of emergency mental health options for students demonstrates Con cordia’s failure to recognize that mental health crises can affect students as sudden ly and unexpectedly as any other medical emergency. Students functioning normally

one day may need medi cation, prescriptions, counselling and other crucial resources the next—especially when impacted by the stressors of midterm season and the ongoing pandemic.

Those seeking sessions with a psychologist must undergo a laborious pro cess set by CPS. Students first need to secure their spot for a fixed amount of triage appointments of fered each week on a firstcome-first-serve basis, re gardless of the severity of their problems. Once tri aged, students are warned that the wait for an initial appointment with their assigned counsellor may be lengthy, and that inter vals between sessions may also be long.

Even students who are able to access im mediate aid through SARC have reported that seeking long-term counselling through this service is as difficult as through CPS.

What’s more, Concordia’s BIPOC stu dents are left without internal, cultur ally relevant resources to access mental health support. Students dealing with specialized issues such as eating disor ders, substance abuse and body dysmor phia are similarly left out in the cold.

Ultimately, this boils down to a matter of funds Concordia's administration has staffed CPS with only 12 registered psych ologists for all 52,000 of its students. Why won’t the university provide more funding for mental health services to lower their psychologist-to-student ratio?

The fact of the matter is that Con cordia doesn’t care about the mental wellbeing of its students.

Rather than providing students with dir ect support, which many in crisis need, Con

cordia instead points students in the direction of external resources such as self-help tools and external phone lines. In other words, the administration prefers that we don’t bother it with our mental health concerns.

Students can access some psychological services through the CSU as part of its Stu dent Care Health and Dental Plan—nota bly the 24/7 counselling hotline Empower Me. There are also student-run initiatives such as the Concordia Students’ Nightline that seek to provide emergency responses to mental health crises. Though admirable efforts, these simply aren’t enough to ad equately care for 52,000 students.

The only way for students to not con stantly be left waiting in triage lines, send ing ignored emails or waiting weeks to see counsellors is for Concordia to step up and provide the necessary resources. The ad ministration needs to establish adequate ly staffed crisis centres and hotlines, hire more psychologists to service its student body and understand that not doing so jeopardizes the student body in the same way any physical emergency would.

An institution that places extreme pressure on its students should at the very least provide adequate outlets for them to deal with these stressors.

GRAPHICMARILOUBRICKERT