McGill Tribune Vol. 34 Issue 18

EDITORIAL

Tuesday, February 10, 2015 Volume No. 34 Issue No. 18

Bridging the gap between students and mental health resources pg. 6

@mcgilltribune

www.mcgilltribune.com

See inside for...

AMUSE/MUNACA p. 4

Martlets dispatch lowly Stingers

Kiss-Rusk too much to handle for Concordia frontcourt

H

(Jack Neal / McGill Tribune)

AMUSE General Meeting approves union merger with MUNACA

Administrative merger for university support workers to increase bargaining power

T

CECE ZHANG News Editor

he Association of McGill University Support Employees (AMUSE) members voted to approve a merger with McGill University NonAcademic Certified Association (MUNACA) in their General Meeting (GM) on Feb. 2. The approval confirms that the merger will be going forward, as MUNACA members approved the

same proposal at their December GM. President of AMUSE Amber Gross and President of MUNACA Kevin Whittaker presented the merger proposal to members of the GM, outlining the details.

“We put out the first formal proposal in June, did info sessions to get feedback from members, and then in November we presented the final plan,” Gross explained. “This motion […] recommends how to move forward,

which is to [prepare] bylaws and [a] new budget, and present to a general assembly with both our memberships.”

MUNACA currently represents around 1,400 non-academic support staff who are generally permanent workers, while AMUSE comprises of around 1,300 to 1,400 non-academic support staff who work on a short-term basis. This consists mainly of students, and many AMUSE and MUNACA members

work at similar jobs.

According to Gross and Whittaker, the two unions would merge administratively, but retain their separate collective agreements and bargaining. The merger committee also explained that one of the main reasons for the merger was to prevent the further ‘casualization’ of positions at McGill, which would allocate more positions originally filled by permanent employees towards casual employees.

Continued on pg. 4

Aaron Rose Staff Writer

ow do you stop the Martlets’ junior centre Alex Kiss-Rusk? The Concordia Stingers (4-8) certainly didn’t have an answer to that question Thursday night, as the McGill Martlets (11-1) downed their opponents 65-54 in Love Competition Hall. While their 11-point home victory wasn’t enough to impress Head Coach Ryan Thorne, their 72-48 dismantling of the Stingers on the road did the trick for the 11thyear coach.

The Martlets found themselves down 7-0 to start the game but an 11-point second quarter

by Kiss-Rusk had McGill up three at the half.

“She’s 6’4—she’s big,” Thorne said. “She can dominate in the paint, and when she looks to dominate in the paint, [good] things will happen.”

According to Thorne, he has been on Kiss-Rusk’s case for being too unselfish and passing out of scoring opportunities, but three straight games with 15, 20, and 14 points respectively should be enough for her to dispel her coach’s criticism.

Continued on pg. 23

2

News

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

PGSS discusses McGill’s potential acquisition of Royal Victoria Hospital Ratifies Secretary-General’s resignation, discusses student fee reform DOMITILLE BIEHLMANN Design Editor

Ratification of Secretary-General’s resignation

The Council passed a motion to ratify Juan Pinto’s resignation from the position of the Secretary-General. Pinto will officially leave his position on Feb. 16.

Future of Royal Victoria Hospital

McGill Vice-Principal (Communications and External Relations) Olivier Marcil spoke to the Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) Council to discuss future plans for expanding the McGill campus through the purchase of the Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH) property.

Marcil explained that concerns for the increasing lack of space on campus prompted the idea for the project. If purchased, the hospital would increase the size of the current campus by 10 per cent.

“It’s clear that at McGill, we have a deficit of space that is recognized by the government of Quebec,” Marcil said.

“We are struggling to find some new space to put some bigger classes and new labs to meet our academic purpose and to make sure we can enhance of student life on campus.”

According to Marcil, purchasing and renovating the RVH would cost about $800 million. $250 million would be supplied from McGill University.

The remaining $550 million would be supplied by both the federal and provincial governments. Marcil explained that McGill is tentatively looking to tear down and rebuild certain buildings within the property, although he stressed that the architectural heritage of the older buildings would be preserved in the renovation process.

PGSS Financial Affairs Officer Nikki Meadows raised a question regarding the funding for the plans.

“We know that McGill has one of the highest deferred maintenance costs across Canada, and you’re talking about a project that’s going to be roughly $250 million coming from McGill,” she said “Where are we going to get that money, because there is already a ton of maintenance that we can’t pay for?”

In response, Marcil explained that McGill had considered deferred maintenance costs when accounting for the price of purchasing RVH. “[The funding] will come from two aspects. First, we will have to sell some of our assets,” he explained. “We also rent right now a lot of spaces in downtown Montreal that have huge costs because we don’t have the spaces on campus. In consolidating some aspects, we can save every year from it.”

Marcil stated that there is currently no clear plan for what departments or classes will be held at the RVH. A feasibility study will be conducted to assess how McGill can renovate and use the space. The full project is expected to be completed in April 2021, should the purchase go through.

As of now, there are no competing projects proposed for the RVH.

Student fees and student status

Leslie Cheung, a Sociology postgraduate student, spoke to motivate a motion regarding reinstatement fees, which are charged to students who have become de-registered from their programs and then must apply to be reinstated.

De-registration is a common result for a student unable to complete their degree within an allotted time period. For example, students in master’s programs must complete their degree within three years of registering for the program or risk de-registration. Students who exceed time limitations have the option of applying to be reinstated to their program.

A document on the McGill web-

Vice-Principal Marcil spoke to PGSS Council about the proposed purchase of the RVH property (Jack Neal / McGill Tribune) site explains that students applying for reinstatement would be charged tuition for the semesters in which their status was de-registered.

“Upon registration of reinstatement, the student must pay the required fees according to the scheduled thesis submission,” the statement reads. “The amount of reinstatement fees is the tuition portion of fees owed for all registered terms up to a maximum of two years prior to the term of reinstatement.”

Students who are ready to submit their thesis within two years of being deregistered are charged retroactive fees for semesters in which they were not registered, which could total up to six semesters. Students would have to pay for a student status they did not benefit from.

Cheung advocated for the immediate suspension of the current policy that charges students for student status that is not rendered.

Board of Directors proposition

Régine Debrosse, Council Director, raised concerns with the governance

structure of the PGSS Board of Directors (BoD).

“I’ve identified 3 issues: One of them is the lack of independence of the board,” Debrosse said. “It would help them to be more diligent if they had an independent chair that was not necessarily the Secretary-General [....] We should let board members elect their own chair.”

Debrosse raised a second concern, stating that the BoD could also improve its stability and accessibility as an organization by increasing in the number of members on the board. She suggested adding two more members at large, which would increase the BoD’s composition from seven to nine members.

Debrosse’s third concern involved the selection procedure for BoD members. “[Other board] members are named by board members,” Debrosse said. “I think there should be a way to elect board members in a way that’s a bit more democratic and open. So my solution is perhaps to elect board members at the [annual general meeting].”

Debrosse said that she would

come to the next Council meeting with a formalized proposal.

CFS funding

In a recent referendum, the PGSS voted against continued membership with the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS). A stipulation of running the referendum was the retroactive payment of $270,000 in membership fees from the PGSS to the CFS. Health Commissioner Elizabeth Cawley expressed concerns regarding the BoD’s decision to agree to this stipulation and asked how PGSS would fund the payment.

In response, Meadows explained that PGSS would source funds through several means, including the PGSS special projects fund.

“We have a line of credit that we are working under. We are currently figuring out what the long-term solution and resolution to the situation is,” Meadows said. “But for now, we are using internal money and reallocating funds from what we have and if we need to, we have a line of credit that we can access.”

Former invalidated SSMU President Tariq Khan to run for EUS presidency

Elections EUS to clarify bylaws in response to ambiguities expressed by Khan, other candidates

T

JESS FU Managing Editor

ariq Khan has submitted his petition to run for the Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS) president position for the 2015-2016 academic year.

Khan was elected as president of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) last year by a margin of 78 votes, but his win was invalidated

by Elections SSMU following numerous bylaw infractions during his campaign—including financial inconsistencies and unsolicited messages to voters.

Khan later filed a case against Elections SSMU to the Quebec Superior Court regarding his invalidation, but dropped it

due to expensive legal fees.

Luis Pombo, Chief Returning Officer (CRO) of the EUS, confirmed Khan’s intent to run, noting that Khan has shown considerable attention to Elections EUS bylaws during the nomination period. “[Khan] has been one of the more active candidates, when it comes to looking at the bylaws and asking questions about the ambiguities in the process,” Pombo said.

The disproportionate power of the CRO, the lack of an EUS Board of Directors, and the unclear penalization process for infractions were among issues Khan highlighted during EUS elections candidate meetings.

“If there is a tie between candi-

dates, then it is the ballot of the CRO that decides which candidate wins,” Khan said. “So this puts the entire election procedure in a very sketchy position.”

Khan has brought his concerns to the current CRO and EUS President Robert Forestell, but does not plan to participate in resolving them, in order to avoid a conflict of interest.

“There were some concerns brought up about what would happen in certain situations during the election— where is the line between what a candidate can or cannot do, whose discretion is it to sanction,” Forestell said. “We’re going to be likely be going ahead in making amendments to the electoral bylaws [...to] hopefully close up any gaps.”

Proposed changes by the EUS include implementing a merit point system for bylaw infractions, whereby each infraction would result in the deduction of points until a designated threshold for disqualification. According to Pombo, these changes have been worked on throughout the past month, but were expedited to be applicable for the upcoming election.

“These are changes that needed to happen,” Pombo said. “The plan was initially to have them approved in March, but because the candidates were concerned, the timeline was pushed back a little bit.”

Khan served as an EUS Council first-year representative in the 20102011 academic year; he was also

the SSMU representative to EUS in 2011-2012. The upcoming year will be his sixth at McGill, delayed due to a 20-month internship and a semester off due to the legal case he filed against Elections SSMU. Khan said that he hopes that his past experiences with student elections will not influence voters this year.

“I think there is a lot of suspicion over what happened in the past year [regarding SSMU elections],” he said. “I think it is time that we all move forward [....] It is my last year and I really want to give back to the McGill community.”

Debates for EUS elections will take place on Feb. 11 at 6 p.m. in the EUS Common Room. Voting will take place from March 23 to March 27.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

News

Fortier confirms 2015-2016 budget cuts at Board of Governors meeting

3

Board discusses research funding, varsity eligibility, health care contracts REMI LU Managing Editor

Increased budget cuts

Principal Suzanne Fortier confirmed a further budget cut from the Quebec government for the 2015-2016 academic year at the Board of Governors (BoG) meeting on Feb. 2.

Fortier announced that she attended a meeting with representatives from other Quebec universities and the Deputy Minister of Education Marie-Claude Champoux on Jan. 21. The meeting discussed the most recent report from the “Chantier sur la politique de financement des universités,” a working group that researches university funding policies in Quebec, and recommended substantial changes to the current funding formula for universities in Quebec.

While the proposed plan by the working group was rejected by the university and government representatives at the Jan. 21 meeting, the Quebec government

committed to using the report as a starting point for funding discussions.

“The positive news from our perspective is that I think the government is really intent on making changes to the funding formula in this province,” Fortier said. “So we are being cautiously optimistic about changes in this province regarding funding for universities.”

According to Fortier, McGill will work to prepare for a new funding formula by the province.

However, she declined to reveal the details of the government’s implementation plan.

“The plan is to do our work between now and Fall 2015, leading to an implementation plan of the new funding formula in 2016,” Fortier said. “[We] still have a lot of work to do before we get to the implementation.”

Varsity eligibility review and student satisfaction

Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Ollivier Dyens gave his annual report, in which

he revealed that McGill is in the process of reviewing and rewriting the university’s varsity sports principle and eligibility criteria for student athletes. The commitment comes in the wake of several controversies involving the McGill Redmen football team.

[….] It is important we make the rules and regulations more flexible so students can take some time off. We’re not where we want to be, but we’re moving in that direction.”

Student satisfaction

The BoG was also given an update on McGill’s research relative to other Canadian universities in Associate Vice-Principal (Research and International Relations) Sarah Stroud’s annual report on research performance and innovation. In her report, Stroud stated that McGill solidified its place in FY2013 as second in the country in research funding intensity—a measure that takes into account the relative size of universities—placing behind the University of Toronto.

However, according to Stroud, McGill remains about average in Canada in terms of revenue from innovation and entrepreneurship.

“In terms of the inputs from

In addition, Dyens commented on student satisfaction at McGill, stating that the university had high student engagement in student governance, but has received criticism on its advising.

Dyens also stated that students are increasingly feeling under pressure at McGill, which is something the university needs to pay attention to.

“Students […] want this university to be demanding, and this university actually is very demanding,” Dyens said. “We are working very closely with the associate deans to make the McGill rules and regulations a bit more understanding of some of the things students are going through

Research funding and revenues

our research, we’re doing really well,” Stroud said. “In terms of our outputs of our research into the community and market, we’re only about average.

However, through the Quartier de L’Innovation and the McGill University Business Engagement Centre, we’re really making a concerted effort to improve.”

Renewal of health care contracts

The BoG also passed a motion that called for the approval of contracts of affiliation with health care bodies in Quebec. The motion renews McGill’s teaching and research relationships with its health care establishments, including its largest partner, the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC). The new contracts will be signed prior to Quebec’s Bill 10—set to be implemented on April 1—in which the government has proposed a revised structure for health care bodies.

Winter 2015 budget approved at SUS General Council Council formalizes space booking policy with ECOLE, reviews new online electoral system JENNA STANWOOD Contributor

SUS Budget

Last Wednesday, the Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) held its General Council (GC), during which the Winter 2015 budget was approved. The budget vote had been delayed from a previous meeting to incorporate funds from the Student Space Improvement Fee, which was approved in the recent referendum.

SUS Vice-President Finance Eileen Bui explained that the budget had incurred a $10,000 surplus.

“Usually, I do my budget very conservatively so we have left over money in case something happens,” Bui said. “In the past years, that’s how it’s always been [...] it’s usually around that amount.”

Motion to formalize booking practices

The SUS also unanimously passed a motion in support of the Educational Community Living Environment (ECOLE), a sustainable living initiative that currently operates out of a former McGill residence house on University St. ECOLE also provides spaces that can be booked for student activities.

Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Representative for SUS Zacheriah Houston

moved a motion to formalize SUS’s current room booking privileges with ECOLE. “This motion [...] would grant ECOLE room booking privileges under the SUS, sort of similar to an independent student group under SSMU,” he said. “ECOLE already gives us room booking privileges and they do book rooms with some of the student societies on campus, but I just wanted to formalize that ability of [theirs] to book rooms.”

The motion also included a clause to recognize space provided by ECOLE and to promote the organization through the listserv. ECOLE representatives were optimistic about the support offered by SUS. “We’re booked just about every day, sometimes twice a day during the week,” said SUS VicePresident External Affairs Emily Boytinck, who is also a member of ECOLE and represented the organization at the meeting. “It’s a great new student space. We have

SUS Councillors vote on motions. (Jack Neal / McGill Tribune) programming, we also have skill sharing workshops, film screenings. About 100 to 200 people walk through the space every week. It’s a very exciting project to be a part of.”

Online voting for elections

Saurin Shah, a representative from the McGill Science Computer Taskforce (CTF), gave a presentation on a new online voting system for SUS elections.

“It’s very simple to use and really has very little involvement from CTF input, which really streamlined the electoral process,” Shah said of the new system. “I know last year we handled six department elections and some of them had a little more issues than others, so we should probably negate that.”

According to the SUS executive team, they are hopeful that the new system will encourage departments to switch to online electoral

systems and facilitate more efficient elections.

“Our CRO [Chief Returning Officer] used it for the [recent] referendum, and it was very easy to use,” SUS Vice-President Communications May Yin-Lao said.

The CTF also clarified their electoral agreement with the SUS, which will make the system of administering online elections easier to manage, while also freeing up server space for future collaborations with the SUS.

4

News

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Divest McGill submits new proposal to Board of Governors for divestment from Shell, Enbridge New brief outlines climate change, social harm as reasons to divest

O

REMI LU Managing Editor

n Feb. 2, Divest McGill submitted a new proposal to the McGill Board of Governors’ (BoG) Committee to Advise on Matters of Social Responsibility (CAMSR). The new proposal outlines financial and social reasons for McGill to divest from its top 200 fossil fuel companies with the largest carbon reserves. Divest McGill, a student group that was started in Fall 2012, aims to lobby the university to divest its endowment from its fossil fuel partners in the interests of mitigating climate change. In 2013, the BoG rejected a similar proposal from Divest McGill.

The new 150-page proposal cites oil companies Royal Dutch Shell and Enbridge as examples of companies that McGill should divest from.

“These corporations should be seen as illustrative of the fossil fuel industry as a whole,” the document reads. “A key factor in our selection of these examples is their involvement in the Canadian tar sands.”

Furthermore, the proposal calls for McGill to immediately suspend any new investments in fossil fuel companies. At the moment, the university holds shares in a number of these companies, as per the McGill

Investment Committee’s mandate to ensure optimal returns from investing endowment funds for the purpose of university-related activities.

“We’re asking the university to immediately divest from any companies that are […] producing, transporting, or distributing products from tar sands,” said Divest McGill member Ella Belfer, U2 Arts. “Then, within three years, [for McGill to divest] from the top 200 fossil fuel corporations.”

According to the report from the CAMSR in May 2013, Divest McGill’s original proposal was rejected based on the lack of evidence regarding McGill’s fossil fuel investments’ connection with social injury.

“The committee determined that Divest McGill had failed to demonstrate that social injury (as defined in the terms of reference) had occurred due to the actions of a company involved in either oil sands or fossil fuels,” the decision states. “Since the committee is not satisfied that ‘social injury’ has occurred, no action was considered or is recommended.”

Divest McGill’s revised proposal comes after the CAMSR changed its terms of reference on May 22, 2014.

The updated terms, which “expand the definition of social injury to include grave, injurious impact […] of a company [on the] natural environment,”

served as a source of cautious optimism for Divest McGill, according to Belfer.

“CAMSR itself [changed],” Belfer said. “They’ve added grave environmental damage as one of the criteria for social injury. So we’re hoping that’s going to be part of the factor influencing their decision.”

One particular change from last year’s submission includes the omission of Plan Nord—an economic development strategy by Quebec to develop natural resources extraction in the province. Divestment from Plan Nord had been one of the submissions in the original proposal.

The new 150-page document lists a number of reasons for divestment, including human-induced climate change and social injury to First Nations Peoples.

In the time since the 2013 proposal was rejected, Divest McGill has expanded in both scope and size.

According to the letter Divest McGill submitted to the CAMSR, the main petition contains over 1,500 signatures, compared to over 750 signatures for the two petitions they submitted in 2013. In addition, the group has garnered support from different demographics within the McGill community, according to members of Divest McGill.

(Cordelia Cho / McGill Tribune) “We have a faculty group, we have alumni support, we have so many more students who are a part of the process and a part of our core group,” said Amina Moustaqim-Barrette, Students’ Society of McGill University VP External Affairs and member of Divest McGill. “So there’s definitely pressure coming from a lot of different angles this time, which will help us a lot.”

Furthermore, Divest McGill is hoping that the CAMSR will be more willing to engage in discussion with

the group. According to the cover letter submitted to the CAMSR, the board’s previous rejection of Divest McGill’s initial proposal did not allow for dialogue.

“We need a more constructive and serious engagement—with points of disagreement or instances of requirement for further evidence clearly and precisely stated,” the letter reads.

Chair of CAMSR Stuart Cobbett declined to comment for this story.

AMUSE General Meeting approves union merger with MUNACA

Administrative merger for university support workers to increase bargaining power CECE ZHANG News Editor

(Continued from page 1) “That means jobs on campus are becoming more precarious, lower-paid, and provide far fewer benefits overall,” the final report of the merger committee reads. “Both groups need to be constantly aware of job abolitions and replacements, and respond together [....] An administrative merger like this means that [...] we can coordinate and work together as we each bargain separately, supporting our respective members with increased numbers. ” Arne Nelson, U1 Arts student and AMUSE member, voiced his concerns regarding the merger at the GM. “My concern is [...] AMUSE members are casual employees, but most of them are also students,” Nelson said. “I’m not seeing the benefits as they’re being put forth [....] My question is, does it truly make sense for us to merge necessarily [...and] should we focus on establishing an institutional framework?”

In response, Gross addressed the concerns that AMUSE’s voice might be swallowed up by

MUNACA in the merger.

“It’s a big concern of mine, we worked to [increase] the representation of our members [...]

MUNACA should be getting way more representation than what’s

presented in the proposal but we worked to get [AMUSE representation] to a higher level,” she said. “I think it will also help make our union stronger, because MUNACA has a lot of

Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), a trade union that is currently the parent union of both AMUSE and MUNACA. “[The PSAC] recommendation is [for us] to merge as well, as it makes sense,” Gross explained.

“Their support will be doubled. We do such similar work in the same workplaces, yet they’re supporting two separate unions doing it, so it gets broad and things get divided. [The merger] will help them provide better support to both of our [members].”

Infographic by Hayley Lim Looking forward, Gross says experience that AMUSE doesn’t the two unions will work togethnecessarily [have]. A lot of our er to finish drafting the bylaws, executives are here only for two, which will be presented to a joint assembly of the constituents of three years.”

Gross continued to say the both unions later in the year. merger was supported by the

5

News

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Law professor discusses implications of Ferguson events for black Canadians St. Lewis addresses improving discourse around race, oppression

J

SHRINKHALA DAWADI News Editor

oanne St. Lewis, Common Law professor at the University of Ottawa and former McGill student, spoke at the annual Annie Macdonald Langstaff workshop last Friday. The workshop featured a discussion on the recent events in Ferguson, a city in Missouri that gained international attention in 2014 after Mike Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old was shot and killed by white Police Officer Darren Wilson. Following the shooting, Ferguson became the site of several protests against racialized police brutality.

St. Lewis began the workshop by addressing why black Canadians should care about police brutality in the United States. “[Ferguson] is an opportunity for us to see in a very concrete way something we experience in a more fractured, or specific and narrow way in Canada,” St. Lewis said. “The first thing I see as a black Canadian is [...] they’re having my problem, except it’s so big that everyone can see it [....] They can actually get voice and space in the public domain to talk about [it].”

St. Lewis then spoke to the identity politics that often surround discourses of race. She highlighted herself as an example of how class and race can intersect, explaining that she was often asked why she cared about the issue. “‘Why are you so into this Ferguson thing? [You’re] a lawyer [...] you’re not living there.

Aren’t you putting on a frame of oppression that doesn’t belong to you?’” St. Lewis listed as examples of the questions she would receive when broaching the topic

Professor Joanne St. Lewis discusses race at the Annie Macdonald Langstaff workshop (Lauren Benson-Armer / McGill Tribune) with colleagues.

St. Lewis explained that she believed that the questions stemmed from people’s reluctance talk about race.

“The person I’m speaking to has decided that they know what it means to be authentically black, and apparently my legal training has disenfranchised me of my authenticity,” she said.

“Instead of the person grappling with their own unwillingness to talk about racism [...] they’re starting to shut down the conversation.”

The lack of representation of black people in societal positions of power contributes to the high incidences of racialized police brutality, St. Lewis said.

“It’s about who is administering justice and representa-

tion,” she said. “We have somewhere around 21 Law faculties in the country [...yet] we don’t even have the equivalent of one black [law professor] per school. How many [black law students] actually get to the point that they’re senior associates and have enough network that they’re in the position to actually drive the engine of what they’re doing?”

Sarah Aladas, a student who attended the event, critiqued the idea that change could only come through the efforts of the oppressed group.

“The issue is that we shouldn’t care because we’re [a part of a race], but we should care because we’re human,” she said. “By trying to fight any type of inequality, sometimes we only make the barrier stronger in that

we create an opposition.”

In response, St. Lewis highlighted the difference between social cohesion and legal advocacy against discrimination.

“At the end of the day, [for] social cohesion [...] you want everybody to be invested in all the values,” St. Lewis said. “That is very different from legal analysis [....] There are strategies to think about gender, there’s another way of doing intersectionality […] and you need to [...] obtain the mastery for your client.”

Law student and President of the Black Law Students’ Association of McGill Dominic Bell asked St. Lewis for general advice on leading discussions about race in Canada.

“With respect to this discourse that the United States is

sort of a foil for Canada […] that it’s not as bad [in Canada] as it is in the United States [...] how you go about piercing that sort of discourse?” Bell asked.

St. Lewis answered by highlighting the need for education and the awareness of the intersection of identities and privileges.

“I think one of the pieces is understanding and educating ourselves about what is happening,” she said. “It is about class to some extent [...] if you are living in places where black people are economically disempowered, the type of racism that they are experiencing is every bit as blatant and clear as it is in the [United States].”

Apply to be editor-in-chief of the McGill Tribune The Tribune Publications Society is accepting applications for the 2015-2016 editor-in-chief of the McGill Tribune. To apply, send in a cover letter, CV, and three writing samples to chair@mcgilltribune.com All TPS members may apply. Deadline: Friday, February 20 at 12pm.

For more information, contact editor@mcgilltribune.com

Opinion

6

editorial

Tuesday, February 10, 2015 THE Mcgill

Bridging the gap between students and mental health resources Outside of the McGill Residence system, there is also a lack of a support structure that provides information and encouragement to students in a small community atmosphere.

For upper year students or the many first-year students not living in residence, this requires promoting services to students in a targeted way. A mention of different mental health services from a professor at the start of the semester, for example, could provide a similar sense of accessibility, communication, and support that would encourage students, within their daily lives, to use the service. The substructure of mental health resources needs to be connected to university and student life in a meaningful way that doesn’t separate the resources from the students’ normal environment.

The unfortunate truth is that the majority of individuals with mental health problems remain without support. People often minimize their own symptoms and may think that their problems are not serious enough to require help. In addition to working toward systemic destigmatization and increased awareness of mental illness as a gradient of wellness, universities must undertake concrete actions to ensure that students have access to mental health services. The mere presence of these services is not enough to ensure their practical use. Students require transparent communication of campus resources for treating mental illness, and targeted encouragement from different actors to seek the support that they need.

ity to handle all of the cases that are brought to them, which also leads to students not receiving adequate support. Understaffing and lack of financing for these services have forced them to adopt policies that limit student access. There are long waiting times and high rates for ap-

“

Universities must undertake concrete actions to ensure that stu-

dents have access to mental health services. The mere presence of these services is not enough to ensure

“

Rates of stress, anxiety, and depression among university students have been increasing, as seen in recent studies conducted by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program, prompting the need for increased access to mental health services on campuses.

Although financial constraints have put a damper on increasing mental health support, university-offered resources and student-run services are still widely offered across campus at McGill. Despite the vast array of mental health services, there are still many students who are not receiving the support they need. Whether this is due to a sense of alienation from institutional resources, a lack of student awareness, or any other number of reasons involving symptom recognition or stigma is uncertain. However, in order to bridge that gap at McGill, the university must improve communication with students about the resources available, and the campus discussion surrounding mental health must continue to move towards destigmatization.

Awareness and support for mental health have improved at McGill and within society in recent years, as evidenced by initiatives such as the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Mental Health Awareness Week, and Bell Canada’s Let’s Talk campaign to promote conversations about mental health. Still, there is a long way to go before the stigma surrounding mental illness is eradicated.

Destigmatization requires raising widespread awareness of the

realities of mental illness in order to gradually eliminate peoples’ notions of mental illness that are based on judgments. Education about mental health must exist on a spectrum, and discussions about different factors mental illness are necessary steps towards eliminating stigma. Until destigmatization happens—not only at McGill, but throughout society—many people suffering from mental illness might not seek support out of fear of being judged.

Another barrier that inhibits students from seeking help is that they might not be aware of the different services at their disposal and what they offer. If the vast array of services offered by the university is not clearly communicated, students will likely not access the mental help support that they may need.

Open and healthy discussion on mental health is also needed to make the mental health services at McGill more approachable.

McGill should seek to promote these services as more personable in order to further prompt students to use them. In addition to the promotion of mental health resources by McGill, peer support is also required to encourage students to seek help. Friends and classmates should be cognizant of issues that others might be facing, and provide the positive encouragement that people need to go seek out help. Encouragement from people within a student’s daily life is crucial to getting them help early on.

The professional mental health services offered by the university don’t have the capac-

their practical use.

pointments with Mental Health Services (MHS). In addition, the Counselling Service (CS) limits the number of visits allowed per person to 15 per year. The inclusion of professional mental health workers in student-run services, which are easier for students to access, could help to improve the ability of campus resources to meet students’ needs.

Letter to the editor Not in my faith

Devon Allary Contributor After the first wave of condemnation of the attackers and sympathy for the cartoonists following the Charlie Hebdo shooting, criticism of the magazine’s content slowly crept into left-leaning commentary. Many media outlets, including the McGill Tribune, argued that the cartoons

were offensive, and called into question the limitations of free speech.

More frightening still, was how some articles seemed to suggest that the cartoonists were partly to blame for the attack. Sharon Xie’s opinion article in the January 20, 2015 issue of the McGill Tribune entitled “Who is Charlie?” urged readers not to equate freedom of expression with freedom from consequence. This is victim blaming, plain and simple. Free speech does not end where opinions become offensive or unpopular. The media must accommodate the sacred and the profane. Xie argued that the cartoons were neither clever nor highminded; their only purpose was to offend. While the quality of the cartoons is debatable, their right to exist is not.

Free speech means protecting even

bad satire.

The Charlie Hebdo incident is just the latest battle in a war of ideas over whether sacred beliefs can be criticized. Nowhere is this harder fought than in the Muslim world; in January, Saudi Arabia drew international attention when it sentenced an atheist blogger to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for blasphemy.

While many imams have done a good job of condemning the actions of the Islamic State and jihadists, they have failed to address the root of the problem—the immoral passages in holy scripture that extremists draw from. It is rare to see Islamic leaders or scholars denounce passages like Quran 4:89, which tells believers to slay infidels, or Hadith 4447, which prescribes death as the appropriate punishment

for homosexuality. Clearly, there is no twisting of words here; these passages are unambiguously immoral. Indeed, similar passages can be found in other religious texts, such as the Old Testament. Fear of retribution and fear of being labelled ‘Islamophobic’ have made some people within the media hesitant to criticize Islam in the same way that it criticizes Christianity.

The Islamic State and the Charlie Hebdo terrorists uphold a literal interpretation of the Islamic texts; an interpretation that is not shared among most Muslims. Where, then, are the tweets calling out these passages with tags like #NotInMyFaith?

There needs to be a new movement, not just in Islam, but in all religions, that is not afraid to openly reject the most pernicious beliefs.

Editor-in-Chief Jenny Shen editor@mcgilltribune.com Managing Editors Mayaz Alam malam@mcgilltribune.com Jessica Fu jfu@mcgilltribune.com Remi Lu rlu@mcgilltribune.com Production Manager Sam Pinto spinto@mcgilltribune.com Creative Director Hayley Lim hlim@mcgilltribune.com News Editors Shrinkhala Dawadi and Cece Zhang news@mcgilltribune.com Opinion Editor Julie Vanderperre opinion@mcgilltribune.com Science & Technology Editor Chloe Nevitt scitech@mcgilltribune.com Student Living Editor Natalie Wong studentliving@mcgilltribune.com Features Editor Caity Hui features@mcgilltribune.com Arts & Entertainment Editors Max Berger and Morgan Alexander arts@mcgilltribune.com Sports Editors Elie Waitzer and Wyatt Fine-Gagné sports@mcgilltribune.com Design Editors Domitille Biehlmann and Cassie Lee design@mcgilltribune.com Photo Editors Jack Neal and L-A Benoit photo@mcgilltribune.com Copy Editor Adrien Hu copy@mcgilltribune.com Online Editor Matt Smith online@mcgilltribune.com Web Developer William Burgess webdev@mcgilltribune.com Advertising Executives Eliott Demelier, Daniel Kang, and Mingye Chen ads@mcgilltribune.com Publisher Chad Ronalds

TPS Board of Directors

Yael Chapman, Jacqui Galbraith, Adrien Hu, Alycia Noe, Sam Pinto, Jenny Shen, Maryse Thomas, Nicolas Tuech

Staff Writers & Illustrators Cordelia Cho, Philippe Dumais, Keah Hansen, Nick Jasinski, Evelyn Kaczmarek, Aislinn Kalob, Tiffany Le, Chris Lutes, Claire Lyle, Eleanor Milman, Alycia Noë, Laura Plamondon, Aaron Rose, Elli Slavitch, Zikomo Smith, Lauren Wildgoose

Contributors Devon Allary, Lauren Benson-Armer, Alexander Bullis, Audrey Carleton, Luka Ciklovan, Rahul Datta, Justin Hatherly, Sophie Jewett, Lydia Kaprelian, Aviva Leshaw, Hayley Mortin, Clare Murphy, Joshua Shapiro, Carolina Shenoda, Jenna Stanwood, Raphael Uribe Arango, Yufei Wang

Tribune Office Shatner University Centre Suite 110, 3480 McTavish Montreal, QC H3A 0E7 T: 514.398.6789 The McGill Tribune is an editorially autonomous newspaper published by the Société de Publication de la Tribune, a student society of McGill University. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of The McGill Tribune and the Société de Publication de la Tribune, and does not necessarily represent the views of McGill University. Letters to the editor may be sent to editor@mcgilltribune.com and must include the contributor’s name, program and year and contact information. Letters should be kept under 300 words and submitted only to the Tribune. Submissions judged by the Tribune Publication Society to be libellous, sexist, racist, homophobic or solely promotional in nature will not be published. The Tribune reserves the right to edit all contributions. Editorials are decided upon and written by the editorial board. All other opinions are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the McGill Tribune, its editors or its staff. Please recycle this newspaper.

7

Opinion

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

COMMENTARY

A progressive paradox

“

Politicians realize

that the appetite for new social entitlements is large, yet they seem unwilling to ask the primary beneficiaries of many of these programs— the middle class—to pick up a reasonable

{

share of the tab.

“

Across North America, leftwing politicians are proposing a raft of new spending programs.

In Canada, both Justin Trudeau and Thomas Mulcair have plans for universal, government-funded childcare, and in the United States, President Obama wants to introduce tuition-free community college. There are good arguments both for and against these programs, but they come with indisputably high costs.

To finance his community college initiative, Obama planned to tax college savings accounts. These tax-exempt savings vehicles are popular among upper-middle class Americans as a means of paying for higher education. Upon announcing the proposal, there was an immediate backlash, even among members of the president’s own party.

As such, the proposal was quickly tabled.

This episode reveals the in-

deficits.

The present fiscal conditions of many governments have

ample, Premier Kathleen Wynne suggested a modest increase in the provincial gasoline tax to pay for infrastructure improvements.

The hostility from the public was so great that she quickly cancelled the broad-based tax increase and instead announced an increase in income taxes for high earners, which would only amount to a small fraction of the money she initially wished to spend.

The United States is also on an unsustainable budgetary trajectory, yet Obama continues to peddle the illusion that the public finances can be put on a sound footing and current levels of government services can be maintained by reversing income tax cuts only for the very wealthy. It has always been hard to raise taxes on the largest swath of constituents, but now it seems tantamount to political suicide.

If the centre-left in Canada and the United States wants this expansion of government, it will have to pay for it. Taxing the rich will only yield so much revenue and economic evidence suggests that high marginal tax rates can discourage savings, investment, and economic growth. Thus, they would be well-advised to learn from the social democratic bastions of Scandinavia. Contrary to popular belief, the Scandinavian nations such as Sweden,

{

Justin hatherly Contributor

herent contradiction at the heart of North American centre-left politics today. Politicians realize that the appetite for new social entitlements is large, yet they seem unwilling to ask the primary beneficiaries of many of these programs—the middle class—to pick up a reasonable share of the tab. Instead they target narrow groups in society.

For example, Obama and Mulcair both wish to target corporations, the financial services industry, and high income earners, while Trudeau claims he will not raise taxes at all.

Much of this paradox can probably be traced to the largescale tax cuts that have been enacted over the past decades.

Though this trend was far more prevalent in the United States, the extent of similar political developments in Canada should not be trivialized. As politicians cut taxes, they also seemed more than happy to go on both enhancing the generosity of existing programs and implementing new ones. The tax-cutting wave gave the broad public the financial benefits of lower taxes, but did not reduce services.

While these actions may have seemed sustainable in the boom years prior to 2008, the financial crisis and tepid recovery since have laid bare the stark reality of persistent structural

left them with few means of paying for their desired spending initiatives. In Ontario, for ex-

Denmark, Norway, and Finland do not derive most of the revenue needed to pay for the welfare state from the rich. Sweden, for example, has a less progressive tax code than the United States.

Instead, these Scandinavian governments primarily raise revenue from far-reaching and somewhat regressive consumption taxes like a Goods and Services Tax. These taxes, while regressive, do less damage to the economy than alternatives like progressive income taxes or capital taxes, as they don’t penalize savings, investment, or work. They also provide a stable source of funding for the welfare state by ensuring that most of the population is involved in its financing.

Given demographic pressures that existing social benefits face, expanding the welfare state will be difficult without substantial increases in revenue from the middle class. If the centre-left desires a larger government, it should try to address the tradeoffs inherent in that goal. It will have to convince the broad taxpaying middle class to pay for the new programs they say they want to ensure that they are fiscally sustainable. To do otherwise would leave Canadians without a debate over the costs and benefits of new government programs.

Off the board A love letter to Kim Kardashian

Like the comments of a nagging mom, most criticisms of Kim Kardashian transcend time and logic—they’re baseless, they follow her wherever she goes, and they show no signs of stopping.

“She’s famous but she doesn’t do anything!”

“Her show has no substance!”

“Her butt can’t be real!”

The animosity aimed towards Kardashian hits those different notes most often and most loudly. As a timid fan of Kim and

said, “The fact that the Kardashians could be more popular than a show like Mad Men is disgusting. It’s a super disgusting part of our culture.”

The hyperbole of his statement confuses me, because Keeping up with the Kardashians is pretty harmless. In fact, it’s pretty cool to see a team of six women hang out, care about each other, support each other through hardships, and succeed in their personal and professional lives. As the self-proclaimed best friend of my own younger sister, I love it. When do you ever see unconditional support among women like that in TV? Surely not in Mad Men .

Their challenges aren’t even too different from our own—parents get in the way of tattoos, school is tough, heartache is common. Sure, the lavish details of their troubles may evoke anxieties about the growing wealth

“ At the end of the day, she’s got her game and her girls and the defining genius of this generation as her husband.

“

Jessica Fu Managing Editor

her family (and her show, occasionally), I’d like to diffuse the negative energy against her that somehow finds its way into every part of American and Canadian culture.

Easiest to dispel are the generally rude comments about her body—particularly the authenticity of her curvature. Women face both blatant and subtle pressures to change their bodies throughout their lives. To face further criticism after we succumb to the messages about not being “this” or “that” enough seems deeply unfair. Furthermore, whether or not someone has gone under the knife doesn’t erase their worth, which is something that we easily forget in our everyday conversations about Kim. In terms of the most common criticisms of Kim, a close second to butt-talk is the berating of her show Keeping up with the Kardashians. Jonah Hill once

disparity in the U.S., but blaming that issue on the Kardashian-Jenner clan is so obviously misguided. Her show may not be educational, as some critics decry, but if you’re turning on the TV in search of learning, I would recommend some changes on your own end—watch an online course or, like, read an encyclopedia.

“She has no talent—Everything she does is for attention!” I guess that makes all of us.

Defending Kimmy in conversation usually ends up like a game of whack-a-mole. The things people have to say are all over the place, and don’t really matter. Because at the end of the day, she’s got her game and her girls and the defining genius of this generation as her husband.

It’s the closest thing to “having it all” that I’ve ever witnessed.

Whatever she’s doing, she’s doing it right.

8

Student Living

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Campus Spotlight: IMA International Management Association creates global networking opportunities Audrey Carleton Contributor With a student body as diverse and international as McGill’s, it should come as no surprise that many students plan to continue travelling the world after graduation. The International Management Association (IMA) of Desautels caters to the aspirations of these students.

“The International Management Association is a club for people who are interested in working internationally, as well as International Management majors,” explained Saul Muskin, IMA president and U2 Management student.

“We try to be what we call a ‘networking resource platform.’”

The IMA’s primary goals are to provide students with events and networks that help them build professional connections and expand their international basis.

“We have social and professional events,” said VP External and U2 Management student, Quentin Godefroy. “The social ones include predrinks, apartment crawls, [and] frosh.

The professional [events] include guest speakers and events like speed networking.”

Additionally, the IMA aims to help students build relationships with professionals through their various and multi-faceted events, creating networking opportunities with both local and international professionals.

“Often when people say they want an international career [or] they want to work everywhere, they don’t really know what that entails,” said VP Media and U2 Management student Dhruv Janmeja. “It’s harder for people who want to [work in] international manage-

The IMA executive team. (Photo courtesy of International Management Association) ment to connect with international professionals [.…] Our role is to connect people to professionals [with whom] they wouldn’t be able to otherwise.”

In addition to building business connections overseas, the IMA also aims to help students build connections with important people on campus, including professors.

“It’s really cool because a lot of [our] speakers are our own [professors],” Janmeja said. “Students get to hear their own experience and be able to connect with them past what they teach in the classroom.”

The IMA also serves as a liaison between students and faculty, listening to the needs of the students and vocalizing them to the International Management board. The International Management major within Desautels is still relatively new, founded within the

past 10 years. According to Janmeja, the program still has some areas of improvement.

“One of our roles is to take feedback from students, and then take it to the International major board,” he said.

“Having that connection from a group that gives feedback from students to professors is something that’s important.”

Beyond bringing students closer to professionals and their professors, the IMA hopes to bring internationallyoriented students closer to one another.

“We definitely have a few different goals, one of which is to create and strengthen the community around internationally-minded people,” Muskin said. “Especially those who are driven and want to achieve something right out of school.”

The diverse composition of the

McGill student body is also reflected in the diversity within the IMA. “Desautels is 40 per cent international students, and McGill is 25 per cent,” Muskin said. “We [...] just want to create a community around that and leverage the [cultural diversity] of McGill.”

The executive team alone is comprised of students from a mosaic of different backgrounds.

“I really like the fact that our team is made up of people from everywhere,” Godefroy said. “We have [executives who are] Greek, American, French, Swiss, [and more.]”

According to Muskin, with over 190 members, the IMA has grown a lot in the past few years. Huskin has hopes to keep the organization on this path.

“Its a pretty new club, so I think there’s definitely a lot of room to

grow,” Muskin said. “Ideally, I would love to have it where every single International Management major is involved.”

As they prepare for their largest annual event of the year, the executives are feeling the impact of their growth as an organization. From Feb. 9-12, IMA will host a three-day Globalization Forum, featuring an African Business Summit, Chinese Business Summit, and a Professor’s Roundtable.

“This is our biggest event of the year, so of course we care a lot about it,” Muskin said. “We have some really interesting speakers—we have people from all sorts of different fields. We have everything from non-for-profit, to finance, to consulting [and] marketing.”

To Muskin, the variation in the types of guest speakers they will have is representative of the variety of academic concentrations found within the International Management major itself. “[The] one thing that’s really important about the IMA is that [...]

International Management is not a specific discipline,” Muskin said. “You can incorporate finance and marketing and consulting and whatever else into it— it’s just under the context of international. It’s just multicultural, and the fact that you are doing work in a place that’s not necessarily your home.”

Godefroy echoed a similar sentiment.

“I guess what we’re trying to get people to [do] is to get out of their bubble, and maybe consider an international career, ” Godefroy said. “We want to expand their horizons and teach them that it might be a little bit frightening at first to meet people from other cultures, and have language barriers [and] cultural barriers [...] but once you get over all of that, it’s such an enriching experience that it’s definitely worth it.”

Embracing the cold at Igloofest Caroline Shenoda Contributor As the New Year rolls in every year, Igloofest opens its doors to Montreal’s partygoers.

Started in 2007, this winter music festival has attracted crowds to the city’s Old Port year after year, despite sub-zero temperatures.

Hosted by Piknic Electronik and the Quays of the Old Port from Jan. 16 to Feb. 8, this four weekend long party is the perfect way to escape the constraints of midterms as well as the McGill bubble. The party is set up right by the Saint Lawrence river, with the city’s skyline painting the sky behind the icy architecture.

Activities Alcohol sponsored activities are set up throughout the venue to

keep everyone’s blood pumping and mind off the cold. The centrepiece of the ice-capped site is a slide carved from ice, on which bundled up people can slide down. Throughout the venue, various beverage stands offer activities from “Sapporo Hero,” a game similar to the widely known Guitar Hero, where contestants beat to drum patterns attempting to outdo their friends—to Bacardi’s curling game, in which rivals slide a miniature puck back and forth on an ice table for points.

Rivals can make amends at the picture booth while showing off silly warm clothing. When all the activities leave folks parched, the many ice bars located around the site are available, and when the cold becomes unbearable, there are fire pits to help regain feeling in your toes.

Scène Sapporo Dancing the night away, the crowd huddles by the main stage with the clear starstudded sky watching over the picturesque party.

The event hosts some of the biggest DJs in the electronic music ind u s t r y.

During Igloofest 2015, the stage wel-

comed names such as Dubfire and Flosstradamus, while entrancing lights beamed across the masses.

Many colourful and abstract visuals play on the high wall of screens, right above the stage. The friendly atmosphere encourages everyone to let loose.

The top of the crowd stays lined with elated people on their friends’ shoulders, while some even surf the crowd.

(Hayley Mortin / McGill Tribune)

Iglooswag One way to know Igloofest is in full swing is by noticing the popular accessories sold at the event. Soon after the festivities start each year, the growing appearance of Igloofest gear makes its way into downtown, primarily on the McGill campus. Meanwhile, at the event, individuals rock their wackiest winter apparel to partake in the Sapporo Iglooswag contest, which welcomes people in snowsuits and various costumes to compete for the craziest outfit and determine who wins a prize trip for two to Cuba.

Many people wear onesies and jumpers over their winter apparel, disguising themselves as animals and cartoon characters. While there are themes for every weekend, there are also smaller scale prizes awarded more regularly.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Nousin Hussain U1 Science (Photo courtesy of L-A Benoit)

9

Student Living

Student of theBy Aviva Week LeShaw

Strong connections have always held U1 Science student Nousin Hussain’s life in place.

Whether connections to her family, her friends, her Bengali past, or her current Toronto community, Hussain is always creating and maintaining bonds that contribute to the secure place she has today.

As Hussain maps out her future plans, it is clear that there is a connection between her major, Microbiology and Immunology, and her minor, International Development Studies, which she hopes will manifest in the career she dreams of in scientific research.

According to Hussain, these goals must result in change. Hussain hopes to fuse science with her international development knowledge, in order to spread any scientific discoveries worldwide.

“I can’t be looking at a microscope all day—I need to understand that this is really going to make an impact,” she said.

“It’s all about making connections.”

A couple of connections that Hussain said she always keeps in mind are those of her family and her past. Hussain, who was born in Bangladesh and moved to Toronto as a toddler, posits that her wanderlust is a result of familial roots.

“Being a child of an im-

migrant family, it’s always been instilled in me to be successful,” she said. “I’m the generation where [my parents’ sacrifice] means something. I’m expected to become successful. I don’t want to just have a job. I want to be something more—a leader— and engage the community.”

Hussain has stayed true to her words. She is co-director of the Comparative Healthcare Systems Program at McGill, a global health organization that is currently organizing a refugee healthcare conference on health equity in March. She is also VP Internal at Amnesty International, a program that works to raise awareness for different social justice issues. In the greater Montreal area, Hussain has worked for the South Asians Women’s Community Center and the YMCA. When she was living in Toronto, she helped volunteer with youth empowerment efforts and community building activities.

Hussain admitted that she had a more familiar volunteering experience in Toronto, due to having a better understanding and an easier time connecting to her hometown’s culture.

Nonetheless, she has jumped into Montreal volunteering full-force, as she recognizes that it is good preparation for a future career

involving travel to other new places.

“I know my community,” she said. “But you always have to take a step back, and listen to other people’s ideas.”

Hussain has experienced other travel opportunities, exercising her ability to adjust to new situations and help others. This past summer, she traveled to Kenya with Reach Out to Humanity, a global health organization, where she worked to create alternate income options for HIV/AIDS patients. This coming summer, she hopes to work at a pharmaceutical company, and she was also recently admitted to a research program in Taiwan, where she can compare healthcare systems between Canada and Taiwan and write a research abstract on the topic.

Hussain said she treasures creating connections and using her education to make an impact in the community. According to Hussain, the people she has met along the way while at McGill have contributed greatly to her positive experience. “[At McGill] you can really meet people with whom you connect,” she said. “You are in a place where people are so passionate about what they are doing.”

Montreal poutine week

Decadent comfort foods take over the city

Tiffany Le Staff Writer For food enthusiasts, there’s no better winter activity than experiencing Montreal’s third annual Poutine Week. This year, 49 local restaurants participated in the growing festival and contributed a wide array of unique poutine concoctions. From Bar Brutus’ “Jägerfirepoutine,” which is exactly as it sounds—served with Jäger and on flames—to Poutineville’s “Sugar Shack,” a breakfast poutine complete with maple syrup and tempura bacon strips, there were fierce competitors vying for title of Montreal’s favourite poutine.

Biiru

(1433 Rue City Councillors) Yann Levy’s Japanese bistro restaurant—which opened a week after Poutine Week 2014—is a first-time contender this year. The upbeat, brilliantly designed space has a trendy pop art feel with a Japanese twist. Many local artists contributed to the hand-painted murals in and outside the restaurant. Authentic

pieces from Japanese culture were also expertly arranged throughout the small space, from a historical left flag with soldier’s signatures dating from WWII to delicate origami enclosed in a beautiful metal cage.

“I wanted to make a Japanese place with no sushi that was accommodating and not intimidating for anyone,” Levy said.

Although the staples of a traditional poutine were Montreal poutine week offered many choices for comfort food lovers. (Yufei Wang / McGill Tribune) present in the Hyottoko, Biiru infused them with bold Japanese flacooking that is both local and seasonal,” vours. The fries were swapped out for Lallouz said. “I like to call it ‘Gastrono(1102 Rue De Bleury) toragashi & BBQ sweet potato fries. To Monsieur is aptly named; when mie à petit prix [gastronomy at a small complement that dish, the gravy was owner Kimberly Lallouz created the price.]’” miso-based, and the cheese curds were restaurant, she knew that she would beThis year, the restaurant decided accompanied by teriyaki glazed pork come married to it. With Monsieur, Lal- to tone it down from the dessert poutine shoulder, tempura flakes, and kizami louz wanted to create a classic and styl- they served in 2014 and go back to banori. Somehow, the dish was still rec- ish space which served non-processed sics. “Fresh” was the idea behind the Mr. ognizable as a poutine, yet offered an ready-to-eat food. The jazzy music and C. Verde, which included fresh fries (a authentic Japanese taste. It is easily one the bar mounted with wine bottles gives mix of yukon and sweet potato), organic of the most charming comfort foods in the place a vintage feel that is both genu- and local cheese curds topped with the city. grated mozzarella for a extra stringy ine and easy-going.

“The idea was simple: Conscious kick, sautéed wild mushrooms and kale,

Monsieur Resto+Bar

McGill Tribune: Favourite childhood memory?

Nousin Hussain: Going to the Cirque du Soleil with my uncle.

MT: Biggest freshman mistake?

NH: People at McGill dress too well—when I wear sweats to class, people look at me funny.

MT: If you could say something to your freshman self, what would it be?

NH: You will meet people that you connect with.

MT: Least favourite thing about Facebook?

NH: It makes you self-conscious. I’m the kind of person who is so scared of posting something. If it’s political, I’m cautious. I avoid slacktivism. Is that what activism has become, a hashtag?

MT: Dream job at age four?

NH: Mission Control. I had a fascination with it. I never wanted to actually go into space, I just wanted to sit there and control what happened. You get to press buttons!

and crispy chorizo. All the ingredients came together for an indulgent poutine that does not sit heavy in the stomach.

The presentation was lovely, the kind of plating that played with both colour and shape. Not only did the food make Monsieur worth a second visit, its atmosphere also encourages customers to look forward to eating there again.

La Taverne F par Ferreira

(1485 Rue Jeanne Mance) A modern Portuguese fusion restaurant in Places des Art, La Taverne F usually serves up food in small portions with excellent beer and wine. As a brasserie, this format allows guests to share the food while enjoying their cocktails.

The restaurant caters to an older, more sophisticated crowd with a penchant for art deco and minimalist decor. Its bold, narrow design is unique and its location makes it perfect for a quick bite and drink before or after a show.

For Poutine Week, the restaurant presented the Salted Cod Ferreira Poutine, a true seaside delight. With homemade french fries, salted cod, caramelized onions, creamy sauce, cheese curds, and lemon zest, the dish was an interesting reinvention of fish and chips.

Compared to poutine’s typical association with fast food, La Taverne F’s option is definitely a more classy experience.

Student Living

10

A chef's journey

Antonio Park’s incredible culinary success in Montreal

Park holding a rare fish. (Alycia Noë / McGill Tribune)

Park’s restaurant Lavanderia. (Alycia Noë / McGill Tribune) Alycia Noë Staff Writer

A

chef’s upbringing influences hir or her cuisine.

Chef Antonio Park, owner and chef of acclaimed Montreal restaurants Park and Lavanderia, is also the newest Chopped Canada judge,

and has a unique background that has helped shape his outlook on food.

Park was born in Argentina to Korean parents, and spent his childhood in South American cities like Asunción, Buenos Aires, and Rio. He then attended high school in British Columbia and Quebec, eventually attending culinary school in Japan. Park describes himself up in a sentence that

summarizes his eclectic range of experiences. “[I am really just] a messed-up Latino with kimchi in his blood, who is seriously in love with sashimi,” he joked.

According to Park, each aspect of his life is important to his approach to cooking today.

“Forget the word fusion,” Park said.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015 Instead, Park aims to express memories of his youth through the form of food. He wants to share with his customers the tastes, aromas, smell, sweetness, and saltiness he grew up with. Park has been bringing fresh flavours from Korea, South America, Brazil, Argentina, and France to the city of Montreal since opening Park Restaurant in February 2012.

As a child, Park developed a passion for cooking from his mother who taught him many culinary skills.

According to Park, it was important to his mother to always put the effort in to make everything from scratch, whether it was grinding her own spices with a mortar and pestle or making her own miso and soya sauce. In an interview with the Montreal Gazette, Park lovingly described the strong influence his mother has had on his cooking.

“I grew up with everything local and a mom who is an amazing cook,” Park said. “She’s a wild cook too.

Back in the day, all moms cooked, but my mom was beyond that. She used to dry her own red peppers to make her own paprika in a stone grinder.”

Park said he learned discipline from his mother. If he didn’t peel the garlic properly or cut the onion neatly, she would give him grief. Park’s mother also taught him to appreciate ingredients. The family would never go to the market to buy fruits and vegetables; instead, they grew them in their huge 47,000 square foot backyard. Park recognized the importance of fresh, top-quality ingredients, as well as seasonality and sustainability through seeing his mother grow her own ingredients. To this day, Park puts in the effort to source responsibly harvested, fresh ingredients. You will never see the same fish served for more than one or two days at Park’s restaurants. The menus are constantly evolving at both of his restaurants to reflect the ingredients that are available.

Similarly, Park’s father influenced his creative viewpoint on the art of cooking. His father owned a lavanderia, and after a long day at work acid-washing jeans, the hundreds of workers there would have daily staff meals together. Park` saw his father grill entire cows, sausages, sweetbreads, and ribs. These proteincentered meals were served with refreshing sides like kimchi or even ice soaked in Coca-Cola.

These staff get-togethers may have revolved around the food, but a young Park saw how the food helped to create an atmosphere. From this, Park learned that meals served a greater purpose than just nutrition. It made people happy, and that was evident through the workers who were enjoying the rest of their night after a long day of gruelling work.

Although Park moved to Quebec in high school, he said that he never felt like he belonged. He did not speak French, and he was Korean and also Latino. He explained that he didn’t fit in until he found his place in the kitch-

en. As a teenager, Park got his first job in a restaurant as a dishwasher while simultaneously working in his parents’ dépanneur. Through this experience, Park said that he also learned the care that goes into running a restaurant, a trait that follows him into the kitchen today.

Park also said he believes that you have to respect the ingredients and never make a dish haphazardly.

According to Mayssam Samaha, the woman behind Montreal food blog Will Travel for Food, Park’s respectful nature goes beyond his cooking. “[Park’s] passion for the job and his respect for the ingredients is immediately obvious in every single one of his gestures, but especially in his words,” Samaha wrote.

Park also learned further appreciation of food in his sister’s restaurants. Park’s first kitchen job was prepping and mixing rice for his sister at a restaurant called Takara. He made rice for three years. He also apprenticed at Tomo, his sister’s other restauranta in Montreal, learning how to make North-Americanized Japanese cuisine such as California rolls, beef teriyaki, spicy mayo, and maki rolls.

Park says his time at Tomo marked the turning point for when he truly became serious about cooking, deciding it was something he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

Park decided to move to Toronto to train in other kitchens, but realized the cooking was very much the same as in Montreal. He loved Japanese food and wanted to learn the proper techniques and authentic dishes from the Japanese themselves. He packed up everything he owned and moved to Japan to attend culinary school. Park trained under both sushi and Japanese food masters and learned what their philosophies were on food.

According to Park, it was tough to learn to cook authentic Japanese food.

“Japanese people will never teach you why they do things,” Park said. “It’s a personal secret.”

This made training more difficult for Park, but he said it also made him a better chef. He had to uncover why the masters he learned from cut fish in a particular way, or cooked a vegetable differently in one dish than another. Park was very committed to learning a cuisine that he considers counter to his upbringing. According to Park, Korean food is complicated, while Japanese food is beautiful in its simplicity.

Today, Park owns two restaurants in Montreal, both on Avenue Victoria in Westmount. Park is a sushi- and Japanese-focused restaurant, whereas Lavanderia is a restaurant paying homage to his upbringing in South America. He is widely considered one of the best chefs in Montreal, and can be seen Saturdays on Food Network judging Chopped Canada.

Park and Lavanderia Restaurants—378 Avenue Victoria, Westmount, QC.

Healthcare in Quebec

Struggling with Quebec health care Concussions Glen superhospital Implementing research Hospital volunteers Podcast

PG. 12 PG. 20 online online online online

FINDING THE tippingStruggling point with the Quebec health care system

By Jenny Shen

W

hen Sean* first started noticing symptoms of an ear infection in September 2013, he took the day off work to get it checked out at the clinic. He had experienced painful symptoms for several consecutive days, to the point where waiting it out no longer seemed to be the best option. But he expected that one day off work to be enough.

“My first visit [to the clinic], I was three days in [with the infection],” Sean said. “I waited until I felt like it was pretty obvious [….] I saw a doctor after waiting about two hours, which is standard for a clinic [….] He looked at it for maybe two seconds, and said ‘I don’t really see anything wrong with it.’”

But to Sean, there was something wrong.

“It was really sore,” Sean recalled.

“My ear canal was swollen—you could try to put a Q-tip in, but it wouldn’t pass.”

A story like Sean’s is not uncommon in the medical field. Patients visit clinics frequently with symptoms they claim are correlated with a certain disease they found on the internet, and doctors dismiss it upon inspection, assuring patients that they just need to wait it out. With something like an ear infection, which can often clear up on its own, patients seeking treatment will often end up going home empty-handed, asked to weather the storm.

But in Sean’s case, the storm had grown more and more menacing within the next week. He returned to the clinic, and this time, the doctor told him, “There’s definitely something wrong here.”

He was sent home with a bottle of eardrops without a complete explanation of what he was given, then asked to leave in a hurry.

Anyone who has attempted to visit a walk-in clinic may have experienced something similar. With issues that don’t send people immediately en route to the emergency room, they can expect long waits or frustratingly inflexible intake hours. For the clinic Sean visited, it seemed not unlike standing in a Black Friday queue outside a department store, waiting for the doors to swing open.

“You call the night before and there’s an automated system,” Sean explained.

“You call after 7:30 p.m., and you get assigned to a slot for the next day. Usually if you call anytime past 7:40 p.m., you’re not gonna get a slot. It’s that busy.”

But when every resident or temporary resident of Quebec is covered under the Health Insurance Plan and a trip to the clinic costs nothing, why seek out alternative options such as expensive private health care? According to a Canadian Community Health Survey from 2013, 25.1 per cent of Quebec residents do

not have a regular doctor, compared to the national average of 15.5 per cent. However, a Statistics Canada health report also published that there has been anywhere between 30 to 40 per cent of an increase in out-of-pocket expenditures on health care, depending on income quartile.

So Sean, after trying the ear drops for a couple days and still experiencing pain, went back yet again to the same clinic.

“So now we’re at the third visit,” Sean explained. “I go back to the clinic, and the third doctor said, ‘There’s nothing wrong with your ear.’”

Sean didn’t give in so easily, though.

He had three clinic visits under his belt and an inflamed ear exhibiting no real improvement, so the doctor agreed to invite another doctor to come in to inspect it.

The second doctor suggested giving Sean another set of eardrops. The result?

“They didn’t work.”

In between this process, Sean also went to a family doctor for an unrelated health issue. The family doctor told him that there was definitely something wrong with his ear, so he gave Sean both pills and drops.

Those worked—at first.

“A couple weeks later, I was getting different symptoms,” Sean said. “Now, my ear was not just swollen and in pain, but there was [also] fluid [coming out of it].”

His family doctor gave him painkillers to address the pain, while referring him to an ENT—an ear, nose, and throat specialist. But, as many people have experienced firsthand, booking an appointment with a specialist is not a next-day affair. Sean wasn’t able to see the ENT until two months later. “[The ENT] took a look at my ear, and he said, ‘I see some scar tissue, and I’m gonna have to get a camera in there,” Sean recalled. “So I’m gonna need you to call my secretary and make an appointment for February. This was in October.”

By February, the infection had spread to Sean’s sinus, to the point where he had reddish-orange fluid dripping from his nose. To some, it may have been a cue to visit the emergency room. But Sean was hesitant to do so.

“At this point, I already had an appointment with the ENT [scheduled],

and I had already taken so many days off work,” he explained.

So instead, he kept waiting. Yet any hope for a successful visit with the specialist was quickly dashed upon arrival.

“When I finally got there, he had two students—that’s not usually a problem— except he didn’t look me in the eyes the entire time,” Sean said. “There was no communication with me [….] He ended up finding that there was scar tissue from the infection in my eardrum. So he went in and pulled it out with a pair of tweezers and sent me on my way.”

Sean said that although some of the most alarming symptoms—the bloody pus and unidentified fluids—have waned, he still felt the repercussions from spending months with an infected ear, even a year after his very first visit.

“There’s still random swelling,” Sean said. “I’ll wake up in the morning and it’ll be red and throbbing. My sense of smell was damaged for quite a while [….] I can’t distinguish smells like I used to [….] I actually saw my family doctor after all this […] and he said, ‘Well, yeah, your ear is damaged. There’s some scarring [there]. It looks like it’s been through hell.’”

Sean’s story is a middling case on a strangely warped spectrum of symptom severity, and it raises plenty of questions and concerns about boundary lines.

When does a condition become alarming enough to head straight to the emergency room? When does it qualify as dismissible enough to be sent away from a walk-in with a nasal spray or antibiotics in hand but nothing more? What happens when a medical issue escalates to the point where everyone is left thinking, “If only we had caught it earlier?” And what is the case for those who did try to catch it early on, as Sean attempted with his very first clinic visit?

Sean emphasized that not all of his

health care issues have been difficult— he recalled a past trip to the emergency room, where he was effectively and properly treated within two hours.

In his experience, Sean had done his best to utilize the health care system as it stood—but between all the clinic visits and specialist referrals, he still struggled to feel properly cared for and treated. Ultimately, he was forced to rely on the way the system had herded him from one location to the next, all without fixing the reason for his initial visit.

The health care system isn’t perfect, and an ear infection—among other medical issues that can arise—does not have a one-cure-fits-all solution. Sean explained that it was hard to know for sure where the underlying issues were for any of his seven visits to clinics, doctors, and specialists. He couldn’t attribute the lack of treatment to anything in particular. But he stood by his statement from the beginning—that even when doctors were telling him that nothing was wrong, it was clear to him—and others around him—that something wasn’t normal.

“My friends were looking at my ear and going, ‘ Dude , what’s wrong with your ear? It looks really messed up,” Sean said.

“I don’t know if it was that [the doctors] were in such a hurry to get me out of there that they didn’t notice, or it didn’t look severe enough, or [if] they saw that another doctor [had] increased the treatment for it [already]. I don’t know. I really don’t know.” *Sean’s last name has been omitted for anonymity purposes.

14

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

The sight of the blind and the embrace of the sea

Sophie Calle juxtaposes lack of sight and excess of vibrancy in latest exhibit

I

Clare Murphy Contributor

n Montreal’s landlocked position, one may miss the reassuring embrace of the ocean, which, for many coastal natives, has come to represent an integral element of home. At Musée d’art Contemporain de Montreal (MACM), Sophie Calle’s debut exhibit, entitled For the First and Last Time, has captured the mental images of blind people and the ocean, exploring the loss, beauty, and human desire to feel connected to our environment.

The First and Last Time comprises of two recent works by Calle that focus on subjects from Istanbul. The first, titled The Last Image (2010), combines photographs and written text telling the story of how the subjects lost their sight, their last sight, and the image that will always remain with them. The second project, Voir la Mer (2011), consists of videos of people experiencing the ocean for the first time—some of whom have spent their whole lives in Istanbul, a place surrounded by the sea.

Calle seamlessly transitions between these different works by ending the beginning exhibit with asking a man

who was born blind what his perception of beauty is. He states, “the sea, the sea going out so far you lose sight of it.”

The most moving element of The Last Image is the stories that accompany the photographs. Annoyingly though, only the French text is displayed alongside the photographs and all English readers must read off a printed sheet provided, something that ultimately took away from the overall experience. Calle retells all the experiences in a neutral tone despite the wide variety of circumstances that led to the subjects’ vision loss.

One particularly harsh story details a man who was shot and blinded, left only with the image of his shooter, whom he will never be able to identify. Yet within another such tragedy emerged a story of beauty for a woman who will always remember her husband as he was at 39 years old. Each of these stories carried specific details yet remained universal, allowing one to intimately connect to their perspectives.

The photographic portraits are put in a position of great prominence as the subjects often have direct eye contact with the camera, making the image something you cannot forget.

Our preconceptions of the blind are

Sophie Calle’s project depicts the way in which the blind see the world around them. ( macm.org) challenged by the positioning of their line of sight, making the viewer feel as though they are being watched. Many of the images are out of focus, as Calle captures the mental last image such as a “bus, like a red cloud.” The exhibit is transformative as we parallel our view with their final picture, attempting to see life through the yes of the blind.

The second portion of the exhibit

begins by showing the subjects facing the ocean. The camera then turns to face them, pointedly focusing on their various emotions of confusion, sadness, and joy. Again, the eyes are central to the impression of the exhibit, containing a subliminal quality and connecting the viewer to the subject.

Calle explores themes of isolation and communication along with both the

loss and power of the senses through methods of individual detail, all while reaching a sense of universality in this study of what it means to be human.

For the First and Last Time runs until May 10, 2015 at the Musée d’art Contemporain de Montreal (185 Sainte-Catherine Ouest). Student admission is $10.

Dark creatures and light humour in What We Do in the Shadows Vampire-centric New Zealand film has lots of laughs despite patchy plot

C

chris lutes Staff Writer

omedy, in a lot of ways, is the most subjective genre in any medium. Something that one person finds hilarious could fall completely flat for another—and both would be correct in their opinions because comedy comes from the realm of visceral, indescribable feelings, and gut reactions. Even more subjective is how a comedy film should be judged. Is a comedy a success by virtue of the fact that it makes you laugh, or does it need to offer something in the way of plot and theme in order to be considered a ‘good’ movie? How you answer this question will ultimately be the deciding factor in how you judge What We Do in the Shadows, the new vampire comedy from Takia Waititi and Flight of the Conchords’ Jermaine Clement.

Co-written, co-directed, and co-starring Clement and Waititi, the film tracks four vampires through day-to-day existence in present-day Wellington, New Zealand: Viago (Waititi), a romantic-era English dandy; Vladislav (Clement), a sadistic nymphomaniac; Deacon (Jonathan Brugh), an ex-nazi punk; and Petyr (Ben Fransham), an 8,000 year-old grotesque vampire resembling Max Schreck in Nosferatu.

There isn’t much in the way

Taiki Waititi stars as the undead straight-man in this blood-soaked humour flick. (flickreel.com) of a narrative through-line; instead, a few subplots weave their way in and out of scenes—including an annoying bro-type who risks drunkenly blowing the protagonists’ cover, a suburban housewife who supplies the crew with victims in the hopes that she will one day receive eternal life, and a rival pack of werewolves. The film tries to split the difference between being a series of unconnected vignettes about the practical implications

of being a vampire (given that the film’s production company is sketch site Funny or Die, the film was likely conceived as such), and a more traditional plot-driven story that places stock in the character’s feelings and ambitions. As a result, the film feels slow and pace-less for the first two-thirds before rushing into a final act that brings all of the characters into one room.

Thankfully, the acting is good enough to carry the film through its

weak spots. Waititi is the standout, playing the fastidious straightman who has to clean up after his roommates and mediate their petty grievances. He brings to the role a sense of world-weary forlornness that only a 183-year-old can truly experience, elevating the material to a level of pathos that the rest of the movie would have benefitted from.

Clement, Brugh, and Fransham all give performances that can be called funny and memorably weird, but not

much else. The supporting cast of New Zealand locals is fantastic, with Rhys Darby unsurprisingly stealing every scene he’s in as the alpha male of the werewolf pack who tries to keep his beastly urges at bay.

The other redeeming element is that the film looks better than any film with such a small budget has any right to. It’s filmed more competently than most modern documentaries— the cameras are placed in a way that can simultaneously capture the reactions of every character on screen, which is essential for a comedy like this. Some of the special effects are shockingly well done— especially when the vampires fly, which looks realistic and works well comedically.

Ultimately, this is a film that is best approached with managed expectations. Those who see this movie expecting anything more than humour are going to be disappointed, but there’s still enough great material that makes it relatively worthwhile.

This is the very definition of an airplane movie—quick and funny, enough to keep you entertained through an hour and a half flight, but light enough to forget about when you reach the tarmac.

What We Do in the Shadows opens on Friday, Feb. 13, at Cinema Cineplex Forum (2313 SainteCatherine W). General admission is $12.99 and $6.99 on Tuesdays.

15

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Dialogue at the great divide Playback theatre explores Montreal’s Anglo-Franco relations

T

alex bullis Contributor

hose who have spent any considerable amount of time in Montreal are aware that the issue of multilingualism is more than simply one of communication. It’s a complex narrative of social history, political debate, and the search for individual identity—all inexorably linked to the myriad of personal histories that inform the beliefs of every Montrealer.

In their most recent production held at the Mainline Theatre, Promito Playback presented Traverser la Main, a presentation that explores stories of multilingualism in everyday Montreal life with all of the nuance, personality, and eccentricity of the city itself.

Playback theatre, which is improvised theatrical performance based upon stories casually shared by audience members, is a deeply personal medium that places the direction and tone of the production entirely in the hands of the viewer. It allows the stories told by the cast to be a direct reflection of the experiences and beliefs of those attending the performance. Promito Playback has had extensive experience using playback theatre as a medium to explore the perspectives from everyday life on controversial issues, performing shows discussing topics such as racism and sexual identity. The careful nature and comfort of Promito Playback in

presenting varied opinions and beliefs allowed Traverser la Main to be an accepting yet probing environment in which each audience member’s preconceived notions of the issue at hand were simultaneously respected and challenged.

The production itself was deceptively simple for the weight of the topic, with no complex adornments on the black box stage or any unified costumes. The stage was decorated with nothing more than four black stools, and the only props utilized were simple sheets of coloured fabric. To generate ambience, each scene was subtly

punctuated by the sounds of various obscure traditional instruments played quietly at stage right. The rawness of the production allowed all attention to be drawn to the stories themselves, with little to no distraction by superfluous theatricality. Each interpretation was performed with less of a focus on direct representation of the story, and greater emphasis on the emotions associated with it. The dramatic and at times intense portrayals of emotion in each scene often bore more of the distinct feel of conceptual performance art than of traditional playback theatre.

Each story was told and

subsequently performed in the native or preferred tongue of the storyteller, leading to a completely comfortable and fluidly bilingual show. The use of multiple languages in the presentation did not only allow each story to be told in the most comfortable way for the storyteller, but also clearly and deliberately mirrored the very themes the show itself presented.

While the acting and production were artful and engaging, the true value and meaning of the evening came from the diverse, probing, and sometimes shocking stories provided by the audience. Some were simple

Actors retell anglo-franco stories with humour and poignancy. (L-A Benoit / McGill Tribune)

and uplifting tales of acquiring a new language, while others were heavy with decades of pain and struggle. Stories of growing up as a francophone in the shadow of Bill 63 were dramatically contrasted with stories of anglophone immigrants struggling to learn and work in French in modern Montreal.

All stories were welcomed with equal enthusiasm, and the theatrical interpretations were of profound depth.

Throughout the evening, the portrayals of each story combined to form a complex and multifaceted image of what it truly is to be a member of the community as a whole—whether as an anglophone or francophone.

Perhaps most engaging of all was the continued open discussion on the topic encouraged by the cast and crew after the show. As with their other performances, the Promito Playback team invited the audience to continue conversation in the comfortable livingroom-style lobby of the Mainline Theatre after the conclusion of the performance. There, audience members congregated, indulged in refreshments, and delved deeper into the topics of the evening. By generating this type of impassioned discussion, Traverser la Main powerfully realized the artistic vision of its cast—showcasing the true complexity, humanity, and individuality so inseparably linked with language identity in Montreal.

The subdued singer beyond Scrubs success Singer-songwriter on his new album, optimal fame, and graduating from university

J

Sophie jeweTT Contributor

oshua Radin recently released his new album Onward and Sideways, a heartwarming set of love songs dedicated to a woman in Sweden who happens to be his new girlfriend.

“I didn’t expect it to be an album, I expected it to be love letters for her,” Radin said. “This album is different for me because it came out of a period of time and a motivation that was different.”

Radin, who is currently on an international tour across the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia, spoke to me from Northampton, Massachusetts during his lunch break.

“I don’t usually do college interviews, but McGill is a great school,” he said.

Radin himself attended Northwestern University, where he studied visual arts, pursuing painting and then writing. As for why he chose music in the end, he said that it was both creatively fulfilling and practical.

“I like to be creative and express myself,” Radin explained. “I want to stay as open and creative as I possibly can. Music was the first thing I tried where I could actually pay the bills.”

Radin has a warm and contagious laugh and is unguarded and honest about his music. Known for pouring his heart out into his songs, Radin is always open about the meaning and inspiration behind each one.

“Most of my songs are basically journal entries,” he shared. “And I think that’s what people relate to.”

Radin’s success story is wellknown among his fans. He played the song “Winter” for his friend, Zach Braff, who urged him to submit it to the creator of Scrubs. Radin’s music was then requested by others in the industry and has now been featured in hundreds of movies and TV shows. Ten years and six albums later, he has toured the world and been on top charts with songs like “I’d Rather Be With You” and “Beautiful Day.” “I’m like that seasoning in your food that no one knows is in there,” he said of his own fame. “In your iPod, you probably have a song of mine in there but you don’t know it. I’m not the bun or the meat or the lettuce or the tomato, but there’s a seasoning in there that you can’t quite put your finger on.”

Radin has, in many ways, achieved what could be considered an optimal level of fame and success.

“I love being able to walk down the

Joshua Radin Joshua Radin serves as the seasoning you can’t put your finger on. (Photo courtesy of Wax Records) streets and do something embarrassing and not have to worry about having photographers around photographing me because then it might be in every magazine,” Radin said. “I don’t know how people live like that; what a nightmare.”

Still, Radin’s music is everywhere, even if his face may not be.

“I’m drinking coffee in a restaurant right now before I have to go to sound check and my song just came on the speakers,” he laughed.

Like many university graduates, Radin was not sure what he wanted to do, and he said that he doesn’t like how young people are pressured to choose a specific path.

“If I had to give any advice to college students, I would say to take a little time and just go travel and have some experiences, and then figure out what you want to be,” Radin said. “I didn’t even know who I was at all when I was 22 and graduating college. I didn’t know how I could possibly pick a career

when I had no idea who I was.”

Radin will be coming to Montreal on Monday, Feb. 9, but he has been here a few times before.

“The people are just so lovely and I love Old Montreal,” Radin said. “I’ve had some great times walking around there, especially in the summer.”

He also claimed to be prepared for winter in Montreal.

“I’ve got long underwear, I’m ready to go.”

16

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Musical mutability wyatt fine-gagné Sports Editor A couple of weeks ago, Sufjan Stevens announced that he will be releasing a new album in late March called Carrie & Lowell. The album will be his first studio release—not including Christmas albums—since 2010’s The Age of Adz. The news came shortly after Death Cab For Cutie and Modest Mouse announced new albums of their own, both scheduled to be released in late March as well.

In response to an article on Stereogum about Stevens’ new album, a user on the site commented, “[It’s been] a great week for people who were in college in 2005.” I was not in college in 2005, but it was a great week for me anyway. All three artists were staples for me in my early teens thanks to both a dad who listened to indie rock and exposure to the popular television drama The O.C.—a show that no doubt also exerted some influence on what was being played in college dorm rooms as well.

It’s easy to see why these artists and others like them were so popular with young adults at the time. The lyricism on Death Cab For Cutie’s Transatlanticism (2003) is sad, to say the least. The album’s title is meant to define the emotional gap between

(Ellie Slavitch / McGill Tribune) two lovers, but the music has a pop sensibility that made it easy to absorb.

The same sort of thing can be said about Modest Mouse’s Good News For People Who Love Bad News.

For many people, university is the first time in their lives that sadness, confusion, and uncertainty truly bubble to the surface, and so it is a logical time to turn to this type of music. But when I first listened to these albums, those emotions weren’t what I was feeling. At 13, I had romantic ideas in my head about the pain that these songs aimed to capture, but I didn’t truly feel anything like it myself. I bobbed my head along with the bouncing guitar in “Title and Registration,” but the song didn’t floor

me in the way that it does now. I liked the idea of being sad, brooding, and heartbroken because I felt there was something mysterious and intriguing about people who wrote those sorts of songs.

Listening to Transatlanticism now is a completely different experience than it was for me a decade ago. The album hasn’t changed, but I have. When I first heard “The Sound of Settling,” it felt incredibly happy and bright. But when I listen to it now, I can’t ignore the idea of growing old alone and unsatisfied that permeates throughout it.

Who you are in a given moment affects the way you perceive any piece of art. This isn’t necessarily a

new revelation for some, but it has been for me. Certain things may seem brilliant to you if they happen to find you at the right time, but can just as easily become schlock once you’re past that moment.

This is perhaps most apparent when going back to watch shows or films you loved during your childhood. While some have staying power, many become tiresome once you push past the nostalgia and sentimental feelings you associate with the content. Even if you’re still able to enjoy them, it is often for different reasons.

Things can work the other way around as well, with art that once barely affected you becoming

meaningful years later. Growing up, Bruce Springsteen’s big hits were the only songs of his that I cared about.

I never had patience for Nebraska (1982), but now it’s among my favourite Springsteen albums. For whatever reason, I eventually became hooked on the album in a way that would have been unthinkable to me 10 or 15 years ago.

I have no idea if I’ll enjoy Carrie & Lowell. With Sufjan Stevens, it’s a pretty good bet that I will. Regardless, the album will almost certainly mean something to me, and a decade from now it’ll mean something entirely different.

What’s happening in Montréal COMEDIC OPERETTA — H.M.S. Pinafore

LITERARY THEATRE — The Art of Preforming Aural Sex

McGill’s Savoy Society brings you your annual dose of Gilbert & Sullivan.

Friday, Feb. 13 to Saturday, Feb. 14 and Friday, Feb. 20 to Saturday, Feb. 21 at 7:30 p.m. at Moyse Hall. Matinees will also take place for both Saturday shows at 2:00 p.m. Student tickets are $10.

Presenting the clitoris: Now just as elusive in the theatre as it is in the bedroom.

Sunday Feb. 15 at 6 p.m. at Le Belmont (4483 Blvd. Saint-Laurent). Tickets cost $25.

VALENTINE’S DAY — Chocolate Love Songs

A west coast Canadian band with banjos, synths, and a new music video in ’80s ski attire.

Monday, Feb. 16 at 9:30 p.m. at Quai des Brumes (4481 Saint. Denis).

MUSIC — Shred Kelly

Do you really love your valentine or are you just a worthless scrub? Prove yourself via tickets to the über fancy gala hosted by the McGill Chamber Orchestra.

Saturday Feb. 14 at 6:30 p.m. at Sofitel (1155 Sherbrooke Ouest). Tickets are $180.

MUSIC — Swans

VALENTINE’S DAY — Valentine’s Day Metal Massacre

Because how often do you get the chance to see an experimental rock band from the 1980s New York no wave scene?

Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 8 p.m. at Le National (1220 Sainte-Catherine Est). Tickets are $32.25.

Hallmark™ created Valentine’s Day to sell mass produced cards and candy and everyone knows it. Fight back against consumerism, capitalism, and corporate greed with a truly metal V-day extravaganza.

Saturday, Feb. 14 at 9 p.m. at Les Katacombes (1635 Saint Laurent). Tickets are $10.

MUSIC — The Bombadils Their name is a reference to a Tolkien character and their music sounds like it came straight out of the Shire.

Thursday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. at La Vitrola (4602 St. Laurent). Admission is $10.

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Grunge that’s not Nirvana luka ciklovan Contributor

ALBUM REVIEWS all we are - all we are Domino

“Touch Me I’m Sick” Artist: Mudhoney Album: Single Released: March, 1988

Mudhoney stands as one of the major—yet completely overshadowed—forerunners of the Seattle Grunge scene.

“Touch Me I’m Sick,” their debut single, brought the dirty, fuzzy, bass-driven sound pervading the city’s indie scene to the cultural fore, paving the way for many larger acts to follow. The track’s biting lyrics, snarling vocals, and raw, ‘untrained’ vibe garnered widespread appeal from youth across the U.S., who, tired of the overly sexualized rock stars of glam metal, were seeking something heavier.

Punk and heavy metal influences run rampant in this historic track, and truly cemented early grunge as a genuine counterculture movement.

“Even Flow”

Artist: Pearl Jam Album: Ten Release: August 27, 1991

Recently shortlisted for both the 2015 NME and BRIT Awards, Liverpool-based band All We Are is the latest to latch on to the seemingly endlessly growing number of indie-rock bands vying for attention and supposed critical acclaim. Featuring guitar riffs,

Artist: Alice In Chains Album: Dirt Released: September 29, 1992 Despite not being a single off of Dirt, “Rain When I Die” succeeds in encapsulating the sounds of a more ‘mature,’ or technical grunge. The pleasantly nauseating psychedelic intro, haunting vocal harmonies of the verse, and overall heavy but relaxed groove of this track is notably different in terms of complexity and feel when compared to the classic garage grunge band. It nonetheless aggressively plucks at the same heartstrings of melancholy and angst pioneered by earlier bands.

Sifting through the nine tracks on Scavenger, the debut album from Fleece— a five-piece band comprised of Concordia and McGill students—I couldn’t help but think about the days when my transcript still featured the word “undeclared.”

Drawing from an array of genres including grunge, jazz, and psychedelic/indie/ alternative rock, the album has the same

is brilliant. However, this reconstruction of vague ’80s guitars, synths, and layered vocals makes it hard to tell it apart from anything else in the indie-rock arena. Maybe this doesn’t matter; maybe a rehash is a respectful nod to music of the past. However, here it just falls flat—like a collection of torch songs with no flame.

Background music? Yes. Studying music? Absolutely. But that’s it; All We Are could be good for any mood, event, or circumstance, and while the band should be applauded for their incredible ’80s sound, it lacks a certain thing called personality— something actually worth liking it for.

—

Jack Neal

kind of unrestrained feel to it as a freshman Arts student during course selection.

Fortunately, though, they have the chops to pull it off and avoid the danger of a cluttered, over-ambitious album.

Things start off on a dreamy note with “Alien,” a relaxed tune that nicely meshes a lead guitar draped in colourful effects with a clean keyboard sound, and then give way to “Wake and Bake,” a track reminiscent of Nirvana’s “In Bloom,” but much calmer.

However, it’s between the third and sixth tracks (“Demanding” and “Rise”) that the album hits its peak. Those two specifically have an airy quality to them that fully immerses the listener to the point where it’s easy to drift off and take for granted how impressive the instrumentation is. Even though it’s just meant to be transitory, “DLXVII (Interlude)” offers a memorable minute-and-a-half of music that will appeal to fans of the 2014 breakout group Real Estate. The highlight,

though, is “Gabe’s Song,” which builds from a soft, haunting verse to a booming chorus featuring a guest horns section— not to mention a rare, excellent bass solo during the breakdown towards the end.

In the final stretch of the album, Fleece moves towards a more traditional rock ‘n’ roll sound; these songs can sometimes run a little too long and aren’t quite as memorable as the preceding ones—although the line “Chocolate milk and Adderall get me through the week” from “Chocolate Milk” is noteworthy alone for being the university student’s answer to Harry Nilsson’s “Coconut”—but it’s hard to really find flaws on this album as a whole. Fleece plays well beyond its years and is certainly a Montreal act to watch out for.

—

— M ax Berger

BOB dylan - Shadows in the night columbia records

“Black Hole Sun” Artist: Soundgarden Album: Superunknown Released: March 8, 1994

This classic track off of Superunknown demonstrates the blessed union that can exist between sorrow and serenity common within grunge music. The brooding, surreal lyrics drenched in gloom are brilliantly contrasted with the bubbly, mirthful sound of the arpeggiated guitar throughout the track, forming a dreamscape like no other. Chris Cornell, Soundgarden’s frontman, has himself explicitly confirmed the ‘lack’ of direct meaning within the track.

While this lyrical openness may turn off many modern listeners, at the time of its release, it was believed that such subjectivity was a way to make music more accessible and personal in lieu of expanding mainstream monoculture.

lots of drums, and rock-based production, All We Are ticks most of the boxes on the ‘alternative’ checklist. However, they also feature heavy bass, whispered vocals, and an overall atmospheric sound more akin to that of a The xx record.

Part The Naked and Famous, part CHVRCHES, and with a hint of Daft Punk on the standout track “Feel Safe,” All We Are should have called themselves ‘We Are All’.

The record lends itself to multiple listens— not because it merits them based on impressiveness, but because it’s hard to believe that after a record of 11 intricately produced songs, there is so little to grab on to. “There’s something about you,” they sing; clearly a statement directed towards anything but their own album.

All We Are isn’t completely terrible; the synthesizers on “Honey” are extremely likable, and the opening hook of “I Wear You”

Fleece - scavenger independent

Often marked as a grunge band, Pearl Jam remains one of the most commercially successful bands of the ’90s era, yet its lack of ‘hardcore’ elements, or edge, makes the grunge labeling, which prizes counterculture notions, seem questionable. “Even Flow,” with its axe-tastic shredding and wah-powered guitars, is by no means a bad track, offering a new take on an old hard rock sound; however, when compared to early bands under the same genre, there is hardly a resemblance. “Even Flow” highlights the broad— and ever broadening—nature of the grunge genre label that ultimately led to its demise.

“Rain When I Die”

17

Bob Dylan is a folk hero and a masterful songwriter. His lyrics speak to a generation of people who went through a history of turmoil and conflict that culminated in the rebirth of American cultural society. In

a recent interview with NPR, the musical legend described growing up listening to Sinatra and how he always aspired to be as great a singer Sinatra was. It is this longterm adoration of Sinatra that led Dylan to re-record some of Sinatra’s best in his latest album Shadows in the Night.

While the project is not surprising— musical legends often seek to emulate the other legends who preceded them—it’s still odd hearing someone as enigmatic in the music world as Dylan speak of Sinatra with such reverence. However, Dylan’s sincerity illuminates every note in the album, a necessary plus considering the obvious—Bob Dylan really cannot sing.

While skeptics would read this and assume that the resulting album would be a garbled mess, Dylan surprises by sticking to Sina-

tra’s slower ballads and interpreting them in a way that complements his shaky folk vocals.

“Stay With Me” in particular highlights the raw beauty and of this album.

“I grow cold/ I grow weary/ And I know/ I have sinned,” Dylan croons to a gentle backing guitar. For older fans of both Dylan and Sinatra, the album is sure to bring back faded, loving memories. For newer audiences, the album is slow and steady, one that will stay with you just as these two great singers have continued influencing and inspiring musicians from past to present.

— — Morgan Alexander

18

The element of truth

Science & Technology

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Physics engineer Derek Muller uses YouTube to popularize science Clare Lyle Staff Writer “Where did I spend my 18th birthday?”

Derek Muller asked a packed Leacock 232 on Tuesday, Feb. 3. The question sparked confused laughter from the audience. However, this was only the start of a presentation that would continue to amuse.

Muller—the man behind the YouTube channel Veritasium—explores a huge range of topics through videos, including explanations of quantum entanglement and how a slinky falls in slow motion.

Muller spent his 18th in Montreal. Perhaps the more relevant question, though, was why he asked that in the first place.

“When you’re giving a presentation, you want to make the audience feel close to you,” he explained. This technique came into play in his talk, but is also evident in his online presence, where his videos have made him a familiar face to millions of people.

The path to YouTube fame is a winding one, however. Muller initially studied engineering physics at Queen’s University in Ontario, although he said the decision was difficult to make.

“I wanted to be a filmmaker,

and I was also incredibly interested in science and engineering,” Muller explained. “The world itself is incredibly interesting—it’s hard to pick one thing.”

After graduating, Muller moved to Australia, and while he contemplated going to film school, he eventually pursued a Ph.D. in Physics Education.

His thesis explored ways to make multimedia physics education more effective. The results that he produced seemed to oppose the traditional lecture model for physics education.

As it turns out, simply telling students facts about physics does little to improve their understanding. In fact, after students watched an expository educational video, they performed equally poorly on a physics test, but were more confident in their answers.

At this point, he hadn’t shown them their results from the physics test.

“When I asked [the students] to describe the video […] they used words like ‘simple’ and ‘easy to understand,’” said Muller.

In contrast, students who watched a video, where an actor’s misinterpretation of Newton’s laws was clarified, found the simulation much more confusing. But when it came time to take the test after, they performed significantly better.

This effect was most pronounced

Derek Muller tells the story behind Veritasium. (Photo courtesy of Gabriel Kocher) in novices—students who’d had little to no exposure to physics beforehand.

After finishing his Ph.D., Muller starting working with a tutoring company. Although he was happy to be financially independent, he was also dissatisfied.

“I realized I’d been living a life of back up plans,” he said.

So he cut back his hours at the tutoring company and followed his passion for filmmaking to make YouTube

videos about physics.

His strategy for educating people about physics built on his Ph.D. research by dispelling people’s misconceptions about physical phenomena.

“It was often while doing this kind of work that I realized how vast [the general public’s] ignorance is,” Muller said.

Initially, the videos remained relatively obscure, but as time went on the presence of Muller’s channel

grew, aided by a number of videos that went viral. One in particular, a slowmotion shot of a slinky being dropped, even ended up on CBS. Muller ended his talk the same way he began it—with a question.

“What is […] Veritasium?”

Muller asked. “Is it a real element?

For me, [Veritasium] was that moment in my life when I stopped pursuing backup plans. Know what you really want, and do that.

Fact or Fiction Do aphrodisiacs really work? chloe Nevitt Science & Technology Editor Aphrodite—the Greek goddess of love, beauty, and pleasure— shares her name with another substance associated with desire: The aphrodisiac. Aphrodisiacs can be anything—foods, drinks, drugs, smells—that causes an increase in sexual desire. For centuries, people have sworn by the power certain foods, such as chocolate or oysters, to boost their libidos. The definition of aphrodisiac has remained the same over the last thousand years, and many of the foods we consider today to be aphrodisiacs are products of ancient experimentation.

The Greek physician Claudius Galen believed in the theological doctrine of signatures—a philosophy that certain herbs resemble the parts of the body they are meant to treat. Galen, who also believed that “wind,” or flatulence, would result in an erect penis, encouraged the consumption of mandrake root due to its semblance to a woman’s

thigh, and the oyster for its resemblance to a labia. The oyster has gained a reputation as the king of aphrodisiacs. It’s even rumoured that Cassanova, the 18th century playboy, would eat 50 oysters every morning. But do oysters really work?

In 2005, a team of American and Italian researchers analyzed bivalve mollusks using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), a method used to separate the components of a mixture.

Chemistry professor George Fisher from Barry University and his team discovered that the mollusks were rich in rare amino acids, such as daspartic acid and N-methyl-Daspartate. These amino acids, when injected into rats, caused a chain reaction that resulted in the production of testosterone in males and progesterone in females.

“Increased levels of those hormones in the blood means you are more active sexually,” explained Dr. Antimo D’Aniello from the Laboratory of Neurobiology in

Oysters are one of the most well-known aphrodisiacs. (Photo courtesy of Culinary Adventure) Naples.

When trying to explain the reasons why certain foods increase sexual libido, researchers looked to the physiological changes that accompany sexual arousal.

Hormones such as testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, and oxytocin influence sexual motivation. Other feel-good chemicals released by the brain, such as dopamine and serotonin, contribute to a person’s arousal.

Foods and products that trigger the body to release and produce these compounds generally have aphrodisiac properties. A popular compound that is said to result in an increase in testosterone in the blood is ambergris. Ambergris is a

dark grey waxy substance produced in the digestive system of sperm whales that has been used extensively in the fragrance industry due to its valuable ability to fix a scent in place.

In 2005, a study published in Archives internationals de pharmacodynamie et de thérapie showed that ambrein, one of the major constituents of ambergris, increased sexual behavior in male rats. Therefore, the scientists concluded that ambergris can be a possible aphrodisiac.

Perhaps the most readily available aphrodisiac can be found at your local dépanneur. Alcohol consumption is linked to inhibition of the production of testosterone,

causing deleterious effects on male sexual performance. In women, the opposite generally occurs. The effects of alcohol will also happen faster and more potently due to the fact that women have a higher body fat percentage than men.

Historically, aphrodisiacs have included things like Bufo toad skin, Panax ginseng, and Spanish fly. Traditionally, these substances have been used in folk medicine and have had their mechanisms of action analyzed. However, according to a study published in Clinical Autonomic Research the ingestion of compounds due to their supposed libido-enhancing effect is widespread, and their abuse is associated with high morbidity.

29% of women

&

19

Science & Technology

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

On average

524

24% of men

Canadians will be

are expected to die from cancer within their life time

DIAGNOSED

with cancer every day

2

5

Canadians are expected to develop cancer during their lifetime

The Prevalence & Incidence of

Cancer Infographic by Cassie Lee

RISK FACTORS

On average

21 O

TOBACCO

Canadians will DIE from cancer every day

HO OH

HORMONES

World Cancer Day

BY LYDIA KAPRELIAN- Contributor With the combined efforts of the Cedars Cancer Foundation, Cedars CanSupport, and The Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Research Centre, the third annual World Cancer Day was held in a fully packed amphitheater at the Montreal Neurological Hospital. The public forum focused mostly on palliative care— care for the terminally ill—with this year’s theme titled “How to Survive Cancer? Not Beyond Us.” The night opened with a moving talk from two-time cancer survivor Tristin Williams. Despite undergoing multiple surgeries, a titanium hip replacement, and radiation therapy, Williams remains strong in the face of cancer.

“Living with cancer can be difficult, but with our life stories, we can inspire the minds of those who could lead us in the direction toward healing and could one day find a cure for this disease,” Williams said.

He urged the audience to ob-

serve a moment of silence for those who had lost their battle to cancer.

The silence ended when Williams struck a drum, increasing the tempo and volume until the crowd joined in to clap with the beat. In a beautiful moment of harmony, Williams set the tone for the evening, calling on the audience to focus on the energy of survival.

Dr. Manuel Borod, an assistant professor of oncology at McGill, then introduced the Division of Supportive and Palliative Care at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), followed by the forum experts.

As the Director of Survivorship at MUHC, Dr. Gen Chaput highlighted the burgeoning need for survivorship care.

“Right now, there’s approximately one million cancer survivors in Canada,” Chaput explained. “By 2020, that number is expected to go to two million.”

INFECTION

DIET EXERCISE Information from the Canadian Cancer Sociey

Chaput’s presentation touched on developing research on ‘chemo brain’—that is, a brain’s function being altered due to chemotherapy, higher rates of sexual dysfunction, sleep disorders, anxiety, and depression among cancer survivors. With survivor rates increasing, Chaput emphasized that it is increasingly important to provide palliative care.

Afterwards, Dr. Jordi Perez, an anesthesiologist and cancer pain specialist, explained the importance and stigma behind cancer pain drugs.

Perez aims, through her work, to provide targeted treatment to maximize effectiveness and minimize side effects.

Dr. Robert Kilgour, associate director of the McGill Nutrition and Performance Laboratory, gave a presentation on exercise and nutrition to conclude the World Cancer Day talks. Because cancer patients are immunocompromised, they need a clean environment to stay healthy.

As part of his basic nutritional recommendations, Kilgour emphasized the importance of consuming calories and maintaining a healthy weight.

“People tend to cling to the new things in the news, the next miracle product,” Kilgour explained. “Our clinical nutritionists want to bring people back to the basics.”

Kilgour then highlighted the need for research in the developing field of exercise oncology. Common knowledge demonstrates the importance of regular physical activity for healthy people, but staying active is even more important for cancer patients.

“We do know […] that in specific subsets of cancer patients, you can see up to a 30 to 40 per cent risk reduction in breast cancer and colorectal cancer recurrence,” Kilgour said.

Staying physically active means that patients are less likely to have to wait for further treatments if the doc-

tors fear the patient is too weak.

“There’s a very narrow window of time between diagnosis and the time they start treatment,” Kilgour explained. “As exercise scientists, we take advantage of any time period to help the patient become a stronger individual so that they can take chemotherapy and radiation therapy […] so that they’ll become a ‘better’ patient.”

The World Cancer Day presentations pointed to a more holistic sense of care to improve patients’ quality of life during and after treatment. Though many have lost their battle, the public forum cast a hopeful light onto the future of cancer care.

“Let us fight for all the individuals we have lost in the cancer community,” Williams urged. “They will never be forgotten. Let the impact that they have had on our lives give us the fuel to keep pushing forward.”

20

Sports

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Concussions in perspective it’s the athletes’ turn Zikomo smith Staff Writer What could U1 Honours Economics student Julian Fiorello, a high school wrestler, remember after he suffered a concussion at a meet in high school?

Barely anything.

“I had to call my family to get them to drive me to the hospital, but I could not figure out which numbers to push,” Fiorello recalled. “I knew my phone number, but [I] couldn’t equate these numbers in my head to the keys on the phone.”

According to Dr. Alain Ptito, a neuro-psychologist at the forefront of concussion research with the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), Fiorello’s experience is in line with the current scientific understanding of concussions.

“When the concussion occurs, the brain inside […] hits the sides of the skull,” Ptito said. “There can be tearing […] of axons that you cannot see [with MRI scans.] There can be an interruption of the connectivity between two regions of the brain.”

It’s no secret, however, that concussions haven’t driven everyone away from their sports. U1 Psychology major Kathleen Johansson hesitated to acknowledge her concussions out of fear of being removed from the game.

“There have been times where I [was] tackled […] I [blacked] out for a few seconds, [but] I [continued] playing,” Johansson said.

Concussions are a controversial topic in the North American sporting world, yet the NFL only just last year acknowledged that they expect a third of their players to develop brain trauma.

An estimated 300,000 sports-related concussions were reported in The Journal of Athletic Training in 2007. Amidst this frenzy, society often loses sight of how athletes themselves feel about concussions. Their opinions should matter, as they are most directly affected by these injuries.

Some athletes are willing to risk a concussion for a certain level of fulfillment from their sport. Laura Abbatiello, the staff therapist for the Redmen football team, shared her experience with McGill athletes.

“A player’s first concern [after a concussion] is always when can they go back to play,” Abbatiello explained. “A first concussion […] seems to have little impact on the player.”

And, while three concussions ultimately pushed U1 Philosophy and Political Science student Sabrina Kim to leave the sport, she too demonstrated extreme resilience towards the injuries she faced.

“I broke my foot three times [while competing in national gymnastics during high school, but I still] competed on it, [and] cracked my head open [once]

and got 10 staples,” Kim said. “[But I always] just wanted to get better and go back.”

According to Pelle Jorgen, rookie running-back for the McGill Redmen, athletes need to know their limits.

“I think the person […] knows when it’s time to stop,” Jorgen said. “If they are being honest, [they will know] when the danger outweighs the reward.”

This is particularly important when concussions hurt an athlete’s schoolwork. Many of McGill’s athletes are high academic achievers. Fiorello and Jorgen are honours students. Kim is on her way to law school.

Baback Owen, strength and con-

pact [on athletes’ safety.]”

However, while these athletes support increased safety measures, they are also hesitant about their sports changing too drastically. U1 Physiology student Cassie Walmsley fell in love with rugby in part due to its physicality, and balked at the idea of removing the scrum from rugby altogether.

Abbatiello noted that severe injury also poses risks to athletes’ futures.

“If a player has had multiple concussions [...] they start to be concerned about their future,” Abbatiello said.

“Players here love playing, but they have come here to graduate.”

Kim and Fiorello, for instance,

notify her professors about class absence, pay $400 for an ImPact test—a cognitive assessment taken by the athlete to determine if his or her brain is functioning well—and an official clearance, all the while sporting a debilitating headache.

Conversely, Jorgen reported that as a varsity athlete, securing help from McGill’s leading sports doctor, Scott Delaney, was much easier.

“He is extremely busy […] but he keeps time slots open for […] the football team,” Jorgen said. “Even if [Delaney] is not available, there are a lot of professionals who can help you.”

Jorgen stressed that a supportive

4 to 5 million concussions occur annually, with rising numbers among middle school athletes 90% of most diagnosed concussions do not involve a loss of consciousness.

33% of high school athletes who have a sports concussion report two or more in the same year

(Domitlle Biehlmann / McGill Tribune) ditioning coach for the McGill Martlet and Redmen hockey teams, acknowledged that athletic injuries have the potential to impact students’ academic goals.

“I have known situations where players have [had] to defer exams [due to concussions,” explained Owen. “In some circumstances, it does not make sense to keep going [since] you are actually damaging your brain.”

Kim said she strongly supported adjustments that could reduce the possibility of such an injury.

“I can see more regulations coming [for lower level cheerleading teams],” Kim said. “For example, you are not allowed to do a three-story-high pyramid [anymore,] only a two storyhigh pyramid.”

Beyond changes to sports regulation, Jorgen believes that changes in coaching styles will also contribute to increased football safety.

“There are ways to protect yourself […] and to take hits,” Jorgen said.

“If people can teach better fundamentals at lower levels, it will have a bigger im-

maintained focus on their academic careers in the wake of their concussions.

While Kim went back to school two days later, she found it impossible to focus. She was later advised to take two weeks off class.

Neither felt that the fulfillment they derived from their respective sports was worth the impact a concussion had on their work.

Lynn Bookalam, head therapist and manager at the McGill Sport Medicine Clinic, has over 30 years of experience dealing with concussed athletes.

Bookalam explained that returning to full participation is a frustrating process.

“What is really interesting about concussions is that there is no pill you can take to fix it,” she said. “It is important for the athlete to manage his or her concussion under the guidance of a sports medicine doctor and therapist.”

Kim, who was part of a club cheerleading squad, said she felt vulnerable on her road to recovery. While professional and varsity athletes are generally well taken care of, as a first-year student Kim had to go to the hospital by herself,

sports medicine team is critical for players to gain the confidence needed to return to the sport.

“Having [experienced] people around you makes you feel [more comfortable] when you go back to playing,” he said.

Equally important to negotiating concussions is team culture.

“Sometimes, players will come to other players about injuries [first] for advice, because they will be restricted from playing if they tell the trainers they have a mild concussion,” Jorgen said. “[Athletes] fight through the pain […] for their team,” Johansson said.

“But your team is your family, so they understand when you put your health first.”

Walmsley went further in saying that trusting her teammates made her feel safer on the pitch. “[If you go] into rucks and scrums and tackles […trusting] your teammates […] are going to be there for you, you are less likely to get [injured],” Walmsley said.

(espn.com) With these factors in mind, McGill athletes can expect their experience with concussions to change in the coming years. Ptito is undertaking cuttingedge research in concussion detection that will make it impossible for athletes to falsify sideline concussion tests.

“What we are trying to work on is blood tests that will tell us [that] the body is reacting and the person [has] a concussion,” explained Ptito. “A blood-based biomarker [will be ideal as] a quick diagnostic way to look [for head trauma.]”

The question still remains if players will remain in concussion-prone sports even if sideline testing improves. Bookalam said she feels that as long as attitudes and treatment develop sensibly, sports with concussion risks should continue to become safer.

“I do not think that concussions will end [in football],” Bookalam said.

“I think we must team up […] with [...] coaches, managers, administrators, parents, athletes, teachers, and nurses [….] We have to educate everybody.”

According to Bookalam, there is a great commitment to player safety in North American sports.

“The GMs get together and speak, the doctors get together and speak,” she said. “We all get together and we go to referees and coaches, and we [ask what] we can do [...] to make this a safer game. That is the mentality in North American football.”

Dr. Ptito was more reticent on the topic. As a neuro-psychologist, the damage concussions do to the brain frighten him.

“When they looked at [NFL players’] brains they found they had […]

CTE, [which] is a form of Alzheimer’s disease, but they were extremely young,” Ptito said. “They were totally abnormal.”

Will the horror stories ever scare athletes off? Will sports like hockey have to shed its violent nature? Ptito could see this happening and he said he is also uncomfortable with the stress that football puts on the brain.

“I could see [the fighting] in hockey […] dying out, and I could see the hard hitting being eliminated,” Ptito said. “I would not want my kid to play football because I definitely see concussions [and] problems there.”

While there are still many questions to be answered regarding concussions, the most important fact remains that our brains are sacrosanct before anything else. Perhaps we can expect the media to shift its focus from concussions in sports to the general importance of looking after our brains.

“I think the brain is probably our most precious organ,” said Ptitio.

“Without a brain, there is not much we can do. So we should be protecting it as much as we can.”

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Sports

21

from the cheap seats: Red Bull Power 5

Montreal’s top collegiate intramural teams face off beneath the city skyline. (Remi Lu / McGill Tribune) nick jaskinski Staff Writer Montreal’s top university intramural hockey programs gathered on McGill’s lower field skating rink Thursday night beneath the downtown skyline to play their annual tournament. The stakes were high as teams from McGill, Concordia, Uni-

versité de Montréal, UQÀM, École de Technologie Supérieure (ETS), and HEC Montréal’s respective intramural leagues faced off in an eightteam, double elimination bracket, with a $500 prize for the winning team. McGill, Concordia, and Montréal each put forth two entries, while ETS and HEC Montréal had one team per school. Supporters from all sides

came out to brave the cold and cheer on their teams as they progressed through round after round of 10-minute games.

Sponsored by Red Bull, the event included some unconventional rules to pick up the pace of the games and keep the crowd engaged. Each team started out with four players on the rink and no goaltender. When a

team scored a goal, a fifth player was added to their team and they remained in a power play until the opposing team scored a goal. At that point, the scoring team added a fifth player and the first team lost their fifth player, thereby reversing the power play.

This rule, combined with the small size of the rink and the unattended nets, led to a lot of action on the offence and many high-scoring games. The night’s most exciting moments came when games were tied at the end of regulation. Both teams would then choose their strongest player for a one-on-one, sudden death, winner-take-all face-off. The first player to score would win the game for his team.

The crowd grew as the night progressed, drawn by the spectacle of an illuminated hockey rink in the middle of campus with passionate players duking it out in an exciting format. Music blared from the World War II-era Red Bull-restored Volvo Sugga truck, encouraging the onlookers to stay warm by giving them something to dance to and keep their bodies moving. Red Bull employees milled about the crowd, handing out free energy drinks to players and fans alike. Players from all teams socialized and cheered each other on in the spirit of friendly competition.

One by one, teams were eliminated and the field became smaller.

The one ugly and potentially dangerous moment of the night came in a

semifinal match between one of the McGill teams and the UQÀM team when a series of repeated collisions between two players led to a minor shoving match and a roar from the crowd. The scrum was quickly broken up by their teammates and the players laughed it off almost immediately.

The final was an all-McGill match up contested between the “Bucking Feauties” and “Just Butter.”

Bucking Feauties were the definitive winners of the Fall 2014 intramural hockey ‘A’ division, going undefeated and outscoring their opponents by an average of more than three goals per game. That trend continued, as the Bucking Feauties heavily outscored Just Butter to win the 2015 Red Bull Power 5 in front of a what was a home crowd for both sides.

The highlight of the night came just after the championship match, when the top two teams posed together for photographs, mixing up their teams in contrasting uniforms. They then revealed that before the game began, the teams had agreed that no matter what the outcome of the game, they would split the $500 winnings and head out for drinks all together.

There couldn’t have been a more appropriate ending to the evening. The remaining members of the crowd cheered, clapped, and huddled close together against the winter air, enjoying the moment and readying themselves for the cold journey home.

hockey – redmen 5, paladins 1

Redmen capture OUA East Labrecque shines again as McGill finish season on top WYATT FIne-Gagné Sports Editor Playoffs in sports are occasionally referred to as the ‘second season.’ The slate is wiped clean for all those participating, and while a high seed translates to home-ice advantage, it guarantees little beyond that.

That being said, players on the Redmen (21-5-0) ice hockey team deserve to feel at least a little pleased with themselves after clinching the OUA East title with a 5-1 home win Saturday night against the RMC (026) Paladins.

The title-clinching win came on the heels of a gruelling 4-3 double-overtime win Friday against the Concordia Stingers in the 28th annual Corey Cup. Despite the extra time on the ice the previous night, the Redmen looked fresh against the Paladins. Junior centre Cedric McNicoll opened the scoring, but the Paladins struck back quickly and the two teams finished the first period knotted at 1-1. The goal was McNicoll’s 11th of the season and his

34th point, a total good for eighthbest in the CIS. McGill broke the game open midway through the second frame, scoring three goals in less than fourminutes. The first of those three came off of the stick of rookie defenceman Samuel Labrecque, and was Labrecque’s sixth game-winning goal of the season, which ties a school record that has stood for 27 years. Labrecque has been a force to be reckoned with as of late, scoring seven goals over the last five games, including the overtime-winner in the Corey Cup. Sophomore goaltender Karel St-Laurent gave McGill more of the quality play it has received all season from both of its net-minders.

St-Laurent stopped 21 of the 22 shots he faced for his eighth win of the season. As the Redmen enter the playoffs, Nobes is faced with a problem that any coach would dream about: Two goaltenders who are equally worthy of playing time in the post-season. St-Laurent finishes

the season with a .932 save percentage, the third-best mark in the entire CIS. The league leader, however, is S t - L a u r e n t ’s teammate Jacob GervaisChouinard, who holds a .944 save percentage.

Fortunately for Nobes, no matter who he chooses to start game one of the playoffs, he’ll be making a good decision. Both goaltenders have been consistently solid, and deserve a lot of credit for helping lead the Redmen to the top seed in the division.

The Redmen now turn their

The Redmen celebrate after a goal. (Remi Lu / McGill Tribune) attention to their quarterfinal, best- to win the CIS Championship. Past of-three matchup with Concordia performance does not guarantee fubeginning Feb. 11 at McConnell ture success, but with the number Arena. The last time McGill cap- one seed in hand, you can’t blame tured the OUA East Division crown the Redmen if they’re hoping hiswas 2011-2012, when they went on tory will repeat itself.

22

Sports

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Know your McGill Athlete

Jacob GervaisChouinard Redmen hockey - Goaltender U2 - economics (Photo courtesy of McGill Athletics)

The McGill Redmen are having an impressive season, and sophomore goaltender Jacob Gervais-Chouinard is a major reason behind this success. His outstanding save percentage of .944per cent tops the CIS rankings. In the classroom, Gervais-Chouinard is a hard-working student majoring in Economics and minoring in Finance. At the moment, he’s not quite sure what to do after he graduates.

“Consultancy would be an ideal career but I am still weighing my options,” he said.

Gervais-Chouinard got into hockey thanks to his older brother, who is currently playing as a defenceman in the AHL for the Toledo Walleyes. The Redmen net-minder had a stint in the AHL as well, lining up with the Hamilton Bulldogs. During this time, he had the opportunity to play against his brother, and doesn’t like to be reminded of the goals he conceded to his sibling over that season.

The Redmen have a solid core of veterans on the team such as Jonathan Bonneau, Guillaume Langelier-Parent, and Cedric McNicoll, which makes life a little bit easier for Gervais-Chouinard and other younger players. Gervais-Chouinard praised the older players, who he said have helped the rookies and sophomores manage their time between schoolwork and sports. “[Our team] has good depth and chemistry among the players,” he said. “[We are] better than what is presented on paper.”

Along with his teammates, Gervais-Chouinard credits Head Coach Kelly Nobes’ framework and coaching philosophy for the team’s success this season.

“The free-flowing system he has [instilled] has allowed the team to flourish,” he said.

By Raphael Uribe Arango

The freedom of play has had Gervais-Chouinard and the Redmen excelling thus far, and he said he thinks the team has the potential to win the CIS Championship this season.

Reflecting on his young but already impressive career, Gervais-Chouinard named his semifinal performance against the Alberta Golden Bears, where he made 55 saves out of 60 shots, as his highlight. Despite resulting in a loss, that performance earned him a mention on the Alltournament team during last year’s CIS Championships. Gervais-Chouinard is no stranger to the spotlight, having played for the Bulldogs and for the Sherbrooke Phoenix in the QMJHL, but he admitted to being a bit starstruck when he had the chance two weeks ago to practice with the Montreal Canadiens. He says he’ll never forget robbing P.K. Subban.

“I was making saves against Habs players such as Subban, and the Canadiens’ Coach [Michel Therrien] said I did a good job,” GervaisChouinard said.

The team will have to weather the loss of several veterans due to graduation next year, but Gervais-Chouinard is optimistic about their future.

“We have a very strong recruitment team, and there are a lot of players that are set to make an impact,” he said.

There is plenty to be excited about when it comes to the Redmen hockey team in the near future. In Gervais-Chouinard, the Redmen have a cornerstone player in net who should be a major component of this team’s success over the next two years.

McGill Tribune (MT): What is your favourite food?

Jacob GervaisChouinard (JGC): Poutine.

MT: Who is your favorite NHL Player?

JGC: Carey Price

MT: What is your favorite band?

JGC: Above and Beyond MT: What is your hidden talent?

JGC: I play acoustic guitar MT: If you could play another Varsity Sport what would it be?

JGC: Soccer

Behind the bench : Just like they drew it up Max berger Arts & Entertainment Editor In Super Bowl XLIX, when Russell Wilson’s pass was tipped

by Malcolm Butler and somehow corralled by Jermaine Kearse— after Kearse had been knocked down and left squirming on the turf—it seemed too impossible to actually be happening. Sure, there was the difficulty of the catch itself, but that was only a small part of the disbelief that spectators were likely feeling when they saw it. As even the most casual of football fans will be able to tell you, the absurdity of Kearse’s catch had little to do with its degree of difficulty–it’s that they had seen it all play out like this before.

Unlike movies or WWE wrestling, professional sporting matches are unscripted events that can play out in a near infinite number of ways. There’s still a dramatic element involved, but it’s usually a self-contained drama that arises from a tight game going down to the wire— like a tense sitcom plotline that will have completely vanished by the next episode as characters return to their ultimately un-

changed world.

From time to time, however, these arbitrary game-togame narratives stack up just right, reaching into the well of history and pulling out a storyline that blows any movie out of the water. Kearse’s catch came against Bill Belichick and Tom Brady’s New England Patriots, who had a four-point lead with approximately 75 seconds remaining, in a Super Bowl taking place in Glendale Arizona— every single one of those conditions was also in effect when the New York Giants’ David Tyree made his improbable ‘Helmet Catch’ in Super Bowl XLII that doomed New England’s perfect season. On top of that, the Patriots had lost Super Bowl XLVI to the Giants as well when Mario Manningham pulled in a ridiculous sideline catch on the game-winning drive. The eerie similarities that characterized Kearse’s catch even continued off the field, as the integrity of the Patriots’ season was being challenged by ‘Deflategate’ in the same way that their season leading up to Super Bowl XLII was tainted by Spygate.

As it happened, rather than surrendering a game-winning touchdown and blowing their third title game in eight years, Butler intercepted the next pass Wilson threw, and vaulted the Belichick/Brady era into a new dimension of greatness. That wasn’t just an isolated gamechanging play—it was Andy Dufresne crawling through a river of shit and coming out clean in The Shawshank Redemption ; it was Harry Potter walking into the Forbidden Forest to meet Lord Voldemort, knowing that Dumbledore intended him to die, and then actually returning to life to defeat his nemesis. In Super Bowl XLIX, events unfolded in such a precise way that the Patriots went from watching their worst fear play out for the third time to miraculously exorcising every single one of their post-Spygate demons—it was a perfectly scripted situation that happened all on its own.

There may never be another sports narrative that rivals the Patriots’ in terms of producing such unbelievable recurring moments, but it’s hardly the only one to be layered with heightened

dramatic circumstances on a big stage. When the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl in 2011, they were up by six points in the final minute of play and stopped a potential game-winning drive by the Pittsburgh Steelers. But when the two teams met in the previous season, the Steelers won that matchup with a gamewinning drive in which they were—you guessed it—down by six. Most sports fans remember Ray Allen’s clutch game-tying three-pointer in Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs, but what they probably didn’t know is that the 2005 Seattle Supersonics lost a series to the Spurs in Game 6 when Allen missed a potential game-winning three with Tim Duncan in his face. The irony?

Allen’s 2013 shot only happened because Duncan was inexplicably left on the bench and Chris Bosh easily grabbed the rebound that was kicked out to Allen for the three-pointer.

These types of narratives aren’t always redemptive though. Brett Favre came out of retirement (for the second time) in 2009 and tried to lead his for-

mer team’s archrivals, the Minnesota Vikings, to a Super Bowl.

However, his playoff run ended the exact same way it had with the Packers two years earlier: With him throwing a costly interception in overtime during the NFC Championship game.

In 2011, millions of Canadians were hoping for Roberto Luongo to lead the Vancouver Canucks to a Game 7 Stanley Cup victory in the same building where he had led Team Canada to an overtime win the year before in the gold medal game. Instead, the Canucks collapsed, extending Canada’s cup drought to 18 seasons.

A great narrative in any form of creative entertainment is a testament to the mind’s ability to craft something compelling, but a great narrative in sports is a testament to the awe-inspiring power of fate. With so much going on in the world, professional sports are moneymaking spectacles that shouldn’t mean anything, but after watching something like the Kearse catch/ Butler interception sequence, it can feel like they mean everything.

23

Sports

Tuesday, February 10, 2015 Basketball — Martlets 65, stingers 54

Martlets dispatch lowly Stingers Kiss-Rusk too much to handle for Concordia frontcourt Aaron Rose Staff Writer

(Continued from page 1) The Martlets stretched their lead to seven in the third quarter, but they just couldn’t put away the Stingers, who took a two-point lead just before the seven-minute mark in the fourth. McGill fought back, led by fourth-year wing Marie-Love Michel, who came up big for the Martlets, scoring a season high nine points, all in the fourth quarter.

“We can fight when it’s time to […] but I already knew that,” Thorne said about his veteran squad.

“We’ve got a good group of girls [who] have been there before and they know what it means to dig deep.”

While the Martlets continued to prove that they’re a tough team to put away, Thorne was unhappy with his team’s defence.

“Not happy, I don’t think we played well,” Thorne said. “I think Concordia fought hard [.…] Our

overall team defence was poor and we let them get easy opportunities.

I don’t think that’s the level of basketball we should be playing.”

Thorne’s post-game comments come as a bit of a surprise after his squad held Concordia seven per cent below their season shooting average and forced the Stingers into 6.5 more turnovers than their season average.

On Saturday, hoping to spark his squad, Thorne rejigged his starting lineup. Guard Carolann Cloutier found her way into the starting lineup, taking over for the struggling Marika Guerin. The move paid off for the Martlets, who shot 42.6 per cent from the field while holding the Stingers to their second-worst offensive performance of their season.

Concordia once again jumped out early, but a 23-point second frame by the Martlets coupled with some stingy defence was just too much for the Stingers to handle. Mariam Sylla led the way for McGill with 18 points on a scorching 78 per cent shooting.

Cloutier again scored 12 points, this

time as a starter, while Jenn Silver was dominant off the bench with 11 points and six rebounds.

The Martlets head to Bishop’s this Valentine’s Day for what could

Tribune Athletes of the Week

Point guard Dianna Ros blows by her defender. (Remi Lu / McGill Tribune) tory in Lennoxville, they’ll have a chance to clinch the top seed in the RSEQ tournament in front of the McGill faithful Feb. 19 when they face off against the UQÀM Citadins.

be a very one-sided game. The Gaiters have yet to win a game this season and haven’t put up much of a fight against McGill this season. If the Martlets come away with a vic-

REDMEN BASKETBALL

The Redmen (8-4) split a pair of games against the Concordia Stingers (6-6) this past weekend.

After coming from behind to take the first game by a score of 65-60 at home, the Redmen lost an ugly one on the road 51-44. While the Redmen dropped two of their past three games, the emergence of sophomore shooting guard Regis Ivaniukas has added a new dimension to the team’s offence. Ivaniukas scored a career-high 16 points off the bench to lead the thrilling comeback victory on Thursday night. Former starting point guard Ave Bross also had a great shooting night, coming off the bench to score 10 points. It was a different story on Saturday night. While Ivaniukas delivered once again with 12 points, the starting five went ice-cold for the Redmen. Captain Vincent Dufort and guard Dele Ogundukun shot 0-17 on the night, and turnovers plagued McGill all game. McGill will look to get back to its winning ways against Bishop’s (6-6) next weekend.

MARTLET VOLLEYBALL

Samuel Labrecque Hockey, Defenceman Freshman - Arts This is Labrecque’s second Tribune Athlete-of-the-Week honour, and deservedly so. The freshman defenceman has been a revelation this season and has been on fire of late, scoring seven goals in his past five games. Labrecque scored the game-winning goals in both of McGill’s weekend games. On Friday, the freshman from Granby, QC silenced the opposing Concordia crowd at Ed Meagher Arena in the annual Corey Cup game when he slotted in the puck during double overtime. On Saturday against RMC, Labrecque took a pass from centre Marc-Olivier Vachon and scored with ease. Following in the footsteps of last year’s CIS Defenceman-of-the-Year Ryan McKiernan, Labrecque has been a force to deal with on the blueline and gives the Redmen an added dimension moving forward in the playoffs.

Alex Kiss-Rusk Basketball, Centre Junior - Arts Kiss-Rusk, a junior centre from Beaconsfield, QC, was dominant in the paint for the Martlets in their two weekend victories against the Concordia Stingers. Kiss-Rusk, who stands at 6’4”, is the tallest member of the Martlets and showed an innate ability to take over the game in both contests, averaging 17 points and 12.5 rebounds per game. She has displayed flashes of potential throughout her career at McGill, but has put together three straight games with double figure points and near-double figure rebounds. If she is able to continue on this trajectory, the Martlets should have no problem securing the RSEQ and will bring an unparalleled size advantage to the CIS National Championships, which may just result in a gold medal.

Although the no. 9 CIS-ranked Martlets (11-8) entered the weekend with a legitimate chance to make the RSEQ playoffs, they lost both matchups, first to the Sherbrooke Vert et Or 2-3 (126) at home on senior night on Thursday and then to straight sets against Laval in Quebec City on Saturday. The weekend mired an otherwise successful season for the Martlets in which they were a challenger throughout the season in the grueling four-team RSEQ. McGill will be losing a lot of talent to graduation this spring as Marie-Christine Lapointe, Virginie Hebert, Marie-Pier Durivage, and Daphnee-Maude Andre-Morin, will all be graduating. Fortunately for the Martlets though, they have a seasoned head coach in Rachèle Beliveau, who will be tasked with reshaping the Martlet squad for next season. If Beliveau’s past record is any indication, the program will undoubtedly be able to bounce back.

Redmen and Martlet Swimming

On the first day of the RSEQ Championships the Redmen 4x50m freestyle relay was sensational with a time of 1:31.96, which won gold and set new RSEQ and McGill records. The Redmen relayers also picked up a bronze in the 4x100m medley relay, while the Martlets notched a silver medal in the 800m freestyle, 4x50m freestyle relay, and the 4x100m medley relay. The Martlets set a team record in the 4x100m medley relay (4:12.54), On the weekend, the women were led by team captain Katie Caldwell. The junior from White Rock, BC led by example despite being hampered by a knee injury, leading the Martlets with three silver medals and two bronzes. On the Redmen side, Michael Luck—a senior from Beaconsfield, QC—led the squad with three gold medals, one silver medal, and two bronze medals. On the weekend, the Redmen finished third behind Montreal and Laval, while the Martlets finished in second. Eighteen swimmers will be flying to Victoria, BC to compete in the National Championships from Feb. 19-21.

24

Sports

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

CAN’T BEAT US? JOIN US

Write for sports. Email sports@mcgilltribune.com

1:31 .96

The record-setting, gold medal-winning time for McGill’s 4x50 relay team at the RSEQ swimming Championships.

The Redmen hockey team’s winning streak going into the playoffs.

8

896 Sherbrooke Ouest Montreal, QC, H3A 1G3

McGill food court Present this coupon to receive free fries (or side of your choice) with purchase of any burger & drink on the menu (poutine extra).

Simple

Brie

Midterm Promo

Blue Cheese

Classic

Expires: Feb. 28, 2015. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Only redeemable at Smartburger [McGill].

1001

Games coached

by Martlet volleyball Head Coach Rachèle Beliveau over 24 seasons.