_ _ = Tttf MCGILLTRIBUNE Tuesday, January 12,1988
Published by the Student's Society of McGill University
Volume 7, Issue 14
Lubicon demo sparks interest in Native affairs by Ian Harrold In the wake of last month’s controversial pass ing of the Olympic Torch through Montreal, sev eral members of the McGill community are trying to raise the profile of Native affairs in a more per manent way. According to some students involved in the December 12th demonstration at a City Hall reception for the Torch, there is a growing move ment for the establishment of a permanent Native Affairs Committee, similar to the existing South Africa Committee, to deal with Native issues over the long term and provide a rallying point forNative people on campus. Last fall, McGill Students’ Society set up an Ad-Hoc Committee on Native Affairs to protest the involvment of McGill’s McCord Museum in the Spirit Sings exhibit. The controversial exibit is part of the Olympic Arts Festival which features both Lubicon Indian artifacts and the financial support of Shell Oil. The oil company is currently conduct ing research and exploration activities on Alberta land claimed by the Lubicon Indian Band. Cana dian Native organizations have called for a boycott
of Spirit Sings until the land claims are settled. Although StudSoc expressed its concern to the McCord Museum about the situation, McCord’s Director General Dr. Marcel Gaya would only respond in a letter to StudSoc that it was “with deep regret that we find ourselves in a difference of opinion with the Native people of this country” and that there should be an appreciation of “the Museum’s difficulties in determining its course of action.” The Museum’s Honorary Curator, Dr. Bruce Trigger, resigned over the affair and took part in the demonstration in support of the Lubicon on December 12th. Johanne Wu, a Clubs’ Representrative to Council, says the Ad-Hoc Committee was a “good idea but we need a lot more,” adding that any new organization should be “more open to Natives”. The present Committee must be composed of two Natives. Committee Chairman Mark Cameron also thinks Natives would be better served by a perma nent committee. He says the Ad-Hoc Committee’s mandate will be reviewed in April and believes the establishment of a permanent Native Affairs
Committee would be a “good development.” When citizens.” Several students expressed concern that asked why existing organisations such as the Mul ticultural Society could not meet the needs of Na they didn’t want to seem “too pushy” in organ tives, Cameron replied that this was the “wrong izing on Native issues. The hope is that the main structure” for the “special [political] problems” interest for Native activities will lie within McGill’s Native student community. Joanne Natives must deal with. The problem of creating an awareness among Wu says, “W e’ll walk the line” when it comes McGill Native students is difficult because there is to speaking for and about the issues. “That’s no available data on them. Jean-Paul Schuller, why I’m not pushing,” explains Mark McGill’s Registrar, says collection of such data is Cameron, “(it’s) not my position” as chairman prohibited by provincial law; federal government of the Ad-Hoc Committee. An upcoming Committee meeting and a subsidies for Natives are handled independent of Native information day will arouse interest and the University. create an awareness of such problems as federal Meanwhile, the Ad-Hoc Committee will try to government cutbacks in Native post-secondary complete a report on the status of Native students, education programs, says Cameron. There certainly seemed to be an awareness and in the process should be able to better determine who and where the Natives are on campus. StudSoc among the thirty-odd, mostly non-Native stu President Daniel Tennenbaum is anxious to see dents who demonstrated last December 12th. some movement, saying it is important for a “stu Many compared Canada’s Native situation to dent body so concerned with social issues” to take that of South African Blacks, and steadfastly a stand. Tennenbaum says the Lubicon affair dem faced Montreal police officers,who were intent onstrates how Natives are “treated as second-class on deterring any public confrontation.
Football Trophies Collecting Dust by C h ris F lan a g an While the legend of McGill’s success in intercollegiate football lives on, the trophies amassed by the 1987 Redmen sit collecting dust in an athletics depart ment storeroom. The Vanier Cup, the Robert L. Stanfield Trophy and the OQIFC trophy simply take up too much space. “The trophies are too big, that’s the problem,” said Earl Zukerman, Sports Information Coordinator. The three showcases in the lobby of the athletics building are not deep enough to accomodate this year’s football hardware, furthermore, they are al ready full to capacity. Although some sports fans have ex pressed concerns that “they might not ever get around to displaying them,” Athletics Facilities Manager A1 Grazys assured the Tribune that a cabinet maker has been contacted to construct a suitable display case. The case will be “a semi-permanent cabinet, attached to the counter immediately in the front of the lobby,” said Grazys, “but we will be able to move it when we get our new
building.” Director of Athletics Robert Dubeau, estimates that the showcase will be ready “in two to three weeks,” and will cost “in the neighbourhood of five to seven hundred dollars.” According to Dubeau, the cost of the new cabinet is the reason for the delay. The Redmen brought the Vanier Cup to McGill on November 21 of last year. “This is an unbudgeted item that we had to find funds for,” explained Dubeau. In fact, the continued success of the McGill Redmen created several budget problems. The first occurred immedi ately after the championship game, when half of the team was bused back to Montreal the same day because the Athletic department could not afford to put them up. The latest financial set back has been the prohibitive costs of the championship rings. The rings carry a pricetag of $400 each, a cost which must be incurred by the players themselves. The athletics department simply does not have the $24,000 needed to buy rings for the entire team.
Out of Province Uproar by T rib N ew s S ta ff
Out-of-province stu dents are in an uproar again this year over the lengthy delays in receiv ing their student loans and busuries cheques.
photo byLionelChow
Redmen hardware: The Vanier Cup, Atlantic Bowl Trophy and the O-QIFC Trophy sit unseen in Athletic's Department store room.
INSIDE Find out if you're 'out' for 1988..................page 3
Too many movie reviews............. pages 6 &7
Vassa Disasta.......... page 8
Martlets victorious............... page 10 McGill's lower campus in early 1988, seen here swarming with enthusiastic students hurrying to their beloved lecture halls.
The problem, according to Stu d en ts’ Society Vice-President External Chris Alexander, is “com pletely unacceptable;” however, ac cording to Katherine Maclean from Student Services, one of the main delays in die process is attributable to the students themselves. If a students applies late or later in the application period, or send in applications with missing or incor rect information, or are involved in situations with special considera tions or extenuating circumstances, then their cheques will be delayed. Although Alexander was “not exactly sure what the problem was,” he noted that the “situation” was causing the suspension of registra tion for many students. He told tbeTribune that he would “maybe phone Ontario later.” H ow ever, according to Maclean, delays and mistakes in the application process are exacerbated by the complex application process unique to Ontario - where most of McGill’s out-of-province students come from. Students eligible for two specific Ontario grants (the Ontario Student Loan Program and/ or the Ontario Grant Program) must reapply each semester to receive the loan or grant and as such money for second semester tuition and ex penses would not be available to students until the first day of classes in January at the earliest - barring any errors or problems in the appli cation process.