The McGill Tribune Vol. 39 Issue 3

The McGill Tribune TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 2019 | VOL. 39 | ISSUE 3

McGILLTRIBUNE.COM | @McGILLTRIBUNE

Published by the SPT, a student society of McGill University

EDITORIAL

FEATURE

GAME REPORT

Climate activism requires institutional support

A moving target

Martlets soccer suffers 2-0 defeat against UdeM

PG. 5

PGs. 8-9

PG. 16

(Sophia White / The McGill Tribune)

Annual Pow Wow celebrates Indigenous students and cultures

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Experts discuss the intersection of religion and climate activism One speaker discussed Buddhist environmentalism amidst the climate crisis Dylan Kurzer-Ogul Contributor Montreal’s Council for Research on Religion (CREOR-M) hosted its first Col-

loquium on Religion and Climate Change in the Birks building. The event, held on Sept. 20, aimed to bring together McGill scholars from different fields to discuss how understanding faith can recontextual-

ize the movement for climate justice.

According to Claire Grenier, U2 Joint Honours Western Religions and Political Science and speaker at the colloquium, religious people have a vital role to play in

the fight for climate justice. Claire hoped the colloquium would allow participants to understand the intersection between religion and environmental activism.

PG. 3

Waste Educators program encourages sustainability

The McGill Climate Conference covers climate policy and solutions

Discourse in residence dining halls aims to promote eco-friendly lifestyle choices Ella Corkum Contributor Since 2015, McGill Student Housing and Hospitality has united a team of approximately 30 Waste Educators to engage with students about sustainability and the im-

portance of waste segregation. This team aims to ensure that recyclable or compostable packaging does not end up in landfills. Waste Educators do this by helping firstyear students sort their food waste by ecosystem and facilitating casual conversations about sus-

Humans are creating an extraterrestrial pollution predicament

tainable practices. This program takes place at the dining halls in Royal Victoria College, Bishop Mountain Hall, Carrefour Sherbrooke, New Residence Hall, and Douglas Hall three times a day for the first three weeks of the school year.

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Katherine Dulong Contributor Humans litter everywhere, even in outer space.

As people leave behind weather satellites, rockets, and gear from the International Space Station (ISS), space trash, or space debris, is quickly becoming a major

issue for governments and space organizations.

Space debris include both natural and human-made objects. However, since natural particles such as comets and asteroids, which are made of rock, dust, and gas, tend to orbit around the sun, they are rarely problematic for humans. While 100 tonnes

of tiny meteors bombard Earth every day, these space rocks generally burn up as they enter Earth’s atmosphere and rarely survive to hit the surface.

Human-made particles, however, usually orbit around Earth instead and can damage shuttles, endanger astronauts, and interfere with satellites.

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NEWS

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 2019

Meet the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Executives Helen Wu, Kyle Dewsnap, & Nina Russell News Editors

Bryan Buraga,

Adam Gwiazda-Amsel,

What are your three main goals as SSMU President?

What are your three goals for the school year?

President

“Three of my main goals include governance reform, advocacy for student issues, and just better communication with the student body. Governance reform is a project that will take about a year to unfold. We are consulting with a lot of different stakeholders here on campus, a lot of different executives and their portfolios to try to figure out how to better structure SSMU form the ground up to allow as many members of our university community to participate. There are student issues as well. There is a lot of mobilisation happening right now [for] divestment and for climate justice so that is something I am working with the rest of the executive team [on] better communicating with the student body. I think [that] there has always been this sort of disconnect between [what we’re actually doing] and what the student body thinks we are doing and I think it is important to let the study body know exactly all of the good things we are doing for them. [We want] to make sure that they know their student rights, but also the ways in which [SSMU] advocates for them, not just at a university level but also at a provincial and national level as well.”

Billy Kawasaki, VP Student Life

You mentioned that there is some friction between clubs and SSMU, especially in light of last year’s sanctions and all the new policies that have been developed. How do you hope to reduce this tension?

“So the policies [that mandate clubs to go to workshops] were in effect before last year, [but] they were just never followed through with. And I think [that] one of the problems is that these policies come forward, and then they say ‘we’re going to mandate clubs to go to workshops,’ but then they never really considered that there are other workshops [clubs] have to go to that are mandated by other policies. And then that becomes like five or six workshops that you have to go to. One of the things that I did is [create] a checklist at the beginning of the year, so that club executives know exactly what they need to do so that they’re not sanctioned. And the club portal will hopefully help with that as well, in terms of onboarding clubs for the workshops, as well as all the forms they need to submit so that we have their contact information.”

Sam Haward, VP Finances

What is the best part of your job?

“The best part of my job is seeing an event happen, to be honest. A lot of what I do is very abstract, [like] I’ll get a cheque request to book a venue. But I don’t see any of that. So just occasionally logging into Facebook, seeing [the Black Students’ Network] or whoever it may be posting pictures of their event, what they did, and how their funding helped them and their operations [....] it is really, really nice to see.”

What is the worst part of your job?

“Sometimes there’s a lot of red tape. We’re a not-for-profit corporation funded [almost] entirely by student fees. So there are some pretty strict restrictions on what we can and can’t do with our money. Sometimes that has a knock-on effect: Students will come here wanting to take on some kind of project, or pay for something [....] and we’re not able to make it happen because of the restrictions placed around us as a student union.”

VP External

“Establishing and promoting a culture of institutional memory. And so that looks a lot [like] my portfolio, doing canvassing work, making sure that students who are coming into McGill know about the different political priorities that students have identified. So that’s one. Another one is like linking the Montreal and McGill communities and establishing our community outreach. And the third one that I stated in my platform is provincial affiliation, or sort of exploring avenues toward working more collectively with other student unions in the province. Because the reality is, if you try to go to a government as a single student union, and especially as an English student union [in a] French province, you don’t get much traction with the government, historically. So, collective organizing, in that sense [....] is a fairly big priority of mine, because we’re kind of flapping in the breeze right now.”

Madeline Wilson, VP University Affairs

Why did you want to work at SSMU? “I think that, as tacky as it sounds, there are things that I can bring. [Over] the past few years, I’ve been really involved in Academic Affairs at McGill. And honestly, McGill’s fucked up! So I want to do my part to help change that; I think that being on SSMU is one of the most effective ways to do so.”

Why do you say that McGill’s fucked up?

“McGill’s fucked up because it has no ability to perceive what being a student is like [....] You have a community where 70 per cent of the population, approximately, is students, but most of the decisions that are made are targeted towards the interest of alumni and donors [....] That manifests itself in things like international tuition deregulation, which disproportionately impacts people from low socioeconomic classes [....] and the revisions to Student Services’ Wellness Hub care model, and there’s just no perception of what it must be like to be a student walking through that system. And you just end up with a structure that’s so distant from the people that it’s really supposed to be helping.”

Sanchi Bhalla, VP Internal

What would you say is the biggest challenge of your job?

“The big thing definitely that I’ve noticed is that because my name and face [are] in every student’s inbox, people who don’t know about SSMU still recognize me.

So even just around campus, if I’m running late to class or [if] I’m around Montreal, people who have a problem with SSMU or have a problem with a club or service, even if it’s not on my portfolio, come up to me and [say] ‘Hey you’re the SSMU girl, can you help me out?’ [....] If I am at Nesta [bar and lounge] at 2:45 a.m., I don’t want to help you answer a question about club sanctions but I do recognize that I’m the face you recognize the most. Unless you’re very involved with student government, you probably don’t know the executives or their faces [and] it’s kind of sad. It’s something that I’m working on through the SSMU Instagram [....] It’s just people directing all types of SSMU questions at me because I’m sort of the one that everyone vaguely recognizes. I feel pretty bad if I can’t help them [….] I have my job but I am also a directory of sources you can go talk to.”

NEWS

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 2019

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Experts discuss the intersection of religion and climate activism

One speaker discussed Buddhist environmentalism amidst the climate crisis Dylan Kurzer-Ogul Contributor

Continued from page 1.

“The potential of this conference is to expose a lot of different people to different viewpoints, especially in different religions,” Grenier said. “There are religious people that see a social responsibility and a tenant of hospitality that extends not just to people that share their views, but to people around the world.”

Religious Studies Professor Lei Kuan Lai spoke on religion in activism in their talk, “A Buddhist Environmental Ethics?” as well as how religion can be used as a tool against climate action; Lai explained that scholarship using Buddhist doctrine to claim that Buddhism and environmentalism are perfectly compatible oversimplifies Buddhist thought. As an example, Lai explained that Pure Land, an ideal space where enlightenment is easily achieved, is only an ideal of Buddhism when it is presented as being contained within an urban setting. “[Pure Land] looks more like Mont Royal Park than the wilderness,” Lai said. “One would be hard pressed to say Buddhism is inherently environmental.”

Lai went on to address the approach to Buddhist environmentalism in

which scholars attempt to derive environmental principles by applying Buddhist thought. Lai explained that such scholarship emphasizes individual and symbolic action by focusing on mindfulness and reflection. Much of the activism cited in this approach highlights imagery of peaceful Buddhists meditating, reinforcing a tradition of representing Buddhists as soft and passive. This outlook prioritizes activism on the individual level, rather than as a collective; this also promotes passivity, which Lai argues works against creating meaningful change. Additionally, Lai argued that Buddhism must embrace science, in addition to tenants of faith, to take a radical response to a radical problem.

“Romanticizing a nature-loving Eastern tradition has to stop, because it’s impeding a meaningful Buddhist response to the current crisis,” Lai said.

“Happiness and mindfulness Buddhism will not stop rising sea levels.”

Religious Studies Professor David Goodin, presenter of “The Abrahamic Religions and Climate Change,” also sees value in incorporating religion in environmental activism. Goodin spoke of the potential for religion to add a uniquely effective moral weight activism.

“The Abrahamic idea of hospitality and care, that is the essence of the reli-

The event was made up of six talks from professors and two panel discussions.

(Leanne Young / The McGIll Tribune) gious identity, and [it] can inform [you] of who is your neighbor and how [you should] provide for them,” Goodin said.

“I do think it can be a powerful moral force [....] not because of rational selfinterest, [though] that’s there too, but because [the climate crisis is an] injustice and it [should] make us angry. And so injustice invites a religious response to say [that] this is wrong.”

The colloquium left participants wondering how to motivate collective action to address climate change. Vienna d’Mato Hall, U3 Arts, expressed their cynicism around the emphasis on

student movements, which they believe do nothing to promote activism outside of university. Like Goodin, they were deeply interested in the potential of religion to motivate action against larger societal forces.

“What I care about is activism happening in reality, not just with people that are cushioned by those orchestrating the problem,” d’Mato Hall said.

“The reason I came here today is I almost feel like we need a new religion, to unite humanity [so that we can] stay [on earth], and if we want to be here we have to do these things, all of us.”

AUS Legislative Assembly discusses climate strike vote

Climate Justice Action McGill presents AUS with a petition calling for a general assembly Margaret Askey Contributor On Sept. 18, the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) Legislative Council convened to discuss the McGill Senate’s failure to pass a motion to cancel classes on Sept. 27.

AUS General Assembly is called after to senate ruling on Climate Strike Student’s Society of McGill University (SSMU) Arts Senator Henrique Mecabó presented the Senate’s report to the council, which included insights into the administration’s view on the choice of individual students to participate in climate activism .

“We had a Senate meeting here this afternoon where the only motion moved was by student senators regarding the Climate Strike [...] on Sept. 27,” Mecabó said. “McGill [...] will not be requiring classes to be cancelled. The administration believes it is an individual choice that each student join or not join the march, and that students who do want to go to class should not be penalized.”

Without the Senate’s support, any motion to strike on Sept. 27 must be handled at the departmental level. Student societies, such as the AUS, would have to vote to strike independently from McGill’s administration.

Some first time AUS councillors enquired about the recording ban, and were referred to last year’s meeting minutes. (Leanne Young / The McGIll Tribune) AUS President Jamal Tarrabain shared that he had been contacted by Climate Justice Action McGill (C-JAM), a student group that lobbies the McGill administration and Canadian government for climate justice. C-JAM presented Tarrabain with a petition calling for a general assembly to vote for an AUS student strike, which may only be convened if more than 200 signatures from arts students are collected.

As the petition met its quota, the AUS will be holding a general assembly on Wednesday, Sept. 25, at 6:00 pm in Leacock 132. Five hundred AUS members must appear at the general assembly

to successfully pass the motion to strike.

Tarrabain said that the AUS should demonstrate the importance of climate action by standing in solidarity.

“If AUS can come together as a faculty [...] and vote for this motion to strike, I think it would send a powerful message to the administration,” Tarrabain said.

AUS council votes to exempt stipulated campus media organizations from recording ban Tarrabain moved to exempt certain campus media from the audio and visual

recording ban, which was put in place after members of the AUS expressed worry that recording would create a hostile environment for councillors. The ban was initially passed in Feb. 2019, in light of the debates over the summer exchange course POLI 339 in Israel.

Brent Jamsa, Vice President External of the Canadian Studies Association of Undergraduate Students (CSAUS) queried as to whether this amendment infringed on students’ individual rights.

“My concern with [this standing rule] is that Quebec is a one party recording [province],” Jamsa said. “I don’t know if it would particularly apply to [Legislative] council, but you only need one party to consent to a recording. There are other free speech implications on that. Was any sort of outside legal counsel or McGill legal counsel consulted when this amendment was added last year?”

Tarrabain confirmed that legal counsel was not consulted when the amendment was drafted and passed, which complicates this debate with issues of individual rights and freedoms within Quebec. Tarrabain motioned to exempt the following campus media from Article 10 of the AUS Standing Rules: The McGill Tribune, The Daily, Le Délit, and the Bull and Bear. The motion passed successfully.

The Legislative Assembly will reconvene on Oct. 2, 2019.

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NEWS

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 2019

McGill Senate rejects motion to cancel classes on Sept. 27 for Climate Strike

Specific faculties are to make accommodations for students participating Maya Abuali Contributor A motion to cancel classes on Sept. 27 for the upcoming Climate Strike was proposed at the McGill Senate’s latest meeting on Sept. 18.

Though absent on the official meeting agenda, the motion was proposed by 10 senators the day before the meeting and induced a heated debate before its ultimate rejection.

Principal and Vice-Chancellor Suzanne Fortier acknowledged the importance of addressing threats posed by climate change and praised students mobilizing to advocate for climate action. However, she believes that it is not up to the university to decide how, when, or where McGill students should take action.

“As a university, we commit to […] working toward our academic mission, and therefore we will have academic activities [….] so it is an extraordinary circumstance that would drive us to cancel those activities,” Fortier said.

However, Fortier recognised that some students worried about being punished academically for protesting on Friday.

“The Provost has asked all of the teaching staff to be accommodating of students who are wanting to participate in the Sept. 27 march,” Fortier said. “In particular, […] to [ensure] that they will not be negatively impacted by [missing] a test or an exam.”

Fortier proposed that each faculty make the appropriate arrangements to accommodate

The motion was proposed during the Senate’s first meeting of the semester. (mcgill.ca) students wishing to participate in the march by rescheduling assessments on that day.

“I think we have confidence in the wisdom of our academic staff to make those decisions,” Fortier said.

Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Vice-President University Affairs Madeline Wilson argued that by dismissing the motion, McGill was falling behind some of its peers, seeing as Concordia University, the Université de Montréal, and Dawson College an-

nounced that they would be cancelling classes 11:45 am—4:00 pm in support of the march.

However, Dean of Students Christopher Buddle said that McGill was not obligated to follow the decisions of other institutions. Additionally, he said that the Senate meeting was not the right place to make the decision, and that cancelling classes defeats the purpose of a protest.

“Strikes by their very nature are rebellious, and we have to give up something for

Tribune Explains: The AUS Special General Assembly

What needs to happen for Arts students to strike next Friday Kyle Dewsnap News Editor In anticipation of the Sept. 27 climate strike, Climate Justice Action McGill (C-JAM) has filed a petition to the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) calling for its members to hold a general strike. Ahead of the AUS’ general assembly (GA) on Sept 25, The McGill Tribune looked into what a strike would look like, and what would need to happen in order for a strike to be called.

What is a student strike?

All students attending a Quebec university are entitled to belong to a student union, such as the Student’s Society of McGill University (SSMU). These unions are protected under the Act respecting the accreditation and financing of students’ associations, which states that student unions are organisations dedicated to promoting students’ interests within their university.

However, students are not employees, and therefore cannot benefit from laws that protect workers’ strikes. For example, employers are forbidden from firing workers on a legal strike; however there exists no specific piece of legislation at the provincial or university level that obligates schools to protect the academic standing of students who strike.

Student strikes still have a history of being a successful bargaining tactic in persuading policy changes.

For example, the 2012 Maple Spring protests were a significant factor in persuading the Quebec government to rethink tuition increases. Regardless of whether a student strike is called, Montreal’s global climate march intends to proceed as planned.

Last March, around 40,000 students marched in the street to protest inaction on climate change.

(Sabrina Girard-Lamas / The McGill Tribune) What has to happen for a general AUS strike?

TheAUS has a policy in its constitution that lays out the necessary steps to call a strike. First, a petition must be presented to the AUS’legislative council with 200 signatures from AUS members—full or part-time students registered in the Faculty of Arts or the Bachelor’s of Arts and Science program. This step has already been fulfilled

by C-JAM’s petition. Now, the AUS’ must call for a GA with five days’ notice. Normal quorum for a GA is 150 members; however, because strike votes have a quorum of 500 members. If the GA does not meet quorum, or the GA meets quorum and students vote against striking, the motion to strike will fail. However, if quorum is reached and students vote to hold a strike, the AUS is bound by the GA to call for a strike for all of its members.

The GA will be held on Sept. 25 at 6:00 pm in Leacock 132. Those who vote at the GA must be AUS members. McGill’s contingent for Sept. 27th’s climate strike will meet on McTavish Street at 11:00 am.

impact,” Buddle said. “It’s a rebellious act to walk out of class. […] Students walking out of class is central to the strike and […] to the global movement. Climate action is giving up something. Why isn’t this on a Saturday morning? It’s on a Friday when classes are supposed to be happening.”

Buddle shared his discontent with the widespread cancellation of classes to accommodate social justice movements, emphasizing that as nothing is relinquished in the act itself, the impact of protests are diluted.

Senator Derek Nystrom disagreed, arguing that the concept of sacrificing for protests is inexorably forced upon youth while the root of the problem began with the older generations.

“It is my generation who created the problem of climate change, and I think to [say to] young people [that] ‘this is all on you’ … well, it’s already all on [them],” Nystrom said. “They are the ones who will have to live with the consequences of what we have generated for them.

We have to make a decision as an institution: Are we on the side of the people who are rebelling against this, or are we letting ourselves, with the institutions that are maintaining the status quo, [ask] young people to do the heavy lifting of rebellion?”

Senate ultimately dismissed the motion with support from a number of departments, including the Faculty of Dentistry, that did not wish to close their clinic when appointments had already been made.

OPINION

TUESDAY, SEPTMEMBER 24 2019

T

EDITORIAL

EDITORIAL BOARD Editor-in-Chief Caitlin Kindig editor@mcgilltribune.com Creative Director Nicholas Raffoul nraffoul@mcgilltribune.com Managing Editors Abeer Almahdi aalmahdi@mcgilltribune.com Miya Keilin mkeilin@mcgilltribune.com Sophie Brzozowski sbrzozowski@mcgilltribune.com

News Editors Kyle Dewsnap, Helen Wu & Nina Russell news@mcgilltribune.com Opinion Editors Lucas Bird & Johanna Cline opinion@mcgilltribune.com Science & Technology Editor Emma Gilles scitech@mcgilltribune.com Student Life Editor Katia Innes studentlife@mcgilltribune.com Features Editor Gabe Nisker features@mcgilltribune.com Arts & Entertainment Editor Kevin Vogel arts@mcgilltribune.com Sports Editors Ender McDuff & Kaja Surbourg sports@mcgilltribune.com Design Editors Erin Sass & Erica Stefano design@mcgilltribune.com

Climate activism requires insitutional support On Sept. 27, Montreal will host one of the most significant climate activism events of the year. Greta Thunberg, a 16-yearold Swedish climate activist of notable internet fame, will be in Montreal to lead a march protesting governmental and institutional inaction on climate change. Since Thunberg is expected to lead the protest, Friday’s march may even be better attended than last year’s. In preparation, educational institutions such as Concordia University, Dawson University, Cégep du Vieux Montréal, and the Commission scolaire de Montréal, Montreal’s largest school board, have all cancelled classes to allow students to participate in the march. However, on Sept.

17, McGill students received an email from Provost and VicePrincipal (Academic) Christopher P. Manfredi stating that McGill would not be cancelling classes on the 27th, but that he would be asking professors to be flexible about attendance to accommodate students who wish to attend.

Despite McGill’s ‘commitments’ to sustainability that Manfredi cites in his email, the McGill administration should reconsider their decision

OFF THE BOARD

Photo Editor Leanne Young photo@mcgilltribune.com Multimedia Editors Sarah Ford & Aidan Martin multimedia@mcgilltribune.com Web Developers Jad Hamdan & Jonathan Colaco Carr webdev@mcgilltribune.com Copy Editor Keating Reid copy@mcgilltribune.com Business Manager Heela Achakzai business@mcgilltribune.com Publisher Chad Ronalds

TPS BOARD OF DIRECTORS Heela Achakzai, Isabelle Côté, Solomon Friedman, Katia Innes, Caitlin Kindig, Marie Labrosse, Katerine Milazzo, Falah Rajput, Keating Reid, McEan Taylor

CONTRIBUTORS

ublication is the sole responsibility ofThe McGilTri Maya Abuali, Jack Armstrong, Margaret Askey, Zoe BabadPalmer, Vanessa Barron, Adam Bell, Alyssa Bishop, Adam Burton, Joey Caplan,Tasmin Chu, Ella Corkum, Katherine Dulong, Sarah Farnand, Jonah Fried, Jonathan Giammaria, Sabrina Girard-Lamas, Sophia Gorbounov, Amir HotterYishay, Shaun Lalani, Ronny Litvack-Katzman, Kennedy McKee-Braide, Leyla Moy, Claire Ramsay, Sophia White.

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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.

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Nina Russell News Editor One night in August of 2012, I was torn from my sleep when gunshots rang through the air. I remember the rest of the night in pieces—my mom jumping on my bed to peer out my window over the driveway, sitting on my living room couch as my dad called the police, and later that night, sitting in the back of a police car, entranced by the fuzzy voices coming through the radio.

It wasn’t until the next morning that my mum sat my brother and I down and explained that our next-door neighbour, John*, had been killed.

Although shocked, my brother and I reacted calmly.

We hadn’t known him well; my parents had been aware that he was involved with gangs and advised the two of us to stay away from him. But my memory

and cancel classes on the 27th.

Manfredi is correct in implying that students could still feasibly attend the climate march without facing harsh academic consequences. Additionally, in a McGill senate meeting on Sept.

18, Dean of Students Christopher Buddle commented on the importance of the “rebellious” nature of strikes.

However, the significance of the statement made by the upcoming climate march will not derive from the ‘rebellious’ act of students skipping class to protest. The global climate strike should not focus on the aesthetics of a student walk-out: Instead, it should be centered around substantial institutional change in order to combat the most formidable global problem of this century.

Climate change is not a political issue. Instead, it is a humanitarian crisis that disproportionately impacts people of colour and developing areas, including Northern Canada: Climate change has had specifically devastating impacts on Indigenous communities, and the same can be said for other historically oppressed

and disadvantaged groups on a global scale. Sustainability and global climate activism requires a more intersectional approach that continues to acknowledge that people of colour are often the most vulnerable to climate change’s consequences.

McGill has an ethical responsibility not only to facilitate student efforts to combat climate change, but to make its own attempts as well. McGill has taken strides toward achieving sustainability over the last decade, however, it would not be true to say that these actions are proportional to McGill’s $1.65 billion capacity.

As of Fall 2019, even after two Board of Governors members resigned in protest, McGill has still refused to divest from fossil fuels. As a leading establishment, McGill influences federal and provincial politics, sets examples for other universities, and creates precedents of moral responsibility in the way that prioritizes its values. In their continued refusal to divest, as well as their decision to not cancel classes on Friday, the McGill administration is sending a clear message: They do not take climate change seriously enough.

While it would be uplifting to

see McGill reverse its decision, it seems unlikely that they will do so. That being the case, the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) is holding a general assembly on Sept. 25 at 6:00 p.m. in Leacock 132 that, if passed, would enact a student strike in protest of McGill’s decision to not cancel classes. The quorum requires 500 members to pass the motion, meaning that student members of AUS must attend in-person for the motion to succeed.

Finally, groups like Climate Justice Action McGill (C-JAM) and Divest McGill, with their weekly friday protest in front of the James Administration building last semester, serve as the foundation for consistent climate activism on McGill campus. More students who are passionate about climate issues should consider joining or supporting these groups in order to reinvigorate regular activism on campus.

While structural or institutional changes are absolutely vital to addressing climate change as a global problem, students shouldn’t neglect their individual contributions. Climate change is a challenge that requires a collective response.

The neighbour I knew of John was very different from the headlines that emerged the next day, which used words like “aggressive” and listed off crimes in which he had been implicated. To us, he was the guy that showed us how to make snowballs with our bare hands so that they stayed together, whose ex-girlfriend would let us play with her three puppies, and who once tipped my brother $18.50 for a cup of lemonade he sold at a stand. We remembered him as a kind person, albeit a bit of an enigma.

This is not a defense of any of the gang-related acts he allegedly committed, but rather an outline of the ways in which my vision of John contrasted with the rest of society’s.

Reading stories and watching the news the following day, I saw a picture of a totally different man than the one I thought I’d known, leaving me wondering whether it was possible to separate his kindness from the bad things that he was accused of.

As I started high school the following week, I continued to struggle to reconcile the image of John in my head with the one that the rest of the world saw.

Friends and acquaintances who had known about the situation eagerly asked for details about that night, expecting brutal ones.

They seemed disappointed when I revealed what I knew, which, as an innocent 12-year-old, amounted to exactly nothing.

Over the following weeks,

as my mum and a number of other neighbours cleaned out his apartment, I slowly gained more and more tiny glimpses into John’s life: A complicated security system, a series of scales, and tools for tinning your own fish all were packaged up before disappearing, just like his physical presence next door and my memories of him.

As time went on, I struggled to decide whether it was okay for me to remember someone who had caused incalculable damage as a good person. People are morally complex, and it was not up to me to judge someone I barely knew. I’d like to think that his kindness to my brother and I wasn’t a one-off thing. Limiting one’s perception of a person to a

CARTOON

single facet of their identity is dangerous, and for me, it worked in both ways: His good deeds didn’t deny his crimes, and his crimes didn’t define him as a human.

When I think back to the small things, like how he’d yell at drivers who drove down our street too quickly because of all the children who lived nearby, it’s easy for me to forget about the more serious circumstances of his life. When I think of John now, I’m reminded of the importance of regarding people holistically as complex beings, whose isolated actions shouldn’t be judged without acknowledging their larger context. *Names have been changed

Five Stages of Grief: Denial Sabrina Girard-Lamas / Contributor

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OPINION

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 2019

The myth of conservative persecution on university campuses Kennedy McKee-Braide Contributor Campus groups representing the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC), including McGill’s Conservative Association, were criticized by the Canadian Association of University Professors last week for distributing cards encouraging students to vote Conservative “because you can only hear the same left-wing talking points from your professors so many times.”

Scheer defended the campaign material, saying it was just supposed to be funny, but many conservatives complain more seriously about the presence of a left-wing bias on university campuses. In reality, where they exist, said leftwing political biases, particularly at McGill, do not jeopardize the safety or freedom of expression of conservative students. They can, in fact, serve to address issues that affect marginalized groups and bring new voices into academic discourse.

There is some truth to the claim that University professors tend to lean to the left of the political spectrum, and this has always been the case. However, this is not due to discrimination against conservatives in hiring processes: Studies have shown multiple reasons for the shortage of conservative professors, including the fact that conservatives seem to be more likely to get jobs in professional fields like business and therefore are less likely to pursue a Ph.D. The political tendencies of university professors are due simply to differences in values and priorities.

Regardless of this trend, the idea that university professors employ a set of “left-wing talking points” is an oversimplification that undermines the work of academics. For example, certain

critiques of capitalism, like its disastrous effects on climate change, are backed up by research.

Additionally, most professors engage with texts which represent a wide range of perspectives and tend to welcome respectful debate in their classes, conferences, and even office hours regardless of their personal opinions or research. Universities are designed in part to allow students to develop their critical thinking skills, and all students can benefit from a certain level of criticism of their views both inside and outside the classroom.

One should also consider that many policies put into place or promoted by conservative governments and figures continue to hurt historically disadvantaged groups. In Alberta, Premier Jason Kenney recently lifted a ban that protected students against the risk of their parents being notified of their membership in Gay-Straight Alliance clubs, which could lead to being outed without their consent. Quebec’s right-leaning Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) government has put policies in place that restrict immigration and prohibit the wearing of religious symbols for public workers. Conversely, progressive or left-leaning parties tend to promote policies that aim to ameliorate the conditions of those belonging to marginalized groups, like raising the minimum wage, reconciliation with Indigenous communities, and ending employment discrimination. Conservatives claiming to be persecuted for their opinions, when these opinions can lead to the creation of harmful policies for minority groups, is disrespectful. Conservatives may have a right to believe what they choose, but those of their beliefs (or those of their parties) that harm also have a right to fight back.

Further, the existence of a wide range of

Flyers identical to this one were passed out by Conservative McGill members over the last week.

(Daniel Minden) progressive student groups on campus does not prevent conservatives from forming their own opinions. McGill’s freedom of speech policies protect all members of its community and conservative groups need only to adhere to SSMU’s regulations should they wish to remain legitimate clubs. However, freedom of speech does not equate to freedom from criticism, something that conservatives, in this instance, have failed to understand.

The way in which conservatives talk about this issue is telling. Scheer himself claimed that the cards being passed around were meant to be funny, and conservatives often make jokes

about the sensitivity of those who lean left. While making these jokes, conservative students continue to claim that they face persecution when made to defend their views Many conservatives seem to believe that they are the only ones allowed to feel offended when their views and identities are questioned.

Going forward, we should continue to support a campus environment that allows all students to feel heard while combating bigotry and hate.

While those on the left are not always innocent, conservatives should investigate why their views are so controversial, and reflect on whether their perspectives are simply unpopular or truly harmful.

McGill wouldn’t care about your Juul if it didn’t have to Jonah Fried Contributor Like a category five hurricane making landfall midsummer, swirling clouds of mangoflavoured e-cigarette vapour have descended upon North American university campuses.

The vape is becoming as ubiquitous today as cigarettes were 60 years ago. Advertising themselves as safer alternatives to smoking cigarettes, products such as the Juul exploded onto the global market unhindered by the stigma against tobacco products. As one might expect, as the vaping phenomenon has grown, government regulation has inevitably followed.

Last year, McGill introduced a new policy that made its campuses largely smoke (and vape)free. Some applaud the move, while others denounce it as an overreach of authority, but few understand that the policy could not have been avoided given McGill’s legal obligations and economic concerns.

E-cigarettes have become so popular with young people that the companies that manufacture them have been accused of peddling to youth on purpose. Besides the many flavours the pods come in, vapes are both stylish and inconspicuous, while every “hit” carries the promise of a headrush the likes of which no cigarette could ever provide. Nicotine vapes do not contain most of the 69 carcinogens found in tobacco, but the accelerating popularity of e-cigarettes has stimulated concern among medical professionals nonetheless. Not only does one Juul pod have as much nicotine as 20

Vapes are more easy to conceal in smoke-free areas. (Jack Neal / The McGill Tribune) cigarettes, but the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not require e-liquid manufacturers to disclose all of the ingredients in their products. This is problematic because research has suggested that some chemicals that are not listed, such as acetals, can cause irritation and other health issues.

The present ambiguity concerning the health risks posed by vaping using e-cigarettes has been a driving force behind regulatory measures. This month, the FDA actually lambasted Juul for illegal marketing practices, alleging that the company broke the law “by selling or distributing them as modified risk tobacco products without an FDA order in effect that permits such sale or distribution”.

Moreover, there are so many knock-off products that it’s unclear if people actually know what they’re “hitting.” Suspicious products such as these have been implicated in as many as six deaths in the United States, although many of the vapes in question contained oils containing cannabinoids such as delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and other substances.

McGill is not coming after your Juul just because they want to prevent you from giving yourself cancer: The institution is required by law to do so. Under the Tobacco Control Act, the Act To Bolster Tobacco Control, and departmental guidelines within the Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services, McGill

could not have the power to allow vaping to proliferate even if it wanted to. As a public institution, it must comply with these laws, which require universities to establish a smokefree environment indoors and in doorways.

Students are lucky that they can vape at all.

In addition to having to abide by government law, McGill has a vested economic interest in making sure that it is not associated with the spread of vaping. McGill is public, but it functions as a private institution in that it relies heavily on donations from alumni.

Because it manages its own finances, McGill needs to market itself in a certain way to encourage support from donors. Considering the widespread public outcry against vaping, allowing it to proliferate on campus would be detrimental to the university’s public standing.

An outright prohibition on vaping would be nearly impossible to enforce. In fact, while students technically cannot vape everywhere right now, the fact that people still do vape all around campus should serve as a reminder that there is a difference between what the rules say and how they are actually enforced. After all, according to The McGill Tribune’s survey last year, 47 per cent of those who use e-cigarettes do not adhere to the McGill Smoking Policy.

Allowing vaping to go completely unrestrained is unreasonable. Students can still smoke or vape at designated areas, which is better than banning it altogether. McGill gets a bad rep for cracking down on vaping, but the administration is being about as lenient as it can afford to be, considering the legal and practical boundaries it faces.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 2019

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Searching for a home away from home

McGill astronomers determine Earth’s fingerprint to find interstellar life

Ronny Litvack-Katzman Contributor Scientists believe that planets outside of the solar system that are capable of supporting life should look a lot like Earth. The theory posits that if the chemical components comprising Earth’s atmosphere can be found in that of distant planets, those worlds could harbour similar carbon-based life-forms.

This summer, two McGill University as-

tronomers put that idea to the test, assembling a ‘fingerprint’ for Earth that could be used to identify exoplanets—planets beyond our solar system—capable of supporting life.

“Our goal was to make a transit spectrum for Earth to see what it would look like if it were an exoplanet,” Evelyn MacDonald (B.Sc. ‘19), an author of a newly published study on the topic, said in an interview with The McGill Tribune.

MacDonald, along with her thesis advisor Nicolas Cowan, a professor in the Department of

By analyzing atmospheric chemicals, scientists can create a planetary fingerprint. (Leanne Young / The McGill Tribune)

Earth and Planetary Sciences, employed a novel method of molecular chemical analysis to complete the study.

“When a planet [...] passes in front of a star, the observer does not see the planet, but sees the starlight the planet blocks,” MacDonald said.

“The amount of light the planet blocks depends on the wavelength of the molecules in the planet’s atmosphere. By seeing at which wavelengths the majority of light is blocked, we can tell which molecules are in the exoplanet’s atmosphere.”

SCISAT, a Canadian satellite launched in 2003 that uses the principles of light mechanics to identify the concentrations of different gases in Earth’s atmosphere, made the researchers’ work possible.

Working as an interstellar detective, Macdonald was able to recreate the transit profile of Earth by trailing the molecular imprints left by light in the atmosphere. In theory, the same profile of a planet that possessed key compounds— primarily carbon dioxide, ozone, and methane— would look similar to the “fingerprint,” or biosignature, that MacDonald created for Earth.

“Based on having found carbon, a sign that a planet has an atmosphere, we could look for other molecules, which together would suggest a planet could have life on it,” MacDonald said.

Two chemicals in particular, ozone and methane, are rarely found together in nature.

Astrophysicists are eager to find both molecules independently of one another in a planet’s atmosphere, because life-forms could be producing

these gases.

“It’s much harder to know for sure what is causing a particular process in a planet’s atmosphere, or rather what causes certain molecules to even be there,” MacDonald said. “But [the presence of such molecules] would definitely be a reason to keep observing that planet.”

Using Macdonald’s findings as a baseline, researchers can now explore the observable universe for comparable biosignatures of planets in the habitable zone of stars other than the sun.

The publication of the study comes at a pivotal time in humanity’s search for habitable worlds beyond the solar system. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the planned successor to the Hubble Telescope, is due to launch into orbit in 2021. The JWST will allow for improved resolution and sensitivity in astronomical imaging, presenting space scientists with the opportunity to look deeper into the darkest bowels of the universe.

“New technology is key for scientists to analyze the plethora of data such a satellite will present,” Cowan said. “The interpretation of this kind of data is really hard. You see some wiggle on a spectrum and maybe you convince yourself that there is detectable ozone, but are you willing to say [that] there is life on that planet?”

For planetary scientists, the next decades of research will attempt to answer this central question. Until then, Earth remains the only planet within the 93 billion light year-wide universe that is known to contain life.

Blending Western and traditional medicine in Colombia Medicine is a science, but culture and tradition cannot be ignored Sophia Gorbounov Contributor In 2014, Juan Pablo Pimentel, a PhD candidate in the Department of Family Medicine at McGill, created a pilot exercise that has since become the basis for his PhD thesis. Working with Family Medicine professors Dr. Neil Andersson and Dr. Anne Cockcroft, Pimentel devised a way for medical students in Colombia to engage in training and activities to help close the medical gap between practitioners of traditional medicine and physicians trained in Western medicine. Together with traditional medicine users from the Sabana Centro region of Colombia, cultural safety experts, and senior medical students, Pimentel and his team now have an ongoing trial that will assess the impact of students’ participation in the trainings compared with standard lessons on cultural safety. “[We came up with] a system in which players engage in competition under pre-defined rules with a common goal in mind,” Pimentel said in an interview with The McGill Tribune.

Specifically, the system educated students on the cultural significance of traditional medicine and how to blend it with modern medical practices. In Colombia, where 40 per cent of the population uses traditional medicine methods, this is especially important. Blending traditional and Western medicine has increased awareness of cultural safety in medicine, a term that was developed by Irihapeti Ramsden, a Māori nurse in New Zealand.

“She developed the concept as a result of the increasing discontent of Māori people with the type of healthcare they were receiving,” Pimentel said. “[It was] totally disconnected from their cultural background.”

As part of her PhD dissertation, Ramsden wanted to adapt Western medicine to the cultural needs of Māori

Pimentel conducted training sessions for medical students in Colombia. (Juan Pablo Pimentel) people, an indigenous people of New Zealand. At its core, cultural safety training dismantles the ethnocentric frame of mind—the tendency of people to view other customs and cultures through the lens of their own—to produce culturally competent health systems. Ramsden believes that by introducing future physicians to different cultures, Western and traditional medicine can exist in harmony with one another.

Pimentel stressed that traditional medicine is much more comprehensive than many think.

“We must avoid reducing traditional medicine to medicinal plants,” Pimentel said. “Traditional medicine encompasses many other aspects of life. For example, maintaining a healthy relationship with ourselves, our families and friends, the environment, and the spiritual world.”

Spirituality and religion play an especially large role in some traditional medicine practices. For example, Catholicism is a major religion in Colombia, and concepts from the faith often blend with cultural health practices; communication with the spiritual world is regarded as an important way to keep a healthy mind.

Pimentel also highlighted the importance of envi-

ronmental health in Colombian traditional medicine.

“It is true that in some cases, traditional medicine can harm the environment, especially when animal products from an endangered species are used,” Pimentel said. “However, traditional health systems […] include environmental health as a prerequisite for human health [.…] Actions such as recovery of native plants and protection of rivers are common health promotion activities.”

Though initially more popular in New Zealand and Australia, many universities in Canada—including McGill—have been developing ways to integrate the training into their medical programs. Since 2018, McGill has offered a course called Indigenous Perspectives: Decolonizing Health Approaches (FMED 506). Furthermore, the Royal College of Physicians plans to make cultural safety training mandatory in the near future.

Latin American countries have been more hesitant to incorporate cultural safety into their medical programs. Pimentel hopes, however, that his thesis will be a step in the right direction. His end goal is to preserve cultural history while creating a happier and healthier world.

A moving target: The journey to a post-car society in Montreal Ender McDuff Sports Editor

Heading down Stanley for a second time, you are peering out of the window from the driver’s seat of your 2003 Honda Civic. Class starts in five minutes, and yet it remains elusive: The parking spot. The source of these parking troubles could be the endless Montreal construction or the heaps of plowed snow. However, Kevin Manaugh, a professor in the Department of Geography and the McGill School of Environment, insists that this lack of space is intentional: McGill has, over the past decade, purposefully reduced parking spaces on campus.

In the heart of the crowded Downtown core, parking in Montreal is already hard to come by. Choosing to prioritize open walking spaces and bike racks might seem to be making things worse for drivers, yet policymakers across Montreal are increasingly deciding to favour transit alternatives such as bicycles, buses, trains, and the metro. These decisions are rooted in Montreal's history as a culturally distinct North American city with strong European ties, as well as present day concerns about equity, safety, and sustainability.

Montreal has long been caught somewhere between its North American location and its obvious Europeaninfluenced design. This duality has been instrumental in creating a dense and unique transportation system. Montreal’s first trolleys were implemented in 1861 by the original iteration of the Société de transport de Montréal (STM). The initial prominence of these first horse-drawn and then electric streetcars kept car ownership low. However, with changes to automotive laws and the physical design of the city, the number of cars on the streets rose over time. Nevertheless, Montreal would also introduce its uniquely designed metro system in 1966 in anticipation of Expo ‘67, which has served as the basis for the development of a dense and highly used public transportation network.

Over 50 years later, the Montreal metro has now surpassed 10 billion total riders since its launch and is considered— along with buses and trains—to comprise one of the best public transit systems in North America. It carries 74 per cent of the Downtown core’s morning rush hour traffic, and also boasts one of the lowest carbon footprints of any metro service in the world. These transportation alternatives mean that Montrealers continue to use cars less than those in other

North American cities.

“There’s no [...] innate human nature to want to drive,” Manaugh said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “Look at places where the rates of cars are lower and rates of public transport are higher […]

It isn’t some sort of mystery. The [public transit] systems are simply better and more convenient.”

While perhaps not innate, the car has become culturally central to the North American lifestyle over the last century.

But, for the car to reign supreme in such a fashion, it first meant that a physical and legal reordering of society had to occur.

“If you look [at when] cars were being brought out as commercially viable, the first reaction [was to] treat the car as the intruder,” Manaugh explained. “There were none of the legal and social norms we have today.”

This hesitance stems from the fact that, for all of human history prior, the street had been a place of commerce and play filled by pedestrians. Then, laws like jaywalking were conceived of by automotive companies to claim the street for the car; a network of roads and highways spread across the continent, displacing other transit alternatives; and, in the context of the Cold War, the car became a coveted symbol of freedom.

“It’s literally upside down [now] that the pedestrians are intruding on [the car’s] space,” Manaugh said. “No one 100 years ago would have any concept […] that we would one day wake up in a society where […] the public space would be for these dangerous, inefficient, polluting boxes.”

Montreal never fully subscribed to North America’s car-centric vision. Most recently, Sainte Catherine, Verdun, and Outremont have all increased the prices of, or removed, parking to make way for pedestrians and bike lanes. But, still, a century of automobile history and culture affects the transportation structure of the city. This disconnect has resulted in inconsistency in the city’s policy and infrastructure choices—particularly some of the most massive and costly projects. For instance, the city poured billions of dollars into the Turcot interchange construction project, an effort to rebuild a multi-level hub for road traffic that connects three major highways and links the airport to downtown.

“Here was an opportunity to do something not focussed on cars, but instead [the city] went with this big project that still prioritizes hundreds of thousands of vehicles circulating,” Manaugh said.

The transportation sector is the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, with gas-fueled vehicles ranking as the second largest emitter behind only planes (cycling, walking, metro, and trains all rank among the most environmentally friendly). Personal

vehicles also contribute other pollutants like particulate matters from the degradation of tires and brake pads, which can cause health issues by contaminating drinking water and ending up in people’s lungs. As a result, projects like the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) rapid transit expansion are expressly designed to get drivers out from behind the wheel. “[Public transit projects are] essentially low-hanging fruit […to] have massive impacts on greenhouse gas emissions [compared to other options],” Manaugh said. “People are healthier, happier, and there’s more social well-being and social inclusion in communities that have less driving.”

For Manaugh, even the REM expansion comes with its concerns. The project, currently under construction and scheduled to begin service in 2023, will cost a reported $6.3 billion. Meanwhile, the Pink Line metro expansion, proposed by Mayor Valérie Plante in her 2017 campaign, has languished.

“The REM is really serving wealthy people on the West Island and the Pink Line is—if you map out the socioeconomic status of the people who actually live around the stations—serving lower income people, more immigrants, more people who use transportation,” Manaugh explained. “It’s environmental versus equity issues. It’s this kind of trade-off.”

For instance, the pink line expansion would greatly benefit many McGill students who live in MontréalNord, and help to alleviate congestion on other metro lines. Currently, those living along the proposed pink line take buses, which are less reliable due to traffic and construction. While this particular opportunity has confronted Montreal with a difficult choice, there exist several transit projects that address environmental and equity concerns simultaneously.

Another significant reason behind the push for reduced automotive transportation is safety concerns.

In Canada alone, there are close to 2,000 deaths and more than 10,000 injuries from automotive accidents every year. Manaugh stressed that this risk is a systemic issue brought about by individual behaviours, car companies, laws, and city design.

“You’ve got this whole system that leads to millions of injuries and deaths every year around the world, and this is somehow considered business as usual,” Manaugh said. “We even have this language that says it’s an accident [as opposed to a crash], but we made all of these choices to say driving is the only or best option to get around […] and we somehow call this an accident as if it isn’t preventable.”

Safety concerns are especially pertinent in Montreal, where cycling is enormously popular. As the first North American city to implement protected bike lanes and a hub of bike-sharing, Montreal has—somewhat ironically, given the weather and construction—cemented itself as one of North America’s top cycling cities. Grant McKenzie, a professor at McGill in the Department of Geography, notes the bicycle’s importance to the city. “[Montreal is] one of the cities that has adopted [its] bike-share system in a way that most other cities have not,” McKenzie said. “Culturally, Montreal is a very European city. It’s a much more laid-back lifestyle in some sense, of being able to get to and from work or the grocery store by jumping on a bike.”

This robust network of transit options has endowed Montreal with a transportation sector distinct from that of most other North American cities. This can benefit students especially, most of whom do not have cars. The growing student interest in alternative modes of transportation as well as the pursuit of many outcomes—whether they be happiness, health, or sustainability—has given rise to a growing community of transportation enthusiasts. Online, a community of millennials and members of Generation Z who are disillusioned with the car-centric culture in which they were raised discuss urban planning and public transportation concerns through a mixture of humour and erudite conversation. The movement takes the form of the Facebook meme page “New Urbanist Memes for Transit Oriented Teens,” or NUMTOT, which is also the name assigned to the young transport

enthusiasts who populate the page.

“Over time, I’ve realized that North American cities suck in terms of liveability,” Matthew McLaughlin, a U2 Arts student and proud NUMTOT, wrote to the Tribune. “Any dense, liveable city [must] have a robust public transportation system, and NUMTOTS fully understand this. The group stands as a counterbalance to the deeply ingrained car-centrism in North American society.”

NUMTOT was co-founded by Juliet Eldred and Emily Orenstein, two friends at the University of Chicago, along with Jonathan Marty of New York University,. Eldred, now a transportation planner,

“The newer generation is coming in and realizing cars are super expensive, they don’t really need to […] drive to where they need to go, there’s a whole enjoyment around actually interacting with the city, and the transportation modes that exist are great,” McKenzie said. “Your tax dollars are paying for these services, [so] why shouldn’t we adopt and enjoy them?” believes that NUMTOT has helped convey technical and traditionally boring subject matter to a wider audience.

“When my friend Emily and I started NUMTOT, it was essentially just a throwaway group for us to shitpost about Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs, but, as it started to grow, we began to see that it had really struck a nerve with people,” Eldred wrote in a message to the Tribune. “It’s pretty clear that there are a lot of young people who are fed up with the status quo and

know that our cities can do so much better, especially in the face of catastrophic climate change, and spaces like NUMTOT have been a great way for people to learn and meet others with similar interests.”

McKenzie, also a NUMTOT, has seen this movement grow within his own classroom, where students have begun to push back against the singleoccupancy, gas-fueled automobile.

“The newer generation is coming in and realizing cars are super expensive, they don’t really need to […] drive to where they need to go, there’s a whole enjoyment around actually interacting with the city, and the transportation modes that exist are great,” McKenzie said. “Your tax dollars are paying for these services, [so] why shouldn’t we adopt and enjoy them?”

McKenzie believes that this shift in attitudes marks a generational change. Whereas previous generations shunned public transit as something meant for the poor, younger people are realizing that, even if they can afford a car, they may be better off without one.

Because of this shift, McKenzie is optimistic that public transit will continue to develop worldwide.

“The younger generation is […] hyper-aware of the future that we’re going to have to live in,” McKenzie said. “I think that’s going to lead to policy changes [as] younger voters […] say, ‘we want more public transportation […] [and this is] where we want our tax dollars to go.’ [There will be] less [focus] on the infrastructure of actual roads and more toward public transit and other things that reduce our carbon footprint.”

Despite growing youth involvement, the future of non-car transportation remains uncertain. Most North American cities still feature lackluster transit services, and a rapidly changing transit ecosystem is challenging policymakers’ ability to keep up. Micromobility e-services such as Lime scooters and Jump bikes are beginning to overtake the system due to their affordability and convenience.

While other cities were overrun with supply of these services and lacked the regulations in place to handle them, the Montreal government prepared by limiting the number of products within the city. However, efforts to ensure that helmets are worn and dock-less products left in sanctioned areas have struggled.

“The city estimated a number [of parking areas], and right before Lime came out, they doubled it because they realized people are going to leave them everywhere,” McKenzie said. “I think [it’s because] people are unused to this restriction on being able to park them.”

McKenzie remains hopeful for the future of micromobility. For students, these services can provide a fun, affordable, easy way to navigate the city in short trips, and those same benefits may extend to the general population.

“We’ve seen some anecdotal evidence […] that people tend to use these to get to and from the metro station,” McKenzie said. “We already have a tight transportation landscape in Montreal [though], […] so we have to squeeze a new mode of travel into an already difficult situation.”

In this way, McKenzie is hoping that micro-mobility options, along with shared services such as BIXI, can continue to help supplement Montreal’s current transportation system.

Beyond regulating new services, the biggest obstacle to a car-free culture is figuring out how to implement the transit alternatives we already have in a system that was designed to keep them out. Manaugh believes what is now needed is the political will to implement these solutions.

“Our entire system is built around this incredibly inefficient, wasteful, dangerous mode of transport, and I think once you […] take the red pill and see how it became that way, it’s very easy [to change your opinion],” Manaugh said. “[The issue is] it’s not an individual choice. The whole point is that it’s systemic [...] it’s our laws, our design [...] and we’re stuck. It’s almost impossible to imagine a world where the automobile isn’t at the top of the food chain.”

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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 2019

The McGill Climate Conference covers climate policy and solutions Experts discuss the political hurdles of transitioning to a green economy Claire Ramsay & Amir Hotter Yishay Contributors On Sept. 12th and 13th, 15 speakers from various disciplines participated in the McGill Climate Conference, a comprehensive event spanning six panels held at the McGill Faculty Club. Emphasizing equitability and inclusion, the speakers confronted some of the most pressing issues facing Canada in its transition to a green economy, ranging from carbon pricing and the phasing out of fossil fuels to closing the partisan divide.

Former NDP leader Thomas Mulclair opened the event with a speech on cross-party collaboration.

“Few challenges so clearly expose the frailties of our system of government [as climate change],” Mulcair said.

Mulcair’s speech touched on the Russian Revolution, trailblazing writer Rachel Carson’s work on pesticide usage, and the fight against acid rain in the ‘90s, putting in perspective a history of change and struggle and the advances made possible by political collaboration. Referencing the Trudeau government’s empty promises, Conservative disregard for the climate crisis, and progressive in-fighting between the Greens and the NDP, Mulclair implored Canadian politicians to work together for the sake of the environment.

The keynote address was followed by speakers Olivier Pineau, the chair in Energy Sector Management at HEC Montréal; and Greg Mikkelson, a professor in the McGill School of Environment, each representing different perspectives on the mitigation of Canadian emissions.

While Pineau advocated primarily for reducing consumer demand, Mikkelson emphasized curbing oil sand extraction to cut down the industry’s disproportionate share in

Canadian per-capita emissions.

Another panel focussed on broader policies, including infrastructures and social impacts surrounding carbon pricing, a fee attached to carbon dioxide emissions. One way of doing this is by adding a carbon tax to the sale and use of fossil fuels. The carbon tax is a flagship policy of the Trudeau government and has been a major source of contention for Conservative premiers opposing the tax in Ontario, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Manitoba.

Erick Lachapelle, a professor in the Political Science Department at the Université de Montréal, discussed the factors influencing Canadians’ views of carbon taxes. He has found that, though support for carbon taxation is increasing year-to-year, it remains polarized along partisan lines. Those who oppose carbon taxes largely do so due to increased costs for consumers; however, people are also more likely to favour carbon taxation if they know that their taxes are being put to good environmental uses, such as to fund sustainable energy development and lower the cost of green energy.

Lachapelle believes that carbon taxation has been molded into a political weapon and urges parties to find areas of agreement.

Normand Mousseau, a physics professor at the Université de Montréal and the Academic Director of the Trottier Energy Institute, covered the hidden costs and inequalities of the carbon tax, which must be accounted for to build a just green economy. For example, someone might be saddled with higher fuel costs but unable to afford a more fuel-efficient car. In Mousseau’s view, the financial onus should not be placed entirely on individuals to change their behaviour: Institutional transformations

are necessary to make it easier for people to adapt. For this, civil participation is key.

“The upcoming election is perhaps the most important in Canadian history,” Mulclair said.

With the Montreal Climate Strike on Sept. 27 and a federal election looming, the ongoing climate crisis has dominated the Canadian consciousness. As an increasing sense of urgency sets in around the country, the McGill Climate Conference and other such forums for discussion and debate of the climate issues that divide the Canadian public are essential for finding lasting solutions.

Political collaboration will be key in moving toward a green economy.

Space trash: Pollution in outer space

Humans are creating an extraterrestrial pollution predicament Katherine Dulong Contributor Continued from page 1.

This type of human-made space trash encompasses any non-functional parts remaining from satellite launches, spacecrafts, and rocket stages, and can also include radioactive material and residual fuel. Some pieces are huge, spanning the length of a football field, while others are the size of a marble.

Since humans have been launching objects into space since the 1960s, there is now an astronomical quantity of debris in space.

According to NASA, more than 500,000 pieces of space junk orbit Earth. This number only accounts for the pieces that are tracked, some of which are travelling at 28,000 kilometres per hour—30 times faster than a typical commercial airplane.

“You do not need to be a rocket scientist to understand that if you put something 100 kilometres in orbit, it will stay there forever,” Ram Jakhu, the associate director of McGill’s Centre for Research of Air and Space Law, said in an interview with The McGill Tribune.

Furthermore, rockets are at risk of colliding with space debris, creating an obstacle for the exploration and colonization of outer space. “[Space debris] are more dangerous than the bullets of a gun,” Jakhu said.

Calling space debris dangerous might seem trivial, as humans often view space as an empty void.

However, most of these objects are located very close to the Earth, and some of them cannot be tracked.

These untracked pieces have a high chance of colliding with other objects. The Kessler syndrome describes a scenario in which collisions between debris in close orbit around Earth cause more collisions and debris in the future, thus impeding on satellite communications and space exploration.

Since launching objects in space is extraordinarily expensive, most objects belong to governments, with a few coming from corporations, such as SpaceX’s satellite constellation Starlink. Legal liability becomes a concern as countries become legally responsible if their space debris hits the functional equipment of another nation. Such was the case in 2009 when two communications satellites—one American, and one Russian— collided, spewing debris everywhere.

The legal picture is complicated, though, because state sovereignty means removing another country’s space trash is not an option. Each country must be responsible for its own contribution to the problem.

“You cannot take away other people’s [space] debris,” Jakhu said.

Concerted international action will be necessary if humans are to ever tackle the problem of space trash. After all, the future of humanity might just lie in outer space.

Space exploration will be limited if too much debris obstruct the way. Jakhu believes that intentionally creating space debris should legally be considered a crime against humanity. This is difficult, however, because space law exists only in the international sphere; it is not concerned with the domestic laws of individual states. “[Space trash] is a common problem that needs common solutions [such as international removal efforts] as soon as possible,” Jakhu said.

While the United Nations (UN) Committee on Peaceful Uses of Space (UN-

COPUOS) has established a set of guidelines to slow the creation of space trash, more regulations are needed to deal with the debris that already exist. Thus, the work of other UN bodies, research organizations such as the Centre for Research of Air and Space Law, and national governments will be vital.

It’s estimated that more than 500,000 pieces of space trash are orbiting Earth.

(Erin Sass / The McGill Tribune)

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 2019

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MMFA’s Egyptian mummies exhibit explore six lives from ancient times Delving into ancient ritual and contemporary ethics Vanessa Barron Contributor Ancient Egypt has long been a subject of fascination and imitation in Western culture. Particularly, the mummy is best known as a horror movie icon and easy Halloween costume. But seeing an actual mummy is a stark contrast to seeing your friend wrapped in toilet paper. Mummies represent both a sacred burial practice and serve as long-lasting records of life in a past society. Beginning on Sept. 14, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA), in collaboration with the British Museum, is presenting Egyptian Mummies: Ancient Lives, an exhibition featuring six mummies from ancient Egypt, who lived and died between 900 BC and 180 AD. By examining each mummy with non-invasive technology, the exhibit provides a glimpse into Egyptian life and death.

One of the most notable features of the exhibit is the display of advanced technology that assists in the study of the mummification process. Rather than unwrapping and damaging the bodies permanently, the museum provides footage of three-dimensional CT scans that show cross-sections of the mummies on display.

The digital recreations showed amulets hidden inside the mummies’ wrapping and filler materials that replaced the organs.

Even though they are computer-generated, the 3D images allow the viewer to see be-

yond the outside layer casing the mummy.

Each room of the exhibit is organized similarly to the way that the mummies would be buried, with the bodies in the middle of the room and their possessions around the perimeter. The mummies sit next to their ornately decorated coffins that depict stories from their lives, interactions with deities, and symbols like the Eye of Horus. The coffins are one of the most visually stunning parts of the exhibit, showcasing both artistic talent and the sheer amount of effort that went into just one burial. The gilded masks of a priest named Irthorru and a statue of an unnamed young child are just as stunning today as they were when they were originally made.

The rooms corresponds to a topic relevant to the findings from the mummy ranging from religion to health and family life. Artefacts such as cosmetic tools, board games, and musical instruments serve as reminders that some elements of human life have changed little throughout history—ancient Egyptians enjoyed beauty and entertainment just as modern audience does.

While the exhibition never explicitly mentions how the British Museum obtained these mummies, ethical questions arise when burial grounds are disrupted and corpses are displayed for the sake of profit. Egyptian Mummies: Ancient Lives

does capture the feeling that the mummification practices and beliefs were sacred to the Egyptian people. Nevertheless, audiences are left with the impression that the mummies have certainly not reached their final resting place. Some of the objects and coffins have small serial numbers written on them—a small, yet poignant reminder that even after death, the mummies have had a tumultuous history of their own as archaeological findings catalogued for the exhibition.

Nestawedjet, Tamut, and Irthorru might have only lived for around 40 years

as humans, but as mummies, they contribute to our cultural knowledge thousands of years later. By preserving their bodies for the afterlife, the ancient Egyptians effectively preserved their history and culture as well. The mummies are as close to immortal as a human can get.

“We are honoured to host these extraordinary witnesses of our common ancestry, so that they may share with us their cultures and trades, their beliefs and sufferings… in a word, their lives,” Nathalie Bondil, chief curator, said in a press release.

The mummies will be on display at the MMFA until Feb. 2. (Trustees of the British Museum)

‘Undone’ is a poignant yet comedic look at mental illness The creators of ‘Bojack Horseman’ continue to deliver sharp-witted content Joey Caplan Contributor Undone, Amazon Prime Video’s new eight episode animated series is a wildly entertaining and emotionally complicated triumph. Created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg and Kate Purdy, the team behind Bojack Horseman, each of the series’ brief, 20-odd minute-long episodes packs in a wealth of depth and wit.

Undone begins with Alma (Rosa Salazar), a woman in her late twenties leading a passionless, meandering life until a severe car accident leaves her hospitalized and comatose for weeks.

Following the accident, she begins to see the ghost of her late father, Jacob (Bob Odenkirk), who informs her that not only does she have the ability to travel through time, she must use her newfound ability to go back and save him on the night he was murdered. Though the setup sounds like a typical sci-fi mystery, Undone uses this simple structure to explore Alma’s character and her fracturing psyche, and how her strange and often worrying behaviour is affecting her family.

Undone’s visual style allows the show to stand out within the cartoon genre. Rotoscoping, a process in which live action scenes are shot and then

traced over by animators and, in the case of Undone, combined with original background paintings, makes the series’ aesthetic as unsettling as it is beautiful. This kind of animation allows the show’s creators to orchestrate spectacular, trippy scenes, while also keeping most of the footage grounded in reality.

While Bojack Horseman juxtaposes its focus on depression with a deceptively wacky cast of characters and visual humour, Undone allows its distinctive art style to complement its unspoken concern with schizophrenia. The issue may not be explicitly addressed until much later, but it lingers just behind every frame: Is it all in Alma’s head?

Has she genuinely discovered her purpose in the universe, or is she suffering from a mental illness that has caused her to distance herself from her family while becoming increasingly connected to her imagined father? Alma’s mental wellbeing is the most crucial and fascinating theme of Undone, and touches on issues that are seldom confronted in such a nuanced fashion.

Regardless of whether she can truly traverse time or not, Alma’s work and social life suffer as her father urges her to escape her normal life and focus all of her attention on him and his death. Her growing disdain for the mundane is mir-

Salazar delivers an unflinching performance as Alma. (geekfeed.com) rored in the art style; the exciting time travel moments flourish with vibrant colours and thrilling mystery, while the scenes where she discusses marital plans with her sister are drab, the only signs of life coming from the characters’ remarkably detailed and emotive faces.

None of this depth would be possible without Rosa Salazar’s performance. The rotoscoping causes every facial expression to be exaggerated, and Salazar takes full advantage of a style that some actors would surely despise having to work

with. Bob Odenkirk, despite his talent, appeared not to have grasped the style as well as his costar; his character often falls flat. It can be difficult for actors to transition from working exclusively in live action to acting with motion capture or voice work, and this transition is more apparent in Odenkirk’s performance.

Undone’s strange animation and narrative profundity combine to create one of the best television shows of 2019, and its ambiguous ending will surely have people talking long after the credits roll.

12

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 2019

‘Chastity Belt’ is a plaintive meditation on growing up The pop-punk foursome move toward a more mature sound POP Montreal

Sophie Brozozowski Managing Editor Since their 2013 debut album, No Regerts, Chastity Belt have been celebrating girlhood in all its irreverence.

Borrowing heavily from rrriot-girl predecessors like Sleater-Kinney, the band have toed the line between bold and brazen for most of their career, each of their songs flecked with mischief and bursting with righteous, feminist anger.

Their latest work, however, a self-titled 10-track album which dropped on Sept.

20, reveals a gentler and more mature side of the band as the foursome reckons with their impending adulthood.

“Ann’s Jam,” the album’s lush and plaintive opener, finds its narrator recalling a road trip she took more than a decade ago. Frontwoman Julia Shaprio’s once-brassy vocals soften as she sings “We were driving South in your parents’ car / Singing out loud to scratched CDs.” Shapiro muses about her younger self with fondness, empathy, and perhaps jealousy, singing, “It was clear then, the sea before the storm / Now there’s a thick fog around everything / And I just

Annual music and arts festival featuring performers from around the world Sept. 25–29, multiple locations Prices vary

Out of the Box

This vernissage will showcase the work of architect and conceptual artist Gordon Matta-Clark Sept. 26, Canadian Centre for Architecture Free

Stefani Bonadi Concert ‘Chastity Belt’ boasts a richer, more mature sound than 2017’s ‘I Used to Spend So Much Time Alone.’ (npr.com) kill time by dreading everything / But in that moment, life felt significant.”

Indeed, the album’s greatest success lies ultimately in its awareness of the gravity of growing up. Shapiro’s lyrics radiate with courage as she reckons with the reality that, even after so much evolution, there’s always more growing to do. The album’s closer “Pissed Pants” is a sparse and ambiguous number whose ominous noise harkens back to

earlier albums. “Yeah, I saw it coming / I saw it coming, and now it’s gone” sings Shapiro remorsefully before her voice is shrouded by the static, fuzzy guitar.

Preoccupied with the past though it may be, Chastity Belt marks the start of a new chapter for the Washington band as they settle into a fuller, more developed sound. Gone are the adolescent larks, but the youthful spirit still remains.

After-hours final showing of the Museum’s Polaroid exhibit 690 Sherbrooke West Sept. 12, 5:00 p.m.–9:00 p.m.

Starting at $16

Trapped in Elon’s Mansion

After a Twitter fight with Elon Musk, a Montreal local gathers an eclectic cast of all-stars in this stage production Sept. 28, Cinéma L’Amour $15

Drawn & Quarterly sparks local interest with ‘Mile End Portraits’ Book launch highlights neighbourhood history

Jonathan Giammaria Contributor Continued from page 1.

Over the latter half of the 19th and better part of the 20th century, it assumed a more residential identity when immigration to the area boomed with Canada’s transcontinental railway system.

Following this development, electric tram systems were implemented which increased mobility to and from the neighbourhood.

Today, most know the neighbourhood for its artistic establishments and by the various cultural groups it hosts — Greek, Italian, Portuguese, and Hassidic Jewish communities share the space.

Yves Desjardins, a member of Mile End Memories, expressed how the book aimed to explore Mile End’s everchanging identity and commented on the intercommunal solidarity that continues to flourish within its streets. “[Mile End Portraits] is a collaborative project,” Desjardins said.

“We’re all volunteers. We love our neighbourhood, we love its history, and we want to share our passion for Mile End’s heritage.”* Sharing in that collaborative spirit were cartoonists Michel Hellman and Pascal Girard, who attended the event to sign autographs and speak with enthusiastic locals. Both reside in Mile End and have regularly featured the borough

in their work. Along with the book’s historical excerpts and photographs, the two illustrators peppered in hand drawn vignettes of daily life. Both artists forego realism in favour of quick sketches with sparse and clean linework that depicts flat environments populated by unassuming caricatures, which gives their work a feel lighthearted and casual feel. The pair recreated photos documenting Mile End’s history while also capturing mundane scenes and interactions within the neighbourhood, where characters appear sarcastic or snarky, giving the cartoons a humorous tone.

Hellman, who has previously published a graphic novel titled Mile End, re-imagines himself in his cartoons as an anthropomorphic bear to offer satirized accounts of his experiences.

Though Hellman’s stories can appear introspective, his work also broaches his own interests in anthropology and architecture, and his exploration of space and how it affects our quotidian life suits the book’s purpose of documenting Mile End’s spirit as a community. In Mile End Portraits, he offers a water-colour portrait of the Rialto Theatre, which he depicts as a daunting and imposing building, lighting up a nightscape with a red glow emanating from its rows of windows.

Meanwhile, Girard draws with a distinctly shaky style, with squiggly lines that do not always connect, and imbues

Community members collaborated to deliver an illustrated history of their neighbourhood.

(Erin Sass / The McGill Tribune) his cartoons with a sense of frenetic movement, despite the frequently relaxed postures and mild expressions that his characters adopt. In Mile End Portraits, his pictures feel intimate, the viewer feels almost intrusive bearing witness to the scenes depicted in the book. Girard draws intimate spaces like cafés or tight apartments, with characters who look around or converse with each other completely unbothered and blasé.

Though the two artists heavily focus on ordinary life in the area, the ease with which their characters move throughout the book’s pages and the chance

interactions they commonly experience allude to the carefree, yet vibrant way of life that Mile End offers.

Mile End Portraits, though brief , sets up a charming snapshot of the quarter’s growth and reputation with respect to the entirety of Montreal. With an authentic voice achieved through community participation, Mile End Portraits expresses gratitude to its neighbourhood, positioned as one of Montreal’s premiere sites for creativity and diversity. *Quotation was translated from its original French

STUDENT LIFE

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 2019

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Annual Pow Wow celebrates Indigenous students and cultures Nineteenth iteration full of traditional dances, singing, and performances Sophia White Contributor On Sept. 20, members of the McGill and Montreal community gathered on Lower Field to participate in the 19th Annual Pow Wow hosted by the First Peoples’ House (FPH). The Pow Wow was a day full of traditional dancing, singing, and performances with the purpose of bringing the McGill community together to celebrate First Nations, Inuit, and Métis cultures. The Pow Wow is part of Indigenous Awareness Weeks which was organized by the McGill Indigenous Education Program.

Amber Bedard, the Indigenous Student Advisor for the First Peoples’ House, noted the Pow Wow’s role in providing a unique, celebratory space for Indigenous students at McGill to showcase their culture and pride. “[The Pow Wow is] a time for the community to come together and celebrate our culture,” Bedard said. “I think it’s really important, especially for Indigenous students on campus, to feel recognized within the institution. Often, there’s not really a space to learn and to feel welcomed in, and the Pow Wow provides that space and welcomes people from all backgrounds to come together.”

The Pow Wow served not only as a celebration of Indigenous cultures,

but as an educational opportunity for those who may not have learned about Indigenous history in school.

“What’s really important for the Pow Wow at McGill is to showcase who we are to the community—to students, staff, and faculty, and also to celebrate that we’re still here on Turtle Island,” Allan Vicaire, Director of the FPH, said. “Often times, what happens is [that] through the K-12 history [curriculum], there’s an erasure of Indigenous peoples, and we always want to say that we’re still here, we’re still vibrant, we’re still surviving, [and] we’re still resilient. McGill is an international university, and for newcomers, it’s everyone’s responsibility to learn about the original peoples here.”

Friday’s Pow Wow featured a variety of artisan vendors, Indigenous organizations, and performances throughout the day. Following the opening words and grand entry were a series of intertribal dances and Inuit throat singing. Aneeka Anderson, an Inuk U2 Arts student, and her sister Abigail Carleton performed traditional Inuit throat songs together. Anderson was intially hesitant to perform in front of such a large group but ultimately felt empowered by the experience.

“It took me a while to be in that space where I knew I could do it,” Anderson said. “I think, as Indig-

The 19th annual Pow Wow consisted of traditional dancing, singing, and performances with the purpose of celebrating First Nations, Inuit, and Métis cultures. (Sophia White / The McGill Tribune) enous peoples, a real struggle is ‘are we Indigenous enough?’ But, for me to stand there in my regalia throat singing, having invited lots of people and encouraged them to experience this with me, allows me to feel like they know Inuit are here, and [that] they know [that] Inuit retain culture, have culture, [and] love our culture [....] Sometimes I believe I’m not Inuk enough, but, in this moment, I am.”

The FPH is dedicated to providing cultural, academic, and campuswide resources to Indigenous students at McGill, and the Pow Wow is just one of many events they hold throughout the year. The FPH also offers weekly cultural events, such as drumming, beadings, and traditional dance sessions. They also offer Finding Your Voice sessions and monthly workshops geared towards academic

success. Their next upcoming event is a workshop called “Decolonizing Consent: Reclaiming Land and Body” on Sept. 23, hosted in parternship with the Office for Sexual Violence Response, Support, and Education (OSVRSE). The focus of the event will be decolonizing trauma work and healing practices after assault, and looking at the connection between land and body for Indigenous peoples.

Signs of the times: 65 years of the Beatty Lecture Exhibit honours over half a century of groundbreaking speakers Leyla Moy Contibutor While students eagerly await Jane Goodall’s upcoming lecture on Sept. 26, they may be unaware of the history behind the star-studded Beatty Lecture series, named in honour of Sir Edward Beatty. Returning 40 years after her first lecture in 1979, Goodall will be the first repeat speaker in Beatty Lecture history. On the 65th anniversary of the annual event, Goodall’s talk will add to over half a century of seminal lectures by speakers that exemplify their eras.

The exhibition “With the World to Choose From: Celebrating 65 Years of the Beatty Lecture” will be on display in the fourth-floor lobby of the McLennan Library building until Oct. 31. The vernissage on Sept. 12 launched both the main exhibit and a smaller collection focused on the life and home of former McGill Chancellor and president of the CPR Sir Edward Beatty.

Curators Frédéric Giuliano and Robin Koning highlighted the Beatty Lecture’s mission to

Goodall’s Sept. 26 talk will mark the 40th anniversary of her first visit and the 65th Beatty lecture. (Dan Aponte / The McGill Tribune) inspire students with 11 quotes from past speakers on the walls surrounding the exhibit. The exhibit draws a timeline from the establishment of the Beatty Lecture fund to promotional material and press from past lectures. In 1952, Dr. Henry A. Beatty donated $100,000 gift to McGill in memory of his brother, Sir Edward Beatty, establishing the Beatty Lecture fund.

Robin Koning, Digital Mar-

keting & Outreach Associate for the Office of the Vice Principal Research and Innovation, which organizes the Beatty Lecture, spoke on its namesake’s legacy.

“Back in the day, the Canadian Pacific Railway was one of the largest corporations on the planet, so [Beatty] had a really big job really young,” Koning said. “He dedicated his life to being McGill’s chancellor and the CPR, and he was knighted in

1935 by King George V.” The exhibit follows the process to select the first speaker before landing on India’s first post-colonial Vice President and President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. Original ideas included author T. S. Eliot and pop culture theory pioneer Russel Nye. Frédéric Giuliano, who also works as an archivist at McGill University Archives, cited a letter from then Dean Thompson to the principal.

“This is where the title of the exhibit came from: ‘With the world to choose from, it becomes difficult to select for the Beatty lectureship,’” Giuliano said.

Selecting the Beatty lecturer has grown into more than just a conversation between senior administrations. Alongside their selection committee, the Beatty Lecture website encourages suggestions from students and faculty alike, reifying the Lecture’s multidisciplinary and essentially collective nature. “[The Lecture] is truly a campus-wide event,” Koning said. “It [tends to appeal] to a wide variety of people. It’s an

event for McGill and for Montreal as well. It does stand unique, [being] so broad and [bringing] in such well known, influential names that are really part of the zeitgeist.”

With an extensive pool of preeminent scholars to choose from, the Beatty Lecture has historically highlighted people at the forefront of their fields, creating an archive of the last century’s freshest ideas and intellectual conundrums.

“In the ‘90s, people talked about environmental issues because [these issues] really entered into our popular dialogue,” Koning said. “You have people in the ‘70s [asking] what technology is going to do to us, wondering if we were going to become slaves to [it] since it was the beginning of tech and the first wave of computers. It’s like a timeline of some of the major events that have happened since the ‘50s.”

To access this remarkable timeline, Koning encourages students to explore past lectures on the digital archive on the website.

14 STUDENT LIFE

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 2019

Waste Educators program encourages sustainability Discourse in residence dining halls aims to promote eco-friendly lifestyle choices Ella Corkum Contributor Continued from page 1.

Sophie Doyon, a U3 Management student studying Managing for Sustainability with a concentration in Social Enterprise, is the sustainability coordinator for McGill Food and Dining Services. Part of her job is to run the waste education program.

“The students are very interested, so they’ll ask a lot of questions and the waste educators are there to intervene if they get confused or want help,” Doyon said. “Their main role is to guide the right waste sorting techniques and teach students who are excited to learn about it.”

Doyon explained that recycling and composting are important for reducing the amount of waste that goes into landfills, which limits greenhouse gas emissions. She also emphasized that although sorting your waste is a great step toward sustainability, the best thing to do is reduce your use of disposable goods.

Energy and enthusiasm from the Waste Educators is crucial for the program’s success. Karan Kumar, a second-year Masters student studying agricultural economics, is one of this year ’s Waste Educators. He is passionate about sustainability and believes

in the waste education program’s mandate to encourage collaboration.

“It’s a positive campaign that gives hope to the students that, if we take the small steps, we can work towards a sustainable world,” Kumar said.

“There’s no blame game. We aren’t creating any hate campaigns over here.

We’re just working together.”

The Waste Education program appeals to Kumar because it gives people real, concrete steps to help the environment.

“Everyone can do it,” Kumar said.

“It’s not just people working in education. It’s you, me, doctors, engineers, students, anyone who can take the extra effort to segregate their waste, and not only in dining halls, but in their homes.”

Doyon has had many positive experiences interacting with curious first-years and says that McGill students are open and receptive to the initiative.

“Young people […] are great at helping the environment,” Doyon said. “They are really are excited to learn, and the more information we give them, the more skilled they are and the better they do at sorting their waste [....] They’re great at it already, so we’re just there to help out.”

Reactions from first-year students have largely been positive: Hannah Klemets, U0 Science, has found the

The Waste Educators program aims to ensure that recyclable or compostable packaging does not end up in the landfill. (Leanne Young / The McGill Tribune) Waste Educators useful for her and her residence peers who want to clear their cafeteria trays properly.

“I’ve seen multiple people almost throw perfectly fine things to recycle or compost in the garbage, so [the waste educators are] helping McGill be better for the environment for sure,” Klemets said.

The Sustainability and Waste Education campaign wants to instill the

idea that students have the power to make a positive environmental impact by actively pursuing sustainability in their own lives. Although the McGill Waste Educators are gone for the rest of the year, McGill Dining Services will be hosting Local Food Day, Meatless Mondays, and Fair Trade Week where Waste Educators can continue the food sustainability conversation with students.

Americanos and Literature: An afternoon at Café Éclair The opening of a hybrid café and bookstore in the Mile End peaks student interest Alyssa Bishop Contibutor Though it is easy to spend downtime in the McGill bubble, it is always good for students to discover new places in Montreal.

Sure, the classic study spots can be soothing, but it is good for the soul to move out of the comfort zone. Case in point: Café Éclair.

This innovative spot, located just north of Fairmount street on Saint-Laurent, is a hybrid between a café and a bookstore.

Quite frankly, there is nothing more perfect than sipping on a delicious flat white while perusing a thoughtfully curated book collection.

Café Éclair opened in early July, a joint venture between owners Miranda Ko, Chantale Potié, and Daniel Alvarez. Alvarez and Ko have extensive histories in the coffee and bookstore industries. Alvarez is also the owner of Café Difference, located in Downtown.

“Most of my [employment] history is with books,” Potié said. “So the inspiration to blend both industries came very naturally.”

The blend is seamless. The decoration is minimalistic, with an impressive attention to detail. From the forest green velvet seating area to the sleek white bookshelves and marble countertop, the café is incredibly stylish. You feel as if you are at a friend’s

apartment and a coffee shop at the same time. Furthermore, the staff are all warm and welcoming, further breaking down the barriers between barista and customer. Sitting on a stool at a long counter invokes the feeling of late-night chats at a friend’s home.

“The goal of the space is to have customers feel like they were in somebody’s apartment, […] somebody’s kitchen,” Ko said.

The actual coffee is the major test for students assessing whether the café will meet their needs. The coffee roasters Café Éclair sources produce quality blends: Bows and Arrows from Victoria, British Columbia, and The Barn, roasted in Berlin.

“We chose these suppliers because the coffee is really good but also because their values align with ours and create close relationships with the farmers,” Ko said.

Instead of carrying best-selling novels, Café Éclair offers themed collections of books.

“We come up with a theme and pick a certain number of books around that theme that we think apply,” Potié said.

In their latest collection they are offering about 12 different titles, all around the theme of ‘womb to tomb.’ This theme raises concerns surrounding work, money, and capitalism, and the books touch on those ideas in many different ways. From a book

Sitting on a stool at the long counter in the café invokes the feeling of late-night chats at a friend’s home. (Sophia White / The McGill Tribune) on working honeybees and their importance for our environment; to a children’s book on how a mother’s love is unchanging whether they’re a CEO or a sex worker; this collection is curated to appeal to all audiences. Their collection includes poetry, non-fiction, fiction, children’s books, zines, with a guarantee of both French and English options.

Alvarez, Ko, and Potié have high hopes

for Café Éclair. Along with the launch of the café, they started a non-profit foundation as a way to bring the books and the ethics of their place out of the space. Through this philanthropy, they work to benefit their neighborhood and the space they occupy.

“It’s something that’s pretty important for us, not just being a commerce in this neighbourhood but trying to do more,” Potié said.

SPORTS

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 2019

15

Know Your Athlete: Dana Silerova Martlet rugby star brings optimism to all aspects of her life Zoe Babad-Palmer Contributor Martlet rugby’s thirdyear fullback Dana Silerova is certainly not one for staying in one place. Silerova, who intends to continue studying geology after she graduates in 2021, spent last semester studying abroad in Glasgow and has travelled to Nevada and France for fieldwork classes.

“I’m not quite tired of school yet, so I think I’m going to keep going until I am tired,” Silerova said.

No matter where she ends up, she is confident that rugby will remain a part of her life. In addition to the weekly skill, strategy, and conditioning practices with the Martlets, she plays on a local club team in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue over the summer and found a team to play on while in Glasgow. “[Playing in Glasgow] was a really fun way to get to know [...] people who are actually from Scotland, as opposed to just hanging out with the [other]

exchange people,” Silerova said.

Community has always been a key part of Silerova’s rugby experience, from joining her school’s team in grade nine because of friends’ encouragement to pushing herself while training with her teammates.

“It helps when you’re on the team, and you know that everyone else on the team has the same sort of [academic] stress,” Silerova said. “They’re also trying to balance everything, so sometimes we get together before practice [and] really take advantage of all the small chunks of time [we] have.”

Her teammates are a source of both camaraderie and motivation when she trains.

“I like pushing myself just to get better as a player, but I also like it when I have my teammates beside me, and it gets a bit competitive,” Silerova said. “We try to get competitive at practice so that it increases the intensity [.…]

You’re trying to beat your friend in whatever you’re doing.”

Silerova noted the competitive

aspect of McGill varsity rugby compared to the club teams she has played with.

“The varsity team is definitely more intense,” Silerova said. “It’s a much shorter season [....]

I feel like there’s definitely more pressure there. You feel like every game counts.”

Although McGill women’s rugby has not had a great deal of success in the past few years, Silerova has always been a key player. This year, she scored 15 points in their season opener against Bishop’s University on Sept. 1, earning her RSEQ Athlete of the Week award.

Silerova also takes pride in the accomplishments of the Canadian national women’s rugby team, currently ranked fourth in the world behind New Zealand, England, and France. Their recent success is encouraging North

Americans to follow rugby.

“I think a lot more people are starting to watch [rugby] and realize that it’s [...] an exciting game to watch too, a lot of hitting and fast running,” Silerova said.

With only two games left in McGill’s season, Silerova can certainly be expected to give her all to lead her team to victory.

Thirdyear fullback Dana Silerova won RSEQ Athlete of the Week after leading the Martlets to their first win in nearly two years.

(Lauren Benson-Armer / McGill Athletics)

2019 IAAF track and field World Championship preview

The world’s best track and field athletes compete in Doha, Qatar Adam Bell, Shaun Lalani, Zoe BabadPalmer, Jack Armstrong, Sarah Farnand, Adam Burton Contributors

Women’s Distance Running Canadian Gabriela DeBues-Stafford is ranked fourth in the world in the women’s 1,500m. Having medalled in four of her last five events, Debues-Stafford has a good shot at ending her season on top of the podium.

Since 1997, only Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes have won the Women’s 10,000m, and this year, they will likely stay dominant. While the two favourites are Kenya’s Hellen Obiri and Agnes Jebet Tirop, Ethiopian rising star Letesenbet Gidey may shock everyone to bring home the gold. Canadians should also keep an eye on veteran Natasha Wodak–having just set a Canadian and Pan American Games’ record this summer, she has a chance to crack the top 12.

Men’s Distance Running While track and field is usually headlined by the 100m and 200m runners, the Men’s 1,500m is a must-watch this year. Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot is the clear favourite; he will be looking to come back from a secondplace finish at the previous championships.

Cheruiyot’s time is over one-and-a-half seconds faster than the rest of the competition, but a mere half second is all that separates the next six runners. Norweigian brothers Jakob and Filip Ingebritsen, who ranked second and

fourth respectively, have both won major competitions and could stop Cheruiyot’s quest for redemption.

Women’s Sprinting Although Bahrain’s 21-year-old Salwa Eid Naser only had the second-fastest qualifying time in the women’s 400m sprint at 49.17, she will be the one to beat: She has been at the top of the rankings for the past 37 weeks and holds the Bahrain national record at 49.08 seconds.

Canadians will be cheering for 21-yearold Kyra Constantine of Toronto, who had the 18th-best qualifying time with 51.22.

Constantine is ranked 21st in the world and first in Canada.

Men’s Sprinting Canada’s chances in men’s sprinting look bright, with sprinters Aaron Brown and Andre De Grasse expected to breeze through qualification. De Grasse was Canada’s sweet surprise at the Rio 2016 Olympics, securing bronze in the 100m. After running a seasonbest of 9.97 seconds this month, De Grasse will be looking to win his first IAAF medal after missing the 2017 edition due to an injury.

Brown will also be a contender: He recorded a personal best 9.96 seconds to upset De Grasse and clinch gold at the Canadian Track and Field championships last July.

These two may well end up sharing the podium in Doha.

After winning bronze in the 2016 Olympics, Canada’s Andre De Grasse is gunning for gold in Doha, Qatar. (Canadian Olympic Committee)

Women’s Field Events The IAAF women’s field events will boast some exciting match-ups, particularly in women’s pole vaulting. Reigning world champion, Katerina Stefanidi of Greece, hit only the fifth-best overall height of the season, but is still considered a favourite for gold. Currently ranked third overall, Canada’s Alysha Newman vaulted the sixth-best overall height of the season; however, she recently set the Canadian indoor record for pole vault, putting her in contention for a medal. The height to beat this season, 4.91 metres, was set by American Jennifer Suhr, another likely contender for gold.

Men’s Field Events The clear favourite for men’s shot put coming into the IAAF Championships is New Zealander Tomas Walsh, whose ranking hasn’t fallen below the top three since the 2016 World Indoor Championship where he won a gold medal. He will, however, be challenged by Brazilian Darlan Romani and American Ryan Crouser, who have both won Olympic gold. With the competition at such a high level and a plethora of newcomers, shot put is likely to be an exciting event with a riveting outcome.

16

SPORTS

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 2019

Martlets soccer suffers 2–0 defeat against UdeM McGill women’s soccer handed first home loss of the season The team’s energy and spirit was on display as the Martlets fought hard to restore balance, putting up a strong defence against the fourth ranked team in Canada. The Martlets are undergoing a rebuild after the departure of several key starters last year, but remain optimistic about their playoff chances this season. They defeated the Sherbrooke Vert et Or (0–5–1) on Sept. 22 6–1 to show this promise. Next, the Martlets play a homecoming game against the UQAM Citadins (7–0–0) Sept. 27.

Shaun Lalani Contributor On Sept. 19 at Percival Molson Stadium, Martlet soccer (3–3–0) hosted the Université de Montréal (UdeM) Carabins (4–1–1). A goal in each half was enough to end a promising McGill two-game winning streak midway through the season.

This matchup, which has developed into a cross-city rivalry, saw yet another close match end in the Carabins’ favour. Coach Jose-Luis Valdes lamented the opportunity to defeat UdeM. “I think we played quite well,” Valdes said.

“We moved the ball around [...] and combined for some good passes. Even though [UdeM] did not have control of the ball, they capitalized on the two [to] three chances we gave them and [scored] some good goals.”

McGill started strong, testing a struggling UdeM defence on the wings. Third-year forward Hannah Todd nearly put McGill on the scoresheet with a miss-hit cross five minutes into the game, but the Carabins’ keeper recovered well to deny the Martlets a goal. The visitors then settled in, forcing plays down the right wing.

With 26 minutes gone, McGill nearly conceded the first goal of the match as a long-range shot from a Carabins midfielder bounced off the post.

Eight minutes later, UdeM put a similar shot past second-year keeper Annabelle Matysiak to take the lead. The resolute Carabins held off the McGill resurgence, and the hosts ended the first half trailing by one goal. “[Coach Valdes’s] instructions were to

MOMENT OF THE GAME Despite putting pressure on goal in the second half, the Martlets came up short and remain winless against the UdeM Carabins in their last 15 matches. (Derek Drummond / McGill Athletics)

secure more balls,” third-year forward Ariane Ducharme said. “He advised us to [...] switch flanks [and] make sure [we] unsettle them.”

The Martlets returned after the break with newfound energy, passing well in the final third as they searched for the equalizer. A defencesplitting through ball from first-year midfielder Sara Smyth in the 55th minute set up first-year forward Liliane Lefebvre with an opportunity in the box, but she was unable to convert. McGill’s offensive momentum was interrupted in the 69th minute when a defensive error left a Carabins forward with only the keeper to beat. Evrard reacted well, however, coming off her line to secure the ball. The Martlets responded two

minutes later with a dazzling run by third-year forward Giovanna Tiberio, whose shot was just wide of the goal. Tiberio was back at it again in the 79th minute with an effort that narrowly hit the post. UdeM added a late goal off another defensive lapse in the McGill backline, putting the game beyond reach for the home side.

The Martlets remain winless against the Carabins in 15 straight games dating back to 2016. Despite the loss, Valdes remained optimistic.

“On the field [...], we had three rookies and a couple of second-year players,” Valdes said. “[They have] matured well over the season [...] and combined well in the second half.”

Third-year forward Giovanna Tiberio’s mesmerizing dribble from the half line, skipping past two UdeM defenders before launching a missile toward the farpost, could have flipped the game had the ball found the back of the net.

QUOTABLE “Homecoming [...] is always emotional, but we have to remain focused. Play the 90 [minutes] and celebrate after.” - Third-year forward Ariane Ducharme on the pressures of the upcoming homecoming game.

STAT CORNER The Martlets registered four shots in the second half, putting significant pressure on the Carabins defence for 45 minutes.

Growth of international basketball on display at FIBA World Cup Fans questioning the relevance of international basketball should think again Adam Burton Contributor The 2019 FIBA World Cup concluded on Sept.

15, sending a traditionally dominant American team home with a lowly seventh-place finish. This loss came as a shock to USA Basketball and ended a 58-game winning streak dating back to 2006, leaving many fans wondering what has happened to Team USA. A lack of coaching, funding, or injuries did not sow the seed of this loss: It was an absence of elite talent. The US team featured only one NBA all-star, Kemba Walker. Team Canada suffered from a similar problem with top players like Jamal Murray and Andrew Wiggins opting out of the World Cup. While American and Canadian fans may be disappointed with the results, they, as basketball fans, should welcome this outcome as a sign of a thriving future for the sport, both internationally and in the NBA. This is not the first major slump in enthusiasm for international basketball. In 1988, Team USA suffered a devastating loss to the Soviet Union after sending only collegiate players. In response, however, the iconic 1992 “Dream Team” formed just four years later, including legends like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird. Many fondly look back on the “Dream Team,” which handily won games by an average of 40 points, as the most dominant basketball team ever.

The fact that Team USA is not effortlessly pummelling opponents any more is not a bad sign for basketball fans worldwide; it signals an era of competition worth watching. During Team USA’s historic 1992 run, there were only 26 international players in the NBA. Today, there are 118, including

top-tier talent such as 2018-19 MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. This makes for far more compelling and competitive play, both in internationally and during the NBA season.

The mass dropout from international play also reflects a change in the mentality of professional athletes. As the NBA grows, players are becoming more than just athletes, taking on roles as brand representatives and content creators. Building a brand requires an enormous amount of time and availability, but it helps athletes ensure a future after their basketball careers come to an end.

Sports science has also changed the offseason. Top NBA talent can play as many as 98 games per season, and they are finally taking the time to recover from the intense physical pressure by limiting exertion both during the regular season and the summer. For example, former Raptor Kawhi Leonard blazed a trail last season, averaging 34 minutes per game in 60 regular season games. After the Raptors’ victory, Leonard chose to opt out of summer play and rest his body, focusing instead on his long-term health. By choosing to let the offseason truly be just that, players are ensuring that, when the time comes, they can go all in to compete for a championship.

Looking at the success Leonard and other veteran stars have had on and off the court, it is understandable why young players are declining opportunities to play for their national teams, instead focusing on individual training and recovery. For players like the Denver Nuggets’ Jamal Murray, the decision to forego representing Canada at the FIBA World Cup gave him the chance to legitimately prepare to contend for a Western Conference title and protect against serious

Players like Canada’s Kevin Pangos get a chance to shine on the international stage when top NBA talent foregos FIBA play. (Graham Hughes / Canadian Press) injury.

Top NBA talent opting out also opens up the floor for lesser-known international players to shine.

Canadian fans were treated to the play of Kevin Pangos and Kyle Wiltjer, two skilled Canadian athletes who compete overseas in two of the top basketball leagues outside of North America.

While it is always fun for fans to watch their favourite athletes play and see their flags represented on the podium, it is time to look at basketball as an allyear international sport. With a return to parity in the international game, basketball fans should be excited for this new era of more competitive play.