The McGill Tribune Vol. 42 Issue 17

The McGill Tribune

Targeting

Celebrating

Turning the

Contributor

Black Hollywood—even if the Oscars won’t

lights,

PG.

camera, and action to awards shows that honour Black performances

sounds like the line-up for the next tear-jerking, mindbending, oh-she’s- acting- acting film, right? Unfortunately, not. It’s a small—and I mean SMALL—portion of the list of Black actors left out of this year’s Oscar

Know Your Athlete: Donna Ntambue

Julie Ferreyra Contributor

As the first woman to earn RSEQ player, rookie, and defensive player of the year awards all in the same season (2018-2019) during her time at Collège Montmo-

rency, athletic success is nothing new to Donna Ntambue. After two seasons abroad playing basketball for the University of Utah (2020-21) and Northeastern University (2021-22), Ntambue was finally ready to bring her talents back up north.

Braving the winter wind on a balmy -40 degree evening, Ntambue made her way to The McGill Tribune office to sit down with me and discuss her decision to return to her hometown of Montreal and transition into being a single-sport athlete.

nominations and ensuing celebration. Maybe you’ll remember the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite, which blew up in 2015—well, in typical Hollywood fashion, nearly 10 years later, we’re back for a (disappointing) sequel.

PG. 10

Three Macdonald Campus buildings closed immediately after asbestos discovered

Many classes moved online, re-located, or cancelled as a result

Shani Laskin Staff Writer

The McGill community received word from Director (Campus Public Safety) Pierre Barbarie on Jan. 31 that three Macdon-

ald Campus buildings were to be closed, effective immediately, due to the detection of asbestos in the Raymond building. All classes conducted in the Raymond, Macdonald-Stewart, or Barton buildings were either

re-located, held virtually, or cancelled. Some research personnel who needed to tend to animals, plants, or live cell cultures were allowed back into the buildings with proper personal protective equipment.

(Shireen Aamir and Maeve Reilly / The McGill Tribune)

Simi Ogunsola

Ryan Coogler. Viola Davis. Keke Palmer. This

In her first season as a single-sport athlete, Ntambue is already breaking records on the track

Three Macdonald Campus buildings closed immediately after asbestos discovered

Many

classes moved online, re-located, or cancelled as a result

Shani Laskin Staff Writer

Continued form page 1.

Asbestos—a group of naturally occurring minerals made up of microscopic fibres—was used as an insulant in many buildings built between 1930 and 1990 because of its strength and resistance to high temperatures. While asbestos is harmless if undisturbed, it can be dangerous when inhaled, causing mesothelioma, a type of cancer, and fibrotic lung disease, in the worst cases.

In a statement to The McGill Tribune , McGill media relations officer Frédérique Mazerolle noted that the university is taking this issue very seriously and is working to ensure the safety of students and staff.

“Extensive testing will be conducted over the next few days to find and isolate the source of the problem,” Mazerolle wrote. “The Macdonald-Stewart and Barton buildings, while not under construction, are being closed out of an abundance of caution while testing is conducted.”

In an update email sent on Feb. 1, Barbarie wrote that third-party testing for asbestos would prioritize the Macdonald-Stewart and Barton buildings before the Raymond building.

According to the President of the Macdonald Campus Students’ Society (MCSS), Defne Helvacioglu, the closure of these three buildings has left the campus with

only one main building—Centennial Centre—accessible to students and staff. Helvacioglu outlined the scale of the issue in an email to the Tribune

“These buildings have most of our laboratories, our only library, one of the two food resources on campus, computer labs, all offices of faculty staff, and most research labs,” Helvacioglu wrote. “Right now students do not have access to any of these facilities, they cannot perform their labs and are moved to online lectures [....] I personally know that a lot of undergraduate and graduate students’ research labs are affected by this.”

Blake Callan, U1 Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, told the Tribune that one of the primary concerns for students and staff is the disruption of labs and research.

“We are just unsure whether or not our labs will continue, as online lectures are definitely doable,” Callan said. “Life at Mac has been affected, as I cannot use the library and I like to use it, especially with midterms approaching.”

Helvacioglu said the Centennial Centre will remain open at full capacity in order to support students. She disclosed that the detection of asbestos as well as the recent closure of the only grocery store in Ste-

of alleged predatory behaviour at Redpath raise security concerns

Oscar Macquet Contributor

Content Warning: Description of

sexual harassment

Since late December, multiple posts have circulated on social media reporting that a man has been preying on women at McGill’s McLennan-Redpath Complex. Posts on r/McGill, a student-run Reddit subpage for the university, have denounced the man for soliciting multiple women students in Redpath. Various sources confirmed being approached by a man with a similar description in Redpath at different dates.

Teddy Laughton, U2 Nursing, was having lunch in the Redpath cafeteria when she was approached by a man in his late 20s who was “standing around in the cafeteria.” According to her, the man did not appear to be a McGill student.

“After making it clear that I didn’t want him to keep talking to me, a few minutes later I saw that he was talking to another group of girls, shaking their hands and I could tell that they were all

uncomfortable,” Laughton told The McGill Tribune Laughton notified the employees of Redpath Café and was assured that staff would “keep an eye on him and call security if necessary.” Yet, she recalls seeing the man in the cafeteria some 20 minutes later, and believes that he should have been removed from the premises.

Anne-Émilie Demaison, U1 Arts, also had an encounter with the man in early January, this time on the second floor of Redpath.

“I felt an insistent gaze, and whenever I would look up from my computer he would be staring at me,” Demaison said in an interview with the Tribune . “He was sitting one table across from me and had one hand constantly on his [crotch]. There were few people on the floor and I began to panic and called as many of my friends as I could for them to come and help me. I left to go to the bathroom, and when I came back to my seat I saw that he had moved to my table. I quickly gathered all my stuff and got out of there.”

Demaison says that her first reflex was to seek assistance

from her friends instead of searching for security guards who roam the floors of the Redpath and McLennan but are otherwise difficult to locate.

Demaison feels that the security presence in the library is lacking considering the entire complex has nine floors.

“It was late and there weren’t many people on the floor, so I didn’t have many options to turn to,” Demaison said. “Maybe security at the entrance of the libraries, or even signs to indicate how to contact security services in the case of an emergency could help students feel safer.”

An increased security presence would not necessarily guarantee the safety of all students. Many studies show that increased surveillance, even by campus security guards or police officers, lead to a disproportionate number of negative encounters for racialized students.

The Tribune reached out to librarians at the McLennanRedpath Complex to inquire

Anne-de-Bellevue have greatly affected student life at Macdonald campus.

“It creates frustration when things are unstable, and Ste-Anne is becoming more of a food desert and now we cannot access our main buildings where most of the academic activities happen,” Helvacioglu wrote. “We acknowledge that large-scale construction can bring unexpected situations, however, all these things are adding up.”

about the university’s student safety measures. The staff present at the time declined to comment, and referred the Tribune to the university’s communications team instead.

Fréderique Mazerolle, a McGill media relations officer, explained that the Campus Public Safety Department strives to promote a safe environment for students, faculty, and staff to work in.

“Our agents patrol the campus, manage access, transport students and staff with disabilities as well as respond to incidents and emergencies on a 24-hour basis,” Mazerolle wrote in an email to the Tribune . “Ensuring the safety

of the McGill community is our ultimate and continuous goal.”

The Tribune was unable to get a statement from the library’s security guards, whose contracts are outsourced to Garda Security Group and cannot comment on security protocols. The Campus Public Safety Department also declined to comment.

If you are concerned for your safety on campus, McGill’s security services can be reached at 514-398-3000. The Campus Public Safety department’s Night Route Maps also outline recommended routes for navigating the campus in the dark and locate emergency phones for contacting additional security.

Macdonald campus houses the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. (Kendall McGowan/ The McGill Tribune )

Reports

Students take to Reddit to share incidents, warn others

McGill has outsourced its security to Garda Security Group, one of the leading corporations in the security industry. (Liam Kirkpatrick/ The McGill Tribune )

MISC panel tackles anti-Black racism in academia and beyond Only structural change can lead to Black freedom and solidarity, say panellists

Madison McLauchlan Editor-in-Chief

The McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC) brought three McGill academics together for the “AntiBlack Racism in Canada and Beyond” panel at Centre Mont-Royal on the evening of Feb. 2. The event delved into entrenched systems of power and oppression that limit Black participation in academia and in everyday life across the country.

Hosted by Holly Cabrera, CBC journalist, BA ‘19, MIst ‘22, and former editor at The McGill Tribune, the panel featured David Austin, a course lecturer at MISC and professor at John Abbott College; Terri E. Givens, professor of political science at McGill and the Provost’s Academic Lead and Advisor on McGill’s Action Plan to Address AntiBlack Racism; and Tari Ajadi, an assistant professor of Black politics at McGill.

The sold-out hybrid event began a few minutes after 5 p.m. with an introduction and land acknowledgment by MISC director and professor of political science Daniel Béland.

Cabrera opened the panel by addressing recent examples of police brutality: The murders of Nicous D’Andre Spring, a 21-year-old Montreal man who was killed by correctional officers while illegally detained at Bordeaux Prison in Montreal, and Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old man who was killed by five Black police officers in Memphis, Tennessee.

“You’ll recall that many have referred to 2020 as a moment of racial reckoning—and since police murdered George Floyd, we’ve seen more beatings, more book clubs, and more backlash,” Cabrera said. “So it bears repeating: Anti-Black racism has existed for centuries, and Black people continue to resist it.”

Austin added that defining the capitalist roots of antiBlack racism is crucial if we are to dismantle it. All panellists were clear on the historical connection between capitalism and the subjugation of Black people—from the transatlantic slave trade to mass incarceration.

“I really believe change cannot come about until we all are willing to have that vulnerability and say, I am a part of this system,” Givens said. “Nobody wants to admit that they are part of a racist system, but we are [...], and that it’s [...] part of the structures of white supremacy that are built into the system of capitalism that we live in today.”

Next, Cabrera broached the question of performativity in institutional equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) initiatives. Though EDI initiatives seek to increase the representation of people of colour within organizations, Ajadi explained, they cannot change what an organization was originally conceived to do.

“EDI is a tool of management, it helps you to make your organizations better. That’s not liberation,” Ajadi said. “Right? That’s not what structural change looks like. To me, it looks like changing the organization so that the organization achieves its goals in a more efficient or effective way.”

When Cabrera asked whether the institution of policing is salvageable, the panellists agreed that reform efforts have not gone nearly far enough.

“As the author of a report on defunding the police, you can imagine what my response is,” Ajadi quipped. “But I’d rather flip the question—what does policing do well?”

Austin pointed to policing as a prime example of how largescale structural change is needed to address institutionalized racism.

“That’s the only way we can actually understand what happened in Memphis,” Austin said. “We’re talking about structural power, and how even with the representation of more Black faces in high places, the structures of power are not transformed.”

At McGill, there were 14 Black tenure or tenure-track faculty members out of approximately 1,800 in 2021. McGill pledged to increase this number to 40 by 2025, and 85 by 2032. Over the past two years, 28 Black tenured or tenure-track professors were appointed. Black students make up 4.6 per cent of the student body according to the Student Demographic Survey.

“I think people want to say, ‘Oh, we’ve made progress [....] We’ve done enough for Black students at McGill,’” Givens said. “The point is: Have we created an environment where students want to come to McGill, where Black faculty feel like they belong and can thrive and flourish? Have we created an environment that makes McGill look like a place people want to be, period?”

McGill announces creation of postvention framework during Quebec

Suicide Prevention Week

Document not yet available to students while undergoing community consultations

Madison Edward-Wright Managing Editor

Content warning: Mention of suicide

On Feb. 7, McGill will hold its first community consultation regarding a suicide postvention plan that has been in the works since a need was first identified in 2019. The postvention plan is one third of a larger project designed to address suicide on campus. McGill is updating the community on the status of the framework during Suicide Prevention Week in Quebec— the week of Feb. 5 to 11. The Association québécoise de prévention du suicide first launched the awareness week 33 years ago and has held it every year since.

The postvention component, which details the procedures McGill will follow after the death of a student by suicide, will eventually be accompanied by prevention and intervention frameworks. According to Melissa Lutchman, McGill’s crisis intervention and suicide prevention specialist, the postvention plan was developed first because it was identified as the largest gap in suiciderelated services at the university.

“It’s also the largest gap for many universities across Canada,” Lutchman said in an interview with The McGill Tribune . “With student consultations, and faculty, and staff, [we learned] what the needs were around postvention, [like] knowing how to talk about suicide, knowing what to do when a student returns from a suicide attempt. What do you say? What do you not say when a student dies by suicide? What does McGill do?”

Currently, McGill is not equipped to help students experiencing a mental health crisis. McGill recommends that students go to a hospital or call Suicide Action Montreal in case of emergencies. For students not in a crisis but still experiencing difficulty, ODoS provides case

managers who are trained to guide students and facilitate access to care, whether that is at the Wellness Hub or an external clinic.

The postvention framework will not be immediately accessible to the student population, says Maya WillardStepan, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) mental health commissioner. She told the Tribune that the plan’s delayed public release is because the Students’ Suicide Prevention Framework Committee will be holding community consultations to ensure the document can properly serve students.

“The other really important part [is] making it readable [and] ultimately smooth on the other side of things, [and] transparency around these protocols is going to be very important,” Willard-Stepan said. “We want to produce something that is safe to put out and accurate and true and that the community can take comfortably”

Lutchman was recently hired by McGill to work fulltime in order to complete the three-pronged framework in a timely manner—she was initially hired on contract. Before coming to McGill, Lutchman spent 18 years working at Suicide Action Montreal and Talk Suicide Canada, formerly known as Crisis Services Canada. Her expertise in the field and deep knowledge of crisis care have allowed her to ensure the larger framework project focuses on suicide rather than general mental health care.

“There is a lot to say about not confounding mental health with suicide,” Lutchman explained. “Although there [are] a lot of people with mental health diagnoses who die by suicide, there are a lot who don’t. When you confound the two, you contribute to stigma and labelling.”

Stigma surrounding suicide is something first-year nursing student Madeline Dumouchel has come across in her time both in John Abbott College’s nursing program and at McGill. Dumouchel believes that destigmatizing suicide is crucial and something McGill should continue

Data shows that in Quebec, approximately 10 people are hospitalized per day for reasons associated with suicide—a total of more than 3,600 per year. (mcgill.ca )

working toward.

“Having [an] open discussion can save [the] lives of others who are afraid to speak up and feel lost or alone,” Dumouchel wrote in a statement to the Tribune . “The university should be very involved in times of crisis, as many students rely on their school for support and access to resources [because] crises can impact students’ academic performance, their life at school and at home [....] Some individuals [...] may feel like school is their safe place and comfort zone.”

The African Studies major at McGill is offered through the Institute of Islamic Studies. (Joni Dufour)

SSMU BoD debates motions about campus safety app and trans students’ rights on campus

Two motions passed unanimously, third tabled for future

Adeline Fisher Staff Writer

The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU)’s Board of Directors (BoD) met via Zoom on Feb. 2 to vote on four motions, including two awaiting ratification that had previously been approved by SSMU’s Legislative Council.

Kerry Yang, SSMU vice-president (VP) University Affairs, presented the BoD with a motion regarding the creation of a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with HAVEN—a campus safety app—for a trial period until April 2023. In instances of sexual harassment or assault, the app provides users with a quick and accessible way to call for help. Pushing the emergency button once sends a customized text message to the user’s designated contacts, pressing it twice sends the same message as a voicemail, and pressing it three times calls either campus police or 911, depending on whether the user is located on or off campus.

Some BoD members are concerned about the potential legal risks of HAVEN, specifically a breach of privacy laws, that SSMU could incur as a result of the app’s geo-tracking capabilities. Benson Wan, a Legislative Council Representative on the BoD, is apprehensive of the security and privacy risks students may face if they use the service.

“On the one hand, I think that this is conceptually a good application to offer to students for them to opt into,” Wan said. “However, I think there are some concerns with

regard to the logistics of how this would be rolled out. I think there might be some security concerns, data concerns, et cetera. They are not very strong concerns, but I think they do exist.”

Other board members echoed Wan’s worries, including SSMU VP Student Life Hassanatou Koulibaly. She pointed out that SSMU may face legal repercussions should the Society choose to sign the MoA, which was also referred to as a “memorandum of understanding,” with HAVEN.

“I think that in introducing something to our student body we are inherently endorsing it, whether it is free or not,” Koulibaly said. “So there would be some liability that would come to [SSMU] from that.”

The motion was ultimately tabled until the next BoD meeting.

The following item on the agenda was a motion to have McGill divest from companies complicit in the ongoing Uyghur genocide, which was adopted at the Jan. 19 Legislative Council meeting. After a brief discussion, the motion was unanimously ratified and adopted by the BoD.

The final item on the agenda was a motion to support trans students’ rights on campus, in response to the controversial event titled “Sex vs. Gender (Identity) Debate” hosted by McGill’s Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism (CHRLP) on Jan. 10. The motion noted the transphobic nature of the debate and asserted that such an event endangers McGill’s transgender community by setting a precedent for the platforming of transphobic rhetoric at the university.

SSMU VP External Val Masny explained what SSMU hopes to accomplish should the motion pass, noting that they “put forward this motion so that SSMU can adopt a future policy that will be comprehensive of the students’ needs and rights in terms of advocacy.”

The motion faced opposition from board members, including SSMU President Risann Wright, who expressed concern that SSMU could face accusations of defamation as a result of directly naming the event’s key speaker, a professor of human rights law at King’s College London. The motion was ratified, with five votes in

The motion to approve a $23,160.50 budget for purchasing period underwear passed unanimously. (Brian Schatteman/ The McGill Tribune)

MOMENT OF THE MEETING

Legislative Council Representative Benson Wan, along with SSMU President Risann Wright and others, expressed their unease about supporting the motion on the rights of trans students, remarking that SSMU may not properly understand the potential legal ramifications of naming the debate’s speaker. Wan suggested that SSMU seek professional legal advice before adopting the motion.

SOUND BITE

“If we do implement HAVEN as an app, and students do like it [...] but we decide it won’t be particularly useful for students and thus decide not to move forward with having HAVEN be part of campus, there might be some backlash [....] We need to make it very clear to students that it is a trial run and not something that is permanent.”

— SSMU VP University Affairs Kerry Yang on the HAVEN free trial

Tribune Explains: McGill’s whistleblowing policy

Oscar Johnson Contributor

McGill’s Policy on Safe Disclosure allows individuals to confidentially report misconduct or abuse of power at the university without fear of reprisal—a practice generally known as whistleblowing. The policy was created in 2007 and is a last resort for students when other university mechanisms have failed or are unable to address “improper activity.” The McGill Tribune looked into the whistleblowing policy, how it works, and how to use it.

How does someone use the Policy on Safe Disclosure and what is “improper activity”?

Any member of the McGill community can submit a report if they suspect “improper activity” on campus. The person reporting improper activity is called the “discloser” and the person being accused is called the“respondent.” The policy identifies three types of improper activity: Academic misconduct, which is the “failure to perform academic duties, improper use of confidential academic material,” or “misrepresentation of material facts”; financial misconduct, or the “misappropriation or misuse of funds or property that belong the university”; and research misconduct, or “fabrication, falsification, plagiarism,” and other serious breaches of protocol specific to research being

conducted. Reports through the policy are submitted to the secretary-general of McGill.

Reports should include as much information as possible about the respondent’s alleged improper activity. Only university employees, appointees, and volunteers or those serving in positions on boards of affiliated organizations, or bodies created by such a board, are subject to the policy. A student cannot be the target of a report unless they are also part of an aforementioned university body.

After a report is submitted to the secretarygeneral, an investigation is opened.

How is an investigation conducted?

The secretary-general will send the report to an officer that specializes in incidents similar to the one reported. For academic misconduct, the provost oversees investigations; for financial misconduct, it is the executive director of internal audit at McGill; and for research misconduct, it is the research integrity officer. The appropriate officer has 15 working days to determine if the case was reported in good faith, falls within the scope of the policy, and necessitates further investigation.

When appropriate, an investigator will evaluate the allegations and deliver conclusions within 30 days. Before a final decision is reached, the respondent will be informed of the allegations against them and have 10 working days to respond. None of the information

collected is revealed to the general public; however, the involvement of the police or a granting agency can break this high level of confidentiality.

During an investigation, a respondent has the right to an unpaid advisor to help them navigate the situation. An advisor is an unpaid member of the university who has agreed to help out the respondent.

When should one submit a report?

A person should only whistleblow after having tried to report an incident through other means or if these other means are not suitable under the circumstances.

When submitting a report through the policy, one should have reasonable grounds to believe that abuse has occurred. When a report is deemed as not being “in good faith” by the responsible officer, the person filing the report can be subject to disciplinary repercussions.

If the respondent is found innocent, they will face no consequences, although the university will take measures to protect the respondent’s privacy and reputation. If the respondent is found guilty, they will be subject to disciplinary action “in accordance with the relevant regulations, policies, or collective agreements.”

How frequently is the policy used?

According to McGill’s most recent report on their safe disclosure policy, it is not widely used. Since 2019, there have been three total reports, one each year. Two of the reports have found the respondent guilty. No one filed a report through the policy for the first five years of its existence.

McGill’s Policy on Safe Disclosure allows for confidential reporting of suspected ‘improper activity’

The motion to approve a $23,160.50 budget for purchasing period underwear passed unanimously. (Brian Schatteman/ The McGill Tribune)

T EDITORIAL BOARD

Editor-in-Chief Madison McLauchlan editor@mcgilltribune.com

Creative Director Anoushka Oke aoke@mcgilltribune.com

Managing Editors Sepideh Afshar safshar@mcgilltribune.com Matthew Molinaro mmolinaro@mcgilltribune.com Madison Edward-Wright medwardwright@mcgilltribune.com

News Editors Lily Cason, Juliet Morrison & Ghazal Azizi news@mcgilltribune.com

Opinion Editors Kareem Abuali, Leo Larman Brown & Chloé Kichenane opinion@mcgilltribune.com

Science & Technology Editors Ella Paulin & Russel Ismael scitech@mcgilltribune.com

Student Life Editors Abby McCormick & Mahnoor Chaudhry studentlife@mcgilltribune.com

Features Editor Wendy Zhao features@mcgilltribune.com

Arts & Entertainment Editors Arian Kamel & Michelle Siegel arts@mcgilltribune.com

Sports Editors Tillie Burlock & Sarah Farnand sports@mcgilltribune.com

Design Editors Drea Garcia & Shireen Aamir design@mcgilltribune.com

Photo Editor Cameron Flanagan photo@mcgilltribune.com

Multimedia Editors Noor Saeed & Alyssa Razavi Mastali multimedia@mcgilltribune.com

Web Developers Jiajia Li & Oliver Warne webdev@mcgilltribune.com

Copy Editor Sarina Macleod copy@mcgilltribune.com

Social Media Editor Taneeshaa Pradhan socialmedia@mcgilltribune.com

Business Manager Joseph Abounohra business@mcgilltribune.com

Targeting Elghawaby is a bigoted political play

The McGill Tribune Editorial Board

On Jan. 26, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed Amira Elghawaby as the country’s first federal representative on combating Islamophobia. Within mere days of her appointment, various politicians and Members of Parliament began calling for the resignation of the Canadian journalist, communications professional, and human rights activist.

Elghawaby was accused of promoting “anti-Quebec sentiment” for a column she co-authored in 2019 in which she argued that Quebec supporters of Bill 21 are swayed by Islamophobia. Calls for her resignation came less than a day after Elghawaby gathered with politicians and relatives of victims to mark the anniversary of the 2017 Quebec City mosque attack, an event which Legault chose not to attend.

Conservative and Quebec nationalist political leadership have resorted to bullying Elghawaby because they are threatened by the position she occupies in the federal government.

Leaders of the Conservative Party of Canada, Bloc Québécois,

OFF THE BOARD

Ghazal Azizi News Editor

and Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec targeted Elghawaby for daring to criticize the racism ingrained in Quebec society. Enacted in 2019, Bill 21 bans public servants from wearing religious symbols, such as hijabs, while working. Elghawaby wrote that the “majority of Quebecers appeared to be swayed not by the rule of law, but by antiMuslim sentiment,” as supported by a survey showing that deeplyrooted Islamophobia was the primary motivator behind support of the bill. The Léger poll found that of those who had negative feelings about Islam, approximately 88 per cent supported a ban on public school teachers wearing religious garments. Elghawaby also rightfully argued that legislation such as Bill 21 has served as a means of justifying and institutionalizing bigotry. Between 2020 and 2021, the number of police-reported anti-Muslim hate crimes in Canada increased by 71 per cent, making Elghawaby’s concerns just as relevant at the onset of the legislation as they are now.

Backlash against Elghawaby’s appointment demonstrates the ulterior political interests of opposition leadership in establishing party solidarity and rallying voter support.

Members of the Conservative Party, including its leader, Pierre Poilievre, have even publicly opposed Bill 21 and argued that it infringes on people’s freedom. This suggests that their opposition to Elghawaby is primarily a play to appeal to Quebec voters. The bill is cloaked in rhetoric pandering to nationalistic anti-immigrant Quebecers, and criticism of Elghawaby is being instrumentalized to win the favour of this voter base.

Legault manipulated Elghawaby’s comments, framing them as motivated by contempt towards the province, in order to champion Quebec nationalism. After a meeting with Elghawaby on Feb. 1, during which she apologized for her comments, Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet rejected her apology and called for the removal of the position entirely. The refusal to acknowledge the growing Islamophobic sentiment across Canada, as well as the need for a representative dedicated to fighting it, demonstrates Canadian politicians’ weaponized ignorance. The immediate outrage suggests that it is not just Elghawaby that Quebec politicians are virulently against, but rather the new federal position itself.

Akin to the targeting of Elghawaby, on Feb. 2, Representative Ilhan Omar was ousted from the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Republican-led House for comments critiquing the United States’ support of Israel. This follows a slew of Islamophobic remarks from other congresspeople. The congresswoman was the first member of the U.S. Congress to wear a hijab, which was forbidden until her appointment. In 2021, Omar introduced and passed a bill that would establish a special envoy to combat international Islamophobia. Both Elghawaby and Omar are trailblazing Muslim women of colour and embody targeted minorities within their respective political institutions. The backlash they have each faced are racist attacks by rightwing leadership that feels entitled to define Islamophobia without ever seeking to dismantle it.

The response to Elghawaby’s appointment demonstrates Quebec’s dominant political ideology of exclusion and nationalism. Calls for Elghawaby’s resignation must end, and Quebec residents must pressure the province’s current political leadership to support her—not demonize her.

Stop skirting around the clitoris

before letting me freestyle. The goal is to please your customized clitoris by responding to the avatar’s visual and vocal feedback.

mention of the clitoris.

Joseph Abounohra, Kareem Abuali, Yasmine El Dukar, Ella Gomes, Sequoia Kim, Shani Laskin, Kennedy McKee-Braide, Madison McLauchlan, Michelle Siegel, Sophie Smith

STAFF

Margo Berthier, Ella Buckingham, Melissa Carter, Adeline Fisher, Suzanna Graham, Jasjot Grewal, Charlotte Hayes, Monique Kasonga, Shani Laskin, Zoé Mineret, Harry North, Atticus O’Rourke Rusin, Ella Paulin, Dana Prather, Maeve Reilly, Sofia Stankovic, Harrison Yamada, Yash Zodgekar

CONTRIBUTORS

Jack Armstrong, Ali Baghirov, Shadman Chowdhury, Ann Derham, Julie Ferreyra, Ella Gomes, Oscar Johnson, Titouan Le Ster, Oscar Macquet, Amalia Mairet, Sophia Micomonaco, Zoé Mineret, Simi Ogunsola, Ella Paulin, Maia Salhofer, Ilia Shareghi-Ghareman, Theodore Yohalem Shouse

TPS BOARD OF DIRECTORS TRIBUNE OFFICE

Shatner University Centre, 3480 McTavish, Suite 110 Montreal, QC H3A 0E7 - T: 519.546.8263

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.

Content Warning: Mention of sexual violence

Against a red background, my mobile browser welcomes a vibrating text box that reads “clit-me.” Clicking on the arrows to view the next page, I see a fluffy white avatar that I’m instructed to customize: A clitoris. I choose a wide-eyed smiley face, a bobble hat, and wavy pubes. The game then teaches me five moves—caressing, making circles, pinching, patting, and multi-tapping—

Clit Me is the product of eight l’Université du Québec à Montréal students’ collaboration with the National Film Board’s Digital Studio in Montreal. It was launched in 2019 to demystify female sexual satisfaction and, more specifically, the clitoris. A less important motive, I like to believe, was to give me something to make people uncomfortable with. I admit some of the sound effects make me uneasy, too, but everything else about the game strikes the perfect balance between educational and whimsical. Yet, learning about Clit Me was accompanied by the realization that the clitoris is an offensive word to the majority—two fresh discoveries for 16-year-old me.

Giselle Portenier, the co-founder of the End Female Genital Mutilation/ Cutting (FGM/C) Canada Network, introduced me to the mobile game. I joined the Network to raise awareness about the practice of altering and injuring young girls’ and women’s genitalia for non-medical reasons. As I campaigned across Vancouver’s hotspots, I soon realized that even some women would walk away at the

As disappointing as witnessing people dismiss female anatomy is, their disregard is far from shocking. Science has always been more interested in the penis than the clitoris. The first known count of clitoral tissue, released in October 2022, revealed that the clitoris is home to 10, 281 nerve fibres. Previously, the scientific community estimated there were 8,000 nerve endings—based on a 1976 study on cows.

With the historical absence of women in the medical field, the clitoris has been neglected. Which dinosaur has never been discovered? The Clitoraus, we joke. Its mystery is due to male scientists’ audacity to omit it from the 1948 edition of Gray’s Anatomy, a landmark anatomical guide, while rushing to name female body parts after themselves. Ernest Gräfenberg planted a flag on the G-Spot, even though the erogenous area may be nonexistent!

The medical field’s bias has plagued the rest of our society, too.

The promotional film for Clit Me, titled //Draw Me a Penis//, humorously shows that we are more informed and comfortable with male genitalia than female genitalia. Doodles of penises, penis-shaped toys, and cookies are embraced, whereas the shape of the

clitoris is unknown to many. Most still do not know that the visible “peasized” part of the clitoris is only 10 per cent of the organ. A plush toy of the clitoris would be seen as vulgar, and even mentioning the clitoris often results in censorship. Even worse, only a few provinces in Canada include the clitoris in their sexual-education curricula.

Breaking the massive taboo surrounding the clitoris can be an end in itself, but openly talking about the clitoris is also a means for fighting against human rights violations like FGC. There are nearly four billion people with a clitoris in the world, and at least 200 million of them today have undergone some form of FGC. Despite its prevalence, research and care for survivors is alarmingly low. Those who practice FGC may believe that an uncut clitoris will grow into a penis, hinder fertility, or is unhygienic. Silencing our mentions of the clitoris only perpetuates those vilifying myths and the disregard that shapes medical science and our societies today. To support survivors and to protect the over four million women and girls at risk of losing their autonomy, we must openly and freely talk about female anatomy. Stop beating around the bush and call it the clitoris.

McGill must cut ties with Chinese defence research

Theodore Yohalem Shouse Contributor

On Jan. 30, The Globe and Mail reported that top Canadian universities, including McGill, have been conducting joint research with scientists at China’s National University of Defense Technology (NUDT)—a military research institution run by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). As Beijing is rapidly developing its military capabilities, strengthening ties with Russia, threatening the sovereignty of Taiwan, and militarizing the South China Sea, this is no time to be collaborating with its top military scientists.

The University of Toronto, Waterloo, and McGill are among the 10 universities that published the most joint papers with researchers at universities associated with China’s military. Some of these papers focus on the development of technologies in areas relevant to defence, such as photonics and quantum cryptography. Many of the Canadian researchers’ collaborators at NUDT are experts in missile performance and guidance systems and automated surveillance. The United States blacklisted NUDT in 2015 due to concerns that it was involved in activities contrary to national security interests.

The sharing and development of technology relevant to defence with China’s

premier military research institution threaten Canada and its allies’ security. NUDT is under the direct control of China’s Central Military Commission, and President Xi Jinping himself praised it as a source of highquality military technology and personnel. Though researchers may not realize it, the primary purpose of NUDT is to strengthen the Chinese military, and their collaboration with the institution could have serious national security implications if tensions between the countries were to flare. The Canadian Security Intelligence Agency has warned that, due to China’s new strategy of fusing military and civilian research, any joint Canadian research targeted by the CCP may contribute to China’s military modernization.

Some have argued that collaboration with foreign universities advances science globally and should be allowed on the premise of academic freedom. After all, joint research is published in widely available peer-reviewed academic journals. But even if we disregard this research’s impact on international security, there are plenty of ethical reasons to cut ties with the CCP and its military.

Xi Jinping is the authoritarian leader of the CCP and the Chinese state. Under his leadership, the CCP allows no political freedom and uses intimidation and surveillance to tightly control Chinese society. The Students’ Society of McGill University raised alarm about the CCP’s genocide of Uyghurs and demanded that McGill divest from companies that produce surveillance technology for the CCP and

McGill needs a complete summer term

Kareem Abuali Opinion Editor

Registration for the summer term at McGill is set to open in a few weeks.

As it stands, McGill students can only take two courses per summer session, or 12 total credits, over the four summer months, and are usually provided with relatively few class options.

This system, however, is based on outdated academic norms that do not adequately meet student needs. Providing a complete, wellrounded summer semester would enable greater flexibility for students and researchers in their academic careers and would make more efficient use of university facilities and resources.

The McGill administration has already hinted at making the transition toward having a full summer term. The Working Group on New Programs of Academic Program Delivery, a sub-committee of the Provost’s Office, indicated that the current academic calendar might not be the best way to further integrate online learning and accommodate the university’s credit system, programs, and activities. The working group’s final plan was set to be submitted to the Provost and Vice Principal (Academic) by the end of last semester, but the student community has yet to receive any updates.

In North America, the emphasis on long summer breaks is part of an outdated

yet culturally significant system from over 200 years ago. Schools and universities saw higher rates of truancy over the summer when air conditioners hadn’t yet been invented and seasonal epidemics were prevalent. Additionally, school calendars were initially shaped by the needs of rural and agrarian communities where the help of children was necessary for harvesting. Since then, the summer vacation has established itself as a cultural staple of North American family life and an essential component of the consumer economy. Naturally, to students in today’s context, the structure of the academic calendar may seem quite arbitrary.

A three-semester academic calendar would integrate a complete new summer term that offers the same course load and range as the Fall and Winter semesters. The 120-credit requirement often forces students to compromise on courses of interest to finish their degrees on time. Further, a shortage of learning spaces on campus suggests that McGill’s infrastructural capacity is not meeting the needs of its undergraduate students. A three-semester system would accommodate a greater number of students by spreading full-time student enrollment throughout the year that would help create more space—without compromising on matters of class size and quality. This could allow for more efficient use of university infrastructure as it ensures the continuous presence of students and lecturers on campus. Additionally, a full summer semester would

afford students greater flexibility with workstudy programs, seasonal work, and internships offered during the winter months.

Faculty guidelines assert an expectation that professors dedicate at least 50 per cent of their work time to research-related activities. This makes it more difficult for professors to teach during the summer, with graduate students stepping in to provide teaching relief for such positions. Student concerns suggest that while the current system provides more opportunities for graduate funding, it demands a lot from inexperienced teachers approaching intensive courses in an increasingly remote pedagogical environment. These policies may be responsible for substandard instruction quality and shortages of qualified teachers for

profit from Uyghur forced labour. While this sends a strong message that the McGill student community condemns the CCP, the evidence is mixed on divestment, with many studies finding that it has no effect on the stock price of the offending companies. One way McGill could truly demonstrate its commitment to human rights would be to cut ties with NUDT, as it is directly controlled by the CCP.

Canadian universities have defended the practice of cooperating with Chinese military scientists by citing Ottawa’s lack of guidance on the issue. Thankfully, Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced on Thursday that stricter guidelines for joint research with foreign universities were in the works, though he cautioned that the federal government had limited influence over Canadian universities since they fall under provincial jurisdiction. Under the current regulations, federal funding for “higher-risk” research partnerships is subject to a national security review. Nonetheless, Canadian universities continue to work with NUDT and receive funding from China—money which is not subject to review by Canadian security agencies.

McGill shouldn’t need Parliament to tell it what is ethical and what is not. Any collaboration with China’s top military university raises national security risks and necessarily condones the CCP’s human rights violations. McGill should cut ties with NUDT and increase transparency about the political implications of its joint research going forward.

McGill’s summer terms. If the university plans to seriously rethink its strategic development, it must address the parameters that prioritize its research outputs and limit the course load of faculty members.

McGill’s current academic calendar, therefore, does not accommodate the needs of its students. The university must seriously consider instituting a complete summer semester to provide both students and faculty with greater flexibility. The pandemic has forced our education systems to undergo a transformation. As we adjust to a postpandemic world, McGill’s gears are slowly grinding to a halt, and we mustn’t let the momentum of positive change in methods of academic delivery die out.

Since 2017, McGill researchers have published 25 papers with scientists at China’s National University of Defense Technology (NUDT).

Many universities, such as Dartmouth, follow a quarter system whereby students can take a full course load worth of summer classes. (McGill University)

transports McGill to a night of

AUTS in-person theatre makes a provocative return

Amalia Mairet Contributor

Hair is a famously controversial musical. Delving into the hippie counterculture movement of the 1960s, the show covers antiwar tensions in the U.S., draft dodging, the sexual revolution, and pretty much every drug in the book. Now, this raunchy production has been brought to life in Moyse Hall by a cast and crew from across the Montreal community, including many Concordia students and McGill alumni.

The show follows a group of New York hippies protesting conscription to the Vietnam War. Observations of the free love movement drive the rock musical’s storyline. Nearly plotless, the show tracks the bizarre, complex relationships between characters navigating this cultural moment.

The performance opens with perhaps my favourite number, the famous “Age of Aquarius,” with stunning lead vocals by Ronny (Sarah Rodricks). The audience is then shockingly, unceremoniously transported into the world of Hair by Berger (Julien DaSilva). He traipses around the stage, performs a musical number, and moons the

audience at several points, sporting a criminally saggy pair of underwear emblazoned with the phrase “Make Love Not War.” DaSilva’s uninhibited, manic energy drives the show. His counterpart, Claude (Milo Chaveau), represents another side of the hippie movement and imbues the performance with his character’s pensive coolness.

Davis Dewan, U1 Arts, gives a spectacular performance as the starry-eyed political activist Sheila, with several memorable vocal interludes. Riley Wilson plays a hilarious, Phoebe Buffay–esque Jeanie; she is massively pregnant with the child of an unnamed “speed freak,” and deeply enamoured with Claude for the entirety of the production. Sean Ryan portrays a very lively and eccentric Woof, who frequently professes a profound and celestial love for Mick Jagger.

Other standout performances include Éléonore Crépin and Duncan Bain as Claude’s uptight parents. And let’s not forget Noa Irene, who plays Margaret Mead, the tourist whose earnest, playful performance and incredible high notes brought the audience to instant applause.

The show’s costuming is one of its greatest triumphs, with

design by Myriam Olivier and Sienna Edwards, both U3 Arts. Each character is barefoot, decked in gorgeous vintage pieces, or decidedly bare-skinned (Berger, with his proclivity for undressing throughout, wears only a leather fringe vest and a pair of jeans). Note the star motif throughout the production that creates a cohesive look for the cast, either cleverly selected from thrift store offerings or patched to match. Olivier is also responsible for a deeply strange, lumpy, alien puppet with lamplike eyes, which appears periodically throughout the show—to the audience’s delight.

Océanie Renaud’s choreography strikingly develops the show’s brilliance. She combines loose, groovy movements, impressive tricks and lifts, some shocking physical comedy, and depraved sexual innuendos, ultimately creating a dynamic visual performance. Her vision comes to life through featured dancers Emanuelle Ranger, Julia Pye, Abbie O’Hara, and Julia Santarella, as well as the entirety of the Hair tribe.

The show’s strongly antiestablishment, anti-authoritarian, and entirely unrepressed message

nonsensical fun

seems peculiar for the sometimesuptight McGill crowd. Director Abi Sanie clearly attempted to adapt the show for a modern audience. She prioritized a diverse cast and removed specific numbers to ensure that all characterizations remained comfortable and appropriate.

But Sanie did not sanitize the script entirely, so several lines have a significant woke-for-the-60s-butnot-anymore feel (i.e. the song about the sixteen-year-old virgin, and another that references races using colours). While this carries a certain distaste, it also correctly represents Hair’s position as a historically progressive, vulgar, unrelenting

representation of counterculture— one that has become dated over time. Sanie maintained the musical’s characteristic obscenity, refusing to alter the frequent references to sex and drugs. The message is political, but also silly and fun, delighting in its own whimsy and nonsense.

Altogether, the cast and crew at AUTS have done a fantastic job with a production as entertaining as it is offbeat, complete with wonderful musical and dance interludes.

Hair ran from McGill’s Moyse Hall from Feb 2-4. Read more about the cast, crew, and orchestra at the AUTS website.

‘Ithacan Idol Presents: The Odyssey’ vibrantly reimagines the classic tale

McGill Classics Play subverts any single interpretation

Ella Gomes Contributor

On Feb. 2, audiences at Théâtre Sainte-Catherine attended the opening night of Ithacan Idol Presents: The Odyssey , this year’s rendition of the McGill Classics Play. Since 2011, the McGill Classics Play program has showcased annual student-led English performances of ancient Greek and Latin texts, in addition to offering public lectures from guest speakers and free workshops for the community.

In 2023’s installment of the theatrical tradition, directors Audrey Michel and Emma Weiser adapted the classic Greek epic The Odyssey into a spunky, fun, and subversive game show that asks, “Who is Odysseus?”

Set amid Odysseus’s (Gabrielle Gaston, U3 Arts) travels away from home, the play centres around his loving wife, Penelope’s (Fiona Vail, U3 Arts) staging of the Ithacan Idol: A competition in which contestants perform their own renditions of Odysseus’s story to prove who knows the epic hero best. The show’s openended nature allows every contestant to shine in their own unique ways, each showing off a different school of thought used to dissect The Odyssey throughout history.

From the Victorian era to modern fan fiction, the cast is replete with colourful caricatures of each method. Percy (El Bush, U2 Arts) proclaims the heroism of both Odysseus and football. Mabel (Zeynep Alsancak, U2 Science) taps into the artistic sensuality of his adulterous affairs, much to Penelope’s chagrin. Charlie (Charlie Gagnon, U2 Arts) expresses the beauty in the epic hero’s humanity. Lexi (Maddie Butler, U3 Arts) retells Circe’s side of the story with heaps of confidence and an affinity for self-promotion. Lastly, Georgie (Théa Sebaaly, U0 Arts) critiques Odysseus’s colonial impact.

As the contestants repeatedly argue over which perspective is correct, each interpretation’s strengths and shortcomings come to light. While Charlie protests a critique of Odysseus that denies him the ability to make mistakes, Georgie counters by pointing out his disturbing treatment of Polyphemus (Théa Sebaaly, U0 Arts) that mirrors settler colonialism. Among important debates about interpreting historical figures with a modern sensibility, audiences are treated to hilarious bits and quips, including Lexi’s references to online culture and the reimagination of Odysseus’s crew as a gaggle of frat boys. In a post-show talkback, Michel explained the intent behind the decision to balance each perspective.

“I think what was very important to us is not putting one reception of the Odyssey above the others, in a sense,” Michel said. “All are important, and all are important to see together, but also, all are incomplete.”

Penelope stands as the character with perhaps the most complete story arc. While many of the contestants remain somewhat tied to the caricatured qualities of their era’s interpretation style, Penelope’s upbeat, confident demeanour noticeably fades over the course of the two acts as Odysseus’ flaws are put on full display. Michel and Weiser focused significantly on Penelope’s development, which culminates in an effective emotional monologue that showcases the Ithacan queen in a raw, vulnerable light.

When discussing their motivation to dissect The Odyssey in this year’s performance during the play’s talkback, Weiser expressed a

feeling of being “haunted” by Odysseus: “He has been interpreted and reinterpreted so many times throughout literary history that we just knew we wanted to do something to kind of showcase that slipperiness of his.”

The play’s centring of Penelope and its highlighting of The Odyssey ’s various interpretations cleverly produces an introspective on the work’s long history of reception and adaptation. Complete with eccentric personas, clever reimaginations of supporting characters, and well-written monologues, Ithacan Idol Presents: The Odyssey provides a unique educational deep-dive into an iconic hero.

Ithacan Idol Presents: The Odyssey will complete its final performances on Feb. 9 and 10 at the Théâtre Sainte-Catherine, both at 7 p.m. Tickets are available online. On Feb. 10, at 2:30 p.m., the accompanying McGill Classics Play Talk will take place in Leacock 808.

‘Hair’

drug-fuelled,

Hair’ was one of the first depictions of bisexuality, interracial relationships, and non-monogamy on the Broadway stage (The Arts Undergraduate Theatre Society)

This year’s McGill Classics Play, ‘Ithacan Idol Presents: The Odyssey,’ offers colourful characters, creative reimaginations, and a spunky spirit. (McGill Classics Play)

I was nine years old when I first decided to go to synagogue with my grandfather. Every Saturday, I would sit on my couch, looking out the window onto the driveway, waiting for Zaidy Ell to pick me up in his grey minivan at 9:30 a.m.

I began this weekly tradition after accompanying my family for the year of mourning for the passing of my grandmother, Bubby Shirl. I enjoyed spending the time with Zaidy Ell, and I wanted to see if religion would speak to me, resonate with me in a way that it hadn’t with the rest of my secular family.

I had a lot of questions about the synagogue experience. I noticed that the old men who were called up to the Torah pronounced their Hebrew differently than the younger Rabbi. Some men wore blue and white prayer shawls while others wore black and white. There were also no other kids my age there. Parents often brought their toddlers with them, but once they reached my age, they seemed to stop going.

Looking back, I never enjoyed synagogue that much. I would time my bathroom breaks specifically to miss the longest standing part, and the food afterwards at the Kiddush was always pretty gross. But I loved the snarky remarks Zaidy Ell and I would make about people or the playful punches on each other’s thighs to make sure we weren’t falling asleep.

Mostly, I enjoyed the car rides there and back when he would tell me stories. He told me about his grandmother, Bubbe Sarah, who had taught him Yiddish and who raised him after his father died and his mother got sick. When she drank tea, he recalled, she would pour it into the saucer to cool it down and suck the tea through sugar cubes. He also told me about his grandfather, Zaide Charles (Shaya), who deserted the Russian army during the Russo-Japanese War and always put on his shoes before his pants—a technique he was taught as a soldier.

He would also answer the questions that I had. He explained to me that the blue and white prayer shawl, or tallis, signifies that the diasporic Jewish yearning has been fulfilled because Israel exists, while the black and white signifies that Jews are still mourning and yearning because the Messiah hasn’t yet come. He conceived it as a way of enacting a vision for the community through individual choice of dress. He wore a blue and white tallis, the same style he gave me for my Bar Mitzvah.

He taught me that the Rabbi spoke a more modern Hebrew, while he and the older Eastern European Jews, or Ashkenazim, use a different pronunciation—pronouncing many of the T sounds in modern Hebrew like S’s and pronouncing “Oh” like “Oi.”

Going to synagogue didn’t make me religious, but the folklore Zaidy Ell shared connected me to a time and

place—a place that wasn’t my hometown of Toronto or that suburban synagogue. Ashkenazi Jews commonly refer nostalgically to their place of origin as the Old Home, or Alte Haym in Yiddish. However, defining what that meant for me required a synthesis of place and belonging which felt difficult to articulate.

Finding the Locating Ashkenazi identity, right here

My ancestors were from all over Eastern Europe, including Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, and present-day Russia, and I knew that I was Jewish. But apart from my dad’s mom, who was born in Poland, all my grandparents, and even great-grandparents on my mom’s side, were born in Canada. Although my family and I do identify strongly as Canadian, with my Dad growing up in strongly-patriotic rural Ontario and Zaidy Ell being an avowed monarchist, it was always a place of arrival rather than origin.

Being a dual American-Canadian citizen and also having connections and family bonds to his diverse European background, Avishai Infeld, U3 Arts, had difficulties defining his identity when growing up.

“I was born in the U.S. and then moved to Canada when I was five, so it definitely took me a few years of people asking to finally say Canadian,” Avishai explained. “But also my background is quite mixed. My grandfather was born in Poland, and my grandmother was from Germany. On my mom’s side they’ve been in the U.S. for a hundred years but also from Eastern Europe [....] But I don’t have a very strong connection considering the circumstances that they left.”

Similarly to Avishai, my family holds ties to all these different places, many of which don’t exist anymore, like Austria-Hungary or the Russian Empire. Depending on who I asked, my Old Home was different. Some said I was from Russia, highlighting that aspect of my identity. Others said Poland. Or some said Israel—with me being part of the diaspora. So my answers always changed.

When I was much younger, I used to say I was from Israel. I was passionate about the ideas of Jewish revival that Zaidy Ell and other family members imparted upon me. It also helped me connect more deeply with the biblical stories I was told and to this empowering idea of a unified Jewish heritage for a geographically disparate people.

But on our car rides, I realized that the stories that resonated with me weren’t ancient biblical tales; they were the stories of my ancestors, Eastern European Ashkenazi Jews. I longed to be connected to the bustling folklore, life, and joy of these communities that I imagined from the stories. This longing for Eastern Europe manifested itself in strange ways.

When I was around 10, I first decided that I was Russian, in line with my mom’s side of the family. My grandfather taught me a few Russian phrases that he learned from his grandparents growing up, and I parroted them proudly to any Russian I knew. But once the thrill and exoticness I felt in using my few words faded, my Russian dreams died along with them.

Then I decided I was Polish, identifying more with my dad’s mother, Bubby Sylvia (Zlate), who was born there. For the 2018 World Cup, when I was 15, I bought a Polish jersey, and did my best to pronounce all the Polish last names of the players. But when I wore the shirt in front of my dad’s Polish friend and realized that my pronunciations were all wrong, I felt more than a little fake. After that World Cup, where Poland dismally exited in the first round, my aspirations to be a Pole more or less ended.

By Leo Larman Brown,

My Eastern-European identity ever, rested on romanticization doomed from the start. I didn’t ing to emulate. My Polish cally Polish, and she didn’t was a Jew who spoke Yiddish. ancestors left these places only the bad experiences ries I heard were mostly family suffered terribly due massacres that killed hundreds before the Holocaust.

Avishai’s grandparents the violence inflicted upon which profoundly shaped his

“My grandmother left Germany subjected to all the Nuremberg “My grandfather from Poland, killed—every single person and an aunt—his parents, his everyone [....] So everyone rible conditions. What happened honestly feel very little tries. I identify with them way.”

My identity crisis quickly Ell, who continued to tell insatiable yearning I had. however, weren’t just about ancestors; in fact, most of him growing up in Montreal—in Ashkenazi Jewish community 20th century, then numbering

He told me the story about dates with Bubby Shirl, they doing God knows what—and Viateur or Fairmount bagel just as they were making the

He recounted the absurdity while in the line-up for ketball team, solely because never played—it was more of Or he explained the dynamics ish high schools. Baron Byng, Street, was where the poorer went, while Strathcona Academy—where was attended by the wealthier Jews.

When I was a bit older, ing—to my amazement—that half-sister for six months.

As I heard these stories, same way about Montreal as that I romanticized so much. a place bustling with Jewish My grandfather was not treal as a city imbued with ture. Zev Moses, founder the Museum of Jewish Montreal, area surrounding St. Laurent Plateau and Mile End, held Jewish community and Yiddish and recounted how there buildings that served as synagogues the area.

“They created their own within the city Yiddish-speak

the Old Home

Ashkenazi Jewish here in Montreal Brown, Opinion Editor

identity side quests, howromanticization and were perhaps didn’t know who I was trygrandmother wasn’t ethnididn’t even speak Polish; she Yiddish. More importantly, my places for a reason. Although are remembered, the stohorrific; both sides of my due to pogroms-–antisemitic hundreds of thousands of Jews were deeply affected by upon them by the Nazi regime, his conception of origin. Germany in 1938 after being Nuremberg laws,” Avishai said. Poland, his entire family was person except for two cousins his siblings, grandparents, everyone left under really terhappened was so bad that I connection to these counthem but not in a positive quickly found its way to Zaidy tell me stories to feed this had. The stories he told, about Eastern Europe and his of them were actually about Montreal—in an intensely vibrant community in the first half of the numbering over 100,000 people. about how on one of his first they were up until 5 a.m.— they went to either St. (I can’t remember which), the bagels for the day. absurdity of being recruited a deli to the YMHA’s basbecause he was 6-foot-8. He of an intimidation factor. dynamics of the different JewByng, located on St. Urbain poorer first-generation Jews Academy—where Zaidy Ell went— wealthier multi-generational older, he mentioned in passhe dated Leonard Cohen’s months. stories, I started to feel the as I did about the Old Home much. I imagined Montreal as Jewish life and folklore. alone in speaking of Monwith Ashkenazi Jewish culand executive director of Montreal, described how the Laurent Boulevard, mainly the held a thriving Yiddish culture were over 90 synagogues in own society that was Yiddish-speak -

ing, strongly and tightly knit. Yiddish had become the third-most-spoken language in the city after French and English and basically stayed that way until the 1950s,” Moses explained. “There was also a publishing house [a part of Canada’s leading Yiddish newspaper, Der Keneder Adler], so Yiddish writers living in Montreal could publish their books here, and they would be exported back to Europe. So in the 1920s and 30s, there were Yiddish poets from Montreal being read in Warsaw, Kyiv, and other parts of Eastern Europe.”

My mom was also born in Montreal, in the CôtesDes-Neiges area, but left with her family along with thousands of other Jews during the 60s and 70s in search of better opportunities. The growing Quebec nationalist movement left the mostly-anglophone community feeling ostracized. Even to this day, there is resentment in my family regarding how they were forced to feel alien in the province and city that was their home.

“For many it felt like the rug was pulled out from underneath them,” Moses said. “Of course it’s not at all the same, but the shock of a political movement tied to an ethnicity and language that was calling for major, major changes, came within a generation of the Holocaust or other upheavals in Europe [….] But that’s not necessarily the main reason most people left, the other reason was economic. If you didn’t speak French that well, the possibilities for you quickly became much fewer.”

The month before I was set to leave Toronto to study at McGill, Zaidy Ell passed away.

He was old when he passed and had prepared us for the moment, so it wasn’t a shock or a tragedy. But being in Montreal—existing in the same city as he did at the same age—it breaks my heart that I can no longer share my life with him, and that he can’t either.

I know that he would have re-lived his youth through me as I told him about my days in his city. He would have recounted the memories that he had walking down “St. Lawrence Boulevard” after I told him about my own adventures, or he would have recommended to me a restaurant that has long been closed down.

But, at the same time, the city makes me feel connected to him and to my ancestors.

I’m less than 10 minutes away from Baron Byng— the history of which I know intimately because of Zaidy Ell. I’m also a short walk from St. Viateur and Fairmount bagel. I can’t remember which one the story is from—and that makes me a little sad—but, regardless, I can taste the same bagels that Bubby Shirl and Zaidy Ell had at 5 a.m. over 60 years ago. Or, how every day I go to campus, I walk down St. Laurent, a street he told me so much about and traditionally the beating heart of Jewish life in Montreal.

There’s also a tinge of disappointment about this return to my imagined Old Home. It’s lovely to be here, surrounded by so much personal family history, but it’s not this magical existence that I always imagined it would be. My days here feel mostly the same as they do back home— not

some intrinsically meaningful experience.

Despite the large migration out of the city along with a post-War suburbanization out of the St. Laurent core, Jewish life still remains in Montreal.

Ben Wexler, U2 Arts, grew up in the city and attended Jewish schools throughout his childhood. He highlighted the increased diversity between Ashkenazim and Jews mainly from North Africa, called Sephardim

“There’s a depth of diversity and experience here that’s pretty great,” Ben explained. “Language figures into it a good bit, with Jews in Montreal being outside the established anglo community to some extent and outside the franco community, and then within the Jewish community there’s also this linguistic divide between Ashkenazim and Sephardim.”

Near the end of our conversation, I tried to press Ben to answer whether the Jewish community still retains the romanticized, Yiddish-speaking character of my grandfather’s youth that I felt was truly authentic to Montreal—that the community had the same reverence for the past and viewed the city the same way I did. Ben, however, didn’t conceive of it that way.

“I don’t think you can speak about one Montreal Jewish community. I also don’t think you can speak of one Montreal community,” Ben said. “At a certain point, that search for authenticity can feel like some pastiche of Yiddishkayt [Ashkenazi culture] [....] I think you’ve got to approach the Jewish community in Montreal as it is, and it’s not going to be this sexy, disreputable Yiddish world. It’s a different world now, and that’s it.”

My conversation with Ben punctuated the struggle I was having throughout this journey. So much of my identity is tied to my constructed image of these places—that life there was somehow more beautiful. I wanted the Montreal community in the present day to fulfill that longing—but, really, it’s just a place. I can’t help but realize that Zaidy Ell’s Montreal, and even Eastern Europe were the same—just places. Of course they all carry culture and community, and it’s a tragedy that some of it was destroyed or simply no longer exists. But the people there were just living their lives; it wasn’t some magical existence.

In the same sense, returning to Montreal, my Old Home, was not this transcendent experience that brought me my long-sought clarity about who I am. Although it’s certainly nice to be here, and Montreal is a lovely city, I don’t feel like I’m living the life of Zaidy Ell or my ancestors, and I don’t feel like I’ve returned home Montreal just feels like a place to me, and maybe that’s a good enough place to start.

Design by Drea Garcia Avila, Design Editor

Joesef’s ‘Permanent Damage’ delves into the messiness of breakups

With sincere lyrics and a lo-fi vibe, Joesef delivers a strong debut album

Titouan

Le Ster

Contributor

On Jan. 13, Joesef released his debut album, Permanent Damage, a soulful and intimate ode to his chaotic romantic relationships. The ominous title describes the indelible mark that love and subsequent heartbreak can leave on a person. A honeysoaked voice and confessional, explorative lyrics characterize the Scottish singer-songwriter, who moved to London in 2020, as an emerging figure in the alt-pop genre.

Throughout the album’s 13 tracks, Joesef walks his listeners through the feelings of losing and being lost, hurting and being hurt, and the residual love that lingers even when it should be gone. In “Borderline,” the instrumental quiets down, giving the stage to a close-mic narrative about meeting the right person at the wrong

time. The funky and upbeat mood of “Didn’t Know How (to Love You)” accurately conveys the feeling of not caring anymore. And “Joe”’s lively and uplifting rhythm contrasts with the subject matter of a bad relationship with oneself.

The queer artist presents his brutally honest and unapologetic lyrics as a result of his upbringing in Glasgow’s East End, which he once described as “a rough area where what you see is what you get.” The influence of his hometown appears in “East End Coast,” which presents Glasgow as a comforting place through a melody both melancholic and uplifting.

Sonically, Permanent Damage evolves in a soul and indie pop universe. Joesef’s falsetto allows for a light breeze of airiness on themes that could easily drag you down. Alternatively, his full voice brings the listener through the

tumultuousness of love with smooth delivery grounded by raw lyrics.

The 27-year-old singer emerged four years ago with the debut EP Play Me Something Nice, followed by Does It Make You Feel Good? in 2020, both exploring the theme of deep longing. With this debut album, Joesef continues digging into his emotions— especially the ones related to

breakups—for inspiration. His continued authenticity and heartinfused songs are an undeniable reason for Joesef’s solid fan following, who will be the first to experience this album live on stage during his European tour starting in March.

Permanent Damage is available to stream on all platforms.

Celebrating Black Hollywood—even if the Oscars won’t

Turning the lights, camera, and action to awards shows that honour Black performances

Simi Ogunsola Contributor

Continued from page 1.

Out of their nearly 100 years of running, this is the 83rd time that there are no Black actors being featured in best actor nominations. There are no women directors at all—and no Black women directors have ever been—nominated in the director’s category. The Woman King, Till and Nope all grossed millions of dollars at the box office and boast Rotten Tomatoes scores above 80 per cent; yet, none of them garnered a single nomination.

As I clicked through article after article about Oscar nominations, my heart was dropping. Each one gave a different angle on why Black artists were being shut out of the Academy Awards this season. Some people were mad, railing that even after the awareness spread in 2015 and inclusionary efforts made by award institutions, nothing had really changed. Some people were more jaded, explaining that studios were simply out to do whatever would make them the most money. My mood sank deeper and deeper until I came across an article in the LA Times. The author, Shawn Edwards, argued that yes, so many awards shows and awards institutions ignore Black talent, but there are so many smaller organizations that

uplift it.

During this year’s Black History Month, the idea of making this a time to celebrate Black achievement and experiences through Black Joy Month has gained popularity. In that spirit, this isn’t an article lamenting the lack of appropriate recognition for Black artists in Hollywood––this is one that celebrates the institutions that uplift them. Supporting those ones, bringing attention and renown to them is a way to make Black voices heard, Black performances celebrated, and Black experiences told. Don’t let your appreciation end with these awards ceremonies listed here—there are so many more rejoicing in Black talent onscreen.

Toronto Black Film Festival

In their own words, “the Toronto Black Film Festival is about discovery.” The annual festival occurs every February and seeks to create a space for people to debate cultural, social, and socio-economic topics specific to Black Canadians. The festival hosts a mixture of live musical performances, film screenings, talks from industry professionals, and networking events. They celebrate a milestone anniversary this year—10 years of celebrating diversity within Black communities. It was just a

decade ago that this festival was created by its sister festival that happens right here in Montreal.

Montreal International Black Film Festival

Starting in 2005, the festival sought to showcase Black cinema and bring light to the types of movies often ignored by the mainstream media. Nearly 20 years later, after having welcomed thousands of guests, received international media coverage, and shown films from over 50 countries, the Montreal International Black Film Festival (MIBFF) is still going strong. This festival’s activities aren’t restricted to any one week; they put on workshops, film screenings, debates, and round tables all year round. The MIBFF also maintains a serious commitment to discovering and fostering new talent while seeking to develop the independent film industry in Montreal and across Canada.

A Conversation with Charlene Carr

This virtual event hosts author Charlene Carr as she discusses her debut novel Hold My Girl. Feb. 8, 2:00-3:00 PM

Streaming online via Zoom Free

Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Sorcerer McGill Savoy’s main stage production returns to Moyse Hall after two years with The Sorcerer by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, Feb. 10-11 and 17-18.

Moyse Hall

Tickets: $15 for students, available for purchase here

Montréal : An Orchestral Rendition of Biggie vs 2PAC

Alternative Symphony’s East Coast Orchestra performs the Notorious B.I.G’s hits and the West Coast Orchestra performs the 2Pac classics!

Feb. 10, 8:00 PM

Tickets: Available online

BLACK ICE—Montreal Premiere with Guest Speakers!

Join Cinema Politica Concordia for the Montreal premiere of BLACK ICE, a film film about systemic discrimination in Canadian sports—in particular anti-Black racism in hockey, followed by a Q&A!

Feb. 13, 7:00 PM

NAACP Image Awards

Finally, coming in a little more prominent than the previous two, are the NAACP Image Awards. Founded in 1967 as a response to Hollywood’s exclusion of Black talent, the awards show was created by the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) in the United States. Today, the show boasts over 40 different categories, with awards across television, film, music, and literature. The event is broadcast live annually on Fox Network, with this year’s ceremony

airing on Feb. 25.

While there is a lot to be desired with acknowledging Black talent in Hollywood, there is also reason for cheer. And who knows? If the focus shifts to institutions that are praising Black talent—and they are praised loudly and proudly—other awards institutions might have no option but to join in and celebrate it, too.

The 2023 Toronto Black Film Festival will run from Feb. 15-20. The 2022 Montreal International Black Film Festival ran from Sept. 20-25.

Joesef drew inspiration from Shuggie Bain, Douglas Stuart’s debut novel, which tells the story of a working class Glasgow kid struggling in the 80s. (bbc.co.uk)

With her Grammy win on Feb. 5, Viola Davis became the 18th EGOT recipient and only the third Black woman to do so. (Sofia Stankovic/ The McGill Tribune)

Housing 101: How to navigate the student apartment hunt

Tips for finding your digs in Montreal

Melissa Carter Staff Writer

Finding the perfect student apartment can be a patchwork of oxymorons, from homey-but-party-ready or quiet-indowntown-Montreal. For first-year students beginning the hunt, as well as upper years hoping to move, apartment hunting can be stressful and time-consuming. But first on the agenda is to start the search: Here are some tips to ease the process.

Finding roommates

Unless you’re hoping to live alone, the first step for second-year housing is to find roommates. But what constitutes a good roommate is not always synonymous with what constitutes a good friend. So, how can you identify someone who you’ll jive with before living together?

Michel Hijazin, U2 Science, shared the importance of agreeing on ground rules in an interview with The McGill Tribune

“There’s a lot of standard things to agree on [with potential roommates], like tidiness, cleanliness, and just being able to coexist in each other’s vicinity,” Hijazin said.

Want to test a potential roommate’s compatibility? Observe how they keep their room. By trying to pick a roommate who keeps their personal space similar enough to yours, you may be able to evaluate whether you would agree on how to manage the shared aspects of an

apartment.

If you don’t know of anyone in your social circles who you’d like to room with, McGill Offcampus Housing and International Roommates in Montreal are Facebook groups worth checking out.

The hunt

Once you have secured potential roommates, then you can discuss preferences and necessities for your future apartment together. Arguably, the question of location dictates most other preferences, since budget, room preferences, windows, and the common area are all strongly tied to how far away from campus you are willing to live.

Hijazin, a Plateau man, advocates for his neighbourhood.

“I like living further from campus because it allows me to disconnect my life from school. I think of [the 30-minute walk to McGill] as exercise, and walking with some music is good for me,” Hijazin said.

On the other hand, Kate TownsonCarolan, U1 Arts, stresses the geographic advantages of Milton-Parc.

“While it can be more expensive, there is something nice about living close to your friends, especially when you are in the thick of school. Living in such close proximity means you can have some social interaction without going too far out of your way,” TownsonCarolan told the Tribune

As online leasing websites, like Facebook

Marketplace, Zumper, and Padmapper, are the main platforms for the thousands of people searching for apartments, it quickly becomes a race to secure the most desirable listings. So, asking landlords about other places they have (that may not be posted online yet) is a good idea.

Another alternative is to walk around the area you’d like to live in, looking for “for lease” (à louer) signs. Oftentimes these places are not listed online and are easy to check out—this is how I found my current apartment! But remember, 5 ½ doesn’t mean five bedrooms.

After being spoiled with proximity to campus in residence, first-year students are forced to choose between a longer commute or a larger price. (LiveMTL.ca)

get a more honest opinion,” Townson-Carolan said.

Touring apartments

Touring apartments is an unavoidable aspect of the apartment hunt that gives you an opportunity to see all the cracks and fissures that the landlord conveniently left out of the pictures online.

Diti Jain, U3 Arts, advised that “keeping a physical checklist may be helpful so that you don’t forget to look for things when touring.”

Townson-Carolan added that touring offers not only an opportunity to ask the landlord questions, but the tenants as well.

“If the [current tenants] are there during the tour, it can be fruitful to take them aside and ask them what their experience with that place was without the landlord present, so you can

But, before you sign a lease, make sure that you know your tenant rights to avoid being taken advantage of by your landlord.

The process

Searching for roommates and touring apartments can be a long process, so try to keep your spirits up! Use touring in the Plateau as an excuse to explore the creative murals, or touring Milton-Parc to take a study break at Milton B.

Seasoned apartment hunter Sabrina Ahmed, U3 Arts, thinks students should dispel the mythical urgency of apartment hunting.

“I see a lot of freshmen freaking out when they don’t find a house by the beginning of February, but you can find a place up until the last day of April. Usually, the better deals come later anyway.”

Peer mentoring program returns to foster student connections Student

Accessibility and Achievement aims to match students with McGill resources

Shadman Chowdhury

Contributor

For many McGill first years, starting university can be quite a daunting experience—especially when you have little or no peers to turn to for advice and support.

To assist with this dilemma, the McGill Student Accessibility and Achievement office (SAA) re-launched its McGill Peer Mentor program this January. The program’s goal is to facilitate access to learning and support for all students throughout their university careers. It is devoted to creating an inclusive, supportive, and transparent environment where students can receive advice based on their needs.

Areas the program can help with include, but are not limited to: Identifying and working towards academic and schooloriented short-term and longterm goals, transitioning to university, developing networks and skillsets, achieving academic goals with learning strategies, managing stress, and learning about resources available around campus. The program is spearheaded by learning support specialists Jacqueline Biddle and

Julia Adams-Whitaker and six paid Mentor Peer Leaders who aim to reduce the connection gap between mentors and mentees.

“The importance of this mentor program is to get the mentors and mentees to know each other,” Biddle said in an interview with The McGill Tribune . “McGill is a big campus, and often finding the right support is difficult. People can find it daunting to connect and have a start on their new journey away from home.”

Prior to COVID-19 lockdowns, when the program was moved online, most students

were unaware of its existence on the Student Accessibility and Achievement website. Nevertheless, Biddle and her team are working hard to make the program more mainstream by trying out new approaches.

“We figured out the program’s importance and realized it through COVID-19. First-year students required immense support during these tough times, and a tailored relationship achieved through this program is ideal for that,” Biddle said. “Not only in terms of having a semester-long relationship, but incoming students can also navigate and be involved in social

activities and know wellness and academic resources to succeed in McGill.”

Mentors and mentees meet on a weekly basis (either virtually or in person), but mentees can also contact their mentors based on their needs. This schedule has been helpful for Dayley Wood, a U2 Science student, who enrolled as a mentee for the winter semester.

“At first I heard about the mentor program from the Office of Student Accessibility and Achievement through a workshop. So, I decided to give it a try,” Wood said in an interview with the Tribune . “I recently met with my mentor and my experience so far has been very pleasant. I am able to receive a lot of advice and guidance from my mentor on how to effectively study during midterms and final exams since that was a major problem that I had.”

Despite her positive experience with the program, Wood thinks that it would be helpful to have more mentors from diverse programs.

“I think if mentors are matched with mentees who are in the same faculty and department, then it’s very beneficial for both since [they] may have undergone

very similar problems before,” Wood said. “This could also be a great way to spread the word on this program since a mentee could mention it to their friends and they could tell other people and so on.”

Anyone who wants to become a mentee can go to the learner support program tab and apply there. Each mentee is paired with a mentor (who has to have been a McGill student for at least one year) based on an array of compatibilities such as their discussions with an SAA Advisor, their academic backgrounds, their extracurricular interests, and their needs for specific resources, such as exam support. The mentee application form gives each mentee a chance to share what they want to work on most.

“Whether we want to admit it or not, we experience life differently,” Biddle said. “We have faced challenges in connecting mentors and mentees. However, we had tremendous success due to the shift in oncampus classes for students and more spreading of the word. Therefore, we were very busy pairing up new mentors and mentees, and we expect a similar reaction in the winter semester.”

The Peer Mentor-Mentee Program requires no registration and is available for students in all faculties. (stafflink.net)

There’s no coffee at this café A spotlight on McGill’s favourite club, Café Campus

Sophia Micomonaco Contributor

Most incoming McGill students know about the rites of passage that they’ll experience, like living alone for the first time or a late night at McLennan cramming for an exam. What these students don’t know is that, at this university, there is another experience considered equally formative: Their first trip to Café Campus.

The 56-year-old club, known to most as ‘Café,’ is one of the most popular dance venues for McGill students. As a stop on Frosh bar crawls, students are introduced to Café Campus before they meet their professors—and the visits only go up from there. Its proximity to campus and themed music nights, like ‘Retro Tuesdays,’ have proven to be big draws for McGillians. Café isn’t just a freshman spot, either—it also hosts a number of McGill-affiliated events, like the Management Undergraduate Society’s Winter Carnival or the Engineering Undergraduate Society’s E-Week.

Sofia Gobin, U0 Arts, was one of many McGill students who visited the club during Frosh week. Her introduction to the club as a McGill venue has kept her coming back so many times that she’s lost count.

“I’ve been to Café countless times,” Gobin said. When pressed on why, she responded: “Just because it has the

reputation of being a student club and a lot of first-years, in particular, go there on nights out [...] [it] was definitely a bit different because we were just playing games in the main area, but I think the fact that it was introduced so early on made it seem like it was a ‘McGill club.’”

So the club is considered a quintessential part of the McGill experience. Andrea Goldstein, U0 Arts, thinks the music nights and its prime location are the main reasons.

“It’s so close to all of us, which makes it such an easy walk,” she explained. “I [also] think Café is so popular among students because everyone is looking to go where their friends are going, so it gets really busy on certain nights, like [2000s] nights on Thursday.”

Since so many McGill students visit the club, club-goers will often be among friends, creating a unique sense of community. Harry Brar, U0 Management, remembers that other McGill students helped him out during his first visit to the club.

“During my first time at Café, I lost my phone there,” Brar said. “But everyone helped me find it, which was awesome.”

The McGill community gathers at Café in the same way as they gather in McLennan during exam season, making the club a hotspot for students.

Although many students seem to agree that Café is not a main component

of McGill life, its wide variety of drink options, proximity to campus, and multiple dance floors make it a must-visit.

“It’s not essential to a student’s life at McGill in general, but you need to go at least once for the experience,” Goldstein said. “I’m not sure how many times I’ve been, maybe four-ish?”

Gobin agrees, saying that McGillians “must go at least a couple of times. At least to give it a try.”

It seems that what makes Café so quintessential to McGill’s student life is

its consistency.

“I don’t think that it’s a vital component of McGill student life, but with that said, Café is always a good time,” Brar said.

According to Gobin, along with many other students, there is no doubt that the club is a sort of McGill trademark.

“It’s just kind of iconic, it’s exactly what you expect,” she said. “It’s never going to be horrible; it’s never going to be especially incredible or amazing [...] it’s reliable.”

Founded in 1967, Café Campus is home to two dance floors and a second venue called Petit Campus. (cafecampus.com)

Copy-pasted nucleotides found to cause neurodegenerative disease

McGill researchers discover repeating pattern in gene responsible for cerebellar ataxia

Ali Baghirov Contributor

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and ataxia are caused—as their categorization would suggest—by the degradation of nervous system cells. One to three individuals per 100,000 are affected by late-onset cerebellar ataxias (LOCA), a disease characterized by impaired muscle control that worsens over time. While most types of ataxia set in during childhood, LOCA is exhibited by patients older than 30. Other, more common types of ataxia are well-studied, but the causes of LOCA were unclear until Dr. Bernard Brais and his team made a breakthrough.

Brais, a researcher at the Montreal Neurological Institute (The Neuro) and McGill professor of genetics, identified a genetic mechanism highly correlated with the onset of LOCA in a recent article published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The researchers found that the accumulation of long strings of repeating GAA segments—a specific sequence of three DNA nucleotides—causes underexpression of vital proteins responsible for nerve impulses and impairs the expression of a vital gene called fibroblast growth factor (FGF14). Nucleotides, which are the building blocks of genetic information, form a code that tells the cell how to produce proteins.

Brais explained that LOCA is characterized by deteriorated movement coordination: Patients experience difficulty walking and speaking, are easily exhausted by physical exercise, and manifest a high intolerance to alcohol.

At the cellular level, LOCA is caused by a reduced number of ion channels in nerve cells called Purkinje neurons in the cerebellum—the bulbous region on top of the brainstem—that are responsible for movement control. Ion channels are proteins embedded in the membranes of neurons that allow certain ions, which are charged atoms, to pass through. These channels regulate the number of ions travelling in and out of cells and establish a voltage difference across the membrane, which is crucial for sending signals down the neuron. Without these signals, the nervous system couldn’t perform important functions like muscle contractions, reflex responses, and sensory processing.

The FGF14 gene carries instructions for how cells should make proteins to help organize ion channels in DNA sequences. Brais’ investigation revealed that LOCA is caused by a mutation that creates more GAA repeats in the FGF14 gene: A kind of copying and pasting is happening, where three nucleotides reappear hundreds of times in the middle of a sequence. Such a mutation prevents cellular machinery from ‘reading’ the gene properly and ultimately producing the right number of ion channels. According to Brais, GAA repeats are responsible for 61 per cent of LOCA cases in French-Canadian patients.

“We think [that] from the DNA on FGF14, there is no [protein] produced. It creates a region that prevents this copy of the gene from being expressed,” Brais said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “If [the repeated region] is large enough, it will decrease the expression of one copy to the extent that, with time, those cells will find [it] more difficult to organize their channels

that are so important for their electrophysiological activity.”

This discovery also explains why patients with fewer GAA repeats in the FGF14 gene have mild or no symptoms of ataxia, as the disease’s severity depends on the GAA region’s size. Brais explained that unaffected people have eight to 35 GAA copies—as numbers approach 250, there is an increased risk of developing LOCA, and 300 repeats are sufficient to cause ataxia.

Finally understanding LOCA’s cause brings researchers closer to developing a cure. In fact, a drug developed to target GAA repeats in Friedreich’s ataxia is a promising treatment for LOCA.

“There’s a lot known about Friedreich’s be-

cause it was cloned many years ago, [...] that’s why we know so much about the GAA repeats,” Brais explained. “[The] GAA repeat in [another] gene has been studied extensively and it does the same thing as in FGF14.”

Is there a way to remove GAA repeats from FGF14 once and for all? Yes and no. There is a powerful technology called CRISPR which, in theory, can delete any sequence in the genome. Removing over 300 repeats in LOCA patients, however, is not a straightforward task.

“I don’t think we’re close to a therapeutic trial, at least with those long repeats for sure,” Brais said. “Delivering [CRISPR agents] to the brain is still a major challenge. But yes, at least in theory, you can [...] remove that expansion.”

Flying cars must make way for the real future of transportation

Evaluating merits of flashy tech solutions for real-world transportation issues

Ella Paulin Science & Technology Editor

Elon Musk and other Silicon Valley–style futurists would like you to believe that the future of transportation holds flying cars, conveyor-belt tunnels for high-speed vehicles, and completely self-driving cars. All of these innovations are designed to free drivers from driving and the annoyance of getting stuck in traffic.

While those innovations may sound appealing, McGill researchers argued a few months ago in a paper published in Futures that this approach fundamentally distorts the problem of congestion and traffic safety. Instead of imagining a future with more advanced cars, they argue that we need to imagine a future with no cars at all, or at least one where reliance on cars is dramatically reduced.

Paris Marx, the paper’s first author, earned his master’s in urban geography from McGill and has gone on to host the popular podcast Tech Won’t Save Us . Their first book, Road to Nowhere , came out in July 2022 and expands on ideas of a car-free future. Kevin Manaugh, professor

of geography at McGill, advised Marx and co-authored the Futures article.

During an interview with The McGill Tribune , Manaugh explained how the ‘flying cars’ approach, which treats urban infrastructure improvement as a purely technological issue, fails to consider the full scope and complexities of modern cities.

“We’ve defined transport as a technical problem. And then these technical solutions seemed like the only way to solve them,” Manaugh said.

The technical solutions that Silicon Valley CEOs come up with may be exciting, especially in the case of flying cars or Elon Musk’s Boring Company, which promises to drill below-ground tunnels that could shoot cars forward at speeds of up to 240 kilometres per hour.

“I think people are inspired or intrigued by these kinds of futuristic types of things, and I think we, as a culture or society, are impressed by these flashy new things,” Manaugh said.

But getting caught up in an extravagant idea can lead entrepreneurs to solve problems in ways that don’t address underlying causes like faulty urban plan-

ning, inequitable zoning laws, and an over-reliance on cars instead of more ecological modes of transportation such as walking or biking.

“You’re not taking into account how this thing scales, you’re not taking into account the number of people who can be served by this, and you’re not really reducing congestion because you’re just making another thing that people can use—but it doesn’t deal with the space issue at all,” Manaugh explained.

In order to enact real change, the authors argue, society has to fundamentally reevaluate the role of cars in cities.

“When you’re walking around, or even in your car for that matter—if you’re experiencing the city, imagine just how many decisions have been made to prioritize this mode of transport,” Manaugh said. “Our campus is an exception, but as soon as you cross over into Sherbrooke, you’ve got multiple lanes of traffic, there’s all this space for cars, there’s parking garages. And that’s space that can be doing something much more important or productive.”

Cars are so ubiquitous that it’s difficult to imagine a world with-

out them. But as history shows, it’s more than possible to build cities around different modes of transportation.

“For literally thousands and thousands of years, humans built really beautiful civilizations and cities where the only way of getting around was by human or animal power,” Manaugh said.

One way to work towards a world where the car’s role is reduced in cities is to imagine transportation as more than a technical pursuit.

“I think there’s other ways to think about it—as a social issue, or as an equity issue,” Manaugh

said. “If you define the problem as not everyone can access what they need, you might not start thinking about how we need new vehicles. You might start thinking about it as we need to redesign how we allow land uses to be put next to each other, or we might realize it’s actually a housing affordability question more so than a fancy new vehicle question.”

Re-envisioning transportation as a social, health, or justice issue allows researchers, entrepreneurs, and governments to prioritize genuinely innovative approaches, instead of just updating our existing cars with each new Silicon Valley fad.

Fibroblasts are cells of connective tissue found in almost every organ in the body. (Maeve Reilly / The McGill Tribune)

Globally, around 1.4 million people die each year in traffic accidents. Manaugh argues that all of these deaths are preventable. (The News Wheel)

Should AI chatbots display emotions?

Investigating the connection between emotional contagion and customer service

Ann Derham Contributor

If you’ve visited an online retail store, you’ve likely encountered a chatbot before. It’s the small message that pops up in your screen’s bottom corner, saying something along the lines of, “Hi there! Thanks for visiting our site. Can we help you look for something?”

Elizabeth Han, a Desautels Information Systems professor, investigates these AI chatbots and their use in the modern world. She recently published an article in Information Systems Research looking into whether it is beneficial for AI chatbots working in customer service to express, or display, positive emotions.

Existing research suggests that when human customer service representatives express positive emotions, customers feel like the quality of service is higher. Psychologists theorize this to be a result of “emotional contagion”—when a person sees someone else feeling an emotion and they begin to feel it as well.

The question Han and her team set out to answer is if this effect translates to exchanges with chatbots. They hypothesized that while emotional contagion may still have an effect, it could be negated by customers’ feelings of discomfort toward a machine expressing human emotions.

To answer this question, Han and her col-

leagues asked participants to complete online tasks using virtual chatbots, like requesting an exchange for a textbook they had previously ordered. Some participants interacted with chatbots that were programmed to express positive emotions, while others interacted with ones that were more robotic.

The emotion-expressing chatbots used lines like “I can help you with that, and I am excited to do so!” while the straightforward chatbots kept it to a simple “I can help you with that.”

After participants completed these interactions, they rated the quality of the customer service experience. Han and her colleagues found that customers who interacted with positive-emotion chatbots did not experience the increase in perceived service quality that you would have expected had they been interacting with human agents.

This new information presents businesses with a tricky question: Save money by replacing customer service employees with chatbots, or provide a better customer experience by continuing to use human agents?

In an interview with The McGill Tribune, Han explained how the switch to chatbots increases company efficiency.

“Essentially, these service employees are doing emotional labour by interacting with perhaps annoying customers, but chatbots are not really affected by that,” Han said. “The chatbot doesn’t feel anything, and they can just make whatever appropriate response.”

Given how much more efficient chatbots

are, some companies may be tempted to simply not tell customers that they are interacting with a chatbot instead of a human.

“There is research that has been done that has looked into the effects of disclosing the chatbot’s identity, and it actually reduces those business outcomes. There is a tradeoff between better business outcomes versus keeping the line of ethical and legal codes,” Han explained.

This then becomes an ethical and legal question: Do customers have a right to know when they are speaking to a computer? And

would companies honour this right if it meant a loss in profits?

“I think there are many regulations coming up regarding disclosure so eventually companies will move more and more towards disclosing the identities of those chatbots,” Han said. The field of AI is rapidly developing, and thinking about how these AI chatbots have been created and will continue to evolve raises many difficult questions. It might even make you wonder the next time you’re browsing an online store and get the pop-up notification to chat: Are you talking to a human or a machine?

Tick Talk: Fighting the spread of tick-borne pathogens

Emerging tick-borne disease-causing agents go undetected by current monitoring efforts

Ilia Shareghi Contributor

The prevalence of several tick-borne pathogens, which are living organisms or viruses that spread disease, are on the rise in Canada, including the bacterium responsible for Lyme disease. Evidence has also shown that these tick-borne pathogens have spread beyond the defined “risk areas” identified by professor Virginie Millien, an associate professor of biology and curator at the Redpath Museum. This makes it difficult to keep up with the pathogenic spread.

Lyme disease is Canada’s most common vector-borne disease, creating serious health concerns for people across the country. Tracking these ticks and thus their pathogens can help us follow the spread of Lyme disease and keep the illness under control.

“In vector-borne disease, there [are] many actors, and you need a host, a vector, and a pathogen, and so that makes a triangle,” Millien explained in an interview with The McGill Tribune . “Pathogens are transmitted by a vector species, which then will feed on a host, and that’s where the pathogen can then multiply and so on.”

In order for the tick—the vector—to move on to its next life stage, it must have a blood meal, which is when ticks feed on other animals. During a blood meal, the tick remains attached to the host and transfers pathogens into their bloodstream. Millien said these pathogens could then be transmitted back to new ticks if they feed on the infected host later.

According to Millien, the winter months are crucial to limiting a tick population’s ability to survive in a region. With global warming, however, many of the hosts that the ticks depend on, such as the white-footed mouse, are migrating farther north. The white-footed mouse is an effective host, able to re-transmit the pathogen to any new tick feeding on it 80 to 90 per cent of the time. Milien also explained that since mice are generalists—able to adapt to many different environments—they are prime vectors for disease.

Each mouse can feed hundreds of ticks over its lifetime, accelerating the pathogenic spread. As white-footed mice travel and settle farther north, the ticks travel with them, establishing themselves in new places and creating new areas for Lyme disease to

emerge.

Another way in which tick-borne pathogens have become more prevalent across Canada is through migratory birds carrying ticks from south of the border into Canada.

“There are still areas north of the St. Lawrence where we see ticks and there’s Lyme disease there, but it’s not our own— it’s been brought in every year by birds,” Millien said.

Millen explained that the challenge of keeping track of ticks is both spatial and temporal. For example, predicting white-footed mice distribution on a map is difficult, as there are always individual mice that travel to unexpected areas like urban centres. The challenge is also temporal because Lyme disease is spreading more rapidly than Millien’s current models predict.

“We’re discovering that it’s happening much faster than anticipated,” Millien said. “Ten years ago, we had some models, but it looks like Lyme disease is

appearing in places that we didn’t think it would be [....] It’s really challenging to obtain enough data to have a good estimate and be able to make some accurate predictions of the next decade.”

Deducing the future movements of infected white-footed mice is pressing. Millien explained that the data collected is “opportunistic, noisy, and unsystematic,” meaning that there will be little useful data to analyze. However, since ticks in general cannot live in areas where

the temperature routinely drops below -14 degrees Celsius, a solution could be to propose new “risk areas” that encompass regions where the weather is above that temperature.

To combat these diseasespreading ticks directly, insect repellent is advised to reduce the chances of a tick bite. However, the root of the problem lies in climate change—addressing the issues caused by a heating world will also inhibit Lyme disease spread by cornering off its vectors.

The first chatbot, ELIZA, was created by computer scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1966. (Osman Warsi / The McGill Tribune)

In 2021, over 3,000 Canadians were infected with Lyme disease, an illness carried by blacklegged ticks. (cheshiremed.org)

Maternity in sports must be brought into modernity

Despite maternity leave and salary protections, pregnant athletes still face job insecurity

Zoé Mineret Staff Writer

The past decade has seen remarkable progress in protections for pregnant athletes.

In 2020, FIFA and the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBA) introduced mandatory paid maternity leave. The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) also has paid maternity leave and maintains that no player can be released from their team due to pregnancy.

These protections, however, are

not enough. Many players who get pregnant see their lives and careers permanently altered by mistreatment from both teams and sponsors alike.

Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir, a former midfielder on the Olympique Lyonnais’s women’s team (Lyon), wrote a piece for The Players’ Tribune outlining the mistreatment she faced from the French club throughout her pregnancy. The club purposely withheld her salary and did not provide her with any form of support.

Gunnarsdóttir sued Lyon

through the Fédération Internationale des Associations des Footballeurs Professionnels. Despite winning the lawsuit and having the club pay her lost salary in full, the move illustrated that even when the necessary rules and regulations are in place, players are still forced to fight for financial security.

Gunnarsdótir’s mistreatment is, unfortunately, not an isolated incident. Athletes who become pregnant are regularly cast aside and treated like pariahs by their clubs and sponsors, who act as though pregnancy marks the end of an athlete’s career.

Track athletes Allyson Felix and Alysia Montaño both wrote essays for The New York Times exploring the mistreatment they dealt with at the hands of one of their sponsors, Nike, when the company learned of their respective pregnancies. For Felix, they proposed a 70 per cent pay cut when renegotiating her contract, while Nike elected to put Montaño’s contract on hold entirely.

With salaries for women athletes often being unsustainable, sponsorships are vital to their ability to compete at the professional level. The treatment Felix and Montaño endured at the hands

Know Your Athlete: Donna Ntambue

Julie Ferreyra Contributor

Continued from page 1.

Growing up, Ntambue’s focus was always on basketball, even though she preferred track. Coming from a family of 12, several considerations factored into her decision to start her university athletics career at the University of Utah, with the main one being the financial accessibility of competing in both track and basketball.

“I was young, I had to make a choice for myself and for my family,” Ntambue explained. “If I [went] to the States, it [would] be easier for my mom and for my dad. I knew that with basketball I would get a scholarship.”

However, the American experience was not what she expected, nor what she wanted. The pressure and competitiveness of the collegiate basketball circuit were not worth it for Ntambue. When it came down to it, she had to put her well-being—both mental and physical—first.

“When I was actually in the States, which was my dream, I realized that it wasn’t really what I wanted [....] It’s like, yeah, it’s not greener on the other side,” said

Ntambue. “My basketball coach kicked me out of the team last year [...] because I wasn’t doing well mentally. I came back from an injury and she forced me [...] to come back faster because they needed me. And after that, [...] I couldn’t do it anymore.”

When it came down to it, the decision to continue track was obvious. Running was always Ntambue’s first love. But the choice to quit varsity basketball proved to be more difficult.

“I never stopped basketball in my life, it’s been my whole life,” Ntambue admitted. “I thought ‘I’ll be nothing’, all my best friends are basketball players.”

Ntambue’s adaptable mindset when it comes to competition and performance, however, is exactly what allowed her to be successful in her pursuit of track as a singlesport athlete. The key was to be kind to herself.

“I wouldn’t [have been able to] come back if I was being hard on myself,” Ntambue told me. “It’s just [being] more gentle [...] I am still doing the work I have to do, but I’m more like, just have fun with it and just do your best because it didn’t work with me being hard on [myself].”

Ntambue explained how running allows her to clear her head and led to the realization

of Nike reflects the sports world’s hypocrisy towards pregnant women. Pregnant athletes are celebrated in public as superheroes by clubs and sponsors but treated as disposable behind the scenes.

In 2021, Nike released an advertisement celebrating the toughest athletes of all: Mothers. The ad depicted various pregnant people doing physical activity and branding them as the epitome of athleticism. The company gets to directly profit off the promotion of pregnant athletes while simultaneously offering dehumanizing pay cuts to the pregnant athletes they sponsor.

The insincerity of clubs and sponsors directly impairs the physical and mental health of athletes who are expecting. Often, a sponsorship renewal is dangled in front of pregnant athletes on the condition that they get back to their pre-pregnancy fitness level as soon as possible.

The precarity brought about by the stigmatization of pregnancy within sports is not only career-threatening— it can be life-threatening as well. Kara Goucher, an American long-distance runner and Olympic silver-medallist,

exposed herself to severe health risks due to over-exercising after her highrisk pregnancy because Nike told her they could renew her contract if they saw satisfactory results from her during races.

As seen in the case of Gunnarsdótir, even when regulations exist to protect athletes, clubs will still try to take advantage of them. Pregnant athletes cannot risk exposing themselves to long-term physical or mental health problems for the sake of abusive clubs and sponsors. Not only does this affect the trajectory and health of their pregnancy, but it can also create long-lasting problems for their future athletic careers.

If clubs and sponsors want to see athletes in their greatest physical shape after pregnancy, they need to start taking care of them during those nine months. Rather than piling on undue emotional stress, athletes should be provided with a variety of resources and support by their clubs and sponsors, who have a duty of care toward them. Athletes are human beings who deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, not simply toys that can be thrown away if they are not deemed bankable.

already breaking records on the track

that she prefers individual over team sports.

“[When I’m running], I’m free,” she said. “I’m just running [....] I don’t have time to think that’s so much better for me [....] I don’t have to depend on my teammates [....] I don’t mind being a team, but I’m more introverted.”

The increased pressure that came with her recent success at the McGill Team Challenge doesn’t stress Ntambue out like it used to. Instead, she welcomes it.

“I think pressure is a privilege,” Ntambue explained. “Not a lot of people get to have pressure [....] I’m really really here for the pressure because I know that all I’ve been doing, what I’ve had to do, my work ethic, it’s been towards that.”

After putting up a new McGill record in the 60-metre race last weekend, Ntambue hopes to get back to a point where she can represent Canada internationally, just as she did in 2018 at the Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games for track and for the Team Canada under-16 International Basketball Federation Americas Tournament for basketball.

“I did it before,” Ntambue said. “That’s for sure my goal because I love the maple leaf. Who doesn’t love the maple leaf?”

SCOREBOARD VARSITY SWIMMING: RSEQ FINALS

WOMEN’S: First Place, 1017 points

MEN’S: First Place, 933 points

COMBINED: First Place, 2010 points

MAJOR AWARD WINNERS:

Isabel Sarty, Athlete of the RSEQ Championship Meet and Swimmer of the Year

Pablo Collin, Athlete of the RSEQ Championship Meet and Swimmer of the Year

Tristan Schanz,

Peter Carpenter,

In her first season as a single-sport athlete, Ntambue is

Alysia Montaño competed throughout her pregnancy but still suffered a se vere pay cut from her sponsor Nike (Andy Lyons / Getty Images).

In 2018, Ntambue represented Quebec at the under-17 National Championship, earning first-team All-Star and tournament Most Valuable Player (Matt Garies / McGill Athletics).

Rookie of the Year

Coach of the Year (Men’s and Women’s)

No more Pride: The slow erosion of 2SLGBTQIA+ initiatives across the NHL

The Rangers’ and Flyers’ actions reflect institutionalized homophobia within the league

Tillie Burlock Sports Editor

Pride night at hockey games always presents itself as somewhat of an oxymoron. Like all major men’s professional sports leagues, homophobia courses through the veins of hockey from youth leagues all the way up to the National Hockey League (NHL). So often, players, coaches, and analysts not only fail as allies, but actively stand against any progress in the direction of the NHL’s “Hockey is for Everyone” initiative. This leaves fans with the question: Why does the NHL keep trying?

On Jan. 17, the Philadelphia Flyers were set to host their annual Pride Night. The Flyers marketed the event promising fans “special guests, merchandise, and more,” but as players went out for their pre-game skate donning Pride-themed warmup jerseys and sticks with rainbow tape, someone was missing—Ivan Provorov.

As hockey Twitter spiralled over hypotheticals that could have led Provorov to miss warm-up, they were surprised to see him starting right back on defence when the puck drop

came around. Was he getting his ankle taped up? Did he have a stomachache? Was there something wrong with his equipment? As the game went on, reports explaining the reason behind Provorov’s absence began to trickle out: He was boycotting the team’s Pride initiatives.

In his post-game media availability, Provorov was curt with the media. He cited his RussianOrthodox religious beliefs and stated that he “respected everyone’s choices.” As if calling queerness a “choice” wasn’t enough of a blow to a night that was meant to mark progress within the NHL, Flyers’ coach John Tortorella was sure to make his support for Provorov clear. Tortorella went so far as to say he believed Provorov did nothing wrong and he respected that he was “true to himself.”

The Flyers provided the league with a benchmark. It is now acceptable to opt out of Pride night. In response to Provorov and Tortorella’s actions, the NHL put out a statement reiterating their stance that clubs “decide whom to celebrate, when and how” and that players “are free to decide which initiatives to support.” While recognizing the legal jargon and inability of the league to take action

on Provorov directly, the NHL’s spineless statement sent the invitation for other teams and players to echo Provorov’s homophobia.

So how does the rest of the league respond? Do they come out in aggressive support of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community? Do they stay silent? For the New York Rangers, they seemingly believed that Provorov had it right. Despite promoting a Pride Night on Jan. 28 that would include Pride-themed warm-up jerseys and sticks, the Rangers did not wear either. The decision not only shocked fans at the arena who had bought tickets and arrived early under the impression they would see some form of allyship from the players, but it also shocked the co-chair of NYC Pride, Andre Thomas, who had been brought in for the pre-game ceremonial puck drop.

Over a week later, the Rangers still have not provided an explanation for why they did not wear the jerseys.

Although the Rangers made a donation to the Ali Forney Center on Pride Night and rainbow lights lit up Madison Square Garden, the lack of player participation left a bad taste in many fans’ mouths.

The NHL’s institutional protection of homophobia is made clear as day by the past three weeks

of failure. In tandem with the AllStar game taking place in Florida, it’s easy to see where the league’s priorities stand. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman’s silence in response to Governor Ron DeSantis’ attempt and eventual success in shutting down the leagues’ diversity and inclusion initiatives in the state is disappointing yet unsurprising.

Hockey is certainly better off now than it was a decade ago. Bright spots emerged from the All-Star festivities, with the Gay Men’s Chorus

of South Florida singing the national anthem at the Skill Competition and openly queer athletes Emily Clark, Alex Carpenter, and Hilary Knight participating in the event. That said, it’s hard to see the NHL’s attempts at inclusivity as anything more than performative moneymakers desperate to grow the league’s dying fanbase. The NHL needs to protect itself against a regression into the culture wars that characterize America or else they’ll end up right back where they started.

Martlets volleyball rallies to defeat UQTR in five-set thriller

McGill shows resilience to sweep season series against Patriotes

Jack Armstrong

Contributor

On Feb. 5, McGill women’s volleyball (10–5) hosted the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) Patriotes (2–13) in front of a lively crowd for their Black History Month game. The Martlets found themselves down by a set twice during the match but battled back for an ultimate 3–2 victory over a sneaky Patriotes team.

Despite sitting at the bottom of the league, UQTR started the first set on the front foot, racing out to a 5-1 lead due,

in part, to a pair of McGill misplays. The Martlets quickly recovered, however, and tied the game thanks to superb blocking and attacking from fifth-year middle-blocker Charlene Robitaille and fourth-year right-side hitter Clara Poiré. Robitaille and Poiré continued to command the Martlets’ defence throughout the set, but UQTR capitalized on offensive errors to take the first set 25-21.

The second set played out similarly to the first, as UQTR held a narrow lead over the Martlets early on.

Poiré and Robitaille continued their stellar play and received some much-

needed offensive help from fourth-year power hitter Victoria Iannotti, who hammered multiple spikes past the Patriotes’ defence. The Martlets finally pulled away from UQTR late in the set when second-year setter Charlotte Chouinard-Laliberté followed up a deadly spike with an ace, helping McGill claim the set 25-20.

The Martlets failed to build on their momentum during the third set, as both teams followed up highlight-worthy plays with unforced errors. McGill’s defensive play improved significantly from the first two sets thanks to thirdyear forward Olivia Krishnan, but were ultimately overpowered by the Patriotes’ offence, who took the set 2520 to restore their lead.

Faced with the prospect of a mustwin set, the Martlets entered the fourth with a newfound energy and looked like a completely different team. ChouinardLaliberté and Krishnan made a number of crucial digs and Poiré hit back-toback aces as McGill jumped into a 6-0 lead. UQTR laboured to close the gap, but McGill continued to pile on the pressure on both sides of the net.

Fourth-year power-hitter Melanie Dormann came into the game halfway through the set and led the Martlets on a 9-1 run, putting them up 19-11. UQTR fought back hard and closed the gap to three points, but a massive spike

from Poiré killed their momentum, and McGill took the set 25-21—tying the match at two sets a piece.

“We are a team that can adapt [.…] We made the adjustments,” head coach Rachèle Béliveau said about the team’s fourth set performance in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “It took us a while to find the solution, but we eventually got it.”

The Martlets proved they did indeed have the solution during the decisive fifth set, as they outplayed UQTR offensively and defensively. UQTR kept it close early on, but an ace from Robitaille and a kill from Iannotti helped the Martlets pull away. Poiré then scored on three consecutive possessions as the Martlets took the set 15-9 and claimed a 3–2 victory in a true team effort.

“Our team’s depth has been really important,” third-year middle blocker Erin Keating said. “We’ve had injuries at a lot of positions, so I think it’s a testament to how important our depth is that we can go out […] and have absolutely great days.”

Béliveau emphasized the need to stay focused heading into the final stretch of the season.

“I think sometimes we focus too much on the result instead of just being in the moment and playing the game point by point [.…] We need one

more win to make sure we are in the playoffs.”

The Martlets continue their season against Laval (8–7) on Feb. 10 and will look to keep their momentum heading into the postseason.

MOMENT OF THE GAME

STAT CORNER

“We practice serving a lot in our practices. It’s really important because the offence on the other side is struggling after that.”

importance of serving

John Tortorella doubled down on his decision to allow Ivan Provorov to play despite vowing to bench players for political protests in 2016 (Shireen Aamir / The McGill Tribune).

The Martlets combined for 11 aces in a dominant offensive performance. (Matt Garies / McGill Athletics)

Clara Poiré scored off two spikes and a block on consecutive possessions late in the fifth set to all but end the match.

Seven Martlets players recorded multiple kills, with three players notching at least 10.

–Second-year setter Charlotte Chouinard-Laliberté on the