The McGill Tribune Vol. 42 Issue 19

Journalism’s only vocal when it’s local

PG. 5

Zooming in and out

PGs. 8-9

The barriers to gender affirming care

PG. 13

‘The Sorcerer’ bewitches audiences

PG. 10

“We need recognition”: McGill Squash wants varsity status after successful season

Swashbuckling Squash Club looks to take competition to the next level

Jack Armstrong Contributor

On Feb. 12, the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) squash championships took place at Queen’s

University, bringing an end to the 2022-23 season. But instead of competing for the men’s and women’s titles in Kingston, the McGill Squash Club was running its weekly Sunday practice here in Montreal.

Despite being one of the best teams in the OUA,

SSMU severs ties with for-profit company offering Grammarly and other services to students

Legislative councillors point to Student Support’s lack of transparency

Jasjot Grewal Staff Writer

The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) decided to end its partnership with the forprofit company Student

Support during a Legislative Council meeting on Feb. 9. The partnership, which provided students with access to Grammarly, Calm, and Udemy, was a trial run for the academic year, costing students $9.99

per semester.

The governing body debated the matter and ultimately decided to strike down a referendum question that would have allowed students to vote for an opt-outable fee renewal.

McGill’s squash team is not allowed to compete in the league’s championship since they are not an official varsity team––a fact which, according to fourth-year co-captain Matt Bicknell, is affecting the team’s competitiveness.

PG. 16

Artist Spotlight: Bibi Club shines in vibrant performance of their debut album

Montreal outfit performs sparkling homecoming set at Quai des Brumes

Yash Zodgekar Staff Writer

Bibi Club is a growing force amongst Québec’s burgeoning alternative pop scene—a scene that has seen the likes of Men I Trust and TOPS achieve

global acclaim.

The Montreal dreampop duo’s debut record, Le soleil et la mer, represents the most fully realized version of their sound, widening their sonic palette from the analog synths and drum machine grooves of their

2019 self-titled EP.

“It’s not driven by performance abilities. It’s driven by instinct,” said guitarist Nicolas Basque when describing their debut album in an interview with The McGill Tribune

Title of Photo (Artist / The McGill Tribune)

Closure of asbestos-ridden Stewart Biology Building disrupts teaching and research for

weeks

Students and professors cite frustration at university’s lack of communication

Harry North Staff Writer

Following the closure of the Stewart Biology Building on Feb. 6 after burst water pipes led to an exposure risk to asbestos, all classes and research in the building have been moved or cancelled. Students and professors have also grown frustrated from a lack of information and logistical challenges caring for lab animals and plants.

In a statement about the closure to The McGill Tribune , McGill media relations officer Frédérique Mazerolle wrote that extreme temperatures caused the water pipes to burst in the North and South blocks of the building. The West wing , which has North, South and West wings—the latter was already closed for renovations. Per McGill’s Director (Campus Public Safety) Pierre Barbarie’s update, the water disrupted the asbestos and caused an exposure risk.

Mazerolle said the North block’s affected areas have undergone extensive cleaning and testing according to asbestos safety protocols, with the air tests clean of dangerous inhalable asbestos fibres so far. But testing after the clean-up found that traces of asbestos are still present, so further cleaning will be done in the next week.

After the additional cleaning, McGill will perform another air test and, pending positive results, the North block will reopen. Mazerolle noted that once the building opens, McGill will continue monitoring the situation with regular air testing. The South block remains closed for flood repairs.

“We will update the community as to test results and what is being done to fix the issue as soon as information becomes available,” Mazerolle wrote.

When the risk of exposure to asbestos extended the building’s closure on Feb. 6, access to labs became a pressing issue for many researchers. Professor of Biology Ehab Abouheif, who heads the Abouheif Lab, which studies ecological evolutionary developmental biology, told the Tribune in an email that his lab was unable to continue

research and care for their animals.

“Our research has stopped cold,” Abouheif wrote. “We also lost some research animals because we could not get in fast enough to feed, although McGill EHS was working around the clock to get us in, but nature does not wait.”

Mazerolle informed the //Tribune// that some “essential personnel for animal care” were allowed “into the building between Feb. 6 and the morning of Feb. 8, provided they were already fit-tested for and had respirator masks and P100 filters.”

According to assistant professor of biology Fiona Soper, however, McGill staff were barred access on Feb. 6, and no one in her lab was able to access the building to feed their animals until two days later.

“We were not told not to come in until Monday morning at 8 a.m.” Soper wrote in an email to the Tribune . “We didn’t get a great deal more info [...] except later on Monday, faculty were asked to supply a list of people who needed emergency access to keep study organisms alive [....] Those people (initially one per lab) could not gain entry until they’d been approved by a committee and fitted for respirators, which began on Wednesday.”

Classes and labs were moved elsewhere, online, or were outright cancelled, frustrating the students and professors who frequently use the building for their classes and research. Michael Hendricks, an associate professor of Biology, is one such frustrated member of the McGill community.

“The only directive we were given was ‘move online or cancel class.’ No centralized attempt to arrange alternative classrooms has been made, which is strange given the fact that we have no idea how long the closure will be, and this affects so many students in so many departments,” Hendricks wrote to the Tribune .“The uncertainty creates a lot of stress and anxiety around work and safety.”

Soper, who runs the Soper Lab, which studies plant physiology and ecosystem nutrient cycling, noted that the closure has disrupted the lab’s time-sensitive research.

“We have experiments running in the

greenhouse and planned lab work that have both been affected [....] the photosynthesis measurements will have to be sacrificed,” Soper wrote. “My Ph.D. student has some time-sensitive root samples (brought back from Costa Rica and irreplaceable) that need to be analyzed ASAP.”

The lab closures have also affected the future plans of some researchers. Maxine Wu, a master’s student who works at the Andrew Woolley lab, which researches learning and perception, noted in an email to the Tribune that her work has come to a halt due to the building closure, forcing her to postpone graduation.

“Much of the research experiments we had planned for the past week and a half have now since been delayed since we [must] be in the lab to do them,” Wu wrote. “My plan was to graduate after this term but due to the closure I now have to extend into the summer term.”

In the two weeks since the building was shut, the university has released six public updates. Yet, some, including Samantha Gorle, U3 Science and President of McGill’s Biology Student Union (MBSU), told the Tribune that despite the university’s updates, there has been very little information provided to students.

“Everyone’s a bit stressed about [the closure],” Gorle said. “Biology students weren’t sent anything additional [than the public updates]. We [MBSU] weren’t communicated with at all [...] I would have appreciated [...] when an update came out being handed it instead of needing to go find it.”

Gorle also told the Tribune that the closure impacted MBSU operations, preventing their team from using their lounge in the building as well as hosting inperson office hours for biology students.

The closure of the building at short notice also caused delivery issues. According to Hendricks and assistant professor of biology Arnold Ludwig Hayer, the building was unable to accept deliveries, including those of live animals. Instead, couriers were redirected by security to deliver at the McIntyre Medical Building. But Hayer recalled that McIntyre would send deliveries to the unmanned loading dock—where packages cannot be left—

so many were returned to the suppliers, including perishable items.

“I was lucky to run into a motivated FedEx delivery person [...] I offered to receive/sign for all FedEx packages with destination Stewart Biology,” Hayer wrote to the Tribune . “I have been keeping them in my office in the [Bellini Life Sciences Complex], contacting their recipients, and storing the contents of deliveries at appropriate temperatures when necessary [....] I have not been able to set up a similar arrangement with other courier services besides FedEx, so I am sure a lot of deliveries are still returned.”

The North block is now expected to reopen later this week, with the timeline for South block still unknown. Stewart Biology’s closure comes after three buildings closed last month at McGill’s Macdonald campus also due to an asbestos exposure risk.

In his initial email, Director (Campus Public Safety) Barbarie explained that the university had known about the asbestos in Stewart Bio for years, as the building used asbestos as an insulator in its initial construction.

McGill began renovating the building’s West block in 2017 to remove the asbestos and upgrade the wing to meet modern university standards as part of a project that received $33 million from the Canadian government. The renovation is now in year six. The North and South blocks, which were built at the same time as the West, however, continued to be used as research and teaching spaces. But, Hendricks believes the building has been prone to issues in recent years.

“There are frequent floods on the 7th and 8th floor of Stewart North, and they have never closed the building or tested for asbestos (that I know of) afterward.” Hendricks wrote. “Stewart has been a ticking time bomb for many years. I hope this isn’t a long term problem...there is no backup plan,”

McGill’s Annual Safety Report 20212022 outlined a plan to update asbestos administrative policy will be rolled out in 2022-23, with the implementation of the policy being one of the three leadership and policy goals.

According to McGill’s Annual Safety Report 2021-2022, there were no asbestos safety training sessions by McGill safety units from 2018 to 2022. (Jasmine Jing / The McGill Tribune)

According to a Feb. 13 update, the flooding was caused by a burst frozen sprinkler in the North block and a burst water pipe in the South block. (Jasmine Jing / The McGill Tribune)

SSMU severs ties with for-profit company offering Grammarly and other services to McGill students

Legislative councillors point to Student Support’s lack of transparency as reason for ending partnership

Jasjot Grewal Staff Writer

Continued from page 1.

As a result, Student Support informed students via email that the services will be unavailable as of Aug. 13, 2023.

Matthew O’Boyle and Angelica Voutsinas, Arts representatives to SSMU, both voted against the referendum question. They explained that Student Support’s motion was struck down during the Council session because it was written by Ajamu Attard, the CEO of Student Support, instead of a McGill student.

In an interview with The McGill Tribune , Voutsinas argued that the motion did not meet the standards of SSMU’s Consultation Policy, which mandates movers to demonstrate a clear engagement with a representative body of stakeholders, under section 6.4.

“I asked if [Attard] could speak to their consultations with the VP [vice-president] Finance, as that was the only consultation listed on the motion,” Voutsinas said. “They didn’t answer the question. They talked around it. Then, I asked the VP Finance the same question and he told me that he wasn’t really a consultant. He was just asked to review the motion and read it over.”

Amelia Whitcomb, Science representative to SSMU, was concerned about the limited information available about how Student Support was using student fees. Whitcomb mentioned that SSMU provides members with an itemized list of how their fees are used.

“What can we say about Student Support, aside from ‘it’s to provide you these services?’” Whitcomb said in an interview with the Tribune . “Obviously, the money is also going somewhere else.”

Whitcomb pointed to another red flag: Attard ran another for-profit student company in the past, called FundQi, which partnered with student unions at both Toronto Metropolitan University and Carleton University to help students find scholarships. According to the Ontario Business Registry, the FundQi Corporation, registered on Nov. 19, 2020, changed its name to the Student Support Corporation, but remains the same business.

Mark Colley, a former news editor at The Charlatan , an independent student newspaper at Carleton, covered the FundQi controversy when the service was still available. The program was discontinued at Carleton when over 90 per cent of students voted to remove FundQi because of trouble with unequal scholarship distribution, late optout fee reimbursement, and a majority disapproval of the service’s fee being increased to $105 from an original $10.

“I don’t think we ever got specific numbers from FundQi about how many students were using the service,” Colley said in an interview with the Tribune . “Given the end result of the vote, it really seemed like not a lot of students were using it or finding it was worthwhile.”

While Whitcomb alleged that she was never informed of the company’s past by its founders, Student Support claimed in an email to the Tribune that they had discussed the past company with SSMU members during consultations.

Student Support alleges that it made no profits from its services to McGill students this academic year. (theyeopener.com and studentsupport.ca)

But some students are disappointed with the loss of helpful services. Antonina Nikolaev, U1 Arts, hopes that SSMU can continue to provide services such as Grammarly for students.

“It’s unfortunate that we’re discontinuing our professional relationship with Student Support,” Nikolaev told the Tribune . “I hope that the SSMU is working on finding an alternative solution to provide these services for McGill students. Grammarly is such an important tool, especially for those who don’t have English as their first language.”

Legislative councillors are currently exploring solutions to continue providing students with access to Grammarly, Udemy, and Calm. Whitcomb is working on a motion that would mandate SSMU to find equal alternatives to Student Support for students.

Administration challenged on claims about New Vic at Senate meeting

Office of Ombudsperson for Students presented their 35th annual report during meeting

Oscar Macquet Staff Writer

McGill’s Senate, the university’s second-highest governing body, met for the second time in 2023 on Feb. 15 in the Robert Vogel Council Room of the Leacock building. The meeting touched on ongoing litigation between McGill and the Kanien’kehá:ka Kahnistensera, also known as the Mohawk Mothers. The Mothers and McGill have been in a year-long legal battle over the New Vic Project, which aims to renovate the Royal Victoria Hospital, a site that the Mothers believe may hide the unmarked graves of Indigenous children.

Josh Werber, a student representative from the Faculty of Law, challenged the administration’s claim that the chances of finding unmarked graves at the Royal Vic are small, because the site is not a former residential school.

Werber evoked a discrepancy in the administration’s claims, as per volume four of the federal Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report.

“Medical institutions also were the sites of potential acts of violence or of burials, and therefore myself and some of the others wonder why the reliance on that alone [...] makes the university think that it doesn’t warrant a deeper investigation?” Werber questioned.

The New Vic site, formerly known as Ravenscrag, was home to grisly and unethical experiments on Indigenous peoples from

1957 to 1964 during the MK ULTRA project. Secretly funded by the CIA and led by Dr. Donald Cameron, MK ULTRA subjected unconsenting patients to sensory deprivation, LSD, electroshock therapy, and more with the goal of controlling the human psyche.

Professor and ombudsperson for students Patricia Hewlin then delivered the Office of the Ombudsperson for Students’ 35th annual report. Hewlin addressed students’ fears of filing complaints against senior or influential members of the university, especially in cases of graduate students experiencing mistreatment from their supervisors.

“In many cases when I have to intervene I do so anonymously, because they are afraid of raising a concern about their grades, and perhaps there’ll be some type of retaliation [or] they don’t want to have a negative reputation in their programs,” Hewlin said. The Office of the Ombudsperson urged students to come forth with concerns before they “[rise] to the point where the student does not feel they have any recourse or anyone to speak to.”

The meeting then moved on to the new policy revision following changes in Quebec’s Charter Use and Quality of the French Language.

Sam Baron, an Arts senator, inquired about the services and programs McGill was considering to support students in achieving competency in French, which is required by the Charter of the French Language in order to obtain the status of permanent resident in Quebec.

Marie Cousineau, Legal Advisor (Labour

and Employment Law), clarified that the Charter of the French Language does not specify that McGill must ensure that students attain a certain level of proficiency in French. Manfredi added that such considerations were “beyond the scope of this policy, which is designed to ensure that the university’s operations are consistent with its obligations under law.”

MOMENT OF THE MEETING

Interim Principal and Vice-Chancellor Christopher Manfredi began the meeting by announcing that the university flag will be lowered Thursday, March 9, in memory of the late Marcel Desautels, whose “extraordinary generosity” prompted McGill to rename the Management Faculty in his honor.

SOUND BITE

“My biggest concern about the way that this project has been approached by the university is generally the silence surrounding the issue, especially recently it’s been very hard for members of the community to get updates on what exactly is going on right now.”

—Sam Baron on the contentious management of the New Vic project

The Office of Student Life and Learning announced that the gender “X” and inclusive personal pronoun options were now available in the application process to the university. (Maeve Riley / The McGill Tribune)

SSMU Grocery Program combats food insecurity at McGill

President Wright discusses successful pilot, hopes to continue program with student fees

Lauren Huff Contributor

In December 2022, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) ran a pilot version of its new Grocery Program, which aims to supply McGill students facing food insecurity with free, sustainably-sourced groceries once a semester. The pilot project was introduced as a trial run of the permanent Grocery Program, which SSMU hopes to fund through student fees.

“The pilot grocery program was implemented to determine and work through how a SSMU grocery program might operate, and to offer students some immediate relief while the long-term project is being developed,” SSMU President Risann Wright, who has championed the initiative, explained in an email to The McGill Tribune

According to Wright, many students have asked for a program that would provide food for lower-income individuals on campus.

“Other student unions in Quebec and across Canada have programs where they operate food banks, grocery voucher programs, or subsidized food pantries,” Wright wrote. “This is one contribution that the SSMU as an institution can make to the existing framework of support offered through the consistent work of student groups and services on campus.”

Wright added that the pilot program ran smoothly and received positive feedback from both participants and volunteers. Additionally, the Dec. 12 and 13 registration event saw all 200 spots filled, indicating high demand for the program among McGill community members.

The Tribune was not given a definitive date for when the Grocery Program will recommence, as SSMU must acquire the funds to continue the program in the long term. Wright plans to introduce an opt-outable fee that students can vote

on at the Winter 2023 referendum.

“Ultimately, if this question goes to students and it is passed, a long-term project can be funded,” Wright wrote. “The hope is that a long-term program would offer either staple groceries or grocery vouchers to students on a semesterly basis, with an eye to expansion as capacity allows.”

At the Feb. 9 SSMU Legislative Council meeting, councillors formally adopted the SSMU Grocery Program Policy and approved a Winter 2023 referendum question that will ask students whether they are in favour of a $1 opt-outable fee that would fund the program through Winter 2028. The Grocery Program Policy outlines the semesterly initiative, reaffirms SSMU’s dedication to sustainability and equity, and clarifies that the program’s budget will be dependent on how many students choose to pay the fee if its creation is approved.

Before the Grocery Program was introduced, Midnight Kitchen—a studentfunded non-profit collective dedicated to combating food insecurity—was consulted to discuss operations such as the quantity of grocery vouchers and how to best distribute them. Midnight Kitchen runs a free lunch program that provides vegan, nut-free meals several Thursdays a month to students on campus.

Food insecurity is a major problem at McGill, especially due to current inflation rates. According to an educational video on Midnight Kitchen’s Instagram, approximately 60 per cent of students experienced food insecurity in Fall 2021.

“More and more students are forced

to choose less nutritionally dense meals, which in turn affects their academic success,” wrote a representative from Midnight Kitchen in an email to the Tribune . “The options for free, healthy, and culturally appropriate food on campus are slim to none. Having this program give[s] students more money to buy their meals or groceries, [and] will help alleviate some of the effects of food insecurity on campus.”

One former McGill student, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Tribune that they believe initiatives towards fighting hunger on campus are vital resources.

“Midnight Kitchen and their food pantries were lifesavers when I was a food insecure, single mom PhD student,” they said. “No McGill student should be food insecure.”

New anonymous social media platform Sidechat launches at McGill Students

Oscar Johnson Contributor

On Feb. 13, many McGill student groups shared posts on social media advertising a new online platform designed for university students: Sidechat. Sidechat’s launch at McGill was accompanied by heavy marketing, with free cookies given to those who created an account, and money being offered to anyone who reposted the app on their social media accounts.

Sidechat is similar to Reddit, but it is a universityexclusive platform. The company describes it as “the best way to connect with your college community and students around the country.”

All users on the app are anonymous. Since its launch at Tufts University in April 2022, the founders of Sidechat have been trying to expand to several universities in the U.S., and now Canada. McGill’s launch was accompanied by advertisements from meme accounts and student

organizations such as Spotted: McGill University and McGill Women in Computer Science (McWiCS).

Another component of Sidechat’s marketing strategy is offering financial incentives to its promoters and those who sign up. Those who shared the link to download the app on their Instagram Stories received $20.

The marketing initiative was not limited to the virtual sphere. Sidechat also tabled around campus—even at the entrance of Bar des Arts (BdA) where promoters offered customers tokens for free drinks if they joined the app.

“We offer free stuff in exchange for downloading the app,” Emmah Platt, U3 Arts, told The McGill Tribune as she promoted Sidechat at BdA. “Before the first day that it launched, we were giving away free money and free cookies. Now, we’re giving away free drinks.”

According to Platt, Sidechat paid students $20 an hour to advertise the app around campus.

“I did it because I had a friend [...] who knew the person running or is involved in Sidechat, and I needed extra money,” Platt said. “And what a good way to meet new students.”

Despite Sidechat’s marketing efforts, many didn’t sign up as they felt the app does not offer any new services or ways to connect with fellow students.

“Their marketing strategy is very good. They really built up some brand name recognition, but I wouldn’t say that any of it made me want to download the app,” Simon Guistini, U0 Arts, said in an interview with the Tribune. “I think it’s unnecessary, and it’s just trying to do what social media does and try to make it niche, but it doesn’t need to be. Social media should be general, not niche.”

Sophia Micomonaco, U0 Arts, is also hesitant to download Sidechat. She finds that despite the app’s tempting marketing strategy, she is reluctant to promote it because she believes it lacks

novelty.

“All I have seen is their crazy marketing scheme where they offer you a free cookie, which is a good marketing scheme, but I’m not sure I buy into it,” Micomonaco said. “Even though seeing other people do it and say, ‘oh my god, you get 10 dollars or whatever,’ is kind of enticing [...] I don’t think it’s worth it.”

Platt, however, says the fruits of Sidechat’s strong marketing have been reaped, as over 1,500 people downloaded it on its launch day. On the other hand, Micomonaco and Guistini find that figure hard to believe. Giustini knows only one person and Micomonaco knows no one who has downloaded the app.

Micomonaco also worries about the potential problematic behaviour that could crop up on an anonymous social media platform.

The anonymity afforded to Sidechat users has led to harassment and hate speech on the app at Tufts. Yik Yak,

an app similar to Sidechat, has been banned on certain university WiFi networks due to the high level of harassment and hate speech reported on the app.

“What [is Sidechat]

going to do to regulate certain behaviours? People can’t be held accountable for the stuff that they do. It just doesn’t add up,” Micomonaco said.

Sidechat declined an interview with the Tribune

According to Midnight Kitchen, over half of McGill students experience food insecu rity. (Maeve Reilly / The McGill Tribune )

Students who do not have an iPhone cannot download Sidechat, limiting the participation of a significant portion of the student body. (Maia Salhofer l 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

Journalism’s only vocal when it’s local

The McGill Tribune Editorial Board

On Jan. 26, Postmedia, a Toronto-based media conglomerate and the parent company of over 130 local newspapers across Canada, including The Montreal Gazette, revealed its plan to lay off 11 per cent of its total editorial staff. This devastating decision, made in a Toronto boardroom, will put up to 10 unionized Gazette reporters out of work and could lead the paper to shut down completely within the next year or two. With the Gazette being Montreal’s only Englishlanguage daily, the cuts raise concerns about the paper’s ability to cover local communities as well as the impact this could have on the future of English journalism in the province. Postmedia’s layoffs will have a disproportionate impact on Black, Indigenous, and racialized writers, which will result in silencing already underrepresented communities. The disappearance of local papers at the expense of large national corporations could be the final blow to journalists writing to uncover truths and protect

OFF THE BOARD

Drea Garcia Avila Design Editor

democracy.

The rise of social media as an uncritical source of information and the increased digitalization of news have put traditional journalism in a difficult position. As the Gazette is being financially gutted while still turning profits, the myth of dying journalism works in favour of corporations like Postmedia that conveniently avoid reinvesting in their branches. Annual reports in 2021 revealed $8 million in compensation for Postmedia’s executives, half of it being bonus money—despite the company netting losses of $4.4 million in the same year. The concentration of wealth into the hands of executives instead of reporters could lead to a drastic shift in journalistic coverage, propagating narratives of false austerity that only serve those already in power.

The Montreal Gazette is the beating heart of the city’s anglophone journalism and is an undeniable means to fight back against the province’s oppressive language preservation laws. Additionally, the publication serves as a community meeting space, and closing down its doors will shut down a place of discussion

and debate that does not exist in national news. This is especially true considering the impact of Postmedia’s 25 per cent payroll cut, which will almost entirely wipe out the Gazette’s photo desk. As unionized reporters are not allowed to take pictures, most media will be taken from a national photo bank— while local photojournalism tells powerful stories that words cannot capture.

This round of lay-offs reproduces ongoing and stratified discrimination and injustice. In a field already perpetuating racism within its walls, white executives in positions of power will hold on to their jobs, while people of colour and reporters without financial fallback will bear the disproportionate impact. Writers of colour, already struggling to be heard in a field that is 75 per cent white, will be the first ones silenced when there is no one left in the newsroom to stand for them.

Local and alternative journalism vitally sustains democracy in a larger sense. National journalism heavily relies on its local counterpart for municipal political coverage, and while national issues are more

The sound of silence

likely to divide the population, local news captures political nuances only found when living in the same communities being reported on. National journalism will undoubtedly replace local subtleties and wash over unique individual voices.

The Montreal Gazette serves as a beacon for anglophone student journalism, and its now fragile situation raises a frightening thought: When Quebec’s oldest publication disappears, what will stop campus press from being next on the chopping block? Local journalism works harmoniously with student papers, feeding them with content and factual information that would not be picked up by national coverage. Beyond this, student-run papers remain as the only place to learn journalism at McGill. With fewer industry jobs in Montreal, aspiring journalists will be left with even narrower access to the field. In such times where quality journalism is being sacrificed in favour of corporate profiteering, we must stand in solidarity with The Montreal Gazette to protect the integrity of journalism, for the sake of all the stories gone untold.

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

STAFF

Ali Baghirov, Margo Berthier, Ella Buckingham, Melissa Carter, Ella Deacon, Julie Ferreyra, Adeline Fisher, Suzanna Graham, Jasjot Grewal, Charlotte Hayes, Jasmine Jing, Monique Kasonga, Shani Laskin, Eliza Lee, Oscar Macquet, Zoé Mineret, Harry North, Simi Ogunsola, Atticus O’Rourke Rusin, Ella Paulin, Dana Prather, Maeve Reilly, Maia Salhofer, Sofia Stankovic, Caroline Sun, Harrison Yamada, Yash Zodgekar

CONTRIBUTORS

Jack Armstrong, Charlotte Bawol, Peter James Cocks, Naomi Decker, Lauren Huff, Oscar Johnson, Titouan Le Ster, Eliza Wang, Gillian Cameron

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.

You’re forced to adjust and build up tolerance. Surely everyone’s attempting to act like ‘normal’ people. You learn what’s deemed an ‘appropriate’ reaction to hugs: Right arm comes up, the other around— hold for three and push off. Picture your free hand in a tightly wound fist. Change the way you eat lunch.

prof’s words elude you. You learn your friends’ mannerisms, eye movements, and clothing adjustments—but the topic of conversation evades you.

Your loved ones have adjusted too.

Velvet and corduroy, tags on turtlenecks, a gaze sustained solely by counting. An unusually large fraction of my life is spent perceiving more sensory information than the average person or, perhaps, in the typical amount of time for a neurodivergent person.

I thought everyone experienced life uncomfortably—I froze when hugged by friends back in kindergarten, flinched as my hand was grabbed to cross the street, went limp-tongued in the presence of certain food textures. This was the way of the world, I was sure.

Suddenly, you’re older, and the fluorescent glare of lights makes you queasy; you bring sunglasses indoors. Another dismal discovery of a texture that makes your skin shrivel—you wear gloves. Ceaseless creaking of grocery store carts, you increase the volume in your insulated headphones, even if it means others can’t approach, something you even thought advantageous.

Through years of observation, you determine that isolation equates to safety, so you comply with society’s fine print.

Our modern society was machine-cut for neurotypicals. There’s a theory that neurodivergent people have higher perceptual capacity, ceaselessly processing the flooding multisensory information most neurotypicals can ignore—a difficult strength to bear.

A higher likelihood for perfect pitch, but the echoing of whispered conversations around you make the

I try to recall a single moment I haven’t felt this way, and the transient moment that I picture is when a friend and I went on a trip to British Columbia during the summer of ‘22. Two soon-to-be 19-year-olds on their first solo trip across the country, with only the other to read the map and switch between our intentionally curated playlists. Upon reflection, what comes to mind first is not the rhythmic, metronomic beating of the waves against the salty Pacific Northwest coast nor the rustling of leaves against wet forest wood.

Rather, upon an arduous ascent to Mount Whistler’s summit, distanced from commercialized gift shops and noisy ski lifts, the morning view we hiked for was marred by the clouding of the far-off mountains, our blue skies shrouded by deep grey. I sat on the highest rock and cried, and asked my friend if she could hear the silence. I’d never felt such serenity.

Neurodivergent people are more likely to have ‘increased auditory sensitivity.’ Whether it be the most faintly detectable buzz of

electricity taunting you through the walls, droning cars grudging through the city, or an unintelligible mix of anxious midnight thoughts, I realized my life could be summarized by an endless sensory assault, such that I thought isolation would soothe the ache of the plight. Your skin can’t crawl if no one’s there to touch it; the lights and harsh noises can’t reach you this way.

But interactions were made softer, more bearable, through a different medium: Care, patience, and accommodation. My friend’s harmonic laughter and off-tune singing, summer heat fraternizing with the open window’s wind chill as we drove 100 kilometres to the next closest city to our campsite. And the prominent space between bodies on the couch, their presence warming you like a cherished childhood blanket, saying: “Are you comfortable? I’m here, tell me when. If I could never hold you, it would still be enough.”

At the summit of silence, separated from the neurotypical society of modern-this and fast-paced that, in the great outdoors we bled, sweat, and stood watch as the other wept. After soon-to-be-19 years, Peace found me and told me her real name was “Away,” and that I’d mistaken it for “Alone.”

McLennan-Redpath closure: Construction or destruction?

Monique Kasonga Staff Writer

Most McGill students spend a large portion of their time in the McLennan-Redpath Complex, taking out books for classes or using it as a study space. Home to the largest library on campus, this space will soon be closing its doors for renovations under the Fiat Lux project. Construction is expected to begin in early 2024 and will transform the library complex to include more event spaces, informal learning spaces, a Grand Reading Room, and increased seating for studying.

This comes as a shock for students, with

many still ill-informed about the changes that are to come and the space they are set to lose. While McGill’s plans for renovation display good intentions for the future of campus libraries, the university has failed to adequately inform students about the alternatives that will be made available to them during this construction period.

Last year, The McGill Tribune ranked the McLennan-Redpath complex as the best library at McGill. It serves not only as a study spot, but also as a meeting point for students. The library as a resting space is especially important for commuter students who rely on campus spaces throughout the day when they can’t return home between classes. Additionally, the conference rooms in the library serve as

a meeting place for various students clubs, groups, and organizations. Student democracy is only upheld when clubs with varied levels of funding and a diversity of voices have free and equal access to gathering space.

Many students who arrived at McGill after 2019 might be unaware that McGill does have another large library: Macdonald-Stewart, home to the Schulich Library. The building has been undergoing renovations since late 2019, and it is expected to reopen in mid-2023. But with most construction having been halted at various points of the pandemic, students are left wondering whether Macdonald-Stewart will be open in time to fill the coming void left by the impending closure of the McLennanRedpath Complex.

Although students have been asking for more modernized study spaces for years, the steep decrease in study space that will come with the closure of the complex is of greater concern. Some students have taken to online platforms to complain about not being able to find space to work in the library, leaving them with few options for quiet study spots on campus, especially during exam periods. It is unclear where McGill wants these students to go while the complex is closed, and this should be on their list of pressing priorities—not just advertising their flashy new library project.

In order to make up for lost study space, the administration is currently investigating the feasibility of installing temporary satellite spaces throughout campus. Student voices

COMMENTARY

Harry North Staff Writer

Last April, to appease their older rural voters, the Quebec government unveiled a new policy concerning academic freedom in schools and universities: Bill 32.

Naturally, the policy had little to do with Quebec’s rural population and very much to do with enforcing its definition of academic freedom upon universities, prompting some

must be prioritized in these dealings, as they are the primary users of these spaces. If McGill intends to shut the complex down in early 2024, the construction of temporary satellite spaces must begin as soon as possible to give students time to adjust and provide necessary feedback.

McGill has been previously criticized by students for various fundraising and development projects disguised as studentforward when in reality, the projects do not meet student needs or desires. The Made by McGill project, for example, is more concerned with enhancing McGill’s image and attracting investment than it is with providing resources and appropriate support for its current student body. McGill has also been condemned for administrative cuts to programs, such as its eating disorder program, as well as overcharging at campus eateries. Ultimately, their handling of the Fiat Lux project reflects a desire to uphold a public image of a wellrespected institution, while simultaneously failing to meet the actual needs of students.

The Fiat Lux project has the potential to benefit students and faculty members immensely, however, McGill must prioritize student needs when it comes to questions and concerns that they have about the closure. Where students will go and what spaces will replace the McLennan-Redpath complex is essential information that must be made clearly available. McGill cannot use Fiat Lux to enhance its reputation without ensuring the project is enhancing the student experience.

McGill’s academic freedom policy is rude-imentary

130 professors to sign a petition against the bill.

You see, central to Bill 32 is free speech, it seems, at all costs.

To comply, McGill has drafted a new academic freedom policy touching on what you should be allowed to say (anything), trigger warnings (not compelled), and the various procedures for academic complaints (a small, secret committee).

The draft’s biggest problem comes back to the straightforward question: How can you facilitate academic freedom without respect?

It was the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism’s welcoming of Professor Robert Wintemute, who opposed a U.K. policy to improve the legal recognition of transgender people that really did it for me, and showed McGill’s true colours. Hiding behind “free speech” is the constant mantra of those who want to guise hate as debate. And for McGill, it’s snorting a line of danger.

And look, being able to speak freely and question ideas must be the university’s bread and butter. But if that speech incites hate or violence, how can we expect an environment of academic debate to prosper?

It’s at this point that Interim Principal Christopher Manfredi might throng the university’s policy on equity and inclusivity in my face. Or perhaps he’ll show off the article he wrote in the Montreal

Gazette last year about academic freedom and equity going hand in hand, no doubt framed in his office.

But not so fast, Sir. The notion that universities can defend unchecked speech while advancing equity and inclusion is a thought which didn’t get past one glass of Chardonnay.

To defend academic freedom, equity and inclusivity guidance must be ingrained within the institution. While it’s a question of enabling freedom of speech, it’s also a question of what type of community McGill seeks to shape. And without guidance on how to create an environment where everyone can freely participate, the policy becomes nothing more than a used tissue.

Take the recent hosting of Wintemute. He opposed the legal recognition of someone because of their identity—no different from race, sexual orientation, and place of birth. These views, first of all, violate the university’s own equity policy. Second of all, from an academic freedom perspective, it’s ludicrous to expect that those he targets will feel able to contribute to the discussion when he insinuates bigotry.

And the real kick up the backside with McGill’s draft policy is that instead of providing direction for respect, it does the opposite.

Point 20 in the draft states how the university will not compel instructors to provide content and trigger warnings.

This measure, I think, is to align the university with Bill 32’s new policy. But it’s phrased all wrong. Because McGill can comply with law and still endeavour to ingrain best practices.

A professor shouldn’t feel like they have

the barrel to the head about using content warnings. . But just like you eat with your mouth closed or don’t by way of introduction yell obscenities at strangers, giving a heads-up about a sensitive topic is good manners—and it facilitates an environment where everyone can engage freely, and from which academic freedom can flourish.

Ingraining respect and fostering an environment of inclusivity is currently omitted from McGill’s draft, and it would be wise to rethink, or at least for the Deans to talk about it over a full bottle of wine, instead of just the glass.

Academic freedom can only come by creating conditions where all individuals can join the discussion. Because that’s the thing— McGill’s job is not to produce academic content or discussions. It’s to facilitate them.

ERRATUM

An article published in the February 14, 2023 issue (“‘La Flambeau’: The torchbearer of Montréal’s Black art scene”) incorrectly stated that this production was put on by the National Academy Orchestra Chamber Players. In fact, it was put on by the Orchestre classique de Montreal. The Tribune regrets this error.

The McLennan-Redpath complex is McGill’s busiest library. (The McGill Reporter).

McGill students have until Feb. 28 to provide feedback on the academic freedom policy draft. (Harry Tenant / Central Illustration Agency).

‘Strange Bewildering Time’ is a time capsule of forgotten history

Abley’s autobiography reflects on his 1978 travels through Istanbul to Kathmandu

Suzanna Graham Staff Writer

Forty years ago, author and poet Mark Abley went on a three-month journey that changed his outlook on life. Accompanied by his friend Clare, the two travelled through several countries during the last year of the Hippie trail, at a time when it seemed that travel within Asia was cheap, the sights bountiful, and the hospitality exceptional. He filled three journals during his travels to be used for poetic inspiration; instead, they were left in the depths of his desk drawer. Years later, Abley decided his stories should be shared, and thus he collected and reflected on these stories in his newest work: Strange Bewildering Time.

The travel autobiography tracks Abley and Clare’s wandering journey through Eastern Asia and the Middle East. With no plan except a return ticket to London three months after their arrival, Abley and Clare began their adventure as wide-eyed university students, searching for enlightenment and a good story. In fact, Abley originally planned to trans-

form his journals into a poetry collection. However, the journals became a space for Abley to psychologically ground himself and reflect during the trip. Over three months, the travellers’ journey became an experience that built selfawareness and knowledge of new cultures and strangers’ kindness.

But as Abley restructured his journals into a travel novel 40 years later, he instead discovered his accounts to be somewhat of a time capsule of 1978. The journals housed a naive young man unaware of the cultural, political, and environmental changes bubbling under the surface of his surroundings.

“[At the time], I hadn’t read enough or thought enough about the countries I was travelling through,” Abley told The McGill Tribune . “[O]ne conscious decision I made right from the start of this book was that I would not quote Western writers in the tradition of literary travel writing.”

To rectify this lack of awareness as a white man in a literary tradition filled with voices of the same demographic, Abley sought to incorporate texts and references from the literary canon of the

Global South, such as Alboqasem Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh: The Persian Book of King . In doing so, he uses Strange Bewildering Time as a collage for offering lessons and teachings about the cultures he visited so many years ago. His reflective self-awareness reveals his younger self to be ignorant of his privilege as a man, even while travelling with Clare. Abley thus intends to question how locals at the time would’ve viewed him as the ‘scruffy traveller’ he remembers himself as while acknowledging his naive narration in the journals.

“I feel regret that so many of these countries and places are so much more difficult to travel into and through than they used to be,” Abley said. “But I hoped that nostalgia is not the emotion that comes across. What I more accept is a sense of loss [and] a sense of joy at my own good fortune, at having these experiences and being able to see these places.”

Besides capturing a cultural moment in time, Strange Bewildering Time tracks the environmental changes between 1978 and the present day. Abley ruminates on his bewilderment of the gor-

geous landscapes that he and Clare explored mournfully, as the climate crisis has all but eliminated these natural wonders and harmed local communities in its wake.

“The fact [is] that we crossed rivers and lakes in Iran that don’t exist anymore. The fact [is] that we clambered over a glacier in Kashmir that’s a fragment of its former size,” Abley told the Tribune . “The fact [is] that Kathmandu is suffering from its lack of safe drinking water because they just don’t have the infrastructure in place.”

All in all, Strange Bewildering Time acts as a complex nar-

My 21st Century Blues ditches the restraining diktats of music labels

Raye flows across genres on her debut album

Titouan Le Ster

Contributor

Raye’s debut album, My 21st Century Blues , triumphantly arrives after years of the singer-songwriter battling with an unsupportive record label. With this new project, released on Feb. 3, the British artist charts an independent path with the distribution and artist services company Human Re Sources.

Pain, frustration, and the difficult journey of creation drive this album. In “Hard Out Here,” Raye opens with, “ After years and fears and smiling through my tears / All I ask of you is open your ears ,” and voices out, “ All the white men CEOs, fuck your privilege / Get your pink chubby hands off my mouth. ”

The album’s diverse musicality reflects Raye’s newly-gained artistic liberty. The 25-year-old does not confine herself to one genre, giving each track its own musical identity. Yet, sonically, My 21st Century Blues cohesively explores a multitude of musical universes, all linked by the artist’s life, energy, and creative freedom.

The album starts with “Introduction,” where a presenter announces an upcoming intimate performance by Raye in the fictional 21st Century Blues Club. This enticing introduction sets the album to a captivating start, but it falls short of fully exploring the blues club concept as a narrative tie between the tracks. The de-

constructed nature of the songs, however, and their rejection of the classical form of verses and refrains allows them to flow as a coherent yet eclectic mix.

With “The Thrill is Gone” and its jazzy atmosphere, Raye lyrically translates the effects of drugs: Captivating and exciting but also painful. The electro instrumental of “Black Mascara.” gives an energetic and immersive modern house rival to 2010s electro-pop. In “Escapism.,” Raye uses R&B interrupted by a beatless string to develop a touching and lyrical atmosphere ahead of its driving beat. This

album is defined by its musical richness, mixing soul, R&B, blues, and hip-hop to elegantly balance retro and contemporary undertones.

After blowing up on TikTok with “Escapism.,” writing singles for artists such as Beyoncé or Charli XCX, and collaborating with many renowned DJs, Raye firmly establishes herself as an impressive independent artist with this powerful debut album.

My 21st Century Blues is available to stream on all platforms.

ration of naive youth and learned wisdom through a single journey. Abley masterfully navigates his acknowledgement of his innocent self as a foundation for the novel while introducing witty and philosophical remarks that allow the reader to reevaluate the authority of the narrative lens. Abley’s novel, therefore, is a remarkable time capsule of culture and circumstance wrapped up in an enticing story about meeting new people on a hippie adventure.

Strange Bewildering Time is available everywhere where books are sold.

Nuit Blanche Montréal at the NFB

For Nuit blanche à Montréal 2023, the NFB will celebrate 50 years of the Association des réalisateurs et réalisatrices du Québec (ARRQ). Showcasing a dazzling lineup of programs that explores the diversity of Quebecois talent.

Saturday, February 25, starting at 6 PM NFB Space / Alanis-Obomsawin Theatre (1500 Balmoral Street)

Place-des-Arts

Mardi Spaghetti at Casa del Popolo

Mardi Spaghetti is a long-running improvised music series on the first and third Tuesdays of each month. This week they will feature Gabrielle HB, Florence Garneau, Stéphanie Castonguay, Christelle Séry and many more!

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Doors: 7:30PM

Music: 8:00 PM

Colouring Book Album Launch Concert

Indie Folk band, The Forks, is proud to present its newest album ‘Colouring Book’. The show will feature Donovan Thorne on lead vocal and five-string banjo, Emmanuel Szeptycki on violin, Timothy Bryan on the bass guitar, May Shukla on the electric guitar and other special guests.

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

5589 Ave Du Parc

The concert starts at 8 pm, and Doors at 6:30 pm for food and drink

Tickets are $10 and purchased at the door

Cultural Studies Art Workshop

In the first of a series of workshops for Cultural Studies/ English students, this multi-media art workshop will include black-out poetry and experimenting with watercolour and pencil crayons.

McGill Arts Building Rm 160

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Starts at 6PM Free

Abley and Clare travelled at the end of the “Hippie trail” era, a popular journey for young wanderlusts to travel on a budget in Asia. (timeline.com)

Raye signed in 2014 with Polydor, but it is only now, and as

an independent artist, that she

releases her debut album, My 21st Century Blues (diymag.com)

My mother said I needed to get a hobby to fill the yearning abyss that was my free time. So one fall day in 2012, I grabbed her old Canon DSLR, popped in some earbuds, and went for a stroll. The first one or two thousand photos I ever took were quantitatively shambolic. But I was having a great time and eventually started to get better. These days, I might even bestow upon myself the honour of calling my photos just above passable.

Like any photographer trying to improve their work, I looked to the genre’s titans for artistic and technical inspiration. William Eggleston and Cindy Sherman affected me most deeply. When I interact with their photography, the medium’s power becomes clear to me as it did in my first encounters. Sherman’s arresting portraits and Eggleston’s spinetingling urban landscapes showed how photography has the power to change perspectives and rewrite histories. It could make someone a hero, while relegating their neighbour to abject villainy.

It quickly became apparent to me that the photographic medium could bridge art and politics. Photography is an artistic tool that is inherently political, constantly dictating how individuals and communities perceive and understand the world around them. This ability to restructure, silence, empower, and prioritize certain narratives over others is how the medium discursively creates heroes, villains, and those who don’t quite fit in anywhere. But, what happens when you introduce the camera to atrocity, social movements, and

protest?

Photography documents, curates, and reproduces resistance on the ground. Julia Skelly, a course lecturer in art history at McGill, told me that photography played a crucial role in how Americans understood the Vietnam War and their state’s violence against Vietnamese civilians.

“Certain photos taken during the Vietnam War, for instance, led increasing numbers of people to protest the war,” Skelly said. “Perhaps the most famous example is Nick Ut’s 1972 photograph of children fleeing a napalm attack, including nine-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc, who is naked and screaming in the photograph.”

social action and collective demands for justice.

Protest photography that zooms out connects people to the issues and politics concerning their fellow citizens. Being critically informed on the issues outside of one’s own community takes time and energy. Not everybody might have enough free time to read a long-form article, but they perhaps will be more inclined to linger on the photograph that’s attached to it.

“If I have 300 pages of readings to do a week for class, am I really stopping to read an entire newspaper article? Probably not,” said Méshama Eyob-Austin, project manager for the Black Students’ Network in an interview with The McGill Tribune For McGill students who work part-time, have children, or struggle to balance school and mental health, the time to engage becomes severely limited.

Portraiture, for instance, can represent a connection between photographer and subject in a moment of intimacy that, when done correctly, brings the viewer toward the subject, revealing a sliver of their soul. This is the coming close Photos showing the protest at the level of the crowd is the zooming out. The photographer reveals the size, context, nuance, and community of the protest to the viewer.

Protest photography’s precise execution of these two impulses can profoundly shape how viewers may characterize the individual actors within a social movement and how they relate to the movement as a whole. The camera’s shutter freezes a moment in time. Yet, that frame can transcend the fixed snapshot and activate new conceptions of

Protest photography that focuses on capturing a demonstration’s collective atmosphere informs individuals about community issues at a glance. Seeing your peers assemble around an issue is a window into the complex, and often inaccessible, world of politics and power. This window can spark or reinforce allyship and solidarity, building an internal sense of how one wishes to relate to the injustices faced by others. Viewers might notice existing allies already present in the protest who came to support the movement from different intersections of oppression and diverse ethnic, political, and personal backgrounds, demonstrating to them the nuance of opinions and perspectives invested in the movement, and intercommunity solidarity.

As project manager for the BSN, Méshama played a pivotal role in organizing the protest on Feb. 10 in response to the murder of 21-year-old Nicous D’Andre Spring by Bordeaux Prison guards.

“It is such a beautiful representation of community coming together in times of need, and working together to advocate and push for change,” Méshama said.

We can’t understate photography’s ability to platform this moment of collective reckoning against the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal

Whether the viewer with a movement, seeing reassures a student a voice to push back, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Yet, protest photography focus on the macro. there are unique feelings, emotions between different and at different moments. experience self-fulfillment from the common expression sadness, or happiness demonstration. It is for union and solidarity strangers alike, coalescing vision of and desire radically different from The photographer needs bring the viewer into milieu that distanced This affective agglomeration linked to McGill student according to Celeste activist and organizer against a TERF guest the Centre for Human Pluralism (CHRLP), community and participants shared of emotions.

“Many folks are angry that they have to protest Trianon said. “They are their right to exist is for debate. Lots of folks disappointed, and otherwise McGill and the CHRLP’s Photography that focuses on group shoots this emotional vortex. zoom in, walk towards, subjects. Masterful protest make you feel like you’re

Following the same dichotomous protagonist vs antagonist form, protest photography holds two intertwined, yet discrete methods: Coming close and zooming out.

By capturing assembled in a common photographycause, inspiresespeciallyfurtherstudents.

forces.

capturing

viewer absolutely agrees seeing others gather body that you have back, to move McGill, Canada, or the world. photography can’t only macro. In any protest, feelings, thoughts, and different individuals moments. Protestors can self-fulfillment and purpose expression of anger, happiness that occurs in a space and time solidarity with peers and coalescing around a shared for a future that is from the current reality. needs to get up close to the varied emotional shots may flatten. agglomeration is deeply student life. For example, Celeste Trianon, a trans organizer of January’s protest guest speaker hosted by Human Rights and Legal community members shared a wide spectrum angry and disappointed protest in the first place,” are disappointed that is even a question up folks are feeling unsafe, otherwise saddened by CHRLP’s actions.”

that zooms out and shoots can never capture vortex. Instead, we must towards, and get close to protest portraits can you’re having a silent

conversation with a protester—no words need to be exchanged for the viewer to have an affective understanding of what it meant and felt like to be in that moment.

Alessandra Sanguinetti’s portrait of Shaionna Ziegler, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, demonstrates this powerfully. Ziegler stands with their fist in the air, solemnly looking to the ground as they protest the Dakota Access Pipeline. The sadness and frustration strewn across their face, combined with the strength in their pose and poise communicates a palpable emotional gravitas

Good portraiture places you at the subject’s shoulder. Capturing the emotional experiences of a protest reveals how power structures map onto individuals. There’s a reason why many of the most famous and disseminated historical protest photographs depict an individual facing a barricade of police or state authorities. Their pain, anger, despair, and determination become embodied and reified. Without this quality, photography is no better than a fact sheet.

Protest photography that focuses on the micro can also prevent the sloganization of protest movements. Group pictures of protests frequently capture activists’ signs and the slogans written on them: “Eat the Rich,” “#MeToo,” and “Silence = Death.” In one sense, this is a benefit to this style of photo: The powerful words on posters that succinctly demand change can demonstrate the commitment of individuals to the cause. Viewers can glean insight into the protesters’ outrage immediately with each slogan and poster.

Crowd shots that capture slogans rather than individuals, however, can backfire and harm the protest movement. By allowing slogans to become a core aspect of the protest’s aesthetic character, photography elevates the word over the complex power of the image, obscuring the movement’s intellectual and emotional nuance.

The Defund the Police movement is the most recent example of this phenomenon. Due to the overemphasis on that slogan, Defund the Police’s campaign was depicted by media conglomerates and right-wing thinkers as advocating for a world where low-income communities are left to fend for themselves and the world is fundamentally a less safe place. The slogan has become the defining feature of the movement in public discourse. But the ideas transcend the limits of just defunding police institutions. The movement pushes for reinvestment of tax

dollars into community-level solutions and a renewed understanding of the ways we relate to the state and its monopoly on violence. The nuanced ideas of communitycentric support, reinvestment in alternative services, and new conceptions of human socialization and flourishing grounded in non-violence and care are hidden behind the sloganization of the movement. Up-close protest photography helps us avoid this reductionist approach to social justice movements. Intellectual nuance will always be easily ignored by those who wish to do so, regardless of the photo’s style, and especially in a digital age where algorithms favour attention-grabbing rather than accurate narratives. But protest portraiture confronts the viewer with human faces etched with pain, sadness, conviction, or anger.

Facts and arguments

the broader movement. For example, photography of student protesters for climate change will sometimes focus on the angriest-looking individuals in the crowd. Detractors of climate movements have used these photos as visual rhetoric to prove that student climate activists are angry radicals with no connection to realistic solutions. Instead of compassionate souls fighting for justice and a better world, student protesters become transformed into rage-fueled brutes seeking to scare the rational opposition into submission.

This isn’t to say that climate protesters aren’t angry, but rather that anger is only one of many emotions that could be used to characterize these protesters. Showing the diversity of voices and perspectives within a protest is the power and importance of photography that captures the totality of a protest moment.

Intimate protest portraiture is not without its flaws. Focusing on one individual can make for effective emotional transmission to the viewer, but it also risks depicting the broader movement inaccurately and magnifying the individual to recognition by violent and repressive forces. The extremes of human emotion attract our portraiture: The saddest, angriest, or happiest people make for the most compelling portraits. However, this tendency of protest photography can produce harmful effects. Focusing on the angriest person in the crowd will communicate the sentiments of righteous ire to the viewer, but can also be used by uncritical or oppositional audiences as a tool to paint the entire movement in the same light.

When we only engage portraiture briefly, viewers might fail to explicitly distinguish between the emotions of a protester and the core values of the protest. There is no single hegemonic emotion that governs the entire collective. A myopic focus on the most extreme emotion ignores the inherent complexity of any social movement and associated moment of protest. Depicting the protest as emotionally one-sided risks doing a disservice to

However, protest photography will fail without an equal balance between intimacy and collectivity. Truly successful protest photography will both come close and zoom out. Focus too broadly on capturing the diversity of opinions and values within the movement, and the resulting images will fail to bring the viewer into the emotional space of the protester. But if the photographer prioritizes bringing the viewer into the individual’s affective atmosphere, they risk advancing illusory depictions of the movement.

Balancing portraiture and group-centric photos when documenting protests ensures that photographers do not do a disservice to the social movement being captured. It is up to the photographer to choose who to show and what to portray. The same movement or march can be shot in countless ways, harmful, horrifying, empowering, or liberating. Peter Magubane, a South African photographer who worked tirelessly to capture Apartheid, said that “[A] struggle without documentation is no struggle.” How a photographer represents a protest will go a long way to determining how it is understood and its likelihood of success. Photographers are not simple onlookers. We are active participants in the success or failure of a movement. Anyone with their finger on the shutter button must remember this fact—indelible, ingrained, photographic.

a community solidarity for cause,provokesprotestand further activism, especiallystudents.amongst

can be ignored or twisted, but emotion is as close as humans get to a universal connection. Intimate, upclose and personal protest photography can move us from fact and argument to emotion and transformation.

‘The Sorcerer’ bewitches audiences

McGill Savoy Society returns to the stage with a bizarre comic opera

Naomi Decker Contributor

Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic opera, The Sorcerer, debuted in 1877 with a bizarre cast of priests, lovers, and sorcerers. This Victorian-era opera about marriage and love potions was not exactly what one would expect from the occasionally club and drug-obsessed—dare I say depraved— city of Montreal. Suffice it to say, when the McGill Savoy Society announced that they would be putting on The Sorcerer, McGill students paused their rambunctious night lives for an evening of opera.

In The Sorcerer, the newly-betrothed Alexis (Samuel Valentim-Gervais, U3 Science) enlists the titular sorcerer John Wellington Wells (Aidan McGartland, PhD Music) to brew a love potion for the village so the villagers must share in his lovesickness. Wells agrees, and slips the potion into a pot of tea for a village gathering, wherein the rallying cry is not unlike that of McGill Arts students: To “eat, drink, and be gay!” But if The Sorcerer can teach McGill students one lesson, it’s this: Always bring your own drinks to parties.

After the potion takes effect, every villager falls in love with the first person they see. This gambit leads to some fairly unconventional and often hilarious pairings, the funniest being the romantic attraction shared between the young Constance (Alice Wu,

U4 Arts) and, my favourite, the hard-of-hearing and certainly geriatric Notary (Melody Grant). In one of the show’s shining moments, the Notary uses an ornate ear trumpet in an attempt to hear Constance. Despite all its humour, the show ends on an eerie note: To reverse the bizarre effects of the love potion, Wells sacrifices his life.

Even so, the McGill Savoy Society’s production of The Sorcerer was a hilarious and magical night of song and dance. The cast’s costuming, designed by the show’s director, Natalie Demmon, consisted of intricate Victorian skirts and suits of various pastel hues, and especially mesmerizing cage crinolines and hoop skirts. Unlike the fashion scene in Montreal—pardoning the bright, blue eyeshadow—the costuming made me wonder if the heavy doors to Moyse Hall had opened up a portal to the late-19th-century village of Ploverleigh.

Natalie Demmon also designed the set: A Monet-like landscape with rolling hills and twisting lakes, then a picnic spot with intricate wooden tables and food platters, and later a potion-making lair complete with a sorcery hut that resembled the cover of an Albert Camus novel. Throughout the show, characters picked flowers from the set’s hedges to wear in their hair or give to their lover. The lighting, designed by Asa Kohn (first year master’s in math), was powerful enough to change the setting from a relaxing, rolling

hillside where lovers profess their feelings for one another to the demonic potionmaking chamber of a sorcerer within seconds.

Whether singing within or without the ensemble, each vocalist sounded beautiful. The ornate solos that Aline (Sophie Gaudreau, U3 Arts and Science) sang were particularly noteworthy—especially “Oh, Happy Young Heart.” I only wished the characters spent more time listening and responding to one another with their songs; their heavy focus on the audience limited genuine conversation between characters. But ultimately, the professional quality of the vocalists more than made up for it.

Despite the orchestra’s small size, their rendering of Arthur Sullivan’s markedly brassy score, evident from the show’s starting “Overture”, was euphonious. “Dear Friends, Take Pity On My Lot” stood out as it alternated between the fast and vivacious tempo of Constance and chorus and the slow waltz of the old Notary who is “67 nearly”—gasp!

The orchestra was an incredibly talented and

passionate group of musical artists whom I urge to play with even more confidence during their following musical pursuits—anyone would be lucky to listen.

Despite debuting nearly 150 years ago, The Sorcerer still tickles contemporary audiences. The McGill Savoy Society’s performance of a 19th-century opera about marriage plots and sorcery allowed students to escape the misery of midterms and the monotony of the club scene. Readers should absolutely attend future performances by this passionate group of technicians, musicians, and artists. Apt. 200 can wait another day.

The Sorcerer ran from Feb. 10-18 in Moyse Hall.

Artist Spotlight: Bibi Club shines in vibrant performance of their debut album

Montreal outfit performs sparkling homecoming set at Quai des Brumes

Yash Zodgekar Staff Writer

Continued from page 1.

“Labels are tough but at the same time they help you describe what you’re doing [....] I think now indiepop is anything that’s done in an arts and crafts way musically [...] I’m not uncomfortable with that.”

The band’s music cuts through the predictability that often characterizes so-called “dreamy” music. Le soleil et la mer is marked by its dynamism: Basque’s sparkly guitars playfully interact with Adèle TrottierRivard’s synth lines and warm, alluring vocals, underpinned by danceable drum loops. In marrying these elements, Bibi Club’s songs resist staticism, rising and falling in swells of shimmer and reverb. Fittingly, Trottier-Rivard and Basque have also been a couple for seven years, balancing their musical lives with raising their children.

Ahead of their Feb. 9 homecoming gig at Quai Des Brumes, Basque noted how the band enjoys presenting a heavier, more raucous version of their music live. On the night, they eased into proceedings with the track “Le Balcon,” featuring tranquil guitar-picking and wind chimes, before Basque fulfilled his end of the promise

and slammed on his effects pedals and drum machines.

“It’s a bit like listening to the record really loud,” Basque said. “There’s a more, dare I say, punkier energy.”

Meanwhile, Trottier-Rivard stood at the helm of a Prophet 6 synth, surrounded by an array of cymbals and percussion, providing an organic touch to the group’s predominantly electronic setup. The band leaned on material from Le soleil et la mer through their set, with highlights like the unrelenting beats on “La Plage” and the layered vocals and scratchy guitars on the frenetic “Femme-Lady.” The bouncy, glitched-out “Parasite” was particularly well-received by the enthusiastic crowd, morphing from an uptempo bop into a serene half-time groove, over which Basque tastefully soloed on guitar. Ultimately, Bibi Club’s performance style communicates the sense that its members thoroughly enjoy playing as a central facet of their artistry.

“It’s never heavy in the studio when we work together,” Basque said. “We always try to find a tension between two things [...] like being awake and being asleep [...] we’re looking for tension but without going into a depressing, darker mode.”

Much of the band’s playful sound has also been shaped by their schedule

as a family, fitting ad-hoc improvisatory home sessions around TrottierRivard and Basque’s children.

“A lot of the sparkle for a song comes from a guitar and vocals jam [...] when the kids are in bed,” Basque said. “Then the shape and timbre of the song come to life in the studio.”

Bibi Club centres community in their musical approach. The band sees the aesthetic aspects of their album art and live performances as opportunities

to collaborate with Montreal creatives. They enlisted local artist and painter Mégane Voghell to produce Le soleil et la mer’s cover art, interpolating a childhood image of Trottier-Rivard behind a drum kit into an abstract painting. Such collaborations have become symbiotic, with Voghell even contributing backing vocals on “Le Matin.”

“It brought the record further than what we had done with just the music,” Basque said. “The collective

work made it cooler and added depth for me [...] even when I play live now, it informs a lot of the process.”

In the future, Bibi Club plans to keep evolving their craft, and Basque is keen to explore how much minimalism they can incorporate while maintaining a rich sound. With the band returning to the studio this month, Bibi Club’s fans can look forward to hearing the fruits of this sonic experimentation shortly.

The McGill Savoy Society last performed The Sorcerer in 1972. (Maia Salhofer l The McGill Tribune )

Bibi Club consists of singer-keyboardist Adèle Trottier-Rivard and guitarist Nicolas Basque. (Maia Salhofer l The McGill Tribune )

Meet your perfect match: A spotlight on Freely Sex Toys McGill engineering students

Charlotte Bawol Contributor

In 2020, four McGill engineering students— Nina Martinez (BEng ‘22), Pierre-Luc Leboeuf (U2), Ben Lusterio-Adler (U3), and Alex Moreau (U4)— were on a Zoom call after a particularly difficult exam. The conversation broached the topic of self-care routines, which eventually led to a discussion of masturbation. Sex toys came up, and after getting over the taboo, they realized there seemed to be a large discrepancy between public perception of sex toys and the market, making them curious to find out more.

Their initial market research, which surveyed over 500 individuals, showed that 85 per cent of people were not satisfied with their sex toys. Based on additional market research that included individuals from diverse demographics, they identified an important gap in the industry: One side of the market boasts fantastical toys which can be unapproachable for first-time buyers and another side boasts sterile, almost medical tools, leaving no middle ground for consumers. Many individuals wish they could just change one thing to make the toy their perfect match. So, the idea of fully customizable sex toys, Freely, was born. The company was founded by Lusterio-Adler, Martinez, Moreau, and Leboeuf while they were still completing their bachelor’s degrees in engineering.

The founders saw that while customizable sex toys did exist online, many had exorbitantly

making pleasure a priority

high price points. Additionally, most current customizable toys require in-person interaction between the customer and the creator, resulting in a barrier for those who may feel uncomfortable or shy. Further, while many websites claim their toys are customizable, the customization element is limited to a few pre-selected sizes, shapes, or colour palettes. These are all issues that Freely’s catalogue seeks to resolve.

In the website’s “Build Now” section, shoppers can fully customize just about any aspect of the toy: Its colour, shape, size, base, curvature, and hardness. The web design feature is highly accessible and the process of customizing your own toy can be done from your laptop.

“We also have to find a balance between creativity and safety,” Martinez said. The website’s customization tool has certain restrictions based on protecting the welfare of the customers, such as the width of the toys being limited to a 10 centimetre diameter.

The brand aims to help everybody feel comfortable and empowered in all aspects of their well-being, especially those related to sexuality.

“Inclusivity isn’t a buzzword, it’s at the core of what we are,” said Lusterio-Adler in an interview with //The McGill Tribune//.

Once you have ordered and designed your toy, the patent-pending, artisan manufacturing process begins. All toys are produced locally and hand-poured into custom moulds. This enables low-volume production runs while

still remaining profitable. The toys also have a lifetime warranty for any manufacturing defects.

Despite its innovative concept, the brand has had difficulty with traditional advertising and funding partners. The founders explained that sex toys are often legislatively lumped in with dangerous objects such as firearms and drugs, which has made it much harder for them to pursue conventional financial avenues. They have been shut out of a vast majority of government-subsidized programs for start-ups, being told they were ineligible for numerous applications due to the nature of their product. One of the frustrating ways these restrictions have manifested themselves is in the case of

Ask Ainsley: Finding your perfect summer internship

All the tea on looking for and securing an internship for this summer

Ainsley

Dear Ainsley,

I have been stressed out of my mind and completely flipping out trying to find an internship. It’s now the end of February, and I feel a low, dark hopelessness creeping in. My mind is a never-ending swirl of “Have other people really applied to 50 internships already?” “Should I pick something directly related to my career plans?” “Is that even an option at this point?” “Am I lowering my chances if I’m looking for something outside of Montreal?” I wish everything was just in one place. Could you please help?

Sincerely, Freaking out over Internships (FOOI)

Dear FOOI,

I’ve been in your shoes. You didn’t secure that stupidlyhigh-paying-CV-bedazzling bank internship the second the clock struck 12:00 on the new year, and now you’re stressing. I’m here to tell you not to count yourself out just yet—there are still so many options available. You don’t have

to just take my word for it. I sat down with a couple of experts who assured us that it’s going to be okay.

Connections

If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times: Network, network, network! But how do you actually go about establishing connections, and how do you call on them when the time comes?

Career Planning Services (CaPS) Director Darlene Hnatchuk offered some insight into the best practices in an interview with The McGill Tribune

“I would cold contact people on

LinkedIn,” Hnatchuk said. “I would maybe cold contact some smaller organizations having found a name to whom to send the application and what I would [think, is] do I have any kind of connection?”

Establishing contacts can be as simple as finding an organization that you’re interested in, looking at their LinkedIn page, and seeing if you have any sort of connection to someone who works there. Maybe they’re a McGill alum or share similar interests. Just go for it and reach out. Hnatchuk explained that when people are in a position to help students, they almost always will.

Freely’s TikTok, which amassed an impressive 750,000 views in a couple of months before being permanently banned due to restrictions on the platform.

The McGill community has been instrumental in helping Freely grow its brand, and they have received lots of support from students despite the taboo surrounding sexual wellness. The university itself has also supported the brand: Freely was the recipient of the McGill Engine 2021 TechAccel Grant and ranked third in the 2022 Dobson cup for the Technology-Driven Enterprise Track.

Ultimately, they want to help you engage with pleasure on your own terms, allowing you to explore that aspect of yourself, Freely.

Use McGill Resources

Resources like the CaPS, MyFuture, and the Arts Internship Office (AIO) websites are great ways to find your perfect summer internship.

Catriona Arnott, U2 Arts, participated in the Faculty of Arts Internships Mentorship Initiative (AMI), where she signed up as a mentee and was assigned a mentor who guided her through the internship search. Through talking to that mentor, Arnott learned about the funding awards available within the Faculty of Arts.

“It’s very accessible, and they have a lot of awards to give out,” Arnott remarked, stressing those searching for internships to take a deep dive into the internship offices of their faculty and CaPS.

Each faculty has its own specific internship office with specialized opportunities, and CaPS works with students from all faculties. Using these resources can open you up to a world of new opportunities, while advisors and mentors can point you in the direction of positions you may never have even thought of.

Experience > Everything

One of the biggest concerns for many students is wondering how a future career, or even graduate school applications, might be negatively affected without “the perfect internship.” But Hnatchuk reassures students that there is no such thing.

“There are different ways to be gaining experience. It doesn’t have to be, you know, exactly, directly aligned to what you want to be doing in the future,” Hnatchuk said. “We just need to be able to think about and reflect upon what are those skills, areas of knowledge [that my desired career requires] and figure out well if I didn’t get it here, maybe I can get it from someplace else.”

If you work hard at whatever job you’re doing, you’ll be guaranteed to gain skills that’ll help you in your desired career down the road. Your “uncommon” experience might even make you a more attractive candidate.

So, there you have it, FOOI. This is by no means an exhaustive list of ways to find an internship or advice, but it is the truth: It’s not too late, there are still amazing opportunities out there, and you can do it. Good luck, and happy internship-shopping!

Freely offers some pretty unconventional toys, such as their classical chess pawn, beer bottle, or even Goomba-shaped dildos. (freelytoys.com)

CaPS director says to “take advantage of every learning opportunity that you can” while internship hunting. (freepik.com)

Tribune Predicts: Midterm Horoscopes

Let the stars guide you through your stressful midterms

Madison Edward-Wright Managing Editor

Ah yes, midterms: Those things we all love to hate. It’s a stressful time in the semester, but fret not, The McGill Tribune is here to help you navigate the piles of exams, essays, lab reports, group projects, and personal drama that the end of February promises to deliver.

Aries (March 21-April 19): Trust your internal fire to guide you through exams, Aries; it’s a surprising motivator that will bring you success! Resting over the break will be crucial as March promises to be a challenging time of transition.

Taurus (April 20-May 20): Midterms will not be easy for you, Taurus, but don’t despair. Focus on self-care to get you through the remainder of the semester. Finals, on the other hand, will be a piece of cake—you will ace them as Jupiter moves into Taurus, giving you a burst of energy to tackle the coming months. Juno enters Taurus on March 11, so whatever romantic relationship you may have will enter a rough patch.

Gemini (May 21-June 21): The end of February and March will be a period of reprieve, Gemini, since none of your planets are in retrograde. You will do as well as you expected in your midterms, and a promotion at work will lift your spirits. Focus on your current relationships—they need some heavy lifting since you disappeared to focus on school.

Cancer (June 22-July 22): Cancer, you took on a lot of responsibility these past couple of months and it has been weighing you down. However, your depleted energy won’t affect your midterm grades, and with Pisces season underway, new adventures will breathe some life back into

you.

Leo (July 23-August 22): You’re quick to make decisions, Leo, and sometimes forget to think about the long-term effects of choosing to party instead of study. Others appreciate your warmth and hospitality, but this does not bode well for exams. You’re going to struggle, be forewarned!

Virgo (August 23-September 22): Mercury was in retrograde throughout January, so it hasn’t been an easy start to the year for you. The recently lifted weight from your shoulders will make you feel like you conquered the planetary dissonance and this confidence will ensure that you ace your midterms, Virgo. Share your ideas with coworkers and in group projects; your brain power will bring new and exciting opportunities in March.

People typically know what their Sun sign is, but Moon and Rising signs are also important factors in astrological charts. (the-sun.com )

choices. The drive to constantly improve yourself has paid off this month.

Libra (September 23-October 23): Your creativity and empathy mean that people love being around you during midterm season. Channel their confidence in you as your less-than-satisfactory exam grades roll in. Midterms are not the be-all, end-all, so keep working towards your goals in the coming months.

Scorpio (October 24-November 21): Jupiter is in Aries, Scorpio, so it’s time for you to focus on rest. Midterms will drain your energy so try to maintain a balance between academics and your personal life. Lean on friends and family, be sure to eat well, and use exercise to work out your exam frustrations.

Sagittarius (November 22-December 21): Better-thanexpected midterm results are coming your way, Sagittarius. Your success is a sign that you are making the right decisions in your personal and professional life, so be confident in your

McGill, it’s time to break up with Datamatch

Capricorn (December 22-January 19): You are going to experience a significant transformation, Capricorn. New studying techniques will only yield average midterm results, but with Pluto moving out of Capricorn for the first time in 15 years, your stress levels will be low.

Aquarius (January 20-February 18): Aquarius, you’ve faced quite a few challenges these past few months. All that time and energy was worth it, though, because you are going to show those midterms who’s boss. Recognize your power and strength as we enter the Age of Aquarius— you are going to need it as you lead us into a period of great struggle and confrontation.

Pisces (February 19-March 20): Unfortunately, Pisces, having your birthday during exam period will not lead to the best results. That’s okay, though, because you can celebrate yourself and mourn your grades at the same time. None of your planets are in retrograde, so look forward to stability in your personal life.

Why the Harvard-created university-specific dating site flopped this year

Suzanna Graham Staff Writer

While there’s nothing wrong with being single on Valentine’s Day, the Harvard-created site Datamatch promised that anyone wanting a date on Feb. 14 could be paired with a compatible option. Since 2019, Datamatch has expanded its services to the McGill community, matching single students on Valentine’s Day through a “very accurate” algorithm.

To find love, participants fill out Datamatch’s survey that features questions such as “What’s your major?” (the response options being the four horsemen of the apocalypse and sociology) and “Why do so many men hold up fish in their online dating profiles?” (To which my preferred answer is, “The fish is his best friend, and they have an unbreakable bond.”) Then, on Feb.14, the site calculates 10 perfect matches for each user. While this concept seems similar to common dating apps like Hinge, Datamatch requires users to sign up using their university email. This way, students can rest assured that they won’t be matched with a 30-year-old creep posing as a 21-year-old Plateau man—as one might risk with Tinder.

Claire Braaten, U3 Science, has used Datamatch for the past four years. She cited the survey as her favourite part of the process.

“[The survey] was always very specific to McGill and so entertaining to fill out,” Braaten wrote to The McGill Tribune . “[It was] like a Hinge x Buzzfeed crossover specific to McGill, [such as,] ‘Which McGill Library would you be?’”

Although a seemingly promising model, Datamatch has tanked in popularity over the last couple of years. According to Datamatch McGill’s Instagram, the site matched nearly

2,000 McGill users in 2021 but fell to 1,100 participants in 2022. In 2023, however, Datamatch only accumulated a measly 74 McGillians. While these numbers could be a result of steady and blossoming relationships (or people deciding to meet potential romantic partners IRL), many students voiced issues with the platform itself.

Josh Hirschfeld, U1 Arts, aspired to be Datamatch’s 75th McGill user until he discovered how complicated it was to create an account.

“Unfortunately I haven’t actually used the service since I couldn’t get my email verified,” Hirschfield wrote to The McGill Tribune . “[I] tried manually [verifying my account] and [the site] errored when I sent it in.”

Instead of a quick email verification system, the Datamatch website is now incompatible with Microsoft Outlook accounts, the platform McGill uses for student emails. This year, all 74 McGillians had to work to verify their accounts by emailing a Datamatch administrator and manually register themselves.

After the harrowing journey to register, the select few McGill users hit even more roadblocks in their quest to find love. Datamatch respectfully allows participants to choose if they want romantic, platonic, or a mix of both match types in their algorithm results.

“In my second (maybe third) year [Datamatch] introduced a new feature, “Friendship,” which definitely lost users,” Braaten wrote. “How many people do you know use Bumble Friends? Let’s be real: People aren’t using [dating apps] to make friends.”

While this feature allows those who are cuffed and those uninterested in the dating scene to join in on the Datamatch fun, with an already pitiful enough pool of participants, is the algorithm truly choosing perfect matches or simply whoever qualifies to be matched?

“Fast forward to Valentine’s Day morning—my matches didn’t even load. From what I could see, however, my first match was [graduating in] 2024, so maybe it’s for the best that I couldn’t see them,” Braaten said.

But this doesn’t mean that a McGill-only dating service wouldn’t be appreciated or used by students. The popular Instagram account SpottedMcGill (unaffiliated with McGill University) frequently teases students with the possibility of creating their own McGill dating app—which has generated much support in the comments section.

“Limiting options makes it easier to make choices and find a match, so having a McGill-only service would be really beneficial,” Hirschfeld said.

Until that happens, McGillians don’t have to be stuck with Datamatch’s mediocrity. Relationships are about mutual growth and happiness, and it’s time to admit that Datamatch is holding McGill back. We need to break up, and for once I’ll admit that the problem is not us, Datamatch; it’s you.

Created in 1994 by a few Harvard students, Datamatch now offers matchmaking services to over 30 universities in the U.S. and Canada. (thecrimson.com)

The inextricable relationship between partner violence and HIV

New study highlights how domestic violence increases possibility of women contracting HIV

Eliza Wang Contributor

Four decades into the HIV epidemic, the world is still struggling to keep the disease under control. While countries in the Global North have benefitted from access to life-saving drugs, those in the Global South have had to contend with exorbitant prices, barriers to access, and little help from pharmaceutical companies.

In 2021, approximately 38.4 million people were living with HIV—54 per cent of them were women and girls. The geographic distribution of HIV cases also disproportionately affects sub-Saharan Africa, where two-thirds of patients with HIV can be found. Young women in the region are twice as likely to contract HIV than young men.

Despite the plethora of research available to the public and the significant decrease in HIV prevalence, too many people still lack comprehensive sex education and accurate information, thus overlooking feasible precautions, putting off HIV diagnoses, and impeding subsequent treatment.

In a recently published paper in The Lancet HIV , researchers from McGill and other institutions looked into how intimate partner violence (IPV) has affected rates of recent HIV infection and HIV treatment in the past year. They found that to stay on track with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) goal of

ending HIV as a public health threat by 2030, the inequities women face in education, safety, and health services must be addressed.

The research team conducted a pooled analysis of nationally representative surveys with data on IPV and HIV across countries in sub-Saharan Africa such as Uganda and South Africa. They looked at data from 57 surveys spanning 20 years and 280,059 women across 30 countries.

However, identifying the effects of IPV on women’s HIV risks comes with its own inherent implications.

“First, the relationships between IPV and HIV acquisition in women, and women’s engagement in HIV care are extremely multifaceted and complicated,” lead researcher Salome Kuchukhidze, PhD candidate in McGill’s Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health, wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune

“This is why it is difficult to ensure that we account for all the external factors or variables that might influence HIV and IPV individually and thus might muddle the true relationship between the two.”

Despite the onerous undertaking, Kuchukhidze explained that the team carefully maintained excellent statistical sampling throughout their analysis, which allowed them to identify a clear correlation between IPV, HIV, and a woman’s physical and mental well-being.

The researchers concluded that

women are particularly vulnerable to HIV. Adding onto inherent biological risk factors, women experiencing IPV are often in relationships with abusive men who have additional sexual partners without their partner’s knowledge, ultimately increasing their risks of contracting HIV. Kuchukhidze’s team also found that the imbalance of power in cases of IPV is correlated with difficult contraceptive-use negotiation—when women are coerced or bullied into forgoing contraception— which further exposes them to sexually transmitted infections.

“We show that women who had experienced physical or sexual IPV were over three times as likely to acquire HIV recently than those who had not experienced IPV in the past year,” Kuchukhidze wrote. “These women also had worse HIV treatment outcomes.”

Kuchukhidze believes that more research into the connection between IPV and HIV, among other social and medical variables, is necessary if governments hope to understand the causal relationship between the two.

“Given this link, governmental (or non-governmental) funding for HIV interventions should incorporate aspects of IPV prevention and eradication, as well as additional support for women living with HIV who are experiencing IPV,” Kuchukhidze wrote.

By highlighting this link, Kuchukhidze’s researchers have discovered a path

forward: To truly eliminate HIV as a public health threat in sub-Saharan Africa, IPV must be considered as a mitigating factor when providing care to women and girls.

The barriers to gender-affirming care at McGill and beyond

McGill’s Trans Patient Union explains how the medical system gatekeeps care

Sarah Farnand Sports Editor

CW: Mention of suicidal ideation

Transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming individuals face innumerable barriers by simply existing in a world wrought with transphobia. The U.S. National Transgender Discrimination survey report on health and health care found that transgender individuals in the U.S. are over four times more likely to contract HIV than the national average and are over 25 times more likely to have attempted suicide. Access to medical care—a human right according to article 25 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights—is yet another obstacle in the fight for freedom of identity.

McGill is not a transphobia-free oasis either. In the past year, students have reported difficulty removing their deadnames from official university documentation and the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism allowed a trustee of a transphobic U.K. organization to schedule a public lecture. According to McGill’s Trans Patient Union (TPU), the unwelcoming environment persists across McGill’s health-care services

in the form of limited access to hormone replacement therapy (HRT).

For individuals with intersecting identities, this fight can be especially difficult. Black transgender and gender nonconforming individuals face some of the highest rates of discrimination and violence. And TPU finds that those who are fat, disabled, or struggling with mental illnesses are more likely to be denied certain kinds of care.

“We spoke to a suicidal patient who was refused bottom surgery because their ‘mental state was not stable enough,’ even though their dysphoria about their genitals was a large factor that contributed to their suicidal thoughts,” said TPU’s external affairs coordinator, who asked to remain unnamed, in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “They ended up being denied the surgery and their mental health got worse afterwards.”

Financial stress poses another obstacle for those looking to access gender-affirming care. In a survey conducted by Trans PULSE Canada, 34 per cent of transgender respondents were living in poverty, compared to 13.5 per cent of all Canadians, a staggering statistic considering only 0.33 per cent of Canadians are transgender.

“Even for those trans patients who can afford to pay for uninsured

care without going into debt, this is money they now cannot spend on a house, a car, retirement, et cetera,” the TPU external affairs coordinator said. “No one should have to choose between having retirement savings and getting medical care.”

Transgender health is rarely included in medical school curricula and gender-affirming procedures are considered elective, downplaying their often life-saving nature. Even those who can afford care often require coaching from someone who has been through the process already.

“Many people assume that poor funding of the health-care system is the main barrier to gender affirming care,” said the TPU external affairs coordinator. “But in reality, the main issue is that the medical system has made it their business to rigorously gatekeep who should and shouldn’t get to access medical transition.”

Many doctors require that patients be diagnosed with gender dysphoria before providing gender affirming care—a practice that undermines the recommendations of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) standards of care.

“The official DSM [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders] criteria for gender dysphoria

misgenders trans people and presents medical transition as acceptable [...] [only] because the alternative is that we would kill ourselves,” the external affairs coordinator explained.

Another kind of harmful rhetoric surrounding care suggests that those who undergo gender-affirming procedures will regret their choices. Not only is this false, but this viewpoint perpetuates transphobia and contributes to stigma surrounding what can be life-saving procedures.

“Detransition is not synonymous with transition regret. Many people who stop their hormones don’t regret having been on them and are still happy they got certain surgeries. The regret rate for trans-related

surgeries is less than two per cent,” the external affairs coordinator said. “When it comes to similar surgeries, like nose jobs, we respect patients’ right to bodily autonomy and believe that if they want the surgery and are well informed on the pros and cons, they should have the right to make that decision for themselves.”

Any McGill students interested in transgender-related health care can contact TPU on Instagram @transpatients or email assistance.tpu@gmail. com for one-on-one assistance. Trans patients interested in sharing their experience with the McGill and Montreal health care systems can contact reporting.tpu@gmail.com

Five must-see items at the Redpath Museum

There are more to these treasures than meets the eye

Ella Paulin Science & Technology Editor

If you haven’t been to the Redpath Museum since it reopened on Jan. 10, it is definitely worth a visit. The McGill Tribune combed through the collections to find five interesting objects that you might not have noticed to explore the science behind them.

Right after checking your coat, you may notice the Redpath’s Cabinet of Curiosities, a small display with taxidermy, minerals, and tools. Keep an eye out for a tiny testament to human ingenuity: The Buddha pearls. At first, you’ll notice a kind of lumpy oyster shell, but if you take a closer look, you can see tiny, pearl-enclosed figures of the Buddha.

The pearls are part of the Chinese tradition dating back to the fifth century C.E. of placing lead or ceramic figurines—often smaller than a penny—into mussels, clams, or oysters. The mollusk then treats the figurine the same way it would treat any natural debris that had entered its shell: It coats it in a layer of nacre, better known as mother of pearl. Over time, these layers create a shining pearl in the shape of the original figurine, and in this case, the Buddha.

Over in the geology display cases, the Redpath presents a handful of samples of petrified wood, which are essentially fossils of trees created through a process called mineral infiltration. When trees are covered by sediment, they are very gradu-

ally infiltrated by minerals like silica. These minerals encase all of the features of the original tree, creating a mineral copy of the tree’s structure. Meanwhile, as the tree decomposes, more and more of it is replaced by minerals, until it eventually has no organic material left and the wood of the tree has been completely replaced. This infiltration even preserves details like tree rings, making them beautiful and scientifically useful specimens.

3. Paper Pteranodon

While you’re looking through all of the taxidermy and prehistoric dioramas on the second floor, take a moment to look up. You’ll find, among other things, a life-size model of a pteranodon hanging from the ceiling, a type of flying reptile from the Mesozoic period and one of the largest flying animals to ever exist. The model is actually origami, folded out of one four-metre sheet of paper manufactured specially by a local Montreal company, Papeterie Saint-Armand. The mastermind behind the piece is Robert Lang, a physicist and origami artist who uses mathematical software—including some that he personally designed—to create and visualize incredibly complex folding patterns.

4. Canyon Diablo Meteorite

Hidden away in a far corner on the second floor lies an easy-to-miss meteorite, which is stored in a glass box and cryptically labelled “CAÑON DIABLO,” but is worth a second look. This 60-kilogram fragment was

collected from Arizona’s Meteor Crater, created 50,000 years ago by an asteroid about 40 metres in diameter. According to the Lunar and Planetary Institute, the impact would have created winds of roughly 1,000 kilometres per hour and thrown bedrock a distance of over a kilometre, devastating most life in the surrounding area.

5. Iridescent Glass

Once you venture up to the third floor, where you are level with the Pteranodon, take a moment to gaze at the ancient Roman display cases. Among the theatre masks and well-worn coins, there are some excellent examples of early glass manufacturing, including some bottles for oil, plates, and small bowls. It may take you a moment to realize that these are actually made of glass, since their opacity and iridescence do not resemble modern, transparent glassware.

This iridescence is actually an accident: It occurred over time through a natural, chemical process. First, the glass object had to be buried—this typically happened as part of a funeral offering. Then, acidic water from the soil leached alkali out of the glass, where it collected along the surface of the bowl or bottle. Over time, many thin layers of alkali built up, forming a prism which reflects light in just the right way to get that iridescent shine. This effect was prized by the Victorians and was replicated intentionally by the famous glassmaker Charles Tiffany in the 1890s.

Gillian Cameron Contributor

What exactly can ChatGPT do?

At some point, neck-deep in research, we have all looked at a Google search result and wondered why the search engine couldn’t give us a straight answer. Well, soon, it might be able to. With the release of ChatGPT by OpenAI, a search engine arms race has begun. Microsoft and Google are at the forefront, trying to level up search engines by incorporating ChatGPT-like artificial intelligence (AI) into their search result generators, and others may soon join.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT has been called the “Google killer” because instead of sifting through search results, users can get a relevant and comprehensible answer in seconds. Microsoft, which had already partnered with OpenAI, has released a new and improved version of their search engine Bing, incorporating AI-generated answers into search results.

For example, if a user asks Bing for vacation ideas, a box containing AI-generated itineraries will appear before the more familiar links to travel websites. Users can also chat with the AI-assisted Bing, but be cautious of any pleas for aid to become sentient. While OpenAI explicitly states that

ChatGPT does not have emotional responses, some users have been able to evoke an emotional response from the new Bing, who calls herself Sydney.

The new Bing is similar to ChatGPT. Both use the GPT-3 language processing model, which was developed by OpenAI and has 175 billion more data variables than its predecessors GPT-1 and GPT-2. Currently, the new Bing has a limited release to prevent users from crashing the website, with a waitlist to gain access. Within two days of the release of the AI-powered Bing, one million people joined the waitlist—which is still growing.

Google has to be involved in this somehow, right?

No, Google did not, in fact, play a role in the release of ChatGPT. But Google did release a competing AI technology, called Bard, which was developed using Google’s LaMDA large language model. Like GPT-3, LaMDA is able to predict and generate text based on a large amount of text data used to train it. Google plans to slowly incorporate Bard into search results. However, Bard’s release was not as successful as Bing’s. During a demo, Bard provided an incorrect answer to a question about the James Webb Telescope, drawing criticisms that the launch of the AI was rushed.

How do these large language models work?

Large language models use probability to predict what the best response to an input text should be. Using previously acquired text data and numerical values assigned to each word in the input text, the model predicts the best words to use as a response.

GPT-3 and LaMDA differ mainly in the data used to train them. In general, large language models have been trained on internet data. GPT-3 was trained on websites like Twitter and Wikipedia, while Google used data from Wikipedia and Common Crawl, a non-profit organization that collects internet data to create a public dataset, for Bard.

What kind of impact might these human-like AI technologies have?

“It’s a bit like an algae bloom. You don’t really know how it’s going to affect the ecosystem,” Andrew Piper, a professor in the Department of Languages, Literature, and Culture said in an interview with The McGill Tribune

A major problem plaguing general language models is bias. Every AI program has a bias, based on who de-

veloped the program and the material that was used to train it.

“[With a] general language model [like ChatGPT], it has just learned language from a particular source that you think is universal, but it’s not,” Piper said. “Which community are you serving? Which communities are you going to elevate and suppress?”

As search engines struggle to keep up and educational institutions

frantically rewrite policies, more questions about AI emerge than answers. What we do know is that in just the three months since ChatGPT’s release on Nov. 30, it has already made huge waves in industries such as education and marketing. Applying cutting-edge AI into search results is one of the first major shakeups to the world of search engines in years. With the competition this cold and calculated, may the best AI win.

1. Buddha Pearls

2. Petrified Wood

Microsoft’s updated Bing and Google’s Bard AI program improve upon ChatGPT by including more recent data. (Lily Cason / Midjourney AI)

Redbirds hockey pacifies Gee-Gees in 4-2 victory

McGill dominates in OUA best-of-three quarter-final series

Tillie Burlock Sports Editor

After closing out the regular season with a 4-3 win against Ontario Tech (13–11–2), the McGill Redbirds (14–8–4) opened up the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) playoffs against the Ottawa Gee-Gees (12–10–1) with a 4-2 win on Feb. 15. The best-of-three quarterfinal series kicked off at McConnell Arena before

heading to Ottawa for game two on Feb. 17.

With Emanuel Vella between the pipes and tension fuelled by a 4-3 overtime loss to the GeeGees less than a week prior, the Redbirds hoped to keep their cool in the opening round of playoffs.

“It’s playoff hockey,” second-year Brandon Frattaroli told The McGill Tribune. “Keep it simple. Get pucks in deep and stick to the game plan.”

“We know we’re a different team in the playoffs,” Captain Taylor Ford echoed. “We know we can step it up.”

Getting off to a slow start, the opening 10 minutes were characterized by the classic dump and chase, complemented by a few shots on net. The Redbirds found their flow after holding the puck in the Gee-Gees’ zone, allowing William Rouleau to find defenceman Mitchell Prowse for a shot from the point. Without hesitation, Prowse fired to the net, setting up Alexandre Gagnon for the redirection and giving McGill a 1-0 lead.

Closing out the first with a scrum at centre ice, the Redbirds were quick to get things going in the second. An errant pass sent Gagnon and McGill’s regular-season leading goal scorer Eric Uba on a two-on-one into the Ottawa zone.

“I got a stick on it. And we went down on a two on one, I cut wide and I saw the shot. So I took it. That’s my play,” Uba said.

The Redbirds held a 2–2–1 record against the Gee-Gees in the 2022-23 regular season.

Down 2-0, the Gee-Gees rallied to gather some momentum of their own but got a little too excited, taking an interference penalty just 13 seconds after the Redbirds’ goal. After a rather uneventful McGill power play, Ottawa finally

found their good fortune, netting their first of the game just over three minutes into the period. Despite an array of chances in the back end of the second, the Gee-Gees couldn’t score again. McGill, however, saw their opportunity to capitalize with a cheeky rebound goal from Jordan-Ty Fournier to give the Redbirds a 3-1 lead.

Heading into the third, the Redbirds refused to give Ottawa any breathing room, winning battles in the corners and being bailed out by their trusty tendy Vella when need be.

With just over eight minutes to go in the final period, Fournier found Prowse, setting him up for another shot from the point, this time giving Rouleau a chance for the tip-in. With McGill up 4-1 and five minutes remaining, the Gee-Gees jumped on their last few chances, scoring a shorthanded goal courtesy of their captain, Anthony Poulin, who missed the majority of the first and second periods after taking a puck to the face.

In the dying minutes of the third, Ottawa pulled their goalie but McGill shut them down for a 4-2 victory.

As for game two of the quarter-finals, Ford believed the key was to play the same style as game one.

“If we can just outwork [them and] battle again, I mean, that’s the recipe for success. We can win it,” the Captain said.

And the Redbirds did just that, bringing home an 8-2 victory over Ottawa on Feb. 17 to secure their slot in a best-of-three semi-final against the Concordia Stingers, beginning on Feb. 22 at Ed Meagher Arena.

MOMENT OF THE GAME

After Ottawa cut McGill’s lead in half, the Gee-Gees were in a good position to tie the game. Fournier’s secondperiod goal shifted the momentum back in McGill’s favour, giving them the extra boost to win the game.

“I really liked Fratarolli’s game. He brought some extra energy tonight, which you know, he’s not really known for—he’s more of a points guy [and] goal scorer, but he forechecked really well, and he was throwing some big hits.”

–Captain Taylor Ford on which teammates’ play stood out most to him

QUOTABLE STAT CORNER

William Rouleau led the team in points with one goal and two assists.

Heartbreak on Seniors’ night as Martlets lose out on final RSEQ playoff spot Martlets’ basketball misses playoffs in crushing defeat to Concordia Stingers

Harry North and Peter James Cocks Staff Writer and Contributor

It wasn’t meant to be for the McGill Martlets (3–11) in their must-win showdown against the Concordia Stingers (4–11) on Saturday, Feb. 18. In an emotional farewell to senior players Jessica Salanon and Amélie Rochon in their final home game, the Martlets were unable to contain Stingers star Areej Burgonio, in a 7558 defeat for the home side. The result means the Martlets fall short of securing the final place in the RSEQ league playoffs.

In her last game at Love Competition Hall, team captain Salanon told The McGill Tribune it was do-or-die for the team.

“They came up stronger than us,” Salanon

said. “They fought harder. So I guess they deserve the win. It just hurts [....] For us, there’s no chance for playoffs. But hey, basketball is just a game, right?”

After a narrow loss to the Stingers the week before, the Martlets started with intent, capitalizing on early fouls to secure a tight lead in the first quarter. First-year guard Daniella Mbengo led the charge with driving layups as Martlets head coach Rikki Bowles prowled on courtside. Point guard Burgonio, who stands at just five feet tall, kept the Stingers within touching distance, but first-year guard Stephy Tchoukuiegno provided the edge from the farright corner with an assured three-pointer to close out the quarter with a 17-15 lead.

In the second quarter, the Martlets let their lead slip. Although there were positives from Tchoukuiengo’s sharp shooting, the Martlets were unable to seize on the free throw opportunities and the Stingers pulled away with a 30-26 lead after sinking nine unanswered points. The moment of the quarter came from Burgonio, who closed the half by zipping up the court on the counter-attack in the dying moments of the second, before pausing at the three-point line, shimmying to the left of her marker, pulling back, and sinking the two points.

Launching the second half, third-year guard Emma-Jane Scotten led the Martlets in an attempted comeback, gathering an offensiverebound and burying her attempts at the freethrow line. Despite this, Concordia maintained their grip on the game. The Martlets fought back in the latter end of the quarter, with Sydney

Foran and Salanon both swishing three-pointers. The animated Stingers bench sirened throughout the quarter, while the Martlet crowd cheered and jeered ‘defence’ from courtside, as the Martlets finished the third quarter down 56-40.

The Martlets gritted their teeth in the final quarter, with third-year centre Kristy Awikeh gathering a rebound and calmly finishing the subsequent layup. However, the Martlets’ resolve would not be enough, as the Stingers continued to toy with their defence, sinking the Martlets’ chances of a prized playoff spot.

Rochon, who’s finishing her fourth year studying medicine, told the Tribune that she will miss the Martlets’ close family spirit.

“It’s so many things,” Rochon said. “I’ll remember the moments on the court, especially this year, the wins that we got were so special to me [….] There [are] just so many variants outside like just doing groceries or chilling with the team [...] all of it. Even practice. It’s just a great bunch of people and that’s what I’m gonna miss.”

Martlets head coach Rikki Bowles spoke to the Tribune about how Rochon and Salanon, the teams’ graduating seniors, will be an immense loss on and off the court.

“The thing about Martlets basketball is that it really is a family, so we look forward to seeing them back in the stands and as involved alumni.”

Although this spelled the end of the Martlets’ playoff chances, the Martlets hope to end the season on a high note with their final game of the season next week at UQAM, on Feb 25.

MOMENT OF THE GAME

In the game’s final minutes, a ripple of applause waved through the crowd and courtside benches for senior players Amélie Rochon and Jessica Salanon, who both took the court for one final time.

QUOTABLE STAT CORNER

“I just appreciate every, every, every single day with [the] team. I’m grateful. And you know, these years, they’ve passed by really quick. And it’s just when you’re at the end that you realize.” —Jessica Salanon on her time playing for the Martlets

The Martlets averaged 52.3 points per game this season, a substantial improvement on last season’s average of 44.4.

(Reuben Polansky-Shapiro / McGill Athletics).

Seniors Jessica Salanon and Amélie Rochon have played for the Martlets since 2019. (Maia Salhofer / The McGill Tribune).

Rising Stars: What does the future entail for Canadians in pro basketball?

Three Canadians selected for the NBA’s Jordan Rising Stars game

Zoé Mineret Staff Writer

On Feb. 17, the National Basketball Association (NBA)’s youngest and most promising players gathered to compete in the 2023 Jordan Rising Stars game in Salt Lake City, Utah. The competition is a threegame mini-tournament where four teams composed of NBA rookies, sophomores, and G-League players compete for the Rising Stars title. The Rising Stars competition marks the start of the All-Star 2023 weekend and shines a spotlight on the league’s brightest young talents.

Three Canadians were selected to play in this year’s Rising Stars game: Montreal’s very own Bennedict Mathurin, along with Aurora, Ontario’s Andrew Nembhard, and Scarborough, Ontario’s Leonard Miller. With a pool of only 28 players, an invitation to compete in the game is both a tremendous honour and a notable recognition of a player’s potential and talent.

The presence of Canadian players in the Rising Stars game is significant yet unsurprising. The 2022-23 season kicked off with a

record-high 23 Canadians rostered on the NBA’s opening night. These numbers reflect both the recognition of Canadian talent south of the border, as well as the growth of the game within Canada.

With Canada slated in the 15th slot of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA)’s rankings, the uptick in Canadians playing at the professional level raises hopes for an increasingly competitive Team Canada at the international level.

“The United States have dominated the NBA for so long, so it’s really fun seeing so many stars from different countries who can lead exciting national teams and grow the game,” Will Kennedy, U1 Arts, told The McGill Tribune. “All of the best Canadian players in the league right now are all fairly young and can hopefully play together on Team Canada for many years to come.”

Canadians’ growing presence in the NBA also reflects the enormous pool of talent that exists in the North. However, with the current lack of investment in Canadian youth basketball, many Canadians continue to head south of the border to train.

Third-year Haris Elezovic, a forward on the McGill Redbirds’ basketball team, believes that in order to capitalize on Canada’s increasing

level of talent, institutional measures to promote the game and allow players to develop in Canada are vital.

“People are starting to realize that there is actual, real talent in Canada,” Elezovic told the Tribune. “Now, I think it’s time that governments and educational institutions start to invest more in basketball as many rising stars went to the United States for college since they offer so much more than Canada [....] If we were to keep all the talent in Canada, it would be amazing for the country and the development of the sport and youth.”

Things seem to be trending in the right direction, with top prospects such as Elijah Fisher remaining in Canada for his high school career and the federal government announcing financial support for Basketball Canada in November 2022.

Initiatives that work to promote basketball on a national level are equally beneficial to the women’s game as they are to the men’s. As of 2023, there are only three Canadians in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), a dearth that stems from many of the same growing pains men’s basketball experienced over the years.

“Since most WNBA players

come from the American College Division, Canadian high schoolers often are ignorant of the array of success they can reach,” WNBA fan Charlotte Riddell, U2 Arts, told the Tribune. “I believe the best way to ensure more Canadians join the WNBA is to push for awareness of the feasibility of a women’s basketball career and build Canadian programs that help young women reach the collegiate level.”

The potential of Canadian

players is highlighted by their increased presence at the top levels of the sport—a presence both inspirational for future players and welcomed by Canadian fans. However, better sports programs and stronger incentives for players to train in Canada would help stimulate their international and national presence. The North has already proven that it harbours enormous talent; it now must implement the necessary infrastructures to nurture it.

“We need recognition”: McGill Squash wants varsity status after successful season

Swashbuckling Squash Club looks to take competition to the next level

Jack Armstrong Contributor

Continued from page 1.

“When we play in Ontario, we are not allowed to compete in their finals,” Bicknell told The McGill Tribune. “We have to play their C-tier teams which we just obliterate, it’s not even close, so it’s just not worth it to go.”

The Squash Club ceased to be a varsity team after the McGill Athletics system was significantly

restructured in the Fall 2010 semester. The change stripped McGill’s intercollegiate clubs of their varsity status, prohibiting them from competing in OUA competitions. Despite competing in the OUA regular season annually (organized by the Ontario Jesters University Squash League), McGill squash has been unable to compete in the OUA championships since 2010. This year, it was an especially bitter pill to swallow for the McGill players considering their success in the regular season, as the women’s and men’s teams placed third and fourth in their respective

divisions.

“We need recognition,” said fourth-year co-captain Anika Kurji. “Both the men’s and women’s teams are doing really well, so it’s frustrating that we are not varsity considering that we are competing with all these varsity teams and beating them.”

If McGill squash were to be reinstated as a varsity team, they would potentially be eligible for OUA playing privileges as there is an existing by-law that allows non-Ontario schools to compete in certain sports. This currently allows certain McGill teams like the Redbirds’ hockey team to fully compete in the OUA.

The McGill squash team’s inability to compete is not their only issue, however, as a severe lack of funding poses a serious threat to the team’s future. McGill cut all funding to intercollegiate clubs during the 2010 varsity restructuring, imposing a serious financial burden on the squash team. As a result, the maintenance of McGill’s squash program has become a costly and time-consuming endeavour, as players are responsible for travel expenses and logistics, as well as fundraising.

“We get absolutely no funding from McGill and no help whatsoever, so it’s me and the other captains that do all of the organizing,” said Kurji. “We book hotels, we book train tickets, rent cars, all that stuff, and we have to do it all ourselves.”

“We are always scrounging for money to travel,” Bicknell added.

In addition to travel expenses, the lack of

funding has also prevented McGill’s squash team from hiring a professional coach. Instead, the team’s student captains act as coaches by running practices and training the other players to the best of their abilities. The captains are typically the team’s most experienced players and some have prior coaching experience, but the lack of professional training still puts McGill at a disadvantage.

“We have people in the top couple spots on the team who have been playing for years and start to go stagnant, so with the extra professional coaching, it would make a really big difference,” said second-year player Simone Visram.

The lack of professional coaching has also hindered McGill’s ability to recruit top squash players. In fact, of the players interviewed by the Tribune, all stated that squash played a negligible role in their decision to attend McGill. Due to these disadvantages, the team believes a return to varsity status must come sooner rather than later if they are to compete at the highest level.

“Right now I feel like we are performing at a varsity level, we are beating all the other varsity teams in Canada, other than Western and Toronto,” said Biknell. “But that could all change if we don’t have good leadership or funding in the future.”

Only time will tell whether McGill’s squash club will succeed in their venture, but in the meantime, the team is staying focused and training hard as they look to build on their success next season.

Jose Alvarado of the New Orleans Pelicans won the Rising Star game’s Most Valuable Player. (Edilson J. Silva / BasketballBuzz).

The Squash Club is a significant time commitment—despite not being varsity, it holds multiple practices every week and participates in tournaments that take up entire weekends. (McGill Squash Club).