The Tribune Vol. 43, Issue 5

The Tribune

EDITORIAL

Quebec needs real housing solutions, not Bill 31

FEATURE

Beneath the Surface: Food, Body Image, and disordered eating at McGill

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Achieving alternate futures in the Anthropocene

PG. 8-9 PG. 5 PG. 7

Redbirds Rugby roars in first home win of the season against Université de Montréal

Montreal students take to the streets demanding climate action

Environmental groups at McGill rallied students and marched to Jeanne Mance together

Galia Pakman Arrojo Contributor

When walking near Jeanne-Mance Park last Friday, or anywhere downtown for that matter, the blocked roads and crowds

with quippy signs chanting over megaphones were hard to miss. Montreal’s annual climate march, held on Sept. 29 and organized this year by Rage Climatique—a coalition of environmental groups in the city—drew throngs of students to the George-Étienne Cartier Monument, where the march began.

Don Gillmor’s ‘Breaking and Entering’ bears the unbearable mid-life crisis

The author’s fourth novel vividly tackles heatwaves, divorces, and dinner parties

Chloe Sproule Contributor

The body reacts to extreme heat much like a city—its systems so overburdened, its relationships so strangely altered, that it is forced to cope in unlike-

ly ways. In Don Gillmor’s fourth novel, Breaking and Entering, a Toronto heatwave is the crucible under whose pressures the illusions of normal life begin to fray. In reticent, spare prose, the novel chronicles the senseless mess of city living and

the cruel ironies of old age, divorce, and family with the finely wrought texture of real, unspectacular life. Yet just as couples tire of their once-magnetic attraction, so too can the delights of witty cynicism become exhausting in rhythmic repetition.

PG.

PG. 4

Their message: Denouncing inaction and apathy in the face of a rapidly deteriorating planet.

This year’s strike comes in the wake of a summer marked by record-high temperatures across the globe and millions of hectares of land scorched in forest fires across Canada.

PG. 3

McGill lacrosse wins 9-5 over Queen’s in second annual Legacy Game

Redbirds take home meaningful victory to regain a winning record

Madigan McMahon

Contributor

After a tough loss against Trent Excalibur (5–1) on Sept. 23, the McGill men’s lacrosse team (3–2) returned to Percival Molson Stadium with hopes to bounce back against the Queen’s Uni -

versity Gaels (2–1) in their second annual Legacy Game.

The first Legacy Game was played on Sept. 30, 2022, created in collaboration by representatives from McGill Athletics and the Office of Indigenous Initiatives, including the First Peoples’ House. The

game is intended to provide a platform to discuss Truth and Reconciliation while also recognizing the Indigenous roots of lacrosse. Lacrosse originated within Indigenous communities well before the arrival of settlers and was often used to settle disagreements between communities.

(Jimmy Sheng / The Tribune)

Faculty of Education holds fifth annual Skátne Entewathahíta - We Will Walk Together event

Community members from several faculties participated in the event on Sept. 29

Tillie Burlock Managing Editor

On Sept. 29, McGill’s Faculty of Education held its fifth annual event for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day: Skátne Entewathahíta - We Will Walk Together.

The event, which is an initiative led by Indigenous students and faculty members, began with an introduction from Dennis C. Wendt, an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and the faculty coordinator for the event. Wendt opened with a land acknowledgement before explaining the theme of this year’s event: “Pathways from Awareness to Action: What Is Our Role?”

Following Wendt’s introduction, Elder Ka’nahsohon Kevin Deer—who is Kanien’kehá:ka and is a member of the Kahnawake First Nation, a faithkeeper at the Mohawk Trail Longhouse, and a prominent knowledge holder—began his opening remarks. Elder Deer discussed a number of teachings, warned listeners against the continued use of fossil fuels, centred the importance of listening to Indigenous teachings in relation to the land, shared his own experience with residential schools, and concluded on a message of hope for the future of the climate.

Celeste Pedri-Spade, the university’s first Associate Provost for Indigenous Initiatives and an associate professor of anthropology,

was next to speak. Pedri-Spade discussed what Orange Shirt Day means to her as a mother, an Anishinaabekwe, and an intergenerational survivor of residential schools.

“My kids are 10 years old now [....] Wherever they go they should see themselves reflected back,” Pedri-Spade said. “That’s not a reality for them yet [....] The plan [the 52 Calls to Action], has those actions that will work toward that because every child matters and every child should have that ability to achieve their educational goals at a place like McGill.”

Victoria Talwar, the Interim Dean of the Faculty of Education, then discussed the important role of educators in truth and reconciliation before attendees were given the option to participate in one of two events.

The first option was an interactive presentation about the “Walking Alongside” teacher education website. The site was developed following the first three years of the Faculty of Education’s Skátne Entewathahíta - We Will Walk Together event with the hope of incorporating the 52 Calls to Action into the Quebec curriculum.

“If our society wants to move forward and really get towards reconciliation, it starts within our schools,” Margaret Mackenzie, who is a citizen of Métis Nation in British Columbia, B.Ed ‘23, and the Indigenous outreach coordinator of Branches, told //The Tribune//. “It’s so important to have children understand the impacts of residential schools, and ongoing colonial violence that’s happening today. For educators to be aware of this and to educate

themselves before educating others is really important.”

The second option was to go on the Critical Campus Tour developed by staff and Indigenous students in affiliation with the More Than Words project in the Participatory Cultures Lab this past spring. Tour participants were broken up into small groups then led around campus to the James McGill Monument by the Arts Building, the 13th century Haudenosaunee Village at the corner of Sherbrooke and Peel, and the Hochelaga Rock at the Roddick Gates to discuss the area’s colonial and Indigenous history.

Rachel Mackenzie, U3 Arts, who is a citizen of Métis Nation in British Columbia,

emphasized the importance of thinking critically about the McGill name and the implications of its use during the tour.

“It’s really interesting to think about what comes to mind when people hear McGill,” Mackenzie concluded. “Is it this academic institution? Or do you think about James McGill? [...] Do you think about his history? [....] We’ve seen changes in academic institutions with Toronto Metropolitan University and we’ve seen the positive impact that a name change can have on a community.”

The event also provided pamphlets with a how-to guide on creating your own critical campus tour and a QR code for an expanded version of the tour.

Committee seats on the docket at SSMU Legislative Council Meeting Summer

Reports, SSMU

Matt Adelberg

Copy Editor

The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) called to order its second Legislative Council meeting of the academic year on Sept. 28. Most discussion items fell into one of two categories: Beginning-of-fall housekeeping and nominations to the Legislative Council’s various committees.

The meeting commenced with Summer Reports from McGill’s Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) and Arts Undergraduate Society, followed by individual Summer Reports from each SSMU Executive. Vice President (VP) University Affairs

Lalia Katchelewa discussed various Indigenoussupport initiatives that she has been collaborating on with VP External Affairs Liam Gaither and In-

Statement word choice were also brought into the discussion

digenous Affairs Commissioner Jocelyne Couture, particularly in light of McGill’s controversial New Vic Project. These include advocacy on behalf of the Mohawk Mothers to the McGill Administration and the “Critical Campus Tour,” which took place on Sept. 29 as part of the 5th annual Skátne Entewathahíta/We Will Walk Together Event.

“[It is] a tour of stories of McGill that have not been told in the past […] on Indigenous affairs or what was happening at McGill before McGill was there, on the land that belongs to the University,” Katchelewa explained.

After a brief presentation from McGill’s Sustainability Projects Fund (SPF), the meeting launched into a Question Period dominated by debate on whether opinions in SSMU Statements should be attributed to “SSMU” or “SSMU Executives.” The discussion analyzed the Executive Committee’s recent declaration of support, which included the line, “The SSMU strongly supports the work of queer and trans activists [against the 1 Million March 4 Children].” SUS Representative Joshua Gerstvolf raised a concern that the wording implies that the sentence reflects the views of all SSMU members, not just the Executives.

“There’s a lot of misinterpretation [of the line] among the students—when they read ‘SSMU,’ they’re including all members of SSMU,” Gerstvolf argued.

VP Student Life Nadia Dakdouki countered that the phrase falls under SSMU’s Positions Book, which stresses SSMU representatives’ obligation to support “marginalized persons.” However, Dakdouki also acknowledged the potential confusion over authorship.

“We’ll make sure that there is an actual signature saying ‘The SSMU Executive Committee’ [at the end of Statements] […] we’ll take that feedback and make that clarification,” Dakdouki resolved.

After a brief recess, the Council returned for the meeting’s business proper. The old business— the readoption of the meeting’s rules for the oncoming year—passed with minimal edits. The two pieces of new business composed the meeting’s final hour.

First was the allocation of committees to Councillors, who all must sit on at least one. While the process initially progressed quickly, with Councillors nominating themselves for seats and some even facing competition, it soon decelerated to a repeated process of calling on those who had not self-nominated and asking them to choose a committee or be chosen for one. Eventually, each Councillor possessed at least one committee seat, though many seats were left unfilled as not all Councillors took on additional allocations.

The second piece, the nomination of Councillors to the Board of Directors, proved slower going. All Councillors hesitated to nominate themselves, despite alternating attempts by the Executives to spotlight the importance of the role and remind the members of their responsibility to take it. At

Dakdouki’s recommendation, Deputy Speaker Sierra Fallis called upon each Council member individually to explain their refusal; most pointed to a lack of time for the position. Half an hour into the debate, only one of the four spots had been filled, by Law Representative Jacob Shannon. Fallis adjourned the meeting after other Councillors successfully passed motions to approve the piece of business as-is and return to the issue at the next meeting.

MOMENT OF THE MEETING

SUS Representative Sofie Fournier’s question on the use of “SSMU supports” in the Statement sparked a deeper discussion of SSMU’s advocational positions and voice.

SOUND BITE

“In terms of democracy and being able to run SSMU properly, we need representation on the Board of Directors, and last year, Council did do a lock-in [...] until people had been nominated to the Board of Directors. And so that is also an option [for this meeting].”

– Dakdouki, following reluctance from Councillors to nominate themselves

The Every Child Matters March for Truth and Reconciliation took place on Sept. 30. (Maeve Reilly / The Tribune)

Sitting on committees is one of the primary responsibilities of SSMU Councillors. (James Knechtel / The Tribune)

Galia Pakman Arrojo Contributor

Continued from page 1.

An estimated 50,000 students went on strike last week in Quebec to advocate for climate action, with tallies of Montreal’s protest hovering around 1,000 to 1,500 attendees according to the Montreal police department. The march marked the culmination of a week of activities organized by Rage Climatique, which included walk-outs, arts events, documentary screenings, and workshops.

As a part of the Friday strike, environmental activist groups at McGill organized their own gathering, marching independently before joining the protestors at Jeanne-Mance. One of these groups was Divest McGill, which was founded in 2012 with the intent of pressuring McGill to divest its endowment from fossil fuel companies.

“I think Divest will be here at every annual strike,” Lola Milder, one of the group’s members, said. “We want to use this moment to engage people and have conversations with them and hand out flyers, to mobilize people beyond today.”

Greenpeace McGill, a club aiming to promote day-to-day acts of sustainability on campus, also participated in the strike.

“This march is important for multiple reasons: For environmentalists to gather together and connect, for people witnessing to learn about this cause and why it’s important, and to demonstrate to leaders that there is a large body of people continuing to fight for change,” Greenpeace McGill wrote in a statement to The Tribune

Gathering first at Roddick Gates with Divest leaders donning yellow construction vests and waving hand-made signs, the McGill student groups merged with others from Concordia University

and Dawson College. Milder explained that McGill and other anglophone schools in the same area of the city have historically participated in such marches together.

“We see it as a moment for coming together and feeling the urgency of action,” Milder added.

The groups could be heard chanting as they made their way down Sherbrooke accompanied by Montreal police; “climate justice is what we need, not millionaires, not corporate greed” was a popular call, as pairs of students held up large swaths of fabric painted with the text “community control, not oil, not coal.”

The Tribune spoke with students from all three educational institutions as they made their way through the city, reflecting on what had driven them to join the march.

“Advocating for our future is more important than going to class, it’s more important than going to your day-to-day job, because it’s what’s dictating our lives,” said Liam Greig, a U2 Science.

The group turned from Sherbrooke onto Parc Avenue, marching toward Jeanne-Mance where the larger Rage Climatique protest was waiting. Stalled car drivers and nearby construction workers honked and waved in support, as did onlookers peering down and clapping from a double-decker sightseeing bus.

Amy Janzwood, an assistant professor of political science and environment

at McGill, was present at the protest.

“Research into the effectiveness of climate marches is still in its infancy, but early findings show promise, particularly in terms of influencing public support,” Janzwood wrote to The Tribune

The Fridays for Future movement, which began in 2018 with Greta Thunberg’s school strikes in protest of government inaction toward the climate crisis, was the impetus for Montreal’s first annual strike in 2019. According to Janzwood, the movement “breathed new life” into climate activism.

“It has successfully connected movements advocating for climate justice, rapidly mobilized millions of new activists, and cultivated a sense of urgency and collective consciousness commensurate with the scale of the climate crisis,” Janzwood wrote.

At Jeanne-Mance, the majority of participants were young people—mostly university and CÉGEP students, as well as younger teenagers, some as young as fourteen.

“Even if we try to get our voices heard the government seems to still do nothing,” attendee Cynthia Usabwera said, in an interview with The Tribune . “It’s time for them to take actual action.”

Janzwood, too, noted the “growing sense of frustration and desperation among activists and organizers” in the past few years.

The march also appeared to become a catch-all for various other student and city organizations. Swaths of members from Socialist Fightback, a Marxist group active on McGill and Concordia’s campuses, gathered in their distinctive red shirts and apparel, while Grève des loyers de Montréal, a group

protesting rising city-wide rents, stationed themselves at a table handing out flyers.

“We’re here to say that capitalism is responsible for the climate crisis, the profit motive, the market, they’re made to extract and destroy the earth,” Olivier Turbide, member of Socialist Fightback, said. “There’s no green capitalism.”

Others expressed their disappointment at this year’s turnout, specifically compared to the 2019 march headed by Greta Thunberg. Janzwood offered a potential partial explanation.

“While protests often unite participants based on a particular grievance, how protests are framed can significantly impact their effectiveness, and the use of a frame of rage may have alienated some individuals,” Janzwood wrote. “That the event took place after the Global Climate Strike organized by the Fridays for Future movement on September 15 was also notable.”

Nonetheless, enthusiasm remained high as the march took off from JeanneMance. Creative signage, such as, “make love, not stores,” and, “you’ll die of old age, I’ll die of climate change,” made its appearance; others included “don’t burn my house” and “climate crisis = human rights crisis.” As the march made its way past the McGill gym, overlookers from adjacent apartment balconies called down their support, as student and city media scurried amidst the crowd.

“There’s not that many things that I feel as individuals we have power on when it comes to huge issues like the climate crisis,” reflected Gabriel Villard, B.Sc. ‘23.

For Villard, this protest felt like one of the few ways to directly contribute to change. He wasn’t the only one.

“[The march] gives us all a sense of hope in a time where it’s so easy to feel overwhelmed and nihilistic about the climate events happening,” said Ainslet Day, U0 Arts and Science. “It makes you feel like you’re not alone in the fight.”

Student groups Divest McGill and Greenpeace McGill participate in the climate strike every year. (Abby Zhu / The Tribune)

Montreal students take to the streets demanding climate action

Environmental groups at McGill rallied students and marched to Jeanne-Mance

Abby Zhu / The Tribune

Shani Laskin News Editor

Students at McGill’s Macdonald campus cite feeling frightened, isolated, and frustrated following the release of a report detailing the events that led to the asbestos-related closures of three buildings on the Macdonald campus in Winter 2023. The Internal Audit Final Report, which was released on Sept. 18, shows that Quebec regulators intervened on the Macdonald campus three times between 2021 and 2023, deeming that McGill was not properly following asbestos protocols.

For some, such as Hiba Kamel, a third-year Ph.D. student in the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, the administration has broken the trust between herself and the institution.

“I don’t think they care,” Kamel said in an interview with The Tribune “And I don’t trust that it won’t happen again.”

According to the Final Report, the Raymond Building Phytorium, which contains growth chambers used by multiple plant scientists, was a site of concern for asbestos. In October 2022, the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité au travail— the body Quebec has entrusted to oversee workplace health and safety— intervened specifically in that area.

Kamel, a researcher in the Plant Science department, often used the growth chambers as a part of her research and recounted seeing and interacting with dust for months. Test

results reported on March 14, 2023, revealed that 20 per cent of dust samples from the Raymond building tested positive for asbestos.

As a mother, Kamel told The Tribune that she is scared she may have brought particles home on her clothing and exposed her young daughter. She fears that she may feel the effects of asbestos exposure in decades to come.

Exposure to asbestos can lead to conditions like asbestosis, a chronic lung disease, and mesothelioma, a type of cancer. It can take anywhere from 10 to 40 years for the effects of asbestos exposure to surface.

“When I realized that it was asbestos and I looked it up [...] it was horrible. And it’s the kind of horrible that spoils your mood, and you can’t come out of it,” Kamel said. “And sometimes you’ll forget about it for a second. And then you have that horrible feeling in your chest. And you’re like, ‘Why is it that I’m having this feeling? Oh yeah, because I might get cancer in 30 years.’”

For others, the goal is to move on from the situation and focus on the positive—the return to in-person instruction following asbestos-related closures last year.

“There was a little bit of nervousness in the air [when the report came out], knowing that you could have a repeat semester or a repeat year potentially [because] of what happened was kind of disheartening,” Annie Obnowlenny, U2 Science, told The Tribune. “But there’s no point in [expecting] the worst when you don’t even know if the worst will happen [....]

A lot of my friends and I are just trying to get through the semester and have fun and do well.”

The Macdonald Campus Students’ Society has been working to provide students with support— including opening The Ceilidh as an additional study space and hosting town halls—since last winter’s closures. In a statement to The Tribune, Vice President (VP) Communications Blake Callan and VP University Affairs Vaishnavi Parey expressed that students on the Macdonald campus feel they should be compensated for the

loss of class and lab time last winter.

“They did not try to move us to different classrooms, or give us any compensation for our loss of lab and lecture experience,” Callan and Parey wrote. “We are only here for a short amount of time and the false information about the duration of construction and health issues arising from being there is disappointing to say the least.”

McGill Media Relations Officer Frédérique Mazerolle told The Tribune that staff at the Student Wellness Hub and Keep.MeSAFE have been advised

that students affected by asbestos may need support and are “ready to assist.”

In an email to The Tribune, Kamel expressed that she is unsure how many other people are concerned about exposure to asbestos, and feels isolated in her worries.

“I can’t for the life of me be the only one who feels that way. I can’t think that I’m the only person who’s actually scared for their life, and who’s gonna need significant support throughout,” Kamel said in an interview with The Tribune. “I’ll be thinking about this all my life.”

Students call for compensation for lost class and lab time

‘I’ll be thinking about this all my life’: Students react to asbestos exposure at McGill

Room R1-003 of the Raymond Building was left open during construction at the request of the Plant Science Department. (mcssmcgill.ca)

Editor-in-Chief Matthew Molinaro editor@mcgilltribune.com

Creative Director Mika Drygas mdrygas@mcgilltribune.com

Managing Editors Lily Cason lcason@mcgilltribune.com

Arian Kamel akamel@mcgilltribune.com

Tillie Burkock tburkock@mcgilltribune.com

News Editors Shani Laskin, Jasjot Grewal, & Caroline Sun news@mcgilltribune.com

Opinion Editors

Chloé Kichenane, Liliana Mason, & Monique Kasonga opinion@mcgilltribune.com

Science & Technology Editors Ella Paulin & Athina Sitou scitech@mcgilltribune.com

Student Life Editors Abby McCormick & Dante Ventulieri studentlife@mcgilltribune.com

Features Editor Harry North features@mcgilltribune.com

Arts & Entertainment Editors Dana Prather & Suzanna Graham arts@mcgilltribune.com

Sports Editors Anoushka Oke & Julie Ferreyra sports@mcgilltribune.com

Design Editors Drea Garcia & Sofia Stankovic design@mcgilltribune.com

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Copy Editor Matthew Adelberg copy@mcgilltribune.com

Social Media Editor Sainka Walia socialmedia@mcgilltribune.com

Business Manager Sophie Smith business@mcgilltribune.com

TPS BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Ella Gomes, Shani Laskin, Matthew Molinaro, Jacob Northfield & Sophie Smith

STAFF

Ali Baghirov, Ella Buckingham, Eliza Lee, Jayda Smith

CONTRIBUTORS

Aya Amer, Lily Dodson, Zeyuan Fu, Naomi Gupta, Mia Helfrich, Sophie Hill, Charlie St. John, James Knechtel, Madigan McMahon, Nate Northfield, Galia Pakman Arrojo, Kate Pang, Maddie Perry, Maeve Reilly, Wilder McNutt, Agatha Ryan, Maïa Salhofer, Jimmy Sheng, Chloe Sproule, Solenne Trequesser, Isla Vaillant, Katherine Weaver, Marco Zeppilli, Irina Zhang, K. Coco Zhang, Abby Zhu

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Quebec needs real housing solutions, not Bill 31

The Tribune Editorial Board

On Sept. 20, hearings about Bill 31 wrapped up in the National Assembly. The bill proposes a number of changes to current housing legislation, including altering eviction procedures and allowing landlords to prevent lease transfers. Since the bill’s tabling, housing group coalitions such as Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Québec (RCLALQ) have organized protests in opposition, arguing that it deprives tenants of integral rights while failing to address key causes of the housing crisis. This bill is indicative of whose voices are being heard by the provincial government, through both the Quebec landlord coalition, and by virtue of the fact that so many of our politicians are landlords themselves—an obvious conflict of interest that often goes unmentioned. In removing the ability to lease transfer, this bill is a blatant attempt to deprive tenants of the already very limited power they have.

In a city where it is extremely difficult to find adequate, realistically affordable housing––not just what the Quebec

OFF THE BOARD

Shani Laskin News Editor

government deems affordable––preventing lease transfers will exacerbate an already dire housing crisis. Under current laws, lease transfers are the backbone of solidarity between tenants, who can prevent landlords from drastically hiking rent by transferring their lease to prospective inhabitants. Allowing landlords to obstruct this process will force many to stay in unlivable situations. Whether it is an abusive landlord or a toxic roommate situation, lease transfers are often the only way to escape an unfit living environment without a disastrous financial cost.

Bill 31 further imbalances the already-fraught relationship between tenants and landlords. It is reductive to view this relationship as one between customers and vendors, given the blatant power dynamics at play when one party has total control over the other’s housing—a basic human right. Within the student community in particular, age, gender, and citizenship often contribute to this uneven power dynamic. Landlords frequently ignore regulations and laws, assuming––often rightfully so––that students are either unaware of their rights, or will be too timid or financially unstable to seek legal action.

Although the bill is largely harmful to tenant rights, there are two clauses that may help limit landlords’ overwhelming power. By requiring them to disclose how much they plan on increasing rent over a five-year period, landlords will need to be transparent, preventing them from surprising tenants with drastic rent hikes. The bill will also shift eviction processes, by assuming that tenants who do not respond to eviction notices have rejected the eviction—rather than assuming they have accepted it, as is the case now. This change will force landlords to defend their eviction in court, should the tenant not respond to their notice. Despite these small steps toward protecting tenants, the numerous steps backward far outweigh them. Bill 31 fails to address any of the core issues causing the housing crisis, including rent hikes, Airbnbs, and the lack of affordable housing. The fight for housing must be part of a labour revolution. In the same way labour unions rally for fair working conditions, every housing-related action is a political stance justifying or criticizing the current system—including staying silent about it. The housing crisis most prominently affects

marginalized communities, and as students we must always work to defend their rights. We must stand in solidarity with the Black and Indigenous peoples who have been dispossessed from their neighbourhoods and had their land stolen out from under them as we move forward.

It is high time that the provincial government stops protecting landlords, and starts prioritizing the creation of more affordable housing options for tenants. This must include implementing rent controls, disincentivizing ownership of multiple properties, and ensuring that tenants have access to clear and comprehensive information about their rights and abilities. Montreal cannot hold onto its historic reputation as a city for young people in the workforce, artists, and students, without addressing the endemic failure of its housing system. The housing crisis must be addressed with real solutions that protect lowerincome and racialized communities from gentrification, provide actual affordable housing, and enable freedom of movement between living situations. Bill 31 does not address the lived experiences of the housing crisis and therefore, must be stopped.

Having it all: How to be a singer, journalist, and barista

unequivocal “yes.”

For a large part of my adolescence, I was sure that I wanted to be a professional singer. For nearly a decade, I participated in competitive choirs, took voice lessons, and performed in more musicals than I could count.

I dreamed of Broadway and worked toward it earnestly. If someone asked me if I was a singer, I would have given an

By the time I came to university, my dream of being on Broadway had faded—I realized that I did not want to make music my career. By the end of my teens—working in a coffee shop in an American college town—I had realized I wanted to go into politics, journalism, environmental sciences, or any of the number of academic disciplines that presented themselves to me.. Singing, as a result, became a hobby—one that I did not often indulge in for fear of my roommates or neighbours hearing me. I had sidelined singing to the point that I could feel the skill I once had slowly melting away. Without the daily practice, my range began to diminish, my vocal chords tired more quickly, and my pitch accuracy, which was once a point of pride, started to become less sharp.

At the same time, I started to wonder what made me a singer in the first place. I saw my peers in the Schulich School of Music, dedicating their time at university to art. I saw other friends joining bands

or gigging at bars around the city. All the while, I felt too shy to sing in my own home. It begged the questions: Could I call myself a singer if I wasn’t performing? Could I call myself a singer if it wasn’t what I was going to dedicate my life to?

And the scariest of all: Could I call myself a singer if I wasn’t sure that I was even very good anymore?

These questions plagued me in the beginning of my university journey. I couldn’t figure out how to reconcile my perception of my own identity with the new reality I was facing. The doubts coalesced with other aspects of my life, too. Before I’d arrived at McGill, I thought I was smart, only to find that my peers were brilliant. My confidence was shaken when I heard the thoughtful and eloquent points my classmates raised in class. The idea that I had misunderstood who I was began to haunt me.

This clashing of old and new perceptions sent me for a loop. How was it possible that I could be two different things at once? After some time, I’ve come to

the realization that while labels can be empowering and selfassuring, they can also lead us to neglect a core tenant of being human: Contradiction. There’s a tendency to ascribe ourselves personality traits with the intention of grounding our senses of self. I tell myself that I am smart, kind, brave, loyal, and other platitudes. And while those things can be true, it is just as true that I have the capability to be lazy, scared, and even mean. These things exist at once and don’t negate one another. If I can reconcile the fundamental contradictions in my character, I can also reconcile the feeling of being a singer and an amateur at once.

I was once sure that I was defined by what I did. I was a singer, a student, a hopeful journalist, and a former barista. And while all of these things are true, I’ve come to realize that in so many more ways, what we do is defined by who we are. I sing because I love it, I learn because I’m curious, I write because I’m passionate, and I sometimes make coffee over the summer because I need to pay for my gas.

The bi in bilingualism means two: Quebec’s government must embrace Montreal’s bilingualism as the asset it is

Jayda Smith Staff Writer

Despite the Quebec government’s efforts to make the province primarily monolingual, a study released by Statistics Canada found that the prevalence of English-French bilingualism in the Montreal metropolitan area reached a record level of 56.4 per cent in 2021. This has concerned Quebec sovereigntists that the popularity of English in Montreal is undermining the province’s francophone culture. The historical and colonial significance of Montreal’s French inheritance is evident throughout the city; Old Montreal,

for example, harbours structures and designs reminiscent of the 17th century. Given the city’s cosmopolitan culture and its critical positioning between anglophone and francophone Canada, this statistic suggests that English can continue to co-exist without overshadowing French. Quebec’s government must embrace EnglishFrench bilingualism in Montreal, not fear it. Considering that Montreal’s youth, with the exception of a select few, are required to be educated in French until the completion of secondary-school studies, the fear that English fluency might overwhelm that of French is blown out of proportion. Bilingualism offers many benefits, ones that Quebec seems to ignore

while focusing on promoting solely the French language. While exposure to English media and culture outside of school may influence a child’s fluency in it, this is not enough to make them wholly reliant on English. According to the Linguistics Society of America, the easiest way for an individual to become fluent in any two languages is through regular interaction in both during their early childhood development. In Montreal, consistent use of French is no issue for the average child due to the Charter of the French Language, which is concerned with making French the primary language of education– not to mention the increasing number of bills in Quebec, like Bill 96, aimed toward French-language supremacy.

The overstated panic surrounding the escalating traction of English also fails to consider that Montreal’s residents have significant incentives to thoroughly learn both French and English. Given the opportunities and ease of living that arise when they achieve fluency in both, French-English bilingualism is a lucrative business. Based on statistics featured in one Montreal Gazette article, degree-holding bilinguals in Montreal earn up to 20 per cent more than their unilingual counterparts. The capacity of bilingualism to improve occupational prospects encourages Francophones, Anglophones, and Allophones to develop a knowledge of English and French. For non-Francophone immigrants who come to Montreal in search of better opportunities, learning French is hardly a suggestion. Montreal’s gravitation toward bi-

McGill must bring back the backpack

Isla Vaillant Contributor

As summer comes to a close and fall finally settles over Montreal, the cool weather blesses students with colourful leaves, crisp air, and of course, an onslaught of germs. McGill students face colds and the frosh flu––not to mention COVID-19. Yet, in this whirlwind of poor health, we have failed to notice the real epidemic: Terrible posture. The Tribune staff knew they had to get to the bottom of this mysterious plague. Through weeks of tireless investigation that involved camping outside McLennan library, conducting experiments, interviewing sources, and tracking students on their walks up McGill’s aggressively steep hills, we came to the conclusion that there was only one suspect to blame: The tote bag.

McGill is obsessed with trendy bags. We all know that we attend a fashionable school: The Y-intersection is practically a catwalk. In such conditions, why even come to campus if you’re not wearing your best fit? No outfit is good enough without the perfect bag to tie it all together. Most McGill fashionistas would rather transfer to Queen’s than trade out their vintage pleather, deceptively capacious Diesel purse for a backpack. But the perfect style comes with a cost—lopsidedness.

So if you’re asking yourself, “Am I the only one whose back is more knotted than a climbing rope? Am I the only one whose left shoulder is now permanently lower than the right from favoring a tote over a backpack?” The answer is no, you’re not. A degree from

McGill is more likely to send you to the chiropractor than to grad school.

The tendency of McGill’s best dressed to lean rightwards to compensate for the weight of their computer, three textbooks, water bottle, packed lunch, and sweater, all dangling precariously from one shoulder––a shoulder that, let’s face it, is probably bare, thanks to the tasteful off-the-shoulder top they just thrifted last weekend––has led to a sideways student body. Not only does this asymmetry, propagated by the desire to embody the style of someone not headed to three back-to-back-to-back classes in Stewart Bio, McConnell, and the Education Building, form a permanent knot on one side of your back ensuring future health issues, but it looks ridiculous! If only backpacks would come back into fashion, McGill’s student body might stand a chance.

Why is no one talking about this issue threatening the student body? Maybe it’s because we’re all too distracted by the physical damages inflicted on us by our classes and the work itself. Nothing screams future Spondylolisthesis like spending twelve hours bent over a computer in McLennan. Or an all-nighter spent scribbling over an iPad, body bent at a near ninety-degree angle, while trying to maintain blood flow to your brain.

Despite our best intentions, no amount of impromptu desk yoga will ever reverse the damages of even one finals season at McGill. But you know what will? Wearing a backpack! Imagine the relief of having the crushing weight of your academic responsibility distributed evenly between your two shoulders. Or

the joy of Bixi-ing to campus without the threat of toppling over into the road in the attempt to keep your tote stable on your shoulder. The solution is so simple and yet, McGill doesn’t seem ready to sacrifice fashion for the sake of physical health.

Overwhelmed by unbearable course loads, tyrannical professors, and the stimulating social pressures of student life, we’ve neglected to address the obvious solution to the physical toll McGill is reaping on our spinal cords. Proposed solutions such as mandatory spinal fusion sur-

lingualism works in both directions.

While globally relevant, English-French bilingualism is particularly useful to students at McGill. The university typically conducts classes in English, allows students to submit assignments in English or French, and still has an estimated 20 per cent Francophone population. Bilingualism ensures integration among and interaction between English and French speakers on campus. This integration is of particular interest to McGill given that the university is home to over 12,000 international students while being located in a francophone province. Language bridges the gap between the university and the larger Montreal community. Many McGillians end up calling Montreal their home for the entirety of their undergraduate or graduate programs. Wanting to feel more comfortable and natural in a new city, students look to French, as it is difficult to get a sense of Montreal’s neighbourhoods outside of Milton Parc without some degree of familiarity with the language. The incentive of tuition fee exemptions only drives students further to certain French-language courses.

As with most cases of governmental or community initiatives to protect cultural languages, seeking to preserve French in a province surrounded by English requires balance. Resorting to polarizing panic only serves to disregard the practicality of learning a language as advantageous as English and forgets that bilingualism implies proficiency in French as much as it does English.

gery, or requiring the purchase of a posture corrector when paying student fees seem so far-fetched when you remember that all can be solved by simply wearing a backpack.

You might be thinking, “How could I even consider myself a McGill student without my beloved Goyard purse?” But remember, it only takes a few hundred students to turn the tide, so the next time you find yourself reaching for your trendy tote bag, take a stand and go for the backpack.

English-French bilingualism is particularly relevant to McGill students, as the university typically conducts classes in English whilst also claiming an estimated 20 percent Francophone population. (McGill School of Continuing Studies)

The simple solution to McGill’s terrible posture. (Tillie Burlock / The Tribune)

K. Coco Zhang Contributor

McGill’s Faculty of Science organized the 36th edition of Soup and Science from Sept. 25 to 29 in the Redpath Museum. The event offered the McGill community and beyond the opportunity to discover research from multiple fields, such as geography, physics, and computer science, in a relaxed and interactive environment. In total, it featured 25 insightful research presentations from distinguished professors and students. The Tribune compiled an overview of three talks by cell biology experts Dieter P. Reinhardt, Shuaiqi Guo, and Neha Dinesh.

Extracellular fibre systems in health and disease

Dieter P. Reinhardt, professor in McGill’s Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology and Canada Research Chair in Cell-Matrix Biology, began by discussing the role of the extracellular matrix—the materials surrounding cells—in organs and tissues such as the aorta.

“It is extremely important that [the aorta] is elastic. After every pump of the heart, the blood goes into the aorta, which expands and recoils. So, the elasticity is critical for [its] function,” Reinhardt explained.

Reinhardt’s research focuses on fibrillin-1, an extracellular protein contributing to the aorta’s elasticity. Fibrillin-1 binds to other proteins to form threadlike filaments called microfibrils, which then form elastic fibres that allow the skin, ligaments, and blood vessels to stretch.

“There are a number of known [fibrillin-1] mutations that lead to genetic disorders like Marfan syndrome, stiff skin syndrome, and many others,”

Reinhardt said.

Reinhardt’s research aims to further the understanding of fibrillin-1’s role in various pathological pathways and treatments of disorders, such as acromicric dysplasia and Weill-Marchesani syndrome.

What makes bacteria stick?

Shortages of antimicrobials—medicines used to treat infections caused by bacteria, viruses, protozoans, and fungi—are worsening worldwide, lowering access to effective therapies for life-threatening infections.

Shuaiqi Guo, assistant professor in McGill’s Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, proposed a novel anti-adhesion therapy—an alternative in the prevention and treatment of bacterial infections. Such therapy is meant to reduce the contact between bacterial pathogens and host cells by inhibiting the pathogen’s adhesive abilities.

“Bacterial pathogens have to adhere to host cells in order to cause an infection. What if we disrupt bacterial adhesions instead of killing them?” Guo asked. “This way, we are coming up with a new way to treat infections.”

Guo’s research focuses on a key “tool” that bacteria use to establish themselves: Type IV pilus (T4P), which is a flexible cell-surface filament with crucial functions.

“An important function of T4P is to facilitate the adhesion and motility of bacteria [via rapid cycles of extension and retraction]. For example, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterium that causes a variety of infections, uses T4P to move on [cell] surfaces,” Guo explained.

Guo can observe T4P movements at high resolution using the imaging technique, cryo-electron tomography (cryo-EM). Cryo-EM is uniquely suited to study the fine structure of bacterial cells

event

because it preserves their native cellular structures.

Guo’s research highlights T4P as a potential therapeutic target against bacterial infections and lays a path for the development of anti-adhesive drugs.

The role of fibronectin in skeletal development and associated pathologies

Neha Dinesh, Ph.D. student in McGill’s Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, studies the consequences of fibronectin (FN) mutations in skeletal development.

“Fibronectin is a key extracellular matrix protein required for the development of major organ systems,” Dinesh said. “It exists [as] plasma fibronectin and cellular fibronectin.”

Dinesh’s research aims to understand how FN mutations lead to skeletal dysplasia—a group of rare conditions that affect bone development, neurological function, and cartilage growth. While skeletal dysplasia attacks different body parts for different individuals, it most commonly impacts the legs, arms, ribcage, skull, and spine.

Dinesh found that FN mutations impaired the function of chondrocytes—cells mainly responsible for cartilage formation—leading to skeletal dysplasia. This finding suggests that FN is crucial for proper skeletal development.

Although the therapeutic treatments for skeletal dysplasia are presently limited, ongoing research will continue to unravel the pathological mechanisms of FN mutations in this disease and eventually contribute to the development of pharmacological interventions. Although all three of the talks spotlighted cell biology, Soup and Science successfully assembled an assorted trio of fascinating research topics.

Achieving alternate futures in the Anthropocene

How imagination can resolve environmental change

Maddie Perry Contributor

Eleven thousand seven hundred years ago, Earth exited the last major geological epoch—the Ice Age— entering a period of relative warmth and stability, called the Holocene. Researchers, however, believe that the planet is ready for a new term: The ‘Anthropocene,’ denoting a time during which humans drive substantial change to our environment.

A recent article, written by a team including Elena Bennett, professor in McGill’s Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and Steven Cork, adjunct professor in Australian National University’s School of Public Policy, explores the challenges that humanity faces as it tries to solve this new epoch’s problems. The Anthropocene is used to describe how humans are almost single-handedly responsible for inducing an environmental global shift. To counteract this widescale destruction, the researchers propose that imagination is a hopeful yet complicated tool for creating a positive environmental future.

“Humans are a dominant force on the planet and drive many planetary forces,” Bennett said in an interview with The Tribune

This enormous human impact represents what Bennett called a “complex footprint” with challenges including climate

change, resource scarcity, declining food quality, and overpopulation.

These challenges have defined the last decade and will continue to worsen. While researchers across the globe realize this, many take a technological or political approach, developing novel machinery or approaches to public policy. Alternatively, Cork and Bennett’s research takes a cultural and psychological perspective, asking difficult questions about how we imagine ourselves and our species in relation to the environment, and to the future of the planet.

According to Cork, our worldviews are stopping us from the kind of critical action that the climate crisis requires.

“The first [problem] is that many people don’t understand the situation we’re in as a species,” Cork explained.

He continued that if you ask a person about what they believe the future looks like, their answer is based on their “simple models” of the world—the easiest way they understand the world. For many, the complex relationship between humans and the environment seems too difficult to grasp.

“This lack of understanding is partly because most people don’t understand the complexities of the challenges that have arisen,” Cork said.

Without fully understanding, it is impossible to mobilize a society to prepare for the future.

“The second aspect of how humans think that we focus on in our review is our

limited ability to imagine,” Cork expanded.

Ask anyone born over fifty years ago if they expected to live in the world of today, and it is likely that they never envisioned one in which artificial intelligence could diagnose illnesses, or 3D printers could generate three-dimensional objects. Cork described this as “black swan” thinking, a reference to Nassim Taleb’s book Black Swan . In the book, all swans were white and the concept of a black swan seemed impossible. People could not comprehend something they had not seen before. Cork related this to our inability to anticipate the future.

While creating a plan for the future may be difficult, Cork and Bennett argue humans must instigate change for a better relationship with our planet, requiring new ways of relating to one another and imagining.

“We must think radically yet realistically about the future and stimulate their imagination about possible futures,” Cork elaborated.

To work toward this goal, Bennett described three significant steps to start reimagining the future. The first is to “inspire people,” by opening up conversations about what we want and need to achieve for a positive future. The second is to “encourage

a plurality of different visions” that account for the ways that humans synthesize their profoundly nuanced views of a new world. The last goal is to scenario-build by exploring various potential futures to examine which would be most successful.

This is no easy task, but Cork, Bennett, and their team are working hard to show what needs to be done. A good place to start, as Bennett says, is to ask ourselves what are the places we can imagine ourselves in and look for our positive goals.

McGill experts discuss cell biology at 36th Soup and Science

Researchers discuss the extracellular matrix, bacterial infections, and skeletal development.

Skeletal dysplasia occurs in approximately 1:5000 births. (Mia Helfrich / The Tribune)

Content Warning: eating disorders, disordered eating patterns

I was barely a teen when Monday mornings became my worst nightmare. I still remember waking up with my heart racing, dreading the 8 a.m. swimming lessons my middle school imposed. The thought of my changing body exposed to the sight of others was enough to make my stomach ache, but unfortunately never enough for my mom to let me stay home. Now, even if going swimming doesn’t scare me as much anymore, nothing has really changed.

I’ve never considered myself to have an eating disorder. Why should I? I’ve never stopped myself from eating when I was hungry or obsessed over my weight. But the struggle with body image, the constant and undisclosed desire of wanting to change myself to be thinner—to be “better” in the eyes of others—entered my life as I was only a kid.

Moving 5,000 km away from Paris to Montreal to study at McGill made everything worse, and brought to life body image issues that had never been acted upon. It began when I first went grocery shopping. Roaming the aisles all by myself, without my mom, left alone to bear the weight of choosing my next meal—my shopping cart was all shades of green. Although switching Goldfish crackers for baby carrots was probably the most extreme behaviour I’ve engaged in, it is merely a reflection of a very stormy relationship with food and body image.

Data shows that I’m not the only one. In a survey run over the week of Sept. 9th to 16th, 2023, The Tribune investigated “McGill students’ relationship with food and body image”, collecting a total of 134 responses. Around four in five McGill students had a fear of losing or gaining weight, and three in five deliberately controlled their amount of food to influence their weight or shape. Nearly half of McGill students said they were struggling with their relationship with food and body image.

These numbers shine light on how widespread issues with disordered eating and body image are at McGill and pose important questions about the effects of such issues on students’ daily lives.

Although for most affected students these issues started before college, more than a third reported that their relationship with food and body image had worsened over their time at McGill.

Beneath the Surface: and disordered eating Between diet culture and academic competitiveness, reveals the widespread struggle of McGill

Written by Chloé Kichenane,

easy for students with food and body image issues to fall into disordered eating patterns as a control mechanism. The crowded libraries alone force students to stay in their spot for as long as they can, pushing their limits to secure their spot,” members of the EDC said.

Despite these numbers, the McGill administration provides no direct support to students who want to grapple with issues of food and body image. In 2017, it quietly closed its Eating Disorder Program, which provided professional healthcare, support, and group therapy, with the services dispersed into the university’s wider health system, the Student Wellness Hub. This is a system McGill students know for its inaccessibility, lack of staff, and overall inefficiency.

Founded in 2019 by Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) VP Student Life Cody Esterle to cope with the lack of institutional support from the university, the Eating Disorder Centre (EDC) of SSMU is a chapter of Safely Connected. It is now the main resource for students who wish to talk about their relationship with food and body image.

In a conversation with The Tribune, members of the EDC’s team reflected on the widespread disordered eating patterns at McGill. Kira Burner (General Coordinator), Adam Sheeraz (Finance Coordinator), Ivy Salloum (Administrative Coordinator), and Elaine Xiao (Internal Coordinator) explained why the transition to first year could awaken dormant body issues.

“The conversation around food and body image begins before college even starts. People around you warn you about the ‘Freshman Fifteen,’ this myth that you will gain 15 pounds in your first year.” The EDC team explained. “Then you step into the dining hall and, for the first time, you’re not in the safe place of eating with your family anymore. People are looking at you constantly, watching what you choose

“That’s exactly when conversations about ‘not having anything but coffee all day’ are normalized, and even sometimes turn into a competition. We should instead be talking about how you can have a balance in your life, between studying, eating and exercising.”

In the past week, 63 per cent of polled McGill students deliberately tried to control the amount of

to eat.”

If the intensification of food and body image issues is a ‘university-wide’ conversation according to the EDC, McGill’s competitive academic context also plays an important role in fostering an environment where disordered eating patterns spread.

“The stress of exam seasons at McGill makes it

Food, Body Image, eating at McGill

competitiveness, data collected by The Tribune McGill students with food and body image.

Kichenane, Opinion Editor

food they ate in order to influence their weight or shape. Among this group, 20 per cent did so on a daily basis.

Issues with food and body image don’t stop at controlling the amount of food, but can also take more extreme forms like fasting in order to lose weight. In the past week, 33 per cent of McGill students reported having gone at least one day without eating for eight or more waking hours in order to influence their weight or shape.

Jenna Jones, a psychotherapist at The Body Love Lab who specializes in eating disorders, explained to The Tribune the causes and effects of such eating behaviours.

“It takes a lot of time and energy to control, modify, and worry about what you eat and how you look all the time. Ultimately, that is when a mental health concern is at risk of becoming an illness: when persistent symptoms affect your ability to function on a daily basis.”

In the past week, 43 per cent of McGill students have experienced at least one instance of difficulty concentrating because of thinking about food, eating,

or calories.

“You don’t need to have extreme eating behaviors to feel the effects on your daily life. Someone who excessively worries about food, weight and shape can suffer just as much or even more than someone who engages in fasting behaviors, for example. It is a psychological disorder after all.”

exercise when orthorexia comes into play and affects one’s mental and physical health.

The transition to college and the stress it imposes on students can put them at risk of developing or worsening food, weight and shape concerns, Jones added.

“It is a time in a person’s life where they have the space to explore their identity and who they ‘should’ be—an ideal version of themselves. These existential questions can bleed into everyday choices, including what they ‘should’ eat,” Jones argued.

But when we shop for food with our phone in hand, no decision is truly made alone—social media always finds its way to influence us. Trends like “clean eating,” which promote eating foods that are as close to their natural state as possible, have a considerable impact on the lifestyle younger generations aspire to have—healthy, with a perfectly curated aesthetic. And according to Jones, it is much more than just an internet trend.

“This excessive obsession with eating “pure food” and having a “clean lifestyle” is known as “orthorexia”. Wanting to eat “healthy” food is not the problem. The problem is when you aim to eat “healthy”, regardless of what your mind and body is telling you. It is not a holistic approach to health, but rather a very narrow and counterproductive one.”

Similarly, excessive exercise is also a growing trend that is often disguised as a “healthy habit”, Jones explained. For her, such behaviours can hide an underlying desire to be perfect, one that is once again bolstered by social media and the pervasive gym culture in the university setting.

In the past week, 53 per cent of surveyed McGill students have exercised at least once a week, with almost 10 per cent of students exercising on a daily basis. While physical activity is important for health, there is reason to worry about obsession over

Bruce*, 21 (BA ‘23), spoke to The Tribune about his experience with disordered eating and exercising.

“Gym culture is very centered around community, which is part of the reason why it can be toxic,” Bruce confided. “The gym becomes your social circle, and the positive reinforcement you get from the community makes it easy to have a fear of missing out when you don’t go. At some point, I was canceling other plans just to go to the gym.”

Gym culture isn’t limited to just the community aspect. According to Bruce, those behaviours reveal a deeper desire to achieve often unrealistic body goals, perpetuated by pop culture and the lack of conversation on patriarchal, toxic masculine beauty standards.

“I never realized it was a problem until I talked to a girl, who pointed out my disordered eating patterns,” he confessed. “In the name of ‘health,’ I would track my calories on an app and would never eat anything that didn’t fit my goal. It got to the point where I’d measure the weight of my grapes and bananas to get the exact caloric amount.”

While Bruce recognizes his case is extreme and does not represent the entirety of the gym community, he also emphasizes the positive returns he got from engaging in such behaviours.

“People admired me for my dedication because all they saw was the physical progress I made—not the daily mental struggle behind it.”

Physical appearance and the sense of personal worth—what the “body positivity” movement has reframed in terms of self-love—are still intrinsically related, making it hard to understand and respond to disordered eating patterns.

At McGill, 93 per cent of surveyed students feel that their relationship with food and body image impacts their self-esteem, with almost 20 per cent experiencing this “very strongly”. Yet, like me, most students are not diagnosed with an eating disorder—nor should they. Both the EDC and Jenna Jones advocate for a shift in perspective on the issue, away from the strictly medical and towards more recognition of the social, cultural and psychological struggle.

“You don’t need a diagnosis to deserve help. Your suffering is enough,” Jones said.

*Bruce’s name has been changed for confidentiality.

To contact the author of the story: chloe282@ outlook.com

Designed by Drea Garcia Avila, Design Editor

Science in the city: ALL IN 2023 unveils future of AI in Montreal

International researchers convened to share the latest in AI applications

Ella Paulin Science & Technology Editor

On Sept. 27 and 28, Montreal hosted ALL IN 2023, a conference bringing together industry specialists and cutting-edge researchers in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) at the Palais des Congrès de Montréal. Experts gave speeches and participated in panels on a wide variety of topics, including AI’s impact on creative innovations and the workforce. To reflect Montreal’s bilingualism, the event was hosted in a combination of English and French with live translation provided via headset.

Conference opening

The event kicked off at 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 27. After a brief opening by Hélène Desmarais, co-founder and chair of the Montreal-based AI company IVADO Labs, Montreal mayor Valérie Plante took the stage. She began with a land acknowledgement and then transitioned into welcoming attendees to Montreal, pitching the city as an international hub of AI innovation.

“You’ve chosen the economic and cultural metropolis of Montreal as the perfect place to move the boundaries of your knowledge,” Plante said.

She also emphasized the urgency of finding ethical ways to develop AI technologies, calling it “one of the biggest tests of our time.”

Pierre Fitzgibbon, the Minister of Economy, Innovation, and Energy for Quebec, spoke next, highlighting the investments that the provincial government has made into AI research. He underscored the Quebec strategy to support research and investment in innovation as well as the government’s funding of organizations like NextAI, which help finance and accelerate AI start-ups.

New McGill Graduate Programs

Carola Weil, Dean of Continu -

ing Studies at McGill University, and John Gradek, a faculty lecturer in aviation management, announced two new graduate programs on the afternoon of the 27th. McGill will now offer graduate certificates in Dynamic Supply Networks and Integrated Supply Networks, both of which use AI to analyze modern supply management.

These programs are not master’s degrees, but rather 15-credit certificates offered by the School of Continuing Studies with the intention of supporting professionals in developing skills working with AI in the private sector. They are part of the School’s ongoing push to offer modern and relevant certifications in a variety of areas, such as financial technology and data analysis.

How can AI help artists?

The conference continued with a panel of three experts who have each incorporated AI into their creative processes. The first was Julia Kastner, Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer at Hitlab, a company that uses machine learning to gauge how successful a given song will be in different music charts. While Hitlab does not use AI to generate music, the company does attempt to integrate it into the process of discovering and popularizing hit music.

The next speaker was Céline Mornet, the Interactive Team Lead at the Montreal-based public art installation company Moment Factory. Moment Factory has created artwork displayed in Montreal and across the globe and is the team behind the nightly light display on the Jacques Cartier Bridge. Many of their exhibits incorporate interactive components and AI software, with the bridge, for example, using the traffic and weather patterns of the day to create a unique display each night.

Sandra Rodriguez, an independent creative director and a faculty lecturer at MIT, presented her work on the Chom5ky

vs. Chomsky project. An immersive virtual reality experience, the program allows users to speak with a simulated version of Noam Chomsky, renowned linguist and noted critic of AI models such as ChatGPT.

What does the future of work look like?

Returning to the industry side of the conference, several speakers shared their perspectives on the role of AI in the changing employment landscape and the responsibilities that governments, corporations, and individuals have in these unfamiliar circumstances.

Lucia Velasco, a Spanish economist at the European University Institute, emphasized that the lack of accurate information about ever-changing economies and workplaces constitutes a major issue that governments must grapple with.

“We’re facing a significant gap in our understanding of what is happening,” Velasco said. “And by this, I mean that most countries lack a systematic approach within their official statistics and [way of] tracking how automation is impacting tasks and therefore jobs.”

Basheerhamad Shadrach, Director of the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia, added that even when governments are collecting accurate statistics, the data focuses on formal workers, especially those engaged in skilled or industrial labour.

“There’s absolutely no sense of what’s happening in the informal sector, [...] when it comes to landless labourers, to vegetable vendors, to street vendors, to people who actually live on subsistence income,” Shadrach said.

Overall, the speakers stressed that a certain degree of ‘AI literacy’ is critical for individuals as we face a future of work that will inevitably incorporate a large amount of AI support.

Julie Garneau, professor in the Department of Industrial Relations at the Université du Québec en Outaouais, highlighted the urgency of education in this area.

“90 per cent of the world are users of AI. Somehow or another, we are impacted in our daily life by all these AI tools and technologies, and we should be aware,” Garneau said. “So we need to actually bring in that AI literacy component very early in our lives.”

What types of regulation do we need?

No conference about AI is complete without a thorough discussion of government regulation. One of the afternoon panels on Sept. 28 brought together a selection of experts to give their perspectives on what role the government can or should play in regulating AI models.

Duncan Cass-Beggs, Global AI Risk Initiative’s executive director, noted that when it comes to AI, a truly far-reaching approach is needed and that effective regulation must work at the scale of international law.

“You could imagine a scenario where a splinter group from a frontier lab says, ‘well, we don’t like your regulations. We’re going to go and relocate somewhere that’s got a lot of cheap energy and low regulations,’” Cass-Beggs said. “There needs to be a bit of an international principle that no state is allowed to harbor actors that are developing something that potentially could harm all of humanity.”

They also discussed the difficulties that arise when trying to regulate something that changes as quickly as AI.

“We [policy makers] are feeling overwhelmed because literally the things that we’re seeing announced this week are capabilities that would have seemed like science fiction six months ago,” said Cass-Beggs.

Since ChatGPT was released in November 2022, there has been an explosion of interest in large language models—types of AI that are able to use human language to communicate. (Mike MacKenzie / www.vpnsrus.com)

The conference was organized by Scale AI, an AI investment hub based in Canada. (Jernej Furman / flickr.com)

After a 146 day strike, the Writer’s Guild of America has struck a deal with the AMPTP

The new contract is now being sent to members for ratification.

Lily Dodson Contributor

On May 2, the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) went on strike against the American Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) to protest for fair wages, promises against the use of AI, guarantees about job duration, and other issues—shutting down the majority of continuing projects and stopping new shoots from starting. According to The New York Times, the strike interrupted approximately $10 billion worth of projects.

Under the original royalties plan, the writers would get paid every time a show or movie that they were credited on was run on cable television or bought on DVD or Blu-Ray–a sensible plan when those mediums were still widely used. Consumers now rely on streaming services to the extent that other forms of motionpicture consumption have become practically obsolete, so this agreement needed restructuring to give writers fair residuals from streaming viewership.

WGA structured their demand for a minimum number of writers per project with the aim of shutting down “minirooms” in Hollywood—writers’ rooms with only a few writers that quickly produce scripts in a period of about two to three months. The issue with these minirooms is their instability. Only a few writers are hired per show, and if the show doesn’t get picked up, the individuals have to scramble to

find new jobs. Additionally, minirooms reduced the number of writing positions available, making it harder for new writers with fewer connections to break into the industry.

The union also wanted to guarantee protections against the growing threat of AI encroaching on writers’ jobs. The WGA was unwilling to compromise on this point; they wanted guarantees that AI would not take away writers’ jobs or be used to write original material.

On Sept. 25, day 146 of the strike, the WGA and the AMPTP reached a new deal regarding the writers’ contracts. The terms of the strike, which are now public, show that the writers were successful in obtaining many of their requested guarantees. These include a promise against the use of AI, a better residual payment plan for shows on streaming networks (an increase of 3.5 per cent to 5 per cent), and promises about minimum staffing and minimum job duration. The WGA’s leadership board has approved this deal, so it is now up to the writers to ratify the agreement by early October. However, the writers are allowed to start working again prior to the agreement’s official ratification.

The deal has been widely lauded as a success. This contract sets a vital precedent for what is to follow with screenwriters and the entertainment industry as a whole. The streaming model is not going anywhere anytime soon, which is why it was crucial for writers to secure better residuals now rather than later.

The writers, having received nearly everything they asked for, are happy with the agreements in their new contract. There were compromises on certain salary and percentage increases, such as the percentage of increased weekly rates for TV writers, as well as on the worth of their deal; after the AMPTP countered their original ask of $429 million with an offer of $86 million, the two organizations settled on a deal worth $233 million. Their contract will be renegotiated every three years and will most likely improve with each iteration. However, the end of the WGA strike does not necessarily mean that scripted tele-

vision and movie projects will be returning quickly. The Screen Actors’ Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Actors (SAG-AFTRA) remains on strike over their contracts with the AMPTP for many of the same reasons as the writers. While the WGA strike is over for now, there are still measures that harm entertainment unions’ workers, such as California Governor Gavin Newsom’s veto of a bill requiring unemployment benefits for striking personnel. Amidst hope and anticipation of a SAG-AFTRA deal, it is vital that contracts are continuously amended to ensure fair rights and wages for all.

(Frederick

Education’’s finale waves an unsatisfying goodbye to our favourite characters

Sofia Stankovic Design Editor

Spoilers ahead for Sex Education season 4.

Netflix’s highly acclaimed Sex Education released its fourth and final season on Sept. 21. With the third season ending on a cliffhanger of paternal origin, a love triangle, and several breakups, fans greatly anticipated the fourth season’s answers to these lingering questions. Unfortunately, these answers were much like most women experiencing la petite mort—quite disappointing.

A glaring issue with the season is its shift in focus. When the show was primarily concentrated on protagonist Otis’ (Asa Butterfield) sex clinic in previous seasons, all of the characters’ issues with relationships and intimacy felt like natural obstacles in their life. In light of a season with more serious personal issues, the plotlines for many characters were stretched thin and lacked the engaging, meaningful development that characterized previous seasons. Many conflicts are resolved too neatly, with resolutions feeling rushed and unsatisfying. This is especially apparent in Otis’ conflict with rival sex therapist O (Thaddea Graham), which the show drags out for eight episodes only to solve immediately in the finale. However, with fans rooting for different relationship pairings, the writers clearly felt the pressure of trying to provide an adequate conclusion to its diverse fanbase.

This season also introduced several new main characters who were not fully fleshed out due to inadequate screen time—ultimately distracting from viewers’ favourite Moordale personalities. While sometimes a fresh breath of air—such as Ola, Cal, and Viv—new characters can often feel forced. Season four aims to represent every single marginalized group, rather than properly develop or appraise them. Newcomer Abbi (Anthony Lexa) was kicked out of her home and church due to her transgender identity. In spite of these noteworthy hardships, the show barely delves into her struggles, leaving her extremely onedimensional. Instead, Abbi and her friend group serve as a tool to create conflict between Otis and his best friend Eric (Ncuti Gatwa) rather than serving the group’s own purpose in the plot.

Many fans were also anticipating a conclusion to the tumultuous love triangle between Otis, Maeve (Emma Mackey), and Ruby (Mimi Keenee). No matter which pairing viewers rooted for, the writers failed to satisfy. Maeve and Otis spent much of the season apart, and Otis’ emotional development from the past seasons seemed to completely disappear, turning him into a whiny, uncaring boyfriend and friend. This lack of consistency undermined the emotional investment viewers had made in his growth over the years. While Maeve’s struggle with grief over the loss of a parent added a more sombre note to Sex Education, the show missed an opportunity to demonstrate Otis’ dedication to supporting her

important

during this challenging time. This made the show difficult to watch, due to it hinging on Otis’ new inability to understand relationships and become a better person.

Nonetheless, the season still had some upsides. The relationship between Mr. Groff (Alistair Petrie) and his son Adam (Connor Swindells) stood out as genuine, providing a satisfying conclusion to their individual character arcs. Both Groffs’ storylines delved into the impact of toxic masculinity on sexual identity and relationships. Adam’s journey sheds light on the challenges many young people confront when accepting their sexual orientation, and Mr. Groff underscores the struggle to show affection in a society that often imposes strict gender norms.

Ultimately, the final season of Sex Education struggles to replicate the humour and charm that made earlier seasons so enjoyable. It suffers from poor character development, unfocused storylines, and an overabundance of characters, which all lead to a subpar result. Many fans were left disappointed in the series’ ending and the development of several relationships. However, teenagers are messy and unpredictable, and Sex Education has always been a reflection of these flaws. Despite this reality, it is clear that in this case, fans deserved more thorough character development and conclusions to wrap up this series.

Season 4 of Sex Education is now available on Netflix.

Brown / Business Insider)

‘Sex

The fourth season’s letdown proves why fan engagement is

Attempts at humour in the newest season often come across as forced and awkward, failing to elicit the same genuine laughs and empathy that earlier seasons achieved effortlessly. (netflix.com)

The haunting myth of the celebrity novel

The history, the ethics, and the business of ghostwritten novels

Sophie Hill Contributor

The practice of ghostwriting has been around for centuries— even before the official term’s coining. Back when the primary mode of communication was oral storytelling, people used ghostwriting to scribe Bible passages and transfer religious schools of thought onto paper. Today, the most common cultural association with ghostwriting involves celebrity memoirs, leading to the debate on the authenticity of modern ghostwritten books. While the ingenuity of the texts is open to interpretation, the act of ghostwriting is so deeply embedded in popular culture and academic fronts rendering it practically inescapable for the modern reader.

Ghostwriting, the employment of an individual who writes material on behalf of someone else, in the majority of cases involves active participation from the named author. Celebrities often hire ghostwriters to pen their life stories and creative ambitions. This includes household names such as Keith Richards and Prince Harry, whose own biographies were ghostwritten. Most recently, actress Millie Bobby Brown is facing backlash from the general public for employing a ghostwriter to write her debut novel Nineteen Steps. The central argument against Brown and other authors using a ghostwriter is that the process takes away shelf room from other authors—debut authors, in Brown’s case—who compose their own work.

Ghostwriting has philosophical implications in the relationship between writer and reader. Naturally, there is a level of falsity when you put your own name as the primary author on a book

which you actually paid someone else to write. Ghostwriting can be a humiliating revelation for readers who perceive the act of purchasing and reading a novel to be a sacred exchange between the writer and themselves. While it may seem melodramatic, the concept of ghostwriting breaks the connection between the reader’s perception of the author and the inscription of their words and thoughts onto the page.

However, even books written by the advertised author, regardless of their fame and status, are never entirely the work of that one person. The publishing process includes a multitude of diverse roles, from the authors and editors to the publishers and marketers; therefore, it is fundamentally impossible to consider a celebrity memoir or novel a scam. This thinking translates beyond literature to other aspects of the arts including writing

for television, film, and theatre. There is never one sole ‘author’ who can claim one hundred percent intellectual ownership when the services of so many other individuals are involved.

Genre choices create a palpable difference in the reception to ghostwriting. The concept of a ghostwritten celebrity memoir is easier to support because the name on the cover still plays an indisputable role in the book’s creation. Even with an unadvertised writer behind the novel, celebrity memoirs are still rooted in the truth of their lives. The celebrity novel, however, is much easier to rebuke as the contents and stories in the novel do not belong to the celebrity and are works of fiction composed by an unnamed pen.

Despite the varied opinions surrounding ghostwriting, at its core, ghostwriting has strong ties to economic functions such as business transactions between the celebrity and the physical author. With ghostwritten celebrity books (both fiction and nonfiction), the celebrity’s name and status are explicitly used to sell copies and make money for the various parties involved: Publishers, editors, celebrities, and ghostwriters. Also in line with the concept of ghostwriting as a business, companies like The Ghostwriters Agency function as a talent agency, recruiting authors and matching them with the named individuals who intend on producing the books.

Ghostwriters are the silent force behind many of the world’s most famous works of literature. While the ethics of the concept continue to be debated, without a clear violation or cons to the business world, ghostwriting (including the discourse that accompanies it) will remain in the business of writing for the foreseeable future.

Could be Good

Trivia Night at Gerts

BE MORE CHILL: The Musical

A general trivia night presented by P[h]assion with a secret prize for the winning team of five. RSVP and buy tickets online.

Penumbra Theatre (Théâtre Pénombre) presents BE MORE CHILL, the hit sci-fi Broadway musical.

Tuesday Nov. 30, 6 p.m.-9 p.m. Gerts Bar (3480 Rue McTavish) $10 per person

Moyse Hall Theatre, 853 Sherbrooke St W

Wednesday Oct 4, Friday Oct. 6 7:30 p.m.; Saturday Oct. 7, 2 p.m.

$35 for students, $45 regular price

Tika the Iggy book signing

Social media superstar Tika the Italian greyhound will be signing their book, Tika the Iggy: Lessons in Life, Love, and Fashion, in association with Indigo Bookstore. Petting or handling Tika is not permitted.

Indigo Place Montreal Trust (1500 Ave McGill College)

Saturday Oct. 7, 2 pm - Free; Books available to purchase

Nalo Hopkinson: Creating other worlds, telling our stories

Kick off Queer History Month with Hopkinson’s presentation on why writers invent worlds that don’t exist, especially when 2SLGBTQIA+ people could focus on addressing what is killing us in the real world.

Tanna Schulich Hall Elizabeth Wirth Music Building (527 Sherbrooke St. W)

Thursday, Oct. 5; Catered reception 5-6 p.m., Keynote address 6-7:30 p.m.

Free, register online

Trivia night at Hurley’s Irish pub

Come for the trivia, stay for the good vibes. Prizes are available for first, second, and third place.

1225 Crescent St

Wednesday, Oct. 4 8:30-10 p.m. Free; Drinks not included in price

Don Gillmor’s ‘Breaking and Entering’ bears the unbearable mid-life crisis

The author’s fourth novel vividly tackles heatwaves, divorces, and dinner parties

Chloe Sproule

Contributor

Continued from page 1.

In combination with a distinctly generational lens, Breaking and Entering’ s stunning portrait of the modern mid-life crisis nears hubris as its myopic vision and bitterness recall the voice of those who cannot see past their own inflated despair.

With her son away at university and her marriage gone cold, protagonist Beatrice ‘Bea’ Billings’ fiftieth birthday looms. After a listless Google search for ‘escape’ sparks an interest in lock-picking, Bea’s lurid curiosity for other people’s secrets compels her to transgress the boundaries that divide and uphold polite society. Increasingly indifferent to the potentially damaging consequences, Bea’s actions inch her toward the novel’s climatic upheaval, disrupting all that was once stagnant, and shamelessly confronting the ever-tightening limits of her future.

Breaking and Entering is a red-hot novel, sweaty and sexy, that pulls off a complex three-way analogy between

the unsustainability of intimacy, our increasingly unlivable and volatile climate, and the coy seduction of caressing a lock until it eases open. Unsurprisingly, Bea’s perverse thrill at being an invisible intruder slides into voyeurism, creating an amusing interplay where she, the readers, and the author are all complicit in the desire to probe into the lives of strangers. With its subject of inescapable doom, the novel’s logic is necessarily self-aware and pessimistic—it infects its form with the sardonic humour of those who have lost all faith in the future. Gillmor has a caustic irreverence for the delicacy with which one would usually handle life’s shames— infidelity, pornography, or hating those whom you should love. Well past the age for euphemisms, Bea leaves readers no reprieve from the assault of absurdities that mimics the onslaught of a too-hot sun. No irony escapes her—not the persistently optimistic name of her mother’s long-term care home, nor the marriage counsellor who has lost too much faith to marry.

Students may find their unflattering mirror-image in Bea’s distant son Thomas, an aimless McGill student whose misgivings about university and carousel

of romantic partners frighten his parents into delivering tense moral lectures over the phone. Bea fears that she has failed to prepare Thomas for the demands of adult life and that he is one of those ‘lost men’ she reads about. Among the novel’s assortment of inchoate anxieties, this one reads as conspicuous melodrama. I am unconvinced that there is genuine cause for worry in Thomas’ character, given just how many ‘Thomases’ I know and the degree of respect I have for them. Here, Gillmor’s address of the intergenerational rift unwittingly reveals his own bewilderment at youth culture and risks alienating younger readers. A comic and unfairly represented character, Thomas would benefit from a more nuanced gaze than that of his parents, or that of the author. I will let the reader, however, judge the veracity of his claim that McGill only accepts ‘crazy’ women, and all the ‘sane’ women are sent to Yale.

By turns depressing and hilarious, Breaking and Entering charms with its understated humour and surprising range of intertextuality with other novels, films, and art history. Though this novel deals with the anxieties of another generation,

In an interview with independent publishing company Biblioasis, the author cites Don DeLillo, Joan Didion, and Miriam Toews among his creative inspirations. (biblioasis.com)

student readers will undoubtedly find their likeness in its characters and a fondness for Gillmor’s searing wit.

Don Gillmor’s latest novel, Breaking and Entering, is available at all book retailers.

Millie Bobby Brown hired ghostwriter Kathleen McGurl to compose her debut novel. (Daily Mail)

These jeans weren’t quite booted from our wardrobes! What the proliferation of bootcut jeans means for campus fashion

Aya Amer Contributor

The first pair provoked simple curiosity. The second, amusement at an interesting coincidence. I started to get nervous around the third pair, and by the time I had spotted five people wearing bootcut jeans on a walk from McMed to McLennan, I was thoroughly dismayed. Oh no , could they be back?

Beloved by Bella Swan and the favoured red carpet attire of a young Ashley Tisdale, the bootcut was the go-to denim style of the 2000s, and it’s somehow been the only trend of the time to resist a 2020s “Y2K” revival so far. Bootcut jeans have never really gone away, of course. They’ve been a fixture on the shelves of Mark’s and Costco over the years. But that’s different from being able to find them on the rack at H&M, which hasn’t been possible for a while now. Based on the evidence I’ve seen on campus, though, that seems soon to change.

The return of the bootcut is imminent, and it seems to be good news to many McGill students, such as Olivia Farrow, U2 Arts.

“I really like them,” Farrow said in

an interview with The Tribune . “It totally depends on the outfit, but I think they’re really cool. Especially low-rise ones.”

Syeda Nishat, U3 Engineering, was more ambivalent about bootcut jeans, reserving her strong feelings for another style.

“Please let’s not bring skinny jeans back. Please,” Nishat said.

There are some who are not happy to see bootcuts returning, such as Kate Kines, U2 Nursing.

“I am not a fan, mostly just because I have short legs,” Kines said. “I feel like they look good on tall people but I have short legs for my body.”

The assessment: Opinions are mixed, though mostly positive. Those who view the bootcut comeback with pure dread are out of luck, because the style’s popularity is only going to grow.

“Hang on a minute,” you might say. “It feels like only yesterday that I arrived in Montreal for the first in-person semester since the COVID-19 pandemic to find that everyone was wearing wide-legged pants. And the mom jean revolution was just the day before, wasn’t it? What a relief it was then to finally be able to find boyfriend-fit jeans without the rips my

mom didn’t like. How could we be moving on already?”

With the way that the trend cycle has been accelerating in recent years, a quick turnover rate for denim styles is only to be expected. The last time bootcuts were popular, they were hearkening back to the flared jeans of the ‘70s, thirty years before. This time, it’s only taken twenty years for them to roll around again— that’s ten years shaved off the cycle. On top of the shorter time we’re spending with each cut, we’re also looking toward an increasingly recent past for inspiration, drawing on the aughts now instead of the mom jean ‘80s or the slouchy ‘90s. We’re returning to a style that is still within living memory for the people driving the trend, which is why it might feel too soon for those who associate bootcuts with elementary school, or whose parents favour the silhouette.

But while shorter-lived fashions drive waste as people update their wardrobes more frequently, they could also have a silver lining: If we whittle down the trend cycle any further, it will start to reward the people who refuse to keep up. Because guess what denim trend came after the bootcut? That’s right—at this

Mic drop!

The Tribune’s guide to Montreal karaoke bars

Agatha Ryan & Naomi Gupta Contributors

Karaoke bars are on the rise. Why go to a concert when you can hear the screech of your own voice blasting through a microphone? Why go to a club when you can dance your heart out to the sound of your friend butchering every note of “Shallow”? One thing is for sure: Karaoke bars are in, and everything else is out. Here are The Tribune’s ratings of some karaoke bars around campus.

Au Vieux St-Hubert

Author: Agatha Ryan, Contributor

Address: 1241 Rue St-Hubert

Distance from campus: 30-minute walk, 13-minute metro ride

Au Vieux St-Hubert is the definition of a genuine karaoke bar, with a jukebox and a hilarious emcee. The bar’s selection of songs isn’t large, but that adds to the authenticity, as Au Vieux St Hubert takes you beyond the world of YouTube Karaoke. The crowd is incredibly fun and supportive, singing along and clapping even if you miss every note. With no private rooms, everyone sings along together, and the drinks are decently priced. On the Saturday night I attended, the crowd was a mixture of students from McGill and Université du Québec à Montréal, a bachelorette party, some solo singers, and other groups of friends. By the end of the night, after the emcee had engaged us all in a collective rendition of Pitbull’s “Fireball,” everyone was dancing to one another’s songs.

There is a certain vulnerability that you allow yourself to give in to the second you enter a karaoke bar, an open mindset that you must adopt. Sometimes that is anxietyinducing, but everyone there leaned into the fear and the fun of it all, and we all fell into karaoke’s welcoming spirit.

Rating: 9/10

Le Mic Karaoke Lounge

Author: Naomi Gupta, Contributor

Address: 1695 Boulevard De Maisonneuve

Ouest

Distance from campus: 15-minute walk, 5-minute metro ride

Located a few kilometres away from campus, Le Mic Karaoke Lounge hosts groups of anywhere between a couple of people to 20 or 30 guests. I joined 15 of my friends there last February, where we rented a private room for the reasonable cost of $25 an hour. Although their private rooms appeared well-equipped, various pieces of karaoke equipment were, in fact, malfunctioning— such as one of the two karaoke microphones provided. Le Mic’s catalogue was fairly limited, which meant that we either had to settle for a handful of mediocre pop songs released between 2016 and 2019 or resort to good old YouTube Karaoke—where performances were punctuated by the occasional awkward advertisement.

The service was satisfying; the staff were polite, efficient, and most importantly, didn’t rush to kick their clients out as soon as their time was up. I wouldn’t say that this place offers you significant bang for your buck, but it certainly does the job if you’re looking for a

fun night out with friends at a close and accessible location.

Rating: 6/10

Bar K Karaoke

Author: Abby McCormick, Student Life Edi-

tor

Address: 2110 Crescent Street

Distance from campus: 10-minute walk, 6-minute metro ride

Bar K Karaoke offers private rooms for groups of up to 16 people. Each room comes equipped with sofas, two TV screens, and two microphones. You can choose from thousands of songs in many different languages, including English, French, Vietnamese, and Rus-

rate, it’ll only be a couple more years before skinny jeans are cool again. And when that happens, if you stubbornly held onto yours even when they were deemed “cheugy,” you’ll be the real winner.

Although the bootcut is on the rise, it’s not the only look you’ll find McGillians wearing. Flared, baggy, and low-rise jeans are also in vogue this season. (Solenne Trequesser / The Tribune)

sian. The bar’s English song list is a whopping 117 pages! Bar K also offers a wide selection of beverages and snacks for purchase. Since this bar is made up of private rooms, its ambiance is really what you make of it. If you go with a group of friends who are ready to sing judgment-free, it might just be one of your best nights out yet. However, if you aren’t ready to let loose, this bar might fall flat.

Bar K’s room rental price is a bit steep, especially for students, with a four-person room costing $35 per hour. But, if you’re looking to splurge every so often, this bar’s vast array of songs and warm service have made it a personal favourite.

Rating: 8/10

Conveniently located near the Berri-UQÀM metro station, Au Vieux St-Hubert has been in business for 22 years. (Kristina Blokhin / stock.adobe.com)

Abby McCormick Student Life Editor

Reflections from the COVID class

Can you have a whole university experience without a normal first year?

Katherine Weaver Contributor

Abulk of the undergrads who will walk the graduation stage this year spent their entire first year of university online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Heading toward graduation myself, I can’t help but reflect upon the odd university experience that I and many other students who started in the fall of 2020 endured.

Residences were open for those who came to Montreal, but many stayed home for the whole year. Provincial and university restrictions hindered typical first-year experiences: Frosh was virtual, dining halls had limited capacity, and for much of the school year, Montreal was under an 8 p.m. curfew.

I spent my first year at home in Washington, D.C., and at first felt I had missed out on many formative experiences. I often wonder if this loss has significant effects on how fellow COVID first years view their university experience as a whole.

Emma Chothani, U4 Science, spent her first semester at home in Pittsburgh before moving into Campus1 for the Winter 2021 semester. Chothani feels that while COVID first years missed the crazy phase that many experience when they first arrive at university, this wasn’t necessarily such a loss,

as students in residence ended up creating close bonds.

Aixa Lacroix, U4 Management, also came to Campus1 during the winter. Lacroix came to cherish any chances to connect with peers in person, even if it was just sharing a meal with a friend.

“University is what you make of it, so it’s better to take advantage of what you do have,” Lacroix said.

And take advantage we did.

In some ways, though, COVID opened doors and encouraged first-years to delve into new opportunities and friendships.

“I feel like we learned to connect with people digitally in a way that we had never had to before,” LaCroix reflected.

Harry Boutemy, U4 Science, spent his whole first year at Royal Victoria College and met one of his best friends at online Science Frosh.

YoYo Peng, U4 Science, stayed in China during her first year. She joined the Computer Science First Year Council, which ended up being one of the best decisions she made during first year, as it helped her jump straight into the McGill community when she arrived in Montreal.

“I really wanted to join some sort of club or something,” Peng said. “Otherwise I’d just be another username on the screen.”

I recall joining The World Univer-

Is ‘real’ thrifting gone for good?

sity Service of Canada Local Committee (WUSC) McGill. Not only did WUSC connect me to the McGill community, but it gave me a sense of purpose during my first year. Helping coordinate the arrival of Student Refugee Program students in Montreal was rewarding because it allowed me to feel like I was contributing to the McGill community even though I wasn’t in Montreal.

It’s been hard at times.

Despite this remarkable digital adapt ability, the loss of that normal first year did have impacts on the subsequent years.

“I do feel like the graduating class of 2024 is less connected in some ways,” Arezo Farah, U4 Arts, said, having spent her first year at home in Vaughan, Ontario.

I personally recall arriving in Montre al for the Fall 2021 semester after having been a student for a whole year and feeling on par with the 2021 freshman in terms of McGill experiences. Even for students who were in Montreal their first year, residence life during COVID was isolating and even depressing at times—especially when there was a lot of time to fill with little to fill it with.

But it works out in the end.

Everyone I interviewed felt satisfied with, or at least accepting of, their relative ly truncated university experience as they

head toward graduation.

“I’m leaving university with a ton of friends and great experiences,” Lacroix said. “I almost feel like if you just focus on what could’ve been, you’re not taking full responsibility for your experiences, because ultimately it is your life, and you can shape it.”

Gen Z loves a distressed pair of vintage jeans, but how much are they willing to pay?

Charlie St. John Contributor

You’ve likely seen them on your friends and in your feeds: Tattered Carhartt jeans, 90’s Levi’s, and Nike crewnecks from the 80s. Lately, vintage items have become coveted by Gen Z fashion enthusiasts the world over. There are over 15 million posts under #VintageClothing on Instagram, and even young celebrities like Olivia Rodrigo are wearing retro clothes (albeit fancier fare like Chanel and Prada).

The vintage-clothes frenzy means that a pair of vintage Levi’s can go for upwards of $150. Used sweatshirts from brands such as Patagonia and Ralph Lauren, that could once be found for $5 on sites like Depop and Poshmark, are being scooped up and resold for 20 times as much on the same platforms. Brands like Carhartt and Dickies (historically staples for carpenters and painters) are being worn all over Instagram by kids who have never opened a can of paint, nor held a hammer.

So what makes thrifted clothing so appealing?

A decade ago, the answer might have been sustainability—thrifted clothes are undeniably better for the planet than fast fashion. They are also cheaper, making fashion more accessible to lower-income individuals. But while these answers still hold true today, the hype around thrifting has become less about its practicality and more about achieving a retro look. This can negatively impact people who rely

on second-hand retailers for affordable clothing.

As more influencers wear and sell vintage, many people have come to prefer the distressed style and broken-in feeling that gives thrifted clothes their authenticity.

“Wearing jeans from a retail store has that feeling and look that you don’t entirely enjoy, but getting that same pair of jeans from a thrift store is so much better, everything from the style to the worn-in feeling,” Eliot Loose, U0 Arts, explained.

Because of the online conversations around vintage clothing, thrifters are also more informed than ever before about which brands maintain their value over

time. Thus, many search for discontinued designs, like the legendary Levi’s Silver Tabs.

“With apps like Depop, you can really find anything,” Myla Seder, a popular Depop seller who sells under the name @mylaseed, said. “Being able to type whatever you’re looking for into a search bar has completely changed thrifting.”

As a result of their cult following, it’s much harder to find desirable brands at a reasonable price, and many mainstream thrift stores like Salvation Army and Renaissance have been completely picked over by people who know what to look for. Thrift stores that still have coveted attire

often take advantage of the high demand by hiking their prices. In Montreal, stores like Citizen Vintage and Cul-de-Sac sell used T-shirts for more than $20 and jeans for up to $150.

Many shoppers don’t mind paying for a curated selection, and shop owners know that many would rather spend more money to know that what they’re getting is legitimate, rather than risk sifting around actual “thrift” stores for hours, potentially leaving empty-handed.

“There’s a lot of fun in sharing ideas about new styles and selling clothes that you’re interested in,” Erika Bonneville of La Caravane Vintage, one of Montreal’s many higher-end, curated shops, explained. “For example, my business partner loves old Western clothing, so it’s nice for him to find items that he’s actually interested in, and it’s fun for us to share our knowledge and love for vintage clothing.”

But do these curated stores take away from one of the fundamental appeals of thrifting—finding a gem for little-to-no money? And how does that squeeze the customers both online and off?

“For a long time, Depop and Etsy were great and boosting traffic for the store and finding new pieces,” Bonneville said. “But nowadays, they’re taking bigger cuts and are huge competition for small businesses.”

Nobody knows how thrift culture might change in the coming years, or when Gen Z will tire of it, but it’s hard to imagine that it’ll ever return to the treasure hunt it once was.

Ten years ago, thrifting was atypical for most young fashion enthusiasts. Now, the second-hand clothing market is predicted to be worth $77 billion by 2025. (James Knechtel / The Tribune)

Can the Toronto Blue Jays make a deep postseason run?

Two reasons for and two reasons against a long playoff life for the Jays

Nate Northfield Contributor

Tillie Burlock Managing Editor

With 162 games in total, the Major League Baseball (MLB) season can seem draining to some fans. From May to September, the games can feel quite meaningless, with fans just waiting for October to roll around and for the playoffs to finally begin.

For Toronto Blue Jays fans, this postseason brings an opportunity to avenge the failure of last year’s wildcard series against the Seattle Mariners. With the Jays clinching the third wildcard spot on Sept. 30, the team is poised to face off against the Minnesota Twins in a best-of-three wildcard series. However, with the team underperforming all season long, many fans are left asking: Do the Jays have the legs to make a deep postseason run? The Tribune explores arguments both for and against the possibility.

For: A September surge

The Jays showed a glimmer of what they are capable of when they are at their best when outfielder George Springer slid head-first into home base to cap-off an inside-the-park home run on Sept. 24 against their American League (AL) East rival––the Tampa Bay Rays. The Jays’ Achilles heel this season has been a struggling offence and a lack of timely hitting, but September has shown some promise of overcoming their weakness that can hopefully carry into the postseason. Despite a flailing series against the New York Yankees, where they lost two out of three games, the Jays have scored 45 runs in their past six games against the Rays. A struggling Vladimir

Guerrero Jr. boasts a .300/.407/1.047 slashline with five home runs and ten RBIs over the past two weeks. Moreover, contributions from Cavan Biggio, Daulton Varsho and a resurgence of power from Matt Chapman may give the Jays the much needed offensive boost they need in the postseason.

Against: Bad record against teams in the AL East Playing in the hardest division in baseball is tough and the Jays have proven just that. Their measly record of 21–31 against AL East opponents makes it hard to see how the Jays would come out on top in a series against the Rays, let alone a fight for the division title against the division-leading Baltimore Orioles. Moreover, their record of 42–49 against teams with a record above .500 does not bode well for the sharper competition they will face come playoff time.

Against: Bad baserunning

Baserunning may seem like a micro-issue, however, with the new rules leading stolen bases to jump from 2,486 in 2022 to over 3,000 in 2023, its value cannot be underestimated. Not only are the Jays tied for last in total stolen bases league-wide with 99, but poor baserunning decisions have been commonplace all season long. The Jays rank 29th in stolen base percentage (stolen bases plus caught stealing divided by stolen bases), and fifth in outs on base (when a runner is put out while making a baserunning play). All to say, the Jays baserunning is one of their greatest flaws, and will surely haunt them in the playoffs.

For: Veteran presence

Vet presence often turns out to be one of the biggest x-factors in the MLB postseason, and if the Jays want any chance of a deep run, they will have to capitalize on

this advantage.The Blue Jays have a handful of veterans that can lead the team to victory. Springer, a World Series champion and World Series Most Valuable Player in 2017, has played 65 playoff games with the Houston Astros. Brandon Belt, a bright spot on a struggling Jays team, played in 35 playoff games with the San Francisco Giants and won two World Series’ in 2012 and 2014. Hyun Jin Ryu has also appeared in nine playoff games. Safe to say, playoff experience is not an issue on this Jays roster.

Bonus For: Pitching staff

The Jays have one of the strongest pitching staffs in all of baseball. They have the fourth lowest team era (3.78), to complement a third overall era of 3.85 amongst their starting pitchers. The staff also boasts the third highest strikeouts per nine innings (9.47) and are in the top half of the league for almost every other pitching

The unstoppable growth of sports betting must be met with education

To the DSRP’s dismay, consumer demand for Loto-Québec’s services is here to stay

Marco Zeppilli Contributor

In February 2023, Loto-Québec and Groupe CH––the parent company of the Montreal Canadiens––announced their intent to build a mini-casino adjacent to the Bell Centre. The mini-casino was set to include 350 video lottery terminals and a dedicated sportsbook area.

However, Loto-Québec promptly abandoned their proposal after the office of Montreal’s Regional Public Health Director (DRSP) published a 36-page opinion on Sept. 18 opposing the project. This perceived win for public health officials in slowing the growth of sports betting and video lotteries will not prevent a continued influx of wagers. Partnerships between sports teams and local gaming authorities are common and preventing Loto-Québec from

offering access to sports betting at the Bell Centre will not prevent tourists and locals from placing their bets. Rather, the DRSP should focus their energy on educating and preventing gambling addiction in children and adolescents.

The DRSP was concerned that the involvement of such an influential and prestigious organization as Groupe CH would normalize the practice of gambling. However, the Montreal Canadiens have already partnered with Mise-o-Jeu, the division of Loto-Québec responsible for sports betting. With their logo appearing on the boards at the Bell Centre, it is too late for the DRSP to prevent the provincial gambling entity from doing business with the Habs, or Groupe CH at large.

In addition to locally-revered sports teams, current and former athletes commonly use their influence and notoriety to promote sportsbooks’ business interests. In 2023, former Cincinnati Reds player Pete Rose placed Ohio’s first legal sports bet. The irony that Rose was banned from baseball for betting on his own games illustrates that there is no stopping gambling from continuing to invade the world of sports.

Business-wise, the partnerships formed by sports leagues and their teams with sportsbooks and casinos are mutually beneficial. Teams and leagues can collect sponsorship revenue from sportsbooks while also benefiting from the increase in fan engagement––including higher viewership rates and increased gate revenue––generated by participation in betting and fantasy games.

The Canadian Parliament recognizes sports betting as an opportunity for provinces to grow their revenue. In 2021, Parliament legalized single-event sports betting, allowing provincial gambling entities such as the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) and Loto-Québec to cash in on some of the 38 million CAD in daily wagers Canadians had been placing with offshore sportsbooks.

However, while the financial upside of single-event sports betting is obvious, dangers of gambling cannot be forgotten. A cornerstone of Loto-Québec’s proposed minicasino was the installation of video lottery terminals, an inclusion the DRSP objected to, citing the addictive nature of these machines. Per the DRSP’s opinion, video gambling addiction, like any other addiction, has direct adverse implications, including potential loss of employment and broken social ties.

While the cancellation of this project will limit LotoQuébec’s ability to offer convenient access to its services, the DRSP’s decision is somewhat inconsequential; it will not achieve the desired result of slowing the growth of sports betting and video lotteries. This sentiment was echoed in a recent Loto-Québec press release in which President and CEO Jean-François Bergeron expressed that despite his disappointment in its cancellation, LotoQuébec’s future does not depend on the mini-casino project.

Regardless of the opinion of the DRSP, locals will continue looking for ways to gamble and Loto-Québec will remain happy to take their money. Instead of restricting Loto-Québec’s ability to meet consumer demand, the DRSP should focus on advocating for a comprehensive education program. From a young age, students should be taught about how gambling appeals to the human psyche, similarly to programs which explain the dangers of drugs and alcohol. Education, destigmatization, and legalization surrounding addiction works, as proven by the success of School-Based Drug Abuse Prevention programs in Canada. Gambling addiction poses the same risks to youth as substance addiction, therefore the same preventative approach must be afforded to sports betting.

The Jays underperformed in almost every offensive category when compared to their projected preseason stats. (Tillie Burlock / The Tribune)

In opposing Loto-Québec’s proposed Bell Centre minicasino, public health officials are fighting a losing battle. (Maïa Salhofer / The Tribune)

Redbirds Rugby roars in first home win of the season against Université de Montréal

Redbirds make thrilling comeback against the Carabins in Truth and Reconciliation game

Julie Ferreyra Sports Editor

Redbirds rugby welcomed Université de Montréal’s (UdeM) Carabins on Sept. 29, eager to prove themselves on home turf after two back-to-back losses.

“Last year we had an extraordinary season, so this year it was hard to lose and realize that we weren’t necessarily at the same level,” secondyear fullback and team captain Gaspard Poire said in an interview with The Tribune. “We had a lot of expectations and hope [for this match], and it was much harder than we had thought.”

As part of the Truth and Reconciliation Games played across the lacrosse, football, rugby and hockey teams on Sept. 29 and

30, players wore orange warm-up jerseys and encouraged fans to wear orange in the stands in commemoration of Orange Shirt Day, a day meant to spread awareness of the intergenerational, settler colonial impact of residential schools. Head coach Ian Baillie stressed the importance of supporting Indigenous communities.

“This is something we need to do,” Baillie explained. “A couple of the coaching staff, myself included, are school teachers, we celebrate this at our schools through the day in orange T-shirts. [The initiative is] player-led, not from us [....] Good to see the guys recognize that responsibility.”

Earlier that day, members of the squad expressed their support for the initiative in front of the Faculty of Education.

“Our club presidents care very much about the Indigenous legacy game and they were really working hard to get us properly showing our support,” second-row Ian McDowell said. “Part of that was the orange warm-ups. Part of that was encouraging the crowd to come out with orange [shirts]. [....] We want to show that we care and that we are supporting this cause.

The opening of the game set the tone for the evening. Within the first five minutes, outside centre Martin Laval narrowly missed the opportunity to strike first by converting a penalty kick.

Instants before half-time, UdeM scored the first breakthrough of the match, a try followed by a conversion, setting the score at 7-0.

The second half witnessed the Redbirds consistently applying pressure on the opponents’ defensive line. The Carabins maintained their lead with an unconverted try, pushing the score to 12-0.

Despite being pointless for most of the game, the Redbirds came back in the dying moments of the match. McDowell pierced through the Carabins’ defence and buried a try in the 59th minute, and Laval’s successful conversion narrowed the score to 12-7.

The intensity reached new heights after UdeM’s successful penalty kick extended their lead to 15-7. However, McDowell once again broke through and managed to make a second try, quickly followed by a third, leading McGill to a miraculous 17-15 comeback.

As the game came to a close, the pressure reached its peak with the Carabins preparing for a potentially game-winning penalty kick, however,the unsuccessful attempt gave McGill its first home win of the season.

“We worked hard for this. We worked harder than we probably needed to,” McDowell told The Tribune. “This is our starting point. We needed to have this win to keep our season going properly. [...] We’re building from here.”

The Redbirds (2–2) will face off against the Concordia Stingers (1–2) on Oct. 15 with the hopes of ending their nine-game losing streak against them.

MOMENT OF THE GAME

As the final whistle sounded, the crowd and squad erupted in joy. Second-year winger Robert “Will” Storey, who was injured during the game, hopped and celebrated on his crutches.

QUOTABLE

“We are highly involved in our rugby community, and bringing young kids to the game where we can, and giving them the opportunity to play in front of all these people is a really good piece of what we want to be about as well.”

— Head coach Baillie on the children walking onto the field alongside the teams to start the game and playing on the field after.

This win brings McGill on a seven-game win streak against UdeM.

Redbirds take home meaningful victory to regain a winning record McGill lacrosse wins 9-5 over Queen’s in second annual Legacy Game

Madigan McMahon Contributor

C ontinued from page 1.

In these games, hundreds of players would take the field and it is believed by the Haudenosaunee peoples that lacrosse is a gift from the Creator and that playing the sport shows appreciation and thanks to the Creator.

The Redbirds also sported orange jerseys during the game with Indigenous designs. The shoulder detail represented traditional Indigenous tattoo patterns, while the sleeve detail presented a Skydome pattern that illustrates the skyworld, the earth, and plants that exist in both the skyworld and on earth.

The waistband detail represented the grasses and fields, with a pattern illustrating the residential school children who have been found and recovered, below.

The Redbirds had a shaky start as they lost control of the ball in the first two minutes of play, however, a goal by midfielder Louis-Antoine Habre from the top of the crease opened the score for McGill. Two minutes later, midfielder Dylan James scored from the side of the net before John Miraglia notched the third goal of the game. With seven minutes left in the first quarter midfielder Rowan Birrell scored to make it 4-0.

After a foul by the Gaels, James netted his second goal of the game,

followed by a rush by Miraglia to score the last goal of the quarter and give McGill a dominating 6-0 lead.

In the second quarter, Queen’s forced the Redbirds back on their heels, but with five minutes remaining in the first half, goalkeeper Joseph Boehm made an excellent save before passing the ball to James who sent captain Isaiah Cree down the field to score his first goal of the night. Two minutes later, the captain scored his second and with just seven seconds remaining Queen’s was able to bury a goal, bringing the score to 8-1 at the half.

Queen’s sank their second goal of the game just three minutes into the third quarter, quickly landing another one two minutes later. The Gael’s fourth straight goal moved the score to 8-4, with three minutes left to play in the quarter.

In a post-game interview with The Tribune, Birrell described how he felt after the end of the third quarter.

“There wasn’t anything dropping. It was like we were getting some looks and we’re getting them early on in our shot clock too. We weren’t wasting [time]. We were possessing a lot,” Birrell explained.

After a frustrating third quarter, Queen’s was able to score one last goal before McGill regrouped and ended the game strong. In the seventh minute of play Birrell attempted a shot on goal that was ultimately blocked. Birrell recovered the rebound and was able to get the ball in the net, setting a final score of 9-5.

Head coach Nicolas Soubry emphasized the importance of getting on top early moving forward in order to prepare his team for the next game.

“It is good to start fast. So starting the game fast and getting those goals early really helped us at the end there,” Soubry said. The Redbirds will play next against the Bishop’s Gaiters (1–3) on Oct. 4.

MOMENT OF THE GAME

Birrell redeemed himself from a blocked shot in the third quarter, scoring the last goal of the game, and giving McGill a four-goal advantage.

QUOTABLE

“For me personally, to have this how big it was, like the ceremony, everything. It’s just surreal. [...] Hopefully, there’ll be more than just two guys in the team that are Indigenous.”

The Redbirds lost their 18-year win streak over the Gaels last year, which spanned from 10/24/2004 to 9/30/2022.

McGill Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Deep Saini presented a hand-carved lacrosse stick to the team after the game. (Zeyuan Fu / The Tribune)

Ian McDowell carried McGill to victory by scoring all three tries. (Zeyuan Fu / The Tribune)

STAT CORNER

– Captain Isaiah Cree on the importance of the Legacy Game

STAT CORNER