The Tribune Vol. 43 Issue 20

The Tribune

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27 2024 | VOL. 43 | ISSUE 20

EDITORIAL

Floor fellows need a better foundation, not elimination

PG. 5

FEATURE

Restructuring our schools starts with our students

PG. 8-9

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Type 2 diabetes: A cellular miscommunication issue?

PG. 12

Students shut down Bronfman Building, call for McGill to cease Israeli investments and study abroad program

Mohawk Mothers, IJV, and SPHR representatives address crowd throughout the day

Jasjot Grewal News Editor

Dozens of students, faculty, and Montrealers blocked the entrances to the Bronfman Building around 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 22 to compel McGill to divest from its Israeli investments, call for a ceasefire in Gaza, and discontinue its study

abroad programs in Israel. At 10:16 a.m., McGill sent out an alert to all students and staff advising that all in-person classes in the building be switched to online for the day. Members of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) at McGill, Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) McGill, and the Kanien’kehá:ka Kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers) gave speeches throughout the day.

Members of SPHR, IJV, and students who are participating

Know Your (PWHL) Athlete: AnnSophie Bettez

The former Martlet is now a financial planner and plays for Montreal’s PWHL team

Marco Zeppilli Staff Writer

Growing up, AnnSophie Bettez idolized both the women on Canada’s Olympic hockey team and the men playing in the National Hockey League. The

existence of a perennial women’s hockey league at the professional level was uncertain. As such, Bettez earned a Bachelor of Commerce at McGill in 2011 and became a financial planner, balancing a job in the corporate world while continuing to play hockey. Bettez

went on to play for Les Canadiennes de Montréal in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League and later, the Montreal Force in the Premier Hockey Federation. Recent investments in women’s hockey have had a significant impact on the local sporting landscape. PG.16

in a Hunger Strike for Palestine were present at the Bronfman building’s three entrances. The blockade allowed exit from the building throughout the day, and beginning at noon, allowed entrance into the building through one entry point. In an interview with The Tribune, a member of IJV McGill, explained the thought process behind blockading McGill buildings and disrupting classes.

PG. 2

In Montreal, public art is its own form of architecture

Exploring the quirky and captivating sculptures that inform the cityscape

Charlotte Hayes Staff Writer

Montreal’s rich history of public art is well-documented, with much attention given to the vibrant murals that adorn the city’s streets and alleys. But an often over-

looked component is sculptures—an art form that may not be as trendy but has an equally large impact on the city’s residents. Whether commissioned by the city or installed by an artist as an act of resistance, these sculptures contribute to the way we interact with our surroundings

in public parks, along roadsides, or lining bike paths. Exploring the current landscape and historical context of sculptures on public land in Montreal provides valuable insight into the city’s boundarypushing art and its profound impact on its residents’ lived experiences.

(Mason Bramadat / The Tribune)

Students shut down Bronfman Building, call for McGill to cease Israeli investments and study abroad program

Mohawk Mothers, IJV, and SPHR representatives address crowd throughout the day

Jasjot Grewal News Editor

Continued from page 1.

“McGill hasn’t listened to anything else we’ve tried. We’ve obviously been doing rallies for four months now, and they’ve not responded with anything. We tried to pass the referendum policy [the Policy Against Genocide in Palestine] and they didn’t listen—they vetoed it,” the member, who wished to be unnamed, said. “So, we felt we had no other choice. [This] is the only channel that we could go down that McGill admin would listen to.”

They elaborated on the specificity of choosing Desautels Faculty of Management, explaining it offers two courses—ORGB 434: Special Topics in OB, Comparing Startup Ecosystems of Israel and Canada and FINE 434: Topics in Finance—which include a collaborative three-week study trip with the Hebrew University Business School.

“[The courses] historically have promoted Israel as a startup nation, rather than a genocidal entity that it is. It’s promoted using [...] quotes saying Israel’s military advancements [and] technological advancements are the best in the world when in reality, they used those technological advancements on Palestinian civilians,” they said.

In a speech to the crowd, Carter Forman, a member of IJV, further contextualized the decision to blockade the Bronfman building, explaining that Samuel Bronfman was President of the Canadian Jewish Congress from 1939 to 1962.

“This organization was, for nearly a century, the most influential advocate for Zionism and the State of Israel in Canada. Samuel Bronfman is also universally portrayed as a philanthropist and as a hero to the Jewish people. As a Jewish person myself, I am sick and tired of being taught to idolize people like Bronfman,” Forman said.

“What’s important is that as we speak, Israel is ruthlessly bombing Rafah,

which is now one of the most densely populated places on the planet [....] Our community is not represented by the forces that aim to annihilate the Palestinian people, [and] that continue to starve, displace, and murder innocent Palestinians as we speak. To stand against genocide is not antisemitism. In fact, true antisemitism is to conflate all Jewish people with the violent settler colonial state of Israel through antisemitism to represent our Jewish people.”

Shortly after noon, building access via the North entrance was restored. An SPHR representative who wished to remain anonymous told The Tribune that protesters allowed entry into the building in the afternoon after alleged threats from McGill administrators.

“Despite consistent threats of police violence from McGill administration, the coalition of students succeeded in holding up the picket line all day. Only in the afternoon did we allow a limited amount of people to enter through the north entrance but all classes remained cancelled,” they wrote.

In a written statement to The Tribune , McGill Media Relations Officer Frédérique Mazerolle explained that McGill’s Security Services and police had arrived shortly after the protest began.

“To our knowledge, no one was prevented from exiting the building at any time. Due to the disruption, several classes were held online,” Mazerolle wrote.

Members of Chabad McGill were stationed in front of the McLennan Library complex, facing blockaders throughout the day. Various individuals filmed the blockaders, played music, and danced with Israeli flags. A member of Chabad McGill told The Tribune that they were there “to call for peace.”

The Mohawk Mothers gave a speech to the crowd at around 12:30 p.m., beginning with Mother Kahentinetha explaining that in 2015, she sent a letter to the then Principal and Vice-Chancellor Suzanne Fortier objecting to McGill’s invasion of Kanien’kehá:ka land. She also recalled that the same year, Palestinian

students had approached the Mothers with the concern of McGill creating weapons that would be used by the Israeli Defense Forces.

Mother Kwetiio subsequently told the crowd that everyone must do their part to support Palestinians and ensure that the atrocities McGill invests in are stopped, or they will be complicit in the genocide.

“If we don’t get stronger, if we don’t use our minds, and our intelligence, and our understanding, it could be one of you. That’s not fair. So, we all need to do the work, you need to involve your families, you need to do everything you can do because it’s very hard to change the minds of a whole community. That’s our job,” Kwetiio said.

In an interview with The Tribune , Kwetiio expanded on Palestinian-Indigenous solidarity, explaining that the key factors that unite the two groups are land seizure and oppression.

“Palestinians are going through the same thing we went through,” Kwetiio said. “I feel like our two groups, we see the major similarities where someone came onto your land and told you that you’re insignificant. They told you that you’re less than human.”

Assistant Professor in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education Nanre Nafziger was also present at the blockade to support students’ demands for the university to divest. She emphasized that students voted in majority to pass the Policy Against Genocide in Policy, which McGill “did not recognize.” She urged McGill to listen to its student’s demands.

“As an educator, as someone who loves children, it’s devastating what’s going on in Palestine. It’s also hurtful here today to also see students, the divisions, and us not being able to agree on something as basic as not killing human beings,” Nafziger said.

A student who had their class cancelled due to the blockade and who preferred not to be named told The Tribune that they have felt isolated throughout their degree due to the lack of diversity and people of colour on campus. They

shared that the blockade marked one of the first days they had “felt seen” on campus. They hoped that people would recognize that missing one day of classes was incomparable to the day-to-day experiences of Palestinians.

“Just going into the school today, the amount of Islamophobic, hateful, and racist comments I’ve heard [...] just because we’re missing one day of classes. What is that? Maybe three, four classes, whereas almost 100,000 people have been killed [or] injured in this war,” they said. “I feel like the point just keeps flying over people’s heads, and I think it’s really just a result of privilege or a result of the university stance, and as a result of the voices that aren’t heard enough and that aren’t amplified enough.”

Classes resumed as normal on Friday, Feb. 23.

On Monday, Feb. 26, President and Vice-Chancellor Deep Saini sent a university-wide communication to all staff and students regarding protest-related disruptions calling for McGill to cease ties with Israeli institutions.

“McGill will not unilaterally sever its research and academic ties with Israeli institutions. Moreover, McGill will not interfere with the academic freedom of individual members of the university community to engage or partner with an institution simply because of where it is located. To do so would be wholly opposed to our institutional principles,” Saini wrote.

Saini also shared university protocols for peaceful protest on campus, reminding students that the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures is violated “when the exercise of freedom of expression and assembly knowingly obstructs University activities such as teaching, research, and studying,” as the Bronfman Building blockade did.

“Accordingly, I must stress that in any future instance where obstruction to University activities, or any other breach of our policies occurs, the application of the protocol for addressing campus disruptions referred to above will be swift,” Saini added.

McGill’s study abroad courses in Israel are led by Associate Professors Brian Rubineau and Jiro Kondo. (Mason Bramadat / The Tribune)

The Bronfman Building opened in 1972. (Mason Bramadat / The Tribune)

McGill sues Quebec over tuition hikes, cites discrimination and lack of consultation

Out-of-province applications to McGill dropped by over 20 per cent this year

Caroline Sun News Editor

Lily Cason Managing Editor &

On the morning of Feb. 23, McGill announced that the university has filed a lawsuit against the Quebec government over tuition hikes. These mean that new out-of-province students attending anglophone universities in Quebec will pay roughly 30 per cent more than in previous years. This announcement came alongside the news that out-ofprovince applications to McGill dropped by over 20 per cent this year. Concordia, which also saw a significant decline in applications, filed a separate suit over the tuition hikes the same day.

In the suit, the university claims that the tuition hikes are discriminatory,

as they target anglophone students; that they constitute an overreach on behalf of Quebec’s Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry; that they were instituted without proper consultation with universities; that they are “a disguised and illegal tax” created without the permission of the National Assembly; and, finally, that as an obstacle to accessing education across provinces, they create an unconstitutional barrier to interprovincial trade.

In an email to The Tribune , Media Relations Officer Frédérique Mazerolle pointed out that the university’s concerns about the tuition hikes have been echoed by the committee in charge of advising the Minister of Higher Education and the Minister of Education on issues surrounding the accessibility of education.

“The government’s own Comité consultatif sur l’accessibilité financière aux études , composed of representatives of government and French-language universities and [CEGEPs], who said that the decision risks compromising access to a quality education and depriving Que -

bec society of potential talent. Therefore, the Committee ‘strongly urges the government to reconsider this decision.’”

Gregory Kelley, a member of the Quebec National Assembly who represents the Jacques-Cartier electoral district, which includes Macdonald Campus, spoke with The Tribune about the implications of the tuition hikes and of McGill’s lawsuit. Kelley, who is a McGill graduate, celebrated the university’s decision to “fight against something that they see as being unjust,” but wishes it had not come to this.

“I think that it’s [...] extremely frustrating to see that McGill and Concordia have to go to the courts, because this can easily be avoided by just not having this policy in place at all,” Kelley said. “But it is a little bit of the style of the current government. If we look at Bill 40, the challenge to the school boards thing, again, there was no need to have a court battle over the constitutional rights, the English-speaking community to manage and control its own school boards.”

Kelley also spoke to the lack of consultations carried out prior to the tuition hikes being announced.

“Some of the principals of our institutions have learned about this announcement through a tweet,” Kelley said. “From what I understand, the consultations that were being done beforehand were more directed towards developing a francisation plan, which McGill and Concordia

AMUSE condemns McGill’s decision to

abolish

and Bishop’s were all about working on. And then all of a sudden they hear this different announcement come from the CAQ [Coalition Avenir Québec] government that took them completely off guard [....] It just so goes again that the CAQ was sort of making things up on the back of a napkin.”

Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Vice-President External Liam Gaither believes that the university’s decision to sue was a predictable one. He emphasized, however, that he thinks the decision is less about its students and more about protecting its own financial viability.

“I think that it [the lawsuit] will certainly put the question to students and whether they want to participate in activist mobilizing against tuition hikes, and my response to that is, I think both things have to happen in tandem,” Gaither said to The Tribune . “We can’t just let the university handle this on our behalf, because the university actually does not represent us; they represent themselves [....] This is a move to protect the university’s bottom line, more so than the affordability of education for students in Quebec.”

Gaither pointed out that the student body has been grossly overlooked throughout negotiations over the tuition hikes. He urges the creation of a “roundtable-style consultative body” as discussions continue.

Floor Fellow position as of Fall 2024 semester

McGill will increase the number of Residence Life Facilitators in response to the change

Lily Cason Managing Editor

On Feb. 15, McGill called Floor Fellows to a Zoom meeting during which the university informed them that the Floor Fellow position was going to be abolished, effective next semester. While McGill claims that the decision was made with the best interest of students in mind, the union that represents Floor Fellows—the Association of McGill University Support Employees (AMUSE)—has spoken out against McGill’s decision to remove the position, arguing that Floor Fellows serve a critical and irreplaceable role at the university.

McGill’s 65 Floor Fellows are upper-year students who serve as a live-in support system for first-year students living in McGill’s residences. Graeme Scott, Vice-President Floor Fellows for AMUSE, told The Tribune that Floor Fellows are trained to help students navigate acclimating to university, as well as a variety of difficulties and emergencies that students may face, such as recognizing and responding to self-harm signs and mental illness, administering naloxone, and knowing how to recognize signs of overdose and intoxication.

“Beyond that, we’re also trained in [...] supporting students who are racialized, supporting students who are dealing with any manner of discrimination or difficulty living in this residence system,” Scott said.

Scott also explained that Floor Fellows help

first-year students navigate McGill’s and Quebec’s resources and systems. They check in with their residents at least every two weeks, either by conversation or text, to make sure they are doing well and feel supported.

In a statement to The Tribune, McGill Media Relations Officer Frédérique Mazerolle explained that McGill came to the decision to get rid of the Floor Fellow position after conducting a “departmental review” of services provided by Student Housing and Hospitality Services (SHHS). Mazerolle went on to state that the university will be increasing the number of Residence Life Facilitators—a position that is also held by students but is not live-in—to compensate for the lack of Floor Fellows. Residence Life Facilitators are currently responsible for organizing events and supporting residence councils, among other duties. Finally, she shared that security will be “enhanced [...] with additional roaming patrols during the night and weekend hours.”

Scott stressed, however, that the peer support role Floor Fellows play cannot be filled by increased security, especially when it comes to situations where students may be breaking certain building rules or regulations.

“Floor Fellows, approaching that situation as peers, actually have a lot of very constructive ways to go about dealing with those situations that are unfortunately, not available to protection patrollers or security, who are not peers and who do not live in [residences],” Scott said. “That’s not to denigrate those services, but it’s just to do with the

nature of our position.”

The end of the Floor Fellow position will not only impact students living in residence, but also those who rely on being a Floor Fellow as a way to afford university. As part of the job, Floor Fellows are provided lodging in residences and a meal plan.

“I have multiple friends who are probably going to have to go into debt to pursue their degree now,” AMUSE President Harlan Hutt said. “Not to mention, because of the timing of this announcement, they’re probably going to have to take on debt in terms of their housing, because a lot of the housing […] that’s available [now] is going to be on the more expensive end, because a lot of the cheaper [...] housing has already been scooped up.”

Sam* is one of the students who has been profoundly impacted by their experience with their Floor Fellow.

Scott explained that AMUSE has received testimonies from many current and former McGill students in the week following the announcement.

“People saying, ‘My Floor Fellow stopped me from dropping out,’ ‘My Floor Fellow provided this tremendous difference in my life.’ And in some cases, people saying, ‘My Floor Fellow’s actions saved my life or a friend’s life,’” Scott said.

“I’ve played the violin almost my entire life and brought my violin with me here, and [my Floor Fellow] happened to also be a violin player,” they detailed. “She encouraged me to audition for student orchestras [....] On top of that, when [it was] time for me to choose my major program [...], [she was] the one who suggested to me the physiology and mathematics program which I am now part of, after listening to my interest area of math and biomedical sciences. In my honest opinion, I don’t think I would be where I am in my undergraduate journey without [my Floor Fellow].”

*Sam’s name has been changed to preserve their confidentiality.

According to the SHHS website, over 3,000 students live in residences each year. (Mason Bramadat / The Tribune)

McGill is not challenging the government’s francisation efforts. (Mason Bramadat / The Tribune)

Students vow to continue hunger strike until McGill cuts ties with Israel

Strikers demands McGill cut ties with institutions complicit in Israel’s siege on Gaza

Caroline Sun & Eliza Lee News Editors

On Feb. 19, a group of McGill students began a hunger strike to pressure the university to divest from companies and boycott academic institutions complicit in Israel’s siege on Gaza and genocide of Palestinians. Students across several different political activism groups on campus came together to form McGill Hunger Strike for Palestine, the group which organized the strike.

Dylan*, a representative of McGill Hunger Strike for Palestine, explained in an interview with The Tribune that the group has two demands. First, they demand that McGill fully divest from companies directly or indirectly supporting the Israeli state, such as Lockheed Martin. They estimate these investments to be worth roughly $20 million in total. Second, they demand that the university sever relationships with four Israeli universities and remove classes with ties to Israel such as ORGB 434 and FINE 434 (which are taught in tandem) and FACC 501. The group’s document listing their demands asserts that these courses “play a key role in techwashing the genocidal nature of settler colonialism, through the promotion of ‘innovative’ tech startups.” Dylan stated that the group will continue striking until the university meets these demands, and plans to engage in a general strike and a tuition strike if the university continues to leave them unmet.

Dylan noted that the group chose to enact a hunger strike after the university continued to ignore student demands for Palestinian liberation.

“There’s already been protests; there have been [sit-ins] there have been petitions; there’s been education; there’s been reaching out to the administration; there’s been a referendum; there’s been votes through the official channels,” Dylan said. “So, all of these things have already been done. And we’re not getting a response. So, we think that it’s appropriate to step it up.”

According to Dylan, 12 people were ready to commence a hunger strike with the group as of Feb. 22. Some students are on a continual hunger strike and others are on a rotational hunger strike, which means they strike for a limited number of days at a time.

In an email to The Tribune, McGill Media Relations Officer Frédérique Mazerolle wrote that “McGill will not sever relations with academic institutions because they are located in the State of Israel.” Mazerolle did not respond to questions about divestment from companies supporting the Israeli state.

Dylan reported that both a nurse and several McGill nursing students were monitoring the health of hunger strikers and that The People’s Potato—a soup kitchen at Concordia University—donated boxes of chicken broth to the group, which they use to make nutritional broth.

Drew* is also among the students participating in the hunger strike. They spoke of the importance of using the strike to draw attention to the starvation that Israel’s siege on Gaza is causing.

“We’re just trying to bring the hunger [from] over there on campus to really put pressure and have some visibility on behalf of the people on campus,” Drew said.

Drew emphasized that he would like to see the university listen to student demands for divestment, notably the ones expressed through the vote on the Policy Against Genocide in Palestine in last fall’s SSMU Referendum .

“Divest, divest, divest, or at least meet with student representatives and take their demands seriously [....] We divested from the South African apartheid. We don’t need to wait for government entities to call for a ceasefire to call for divestment of arms before our institutions can divest from the arms that they’re investing in,” Drew said. “78.7 per cent of [student voters] voted for the

[...] Policy Against Genocide. So just listen to the students.”

Like Drew, Dylan spoke to the importance of student activism in pressuring McGill to divest in the past and affirmed its power to successfully compel the university to change.

“Back in December [...] we divested from fossil fuels,” Dylan said. “For South African apartheid, it was [around] 50 million [dollars] at the time, adjusted with inflation, that’s [about] 140 million today. So we think 20 million is more than possible. It’s not a question of if it will happen, but when it will happen.”

*Dylan and Drew’s names have been changed to preserve their confidentiality.

RadLaw and LS4PM panel tackles global solidarity across Palestine, Sudan, and Congo

‘Liberation Across Movements’ discusses resisting imperialist interests

Alyssa Razavi Mastali Multimedia Editor

RadLaw McGill and Law Students for Palestine at McGill (LS4PM) hosted a community panel called “Liberation Across Movements: Palestine, Sudan, and Congo” on the evening of Feb. 24 in the New Chancellor Day Hall at the McGill Faculty of Law. The event rose out of a recognition of the need for solidarity amid the ongoing atrocities unfolding in Palestine, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The bilingual event featured three community speakers who did teach-ins on each respective conflict, followed by a discussion and audience question period.

RadLaw and LS4PM member Fatima Beydoun—a third-year Law student and first-generation Canadian from South Lebanon whose ancestors are from occupied Palestine—facilitated the event. It featured Duha Elmardi, a Sudanese organizer from the volunteer-based Sudan Solidarity Collective, Reem Said, one of the founding organizers of Montreal’s chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement, and Patrick Mbeko, a Canadian geopolitical analyst of Congolese origin and author of many works specializing in Central Africa.

The event began around 6 p.m. with a land acknowledgment by Beydoun, who highlighted the importance of solidarity with Indigenous resistance and the role of pervasive anti-Blackness.

“Anti-Blackness is a global issue with re-

gards to systematic erasure of Black bodies, and the valuation of who’s deemed worthy of sympathy,” Beydoun said.

Beydoun encouraged the audience to engage with Quid Novi, the student-led journal at McGill’s Law School, where Black law students recently made a statement on the interconnectedness of Black and Palestinian liberation struggles.

Next, each speaker provided the most critical context or background of their respective conflict.

Mbeko stated that the spillover of the conflict in neighbouring Rwanda in 1994 led to the first and second Congo wars in 1996 and 2003, respectively, resulting in the death of over six million people. He noted that while this conflict continues, Western powers exploit the mineralrich eastern region of the DRC.

“It reminds us what is happening today in Palestine. Where they say, we want a humanitarian pause but refuse a permanent ceasefire while people are being murdered. It’s the same logic that is being applied to the DRC today,” Mbeko said.

Following Mbeke, Said spoke, situating the ongoing atrocities in Palestine within the larger historical conditions of the region and highlighting the role of geopolitical interests that have led to the ongoing siege beginning Oct. 7.

“We must understand Palestine through a materialist framework,” Said said. “That means that the genocide that we’re witnessing today is happening because of historical struggles over

land and resources, and this is related to imperialist interests, and geopolitical goals in the region.”

Then, Elmardi provided an overview of the events and conditions leading up to the ongoing war in Sudan when fighting broke out between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in the capital, Khartoum. Elmardi noted that the war began on April 15, 2023, but is rooted in the National Islamic Front’s coup in 1989, as well as colonial legacies from British rule. Khartoum remains an active warzone, there is a media blackout and a lack of domestic accountability.

“There was a lot of coverage because they were evacuating all of the diplomats, NGO workers, and foreigners in the country,” Elmardi said. “As soon as the evacuations ended it’s no longer mainstream and very difficult to find news about Sudan.”

The discussion then turned to a question-andanswer period. All three speakers highlighted how the conditions under which genocide and colonialism in their respective countries have unfolded should act as a guide for solidarity.

“The imperialists are united, and so the people

that are living under imperialism must unite as well,” Said said.

Mbeko underscored the level of humanity required in maintaining solidarity across movements, and in determining how we articulate and defend ourselves.

“Everyone needs to understand what is happening. I said it earlier, but today, I feel Palestinian, I feel Sudanese, I feel Quebecois, I feel whatever you want. I am a citizen of the world and I refuse the categorizations that the media presents us, because they are a part of the same imperialist system.”

*Mbeko’s quotes have been translated from French by the author.

The hunger strikers also present at student blockade in front of Bronfman Building on Feb. 22. (Mason Bramadat / The Tribune)

The Law Student for Palestine at McGill, McGill Grad Students for Palestine, and the Health Workers Alliance for Palestine are holding a film screening on Wednesday, Feb. 28, of “Beyond the Frontlines: Tales of Resistance & Resilience from Palestine” at New Chancellor Day Hall. (Mason Bramadat / The Tribune)

tburlock@thetribune.ca

News Editors

Eliza Lee, Jasjot Grewal, & Caroline Sun news@thetribune.ca

Opinion Editors

Chloé Kichenane, Liliana Mason, & Isaiah Albert-Stein opinion@thetribune.ca

Science & Technology Editors Ella Paulin & Coco Zhang scitech@thetribune.ca

Student Life Editors

Abby McCormick & Dante Ventulieri studentlife@thetribune.ca

Features Editor Fanta Ly features@thetribune.ca

Arts & Entertainment Editors Dana Prather & Suzanna Graham arts@thetribune.ca

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Sara Escallon-Sotomayor & Julie Ferreyra sports@thetribune.ca

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Business Manager Sophie Smith business@thetribune.ca

Floor fellows need a better foundation, not elimination

The Tribune Editorial Board

Content Warning: Mentions of suicide, sexual assault, and racial discrimination.

On Feb. 15, McGill’s Student Housing and Hospitality Services (SHHS) informed their 65 Floor Fellows via Zoom that their positions would be eliminated, effective this fall. SHHS announced the meeting only two hours in advance and the call lasted a mere eight minutes, ending before the Floor Fellows––unionized members of the Association of McGill University Support Employees (AMUSE) Unit B––had the opportunity to ask any questions. Floor Fellows are essential members of the residence life community at McGill, and this decision risks the physical and mental safety of incoming first-years living in residence. Furthermore, SHHS’s actions expose the university’s dangerous disregard for unionized workers on campus.

Though the Floor Fellow position provides financially vulnerable students with rentfree housing and an annual meal plan, their job also comes with the invisible cost of exploitation and 24/7 emotional labour. Floor Fellows have

long protested the difficult conditions and high demands that residential services place on them. During the Winter 2022 semester, AMUSE Unit B reached an agreement after a twoweek strike for a 14.8 per cent wage increase, the first meal plan increase in five years, and other gains on union priorities—a much-needed adjustment to their contracts and a testament to the union’s organization.

But in March 2023, the university announced that Floor Fellows would be moving to smaller rooms in residences and, in some cases, forced to share communal washrooms with residents.

Addressing McGill’s residence issues by removing Floor Fellows without clear justification is unconscionable and irresponsible. Most students in residence are minors or young adults living on their own for the first time. Floor Fellows support students learning to navigate adult life and the university workload in Montreal. First-year students look to these older peers for help understanding the often-opaque bureaucracy of McGill services, like the Student Wellness Hub (SWH) or the Quebec healthcare system. Most importantly, as both peers and authority figures, Floor Fellows are often the first people that residents will go to for help when they suffer

from incidences including racial discrimination, harassment, and sexual assault, which run rampant in residences. They are the first to respond to emergency instances of alcohol poisoning and overdose—the difference between life and death.

SHHS intends to hire more Residence Life Facilitators (RLFs) to compensate for the loss of Floor Fellows. However, the main roles of RLFs are event planning and advising residence councils, not crisis prevention and intervention. This is not an adequate replacement for Floor Fellows.

SHHS argues that Floor Fellows’ training sessions do not adequately qualify them to address the needs of students who disclose sexual assault, express suicidality, indicate signs of self-harm, or struggle with mental health in numerous other ways. They also argue that Floor Fellows are primarily tasked with directing struggling students to the proper resources. This denies the on-thejob experience that Floor Fellows gain from regularly dealing with urgent student concerns and also distracts from the university’s failure to provide appropriate resources for students. The SWH is unequipped to handle urgent mental health crises and forces students to turn to the province’s failing healthcare system,

which is struggling with widespread practitioner shortages. McGill’s limited support for the Office for Sexual Violence Response, Support and Education (OSVRSE) creates unnecessary obstacles for survivors of sexual assault to receive the help that they need and deserve. Floor Fellows step up for first-year students when McGill fails to provide the resources to survive university life. McGill cannot boast its status as a “top employer” when its actions depict its employees as disposable. The abrupt nature of the announcement to terminate the Floor Fellow position disturbs organizing among a campus union. This restriction of support aligns with a dangerous trend among Canadian universities to develop student housing as an entrepreneurial endeavour rather than a service for students. McGill benefits from its status as an elite research institution while mistreating the people who contribute most to the university. Viewing future generations of students as potential profit will strip the university of its prestigious reputation. Floor Fellows are necessary for the safety and wellbeing of students in residence, and McGill must reverse its decision and commit to uplifting these essential members of the university community.

Why conservative radio is my go-to

Dante Ventulieri Student Life Editor

Between driving to see friends and running errands, I often find myself in the driver’s seat trying to decide what I should listen to. My Spotify playlists get too repetitive, I’m too picky for music radio, and after a long day of classes, I’m rarely in the mood for podcasts that sound just like lectures. Thankfully, I found the perfect thing: Patriot Radio on SiriusXM. Why does the “home of conservative principles” appeal to me, someone the Patriot Radio personalities would probably call a woke-leftist-collegeelite-snowflake? I’m not entirely sure, but I have a few guesses.

Funnier than the comedy stations

It’s hard not to laugh when listening to Patriot Radio. Whether it’s a comically asinine take on current issues or a perplexing comment that catches you off-guard, it is all intrinsically and, more importantly, unintentionally funny. I’ll never forget the first time I shared my guilty pleasure with my girlfriend. As I turned to the channel, the host’s yelling became louder on the speaker, “INDIA! INDIA IS IN ASIA SO YOU CAN TECHNICALLY CALL THEM ASIANS!” Maybe we missed the beginning of the segment, but I like to imagine that this revolutionary discovery was the segment.

Hosts like Mark Levin and David Webb speak with caps lock on, instantly boosting the comedic appeal of all their segments. When Levin is yelling about how he barely makes any money from his book, American Marxism, explaining that he only plugs it because it contains the priceless information that will save the country, I can’t help but laugh. “YOU DON’T HAVE TO BUY EVERYONE A COPY” he proclaims, “JUST BUY ONE AND SHARE IT!”

My version of white noise

As someone who has always had difficulties concentrating, white noise can be incredibly helpful. There’s something about how conservatives can talk for minutes on end without

saying anything concrete that makes it my favourite droning noise. Stacy on the Right is my go-to segment in this regard; her ability to speak for hours in one continuous run-on sentence is so soothing that it provides an opportunity to clear my mind. Though she claims that she’s “triggering the left every night,” I can’t help but feel calmed. If I were someone who meditated, a mixtape of her segments would be the perfect soundscape to close my eyes and relax.

A grim reminder

Though I try to remain lighthearted when listening to Patriot Radio, I can’t help but think about the severity of the issues they discuss. Whether it’s their fight against abortion, the refusal to acknowledge systemic racism, or the constant downplaying of the climate crisis, this channel serves as an important reminder that not only do these people exist but that they wield considerable power in our societies.

Keeping me sharp

As someone who did debate throughout high school and CEGEP, I’ll always get joy from breaking down arguments and coming up with counterpoints. Listening to Patriot allows me to challenge myself and run mini-debates in my head. It pushes me to reflect on what I know, and do

supporting research when I get home. Whenever I end up in a discussion with someone more right-leaning, thanks to my hours of conservative radiolistening, I already know what they’re going to say. They are then no match for my well informed rebuttal.

A window into conservative thinking I live in a fairly non-conservative bubble. It’s diverse—there are people of differing beliefs—but none of my close friends or relatives are conservatives. I don’t have the uncle who spews rightwing conspiracies or the colleague forwarding me Fox News articles. I like Patriot Radio because it provides me a glimpse into the type of media conservatives consume.

On both sides of the border, we’re heading into elections where conservative candidates are polling ahead. Beyond the laughs and the soothing white noise, it’s also important to be aware of what right-wing talking points are, and why electors believe them. Listening to Patriot is my own immersive ethnography, and hearing the thought processes of guests and hosts is both illuminating and distressing. Conservative radio offers a glimpse into the nitty-gritty of the right-wing playbook that isn’t often discussed elsewhere, including not just what they want, but how they want to achieve it.

Yusur Al-Sharqi Staff Writer

If you saw an emergency on the metro, what would be your first instinct? Would you intervene yourself? Would you call the police? Ask another bystander for help? Google what to do? Odds are you didn’t say, “Find one of six safety ambassadors scattered around the metro station who cannot actually intervene in an emergency but will call the police for me!” Yet, the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) believes this is what Montrealers need.

In October, the STM announced that officers responsible for monitoring metro stations would now be armed with pepper spray on duty, a drastic and violent measure intended to ease the safety concerns of commuters. After complaints poured in, the STM implemented a new strategy, deploying safety ambassadors at metro stations. The STM made this decision to address commuter safety concerns around houselessness, drug use, and mental health crises at metro stations. However, safety ambassadors do not adequately solve these issues.

COMMENTARY

Consumer culture is the bane of our existence

Kiran Gill, Staff Writer

A Dime hoodie has become a ubiquitous cultural symbol on the McGill campus. The Montreal-based skate brand grows in popularity with each limited edition drop. Why do McGill students like Dime? Are they not just another company selling massproduced, overpriced, undifferentiated clothing? Hoodies are a necessity for those braving Montreal winters, but the utility of Dime’s products is not what contributes to its trendiness. Wearing Dime clothing gives McGill students a feeling that will keep them much warmer than a hoodie: Social status.

Consumer goods fall into two categories, material and positional goods. Material goods address basic human needs. For a typical student, material goods include an apartment, groceries, a computer, and basic clothing. Conversely, positional goods extend social status to those who attain them. Positional goods carry a competitive premium: The more people who have the product, the less it is worth. Possessing such a good, like a Dime hoodie, is not about merely having one, but rather that you have one and others don’t. Positional goods are proxies for perceived social superiority.

Each Dime drop highlights the underlying problem with positional spending. Buying products because of the status they confer is futile. New purchases offer a status bump, but only

STM safety ambassadors are customers in uniform, not adequate emergency responders

They cover up the city’s failure to implement practical, effective solutions to the problems that residents are voicing their concerns over, such as fatal drug overdoses occurring openly in front of commuters’ eyes.

The implementation of this system will also increase police violence and surveillance that individuals experiencing houselessness already face. Specifically, statements of offence issued to unhoused Indigenous peoples have increased exponentially over the past few years. Considering that the role of safety ambassadors is to monitor metro stations, these numbers are likely to rise even more, hurting already marginalized and vulnerable communities.

What can safety ambassadors do that any ordinary person with a phone could not? The STM refers to safety ambassadors as a source of “reassurance,” someone to answer questions related to safety and to provide information and guidance. Another role of the safety ambassadors is “supporting major events”—an absurdly vague and meaningless task. The STM called the safety ambassadors the “eyes

and ears” of the metro system, but the Director of Security and Fire Safety of the STM said the same thing about STM customers just one day before. Evidently, safety ambassadors are no different than any STM customer—they are simply customers in uniform.

Additionally, the STM has not clarified whether the 80 hours of training that safety ambassadors undergo involves actual intervention in emergencies such as administering overdose-reversing drugs or de-escalating physical conflicts.

The STM has said that these ambassadors are trained to assist customers and contact the police in an emergency. Anyone can call the police when witnessing an emergency, even without 80 hours of training.

The STM website redirects users to a customer contact form for non-emergency concerns. One of five options in direct emergencies is to alert a safety ambassador. But the chances of somebody looking for one of the three pairs of ambassadors roaming the station are slim. Most likely, people are going to press one of the big red emergency buttons or dial 911

on their cellphones. Posters or even the website remain much more accessible and useful than six people walking around the station in intimidating uniforms.

This new system shows that the government’s idea of taking action and tackling important issues is in fact doing nothing at all. Meanwhile, safety concerns inevitably continue, and their root causes—unaffordable housing and inadequate social services—have yet to be dealt with. While safety ambassadors are certainly a better

Cash for clout: A referendum on Dime

temporarily. Inevitably, someone in your social group will get something newer and cooler, at which point you are left with two options: Either you engage in an consumption arms race, leaving you broke and owning an excessive amount of stuff you don’t even want, or you give in and embrace the fact that you can never have enough material things to make you happy.

There are certainly people who buy Dime products because they like the brand’s designs, quality, and ethos—but they are the minority. The hedonic treadmill of consumer culture is impossible to stop, but self-awareness is the first step towards getting off. Dime is simply cashing in on your thirst for clout, and as soon as McGill students realize this, they will find themselves with much bigger bank accounts and clothes that are authentic to them.

Positional spending is the solution to overconsumerism

Liliana Mason, Opinion Editor You would be hard pressed to find someone in the McGill bubble who does not agree—at least on the surface—that consumerism poses a major problem in our society. Everyday we are inundated with constant cries from companies attempting to convince us that they have what we need. As a result, cheap, mass-produced items have risen to allow people to buy whatever their heart desires. These products have pervaded the lives of millions of con-

sumers. It takes just a couple clicks to find hours worth of videos proclaiming the virtue of Amazon dupes for Lululemon or sharing multi-part hauls from Shein worth hundreds of dollars. There are many theories about why overconsumption has everyone so thoroughly enamored, and while people have taken a variety of approaches to addressing the issue—from minimalism to no-buy years—I’m here to present a different solution: Embrace positional spending.

Saving up to buy a luxury item—or positional good—used to be a rite of passage for many teens and young adults—spending weeks, or months, putting aside money to buy the new Jordans or the latest Tommy Hilfiger. Though these are a kind of status symbol, for many they were also a physical manifestation of personal success—bought after saving allowance or using your first paycheque from a job. The sense of long-term accomplishment that accompanies your first major purchase or designer good is infinitely more satisfying than the shortterm gratification that comes with your third Shein haul of the month.

Dime sweaters are arguably the perfect positional good. Not only are they nicer than the average sweater, but they give off the vibe that every McGill student seeks—cool, effortless, and artsy. Dime’s globally renowned drops combined with their iconic Montreal collabs—notably with the Montreal Canadiens—are the perfect com-

bination of local clout and universal swag.

No matter how much you care about the environment, it is indisputably difficult to stop your hyper-

option than increased policing they are just another band-aid solution. At some point, the government of Montreal will have to address these problems head-on—the safety ambassadors only delay this essential work. Instead, the government of Montreal should reallocate the funding for these systems into subsidized housing for unhoused populations or invest it in communitybased mental health services, both of which have proven to be effective measures at preventing crime and contributing to a safer city.

consumerism cold-turkey. Instead, rather than falling victim to the call of internet dupes, take the time to save up for the thing you really want: Become a positional spender.

The

The first STM safety ambassadors were deployed on Jan. 25 at Place-des-Arts metro station. (Abby Zhu / The Tribune)

Student of the week: Azure Dumas Pilon

Driven, creative, and grounded, meet Azure Dumas Pilon.

Julie Ferreyra Sports Editor

Between classes, extracurriculars, and internships, third-year law student Azure Dumas Pilon’s schedule is jam-packed. However, she has found solace in her busyness, along with other students such as Thomas Roussel, BCL/JD ‘23, Zakaria El-Hannach, U3 Engineering, and Kamil Chaoui, L2, as a member of McGill’s Francophone debate club.

Dumas Pilon’s previous debating experience in CEGEP at Brébeuf’s debate club pushed her to get involved. After becoming a member of the club in 2021, she soon became aware of its unclear structure.

“We [Dumas Pilon and Roussel] gravitated towards the club de débat francophone at McGill to continue this passion,” Dumas Pilon explained in an interview with The Tribune . “The club existed, but unofficially and it was very nebulous. It was confusing. Who ran the club? What was going on? [...] It was really disorganized.”

Interested in the organization’s potential, Dumas Pilon and her friends worked to remodel its structure and make it an official club. The club, which currently is an interim Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) club, hopes to

gain full status and benefit from the accompanying privileges. With the support of the Faculty of Law and alumni, the club has twice hosted its own competition, the Coupe Laurier, the latest of which was held in the offices of Dentons law firm.

The club plays an important role in McGill’s extracurricular environment, offering a place where both experienced and novice debaters and native and non-native French speakers can meet and practice debating. To that end, the club partners with other francophone initiatives on campus, such as Eloquentia Montréal.

“We try to be inclusive, and I think that having a francophone space to do that is also very beneficial not only to McGill’s francophone community because it gives us a place to meet [....] It’s also a place where we have [...] Englishspeaking debaters who will come to practice with us to improve their French, or English-speaking students who want to learn French,” Dumas Pilon explained. “After our practices, we go for a drink, or we have wine and cheese evenings, we have Christmas evenings where we make little gingerbread houses and have fun together [....] It’s really a great opportunity to learn French, to practice your French, or even just to exchange with people who have a similar background or a similar culture to [one] another.”

As part of the Ligue de débat uni -

versitaire et collégiale (LiDUC), the club also brings participants across different universities and CEGEPs together around a common passion. This exposure helps members foster a community and establish contacts across the province. As this appreciation for debate transcends disciplinary boundaries, Dumas Pilon mentioned her connections with students in medicine at the Université de Laval, or in law at the Université du Québec à Montréal, among others.

“These contacts can also be beneficial to my professional network. And it’s people you know who have something in common with you. So I think there are all kinds of people, many advantages to the club, then it depends how you want to interact with the club,” Dumas Pilon said.

Despite her busy schedule, Dumas Pilon manages to remain grounded by balancing out her commitments.

“I’m a big believer in balancing your academic, extracurricular, professional, and personal lives. And if you don’t take time in your personal life, all the other spheres of your life are going to be unbalanced and you’re not going to be able to perform as you should,” Dumas Pilon reflected.

This introspection also pushed the law student to consider what motivates her interest in law. Volunteering at McGill’s Legal Information Clinic and giv -

How to plan a reading week staycation

Activities and places to fill your week off in Montreal

Georgia Chenier Leggett Contributor

With reading week on the horizon, many of us are creating plans to escape the city (or reading responsibilities). But if you happen to be sticking around Montreal here are some cool things to check out for your reading break staycation.

Music

Montreal’s thriving music scene is always bustling with local talent. With

ample time to nurse a hangover and recover from the ringing in your ears, reading week is the perfect time to discover your next favourite artist.

On March 6, there is an open mic night at Turbo Haüs on Saint Denis. This bar is usually rocking out with amazing talent, and its open mic would be a great event to check out some new Montreal musicians. Their cocktail menu is to die for, and if drinking on a Tuesday is your vibe, the No-Moshing is delicious.

To cap off the week, on March 8 there is the album launch of Seelonce with John

Cohen Experimental at Casa del Popolo. Tickets cost only $10. With their combined listener numbers on Spotify being a mere 77, if they ever make it big you could have the most pretentious-person points by saying you “knew them before they were popular.”

Skating

Take advantage of the dwindling winter with some skating, and bring a buddy to stay warm, wink wink . Skating is notoriously one of the best date activities; though Valentine’s Day has passed, it’s a great way to “accidentally” fall into your lover’s arms. Montreal has a plethora of outdoor rinks to choose from, many of which are located close to campus. For some fresh air, up the elevation, bring your skates, and check out the rink near Beaver Lake near the summit of MontRoyal.

If you want to rent some skates, Patin Patin is a skate rental service currently offered at four Montreal rinks: Parc Jean-Drapeau, Old Port, Parc Maisonneuve, and Quartier des Spectacles. The Quartier des Spectacles location is right near many trendy cafés and bars where you can go in and warm up with a hot chocolate or shot of whiskey. This aphrodisiac of a sport is so popular in this city that Montreal could dethrone Paris from its title as the “city of love.”

ing back to the community are crucial aspects of her goals.

“It’s about giving back to the community with the privilege I have. If I didn’t do that, I wouldn’t feel good about my studies,” she said. “I wouldn’t feel good on a daily basis because I’d feel like I was only benefiting from my studies for myself. So for me, it was a personal realization to work on. But what’s important to me? Where am I going to put my time?”

*Interviews were translated from French by the author.

Cross-country skiing

If you’re looking for some solo activities, cross-country skiing is the perfect sport to pick up. It is a great cardio workout for when running on the icy streets becomes a treacherous task. Mont-Royal has 16 kilometres of trails of varying levels for cross-country skiing that wrap all around the mountain. The park rents equipment at its lodge located at 2000 Remembrance Rd. When choosing your trails, keep in mind that the easiest ones are marked by green circles, intermediate by blue squares, and expert by black diamonds and double black diamonds.

Anticafe

If you are someone who is actually going to read over this reading break, I’ve found an amazing place to do it. Anticafe on Sainte Catherine street near Place des Arts is a funky kind of café where you don’t pay for the coffee. The pay is per hour and snacks and coffee are unlimited. The pay rates start at $4 and max out at only $20. It is a great place to spend an entire day with a constant flow of cappuccinos and a nose in a book. With its quiet atmosphere and whimsical decor, it is one of the coziest spots in Montreal.

With the plenty that Montreal offers you don’t have to go far for a little fun. Before we return to campus and to what the exterior wall of Redpath library calls “blissful studies,” you can take a little local adventure.

Dumas Pilon is currently training for a triathlon..

With over 225 skating rinks, 16 kilometres of cross-country ski trails and countless bands, there is lots to check out in Montreal over this reading break. (Mason Bramadat / The Tribune)

Restructuring our schools starts with our students

Addressing systemic inequities in education requires approaches that put young people first

Written by Isaiah Albert-Stein, Opinion Editor

Design by Zoe Dubin, Design Editor

Igrew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania, attending public schools that received Title 1 funding from the federal government. This funding indicated that at least 40 per cent of students qualified for free lunch, which also meant our school received additional government support. Despite this support, the disparities across districts were stark. The local community unfairly characterized our public schools as providing low-quality education and fostering violence—a stereotype that stemmed from the fact that the majority of the student body was students of colour. I learned from caring, talented teachers among a diverse group of friends and peers—I wouldn’t trade my experience for the world. Still, growing up, my friends and I saw that the suburban school districts around us achieved better test scores, purchased new academic materials and sports equipment, and sent more students to elite colleges and universities.

Public conversations around inequity often label high-need public schools as “inner-city,” a racialized euphemism that broadly paints inequity as a result of unfortunate geography rather than decades of racist policies such as redlining, segregation, and unequal resource distribution. The pervasive notion of “underfunded schools” to explain the “achievement gap” fails to acknowledge how these most directly affect racialized and high-poverty communities, regardless of school budgets or resources.

Distance learning in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic widened achievement gaps and exposed the deep inequities of education systems in the U.S. and Canada. When schools moved online in Mar. 2020, I was working at a public elementary school in Washington, D.C., for the AmeriCorps program, City Year DC. I watched as our students, many of whom already dealt with attendance issues, health problems, or behavioural challenges, struggled more than ever before to engage with learning online. Even when they could participate in class, technology access was an issue for many families, and elementary school students were unfamiliar with Zoom and online learning tools.

expectations, and then to build from a student-first framework.

‘An equilateral triangle’: Student connections with school and with the world at large

Grade school students only spend half their day at school. When they arrive in the morning and enter the classroom, their lives outside of school don’t simply vanish; their activities and interactions since leaving school shape their experiences throughout the school day.

guage barriers—especially Black students, Indigenous students, immigrant students, and students of colour—it often manifests in academic or behavioural struggles when they attend school.

Sarah Lauritsen is a school counselor at a predominantly Black, Title 1 public school in the United States. She expressed to The Tribune that trauma is a significant factor in the work that she does with students.

“A lot of those systemic issues, a lot of those pillars of oppression, really impact our students in the day to day, and how they function and [...] interact.”

Today, the condition of public education is as fraught as ever—in part as a result of the pandemic. The situation in Montreal and Quebec is no exception. Fédération Autonome de l’Enseignement (FAE), an organization comprised of nine Quebec teachers’ unions and 65,000 teachers, went on strike for 22 days at the end of 2023. The strike resulted in a collective agreement which includes a 17.4 per cent pay increase over five years, more teachers in classrooms, and more classrooms overall. Still, the deal passed by a 5-4 vote among the nine unions; Quebec teachers are disappointed that the province isn’t doing more to support them so that they can better provide for their students.

Students are the heart of the education system. To better serve public school students across North America, we need to address how factors such as racial injustice, housing insecurity, language barriers, and a carceral school system impose further inequity in the classroom. To provide a more just future and more opportunities for generations to come, we must allow young people to express their needs and

Lauren Watler is an educator with teaching experience in both public and charter schools in New Orleans, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., who currently teaches a class of fourth graders in the D.C. Public School (DCPS) system. In an interview with The Tribune , she described the relationship between students, parents, and teachers as an “equilateral triangle.”

“We’re literally the points in the triangle […] we’re the points that connect. If one of the lines or one of the points is off, there’s a disconnect,” Watler explained.

Her analogy emphasizes students’ agency in navigating the education system as one piece of their daily lives. As one “point” on the triangle, students have a significant stake in their own education. But parents—and more broadly, a student’s support system outside of school hours—and teachers, counselors, social workers, and other adults have the means to influence how students experience learning and express their own agency.

‘Systemic issues and pillars of oppression’: Students and the inadequacy of support

When children experience issues such as financial struggles, housing and food insecurity, or lan -

Unlike the United States, Canada and Quebec do not systematically collect race-based data for school boards. This lack of widespread data collection limits the scope of smaller institutional studies, yet research still reveals that racialized students face the same kinds of inequity and segregation as American students. The Lasalle Multicultural Resource Center, a Montreal non-profit, collected data from 2021 to 2023 on Black students’ experiences in Quebec schools. They discovered that Black students are more vulnerable in educational settings due to police presence in schools and racially biased school practices, and that they are regularly moved to segregated classes separate from the broader school community.

Lauritsen describes how in-school and out-ofschool suspensions recreate systems of oppression that police students of colour.

“There’s a lot of pressure to hand out these punishments and hand out this discipline, and I think [members of our school] team do a really good job of pushing back, shaping the way that we think about and talk about the consequences that we have for students [...] obviously, there’s a lot of room to grow.”

Nanre Nafziger, assistant professor in McGill’s Department of Integrated Studies in Education (DISE), studies Black social movements and Black students’ experiences in school. She is a core orga -

nizer with École Sans Police, a Montreal group that advocates against police in schools and carceral systems of education.

“I think Quebec really needs to update and transform a lot of things in the schools in terms of pedagogy and in terms of discipline,” she proposed in an interview with The Tribune . “The old systems are still there [...] a lot of punitive measures that make children feel guilty for bad behaviour instead of more positive transformation or approaches to teaching.”

Students thrive in institutions that recognize and teach about their cultures, but instead the Quebec curriculum denies Black students, Indigenous students, and racialized students the opportunity to see themselves reflected in their education. Nafziger criticized the negation of Black and Indigenous history in the current Quebec curriculum, saying, “You’re basically telling the story of white settler colonialism as the de facto history of Canada.”

This lack of cultural representation mixed with the strict French-language policies in Quebec, such as Bill 101 and Bill 96, creates additional hurdles for non-francophone students. DISE associate professor Susan Ballinger, who studies bilingual education and language acquisition, explained to The Tribune that anglophone students receive little support in adjusting and allophone students receive none at all. The Faculty of Education students she works with struggle to provide multilingual instruction under these conditions.

“[One of my students talked] about situations where they got in trouble for speaking a little bit of English with a seven-year-old who had just arrived in the country, who didn’t know [where to go] in the hallway,” Ballinger recounted.

‘Distrust runs so, so deep’: Parents, barriers, and generational inequity

Lauritsen described a recent meeting with a mother, where she had to broach the difficult conversation of suggesting that her child move to a specialized classroom.

“I don’t know if [it’s] specifically our school, the staff at our school, or just the larger school system in general, but her distrust in us runs so, so deep,” she recalled, expressing that parents’ distrust toward school professionals is valid. “I think a lot of it just comes from wanting to protect them, honestly, and I can understand why.”

Public narratives of educational inequity often wrongly place the blame for behavioural issues or low academic performance on absent, uninterested, or antagonistic parents. These accusations disregard marginalized families’ perspectives of the school system and narrow the conception of what role a parent or family serves. The educators I spoke to shared stories of students whose parents held several jobs, were incarcerated, passed away, or didn’t have the time or means to drop them off at school.

Some students changed custody frequently between their parents or other relatives, lived in foster homes, or had to serve as parents themselves for younger siblings and cousins. Yes, these family and home situations affect how students engage with school, but that doesn’t mean that the parents don’t care—every discussion I had reflected how most parents want the best for their kids.

In Quebec, strict French language laws add an extra barrier for some Indigenous or immigrant parents who may not feel comfortable speaking French.

Ballinger argued that parents lack the opportunity to advocate for their children when they don’t have proper support for learning French, and teachers refuse to or are unable to communicate with them in a more comfortable language. “Newcomers, people of colour [...] it’s so many ways that they’re disempowered at that level,” she shared as she related her own anxieties as a parent who isn’t a native French speaker.

In addition to the numerous challenges parents face, the school system often reinforces limited perspectives on the parent-child relationship, failing to account for diverse family dynamics. DISE assistant professor Jayne Malenfant does advocacy work with teenagers experiencing homelessness and studies education and housing justice. In an interview with The Tribune , they pushed back against misconceptions that most homeless youth don’t have relationships with their parents. They also pointed out how centring relationships with parents can exclude queer and trans youth and other young people who have disconnected or fractured relationships with their families. Students dealing with homelessness and living on their own may get punished for calling to excuse their own absences, or students living with their families may be scared to seek help in school for fear of being separated from their parents and support system.

‘Knowing someone had that offer for help was a game changer’: Empowering teachers to address carceral school systems

The work of being a teacher isn’t easy, but that hard work is an essential part of providing for students. “That’s what keeps me going; that’s what keeps me motivated,” Watler emphasized, “Student achievement—I want them to do well.”

Yet teachers need more than just their dedication to students to keep them afloat through the challenges of an unequal system. Watler pointed to teacher retention as a marker of a positive environment, setting her current school apart from others where she’s worked. A large contingent of veteran teachers can build a network among themselves to more quickly address student needs, stay on top of issues, and take on the many day-to-day responsibilities of teaching while still prioritizing students.

A general sentiment among the educators I interviewed was that the high teacher turnover rates at high-need schools result from a combination of low salaries, overworking due to understaffing, and a disconnect between teachers’ training and the actual demands and expectations of the job. Nafziger stresses that, in addition to better pay and smaller class sizes, developing intercultural competencies is essential for supporting students. “When you have these old methods of discipline and then you have [teachers] not having the competencies to deal with cultures, that definitely leads to a more negative impact on children [from diverse backgrounds].”

Cultural competency is especially important when the realities of the job don’t reflect the practical training.

“The way that it’s framed in grad school, and in theory, you just go out and you do [social justice and advocacy]. And that’s not the reality of the situation,” Lauritsen reflected.

The abundant responsibilities falling on school staff leave little room for implementing progressive practices from professional training. Lauritsen is op -

timistic about how restorative justice initiatives at her school can better serve students but argues that deeply entrenched punitive approaches make it hard to implement anti-oppressive practices.

Well-supported and well-trained teachers are necessary for student safety and growth. A school system that works for students is made up of many teachers who have the skills and potential to be a trusted resource for students with substantial needs.

Malenfant says that even if students struggle to advocate for themselves or seek support for their needs, having those frameworks in place makes a difference: “I’ve talked to so many young people who said, ‘I didn’t take advantage of it, but just knowing someone had that offer for help was a game changer.’”

‘Radical Imagination’: Looking to students for a way forward

In our interview, Malenfant talked about the concept of radical imagination—the act of encouraging, rather than suppressing, imagination among young people and imagining together radical possibilities for the future of education. Radical imagination itself undermines, as Malenfant put it, the “inevitability of this system.”

Discussing the teens they work with Malenfant said, “Often when they’re trying to go to school, and their friends are dying on the street, and they’re trying to eat, and they’re just trying to navigate a system that is completely failing them, they have no choice but to imagine something else [...] we have a lot to learn from young people’s imagination of what could look different.”

Students know what they want from school and how they can best learn—the key for educators is to give them the tools to better express what they need from classes and from adults in the school building. One practice being implemented today to build upon students’ voices is translanguaging, a theoretical framework first developed by Columbia Teachers College Professor Ofelia García. As Ballinger explained it, translanguaging is the process of “drawing on all of [students’] language knowledge to help them learn,” encouraging students who speak two or more languages to speak with whatever words best express them, but even more so to collaborate with other students who share their linguistic background.

Translanguaging, and other innovative ap proaches to student learning that educators are im plementing today, have the potential to lay the foun dation for a future of student-centred educational practices that could exist in a restructured system that addresses inequities head-on and incorporates students’ desires.

“You can’t change things without talking about what’s wrong with them,” Malenfant proposed, “[…] but then going past that to imagine what things could look like differently is really exciting.”

For now, we can look at how students every where make the existing school system work for them, regardless of the obstacles. Lauritsen points to students’ joy and love—when their support systems in school are working and even when they’re not—as a big part of what draws her to her job.

“Seeing those small things on a daily basis, see ing the smiles, seeing them show up for their fami ly, for their friends, for their community. Those are probably my highlights. The small interactions, the small wins.”

Curating the perfect photo dump An expert guide to the ten-picture Instagram post

Dana Prather Arts & Entertainment Editor

For painting, it was the self-portrait. For sculpture, the bust. For movies, the film noir. Every art form has an influential format that forever changes the medium, yet none can compare with the format that has taken the art of social media posting by storm—the photo dump. A collection of up to 10 seemingly unrelated photos combined in a single Instagram post, the photo dump appears deceptively simple to the untrained eye. Yet any true social media connoisseur knows that making Instagram casual again requires countless hours and painstaking attention to detail. Perfecting the art of the dump may sound intimidating, but fear not, dear reader! As a beloved content creator myself, I have taken time away from my intense academic pursuits (passing out slack-jawed on my desk after struggling through the first ten pages of a poetics paper) to guide you in the art of curating an exquisite photo dump. All it takes is three easy steps.

Step 1: Cultivate your aesthetic Overplayed aesthetics abound on the internet—tomato girl, cottagecore, coastal grandmother—so if you hope to

separate yourself from lesser influencers, your best bet is to develop your own niche subculture. Personally, I’ve committed my last three and half years at this institution of higher learning to refining McGill-core: Equal parts dark academia, rat girl summer, and good old-fashioned asbestos poisoning.

Step 2: Select your photos

Everyone knows that a good photo dump should represent your most authentic self, so meticulous photo op planning is key. How else can you expect to get your effortless spirit across?

First, snap a pic of your morning latte. There’s nothing like subtly signalling a caffeine dependency to endear you to your peers. But beware! This relatability can bring you dangerously close to giving off “ordinary student” vibes. To maintain your aura of mystique, nourishing your individuality complex is key. Swap your Couche-Tard filter coffee for a to-go cup from any number of cool Plateau coffee shops; not only will you seem sophisticated and worldly for stepping outside of the McGill bubble, you’ll prove that your palette is far superior to the Desautels plebeians scampering to and from the Bronfman building.

Next, throw in a tasteful selfie—you deserve a little vanity as a treat. For maximum effect, take the shot from an unexpected angle or mix up the aspect ratio. If you catch a passerby or a Redpath rat in the background, don’t sweat it! As a master photo dumper, I can assure you that a little photo editing goes a long way. Armed with just a jpeg of a pink ribbon and a dream, I turned my furry little photobombers into coquette companions— how chic!

Finally, make sure that you’ve got a candid shot of yourself and your besties out on the town. How else will your loyal followers know that your thriving social life is cooler than theirs? While a sophisticated spot like Datcha or Darling would make the ideal backdrop for posing with cocktails, Gerts and some pitchers of sangria will do in a pinch. Just grab your digital camera, add a blur filter, and no one will know the difference.

Step 3: Write your caption

A picture is worth a thousand words, and you just put ten photos in—don’t you think you have enough words? Exactly. So swap the long-winded caption for an artful se -

lection of themed emojis. A string of pink bows? It’s giving coquette! A strawberry, sparkle, and sunshine? You’ve become the ultimate farmer’s daughter! Want to show others you’re going for that #cleangirl aesthetic? Hit ‘em with the soap emoji. Feel free to throw in an esoteric emoji or two to keep your loyal followers intrigued—protecting your not-likeother-girls status is a genderless pursuit. My personal recommendation? The ball of yarn, onion, and mousetrap icons—the girlies who get it, get it.

Ta-da! In just three simple steps, you have curated a one-of-a-kind photo dump to rival any influencer. Happy posting!

On a platform overrun by Facetune and filters, the authenticity of a good photo dump is a breath of fresh air. (James Knechtel / The Tribune)

The Tribune’s Black History Month Crossword

Abby McCormick Student Life Editor

Across

5. The first Black artist to win Album of the Year at the Grammys

7. This year’s Superbowl headliner

8. The first Black person to play in Major League Baseball

9. A course about this Black artist is taught at the University of Copenhagen

11. The first Black Canadian hockey player

12. An American abolitionist who rescued over 70 enslaved people in the Underground Railroad

13. A Black Canadian hockey player who invented the slapshot

Down

1. A Trinidadian geneticist who served as an assistant professor at McGill until she died

2. Credited as being a leader of the American Civil Rights movement

3. The only Black Canadian to be represented on a bill

4. ____ Talks: The Black Student Network’s podcast

6. A Nova Scotia community that was forcibly displaced in the 1960s

10. The first person of colour to earn a medical degree in Canada

Black joy: A key to Black maternal health and well-being Dr. Ijeoma Nnodim Opara spoke about health disparities among Black women.

K. Coco Zhang Science & Technology Editor

On Feb. 21, McGill’s Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism Standing Committee (EDIAR-SC) and the Department of Global and Public Health co-organized an engaging Black History Month event titled “Joy, Liberation, and Vitality in Black Maternal Health.”

This event was led by Ijeoma Nnodim Opara, a prominent Detroitbased physician and global public health expert. Recognized for her impactful work during the COVID-19 pandemic, she founded Opara Equity and Justice Labs and co-chairs the End Race-Based Medicine Taskforce.

Beyond her medical roles, Opara is a proud mother, dancer, and advocate for joy, justice, and liberation for Black communities worldwide.

Opara started the talk with a song titled “Peace Like a River.” This song belongs to a genre of music called African American spirituals, which enslaved African people created in North America between 1619 and 1860.

“African American spirituals contained our stories, our pain, oppression, suffering, grief, and trauma,” Opara said. “They also contained our

resistance, protest, faith, hope, love, and joy.”

To exemplify the trauma and suffering Black women have undergone, Opara delved into the health disparities among pregnant Black women.

“It is no secret that the United States is a deadly place to be a pregnant women. Of all high-income countries, the United States has the worst statistics in maternal and infant health,” Opara said. “Black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women, regardless of income and education levels. In some states like New York, the numbers are up to 12 times.”

Black women are also disproportionately affected by maternal morbidity—unexpected outcomes of labour and delivery—such as high blood pressure and anxiety, which can result in significant short- or longterm consequences to their health and well-being.

“Black women are set to experience higher rates of severe maternal physical and mental morbidity due to inadequate prenatal and postpartum care,” Opara said.

Although Black women deserve to receive high-quality, culturally centered, and respectful care that meets their physical, emotional, and social

needs, their health has long been compromised by systemic racism and implicit bias among healthcare professionals.

A large majority of Black women report having had negative experiences with health care providers. They are twice as likely as white women to report that a healthcare provider ignored them or refused a request for help in a reasonable amount of time. The mistreatment and disrespect Black women have persistently encountered, in turn, have fueled a deep mistrust of healthcare institutions and undermined their relationship with maternity care.

Subsequently, Opara moved on to talking about the reproductive justice movement, which is more expansive, intersectional, holistic, and less individualistic compared with the reproductive rights movement. This movement was created by a collective of Black women to posit reproductive justice as a human right that analyzes power systems, centres those who are the most marginalized, and addresses intersecting forms of oppression.

“This movement fights for the right to have a child, the right to not have a child, and the right to parent a child,” Opara said. “It also fights for the necessary enabling conditions to realize these rights.”

Due to Black women’s racist and traumatic experiences, Opara also emphasized spiritual nourishment, also known as Black joy, to fight against the negative stress.

“Black joy is how we love ourselves and each other. Our joy enables us to ground ourselves in the ever ongoing history, grapple with the challenging present, and access a future that celebrates our continued existence, thriving, and abundance,” Opara said. “Joy is an act of resistance. It is the choice we make every

day.”

Black joy is a way of resting the body, mind, and spirit in response to devastating and life-altering experiences. It is believed to be one of the keys to Black maternal health and well-being.

To holistically improve Black maternal health, practicing Black joy must be present alongside policy changes to address the social factors impacting Black women’s health, particularly racism, income, access to health services, and education.

Black History Month Blood Drive calls attention to a more diverse blood supply

The event aimed to encourage more blood donations from the Black community

K. Coco Zhang Science & Technology Editor

Every February, people across Canada participate in Black History Month events and festivities that celebrate the contributions and accomplishments of Black people in Canada.

“It is important to acknowledge the experiences and contributions of Black people, especially considering the reality of antiBlackness in society. So having this small opportunity in the form of a month of celebration and honouring is the minimum of what we should be doing,” Shanice Yarde, McGill’s Equity Education Advisor specializing in Race and Cultural Diversity, said in an interview with The Tribune

Across the sciences, researchers celebrate Black History Month to consider more closely Black people’s contributions to new technologies and innovations.

“Black History Month is important because the world must know Africans’ stories, understand their struggles, their aspirations, and the most important factors that shaped their destiny,”

Wendell Nii Laryea Adjetey, assistant professor of post-Reconstruction U.S. and African Diaspora history at McGill, said in an interview with The Tribune

One of the significant Black History Month events that occurred this February was the 15th annual Montreal Black History Month Blood Drive. This event took place on Feb. 10 at the Comité d’Éducation aux Adultes in Montreal’s Little Burgundy neighbourhood.

Co-organized by two nonprofit organizations, Héma-Québec and the Black History Month Round Table, the event aimed to support people with sickle cell anemia, educate Black communities on the importance of donating blood, and encourage Black communities to donate compatible blood.

Sickle cell anemia is an inherited red blood cell disorder that affects hemoglobin—a protein that carries oxygen throughout the body. Patients with this disease require regular blood transfusions.

The disease disproportionately affects Black people and has been historically understudied. Statistics have shown that around

one in 13 babies of African descent are born with sickle cell trait, meaning that the baby carries one copy of the sickle cell gene passed down from one parent along with a normal hemoglobin gene from the other parent.

“Healthy red blood cells are round, and they run through your [blood vessels]. When you have sickle cell anemia, your red blood cells are [crescent-shaped] instead of round,” Josée Larivée, a HémaQuébec spokesperson, said in an interview with The Tribune

Due to the abnormal shape of red blood cells, these cells can get stuck and block blood flow when travelling through blood vessels. As a result, pain and complications such as infection, lung disease, and stroke may arise.

People with sickle cell anemia often require blood transfusions to remove abnormal red blood cells and replace them with healthy ones, thereby reducing the incidence of complications.

“We try to encourage blood donations from Black people, but blood has no colour. A white person can donate blood to a Black person as long as they have the same blood type,” Larivée ex-

plained.

However, certain blood types are unique to specific racial and ethnic groups. Although blood types fall into four major groups—A, B, AB, and O, some patients require an even closer match than the main blood types.

Individuals who receive frequent blood transfusions, such as those with sickle cell anemia, need to receive the most compatible blood possible. Therefore, a diverse blood supply is vital to ensuring patients of all ethnicities receive the blood they need when

they need it.

Unfortunately, Black communities donate blood at substantially lower rates than white communities. The reasons for this phenomenon are multifactorial, one of which is systemic racism.

During the 80s and 90s, Canada and Quebec blamed African and Haitian communities for the presence of HIV and AIDS in Canada, claiming they brought it in by donating blood. Those who were born in certain African countries were banned from donating blood until 2016.

Type 2 diabetes: A cellular miscommunication issue? The deficiencies in beta cell processes and communication underlying type 2 diabetes

Zoe Dubin Design Editor

On Feb. 22, the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) presented a lecture from members of the RI-MUHC community, as part of their ongoing Distinguished Professors Lecture Series. This month’s distinguished professor was Guy Rutter, professor of Medicine at the University of Montreal and researcher specializing in type 2 diabetes, a disease that affects more than 10 per cent of the global adult population.

In diabetes, the body is unable to properly metabolize glucose, a type of sugar.

After eating or drinking carbohydrates— a nutrient found in sugary or starchy foods— beta cells in the pancreas sense an increase of glucose in the bloodstream. In response, they release a hormone called insulin. Insulin allows cells to uptake and breakdown glucose, thereby lowering blood sugar levels.

“It’s either the destruction or the failure of [beta] cells to respond appropriately to an elevation of blood glucose, which underlies all forms of diabetes mellitus,” Rutter explained in the lecture.

The impacts of unmanaged diabetes are serious. An insufficient insulin response underlies chronic high blood glucose, which can damage small blood vessels, causing nerve damage and kidney disease.

In type 1 diabetes, beta cells are de-

stroyed in an auto-immune reaction that typically begins in childhood. In type 2 diabetes, however, beta cell mass is not strongly reduced. Instead, a complex interaction between environmental factors and genetic predispositions to the disease hinder insulin release.

Rutter’s research centres on the islets of Langerhans: Clusters of cells found in the pancreas that release metabolic hormones— including insulin—into the bloodstream. Beta cells are one variety of cell found in these islets.

Reent research shows that beta cells function as fuel sensors, continually monitoring and responding to their own energy levels. The more glucose present in the blood, the more fuel in the form of ATP molecules will be produced in the beta cell.

“[A high ATP level] is essentially used as a signal,” Rutter said. This signal opens voltage-sensitive calcium channels, flooding calcium into the beta cell. This influx of calcium is what triggers the release of insulin.

Rutter and his team identified deficiencies in various steps of this process.

“The transporter [protein], which will allow glucose into the [beta] cell is more weakly expressed,” Rutter said. In addition, certain proteins which are absent in the mature beta cell remain present, disrupting normal cellular processes.

“So you have a cell which is becoming much less specialized for ATP synthesis and detection and becoming much more run-of-

the-mill,” Rutter added.

Rutter also investigated newly-described differences in the way beta cells communicate with each other.

“Why do we have pancreatic islets? Why are they always about the same size—about 1000 cells give or take? And that’s the same whether you’re a mouse or a horse or a blue whale,” Rutter wondered. “There’s something special about the size, and there’s something special, perhaps, around the interactions between cells.”

Rutter and his colleagues have identified leader, hub, and follower beta cells. When an islet encounters glucose, a wave of insulin is released. Leader cells start this wave, hub cells propagate it, and follower cells follow suit.

By precisely destroying leader cells, Rutter stopped islets from producing insulin responses, even if a majority of beta cells were left undisturbed.

Islet connectivity is also diminished in type 2 diabetes: Diabetic mice showed a loss of coordinated islet dynamics which was largely restored after they underwent vertical sleeve gastrectomy, a weight loss

procedure.

“[In type 2 diabetes], you don’t lose many beta cells—no more than 25 per cent. [But], if you’re losing a particularly important 25 per cent, that may have consequences for the overall secretion of insulin,” Rutter said.

Currently, treatment of type 2 diabetes involves lifestyle changes along with medications and continual blood glucose monitoring.

“But none of these [medications] address the progressive loss of the function of the entire cell,” Rutter said. “If we can understand [genetic] variants, [...] we may have alternative new ways to personalize new drugs.”

The prevalence of type 2 diabetes has more than doubled in the past 20 years.

(Zoe Dubin /The Tribune)

Key The model animal olympics

By Zoe Dubin

C. elegans: A nematode worm about one millimeter long, the C. elegans is popular due to its three day life-cycle and the relative simplicity of its neural loop (it does not have a brain). Its aerodynamic body could mean that it might be good at ice skating if it could just lace on the shoes.

Mouse: Mice are incredibly popular as a model animal – they have genes that are manipulable by molecular tools, and a fully sequenced genome.

Drosophila: The humble fruit fly is perfect for genetic testing: It has only four chromosomes and makes a lot of offspring. While you might be familiar with these hanging around your sink (do your dishes), they are also one of the most commonly used lab animals.

Zebrafish: Researchers are readily able to do live imaging of cells in zebrafish to understand live cell dynamics! Zebrafish are cheaper than mice, and their external eggs allow for easy genetic modifications.

Xenopus: AKA the frog. Frogs have the ability to regrow their retinal ganglion cells, the neurons that bring visual information from the eyes to the brain. Wonder how many animals they had to test to find that one out (eek).

Rotarod: A tool used for testing mouse movement and coordination deficiencies. Mice are placed on a turning rod, and try to stay on – ninja warrior style.

In Montreal, public art is its own form of architecture

Exploring the quirky and captivating sculptures that inform the cityscape

Charlotte Hayes Staff Writer

Continued from page 1.

When walking through the Plateau, you may encounter a number of sculptures situated in front of private residences—many of these were created by Glen LeMesurier, a Montreal-based sculptor with over 25 years of experience. Working primarily with steel, LeMesurier’s sculptures are located in many of Montreal’s boroughs, colouring desolate corners with vibrant and geometric expression..

In an interview with The Tribune, LeMesurier recounted starting his most recognizable work, a sculpture garden called Jardin du Crépuscule, or Twilight Garden, that sits at the corner of Van Horne and Saint Urbain. The garden, composed of over 200 unique steel sculptures, is built on a plot of land that LeMesurier claimed over 20 years ago. Since then, he has used the property as a repository for some of his most vibrant work, to the extent that it spills onto the side of a bike lane.

LeMesurier told The Tribune that the work isn’t cohesive or particularly planned out; rather, each individual piece encapsulates its own story.

“I pour the cement and I installed the piece. And if that arrondissement wants it removed, they can, they can probably ask me to remove it. But I put in so many pieces, that it’s a lot more difficult for them to ask me to move 25 pieces, than one.”

He takes meticulous care in detailing his most recent projects, placing his statues in front of private residences. These sculptures, much like those found in the Twilight Garden, create a visual symphony of diverse colours, shapes, and sizes—no two pieces look quite the same. However, in this case they are spread all across the city in front of homes, apartments, and co-ops. The network of sculptures has become so expansive that a former McGill graduate student in the Department of Geography, Corey Dickinson, MS ‘21, built LeMesurier a map to keep track of all of them.

There is quite the unique system for dispersing his artworks. After gaining permission from a residence to place a sculpture, he offers the choice to buy the work or to let it sit there temporarily, at LeMesurier’s discretion. Many choose the former option, helping him fund the rest of his artistic endeavours. The catch? The residents never quite know what the artwork will look like—LeMesurier told The Tribune that he doesn’t like to relinquish creative control over any of his projects.

His newest residential project is a series of sculptures for a co-op on Hutchinson Street. LeM-

esurier had his eye on the beautiful brownstone building for some time, and when a friend residing there asked if he would create something for them, they agreed. Seeing as the co-op lacked the funds for the project, they opted to let LeMesurier maintain ownership of the piece, having it temporarily live at the co-op. He joked that they started making requests regarding the art’s colours and sizes, which he immediately shut down—as LeMesurier put it, he’s the architect.

The sculptures are both visually and principally opposite to many works of public art displayed elsewhere in the city. His work is about reclaiming pieces of Montreal as spaces for art, whether that be by the side of a road, along a canal, or in front of someone’s home.

Jonathan Villeneuve is another Montrealbased sculpture artist using his work to change the city’s landscape. Villeneuve uses a mix of architectural methods to create sculptures in tune with the surroundings, both natural and constructed environments. With permanent installations all across Quebec, Villeneuve is changing the way the public interacts with art.

When speaking to The Tribune, Villeneuve recounted the process by which he was commissioned to create his more permanent outdoor pieces. Because of a policy enacted in 1961, one per cent of the budget of all federal buildings constructed in Quebec must go towards funding a piece of public art created by a local artist for the building’s exterior. A small council comprising government officials and art specialists from across the province decides upon these grants. Villeneuve has been the recipient of many of these grants, allowing him to create pieces outside the Québec National Assembly and Parc Jean Drapeau. When drafting his proposals for these works of art, Villeneuve pays special attention both to how observers will interact with the work and how the work will interact with its surroundings.

Villeneuve’s projects largely sit at the intersection of nature and technology—a marriage that is well suited for outdoor pieces. His work Utopie, found in Parc Jean Drapeau, nestles perfectly amongst the trees and gardens, while simultaneously mimicking the historically built environments, with the Biodome in the background. The yellow metallic sculpture showcases LED lighting that is intricately linked to its support beams. During the day, it forms captivating geometric shapes, and when night falls, it transforms into a dazzling display of radiant beams of light. Villeneuve cites natural elements, such as waves, as major influences on the way he incorporates the use of light and movement within his sculptures. This combination

of nature and technology is also present in the design process, which is primarily achieved using design software.

“My work doesn’t hold the traits of manual work so much, they’re all manufactured material from industrial processes. I don’t make bronze sculptures or moulding. But they’re all custom parts.”

Villeneuve describes his process as almost architectural; he completes design work on his computer, creates models, and then allows a manufacturing process to bring his creation to life. “I work with the professionals also, like programmers, designers, fabricators. And I’m not really attached to one specific technique.”

It is this convergence of artistic and technological innovation that allows his pieces to feel participatory for the observer. His work avoids alienating the audience by inviting observation, questioning, and interaction.

Another artist who has been a recipient of the Quebec public art grant is Catherine Bolduc. Based between Montreal and Val-Morin, Bolduc’s works have been displayed internationally in both public spaces and art galleries. Her work in the public realm has focused primarily on reflecting the neighbourhood in which it is situated. In 2014, the City of Montreal commissioned Bolduc to erect a piece at Parc Lahaie. Les Anges Domestiques is a love letter to the wonderfully diverse architecture surrounding the park.

the kids because you [want them to] enjoy it, and like the teachers, they love it when it’s something that the kids will appreciate because they can learn something about [art]”

“In front of the church, there’s one of the oldest [locations of] the Bank of Montreal, and on the corner, the [building] that is kind of Gothic— which is fire station now—used to be the City Hall of Saint-Louis-du-Mile-End before it was amalgamated into Montreal,” Bolduc said in an interview with The Tribune

The piece is crafted entirely from bronze casts of items found at garage sales in and around the neighbourhood. Each arch on the piece represents a different population living within the neighbourhood, reflecting their unique architectural and artistic history. Bolduc spoke about wanting her public arts to feel comfortable and reflective of the neighbourhood in which it is situated. She recounted stories of building sculptures placed at elementary schools and wanting them to appeal to the students who went there.

“I want to do something that people will like; it’s their neighbourhood. I did a few [sculptures] for primary schools so then you think about

This same principle seems to be applied to her work in the Mile End—wanting all parts of Montreal’s diverse cultural communities to feel welcome and represented within public art.

Tactile public art, such as sculptures, has a profound impact on both the physical landscape and the residents who live there. Montreal is fortunate to have a thriving community of artists who go beyond beautifying the landscape and actively contribute to creating a welcoming environment for its residents. They have the opportunity to make a significant impact by reclaiming abandoned properties and infusing them with artistic spirit, breathing new life into these spaces. By creating art that is responsive to its viewers, artists can engage with the community on a deeper level, fostering a sense of connection and belonging. Their work has the power to fundamentally alter the way we feel represented and welcomed within our spaces, transforming them into vibrant and inclusive places for all.

Glen LeMesurier’s ‘Jardin du Crépuscules’ was created with the intention of transforming a barren lot littered with garbage into a public space for neighbours to enjoy. (Mason Bramadat / The Tribune)

The poison drips through in The Zone of Interest

In Jonathan Glazer’s newest film, Nazi evils are unseen but have devastating effects.

Zackary O’Toole Contributor

Minor spoilers for The Zone of Interest

How would you depict an atrocity onscreen? What would you show, and perhaps more importantly, what wouldn’t you? In Jonathan Glazer’s new five-time Oscar-nominated film, The Zone of Interest, these choices are put at the forefront of the narrative. The result? Nothing short of cinematic greatness.

The film follows Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel) and his wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller) as they move through their seemingly monotonous daily lives. They attend picnics, swim in the river, celebrate birthdays, and read bedtime stories to their children—the picture of a happy nuclear family. However, something sinister looms beyond the walls of their garden. Never out of sight (or more accurately, out of earshot) are the smokestacks, gunshots, and screams from

Auschwitz. Indeed, Höss is no ordinary father: He is the commandant of a Nazi death camp.

Though the film takes place directly outside of Auschwitz—the now-infamous curved barbed wire fence delimits the family’s garden—its interior is never shown. This is a stark departure from previous Holocaust dramas, such as Schindler’s List and The Pianist, which heavily feature concentration camps and Jewish ghettos. Instead, the camp acts as an unseen shadow over their daily lives. It infuses every action that they perform with the darkness of their complicity, without directly interfering in their “normalcy.” Here, the banality of evil is on full display.

The girls don’t go shopping; they get clothes delivered from “next door.” They don’t use compost to fertilize their garden; they use ash instead. The tension between the family’s actions and what they represent is visceral—nearly unbearable. It would be one thing if they didn’t know where their clothes and “garden fertilizer” came from; it’s another because they do. It is these innocuous moments that punctuate the film’s central drama, and Glazer makes sure that we are constantly reminded of just how terrible this ordinary family truly is.

The Zone of Interest is shot simply, with wide, still takes and a pale colour palette. But it works; dramatic flair has no place in this grim story. The film’s matter-of-fact visual style subtly reflects

how the Holocaust’s horrors became normalized, bureaucratized, and clinical. Furthermore, this makes the moments which deviate from this style that much more impactful. After an important scene, Glazer holds a close-up of a rose for a little too long and a little too close for comfort. The bright red that fills the screen is a simple but powerful metaphor: No longer are roses beautiful and idyllic, instead they are sown from blood and hatred.

Glazer masterfully conveys utter horror and evil without ever explicitly showing it. One reason for his success is sound: Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn engineer a quietly nightmarish soundtrack. Screams of agony and burning fires are a constant presence but somehow fade away after some time. You are lulled into complacency, only to be reminded of where the film takes place by a loud gunshot followed by a piercing shriek.

Like the visuals and sound, the Höss family simplifies and decontextualizes their day-to-day lives to make them more bearable. The parents do not explicitly mention the genocide happening on the other side of the wall, nor do the kids seem to understand what their father’s job truly consists of. Yet Glazer argues with vigour that the family’s hearts and souls are affected nonetheless—the poisonous deeds of their complicity affect them in ways that they cannot yet see.

In its final 15 minutes, The Zone Interest reaches new heights. Having set the scene in the previous hour and a half, Glazer then delivers the film’s most poignant and harrowing moment. His creative risks pay off in the end and elevate the story beyond a traditional Holocaust narrative. Given its disturbing subject matter, The Zone of Interest may not be a film you want to watch, but it is certainly one you need to watch.

Massimadi Festival highlights Black queer

stories

The festival brings stories from countries thousands of miles away

Anya Brown Contributor

From Feb. 15 to 18, the Massimadi Foundation held its annual Afro LGBTQ+ Arts and Film Festival at the McCord Stewart Museum in Montreal. In honour of Black History Month, this special edition of the festival, themed “Transcendence,” highlighted Black queer stories that are not often seen or heard by the mainstream public. The Foundation’s president, Laurent Lafontant, decided that Black History Month was the ideal time to call attention to these stories.

“We want to put forward the achievements of Black, queer people […] to promote Afroqueer culture and give them visibility,” Lafontant said in an interview with The Tribune

The festival included a number of films, including All the Colours of the World are Between Black and White , the directorial debut of Nigerian filmmaker Babatunde Apolawo. The movie tells the story of two men, Bambino and Bawa, who cross paths at Bawa’s betting shop and grow closer to each other while developing Bawa’s ambitions to become a photographer. Bambino and Bawa are each painfully aware of the barriers facing gay men in Nigeria, but they find ways to grapple with their queerness

and deal with their budding relationship in very different ways. Bawa has accepted his sexuality and wants to explore their connection further, whereas Bambino struggles with accepting Bawa’s advances. This highlights the struggle that gay men face both through persecution from governments but also in one’s own clear discomfort with the subject of queerness. They both make mistakes in the film, failing to communicate with each other and hurting each other, with Bawa even outing Bambino to a group of thugs on the street. It is difficult to see these moments, but it is still incredibly emotional to see them find a connection that they may never fully be able to commit to.

While this incredibly tender story is playing out, the fact that members of the LGBTQIA+ community face enormous amounts of discrimination in Nigeria is always present in the character’s minds. The two men rarely touch, yet their connection is palpable. This film allows us to see that, even in the darkest of circumstances, people find love. They may not be able to openly be together in Nigeria, but they show us that anything is possible.

Lafontant said that his favourite part of organizing this festival was the process of watching and selecting the movies because it allowed him to bring queer stories to a new audience. It is evident why when

HOT TAKE

“Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeran is a terrible love song

Kellie Elrick Staff Writer

It may be romantic on the surface: “And darling I will be loving you ’til we’re 70 / And baby my heart could still fall as hard at 23.” The problem is, in this day and age, 70 is just not that old—in 2021, the average life expectancy in Canada was 83. Thinking out loud—yes. Thinking carefully—evidently not. The alternative mishearing is “And darling I will be loving you ’til we’re 17.” This is worse. While 70 is admittedly a higher threshold than most famous men have proven the capacity for, it is far from commendable—if a man says this to you, do not swoon. Run. In a society that refuses to let women age—a society of botox, fillers, radiofrequency skin tightening, collagen serums, various kinds of oil supplements, avocado toast, poison, water aerobics, red light masks that will terrify your spouse, children, and pets, field trips to the dark side of the moon to avoid sun exposure, the blood of virgins, and the regular application of sunscreen—I do not want to hear Ed Sheeran tell his beloved that he will shove her out the door on her 71st birthday with the feeble excuse of rhyme. Fuck you, Ed.

to Montreal.

watching this film. Living in a metropolitan city like Montreal, often interacting with a diversity of individuals, can make us feel like we know more about the world than many others do. However, the stories that the Massimadi Festival highlights make us realize that the world is much bigger than it seems. Through films such as All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White , viewers learn about stories that otherwise would not be seen or circulated. Queerness has a long history in Nigeria, predating colonialism, making this film

an important cultural statement. In a time where it seems to many that we are moving backward with our treatment of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, queer stories in films from around the world are more important than ever. While the circumstances that Bambino and Bawa find themselves in may not be immediately relatable to people in Western countries, the emotions—love, loneliness, loss—at the heart of their story are widespread. These films make the world smaller and allow us to connect with people who live oceans away.

Oscar-nominated The Zone of Interest has had quite the year on the award circuit, picking up four awards at the Cannes Film Festival and three more at the BAFTAs. (themoviedb.org)

Babatunde Apolawo highlights Black queer stories that are often not seen widely. (byamongstfishes)

Yes, football has a misogyny problem.

Dani Alves’s conviction is a start, but misogyny still holds deep roots in football institutions

Sara Escallon-Sotomayor Sports Editor

On Feb. 22, the former Brazil, Juventus, and Barcelona footballer Dani Alves was sentenced to four years and six months in prison for sexually assaulting a 23-year-old woman in a Barcelona nightclub. This is a welcome step forward for Spain in the aftermath of the “la manada” assault case that kickstarted sweeping changes to Spanish law.

In 2022, this culminated in the passage of “only yes is yes” sexual assault legislation which eliminates the burden of proof of the use of force for sexual assault convictions and centres around whether express consent is given by victims. While Alves’s conviction is remarkable on its own given the history of sports institutions ignoring assaults perpetrated by famous athletes, the implications of this case goes beyond the Barcelona courtroom.

Several high-profile cases have involved players going to trial, such as Benjamin Mendy, formerly of Manchester City, and Mason Greenwood, on loan at Getafe from Manchester United. Alves, one of the most decorated footballers of all time, is one of the rare cases where a

footballer accused of sexual assault has actually been convicted. Indeed, there is an active Premier League player who has been accused of sexual assault by five women since April 2021 and has been arrested twice, but continues to play week in and week out for his club. Another Premier League player for Everton was also arrested in 2021 due to suspected child sex offences, only to have the charges dropped 21 months later. However, Everton did suspend the player indefinitely and did not renew his contract upon the revelation of the accusations.

Sexual assault is a widespread issue in the professional football environment. Yet messages of support for victims from players, coaches, and other powerful figures around the game are completely absent. On the contrary, coaches will testify at the accused’s trial in efforts to protect their current or former players. But why? As Sara Shepard writing for the Athletic points out, for players, this is personal. In an age where their every action is televised and made available to an audience of millions, players fear the trial-bysocial media, which they perceive as threatening their careers and prospects. Male footballers fear they will be “unjustly” punished for their

behaviour with women, or worse, falsely accused, by overzealous individuals seeking to make money off their reputation. While Mendy was not convicted of sexual assault, his trial revealed that he holds deeply misogynistic attitudes toward women. But when Mendy was found not guilty, many highprofile players leapt to his defence, lamenting the loss of his reputation and the damage done to his career.

In hyper-masculine competitive environments, brotherhood is key to success. This is not an excuse to remain silent when teammates commit sexual assault.

When Greenwood, an incredibly talented academy prospect, had all charges dropped against him due to the withdrawal of key witnesses, many Manchester United fans wanted him to return to help bolster their faltering attack. Manchester United was going to bring him back until Adam Crafton of The Athletic broke the story early and the backlash was so severe that they pivoted and sent him to midtable obscurity in La Liga with Getafe. Rumours that the initial delay in the decision was because United was waiting to consult the women’s team players who were at the Women’s World Cup last

Point-Counterpoint: Fighting in hockey

Should fighting be allowed in hockey? You decide.

Anti-fighting

Tillie Burlock, Managing Editor

Given the decline of fighting in hockey over the past decade, some may argue that there is no need to institute a formal ban. While it is enjoyable to watch the occasional bout between two tough guys, we must ask—at what cost? Fighting leads to an increased risk of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative disease linked to repeated head trauma that can only be diagnosed after death. It wreaks havoc on the body, and many players who fought throughout their careers suffer from both physical ailments, mental health issues, and even premature death.

The most common claim made by those wanting to keep fighting in hockey is that it “polices” the game. The “unwritten” rules of hockey dictate that a dirty hit or play will result in the perpetrator having to fight. Therefore, many argue that the prospect of fighting acts as a deterrent against dangerous plays. However, a 2022 study contradicts claims that fighting deters further violence in games and goes on to emphasize the link between fighting and traumatic brain injury. After examining all penalties in the National Hockey

League (NHL) for games between the 2010-11 and the 2018-19 seasons, the study found that of the 2,842 games in the period with a fight, there was a 66 per cent increase in violent minor penalties committed in ensuing game play, compared to games without a fight.

Moreover, the NHL’s inconsistency with enforcing rules on hits from the behind or to the head, combined with the increased pace at which today’s game is played, makes it near impossible to correctly decipher which plays warrant a fight. As such, players often end up being forced to fight for clean plays. The declining role of the enforcer––players whose main job is to fight and protect their teammates––means that oftentimes, skillful, smaller players who are not good fighters are forced to “answer the bell.”

If you can’t get on board with eradicating fighting from the NHL level, you should support banning it from the Canadian Hockey League (CHL)––Canada’s Major Junior League. The CHL currently faces a number of lawsuits from players who allege that teams pressured them to fight when they were as young as 16 among a range of other issues within the CHL such as hazing and sexual

summer led to harassment of players online. Many members of the women’s squad privately expressed discomfort with Greenwood’s potential return.

These cases illustrate the barriers in place for the true inclusion of women in football. Afterall, how can women’s football grow when their male counterparts are repeatedly excused for some of the most vile acts a person can commit against another person?

Professional football must change. The misogyny endemic to football must be stamped out if we

want the game to grow and be truly inclusive of all, especially women. For male footballers, we must begin capacity-building programs regarding consent and sexual assault when they are young, and create accountability structures which root out abusers at both the playing and coaching levels as fast as possible. Clubs must suspend players under investigation of sexual assault and domestic violence. Abusers do not deserve to sully the football pitches we so love. In the absence of judicial reforms, football must be transformed from within.

abuse. As teenagers, they would match-up against fully grown 20-yearold veterans and even years removed from playing, a number of them claim they still suffer the consequences.

Pro-fighting

Liliana Mason, Opinion Editor

Ryan Reaves said it best: “Make hockey violent again.” Fighting in hockey has a legacy as long and as storied as the game itself. In fact, the first-ever game of indoor ice hockey in Montreal in 1875 was followed by a fight—though it was between players and spectators, rather than among the players. The NHL introduced the first official fighting regulation in 1922, just five years after the league was created.

In 1967, the expansion of the NHL precipitated the beginning of the “goon era,” as new teams attempted to compensate for their lack of playing talent. By the 1980s, 100 per cent of NHL games had fights. Although the frequency and severity of fights in this period saw many “goons” suffering from long-term injuries, this era of fighting is definitively over, and for good reason.

Still, fighting remains an important, and significantly more

regulated, component of hockey games. Regulations include suspensions, extra fines, and penalties for players who instigate a fight, leave the bench to join a fight, or remove their helmet before a fight. With increased safety, dropping the gloves now has many important functions beyond the classic “enforcer” role. Fighting continues to be a significant draw for fans, building rivalries between teams and bringing a certain irreplicable excitement to games.

Moreover, hockey is a fastpaced, intense game that inevitably stokes tensions between players. The

kind of fighting we see in the NHL now is a significantly less dangerous and bloody alternative to players attempting to get cheap shots off at one another in order to blow off steam.

Rather than focusing on fighting—an inevitable, valuable, and highly controlled part of the game— hockey organizations should shift their attention to more pressing safety issues such as the implementation of mandatory neck guards. And let’s be honest, even those against fighting love a little rock ‘em, sock ‘em moment.

As of Feb. 24, there have been 211 fights in the NHL this season. (Maïa Salhofer / The Tribune)

Dani Alves was sentenced to four years in prison on Feb. 22, 2024 (Fabio Rodrigues Pozzebom / ABr, CC BY 3.0 BR <https://creativecommons. org/licenses/by/3.0/br/deed.en>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Know Your (PWHL) Athlete: Ann-Sophie Bettez

The former Martlet is now a financial planner

Marco Zeppilli Staff Writer

contintued from page 1.

The former Martlet emphasizes the importance of Centre 21.02, a highperformance training centre at Verdun Auditorium dedicated specifically to the women’s game. According to Bettez, this was especially important during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

“The Centre had [a certification] that allowed athletes to be on the ice during COVID. We were able to practice over the course of the summer and have skills coaches on-ice to be able to make sure we kept in shape,” Bettez said.

Bettez credits Centre 21.02 and its mission as contributing factors to the success of professional women’s hockey in Montreal.

“[The Centre] has hockey camps throughout the year, being able to get girls at a younger age, making sure they know the discipline it takes to be able to get to the next level,” said Bettez.

“I feel like all of this is kind of a melting pot that just led to this professional league.”

The launch of the new Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) allowed Bettez to be involved in a special part of hockey history, having netted the league’s first-ever overtime goal in a game against Ottawa on Jan. 2. For Bettez, PWHL

Montreal’s season opener in Ottawa was memorable.

“We were waiting for so long. Training camp started in November, and it was so long before Jan. 2 came,” the McGill alum said. “It was the first game, it was our first win, and it was my first goal. They gave [the overtime goal puck] to me at the end of the game, so that’s a very special memory.”

Personal accolades aside, Montreal has had a successful start to the season, sitting atop the standings with a 5–3–2–2 record. When asked about the team’s objectives for the rest of the season, Bettez noted the importance of winning games in regulation and building chemistry within the squad.

“We have success by winning games in regulation, because [...] a win in regulation time is three points. Going into overtime and winning is two points. So definitely trying to get some wins, five on five in regulation time [is important],” Bettez stated. “And just keep building that chemistry that we’re establishing off the ice, learning the tendencies of the players, and making sure we learn from our mistakes and making sure we also learn from the good things we’ve done.”

For Bettez, Montreal’s home victories end with a post-game victory dance accompanied by teammates Mariah Keopple, Gabrielle David, and Sarah Bujold. The four players created a dance to the tune of Le Bal Masqué, the team’s victory song, arising after the group heard the song while playing

Know Your Team: Squash Club

Members

Julie Ferreyra Sports Editor

Sand plays

for Montreal’s PWHL team

Ann-Sophie Bettez scored the first overtime goal in PWHL history in a game against Ottawa on Jan. 2 at TD Place. (John Mac / CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/bysa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Just Dance during a road trip. This led to a spur-of-the-moment celebration at Place Bell.

“We were in a hotel, and that song came up. And then I was like, ‘This is a pretty cool song,’ and we started doing a dance,” the former Martlet said. “We decided [Le Bal Masqué] was gonna be our game-winning song and when we first did the dance at Place Bell it was kind of ‘Oh my god, did we just do that!?’ That was pretty cool.”

The celebration after Montreal’s home

expand on the Smashing success of the team.

till riding high from their season results in the 2023-24 Ontario Jesters University Squash League, members of the squash team made their way to // The Tribune// office to give some insight on one of McGill’s lesserknown teams. Although they still do not have varsity status, the McGill squash team has been revitalized in the last couple of years, especially following the cancelled COVID-19 season in 2020-21. This year, the team had the chance to benefit from the guidance of Yvon Provençal, who coached the national Canadian squash team for over 15 years. This expertise contributed to the team’s success, with the women taking first place, putting an end to Queen’s University’s eight-year reign, and the men taking fourth.

This season, the team decided to push for more cohesion between the women’s and men’s teams, with the hope of fostering a stronger team spirit. This camaraderie helped the team grow, both on and off the court.

“We do a lot of socials, we have a very good team dynamic [....] When we go to tournaments and stuff,

everyone always comments on how we’re a very big team community,” the former co-captain of the men’s team, Mo Kamal, told The Tribune

Being the only university team from the province, the squad benefits from the support of Squash Québec and its community. Players regularly connect with junior players as well, and participate in initiatives such as Urban Squash, a non-profit that aims to demystify squash for the greater public.

“The eventual goal would obviously be to have other teams in Quebec,” women’s team co-captain Isabel Smith explained. “It’d be really awesome to get to compete against Concordia and UdeM [Université de Montréal] and stuff, but we’re really grateful for all the support [the squash community] gives us—we’re really lucky to have that.”

Despite their best efforts, the team still faces some challenges, especially in the area of finances. The team is self-funded and organizes frequent fundraiser initiatives. As part of the 2023 M24 Challenge, the team was able to raise $10,250 before the donor matched-up amplification.

“Because we don’t receive any direct funding from the school,

these kinds of donations are hugely important to our ability to travel,” Smith co-captain furthered. “If we didn’t have very generous donors, we really wouldn’t be able to do it. So we’re very grateful for those people and we really hope they show up again.”

This budget is crucial for the team’s activities and logistics. The team must scrap together funding by being frugal and resourceful, especially regarding transportation.

“[Our priority] was more going to all these tournaments, whilst simultaneously representing McGill by having a jumper,” Joseph White, current men’s team co-captain explained. “The most important thing was ensuring we had a car to go to that tournament, ensure we had the means to go and play, which is what we all want to do.”

Ultimately, the team hopes to one day gain varsity status. Building off of their existing relationship with McGill Athletics and their collaborations on events such as Active Living, where members of the team coach other players.

“We want to work together [with McGill Athletics] because at the end of the day, our common goal is to grow the sport,” Kamal explained.

victories serves as a reminder for all fans of the joyous moments that sports can provide.

“It’s just a matter of putting smiles on people’s faces,” the forward said. “And to remind people that hockey is fun.”

The Tribune’s interview with Bettez was conducted on Feb. 7.

PWHL Montreal (5–3–2–2) will play next on Mar. 2 at 4:00 PM EST against PWHL Boston (4–2–2–4) at Verdun Auditorium. Follow the action live on CBC Gem, RDS, or the PWHL YouTube channel.

“It’s also showing our collaboration with them, [...] because it’s a mutual relationship where we need them and [...] we’re offering our help.”

Looking at the future, the graduating members of the team remain confident in the prosperity of the teams for the years to come.

“I’m confident that it’ll continue going because I can see that our members and players are dedicated, they want to keep the team going and keep it growing.” Jasmine Boucley, women’s team co-captain, said.

In the leadership’s eyes, the teams have clear goals in mind.

“We want to just keep on going getting better results on the men’s team, the women’s team, keep maintaining the wins,” Kamal concluded. “Hopefully, even if we can get into the championships, so it’s always about expanding and staying motivated.”

The squash team will be participating in McGill’s 2024 M24 Challenge, taking place on Mar. 13. The team is also organizing another fundraising event Mar. 23–24, teaching beginners and organizing matches with the team.

The women’s team got first place in the OJSL, while the men placed fourth. (McGill Squash)