The McGill Daily Vol. 109 Issue 17 by McGill Daily

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table of Contents

February 10, 2020 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Table of Contents 3

Editorial • Bell, Let’s Talk About the Prison Industrial Complex

NEWs • Inaugural Sotos Lecture on Class Action • Interview with Professor Mikkelson • Allegations of Undemocratic Procedures in SUS • Rooted: Locking Black Hair to Human Rights Activisim

Sexual Assault Center of the McGill Students’Society

• Helpline

features • Accessing Emergency Contraception

The Car-Free Mtl Blog (Column)

Compendium! • Haunted Horoscopes: Valentine’s Edition • Valentine’s Day Classifieds

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• Resources • Support Groups Free. Confidential. Non-judgmental. We’re here to listen. www.sacomss.org

• Letter-Writing as a Political Act • Love & Sex Media List • “Eggshells” (Poem)

• Police & Transit & People

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EDITORIAL

Volume 109 Issue 17

February 10, 2020 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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Bell, Let’s Talk about the Prison Industrial Complex

n Bell Let’s Talk Day – January 29, 2020 – prisoners’ rights groups in Toronto and Ottawa held demonstrations titled “Bell Let Us Talk’’ in opposition to Bell’s monopoly on the prison phone system. Since 2013, Bell Canada has been the sole provider for Ontario’s province-wide prison phone system, the Offender Telephone Management System (OTMS). Bell Let’s Talk Day affords Bell Canada social capital and presents the company as a beacon of progressiveness, despite its direct involvement in maintaining poor conditions in Ontario prisons. For everyday civilian use, the cost of a landline call is minimal. In the OTMS, incarcerated people are only allowed to make outgoing collect calls – where the recipient has to pay over a dollar a minute – with the exception of a short list of approved toll-free numbers. This means that loved ones, care providers, legal counsels, and other contacts of prisoners have to pay astronomical amounts to talk to them – the mother of one incarcerated person amassed a phone bill of $6,072.12 over just three months. Local families of prisoners at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre have reported being charged $1 to pick up a phone call, according to an October 2019 report from the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project (CPEP). “When a person is transported to the Ottawa jail from Cornwall, Pembroke or other neighbouring cities, towns, and villages, their loved ones and lawyers are forced to pay $2.50 to accept the call and up to $1.33 for each minute,” the report states. As a result, a twenty-minute phone call can cost as much as $30. As Ivory Tong from the Prisoner Correspondence Project told the Daily, “if you don’t have a strong support system on the outside that can support you financially like that then you don’t really get to talk to your friends and family.” According to the Toronto Prisoners’ Rights Project, calls can only be made to landline phones – something fewer than two-thirds of Ontarians currently possess. These phone calls, which are capped at 20 minutes, are the only time (outside of written communication) when prisoners can contact loved ones, arrange re-integration plans, and access essential outside services. However, the phones cannot access switch boards, preventing prisoners from reaching the majority of mental health centres, crisis lines, and 1-800 numbers. A lack of accessible phone service is directly correlated to loneliness, which has a significant negative impact on the mental health of people in the prison system. According to an August 2008 study on prisons in South Australia, “prisoners who scored higher on a measure of loneliness reported higher levels of depression,

hopelessness and indicators of suicidal behaviour.” These factors compound other injustices that are heightened by the prison industrial complex, including racism, transphobia, homophobia, and varied forms of violence. A Freedom of Information request filed by criminal lawyer Michael Spratt revealed that the Ontario government receives a portion of the revenue that Bell generates from these phone calls. Bell’s profiting off of the families of prisoners – who are disproportionately racialized, queer, and from low-income households – is exploitative and unacceptable. Prisoners’ rights groups are urging the Ontario government to follow in the footsteps of the municipal governments of New York City and San Francisco, who have passed legislation that makes phone calls free for prisoners. The groups are also demanding that prisoners be able to call any Canadian phone number, and are advocating for an increase in the time allowance for phone calls, if not the elimination of time limits altogether. Mental health is an ongoing issue that disproportionately impacts racialized, queer, and lowincome communities, and is especially compounded by systems of mass incarceration. It cannot be fixed through corporate wellness schemes like Bell Let’s Talk – and it cannot be solved within a fundamentally abusive and unethical system like the prison industrial complex. Though addressing this issue will not remove the larger structure in place, combating Bell and the Ontario government’s deeply harmful practices can improve, to a meaningful extent, the lives of incarcerated people. The current contract between the Ontario government and Bell Canada expires in June 2020, meaning that now is the time to act. Members of the McGill community can condemn the current prison phone agreement by signing a petition created by Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy at Ryerson University. You can also contact Sylvia Jones, Ontario’s Solicitor General, at 519-941-7751 or sylvia.jonesco@pc.ola.org. If you are financially able, support the ongoing boycott of Bell Canada services, including phone, internet, and TV, as well as BCE Inc.’s subsidiaries such as Bell Media, The Source, Lucky Mobile, and Virgin Mobile. For updates on the movement, follow #LetUsTalk on Twitter. Members of the Montreal community can also get involved in initiatives to combat prisoner isolation and loneliness such as the Prisoner Correspondence Project. To read more about the project, see our interview with Ivory Tong on page eight. Individuals can also volunteer with reintegration projects like Aumônerie communautaire de Montréal.

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Inaugural Sotos Lecture on Class Action

Panelists Speak on Fighting Injustice

this prayer is if you look around you, at everything in creation, if we lose just one of those elements content warning: colonial violence [...] – all we need to do is lose one element, and on Mother n February 4 at McGill Earth or in Sky World, and we as University Faculty of Law, human beings will not survive. a group of law students, But if every single human being curious undergrads and the disappeared from Mother Earth socially-concerned – as well as a tomorrow morning, Mother Earth slew of experienced litigators and and Sky World would thrive. So law professors alike – gathered that is the importance of giving together to hear a panel discussing thanks each and every day.” She one of the biggest class action cases then shared a welcome song, as a in the history of Canada. The panel way of starting the event. After a brief background on was the inaugural event of the Sotos Lectures, a wide range of talks and the case by Professor Jutras, panels that will hold more events the discussion got under way as in the future. One of the panelists, Professor Blackstock and David David Sterns of Sotos Class Actions, Sterns delved into more detail. started off by explaining that he “[Canada] create[s] this illusion chose this particular topic because that they are about reconciliation,” it illustrates the potential for a Blackstock stated, adding that legal career directed at social good. the government’s actions tell Sterns emphasized that there are a different story. She spoke to other options besides, as he put it, the tendency for Canadians to pretend their government is fair “the zombie walk to Bay Street.” The case in question is the and equitable, while willfully class action suit against the ignoring the atrocities of their federal government for wrongful own country. discrimination against Indigenous children between 1991 and 2019. It is specific to what is sometimes referred to as the “millennial scoop;” the policy for Indigenous children was to separate them from their families, while willfully denying them the same medical care and social services that were afforded to the rest of the country. However, the injustice against Indigenous peoples by the Canadian government extends far beyond this case and is a much broader and long-lasting problem, as the panelists acknowledged. This class action case just happens to be one of the most recent examples of people fighting to speak out against institutional colonial violence against Indigenous communities by the government. The panel was moderated by McGill Professor Daniel Jutras. McGill Social Work Professor Cindy Blackstock also spoke as a “It just shows how deeply panelist alongside Stern. Professor Blackstock, the Executive embedded in the department [of Director of First Nations Child Justice]’s DNA [that] this idea and Family Caring Society, was of colonialism still remains,” one of the driving forces behind she commented. For instance, the case. The event was opened Professor Blackstock brought up by Sedalia Kawenno:ta’s Fazio, the way in which people are quick to a Kanien’kehá:ka elder. She criticize the Trump administration welcomed the attendees and for separating families at the organizers alike and shared the US-Mexico border. She agreed that Ohén:ton Karihwatékwen prayer, these are certainly condemnable which translates to “the words actions. “But we’re doing it too that come before all others.” and we’ve been doing it longer,” Before sharing it in Kanien’kehá, Professor Blackstock stated, in Fazio explained the first few lines reference to Canada’s long history in English: “The time has come of separating Indigenous children for us to bring our minds together from their families. However, she expressed hopefulness that so our minds become one.” As she finished the prayer, these issues are becoming more Fazio stated, “The importance of known to the public, adding that

Jordan’s Law is incredibly narrow and doesn’t cover the extent of medical care denied to Indigenous children; from the smaller, everyday rights to access to life-saving equipment.

it’s as necessary as ever to hold the government and its policies accountable.

“It’s never been about the truth. its never been about the Charter. it’s always been about procedure.” -Cindy Blackstock Professor Blackstock then gave a brief introduction as to how she became involved in the case. She described working as a social worker in British Columbia with both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, and being baffled by the stark inequality. “Basic life-saving things [were] denied to these kids,” she explained, describing how one child was allowed medical equipment only every five years. A couple times, the panel brought up Jordan’s Principle, a law that states no child should have to wait for treatment on account of bureaucracy, but Professor Blackstock emphasized that the law is incredibly narrow and doesn’t cover the extent of medical care denied to Indigenous children, from the smaller, everyday rights to access to life-saving equipment. She stated that the devastation she witnessed working as a social worker, and the blatant willful callousness of the government, inspired her to seek litigation. Professor Blackstock started by bringing the issue before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, explaining that it seemed more accessible to a non-lawyer, like herself at the time.

The case later changed from a tribunal appeal to a class action case, when Sterns read about it in the news, and realized its potential for a class action suit. The following legal battle – which sought compensation for the staggering number of Indigenous children who were denied basic social services, and/or taken from their families for little to no reason – was made even more clouded by the Department of Justice’s tendency to “play unfairly,” as Blackstock stated. She summed this up by stating that “it’s never been about the truth. It’s never been about the Charter. It’s always been about procedure.” Professor Blackstock described the “gamesmanship” that the government’s lawyers used, dragging out proceedings and withholding important exhibits. She recalled being stunned by the lengths to which the government would go in order to win, as they were “willing to breach the legal law in order to oppose [the claim],” in the instance of the government purposefully withholding 90,000 records. As Professor Blackstock often reminded the attendees, the case was about atrocities committed against children, and the government’s tactics in light of this were extremely frustrating. “The Department of Justice is not always just,” she stated, concluding that “the whole system operates like a sociopath.” Though Professor Blackstock was understandably frustrated with these attempts at diversion, in the end she and her team were successful in their efforts in 2016, winning the case, as well as $40,000 in compensation for each of the victims they’d been fighting for. But “$40,000 doesn’t even hit the bucket,” Professor Blackstock explained, suggesting that monetary compensation can

be trivializing in the face of the trauma and loss that has resulted from the denial of basic rights for Indigenous children. Throughout the discussion, she often returned to the fact that this case is a small part of a much larger issue of the Canadian government willfully discriminating against Indigenous peoples. She emphasized that the problem has not only been happening for a very long time, but is ongoing, and that it’s important to remember this fact. The discussion turned to Sterns, on the topic of the legal angle of the class action suit. Sterns was adamant that there are many possibilities for up and coming lawyers to accomplish social good. He spoke on the flexibility and potential of class action suits, and emphasized that they have the ability to bring real change and accountability. Both he and Professor Blackstock agreed that one of the factors that was key in this particular class action case was getting the attention of the media and the public, especially through television. Through these mechanisms, the panelists emphasized, the Canadian government was not just being held accountable by Blackstock, Sterns, and the rest of their team, but by the Canadian public at large. The panel was a strong reminder of some of the injustices and systemic atrocities that the Canadian government has committed, but emphasized the work that can and should be done. Professor Blackstock, who at the time had no legal background, brought these issues to light, and won $40,000 in compensation for each of the victims. However, she emphasized that systemic discrimination against Indigenous peoples in Canada is not over. As Professor Blackstock stated, “I want to win the war, not just the battle.”

Daisy Sprenger | Illustrations Editor

February 10, 2020 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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Divest and Democratize

Unfit to Print Interviews Professor Gregory Mikkelson Maya Ibbitson Co-Host of “Unfit to Print”

n Tuesday, January 28, Maya Ibbitson from Unfit to Print sat down with former professor Gregory Mikkelson to speak about his recent resignation from McGill over the university’s decision not to divest from fossil fuels. Mikkelson was a tenured professor in the School of the Environment and conducts research on the intersections of philosophy, environmental science, and economics.

Unfit to Print (UP): Your choice to resign has been one that’s garnered both support and criticism. I know that a lot of students involved in climate change groups regard your resignation as a profound loss. What has the overall reaction from the McGill faculty counterparts and students alike been? Professor Gregory Mikkelson (GM): It’s been overwhelmingly supportive and I very much appreciate that from my colleagues and students. So I would say in terms of responses that have been conveyed to me, it’s been very supportive and I deeply appreciate that. UP: The McGill principal, Suzanne Fortier, recognizes divestment as an ineffective, “symbolic” gesture. In response to your resignation, she reiterated the same phrase, saying that the university is looking at concrete action. Do you agree with this? And why do you think divestment is more concrete and/or important than Fortier says it is in the case of McGill’s investment portfolio? GM: I think that kind of statement ignores the tremendous power that symbolic action can have. In the case of divestment, research shows that it does have power and that past divestment campaigns have pushed governments to take stronger action against it. For example, apartheid in South Africa, against tobacco companies for the harms that they were causing, and the same is true of the fossil fuel divestment campaign. So it’s basically the same old arguments that are being used despite having been refuted long ago. It’s very disappointing, I guess.

UP: As you mentioned previously, McGill has some what of an anti-democratic government system. Why do you think the university hasn’t regarded the overwhelming mandate of its numerous environmental student groups when making decisions about divestment? GM: What is it about divestment that has made them so resistant? What’s different either about the university or about fossil fuels that could explain why McGill did take a position of moral leadership when it came to divesting from South Africa several decades ago? We joined other universities that were divesting from tobacco more recently. So, either something has changed at the university that’s made it more resistant to that kind of thing in general, or there’s something special about fossil fuel. I was just walking into the Leacock Building, and I noticed a plaque outside describing major donors that had contributed to the renovation project that’s happening now. One of them was Suncor, which is the top tar sand company. And it’s also McGill’s top fossil fuel investment. We have over seven million dollars invested in Suncor. So, maybe there’s something there.

“I think that [Fortier’s] statement ignores the tremendous power that symbolic actions can have.” - Professor Gregory Mikkelson

UP: I feel like a lot of students have been angered by the McGill Board of Governors’ (BoG) decision regarding divestment, because of the actual decision itself, and because they feel like they don’t have a voice in it. How do you think the McGill Senate can communicate and gain a better relationship with students, faculty, and staff?

GM: I mean, the McGill Senate did overwhelmingly support the divestment motion that came to it in September of 2018. So in that sense, the Senate has kind of followed the general thrust of the community. That was a rare event, though, because the Senate is tightly controlled by the central administration. They did try in many ways to suppress the divestment motion. They happened to have failed in that case. But I think probably with regard to most things, they succeed in steering things the way they want. So I guess in terms of making the Senate more responsive to the will of the McGill community, I think the Senate has to be democratized. For example, we need to be electing the person to chair of the Senate meetings, instead of having it automatically be the principal. We need to be electing all the positions within the Senate. So, in order to divest McGill, we have to democratize McGill. UP: Climate change activists, new senators, and students have been accusing the BoG of greenwashing, which is providing misleading information about environmental sustainability. Do you think this is true or do you think that the BoG truly believes that their plan is the best alternative? GM: I think what is clear is that the principal’s use of the word divesting in announcing the BoG’s decision misled thousands of people. In order to see exactly how they were misled, you actually have to dig into the footnotes and then the sources of those footnotes to discover the difference between divestment and decarbonization. So in this context, divestment has meant either a university selling off all of its stock in the top 200 fossil fuel companies; or at the very least, some subset of those companies. Now, what the board is calling decarbonization is based on their definition of a company’s carbon footprint, which does not include anything that happens after a product is sold. So what that means is that fossil fuel companies are off the hook for all of the harm done by burning their product – for all the greenhouse gas

Daisy Sprenger | Illustrations Editor emissions that are caused. The whole point of the divestment movement is to keep most of that fossil fuel in the ground. What the decarbonization commitment that McGill has made entails is that we’re only going to hold fossil fuel companies responsible for pulling their product out of the ground more efficiently.

other universities to do the right thing.

UP: Do you think that the benefits of your moral statement outweigh the loss on students who can no longer have you as a professor? GM: I guess that’s the bet I’m taking. By leaving this place and moving on to something else, I hope I’ll be able to have UtP: Do you think that your a positive impact on the world. move to resign from McGill will enact change at the school UtP: Do you have any plans for or is it more of a personal the future and how else do you decision that’s about staying think you can provide influence true to your own beliefs? regarding environmental GM: For me, it was a matter activism outside of a teaching of conscience – of just position at McGill? growing and glaring conflicts GM: I have no plans beyond between my belief in trying expanding my role as a father to make serious progress on and in the household. in the environment and also the the short term. But in the importance of democratic longer term, I would like to governance of organizations, continue applying the skills including universities. So, [it and research, speaking and was] basically the conflict writing that I’ve developed between my commitments as a professor, and I certainly to those things based on my will – in whatever capacity – teaching and research and the continue to work for positive behaviour of the place where changes with regard to the I work became unacceptable. environment. That’s why I did it. Now it so happens that the media This interview has been edited took an interest in the story. for length and clarity. It was So in that sense, I hope that transcribed from Unfit to Print my resignation has had some on CKUT 90.3 FM by Amy value in basically increasing Lloyd, Radio Editor with The the pressure for McGill and McGill Daily.

February 10, 2020 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

News: McGill

Allegations of Undemocratic Procedures in SUS Seven Constituents Attend Consultative Forum

Abigail Popple News Reporter

n February 5, the Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) attempted to hold a General Assembly (GA). Given that only seven constituents were present, the GA was not held, as SUS requires a minimum of 100 students present for a meeting to be considered a GA, and the meeting became a consultative forum instead. One student in the Faculty of Science, Asa Kohn, alleges that the executives did not properly advertise the event to the student body beforehand. The GA was mentioned in a Facebook statement on January 16 regarding Law 21, a controversial provincial law which prohibits public employees from wearing religious symbols and disproportionately impacts marginalized religious groups such as Muslim, Jewish, and Sikh

people. However, the location was not included in the Facebook post. The GA was then announced at the General Council (GC) meeting on January 22 at 7 p.m. This gave students less than 24 hours to submit motions, as the deadline was 11:59 p.m. on January 22. The council had previously published the GA event to Facebook on Monday, January 20, leaving two days for students to collect the requisite 100 signatures for a motion to be submitted to the GC. Per minutes from the GC on January 22, when Kohn objected to this lack of adequate notice during the meeting, SUS VP Finance told him that the council assumed two days was sufficient time to collect signatures, as most science classes have over 100 people. During the February 5 consultative forum, Kohn continued to express frustration with the council’s lack of

communication. Council members cited difficulties in booking a room large enough for a general assembly, as well as mistakes made by the VP Communications (who was not present at the meeting) as reasons for their communicative shortcomings. When Kohn pressed them to hold another GA so students could have a chance to participate in student governance, council members maintained that there would be no interest among the student body for such an event, referencing last year’s similarly low turnout. However, Kohn claims that he spoke with many students who “felt strongly about Bill 21” while collecting signatures to organize a GA, and says he does not believe all science students are uninterested in student governance. However, the council’s reluctance to hold a GA may not be wholly due to concerns about apathy among the student body,

as the SUS executives state. During the January 7 Executive Meeting, the council discussed the possibility of hosting a GA in order to organize a strike against Law 21. According to the meeting minutes from January 7, SUS executives were concerned that this strike, which would involve blocking access to classrooms, would be a “very direct” approach to expressing opposition to Law 21. Furthermore, a number of executives seemed to believe that science students would not be impacted by the bill, asking what “the real reason [they] would be going on strike” was and stating that, “as a group, we do not [seem to be] in support of the soft picket.” In addition to Kohn’s concerns about the council’s lack of effort in informing the student body of the GA, Kohn has previously expressed worry over undemocratic procedures within SUS. From December 3, 2019, until January

22, 2020, SUS had no president, so attempts made by the Faculty of Education to contact the SUS council regarding actions against Law 21 failed, according to the January 7 meeting minutes. SUS has an unfortunate history of violating their constitution; after the resignation of SSMU representative Moses Milchberg, the organization failed to hold a by-election to fill his role in accordance with their constitution. This incident, combined with their failure to post GC meeting minutes online within three days of their meetings, has led Kohn to speculate that SUS is undemocratic. However, the organization has not faced any consequences due to their unconstitutional actions, and insisted to Kohn at both the February 5 and January 22 meetings that they were acting in accordance with their bylaws regarding the organizing of a GA.

Rooted: Locking Black Hair to Human Rights Activism

Black History Month at McGill Opening Ceremony

Anaïs Régina-Renel News Writer

just spoken?] make me stronger” she affirmed. Dean Robert Leckey emphasized hanice Yarde, Equity the importance of remembering Education Advisor, and the past and working for a “more Janelle Kasperski, Indigenous just future,” and introduced Dr. Education Advisor, organized the Adelle Blackett, a Professor of opening of Black History Month Law who herself introduced Dr. at McGill on Monday, February Wendy Greene, stressing the fact 3, partnering with the Faculty of that “part of Black History Month Law. Yarde, as Master of Ceremony, is to value each other and our denoted the three words, that, accomplishments.” It was indeed as a Black woman in Tiohtià:ke a heart-warming moment of Black motivate her work: “Indigenizing, excellence – Black McGill students on the benches, Black professors, decolonization, and reparation.” Kasperski then spoke, reminding Black tenured professors, Black us of the importance of the women who are tenured professors, solidarity between Black and Black activists: an impressive Indigenous peoples and the work crowd of Black success. Keynote speaker Dr. Greene’s that still needs to be done. Jennifer Maccarone, a Member work revolves around the of the National Assembly of intersection of hair and civil and Quebec of Westmount–Saint- human rights advocacy. Not only Louis who is herself white, also does she fight for her people in made an appearance. “I see you legislature, through the CROWN and I hear you,” she claimed. Act against racial discrimination Her repeating “I think of you as through hair – but she does so by my roots” made the audience all creating a net accessible to her glance at each other, simply asking community. She is the originator of why she would think such a thing. the viral #FREETHEHAIR hashtag “You all [the Black people? The that every year brings the Black Black people in the room? The community together to denounce two women of colour who had injustices of hair discrimination,

such as the recent cases of Deandre Arnold or Andrew Johnson. Dr. Wendy Greene evoked her South Carolina childhood as shaping the activist she is today. She reflected on the continuance of the Black struggle through the history of both her parents’ activism and her own. “The personal can be professional; it can be political,” she said. Hair discrimination happens in the workplace and in public environments and the law does not truly protect Black people from racial discrimination. Title VII of the US Civil Rights Act, the federal anti-discrimination law protects “hair texture” that is considered to be the afro, but not hair styles that include braids, twists, locks etc. This is because, apparently the constitution only acknowledges immutable characteristics as racial; in Dr. Greene’s own words, a “legal fiction.” She also denounced the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as unhelpful, since there is no law that recognizes race as a cultural feature, only as a bodily matter, hence the unfortunate nature of race as social construct.

Dr. Greene has been defending a few of the countless victims of racialized and gender-based hair discrimination. Her work encompasses people who were ordered to “fix” their natural hair with chemical relaxers, or to wear wigs as conditions of employment, graduation, promotion, and schooling; people who hear negative comments and bear humiliation daily, along with threats of discipline or even arrest when protesting, whether it is in the States, Canada, Australia, South Africa or elsewhere. She also deplored the fact that this everlasting stigmatization is internalized by the Black community – how many times have we heard of bad versus good hair. The lingo used by the Black community to define the black body and hair shows this internalized hate of its roots. It reveals a hierarchy that was created in terms of who would have the most potential to have the straightest hair, the fairest skin. “Before you’re even out of the womb, someone is already thinking about the texture of your

hair and the opportunities that go with it.” Dr. Greene managed to unite the audience in sadly amusing relatable situations such as hair deserts. She ended her speech on the note of health, mentioning the scalp and hair damages (burns, alopecia, increased risks of cancer) that the use of chemical relaxers brings. “Are we losing our livelihood or our lives?” she asked. Singers Fredericka PetitHomme, Myrtle Thomas, and Ruben Shaym Brutus, and steel pannist Mr. Pöng blessed the audience’s ears at the end of the ceremony, reminding everyone that Blackness is a constant struggle that is uniting, but is also a diverse and beautiful musical culture. Students who are interested in learning more can visit the CROWN Act website at thecrownact.com and sign the petition. Black History Month is on at McGill until the end of February. For a full schedule of events, go to: https://www.mcgill.ca/equity/ initiatives-education/black-historymonth/bhm-2020-schedule-events

February 10, 2020 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

commentary

武汉加油 | 武漢加油 We stand with Wuhan Nous sommes avec Wuhan As of the date of publication, no cases of novel coronavirus have been reported in Quebec.

The risk of contracting novel coronavirus in Canada is low.

Fearmongering and false information spread online and through news is counterproductive.

Basing assumptions of health on the apparent ethnicities of strangers is racist.

Stand with Chinese students. Support your peers and classmates.

Xenophobia is not a vaccine.

February 10, 2020 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Culture

Letter-Writing as a Political Act Interview with Ivory Tong from the Prisoner Correspondence Project

Amy Lloyd Radio Editor

his week, the Daily’s Radio Editor, Amy Lloyd, spoke to Ivory Tong from the Prisoner Correspondence Project, a completely volunteer-run Montreal organization that has been providing penpals to gay, lesbian, transsexual, transgender, gendervariant, two-spirit, intersex, bisexual and queer prisoners since 2007.

Amy Lloyd, The McGill Daily (MD): Why does the prisoner c o r re s p o n d e n c e p ro j e c t specifically focus on members of the LGBTQ+ community? How does life present differently in terms of queer experiences? Ivory Tong, The Prisoner Correspondence Project (IT): Well, we focus on members of the LGBTQ+ community because certain groups within the LGBTQ+ community are way overrepresented in prison. For instance, 47 per cent of Black trans women have been incarcerated or experienced incarceration before. But even so, these groups are often forgotten about. Just like when people think about prison, if we think about prisoners at all, they don’t remember queer and trans people go to prison. Even other Canadian prison abolitionist groups have told us, “we’re glad you exist for many reasons. But part of it is because you remind us that this is part of our struggle.” And of course, members of the LGBTQ+ community face certain unique difficulties that other groups in prison don’t necessarily face. It can be very difficult to find your community when you’re in prison,

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which is what we seek to change with our penpal program and with our newsletter that we send out. It is difficult for me to answer what life is like in prison because I’ve never been inside. But from the letters we get from our members who are inside, people can be very scared to be out, which isn’t to say that everyone who’s in prison is afraid to be out. There’s definitely people up there who are running their own LGBTQ+ support groups in prison, which is amazing. But it can still be a very difficult experience. They can be more likely to be subject to sexual assault. A lot of times trans prisoners, this a noted phenomenon, where trans prisoners who are at higher risk of assault will be put into solitary confinement, allegedly for their own protection instead of protecting them in other ways, which is obviously a form of punishment in and of itself. And of course, it can be really difficult for trans prisoners in other ways, like not being in the prison, but it’s their gender or not being allowed to express their gender. MD: What has the response been to the project? How is it helped those both in and outside of prison? IT: So the response to the project has been pretty overwhelming. We started twelve years ago. We’ve gotten a lot of spread in and out of prisons, which is really great. We currently have 4,000 members in our database and about 1,500 members, so that’s like penpals to people. I think that’s affected people’s consciousness. A lot of outside people will similarly say that they never thought about what it’s like for queer prisoners until they found us, or until they watched Orange is the New Black and then Googled “gay prisoners.” On the inside, we get a lot of letters from members that say that they’re glad that someone is thinking about [them], that they feel less alone, that it’s good to know that there’s like a lot of a lot of people like them, which is, again, one of the things that we tried to address with our newsletter, which we send out bi-yearly to about 3,000 of our members who have requested it, where we publish writing from other members so everyone can kind of see what each other is thinking. We’re working on building bridges between those on the inside and the outside, and through the project, people have made amazing friendships. They made friends even after getting out. Like sending each other [letters], just keep[ing] each

considered indigent, which means that they have to wait to be given envelopes and all of that. So that limits their ability to communicate with other people. Now, obviously, in Canada, making phone calls is very expensive. So MD: And on your website, you if you don’t have a strong support described letter-writing as a form system on the outside that can support you financially like that of allyship. Why is this? IT: Oh, I think the letter-writing then you don’t really get to talk is kind of like the most basic to your friends and family. And form of allyship. It’s literally just furthermore, it can actually lead listening to someone and hearing to people who are very vulnerable their problems and hearing being targeted by guards. I didn’t them describe their lives. Then really know about this, but hopefully someone with the apparently guards target people privilege of not being a prisoner or target prisoners more often if [will be] able to share that story they don’t hear their name being or share the experiences that called in the mail room very much your penpal had [through] this because they know that person is listening and [in turn amplify] more isolated. I really was taken aback by the abuse of power by their voices. guards. I’ve seen movies and MD: And you mentioned earlier TV shows about prison, and I about trans prisoners being put always thought it would be [for] in isolation. I’m wondering what dramatic effect. But reading the is the correlation between prison letters that we get, it is very real. They definitely target people who isolation and mental health? IT: [In regards to] solitary are more vulnerable. confinement and mental health, it’s pretty startling that any country would continue to use that kind of treatment. I don’t really have the statistics in front of me, but it’s pretty obvious. I think when you think about it, anything about how the UN has considered solitary confinement a form of torture, but pretty much every country should abolish that. It’s not good for you. Prison is already a place where a lot of mentally ill people end up because of the ways that we criminalize and push mentally ill people out of our society. People are far from their family and friends. They can’t get good health care, MD: And what do you think especially getting mental health people overlook about those who care. They face abusive treatment were present as a significant from other prisoners and guards, demographic in regards to mental there is also little to no gender- health struggles? affirming health care, which can IT: I think prisoners tend to just enforce gender dysphoria. So be forgotten and set aside in having that compounded with general – that’s how we’ve been solitary confinement, it’s a pretty raised to think about people in prison – in a lot of cases [those severe set of stresses. on the outside do] not think [of ] MD: And what are some people in prison [at all]. [Many] overlooked yet important factors think of people in prison as like a that make prison for queer homogenous mass of threatening individuals so dangerous and so individuals and not think of them harming towards their mental as people with their own identity, who have been through their own health? IT: Well, there’s so many. But struggles who have their own some factors that I didn’t really issues, just like people on the think about until I joined the outside have issues. And some project is that a lot of queer people will think that people in people will have a more limited prison deserve not to get good support system compared to health care [or] deserve to feel their heterosexual and cisgender bad because of what they’ve done, counterparts, which is already which I do not agree with. difficult in and of itself. It can be difficult for people to get MD: And on the website, you money for commissary. So they’re refer to this project as a political other updated on their lives. I think it is just really important for understanding for people on the outside who may not necessarily know what someone on the inside has been through.

“47 per cent of Black trans women have been incarcerated or experienced incarceration before.”

act. Why should it be considered a political act? IT: Well, we do things on more of the political side, like outside of the penpal program and our newsletter and our resource library. We are a prison abolitionist group. Even if not all of our members are abolitionists, we hope that through this project people will come to understand a little bit more about why we think that is important. In the past, we’ve done political education, like panels and workshops for people on the outside. And [we in general] tend to raise awareness about the conditions inside prison and how they negatively impact people more deeply based on other aspects of their identity. And then within prison, I think that we’re raising a group consciousness. Like I’ve been saying, people feel less isolated knowing that we’re there and they can see themselves as part of a bigger group that has the ability to change things. And I think that we’re just a political act because we build bridges between people who aren’t in prison and people who are, and people who aren’t in prison learn a lot about what it’s like in prison. And I think that in general, the way that a society chooses to treat people in prison reflects a lot about how society thinks in general. MD: And lastly, what would your advice be for those who are considering becoming a penpal? IT: A lot of things are kind of similar to being a good student – being diligent is great, just like not forgetting that you have letters to reply to and not forgetting to go to the postal office. That’s a pretty big step. It can be hard for a lot of people. Being a good listener, learning how to express that through writing. Definitely being open to other people’s experiences, most likely people on the inside have had a very different life. And it can be good to hear about, and [...] good to hear about their viewpoint. It’s not something that you necessarily agree with, just understanding and building empathy. And don’t put it off, just do it today. Join the cause. Readers who are interested in getting involved with the Prisoner Correspondence Project can visit their drop-in hours on Tuesday and Thursday from 3:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. at QPIRG Concordia (2100 Guy St #205). General inquiries can also be emailed to info@ prisonercorrespondenceproject. com. More information can be found at www. prisonercorrespondenceproject.com.

February 10, 2020 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

culture

Love & Sex in the Media Emily Black and Kate Ellis News Editor and Coordinating Editor

This Valentine’s Day, if you want to have a date with a book, TV show, or your Instagram feed – let us recommend some media that captures love and sex right! Peruse our love and sex media recommendations. Books

Movies + TV Sex Education You’ve probably heard of it already, but Sex Education is an adorable, relatable, funny teen show that tackles sex unlike any other in teen TV. The show depicts topics like masturbation, queer sex, asexuality, abortion, and sexual assault in an approachable and realistic way. And, besides, Gillian Anderson is beautiful.

My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness by Kabi Nagata A cute and relatable book about sexuality and mental health. If you loved Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, you’ll love this! Meat and Bone by Kat Verhoeven A queer drama graphic novel that discusses eating disorders, polyamory, and queer relationships with beautiful art! Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sanez If you’re looking for a sweet, gay coming-of-age novel that is written very poetically, this is the book for you.

Shrill This Hulu series, based on the essays of writer and comedian Lindy West, is a charming and heart-felt show starring SNL cast member Aidy Byrant. In addition to being an outlier in its representation of fat women, Shrill is a smart, funny and unflinching dramedy that doesn’t shy away from tackling sex and body positivity in a genuine way. Easy A guilty-pleasure series that follows a diverse range of couples in their relationships and sex lives in anthological episodes. At times funny, heartwarming, and provocative, there’s never a dull moment across all three seasons, which end in a modern Love Actually structure, weaving together each of the various stories. She’s Gotta Have It Spike Lee’s 1986 film and 2018 Netflix Original series of the same name, She’s Gotta Have It follow the polyamourous relationships of pansexual artist Nola Darling. Described by Vulture as a “fresh [...] unprecedented Afrocentric view of middle-class black life” both the film and the series are fun, thoughtful, and sexy. Which one holds up better? Watch both and decide! Fleabag An online and award season sensation, Phoebe Waller-Bridge writes, directs, and stars in this series adapted from her one-woman play of the same name – a bingeable show that is equal parts clever, honest, and touching. With Waller-Bridge’s frequent sarcastic quips to the camera, you’ll fall in love with Fleabag’s no-filter look at sex, family and love – and PWB herself, of course.

Podcasts The Heart (Radiotopia PRX) Produced by a community of writers, journalists and artists, The Heart is a long-form personal radio personal documentary/podcast. As a self-described “feminist audio art project,” it gets deep into experiences of intimacy, love, and sex through compelling storytelling from Radiotopia at PRX. Nancy (WNYC) A weekly podcast from WNYC, hosted by Tobin Low and Kathy Tu, Nancy is full of great stories and conversations about the queer experience – featuring fun guest interviews with queer icons and activists.

Instagram @My_boyfriend_has_herpes Momo’s slice-of-life drawings are adorable and provide information about HSV (commonly known as genital herpes), which works to decrease stigma surrounding STIs!

@Whatswrongwithmollymargaret Molly-Margaret is one of the most useful resources to help you tackle queer online dating! Her sample dating profiles and texting templates for things like disclosing your STI status and asking for a second date are beyond helpful. @Spunk.rock Self-described as “erotic art with a heart,” Helena’s works depict a wide range of sexual behaviours and bodies in watercolour and ink.

Journalism “At least hookers get wages” by Bee Khaleeli (Briarpatch Magazine) Essential reading on the realities of sex work from Saskatchawan’s Briarpatch Magazine. Unbound Babes Magazine This “sexual wellness” company hits all the right spots. To accompany their innovative and diverse (not to mention cute) sex toys and products, Unbound Babes writes a magazine that has everything from sexy horoscopes, to accessible and fun guides to anal play or using strap ons. “What it’s like to date when you can’t have sex” and “Sex is painful for me – but these things help” by Lara Parker (Buzzfeed) An outspoken activist for what she refers to as her “vagina problems,” Lara Parker writes honest and informative articles, covering how she navigates sex and life with chronic pain, endometriosis, vulvodynia, vaginismus, and pelvic floor dysfunction. “How Non-Monogamy in Montreal Challenges Us to Look Inside Ourselves by Marcus Bankuti” (The Link) This piece from Concordia University’s The Link discusses non-monogamy and talks about the resources available to non-monogamous people in Montreal. “The Criminalization of HIV Non-Disclosure” by Matt Gergyek (The Fulcrum) An article about the criminalization of HIV non-disclosure and activism from The Fulcrum at the University of Ottawa.

February 10, 2020 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

culture

Eggshells Anonymous content warning: psychological partner abuse It’s a good thing that I used to do ballet, because living with him was being forced to crack a dozen eggs, Then tiptoe over the shells. Sometimes, though, Shards of “it’s your fault” snuck into the soles of my feet, Pointed fingers and flinches, Silent treatments turned into roars. My words were so easily melted and moulded into a knife that I had apparently stuck into my own back. Sometimes I would try and take the knife out, Scrape up the yolks and whites off our apartment floor, And make an omelette for him. He would say, “That’s not what I’m hungry for.” Today, I know. Had I just: Tried harder, Shut up harder, Gave harder, I would still be dancing on eggshells, Choreographing my life around him.

If this situation sounds familiar to you, here’s where you can access support: Head and Hands https://headandhands.ca/about/ Peer Support Center SSMU https://psc.ssmu.ca Centre pour les victimes d’agression sexuelle de Montreal (CVASM) http://cvasm.org/en/ Sexual Assualt Center of the McGill Student’s Society (SACOMSS) http://www.sacomss.org/wp/ Chez Doris https://www.chezdoris.org/en/ SOS Violence Conjugal http://www.sosviolenceconjugale.ca

February 10, 2020 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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Accessing Emergency Contraception

An International Student’s Experience

Anonymous content warning: mention of OCD and skin-picking disorder

n the span of 36 hours, I found out that my anti-anxiety medication had interfered with my hormonal birth control, that there was a possibility that I could be pregnant, and that I immediately needed to get a copper intrauterine device (IUD) inserted in my uterus in order to prevent pregnancy. To say that I was overwhelmed would be an understatement – nothing could have prepared me for the leaps and hurdles I would encounter while trying to get a copper IUD inserted in the next 36 hours with McGill international student health insurance offered with International Student Services (ISS). I write this guide hoping that no one else finds themselves in a similar situation without any knowledge of what to expect.

(The $20 probiotics that I decided to buy were not prescribed by a doctor, and therefore not under the purview of Blue Cross.) A portion of this is reimbursable with Medavie Blue Cross international student insurance, but I had to pay the full amount up front. For many, I know this is not possible, and the fact that our health insurance is shit (more on that later) is unacceptable. How it started. Those who have been medicated for a mental illness understand the absolute shit show that is tapering off medications. Antidepressants, which I’d been on since the fall of 2019, never fully worked for me. Yes, they reduced the chance of me having an anxiety attack, but they never addressed the all-consuming compulsions that have characterized my OCD since I was in middle school (or my skin-peeled thumbs – another common characteristic of the illness). So, when my psychiatrist

Nothing could have prepared me for the leaps and hurdles I would encounter while trying to get a copper IUD inserted in the next 36 hours with McGill international student health insurance offered with International Student Services (ISS). I was, and am, immensely privileged in that I had the funds necessary to pursue this route, as well as a good support network around me. Between the doctor consultation, the IUD itself, antibiotics, probiotics, and the gynecologist visit: it cost $435, $300 of which had to be provided in cash.

in the United States prescribed me a mood stabilizer that she thought would improve my condition – without the side effects I dealt with on antidepressants – I was hopeful. I followed her instructions, lowering my dosage of the antidepressant fluvoxamine. I began taking the mood stabilizer

IUD Receipt

oxcarbazepine late Friday night. I took it again Saturday night. On Sunday morning, when I decided to search up the medication online, just for the heck of it, my heart fucking flipped – oxcarbazepine was known to interfere with hormonal birth control pills. For many reasons, the burden of preventing pregnancy usually falls on the person with a uterus in sexual relationships where semen is also involved. Yes, people with penises can wear condoms, but they aren’t completely foolproof. And while clinical trials for hormonal contraceptives made for people with penises are ongoing, they are not yet available to the public. So, many people with uteruses take on the responsibility of using a form of hormonal birth control, all of which come with numerous side effects. The pill can cause depression, migraines, and increase your risk of blood clotting (while the pill was in its early stages of development, the dosage of estrogen within the pills was much too high, and 11 people taking it died from blood clots). The implant can cause users to experience long-term bleeding; the shot can also cause long-term bleeding, as well as depression and nausea; and the IUD, though extremely effective, is fucking painful to insert. The best type of birth control for me had been the pill – I hadn’t experienced the worst of its side effects, and I was good at taking it on time every day. In the past, I had thought about getting a hormonal IUD but decided against it, as I was scared and uncomfortable at the thought of the insertion procedure. But once I found out that there was a possibility I could be pregnant, my comfort was the least of my worries. I was willing to sacrifice anything to ensure I wasn’t pregnant, and honestly, I’ve always been pretty open about the fact that I would definitely get an abortion if I found out I was. Making a next-day appointment. I spent that Sunday talking to pharmacists, first at the Jean Coutu on Parc Ave. at 8 a.m. to make sure there definitely was an interaction (there was), then calling the CVS back home to confirm at 9 a.m., and finally at the Jean Coutu on Saint Catherine Street West around 10 a.m. where I tried to buy Plan B. The pharmacist there recommended I didn’t buy an emergency contraceptive pill, and I think they were right to do so. I

Phone records had had sex twice in the past seven days, once on the Monday prior, and once that Wednesday. Although I had been absolutely protected by the pill at that time, it was unclear if it would still protect me, given the fact I’d taken interfering medication twice in the past 48 hours, and that condoms are not always effective. To be completely sure I had not conceived, they recommended that I get the copper IUD. Some may not know that the copper IUD is the most effective method of emergency contraception out there, lowering one’s chances of getting pregnant by 99.9 per cent if inserted within five days of unprotected sex. While oral emergency contraceptives may be preferable due to their non-invasive nature, they only work well up to three or five days after unprotected sex, depending on whether you take the pill with levonorgestrel, also known as “Plan B,” “the morning after pill,” etc., or the one with ulipristal acetate, also known as “ella,” respectively. Meanwhile, a copper IUD can prevent pregnancy up to seven days after unprotected sex (though Planned Parenthood’s website says up to five days).

However, a barrier against getting the copper IUD is that it’s more expensive than oral emergency contraceptives, which cost around $20-$30 (at least in Quebec) when your insurance doesn’t cover them. And it’s important to note that emergency oral contraceptives are not covered under ISS, while IUDs

A barrier against getting the copper IUD is that it’s more expensive than oral emergency contraceptives, which cost around $20-$30 [...] when your insurance doesn’t cover them.

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February 10, 2020 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

are – albeit only up to $50. Once I get reimbursed from Blue Cross, I will have, in effect, paid $35 for the IUD, as it cost $85 upfront, which is still more expensive than Plan B, but only by $5-$15. The copper IUD can then be used as contraception for up to five years, which can save you money in the long run – Blue Cross only covered 80 per cent of my roughly $25 monthly pack of pills. I was undoubtedly scared of getting an IUD. But the idea of being pregnant was scarier. Trying to find a place that could insert it on Monday, the next day, I made calls to at least 10 different clinics. I was on hold with 811, trying to talk to an Englishspeaking nurse, for more than 45 minutes. I spent almost an hour and a half in total on the phone, trying to find a clinic that could schedule me in for a same-day appointment.

Initial Costs: Doctor consultation: $200 IUD insertion: $100 IUD: $85 Antibiotics: $31.70 Probiotic: $20 Total cost: $436.70 up-front

not an option – I had had sex the Monday night prior. Although the first place I called was full, I asked for a recommendation for another clinic offering same-day insertion,

[Clinique Médicale MaisonneuveRosemont] – as well as many other clinics shown online through the Quebec government’s website – do not display a great deal of information regarding their services online, and calling them to confirm what they offer is often necessary. When I finally did get off hold and talk to a nurse at 811, they were actually pretty helpful. I was given a list of clinics nearby that offered same- or next-day copper IUD insertion, and I called one asking for an appointment on Monday morning. Tuesday was

and I was able to schedule an appointment at Clinique Médicale Maisonneuve-Rosemont for Monday morning at 9 a.m. I could finally breathe. Clinique Médicale MaisonneuveRosemont is an interesting place. Located in a building with multiple

Doctor’s Appointment Receipt

medical offices and a Familiprix, the clinic takes requests for sameday and next-day appointments both online and via phone. Since I did not have a RAMQ (Quebec health insurance card), I could not register for a walk-in appointment online, but I was able to book an appointment by calling the front desk at 514-257-7000. This clinic – as well as many other clinics shown online through the Quebec government’s website – do not display a great deal of information regarding their services online, and calling them to confirm what they offer is often necessary. The clinics shown online via the Quebec government’s website are in French, and Google Translate is, of course, not always the best. I made do with Google and my (limited) French, but if there is someone you trust who knows French well, ask them for help. It will make the whole process so much easier. Other clinics I was recommended in Montreal include Clinique angus (they take calls for walkin appointments the next day beginning at 5 p.m., but if you’re an international student like me, call their regular number at 514807-2333); Clinique en route - gare centrale (the nurse informed me that they would take calls for walk-ins beginning at 7 a.m. on Monday, 514954-1444); and Clinique médicale des 2 tours (which you can call for a walk-in appointment the next day beginning at 6 p.m., 514-954-4444). The insertion procedure. I woke up early Monday morning, nerves racing in anticipation of the procedure (It was probably also a result of not having taken any medication for my anxiety the night before). Unmedicated and scared, my boyfriend drove me 25 minutes from the McGill area to the clinic, located near the Olympic stadium. We parked, he held my hand, and we found the clinic inside the medical complex. Like the receptionist had said, it was located at the end of the hallway, on the right – bureau 60.

Reimbursements: Doctor consultation: $106.20 IUD insertion:$100 IUD: $50 Antibiotics: $25.36 Probotic: $0 Cost post-reimbursement: $155.14 I brought with me everything I could possibly think of needing – Advil, a water bottle, my passport and IDs, a printed out copy of my insurance card, my debit card, and $200. Because of the type of insurance I had, the receptionist told me on the phone earlier that I’d need to pay upfront in cash, and get reimbursed by Blue Cross later. I stumbled in at the front desk, speaking a mix of English and (extremely) limited French. Sitting with my boyfriend in the clinic, we waited about 10 minutes until a nurse called us in.

I made calls to at least 10 different clinics. I was on hold with 811, trying to talk to an English-speaking nurse, for more than 45 minutes. I spent almost an hour and a half in total on the phone. This was probably the most confusing part – although the clinic says online that they offer services in both French and English, some who work there do not speak the latter. With the help of my boyfriend (who knows more French than I do), and another nurse, we were fortunately able to convey the reason I was there and the situation I was in, and they sent me to a different room in the clinic where we waited for a doctor. After relaying the days I had had sex and when I began oxcarbazepine, the doctor agreed

that a copper IUD would work for me as emergency contraception. I was lucky, they said, because the gynecologist that performed insertions was in today. After giving me a prescription for the Mona Lisa copper IUD, a receipt for my insurance company, and a card displaying the location of the gynecologist’s office – just upstairs in the same medical complex – they sent me along to Familiprix to buy the contraceptive itself (which was about $85). This hadn’t been a part of my initial calculations, and when I used my Canadian debit card to pay for it, I couldn’t purchase it – most likely due to the daily purchase limit on my account. (So if you’re ever in my position, it’d be a good idea to check your account limits – I ended up needing to use my American card.) We took the elevator to the third floor, and I explained my situation, once again, to the receptionist. They had to confirm with the clinic downstairs, but after they did, they penciled me in for an appointment. It was a small room, filled with families waiting to see the doctor. About 30 minutes after I sat down, the gynecologist called me in. My boyfriend and I sat in the two chairs in front of their desk. The gynecologist unwrapped the box and explained the different parts of the IUD to me, telling me that before the procedure, I would have to be swabbed and tested for gonorrhea and chlamydia – apparently if you insert an IUD and have those STIs, it’s not good. I would also have to take antibiotics to treat gonorrhea and chlamydia, regardless of what the test results were, just in case. I felt lucky; the gynecologist said they’d never performed an insertion that resulted in infection, and that they’d done this procedure for awhile. Before I knew it, I was lying down on the table, my feet in stirrups, tightly squeezing my boyfriend’s hand. I’m not going to lie, it hurt pretty bad. Apparently if you’ve never

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given birth before it hurts more, and I certainly hadn’t. The worst moment was when they pinched my cervix, which is necessary in order to insert the IUD into my uterus. It felt like an instant, intense period cramp, and I was in pain. I’d told myself I’d try not to scream during the procedure, but it fucking hurt at that point.

Because of the type of insurance I had, the receptionist told me on the phone earlier that I’d need to pay [$200] upfront in cash, and get reimbursed by Blue Cross later. Fortunately, it’s a pretty short procedure, all done in about two minutes (though it felt like forever in the moment). I lay on the bed for a minute or two, trying to gather my sense of self. A bit of blood had stained the bed I was laying on. I’ve always had low iron, and for the whole hour after the procedure, I felt extremely nauseous. I ended up sitting outside the office on the ground with my head between my knees while my boyfriend paid the appointment fee – $100 in cash. We then went back to Familiprix to fill a prescription – antibiotics for gonorrhea and chlamydia ($30), and, as my boyfriend recommended, we bought some probiotics ($20). That turned out to be a really good decision; the antibiotics absolutely destroyed my digestive system. I can’t tell you

February 10, 2020 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

how much I shit the following days. I don’t want my story to make you think everyone will have a terrible experience getting an IUD. People’s bodies react in different ways; for some it’s easier, for some it’s more difficult. I’ve heard that some can even go back to work right afterwards. Needless to say, that was not the case for me. While my experience wasn’t completely terrible, it was more painful than I expected. I had to stay home for the next two days, and the cramps and shits got intense. I won’t go into detail, but I’m sure you can imagine. What helped me most was the probiotics, taking two Advil every eight hours, and a hot water bottle. If you don’t have one, take an old, clean sock and fill it with rice. Then heat it up in the microwave for 30 seconds; it will feel – and work – the same as the hot water bottle you buy at the pharmacy. The aftermath. I stopped spotting and experiencing cramps roughly a week after the procedure. I’m supposed to take a pregnancy test approximately two to three weeks after the IUD insertion to make sure I didn’t conceive. (If you don’t want to wait until your next scheduled period to take a pregnancy test, you can take one 7-14 days after having sex – but it may not be as accurate as if you wait until the week your period is supposed to start.) And in two months, I have an appointment back at the gynecologist for them to check up on my IUD. The cramps have subsided for the moment, but we’ll see how my first period with a copper IUD goes; many people using this form of birth control report heavy cramps and bleeding, as well as irregular periods. When I tried to have my expenses reimbursed, the Medavie Blue Cross office on McGill

chlamydia antibiotics, they were each reimbursed by 80 per cent. Together, they cost approximately $30, and Blue Cross says they will pay $25 for it. All in all, Blue Cross will pay $280 out of the $415 total expenses (excluding the probiotics). According to VP Finance Samuel Haward, both he and the SSMU Mental Health Commissioner have met with the directors of ISS and Student Services to discuss the review of international student health insurance and negotiate a new plan with Blue Cross. Haward stated that student associations have little control over the plan, and that it is under the purview of Senate and Procurement Services. Fortunately, this review may be happening sooner rather than later – it is set to occur in 2020-2021. As international student Antibiotics Receipt insurance is set to be reviewed, College Avenue informed me that alternatives – one hormonal I implore both Senate and Services to they do reimbursements online intrauterine system (IUS) in Procurement and via their mobile app now – not in person. I used to be able to walk to their location next to Dormez-Vous on Sherbrooke and get my birth control prescriptions reimbursed there, but that location closed in November 2019. As it takes five to seven business days for the claim to be processed, I found out five days after I submitted my claim exactly how much I would be reimbursed. The approximately $415 in prescriptions and doctors visits that I submitted to Blue Cross, as I suspected, was not entirely reimbursable. While the visit to the gynecologist ($100) was Quebec costs around $325, consider the extensive barriers completely covered, the initial meaning that an international that international students face doctor consultation was not – I student who purchases one may under this current plan. Upfront especially unexpected paid $200 in cash for it, and Blue still have to pay around $275 for costs, Cross says they will cover $106.20 it after getting reimbursed – it ones paid in times of emergency, of it. As I mentioned earlier, for is still a barrier, and even more disproportionately affect lowerthe copper IUD itself, they only so if one wishes to purchase the income students. If someone who cover $50 in IUD purchases hormonal IUS. (And especially is in my position is not able to pay (meaning I will have paid $35 for considering the fact that these these costs, there is the possibility that they could become pregnant, it). While $35 for a copper IUD is costs had to be paid upfront.) As for the gonorrhea and and that is unacceptable. not as expensive as the hormonal

I implore both Senate and Procurement Services to consider the extensive barriers that international students face under this current plan. Upfront costs, especially unexpected ones paid in times of emergency, disproportionately affect lower-income students.

IUD Insertion Reciept

February 10, 2020 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

The Car-fREE mtl bLOG

Police & Transit & People

Transit Systems Should Not be Hunting Grounds for Cops Alexis Zhou Columnist content warning: police brutality

f you happened to be in New York City on Friday, January 31, you might have witnessed one of the largest city-wide grassroots actions against the criminalization of poverty in the city’s recent history. Hundreds converged at Grand Central Station, and subway stations across New York City, holding signs, chanting, tampering with the MetroCard readers, and chaining emergency doors open. The action was spearheaded by an activist group called DecolonizeThisPlace. They usedthe hashtag #FTP, which stands for many layers of meanings, among them “Fuck the police” and “Fight the Power.” They demand free transit for all and an end to over-policing of the transit system. Supporters of the action cited the drastic increase in subway policing late last year, as a result of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo hiring 500 new cops to patrol the city’s massive transportation system – with more still to come. Justification for that? To crack down on fare evasion. In the language of Streetsblog, “MTA Will Spend $249M On New Cops to Save $200M on Uncollected Fare.” One might see that this math seemingly does not work out. The transit system as a public space should be accessible to all, regardless of economic standing. However, police presence in the subway system perpetuates a concerning trend of police spending an undue amount of resources disproportionately targeting people appearing lowincome, effectively criminalizing poverty. In the eyes of many activists, by categorically portraying the transit system as the gathering grounds of imaginary criminals thus justifying police intervention, maintaining public safety and enforcing fare is just an excuse to further exacerbate an exclusively North American stereotype that only the economically and socially disadvantaged use transit. The problem with police enforcing fare paid zones is not just about fare evasion. If a person is discovered not in the possession of a proof-of-payment, the police then automatically have the probable cause to deal with the individual however they want, which usually ends up being a full background check. Transit users may not have the financial resources to hire a lawyer to help them get out of trivial legal matters, which can later turn into outstanding warrants without the

Phoebe Pannier | Staff Illustrator person knowing. As a result, what was originally a fare evasion could quickly escalate into a legal trouble that involves arrest and detention. Police brutality is another reason why the police are not trusted by riders. New York police officers were filmed just last October swarming a moving subway car with one officer’s gun drawn and with bystanders present, and it was a fare-beating unarmed black teenager who had done nothing. For those who cannot afford the fare, they’re facing an impossible choice. Either they face the uncertainty of being fined or thrown into jail, having their entire life tainted with a criminal record, or they swipe the MetroCards. The per-entry fare of $2.75 in New York, while seemingly harmless, can quickly add up. Two times a day, seven days a week, and it can be as much as $154 a month if you are travelling strictly within the five boroughs. However, for someone who might need to ride Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North, or NJTransit to go somewhere further, the transit expenditure can quickly go through the roof, up to a staggering tenfold. In a city where the average rent is $3477, the official unemployment being around 4%; people can neither afford housing nor the transit even when working full-time on minimum wage. You work and you can have a decent life, that’s the

typical American narrative – but it’s clearly not the case anymore. Affordable transit, or maybe free transit for all, when coupled with affordable housing and a reliable social safety net, is the solution to our contemporary woe of urban life in a capital-driven society. Having police presence in the subway, besides injecting hostility into a public space, also does not make budgetary sense, yet the Cuomo administration is doing it anyway. Spending upwards of $1,750 per-arrest for an unpaid $2.75, or dispatching four police officers to surround and interrogate a food vendor, only to have her arrested later for doing nothing but selling churros in a subway station, is excessive and unnecessary use of police resources. One example of over-policing the transit system is in Arizona, where Phoenix Police Department occasionally conducted so-called “security sweeps” on the city’s light rail, stopping and frisking each and every passenger on board a train looking for any reason to arrest or cite them. On a local TV show called “Caught misbehaving,” which is hosted by a former San Franciscobased journalist Stanley Roberts, Phoenix police officers can be seen dragging random passengers off the train one-by-one and throwing them into police wagons lined up at the side of the road

for all sorts of reasons, ranging from unpaid fare to unresolved criminal records. In my opinion, if one out of a thousand passengers is “caught misbehaving,” then maybe it is what it is. But if a significant percentage of all passengers on board a train are “caught misbehaving” and led to citations or arrests, then maybe it is the justice system that is really “misbehaving ” and flagrantly bullying transit users. Police presence in the subway helps no one. For people who can afford the fare, heightened police presence is enhancing an unfounded stereotype and stigma surrounding North America’s transit system, eventually discouraging ridership. For those who cannot afford the fare, they’re punished and criminalized for just being poor.

There are many other approaches to enforce fares and maintain safety, like unarmed civilian staff personnel who help people buy tickets or direct them to resources if they can’t afford the fare – or civilian outreach personnel that can refer people to community organizations for future assistance. There are many alternatives out there, and they all make much more sense than just stuffing police officers onto subway platforms. As Steven Hegashide, a renowned urbanist writer has written in a tweet, “My ideal city is not one where transit is free but where the social safety net is strong enough that everyone can afford to pay a $2.75 fare.” The Car-Free MTL Blog is a new column focusing on prioritizing people over cars, not the other way around.

However, the increased police presence in the subway system perpetuates a concerning trend of police spending an undue amount of resources disproportionately targeting people appearing low-income, effectively criminalizing poverty.

Horoscopes

February 10, 2019 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

February 10, 2020 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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