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NEWS 3 NEWS Combating Indigenous homelessness In case you missed it

September 1, 2016 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Quebec invests $100,000 in Indigenous homeless refuge Making homelessness a priority through education

CEGEP staff walk out Bashing the burkini ban What’s SSMU up to? Meet the new Dean of Students

10 COMMENTARY McGill fails rape victims Ignoring humanitarian crises No asylum for Roma refugees

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Features

Admin drains resources from Student Services

16 Art Essay Fading Woman

17 Sci+Tech The intersection of gaming and social justice in Montreal PayPal in the West Bank and Gaza

Culture

Body image exhibit challenges modern beauty standards Panel on misogyny in hip hop fails to prioritize Black voices This is what you came for, Montreal edition

Editorial

A Daily welcome

Compendium!

Administration and activism Crossword

Marina Cupido & Rayleigh Lee The McGill Daily

he Quebec Provincial government has granted a $100,000 endowment towards Projet Autochtones du Québec (PAQ), a non-profit organization serving the homeless First Nations and Inuit populations of Montreal. PAQ aims to bridge the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities by promoting the social and professional development of the former. The government’s financial support is part of a provincial initiative called “Mobilisés et engagés pour prévenir et réduire l’itinérance” (“Mobilized and engaged to prevent and reduce homelessness”), which began in 2015. Aside from the PAQ grant, this programme has also granted another $60,000 to combat homelessness, though it is unclear which organisations received this money. In 2015-2016, the PAQ additionally received a grant of $189,766 from another provincial government program which aims to support community organizations. In a phone interview with The Daily, Chief Christine Zachary-Deom of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke expressed her approval of the grant, stressing the urgency of the homelessness problem, not just in Montreal, but across Canada. “Homelessness is a priority,” she said. “The fact that [the PAQ has] done this kind of work, and the detailed work that they’ve done shows that [their funding] is wellused. [...] People who recognize the importance of homelessness and [are] able to do the kind of social development that’s needed – I think that’s marvelous.” Chief Zachary-Deom also emphasized the importance of institutionalized programs to ensure the safety and well-being of Indigenous populations – in particular, of Indigenous women, who have been subject to extreme systemic marginalization and violence in Canada. “There really have to be protections, and those protections have to come [...] through cooperation with Indigenous organizations, to [ensure that] security can be found for women who are on the street. [...] We need to be able to feel some measure of security no matter

Rahma Wiryomartono | The McGill Daily where we are, and if we’re highlighted because of who we are, and we’re made to be vulnerable, then I think we have to do more to protect ourselves,” she elaborated. “It requires such an incredible education [of non-Indigenous people] in terms of being able to protect [Indigenous] people on the street,” Chief Zachary-Deom continued. “And I mean just walking on the street – going about their business and being harassed and harangued and pushed around.” Leslie Anne St. Amour, SSMU’s Indigenous Affairs Coordinator, also stressed the responsibility to educate oneself on the issue of Indigenous homelessness, and, more generally, on the lived experiences and collective histories of Indigenous Canadians. “I think it’s important for non-Indigenous folks to educate themselves about Indigenous peoples, histories, and realities because our public education system is often failing them by

not including it,” St. Amour wrote in an email to The Daily.

“Students need to take the time to hear what Indigenous students, staff, and faculty have been saying for years at McGill and recognize their place in the ongoing activism.” Leslie Anne St. Amour, SSMU Indigenous Affairs Coordinator

St. Amour sees this lack of education manifest itself at McGill University regularly. “During my time at McGill, I was shocked again and again by how little McGill students knew about the Indigenous histories and realities taking place around them. Students need to take the time to hear what Indigenous students, staff and faculty have been saying for years at McGill and recognize their place in the ongoing activism.” St. Amour concluded her email by highlighting the opportunities McGill students have, and how they can use those opportunities to support Indigenous activism. “McGill students have a great deal of privilege solely due to attending McGill, let alone any other privileges they may have, and they can use that privilege to share what they learn and to encourage others to learn and to support Indigenous activism in whatever way Indigenous communities need them,” she said.

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September 1, 2016 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

In case you missed it

The summer’s most important events Xavier Richer Vis | The McGill Daily

The end of the school year didn’t bring Montreal – or McGill – to a screeching halt. Over the summer, student activists achieved significant victories, protesters marched for International Workers Day, demonstrators commemorated the Nakba, and communities came together to mourn the summer’s tragedies. Here’s a look at some of the highlights from the last four months.

Small memorial at Orlando vigil.

Xavier Richer Vis | The McGill Daily

Montreal May Day protests ended with at least ten arrests On May 1, hundreds of Montrealers took part in an anti-capitalist protest to mark International Workers Day. Organized by the Montreal chapter of Convergence des Luttes Anticapitalistes (CLAC-Montreal), the protest attracted a plethora of activists, including an enthusiastic McGill contingent. A heavy police presence, with dozens of vehicles gathered in nearby streets, a helicopter hovering overhead, and several officers on horseback following the demonstration closely created a tense atmosphere. Less than an hour into the demonstration, police officers shot tear gas and stun grenades into the crowd, calling for them to disperse after a confrontation on Rue Sainte Catherine escalated. Many were arrested in the hours that followed. Among those arrested were two McGill students, who chose to remain anonymous. The two students said they had been walking peacefully along a downtown sidewalk when police officers arrived to disperse their group, arresting them for “participating in an illegal demonstration.” Both students were later released without charges.

May Day protesters.

Marina Cupido | The McGill Daily

Montreal LGBT community organizes vigil in memory of Orlando victims In the heart of Montreal’s Gay Village, thousands gathered on June 16 for a candlelit vigil to pay their respects to the victims of the PULSE nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida. Signs reading “Trans Lives Matter,” “Black LGBT Lives Matter,” and “Latinx Lives Matter,” highlighted the homophobic and racist nature of the shooting, and organizers gave speeches condemning hate towards those who identify as LGBT. “I would like to remind everybody that every microaggression, every homophobic, transphobic or racist act contributed to the events of last Sunday,” said one of the speakers, Marlyne Michel, co-president of Arc-en-ciel d’Afrique, in French. Near the end of the vigil, Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard, who had spoken to the crowd earlier, was accosted by well-known Montreal trans activist Esteban Torres. Couillard’s Liberal government has been unpopular due to its implementation of austerity measures. Many have argued that austerity has disproportionately affected institutions helping marginalized communities, such as those that identify as LGBT.

Nakba Day demonstration sees clashes with police

McGill releases 600 pages of documents to Demilitarize McGill

On May 14, Montreal-based human rights group Palestinian and Jewish Unity (PAJU) organized a midnight demonstration to mark the 68th anniversary of the Nakba, which translates to “the catastrophe” in Arabic. The day is observed annually around the globe, commemorating the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Despite a heavy police presence, an estimated 150 demonstrators gathered outside the MontRoyal metro station. “Israel’s military supremacy is the spearhead of its occupation of Palestine,” said Hala Yassin, a member of PAJU. “It allows Israel to act with impunity. The Israeli army is proud to collaborate with arms manufacturers that brag to clients about testing its products in the field [the Gaza Strip].” Demonstrators chanted “Israel terroriste, Trudeau complice!” (“Israel a terrorist, Trudeau an accomplice!”), as they marched from St. Denis to Ste. Catherine, looping back down St. Laurent.

On June 21, lawyers representing McGill University turned over 600 pages of documents to Cadence O’Neal, a member of Demilitarize McGill, a student group that protests military research on campus. This followed a nearly four-year long legal battle during which McGill contested numerous access-to-information (ATI) requests to the Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec. In December 2012, McGill submitted a motion to the commission to allow the university to disregard ATI requests from McGill students or anyone who “could reasonably be linked” to those who made requests deemed problematic by the University. The administration argued such requests were part of a coordinated attempt to overwhelm the University with ATIs and were “abusive because of their systemic character.” O’Neal and other members of Demilitarize have rejected such accusations, saying the administration’s claims was nothing more than a means of avoiding the release of sensitive information.

Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline loses its approval On June 30, the Federal Court of Appeal overturned the previous federal government’s approval for Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline. A panel of three judges ruled that the former Conservative government failed to properly consult would-be affected First Nation communities prior to approving the $7.9 billion investment. The ruling was met with acclaim by Divest McGill, a student group that campaigns for divestment from fossil fuel companies like Enbridge. As of March 2016, McGill had officially invested $3.4 million in Enbridge. Aboriginal leaders, like Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, President of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, have welcomed the ruling, and publicly gone on the record to denounce McGill’s investment in fossil fuels. “Our message has to be clear with respect to the urgency of climate change to Indigenous peoples,” Phillip told The Daily. “Without question, we’re the canary in the mineshaft, because it’s impacting us the most since we’re most reliant on the land.”

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September 1, 2016 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

CEGEP professionals strike

SPGQ calls on Quebec government to prove education is a priority

Marina Cupido The McGill Daily

n Monday August 22, CEGEP students across Quebec started their first day of classes. For some, however, classes got off to a late start as professionals at 16 CEGEPs staged a half-day strike to protest cuts to their salaries. Speaking to The Daily in French, Stéphane Gosselin, a representative of the college professionals belonging to the Syndicat des professionnels du gouvernement du Québec (SPGQ), explained that once CEGEP teachers have acquired a certain number of years of experience on the job, they can advance to the rank of professional. Gosselin explained that when he became a professional in 1990, he was making roughly $10 an hour more than a teacher, which he said made sense considering that professionals develop programs, supervise teachers, and have more experience, as well as less vacation time. Now, however, the situation has changed – SPGQ members who reach the rank of professional will now have their salary reduced instead. “Seventy per cent of our categories of employment will be experiencing a drop in salary by 2019,” Gosselin said. “We can’t accept that. [...] No one will want to become a professional!”

This is a serious problem, he stressed. These professionals play an essential role in CEGEPs by supporting both students and administrators. Orientation counselors, student life counselors, communications counselors, administrative workers, and several other types of employes are adversely affected by this situation. Furthermore, it appears that gender discrimination may be impacting the government’s treatment of this issue. “We realized that in 1990, most of the professionals were men,” Gosselin said. “Now, we’re at 75% women. We realized that the more women there were, the less [professionals’] salaries increased. [...] It’s discrimination against women who are college professionals.” As contract negotiations with the provincial government reached an impasse months ago and ministerial representatives are allegedly refusing to return their calls, the college professionals of the SPGQ decided to launch their half-day strike last Monday. According to Gosselin, more strikes will take place this fall if the province remains intransigent on this issue. “I don’t understand why the government is doing this,” he said. “ What must we do to fix this problem - this unfairness? [...] Couillard says education is a priority - well, let him show it. Let him give the treasury minister a mandate [that would help resolve this impasse].”

At the half-day strike at Montreal’s Cégep de Saint-Laurent, the atmosphere was cheerful, with a small crowd of SPGQ members surrounding the main doors and holding placards highlighting the importance of the roles they play in the education system. One sign read, “Without us, no orientation.” Another read, “Without us, no support for learning.” As students arriving for their first day of classes approached the building, the demonstrators cheered, often earning smiles and even answering cheers in return. In an email to The Daily, the Student Association at Cégep de Saint-Laurent (AECSL) affirmed their support of the strike and the SPGQ’s struggle for equitable pay, framing this dispute within the broader context of the provincial government’s controversial austerity measures. “The AECSL vigorously opposes the Couillard government’s austerity measures,” explained Nicholas Arthur Dufour, the association’s archivist, in French, “and affirms its solidarity with the workers of the public sector who are fighting against the [degradation] of their working conditions.” While the association hadn’t officially called on its members to join the strike, Dufour explained, many students nonetheless participated, because “everyone recognizes that [the professionals’] work is essential for making the CÉGEP a

Sonia Ionescu | The McGill Daily good environment in which to live and learn.” “Many times, the AECSL has fought back against neoliberal attacks on education and social programmes,” he said. “Moments of intense mobilization like the 2012 strike and the spring of 2015 are certainly shortlived, but the determination of the students and workers remains intact. The government must know that its attacks will not go unanswered.”

Gosselin echoed this sentiment, telling The Daily that despite the SPGQ’s frustrations, he and his colleagues still feel that last week’s strike made a positive impact, by generating media attention and increasing public support. As for the future, he remains optimistic: “We’re determined, we won’t give up, and we’re working hard to reach an agreement.”

Protesters oppose France’s burkini ban Members of French Socialist Party criticize leaders’ Islamophobia

Marina Cupido The McGill Daily

n Saturday August 27, a group of about 15 demonstrators gathered outside the French consulate on Avenue McGill College to protest the recent burkini ban enacted in several southern French towns. First implemented in Cannes on July 28 of this year, the ban has proved intensely controversial, with many calling it a flagrant example of institutionalized Islamophobia. Although it was recently declared unconstitutional by the country’s highest judicial body, some local politicians have refused to rescind the burkini ban. “The idea behind this [protest] was just to say, in a very dignified and simple way, ‘I disagree with what’s happening in my country’,” said Carl Mörch, one of the organizers of Saturday’s event, speaking to The Daily. “[Islamophobia] is a growing trend, and we have to be aware of that – we have to fight it.”

Mörch is a French citizen, currently pursuing a doctorate in Montreal. Back home, he said, he is a member of the Socialist Party – the party currently in power, of which many members have tacitly or overtly supported the burkini ban. Indeed, Manuel Valls, the current Prime Minister of France and a Socialist Party member, called the burkini a symbol of “a murderous and regressive Islamism,” in French. The protest was initially promoted via Facebook. According to Montreal activist Jaggi Singh, it was originally organized by the Montreal section of the French Socialist Party. He expressed concerns on the event’s Facebook page, “essentially questioning the involvement of the French Socialist Party, and critiquing their own complicity with xenophobia,” he said. “The French Socialist Party (and all the French parties, both left and right) have absolutely no credibility when it comes to

this issue,” he argued. “Absurdly, a group that deserves to be protested themselves for encouraging xenophobia was organizing against the burkini.” However, for Mörch, “It’s a difficult time to be a socialist because I really don’t agree with a lot of things that have been said by the government that’s supposed to represent my values.” Haroun Bouazzi, a French antiIslamophobia activist who helped organize the protest, sharply criticised the Socialist Party’s stance on the burkini. “It’s totally disgusting, and not part of the republican French values, and for this reason I think the Prime Minister should [resign],” he said in an interview with The Daily. Bouazzi stressed the fact that state-sanctioned discrimination against Muslims is hardly a new phenomenon in France, pointing to the country’s history of imperial and colonial rule in North Africa, its suppression of anti-colonial activism, and, most recently, a

slew of laws targeting elements of traditional Muslim dress, such as a 2004 law which banned headscarves and other religious symbols in public schools. “We have [...] no anti-racist alternative today in France,” said Bouazzi, “so it’s time for the leftwing parties to take the responsibility, to get rid of Mr. Valls and whoever is agreeing with him, and [create a] truly progressive antiracist movement.” Bouazzi argued that in a time of economic uncertainty and heightened fears regarding terrorism, particularly after the recent attack in Nice, the country’s political left has increasingly sought to exploit racial and religious prejudices to gain popular support. “Basically, [...] there are racist people in France [...] and everyone wants to show that they’re at least a little bit racist to get that vote,” he said. In recent weeks, the burkini issue has made its way to Quebec, with Nathalie Roy of the Coalition Avenir

Québec Party calling the garment “an accessory of female servitude.” “If France sneezes, we [in Quebec] get sick,” said Bouazzi. “It’s sad, but the opportunity [...] to get elected based on Islamophobic and racist votes is something that also exists here. [...] Mme. Roy understood that.” Bouazzi expressed guarded optimism about the future of Quebec’s Muslim minority, pointing out that previous efforts to garner political support through Islamophobia - such as the Quebec Charter of Values from 2013 - have largely failed. With regard to the rising tide of Islamophobia in France, however, Bouazzi was less optimistic. “I think if Manuel Valls leaves, [...] maybe there is an option [that things will get better],” he said. If not, France may well end up “doing things that are disgusting to see, and that we have in our history.” “Our history is full of ugly things, and we are [...] coming back to these ugly things,” he concluded.

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What’s SSMU up to?

September 1, 2016 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

SSMU executives share plans for the upcoming semester Written By Ellen Cools, Marina Cupido, And Xavier Richer Vis | Photographs By Sonia Ionescu After a year of big changes at SSMU, most notably the addition of a seventh executive position and a redistribution of responsibilities, you might be wondering how the SSMU executives have adjusted, what they’ve been up to, and what they’re planning for the upcoming Fall semester. Well, we at The Daily wondered the same thing, and took the time to chat with each of the executives.

Ben Ger President As leader of the SSMU executive team, and the only undergraduate student to sit on McGill’s Board of Governors (BoG), Ben Ger, a U4 Environment student, is SSMU’s highest representative in dealing with the administration. In the past, this task has caused frustration among undergraduate students, but speaking to The Daily, Ger seemed optimistic that advances can be made in a positive and cooperative manner to benefit all parties. One of Ger’s main responsibilities as President will be the maintenance of SSMU’s governing documents and the enforcement of its Constitution and Internal Regulations. As such, Ger emphasizes the importance of “political literacy” in the student body, especially in the incoming class of 2016. Alongside Secretary General Edyta Rogowska, Ger has been working to make governance documents more accessible to students, and is in the process of restructuring the legislative council with that goal in mind. For example, schedules for committee meetings that were previously unavailable will now be provided. Ger’s campaign platform prioritized student mental health, and as President, he has already taken steps to ensure that his agenda reflects that. In collaboration with VP Student Life Elaine Patterson, Ger has reached out to McGill’s Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP), and put in place the necessary steps to provide “Mental Health 101” training to new faculty and staff members. He is also working to create mental health clinic spaces and group therapy sessions in the Shatner building. While mental health training isn’t currently required for all staff, Ger has been in discussion with Provost Christopher Manfredi and Associate Provost Ollivier Dyens to expand the scope of this training, and potentially requiring tenured professors to undergo it as well.

Daniel Lawrie VP Internal Daniel Lawrie, the new VP Internal for the 2016-2017 school year, is a U3 materials engineering student. In a recent interview, Lawrie told The Daily that he has been learning a lot on the job and is excited for the upcoming school year. As VP Internal, Lawrie manages communications between SSMU and its members, plans events, and oversees relations with faculty associations. When asked what challenges he has faced so far, Lawrie cited a difficulty that has plagued previous VPs Internal in the past: getting more students to read the SSMU listserv. To address this issue, he spent the summer redesigning it, and plans to share the link to the listserv through the official McGill mobile app. With the recent redesign of the SSMU executive structure, the VP Internal now also handles first year outreach. In light of the difficulties First Year Council (FYC) faced last year, particularly its loss of service status, Lawrie has already begun restructuring FYC and the First Year Undergraduate Network (FUN). The two organizations will become a single entity, mirroring SSMU’s structure. “The FYC [will be] elected in the traditional method, with all the first year councils from every single faculty sitting on a council that would meet [...] once or twice a month.” Lawrie also aims to diversify the events portfolio by introducing new non-alcohol based events, such as an e-gaming tournament. He also hopes to increase event attendance by selling tickets through the McGill app. Given the fact that some students don’t have smart phones, Lawrie admits that this may pose an accessibility problem, but he says the apps will simply be another way to share information. It is unclear how selling tickets through the apps will impact students’ ability to buy them.

David Aird VP External VP External David Aird is a joint honours political science and philosophy student who served as SSMU’s Political Campaigns Coordinator last year. This experience working closely with the previous VP External drove him to run for the position, Aird told The Daily, and it has proved extremely helpful so far. Although Aird stressed that the VP External position appeals strongly to his own interests, he also admitted that balancing the various aspects of such a diverse portfolio has been a challenge. The restructuring of SSMU’s executive team saw francophone affairs move to the VP External portfolio. This is an issue particularly important to Aird. As part of his community engagement mandate, Aird aims to bring back Milton-Parc conversation circles, set up a website to help the neighborhood’s permanent residents get involved in francophone events on campus, and potentially launch a series of student-led lectures for these permanent residents. As part of his mandate, Aird also observes meetings of the Association pour la Voix Étudiante au Québec (AVEQ) and sits on several of the student federation’s sub-committees. He informs McGill students of AVEQ’s latest initiatives and the broader political climate in Québec, particularly on matters that directly affect SSMU members. Aird has also been working to support student-led campaigns on campus, including Divest McGill, Indigenous initiatives, and the antiausterity movement, telling The Daily that he intends to continue working closely with these groups and with faculty associations to remain as receptive as possible to students’ needs. To combat student apathy, particularly with regards to joining a student federation, he plans to try to share information in peer-to-peer discussions rather than over social media, and implement survey-based approaches to gauge student interest and knowledge about various issues.

News

September 1, 2016 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Elaine Patterson VP Student Life

Elaine Patterson, SSMU’s first ever VP Student Life, is a U3 English literature and communications student. Despite the challenges of taking on a new executive position, Patterson told The Daily she is very excited, particularly because mental health initiatives now fall under her portfolio. Patterson’s new position has enabled her to hire two new mental health commissioners, and in collaboration with SSMU President Ben Ger, she is working to implement a “Mental Health 101” training session for new faculty and staff. Patterson is also working on carrying out her campaign promise to foster further collaboration between McGill Mental Health and Counselling Services, participating in meetings to determine the best way to achieve this. She admits this is a long-term goal, but during the fall semester she plans to implement a common intake system. So, rather than having to navigate the system on their own, students in need of care will be asked a set of initial questions to determine whether they should go to Counselling or McGill Mental Health Services. As part of her Clubs and Services mandate, Patterson will review all student services over the course of the year. She also hopes to make clubs more accessible and diverse by integrating equitable and sustainable event planning training into club workshops. Patterson is also working with Ger to implement a gender discrimination policy that goes beyond current provisions. While it’s currently in “the really rough stages,” she revealed it should include an initiative to provide free feminine hygiene products to students who need access to them.

Niall Carolan VP Finance

This year, Niall Carolan, a U4 Strategic Management student in the Desautels faculty of Management, will serve as SSMU’s VP Finance. As such, it is his responsibility to ensure SSMU’s financial longevity by providing the Executive Committee and Board of Directors with regular reports on the organization’s financial status, and by developing its annual budget. Over the summer, Carolan has been in discussion with Desautels Capital Management, a student-run investment management firm here at McGill, in order to set up a socially responsible investment fund for SSMU. He explained to The Daily that although the current investment portfolio is very low risk, and aims for long-term financial returns, it lacks a positive social mandate. The fund Carolan proposes would channel $1-1.5 million into investments which would create a positive social impact as well as generate profit for McGill students. Carolan also tackled the problem of disorganized club funding by attempting to streamline the funding process and by holding regular meetings with the incoming Funding Commissioner and SSMU’s in-house accounting team. Carolan hopes to simplify the current process by removing SSMU’s second-installment reports (which put an unnecessary burden on both clubs and McGill administrators), standardizing club forms, and using budget templates. Finally, Carolan, in consultation with VP Student Life Elaine Patterson and VP Operations Sacha Magder, aims to better balance the budget by ensuring that McGill events and operations don’t generate deficits and are as effective as possible.

Sacha Magder VP Operations

The VP Operations’ portfolio mainly consists of managing the Shatner building, overseeing the management of SSMU’s business operations (which include Gerts, SSMU MiniCourses, and the Student-Run Cafeteria), and implementing SSMU’s environmental sustainability goals. Sacha Magder, current VP Operations and a U4 Biochemistry student, told The Daily that he’s most excited about the newest projects in the Shatner building this year, including a “Crash Pad” for Frosh attendees, one of his main campaign proposals. Through this initiative, Frosh attendees can sleep over in the Shatner building if they feel unable to get home easily and/or safely for whatever reason. So far, more than 200 students have signed up to use said “crash pad,” the cost of which is being paid for by a small portion of the profits made from Frosh bracelets ($0.75 of an $80120 bracelet.) The flat fee covers the operating costs and the added salaries for security and the porters. The “crash pad” will be used primarily by Frosh attendees in the coming week, but Magder hopes to expand it in the Fall semester, possibly for use during Science Games, midterms, finals, and in the case of heavy snowstorms. Additionally, Magder has been overseeing the fourth floor renovations in the Shatner building, which will be the site of the new and improved Peer Support Centre. Madger told The Daily that the experience has taught him a lot about crisis management, and has allowed him to take on more of the General Manager’s building responsibilities.

Erin Sobat

VP University Affairs

Our current VP University Affairs is Erin Sobat, a fifth-year history student who has been involved in student politics for much of his time at McGill. As a SSMU executive, Sobat liaises between SSMU and the administration, and does his best to ensure that student priorities are addressed. As such, one of his major tasks has been working with other students and with the Dean of Students, Christopher Buddle, to improve the administration’s proposed Sexual Assault Policy (SAP). After essentially rejecting the draft written and researched by the SAP working group last semester, the University offered a pared-down version, and agreed to have a policy in place by the end of 2016. In consultation with survivors of sexual assault, Sobat and other students involved have been working to flesh out this version of the SAP as much as possible, within the limits of what McGill will accept. The improved draft should be released in mid-September for consultation with the general McGill community. Sobat, in collaboration with VP Student Life Elaine Patterson, has also been working to improve McGill’s system of academic accommodations – a system which, he says, is often arbitrary and even discriminatory, particularly toward students with mental health concerns. To this end, he has asked Dean Buddle to create a working group to investigate medical notes. The group will provide recommendations for standardizing and improving the current system. Sobat is also in the process of developing a website to inform students in an accessible and intuitive way about their rights when dealing with the University. He is also working with a researcher to develop a policy on unpaid internships, as mandated by a motion passed at SSMU’s Winter 2015 General Assembly, and hopes to improve communications between student associations and their representatives on administrative committees, and more.

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September 1, 2016 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Meet the new Dean of Students

Ellen Cools The McGill Daily

Christopher Buddle sits down with The Daily

n August 30, McGill’s new Dean of Students Christopher Buddle sat down with The Daily to talk about his new position, supporting Indigenous students, working on a new sexual assault policy, and improving McGill’s mental health and counselling services. The McGill Daily (MD): What will be your main priority during your tenure as Dean of Students? Christopher Buddle (CB): One of them is certainly [...] helping develop the Sexual Violence Policy. [...] We [also] hope by the end of the academic year to be looking at a modernization of the Charter of Student Rights. MD: How do you believe your background will help you in this position? CB: I don’t know how well you know [Macdonald Campus], but it’s a small community. It’s a little microcosm of McGill, which I think allowed me as Associate Dean to really get a handle on different parts of student affairs, everything from crisis management to academic accommodations, and everything in between. So I was involved in a lot of that, which I think will help in this position. MD: One of the main responsibilities of the Dean of Students is to craft disciplinary policies. How are you planning to approach this? CB: I’ve worked with [the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures] a lot in the past on different avenues of student discipline. I believe the code does a very good job at protecting student rights, and I think it’s clear in many ways. [...] But I think what’s more important is that we clarify to our community the process of student discipline. That includes a lot of communication with instructors around how to approach academic integrity, so that, for example, we don’t want students penalized for plagiarism [...] unfairly. We want them to use the Code of Conduct because that actually allows a process that is independent of the instructor, which is really, really valuable. MD: At the Divest McGill sit-in in April of this year, former Dean of Students André Costopoulos seemed to support the activists. How will you work with student activists, and liaise between them and the administration? CB: I think in many ways [I’ll be] similar to the previous Dean of Students. [...] Students have a right to protest, and activism is an important part of [McGill]. We’re an institution of higher learning, we welcome

Dean of Students Christopher Buddle. debate on our campus, so that’s going to create situations where there will be protests or activism occurring. [...] I think the principles that André Costopoulos always held very strongly – and that I will as well – is that we have to respect private spaces on campus, and we have to respect the rights of our students in terms of their access, in terms of getting to their classes and access to their education. But beyond that, it’s always about dialogue, being very open and clear around being respectful. MD: Part of your portfolio includes chairing the Aboriginal Affairs Work Group. What initiatives are you working on to support First Nations, Inuit, and Métis students? CB: I think it’s a really exciting year for Indigenous affairs. I mean with [Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic) Christopher Manfredi’s Task Force on Indigenous Studies and Indigenous Education], a very clear and visible commitment to Indigenous affairs at McGill, it’s going to help immensely for a few reasons. One is that it is about visibility. [...] My understanding [...] is that many students aren’t identifying as Indigenous, and that might be about visibility, being sure that what we offer as an institution and [our] support is very visible. MD: There has been rising concern about sexual assault on campuses across Canada. How do you plan to work with both the administration and students to make students feel safer? CB: I think we’ve come a long way in terms of awareness, educa-

Ellen Cools | The McGill Daily

tion, prevention, for sure. Do we have more to do? Of course – we always do. [...] My office has a role to play in [...] the process related to the Sexual Violence Policy. So I think we have to be crystal clear to our community about how survivors of sexual violence navigate our systems, which can be complex. I think by having a very clear process outlined, that in turn is going to help with the community recognizing that we are being proactive around supporting survivors, which in turn will help overall feedback and education and awareness about this.

“We have to respect private spaces on campus, and we have to respect the rights of our students in terms of their access, in terms of getting to their classes and access to their education.” Christopher Buddle Dean of Students

MD: Earlier this year, Dean Costopoulos and Associate Provost (Policies, Procedures, and Equity) Angela Campbell withdrew their support for the student-drafted Sexual Assault Policy. What do you think about this withdrawal of support, and how will you work with students in the future to implement a new policy? CB: I’m not going to speak to the withdrawal of support, whether it did or didn’t happen; I wasn’t involved. [...] The Provost announced there would be a new Sexual Violence Policy that’s being developed through his office and with Angela Campbell’s leadership. [The policy has] been very broadly consulted this summer, and it’s going to go for a community-wide consultation in September. [...] I know, from what I’ve seen, the feedback has been taken very seriously and it’s been integrated as much as possible into the new policy. [...] I know that’s cold comfort for some that worked on it for a lot of years, I recognize that. But [...] I think we’ve come a tremendous way in a short period of time because that foundational work was there. But it’s [only] a starting point, right? Policy is not a silver bullet to all problems on campus – it’s one piece that has to be there. [...] So I think that’s really important to me, that we’re very clear in the ways that we support survivors and the ways that we recognize that policy as a vehicle towards other policies that provide, say, disciplinary action if that’s required.

MD: There has also been student discontent with McGill’s mental health services and disability accommodation. There are rumours that mental health and counselling services will be combined. What can you tell us about that? How do you plan to improve upon McGill’s ability to accommodate and support students? CB: I was chair of the Cyclical Review of Students Services and one of our recommendations was looking at the health services broadly, and looking at how students enter that system. [...] I’m not in a position to announce any specific changes, [...] but you’re right, change is coming. I think everyone recognizes that there’s a need for that. [...] Our office has always played a role of facilitation and mediation around accommodation and we’re going to keep doing that. [...] Our goal is to get students to the right places as soon as possible. I think everyone agrees that that’s an overriding goal. Sometimes it’s slower than it should be for good reasons and sometimes for no good reason, so let’s clean it up. MD: What is one thing you’d like to say to students as the school year gets underway? CB: I think the idea that it’s a marathon, not a sprint. [...] For students, when those first midterm grades come back, it may not be as great as hoped. It can be tough and [...] there’s going to be ups and down. [...] I want students to know that we are there, and that we want to help. This article has been edited for length and clarity.

Commentary

September 1, 2016 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

“Welcome back, rapists.” Those who don’t speak up are accomplices to rape

Paniz Khosroshahy The McGill Daily

Trigger warnings: rape, sexual violence, substance abuse

nlike many others, I got straight A’s my first year at McGill, and started fucking up my grades only after. So when people tell me that grad schools don’t often look at the first year–due to it often being a tumultuous time–I have to wonder, will they also consider the grades that trauma, substance abuse, and institutional betrayal took away from me? Two years after being sexually assaulted, and one year after reporting it, I, the victim, have had to pack up and travel across the world for a semester abroad – with the sole purpose of keeping myself sane and staying away from McGill’s toxicity. I’m going to provide some gruesome details of rape to get the attention of the people who need to listen. I have tried more ‘respectable’ ways of demanding accountability from McGill, ways that honour my own dignity, and they failed. At this point, I know nobody will listen unless I put my body on the line and make a scene. In September 2014, I lay on a stranger’s bed, too drunk to understand what was happening to my body, and watched my limbs being maneuvered into different penetrative positions for what felt like many excruciating hours. Since then, on any given day, I think of the blood-stained toilet papers, of being too sore to sit down, of the hangover the day after, the emergency room, the antibiotics, the kidney infection, the speculum. Too many evenings, I have woken up dizzy and hungover from downing too many Advils and too much rum in the afternoon. I still have an extra pregnancy test from the package I bought at the time, thinking that I would need it in the case of being raped again; I’ve kept it, even though it’s expired. I remember too many things.I wish I would wake up one day in a psychiatric unit and be subjected to electroshock therapy so I won’t have to remember anymore. After I found myself in the same class as my assailant, I disclosed the assault to nine different people: first sometime in July, then on September 4, September 11, December 31, January 15, January 16, and April 14. One after another, they lied to me, blamed me, shamed me, discouraged me from reporting my rape all together, or made empty promises to me. I still don’t know what the

outcome of my case was. I still don’t know if there ever was any form of investigation. I’ve written about my experience extensively elsewhere, but here’s the gist: I begged for help, over and over, but nobody listened. Many staff, administrators, and faculty – aware of the situation – stood by silently and watched me suffer. As a result, I did what people do when everything else fails: I went public and wrote about my experience, only to watch the most traumatic moments of my life get dissected by the lowest of the low on the internet. Here’s another catch: McGill’s Charter of Student Rights, section five states that “The University has an obligation to maintain safe and suitable conditions of learning and study.” That right did not apply to me. A lot happens when you become your university’s poster child for rape. I’ve been getting more media requests than I care to reply to, met activists from universities across the country, and have been sitting on panels nationwide to voice what is actually happening on our campus with regards to sexual violence. But while I do appreciate the recognition I get for my work, I can’t help but wish that the spotlight could have been on something I had set out to accomplish at the onset. What am I getting credit for right now: getting raped? Getting ignored? Being lied to? For years, I had intentionally avoided antisexual violence advocacy because I knew every minute of it would be like picking at a scab, and that it has been. “Rape victim” was never something I wanted to be known for. These days, I’m too afraid to consume alcohol, meet new people, or go to parties. Every potential daily activity boils down to one question: will I get raped while doing it? Potentially. Am I victim-blaming myself? Potentially – but I don’t care. Getting raped at a university that doesn’t give a damn about you is expensive. If it hadn’t been for my parents’ financial support, I would have dropped out two years ago. I don’t have the money to waste on lost tuition again, and I can’t, for the sake of my future, have more failed or withdrawn courses on my transcript. But most importantly I know that, to quite literally save my life, I can’t go through what I went through again. While people have been supportive, I couldn’t care less if more people told me that they believe me. The administration, my professor, my advisor: they all told me that

Marina Djurdjevic | The McGill Daily they believed me and that they were all sorry for what happened to me. Rarely has anyone actually doubted my story. Did these affirmations actually make a material difference when I reached out for support from the McGill administration? Absolutely not. I don’t care about active listening, tea videos, poster campaigns, “I love consent” buttons and consent weeks when I’m asking for concrete, material support. Instead of seeing “allies” effectively jerk off to feel-good anti-rape campaigns with very little impact, I want to see energy being redirected to standing up and holding abusers and institutions accountable. I want sit-ins. I want alumni to withhold donations. I want people to contact administrators, politicians – I want them to demand change. I want McGill to take responsibility for all the harm it has done to me and simply apologize. I want McGill to reimburse me for lost tuition, for therapy, for medication, for all the cab rides home because I gagged and blacked out as soon as I stepped foot on campus. I want this institution to consult those who’ve been through the reporting process in regards to the sexual assault policy at McGill, and what it should be – rather than refusing to acknowledge input, such as that of the working group put

together last year. We know best what we need. I want McGill to have crystal clear reporting procedures and redress regulations. I want McGill to make sure there won’t be another student on this campus whose access to education will be taken away because of rape, and specifically that not another student will fall prey to sexually abusive professors. But aside from what I would like to see, do I have hopes that McGill will actually do the right thing? Not really. All I can do is to look forward to April 2018, when I will leave this city immediately after my last exam, try to forget what happened to me between the ages of 17 to 22, and pretend my entire undergraduate career was a bad dream. To survivors and victims: I’m sorry that McGill fails you so miserably. I have no words, there are no justifications. But please know that I’ve been fighting for you, for us, and they can’t stop me. To first years: if you get raped and do report and get taken seriously, you’ve hit the jackpot. So let me know if you do get that lucky. To those close to survivors and victims: if you have not, in any way tangible way, shown your support – be it by signing letters, speaking up, providing emotional labour, coming to panels, contributing to survivors’

legal funds – take your allyship and set it on fire. To rapists and abusers – professors, staff and student alike: welcome back. Roam wild and free, your playground is open and apparently there’s no stopping you. Finally, to those administrators that made me suffer and to those that watched me suffer through the 2015-2016 academic year, to the over 100 McGill Senators who ignored the email I sent them to explain my experience, to those who betray basic standards of morality for money and power and hide underneath “Consent is Mandatory” posters in their offices, to those that are happy to diss Jian Ghomeshi and Bill Cosby, but stay silent when violence takes place within our own community: your lack of concern about this toxic campus, your reluctance to speak up and support actual victims is exactly what makes this campus a perfect breeding ground for predators. You may not be a rapist, but you are an accomplice to many, many rapists. Quite frankly, I don’t know which one is worse. Paniz Khosroshahy is a fourth year women’s studies student and founder of McGill’s chapter of Silence is Violence, a survivor-led collective advocating for institutional accountability. She can be contacted at paniz.ksy@gmail.com

COMMENTARY

September 1, 2016 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

The boy the world will forget

Images of the Syrian war shock us, but to what end?

George Ghabrial Commentary Writer

‫“سالم ألرض ُخ��ل��ق��ت‬ ً‫ وم��ا رأت يوما‬،‫للسالم‬ ”.ً‫سالما‬ [“Peace to a land that was created for peace, and never saw a peaceful day.”] —Mahmoud Darwish

riting about civil war is not easy: six years of chaos and catastrophe are difficult to sum up in a few paragraphs, or even an image. As tragedy continues to fall from the sky in Syria and wash upon the shores of Europe, how long can we – the broader Western public – remain spectators? One year ago, on September 2, 2015, the image of Alan Kurdi – aged three, lying face down on the shore of a Turkish beach – broke into the news cycle and captured the world’s attention. A little more than two weeks ago, on August 18, the image of Omran Daqneesh – aged five – did the same. Images like these demonstrate the true human cost of conflict and startle the world anew. Despite the global attention then and now, almost three thousand migrants and asylum seekers in 2016 alone have met the same fate as Alan Kurdi, and dozens are killed by sorties in Aleppo each day. What can we say of our global inattentiveness in the time lapsed between? Perhaps this past summer the world has been too preoccupied with other events (Brexit, the U.S. presidential election, or the Rio Olympics) to be concerned with the ongoing humanitarian disasters in Syria, Yemen, Turkey, Palestine, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, Kashmir, and so on. But loss and tragedy wait for no one, not its spectators and perpetrators in the Western world, and certainly not its victims – trapped in the towns and cities they once called home. A child dies, or is pulled out of the rubble, and the world coalesces around an image to give the tragedy meaning. The image becomes a viral sensation. It makes its rounds on social media, soliciting captions and comments, even emojis, of shock and outrage. Each iteration juxta-

Marina Djurdjevic | The McGill Daily poses a robbed childhood with the more lighthearted realities of most viewers. The image captures the viewer’s attention – an unsightly break from your regular newsfeed. It’s hard not to feel obliged to watch, and perhaps even share it. Unlike its appearance on your screen, what’s captured by the photo is an ongoing reality, not a series of isolated incidents: the image represents a single moment amidst six years of tragedy. Unfortunately, reality is a relative concept. For the geopolitical and ideological actors involved in the conflict, the image and its subject is another casualty of war, their life a transient existence which they prefer to ignore. For the broader Western public, the child (and the tens of thousands like them) represents a temporary moral outrage, one usually expressed in a boring black and bold headline – decontextualised and dehumanised. Except, of course, when their death is made manifest in the images we are now all too familiar with. Why is it that shock and awe are necessary to drive the Western public to express outrage towards unnecessary human suffering, to demand an end to the conflict, or to even perhaps donate towards established, though ineffective, aid efforts? This is, inherently, nothing less than a function of Western guilt. Donor-fatigue manifests as empathy-fatigue, as increasingly

sensational images of horror are required to wake people to the ongoing reality. It is not that the public is unaware, but that we prefer to be ignorant; once the image has grown stale, we collectively move on.

Loss and tragedy wait for no one, not its spectators and perpetrators in the Western world, and certainly not its victims – trapped in the towns and cities they once called home. If the Western audience is willing to remain ignorant of an ongoing genocide, towards generations of youth lost to years of psychological trauma, physical and sexual abuse, illiteracy, and inadequate healthcare, among other basic social services, then they should do nothing at all. They should admit their ambivalence and openly claim the detached resignation they already abide by. Privileged guilt is not sustainable, nor is it ethical;

any effort to bring an end to the conflict or to alleviate the suffering it causes, based on such a premise, will be for the benefit of the Western subject, not those who are made “objects” by Western perception. War photography must be sensational and captivating to convince us of its truth. It is for this same reason that our society will loop the murders of Black people on 24-hour cable news, but deny the legitimacy of the Black Lives Matter movement and its leaders. It is for this reason the “Alleppo is Bleeding” Facebook campaign failed to materialise in any meaningful way. For this reason, mainstream reporting on this conflict has brought no meaningful attention to the scale of human suffering: the news is far too often passed through a lens that strips it of its humanity. The headlines read in any number of ways – uprising, revolution, civil war; terrorism, religious fanaticism; human rights, self-determination, independence – in order to appeal to spectators of different sensibilities. We filter the chaos in a way that makes sense to us, most often forgetting the reality of life beyond political narratives. Buzzwords mean nothing to those living through the conflict. Airstrike, explosion, smoke, dust and rubble, loss and struggle: these are the daily lived experiences of its victims, inexplicable to those

not facing these realities themselves, as they lay beyond what words can convey. The stories of over 1.1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, of whom 500 thousand are children, 635 thousand in Jordan (225 thousand children), and the some 6.5 million internally displaced Syrians – a forgone Syrian generation – will never be as captivating as clickbait. Despite what your retweets and captions suggest, these are not the victims of a childhood robbed. These are the victims of a humanity denied, forced to live a life of indignity and degradation, as the world watches at its leisure. Let us go beyond the headlines of the civil war power struggles. It is not sufficient for us to reject the complicity of our state leaders. What of our own? This is not meant to be an accusation, nor is it about assigning blame. This is an effort to acknowledge our collective complicity – one that comes with the privilege of ignorance, the privilege of clear and peaceful skies. George Ghabrial is a U3 Political Science major. He would like to acknowledge that this article was written on August 23, 2016, and encourages readers not to ignore all that has happened in Syria, and beyond, since that date and into the future. He can be contacted at george.ghabrial@mail.mcgill.ca.

COMMENTARY

September 1, 2016 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

A crisis across borders

Anti-Roma sentiment greets Roma refugees as they flee to Canada Inori Roy The McGill Daily Trigger warnings: racism, xenophobia

n October 2004, in her home country of Hungary, Katalin Lakatos’s eldest son committed suicide after a series of racist encounters with local police that had left him fearing for not only his own safety, but also that of the people around him. Soon after her son’s death, and after filing a complaint against the police, Lakatos herself became subject to harassment by the authorities. Then, in 2011, racially motivated medical neglect nearly killed Lakatos’s second son, according to migrant justice group Solidarity Across Borders (SAB). It was this second incident, and the constant threat of death that hung over her family, that led Lakatos and her family to move to Canada. The move, however, did not ease the family’s burden. According to SAB, the Lakatos family continued to face discrimination over the next five years, in part as a result of immigration policies specifically meant to keep Roma immigrants out of Canada. They were subject to a lengthy and painful bureaucratic process that saw Katalin Lakatos’s husband and younger son deported, and Lakatos and her teenage daughter detained in the Laval Immigration Detention Centre. All the while, she only hoped that nothing would force her and her daughter to move back to the country that had terrorized them for so long, and that her husband and son could return to Canada.

It was this second incident, and the constant threat of death that hung over her family, that led Lakatos and her family to move to Canada.

A history of discrimination The Lakatos family’s story is not unique – they, as members of the Roma community, have faced these levels of discrimination their entire lives. The Roma (or Romani) are an ethnic group that are believed to have emigrated from northern India to the Middle East and Europe between the 6th century and the 12th century, and are currently spread out across the world, with the highest pop-

ulations present across Eastern Europe, the United States, Brazil, and Turkey. To English speakers, the group is pejoratively referred to as “g*psies.” No major written records are considered to account for the origins of Roma people, and this has, over the course of several centuries, resulted in their global displacement. Roma people have been systematically barred from gaining legal status and a sense of safety or security in many countries across Europe, and are often forcibly uprooted from their homes by governments steeped in anti-Roma prejudice. Amnesty International has, over the past decade, released several damning articles and a major report on the state of Roma rights in Europe, detailing individual and systemic discrimination that Roma people face beginning in childhood. There have been reports of segregation and discrimination in the education system across Eastern Europe, including discriminatory curricula that ingrains in young children negative stereotypes about Roma people, and the forced placement of Roma children into programs for low-performing students. Roma people are forcibly evicted from their homes and cities because they are Roma, a notable example being the 2014 change in social housing policy in Miskolc, Hungary, serving to ethnically cleanse the city of its Roma population; and occurrences of anti-Roma violence perpetrated by authorities include police harassment and forcible seizure of property in refugee camps in France, and disproportionate imprisonment and incarceration rates in Greece. There has been a devastating lack of attention paid to the issues faced by the Roma community by governments across Europe: despite numerous attempts by the United Nations, Amnesty International, and SAB to intervene in the crisis, the hatred directed at the Roma community in Europe continues to run rampant. This far-reaching prejudice is centuries long, but was most visible to the world in World War I and World War II, when Nazi and Communist governments were known to actively conduct the genocide of Roma people, while Canada, the U.S., and Western Europe did little to nothing to aid in the refuge or rehabilitation of the Roma people. Anti-Roma sentiment has been unrelenting and has gone unaddressed, and the community currently faces no prospect of peace. Canada is touted as a safe haven where refugees face no barriers, and as a shelter where ideals of peace can be actualized. In reality, Canada is no sanctuary for Roma refugees fleeing Europe. Over the course of the last decade,

various pro-immigration interest groups across Canada have noted a significant anti-Roma sentiment taking hold of Canadian foreign policy and immigration law. The effects of racism on immigration policies With the presence of antiRoma immigration policies, Canada is just as complicit as many other governments across the world in allowing prejudice against Roma people to continue. SAB has also condemned the Canadian government for silently condoning the anti-Roma sentiments perpetrated by neo-Nazi groups across North America and Europe, and for standing idly by while an entire people continues to be terrorized.

Roma people have been systematically barred from gaining legal status and a sense of safety or security in many countries across Europe, and are often forcibly uprooted from their homes by governments steeped in antiRoma prejudice. Reports of discrimination and racial profiling by Canadian border security against Roma travellers have increased in number since 2011, and Roma people entering Canada have been subject to humiliating displays of public scrutiny by airport security upon arrival to the country. Jason Kenney, Canadian Minister of Citizenship, Immigration, and Multiculturalism between 2008 and 2013, is known for implementing a set of changes to immigration law that prioritized trade and the benefit of the private sector over a needbased model that put humanitarian aid first. Kenney’s policy changes allowed entry mostly to “high-skilled” young immigrants who would primarily boost the Canadian economy and be of use to the country. These immigrants were well educated and already fluent in either English or French

– they were part of an elite class of foreign workers that the Harper government deemed “worthy” of letting into the country. Under Kenney, 2012 saw the establishment of Bill C-31 by the Canadian government. This omnibus bill gave the Immigration Minister unchecked power to make the detainment, imprisonment, and deportation of refugees easy and unchecked and took away rights from claimants. The Justice for Refugees and Immigrants Coalition released a joint statement that said Bill31 was “unconstitutional, undermines our humanitarian traditions, and violates our international obligations.” Kenney said the bill was supposed to protect Canada from “bogus refugees” set out to “abuse our generosity.” At the same time, the Harper government was changing restrictions on visa permits, including those for members of the European Union (EU). Among a number of economic reasons, this was also done to address the high number of refugee applications coming out of Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania – the European countries with the highest populations of Roma people. These countries became the only EU countries to require visas for travel to Canada, although restrictions on Hungarian citizens have since been amended. According to Global News, nearly 4,000 refugee applicants awaiting status confirmation in Canada were paid to go back to their countries of origin between 2012 and 2014. Of that number, 61 per cent were citizens of Hungary, Croatia, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, and most of them were Roma. Global News additionally reports that there were doubts raised by lawyers as to whether the money was voluntarily accepted by many of the refugee applicants who travelled back to their home countries, and advocates and immigration attorneys stated that fear of deportation and incarceration led many to accept the funds out of fear. The remnants of Conservative anti-Roma sentiment have yet to be eliminated from the new Liberal government’s policies. While there have been significant and positive changes to immigration and refugee laws under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, on a systemic level the Roma community faces similar levels of neglect due to no changes being made to antiRoma policy. There seems to be no end to the prejudice that Roma people experience, even after they have travelled over land and sea. An unsatisfactory resolution The Lakatos family has received some measure of peace, as of August 2016. Over the sum-

mer, Gilda and Katalin Lakatos faced the fear of imminent deportation. After their initial applications were denied, their appeals went through a bureaucratic process that lasted nearly a year, during which time the Minister of Immigration refused to comment on the state of the appeals process. It was only as of last month that the Lakatos family has received initial approval for the permanent residency application. Despite this turn for the better, they are still faced with thousands of dollars in bureaucratic and legal fees, along with a $3,000 fee to allow for the return of father and son to Canada.

According to Global News, nearly 4,000 refugee applicants awaiting status confirmation in Canada were paid to go back to their countries of origin between 2012 amd 2014 [...] most of them were Roma. For a family – and moreover, a people – to have to go through so much in their home country only to face the same prejudice and scrutiny in Canada, paired with an arduous and painful bureaucratic process, is unacceptable. Moreover, it is hypocritical to hail Canada as a shelter for refugees when a community so heavily marginalized throughout the rest of the world is also shunned by the Canadian government. It is appalling that a country that claims to stand for the principles of human rights, freedom, and safety for all, would stand by and ignore an entire people who ask only for a small measure of the humanity they have until now been denied. Inori Roy is the Commentary and Compendium! editor at The McGill Daily, but the opinions expressed in this article are her own. She is a second year student majoring in Sociology, with a double minor in Communications and Indigenous studies. Her work and writing centres around anti-oppression and equity. She can be contacted at inori.khan@mail.mcgill.ca

The Disorientation Guide

2016

Introduction Welcome to The Daily’s Disorientation Guide

elcome (back) to McGill University! Whether you just moved in last week, or you’re back for another year, your expectations for the upcoming year are probably high. We hope that this Disorientation Guide will serve you well in meeting your objectives, finding new ones to add to the list, and getting back up when things don’t exactly work out the way they should. It is also an attempt at making the intersections of power and oppression found at McGill and in the greater Montreal area easier to navigate, especially for those who are new to Montreal and may not have as many resources as other seasoned students. Throughout these pages, you’ll find out more about the different organizations and groups around campus, the places where you can buy food without breaking the bank, information on accessibility on campus and beyond, and much more. Stash this guide somewhere safe so you can refer to it throughout the year.

Good luck!

hen you visit the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) online, you’ll notice text next to the SSMU logo which reads “McGill is located on unceded, Kanien’kehá:ka traditional territory,” and you might’ve noted a similar sentence on the cover of this newspaper. McGill was founded in 1821, on the land of the Kanien’kehá:ka (the “People of the Flint,” or “Mohawk”). By virtue of this, The Daily’s office also rests on unceded Mohawk land. While SSMU voted to acknowledge this in 2014, the University itself does not to this day. In the fall of 2015, representatives of the nearby Kahnawake Mohawk community delivered of a notice of seizure to the University that the remains officially unacknowledged. While McGill has addressed some concerns by moving Hochelaga Rock – a monument which honors the Haudenosaunee village of Hochelaga which once stood where McGill now stands – from Lower Field to the area across from the statue of James McGill, it only did so this year, after years of negotiations, and it continues to ignore requests for the Hiawatha Belt flag to be raised above the Arts Building on National Aboriginal Day. Indigenous representation on campus also remains abysmal, with a 2009 study finding that only 0.8 per cent of students identified as Aboriginal, a measly quarter of the national average of 3 per cent. Furthermore, McGill only approved an Indigenous Studies minor as of February 2014 (employing only one tenure-track Indigenous professor). In order to respect the history of McGill and the land it occupies, it is important to keep Indigeneity in mind. As you step onto campus this year, consider setting time aside in your schedule for the First People’s House’s 15th Annual Pow Wow on September 16, and make sure to keep your eyes peeled for information on events that will take place during Indigenous Awareness Week, which starts on September 19.

Practicing self-care How to take care of your mental health TW: mentions of sexual assault and suicidal ideation

Off campus Students who cannot access the McGill Health Clinic or choose to seek medical care elsewhere can visit an off-campus clinic. Some can be found in a local community centre, also known as a centre locale de service communautaires (CLSC). The CLSCs service the specific area codes in which they are located. Many accept out-of-province insurance or Quebec Medicare, with a few exceptions. Some fees might apply, and it is best for students to check the policies of their local CLSC before visiting. In addition to CLSCs, there are other private clinics outside of campus. Unfortunately, most of them charge a fee per visit or consultation, especially for out-of-province or international students. Student Health Services also provides a list of off-campus and specialty clinics viewable online. Head and Hands also offers an alternative to private clinics and CLSCs by offering medical services to Montreal’s youth. Their approach is “harm-reductive, holistic, and non-judgemental” and the organization is committed to serving Montreal youth by offering health, legal, referral, and educational resources and support. Head and Hands “seeks to be an inclusive, accessible and safe.” Walk-in clinics are on Tuesday and Thursdays at 5 p.m. for those needing to see a doctor immediately, but note that they only accommodate up to ten people, selected randomly, at every clinic; walk-ins without health insurance are welcome. Make sure you get there a bit before 5 p.m. to ensure you will be considered; upon arrival, you will be given a card with an artist or writer who will serve as your psuedonym if you are called. Head and Hands is a good alternative for patients with marginalized identities who might face barriers in the mainstream health care system.

Crisis hotlines There are crisis hotlines available to McGill students who are in need of immediate emotional support or crisis management: Nightline: For immediate support or general inquiries, Nightline is a “confidential, anonymous and non-judgemental service, run by McGill students.” Nightline provides referral, crisis management, and active listening services and can be reached at (514) 398-6246 from 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. every day. Suicide Action Montreal: If a student is experiencing suicidal thoughts, Suicide Action Montreal is a free 24-hour confidential telephone service providing intervention and support. It doesn’t only help with prevention but also acts as a support service for survivors of suicide, those worried for a loved one or those who have lost someone to suicide. You can call at (514) 723-4000.

On Campus There are a variety of resources available on and off campus for those experiencing a health emergency or crisis, or those dealing with trauma and in need of emotional support. For people seeking immediate care or/and are experiencing a health concern, these are a few services that can provide help: McGill Mental Health: Students going through a mental health crisis situation are recommended to go in during emergency walk-in hours, which are between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on weekdays. However, it is worth noting that the McGill Mental Health clinic can be hard to navigate and might not always have the capacity to accommodate all drop-in appointments. In case of a crisis outside regular hours, the mental health clinic recommends the Montreal General Hospital (Psychiatry Emergency Room) for further care. Counselling Services: Counselling is a currently separate entity from McGill Mental Health, though the two are in the process of merging into a single system that should be easier to navigate. For now, Counselling is the place to go if you’d like to set up regular meetings with a therapist, rather than seeing a psychologist or psychiatrist. Unlike the doctors at McGill Mental Health, counsellors cannot prescribe medication. Counselling Services’s drop-in hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. every weekday, but as with other health services at McGill, it’s best to arrive early to maximize your chances of getting an appointment. McGill Health Services: Students requiring immediate medical care can visit the walk-in clinic which is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.. However, it is on a first come, first serve basis, which means that unless you arrive very early, you might not be able to see a doctor that day. In that case, students may have to visit an off-campus clinic, likely the Montreal General Hospital, which is located about a 15-minute walk west on Dr. Penfield.

Students who are looking for emotional support following a crisis or/and trauma can utilize some of these services to receive the care they need: Peer Support Network: The Peer Support Network is a confidential, nonjudgemental active listening service. It is a one-on-one session where a student can share their thoughts, concerns and experiences to a peer trained in active listening, and a variety of topics such as sexuality, academic stress, eating disorders, substance abuse, and more. Montreal Sexual Assault Centre: The centre provides medical, listening, support and referral services. It provides a wide range of medical support such as medical examination, testing, psychosocial support, and medical treatment and follow-up. The centre also provides information with regards to legal procedures and aid. There is also a team of therapists that offer individual counselling and a 24-hour crisis hotline, which can be reached at (514) 934-4504.

The Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS): SACOMSS is a student- and volunteer-run organization that provides

support for survivors of sexual assault and allies. It offers direct support services, and does advocacy and outreach work. SACOMSS can be reached during drop-in hours and by phone, and it offers support groups, further information, resources, and referrals. SACOMSS is located in the basement of SSMU in room B-27.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of health resources available to students. However, these services can provide care in times of emergency and/or offer students referrals to other resources that could support them further.

Affordable fun a Nightlife Locations on map

1. Notre Dame des Quilles (NDQ): NDQ has an easygoing atmosphere and is great if you’re looking for casual drinks with friends or dynamic dance parties. It hosts monthly events such as karaoke, bingo and queer dance parties – NDQ even contains a miniature bowling alley that can turn into an extension of the dance floor. It is located at 32 Rue Beaubien Est.* 2. Brasserie Beaubien: A music venue with a laidback atmosphere, Brasserie Beaubien often hosts local bands and comedy shows. The owners are keen to let new and upcoming artists perform, which allows for a diversity of acts to take the stage at the venue. he small bar feels like a dive and is a great place to discover new and unique acts while grabbing a cheap beer. It is located located at 73 Rue Beaubien Est. 3. Bar Le Ritz PDB: Formerly known as Il Motore, Le Ritz is central to the Montreal indie music scene. However, it does more than just host incredible bands; the bar also offers movie nights, themed dance parties and even talks and panels during the day. Some of the latest events that they have hosted include LIP, a monthly queer dance party, a Talking Headsthemed dance soirée, karaoke nights, and screenings of various movies in 35mm film. It is step-free. It is located at 179 Jean Talon Ouest.* 4. Casa del Popolo: The bar is attached to its small but well-known concert venue. While many go to Popolo to discover new bands or jam out to old favorites, the bar itself offers a variety of drinks and has lots of seating to accommodate groups of friends looking to grab a drink with the possibility of catching a show afterwards. Popolo is also open in the afternoon and can provide a great alternative to a café. It can be found at 4871 St-Laurent.* 5. La Vitrola: The bar and music venue shares the same owners as Casa del Popolo and Sala Rossa, and is found not far from them at 4602 St-Laurent. Smaller than its counterparts, it offers a cozy and intimate atmosphere to hang out with friends and catch a show.* 6. L’Escalier: A hidden gem across from the Jardin Gamelins and Berri-UQAM metro station, L’Escalier is a quirky second-floor apartment renovated into a bar and music venue. The front of the bar contains a stage and a dance floor while the back is composed of different rooms, each with its own theme and feel. The mismatched furniture and vintage wallpaper, the arbitrarily hung twinkling lights, the setup of the rooms, and the clientele often makes L’Escalier feel like a welcoming and cozy house party. It is located at 522 Rue Ste-Catherine Est. 7. 129 Van Horne: Nomad Industries, a “content-creation agency,” operates out of the space. While their page info often makes it seem like the space serves solely as a studio or office, 129 Van Horne often hosts movie nights, documentary screenings, launch parties for various art installations or magazines, dance parties that last well into the night, hilarious variety shows and many more. 8. La Plante: This community-oriented venue often hosts local acts including bands, solo artists, DJs, performance artists, poets and writers. They also put on other events such as movie screenings, workshops and karaoke nights. 185 Van Horne.* 9. Matahari Loft: The spacious loft space hosts many art exhibitions, launch parties in the evenings, as well as dance parties and after parties that continue late into the night. It is located at 1673 Mont-Royal Est. 10. 820Plaza: “Hidden inside an old auto body garage” 820 is a large industrial space where exhibitions, record and magazine launches occur. It is also host to plenty of dance parties and live musical acts. 820 can be found at 6820 Marconi. 11. Sky Bar: The nightclub provides a typical experience of a night-out in the Village. The four-story complex offers plenty of space to dance. It also boasts a rooftop terrasse and a pool. 1474 Rue Ste. Catherine Est.*

Things to do while

3 10

2 1 87

Arts and culture Locations on map

12. Kalmunity Vibe Collective: Founded in 2003, Kalmunity is an improv jazz collective that gathers weekly to perform. Their musical style is a blend of rhythm and blues, hip hop, dancehall, rock, blues, spoken word, afrobeat, funk, jazz, roots, electronic and other genres. Now one of Canada’s largest artistic collectives of musicians, vocalists, DJs, and dancers, Kalmunity’s live organic improv will be sure to entertain. The Live Organic Summer Series is every Tuesday night at 8:30 p.m. at Petit Campus (57 Prince Arthur). Admission is $10. 13. MusÉe Des Ondes Emile Berliner: This museum has exhibits which focus on the audio industry of Canada. Easily accessed with an admission fee of $3, visitors can learn about recording history and radios used during World War II. It is located at 1001 Rue Lenoir. 14. Canadian Centre for Architecture: This museum of architecture is always free for students. As a cultural institution, it offers the public access to various exhibits, a vast library, and archives. It is located at 1920 Rue Baile.

* Queer-friendly venue

MontreaL

and places to go

e you’re not in class

For many people, the words “safety” and “police” are synonymous. And yet, it’s never been clearer that for many marginalized people – particularly Black and Indigenous people and trans women and femmes – the police are arguably the biggest threat to safety and well-being. The following are non-police options to keep you safe, especially while partying or at night. WalkSafe and DriveSafe are SSMU services where a volunteer will accompany you home anywhere in the city at night – by car, metro, or foot – for free. DriveSafe (514-3988040) runs Friday and Saturday nights from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. during the academic year. Walksafe (514-398-2498) operates on Friday and Saturday from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m., and Sunday to Thursday from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m.. If you live on or close to campus, Security Services (514-398-3000) can also walk you home. Make sure your friends get home safe, too, by downloading the Companion app (free for iOS and Android) which lets a friend track your walk home, and notifies them when you arrive safely. If you’re throwing a party with alcohol, you should contact Healthy McGill (514-3982087) – their Harm Reduction Team attends parties to provide safer sex and partying supplies, and are trained to handle situations like an overdose or a belligerent guest. Healthy McGill can also provide party kits that include condoms, lubricant, drink coasters, and business cards with important numbers.

Party Safely

Cheap food Meal plans are oftentimes the most convenient way of eating on campus, but every now and again, you’re gonna want to stray from the path a little bit. Here are some cheap food options in and around the McGill campus: • Gerts and Student Run Cafe in SSMU, both student operated. • Vinhn’s (Genome and Music Building), E-Cafe (McConnell Engineering Building), Soupe Cafe (Burnside Building), and Education Cafe (Education Building). • Midnight Kitchen serves free/pay-as-you-can gluten-free and vegan lunches on the fourth floor of the Shatner Building at 12:30 p.m. on weekdays. Bring your own tupperware and cutlery! • Samosas can be found almost anywhere on campus during the year for cheap (three for $2) – be sure to join the Samosa Search Facebook page.

Queer 14

Here are some explicitly queer events that you can find more information about on Facebook: • LIP is a queer dance party hosted by Frankie Teardrop. • Slut Island is an annual feminist and queer music festival, but also a group that “hosts events which showcase queers, female identified/gender fluid people and their work with a focus on anti-o politics and a quest for safer space.” • Cousins is a monthly dance party for queer people of colour hosted at Bar Le Ritz; it is especially geared towards queer people of colour but welcomes all allies.

MTL’s artistic roots Montreal has gained high regard in the world of street art, notably for its murals in areas like the Plateau, the Mile End, and Saint-Henri. The countless murals one can see around the island are an interesting way of discovering the city. If it’s nice outside, and you’ve got the day off, go online, find a free walking tour, and spend the day discovering a new borough of the city. It’s also a very cheap way to spend the day! Every June, Montreal hosts the MURAL Festival, one of the biggest urban art festivals in the U.S. and Canada. The festival is free, and its stated mission is to “democratize urban art [...] and to offer the public the opportunity to witness the making of murals in real time,” and it holds musical events and concerts for festival-goers.

campus Politics The ins and outs of McGill politics Representation SSMU: You may have heard students on campus referring to something called

SSMU (pronounced “Smoo”), otherwise known as the Students’ Society of McGill University. As the association mandated to represent all undergraduate students, SSMU lobbies for your interests at a number of levels, ranging from the administrative to the provincial. While there is a common misperception among students that SSMU doesn’t do much for their members, in reality it provides services that many take for granted, such as Reading Week, club funding, and daycare. There are bi-weekly Legislative Council sessions where Council discusses and votes on motions, executives give progress reports, and students have the opportunity to share proposals. Each semester, SSMU hosts a General Assembly (GA) where students vote on motions that are either brought to SSMU in advance or brought from the floor. In past years, McGill undergraduate students have voted for SSMU to support anti-austerity and climate justice efforts. PGSS: The Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) is often unheard of by undergraduate students, but that makes sense, seeing as the association is mandated to represent all post-graduate students. PGSS hosts monthly Legislative Council meetings and an annual general meeting (AGM). Students attend these meetings to share their opinions on motions and influence major decisions, such as joining a provincial student federation.

Mcgill power structures Administration Suzanne Fortier

Christopher Manfredi

Ollivier Dyens

Principal and Vice-Chancellor

Provost and Vice-President (VP) Academic

Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) (DPSLL)

Fortier holds the highest position in the administration, sits on the Board of Governors (BoG), chairs the Senate, and liaises between McGill and other universities, as well as with the provincial and federal governments. She is the second female principal in McGill’s history, succeeding Heather Munroe-Blum in 2013. Although Fortier came into the position with the promise of listening to the McGill community, many students now feel she is out of touch with what students want. Most recently, following the BoG’s decision not to divest from fossil fuel companies, Divest McGill staged a sit-in in protest in Fortier’s office. However, Fortier appeared not take the group’s demands seriously, and continues to prioritize the University’s financial interests instead. She also released a statement following the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) vote at the Winter 2016 General Assembly, making it clear that “the University’s administration continues to steadfastly oppose the BDS movement.”

As Provost and VP Academic, Manfredi reports directly to Fortier. He is mainly responsible for making decisions about McGill’s budget, particularly the distribution of funding and resources within the University that align with McGill’s academic priorities. Manfredi told The Daily last year that he wanted to be very transparent about the budget and continuing budget cuts (the Quebec government announced another $70 to 73 million in budget cuts last year, $11 million of which will be cut from McGill). However, Manfredi, along with Fortier, maintained that the University should follow the recommendations of the Committee to Advise on Matters of Social Responsibility (CAMSR) report released earlier this year. The report found that fossil fuel companies did not cause social injury in response to student climate justice group Divest McGill’s petition and report urging CAMSR to recommend divestment from fossil fuel companies.

The DPSLL serves as the central liaison between the University’s administration and its students. Dyens has said of his own job that “learning is closely is closely intertwined with the life the student leads in a university.” That being said, many students have been extremely frustrated with Dyens’s failure to seriously consider student considerations in the decision-making process: in one council meeting, he blatantly denied having ever claimed to support student services, and told Council that the McGill administration “is not for theses things.” During a PGSS meeting, Dyens expressed that the University did not want to “create unsustainable expectations” regarding the McGill Mental Health Service, saying, “there is a limit to how much health care services we can provide – we are not a hospital.”

McGill Board of Governors The Board of Governors (BoG) is the governing body of the University. It consists of 25 voting members and two observers that generally meet six times per year. The BoG is renown on campus because even according to its own website, it “has final authority over the conduct of all academic, business, and financial affairs of the University.” The only undergraduate who sits on the BoG is SSMU’s President, Ben Ger. The student body has often expressed anger towards the BoG, most notably when the BoG refused to divest from fossil fuels. Last March, the BoG’s Committee to Advise on Matter of Social Responsibility (CAMSR) released a report which claimed that climate change does not cause “grave social injury” and that divestment was therefore unwarranted. Hence, the BoG chose not to Divest, ignoring student’s concerns about their role the fight against climate change.

Senate The McGill Senate is the governing body tasked with general control and supervision over the academic matters of the University. Composed of 113 voting members, including faculty, staff, students, BoG members and alumni, Senate meetings normally take place once a month during the school year in the Leacock building. Senate members convene to discuss the most pressing issues that affect students on campus, and in recent months, Senate has discussed topics including McGill’s response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report, the student-proposed Sexual Assault Policy (SAP), and physical accessibility on campus, and more.

Student activism Becoming a critical voice at McGill groups

Yearly events

Although the administration may not always see eye-to-eye with students, McGill still offers a number of ways to get involved in different activist causes. From feminism to climate change, here are a few of the groups you can join to fight for social justice on campus.

Montreal is a city as well-known for activism as it is for poutine. While the majority of strikes occur on a circumstantial basis, there are some recurring yearly protests. Participating in these demonstrations is one of the best ways to immerse yourself in Montreal, meet people who share your passion for certain causes, and do social justice work.

Demilitarize McGill: Demilitarize McGill (colloquially known as “Demil”)

opposes McGill’s involvement in military and weapons development research and military recruitment. The group finds such activities are manifestations of imperialism, which they define as “the process by which western states, and the networks of economic and political interests they represent, extend their power over other territories through the organized use of force.” Demil often protests using direct action techniques, but has also filed a number of Access to Information (ATI) requests to McGill’s documents outlining its military research, investments, and more. Divest McGill: Divest McGill is the main climate justice group on campus, hosting a number of events throughout the year to protest the University’s investments in a number of fossil fuel companies. While its members have, in years passed, petitioned to join the Board of Governors, last year the group took a significant step in demanding action from the administration. Nine members of Divest staged a sit-in in the reception area outside Principal Suzanne Fortier’s office, protesting against the Board of Governor’s recent decision not to divest its holdings in the fossil fuel industry. The sit-in ended after 72 hours with a diploma returning ceremony, where dozens of McGill students and alumni returned their diplomas to show their disapproval of McGill’s continued refusal to divest from fossil fuels. Social Equity and Diversity Education (SEDE): The SEDE Office offers a space to talk about social justice, and provides information, education, and training with the goal of maintaining a respectful and supportive campus. SEDE is also a great way to get out of the McGill bubble and get a critical look at the greater Montreal area, by organizing programs such as Homework Zone, where students can tutor at local schools, and events such as Community Engagement Day and Indigenous Awareness Week. Community Engagement Day aims to create and strengthen relationships between McGill and its surrounding community.

McGill Students in Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR): SPHR aims to promote Palestinian human rights at McGill, advocate

Missing and Murdered Women: February 14 marked the seventh annual

Memorial March to Honour the Lives of Missing and Murdered Women in Montreal. The march aims to raise awareness for and remember missing and murdered women, and places special emphasis on the systemic violence Indigenous women face. Anti-Police Brutality: Since 1997, March 15 has signified International Day Against Police Brutality. This strike is particularly important in Montreal, not just because it initially began as an initiative of the Montreal-based Collective Opposed to Police Brutality, but also because protests in Montreal often result in clashes between demonstrators and police. The march itself has been typically declared illegal for defying bylaw P-6, which demanded protesters share their itinerary with the police, but a Quebec judge found the bylaw unconstitutional by a earlier this year. The march was surprisingly peaceful in 2016. May Day: Like many places worldwide, Montreal hosts an anti-capitalist May Day demonstration on May 1 every year in honour of International Worker’s Day. It is a particularly important day in Quebec, as celebrations and demonstrations on this day in Montreal go back as far as 1906. The strike often sees conflicts between protesters and police. For example, police used tear guns and stun grenades to disperse the crowd during May Day 2016. International Women’s Day: On May 8, women and allies gather around the world to stand in solidarity with women for International Women’s Day. According to the International Women’s Day website, the day celebrates the “social, economic, cultural, and political achievement of women,” while also advocating for greater action towards complete gender equality. Last year, the march saw nearly 200 women and allies march against patriarchy, colonialism, racism, Islamophobia, austerity, capitalism, and imperialism.

for the end of Israeli colonialism, and raise awareness about the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The group re-launched two years ago, and has been very active since then, staging demonstrations and hosting workshops and panels. SPHR has also been active in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) movement at McGill, as one of the groups in the McGill BDS Action Network, which put forward a BDS motion at the SSMU Winter 2016 General Assembly (GA). The motion passed at the GA, but failed online ratification. Following this, the SSMU Board of Directors released a statement saying that the online ratification failure was invalid because of SSMU Internal Regulations violations, but that it would not go to a revote.

Know your rights In a city like Montreal, where strikes and demonstrations happen regularly, it’s safe to assume that at some point during your time at McGill you’ll encounter the police. The Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), are present at just about every demonstration that happens in the city, and their heavy-handed use of tear gas, stun grenades, and physical force have earned them a well-deserved reputation for brutality. The good news, though, is that The Daily is here to help you navigate the world of Montreal activism safely.

Staying safe If you decide to attend a demonstration in Montreal, it’s a good idea to go with at least one other person. The SSMU VP External is mandated to support student activism, and should be organizing McGill contingents for major protests as they come up. Try showing up to one of those meet-ups, and pick a demo buddy so you don’t end up on your own. In order to avoid any direct run-ins with the cops, stay away from the fringes of a crowd, and consider hanging back from the front of a march, as that’s likely to be the focal point of tensions between protesters and law enforcement. Always remember to bring a scarf with you to tie over your mouth in case tear gas is used, and most importantly, if you ever feel uncomfortable or unsafe, find a friend and make your way out of the area where the protest is happening.

What to do if you get detained If you ever get detained by the police at a protest, it’s important to know your rights. First and foremost, remember: you only need to disclose your name, your address, and your date of birth. For their part, police officers are required to provide you with their name and ID number upon request. They’re also required to tell you why you’re being arrested, and if you’re not under arrest, they need to have “reasonable grounds for suspicion” that you’ve committed a crime in order to detain you. Concerning why the police might decide to detain you, the SPVM have historically used a variety of laws to prosecute demonstrators. However, bylaw P-6 – a favourite of the police force in this regard – was recently declared unconstitutional, which means that it’s now legal to cover your face while protesting, and organizers aren’t necessarily required by law to provide the police with their itinerary in advance. For more information on your rights while protesting, visit www.pencanada.ca/blog/canadians-right-to-protest.

Navigating mcgill and MTL Getting around inaccessible places CAMPUS sites The Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD) has maps of 46 buildings of the downtown campus that mark accessible entrances, accessible parking, elevators, and paratransit drop-offs. The maps also show gendered and gender-neutral physically accessible washrooms. It should be noted, however, that even locations that the administration considers “accessible” may not always accommodate all mobility devices. For example, some people have reported that the elevator in Thomson House (not included on the OSD maps) is too small to accommodate their wheelchairs. In order to make Rad Frosh accessible, volunteers have compiled a list of step-free venues around Montreal, which include galleries, clubs, and event spaces (though step-free does not necessarily mean wheelchairaccessible). For Rad Frosh 2016, volunteers conducted detailed accessibility audits of all Rad Frosh venues, which include the SSMU building, Bar le Ritz PDB, Mont-Royal Park, and more. These audits take stock of everything from ASL translation to scent-free policies.

Public transit When it comes to physical accessibility, the Montreal metro is more inaccessible than public transit in other major Canadian cities, like Toronto and Vancouver. Currently, only ten out of 68 metro stations are accessible by elevators: Montmorency, De la Concorde, Cartier, Jean-Talon, Berri-UQAM, Champ-de-Mars, Lionel-Groulx, Henri-Bourassa, Côte-Vertu, and Snowdon. Even Montreal’s paratransit system is laborious to navigate, especially for leisure travel. Riders are often required to book up to 48 hours in advance, and must be ready at least an hour before their scheduled ride. Anti-ableist group Accessibilize Montreal has long been organizing for more accessible transit. Though some progress has been made – three more stations have become elevator-accessible since 2014 – progress is slow and halting. Officials often cite funding restrictions as the reason for poor accessibility, but disability activists have said that this simply reflects a failure to prioritize accessibility. One estimate by the Regroupement des activistes pour l’inclusion au Québec (RAPLIQ) notes that the metro’s inaccessibility aversely affects over 20 per cent of the population. At the current rate of improvement, Montreal’s metro system will not be fully accessible until 2090. For a more detailed look at accessible transit in Canada, check out disability activist Aimee Louw’s zine, Underwater City, where she documents the realities of living with limited mobility in five Canadian cities.

Accessible entrances Paratransit drop-off

Financial accessibility McGill-friendly Facebook groups can often make it easier to be frugal.

Free & For Sale: This group functions as a Craigslist exclusively for McGill students. You can find all sorts of interesting things that are ‘free and for sale,’ ranging from fridges to food to handmade art. Utilized by over 20,000 members, there’s no guessing what useful, antique, or decorative things you may find. Housing: The McGill Housing group is extremely helpful by the time apartment-hunting season rolls around. If you’re looking for a roommate, a new place to stay for the next year, a sublet, or people to take over your lease, this group will definitely make your life easier since you can share your post with over 13,000 people in the McGill community. McGill Clothing Exchange GROUPS: Buy, sell, or exchange clothes in groups and be kind to the environment! You can find some great deals and vintage pieces from the thousands of members in this clothing exchange. McGill Book Exchange: Ease the burden on your bank account and purchase second-hand books and textbooks from McGill’s Book and Textbook Exchange Facebook groups. Buy, sell, or trade! Free Food on Campus: Find out just when free food is being handed out at campus spots with this handy group. It’s useful to note that McGill also has Samosa Search and Samosa Sales, groups which update you on where samosas are being sold, for all the ‘mose lovers! Events & Parties: Get in the loop of what’s going on in McGill and Montreal. You can find interesting things to do you wouldn’t have known about otherwise, snatch last-minute tickets to big events, and discover all the parties and happenings with this social Facebook group.

The OffIce for Students with Disabilities The Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD) is located in room RS56 in the Redpath Library Building. It provides assistance and academic accommodation to students with disabilities. These can be permanent or temporary, visible or invisible – everything from endometriosis to anxiety disorders. While most students know the OSD as a place to get academic accommodations, it offers far more. It puts on free workshops, including writing groups and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy classes for ADHD, and offers a mentorship program. The OSD represents students with disabilities on the Joint Board Sub-committee on Persons with Disabilities and the Joint Board Sub-committee on Equity. It helps students with documented disabilities navigate government funding and claim Disability Tax Credits (DTCs), as well as providing information about need-based awards intended for students with disabilities. Recent budget cuts have hit the OSD hard; there was student backlash in 2014 when a $1.2 million share of a provincial grant for the support of students with disabilities was absorbed under McGill’s annual budget, rather than directed towards improving the OSD. According to Teri Phillips, director of the OSD, the office has experienced a 250 per cent increase in use in the past five years. Underfunding means that wait times for appointments can sometimes be longer than five weeks, and as a result many students choose to forgo accommodations. Professors at McGill have been notoriously resistant to accommodating students with disabilities, and while the OSD can be a powerful tool for advocating for students’ rights, it is criticized for a perceived lack of communication between the office and professors.

FEATURES

September 1, 2016 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Skimming your student fees Administration claws back almost $2.5 million in Student Services revenue over seven years Projected Revenue FY2017: $11,647,993

Projected Expenses FY2017: $12,712,149*

* Difference to be covered from surplus funds

Written by Erin Sobat | Visuals by Rahma Wiryomartono

ecent rounds of provincial austerity cuts have decimated public sector funding and led universities to look to students as a quick fix for more financial resources. At McGill, senior administrators typically adopt a slogan of protecting the institution’s “core academic mission” by prioritizing professors’ salaries and research output. Historically, we have seen this come at the expense of front-line and support services that students rely on to navigate their university experience. As a result, dedicated student fee funding, now over half a million dollars annually, is being redirected away from Student Services and into the central operating budget. “Student Services” is the McGill administrative umbrella encompassing eleven units: Mental Health and Counselling Services, the Career Planning Service (CaPS), International Student Services, the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD), and more. These support services are essential for student wellbeing: approximately 3,500 students were seen for 23,000 appointments at Mental Health Services during the 2014-2015 school year alone. At the same time, wait times for follow-up appointments are four months on average, leaving hundreds of students without access to care when it is most urgent. Oftentimes, these campus services are the only options available for international and out-of-province students in need.

The administration has been vocal about its inability to provide sufficient resources to meet rising demand, with the Deputy Provost of Student Life and Learning stating that Student Services is “not a hospital.” However, they have been less forthcoming about money siphoned from the Student Services budget through “overhead” charges. These overheads involve billing student fee-funded units for central administrative services, which are provided through the operating budget.

For a full-time student enrolled in 15 credits, McGill charges approximately $575 annually in these mandatory fees. In comparison, the same student pays around $240 in SSMU fees, the majority of which are opt-outable. The provincial government places a cap on the tuition amounts that McGill can charge and regulates fees that students

pay to the University. However, our administration uses overhead charges to convert a portion of this restricted fee funding – set aside for Student Services – into “discretionary” money that they can redistribute as part of the operating budget. This continues a trend of forcing students to finance more and more costs of the University, violating the spirit of provincial fee guidelines and ultimately contributing to an unsustainable budgetary model that harms students on our campus. The lack of a set formula or oversight for these backdoor increases means that the administration can increasingly redistribute essential funds from Student Services based only on the constraints facing other budgets. The combined costs of overhead charges and eliminated University contributions already represent almost $2.5 million in lost Student Services revenues since 2010.

A “self-funded” unit? Understanding the University’s use of overhead charges requires examining the source of Student Services funding. In 2015-2016, this revenue totalled almost $11.5 million, primarily provided through student fees, government grants, and the sale of goods and services like immuniza-

tions and safer sex supplies. This differentiates Student Services from academic Faculties and other units that are funded out of the University’s operating budget, which is financed by direct tuition payments, provincial grants, and restricted funding, like endowment revenue. Full-time McGill students pay a mandatory fee of around $145 per semester in order to support Student Services, an amount which falls under the provincial category of frais institutionnels obligatoires (FIO). In general, FIO revenues are dedicated toward a particular unit or program, and may cover costs such as technology improvements, student life, support services, and sports or recreational activities. Aside from automatic adjustments for inflation, the creation or increase of a FIO requires approval from students via referendum, although this may be university or student initiated. FIO’s are distinct from SSMU fees, which support student groups rather than university services, and are often opt-outable. In contrast, students are not allowed to opt out of FIO’s. For the coming year, the Student Services FIO is projected to make up over $8.7 million in funding, or approximately 75 per cent of total revenues. Beyond this, different FIO’s exist for McGill Athletics operations, facilities, and accessibility initiatives. In fact, McGill students pay some of the highest FIO’s in the province: for a full-time student enrolled in 15 credits, McGill charges

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Student Services and the McGill Operating Budget 2016-2017

Administrative Services (Legal, Accounting, etc.)

University operating budget: $796M (tuition, grants, fundraising, sales, etc.) Overhead: $651K

Student Services budget: $11.6M (FIOs, grants, sales, fundraising, etc.)

approximately $575 annually in these mandatory fees. In comparison, the same student pays around $240 in SSMU fees, the majority of which are opt-outable. Because students are providing this revenue through FIO’s, units like Athletics and Student Services are often described as “self-funded:” as in supported without significant direct investment from the University’s main operating budget. In order to account for central administrative costs such as legal, accounting, and maintenance services provided to self-funded units, McGill has implemented overhead charges. These are levied on a number of student-financed units throughout the University, including Student Services, Athletics and Recreation, and Student Housing and Hospitality Services, and are paid by those units. Not only are students already directly funding these services, but they are indirectly paying for university administrative costs through overhead charges, despite also contributing to the overall operating budget through tuition. This approach is not really about covering the actual costs of the institution, given that many McGill units benefit from other support resources without paying for them. For example, the Libraries are not charged for administrative services from the Provost’s Office because they are both funded out of the same overall operating budget. In comparison, the University clearly feels little responsibility toward Student Services and expects students to fully bear both the direct and indirect costs.

More concretely, these overhead clawbacks allow the administration to convert a portion of restricted FIO revenues, intended solely for units like Student Services, into unrestricted funding that is distributed to other priorities through the operating budget. Since there is no government regulation on overhead charges, the University is free to increase these as much as they like. As a result, overhead charges on Student Services have risen from $30,679 in 2009-10 to $651,385 for 2016-17, an increase of over 2100 per cent in just seven years. For comparison, the starting salary of a psychologist at McGill Mental Health Services is around $55,000 a year. This approach would be comparable to SSMU taking money out of our Club Fund in order to pay for accounting services, then announcing that we do not have enough resources to support our student groups. McGill deductions undermine provincial regulations on what FIO’s should be funding and exacerbate resource constraints in Student Services, in turn pressuring students to vote for FIO increases in order to sustain rising costs.

A history of student financing The administration has been moving service units from the central operating budget to Student Services during periods of financial crisis or funding cuts since the 1970s. This has led more of these services

to be funded by supplementary fees rather than tuition costs, a trend which continues today with growing overhead charges. Both changes broaden the scope of what restricted funding can cover. Originally created in 1966 under the Dean of Students, Student Services included only Vocational Guidance (now Counselling Services), a Placement Office (now Career Planning Services), and Health Services (now Student Health & Mental Health Services). Between 1971 and 1974, multiple units were added from the central budget due to provincial cuts, including the Student Aid Office, Chaplaincy Service, and Orientation Office. The Career Planning Service (CaPS) was similarly integrated into Student Services in 1987 when federal funding for the campus Canada Employment Centre was cut. The first overhead charge – a flat fee of approximately $20,000 – was applied to the Student Services budget in 1975 in order to cover the accounting and registration costs of the University. Models of students financing their own services are not without precedent – student associations, like SSMU, have long provided services such as the student emergency response team (M-SERT) and sexual assault centre (SACOMSS). As a result, these services are primarily run, overseen, and held accountable by students. However, there has been little student authority over FIO’s or Student Services at McGill beyond voting in referenda for proposed increases. The Senate Committee on Student Services (CSS) was created in 1974 and is comprised of equal numbers of students and staff, ostensibly in order to provide oversight for the management and financing of these resources. Despite this mandate, it has done little more than rubber stamp the annual budget. This was well demonstrated in 1992, when the McGill administration refused to fund an Office for Students with Disabilities – mandated at a provincial level – out of the central operating budget. Instead, it was created under Student Services despite outspoken student opposition at CSS. Similarly, the First Peoples House was initially created in 1997 on a five-year provincial grant, but later absorbed by Student Services. Increases to overhead charges began in earnest in 2010, and particularly in 2013 following a $19 million cut to McGill’s operating funding by the Parti Quebecois (PQ) government. Existing overhead charges were consolidated and increased under a model that deducts a percentage of total annual revenue, rather than a flat cost. This ended the consistency of past charges and opened the door for massive annual increases to overhead costs from 2010 onward, growing from less than half

a per cent to over five per cent in under seven years. During this same period, dedicated funding transfers from the central budget for maintenance of the Brown building ($300,000) and orientation week programming ($112,000) were also cut. These expenses did not simply disappear, but must now be covered either by redirecting funds from other initiatives or deferring projects to a later date. Despite overall increases in government grants and student fees, the total revenue that Student Services has lost to overhead charges and cancelled transfers between 2010-2017 represents nearly $2.5 million.

Looming overheads, lacking oversight In the past, student representatives have struggled to receive adequate budgetary information from the University, particularly with regards to the logic and calculation of overhead charges, as well as the formula for distributing government grant funding. In addition, there is no reporting on where overhead reductions are redistributed to in the operating budget. Furthermore, despite years of advocacy by student representatives and assurances to the contrary by administrators, increases to overhead charges have not stopped for almost a decade. The University has even admitted outright that the only formula behind determining these charges has been the resource constraints of the institution at any given time. This lack of internal oversight contradicts provincial FIO regulations, which indicate that the University is not doing enough to provide students with information on where their fees are going. The Quebec regles budgetaires state that student associations have the right to receive documentation from the institution detailing all FIO amounts collected and the correlated expenses by July 1 of each year. Otherwise, the Ministry of Education can withhold the University’s operating grant or request an independent audit of their practices. In reality, however, these transparency provisions are not respected by postsecondary institutions across the province, according to a report released by the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ) in 2013. SSMU, for instance, only receives annual FIO schedules with the approved increases and total amounts for these charges. While the actual increases to the Student Services fee are within provincial limits, it is the increase in central clawbacks that is the issue here. FIO’s are not intended to replace the financing for already budgeted services,

Timeline of the History Student Services created

1966

Athletics, Student Aid, Chaplaincy & Orientation added from central administration following budget cuts

1971-74

Career and Placement Service added due to budget cuts

1975 Flat overhead charge applied by central administration (~$20 000)

1987

Office for Students with Disabilities created under provincial legislation

1992

First Peoples House created under 5-year provincial grant

1997

1997-2002

Provincial funding cut by 5% annually (offset by increases to Student Services fee)

Overhead/Fee

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and they should not be abused as a means of increasing students’ financial contributions. Nevertheless, there has effectively been no government effort to ensure compliance with the regulations. Given that the regles budgetaires are not actually enforced by law, this makes recourse outside of the Ministry of Education itself difficult. Not all Canadian universities operate on this budgetary model. The University of British Columbia, for example, does not impose overhead charges on its student services or even charge additional service fees. These support resources are recognized as core to student success and a necessary contribution of the institution, fundamentally different from an ancillary service like parking. At the University of Toronto, the Student Services budget is governed by a Council on Student Services (CoSS) with its own constitution and bylaws – an approach that better holds administrators accountable for potentially abusing the system.

The administrative defense How does McGill’s administration justify these increases? Whether at Senate, in the press, or on university committees, they rely primarily on arguments about the “core academic mission” and the current surplus in Student Services. Administrators like to argue that, given current resource constraints and cuts across all departments, there is a shared responsibility for all community members to bear the burden of fiscal austerity in service of the institution’s broader mission. This perpetuates a narrative of austerity that wilfully ignores the disproportionate impact of cuts on marginalized groups, including support staff and those most in need of support services – like students with learning disabilities and mental illnesses. However, this argument also admits that overhead costs are not actually intended to reflect the costs of resources provided back to these units. This is supported by the fact that, while overhead costs have increased in the past seven years, central administrative services have effectively decreased. Not only that, but student fee revenues are often lumped into a similar budgetary category as research funding. This ignores the difference between government grants that include funding specifically for the indirect costs of research (such as lab facilities), and restricted fees intended for direct services to students. In reality, overhead charges can only be justified as a means of receiving more money from students. Another argument that the administration favours is the current Student Ser-

vices surplus of approximately $5 million, which was accrued due to unexpected staff vacancies, the 2011 MUNACA strike, and administrative restrictions on reallocating unused funds within a fiscal year. This surplus has led to new investments in infrastructure improvements as well as a Student Services Innovation Fund (SSIF) in order to improve existing service delivery. By using this fixed surplus to justify the ongoing redistribution of funds, however, the University is creating an unsustainable budget model that will require future increases to student fees. Paradoxically, the same administration that denies the need to reduce mounting overheads due to the surplus has also tried to redistribute this surplus to other projects outside of Student Services. Similar trends have persisted in the use of the Innovation Fund to finance the AskMcGill initiative, a communications collaboration between various Student Life and Learning units. This again involves using dedicated student fees to cover basic services that should be provided as part of the operating cost of the institution. While collaboration is necessary to better serve students, this integration should occur with investments from the central operating budget, rather than prescribed funding intended for front-line services.

Toward an accountable budget The University would like to ask students for an increase to the Student Services fee. However, why should we agree to even consider such a request when existing services already fall so short, and particularly if a significant proportion of funds are not even being directed where they are most needed? For students to vote on such a proposal in good conscience, several steps must be taken by the administration. First, they must commit to ending artificial overhead increases and consult with student associations to develop a clear and transparent formula for financing these costs. Second, they must make detailed budgetary information on Student Services, and other FIO-funded units, available to student representatives and studentsat-large so that we can understand where our money is going. Third, the Senate Committee on Student Services must have a clearly defined role in the yearly budgeting process, including a mandate to review and approve the budget. Finally, the administration must actively involve students in plans to invest the cur-

Increases to Student Services Overhead Charges

rent surplus in infrastructure updates to make existing services more efficient, like with an Electronic Medical Record and centralized intake space in the Brown Building. In order to reduce demand for support, efforts to align healthcare services along a “stepped care” model also need to invest heavily in preventative measures. This means that the administration must commit to changing policies that act as barriers to student wellbeing. For example, our model for students seeking academic accommodations is outdated, requiring students to focus more on obtaining supporting documentation for their situation than on actually improving it. If students see real progress not just in how services are offered, but at the root causes of harm in the university environment, then they may be more willing to consider additional investments. Beyond McGill, SSMU also has a role to play in advocating for real government oversight and enforcement of current FIO regulations. This work could well be pursued at the table of a student federation – an organization that allows local student associations to coordinate their priorities at the provincial level. While currently unaffiliated to a larger federation, SSMU

has a mandate to sit as an observer at the Association pour la voix étudiante au Québec (AVEQ). The McGill administration’s current budgetary approach to Student Services contradicts their message of support for student wellbeing on campus. The use of overhead charges to convert dedicated fee revenue into discretionary funding undermines provincial regulations and continues a trend of pushing more costs onto students. Most of all, this ignores the vital need for more investment in support resources as part of McGill’s “core academic mission.” Students must speak out against current trends, or else administrators will continue to prioritize increasing revenues over student interests. Erin Sobat is Vice-President (University Affairs) for the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) and has served as a member of the Senate Committee on Student Services since 2013. He can be reached at ua@ssmu.mcgill.ca. This feature was informed in part through a report by the 2015-16 SSMU Academic Research Commissioner, Cecilia MacArthur.

of Student Services

Changes

2008

2010

Flat overhead charge increased by central administration (~$30 000)

Overhead charge of 1.5% added for non-fee revenue ($44 087)

2011 Overhead charge of 1.5% expanded to all revenue ($159 437)

2013 Brown Building funding cut ($300 000), overhead charges consolidated and increased to 3.5% due to budget cuts ($321 589)

2015 Orientation funding cut ($112 000), overhead charges increased to 5% ($602 508)

2016 Overhead charges increased to approximately 5.5% ($651 385)

Art Essay

September 1, 2016 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Rahma Wiryomartono ‘Fading woman ’ Acrylic on felt

SCI+TECH

September 1, 2016 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

#PayPal4Palestine

Palestinians demand access to PayPal in West Bank and Gaza Chantelle Schultz The McGill Daily

n December 2015, Sam Bahour, chairman of Americans for a Vibrant Palestinian Economy (AVPE) and Edward Thompson, president of AVPE, wrote a letter to PayPal president and CEO Daniel Schulman. They requested a meeting to discuss changing the fact that PayPal is unavailable to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, while it is available to those in Israel, as well as Israeli settlers in the West Bank – residing there illegally under violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, according to international law. Bahour, a Palestinian-American management consultant living in Ramallah, Palestine, told The Daily in an interview that “we know that others have been approaching [PayPal], like the Bank of Palestine, multiple times, and they haven’t had a reply. So we, as a U.S. not-for-profit that’s interested in Palestinian-American business, approached him and asked for a meeting, so that we can sit down and figure out how to deal with this and if there’s anything we can do to help.” Bahour explained that since PayPal did not respond, they decided to go public with the issue. On August 23, a public letter signed by over forty Palestinian or-

ganizations, including APVE, was sent to Schulman urging him to reconsider, and to extend PayPal’s services to the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). The letter argues that the lack of access to PayPal hinders the growth of the Palestinian economy, specifically the technology sector, and that “tech is one of the only sectors with the potential to grow under status quo conditions of the Israeli occupation which severely restricts the internal and cross-border movement of goods and people.” According to the World Bank, unemployment in the West Bank was 19 per cent at the end of 2015, and twice as high in Gaza. With the release of the letter came the social media hashtag #PayPal4Palestine. Palestinians have used the hashtag to voice how not having access to PayPal is hurting their opportunities, and individuals and organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace have used it to show their support for Palestinians. Dalia Alnajjar, a 22-year-old freelancer in Gaza, tweeted, “I couldn’t sign up for many webinars because I simply dont have a @PayPal account.” Alnajjar told The Daily that “the Palestinian population is young and savvy, and has one of the highest literacy rates in the MENA [Middle East and North Africa] region, and as the

youth unemployment rate is around 60 per cent, one of the ways to combat it is through entrepreneurship and hacking other markets through freelancing and the online world.”

“For Palestine to develop properly, it’s important that we have access to the global technology that’s out there. And in this specific domain, PayPal is a leader.” Sam Bahour, chairman of Americans for a Vibrant Palestinian Economy

Alnajjar continued, “I just want to be treated as a human. And with advanced technology that can defy all kind of borders and limits, it’s easier and the fact that people are denying us access to some service is just unfair and unhuman.” The public letter to Schulman also addresses ethical reasons for

Marina Djurdjevic | The McGill Daily PayPal to operate in Palestine. It cites the fact that illegal Israeli settlers have access to PayPal but their Palestinian neighbors do not, and states that “we believe a company like PayPal, whose actions in North Carolina reaffirmed its commitment to equal rights, would agree that people living in the same neighborhood ought to have equal rights and access to its services regardless of religion or ethnicity.” This is referencing PayPal’s decision not to open a global operations center in Charlotte, North Carolina, following the state’s new transphobic “bathroom bill” that forces trans people to use bathrooms according to their assigned gender at birth. The decision meant the loss of 400 future jobs in North Carolina, and Schulman said in a statement

that “becoming an employer in North Carolina, where members of our teams will not have equal rights under the law, is simply untenable. […] The new law perpetuates discrimination and it violates the values and principles that are at the core of PayPal’s mission and culture.” Bahour stressed that “the issue is not to smear [Paypal], the issue is not to make it more complicated for them, the issue is inquiring so we can work with them to enter the Palestinian market.” He continued, “for Palestine to develop properly, it’s important that we have access to the global technology that’s out there. And in this specific domain, PayPal is a leader.” The Daily reached out to PayPal but did not receive comment in time for publication.

Politicizing video games

Mount Royal Game Society brings together activism and gaming Coco Zhou The McGill Daily

ideo games get a bad rap. They are seen as being frivolous and childish, and those who play them are often imagined as being solely young white men, who, when not brutally killing virtual enemies, like to harass and abuse women on the internet. After multiple highprofile incidents of such misogyny – most notable amongst them involving feminist game critic Anita Sarkeesian – it is hard to be convinced otherwise. However, gaming and anti-oppressive politics overlap more often than most gamers and activists would perhaps expect. One of the communities helping to bridge these two worlds is situated right here in Montreal. Over the summer, the Mount Royal Game Society (MRGS) oversaw the creation of a sixweek workshop series centred around the relationship be-

tween games, gaming culture, and politics. The volunteer-run organization, which hosts meetings and events throughout the year, has a goal to “promote a more welcoming and diverse game culture” and to provide “an alternative space outside of the values and structures of the established game industry.” The Daily spoke to organizer Carolyn Jong, and researcher Tara Ogaick, about MRGS and gaming activism in Montreal. “Everything is political,” said Ogaick. “Games that [...] manifest and consciously address politics are incredibly fascinating.” After moving to Montreal to pursue art and games, Ogaick was grateful to have found MRGS, a community centred around anti-oppressive values, where discussions around safer space policies and accessibility in gaming are held. With explicitly political games such as Papers, Please and The Cat and the Coup achieving small market success, the conversation

around the value of politically progressive games is starting to gain momentum. While the mainstream gaming industry has certainly listened to these discussions, it often does so in order to profit from them. “It’s a really difficult landscape to navigate,” said Ogaick. “There’s always the risk that if [we initiate these conversations] then [they’ll] become accessible to the people who we are trying to work against.” Indeed, big-budget games that capitalize on harmful representations in the name of “diversity” are not a new phenomenon. Games that do manage to be ethical experience a lot of backlash, as the artists and developers who are trying to create structural changes come face-to-face with those who want to preserve the status quo. “Our goal with MRGS is to keep pushing as much as we can,” said Jong, “to allow people to think about games as an artistic practice [that has political implications].”

Without academic and activist jargon, games provide “another in” for those who are trying to educate themselves and others about systemic injustices. Fall is an exciting season for indie gamers, artists, and developers in the city, what with the quickly approaching Montreal Independent Games Festival, as well as GameLoop Montreal, an all-day social, educational, and safer space event for everyone interested in gaming culture. “There is a big gaming scene in Montreal,” said Jong. “There are a lot of people here that make games, study games, [and] write

about games.” Mobilizing them, however, has been a challenge. “Even though I go to a lot of activist events and feel really comfortable in those spaces, trying to merge [games and activism] has been hard.” “What I really like about games,” said Jong, “is how they communicate ideas about systems [of power]. Depending on where you sit in that system, you get a totally different experience [as a player].” Governed by their own internal logic, games can allow players to examine and work through the structures of these fantasy worlds in order to convey complex ideas about societal structures. Without academic and activist jargon, games provide “another in” for those who are trying to educate themselves and others about systemic injustices. “I would love to have more activists make games,” said Jong. “Game-makers could learn a lot from activists, too.”

CULTURE

September 1, 2016 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Body image activism on display “Models Wanted!” confronts oppressive body image standards

Deanna Duxbury Culture Writer

he evening of May 26 marked the grand opening of the “Models Wanted!” exhibit. Students, critics, artists and activists crowded into the lobby, sipping glasses of wine and eagerly glancing towards the closed doors of the gallery. Like-minded enthusiasts began to discuss the perception of body image in Western culture and media. Is there really a solution for the oppressive beauty standards in the world? Is this an issue that art has the power to change? Featured at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA), “Models Wanted!” ran until August 21 and marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of ÉquiLibre; an organization founded to prevent and reduce issues associated with weight and body image by promoting healthy living. As part of the EducArt project organized by ÉquiLibre, youth from across the Greater Montreal Area submitted multi-media work to the museum that expresses support for body image activism – to acknowledge beauty in a variety of forms and challenge contemporary beauty ideals. The collection ranged from silhouettes, paintings, to celebrity collages; each piece inspiring retrospection and insight into the modern culture of body image diversity. Bodies of art The doors opened to a space that held a variety collages, paintings, portraits, and sculptures. I was particularly intrigued by how some artists chose to re-imagine celebrity figures who are known for their engagement with body confidence, like Adele and Oprah Winfrey. These same artists assembled a series of large-scale portraits of famous personas, integrating magazine clippings, fake eyelashes, and beads into them. They represented bodies as collections of shapes and faces demonstrate the objectification of the human form and the materialization of beauty. The collages depicted notable celebrities: Marilyn Monroe, Bruno Mars, Rebel Wilson, among others. Through portraying smiling and singing figures, the artists showed how successful stars brought body confidence to the forefront. Even as their personas were being celebrated through art, I couldn’t help but notice the perfectly tanned and beautifully toned fashion advertisements drawn across the collages. The pieces created a unique experience, representing the duality of the celebrities’ personal achievement and the persistent struggle of media influence. This media influence con-

tinues to limit representations of ethnicity, disability and diverse sexuality, creating a standardized definition of beauty that fails to encompass a fair range of diversity. Other pieces addressed the destructive and disturbing standards of beauty head-on, with dark silhouettes and loud proclamations right on canvas. This portion of the exhibition depicted phrases and quotations in large font about coming to terms with one’s body. One of them read (in translation), “The mirror reflects your image but your spirit reflects beauty in each look [...].” The images and the text together reflect the difficulty of learning to love oneself and the pain that comes from feeling flawed. These pieces featured nameless and faceless figures. Each one was defined by shadows and dark outlines with compelling contrasts of light and body shape. The collaboration with ÉquiLibre is only the beginning for the MMFA. The museum is going through great, progressive changes to implement more community-conscious projects. the Director of the Education and Community Programs, Jean-Luc Murray, sat down with The Daily, and talked about his intention to shift “the perception of exclusivity” away from the art museum. Envisioning many future reforms for the museum, he hopes that the MMFA can become a “museum of the 21st century” in regards to social inclusivity. Nathalie Bondil, Director and Chief Curator, stated that the museum seeks to “spread the important message of appreciating the diversity of our bodies and [recognize] the many faces of beauty.” “Models Wanted!” brings this message to the forefront, acting as a source of inspiration for the advocacy of healthy body image representation in the media. The institution in question The MMFA is making great strides towards inclusivity and community activism, but some believe that this has not always been the case. The MMFA claims their World Cultures and Mediterranean Archaeology collections are incomparable across Canada, but the museum has been previously criticized in the past for lack of diversity and cultural integration. The “Marvels and Mirages of Orientalism: From Spain to Morocco” exhibit in 2015 received backlash for its representations and glorification of colonialism and orientalism. The truth of the culture and the oppressive history displayed through the exhibit sparked heated debates over how diversity is represented at the MMFA.

The criticized absence of diversity within museum exhibits is due to the historically privileged canon of Western art. While this is an important critique to keep in mind, “Models Wanted!” is a positive step toward rectifying the museum’s historical exclusivity. Previous critiques on the western-centric perspective of the museum may still arise, but overall the collection attempts to extend support rather than marginalize and exclude. The exhibit not only shed light on an important issue in an innovative way, but also acts as a piece in a much larger movement for inclusivity. The Education and Community Sector of the Museum recognizes issues of cultural oppression and marginalization as they move away from the elitism and cultural erasure associated with historic institutions of fine art. Their efforts are duly noted, as they strive to reimagine the possibilities of the modern art museum progressing past western-centric exclusivity. This is all encompassed within their “Sharing the Museum” program. The Education and Community Sector website claims that their program is based upon “openmindedness, [and] an attentive ear and action.” The initiative has collaborated with over 400 local partnerships and organizations. Overall, it will be very interesting to see the follow-through of this museum sector, and the ways in which they work to implement community inclusivity. Breaking the body image crisis ÉquiLibre Ambassador and McGill graduate, Isabelle Scantland Lebel, was present at the exhibition to promote “Models Wanted!”. She explained the importance of “fitness for the sake of fun” rather than to achieve a beach-ready body. As a fitness instructor and program organizer, Lebel works hard to challenge the societal norms of fitness and beauty in media. She described her work as bringing physical education to underprivileged areas outside Montreal and broadening the conversation of body image acceptance and healthy living to include those who may not have access to such resources. Lebel sees firsthand the effects that programs such as EducArt have on self-esteem and body image. Children, through her own programs and experience, become more self-assured and less likely to engage in unhealthy behaviour in an effort to enhance their physical appearance. According to Institut de la statistique du Quebec, in 2012 , 71 per cent of young people attempted to change their weight, and 51 per cent were dissatisfied with their bodies. In response to these is-

Natalie Bondiel, director Deanna Duxbury | Photographer sues, Lebel promotes striving towards a healthy lifestyle for the sake of wellness rather than beauty. I shared some of my own personal experiences with Lebel, as she addressed relevant struggles I see almost daily among friends and colleagues. As a professional model, I’ve been limited by the requirements of a contract and seen the restrictions imposed by the fashion community. The artwork displayed in “Models Wanted!” clearly reflects the repercussions of the visual world I work in. Going into the exhibit, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but the artwork was startlingly relatable. It is difficult to get over feelings of comparison and inadequacy. In that room, it seemed, everyone saw a little bit of their own insecurity drawn out and realized.

resemble Northwest Coast Aboriginal masks. His work closely resembles the students’, which were composed of multi-media images and beauty products for the purpose of criticizing the beauty-industrial complex. Both repurpose commercialized items to make a statement about culture and modern representations of fashion. The feminist undertones of the exhibit also reminded me the Guerrilla Girls, who challenged the institution of the museum with a strong and resilient presence. The artists’ activism undermined a culture of exclusivity and made bold strides toward acceptance and change. “Models Wanted!” is a step in this direction, creating a dialogue about the way art and media manipulate ideas of body image.

Art as a tool: artists on art activism “Models Wanted!” is a new addition to an already thriving artistic movement. Body image activism has long tackled the oppressive, patriarchal standards of beauty through art. Artists such as Jody Steele put body shaming culture morbidly on display, capturing the overwhelming pressure to be thin, in a similar way to the artwork the students created. Steele, and the students of the EducArt projet, bring an important discussion on the horrors of modern eating disorders and body image dysmorphia to the forefront. The museum’s reforms are a part of a much larger history of activist art. The “Models Wanted!” collages can be linked to such artists as, Brian Jungen. Jungen is an Indigenous artist who is most famous for reassembling Nike Air Jordan sneakers to

Society defines standards, community creates change Body image inclusivity and acceptance is as much a personal struggle as it is a community driven issue. The way models are depicted in the media affects so much of how I shape myself as a woman, but those representations don’t need to perpetuate insecurity. In so many ways, these societal standards divide and categorize people until there is nothing left but magazine clippings, beauty products, and the desire to be someone others would consider beautiful. This is why the MMFA exhibition was so profound. Its impact doesn’t lie solely in it’s art, rather in the community, created by the body image acceptance movement. In this way, the Education and Community sector’s greatest strength is the space it reinvents and the acceptance it extends.

culture

September 1, 2016 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Check the privilege, not the mic

Zahra Habib Culture Writer

reakdance. Disc jockeys. Emceeing. Graffiti. These four elements comprise the foundations of hip hop, a culture cum movement and music genre that has its roots in the Civil Rights era, which claimed urban art as its mode of expression. It was embraced by and through the use of public space – from improvised rap battles on the street, to the sonic ‘gasms mixed by DJs at 80s block parties, to the rebellious nature of graffiti on public walls, buildings, and even modes of transportation. Hip hop in its early years was all about vibing with anyone who returned that spirit of acceptance by virtue of being an artistic movement resistant to sociopolitical and racial marginalization. This message of anti-racism is regularly erased by corporations and artists who are oblivious to the concept of “appropriation” – commonly seen when non-Black pop singers make irritating attempts at rapping in African American Vernacular English or partaking in traditionally Black dance-moves despite being obviously out of character. It’s evident that these people don’t realize or care about the consequences of making a spectacle of marginalized cultures and using people of colour and visible minorities, validating themselves in the act. The issues unearthed whenever an artist appropriates Black culture are beyond a matter of missing credit where due – it’s a dismissal of one of the most pertinent social justice struggle in modern history, as well as hip hop’s role in its modern era. It’s “art” devoid of any artistic element;it extracts capital from harmful and racist representations of African Americans that remain justifications for their continuing oppression. Among the pushback on these negative portrayals are some of the most eloquent, talented, and passionate works that mainstream hip hop has produced, and thanks to the groundbreaking work of artists like Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole, awareness of hip hop’s politico-racial roots is growing, as well as its transcendence from being a music genre to a movement for racial justice. Within the movement, however, one issue that deserves attention is the treatment and place of women in hip hop culture. Though misrepresentation, erasure, and exploitation of women is neither inherent nor necessary to hip hop, there is an unmistakable disparity between the portrayal and value of men and women in relation to one another,

Conversations about women in hip hop

and this gender gap grows as it continues to be ignored. On June 2, a panel discussion ran by Queens Creation (QC) sought to address the marginalization of women in hip hop, as part of Montreal’s perennial Under Pressure (UP) hip hop festival. QC, which runs a series of events each year for the festival, aims to spotlight the works of women street artists, dancers, singers, poets, writers, and DJs in Montreal’s urban scene. In all its work, QC aims to prioritize inclusion, support, and the sharing of ideas. The all-women panel discussed the status of women in hip hop culture though the sharing of personal experience, followed by an exposition of artwork by women artists. Each of the five speakers came from a unique background, and were invited for their contributions to the community: Melissa Proietti, founder of QC and integral member of Under Pressure; Wüna Nawü, a self-taught graffiti artist and founder of several street art collectives; Kate Lynx, legendary Montreal B-girl and dance teacher; Shelley Miller, a visual artist whose sugar-based murals have been on urban displays internationally; and Melodrastik, an eclectic DJ.

Hip hop in its early years was all about vibing with anyone who returned that spirit of acceptance by virtue of being an artistic movement resistant to sociopolitical and racial marginalization. According to Proietti, the goal of the panel was to connect women artists with one another and to reflect on where they see women in the greater space of hip hop culture. The structure was interactive, the panelists and audience comfortable, and the setting relaxed. But a problem was noticeable from the moment the event began, and was confirmed during the discussion: not a single speaker was Black or of colour. Though the panel was meant to be inclusive and offer a place of support for female artists frustrated with inequality, it is difficult to un-

Rahma Wiryomartono | The McGill Daily derstand how and why the exclusion of Black voices on a panel discussing hip hop could have been possible. Nowhere amidst the points on equality, visibility, and allyship provided in the discussion outline was any mention of race, and how women of colour – and especially Black women – fit into the conversation, and the lack of representation was only addressed when an audience member posed the question. In response, Proietti provided the only real acknowledgment of QC’s faltering, stating, “any struggles faced by [white] women in hip hop are magnified tenfold for women of colour.” Though her response appropriately criticized the panel’s racial homogeneity, the silence of the other four panelists following her answer was a loud cry proclaiming the long road left to true female empowerment. Despite the lack of input from women who are part of the racial and socioeconomic community to which hip hop is indigenous, the discussion on the struggles faced by women as a whole was interesting and fruitful. There was valuable insight on the nature of status quo trappings, such as the insistent use of “B-boys” as a universal term for dancers, revealing subtle misogyny within a greater system. Panel and audience alike agreed on the issue of constant objectification that creates pressure on a woman’s artistic output to fit criteria which are too often hypersexualizing, in order to earn the approval of more powerful, usually male, figures – and by extension, the community. Artists shared how they found their work held to higher standards than that of their male counterparts, sug-

gesting that “we don’t belong, and we need to prove to everyone that we do”, as B-girl Lynx expressed. On affecting change, the panel emphasized educating youth, particularly boys, on systems of oppression and how they function, as well as the need to properly address and break down the incorrect but prevailing prejudice that feminism is a movement ‘against men’. The struggle for gender equality will go nowhere if we do not willingly and genuinely seek to break down the systems of oppression which provided hip hop’s impetus in the first place. Although the well-intentioned panel provided valuable insight and an opportunity to meet with a few interesting and talented local female artists, there was a less encouraging but important message that was expressed by its shortcomings. NonBlack, and especially white female artists must acknowledge that their membership to the hip hop community requires deep introspection and the realization of the context within which they work – though all women in hip hop share an uphill battle, the struggles of all white artists, in relation to those of artists of colour, are experienced from a place of tangible (socioeconomic, among others) advantage because they belong to a privileged race. The failure to acknowledge this, as non-Black but self-proclaimed hip hop artists, strays precariously close to cultural appropriation. Understanding the varying systems of oppression and how they affect members of one industry in extremely different ways are crucial for maintaining collective interests over individual, which

is the soulful transcendence in hip hop that so many talk about but few really understand. Hip hop’s roots are diverse and interconnected. It is a movement that tries to dismantle oppression through challenging, in beautifully and sometimes painfully human ways of expression, the dominant structures which sustain the status quo. QC’s panel was made up of talented artists with genuine intentions of helping to put an end to gender discrimination. Though they failed to acknowledge, let alone address, unique racial and economic complexities of how inequality is experienced in hip hop, this was not a conscious dismissal of that reality on QC’s or UP’s part. It was, however, indicative of how the systems responsible for maintaining discrimination are so deeply imbedded, that even efforts to resist them from members of the community still have a long way to go in terms of education. Hip hop is, in essence, “by the dispossessed, for the dispossessed,” which means that white female artists who remain silent on the intersectionality of race, gender, and class struggles when addressing hip hop’s misogyny can inadvertently inflict even more harm on women of colour. The real mic check will start with Black women of the community lead the discussion on misogyny in hip hop, in a way reminiscent of the legendary artist Jill Scott’s beautiful delivery: “I am warm/I am peace /From the roads of Botswana from 23rd Street/From inside the third eye/ Ever watching this wicked wicked system of things/I do see.”

Culture

September 1, 2016 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

I’m yelling Sep-timber Your guide to fall festivals big and small Coco Zhou | The McGill Daily

POP Montreal POP has been the fall music festival to go to for over a decade now, having featured both well-known names and underground favourites. This year boasts headliner Angel Olsen, the Missouri-born psych folk singer and guitarist, and Montreal’s very own Groenland, who have charmed audiences locally and abroad with their orchestral indie pop since 2013. While POP has never lacked big name bands, this year its impressive lineup of over 400 bands has quite a few hidden gems. One of them is Jef E. Barbara, who has carved out a space for themself and other Black artists in the Montreal music scene by reviving the post-punk and new wave movements, which have historically been dominated by whiteness. Other up-and-coming talents are also sure to give POP’s more established artists a run for their money. Montreal will be graced by Princess Vitarah, the sharp and fearless rapper hailing from Nigeria; local folk singer-harp duo Emilie & Ogden;, and Heathers, the three-piece queer and feminist grunge band. POP Montreal runs from September 21 to 25. Single show tickets are $10 to $60. Passes are $300.

Red Bull Music Academy Every year, the Academy gathers the hottest music acts and brings club shows, lectures, and performances to various cities across the globe. The four-day workshop is designed for aspiring musicians, who are selected through a rigorous application process. Although only participants receive the full benefit of the workshop, the public has access to many exciting events as well. Iggy Pop will be in town on September 26 for a conversation about his career and legacy, joined by music journalist Carl Wilson. Björk will make a virtual appearance through a digital exhibition, hosted by the DHC/ART, a contemporary art venue with free admissions. Also on our must-see list is a live collaboration between Fucked Up, the hardcore punk band from Toronto, and Inuit singer Tanya Tagaq, whose powerful throat-singing illuminates the intersecting injustices of colonialism and misogyny in Canada. With its focus on the avant-garde, the Academy will bring to Montreal some of the most experimental and explorative artists in today’s music landscape. The Red Bull Music Academy runs from September 24 to October 28.

Ladyfest Dedicated to “supporting and inspiring women performing comedy,” Women in Comedy Montreal is back with the second edition of Ladyfest, featuring comedians, sketch artists, burlesque performers, and storytellers from Montreal, Toronto, Boston, and beyond. Where mainstream comedy festivals and open mic nights are dominated by men, this women-centred comedy festival provides a platform for hilarious ladies and femmes from all over. Aside from organizing Ladyfest, Women in Comedy Montreal hosts independent shows as well as its own open mics throughout the year. Although Ladyfest is a young initiative, it is a promising force in the world of comedy, which too often relies on misogyny as a punchline. Check out this year’s featured comics, and watch as they smash the patriarchy, one joke at a time. Ladyfest takes the stage September 12 to 18 at Theatre Sainte-Catherine and other locations. Tickets are $10.75 in advance and $15 at the door for all of the shows at Theatre Sainte-Catherine; prices vary for other venues.

Love the arts? Get involved with The Daily’s culture section! Write exhibition, music, or film reviews, think-pieces, and overviews on McGill and Montreal’s cultural scene. culture@mcgilldaily.com

Justine Touchon | The McGill Daily

Montreal International Black Film Festival The Montreal International Black Film Festival (MIBFF) recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. Since its inception in 2005, the MIBFF has been promoting and supporting films that engage with the realities of anti-blackness and that celebrate the resilience of Black people around the world. With around forty countries represented and a hundred films screened each year, the MIBFF is the largest festival of its kind in Canada. During past years, the MIBFF has offered exceptional films such as Biyi Bandele’s Half of a Yellow Sun, based on the novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, which follows a wealthy Nigerian family through a civil war; The Central Park Five, a documentary that deals with antiblackness in the legal system; and Dear Mandela, which spotlights several young activists as they continue to fight injustices in post-apartheid South Africa. This year’s films have yet to be announced. With its affordable pricing and large scope, the MIBFF is an opportunity for Black filmmakers to showcase to their work and for an audience aware of systemic anti-Blackness to discover those films that struggle to make it in the mainstream market. The Montreal International Black Film Festival runs from September 28 to October 2 at several venues across town. Tickets are $10 for each film.

Sight & Sound Now in its 8th year, Sight & Sound features participatory and hybrid forms of art, including performances, installations, and public interventions, as well as panels, workshops, and discussions. Organized annually by digital art centre Eastern Bloc, it brings together new media artists from Canada and elsewhere. This year’s theme, Per Capita, centres around the phenomenon of collaborative consumption – an economic model that redefines the ways in which individuals spend and consume (i.e. Uber). While some argue that the model allows working-class people to gain access to new sources of revenue, others worry that it gives corporations incentive to strip away worker protections and push down wages. Sight & Sound delves into these debates as artists and speakers will unpack the class dynamics of the sharing economy and question its ethics and limits. Sight & Sound takes place September 28 to October 2 at Eastern Bloc (7240 Clark).

Thursday, September 22 will elect the rest of

the staff of

The McGill Daily

the 2016-17 editorial board. We hope you’ll consider running for one of our open positions. If you are interested in joining our nonhierarchical team, here’s a quick guide on the election process for becoming a Daily editor.

the basics:

becoming staff:

Unlike many student newspapers, our editors are elected by Daily staffers rather than hired by a committee. To run for an editorial position or to vote in the election, you must be Daily staff.

To be staff, you must have six staff points – contributing articles, photos, graphics, and illustrations count as one point each. Writing a feature or coming in for a production night count as two points. If you’re not staff yet, there’s time before the election, so email an editor to get involved!

the editorial board: the positions:

Editors share equal voting rights on issues, and work together to produce the newspaper every week. Each editor receives a monthly stipend.

Commentary Culture Sports Multimedia

For more information on individual positions, contact specific section editors (emails can be found on page 22 of this issue). You can also stop by The Daily’s office in Shatner B-24.

Candidate statement

Candidate rundown

Elections

September

11:59 p.m.

6:00 p.m.

7:00 p.m.

Submit a one-page letter of intent to coordinating@mcgilldaily.com.

All staffers who want to vote in the election must attend rundowns in Shatner B-24.

Candidates will interview in front of all voters at the election in Shatner B-24.

deadlines: The Daily requires all candidates to submit a one-page application that includes your qualifications and interest in running, as well as two samples of writing, photos, illustrations, or design. Email your letter of intent to coordinating@mcgilldaily.com by September 19 at midnight.

EDITORIAL

Volume 106 Issue 1

editorial board

The McGill Daily is located on unceded Kanien’kehá:ka territory. coordinating editor

Sonia Ionescu

coordinating@mcgilldaily.com

managing editor

Ralph Haddad coordinating news editor

Ellen Cools news editors

Xavier Richer Vis Marina Cupido commentary & compendium! editors

Inori Roy

culture editor

Coco Zhou features editor

Saima Desai science+technology editor

Bonjour/hi

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phone 514.398.6784 fax 514.398.8318 mcgilldaily.com

September 1, 2016 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

e’re happy that you picked up our first issue of the year, and hope that you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed putting it together for you. We also hope that our Disorientation Guide will help ease the transition from summer’s sweet, sweet freedom to fall’s intense daily grind. In case you don’t know, The Daily is a bit of a McGill landmark. Founded as a daily sports rag in 1911, it slowly grew into a fully fledged grassroots media source in the 1960s, when it covered student protests such as Black students’ anti-racism efforts. Over the years, The Daily became what it is today: an alternative weekly newspaper run by a non-hierarchical collective of editors and contributors, wherein decisions are based on consensus. We publish on topics not only relevant to McGill, but also to the Montreal community at large. Our Statement of Principles (SOP), printed below this editorial, defines our mission: to prioritize marginalized voices, content, and angles that aren’t given space in mainstream media. If we’ve piqued your interest, there are a number of ways for you to get involved with The Daily. You can

contribute by writing an article, taking a photo, drawing an illustration, or submitting an art essay. If radio and video are more your thing, get in contact with our multimedia editor, and you could host an installment of our radio show Unfit to Print, produced in collaboration with CKUT 90.3 FM, a non-profit campus community radio station at McGill. If you’ve never written an article before, don’t worry! The Daily is proud to function as an alternative journalism school, as McGill doesn’t have one of its own. We will also be hosting J-Week, a series of journalism workshops and speakers, later in the year. Feel free to email editors with questions or ideas you may have, or to stop by on a Friday during production. Our office is in the SSMU building’s basement, room B-24, right across from Gerts. We have comfy couches, bound volumes of The Daily dating back to the 1940s, and a coffee machine. Look out for a new issue of The Daily online and on stands around campus every Monday. —The McGill Daily editorial board

Igor Zlobine sports editor

Vacant

multimedia editor

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Kevin Tam

illustrations editor

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Anne-Cécile Favory design & production editor

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web editor

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le délit

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cover design Marina Djurdjevic contributors Rayleigh Lee, Paniz Khosroshahy, George Ghabrial, Erin Sobat, Deanna Duxbury, Zahra Habib, Anya Kowalchuk, Jay Van Put, Justine Touchon

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2.1 The fundamental goal of The McGill Daily shall be to serve as a critical and constructive forum for the exchange of ideas and information relevant to McGill and related communities.

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2.2 Within this optic, The Daily recognizes that all events and issues are inherently political, involving relations of social and economic power and privilege. Further, we recognize that power is unevenly distributed, especially – but not solely – on the basis of gender, age, social class, race, sexuality, religion, ability, and cultural identity. We also recognize that keeping silent about these relationships helps to perpetuate oppression. To help correct these inequities, to the best of its ability, The Daily should depict and analyze power relations accurately in its coverage.

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dps board of directors

Zapaer Alip, Niyousha Bastani, Joseph Boju, Hannah Besseau, Deeva Bowry, Julia Denis, Ralph Haddad, Igor Sadikov, Alice Shen, Tamim Sujat, Dana Wray All contents © 2016 Daily Publications Society. All rights reserved. The content of this newspaper is the responsibility of The McGill Daily and does not necessarily represent the views of McGill University. Products or companies advertised in this newspaper are not necessarily endorsed by Daily staff. Printed by Imprimerie Transcontinental Transmag. Anjou, Quebec. ISSN 1192-4608.

2.3 As an autonomous student newspaper, relatively free from commercial and other controls, The Daily can best serve its purposes by examining issues and events most media ignore. In particular, it should deal with the role postsecondary education plays in constructing and maintaining the current order. It should also assist students and other groups working for change in a critical framework, with the aim of giving a voice to individuals and communities marginalized on the basis of the criteria mentioned in section 2.2. The Daily’s non-hierarchal structure serves as a space for education, discussion, and participation. The Daily’s methods should be determined by its staff on the basis of consensus. 2.4 The Daily must remain accessible and accountable, while maintaining its autonomy.

COmpendium!

September 1, 2016 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Lies, half-truths, and tears.

Ignoring student activism still on the 2016-2017 agenda

Administration expresses sympathy for futility of student activism Phlar Dabdoub The McGall Weekly

n a recent statement published by the official propaganda arm of the McGall Administration, The Newspeak, just in time for orientation week, Principal and Vice Baroness Suzie Forte along with Dean of Denial Chris Buttle expressed their deepest sympathies at having to ignore student activists for the fifth consecutive year in a row. “It was a unanimous decision,” she said, “the Board of Guv’nors agreed it was within the university’s best financial interests to stick to what our donors tell us to do.” McGall

has a stellar track record of turning a deaf ear to calls for acknowledging human rights abuses locally and internationally, as well as disastrous environmental catastrophes, surpassing any Canadian institution by far. “Let them have their fun, that’s what university is all about, isn’t it?” said the Dean of Students, fiddling with his giant tarantula puppet glove. “And as long as the students don’t get too close to the administration building,” said the Baroness, finishing the Dean’s sentence. When asked how the University treats reports of threats being

Crossword

Rani Ohkin The McGall Weekly

mailed to McGall student activists, the Principal replied that “it is not within the University’s mandate to interfere in our students’ private lives – that makes us no better than CSIS, and those people are bad, right?” “Listen, we just want to have a quiet year, is that too much to ask?” said a member of the McGall Board of Guv’nors, who also sits on the Committee to Deny Matters of Social Responsibility, in a phone interview with The Weekly when asked about the decision. “Kids these days should just keep their heads in the books instead of worrying about the tar

sands or nonsense like that. Not on my watch.” “Another year, another disappointment,” said the President of SHMU Bren Vander Gur, after a letting out a long sigh of exasperation. “It’s bad enough they didn’t tell us every paved street on campus was going to be dug up again to check for ‘plumbing,” he scoffed, “psh, plumbing, as if.” We, at The McGall Weekly editorial board, also had a slight crisis at the sudden news. “We seem to have lost all reason for existence,” cried one editor, caught in a moment of despair, “if there’s no radical, leftist, activism

Across

1. Flower stalk 5. Divided 10. Accelerated 14. Green Jedi 15. Outline 16. Bishop of Rome 17. “____ you forget about me” 18. More freezing cold 19. Length x width, for a rectangle 20. Venetian blind component 22. Commented 24. Stage part 27. Bros and sisters 28. Liberty 31. Conical tent 35. Essential to rowing 36. Hint to the circled words 39. Hem and ______ 40. Bring down 42. Cup o’ _____ 43. Bluish gray 45. Weight abbr. (Imperial) 46. _____, baker, and others 49. _____ friendly 50. Afternoon nap 52. Kitchen appliances 54. Small amount 56. Threat - “or ____” 57. ‘A Beautiful Mind’ mathematician 61. Horrible 65. Snape actor 66. Frighten 69. Additionally 70. “Welcome to Night ____” 71. 2003 Shia Laboeuf film 72. Civil War side, abbr.

on campus, what are we going to report on?!” “We need to find a way to break our lease agreement with SHMU, no reason in paying thousands to rent our office anymore,” piped in another editor. The statement ended in a show of support for our investors. “Don’t worry, we’ve got your back, no one’s going to hurt you now,” Forte said. This decision on behalf of the administration marks a benchmark step in what Forte called the “conversion” of the University into a full-fledged private business. “We’re hoping to completely privatize by 2020,” she declared.

73. ‘Suicide Squad’ director David ___ 74. Answer for 75. Sail holder

Down

1. Lead singer of Pink Floyd, pluralised 2. Shed item 3. “No capes!” Incredibles character 4. Important bed component 5. Chlamydia, for example 6. Official name for China, abbr 7. Refuge 8. Frozen drinks 9. House pest 10. Thinly spread 11. Culinary name for pig 12. Fencer’s blade 13. Kaput 21. Ground cover 23. Sibling of Cain, pluralised 25. Fallen tree 26. :) for example 28. Young horses 29. Jewish teacher 30. Clear 32 Waxing gibbous, e.g. 33. Foodie 34. Pitchers 37. Boozehound 38. Tranquility 41. Big name in stationary 44. Tepid 47. Avenger ______ Romanoff 48. One solar day on Mars 51. Evildoer 53. Mama bear, in Madrid

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