The McGill Daily Vol105Iss16

Volume 105, Issue 16 Monday. January 18, 2016

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January 18, 2016 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

McGill’s warm welcome for Syrian refugees cools

NEWS

Opportunities to welcome Syrian refugees limited in Milton-Parc Relaxing regulations for international students Vegan vigil decries speciesism SSMU Council calls base fee referendum Senate skirts divestment question Financial compensation for AUS executives PGSS adopts policy on affiliations

09 COMMENTARY Debt bondage is modern slavery Trigger warnings: small but necessary What Trump represents

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EDITORIAL

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There is life after school Comic

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Not many opportunities to help in Milton-Parc neighbourhood Ellen Cools The McGill Daily

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ith the federal government’s announcement that Canada would take in 25,000 Syrian refugees, followed by the first arrivals over the holidays, Canadians have overwhelmed charitable organizations and student groups with their desire to help the incoming refugees.

While the McGill community has seen a wave of student interest in helping these refugees, there is a notable lack of opportunities to get involved within the Milton-Parc neighbourhood.

Several charitable organizations have been helping refugees, even before the government’s announcement, such as Action Réfugiés Montréal. In an interview with The Daily, Paul Clarke, the executive director of the organization, emphasized how the organization has been “inundated with all kinds of people since September and much more intensely since November.”

“We had people who got in touch with us around December 15, saying that they were going to cook a big meal, [asking] ‘Do you know any Syrians who are going to be alone? Have them come our way, we’ll have them over for Christmas dinner,’” Clarke said.

People have been mainly trying to help by donating clothes or furniture, and offering to tutor refugees in French. Clarke emphasized that Action Réfugiés Montréal and other organizations have been overwhelmed with clothes, and “no one knows what to do with clothes anymore, so that has certainly stopped.”

Such high levels of donation prompted Human Concern International, another charitable organization that helps refugees, to open a clothing store in Laval. In an interview with The Daily, Yazan Nasreddin, the Montreal manager at Human Concern International, explained that, at this store, “a refugee can come with [their] family and pick up anything they want from the store, free of charge.”

Human Concern International is working with the McGill and Concordia Syrian Students’ Associations (SSA) to encourage students and those living in urban Montreal to get involved. Nasreddin mentioned the possibility of opening a store in central Montreal, similar to the one in Laval, but so far there are only drop off locations for food and clothing downtown. The two SSA groups not only work with Human Concern In-

Corner of Milton and Parc streets. ternational, but also came together with other groups to form an umbrella organization called the Canadian Alliance for Syrian Aid (CASA), through which people can donate their time and supplies.

In an interview with The Daily, Yara Hammami, president of McGill’s SSA, said, “The SSA, as you can imagine, deals with students and student affairs. [...] So that is what we will continue to do as part of CASA.” The McGill SSA has created a form for those interested in helping refugees that asks for information about the potential volunteer and how they can help. The form facilitates volunteer coordination by allowing the SSA to contact potential volunteers on a case-by-case basis, especially if they are eligible to become tutors.

Hammami added, “We started on Facebook, but we got over 1,500 responses, which was incredible.”

Milton-Parc neighbourhood and McGill community While many students want to help refugees, there appear to be no direct opportunities in the Milton-Parc neighbourhood, an area largely inhabited by McGill students.

Clarke explained the lack of opportunities, saying, “One thing to consider is that, certainly with the privately sponsored refugees,

Sonia Ionescu | The McGill Daily

they are likely to live close to their sponsor. Most of the Syrians that we’re aware of here live in Ville Saint-Laurent [or] in Laval.”

When asked if he knew of any events or ways people could help out in the neighbourhood, Clarke responded, “Not specifically, no.” Hammami added that she wasn’t sure about the Milton-Parc area because to her knowledge there aren’t many members of the SSA living there.

However, the McGill community – especially the students – has rallied to help the refugees.

Students in the Solin Hall Living and Learning Community have been tutoring Syrian refugees in English and French since November. Other students have been meeting with newly arrived refugees and volunteering to help out with donations.

The University itself has taken action. According to Robert Ishimwe, an executive team member of World University Service of Canada (WUSC) McGill, the university “has committed to sponsoring four more student refugees, in addition to the two it already sponsors annually.”

However, the commitment will not continue after this year, as WUSC lacks the funds to sponsor more students.

Sustainable aid Ishimwe emphasized the need to find a sustainable way to help refugees. “Just like any other disaster, the recent crisis is going to be a distant memory in most of us very soon, although millions of people are still stuck in a refugee camp,” Ishimwe said.

Hammami also told the Daily that she hopes “the enthusiasm is not just among McGill students.

McGill students have been generous, but we do see a highly Islamophobic tone toward Syrians [in other areas of Canada].”

On January 9, a crowd of refugees were pepper sprayed by an unknown man on a bicycle while attending an event at the Muslim Association of Canada Centre in Vancouver.

Hammami hopes the momentum of support does not fade – when the SSA began contacting students who filled out the form, “the response rate [was] not as enthusiastic as it was when they signed up.”

“The Syrian community can only do so much on its own,” Hammami continued, “but that’s why we’re really excited to involve people from the McGill community, because it’s so international, and from the Montreal community in general, because Montreal in itself is so welcoming.”

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January 18, 2016 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

International students can run for SSMU executive positions

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Immigration Quebec relaxes course load requirements

Astha Agarwal News Writer

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s a result of more relaxed measures by Immigration Quebec over the last two years, it has become significantly easier for international students to run for and hold executive positions at the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU).

In June 2014, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) issued a new set of regulations regarding study permits which requires students to be “actively pursuing” their studies while in Canada. The CIC does not state anywhere that students must maintain full-time status to qualify as “actively pursuing” their studies, said Pauline L’Ecuyer, director of International Student Services (ISS) at McGill.

Until then, international students were required to maintain full-time student status in order to ensure the validity of their immigration documents in Quebec. All international students must have a valid Quebec Acceptance Certificate (CAQ) and a federally issued study permit to pursue studies in Quebec. The CAQ is issued for the duration of time that a student expects to study in Canada, but can be extended should the student decide to prolong their studies.

“I’m glad that there have been changes in government structures that will allow international students to hold positions in SSMU.” Emily Boytinck SSMU VP External SSMU executive positions are full-time, with job contracts stipulating seventy hours per week. As a result, students in these positions almost always take on a part-time course load during their terms. In some instances, their contracts indicate that they can be enrolled in a “maximum of six credits.”

L’Ecuyer told The Daily that in the past, Immigration Quebec has maintained stringent rules requir-

ing students to complete at least 12 credits per semester, in order to approve an extension of their CAQ. SSMU’s current executive team is comprised entirely of U.S. and out-of-province Canadian students, as has been the case historically, said SSMU President Kareem Ibrahim.

Immigration and status requirements have generally been far more relaxed for U.S. citizens than other international students. “[To work at SSMU], HR told me I just had to get a SIN [social insurance number],” said VP Internal Affairs El-Sharawy, who is a U.S. student. “There was also a missing clause on my study permit so I just went to the border and got it fixed.

Honestly, it wasn’t a hard process, but I’m not sure if that’s the case for non-Americans.”

As per Fall 2015 enrollment, out-of-province Canadians make up 25 per cent of McGill’s student population and U.S. students, 7 per cent. McGill’s 45 per cent Quebec population and 22 per cent non-U.S. international population are entirely unrepresented on the SSMU executive.

“We see greater disconnect between international students and Quebec students. They are proportionally less involved [in student politics] than out-of-province students and Americans,” Ibrahim said.

“I’m glad that there have been changes in government structures that will allow international students to hold positions in SSMU,” said SSMU VP External Emily Boytinck. “It will change the representation in SSMU and the perspectives here.”

L’Ecuyer, who also sits on the Advisory Committee on International Students and Immigration (ACISI) for Quebec, said that in the last couple of years, she has seen immigration officers relax their criteria in granting CAQ extensions to students who have taken part-time status due to personal, medical, or humanitarian reasons, including pursuing leadership roles in their community, such as in student government.

L’Ecuyer emphasized, however, that the final decision on a student’s case is at the discretion of the immigration officer, who will take into account the student’s entire status since their arrival in Canada. While being a part-time student during a term served as a SSMU executive would not justify rejecting a student’s CAQ extension application, it might make matters more difficult if they have

Marc Cataford | The McGill Daily already been a part-time student in previous semesters since their arrival in Canada.

Considering that each case is unique, however, L’Ecuyer highly encouraged any international student considering holding part-time status or running for a SSMU executive position to visit ISS for a free personal consultation with one of ISS’s two immigration lawyers.

Despite SSMU executives’ desire to accurately represent the student body, El-Sharawy said that as the executive is bound by SSMU’s Legislative Council, having a more diverse executive team would likely not have changed any of the executive decisions.

“While I don’t think [the lack of international students on SSMU] changed how executives might have tackled things,” El-Sharawy said, “having international students could have facilitated more platforms to increase the level of empathy between student groups.”

El-Sharawy encouraged nonU.S. international students to take the opportunity of the recently relaxed course status requirements to be involved in the SSMU executive, and continue to increase

their leadership involvement in faculty councils. “[As a SSMU executive], you’re mandated to be neutral and respect all student groups. As international students with your own experiences, you can help create a bridge between different groups,” El-Sharawy said. More international students as SSMU executives “could have decreased friction between groups and tensions that occurred due to differences,” he added.

“We see greater disconnect between international students and Quebec students.”

Kareem Ibrahim SSMU President McGill International Student Network (MISN) President Afreen Aliya said she is hopeful that the change will increase international

students’ involvement in student politics and help raise awareness for issues affecting them, such as changes to international fees.

Aliya is confident that MISN’s reach of over 2,000 students will prove instrumental in spreading awareness about the recent changes.

Dean of Students André Costopoulos agreed that a relaxation of full-time status requirements for international students will facilitate their participation on campus.

He encourages them, however, to keep in mind the additional concerns that come along with maintaining part-time status as an international student.

“As an international student far away from home and your support network, you’re a person first – so you have to prioritize your well-being – a student second, and you can pursue a leadership position or politics third,” Costopoulos said. “It’s perfectly possible but it involves certain balancing.”

“Having part-time status also means you’re spending more years here, which means you’re spending more money, as well as delaying your graduation, in addition to the visa adjustments,” he said.

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January 18, 2016 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

Anti-speciesist collective calls for veganism

News

Vigil raises awareness about animal cruelty

Mackenzie Burnett News Writer

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either the chilling wind nor the drizzling rain could stop a group of thirty people from gathering on January 9 at the MontRoyal metro station, where an antispeciesist vigil was held. Organized by the Montreal animal rights group Résistance Animale, the vigil aimed to promote veganism and raise awareness about animal cruelty and negligence in all of their forms.

Résistance Animale is a nonhierarchical collective whose main objective is to increase awareness about veganism while working to abolish speciesism, the belief that other animal species are inferior to human beings and that they can be used for the benefit of people without regard for their suffering.

As stated in French in the description on its Facebook page, the organization is also supportive of movements that fight against various forms of oppression and discrimination, such as sexism, racism, homophobia, and fascism.

Speaking to The Daily in French, Daniel Roy, the organizer of the vigil, said, “In the beginning, I thought that an organization needed to be created, which would come to be Résistance Animale, because we had to go further to defend animals, of course, but not just cats and dogs.”

Beside a table full of informational materials, people held signs and pickets, saying “Ce n’est pas de la nourriture, c’est de la violence” (“This is not food, this is violence”), and “Mettez fin au spécisme, go végane” (“End speciesism, go vegan”).

Some of the signs included photos of various animals in captivity.

Reginald Beauchamp, a participant at the vigil, told The Daily in French, “[The atmosphere] was wonderful. We had lots of people.

People who passed by were really sympathetic. They smiled and asked us questions, which stimulated growth [of the crowd].”

Marie-Joie Renaud, another participant, agreed. “It’s always a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere,” Renaud said.

Speaking on the importance of organizing such events, Roy said, “For me they’re important for raising awareness. [...] They open people’s minds. And there are lots of people who come [to one event], then [come] back and tell me, ‘Well, I became vegan.’”

Asked why he attended the

event, Beauchamp responded, “To raise awareness amongst people about speciesism, so that people finally understand that animals are not objects, they’re not here to serve us. They’re just like us. We’re all living beings together.”

Beauchamp also said, “Cows are raped every year and artificially inseminated, and next we steal their babies and we steal their milk and when they start to produce less milk around the age of four, we send them to the slaughterhouse. […] Cows normally live 25, 30 years, but they live [only] around four years because of this.”

According to Animal Defenders International (ADI), cattle raised for beef are sent to slaughter even earlier than dairy cows, at 10 to 12 months of age.

Furthermore, ADI explains that

cows usually “lactate for around ten to thirteen months after they have given birth. The cows are therefore re-impregnated approximately 60 days after giving birth to continue the cycle of milk production.”

Discussing the vegan movement in Montreal, Renaud said, “I’m a little discouraged that [the number of vegans is] such a small percentage. [...] It happens one by one – one person at a time becomes aware.”

Roy noted, “I find that it’s in the process of development. [...]

But raising awareness [... is] a lot of work, like we’re doing presently.”

According to Roy, Résistance Animale will organize similar events every three weeks. Their next one is scheduled for February 6 in the same location, in front of the Mont-Royal metro station.

SSMU votes for referendum to increase base fee, add seventh executive Council debates for an hour over wording of membership fee clauses

Saima Desai The McGill Daily

T

he Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Legislative Council had its first meeting of 2016 on January 14. Council adopted motions regarding an amendment of the Internal Regulations of the Presidential Portfolio and the adoption of the Internal Regulations of Elections and Referenda.

Increasing the SSMU membership fee A motion was brought to Council to call a special referendum from January 27 to 29 regarding an increase of the SSMU membership fee by $5.50 per student per semester. The real dollar amount of SSMU’s current membership fee has not changed since 2007, when it was increased by $1.00 – an increase which was earmarked specifically for the Student Space Fund. Currently, full-time students in most faculties pay a membership fee of $44.75 per semester.

According to the motion, “SSMU has grown in size in the last decade by supporting more student groups, providing more services, and providing more opportunities for student employment.”

SSMU has long faced well-

documented financial struggles, though its most recent budget was unusually frugal. For instance, the yearly $50,000 transfer to SSMU’s Capital Expenditures Reserve Fund was eliminated this year.

The motion’s preamble notes that hours for permanent and student staff have also been cut, “thereby reducing the level of service that the SSMU is able to offer.”

“This will probably be one of the most important motions that we’re going to debate in SSMU this entire year, because it’s going to have such a long-term impact on the sustainability and the future of SSMU,” said VP University Affairs Chloe Rourke.

The preamble was amended to add a “whereas” clause to clarify that the funding will be directed at “priority areas in need of increased funding,” specifically clubs and services, mental health, and student space improvements.

The motion passed unanimously.

Restructuring executive portfolios Another motion to pose a question at the aforementioned January special referendum was brought to Council, this one regarding restructuring the portfolios of SSMU executives.

While executive contracts

mandate a 70-hour workweek, the motion’s preamble states that the hours worked have been “closer to 85 hours per week, on average, this year” – though executives have previously reported exceeding 100 hours per week.

The restructuring would create a seventh executive position by splitting the VP Finance and Operations portfolio into separate VP Finance and VP Operations positions, resulting in a more balanced distribution of tasks among the other executives. The new VP Operations portfolio would deal with building management, student-run operations, and human resources, among other tasks.

Speaking at Council, President Kareem Ibrahim said, “We’re very hopeful, though we know we’re kind of running into the fire with this one. It’s kind of now or never.

There’s always going to be times in which we feel [...] the students don’t have enough confidence in us to make such a radical change.”

Clubs and Services representative François-Paul Truc proposed the addition of a “whereas” clause that would clarify that adding a seventh executive would cost SSMU $35,000, an amount that was mentioned by VP Finance and Operations Zacheriah Houston at Council.

“I feel like it’s rather easy to vote

SSMU Council.

Saima Desai | The McGill Daily

on something that has no cost anywhere on this article,” explained Truc.

“Students want to see how much it’s going to be and why it’s going to be that much. If we don’t include an amount it’s going to look like we’re hiding it,” agreed Science Representative Sean Taylor.

Other councillors opposed the amendment, such as Rourke, who said, “I think the cost of an additional executive is easy to determine, but the cost of not having that executive isn’t necessarily easy to determine. And there is, actually, a financial cost to that.”

“I’m worried that [adding the

cost] would persuade people to vote against it,” added Environment Representative Chelsea Kingzett.

The debate continued for an hour, with Truc at one point threatening to create a “no” campaign in response to other councillors’ vocal opposition to the amendment.

The motion passed unanimously after re-wording the amendment to exclude the $35,000 figure while clarifying that the position is paid.

An earlier version of this article was published online. The article has been updated to reflect the proceedings at Council.

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January 18, 2016 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Senate answer to divestment question “disappointing”

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Research misconduct investigation regulations amended Cem Ertekin The McGill Daily

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n January 13, McGill Senate held its first meeting of 2016.

Items on the agenda were a question regarding divestment from the fossil fuel industry, proposed revisions to the university’s Regulations Concerning the Investigation of Research Misconduct, and the annual reports on Research Performance and Innovation, and Student Life and Learning.

Question regarding divestment Senators Erin Sobat, Tomer Noyhouzer, and Fiona Ritchie had submitted a question to Senate asking whether “given the scope of the current divestment movement [...] and divestment decisions at other institutions,” the University is concerned “that a lack of action on this issue might impact McGill’s academic reputation and integrity as a research institution.”

In his written response, Secretary-General Stephen Strople confirmed that the Committee to Advise on Matters of Social Responsibility (CAMSR) will make a decision by March.

Speaking at Senate, Sobat asked a follow-up question, referring back to the part of the question about Mc-

Gill’s academic reputation, remarking that Principal Suzanne Fortier “starts most of her remarks with academic reputation.”

In response, Fortier said, “In terms of reputation, I must say [... some universities] have made decisions [and...] some are still considering. [But] there is no evidence, actually, that it has any impact on reputation in universities. The only thing we’ve seen is, perhaps, that a thorough assessment of the question is what is expected of the university.”

Ritchie asked whether McGill’s indecision regarding divestment would impact the Liberal government’s potential decision to appoint research chairs in the area of sustainable technologies.

“I don’t believe so, no,” Fortier said. “The selection will be made on the quality of the research programs at the university. [...] Political questions never enter into these kinds of competitions.”

In an interview with The Daily, Sobat expressed his disappointment with the administration’s response, saying, “It wasn’t particularly substantial.”

“I think it was disappointing that [Fortier] did not have more to say on how this will affect [...] McGill’s future viability and reputation as a research institution,” Sobat continued.

Research misconduct regulations to be amended The Academic Policy Committee (APC) proposed revisions to the Regulations Concerning the Investigation of Research Misconduct, which were last amended in May 2010. The proposal comes as part of the regular triennial process for policy revisions as determined by Senate.

One of the more significant proposed amendments is the addition of “mismanagement of research funds” to the definition of forms of research misconduct. According to the APC’s report, this is being added to meet the criteria set by the Tri-Agency, the coalition of Canada’s three major research funding agencies.

Another change increases the number of days allocated to investigate allegations of research misconduct from 90 to 120. According to Medicine Senator David Benrimoh, this makes it more difficult for students who might be reporting their concerns to the Research Integrity Officer (RIO), because 120 days roughly corresponds to a full semester.

“If a complaint is from a student that comes at the beginning of the semester, the outcome will take effect at the end of a research course,” Benrimoh said.

In response, McGill’s RIO Abraham Fuks said that the change was

done to reflect reality. “It takes more time,” Fuks said. “You’re speaking to an issue of trying to make a process accommodate the needs of the respondent.”

The proposed changes were approved by Senate and will be discussed at the Board of Governors.

Lack of student input in student life and learning In his report, Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Ollivier Dyens talked about the successes and challenges of handling Student Services. Dyens highlighted issues such as the lack of funding and the increasing demand to health and mental health services.

Senator Doaa Farid argued that the University has been neglecting student consultation in the provision of student services, saying, “If we take the example of our health services, [like the Nutrition, Dietics and Food program] for the past ten years, the student nutrition group was not involved in the whole program.”

“Maybe by involving the professional orders, you could help more students,” Farid said.

“We have a nutritionist on our dining services, and I think dining services have made improvements,” Dyens said in response. “We’ve been working really hard this year

to bring all of the services [...] to a more cohesive unit [...] where we can create more synergies. [...] We are working on this. It’s not going to happen overnight.”

Engineering Senator Joshua Thon brought up the negotiations currently taking place between the University and the recently unionized floor fellows. Thon asked what opportunities McGill sees for harm reduction among student services.

Dyens explained, “It’s always been a huge issue for McGill, a huge project for McGill. Harm reduction, the way it was framed a few years ago, is different than what it is today. It is crucially important for McGill in general.”

Speaking to The Daily about Dyens’ response, Sobat said, “The question of harm reduction in floor fellows’ job description is a key part of [the negotiations. ...] We’re concerned that there is a lack of understanding from many administrators about what harm reduction is and what it seeks to do, and I think that that was confirmed by the deputy provost’s response.”

An earlier version of this article was published online. The article has been updated to reflect the proceedings at Senate.

AUS discusses screening criteria for VP Finance AUS Council to be included in the Work Study program

Marina Cupido The McGill Daily

T

he Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) held their first meeting of the semester on January 13.

The only motion on the table concerned financial compensation for AUS executives. Brought forward

by Gabriel Ning, Adam Templer, and Lexi Michaud, Arts Representatives to the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), the motion stipulated that Council meetings be included in the working hours of those participating in the AUS Executive Work Study program.

“Basically, being an AUS executive is such a commitment that it’s quite unreasonable to expect executives, who require work during their time as students, to have to maintain a second job as well,” explained President Jacob Greenspon.

“So last year, the Executive Work Study program was initiated by a motion through Council which would offer eligible [students] com-

pensation for their activities as AUS executives. The issue that’s come up is whether attending AUS Council falls into that duty,” he continued.

The motion was swiftly approved, with three abstentions and no opposition.

Following the vote, a lengthy question period took place concerning the newly adopted criteria for selecting the VP Finance.

At a small town hall meeting last semester, several options for refining the selection process were proposed. Greenspon explained the result of the discussion.

Greenspon said there are three categories of questions for the screening criteria. The first is “experience-based questions, which would assess candidates’ past experience handling accounts [...] and audits.”

Section two is “more specific finance- and accounting-related questions, which [would] have one answer only, and they could be cross-referenced with [...] some-

one who’s a certified accountant.”

The third category would concern availability for the summer, particularly the months of May and August, in order to complete the AUS audit and help with the finances of Frosh planning, respectively.

“This isn’t a technical skill [...] but it’s extremely important, because we’ve found historically that the AUS budget [...] has done a lot better when the VP Finance was present in Montreal for the summer,” said Greenspon.

Itai Gibli, VP External of the Anthropology Students’ Association, questioned the fairness of requiring candidates to be in Montreal for at least part of the summer, pointing out that this criterion had nothing to do with their skill at accounting.

“It would be pretty rough for them to do this job from September on if they weren’t here at all for the summer,” responded Greenspon.

Arts Senator Alex KpegloHennessy agreed. “If you applied

AUS Council.

Sonia Ionescu | The McGill Daily

for a job and it started in September, you would not get the job if you said you were only going to show up in December. It’s something that wouldn’t work,” Kpeglo-Hennessy said.

VP Social Christine Koppenaal also expressed firm sup-

port for this screening criteria, explaining that help from the VP Finance had been essential in organizing Arts Frosh.

The proposed screening criteria is set to be voted on at the next Council meeting as an amendment to the society’s bylaws.

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January 18, 2016 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

PGSS adopts student federation affiliation policy

Procedures for conflicts of interest for thesis supervisors discussed Igor Sadikov The McGill Daily

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he Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) Council met on January 13 for the first time in 2016.

Council received a report on the budget, discussed proposed procedures to address conflicts of interest for thesis supervisors, and passed a policy regarding affiliation with and disaffiliation from student federations.

Adopting a policy on affiliation and disaffiliation Anticipating PGSS’s potential affiliation to one of Quebec’s two new student federations – the Association for the Voice of Education in Quebec (AVEQ) and the Union étudiante du Québec (UEQ) – External Affairs Officer Bradley Por moved to adopt a policy to establish procedures for affiliation with and disaffiliation from student federations.

In proposing the policy, Por sought to avoid repeating the disastrous experience PGSS underwent when it attempted to disaffiliate from the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) – a legal battle that has been ongoing over the past six years and has cost PGSS hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The policy stipulates that PGSS will only consider joining a student federation that signs a binding agreement providing that PGSS has “the right to terminate its affiliation when the membership expresses its will to disaffiliate.”

The policy further states that a referendum regarding continued membership in the federation must be held at least once every five years, as well as regarding any membership fee increase beyond inflation.

Postgraduate Philosophy Students of McGill University Association (PPSMUA) representative Frédérick Armstrong expressed concern that the policy might be

Thomson House. redundant, given that the bylaws of both federations that PGSS is considering joining already contain clear affiliation and disaffiliation procedures.

“The context here at McGill is very sensitive to disaffiliation and I see the impetus to [overdo] it,” said Armstrong.

“But it seems that if you affiliate with an association with a binding written policy [...] that gives you the right to disaffiliate.

My worry is that federations may be reluctant [to sign] that [separate] agreement,” he said.

In response, Por argued that federation bylaws might change, and that a reluctance on the part of a federation to sign a separate agreement guaranteeing a right to disaffiliate could be a warning sign in itself.

The motion passed with three

Tamim Sujat | The McGill Daily abstentions, and the policy will now go to the Policy and Structure Advisory Committee (PSAC) for review.

Moving toward a balanced budget Financial Affairs Officer Behrang Sharif presented a budget update and quarterly financial report.

Despite facing both unforeseen expenses and lower revenues than accounted for, Sharif said that he is planning to run a balanced budget this year.

“We were confused in the previous years [...] when we were budgeting [...] our revenue,” said Sharif.

“We were not looking at how much revenue we had from the membership fee last year [... and] we were [projecting] an increase of 4 to 5 per cent. [...] Because our accounting system was not very clear, we never actually under-

stood that we were digging into some of these lines more than we actually have money.”

“The total revenue that we actually could foresee for this year was more than $200,000 less than what was in the budget that I had received,” he added.

Sharif also noted that an unforeseen $30,000 had to be budgeted toward the CFS court case, and that more related expenses are expected as the 2017 court hearing date draws closer.

Reports Academic Affairs Officer Devin Mills reported that the Council of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies will consider adding conflict of interest disclosure to the annual progress tracking procedure for thesis students at its next meeting, which will be

WE NEED BEATS The Daily is looking for beat reporters to regularly cover various campus groups and issues.

Possibilities include: Post-Graduate Students’ Society, Science Undergraduate Society, Engineering Undergraduate Society, and campus unions.

You can also approach us with your own idea. Send an email to news@mcgilldaily.com.

held today. This is a follow-up to an issue that was brought to Senate’s attention in December, when Mills and other graduate senators submitted a question regarding the management and ownership of companies by McGill professors.

Equity Commissioner Régine Debrosse informed Council of the launch of a peer support group for racialized students, and said that the Social Equity and Diversity Education (SEDE) office will hold an equity workshop for Thomson House staff.

Debrosse also asked Provost Christopher Manfredi, present at Council, when a Black Studies program would follow the recently introduced Indigenous Studies minor. Manfredi responded that there are currently no such plans.

Commentary

January 18, 2016 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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Labouring for unpayable debt

Millions, including children, are trapped in the brick kiln industry Nadir Khan Shadows of Slavery

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here are thousands of brick kilns in India and Pakistan. Every day, thick plumes of smoke rise from their clay chimneys and float into the sky. Inside, thousands of children are among those who churn out the building blocks of both nations. Forced labour through debt bondage has brought this fate upon these children, and like millions of others around the world, from China to Myanmar to Congo, they are trapped in a system of modern-day slavery.

Pakistan and India are no strangers to bonded labour: various sectors of their economies, such as agriculture, carpet-weaving, mining, tanning, handicraft and glass bangle production, as well as domestic work, are predicated upon it. The Global Slavery Index estimates 14 million enslaved people in India and 2.1 million in Pakistan; along with China, they are the three countries in the world with the highest number of people enslaved.

In Pakistan, specifically in the Punjab and Sindh provinces, over half of the country’s bonded labourers currently find themselves labouring in brick kilns. As journalist Haroon Janjua has highlighted, many are held against a debt and end up living permanently on the kiln. Anti-Slavery International defines bonded labour as a situation where a person’s labour is demanded in the repayment of a loan. Such a person is trapped into a situation where they earn very little or no pay, resulting in an indefinite time of forced labour and often in the passing on of debt to the next generation. Many are children, often sold or loaned by families facing extreme poverty.

Bonded labourers at brick kilns can spend up to 14 hours per day working with dangerous machinery and transporting heavy bricks, surrounded by toxic smoke and the

intense heat of the endless burning of coal used to fuel the kilns. Labourers are commonly subjected to violence, sexual harassment, and torture by overseers. Overall, the scenes at brick kilns in India and Pakistan placed side by side with, say, a 19th century Caribbean rice or sugar plantation yield a striking resemblance as similar working conditions and power dynamics play out. Kiln owners essentially control the lives of labourers through violence, rendering escape difficult, if not impossible.

The large presence of children in slavery in South Asia is not a new phenomenon. Historian Richard B. Allen estimates that in the 18th and 19th centuries, 20 to 35 per cent of enslaved people on ships sailing from ports around the Indian Ocean, such as those in Madagascar, Southeast Asia, and East Africa, were children. Moreover, in Children in Slavery Through the Ages, historian Fred Morton explains that a third of children in the 19th century East African slave trade were sold by families in debt, mainly with the death or the absence of parents necessitating the sale.

In plantation-era slavery, however, children did not play the same role as they do in kiln sets in modern South Asia. Throughout circum-Atlantic slavery, children were always widely sought by the planter elite, mainly due to the low life expectancy of enslaved adults and the ease with which children could be controlled. Despite this, they were not as heavily relied on for labour as they are in modern South Asian brick kilns. Today, a quarter of all kiln workers in Pakistan are children, while in India, four-year-olds have been found smashing coal for the kiln fires.

Moreover, unlike in traditional institutions of slavery, the practice of bonded labour, though prevalent, is not currently sanctioned by law. In fact, both India and Pakistan abolished bonded labour through legislative statutes in 1976

Alice Shen | The McGill Daily and 1992 respectively, and the constitutions of both countries explicitly prohibit forced labour; article 11 of the constitution of Pakistan further asserts that “slavery is non-existent.” In contrast, under chattel slavery regimes such as Ancient Rome or the U.S., the law designated slaves as personal movable property and viewed enslaved women as continual producers of enslaved children through the Roman legal principle of partus sequitur ventrem (“the offspring follows the womb”). Slave status followed the mother and thus defined the child before the child even existed.

As scholar A.B. Maity explains,

forced labour in India is a relic of colonialism and feudalism, rooted in the power wielded by landlords over peasants under conditions of land scarcity and only worsened by colonial relations. The system of bonded labour has endured, expanding to other areas, and is sustained today in part by a neoliberal economic policy, introduced in India in 1991 under pressure from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. By funneling benefits from economic development to a narrow class, neoliberalism has perpetuated poverty while heavily relying on cheap labour. The brick kiln in-

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dustry in particular has grown in importance due to ongoing rapid urbanization.

Though existing under different social and legal conditions, the institution of slavery remains alive today. Far from being confined to the past, slavery continues to be a reality for millions around the world.

Shadows of Slavery is a column that seeks to remember the history of slavery in the Americas and to examine how this history manifests itself today. Nadir Khan can be reached at shadowsofslavery@ mcgilldaily.com.

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Commentary

January 18, 2016 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

The least we can do

Trigger warnings don’t have to be perfect to be valuable Lucie Lastinger Commentary Writer

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ast October, I attended an event hosted by the bookstore Drawn & Quarterly, featuring writer Roxane Gay. Gay was invited to discuss her recent publications, a novel called Untamed State and her book of essays Bad Feminist, in which one essay is dedicated to the debate on trigger warnings.

Gay, like some other feminists have done, notes that there are no clear guidelines for issuing trigger warnings, and that because triggers are so individual and multiple, it would be impossible to issue a warning for every trigger, for every person.

This is true, but we must be careful not to conclude that we should stop issuing them altogether, especially in activist spaces.

I’ve had far too many debates about this topic. The more I have this argument, the more it feels like my eyes are permanently stuck to the back of my head. Here’s the thing – why is there a debate about trigger warnings in the first place? If we can do one small thing, one thing that’s not enough but is something, one act of kindness, one act of recognition, of allyship, then it’s clear to me that we should.

When people argue against trigger warnings, they often rely on the worn-out script that the world is a tough place, and we shouldn’t be coddling people. How have we grown so weak in our activism, in our allyship, that we think this is any way an acceptable response?

Is it coddling people when I try to address systemic sexism?

There’s an issue that affects a lot of people, and, at least in activist communities, it is not considered “coddling” to try and prevent sexist rhetoric from going unnoticed.

While it’s true that some will try and say that we should just “let it go” and stop “worrying” about sexism, that’s a rhetoric that’s prominent outside of activist communities. Why is it that inside of them, though, this debate about trigger warnings continues to happen?

There are several aspects of this debate that are problematic, and ignore important facets of the reality of the situation. First, trigger warnings are not for people who don’t need trigger warnings, and as such their opinion about this topic is less relevant. If you think trigger warnings are unnecessary and cumbersome, it’s probably because you don’t need them, and you must remain conscious of your privilege and your relationship to trigger warnings in the first place.

Sonia Ionescu | The McGill Daily Trigger warnings are meant to be warnings for people who experience “trauma triggers,” or experiences that evoke painful and upsetting memories and cause distress.

While triggers are varied and individual – a trigger can be a smell, a sight, a word, anything – including trigger warnings at the beginning of articles or other media can help people who experience posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to either avoid or be better prepared for a potentially upsetting experience. Someone might want to avoid this for several reasons: not having enough energy, needing some space from certain topics, or in order to practice self-care.

Although designed for PTSD and trauma triggers, trigger warnings can also be useful for other people. Especially on the internet, they can be a useful guide for navigating material concerning oppressive behaviour. For example, if someone is discussing their experience with anti-queerness and they preface their post with a warning to that effect, then other queer people can make an informed decision about whether they wish to read it.

Secondly, an argument I’ve often heard against the use of trigger warnings goes something like this: “In the real world, no one is going to shield you from harmful content.” This argument implies that if it happens in the “real world,” then we shouldn’t avoid

doing it in feminist spaces.

The main problem with this line of thought is that it’s hypocritical. There are a lot of problematic things that happen in the real world, and we still recognize that they’re a problem that we especially want to combat in feminist spaces. Take anti-queerness as an example again. When anti-queer behaviours or ideas are displayed within our circles, we recognize that this is not acceptable and that we need to change it. By making our spaces safer, we are making a part of the real world safer – the fact that oppression happens elsewhere doesn’t mean we should accept when it happens here.

In the same way, the fact that trigger warnings are generally uncommon doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try to incorporate trigger warnings into our media presence. Many members of activist communities experience marginalization of some kind, and have furthermore experienced trauma in relation to those experiences.

We must acknowledge that trauma exists in our communities, that we are aware of the different relationships people have to their trauma, and that we respect individuals making decisions for themselves about what kind of content they engage with.

This brings me into my third point. What perplexes me about this whole debate is why people

would be so concerned with others’ choices about the content they engage with. Consider an analogy: should we stop making article titles relevant to their content, since this allows people to avoid reading content they are not interested in? Of course not. Trigger warnings, however, are targeted on similar grounds.

If we can do one small thing, one thing that’s not enough but is something, one act of kindness, one act of recognition, of allyship, then it’s clear to me that we should.

This is an instance of ableism toward those who suffer from PTSD or other trauma-related mental health issues. One of the particular characteristics of ableism is that it is often cloaked in concern for others’ well-being. A severe example of this kind of justification has been used to promote the forced sterilization of

intellectually disabled people, by framing this as protection from pregnancy, in particular in case of sexual assault. There is a number of things wrong with this – for instance, why aren’t we aiming to prevent the sexual assault instead of the pregnancy of disabled people? – but it’s clearly part of a larger project to control disabled bodies, disempower disabled people, and remove their agency, and all this is done under the guise of “protecting” them.

When you refuse to issue trigger warnings, you’re not “helping people learn to cope,” no matter how attached you are to that argument. You simply don’t think it’s valuable to make content accessible to people with various relationships to mental health, or you don’t want to take the time to do so. But it’s not up to you to decide how someone engages with media, or with their mental health.

Trauma triggers are unique and individual, and we will probably never be able to issue trigger warnings in a way that accommodates every person who experiences triggers. In no way, however, does this mean that we should ever stop trying. The impossibility of perfection is no reason not to try to act in solidarity.

Lucie Lastinger is a U2 Arts student. They can be reached at commentary@mcgilldaily.com.

Commentary

January 18, 2016 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

11

Riding the reactionary wave

Trump may be ridiculous, but he’s not irrelevant Zahra Habib Commentary Writer

I

n order to avoid the trap that many writers and journalists have gotten into when writing about Donald Trump, let me be quick to dismiss this self-professed politician as anything other than a professional entertainer. I am not trying to make predictions about Trump’s likelihood of winning the Republican nomination or the American presidential election, nor am I warning about the future should he be successful. Rather, I want to look at what his words and success can tell us about about today’s global political climate.

When asked to consider what Donald Trump represents, it would be easy to stop at self-obsessed extravagance; his words are often better categorized as juvenile, thoughtless remarks than well-thought out political judgements. But in looking beyond the headlines, it’s clear that his persona reflects the paradox of a public backsliding into reactionary politics as the ‘progress’ of globalization yields exponential increases in wealth and social connectivity among the most powerful in the world. The essence behind Trump’s ridiculous words has the support of many regular American citizens, and, perhaps more urgently, that of individuals who may even trump Trump in terms of power, prestige, and influence.

Global parallels Trump’s stance on immigration and refugees would be a good place to start (or stop, if you’re in favour of his elegant “great wall” plan) to highlight the parallels between his words and others’ policies. While it seems ridiculous to believe that a wall between the U.S. and Mexico would actually be built, we don’t have to look far to see the erection of physical, political, and social barriers for immigrants and refugees. Between his plans for a wall and promise to send back Syrian refugees if elected, Trump’s attitude toward immigrants and refugees during what the UN has called “the worst refugee crisis since the Second World War” is horrifying, but not unique.

The approaches to refugees and immigration of many real politicians are not all that different.

For instance, former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper made headlines when infuriating reports surfaced that he had halted the applications of UN-screened refugees fleeing Syria for no defensible purpose (it is not the job of the Prime Minister’s Office to ‘vet’

refugees). There’s no need to send them back if you don’t let them in in the first place.

Europe, which some consider the most progressive, has probably had the most disappointing reaction to the refugee crisis. Several right-wing parties have exploited the plight of refugees from Asia and Africa to gain significant electoral benefits. Others have actually erected physical barriers, like the new fence between Hungary and Croatia, and even human barriers like the “human wall” demonstration that temporarily blocked refugees at a port in Finland. Perhaps not as “great” as Trump’s vision for his wall, these barriers reflect the same sentiment.

Further, parties such as France’s Front National and Britain’s UK Independence Party (UKIP) have bolstered Islamophobia and fears of terrorism that have pushed xenophobia and far-right rhetoric into the mainstream of Europe’s political discourse. These types of beliefs have violent consequences.

Consider the harrowing reports of refugees being tear gassed by police at Hungary’s fenced border, spates of violence against German refugee shelters, and soaring firearms sales in Austria as citizens report paranoia over the presence of refugees.

Trump’s attitude toward immigrants and refugees during what the UN has called “the worst refugee crisis since the Second World War” is horrifying, but not unique.

Fuelling American racism What about in the U.S.? At a town hall held by Trump in New Hampshire during the fall, an audience member said, “We have a problem in this country. It’s called Muslims. [...] You know our current president is one. You know he’s not even an American.” Not only did Trump fail to correct the man’s long-debunked assertions about Obama, he actually said that he needed the question and told the audience member that he’d be “looking at that and many other things.” Trump is revealing what

Yasmine Mosimann | The McGill Daily the U.S.’s actual problem is: American attitudes toward minorities.

Indeed, Trump wouldn’t be the first to “look at” the American Muslim population. The monitoring of American Muslims, as Trump suggested with his “Muslim database” in November, has effectively been going on for nearly 15 years. After 9/11, the New York Police Department undertook a decade-long clandestine surveillance program targeted at Muslim Americans, whose communities consequently suffered immensely.

Trump’s campaign to win the nomination has also embodied the persecution of Black and Hispanic communities in the U.S.. In the multiple cases of violent attacks on peaceful Latino protesters and attendees at Trump’s political events, many perpetrators said thy were inspired by Trump, whose response to brutality in his name merely referred to the events as the actions of “very passionate” fans.

This is not only alarming, but reeks of incitement that gives his “make America great again” slogan a new, more directive meaning.

For many, the U.S. is synonymous with racial inequality. The emergence of the Black

Lives Matter movement, which has been dubbed the new civil rights movement in the U.S. and calls for an end to the unchecked violence against Black people in America, comes at a time where inequalities between races in the U.S. are growing. Not only are many U.S. schools and communities resegregating at an alarming rate, for years reports have been unearthing disturbing evidence regarding the skewed application of the justice system, placing Black Americans at the wrong end of the gavel.

This really comes as no surprise, as it’s occurring against the backdrop of the heartbreakingly long and ever-growing list of Black American lives lost to extrajudicial killings by racists, whether citizens or police officers. So-called progressive leaders remain divided on the Black Lives Matter movement, with U.S. president Barack Obama finally making public remarks on the movement a timely two years after its official inception, while Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders’ initial response to the movement has been a defensive one, and they have been reluctant

to embrace it. It’s not even worth going over the responses (or lack thereof ) of Republican candidates to the movement, other than to note that they have only dismissed and criticized it, which should come as a shock to nobody.

Ultimately, Trump’s slogan, “Make America great again,” exemplifies the reactionary undercurrents of the racism and xenophobia that pervade today’s political discourse; it idealizes the America of the past where the status quo stood on more solid ground and an even narrower group of people held rights and power. From American and Canadian to European contexts, it is becoming harder to dismiss the growing number of comfortably intolerant, hateful people. Embracing this trend is not an option, and resisting it will take a great deal of creativity, determination, and patience. However, it is necessary if we are to move forward to a future that is great for all, not just a few. Or at least greater than it is now.

Zahra Habib is a U2 World Islamic and Middle East Studies student. To contact her, email zahra. habib@mail.mcgill.ca.

Never sleep with a man you’re actually interested in

Features

W

hen I was in grade 12, Samantha from Sex and the City was my idol. She was funny, loud, confident, and had a lot of shameless sex.

It took me a while to learn that, unlike in Samantha’s world, in real life, casual sex can be the result of more than just a personal choice. We live in a society that glorifies casual sex while simultaneously expecting virginity from every woman. It is no longer the case that all women who have casual sex are “sluts”, because female sexuality is no longer about the simple virgin/ whore dichotomy; now, young women are required to follow new sexist sexual scripts – the sequence of socially expected behaviours in a given context – that demand they ‘undermine’ this dichotomy by being a Charlotte and a Samantha at the same time. I realized that the concept of the “sexually liberated woman” was a mythical – or at least romanticized – image of femininity that doesn’t apply to me and many of those around me.

It’s because of my own discomfort with sexist and racist sexual scripts that I have intentionally tried to carve myself a space outside of straight white culture.

Reflecting back on years of pining after white men, listening to stories of friends’ love lives, and reliving daily the trauma of sexual assault, it has become clear to me that the idea of the sexually liberated woman in cis-heterosexual relationships is deeply flawed and limiting.

When today’s women are forced to toe the undefinable line between hooking up ‘enough’ and ‘too much,’ striving to be a Samantha doesn’t seem to be all that liberating.

“Hookup culture” is used to describe the ethos of millennials on university campuses where casual sex is the dominant sexual script.

Through one-night stands or “friends with benefits” arrangements, the focus of hookups is solely on physical pleasure and de-emphasizes emotional bonding or commitment. But “hooking up” is an ambiguous term. According to re-

January 18, 2016 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily search published in Gender & Society by Danielle Currier, a professor at Randolph College, women take advantage of this ambiguity to downplay their sexual encounters while men tend to exaggerate these encounters to boost their masculinity is cis-heterosexual relationships. Having penetrative sex and making out, activities that are subject to different societal reactions based on someone’s gender, can both be placed under the “hookup” umbrella.

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t To be clear, nothing is wrong, per se, with having sex. Moral panic in conservative media tends to portray hookup culture as a unique issue plaguing millennials while others write about it as a liberatory new phenomenon. However, casual sex is nothing new; according to research by Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University, young people now have less casual sex than their parents’ generation did.

Sex, sexed bodies, and sexual relationships are not neutral entities floating in a vacuum; they are very much informed by broader societal realities.

I realized that the concept of the “sexually liberated woman” was a mythical – or at least romanticized – image of femininity that doesn’t apply to me and many of those around me.

Hookup culture tends to assume that people should be and are having sex, that sex is almost always positive or a good thing, and that if you are having sex it will happen in certain ways. I interviewed some friends, most of whom wished to remain anonymous, about their experiences in heterosexual hookups to gain some insight as to how these norms affect different people.

“These ideas ignore people who don’t enjoy sex for a variety of reasons, including asexuality [and] trauma, and assume sex has to be penetrative, for example, or [has to] engage with certain body parts over others, or values genital contact over other kinds of sexual and physical intimacy,” said a friend, Lucie.

Another friend, Sarah, having been in a monogamous relationship since high school, told me about how her sexual unavailability made her seem “uninteresting” to even chat with. “I found it hard to navigate social life in my first year – rez and other first year events especially – where it seemed as if the point of getting to know someone was to eventually get into their pants. And I found it harder to make friends with more

BY Paniz KhoSroshahy Visual by ALice Shen

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‘open-minded’ individuals because they alienated me based on my choice of [a monogamous] relationship,” Sarah said.

An asexual friend pointed out the downside of availability of safer sex material all over campus. “Of course I’m cool with people having sex however they [want to], and of course it’s amazing that resources are freely accessible, but it’s not fun feeling out of the loop for not taking part in the whole ordeal.”

I have also heard many times from abstinent friends that since sex often precedes a possible relationship, they are not even trying to date anymore. “How long can I say no to sex? One week into dating? Two weeks?

One month?” said Nur, a friend who practices abstinence. “I feel bad even going on one date because I know I have to break up with the person since at some point he’s going to want sex.”

The expectation of sex necessarily excludes a lot of people, but many who actively seek to participate in the culture are also excluded. In a white supremacist patriarchy, white, conventionally attractive bodies are deemed valuable – look at the majority of supermodels, TV stars and movie stars. Everyone else is either ignored or fetishized. “As an Asian woman, I’m super terrified of white guys liking me because I’m Asian and [I’m always wondering if] they have some gross Asian fetish and are really into anime or K-pop or something, so they want me as their China doll,” one female friend told me.

Obviously, not all men exotify women of colour, but enough do that this feeling of discomfort is persistent in communities of colour. Conventional beauty is not just about whiteness; ability, thinness, gender conformity, and so on position some bodies at the highest level of the hookup-worthiness hierarchy. While hookup culture is assumed quintessential to the “college experience,” it is not part of everyone’s rite of passage to adulthood, nor is it necessarily liberating – for some it can be harmful and marginalizing. As such, framing hookup culture as necessary to young women’s liberation is harmful both to those whom it includes as well as those who it excludes.

What does engaging in it mean?

But what happens if a woman does participate in hookup culture? Melanie Beres of Otago University spent several months in Jasper National Park interviewing seasonal workers and tourists about their engagement in casual sex during their stay at the park.

Beres found that, even though women’s engagement in casual sex is generally socially accepted in Jasper, men and women had vastly different experiences with their sexual encounters. Beres also found that a superficial acceptance of female sexuality often conceals the reality of rigid sexual scripts through what she calls “sexual permissiveness discourse.”

Beres writes, “Without [...] the feeling that it is acceptable for women to have casual sex, it would be much more difficult for men to find willing partners.

This discourse [...] is necessary for men to engage in a lot of casual sex.”

I see a clear parallel between Beres’s findings in Jasper and the dominant sexual behaviours I’ve noticed on our campus. While on the surface women’s sexual desires are approved of, it’s really about the men; it seems that only a certain type of sex that revolves around male pleasure is acceptable, and women must still adhere to normative constructions of femininity (created by men) if they are to participate.

Much of hegemonic masculinity – the dominant standard of masculinity most easily met by white, cis, heterosexual, conventionally attractive men – is still largely based on how much sex a man has. According to Currier, men’s insecurities about their sexual performance are largely rooted in expectations of masculinity: that their inability to ‘perform’ or have enough sex is “unmanly” or “gay.” Many in Currier’s

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Features

January 18, 2016 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

sample also responded that they were out to “make a name” for themselves based on their sexual behaviour, in stark contrast to how many women try to avoid getting a “reputation” and being labelled “a slut”. As such, according to Currier, much of men’s sexual pursuits are mainly to receive validation from other men.

So, according to societal norms, for men, more conquests will only bring a higher social standing. One friend, Anna, told me that at her old liberal arts school in the southern U.S., a particular frat house had a statue at its entrance that was repainted every week to match the colour of the panties of any girl whose virginity was taken at the frat that weekend. I once received a snapchat from a male friend who had just had sex with a girl he’d been pursuing with the caption “Bae #conquered.” Another friend told me that after having sex, he usually texts his buddies “score.” The pressures of masculinity combined with the permissiveness of hookup culture render men’s sexuality to be seen as inherent and central, while women’s sexuality is merely something for men to brag to each other about.

Before any “conquests” can be made in the first place, there’s the question of how potential sex partners are going to meet each other. In a study of 832 university students published in Archives of Sexual Behavior, researchers found that white upper-middle class students approach university with a certain sense of entitlement, confident that they will graduate with relative ease. Equipped with more financial resources and higher parental income, these students have more free time, and are able to attend more social gatherings, and drink more alcohol – important prerequisites on university campuses for casual sex.

The study found that the centrality of alcohol and drugs to hookup culture is one of the reasons for the significantly lower rates at which students of colour hook up – because students of colour just don’t drink as much. According to Beres, in addition to lowering reservations against having sex, alcohol also makes it easier for people to relinquish responsibility over casual sex. A woman can potentially avoid being slutshamed for a sexual act by simply saying, “I was really drunk.” Beres calls this the “it just happens” discourse: nobody is responsible for sex, sex just happens. This narrative also obscures situations where one partner could have encouraged another to drink in order to facilitate non-consensual sex.

Hookup culture tends to assume that people should be and are having sex, that sex is almost always positive or a good thing, and that if you are having sex it will happen in certain ways.

Lack of expectation for commitment and exposure to multiple sexual partners when paired with intoxication can make hookups risky. Risky behaviours can include sex with partners with unknown STI histories and failure to use protection. In cis-heterosexual relationships, women are at a higher risk for contracting most STIs. Researcher Meg Lovejoy noted that none of her respondents use protection for oral sex, even though a wide variety of STIs are contracted through oral sex.

This is not to shame people for their choices – most respondents said this was due to heavy drinking and were not aware of STI risks with oral sex, or that it was just “awkward.”

Patriarchy pressures women to bear the responsibility of birth control, abortion, and child-rearing, while simultaneously making it more difficult for them to ensure safer sexual encounters. Once a friend told me, “If a girl doesn’t want to get pregnant, she should say no to pres-

sure to not use a condom. It’s as simple as that.” Not only do women face higher risks from unprotected sex, but this is compounded by pressure from their partners to take on these risks.

Why it’s no fun anyway Women are rarely socialized to take a dominant position in relationship to men and, according to Beres, women who come off as sexually aggressive threaten men’s sexual dominance. In a patriarchal society, taking an active role and initiating anything from buying someone a drink to proposing, falls to men. At a preparty before going to a club, a friend of mine was musing over how she needed some “action” but was not likely to get any. I suggested that she approach men instead of waiting for them to approach her. “I mean, I could go over to the guy and start something, but guys don’t like it,” she said. “They always go talk to the next girl instead.” Last time she “went for it,” she said, she was called “one of those girls” with a smirk.

Even when women try to assert their power, they can only do so on men’s terms. On her Tinder bio, one of my friends had posed the question, “Are you afraid of empowered women?” She told me, “So many guys were like, ‘I like empowered women, they’re sexy as long as they don’t boss me around. But feminists are scary.’”

When it actually comes to having sex, men and women have vastly different experiences. The way most people think about heterosexual sex is centred around men’s bodies and men’s pleasure; cis men generally reach orgasm more easily through penetrative sex than cis women do since penetrative sex often does not stimulate the clitoris. Thus penetrative sex is defined as “real sex.” “Real sex” is then the only act that “counts” toward the number of people one has had sex with. Many times I have corrected friends who told me “they didn’t have sex” to emphasize that oral sex is sex.

While non-penetrative sex is largely viewed to be optional foreplay, only 25 per cent of all cis women experience orgasm through penetration. This is not to claim that orgasm is the most important aspect of a sexual encounter, but rather that many women are deprived of sexual pleasure due to patriarchal definitions of a fulfilling sexual experience. Women tend not to expect reciprocation for oral sex; from middle school onward, it comes to be understood that “third base” just translates to a blowjob. And, once a man gets off, sex ends; women are supposed to “finish” themselves, if orgasm at all.

This discrepancy leads to an “orgasm gap” – according to a survey in The Social Organization of Sexuality, for every three orgasms a man has, a woman has only one. Much of this sexual failure is due to poor sex education. I was never taught in sex ed that, more than just a metaphorical doorbell, the clitoris is actually huge and that the “G-spot” is actually a place where the clitoris can be internally stimulated. The clitoris is also the only human organ with the sole purpose of sexual pleasure. Further, research on female anatomy and sexuality has been slow and halting – the complete anatomy of the clitoris was unknown until 1998.

I know people who have never seen “what it looks like down there” because “it’s gross.” This is no surprise in a body-shaming culture where unattainable aesthetic perfection is deemed more important for women than an understanding of and comfort in our own bodies.

Women, too, often socialized to be selfless and submissive, tend to prioritize their partners’ sexual pleasure over their own. According to a study published in Archives of Sexual Behavior in 2014, up to 81 per cent of women have reported faking orgasms to keep their partners happy; many moan and make other noises of sexual pleasure “to ‘speed up’ their partner’s ejaculation due to boredom, fatigue, and discomfort.” There are hundreds of websites and magazines aimed at teaching women different techniques to “make him go wild.”

Naysayers of these publications are quick to point to what Beres calls the “male sexual desire discourse” –

men’s sex drives are insatiable and women’s role is to humour and fulfil men, as passive objects seemingly without sexual desire of their own. “Men tell me, ‘wow, you have so much energy,’” a female friend once told me. “It’s like, I like sex. Women can also like sex.”

Worse than no fun Beyond just being underwhelming, hookups can also be alarmingly exploitive. Substance use during sex and a lack of emotional accountability in casual encounters remove social checks on people’s actions and facilitate a self-focused experience to use other people as instruments for sexual pleasure. Lovejoy calls this a “laissez-faire attitude” in casual encounters.

Patriarchy pressures women to bear the responsibility of birth control, abortion, and child-rearing, while simultaneously making it more difficult for them to ensure safer sexual encounters.

Objectification is another common occurrence in hookup situations, when men view and treat women exclusively according to their appearance. While most women in Lovejoy’s sample felt objectified, this objectification takes a whole other meaning when it comes to women of colour. As myself and many other people of colour I’ve talked to have experienced, we have felt at times that we would be a “failure” if we weren’t dating white people. Dating people of our own ethnicity, usually when we were younger, meant we hadn’t integrated well into the white culture. White supremacy has taught people of colour to be ashamed of their bodies, their cultures, and their communities, and sometimes sleeping with white people becomes a way for people of colour to lessen their shame.

Many white men, in turn, fetishize women of colour. There are those with “Asian fever” that serially date Asian women. One of my otherwise very assertive friends once told me that she stopped initiating sex at the risk of affirming the societal hypersexualization of Black women. As for myself, the last white man I had sex with kindly updated me that the count of Persian girls he’s slept with is now five.

Furthermore, in many hookup situations, women report romantic exploitation. In these scenarios, one partner takes advantage of another’s romantic interest in order to continue reaping the benefits of their sexual relationship. According to Lovejoy, women report higher rates of romantic exploitation; they are “led on” more often. Women also describe hookups in which they had been treated in a hurtful, rude, or even demeaning manner by their partner. “To him I was a piece of meat,” a friend told me. According to a 2015 survey in New York Magazine, one of young women’s main fears about hookups is “coercion” – being tricked or pressured into sexual situations, which is a form of sexual assault.

None of this is to deny the fact that there are many women who do have mostly positive experiences with hookup culture, and that is great. But this in no way negates the validity of the experiences of so many women who have felt lost and been ignored, humiliated and violated by this culture; it is important to give space to those whose experience does not conform to the “typical college experience.” Sex does not happen in a vacuum of reciprocal physical pleasure, but in the context of a white supremacist patriarchy – we need to more critically examine the narrative of the “sexually liberated woman.”

Sci+Tech

January 18, 2016 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

Dawn of a new space age

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Reusable rockets could radically cut cosmological costs Trent Eady Sci+Tech Writer

S

ince NASA’s Apollo program sent humans to the moon in 1969, human space exploration has been at a standstill. With no obvious signs of progress, humanity’s dreams of an exciting future in space have been put on hold indefinitely. Space travel is as expensive as ever and now that the Space Race is over, governments’ appetites for missions like the Apollo program – estimated to cost $160 billion CAD when adjusted for inflation – have waned. The root cause of this halt in progress is a fundamental technological limitation: rockets can only be used once.

From the very beginning of the space age, marked by the launch of the Sputnik 1 satellite in 1957, space travel has been constrained by the fact that rockets are single-use instruments. A rocket’s job is to carry a spacecraft beyond Earth’s atmosphere, at which point the spacecraft detaches from the rocket and fires its own engine designed for the vacuum of space. Once its job is done, the rocket tumbles back down to Earth, burning up as it re-enters the atmosphere. Any surviving pieces sink to the ocean floor. For this reason, each journey into space requires building a new rocket, with its short lifespan in mind. Predictably, sending humans and cargo into space has retained a prohibitive cost – currently $7,000 per kilogram. As long as the cost remains this high, space exploration will be limited to exorbitantly priced excursions conducted by a handful of astronauts. Until recently, at least, this was the status quo for space travel.

“[With a reusable rocket] the cost of access to space will be reduced by as much as a factor of a hundred.”

Elon Musk SpaceX CEO Now there is a new hope for humanity’s future in space. On December 21, 2015, the longstanding obstacle to space travel was finally surpassed. For the first time in history, a rocket landed back on Earth, fully intact, after detaching from its spacecraft. The rocket landing was achieved by SpaceX, a space

Marina Djurdjevic | Illustrator exploration startup with a mission to radically reduce the cost of space travel. SpaceX’s CEO, Elon Musk, most famous for being the CEO of Tesla, has long argued that the ability to reuse rockets is “the fundamental breakthrough needed to revolutionize access to space.”

The rocket – called a Falcon 9 – lifted off from a launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying a spacecraft containing 11 commercial satellites. The rocket achieved a top speed of 5,000 kilometres per hour, one kilometre per second, during its upward flight before detaching from the spacecraft, which went on to deploy the satellites into orbit. The rocket then executed what Musk describes as a “screeching U-turn” in space. During its descent back down to Earth, the Falcon 9 rocket fired its engines to decelerate and finally slowed to a hover just before delicately touching down on the landing zone to the cheers of hundreds of SpaceX employees gathered at the landing site.

Driven by a vision of reusable rockets, SpaceX has attempted eight rocket landings since 2013.

The first seven rockets were all destroyed on impact. The seventh attempt, on April 14, 2015, came tantalizingly close to success.

SpaceX’s self-sailing ship — called Just Read the Instructions — served as a mobile ocean landing zone for

an incoming Falcon 9 rocket. Ocean landings provide more flexibility in a rocket’s trajectory back to Earth, which is a requirement for higher velocity missions, even if the ship is a smaller target that rocks with the waves, posing a greater challenge than touching down on land.

The seventh rocket reached its target with perfect accuracy, but came down too hard and broke one of its landing legs. It stood askew for a few seconds before toppling over, exploding spectacularly as it hit the ship’s deck. As SpaceX’s repeated failures attest, landing a rocket leaves little margin for error.

SpaceX’s successful landing of a rocket was the first, crucial step toward reusability. The next milestone is launching a landed rocket to prove that it can be used a second time. SpaceX will most likely make an attempt to re-launch a rocket this year if it can successfully land a second rocket; the first successfully landed rocket will be kept as a historical artifact. On January 17, SpaceX again attempted to land a rocket on Just Read the Instructions, to try for another successful landing.

To understand the significance of SpaceX’s achievement, compare space travel to air travel. “Imagine if aircraft were thrown away after each flight,” Musk said at an event at SpaceX headquarters in

2014. “No one could afford to fly.”

A non-reusable rocket is like an airplane without any landing gear.

At the destination, the passengers parachute off, allowing the plane to crash safely into the ocean. Tickets are exorbitantly priced, since tickets for one trip have to cover the full lifetime cost of the plane. This absurd wastefulness — and expense — has been the reality in space travel for nearly sixty years.

Reusable rockets open up the possibility of a new era of commercial space travel at the scale of present-day commercial air travel. Everything up until now has been a dress rehearsal.

When putting the numbers in context, the cost of commercial airplanes often exceeds the

cost of a Falcon 9 rocket. For instance, a Boeing 747 airliner sells for $540 million, enough to buy six Falcon 9 rockets at $90 million each. At $300,000, the cost of refuelling a Boeing 747 and a Falcon 9 are the same. A “singleuse” airplane would cost several times over a standard rocket. It is only because of the airplane’s reusability that relatively affordable flights are possible. According to Musk, when rockets are no longer thrown away after every launch, “the cost of access to space will be reduced by as much as a factor of a hundred.” That is to say, the cost of sending objects into space will drop from $7,000 per kilogram to as low as $70 per kilogram: the economic barrier to space that has persisted since Sputnik will be drastically reduced.

Reusable rockets open up the possibility of a new era of commercial space travel at the scale of present-day commercial air travel.

Everything up until now has been a dress rehearsal. As the curtains are raised, the world is poised for a real possibility of travel to the moon, mars, and space tourism across the skies. Perhaps this even can lead us to habitation on the planets of our solar system. It is now that we can finally say that the real space age has begun, and it started with Falcon 9.

Art Essay

Piece of mind

Multiple exposure on film

January 18, 2016 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

16

Sean Miyaji | The McGill Daily

My mind is often flocked with apprehension. I am fearful of my uncertain future. Yet, photography allows me to live in the present and to find beauty in everyday moments. I shut out the external world, I immerse myself in shooting, and I surrender to the medium. As I lose my self-consciousness, all of my anxieties and troubles seem to fly away.

Culture

January 18, 2016 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Cozy subversions

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Quilted Creatures creates platform for alternate children’s books Anya Sivajothy The McGill Daily

T

he name Quilted Creatures, belonging to a new Montrealbased publishing collective, immediately evokes the cozy feeling of soft plush animals. That warm sense of comfort is perfectly fitting for the collective’s unique aspirations of exploring alternate pathways in children’s literature by weaving together different media, experiences, and stories.

Quilted Creatures was created about a year ago with the collaboration of former McGill students Jehane Yazami, Kai Cheng Thom, and Rachel Nam, who also is a former Daily editor. It aims to serve as a platform for creative minds – whether visual artists, musicians, or writers – to collaborate on pieces intended for children.

Initially disappointed by the lack of alternative literature available to children, the founders felt determined to create a space that explores the fantastical realm of childhood while also tackling the sometimes oppressive, and lonely aspects of being a child that experiences the world a in a way that differs from the normative experience. The founders’ vision is to create a non-hierarchical space where artists can create imaginative and politically conscious pieces to both educate and entertain children.

“The first thing we wanted to acknowledge with this collective is that we [as the founders]

all think that children’s books are inherently political,” said Rachel Nam in an interview with The Daily. “Because they’re meant to teach kids morals, how you should behave in this world, and [they’re] a representation of what’s available or what’s happening in this world, and that could obviously be skewed depending on the artist or writer’s perspective.”

“The problem we all find in our own childhood is being belittled, and we’re really interested in thinking about that.”

Jehane Yazami, founder One of the collective’s main goals is to create support for children whose dreams and ideals may not align with dominant representations of childhood – where some experiences, such as those of people marginalized based on their sexuality, gender, or race may be neglected.

“In a lot of publishing [companies ...] it is white straight cis

men who are creating or writing these books, or white women who are creating these books. So we wanted to open up a space for these alternative children’s books where someone […] can bring their particular perspective to children,” said Nam. “Because a lot of kids grow up feeling left out if you are a little bit different from everyone else.”

“It’s so disheartening when you hear stories about young people being ostracized or feeling left out and it’s so painful to hear that at that stage […] when you feel so vulnerable,” Nam added. “I wanted to do something [about it], at least a little bit.”

In the pursuit of creating multiple spaces for support, the collective doesn’t focus only on print material.

Being a relatively new collective, much of their early work has so far involved exploring different media and experimenting with fresh ideas.

This is in part because of the collective’s vision of empowering children, as well as exploring the particular experiences encouraged by each medium, such as the dreamlike utopias that visual illustrations can conjure or the nostalgic melodies that can be found in lullabies.

“We are interested in making products that emphasize beauty and rhythms that we found to be powerful in our own childhood – slowness and emptiness and space for thought that isn’t [usually] given to you,” said Yazami, speaking about the pressure to be

Justine Touchon | The McGill Daily productive that is often placed on both children and adults.

“The problem that we all find in our own childhood is being belittled, and we’re really interested in thinking about that [and …] seeing childhood as a full state of incredible potential,” she added.

While the collective is still young, it already has multiple projects underway. One current project is a picture book by one of the founders, Kai Cheng Thom, who is also a Montreal writer and spoken word artist. Titled From the

Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea, the book is expected to be published next year. Other projects still in early stages include a call for submissions of children’s books made during childhood and submissions for a blog of lullabies – both as written lyrics or recorded with music.

For now, Quilted Creatures is bubbling with potential, and only time will tell how and when their dreams of providing softly subversive pieces of art for children will come true.

Discovering Devarrow

Canadian singer-songwriter talks influences, touring, and university life Zoë Vnak Culture Writer

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anadian singer-songwriter Graham Ereaux, who goes by the stage name Devarrow, says he gave himself a year to focus on seriously pursuing his music – to take a shot at making a name for himself. One year later, with a new LP and an entire tour under his belt, Ereaux has decided to stick with it. The Daily sat down with Ereaux to discuss his musical journey and the release of his latest LP, The Great Escape.

His amicable, down-to-earth vibes made for a conversation that might hit home for many young aspiring artists, who could learn a thing or two from Devarrow’s patience and optimism in the pursuit of his passion.

The McGill Daily (MD): What are your biggest musical influences?

Graham Ereaux (GE): I’d say my biggest influence would’ve been Neil Young. I absolutely loved Neil Young – he’s still one of my favorite musicians and song-

writers. I definitely tried to play a lot of music like [he does]. I don’t have much of a Pink Floyd kind of sound, but [they were also] definitely a big influence. But since high school, I feel like it’s really changed. It was nice going to university and then [being exposed to] all of these amazing [new] albums, like Fleet Foxes and Grizzly Bear and Bon Iver.

MD: Is there anything else that has been a significant factor in shaping you as an artist?

GE: I wish I had something that was very concrete, but I feel like it’s the stuff you can’t really explain. It’s the everyday things.

One thing I’ve always found inspiring is the natural environment – just being outdoors. [And] having a space to be playing music where no one’s around. I really like to be solitary.

MD: Could you describe your style in one word?

GE: I’ll use the words of Pat LePoidevin. [...] I played a couple shows with him. Just recently he said what I guess would be my

one sentence: I sound grungy, bluesy, [and] folky. I guess I’d [also] say [I’m] trying to be captivating and intimate.

MD: I’ve noticed you dabble in other areas of art as well.

GE: I did a Bachelor of Fine Arts at [Mount Allison University].

I found that with photography and art, I had to wake up in the morning and tell myself I needed to do it [because] it didn’t happen naturally. While I was doing that, pursuing music was the one thing I never had to tell myself I needed to do – it never ever feels like work.

MD: As a recent university graduate, do you have any advice for young aspiring artists?

GE: I would say that doing a Bachelor of Fine Arts is really undervalued. I feel like what I’m doing now [with music] is largely influenced by my degree.

Going to university, especially in a small town like where I went, is amazing – not just for going to classes; class is maybe the least important thing of my

university education. It’s all of the experiences that come with being independent, surrounded by likeminded people.

MD: It’s sad that McGill doesn’t have a Fine Arts program. We have an incredible Faculty of Music, but I miss that communal aspect of creating visual art.

GE: I feel like a lot of my musical inspiration [was] largely influenced by that experience of being surrounded by other artists and musicians. [...] That’s really important as an [artist].

MD: Tell me about your LP. GE: It’s a collection of songs I’ve written over the last six years or so. [...] A big catalyst for making this album was the idea of regret and thinking that I would really regret not putting these things down and not recording them. If I were to [turn] fifty, I think that would be a big regret of mine. In the process of sitting down and hashing through all of those old songs, I ended up writing a lot of new songs – it was all kind of a whirlwind experience.

MD: How was touring for this LP? GE: I get the sense that being a folk musician in Canada is a bit more of a linear process – it takes a lot more time. I feel proud of what I’ve made, but it’s definitely an album that hasn’t gained any kind of recognition. I’ve learned a lot about patience in the last six months or so.

MD: Where do you see yourself heading from here on out?

GE: I’d promised myself that I’d give myself a year [...] and it’s been a really fun year and I definitely don’t feel like slowing down. I really want to give it my all. [...] I guess my goal with music is selfish and personal - it’s really fun to travel and to meet new people.

On the other hand, I feel that music is such a powerful art form and it’s amazing [...] how there are so many different types of music we can listen to that will influence how we feel, and our memories.

This interview has been edited for length clarity.

18

Culture

January 18, 2016 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

“Where are we now?”

Nantali Indongo talks Ninth Floor documentary, music and history Jedidah Nabwangu Talk Black

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aking its audience back to 1960s Montreal, the documentary film Ninth Floor is rooted in a time of radical social change that centred members of the Black community.

Written and directed by Mina Shum, the film dives deep into the infamous Sir George Williams Affair (SGWA) that saw a group of university students occupy the computer room at Sir George Williams University – now Concordia – after the administration failed to address students’ claims that a professor at the school, Perry Anderson, was guilty of racism. This followed a series of occurrences in which Perry continuously failed students of colour in his biology class. What was at first a peaceful demonstration quickly escalated with the arrival of the Montreal riot police, the breakout of a fire, and the chanting of racial slurs by onlookers.

The film examines the viewpoints of several activists that were directly involved in the event as well as members of the “new generation,” which includes everyone from the children of these activists to young members of the Montreal Black community at large. Among this next generation is Nantali Indongo, a Montreal-based activist, musician and daughter of Kennedy Frederick, who was one of the six original plaintiffs and a leader in the protests.

I was able to catch up with Indongo to chat about her experiences with both the film and also the legacy of the SGWA, including its impact on her own life and music.

Jedidah Nabwangu (JN): What was your initial reaction when you were approached with this film?

Nantali Indongo (NI): What was attractive to me about this film was that I understood my voice would represent the next gen[eration], and [I’d] be able to speak a bit to what’s the reality now and to how did this event [impacted ...] members of the next generation community, the Black community at large.

JN: Did you find your involvement in the film to be particularly personal? As an audience member, even, I found the film to be very intimate. At one point, even, it seems like you’re being interrogated in an interrogation room?

NI: Yes, that was a part of the secondary story that they were trying to tell; the idea of people [of colour] being watched, because people are suspicious of you, and people are suspicious of you because of a lack of integration and being uncomfortable

with “the other.” [...] So I think they tried to suggest some of that in [...] the film.

It was an intimate experience.

I think I’ve lived with this story for so long and I’ve gone through [so] many stages of how I interpreted it and how I understand my relationship to [it] that I didn’t necessarily feel hyper-emotional about it [in the film].

I remember the first time I spoke out about [the story] publicly… that was an emotional moment.

The political thing that takes precedence here is [...] the growth of French Quebec identity. Everybody else’s problems [...] take a way backseat, like they’re not even in the car.

Nantali Indongo, musician and activist JN: Would you say that now you’re looking at the affair from more of an activist point of view?

NI: I think now what I really wanted to help express in this film was [the idea of ] moving forward.

[Asking questions like] “Where are we now?” and “What can we draw from this?” That was my focus.

I [also] knew my father was going to be painted as sort of a tragic hero, so to speak, because he went through a lot of challenges after [the affair]. That [image] has always been something that I didn’t really perceive him to be in some ways and I really wanted to stay clear of expressing it in that way.

JN: In the film, you mention that in your daily life, you feel you exude the same social justice energy that your dad expressed then. Is your music and work with Nomadic Massive a part of this?

NI: There are several things that come into play with what comes out in my music, be it my experience growing up here or this legacy that’s connected to me. [These things] are a huge part of how I was raised. [...] This idea of justice and this idea of how to handle [my] Black identity in the context of this Canadian [and] Quebec landscape [was always present] – growing up Canadian and Caribbean at the same time, growing up in the eighties, grow-

Sarah Meghan Mah | The McGill Daily ing up with hip hop at its birth. [...] All of those things play into what I say in my music. [...] And I just happened to find a group of people who were very like-minded [...] so I think the stars were aligned.

And then when I pause and think about the privilege of being a musician [and] being able to get onstage, and actually getting the attention of an audience [...] that’s a huge privilege.

As much as there’s entertainment attached to what we do, I just feel this obligation to contribute in another way that speaks to critical thought and to things that are going on around us [which] sometimes these entertainments can be distracting from.

JN: Did you find that the choice to use Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” in the film was a good representation for what you were trying to convey?

NI: I think there’s parts of that song that definitely speak [...] to the narrative that they were trying to tell [about] racial identity in Canada, how we perceive one another, and how we need to work at perceiving one another. [...] So yeah, I think that song does speak to what I’m about [...] in music.

JN: Had you seen any of the archival footage used in the film of your father and the other activists before getting involved?

NI: Yeah, I’d seen some, but not all of it. There was some that I’d never seen, which was great. [...] I think the footage of Robert [Hubsher, a white student protester] where he’s speaking to fellow students at one point and says “We have to join [the students of colour]!” [...] was really interesting to hear especially in this time, and in the past year we’ve had,

where we’ve talked a lot about white privilege. And here is this person addressing white privilege from fortyplus years ago.

JN: From what I know about the events, it seems very much maledominated – it seems like there were some women involved but the overall representation of women seems kind of minimal.

NI: In some of my interviews [that were] edited out, I speak a lot about the support from Black women. In the film, we hear only from those women who were arrested [and directly involved] but there were tons of support from women outside of the university. Things like [women] just making lunches for the students. Others that were typing up letters of whatever [the students] needed. It was women who found bail money for my dad.

JN: Why do you think it’s important to speak out about the affair, even now? Some would argue that the magnitude of these issues have sharply dissipated over the years. Do you think there is still work to do in Canada and Montreal?

NI: A hundred per cent. There is always work to do. [...] I think we often look to the story of Black Americans, and Canadians might feel the comfort of thinking, “we’re not as bad, they’re horrible in America with their issues of race and racism.” There was a really nice piece that was written in Maclean’s last year, in and around the Black Lives Matter movement [where] the writer expresses exactly that, that if you compare treatment of Black Americans to the treatment of Indigenous peoples in Canada, in

some ways the treatment of Indigenous peoples is even worse than what has happened or what is happening to Black Americans still today. [...] When we actually start to address [...] how First Peoples are treated here, then maybe we can start to address what it’s like for other people and what racism looks like for minority groups and marginalized groups.

The political thing that takes precedence here is [...] the language division and the growth of French Quebec identity. Everybody else’s problems [...] take a way backseat, like they’re not even in the car. The danger in not including or paying attention to the lived experiences of other groups in Montreal is that we perpetuate things in schools and institutions that then make people who are victims of racism [and] marginalization feel unequipped to even try to begin the battle.

JN: Trying to sum up everything, what message do you hope the audience takes with them after watching the film?

NI: Overall, I just appreciate that this story is out there in this way and that it’s painted as a part of Canadian, Quebec and Montreal history.

Ninth Floor is screening at Cinema du Parc until January 25.

Screenings are daily at 5:20 p.m..

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Talk Black is a column that seeks to engage in anti-racist culture writing, addressing art, music, events, and more. Jedidah Nabwangu can be reached at talkblack@mcgilldaily.com.

Editorial

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January 18, 2016 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Idleness won’t address homelessness

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cover design Sarah Meghan Mah and Rahma Wiryomartono contributors Astha Agarwal, Mackenzie Burnett, Ellen Cools, Marina Cupido, Marina Djurdjevic, Trent Eady, Zahra Habib, Nadir Khan, Paniz Khosroshahy, Lucie Lastinger, Sarah Meghan Mah, Sean Miyaji, Yasmine Mosimann, Jedidah Nabwangu, Alice Shen, Tamim Sujat, Justine Touchon, Zoë Vnak, Rahma Wiryomartono

Saima Desai | The McGill Daily

S

peaking last week at the Accueil Bonneau homeless shelter, Montreal mayor Denis Coderre boasted the census of homeless people in Montreal that was completed last March as the first step in his 2014-17 action plan addressing homelessness. He also noted that the city has set a goal of helping 2,000 people transition out of homelessness within five years. While data collection is a step toward addressing the issue, the Coderre administration is not on track to meet the goals of its ambitious plan regarding homelessness, and has so far failed to address the demands made by people who are homeless and their advocates.

The Coderre administration’s homelessness plan promises to regularly consult the homeless community, as well as support the creation of 1,000 housing units for homeless people and lobby the provincial and federal governments to that effect. However, two years into the execution of the plan, the promised liaison between the administration and community has not yet been hired, and the administration has failed in its commitment to social housing. The provincial budget allocated to AccèsLogis – a program that funds affordable social and community housing projects – has been cut in half. Meanwhile, the federal subsidies for social housing are projected to end over the next few years, affecting 20,500 homes in the Montreal region by raising rent by up to $400 per month for low-income tenants. The Coderre administration has merely stood by, showing nothing but complacency in the face of these provincial and federal cuts.

In order to create a sustainable solution to homeless-

ness, affordable housing is necessary. Medicine Hat, Alberta, eradicated homelessness in only six years thanks to its “housing first” model, in which the city provides permanent housing to homeless people along with support services, which is still less expensive when compared to the municipal costs associated with a person living on the street. While it would require greater logistical coordination in Montreal, a much larger city, the approach should remain the same. As such, permanent funding for social housing projects and for community organizations that provide and support them is necessary to effectively address homelessness in the long term. The Coderre administration must defend this funding vis-a-vis the provincial and federal governments and secure locations for additional such projects, as called for by the housing group Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU).

While Coderre’s census may be a good start, he must follow through with the rest of his plan before Montreal can hope to address homelessness in a sustainable manner. Coderre lacks both direct contact with the affected communities and a principled, clear stance in support of social and community housing. In the two years left to go in the plan, he must make the execution of his plan a priority, listen to advocacy groups and those directly affected, and voice strong opposition to the provincial and federal cuts to social housing. People who are homeless are owed committed action from the government, and Coderre’s idleness is leaving them on their own.

—The McGill Daily editorial board

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19

Compendium!

January 18, 2016 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

20

Lies, half-truths, and the great beyond.

Is there life after school?

On the spiritual path of the enlightened student Elder Barry The McGall Weekly

I

understand why you may not believe in life after school. There is no academic evidence of it, so the mainstream professors and researchers don’t want you to know that there are aspects of reality not accounted for in their theories. In the decades we’ve spent in school, we’ve been thoroughly indoctrinated, and only the strongest minds among us can come to terms with the reality that there’s more to the world than what ‘they’ want you to believe.

But life after school is real. Hundreds of students have seen it and come back to tell the tale. They have reported powerful outof-school (OOS) experiences, which I have painstakingly compiled over the past seven years. Students have told me about the intense feelings that subsume the body in an OOS: a sensation of peacefully floating away from university buildings, encounters with extracurricular entities, sightings of former students who dropped out long ago – an entirely different plane of reality, unburdened by essays, group presentations, and conferences.

Whatever skeptics say, these accounts cannot be explained without positing the existence of a life outside of school, a fourth dimension where the observable universe extends beyond the seemingly impenetrable Roddick Gates. But not just anyone can visit this peaceful reality – most of us spend our entire existence trapped in the interminable cycle of mundane scholarly pursuits. While our time on this campus is punctuated by occasional moments of seeming happiness – one of our papers receives an A grade, a waitlist spot opens up on Minerva, a samosa sale awaits us upon our exit from class – these are

but a fleeting twinkle in the cycle of failure, suffering, anxiety, and dissatisfaction. We must renounce the lowly pleasures of university life to attain liberation.

From the existence of the school we must infer the existence of a school-maker that sets it into motion. This maker resides, unmoved and contemplative, in that vast and tranquil beyond which some of us have blessedly glimpsed, and it goes by the name of Beyoncé. We owe it nothing but devotion, for it holds the key to our salvation.

Glory to Beyoncé, and death to heretic acadeists.

Does your mom tell you that you’re funny?

Send us your comedic masterpieces at compendium@mcgilldaily.com

Harry Potter and the philosophers, stoned.

J.K. Rowling Ablunt | The McGall Weekly