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Fifth annual Indigenous Awareness Week

03 NEWS SEDE holds annual Indigenous Awareness Week Course lecturers, instructors accept collective agreement Fossil free week mobilizes for divestment Divest McGill pickets Senate

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Events bring attention to Indigenous cultures

From September 21 to 25, the Social Equity and Diversity Education (SEDE) office hosted McGill’s annual Indigenous Awareness Week.

During the week-long series of events, participants honoured and celebrated Indigenous cultures in McGill and beyond, with the aim of increasing awareness. Events included a speech by Truth and Reconciliation Commissioner Marie Wilson, a Kairos blanket exercise, dreamcatcher making workshops, and much more.

Indigenous women have not failed their resistance

COMMENTARY

Trigger warnings and free speech

Jill Bachelder The McGill Daily

Where is student services funding going?

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Letters Meaningful community engagement

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FEATURES

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ART ESSAY

Challenging consent

SCI+TECH

Discriminatory blood donation policy is based on bad science

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SPORTS

Environment and the Olympics

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CULTURE

Indigeneity on display at OBORO Storytelling reimagined at the Phi Centre

n September 24, organizers of Indigenous Awareness Week held a symposium on the gendered nature of colonialism and activism by Indigenous women, featuring a talk by Audra Simpson, a Mohawk woman from Kahnawake.

Simpson is a professor of anthropology at Columbia University, and author of Mohawk Interruptus, a book about the struggles of Mohawk people in so-called Quebec to maintain political sovereignty. At the talk, Simpson shared one of her new articles, which describes the way society overlooks the Indigenous movements which are organized and led

by Indigenous women.

The catalyst for Simpson’s article was a 2004 interview with Yasser Arafat, former leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, who said Palestinians “are not red Indians,” implying there might actually be hope for the Palestinian struggle against colonialism, whereas colonialism has triumphed over Indigenous groups in the U.S. and Canada. This idea that Indigenous groups have bowed down to colonial forces and are no longer capable of effective resistance, Simpson noted, is commonly held, but is also completely false, and stems from a broader

Rayleigh Lee The McGill Daily

A guide to the 11th annual Black Film Festival

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19

EDITORIAL

Editorial: stand with Quebec’s teachers

20 COMPENDIUM! Blood-red beauty tips Comic: The Bubble

lack of understanding of Indigenous histories and societies.

Simpson also described how colonialism is known only by “inaccurate and heroic versions of what is fundamentally a dispossession – a scene of stealing.” She explained how the concept of sharing, perpetuated by stories such as those told at Thanksgiving, paint a picture of equality and camaraderie between settlers and Indigenous peoples, hiding the betrayal of Indigenous nations and the “dismembering violence and wars that raged on for hundreds of years.” Simpson also noted how the treaties between Indigenous peoples and Canada can create the semblance of a consenting relationship between the state and Indigenous communities, which does not do justice to the realities of their tortured and oppressive relationship.

Simpson argued Indigenous peoples have not failed in their resistance of colonialism, and “persist with their sovereignty intact in spite of the grinding historical and political process of settler colonialism.”

Groups such as the Sioux have not only been resisting colonialism for centuries, but have continued to militantly defend their territories, saying they will under no circumstances allow the Keystone XL pipeline to pass through their lands. Simpson also noted that Indigenous women spearheaded the movement to raise awareness about missing and mur-

Dreamcatcher workshop.

Sonia Ionescu | Photographer

dered Indigenous women and play a central role in Indigenous resistance.

Rachel Baker, a French language and literature Master’s student said, “[Simpson] has an ability to frame the issues in a context that is just not available to me as a nonIndigenous woman, and also I certainly don’t have her level of scholarship either. It definitely informed me of the larger contexts.”

The symposium was co-hosted

by the the Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies (IGSF).

“For us at IGSF, this is not a one-off – this is the start of something that we want to commit to and we want to hear like a beat over the course of the year and over the course of years to come,” a representative from IGSF said during the talk. She noted that IGSF will be offering a course on Indigenous feminisms in the upcoming Winter 2016 semester.

Truth and reconciliation

The Daily reviews Hot Shame and For One to Love

A night of poetry at Atwater Library

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he seminar “Reflections on the Truth & Reconciliation with Aboriginal People” took place on September 23. It was facilitated by Michael Loft, a member of the Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) community of Kahnawake and an academic associate at the McGill School of Social Work.

Loft is an intergenerational survivor – his father, Mitchell, attended a residential school for 11 years, followed by Loft, who also attended an “Indian Day School” for three years. At the event, Loft shared his personal experiences of overcoming challenges despite spending his childhood at an In-

dian Day School. He also spoke on how “respect, responsibility, and cooperation can work” to achieve reconciliation.

Loft described residential schools as “institutions of cultural and linguistic genocide, leaving survivors with no education and emotionally unattached to endure the abuse inflicted upon others and themselves.”

“Even after coming out [of the residential schools], love is so deeply buried in your soul, [it doesn’t] come out right half the time. All you’re left with is the feeling of shame, fear of authority. How do you be cool in a situation like that?” Loft said.

At the seminar, Loft spoke on the significance of the Truth

and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as an attempt to understand history, despite it being emotionally draining for the survivors, who have to relive their experiences.

He showed the audience a poem titled “Monster” written

by Dennis Saddleman, a survivor who attended a residential school for seven years.

In the poem, which Saddleman read at a TRC gathering in Ottawa, he compares his residential school experience to a monster that took away his native culture and childhood.

“I hate you residential school, I hate you. / You’re a monster. / A huge hungry monster. / Built with steel bones. Built with ce-

ment flesh. / You’re a monster,” Saddleman writes.

Loft encouraged the audience to engage with the poem in smaller groups. “When [Saddleman] talks about that monster, I heard about that monster,” Loft said, adding, “I don’t know how many times I heard about the monster over the course of my career.”

In addition, Loft told the audience reconciliation between Indigenous people and Canadians, although an inevitable process, can only be reached by honouring past treaties and through mutual respect.

Loft said, “There has to be a responsibility somewhere to set that right. [...] Let’s settle something. Deal’s a deal.”

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September 28, 2015 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

MCLIU ratifies first collective agreement Agreement serves as “foundation” for dialogue and future negotiations

Rayleigh Lee The McGill Daily

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fter three years of negotiations, the McGill Course Lecturers & Instructors Union (MCLIU) reached its first collective agreement with the University during a Special General Assembly (SGA), held on September 18.

Originally certified in August 2011, and then re-certified in November 2013, MCLIU has worked toward harmonizing the working conditions of McGill lecturers and instructors in affiliation with the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) and the Fédération nationale des enseignantes et des enseignants du Québec (FNEEQ).

MCLIU’s collective agreement, which was ratified at the SGA with a 96 per cent majority vote, recognizes the implementation of grievance and progressive disciplinary procedures.

Employees will also be given seniority in allocation of courses, paid sick leave, and parental leave rights, as well as associated benefits equivalent

to full-time teachers.

“Our new work agreement [...] represents substantial gains for our members,” said MCLIU President Raad Jassim. “The members will benefit from significant salary increases over the three years of the agreement, as well as the retroactive pay from January 2015. It should be noted that the course lecturers in this university in Montreal were the lowest paid in the province of Quebec.”

MCLIU Interim Communication and Mobilization Officer Jeanette Wong spoke on the obstacles the union faced while attempting negotiations with McGill. “When we asked for something, the [Administration] might say no, or refuse to really talk about it. If [they say] a complete no, we are facing a wall,” said Wong.

Despite a majority vote of 96 per cent and a successful collective agreement in the four years since accreditation, Wong says this agreement is only a foundation to build further improvements for working conditions upon. Wong added, “96 per cent is [a] high percentage, and you [could]

say ‘Oh! we can celebrate now,’ but it is [just] our first collective agreement.

Before that there was nothing [...] so we just made one big giant step.” “[The ratification] means the members […] have at least the foundation of a clear and transparent system. In that sense, yes, we have a full agreement […] but there are still things we need to negotiate in the future. [...] The basis of foundation was really needed and we approved this foundation,” said Wong.

Increased benefits for course lecturers and instructors Wong also commented on how the improvement of job security for teachers would increase efficiency in the workplace, thus benefitting the university as a whole.

“It means a lot. It means to all McGill people, to the students, to the whole [of ] McGill, that you see an improved quality of education. [...] The instructors and course lecturers [...] feel more secure at their work. They feel no threat from their employment. They can focus that

Stephanie Ngo | Illustrator energy to do research to develop professionally, to focus on what they do best: teaching,” Wong said.

Wong further discussed how the collective agreement is also a gesture of recognition for teachers, who make an important contribution to McGill, stating that “[the collective agreement] also means that these teachers have been recognized as part of McGill. It is important that we’re not just teaching year by year, term by term, without knowing what is coming next.”

MCLIU Vice President and Chair of the Bargaining Committee Ahmad Munir expressed that he expected

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the agreement to positively impact the education quality for McGill students. Munir also noted that students play an important role in the issue, as all students benefit from a better educational environment, and many students advocate for the Union.

“Our slogan is ‘We Are McGill.’ It is very important that ‘we,’ course lecturers and instructors, contribute [to] the education mission of McGill with peace of mind to pursue our maximum abilities in teaching, research, and professional development. Better working conditions of instructors have a direct impact on the quality of education,” stated Munir.

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September 28, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

5

Divest McGill organizes Fossil Free Week

Rallies, discussions, and events raise awareness on climate change Saima Desai & Cem Ertekin The McGill Daily

D

uring the week of September 21, Divest McGill organized Fossil Free Week, a series of rallies, discussions, and other events that aimed to convince McGill’s Board of Governors (BoG) and its Committee to Advise on Matters of Social Responsibility (CAMSR) to freeze its investments in the fossil fuel industry.

Climate change and intersections The first event organized as part of Divest McGill’s Fossil Free Week was a student discussion on “Intersectionality of Justice and Coalition Building,” and took place on September 21. Students from diverse groups such as McGill Students for UNICEF, Demilitarize McGill, McGill Students for Feminisms, and the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), came together to show the different connections between climate justice and various other systems of oppression.

Emily Boytinck, SSMU VP External and a Divest McGill organizer, spoke on how Quebec’s austerity measures are detrimental to the environment. Boytinck used the example of Plan Nord, which aims to develop more mining and extraction projects in Northern Quebec.

According to the Liberal government, this is to balance the budget.

“When we’re talking about fossil free, [when] we’re talking about climate justice, it’s really important to recognize that this government’s attempts to balance the budget [...] make [it] more likely to approve projects that would have detrimental impacts, not only to Quebec’s environment, but [also] to global carbon emissions,” Boytinck said.

Maud Nathalie Édouardine and Morgane Juliat, representatives from McGill Students for UNICEF, explained that climate change disproportionately affects children. “[Children] are the least responsible for climate change, yet they’re the ones that are going to be most affected by it in the long term,” Édouardine said.

Mona Luxion, PhD candidate

in Urban Planning, Demilitarize McGill organizer, and former Daily columnist, spoke about the relationship between militarism and environmental degradation. “The amount of fossil fuels used by the military is ridiculous,” Luxion said.

“Research on the American military [has] suggested that it is actually the largest fossil fuel user and the largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world, making up about 5 per cent of the world’s fossil fuel consumption.”

Lastly, Paniz Khosroshahy, speaking on behalf of McGill Students for Feminisms, referred to the United Nations, which recently reported that “climate justice is a gendered issue and affects women more gravely.” Khosroshahy explained that all oppression is interrelated and phenomena like climate change only work to exacerbate the conditions of women and other groups who are already marginalized.

Community voices on divestment On September 23, Divest McGill held a rally at Community Square in front of the James Administration building. Students and community members convened to hear speeches, chant, and share their reasons for supporting McGill’s divestment from the fossil fuel industry, under a frame that read “I want McGill to divest because…”

Speakers included two McGill alumni: Karel Mayrand, Director General for Quebec and Atlantic Canada with the David Suzuki Foundation and chair of Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project in Canada, and Camil Bouchard, a former member of Quebec’s National Assembly. Mayrand and Bouchard both declared that if by March 30 McGill has not divested from fossil fuels, they will hand back their degrees, and urged other alumni to join them.

“We are no longer able to identify ourselves with an institution which blindfolds itself for the sake of small and irresponsible returns,” said Mayrand.

The rally also heard from Vanessa Gray, a tar sands activist from the Aamjiwnaang First Nation reserve near Sarnia, Ontario.

Divest McGill at Community Square on September 21.

Gray spoke about the impact of Enbridge’s Line 9B Reversal proposal, which would transport tar sands bitumen oil through her reserve, all the way to Montreal.

“We are no longer able to identify ourselves with an institution which blindfolds itself for the sake of small and irresponsible returns.”

Karel Mayrand, McGill alumnus Although many Canadians are unaware of the disproportionate impact of oil pipelines on Indigenous peoples, “there are Indigenous communities on the front lines who have no choice – they have to defend their land and their lungs,” Gray said.

Derek Nystrom, a professor in

Cem Ertekin | The McGill Daily

the Department of English, gave a speech on behalf of McGill Faculty and Librarians for Divestment.

“McGill [...] is in direct contradiction to many of the things that we’re trying to teach our students in our classes,” said Nystrom.

Divest McGill organizers then led the crowd in chants, which were filmed to be sent to Stuart “Kip” Cobbett, the chair of the BoG and CAMSR. Chloé Laflamme, an organizer with Divest McGill, told The Daily that Cobbett’s response to the week of mobilization was that “the Board could not take a public stance on fossil fuel divestment because [Cobbett] thinks it would be to ‘prejudge the issue.’”

Jenny Fryer, a U2 international development studies and political science student, expressed a desire for still greater student engagement with Divest McGill’s efforts.

“I think McGill, as a huge campus and a huge community, could definitely have a better showing at things like this,” said Fryer.

“These movements tend to underrepresent minorities and groups that really deserve more of a voice.” Fryer added that one reason for this might be the fact that “we’re on a campus

that isn’t as diverse as I would want it to be in a perfect world.”

Iain Childerhose, a U4 urban studies and Canadian studies student, told The Daily, “You really need to stand by what you say, obviously. Divest has been going for two and a half years and there haven’t been any changes, so it might take five years working with like-minded organizations to see real changes.”

“I’ve seen this with a number of other similarly critical organizations on campus. You’ll have one really strong year where you’ll have a bunch of people who have been involved for a while, and then they graduate and then it takes a few more years of education for people to be as mobile,” Childerhose commented. “So the University knows that if they stall for a little bit, then it’ll take some rebuilding of the student organizations.”

“I worry because it’s such a huge bureaucracy,” said Fryer.

“There’s so much red tape. [...] It’s a lot of money and it’s a big system.

But I really hope that they do [divest], that they’re smart enough to, and that they can go down on the right side of history.”

Also check out our online coverage of the federal debate rally. www.mcgilldaily.com

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September 28, 2015 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

Divest pickets first Senate meeting Sexual harassment policy, accessibility on campus discussed

Cem Ertekin & Arianee Wang The McGill Daily

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n September 24, McGill’s Senate convened for its first meeting of the 2015-16 academic year. The senators discussed, among other things, the probation of the undergraduate medicine program, three questions regarding McGill’s response to the Truth and Reconciliation report, McGill’s alleged violation of provincial Bill 100, and physical accessibility on campus. The senators also discussed the annual report on the Policy on Harassment, Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Prohibited by Law. Before the meeting started, members of Divest McGill picketed outside the doors of Leacock room 232, where Senate meetings take place.

The group was able to stop Principal Suzanne Fortier and talk to her before she made her way into the meeting.

Speaking to The Daily, Divest McGill organizer Kristen Perry said, “We had invited [Fortier] earlier in the week to come to some [Fossil Free Week] events. And she said [that] she was looking out of her window, and [that] she didn’t see anything going on. And I think that’s really indicative of how disconnected she is from the university.”

“We have [...] so many students, so many professors, so many community members out there in [Community] Square, supporting us and calling for a freeze on fossil fuel investments, calling for the Board [of Governors] to take the issue of divestment and climate change seriously – and she’s saying she sees nothing,” Perry continued.

Sam Quigley, another organizer with Divest McGill, explained that the group asked Fortier to support its request to freeze McGill’s investments in the fossil fuel industry when it was brought up at the Board of Governors meeting.

In an interview with The Daily, Fortier said, “My answer was that this is not only of my calling here.

There’s a process. There’s a committee that looks after these issues. [...] That’s where it would be considered. It would be inappropriate for me to express my own view. ” Responding to the Truth and Reconciliation report On June 2, 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada released its final report, after seven years of investigations regarding the colonial legacy of Canada.

In reaction to the TRC’s report, Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) VP University Affairs Chloe

Suzanne Fortier speaks with Divest McGill before Senate meeting.

Rourke and Arts Senator Erin Sobat asked the Senate: “Will McGill consider adopting a university-wide strategic plan on Indigenous education?” and “What efforts is McGill undertaking to build relationships with local Indigenous communities?”

In their written response to the question, Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Ollivier Dyens and Dean of Students André Costopoulos talked about Portage McGill, a “new process to help [Indigenous] applicants and potentially other underrepresented groups gain admission to McGill.”

“Our first meeting will happen in early November and it deals with [...] not only physical access but also things like gender-neutral washrooms.”

Angela Campbell, Associate Provost of Polciies, Procedures and Equity Speaking to Senate, Provost Christopher Manfredi said, “We’ve got, I think, an opportunity to be a leader in the full range from the [...]

recruitment and support of [Indigenous] students, to the research and teaching on [...] Indigenous issues both in Canada and abroad.”

McGill has historically been hesitant to take symbolic steps such as moving the Hochelaga Rock to a more prominent position on campus or flying the Hiawatha Belt Flag on National Aboriginal Day. When asked by The Daily how the University is planning on becoming a leader in this area, Manfredi gave the example that Indigenous students are recognized as such when they graduate.

“We’ve [also] established the Indigenous Studies program.

We’ve had an opportunity last spring to create some stability in that program by creating a tenure track position.”

In response to comments that most Indigenous rights initiatives on campus were led by students, Manfredi mentioned that the administration was receptive to student input throughout.

“I don’t think that’s true. With the Indigenous Studies [minor] I told the students that I had to be sure that students supported that program, and [...] they rose to the challenge and they did it.”

Accessibility and universal design on campus Rourke and Sobat posed another question: “What current processes and evaluation procedures are in place within McGill’s decision-making structures to ensure the prioritization of physical accessibility on campus?”

Cem Ertekin | The McGill Daily

Associate Provost (Policies, Procedures and Equity) Angela Campbell stated, “There are a list of things that [the Universal Access Capital Projects Working Group] wants to accomplish. So that committee works with a budget annually of $400,000 and it also works with the Office for Students with Disabilities, so I did see a list of things that are coming over.” However, Campbell noted that she was unable to present a timeline for the projects.

In regards to the progress of accessibility, Campbell told Senate, “Our first meeting will happen in early November and it deals with things, not only physical access but also things like gender-neutral washrooms.”

Sexual harassment Campbell also presented the annual report on the Policy on Harassment, Sexual Harassment and Discrimination Prohibited by Law. According to Campbell, “Last year, there were 23 cases brought forward, down from an average of 36 cases in the previous eight years.”

After Campbell presented Senate with various figures pertaining to sexual harassment at McGill, Fiona Ritchie, a senator and an associate professor in the Department of English, referred to The Daily’s feature “Let’s Talk about Teacher” (Features, page 11, September 1). She stated that at the end of the article, the writer expresses uncertainty with regards to what degree sexual harassment policy applies to student-faculty relationships, and that the writer’s “perception of the policy is that it is very

unpleasant” for complainants. Ritchie went on to inquire if there was a problem with students not being aware that that policy was “something they [could] have recourse to,” and whether there could be something Senate could “do to change that situation.”

Campbell responded that “the policy is open to students and is used by students.” However, she added that they were looking “at ways to make the process not only more effective, but also [...] to ensure that [those] coming forward [are] in circumstances that are safe for those who wish to make the disclosure.”

Updates on the undergraduate medicine program probation Another topic addressed at Senate was that of McGill’s undergraduate medicine program which was put under probation over the summer.

Dean of Medicine David Eidelman stated, “Every medical school’s dean’s nightmare is to be put on probation.”

However, despite this, Eidelman expressed that he was not extremely worried about the program staying accredited, as they intend to formally submit the plan to follow the accreditation body’s requirements

by December 1, 2016. He also added that the Faculty of Medicine had quickly established a working chair in order to ensure that they had a response for each complaint.

Moreover, Eidelman added, “It’s a good opportunity for students [who have been] involved in every aspect [and] have been some of the most effective spokespeople.”

Commentary

September 28, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

7

Trigger warnings are not censorship Why the slippery slope argument doesn’t hold

Jason Da Silva Castanheira | Illustrator Connor Tannas Commentary Writer

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ith sensational titles like “Trigger Warning: College Kids are Human Veal” and “The Coddling of the American Mind,” recent commentary on trigger warnings has clearly been controversial. Two widely discussed viewpoints have arisen whose proponents are locked in apparent dichotomous opposition: those who support the use of trigger warnings on the grounds that they make classrooms and other spaces more accessible to people who have experienced trauma related to the subject at hand, and those who oppose them on the grounds that any form of trigger warning that makes its way into a lecture hall is necessarily nothing but the precursor of a larger assault on intellectual freedom. Censorship, it seems, has become the new point of dissent in a debate that originated on the basis of mental health. If current dialogue has failed to produce a consensus, it is simply because it has not been clear whether it is mental health or intellectual freedom that is at stake.

The authors of “The Coddling of the American Mind,” Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, begin their essay (published in the Atlantic) with the bold claim that a “movement is arising, undirected and driven largely by students, to scrub campuses clean of words, ideas, and subjects that might cause discomfort or give offence.”

However, a trigger warning merely consists of signalling in advance the presence of content that could be triggering for individuals suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or who have otherwise traumatic associations with the given topic, so that they can decide

on their own terms how to engage with it. Nowhere do trigger warnings, by definition or in practice, endeavour to censor specific information. Rather, their explicit goal is the opposite: to advertise the presence of potentially sensitive topics, not to erase them.

This misunderstanding is at the root of Lukianoff and Haidt’s tenuous claim that to endorse trigger warnings is to endorse an entire canon of other issues on the slippery slope toward the restriction of free speech and intellectual freedom. The writers assume that the application of trigger warnings is an implicit acknowledgement that some topics should be avoided entirely if they may make a student uncomfortable; supposedly seeking to protect intellectual freedom, the authors urge universities to “officially and strongly discourage trigger warnings.” Based on the same assumption, Lukianoff and Haidt also assert that trigger warnings are actually detrimental to mental health, as avoiding triggers only compounds anxieties, whereas facing them “rationally and critically” is the sole credible approach to recovery from trauma.

In practice, however, trigger warnings do not preclude a person from ever facing trauma triggers.

On the contrary, trigger warnings merely alert students that they will encounter a potential trigger, and rather than necessarily compelling them to leave the lecture, give them time to reflect upon and reconcile themselves with the impending content instead of shocking them into a traumatic recollection. It is thus not surprising that Aaron Hanlon, assistant professor of English at Colby College and author of “The Trigger Warning Myth” in the New Republic, finds that “in my three years of teaching [...] not one

[student] has left class or failed to turn in an assignment because of a trigger warning.”

It appears that trigger warnings actually lead to a more purposeful and reflective approach to addressing trauma because of the element of control. To remove the warning is to undermine reason entirely, leaving only a visceral, involuntary, and inherently public reaction that would likely compound any residual feelings of trauma, shame, and humiliation.

Is this what critics want when they speak of facing fears “rationally?” More likely, these critics’ fundamental lack of understanding about the purpose of trigger warnings makes them ill-equipped to assess whether trigger warnings live up to their intended purpose.

Others have also argued that trigger warnings lose effectiveness simply due to their prevalence. In the Guardian article “We’ve gone too far with ‘trigger warnings,’” Jill Filipovic argues that proponents of trigger warnings have corrupted their purpose, proposing that “generalized trigger warnings aren’t so much about helping people with PTSD as they are about a certain kind of performative feminism,” whereby demanding a trigger warning “identifies you as even more aware, even more feminist, even more solicitous” than those who do not. The insinuation that being vocal about trigger warnings is necessarily insincere is condescendingly dismissive; besides, even if it were true, it is unclear how this would undermine the effectiveness of trigger warnings for those who need them.

It is clear that critics are mistaken in dismissing the effectiveness of trigger warnings with regards to accommodating mental health.

What remains to be evaluated is the

dubious association between trigger warnings and a broader ideology of censorship. The question that arises is whether trigger warnings are genuinely undermining rationalism and free speech, or whether this controversy is just the product of a reactionary and misguided assumption that trigger warnings aim to homogenize discourse on university campuses. It is because of the pedagogical nature of the university itself that this would be a legitimate concern; a university degree isn’t just meant to provide a well-curated collection of facts, it’s meant to promote and engender vital critical thinking skills, and expose students to culturally and contextually diverse ideas that challenge and refine their own views.

It is important to differentiate between trigger warnings and these perceived attempts to eliminate sensitive material entirely from courses.

Lukianoff and Haidt allude to a number of widely-discussed instances where students have pushed to have certain information or views removed from campus, such as when law students at Harvard questioned how rape law was being taught, with some requesting that it be removed from exams or first year content altogether.

Concern over attempted censure is valid (having lawyers who don’t understand the legality of rape is

clearly not in the interest of survivors), but, as with many other viral examples of campus “censorship,” these students were not suggesting that the delicate subject not be taught, but rather that it be taught in a way that is more considerate toward survivors of sexual violence. It is important to differentiate between trigger warnings and these perceived attempts to eliminate sensitive material entirely from courses. The latter, as shown previously, can actually increase dialogue around controversial topics by making them more accessible to people who have experienced trauma.

If trigger warnings by definition do not censor, why have they been so closely associated with censorship? Since the debate has been polarizing from its inception, opponents of trigger warnings still see endorsing them as endorsing “everything else,” and believe that the presence of trigger warnings on campus will be the inauspicious beginning of a precipitous fall into thought policing. Better dialogue that overcomes perceived ideological incompatibility is needed: perhaps by embracing the ‘threatened’ rational and intellectual flexibility that they hold so dear, critics of trigger warnings will see that their use can be a nonintrusive, helpful, and considerate way of addressing PTSD and trauma triggers without marking the end of free speech.

Only when trigger warnings are correctly understood for the purpose they serve can the pretension of implicit ideological ramifications be discarded; then, universities can move towards a more inclusive and considerate campus environment.

Connor Tannas is a U0 Arts student. To contact him, email connor. tannas@mail.mcgill.ca.

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Commentary

September 28, 2015 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

Funding allocation should be transparent Is McGill misusing government grants?

Erin Dwyer Commentary Writer

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rom the dwindling Canadian dollar to widespread austerity measures in Quebec, to crunched budgets at universities like McGill, money is tight these days. But at McGill, the problem isn’t just that the university doesn’t have access to enough money, but that the allocation of funds it does have has been done non-transparently and in a legal grey area. It hardly takes running a fine-toothed comb through McGill’s financial actions in the past couple of months to see that the financial struggles most detrimental to students have only been exacerbated by the actions of McGill’s most powerful.

One area where McGill has not allocated government funds transparently is the budget of the Student Services unit, which houses resources like the Student Health Service, the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD), the Mental Health Service, and the Counselling Service. Although the unit was already unable to meet student demand, the McGill administration further reduced its fund-

ing this year by cutting the yearly $112,000 transfer to the unit and charging it increased overhead charges. This left the unit with two main funding sources: student fees and a yearly $1.8 million grant from the Quebec government designated specifically for “services to students.”

A university is nothing without students, and student needs must come first.

However, at a Senate meeting last April, Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Ollivier Dyens informed student senators that 25 per cent of that grant was being allocated to Athletics, and, given McGill’s tight budget, he left open the possibility that the remaining money from the grant Could also go to units other than Student Services – potentially including things like the libraries or the office of the Dean of Students.

Similarly, the administration absorbed a $1.2 million provincial grant earmarked for the support

of students with disabilities into its general budget, failing to provide an account of how the grant was used. This angered student senators at the meeting, especially as the OSD was suffering budget cuts and its funding under a proposed new government grant model was uncertain at the time.

This ambiguity as to what McGill considers “services to students” or “support of students with disabilities” leaves unclear the legality of the University’s usage of the grants. Further, as the University’s contribution to Student Services is reduced, the unit will have to use up more of its surplus, which consist mostly of fees collected from student pockets.

For all its talk of financial struggles, McGill seems to be in a secure enough position to find funds for large executive pay expenditures.

Most recently, it surfaced that McGill had paid former principal Heather Munroe-Blum over $750,000 in the two years following the end of her term. It has also allegedly given out performancebased salary increases to executives in violation of provincial law. Again, whether or not McGill’s allocation of funding was illegal or not, it was

Student Services corridor. Robert Smith | The McGill Daily definitely not transparent.

Like many institutions that rely on public funding, McGill is under significant financial strain, and for that I feel I should express some sympathy. However, the above examples illustrate a common theme in McGill’s budgeting practices that, at a time when government budget cuts make transparency and community involvement in budgetary decisions all the more important, is frankly

worrisome. With months-long wait times for mental health services and increasing numbers of students relying on OSD services, it is time for the University to reevaluate its priorities. A university is nothing without students, and student needs must come first.

Erin Dwyer is a U0 Mathematics and Political Science student.

To contact her, please email erin. dwyer@mail.mcgill.ca.

Letters

Submit your own: letters@mcgilldaily.com

Professors need to hold each other accountable André Costopoulos’ response (“Resources available to deal with sexual harassment and abuse of power,” September 8, Commentary, page 11) to a student’s allegation of sexual harassment against her professor (“Let’s talk about teacher,” September 1, Features, page 11) is hardly surprising. Trivializing sexual assault as an “unwelcome or difficult situation,” the Dean of Students coldly presents us with policy options that do little more than create paper trails.

While seeking professional help can be extremely important to address the physical and emotional harm inflicted on victims of abuse, such measures are insufficient as long as perpetrators of violence are met with impunity. McGill’s administration is in the habit of responding hesitantly, if at all, to allegations of abuses of power. In the rare cases where students come out of anonymity and offer up the names of their abusers, the issue typically

gets resolved quickly and quietly – directly between the involved parties, maybe in the presence of a mediator who will almost certainly be a colleague of the abuser.

Hence, professors who have physically or verbally assaulted students continue to teach and work closely with research and teaching assistants. In this environment of dependency and subordination, they have easy access to students’ bodies and minds. Among con-

cerned faculty, few actively take the students’ side, and fewer still do so publicly. They are afraid, I suspect, of the very real repercussions of aligning with a student against an abusive colleague, which can range from social shaming all the way to denial of tenure.

I too have chosen to write in anonymity, but I do so in the hope that I can reach some of my braver colleagues – those who are willing to do away with the kind of civility

and collegiality that incapacitates us politically and begin to hold each other and this university accountable. After all, we won’t have to be nearly as brave as the former student who shared her experience of abuse with the McGill community. But it is because she spoke out that we can no longer be silent, and because she is in this alone that we have to join her.

overwhelmingly of denigrating and demonizing stereotypes in which Israelis lack humanity, complexity, and moral, intellectual, and emotional depth and nuance.

It is time for The Daily to take stock of the ethics of its coverage and its harmful effects on the McGill community.

I have been told by Daily editors that The Daily maintains a policy of discrimination against Jews who do not share its editorial line.

Such discrimination is morally and legally indefensible.

The Daily marginalizes, vilifies, and outright excludes Jewish students and other members of the McGill community who uphold the principle that universal human rights apply as much to Jews as to all peoples on the basis of equality, and that Jews have a right to selfdetermination in Israel, as affirmed by the UN General Assembly, Security Council and international hu-

man rights law.

The Daily’s discrimination has become so normalized that it no longer recognizes it and insists, proudly and perversely, upon its legitimacy.

The Daily must cease to play a role in the very oppression of minorities whose rights and welfare it so passionately purports to defend.

—A critical professor

The Daily’s editorial line is discriminatory Re: “Birthright: Ten days in apartheid Israel” (September 8, Features, page 12).

It is increasingly evident that The Daily’s coverage of Israel reflects a firmly illiberal and intolerant journalistic philosophy which stifles genuine diversity of thought, democratic debate, and pluralistic dissent in favor of monistic arguments, prejudice, bigotry, and dogmatic ideological doctrine.

There are plenty of good reasons to criticize the Israeli state; all sovereign states merit such criticism because enormous power rests with states and this power can be, and often is, abused.

However, The Daily’s coverage of Israel is rarely critical in a constructive, evidence-based, and rigorous way as much as it is hateful.

It incites hatred in that it depicts Israel and Israelis in invidious essentialized ways. These consist

—Noam Schimmel, Associate Fellow, McGill Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism

Commentary

September 28, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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Supporting communities meaningfully On Community Engagement Day and the importance of solidarity

Samiha Sharif Commentary Writer

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s organizers of McGill’s 2015 Community Engagement Day (CED) – an annual program of one-day volunteering projects and public discussions, run by the Social Equity and Diversity Education (SEDE) office in partnership with community organizations around the city – we consider volunteering to be an integral part of community engagement. The offering of labour and skill can facilitate healthy relationships within communities and contribute to an environment of community care. Community organizations can provide services, advocacy, and support for individuals and groups to strengthen communities and provide safe(r) spaces. Whether it be fighting for a living wage, protesting unfair government policies, or helping individuals and families have access to healthcare and nutritious food, such organizations attempt to level the playing field and uplift individuals who are marginalized in our society. Increasingly underfunded and overworked, these community organizations count on the efforts of volunteers to support staff in their work.

Effective volunteering must challenge the charity model of community service, and instead encourage an understanding of what it means to work in solidarity with community members.

However, an uncritical approach to volunteering can trivialize the struggles of the people we aim to work with and of the community organizations that support them. In a society where different people have been historically marginalized based on various aspects of their identity, volunteers must take care to avoid reproducing in our work the same oppressive dynamics that we’re trying to change. Moreover, al-

though a volunteer can learn a lot through community engagement, it must not be at the expense of the needs of the community organization itself. As CED organizers, we have tried to implement certain practices to address these issues and make community engagement more meaningful.

Most importantly, effective volunteering must challenge the charity model of community service, and instead encourage an understanding of what it means to work in solidarity with community members. Solidarity is based on empathy and good allyship: a volunteer must acknowledge that community members define their own needs based on their experiences. Understanding how a particular volunteer task contributes to the larger mandate of an organization is an important part of understanding solidarity, and acknowledging that even the smallest action – when tied to an identified need – has an impact on the larger struggle. An important part of solidarity that we’ve tried to implement in CED is seeking out community participation in the creation of our volunteering projects. Whether the project is painting a mural, cooking a meal at a community centre, or taking part in an educational workshop, with community consultation each project is designed to meet the immediate needs of the community organization.

A solidarity-based approach is especially important for us as university students, staff, faculty, and administrators. We need to acknowledge and address power imbalances rooted in assumptions that marginalized communities are waiting for universities to solve problems for them. Instead, we must allow community members themselves to dictate their needs and how they would like to address them, and work to support community members on their own terms. All aspects of volunteering, community-driven research, experiential learning, and other forms of engagement must be co-created with intention and in partnership with communities. Just as importantly, the knowledge produced through these collaborations must be shared, accessible, and reflective of multiple sources of knowledge and experiences if it is to contribute to social change and justice.

As organizers, we want CED to be educational. We are all members of the Montreal community and we are all impacted in some way by socio-economic

Lia Elbaz | The McGill Daily policies that privilege certain sectors of society over others.

The aim of community engagement initiatives and events like CED should go beyond service and notions of ‘giving back.’ Like meaningful scholarship, community engagement should challenge our assumptions and views of the world, spark awareness of the realities of others, and facilitate examinations of power and privilege – namely, to realize that some people have to work much harder for things than other people. In essence, our goal should be to challenge, through action and reflection, unjust barriers that divide us. A moderated critical discussion follows each CED project.

During these talks, participants are encouraged to think critically about societal issues and the way they are individually and collectively implicated in them.

We have also tried to make CED and its educational opportunities as accessible as possible for McGill community members.

Projects are scheduled at various times of the day, and the McGill senior administration has asked management to encourage staff participation during work hours.

Bus tickets can be reimbursed, and every project has accessibility information for language, transportation, and physical access. Every kind of intentional participation – whether physical, emotional, or verbal – is labour, and we hope to create an environment where all types of labour are valued. CED organizers also work with community organizations to avoid imposing extra labour for the organizations’ staff, and to ensure that whatever work is done actually addresses immediate needs and contributes value to the organization’s work and outreach efforts. However, some barriers are easier to address than others. Not everyone has the time to do unpaid work in a world where free time is a privilege, and not everyone has access to resources to feel mentally, emotionally, and

physically healthy enough to participate in events like CED. As a one-day event, CED is not going to spur instant change.

However, it will hopefully facilitate existing community-university collaborations and as a catalyst for future engagement initiatives.

Perhaps volunteers will come into contact with different experiences, perspectives, and realities, and maybe the critical discussion will provide a space for individuals to reflect on the different ways their lives are affected by and implicated in structural oppression. This is the first step in building caring communities where kindness and solidarity can be the standard, and where differences are embraced and not simply tolerated.

Samiha Sharif is a U2 International Development Studies and Psychology student and the Communications Coordinator for Community Engagement Day, which takes place on October 1. To contact her, email comms.sede@mcgill.ca.

Beyond

Written anonymously Visual by Lia Elbaz & Yasmine Mosimann

Features

September 28, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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Why #ConsentMcGill and the current consent discourse is failing survivors of sexual violence

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his week, #ConsentMcGill rolls out on campus in full force. The campaign, which offers workshops, trivia nights, and activity booths in an effort to educate the campus community on matters of consent and preventing incidents of sexual assault, is part of a somewhat increased mainstream awareness of rape culture and the urgent need for university administrations to engage in more concerted efforts to combat sexual violence both on campus and beyond. The two authors of this piece would like to be excited that there is an effort on behalf of McGill to address issues of sexual assault, but instead we’re becoming deeply frustrated with the consent programming – and the inadequate discourse at its basis – being propagated. Our frustration comes from a serious investment in fighting sexual violence. Like many others, we have experienced sexual violence, and we’re being let down by supposedly prosurvivor educational initiatives around consent – initiatives that fail to fulfill their goals and change dominant mentalities around sex and sexuality on a fundamental level. And while we ourselves have

been engaged in this kind of consent-based organizing in our time at McGill, it’s time to challenge one another to move toward a theory and practice as nuanced and complex as our sexual lives. It is time that we reimagine political projects aimed at ending rape and restoring sexual power to all those currently fucked over by rape culture.

The goals of consent discourse are generally to prevent rape and sexual assault, to promote healthy and mutually empowering sexual relationships, and to promote a pro-survivor culture in the place of rape culture. We have recently been struck more and more by the fact that the trauma we hold from being survivors of rape has severely warped our prior understandings of and experiences with sex and sexuality, and we maintain that current consent education has not assisted us in healing. Beyond these individual realizations of consent discourse failing to create a supportive experience for survivors, we have also noticed that consent discourse fails its educational goals.

Most consent programs like #ConsentMcGill and Rez Project do make an effort to educate about rape culture and oppression based on gender and sexuality, and additionally try to address and shift the cultural mentality around sexual assault and consent toward a prosurvivor framework. These programs provide some theoretical discussions surrounding rape culture myth-busting, power dynamics, and intersectionality. To its credit, consent education has helped both of us name formative, traumatic past experiences as “rape” or “sexual assault,” but it certainly would not have prevented those assaults from happening, nor does it provide us with any tools to navigate sexual relationships moving forward, as people who have fucked-up relationships with sex. Past the important initial step of putting words to the violence we have experienced, consent education at McGill fails when it comes to practically navigating complex sexual scenarios or looking at how “consent” can and cannot be given and why. While acknowledging that sex is complicated, these campaigns simplify sex and flatten sexuality and sexual encounters so repeatedly and severely that we are unable to restore them to their fullness and complexity.

One incredibly valuable underpinning of consent discourse is that sexual assault is about power, but often in consent workshops and programs, sexual assault becomes reduced to a simple miscommunication. Consent education based on a model of communication such as “Ask, Listen, Respect” assumes that fundamentally, all parties are committed to ensuring

everyone’s well-being. In reality, it’s impossible to talk about sexual assault and sex the same way, because the problem isn’t that a person is incapable of asking and listening to another’s desires; it’s that a person refuses to respect what another person wants. No amount of education on how to communicate before, during, and after sex will stop someone from sexually assaulting a person if they’re only or mostly invested in filling their own (sexual or psychological) needs. A person doesn’t rape another person because something was miscommunicated, and arguing so is dangerously anti-survivor.

Additionally, in our experiences attending or facilitating consent workshops, we have found that discussions of consent often turn into desexualized and decontextualized discussions of how to check in with all parties before, during, and after any sexual act. Most explanations of how “consent” works include one person asking if it’s okay to do something to another, and that second person saying yes or no. The latter of these scenarios is not examined beyond the point of “rejection,” because it is presumed that this will be respected. This framework is most obviously exemplified through #ConsentMcGill’s campaign slogan, “Ask, Listen, Respect,” which looks at consent as entirely isolated from the sexual context. What happens before the asking (both physically between the partners initiating sex and in each of their sexual lives) and after the response are left entirely unexamined. Rather than encouraging any dialogue that would enable future encounters to be enjoyable for all parties and to improve relationships beyond isolated encounters, consent is presented to us as something that exists in a temporal vacuum and does not deserve exploration beyond the initial desire identified by the inquiring individual.

This can also be seen through the tendency of the #ConsentMcGill campaign and mainstream consent discourse to heavily rely on analogies and metaphors believed to make ideas about sexual consent, or specific sexual scenarios, accessible and clear. Consent in its most basic form is necessary to understand in all areas of our lives, from legal or political consent to consent for platonic contact between friends or siblings, to asking for consent before taking photographs. Ostensibly, respecting others in all areas of a person’s life should contribute to one’s likelihood of respecting a partner’s sexual integrity. But the fact is, sexual consent and the guidelines and tools surrounding it share very little in common with most other kinds of consent discourse.

We must stop relying on skits where physical contact does not extend past a hug or a kiss, and we desperately need to stop sharing articles featuring metaphors about tea or other mundanities to ex-

plain to each other how to be responsible sexual beings. Because yes, it should be fucking obvious that you shouldn’t rape someone, just as it is already clear you shouldn’t pour tea down someone’s throat if they don’t want you to. But the contexts and consequences of these situations are wildly disparate, and ignoring those differences for the sake of public appeal has very serious ramifications. Furthermore, the possible consequences of positive sexual encounters are profoundly more transformative and healing than any tea party could ever be, and thus our efforts towards improving them should be dramatically expanded.

The word “consent” has been overused and separated from the contexts in which it supposedly does or does not exist, and the way we discuss consent has become so vague that the grave differences between good sex and a cup of tea, or rape and a punch in the face, are obscured. Take, for instance, this line from a Facebook event for this week’s campaign: “#ConsentMcGill is an educational campaign to increase campus understanding of consent, as it applies to sexual activity and to our day-to-day lives.” It is unclear whether organizers understand the differences between sexual consent and consent in “our day-to-day lives,” and whether these differences will be meaningfully discussed in the programming. Descriptions and approaches like this do not contribute to healthier sexual lives – they simply proliferate “consent” as a buzzword, divorced from its much-needed stong meanings and impactful utility.

Exemplified most disturbingly by slogans such as “Consent is sexy,” consent has become an item to acquire or at least to attempt to acquire; that is, it is understood as an inanimate object already floating somewhere in the vicinity of individuals with the potential to become intimate.

“Consent is sexy” attempts to prove that “checking in” with your partner before initiating a sexual encounter should not ruin the moment. However, it also implies that consenting is a sexier response than a rejection. In addition to pressuring individuals to give their consent by enticing them to “be sexy,” “Consent is sexy” insinuates that consent as a concept is sexy.

Though it may be that consent has become sexy as a feminist buzzword, it has rapidly decreased in material power. Instead, we misleadingly encourage “consent” to be treated like a game, where prospective partners try various codes and search in different places for “consent”: the key to access the other person’s body.

Often times, mainstream consent discourse presents stories of a sexual encounter with the would-be perpetrators as protagonists, aware of their desires and able to clearly and immediately articulate them, while the persons prompted to say

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Features

September 28, 2015 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

No amount of education on how to communicate before, during, and after sex will stop someone from sexually assaulting a person if they’re only or mostly invested in filling their own (sexual or psychological) needs. ‘yes’ or ‘no’ are framed as the potential antagonist. Should they say yes, they open the door to the sexual fulfillment of the protagonist, but should they say no, they close that door, putting up road blocks in the other’s to happiness.

As individuals invested in the sexual well-being of ourselves and others, can we continue to be concerned simply with ensuring people will not have unwanted acts thrust upon them, or do we also want more for ourselves and each other? Do we not see sex as more than just contact enacted upon bodies, and instead as diverse and creative relational ways to make ourselves and our partners and lovers feel incredible? If consent’s goal is to just make people feel okay with what is happening, we are seriously underestimating the potential power of sex, and instead settling for success in simply hoping we don’t all rape each other. #ConsentMcGill’s campaign model of consent as “Ask, Listen, Respect” only allows sexual interactions in which each party is independently able to clearly identify their own sexual desires and abilities (which are assumed to be congruous), and then consent is successfully exchanged among parties when these desires and abilities match up successfully. This exchange is modelled as happening repeatedly through a series of questions – “Is this okay? can I do this?” Our sexual relationships are not a series of easily answerable and straightforward questions. This is particularly the case for those of us who hold trauma from past sexual violence and whose relationships with sex, sexuality, and our bodies have been changed because of that.

All of our criticisms come from the fact that our experiences as survivors with sexual confusion and trauma are not represented or addressed by the #ConsentMcGill campaign or mainstream consent discourse. Of course, no two survivors have the same needs or desires. We are thrilled for each survivor who has felt fully satisfied with consent education, but since the

current framework of this work is falling so far behind for some of us, modifications to the project are clearly needed.

For one of us, sex is scary and triggering (we mean triggering literally, not in the diluted, ironic way so many of us have come to use it) – and a clear, verbal, enthusiastic “yes” is not something that can easily be expressed in response to a request for or offer of sexual interaction. To have sex again, and figure out how to enjoy it after having been raped, a sexual partner is going to need to work through the “no”s.

A partner will need to be alright with sex not being immedietely on the table, and instead ask why they’ve said no, ask what they need to feel more comfortable, ask if they want to want it and how they can be helped in getting there.

For the other of us, sex is sometimes desirable, often uncomfortable, and always confusing. In most sexual situations, consent on a baseline level feels complicated even in conditions of relative safety, if consent is to be understood as not just simply a “yes”, but also one about which they feel sure and comfortable. This is due to the fact that at any given point before or during a sexual interaction, desire could be simultaneously felt alongside fear, shame, and confusion, and honestly sex happens way too quickly to clearly identify what they want and are not okay with. Even harder is then to be able to articulate these in the moment in an appropriate way to their sexual partner. When you have both a desire and also an intense fear of having sex, how do you properly give consent in a sexual scenario without first being able to be honest about these complexities? And just as importantly, while trying to work through your own confusions, how are you supposed to simultaneously be properly attentive to your partner’s sexual desires and boundaries?

If our consent discourse and programming is going to be pro-survivor and antioppressive, we must recognize and centre the fact that sex is complicated for a

lot of people. We must move past basic notions of consent based on a yesI-want-this/no -I- don’twant-this binary and actually explore our difficulties and our desires in navigating consensual sexual relationships. We would like to move toward a culture of interdependent sexual protagonism, a way of framing consent that simultaneously works to remove the disconnect between consent and the person giving/receiving it, while also allowing all parties involved in sexual interaction to become their own protagonist. At the basis of our framework is the recognition that sexual relationships are navigated interdependently, and therefore desires and actions are shaped by and through each other. Sex is relational unless you include masturbation under its umbrella, and we rely on our sexual partners in some way to have fulfilling sexual experiences. Rather than stripping us of agency, this recognition allows us to become protagonists in our sexual lives through articulating our sexual complications and allowing our partners to help us (re)build our relationships with sex on our terms.

People who have only or mostly negative relationships with sex are not always going to be able to identify the ways in which they can form healthy relationships with sex alone – we won’t necessarily be able to know what our desires or boundaries are until they’re happening. Our sexualities and sexual desires are fluid, but they don’t fluctuate only between points we’re familiar with – sometimes they need help even to exist again. These realities must be given space. We certainly can’t overcome our apprehensions about sex on our own, nor do we think it’s desirable to, but we understand the fear of vulnerability. A consent discourse that is truly sexually empowering and survivor-positive must equip us with the tools to work to explore our sexual selves, discover new heights of our fluid, unrealized sexual desires, and be prepared to deal with all the shit that goes with it.

Art Essay

Rusted Old Bike Acrylics on canvas

September 28, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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Alice Shen | The McGill Daily

Sci+Tech

September 28, 2015 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

Unacceptable blood

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How blood donation regulations use stats to target queer men Tony Feng & Min Ju Lee Sci+Tech Writers

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he Engineering Undergraduate Society’s blood drive with Héma-Québec took place from September 15 to 17, and the restrictions placed on “men who have sex with men,” or MSM, from donating blood continued to incite controversies. During the blood drives both this year and last year, the McGill club Queer Engineer held a campaign to protest these Canadian regulations. This discrimination persists despite being founded in misconceptions and faulty science.

“Policy should be based on science, not stereotypes,” read the cards distributed near the blood drive by Queer Engineer this year.

The cards had information and quotes criticizing the current policy, which states that a man who has had sex with another man in the last five years (as well as a woman who has had sex with an MSM in the last five years) cannot donate blood. The reasoning given by Health Canada for targeting MSM is mainly the fact that HIV is most easily transmitted via anal sex.

However, the cards pointed out the fact that in order to donate blood, MSM are forced to abstain from having sex with other men for five years, while for women, both anal and unprotected sex have no restrictions or regulations. The cards also noted that the current policy is outdated and does not take into account the scientific advancements in testing accuracy since 1985.

Many countries banned MSM from blood donations after the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. To this day, the U.S. maintains the ban. Canada lifted its ban on blood donations from gay men in 2013, though there still is a five-year deferral time during which the donor cannot engage in sexual activities with other men.

“Canada is the only major developed

country that has a five-year deferral period,” noted a representative from Queer Engineer.

Blood donors must complete a questionnaire with about thirty questions, including what medications the donor has been taking, the countries the donor has been to, and whether the donor is an MSM or has had sex with an MSM. The Héma-Québec website says this last question is based on statistics which indicate that over 10 per cent of gay men have HIV, compared to less than 1 per cent of heterosexual people and lesbian women in Canada.

However, these statistics unnecessarily target gay men, and provide a warped perspective on the issue.

For instance, the forms do not ask about condom use when having sex, even though individuals who do not use condoms have an 85 per cent higher chance of contracting HIV than consistent condom users, according to a study by the U.S. Department of Health and Services. It is questionable why Health Canada would ignore such important statistics, but focus on data that are specifically and irrationally targeting MSM. This negligence diminishes the credibility of the survey as an objective method aimed at decreasing the likelihood of a blood sample containing HIV. Another reason often used to justify the policy is the existence of a “window period” early in HIV contraction, when current tests are unable to detect the infection: if contaminated blood is added to the donation pool unknowingly, it has the potential to affect all the people who receive blood from that pool. The window period depends on the method of testing, but generally the window for antibody testing lies anywhere from one to three months – certainly much shorter than the five year deferral period. The current, hightech method of antigen testing,

Kevin Da Silva Castanheira | The McGill Daily which detects the virus itself in a blood sample, greatly reduces the window period to as little as a few weeks. Most commonly, two different types of tests will be done on a sample, further reducing the chance of a false negative.

“The best HIV tests out on the market have an accuracy [of ] about 99 per cent. The older [antibodybased] tests have 98.5 per cent – about a 1 per cent rate of false negative,” Nitika Pant Pai, an associate professor of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases at McGill, told The Daily. Pant Pai noted that in a low-prevalence country like Canada, the probability of infection from donated blood can be even less than in other areas where a larger portion of the population has HIV. The extent of the contamination “depends on how [the blood] is used and how much blood they collect,”

85%

The accuracy of using both antibody and antigen HIV tests – the most practice – is more than 99.97 per cent after three months, reports the HIV Treatment Information Base.

The chance of getting a false negative, in other words, is equal to the ratio between the weight of 100 coffee beans (17.1 grams) and the weight of a male cheetah (57 kilograms).

Accuracy of HIV testing.

A 2001 study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found correct, regular use of condoms decreases risk of HIV contraction by 85 per cent.

Lia Elbaz | The McGill Daily

Pant Pai said.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration website, HIV testing errors are mostly attributed to the window period. “The thing with government is that it tries to prevent the possibility of [contamination] happening by banning it; that’s kind of like an all-members response,” Pant Pai said, explaining that while the policy is somewhat understandable, as eliminating even the slightest risk might be seen as “for the greater social good,” it is not a believably intelligent response.

Pant Pai highlighted the fact that people may not take precautions before donating blood, or they may lack the education and knowledge of possible consequences. In order to prevent the miniscule chance of spreading infection, it is important to educate the public on safe sex and regular testing for infection.

In addition, Pant Pai reminds us that it may be time to review our current regulations: “I think that we need to think in the light of new tests out there, and the fact that we can do RNA tests, DNA tests. [...] We then need to re-think these policies in 2015.”

Effects of a discriminatory policy “It’s prejudicial. It’s isolating.

It’s taking something about a person, about a group of people who are marginalized, and just [imposing] administrative barriers, administrative marginalization,” said Justin Dauncey-Ripplinger, the administrative coordinator of Queer McGill, about the policy. A representative from Queer Engineer

concurred, saying, the policy is discriminitory “since it’s only men who have sex with men, but apparently not men who have anal sex with women,” for example.

Dauncey-Ripplinger shared his personal struggles, saying, “At a high school blood drive, I remembered seeing a box asking, ‘Have you engaged in homosexual sex as a man?’ It instilled this doubt in my mind that I would be looked upon differently.”

Dauncey-Ripplinger disclosed that his fear, which stemmed from the categorization of sexual orientation he faced in his youth, continued to persist during his teenage years.

He also remarked that he has felt discriminated against during his blood donation procedure: “[When I donate blood] immediately the tone of the discussion changes.”

After the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, many countries banned queer men from donating blood because it was believed the outbreak originated amongst the gay community in the U.S., though now it is known that HIV was contracted by humans from chimpanzees in West-Central Africa. In the eighties, little was known about AIDS in health institutions and people blamed homosexuality as the caused of the disease, leading to the ban.

Even so, countries have been slow to lift their bans on blood donations from queer men. The UK lifted its ban in 2011, and both it and Australia still require men to go one year without sex with another man before they can donate blood. While there have been some considerations to relax the restrictions since last year, many people are frustrated at the slow progress.

“Canada isn’t doing enough,” said Dauncey-Ripplinger.

He claimed that the government implementing regulations that physically bar MSM contradicts the idea of Canada as an accepting country.

In comparison to the U.S., he remarked that Canada has been in the forefront of lawmaking that ensures equality for sexual orientation and same-sex marriage, and it is disappointing to see that Canada has been unable to step away from such prejudiced “mental ideologies” as restricting MSM from fair blood donation practices.

Dauncey-Ripplinger hopes to see the regulations change soon: “I would like to be able to walk past the Héma-Québec truck right outside of McConnell Engineering […] and then [not] have to do a double take on myself, and be like, just kidding, I can’t do [the blood donation] for a decision that is not the government’s responsibility to police.”

Sports

September 28, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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Ecological sacrifice for glory The dangers and unnecessary costs of large sporting events Victor Depois Sports Writer

F

rom November 30 to December 11, the 21st annual Conference of Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will take place in Paris. It will reunite the representatives of more than 190 countries, 18 years after the signature of the Kyoto Protocol. As current agreements on greenhouse gas emissions will run out in 2020, a new agreement needs to be produced to prevent a 2-degree Celsius temperature rise from pre-industrial levels, which would lead to a catastrophic and irreversible situation. While some states do appear to be concerned about a potentially upcoming ecological disaster, this is not the case for major sporting institutions, like the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) or the International Olympic Committee (IOC): money and financial benefits seem to outweigh the ecological and social consequences in their considerations.

Hosting sporting events can be a great way of demonstrating power as it shows national pride and can often be used as a political tool. However, the high cost of olympic glory comes at the expense of the environment and causes irreparable ecological damage. In 2022, Qatar will host the soccer World Cup, which will be, environmentally speaking, a disaster. This country has no stadiums: it will have to build all of them from scratch, by importing materials that cannot be found in this arid region. Qatar consists, for the most part, of sand deserts. Temperatures can reach 50 degrees Celsius in the summer, making it physically impossible for players to play. There are two solutions to this issue. The first would be to build air-conditioned stadiums. The amount of energy and water necessary would simply not be feasible, as the temperature of stadiums containing more than 40,000 people would have to be reduced by more than 20 degrees. To move the event to the winter, according to Jerôme Valcke, ex-FIFA Secretary General, is the better option. He said that playing the “2022 World Cup during the summer would be nonsense, given the climatic conditions in Qatar during the summer months”.

The 2014 Brazilian World

Justine Touchon | The McGill Daily

The 2014 [...]

World Cup was the most polluted in history with the emission of 2.72 million tons of carbon dioxide, which is three times more than the amount emitted in the 2006 German World Cup. Cup was also subject to controversy. The stadiums were built so far apart that air travel was necessary for moving between the stadiums. This World Cup was the most polluted in history with the emission of 2.72 million tons of carbon dioxide, which is three times more than the amount emitted in the 2006 Ger-

man World Cup. Corruption prevents any progress toward environmentally sustainable sporting events and this is not exclusive to FIFA where undemocratic power plays lead to inappropriate host countries being chosen. Although, the IOC has an environmental agenda and collaborates with the United Nations Environment Program, it is obvious that sustainability is not a top priority. Environmental regulations for host countries are relaxed to allow the games to continue. For example, the legislation that protects national forests and fragile ecosystems is often bypassed to allow construction for the games; this was witnessed, for example, in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

The Sochi Winter Olympics were the most expensive Winter Olympics ever, having a cost superior to that of the cumulated cost of all previous Winter Olympics. This was also the first Winter Olympics using artificial snow to such an extent: Russian officials kept over 4.5 million cubic meters of snow stored under isothermal blankets for use during the games. However, even if the political dimension of Olympic events is only rarely forgotten, the ecological one is rarely

remembered. Sochi was the warmest Winter Olympics ever, with temperatures reaching 16 degrees Celsius during the day, and averaging 10 degrees Celsius.

The high cost of this edition of the Winter Olympics is mostly due to corruption in Russia, which further shifted the priority away from creating a sustainable sporting event. In fact, during the race to finish the construction in time, many environmentalists who voiced concerns were detained by the government. These enormous costs of the event also included the destruction of of an ornithological park, a protected natural space that was composed of fragile wetlands and 65 bird species, to build the Olympic Park. The biodiversity of this ecosystem was irreversibly damaged.

Beijing will host the 2022 Winter Olympics, making it the first city to ever host both the Winter and the Summer Olympics. Environmentally, this event will be once again disastrous, despite Beijing’s promises to limit its environmental impact. Not only is the air already polluted in the city, but it also has a low altitude and not enough natural snow to host the event. Skiing events will take place 90 kilometres away from the city’s center,

in Yanqing. The snow is bound to be artificial and will be have to be used in large amounts. Yanqing is right next to a natural reserve, putting at risk its preservation.

While artificial snow is again going to to have to be used in large amounts, the lack of water resources could lead to a drying up of the densely populated region, which could have dramatic consequences, not only on the environment, but also on the people.

Host countries of major sporting events share a common goal: to show off their power and economic development by bringing their country into the spotlight.

States and major sporting organizations purport to be concerned for the environment but they continue to invest huge amounts of money in environmentally unsustainable events. Drastic changes need to occur if we want to save our planet. Unequipped states should be given more time to build stadiums, therefore reducing the intensity of pollution.

The Winter Olympics should be hosted by cities where it actually snows. If we continue down the same road, the environment will be irretrievably effected leaving our planet in a miserable condition for future generations.

Culture

September 28, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

The artist is absent

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Rebecca Belmore installs her Indigenous experience at OBORO Victoria Lessard The McGill Daily

A

nishinaabe artist Rebecca Belmore’s guest solo exhibit “Somewhere Else” at OBORO is the perfect relief to a diet of museum blockbusters. Seeing advertisements plastered all over the city, lining up to get in the door, then shuffling in with a crush of people, sweat dripping down your back, all to catch a swift glimpse of the art before the person next to you listening to their audio tour elbows in front you – this is the blockbuster exhibition.

The blockbuster can leave you wanting something more substantive than the flash and accoutrements that typically accompany such shows. OBORO provides just that with “Somewhere Else.” Composed of one video installation and three sculptures, the total number of pieces may seem small, but each piece is a powerhouse experience that fills the space with the Lac Seul First Nation artist’s presence.

The first piece, a video installation also titled Somewhere Else (2015), is composed of four videos documenting past performance art pieces by the artist. Including these past performances creates context

for the three physical installations in the exhibit, entitled Sever (2015), pakwâwi-mostos asiniy (2015), and Leeward (2015). These installations stand in for the artist’s own body – which has been an integral part of her artwork.

Somewhere Else is composed of shots of the artist’s seminal performances, Creation or Death: We Will Win (1991), Bury My Heart (2000), Vigil (2002), and Omaa (2014).

Each of these performances employs the physicality of the artist’s body to convey the racism, violence, and colonialism Indigenous people have been subjected to, both in the past and in the present day. In her performance pieces, Belmore uses her body to create a space of active resistance. Each performance places the artist somewhere squarely in the public eye, forcing viewers to acknowledge the structural violence endemic to our society rarely acknowledged by political leaders and the public alike.

Leeward is a chilling response to the questions raised in Belmore’s 2002 performance Vigil. Vigil protested the lack of action for missing and murdered Indigenous women in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. In the performance, Belmore, clad in a red dress, nailed

her clothing to a telephone pole and struggled to rip free. Leeward is similarly confrontational – a red shirt is nailed to a large pale tree trunk and leaned against the wall.

The red shirt is a stark reminder to the viewer that the struggle for Indigenous women’s safety in Canada is far from over. The shirt is also a biting commentary on the failure of politicians, the police force, and the justice system to hold perpetrators accountable for missing and murdered Indigenous women.

The four pieces in Belmore’s exhibit “Somewhere Else” may centre on the artist’s absence, but they each bring plenty of presence to the gallery themselves. Each piece will stay in the minds of visitors long after they leave the space. Aside from the status of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada, Belmore tackles more aspects of her Indigenous experience in her pieces. This small lineup is worth checking out over the next blockbuster exhibit. With only four pieces, “Somewhere Else” packs more meaning in one room than blockbuster exhibits aspire to convey in entire exhibits.

“Somewhere Else” runs until October 17 at OBORO.

Leeward (2015).

Sonia Ionescu | Photographer

The five senses of the written word The future of storytelling has no limit at the Phi Centre Virginia Shram The McGill Daily

W

Birdly (2014-15).

Virginia Shram | The McGill Daily

hen the written word joined oral history as a medium through which to tell a story, the format of storytelling dramatically expanded in scope, and since then, changes in the descriptive exercise have sprinted along at a dizzying pace into the digital age. Montreal’s Phi Centre showcased modern tales in its exhibition “Sensory Stories” that closed Sunday, a collection that aimed to test the limits of the common conception of storytelling.

The plotlines of some pieces were not always obvious, as they were sometimes waiting to be written by audience participation, inverting the traditional process of show-and-tell. In the installation piece Birdly, attendees could lie face-down on a reclined chair with attached armrests and ‘fly’ through a computer-generated 3D map of New York City – simulated wind from a fan included.

Meandering through the exhibition, visitors could smell their way through Goldilocks and the Three Bears in Goldilocks and the Three Bears: The Smelly Version, sniffing the scents of the forests as Goldilocks trod ahead, and inhaling the smell of freshly brewed coffee sitting beside the beds.

Children and adults alike excitedly interacted with classic stories in a new way.

Others tried surviving as an investigative photographer during the 1979 Iranian Revolution in the animated video game 1979 Revolution Game – snapping photographs of key leaders during protests and wrapping gauze around injured citizens. Participants were also challenged to survive government interrogations by clicking different responses to their jailers’ questions, hoping the answers wouldn’t implicate them further.

For the environmentally minded, Bear 71 offered the ability to track the daily habits of a black bear in rural British Columbia by touching a floor-to-ceiling map

projected on a wall, exploring the effects of deforestation and pollution on the bear’s daily habits as it interacted with its environment and other species. Live-cam videos showed the habitats of the bears in real time, allowing viewers to literally enter the natural world.

One piece, a short film called Possibilia by artist group DANIELS, allowed viewers to immerse themselves in a couple’s breakup.

Intermittently, a viewer could choose from a number of panels on the bottom of the screen, and shift the scene both in terms of setting and energy level of the actors – customizing the anger and sadness with which actors would deliver lines and the room they were interacting in with not even a break mid-sentence from shift to shift. Customizable options faded away as the story progressed, driving home the inevitability of the final outcome.

“Sensory Stories” served as a reminder to visitors of the powerful truth that storytelling is indeed an art form, one that is continually and innovatively reimagined.

Culture

September 28, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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The Daily Reviews

Alexander Bullis Culture Writer

A

minute into Hot Shame, The Atom Age’s August release, it becomes clear that the album has ambitiously and effectively disregarded all tradition – infusing quintessential early punk riffs with treble-soaked organ lines, crushing blast beats, and the group’s signature saxophone lead.

Hot Shame runs extremely short – only about 25 minutes long – but not a second is wasted. Each track crashes wildly into the next, creating a loud, gritty, unrelenting race from start to finish.

Although unmistakably steeped in punk influences, the exact sound of Hot Shame is nearly impossible to categorize – it’s a complex amalgam of varied rock styles spanning from the birth of rock to modern indie. Each song moves to the classic rhythm of sixties and seventies punk, but elements of ska, blues, and psychedelia are in the forefront of each crunchy, surf-rock inspired track. Tracks such as “Wild Worry” even carry strong undertones of Cramps-style gothabilly.

The feel of the album is perfectly summarized by track “Ms. Death Texas,” a screaming concoction of trebly organ riffs, screeching sax, and racing drums. It, like

the entirety of the album, absolutely demands to be played as loudly as possible.

The combination of clashing styles may give the album a unique sound, but at times it is also a hindrance. Some songs betray an unsureness, with FIDLAR-style vocals clashing with rockabilly riffs and seventies-style electric organ. Sometimes these juxtapositions work in the band’s favour, but tracks such as “Do it Now” feel clunky and awkward.

The album’s definite weak point is its repetition and lack of variation. By the end of the album, the songs begin to blend together as a blur of noise and fast-paced drums. Hot Shame is the kind of album that is best listened to as individual songs – too much at once and the party-all-the-time charm that defines it becomes tiresome. When each track is appreciated alone, it better showcases the true strength of its production.

Superficially, Hot Shame may seem like no more than a loud punk record, but upon closer inspection it becomes clear that it is a truly ardent album with far too many moving parts to keep track of. While at times this ambition backfires, the album is still an exciting, overwhelming 25-minute wall of powerful sound guaranteed to please even the pickiest of rock fans - in moderation.

Taylor Mitchell Culture Writer

C

écile McLorin Salvant’s transformative vocals in For One to Love contain the essence of that known-to-many skill acquired in teenage years, of putting out your cigarette, waving away the smoke, and stopping your cough before your parents’ steps reach the door. The 2015 album showcases the way the artist effortlessly transitions from tobacco-induced growls to sweet, innocent vocals. Born in Miami and raised by Haitian and French parents, Salvant seeks to further explore her mixed background (she speaks English, French, and Spanish) in this album of enigmatic jazz experimentation.

In the opening track “Fog,” Salvant strings together a collection of modern earth tones woven in a dreamlike fashion.

“Growlin’ Dan” then wakes you up from that trance with its pounding blues beat.

Admittedly, the listener is left startled and greatly confused by the album’s rapid departure in genre. Later moving from Sinatra-esque Broadway belts to lilting French ballads, Salvant seems to have exhausted every facet of jazz in one record. Once the album finishes, however, listeners will realize that they were unknowingly part of an overarching storyline the entire time.

That’s the beauty of Salvant’s unrestrained style: emotions pose no boundaries. With sensation so raw, one can’t help but empathize with the story she weaves.

The topic of sexism is addressed in the cover “Wives and Lovers,” a song originally recorded by Jack Jones in 1963. In meshing the melodramatic singing style of the sixties with the musical aesthetic of modern jazz, Salvant is able to reveal the sheer absurdity of lyrics like: “Don’t send him off with your hair still in curlers / You may not see him again.”

For One to Love is best experienced in one sitting. If each individual song is taken for its own merit, the narrative – the album’s very foundation – will be lost, and it’ll appear as if Salvant can’t decide what genre she likes. Taken together as a whole, however, a dynamic story of love, heartbreak, confidence, and desperation is created. It’s raw enough to connect with the listener on an emotional level.

Even the album artwork – which she designed herself – shows a range of emotions by using a print of a woman simultaneously crying, winking, and smiling. One thing is for certain: For One to Love is nothing short of an emotionally intimate narrative, and as listeners chase this story, they breathe in a healthy dose of suspense, mystery, and smooth cigarettes.

Channel your inner Roxane Gay: Write for Culture.

culture@mcgilldaily.com

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Culture

September 28, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Politics, needles, and bad neighbours A night at the Atwater Poetry Project

Brittany Cost Culture Writer

I

f you prefer to spend your evenings in the solitude of poetic thought rather than out on St. Laurent, check out the Atwater Poetry Project’s 2015-16 season at Atwater Library. Last Thursday, poets Robin Richardson, R. Kolewe, and Stevie Howell joined poetry aficionados in a basement room of the library, chatting about a range of both light and heavier topics, as the literary-minded are wont to do. For those to whom cheerful conversation is a fearsome burden, light refreshments were provided to pass the time, including, thankfully, beer.

Beer in hand, you’d make your way to the center of the audience to spot a group of men hard to not gawk at. A diverse mélange of hip, rainbow-haired Concordians, literature buffs, and rad retirees sat beside each other in bizarre juxtaposition. At the back of the room, volunteers manned a table covered in poetry collections and chapbooks by the

reading’s three poets, as well as other emerging authors.

After a brief introduction, Richardson, the first poet of the night, sidled her way to the podium. Richardson delivered a mesmerizing performance with themes veering toward a charming, self-aware pessimism, even if her nerves sometimes made her stomp on the oral accelerator. “I’m just realizing now that, like, four of these poems are about plane crashes,” Richardson joked during her reading.

The second poet of the night, Kolewe, had recently released his debut collection of poetry, Afterletters. Kolewe showcased his broad thematic scope, from riffing on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to the age-old question of love or lust, though the majority of the poems were predominantly critical of politics and government. One of Kolewe’s poems attacked the oil pipelines out west in bullet point form, and if the room had been more boisterous, the audience might have laughed a bit louder.

But as it was, the solemn setting

The 11th Montreal International Black Film festival

predisposed more contemplation than major emotional outbursts.

Then Howell stepped up to the microphone. The poet mentioned the release of Sharps, the first collection of poems published in autumn of last year.

The title alludes to disposal boxes typically found in hospitals for used needles, the referrence coming from Howell’s hospital work. Before launching into the reading, the poet talked about “men, and other places,” After the first poem, the artist appologized, aware of the rapidity with which the reading was finished. The candor was captivating, and the poems touched on everything from hospital work to the criminal neighbour to San Francisco.

Howell connected deeply with the students in the audience, and they gathered around the poet as the reading ended. “I came for Stevie Howell,” confided one attendee. “I just love [Howell’s] imagery.” While the event was mostly a space for emerging poets to recite their work, it also encouraged dia-

Chapbooks for sale.

Brittany Cost | Photographer

logue between artist and audience. Following the performance, the reading ’s stragglers trekked to a nearby bar to talk poetry, a trend that will hopefully keep up during the length of the Atwater Poetry Project.

If you’re on the prowl for upand-coming Canadian authors, or just looking for a way to expand your poetic horizons, the Atwater

Sonia Larbi-Aissa and Virginia Shram The McGill Daily

Poetry Project readings are for you. A final word of advice: as with most things, if you won’t go for the poetry itself, at least go for the enchanting atmosphere.

The Atwater Poetry Project readings take place roughly once a month at Atwater Library. The next reading will be on October 1 at 7 p.m..

The 11th Montreal International Black Film Festival (MIBFF) takes place this week with an outstanding lineup of films. Films of all lengths and styles exploring identity, history, tradition, immigration, and segregation will play on five different screens around the city. Here’s a guide to some must-see films.

Tuesday, September 29

Wednesday, September 30

Sweet Micky for President 7 p.m., Imperial Cinema Come to the opening night of the MIBFF to see Martin Luther King III accept the festival’s Humanitarian Award for his work addressing youth violence as a public health issue, among other projects. Stay for the screening of Sweet Micky for President, a film that follows founding member of the Fugees Pras Michel as he returns to his homeland of Haiti after the 2010 earthquake to help musician Michel Martelly, nicknamed “Sweet Micky,” with his campaign for the Haitian presidency. A panel discussion with Pras Michel will follow the screening.

Selma 7 p.m., Salle D.B Clarke – Concordia University Join Martin Luther King III; Reverend Darryl Gray, special assistant to the national president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta; and others for a panel discussion on the power of non-violence. The panel will follow a screening of Selma, the Oscar-winning biopic of Martin Luther King Jr.’s involvement in the U.S. Black civil rights movement.

Laura Gallo, interfaith facilitator at Concordia University’s Multi-faith Chaplaincy, will moderate the panel.

Thursday, October 1

Friday, October 2

Thina Sobabili (The Two of Us) 7 p.m., Former NFB Cinema Thina Sobabili (The Two of Us), South Africa’s submission to the Oscars’ foreign-language category, recounts the lived experience of two siblings making a life in the Alexandra township of Johannesburg. Thulas, the older brother of Zanele, grows more and more protective of his younger sister as she meets a well-to-do older man promising her a better life. Catch Thina Sobabili in Montreal before it wins that Oscar.

3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets 9 p.m., Former NFB Cinema Part of the festival’s Special American Program, which features screenings of films made by American directors and actors, 3 ½ Minutes, Ten Bullets deconstructs the 2012 shooting of Jordan Davis in Jacksonville, Florida. See the ramifications of the stand-your-ground self-defence law and the failings of the U.S. criminal justice system as they unfold after this tragic event.

Dry 7 p.m., Former NFB Cinema Not to be missed is Dry, actress and director Stephanie Linus’ feature-length drama. Inspired by a true story, Dry chronicles the return of a successful Nigerian OB/GYN to her birthplace, where she explores the far-reaching consequences of child marriage in northern Nigeria. Dry addresses both the medical and social issues surrounding maternal health in the country.

Lia Elbaz | The McGill Daily

Saturday, October 3

Sunday, October 4

Game Face 7 p.m., Former NFB Cinema Game Face chronicles the lives of two LGBTQ athletes and their struggles for acceptance and equality in competitions.

Highlighting mixed martial arts fighter Fallon Fox and college basketball player Terrence Clemens, the film details their coming-out process and the rampant heterosexism and cissexism apparent in the media firestorm surrounding each of them.

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution 7 p.m., Salle Theatre Hall – Concordia University A mix of archival footage and interviews with police officers, FBI agents, and journalists, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution is a documentary that explores the cultural movement that changed the conversation about Black civil rights. Closing the festival, this film about the limitations of non-violent civil rights protest brings the MIBFF full circle, highlighting the relevance of the fifty-year-old movement today.

Battledream Chronicle 9 p.m., Cineplex Odeon Quartier Latin The first Martinican animated film, Battledream Chronicle is a that tells the tale of Syanna, a Black slave who fights for her freedom in a world where harvesting on the plantation comes in the form of accumulating points in a video game.

Editorial

volume 105 number 5

editorial board 3480 McTavish St., Rm. B-24 Montreal, QC H3A 1X9

September 28, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Quebec is failing its teachers and students

phone 514.398.6784 fax 514.398.8318 mcgilldaily.com

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

Niyousha Bastani

coordinating@mcgilldaily.com coordinating news editor

Cem Ertekin news editor

Arianee Wang commentary & compendium! editors

Janna Bryson Igor Sadikov culture editors

Sonia Larbi-Aissa Virginia Shram features editor

Yasmine Mosimann science+technology editor

Jill Bachelder sports editor

Vacant

multimedia editor

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Vacant

illustrations editor

Lia Elbaz

copy editor

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Marc Cataford community editor

Rosie Long Decter le délit

Julia Denis

rec@delitfrancais.com cover design Sonia Ionescu, Lia Elbaz, Alice Shen, Tamim Sujat contributors Alex Bullis, Brittany Cost, Jason Da Silva Castanheira, Kevin Da Silva Castanheira, Victor Depois, Saima Desai, Erin Dwyer, Tony Feng, Jennifer Guan, Sonia Ionescu, Isabel Lee, Min Ju Lee, Rayleigh Lee, Victoria Lessard, Taylor Mitchell, Stephanie Ngo, Samiha Sharif, Alice Shen, Robert Smith, Connor Tannas, Justine Touchon, Alexandra Villalobos

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dps board of directors Zapaer Alip, Niyousha Bastani, Joseph Boju, Hannah Besseau, Deeva Bowry, Julia Denis, Ralph Haddad, Igor Sadikov, Alice Shen, Tamim Sujat, Dana Wray All contents © 2015 Daily Publications Society. All rights reserved. The content of this newspaper is the responsibility of The McGill Daily and does not necessarily represent the views of McGill University. Products or companies advertised in this newspaper are not necessarily endorsed by Daily staff.

Printed by Imprimerie Transcontinental Transmag. Anjou, Quebec.

ISSN 1192-4608.

Jennifer Guan | Illustrator

O

ver 30,000 teachers in Quebec’s French-language school system are preparing to strike on September 30, and are expected to have two more strike days in October. Many of the English-language school boards that have held votes so far have also voted overwhelmingly in favour of a strike day.

Both English- and French-language schools have suspended all teacher-run extracurriculars taking place outside of their contract hours. Over the past five years, the Liberal and Parti Québécois governments have cut nearly $800 million from education as part of broader austerity measures totalling $3.7 billion in cuts. The government’s current proposals will not only further undermine fair working conditions for teachers, but will also jeopardize equitable access to education for students. As students at an educational institution in Quebec that also suffers from austerity measures, we stand in solidarity with the teachers as they fight for their rights and the rights of students.

The Quebec government is planning to increase class sizes by up to nine students, which will deteriorate the quality of education in classrooms. Maximum class sizes were decreased by a previous Liberal government in 2010, but the same party now argues that reducing the class sizes has had no effect on educational outcomes. On the contrary, studies show that small classes lead to better performance and allow more resources to be devoted to students that face disadvantages based on race and class. Additionally, the government is proposing to no longer consider whether students have a learning disability when calculating class sizes, as well as to cut over 800 resource coordinator and special education

teaching positions, withdrawing individual support from students with disabilities. Overall, already marginalized students will be disproportionately affected by the proposed changes.

Increasing class sizes combined with a lack of proper support for special needs education puts tremendous pressure on Quebec’s teachers, who are already overworked and among the lowest paid in the country. Worsening working conditions for teachers inevitably lead to a decreasing quality of education for students. Adding insult to injury, the government is proposing an extension of teachers’ contract hours from 32 to 35 per week without a salary increase – this in a context where many teachers already perform a number of non-remunerated tasks outside of their paid hours, such as providing extra help to students, leading extracurricular activities, and organizing events.

The teachers’ strike is not focused on salaries – part of a broader social movement against austerity, it is a response to the government’s deliberate and continuous attack on education and other public services. This is why, despite the inconvenience that a teachers’ strike would cause, many parents stand with teachers in their fight to preserve the quality of education, and have joined them to form human chains around schools in protest of the cuts. Uniquely positioned to defend investment in education, teachers merit our full support in their actions. Teachers and allies should not relent until these cuts are rolled back and the government has learned its lesson.

—The McGill Daily editorial board

Land acknowledgment We begin this week with the introduction of a land acknowledgement in our masthead and on our website. The Daily’s editorial board would like to acknowledge the fact that our office is built on unceded land. We are on the traditional territory of the Kanien’kehá:ka (“People of the Flint,” also known as Mohawk). The Kanien’kehá:ka are one of the five founding nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and are referred to as the “Keepers of the Eastern Door.” This island that we call Montreal is known as Tiotia:ke in the language of the Kanien’kehá:ka, and has historically served as a meeting place for other Indigenous nations.

Especially at a university that has been so resistant to acknowledging the land it is built on, we recognize that by being silent, we are also complicit in the ongoing oppression of Indigenous peoples. Alongside other groups on campus, we make this acknowledgment as a first step toward fulfilling our responsibility to critically look at colonial histories and their present-day implications as we pay respect to the keepers of the land and the land itself.

Errata The article “SSMU Council talks anti-austerity” (September 21, News, page 4) incorrectly stated that the Mental Health Awareness Week was organized by the SSMU Mental Health Committee. In fact, it is organized by a working group that also includes other student groups and Student Services units.

The article “SSMU organizes anti-austerity week” (September 21, News, page 6) incorrectly stated that the antiausterity week took place from September 21 to 24. In fatc, it was from September 14 to 18.

The Daily regrets the errors.

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Compendium!

September 28, 2015 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

20

Lies, half-truths, and ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ecila Nehs | The McGall Weekly

The bubble.

Let the meninists bleed How to get the perfect red lip Jezmekzel Bree Do you have trouble finding the perfect shade of red lipstick? Look no further! This tutorial will teach you how to create the most stunning red lip — by the end of this, you’ll look like Vampira’s hot twin.

Disclaimer: This tutorial is not for vegans or the faint of heart.

Ingredients 4 goat horns 1 cup crow’s fat 1 metric handful of pitted cherries 1 incapacitated meninist 1 bad neighbour

Step one: For a perfectly moisturizing lip balm, grind up the horn of goats with crow’s fat and stir the solution in a small, heated cauldron. Rub this new DIY balm on your lips so that they’re primed to retain your lip colour long after you fall into eternal slumber.

Step two: Take the pitted cherries and mash the fruity flesh in a bowl. Dip a thin brush into the mix and outline your lips. The cherries will give your lips great colour payoff while adding a bit of sweetness to the metallic taste of our secret ingredient.

Step three: Bite into the flesh of a meninist – I guarantee that their blood will be the perfect red hue for your lips. No need to spend time trying to figure out your exact skin tone just to find the perfect lip colour. One bite fits all! Misogynistic blood suits every complexion, so don’t be afraid to wipe any excess fluid on your cheeks to create a rosy, lively look.

You’ll send a message to your enemies that you will outlive them all.

Step four: Take a tissue that has been used to mop up tears of white guilt and gently press your lips against it to get rid of any excess lipstick. Leave the used tissue on the doorstep of a Confederate Flag-toting neighbour or an outspoken

white friend who refuses to acknowledge the merits of affirmative action. You will strike fear into their hearts and send the message that your witchy aesthetic is not just for show.

Step five: Apply a clear gloss over your lipstick to seal in the commitment of dismantling the gender binary and white supremacy. Let your lips shine gloriously in the moonlight when you venture outside for your nightly hunt; the reflection of this glare will protect you from inferior, bigoted beings who mistake your human form for vulnerability and weakness.

Bonus tip: If you’re at a party and overhear people talking about why racism is over, send them a not-so-gentle reminder that they know nothing by going into the bathroom and writing the words “LITERALLY WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT” on the bathroom mirror with your new lipstick. Let them feel the weight of their privileged ideologies while they pee out all the cans of PBR they drank that contributed to their insufferable white liberal mistakes.

By following this tutorial, you will have the reddest lips to rule them all. Taylor Swift’s lips will look paler than Rachel Dolezal’s real skin tone in comparison. Let your reign of terror begin, and may it last forever.

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