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NEWS 3
March 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
Honouring resistance in Palestine
NEWS
Conceptualizing resistance in Palestine Why borders are unethical
Israeli Apartheid Week event brings together scholars of Palestinian heritage
SSMU President resigns Anti-fascist protests Getting loud for divestment
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COMMENTARY
McGill needs to provide sustainable healthcare Campus must become accessible to everyone Letters to the editor
SSMU Elections Pullout
11 FEATURES On Black History Month
14 SPORTS The potential and history of athlete activism
15
SCI+TECH
We are in the age of automation
16 ART ESSAY 17 CULTURE Angry Inuk film review Art Matters preview and interview
19
EDITORIAL
Keeping abusive student activists accountable
20 COMPENDIUM! Comic Crossword
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Alice Rougeaux The McGill Daily
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On Thursday March 9, around thirty students and community members gathered in the Henry F. Hall building at Concordia for an event titled “The ethnic cleansing of Palestine: A never ending Resistance.” The panel discussion, featuring scholars Nahla Abdo, Nuha Dwaikat Shaer, and Rula Abisaab, was organised by Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) Concordia as part of Montreal’s Israeli Apartheid Week. The talk had barely begun when it was disrupted by two hecklers brandishing Israeli flags. Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) takes place each year in over 225 cities across the world. Montreal’s version of IAW, held from March 6 to 15 on various university campuses, describes itself on Facebook as “Ten days of panels, workshops, film screenings, demonstrations and cultural events […] in opposition to apartheid and occupation / In solidarity with Palestinian resistance / In support of social justice struggles everywhere.” The evening began with a land acknowledgement by SPHR Concordia’s facilitator before the first panelist was interrupted just a few minutes into her presentation. Two individuals strode into the vicinity chanting about Israel and draped in Israeli flags. They proceeded to stand in front of the audience, blocking the presentation screen from view as they yelled “there’s no Palestine.” Their arrival sparked shouts in the audience, while Rula Abisaab read one of the poems she was presenting to drown out the disruption. The event’s organizers eventually succeeded in shifting the individuals to one side. Security staff arrived and silently escorted the hecklers away from the area. Nahla Abdo is a Professor at Carleton University, where she conducts research pertaining to the experiences of Palestinian women. Her lecture, once resumed, focused on the terminology and theoretical frameworks generally used to talk about the Israeli occupation. Abdo argued that articulations of this occupation as “racism” and “Islamophobia” are insufficient. “We need a theory of the settler colonial state and Indigeneity,” she said. “It is not racism happening there, it is something else.” Abdo
A sign at the panel. emphasized the importance of naming settler colonialism and genocide specifically, comparing the struggle of Palestinians to other Indigenous struggles around the globe. She went on to speak about the usefulness and limitations of the term “apartheid,” and reviewed recent literature on the subject. Her lecture ended with a call to study Palestinian history, citing, for example, the processes behind the 1948 Palestinian exodus, or Nakba, to better understand the situation in Palestine.
“We need a theory of the settler colonial state and Indigeneity... It is not racism happening there, it is something else.” —Nahla Abdo Professor at Carleton University Nuha Shaer, a PhD candidate in the School of Social Work at McGill, addressed the disruption that took place at the start of the event. “What jumped into my mind [was] images of Israeli soldiers invad-
Alice Rougeaux | The McGill Daily ing my home many times, arresting my family members, humiliating us. So, for me, as a Palestinian who came from Nablus in the West Bank, […] I feel it’s hard for me to experience that there and come here in Canada […], where we’re supposed to be safe, and see the same images.” Shaer then described her work as “concepts put into practice,” before outlining her research on the realities of Israeli policy implementation in the West Bank, specifically “Area C.” Area C refers to one of the three administrative areas into which the West Bank was divided by the Oslo Accords in the 1990s; Israel still upholds these divisions. Much of her presentation revealed what one of her slides called “a quiet ethnic cleansing,” in reference to Israel “always attempting to appear […] legal.” According to Shaer, the techniques behind this include building segregated roads, establishing natural reserves that are later given to settlers, surveillance and demolition, as well as prohibitions and restrictions on building and access to water and electricity. Shaer concluded with a list of resistance tactics, and strategies for solidarity with those living in Area C of the West Bank, where Israel considers it illegal for Palestinians to build homes. Rula Abisaab, associate professor of History and Islamic Studies at McGill, transitioned into dis-
cussing poetry and literature. She explained that literature is the best medium for students to grasp tragedies like the Nakba. Beginning with a poetic introduction dedicated to “carrying the lives and memories of Palestinians to us and to the world”, Abisaab then read from works by various poets and short story writers. Each reading was introduced with a brief biography of its author, emphasizing Abisaab’s wish to “open a space for the voices of Palestinian writers, women and men, […] who lived through experiences of incarceration, displacement, expulsion, [and] torture.” Despite a delay caused by the initial disturbance, a significant part of the audience was still present when the panel opened itself to a brief conversation with the audience. Before this could begin however, the facilitator made a public request for anyone with footage of the hecklers to come forward, citing “security reasons.” The panelists then heard comments and questions ranging from general concerns over access to natural resources and sustainability, to the demolition of the homes of Palestinian detainees in their absence and Israel’s mapping practices. Abisaab’s answer to the latter was to ask that people to “refuse to call these areas [in the West Bank] by letters and numbers”, while Nuha Shaer said, with a smile, “We don’t exist… but we exist!”
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News
March 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
On the ethics of immigration
Talk dismantles xenophobic arguments
Nora McCready The McGill Daily
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n Thursday, March 9, McGill students and community members gathered for a lecture co-hosted by the Institute for Liberal Studies and the Research Group on Constitutional Studies. The lecture was given by Peter Jaworski, an Assistant Teaching Professor at Georgetown University, who explored the question of whether nations have an ethical obligation to open borders around the world. Jaworski began with a personal history of his immigration experience. He was born in communist Poland and became a refugee in West Germany at the age of six. In 1992, after three years of living as a refugee, Jaworski and his family immigrated to Canada, and then again to the United States. “In December of 2016 I became a permanent resident of the United States of America. So you can see that [...] I’ve been immigrating most of my life,” said Jaworski. “This is why this issue matters so much to me.” Liberty, or the right to curtail it? Jaworski began his argument by explaining the presumption of liberty, on which his later arguments would be premised. “We can just begin with the assumption that people have the right to do whatever it is they want to do, and if you want to stop them [...] you have to give a good reason for why you have the right to stop them,” said Jaworski. “If we accept the presumption of liberty then clearly borders require moral justification.” “We live in a world of sovereign states, in a world of borders,” he said. “So you might begin this discussion [...] with a different assumption, namely, the right to enforce borders.” “It’s still true that some rules are morally justified and some are not. [...] Having a right to do things like enforce borders doesn’t mean that any enforcement of borders is morally rightful.” Jaworski continued, claiming, “We overestimate the weight of the reasons that we think we have for having borders.”
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Why keep people out? Jaworski then outlined four common arguments given for enforcing national borders: cultural and political differences, anxiety over job availability, fear of crime, and social insurance. Jaworski pointed out that xenophobic fears around, on the one hand, job availability, and on the other, crime and social insurance actually contradict one another. If immigrants are in fact ‘stealing jobs,’ they must be earning wages, which would preclude the necessity of supporting themselves through welfare or criminal activity.
Where should borders be? Jaworski continued by taking the above arguments made in favor of strong national borders to their logical conclusion: “If culture, jobs, crime, and social insurance are really good reasons to have borders, then they should determine where we put those borders.” Displaying a map which broke North America down into cultural regions instead of countries and states, he pointed to the hypocrisy of using cultural differences as an excuse for border security.
“We overestimate the weight of the reasons that we think we have for having borders.” –Peter Jaworski Assistant Teaching Professor at Georgetown University “This is an attempt to identify groups of people who share similar cultural outlooks,” he explained. “Notice that the cultural similarities don’t neatly follow where the borders actually are. In fact, where we have borders now separates similar cultural groups. “If culture really mattered that much to us,” concluded Jaworski, “then there should be movements for people to set up borders along cultural lines.” Who gets to stay? Jaworski continued with another logical assertion following from the initial arguments that he was trying to break down: “If culture, crime, jobs and social insurance are good reasons to keep people out then they should be just as good reasons to kick certain of us insiders out.” Yet Canada, he pointed out, has not proposed a citizen deportation plan for those individuals who commit crimes or take disproportionate advantage of welfare. Similarly, some Canadians hold religious beliefs that are at odds with other fellow citizens and this has yet to inspire a movement to redefine borders. “Why not get right at the heart of the problem and decide to limit freedom of religion?” he asked rhetorically, implying that, should anxiety around a particular religious group be taken to its logical conclusion, this would be antithetical to our society’s nominal commitment to the fundamental human rights of speech and belief.
Concerning the fear that immigrants would flood the workforce, Jaworski argued that this was nonsensical. “There are two ways to increase the size of Canada’s population,” he said. “The first is to import people into Canada. The second way is to [...] make new Canadians. It turns out that here in this country just anybody can have a baby. [...] You don’t need a license, you don’t need to fill out any paperwork. It doesn’t matter what your socioeconomic status is.” “Foreigners come and they take our jobs and that’s [...] a reason to keep them out,” Jaworski continued. “Some Canadians have babies and what happens when those babies grow up? They take our jobs.” He used a similar argument to contend that the draining of social insurance is not a valid reason to enforce national borders. “If you want to know about net-tax consumers,” Jaworski told his audience, “consider babies. They are completely unproductive. [...] But that’s [considered] OK because we talk about that like it’s an investment.” Old hatred, new target Jaworski referenced another popular rationalization for antiimmigrant sentiment: the notion that the threat from abroad has never been so large as it supposedly is today. After displaying a number of political cartoons from different moments in the history of the U.S. and Canada, he drew the audience’s attention to the similar language of hatred that has been directed at so many different groups through the years. After quoting speeches by various politicians vilifying immigrants and ethnic minorities over the centuries, Jaworski finished his lecture by connecting this parade of historical fear tactics with a reference to the current political climate. Showing a picture of a bowl of Skittles, he referenced a now-infamous tweet by Donald Trump Jr., son of the current U.S. President, which likened Syrian refugees to the candy in a dehumanizing and wildly innacurate attempt to portray them as a potential menace to American society. Scaremongering rhetoric around immigrants and refugees from the Muslim-majority nations, Jaworski argued, is simply the latest form of unfounded and illogical bigotry which we have been directing at foreigners for centuries, as a way to justify restrictive border security. In conclusion, Jaworski explained that while he accepts the existence of borders for administrative purposes, he firmly believes that all borders should be open, and that people should be able to live wherever they choose.
News
March 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
SSMU Council discusses allegations of gendered violence
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Ben Ger second executive in two weeks to resign amid allegations of abuse Marina Cupido & Xavier Richer Vis The McGill Daily Content warning: sexual assault, domestic abuse
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n March 9, the Legislative Council of the Student’s Society of McGill University (SSMU) gathered for a tense and protracted meeting, at which it was revealed that former President Ben Ger, who had resigned hours earlier, had reportedly committed gendered violence. At Thursday’s meeting, Council also debated motions to, among other things, amend the Society’s internal regulations, and support floorfellows in their ongoing labour negotiations with the McGill administration. Ben Ger’s resignation Shortly before 2 p.m. on March 9, SSMU’s executive committee issued a statement to the effect that Ger had resigned for “personal reasons.” The statement thanked him “for his service to the Society,” citing some of his key initiatives from his time in office, and stated that he would “be dearly missed as a member of our team.” At the start of that evening’s Legislative Council meeting, however, VP Student Life Elaine Patterson read an addendum to this earlier statement. “The President recognized his own inadequacy in handling the David Aird case,” said Patterson, “and has failed his responsibility in upholding the safety of our members. [...] Furthermore, it was requested that he not further be involved in his response to the demands made by the Community Disclosures Network and other groups. [Ger] was unsuccessful in upholding the standard and his continued presence on the executive was not conducive to the wellbeing of our campus or this community.” Following this statement, Council discussed several motions before a question period began during which councillors and members of the gallery could voice inquiries and have them addressed. The first question asked was directed at Patterson: why had she stated that Ger had been unfit to handle the David Aird case? In response, Patterson explained that after the executive committee had released its first statement concerning Ger’s resignation, they had been made aware by one of their team – subsequently identified as VP University Affairs Erin Sobat – that allegations of “gendered violence” had been made against Ger.
“The President recognized his own inadequacy in handling the David Aird case, and has failed his responsibility in upholding the safety of our members.”
Bull & Bear repeatedly questioned the executive committee over the circumstances in which Ger’s gendered violence became known. Patterson clarified that no one except Sobat had been aware of the allegations of violence until after the executive’s first statement regarding Ger’s resignation had been released. Sobat himself, in response to further questioning from Yoon, explained that he had been made aware of the allegations by the Community Disclosure Network (CDN) roughly two weeks earlier, and that “the priority at the time was to make sure that the President took a step back from the response to [the David Aird case].” “I regret not taking into consideration those allegations in the initial statement that was released today,” Sobat continued, visibly emotional. He added that he had also been influenced by serious concern for Ger’s mental health. In response to a question from Environment Representative Tuviere Okome, Patterson further explained that the executive committee would be discussing the possibility of releasing a public statement clarifying the reason behind Ger’s resignation. At the time of publication, such a statement has not been released; however, a statement was sent out to campus media on March 10, formally stating the information revealed at Council the previous night. Asked by Arts Representative Maria Thomas how the President’s responsibilities will be met in the coming weeks, Patterson responded that, for now, Ger’s duties will be delegated among the remaining five executives. Moreover, “the people elected to the VP External portfolio and the President’s portfolio [at the end of next week] will be offered a managerial contract. They won’t be considered an officer of the Society, but they would have a managerial position, [...] starting their transition process early.”
Patterson clarified that no one except Sobat had been aware of the allegations of violence until after the executive’s first statement regarding Ger’s resignation had been released.
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—Elaine Patterson SSMU VP Student Life
“The executive recognizes,” said Patterson, “that somebody who has allegations of gendered violence against them is not equipped to handle the scenario that was brought forward about two weeks ago at this point, regarding David Aird and the reasons for his resignation.” As the question period continued, Jennifer Yoon of the
Read more news on our website: mcgilldaily.com
Editor’s note: This article was initially published on March 11; however, it was soon brought to our attention that this version had been improperly fact-checked. As such, a shorter version of the piece has been republished here.
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News
March 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
Islamophobic protest sees clashes Far-right protesters and anti-fascists clash at anti-Muslim protest
Gregoire Beaune News Writer
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n Saturday March 4, local far-right groups rallied in response to a national callout issued by the Canadian Coalition of Concerned Citizens (CCCC) to oppose motion M103. The motion in question would condemn Islamophobia and track incidents of hate crimes against Muslims. While the protest had been called for nationwide by the CCCC, the rally was mainly organized in Montreal by La Meute, a far-right group founded by Islamophobic exmilitary members, and now counting thousands of supporters online. Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (PEDGIDA) Quebec also made an appearance, along with non-affiliated racist skinheads. The protest that took place in Montreal had a distinctly neo-Nazi character, which distinguished it from the more generally conservative make up of the protests organized in Toronto and Ottawa. Despite the group’s size online, only around 100 fascist protesters rallied, with their ranks slowly increasing as they began their march at Place Émilie-Gamelin at 10:30 a.m.. They made their way towards Montreal’s City Hall, while a few anti-fascist protesters fol-
lowed them and attempted to disrupt the march by throwing rocks at the far-right demonstrators. Their contingent arrived at the official rally location at 11 a.m., and was immediately confronted by a rapidly growing number of anti-fascist demonstrators, many of whom belonged to groups such as Antifa, the Revolutionary Student Movement, the Concordia Student Union, The Collectif de Resistance Anti-Raciste de Montréal. Several scuffles occurred in the first hour, with far-right protesters charging at the anti-fascists holding banners, and being beaten back, before the police separated the two groups. The anti-fascist presence gradually grew to up to at least 300 protestors, and was adamant in shutting down the far-right rally, despite heavy riot police presence protecting the far-right protest. Anti-fascist chants such as “Say it loud, say it clear, Muslims are welcome here!” and “Nazi scum off our streets” garnered considerable public support. Anti-fascist protesters burned a Quebec flag with confederate symbolism in the plaza. “Just like Islamophobia is the current conveyor of hatred against Arabs and migrants, the reactionaries will find other banners to rally behind,” said Mouvement étudiant révolutionnaire in a statement to The Daily.
Théophile Vareille | Photographer By 12:30 p.m., the far-right rally started its way back to Place ÉmilieGamelin, which prompted the counter protestors to attempt to follow them and shut them down. The police set up lines to block the counter-protesters path, and following a scuffle between anti-fascist demonstrators and the police, anti-fascist protesters decided to run up St-Denis Street to hopefully catch up with the far-right demonstration. In the ensuing hour and a half, anti-fascist pro-
testers repeatedly and unsuccessfully attempted to get past police lines. Finally, by 2pm, the anti-fascist march arrived at Emily Gamelin, which had been entirely evacuated by the far-right demonstrators, who demobilized in the Berri-UQAM Metro station, so as to avoid targeting. To further prevent identification, they abandoned their signs and several flags, which anti-fascist protesters proceeded to burn in the street.
“The counter protest against La Meute was both necessary and empowering,” a protester who wished to remain anonymous told The Daily. “Fascism and racism have no place in our society and they cannot be allowed to organize on the streets. Direct action against the organized far-right is the only way to ensure that they hatred and bigotry does not become normalized and inflict violence on those they see as ‘undesirables.’”
Getting loud for divestment
Rally for climate justice held on one-year anniversary of McGill’s refusal to divest
Yasmin Bitar News Writer
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ast Tuesday, March 7, the Committee to Advise on Matters of Social Responsibility (CAMSR) met for the first time since their decision, in March 2016, to not divest McGill’s holdings from the fossil fuel industry. Roughly 50 students gathered to stand in solidarity with Divest McGill by staging a protest outside the James Administration building to demand divestment. The protest was called “GET LOUD for Divestment,” highlighting the group’s desire to be heard and to remind the administration of ongoing student activism surrounding fossil fuel divestment. In February 2016, after years of campaigning and with widespread community support, Divest McGill presented a petition and brief to CAMSR, asking the University to divest from its holdings in the fossil fuel industry. This motion was rejected by the Board of Governors (BoG) because of a claim made by CAMSR that fossil fuels do not cause “grave social injury.” “What we’re trying to achieve with this demonstration is to show CAMSR and the administration
that the fossil fuel divestment question is not over,” Andrew Stein, a U4 environmental science student and one of the members of Divest McGill, told The Daily. “We take objection, not only with the results of CAMSR’s findings, but also how they came to that result: they didn’t abide by their own terms of reference and they didn’t look at social injury objectively – they looked at net social injury, which is impossible to define. We want to also show the McGill community at large that we’re still fighting for this, we still believe that McGill can do the right thing, and that we can be a leader in the fight for climate justice.”
“We want to show the McGill community at large that we’re still fighting for this.”
–Andrew Stein U4 Environmental Science student
Protesters banged drums and plastic buckets, held banners, and chanted: “we won’t rest till you divest” and “we know you can hear us,” surrounding the doors of the James admin building. Community square, the area in front of the James building, has in previous years been the site of many Divest McGill protests. This included Fossil Free Week, when members of Divest McGill set up tents and camped in the square during the week of September 21, 2015. McGill Principal Suzanne Fortier, when later asked about the week-long camp-out, said told activists she “didn’t see anything going on.” According to Jed Lenetsky, a U2 environment student and member of Divest McGill, “[divestment gives] students power in universities to change institutions in which they are a part of. It’s much harder for students to influence international climate negotiations or even national policy, but students can make a difference at their own university . Asked about Divest’s tactics and current relationship with the administration, Lenetsky spoke specifically of Divest McGill’s efforts towards “democratizing
Divest McGill activists. McGill’s institutions: such as the BoG and CAMSR. “[Divest is] in touch with the administration and on pretty good terms – [it’s] definitely a working relationship and we like to keep it that way, but at the end of the day we’re not afraid of putting pressure on the McGill administration where it makes sense and letting them know [how] they are failing.” “We must leverage our privilege of power as students at a global university to really change the discourse around climate change,” continued Lenetsky. Protesters also pointed out the disproportionate
Yasmin Bitar | Photographer effect of fossil fuels extraction on Canada’s Indigenous communities. Speaking to The Daily, Nicola Protetch, a U3 Anthropology student, added that “it’s really important for us to keep showing up, keep turning up in masses, and showing them that this wasn’t just a stunt; that divest is serious and we’re gonna hold our university accountable and continue to hold our university accountable for their investments.” McGill currently invests approximately $70 million of its endowment fund in the fossil fuel industry.
Multimedia
March 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
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This week in Unfit to Print: The Daily’s radio show Listen online at www.mcgilldaily.com. March 8: Invisibilized physical and mental illnesses A group of eight speakers from the McGill student community congregated to speak about lived experiences of invisibilized physical and mental illnesses, particularly those that are typically excluded from mainstream narratives. The panel is structured around non-hierarchal discussion and emotional validation, examining possibilities for collective healing external to medical institutions that police personal disability identifications. Some of the topics discussed include contemporary disability narratives, experiences of medical institutions, and relationships with intimate partners. Over the course of the discussion, the group explores a variety of different identifications with health, illness, and healing. The gendered and racialized realities of illness and disability are prioritized in the discussion, as they fundamentally inform diagnostic procedures, threats of violence, and experiences of abuse. Addressing lived experiences, the panel discusses the detrimental effects of navigating physical and mental illness through capitalist structures of power, as these structures accommodate disability narratives in order to advance their own profit-oriented ventures. The speakers take interest in the ways that bodies can be valued beyond their productivity and their willingness to experience healing as a linear reality, instead conceptualizing disability as a way of life.
March 1: Islamophobia in Canada Content warning: Islamophobia, racism, hate crimes, violence against women The first segment features Dolores Chew, a founding member of Montreal’s South Asian Women’s Community Centre (SAWCC). Chew is a history and humanities instructor at Marianopolis College and a Research Associate at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute of Concordia University. Chew was a speaker for “Gendered Racializing in Quebec and Canada”, a discussion highlighting the history of othering in Quebec and Canada, and the role of Canadian politicians and the media in exacerbating fear and insecurity. Chew’s presentation draws on the experiences of Montreal’s South Asian Women’s Community Centre challenging racist discourse and gendering of racializing, often framed as a rights and equality discourse. The second segment of Unfit features an interview with Teri Phillips, an Office for Students With Disabilities director. Phillips discusses a ‘gap period’, where students are self-diagnosed with mental health issues, but lack a formal diagnoses, which can prevent students from accessing certain services. She describes mental health issues as one of the most prominent factors affecting academic life among McGill students. Phillips discusses the role of the institutions in bridging the gap, as well as recommendations for McGill students in need of support.
Visuals by Rahma Wiryomartono
Commentary
March 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
Best medical research, worst medical care
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Only one understaffed clinic cares for all out-of-province students
Conor Nickerson | The McGill Daily
Signs at the McGill Clinic’s facilities. Quinta Seon Commentary Writer
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e’ve all been there — anxious and embarrassed over some bodily function that is just not going right, searching WebMD, and hoping it is nothing serious. Luckily for some people, they have family doctors to turn to for medical advice and assurance. Out-of-province Canadian students at McGill, however, often do not have that comfort to fall back on. Many are left with only two resources: turn to the McGill Health Clinic, or pay out-of-pocket at a select few other clinics until their insurance reimburses the cost. With over 40,000 students at McGill, twenty per cent of whom are out-of-province students, I have observed an average of three secretaries at reception and three nurses in office per day. Looking at McGill’s own statistics of growth, there has been an obvious disregard of the student to clinic ratio (20,000:1, including international students). As for staff, the administration says they have a chief of staff and a “roster” of twenty-three doctors, but they fail to realize student care is not a game. Even for football, the “roster of players” cannot choose to not show up to a game; they have a guaranteed schedule. Having no permanent physicians on staff there is no guaranteed appoint-
ment schedule, especially if there are emergencies at the doctor’s actual job. Students don’t want these “second-stringer” doctors. On top of the unpredictable appointments, there is also no guarantee of having the right doctor — one who is trained and familiar with your specific condition. Out of province students, cannot afford to be given inaccurate referrals — an inaccurate referral could mean a student paying for tests that cost a month’s rent ($100 to $500), and still not being properly diagnosed. McGill’s disregard for student health has resulted in an inefficient, overbooked, and understaffed clinic. The average out-of-province student, who often faces financial constraints, cannot simply turn to another publicly run clinic or seek a Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec (RAMQ) card, as some believe. Plenty of clinics in Montreal refuse to take insurance from other provinces, knowing that what can be covered varies widely from province to province. Since it takes a minimum residence of three months, an often lengthy bureaucratic process, and sacrificing one’s home-province insurance to attain Quebec health insurance, many out-of-province students are wary to make the switch, especially in their first year, which is often filled with uncertainty and vulnerability. In addition, the compulsory student
services fee does not provide alternative medical insurance other than access to the McGill clinic. Setting appointments with the provided clinic can make students feel hopeless. Normally, when booking doctor’s appointments, a ten to fifteen minute wait on the phone is a sad reality. McGill students, however, sometimes wait thirty minutes — which often means making a call at 10:01 a.m. (phone lines open at 10:00 a.m.), listening to Johann Sébastien Bach for forty minutes, and then hanging up. Students are familiar with pre-recorded apologies about not being able to answer the phones, or being told that there are no appointments available for the foreseeable future as a result of an overburdened “drop-in” system. If lucky enough to speak with staff, students can expect a twoto-four week wait for an appointment with a doctor. When experiencing symptoms of one of the ailments that the McGill Clinic considers “urgent” enough for drop-in attention (i.e. sexually transmitted infections, fever, yeast infection), the search for an appointment has become almost competitive. Some students hustle into the Student Society of McGill University building to wait in queue at 7:00 a.m outside the clinic. Once the doors open, drop-in slots for the day are quickly booked and are often full by 9:00am, but require students to
come back at various times of the day for their “same-day appointment.” Nurses are available to consult and triage throughout the day, upon request. During weekends and holidays there is no service, and it is not uncommon to experience delays because of lack of replacement staff.
The average out-of-province student, who often faces financial constraints, cannot simply turn to another publicly run clinic or seek a RAMQ card, as some believe. In theory, this appointment, drop-in, and triage system currently in place could work; however, McGill’s understaffed performance covers the gaping wound of the clinic’s problems with a tiny Barbie band-aid. To make care more
accessible and easy to navigate, permanent doctors should be on staff, and the nurse triage program should be expanded to help with the appointment-setting conundrum. It would be effective and reassuring for students to outline their concerns to a trained professional and be referred to the correct resource, whether it be the clinic or otherwise. Nurses have the knowledge to properly prioritize conditions and give doctors information on their patients. Drop-in patients would benefit with shorter wait-times and backlogging, and appointment patients would finally get appointments. Thankfully, the clinic is allegedly hiring a Nurse Practitioner to be a permanent medical resource, but this is not enough. McGill Student Services should also consider a second clinic — to have one dedicated to urgent care, and one to appointments — or at the very least, an affiliation with a publicly-run clinic. With their alternative options being severely limited, out-of-province students rely upon the McGill Health Clinic, and it is currently failing to meet their needs. The school must make some changes, whether it be a second clinic or larger body of staff, to make sure every student receives proper medical attention. Quinta Seon is a U0 student. To contact the author, email quinta.seon@ mail.mcgill.ca.
COMMENTARY
March 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
Fixing the windows before building the doors
9
$208 million infrastructure project silent on accessibility modifications
Brittany Orav-Lakaski Commentary Writer
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n March 2, it was announced that McGill is receiving $75.86 million through the Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund (SIF), on top of which they will receive $5.1 million from the Quebec government. The SIF, provided through Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), aims to provide Canadian post-secondary research facilities with up to $2 billion in funding over the next three years (starting in 2016 — 2017) towards upgrading and improving their research facilities, as a means to “attract and retain talented people, boost innovation and build a sustainable economy.” ISED collected project proposals in the spring of 2016, and the grants are awarded on a rolling basis. Upon reading through the list of projects as listed in the McGill Reporter article, I hoped that the University would finally direct some money towards the campus accessibility renovations that members of the community with mobility restrictions so desperately need (see: “A Culture of Neglect.” January 23rd, 2017). Yet as I worked my way down the list, there was a noticeable absence of anything related to accessibility-related infrastructure projects. The SIF website includes a list of approved investment areas, and includes, “Renovating and modernizing space to promote research and training to advance sciencebased policy-making in areas such as digital analytics, bioscience, water security and health” as an area for potential projects. If investment funds can be directed towards renovations surrounding the quality
of a research building, then by the SIF’s definition, plans that center on building accessibility for people with mobility impairments should be included. Many students with mobility impairments may make the choice not to attend McGill altogether, because of the notorious inaccessibility of its campus. Making our buildings accessible would support research by attracting the people — the very highly-talented and highly-qualified people — that the program is looking for, but who currently deem it physically impossible, or at least incredibly difficult, to come here. Now, some may attempt to argue that the grant dictates where the funding is supposed to be spent. When asked about the matter, Jean Ouellet, Director of Project Management at Facilities Management and Ancillary Services, stated that, “only expenses directly related to upgrades of research and innovation facilities are eligible for funding under the SIF program, so making buildings more accessible is unfortunately not covered. However, one of our biggest projects funded out of the SIF program is the reconfiguration and upgrade of a large portion of the Stewart Biology Building. We will take this opportunity to make the building more accessible.” However, when the Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada was contacted, they did not indicate that these limitations existed in the eligibility guidelines for the University’s projects. The SIF designates its funding to projects that surround either the scale, quality, or environmental sustainability of the infrastructure
Rahma Wiryomartono | The McGill Daily in question. Their website states that these modernizations would help, “strengthen the development of highly-qualified, talented people, performing world-leading research, and generating new breakthrough ideas.” If we think of “modernizing” as ‘making accessible’ (which, we should), these projects would more than qualify for the grant-money. What better way to “strengthen the development of highly-qualified people” than allow them a way to comfortably access the building! You know that people who require the use of wheelchairs, canes, or other mobility supports are scientists? If, for some incomprehensible reason, there is in fact fine print that excludes using the funds towards accessibility (yikes!), or perhaps if the projects are not open to significant alterations now that the application process has been completed, then so be it. But here’s another thought: the SIF program is a grant that educational institutions must apply for. If the application for this grant is anything like the highly vied-for, (and even less financially
redeeming), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant (SSHRC), then the process is incredibly grueling. Despite this, the administration found it worth their while to go through the lengthy process of an application that would necessitate highly detailed financial and logistical foresight in order to secure the grant; and, low and behold, it worked! But here’s the thing: there are also grants for improving accessibility. The federal government offers the Enabling Accessibility Fund, which provides capital costs for construction and renovation to improve the physical accessibility and safety for people with disabilities in their community and workplace. It has offered grants to University of Waterloo, Carleton University, and Algonquin College. As it turns out, McGill has not applied for the grant since it was rejected in 2007 - 7 years ago! Furthermore, through the Government of Canada’s News Release on the funding, it appears that McGill “and university partners” will be footing the rest of the $127.63
million that remains on their stated $204.2 million budget for the nine projects. So even if we are limited by the parameters of the funding conditions, surely McGill could have used some of its own money, which it is clearly willing to spend despite claims of “austerity,” towards accessibility. I’m not saying the funding isn’t an excellent opportunity, or that the projects in question are undeserving. The issue is one of prioritization. Every move made by an institution like McGill is calculated. The money is found for “modernization,” but seems to go missing for accessibility. Take the new “Harvard-like” building signs. Frankly, I would hope that we care far less about the modernity of our buildings signs than the ability of our fellow classmates, colleagues, and professors to be able to safely and confidently access the campus. For all the emphasis McGill is currently putting on being “cuttingedge” and “innovative,” it’s kind of a wonder it didn’t think to focus on getting people into the buildings in the first place.
Letters to the editor Submit your own: letters@mcgilldaily.com
In response to the recent McGill Daily feature, “Judaism in a Pickle” I write in response to the recent McGill Daily feature, “Judaism in a Pickle”, penned by three students who proudly flaunted their anti-Zionism yet lacked the courage to do so using their real names, instead hiding under pseudonyms. The facts and anecdotes in the article range from the mendacious to the absurd. Thus, the commentary itself commits historical error by marginalizing the leadership and contribution of Eastern-Europe-
an-Jews to the Zionist project, despite the fact that Israel’s first four Prime Ministers (one a woman) came from the Russian Empire. Meanwhile, a story of rejecting Israeli pickles is offered as some courageous sign of moral development and gusty rebellion. IJV complains that its views are ignored and marginalized. The organized Jewish community has every legal and moral right to reject views that directly conflict with, indeed threaten, its members and values.
As Rabbi Reuven Poupko succinctly put it, “You don’t invite butchers to a vegetarian’s convention.” An entity that affirms everything ultimately affirms nothing. IJV is entitled to its views, repugnant as I and many others find them. It is not entitled to impose them on the many others, myself included, who utterly reject them and for whom their Jewish heritage and identity and love for the land, people, and State of Israel are indivisible.
I wish to highlight the fact that in its approximately four-thousand word discourse, IJV did not see it necessary or even warranted to deploy any words to condemn the nakedly inciteful and violent tweet that Sadikov published. Sometimes it is the words that aren’t stated that speak the loudest. —Michael A. (Mikie) Schwartz, Commentary Writer
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the editorial board: Editors share equal voting rights on issues, and work together to produce the newspaper every week. Each editor receives a monthly stipend. For more information on individual positions, contact specific section editors (emails can be found on page 19 of this issue). You can also stop by The Daily’s office in Shatner B-24.
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The DPS is currently accepting candidatures for its Board of Directors. Positions must be filled by five McGill students, duly registered for the upcoming Fall 2017 & Winter 2018 semesters, as well as a Community Representative, who are able to sit from July 1st, 2017 to June 30th, 2018. Board members gather at least once a monthly to discuss the management of the newspapers & websites, and also to make important administrative decisions. To apply, please visit dailypublications.org/how-to-apply/
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Candidate statement
Elections
April
April
2
11:59 p.m.
5
6:00 p.m.
e olde Elections
2017
Photo by Conor Nickerson
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Introduction S
SMU (Students’ Society of McGill University) governance has been particularly controversial this year. The Tangerine tent at Activities Night and excessive advertisements in the Shatner Building saw criticisms of the
VP finance; the merging of McGill Counselling and Mental Health has drawn criticism as wait times have become outrageous; and, more recently, allegations against executives of gendered violence and the resulting backlash have led to the resignations of the President and VP External. At its best, SSMU should uphold and foster a safe, accessible, and diverse university experience. This year, with its persistent controversies and the election of an executive of mostly white men, SSMU has failed to do so. Rather than being an efficient governing body and voice to its constituents, SSMU has become a source of campus drama and stress for students. At The Daily, we often interact closely with SSMU, and what we have witnessed this year has been especially disheartening and disappointing. However, we recognize that, as a governing body, SSMU has incredible potential. This coming year’s executive team will need to put in ftremendous amounts of work if they wish to redeem SSMU in the eyes of students, the administration, and the broader community. The Daily interviewed each of the eleven candidates in order to decide on our endorsements. Questions centred around relevant past experience, the executive as a political actor, and portfolio-specific details. Furthermore, in the wake of allegations of gendered violence on the parts of both the former VP External and former President, as well as the debate which engulfed former Arts Representative to SSMU, Igor Sadikov, The Daily has taken the candidates’ political stances into serious consideration with regards to these endorsements. Any stance – even one centred upon silence or neutrality – is inherently political, and should be taken into account. We sincerely hope that the 2017-18 student executive is more diverse, and contributes to a better undergraduate experience at McGill. Please take the time to make an informed decision; the voting period runs from March 13–16.
The McGill Daily | SSMU Elections
–The McGill Daily editorial board
Table of contents President
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VP University Affairs
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VP External
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VP Operations & VP Finance
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VP Student Life & VP Internal
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SSMU Debates & Referendum Endorsements
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President
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The SSMU President is the leader of the SSMU executive team, in addition to being a key player in interactions with the administration. The President is the only undergraduate representative on the Board of Governors, and sits on Senate. The President is also responsible for the maintenance of SSMU’s governing documents and the enforcement of its Constitution and Internal Regulations. Furthermore, the President is tasked with supporting the rest of the executive team as need arises.
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Helen Ogundeji
gundeji is a U3 Sociology student at McGill. She currently sits on SSMU’s Equitable Governance Reform Committee, is a Political Coordinator at the Black Student’s Network (BSN), and works as a Floor Fellow. Prior to that, Ogundeji served as Secretary General of the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS). She cites her experience as President of the Sociology Students’ Association (SSA) and VP Internal of the BSN as proof of her experience in an administrative context, including experience organizing and communicating within multiple teams. Ogundeji’s overall platform prioritizes efficiency, SSMU accountability, and student advocacy. Her campaign slogan “Lean Back” emphasizes that McGill students should be unequivocally supported by their student representatives. Ogundeji wants to implement a SSMU Executive Code of Conduct via an ad-hoc committee under the president’s portfolio (that would be ratified by the SSMU membership), which she says is primarily a response to anti-Zionist tweets published by former Arts representative Igor Sadikov, a former Daily editor, and recent allegations of sexual assault against former VP External David Aird. She feels that there currently exists “a lack of explicit accountability measures for executives,” mainly as a result of vague language in the SSMU Constitution and executive contracts. She feels this would make potential repercussions less at the whim or vague and arbitrary definitions of misconduct. Ogundeji also wants to collaborate with the incoming VP Student Life and SSMU Mental Health Commissioners to implement a counselling team that would address the needs of racialized students on campus: SSMU currently has a similar program for students who identify as LGBTQIA+, i.e. the McGill PRIDE Counselling Team. The proposed counselling team would instead focus on issues more deeply rooted in race and colonialism, and the potential imbedded mental health issues therein.
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Lukas Shannon
hannon has no previous experience in student governance at McGill or elsewhere, even though he touts his “practical leadership experience.” When asked about his qualifications for the job of SSMU president, Shannon cited his time as a quarterback on his high school’s football team and the fact that he founded an improv club at McGill. Shannon appears to have almost no publicly available platform. His website hosts no information about him, his experience, or his platform, but simply contains a reminder to vote. During the candidate debates he continued to lack any substantial platform, preferring to piggyback off the platforms of his opponents by simply agreeing with them. He stated that he is “pro opt-outable student fees” and “anti-advertisements.” To his credit, he has made his campaign finances public – which currently total $15.46, mostly for his website. Lukas brands himself as a voice for “forgotten” McGill students. On his Facebook event, he says he aims “to open doors to student participation, communication and change at the General Assembly,” even though the simple existence of General Assemblies, by definition, act as forums for student participation. He will “advocate tirelessly for student concerns and world-class sexual violence policy at McGill’s Senate,” despite the fact that McGIll’s senate passed a Sexual Violence Policy in December of 2016.
una Tojiboeva has been a chief justice on the SSMU Judicial Board for the past two years. In 2015-2016, she was the President of the Sociology Students’ Association (SSA) and Chair of McGill Students for UN Women. She has previously served as the VP Internal of the AUS Environment Committee and the InterCampus Outreach Coordinator of SSMU’s Environment Committee. As an intern at a law firm, she has also gained experience working on legal documents. Tojiboeva’s platform prioritizes the autonomy of the Judicial Board through the body’s complete separation from the SSMU Board of Directors (BoD) and Executive Committee. In her vision, as long as the Board’s decisions are compatible with Quebec law, BoD would not have the authority to overrule the Board. As President, she would seek to be seen as “as someone to work with instead of work against.” After SSMU’s inadequate response to allegations of sexual violence against former SSMU VP External David Aird, Tojibeova proposes a SSMU-specific sexual assault policy – not a unique proposal in this year’s election. Moreover, by reforming the logistics of General Assemblies, she hopes to make SSMU more relevant to students and “slowly build trust in the system.” When asked about her opinions on SSMU taking political positions, Tojiboeva’s avoided a forthright response by saying that she would “respect the democratic process” and “advocate for issues dear to students’ hearts.” Tojiboeva would also prioritize mental health, a common pillar in the platform of SSMU candidates.
Endorsement: Helen Ogundeji Both Ogundeji and Tojiboeva reflect administrative experience and sufficient understanding of student politics through involvement in SSMU and AUS roles. However, Ogundeji demonstrates higher commitment to student advocacy. The Daily does not endorse Shannon as a potential candidate. Both Ogundeji and Tojiboeva are committed to mental health as a key priority and propose to better support student in collaboration with mental health services. While Tojiboeva’s proposal of increased mental health services outlines budgeting priorities and process towards additional funding, Ogundeji’s counselling proposal accounts for the marginalized voices on campus by specifically catering to the needs of racialized students, as well as issues rooted in colonialism. In response to the lack of accountability highlighted by the Igor Sadikov and David Aird case, Tojiboeva proposed a SSMU-specific sexual assault policy followed by a GA reform, while Ogundeji proposed a SSMU Executive Code of Conduct. While Tojiboeva’s suggestions promises to advocate for student interest through a democratic process, The Daily believes that Ogundeji’s platform better addresses SSMU’s general inadequacy regarding executives’ misconduct in a more explicit manner. As such, The Daily endorses Ogundeji for this position.
SSMU Elections | The McGill Daily
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Muna Tojiboeva
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VP University Affairs The VP University Affairs plays a pivotal role in student advocacy, sitting on Senate and representing SSMU and its constituents to the McGill administration. This coming year will see some responsibilities removed from the University Affairs portfolio, such as mental health and student services, leaving the VP University Affairs to oversee the SSMU Library Improvement Fund, work with student senators on advocacy projects, oversee student research initiatives, and implement equity initiatives.
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Alexander Dow
lexander Dow is currently an engineering senator on SSMU Council. Before that he served as the Budget Director for the Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS), Blues Pub Manager, Student Space Fund Commissioner, VP Public Relations for EUS Junior Council, and VP Comms and Sports for MORE housing. He told The Daily that in his time at McGill he has been consistently “working with students or working with admin.” He has “seen a lot of students hurt” and “screwed over” by admin. He says his main goal is to help students deal with the bureaucracy of the university. He values teamwork and expresses a commitment to helping students on an individual basis. He has the trust and support of the EUS and hopes to bring some of their concerns to the SSMU Council. He stressed that if elected he is not committed to introducing any new policy. Instead he wants to “cement what already exists” and lift up side projects that have fallen by the wayside. In particular, he supports the movement to create an Indigenous studies major, as well as institute a fall reading week. He is currently working to sway the opinion of the Engineering faculty on this issue. He has limited experience with equity and mental health and would take a back seat on issues of that nature if elected, emphasizing that he would use his privilege to advance the agendas of marginalized communities on campus. Dow likes the apolitical nature of EUS, however, he understands the need for SSMU to be more vocal on political issues. He “draws the line in taking political stances when [SSMU] starts excluding other student groups.” Dow says that while he “grieves for Palestine [...] you can’t just openly target an entire community on campus, namely the Jewish and Israeli communities.” However, Dow says that he is good at working with others despite political differences. With regard to David Aird, Dow found out about his resignation five days beforehand. He thinks that the same is true for the other SSMU Execs and does not condone the negative feedback they have received in the past couple of weeks. He aims to work with campus groups such as SACOMSS to create and adopt a sexual assault policy within SSMU, but was unclear on what the specifics of this policy would be.
The McGill Daily | SSMU Elections
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Isabelle Oke
ke has held multiple roles in the Black Students’ Network (BSN) over the years, serving not only as the President of the Network, but also as an External and Political Coordinator. Working as part of the Network displays a commitment to organizing and advocacy that VP UAs should have, she says. Currently, Oke works as VP Floor Fellows of the Association of McGill University Support Employees (AMUSE). She was part of the AMUSE bargaining team which negotiated with the administration to give Floor Fellows salaries, and cites the experience as an example of her adamantly advocating for student’s rights when dealing with the administration. Additionally, as part of the proposed MUNACA-AMUSE merger, Oke was involved in writing new bylaws for the proposal, demonstrating experience in policy development, and cites her training as a Floor Fellow as being conducive to working in University Affairs, having received more than seventy hours of training as a result, learning active listening, equitable community building, and first response to crises. Her overall platform prioritizes accountability and campus outreach, especially in a time where SSMU feels incredibly disjointed from the student body. Oke wants to create specific student positions to perform outreach initiatives to campus groups that are not formally part of the Society, saying that “in her experience, active in-person outreach is an effective way of keeping in touch with realities on campus.” In regards to the Library Improvement Fund, Oke wants to foster healthier spaces in McGill’s libraries, adding visual and nonvisual guides in the libraries to remind students that while studying is important, “there are small actions students can take to mitigate the negative effects of many studying practices.” Oke also wants to install “happy lights” to combat Seasonal Affective disorder (SAD) during midterms and finals. Oke plans to build on the current VP UA’s “Know your Rights” campaign, which she feels doesn’t give students the option to ask for more “tailored or relevant information.” Oke also feels that SSMU should be doing more to make student services more accessible, and intends to meet demands to improve said services by working with first years’ like in a focus group, letting them discover McGill services and subsequently SSMU officers learning about their experiences and how they can be improved upon.
Endorsement: Isabelle Oke Oke’s work with AMUSE, as well as her experience as a Floor Fellow and as part of the BSN make her a prime candidate for this position. The VP University Affairs portfolio requires direct relations with the administration, which Oke also has experience in bargaining on behalf of AMUSE at the level of the administration. Her initiative to reach out to more student groups in a more organized fashion would be a welcome adjustment considering many student groups feel currently alienated from the SSMU. While Dow has a background in student politics with his work in EUS, his limited experience with equity would be a considerable disadvantage in a position which requires heavy knowledge and experience of both these issues. His stance on political issues is also disheartening, given that the VP University Affairs is the only executive other than the President who would advocate for students regarding political issues at the University level.
VP External
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The VP External is responsible for connecting SSMU’s constituents to the wider Montreal and Quebec community. The portfolio includes communication with other post-secondary institutions and McGill’s labour unions, and lobbying the government on behalf of SSMU. The VP External is also mandated to provide support for student-run social and environmental justice campaigns.
Noah Century Content warning: discussion of sexual assault
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oah Century is a U3 Music Performance student. Century has limited experience in student politics, serving as the VP External for the Music Undergraduate Students’ Association (MUSA) and Music Faculty Representative to the SSMU Legislative Council. A deeply concerning event took place during The Daily’s interview with Century. Regarding the case of David Aird, former VP External who had numerous allegations of sexual assault brought against him, The Daily asked Century what his takeaways from the situation were. In response, Century joked, “don’t get caught!” and laughed. Despite the fact that Century made a rape joke during the interview, his online platform stresses that “I believe students should feel safe at McGill. [...] To help this happen, I will support any movement, motion or campaign aimed at making McGill campus be and feel safe from sexual assault and sexual harrassment.” Century believes that it’s important that SSMU joins AVEQ as a voting member, whereas SSMU is currently simply an observer to AVEQ procedures. As a SSMU Councillor, Century was part of the Ad-Hoc Committee for Provincial Representation working with the previous VP External on SSMU joining AVEQ. To effect this during his term, he would launch a “massive campaigning effort to inform the student body across campus about what AVEQ does, what joining means and what benefits we gain from it.” Asked why he was running for the position, Century simply stated that he wanted “decision making power,” and that he had planned to run for VP Student Life, but changed to President because a friend was running for VP Student Life. Century believes that SSMU shouldn’t have positions on “divisive issues” or “external situations,” by which he meant affairs outside of SSMU “anything that doesn’t effect the student body.” He would work to support AMUSE’s efforts to raise the minimum wage of students working as part of the Work Study program to $15 an hour.
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Connor Spencer
Endorsement: Connor Spencer Spencer’s experiences working with past VP Externals and in anti-austerity groups have prepared her for this position. Her emphasis on making liaisons with other campuses in the collective fight against rising tuition, combined with her ability to speak fluent French, indicates her awareness of the VP External’s core duties. In contrast, Century demonstrates not only a misunderstanding of the position’s portfolio with his “personal distaste for strikes” but also extreme insensitivity in making a rape joke during his interview with The Daily. In terms of qualifications, Century lacks experience related to anti-austerity work and appears unprepared compared to Spencer. As such, The Daily endorses Spencer for this position.
SSMU Elections | The McGill Daily
onnor Spencer has been involved in student activism since arriving on this campus four years ago. Born to a labour union family, she is vocal about the importance of anti-austerity protests, demonstrated through her long time involvement with À la rue Montreal – a group which organizes across campuses for free tuition – and McGill Against Austerity. Spencer has also participated in other French and English off-campus campaigns, developing significant experience working with student activists across Greater Montreal. For the last two years, Spencer has collaborated closely with previous VP Externals in her anti-austerity work. She has a solid understanding of the position’s responsibilities as well as ways in which the portfolio could be exercised effectively. Her campaign platform prioritizes communication and transparency among SSMU offices, between the VP External’s office and relevant community groups on and off campus, and between SSMU and the McGill student body. She identifies this lack of communication among all parties as a major area of concern in her experience working with past VP Externals, and wishes to amend this through increased consultation with student groups, affected communities, and other campuses. By doing so, Spencer hopes to initiate a sustained conversation about financial accessibility and the effects of austerity on students, especially on those who are historically marginalized. Spencer does not agree with the Administration having a say in student politics. Nevertheless, she stresses the importance of a system in place to hold SSMU executives accountable. To this end, she plans to implement a stand alone sexual violence policy for SSMU, acknowledging the need for multiple avenues of complaint for those who have been harmed by fellow students in positions of power.
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VP Operations The VP Operations position was created just this year, breaking off from the previous VP Finance and Operations position. The new portfolio will likely include managing the use and coordinating the development of the Shatner building, overseeing the management of SSMU’s business operations including Gerts, MiniCourses, and the Student-Run Cafeteria (SRC), and operationalizing SSMU’s goals of environmental sustainability.
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Anuradha Mallik
nuradha Mallik is currently a floor fellow at Molson residence. She has extensive experience with the Secondary Schools’ United Nations Symposium and McGill Model United Nations (McMUN) as Chargée D’Affaires and Deputé Chargée D’Affaire in 2017 and 2016, respectively, and as a Dais Member in 2015, 2016 and 2017. She was also a facilitator at last year’s Canadian Conference on Student Leadership and Head of Communications for Water for Life in the 2013-2014 academic year. Talking to The Daily about her experiences working at McMUN, Anuradha said: “[It] consists of organizing a conference that about 1,500 people attend every year, plus about four hundred staff, so I’ve had a lot of experience with operations, contracts, the works, for […] the venues and every external body that we get involved in the conference.” Mallik is also proficient in French. Mallik’s platform contains four parts: the Sustainability Policy, Sustainability Cooperation, Building Projects and Proactive Communication, and Revenue Generating Operations. In regards to her portfolio, Mallik wants to put an “emphasis on sustainability.” Mallik views SSMU as a political actor and believes that “the point of the executive is to represent the voices of the constituents,” as “McGill is quite a politically charged environment with a lot of issues.” She hopes to “work with the University Affairs to go through the policy handbook because [...] a lot of them are expiring soon and a lot of them need to be renewed.”
Endorsement: Yes Mallik has an extensive understanding of the logistics of event planning and organizational work through her experience with McMUN and Water for Life. This, in addition to her willingness to stand by political initiatives, such as advocacy around the creation of a sexual assault policy for SSMU, and the presence of ‘active bystanders’ in Gerts (which is run by the VP Operations), make her a strong candidate for the position. Additionally, Mallik has experience with sustainability initiatives, which is now being applied to her vision as VP Operations. Due to Mallik’s enthusiasm for equity, and the steps she has already taken to prepare for a potential VP position, The Daily endorses Mallik for VP Operations.
VP Finance The VP Finance and Operations position was split into two separate positions this year, VP Operations and VP Finance. The VP Finance portfolio includes ensuring the long-term financial stability of SSMU in cooperation with the General Manager, overseeing funding and operations management committees, providing the Executive Committee and Board of Directors with regular reports on the financial status of SSMU, and developing the annual budget of SSMU. among other tasks.
The McGill Daily | SSMU Elections
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Endorsement: Yes
Arisha Khan
han currently serves as SSMU’s Funding Commissioner in the VP Finance office, and the SSMU representative on the McGill Innovation Steering Committee. Prior to that, she worked as a Finance and Operations Assistant in the same office. Aside from her work in the VP Finance office, Khan worked as SSMU’s Researcher on Students from Foster Care, wherein she published a report of targeted support programs available across North America with concrete policy changes and recommendations for McGill, in the aim of increasing the number of students who come from foster care. Khan, herself a student from foster care, presented the report to the SSMU Legislative Council last November. As Funding Commissioner, Khan was responsible for the allocation of funds from nine SSMUcollected student fees, in her estimation totalling approximately $350,000. She has additionally been heavily involved in advocacy work for students from foster care, both in the nonprofit and public sector. Past VPs Finance have often campaigned on a platform of political neutrality, but Khan disagrees with this stance: “Finance, or money, in of itself is a very political issue, and people think it’s not,” she said in an interview with The Daily. “Where you choose to buy your groceries to where you choose to invest, it’s always a political position.” Khan wants to promote social responsibility within SSMU, and has advocated for better resource allocation and combating ancillary fees from the administration. When it comes to corporate engagements, she wants to ensure that SSMU only engages with companies that “reflect our mission,” all the while ensuring that students do not bear the burden of additional costs. She aims to do this by creating a working group to oversee the development of Socially Responsible Sponsorship guidelines, while promising to prioritize consultation with the SSMU student body. Overall, Khan’s platform prioritizes making SSMU’s finances more efficient and more readily accessible to the McGill community. Khan wants to increase accessibility of SSMU’s financial information by providing “bi-annual graphic snapshots” of SSMU’s financial operations to show students where exactly their money is going, most likely at SSMU General Assemblies (GA).
Khan’s experience in the VP Finance office, and her understanding of the responsibilities of working with large amounts of money, make her well suited to the role of VP Finance. Additionally, her willingness to acknowledge the political nature of finance, and her commitment to directing student’s money towards worthy investments and causes, both in the corporate and social spheres, is a reassurance that students will not have to expect the burden of additional fees or unethical corporate involvement in the coming year. For these reasons, alongside her continued commitment to her advocacy work with students from foster care, The Daily endorses Arisha Khan for the position of VP Finance.
VP Student Life
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The VP Student Life was previously named the VP Clubs & Services. The restructured portfolio now deals with clubs and services, student services, mental health initiatives, and independent student groups.
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Endorsement: Yes
Jemark Earle
emark Earle is the current VP Health and Athletics of the McGill Music Undergraduate Students’ Association (MUSA), as well as having been a Floor Fellow at the Royal Victoria College residence (RVC) for the past two years, Food Representative for La Citadelle Hall Council and Council Advisor for RVC hall council. He has also attended the Canadian Conference on Student Leadership (CCSL). In an interview with The Daily, he explained that this experience contributed to his decision to run for VP Student Life, saying that he’s “a big fan of giving back and role modelling.” He also explained that this influenced his decision to become a Floor Fellow. He is also a French speaker. For Earle, mental health and student clubs and services are the most important part of the portfolio. At the SSMU Executive Candidate’s debate, he noted that while he cares about his personal projects, they take a back seat to these parts of the portfolio, which are “most important.” He cites mental health as his main focus, especially increasing student input – he believes that “having a student representative [...] to survey the broader student population and bring it back to [faculty members on committees] opens up a whole new world,” and that increasing the quality of mental health care at McGill is crucial since, as a floor fellow, he has seen how “mental health impacts everyday life.” Earle also views SSMU as a political actor, pointing out to The Daily that “if an external issue affects students, it will affect them in a huge way,” going on to say that executives need to do a lot of “researching […] and talking to students,” especially if the “external issue doesn’t affect the identities of SSMU execs.” Furthermore, he pointed out that execs taking ill-informed stances can “be really detrimental to the group [an issue] is affecting,” and values transparency, even if an issue is ongoing, saying that issues should be “public from the start. In addition, he believes that it’s natural that students are divided on issues and that it’s important to make sure that “both sides, or however many sides there are about a certain issue” are being heard.
The Daily endorses a ‘yes’ vote for Jemark Earle as VP Student Life. Earle demonstrates considerable experience in student engagement and leadership through his two-year long experience as a Floor Fellow, his executive position in MUSA (Music Undergraduate Students’ Association), and his key roles in student lead campaigns such as McGill Talks and Starting Minor with Mental Health. This relevant background will complement the VP Student Life portfolio and assure students that Earle is a prime candidate for this position. Earle’s commitment to SSMU’s political nature additionally informs the VP Student Life position; political issues actively affect students, and The Daily commends Earle’s assertion that such topics cannot be ignored by student executives.
VP Internal The VP Internal is responsible for communication between SSMU and students and sends out the SSMU listserv. Responsibilities also include the Old McGill Yearbook and various events, including the 4Floors Halloween party, Frosh events, and Faculty Olympics.
oparkar is currently the SSMU Internal Logistics Coordinating and a member of the Students Society Programming Network (SSPN), as well as having been Molson Hall VP Internal, and an events coordinator for HerCampus. She describes herself as having a “passion for making the McGill experience enjoyable and accessible for all students.” She speaks intermediate French. Koparkar’s main commitments are improving representation of first year students living offcampus, citing their historical lack of engagement in SSMU activities; part of this includes continuing to work with First Year Council (FYC). She is hoping for regular check-ins and to support events planned by and for first year students. She also wants to focus more on smaller events, while continuing to work on large events such as 4Floors and Faculty Olympics, stating that a more varied events portfolio would “[present] an opportunity for even more of the student body to be included.” Inclusivity is also a large part of her platform, as she mentions “accessibility accommodations [and] event conduct guidelines.” She also hopes for more integration of the SSPN in SSMU and the McGill student body at large. Maya believes that SSMU executives must represent their constituents, saying that executives “are elected representatives,” and decisions must “reflect the wishes of the student body.” She points to consultation between executives as necessary, rather than personal beliefs. When asked about how SSMU handled the allegations against David Aird, she said that there “should have been a more hard-line stance.”
Endorsement: Yes, with reservations Koparkar seems to be inclined towards pursuing first-year engagement and frosh-related activities with equity in mind; she believes that first-year is a space in which to shed political apathy and become more engaged. She also acknowledges the political nature of SSMU discussions and affairs. While her values are sufficient, her platform echoes her predecessors significantly, and thus there is a degree of innovation lacking in her plans. As a result, we endorse Koparkar for the position of VP Internal, but with reservations.
SSMU Elections | The McGill Daily
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Maya Koparkar
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Highlights from SSMU Debates President Asked “what do you see as advocacy priorities for SSMU in terms of improving McGill’s governance and how will you pursue those as president?,” Ogundeji replied that in her view, the central obstacle to better governance is insufficient student representation on the Board of Governors (BoG). Shannon agreed, adding that SSMU should try and forge alliances with faculty members in order to further its interests. Tojiboeva, meanwhile, stressed the importance of demonstrating that the President can collaborate with the administration. She added that her advocacy priority would be mental health. A student asked the candidates how they would increase representation and engagement for racialized students, and what their qualifications were for doing so. Ogundeji, who is currently on the executive of the Black Students’ Network, replied that she planned to create a platform within Mental Health and Counselling to specifically address the issues unique to racialized students. She also noted that she has been working to create specific seats for racialized students on SSMU Council, “given the colonial and slave-holding history of the founder of McGill.” Tojiboeva responded that she would be working closely with the SSMU Equity Commissioners, and that by increasing the independence of the Judicial Board she hopes to give racialized students a better platform to air their concerns. Shannon also said that racialized students should have better platforms to speak out about their experiences, but failed to suggest any concrete ideas to solve this. He added that, any time SSMU might be about to take a position on a contentious political issue, any communities involved should be given space to air their views.
VP External
The McGill Daily | SSMU Elections
“What do you see as the role of SSMU in the Montreal community and in the Quebec student movement?” Century answered that SSMU should be representing McGill students, and “participating more in developing any project that could help improve the life of students” both at McGill and across the province; he did not, however, point to any specific issues that should be prioritized. Spencer, for her part, agreed with Century that SSMU should represent McGill students through AVEQ, and said that the Society should particularly get involved in initiatives to fight the precarity experienced by students.
VP University Affairs Asked to name “the greatest barriers to accessibility to the student experience,” Oke responded that the issue of overhead fees has been a significant obstacle for students with low socioeconomic status to succeed on campus. Dow focused his response on physical accessibility. If elected, asked the current VP University Affairs, how would the candidates advocate for improvements to mental health on campus? Dow mentioned the Library Improvement Fund, and said that a priority would be to make study spaces more conducive to mental wellbeing. Oke, meanwhile, said that McGill’s Mental Health and Counselling Services need a better understanding of the issues which impact students’ mental health, adding that more accessible teaching practices in McGill classrooms would reduce stress, thereby reducing the burden on these services.
VP Internal Asked how she would “improve health and wellbeing in frosh and orientation events,” Koparkar replied that she would be working with departmental associations on this, but that this could include providing a wider range of food options, and/or instituting a yoga period.
VP Finance Asked how, if elected, she will manage money better than the current VP finance, Khan said that she would be looking at other student associations across Canada to see how they fund overheads and services. She will also prioritize making SSMU more financially sustainable.
VP Operations Asked how she plans to improve the financial viability of Sadie’s, the student-run cafeteria in the Shatner building, Mallik replied that in addition to continuing current the VP Operations’ efforts with regard to branding and advertizing, she would also work with the staff to improve and better utilize institutional memory.
VP Student Life Asked how he would provide emotional support, and manage conflict within the executive team, Earle explained that, particularly as a floorfellow, he has had significant experience in these areas, and feels confident in his ability to be a supportive member of the team.
Referendum Question Endorsements Q1: Motion Regarding Referendum Question on Constitutional Amendments The Daily endorses a “NO” vote regarding the “Motion Regarding Referendum Question on Constitutional Amendments.” The amendment to Article 13.4 of the Constitution, which would abolish the requirement of having different faculties represented at the SSMU General Assemblies, would significantly decrease the efficacy of the GAs at representing a diversity of student voices, and would significantly weaken the democratic process as a result.
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March 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
Who is Black History Month for? Reflections on McGill’s first official BHM from within the Black community Written by Gelila Bedada | Visual by Nishat Prova
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March 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
rowing up, my dad would love to reminisce this story at dinner parties: “She was about three years old…this was when we were living just outside of Detroit and I was picking her up from Montessori one day. I asked her how school was and she blurts out, ‘Baba, I’m changing my name to Ashley!’ If this is what she wanted, I thought, okay…I can play along. So I said, ‘Sure, so Ashley, how was school today?’ And you know what she did next? She shouted ‘Stop! Stop!’ and started crying!” My dad’s friends, a crowd of East African men, would laugh on cue – the punch line being my attempt at assimilation. I’ve come to recognize this anecdote as the beginning of a long, subtle, and predictable identity crisis. I believe my parents made conscious decisions to distance my upbringing from other Black folk, the kind of people that society loves to label ‘violent,’ ‘idle,’ or ‘promiscuous.’ Their reverence for whiteness was not the result of a Black inferiority complex, but rather a strategy to guarantee a safer future for my brother and I. My mom tamed my nappy negro hair and my dad sent me to schools in “good” neighbourhoods. I don’t blame them for making these choices, ones that have sometimes helped me move more easily through life.
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My mom tamed my nappy negro hair and my dad sent me to schools in ‘good’ neighbourhoods. So February has just passed, and I’ve been processing my Blackness within the context of Black History Month (BHM). I’ve always been wary of the agenda of BHM. If the time for celebrating Black identity is carved out for a single, lonely month, it’s bound to be painfully limiting. I was raised with fragments of Canadian and Ethiopian culture by parents who were refugees. My reality is far more nuanced than the current discourse on Black identity. So
often, BHM focuses on a single Black narrative that doesn’t represent all of us children of diaspora. The struggle of Black folk is homogenized as if our specific contexts, histories, and individual experiences are unimportant, simply because we have our rich melanin in common. It’s for that reason that I chose to speak to a number of Black friends and peers in writing this feature, in the hopes that I can give voice to the ambivalence that many Black students feel about BHM, in light of our particular backgrounds.
Who does BHM really cater to? I believe that BHM, as it stands now, contributes to the historical project of making Blackness more palatable for white people. There’s a list of acceptable Black folk to praise, and it has mostly included non-violent historical figures who are no longer controversial or threatening to the white establishment. Naturally, the achievements of Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. deserve recognition; but in repeatedly lionizing the few, we fail to include the diversity of Blackness. In discussing our Black heroes, we tend to ignore or silence those who aren’t cis, straight, or light skinned who have also asked for a seat at the table. The challenges that have been emphasized are the victories of emancipation and civil rights for African Americans. “Look, we’ve come so far!” helps dismiss the very present reality of voter suppression laws and human trafficking that disproportionately affects Black people. With every passing year that we celebrate BHM, it seems like we’re preemptively congratulating ourselves on living in a post-racial and postcolonial society. In participating, I worry that I am complicit in validating a highly inaccurate representation of Black people. When interviewing U1 student Gaby*, she discussed a frustration I share: “Not all Black people around the world have a Black History Month. Many Caribbean and African countries do not hold them simply because their curriculums integrate Blackness properly. I feel as though BHM serves white supremacy rather
than Black people, mainly because it holds us into a position of marginalization rather than equality.” Her remarks reminded me of the conversations I had with my parents, who never celebrated BHM, yet who still helped me with elementary school projects about Harriet Tubman. It seems to be a radical notion that being of African origin should be of year-round importance. Gaby spoke to this ever-present feeling of isolation: “[Black history] is world history as much as the French Revolution and the Roman Empire. It must be integrated, rather than reduced in the shortest month of the year. As far as I am concerned, I am Black 24/7, every day of the year. I suffer from the repercussions of white supremacy by my simple existence – why can’t we acknowledge that?”
“I am Black 24/7, every day of the year. I suffer from the repurcussions of white supremacy by my simple existence – why can’t we acknowledge that?” Gaby* — U1 student During a conversation with my friend Samira*, a U3 Pharmacology major, she disclosed how, in her youth, she found herself “somewhat uninterested in Black History Month, or Black culture at all for that matter.” I felt a little guilty that I related so strongly. She continued, “I have a memory of crying in kindergarten because my friends forced me to be Scary Spice (the ‘Black one’) from the Spice Girls during recess. Until I was about 17 I did whatever I could to distance myself from my culture, largely because I didn’t go to school with or have many African-American friends, and so I didn’t like that this month drew attention to how different my family and I were from everyone I associated with on a regular
basis.” Black folks are often presented with only two options: perform stereotypical Blackness, or ignore and erase any evidence of racial and ethnic difference altogether. This pressure makes it easy to believe that to be whitewashed is simply more expedient. Yet, we’re still expected to show our pride during BHM despite the learned insecurities we acquire from existing in a racist and discriminatory world. So, is BHM insulting, tokenizing, and inadequate for Black people? Yes. Is it necessary and empowering? Also yes. When speaking with people within the Black community at McGill, I desperately resonated with a desire to have a space that “lets us do our Black thing” – to quote fellow student Leah*, who organizes with the McGill African Students Society (MASS). Gaby also echoed a similar tension I felt through her experiences organizing multiple BHMs, “Though I am not in favor of BHM in the long-term, it is necessary as a first step towards gaining acknowledgement and then resolving issues for Black people.” Like many of us, her views on BHM changed upon arriving at McGill: “When I came to Montreal, I came to understand that Black History Month is necessary because there is little to no place in schools and society for Black people.” Rachel, a third year Gender Studies major, spoke about taking these kinds of Black spaces for granted, having attended public school in the southside of Chicago. At her high school, unlike at McGill, “The heaping majority – at least 90 per cent – of my classmates were Black. At school our history teachers taught us about Black history during all months of year and heavily emphasized the positive contributions of Black people to society. It was the norm for me to be educated on Black history when I was younger. It wasn’t until I came to McGill, leaving my Black bubble in Chicago, that I came to truly appreciate celebrating Black History Month.” Not all Black students at McGill feel my ambivalence over BHM – for some, it’s a straightforward matter of recognition and celebration. Helen Ogundeji, a U3 Sociology major and Black Students’
Network (BSN) executive told me, “I don’t think [BHM is] insulting or inadequate at all. I think it presents a very simple message to a very simple issue: Black people in our North American context (and really in a global context) have been exploited and disenfranchised and continue to be exploited and disenfranchised. The month serves as a very simple reminder (it’s the shortest month of the year!) that Black folks have contributed to the world in very lasting and meaningful ways and these contributions ought to be celebrated.”
McGill’s first official BHM celebrations Surprisingly, and yet, unsurprisingly, this year marks McGill’s first official Black History Month celebration. “This first year was very much about creating spaces for Black people and other members of the McGill and greater Montreal community to come together and learn about and recognize Black excellence,” which was the theme of this year’s celebrations, said Shanice Yarde of the Social Equity and Diversity Education (SEDE) Office at McGill University. “We also wanted to center the Black Montreal community in our organizing to try to bridge some of the gaps between the university and rest of the city,” Yarde told me. “We’re excited but also conscious.”
Is BHM insulting, tokenizing, and inadequate for Black people? Yes. Is it necessary and empowering? Also yes.
The SEDE Office hosted a series of 15 diverse events about Black history, Black culture, and Black politics in collaboration with student and community organizations within Montreal. I don’t want to minimize the important and essential work that SEDE and other organizers did – the events were well-
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planned, nuanced, and deeply interesting. But it’s challenging to do this kind of work without the necessary institutional, financial, and community support. Only one of the 15 events received funding from Angela Campbell, Associate Provost (Policies, Procedures and Equity). “We got funding from multiple sources at McGill including Angela Campbell,” Yarde told me. “Funds that she provided went towards a specific event of our choosing and we distributed other funds amongst other events.” It’s hard to believe that a sincere effort was made to promote Black spaces at McGill while SEDE staff, in an informal conversation, acknowledged a lack of robust support and funding from the McGill administration. Yarde’s official comment on the efforts made by McGill were that “the McGill administration has supported the SEDE office in its organizing of BHM 2017.” Apart from MASS and the BSN, most student-run organizations didn’t publicize BHM, nor did McGill faculties. Gaby raised an important question during our interview: “Who was talking about Black History Month? No one.” This is partially true – while the opening ceremony was filled past capacity, attendance dwindled later on; workshops, discussion panels, spoken word performances, and social events had the capacity to accommodate larger crowds. At the 5 à 7 for McGill staff and students, I remember a faculty member scanning a room of about ten to 15 people and asking no one in particular, “Is this all the Black folk at McGill?” SEDE commented that “a direct link to our BHM website added on the McGill homepage helped bring additional traffic.”
“Is this all the Black folk at McGill?”
SEDE has also made a significant effort to continue the dialogue about Black identity beyond BHM. As part of a followup to BHM 2017, SEDE is collaborating with Black Foundation of Community Networks (BFCN) to co-launch #ReadToLead, an online reading campaign to specifically
March 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
honour and share Black authors during the month of March. Yarde expressed that “[SEDE] is also excited that a resolution was passed in Senate that commits to supporting future celebrations of BHM at McGill.” Senator Charles Keita of the Faculty of Arts motioned for the formal recognition and celebration of BHM by McGill. Keita acknowledged that, prior to SEDE’s efforts, there has been no formal acknowledgement of BHM by McGill, despite the fact that the Parliament of Canada has officially recognized February as BHM since 1995, and Quebec adopted a law to do the same as of 2007.
SEDE has also made a significant effort to continue the dialogue about Black identity beyond BHM.
Kieta’s motion, which was passed unanimously, also included for the 2017-2022 Strategic Academic Plan for McGill to explore “additional opportunities to support academic initiatives that highlight the contributions and scholarship of the Black community; and facilitate the enhanced representation of Black community members on campus.” At the same time as we celebrate Black excellence and the “contributions and scholarship of the Black community,” we must not forget that these contributions were hard-won, and that Black people are systematically denied opportunities to create and learn. This means discussing the contemporary and historic oppression that excludes Black people from institutions like McGill. Ogundeji, in a workshop she facilitated about anti-Blackness earlier this year, reminded attendees that James McGill – whose name and image liberally pepper our campus – owned at least six personal slaves. According to Ogundeji, “These people were sold, and then the wealth gained from their exploited labour was not only used to fund the conception of McGill University but further Black and Indigenous
bodies were used to build the Arts building, the institution’s first building.” McGill’s slaves include an unidentified male Indigenous slave; Marie “Potamiane,” a female Indigenous slave; Jaques, a Black male slave; Marie-Louise, a Black female slave; Sarah, a Black female slave; JeanLouis, a Black female slave; and Joseph-François, a Black male slave along with his wife and two children, Marie-Charles, Joseph, and Pierre-Augustin. It’s easy to historicize or dismiss the gravity of slavery at McGill – but the legacies of white supremacy are an ongoing feature of student life. At McGill, Ogundeji notes, students from France are allowed to pay out-of-province Canadian tuition, while students from French-colonized African and Caribbean countries have to pay international tuition. McGill has yet to offer reparations or an apology for James McGill’s ownership of slaves – in fact, as the McGill bookstore was renamed “Le James” this year, even more buildings on campus bear the name of a slave owner. Today, McGill has far too few Black professors and offers very limited resources to Black community members. Kieta’s motion notes that McGill “is host to a limited interdisciplinary African Studies program and no formal Black Studies program. Eunice, a U3 Psychology student, told me that “I definitely do not think that McGill is doing a great job of supporting the Black community at McGill academically.” She noted that while she hadn’t experienced social discrimination at McGill, “my biggest concern is the lack of appropriate courses and resources in the African Studies Program. There is a general lack of courses that teach about Black people, countries, or issues; and if there are courses that address these topics, they are usually painted in a negative light (i.e. poverty, disease etc.).” McGill has been repeatedly criticized for their weak hiring equity policy, which continues to privilege ‘merit’ at the expense of diversity. Kieta’s motion specifies that “employment equity data indicate clear underrepresentation of visible and ethnic minority academic staff on campus” and
that “Black and racialized minority academic staff in particular experience discrimination and negative treatment that affects their ability to succeed,” according to the 2016 Report of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Systemic Discrimination.
At McGill, students from France are allowed to pay out-of-province Canadian tuition, while students from Frenchcolonized African and Caribbean countries have to pay international tuition. I’m tempted to be cynical, and believe that this motion is simply another symbolic gesture that does little to improve the lived realities and representations of Black people at a mostly-white, ‘elite’ institution. Promised “academic initiatives” sound like an intangible commitment that needs to manifest in concrete policies, and the visibility that Black folks gain through BHM is no replacement for structural and institutional reform that combats anti-Blackness, like a robust hiring equity policy and a formal Black studies program.
Reconciling empowerment and marginalization Despite the fact that not all of us Black folk see ourselves represented, valued or emboldened through BHM, it’s undeniably a platform to amplify Black voices. Rachel had a vastly different and positive upbringing with BHM, one that I envy, in that she felt “proud to celebrate a history that too often goes erased [...] in that sense BHM helps Black youth to have more self-confidence, be proud
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of their Black heritage, and gain historical heroes.” Asked if she was surprised that this was the first year that McGill formally recognized BHM, Eunice told me, “I wouldn’t say I was surprised, because at a majoritywhite university I wouldn’t expect the students to feel inclined to celebrate Black History Month. However, I am very proud that [...] Black students fought to have BHM celebrated, and I am very glad that the university decided to set aside some funding for it.” The praise that SEDE has received points to their success in providing an opportunity for members of this campus to selfeducate. The burden is so often placed on us to introspect and then educate non-Black and other Black people that BHM can alleviate that arduous responsibility. I don’t have an answer to the contradiction inherent in BHM – a month that can be harmful and healing all at once. Helen expressed it best when saying, “I think BHM serves different communities to varying degrees of effectiveness.” For her, “BHM encourages Black students to remember their worth in a society that continues to invalidate their existence.”
The burden is so often placed on us to introspect and then educate nonBlack and other Black people that BHM can alleviate that arduous responsibility.
I’ve taken to the motto of McGill’s BHM organizers: “excited but conscious” (read: woke). We’re making the most with what we’re given, and fortunately, the tone in my conversations with members of the Black community is one that is relentless in asking for more: more activism, more representation, more appropriate courses and resources, more spaces and opportunities by and for Black folks at McGill.
Sports
March 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
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Can political athletes save us? On taking a knee and other potentials of sports activism
Aidan GilchristBlackwood Sports Writer
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uring the 1995-96 NBA season, the Denver Nuggets’ star athlete, Mahmoud AbdulRauf, refused to stand when then U.S. national anthem was played before his sporting events. AbdulRauf, a Black Muslim, asserted that the anthem was a symbol of the United States’ racist and oppressive history. Islam called for standing against all forms of injustice, he said, and he could not contradict his faith by standing to honour the flag. Soon, the NBA suspended Abdul-Rauf without pay, and the Nuggets traded him. By the time he was 29, Abdul-Rauf was unable to secure a regular roster spot and his NBA career was over. Several years later, Abdul-Rauf ’s home was burned down by an arsonist. White supremacists had previously spray painted “KKK” on a sign near the house.
“Kaepernick’s decision was only the latest incident in a whole generation of athletes who refuse to just shut up and play.” —Dave Zirin The Nation’s sports editor Twenty years later, the world of sports continues to struggle with and resist accepting its political nature. Last year, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s decision to take a knee during the national anthem attracted considerable attention within and outside sports media. “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black people and people of color,” Kaepernick told NFL Media in August. “To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.” Drawing inspiration from Black Lives Matter, Kaepernick called for an end to police violence against Black people and announced plans to donate $1 million to anti-racist community organizations.
The potentials of sports activism “Kaepernick had a different kind of effect, a different kind of a reach, an electric effect more than anything we’ve seen in recent years,” said Dave Zirin, The Nation’s sports editor, at a February 17 panel titled Taking a Knee, Taking a Stand that took place at Concordia. “And it’s not because he kneeled but because of the content of what he said.” Indeed, from dozens of NFL, NBA and WNBA athletes, to soccer players and swimmers, to the entire football team at a San Francisco high school, Kaepernick’s actions have sparked a wave of subsequent demonstrations, with players across the U.S. taking a knee. This series of protests has secured coverage even from what Shireen Ahmed, writer and activist, called the “mayonnaise factory” of mainstream sports journalism, dominated by white male writers. At the Concordia event, Ahmed noted an example: ESPN has launched a weekly feature documenting NFL athletes kneeling during the anthem. As noted by Zirin, the wide media coverage, as well as the sheer magnitude of the public backlash against Kaepernick, demonstrates that white people are engaging with the realities of police brutality on an entirely new scale. “I call it the power to puncture privilege,” Zirin explained, speaking of the impact of athlete activism, “because [...] it brings [anti-oppressive] ideas into spaces where people have the luxury to not think about Black Lives Matter, or LGBTQ issues, or rape culture on college campuses.” With athlete activism, as Zirin explained, privileged people have to confront different social justice issues because social justice issues make their ways to their lives through sports. Sports activism and solidarity across borders Due to sports’ global and farreaching nature, one of the biggest advantages of athlete activism is its potential to contest systems of oppression across borders. In February, six NFL players boycotted a fully subsidized trip to Jerusalem organized by the Israeli government. The purpose of the trip, according to an Israeli government official, was to fight the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and the general “delegitimization of Israel” through hosting “influencer and opinion-former” Americans, like athletes, in Israel. “One of my heroes has always been Muhammad Ali. I know that Ali always stood strongly with the Palestinian people, visiting refugee camps, going to rallies, and always willing to be a ‘voice for the voiceless’,” said Seattle Seahawks player Michael Bennett in a statement, becoming the first to boycott the tour. “I want to be a ‘voice
Marina Djurdjevic | The McGill Daily for the voiceless’ and I cannot do that by going on this kind of trip to Israel.” Like Kaepernick’s kneeling, Bennett’s refusal to legitimize a symbol he saw as unjust – in this case, a publicity trip to Israel – demonstrates the power of sports activism in shaping a more just political future. Bennett is not the only athlete to cite Ali as an inspiration. The legendary boxer and activist has also influenced the activism of AbdulRauf, Kaepernick, and Bennett. A Black Muslim, Ali risked his life and career to speak out against institutional racism and imperialism during the 1960s and 70s, becoming particularly well-known for his vocal opposition to the Vietnam War.
“The burden that [marginalized athletes] inherit to humanize themselves on top of being competitive athletes is already hard enough.” —Shireen Ahmed Writer and activist Bennett also cited John Carlos, one of the athletes raising a fist in a Black Power salute at the 1968 Olympics. Bennett quoted Carlos
in his statement as saying, “There is no partial commitment to justice. You’re either in it or you’re out.” The tradition of Black athlete activists – Ali, Carlos, Abdul-Rauf, Kaepernick, Bennett – who draw upon each other is why, at the Concordia event, Zirin cautioned against simplifying athlete activism to a particular political moment. “It’s a big mistake to say the renaissance of political athletes is because of Donald Trump, just as it would be a big mistake to say that this renaissance of political athletes is only happening because Colin Kaepernick took a knee,” Zirin said. “Kaepernick’s decision was only the latest incident in a whole generation of athletes who refuse to just shut up and play.” Shouldering the burden of activism Speaking about Ibtihaj Muhammad, a Black Muslim woman and a fencer on Team USA who was detained by U.S. Customs, Ahmed challenged the tendency in social justice movements to place the burden of activism on people who are already marginalized. “Is it fair to ask Ibtihaj Muhammad [...] to keep pushing for more? Do I expect [marginalized] athletes to take a stand? [Movement leaders] are the most underpaid and overworked in society. They mobilize and organize and realistically is it fair to ask them to do more?” Ahmed said. “Absolutely not [...]. The burden that [marginalized athletes] inherit to humanize themselves on top of being competitive athletes is already hard enough.” Ahmed also gave the example of former Montreal Canadiens and current Nashville Predators defenceman P.K. Subban. Subban, a Black man, was frequently derided
as “cocky” and “selfish” during his time in Montreal even though he donated tens of millions of dollars to charitable causes in the city.
“I’ve never seen a Black athlete or a Muslim woman or a trans athlete that has said to me ‘let’s not talk about politics in our sports.” —Shireen Ahmed Writer and activist While we should not expect marginalized athletes to engage in political action, Ahmed said, we ought to support them and amplify their voices if they do choose to engage. As some object to “making sports political,” Ahmed noted, “[Privileged people] who actually say that are ones who don’t have to deal with issues like class, gender or race.” “Because I’m sorry but I’ve never seen a Black athlete or a Muslim woman or a trans athlete that has said to me ‘let’s not talk about politics in our sports.’ Never happened,” she continued. At the end of the day, sports do not take place in a vacuum. By capitalizing on the potentials of sports, political athletes from Ali to Kaepernick have put their bodies on the line in order to contribute to the broader fight against injustice.
Sci+Tech
March 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
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Transitioning to a futuristic society The necessity for an universal basic income
Cédric Parages Sci+Tech Columnist
S
ince the economic recession in 2008, the world economy has found its footing and the GDPs of industrialized countries have steadily been rising. However, as businesses managed to optimize production efficiency after millions of jobs were lost, troubling consequences have emerged for workers with low income security or savings. The value of currencies are rising, basic necessities such as education and healthcare are becoming more expensive, yet middle wages are not rising to compensate. Income and wealth inequalities in the U.S. are higher now than ever before in the nation’s history according to a study from the University of California Berkeley, with the top 0.1 percentile owning 22 per cent of the nation’s wealth in 2012, compared to just seven per cent in 1978. In 2015, the top ten per cent income bracket earned 50.5 per cent of all income made that year, close to the most it’s ever been. In Canada, the top 20 per cent income group takes in 39.1% of the income of the country, and although income is much more evenly distributed here than in the U.S, this top income group is the only income quintile to have increased its share of the pie in the last twenty years. Unfortunately, the complex network of safety nets such as welfare, unemployment benefits and minimum wage currently in place may not be enough to counteract the increasing inequalities in income and wealth. In U.S. states and metropolitan areas where minimum wage has been increased to $15 an hour, such as Washington, New York City, San Francisco and others, McDonalds is replacing cashiers and workers with automated systems so customers can make orders by kiosk or on the phone and have their meal brought over to them. The math behind the change demonstrates why: an employee with a wage of $15 per hour costs the company $38,500 a year including social security and insurance, while a machine costs only $35,000, making back its worth in a year and being ready to use 24/7. Automation is here The fast food service industry is not the only market where automation will continue to take people’s jobs. It only makes sense that as the population of the world grows, we will need more efficient ways to mass manufacture, transport and distribute goods; produce and transfer energy; and distribute our food supply. Today, robots and automated systems are starting to complete complex tasks,
such as self-driving cars that use sensors and cameras to gather data about their surroundings, and self-learning artificial intelligence such as Google’s AlphaGo, which recently defeated the world’s best player of the board game Go, which is widely considered to be the most complex board game in the world. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, one third of the entire world food production is lost or wasted, and we could easily feed every malnourished person on the Earth if none of it was wasted – all the way up to 10 billion people, the projected population of the Earth by 2050. If we can already feed that many people today, automation would enable us to achieve solving what we right now cannot, world hunger and poverty. In the manufacturing market, automation has been increasingly present for decades, such as in the assembly of cars and the mass production of commercial goods. The manufacturing industry in the U.S. has been growing, namely by 17.6 per cent from 2006 to 2013, yet per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, five million jobs have been lost in the sector since 2000. While today’s global automation in manufacturing accounts for an average ten per cent of all tasks, research from the Boston Consulting Group indicates it may well be 25 per cent by 2025. While political figures such as Donald Trump claim that these manufacturing jobs are being lost to trade, a 2015 report from Ball State University’s Center for Business and Economic Research found that 87 per cent of manufacturing job losses are due to automation while only 13 per cent are due to trade deals. These changes are not unique to the U.S.. A factory in Dongguan, China, which manufactures mobile phone parts, cut down their workforce from 650 employees to just sixty at the end of last year with the addition of new automated machines, elevating their production by 250 per cent within a few months time. To combat the rising cost of human labour for making shoes by hand in China due to their flourishing economy, Adidas is about to open a factory in Germany that is completely automated and 3D-prints shoes, which they hope will revolutionize the sportswear industry by shortening the supply chain and time needed between a new design and released product. Automation is affecting more than the manufacture of goods. The mobile taxi company Uber has already begun rolling out self-driving cars in certain U.S states such as San Francisco and Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, a few commercial Tesla car models have come equipped with
an Autopilot mode, which is currently mostly being used to record and aggregate data, improving the artificial intelligence of the software. Even though drivers are instructed and warned to keep their hands on the wheel at all times during autopilot mode in case of an emergency or life threatening situation, the first fatal accident happened in May 2016 from a Tesla car on this driver assist mode. There have been a few other cases of Google self-driving cars also getting into accidents, although non life threatening, yet representatives claim these are due to human error and not the software itself. The technology is definitely not perfected yet, and automated cars do need to drive in actual real life conditions to be tested for commercial use and for the AI to improve itself faster. Comparing overall crash rates between automated and human drivers has been difficult so far due to lack of data, as a 2016 study from Virginia Institute of Technology claims self-driving cars have much lower crash rates than humans, while a 2015 study from University of Michigan Ann Arbor claims the opposite. A 2013 study from the Eno Center for Transportation in Washington, D.C. estimates that if ten per cent of cars were selfdriving, 211,000 accidents could be avoided and 1,100 lives saved while for ninety per cent, 4.2 million accidents and 21,700 lives would be spared per year. Nevertheless, while some people may prefer the company of a cab driver and a human visage to interact with to a self driving vehicle, others may eventually see all human drivers as unnecessary risks in their daily commutes. Universal basic income is needed Dystopian novels may paint a picture of the future overrun by selfaware artificial intelligence and robots that turn against their makers, yet nothing will prevent automation and technology from surrounding us. To combat an insurmountable wage gap and companies that choose to replace workers instead of adapting to rising minimum wage laws, we must eventually create employment in areas where automation cannot replace and undermine. CEO of Tesla Inc. and SpaceX Elon Musk, previous CEO of Microsoft Bill Gates and many economic and technological leaders agree that there is a solution: Universal Basic Income (UBI), where everyone of employment age is guaranteed a basic income (even without proving they are looking for employment). It would be a social policy to replace all other safety nets currently available. Robots are eventually all we will need to fulfill jobs,
Rahma Wiryomartono | The McGill Daily and they will do it for cheaper. Workers can instead dedicate themselves to occupations where automation cannot replace human interaction, such as teaching, business, scientific research and entertainment. Various countries around the world are already starting pilot projects to test the effects of UBI. One of the first UBI tests ever conducted was in Manitoba, Canada in the 1970s, where providing families living under the poverty line with a basic income enabled their children to finish high school, increasing rates of high school graduation. General health increased as a statistically significant decrease in doctor appointments, hospital visits and psychiatry treatment was recorded. While there was concern for disabling incentive for work and labour, only nine per cent of the test subjects worked less hours than they did before, and post-analysis of the data suggests that this was due to the opportunity cost of spending more time with family. The researchers followed up with the families after the study was over when they no longer received the set incomes, and their income security and mental health were still maintained at a higher level than before the study. Hugh Segal, a former Canadian senator and now advisor to the Ontario provincial government has just started a three year UBI pilot project giving out $1,320 per month in additional income to the homeless and those under the poverty line. Ebay founder Pierre Omidyar is funding a million dollars to one of the biggest UBI projects in history via the charity organization GiveDirectly in Kenya, giving 6,000 Kenyans a livable wage for 12 years. Finland has also just started its national UBI test which just began in January f, offering 560 Euros every month to 2,000 unemployed Finns aged 25 to 58, eliminating their other social and unemployment benefits, and will not cease to offer the money even if they
find employment. Other cities and municipal authorities in the Netherlands, California and Italy are also conducting their own UBI research, which will provide researchers and policymakers worldwide muchneeded data to really understand if the concept works for the long-term and what effects it might have on the labour market. There are many complications and questions to answer if we are to move toward a UBI. For instance, how will the government be able to afford it, how much will it raise taxes by, and will it disincentive work? Bill Gates has a solution to the funding needed to make this work on a national scale: tax the robots for their labour just like people. Elon Musk has more personal questions, such as: how will people find meaning in their lives if automation takes what they love to do away from them? I personally think that people will always want more than they currently have and to enjoy new experiences. Making more than the basic income to do recreational activities such as travelling will remain an incentive for labour. Keeping in a steady and healthy social environment is also equally important, and having a job is essential to social status. UBIs could become a bipartisan solution where left wing and right wing politics could unite behind the removal of loopholes and red tape in social benefits, instead providing a single streamlined system for everyone. There is a 1980 quote from the renowned evolutionary biologist Stephen Ray Jould which rings quite true, in my eyes, with regards to UBI: “I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convulsions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.” Cédric Parages is a U3 student in Wildlife Biology. To contact the author, please email cedricparages@ gmail.com
Art essay
March 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
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‘Julia Tsoona’ Graphite Rahma Wiryomartono
Culture
March 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
Against animal rights activism
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Angry Inuk challenges mainstream anti-seal rhetoric
Annie Rubin Culture Writer Content warning: mention of suicide
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n the vast snowy landscape of Iqaluit, the capital city of Nunavut, Alethea Arnaquq-Baril narrates a true-to-life image of the cultural practice of seal hunting within Inuit communities. Studying a photo of two joyful toddlers with bright red mouths raising blood-stained bloody fingers, she chuckles at the thought that this playful moment may look bizarre to an outsider. In popular imagination, the Inuit community of Nunavut is often envisioned living in igloos and idealized as a contained, self-sufficient group that is untouched by the passage of time. Arnaquq-Baril refutes such stereotypes in the documentary, Angry Inuk, screened at Cinema du Parc last month. The film shows how Inuit peoples have not only been subject to evolving thresholds for survival within the growing capitalist economy, but are also excluded from Eurocentric notions of modernity. Illuminating the colonial context in Canada and addressed to a global audience, Arnaquq-Baril speaks to the deteriorating living and working conditions of her Indigenous community as a result of environmental activists’ misrepresentation of seal hunting. Beyond its value as a food source to Inuit peoples, seal hunting sustains Nunavut’s economic structure through an intergenerational cycle.
Inuit peoples use the entirety of the animal: the community is fed, and mittens, coats, and shawls are produced. The seal skins are also sold to the Canadian government. The money made is then used to buy gas as a means to continue hunting in order to feed their family. To complete the cycle, the skills of seal hunting are passed down from generation to generation. Arnaquq-Baril illustrates the fight and the frustration she faces on behalf of her community when mainstream animal rights activism declines her access to the public conversation on seal hunting. The success of this activism peaked in the seventies when the United Nations approved a ban on seal products in the international market. In response, the makers of Angry Inuk travelled across the world to lobby the U.N. to abolish it. The documentary follows them in their creation of an online community and the beginnings of their counterprotest. Their efforts, however, would fail in the face of well-endowed antiseal campaigns. This ban, although it includes a clause which allows for the Inuit peoples to continue their hunt, has negatively affected the community. Seal skin prices have dramatically declined, which has an impact on all facets of Inuit daily life, especially when a cabbage in Nunavut can cost $27. When the ban was introduced, its disruption amplified the marginalization and oppression Indigenous
“Untitled,” March 13 - 21, 5-9pm VAV Gallery “Untitled” explores questions of identity through works exclusively created by artists of colour. The exhibition aims to engage in reciprocity: it features an artist panel speaking about the significance of their own identities, encouraging the viewer to listen and examine their own privilege in society. The venue and its washrooms are wheelchair accessible, but the washrooms are not gender neutral.
“Risque d’échec,” March 7 - 20 Vernissage: March 15, 7-11pm Artists-at-work: March 18, 1-5pm Galerie Mainline, 3905 boul St-Laurent Institutionalized art often loses the spirit of the artistic process: the mistakes, transformations, and moments of discovery are lost when a work is fixed to one particular moment. Risque d’échec, however, is an exhibition evolves over its 2 week duration. Join the artists in their public risk-taking as they adapt and and modify their works partway through the exhibition. This gallery space is wheelchair accessible. The washroom is gender-neutral, located on the ground floor, but is not wheelchair accessible.
Cindy Lao | The McGill Daily populations already face, resulting in such bleak consequences as increased suicide rates. With a detailed account of life in Iqaluit, Arnaquq-Baril shows the devastating effects of mainstream animal rights activism on her community. Angry Inuk presents the anti-seal activist National Government Organizations as near-caricatures that are as absorbed in their cause as they are tragically misguided. The documentary uses illustrations, statistics, and interviews to evoke aggravation in the audience while maintaining a tone of restraint and understated anger. The audience learn that the adorable, fluffy seals are not in danger, and that
activist groups exploit the sensationalist image of the teary seal because it produces a huge profit. In reality, all seals are teary, not due to sadness, but due to the harsh cold. By challenging activist groups to reconsider their skewed vision of her lived reality, Arnaquq-Baril demonstrates the violence of climate change activism that ignores the ways of life, culture, and lived experiences of Indigenous peoples. Organizations like Greenpeace use gory campaign images to target Inuit seal hunters, demonizing Inuit communities and perpetuating colonial and racial stereotypes. The celebrity followings of such organizations further undercut
Indigenous activism. Angry Inuk calls for change both poignantly and earnestly as Arnaquq-Baril takes a stand for her Inuit community. Angry Inuk highlights the importance of self-representation and the potency of social media activism. The film challenges traditional anti-seal rhetoric with starkly beautiful images, illustrating a haunting problem that is ultimately unresolved. It also makes clear the audience’s responsibility in relieving the plight of Inuit peoples living in socio-economic marginalization. Inuk anger may not be plastered on multimillion dollar billboards but it is nonetheless essential.
“Things” repeated, March 12 - Mar 24 Vernissage: Mar 14, 6-11pm Eastern Bloc, 7240 rue Clark Through photography, video, sculpture, and drawing, “Things repeated” examines how repetitions of form, image, and material affect the way we experience and understand art. This conceptual exhibition challenges the viewer to recognize how initial perceptions and judgements evolve through repeated encounters. This venue is not wheelchair accessible with approximately thirty steps from ground level. There are gender neutral washrooms.
“xxxxxxxx*8,” March 13 -25 Finnisage: March 23, 7-9pm Belgo building, 372 rue Sainte-Catherine O #444 “xxxxxxxx*8” is an exhibition created by chance. A random selection generator was used to create groups of five to eight artists which were then scanned for aesthetic unity and technical limitations of the gallery space. The selected group, comprised of eight artists, will feature works of diverse themes, mediums, and messages, inviting the viewer to find correlations within the exhibit, and to reconcile the jarring differences. The venue and its washrooms are wheelchair accessible by wheelchair, but the washrooms are not gender neutral.
“Tout Inclus,” March 9 - 20 Vernissage: March 16, 7-9pm (Performance at 8pm) Galerie Espace, 4844 boul St. Laurent Welcome to the post-industrialist kitsch universe. Tout Inclus (all-inclusive) aims to understand why we associate objects such as lava lamps and plastic flamingos with “bad taste,” yet why consumers are still driven to purchase similarly tacky items at souvenir stores. Despite its title, the exhibition goes beyond the all-inclusive resort scene to examine how tourism can foster exoticism, orientalism, and cultural appropriation. Accessibility information to be announced.
“The View From Here: Sex, Sexuality and Identity as Experienced by Women and Queer Artists,” March 27, 6-10pm Espace Cercle Carré, 36 rue Queen Aiming to “walk the line between sexy and sensual, as well as political and informative,” this exhibition explores the role of identity within sexuality. “The View from Here” features queer and women artists to discuss how sexuality is implicated in marginalized communities, through discussions of body empowerment, one’s relationship to their body, and body empowerment. This venue and its washrooms are wheelchair-accessible. The washrooms are gender neutral. This event is sober.
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CUlture
March 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
Accessibility in artistic spaces Art Matters deconstructs how we understand art Taylor Mitchell The McGill Daily Content warning: mention of suicide
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round this time in 2012, Concordia’s annual Art Matters festival included a performance piece entitled Hey, Um, I’m Sorry that I Killed You: A Performance Piece of Mourning, Guilt and Disregard, in which Caleb Feigin submerged himself in a pool of everyday objects that he’d collected. “I’m performing my feelings of guilt,” said Feigin in a 2013 interview with The Daily. “The performance is about mourning [...] a friend who [had] committed suicide.” Feigin’s piece, as part of the larger exhibition entitled “Citation,” asks the question of how one can look at the body given the complications of visual identification. Five years later, Art Matters continues to explore the boundaries between art and politics within a space that aims to subvert our understandings of the two. Since 2000, Art Matters has provided a space for artists to subvert normative narratives around identity through cunningly innovative artistic techniques. The studentcurated festival began with five Concordia Fine Arts students who were disenchanted with the lack of recognition their work had received in mainstream festivals. Now, Art Matters is the largest student-run art festival in North America. The focus of the festival has shifted over time, establishing not only dialogues between student artists and professionals but also wider conversations about art itself in relation to such themes as ontology, fetishization, and environmentalism. Art Matters is back at it again with a 2017 edition, featuring a highly-anticipated lineup of events. From installations to fibres to electroacoustics, the majority of the exhibitions juxtapose different mediums within the same space to complicate how we experience and understand art. This year, the festival has revamped its structure for an anti-oppression focus, both within the exhibits themselves and among festival staff and volunteers.
Tout Inclus The Daily sat down with Michael Martini, outreach coordinator of Art Matters, to discuss accessibility in the arts, the festival’s mandate, and the value of art.
Photos Courtesy of Art Matters
The McGill Daily (MD): Did you find any dominant themes, mediums, or concepts in the submissions this year? Michael Martini (MM): Overall there was a bigger push to diversify the artistic mediums in the festival. Last year, there was a lot […] more traditional studio art. This year, we as a coordinating team really made an effort to reach out to other students – to music students, to performing students, to dance students – and to really encourage people to think outside the box [...] We got nearly double the submissions from last year. In terms of themes, Art Matters’ mandate is inclusivity, diversity, and accessibility, and these are what we’re constantly striving toward. So when people submitted proposals for exhibitions, we really did take extra consideration when looking at themes of feminism, queer identity, queer sexuality, race, issues of marginalization [...] We’ll see a lot of interesting queer performance art this year. In terms of other themes that had a surprising amount of interest behind them, a lot of people are really into kitsch and retro. A lot of people are looking at [these themes], especially in the context of Quebec.
Untitled MD: You mentioned the prioritization of accessibility – how will the festival be working to achieve this goal? MM: Unfortunately, it’s very difficult for every space to be wheelchair accessible, but it’s something we definitely took into consideration for event planning, and all our big parties will definitely be in an accessible space. We’re also featuring diverse, accessible content at our parties. [...] But we’ll definitely make [accessibility] information available online. Extending beyond wheelchair accessibility, for example, we have a speaker series where people come and talk about various topics at Concordia. Something else we’re excited about in our collaboration with the Fine Arts Student Alliance is to make those events more accessible by finding ways to offer whisper translation, or finding ways to record the events for people who cannot arrive at them, so we’re in that brainstorming phase right now. I think the biggest step taken toward accessibility, which was actually initiated last year, was making the art submissions anonymous, so that the people jurying
the art – whom are all peers – can’t be playing favourites, or discouraging certain people for applying. I think that’s another reason we have so much turn out this year.
xxxxxxxx*8 MD: What pieces are shaping up to be this season’s highlights? MM: At this point we know what the shows are looking like. We had our call for submissions over the break, and this week we’re going to be jurying with the curators to determine what artworks will be featured in the festival. There will be about 100 [pieces]. But we do have a good idea about some of the shows and how they’re looking. There’s going to be a show on Concordia campus that specifically features artists of colour at the VAV Gallery, which is something that’s really important to us because there’s been a huge demand on our board of directors and people connected with the festival who want to see more of their work represented on campus. There’s also going to be a really cool underground queer performance zine exchange night [...] that we’re really excited for. MD: When you’re in the process of selecting pieces and deciding which work goes in what space, what do you look for in a valuable work of art? MM: Within my job as the outreach coordinator, I would say that [...] it’s not important that the art pieces featured in the festival are super polished or complete. What we’re trying to do is to foster opportunities for people, whether it’s putting their art in a space they wouldn’t have access to otherwise, or putting their art in a space that other students from different departments will see, and giving people a chance to talk. I think Art Matters has a huge learning curve for everyone involved – from those behind the scenes on the board, etcetera, to the people putting their art out there. It’s often about a chance for people to talk to others. In terms of successful pieces, we really value risk-taking, and artworks that are in dialogue with other students’ interests and politics. MD: How have you seen students using the festival and the spaces it provides as a bridge in their careers? MM: I’ll speak on behalf of my own experience, as I have curated with the festival in the past. Art Matters is about bringing
together people from different disciplines – with video in the same space as sculpture, for example. Learning the language of other disciplines is incredibly important in moving forward with your own practice. Often when you’re studying one discipline, you can get tunnel vision and only understand that vocabulary, but when you start to see what other people are doing, it’s a great reminder that you can be borrowing from other techniques and looking at the way other people are thinking. In terms of success stories, there have too many to mention. A lot of people in the festival met someone they were showcased with, talked, and went on to collaborate. And many people who developed connections, for example, to people running the space, and they developed a great relationship, and are able to do something again in that space. For example, we had a show called “We, ‘Other’” last year [...] and POP Montreal took interest in that show and actually remounted it [...] the next year.
Things repeated MD: Considering our readership largely pertains to McGill students, why do you think it’s important that they attend? MM: My understanding is that McGill doesn’t have an opportunity like Art Matters [for McGill students] to display their work, [which has obtained] such a great level of attention [...] But even though the opportunity isn’t there to exhibit artwork, there’s still opportunity to go and meet interested people, and talk to [the artists] about what they learned from their experience exhibiting artwork. There’s no doubt that there are people at McGill who have artwork that they want to get out there, and who want to talk and exchange ideas between people of different artistic backgrounds. In that sense, the more the merrier. McGill students can also volunteer [...] Our events extend beyond Art Matters, like our speaker series, where we bring in artists and scholars to speak about art, or our festival parties – fun filled with music and dancing – are the events that people don’t really know about. You just show up!
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
EDITORIAL
Volume 106 Issue 20
March 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
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editorial board
3480 McTavish St., Rm. B-24 Montreal, QC H3A 0G3
phone 514.398.6784 fax 514.398.8318 mcgilldaily.com
The McGill Daily is located on unceded Kanien’kehá:ka territory. coordinating editor
Sonia Ionescu
coordinating@mcgilldaily.com
managing editor
Ralph Haddad coordinating news editor
Vacant
news editor
Marina Cupido commentary & compendium! editors
Khatira Mahdavi Inori Roy
Abusive activists must be held responsible for their actions
culture editors
Taylor Mitchell Coco Zhou features editor
Saima Desai science + technology editor
Igor Zlobine sports editor
Paniz Khosroshahy multimedia editor
Viola Chen Rayleigh Lee photos editor
Conor Nickerson illustrations editor
Marina Djurdjevic copy editor
Anne-Cécile Favory
design & production editor
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web editor
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le délit
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contributors Alice Rougeaux, Annie Rubin, Cindy Lao, Gelila Bedada, Gregoire Beaune, Brittany Orav-Lakaski, Jay Van Put, Nishat Prova, Nora McCready, Théophile Vareille, Quita Seon, Yasmin Bitar
O
n February 6, 2017, Igor Sadikov, former Daily editor and former Arts Representative to the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) tweeted “punch a zionist [sic] today” on his personal account. This tweet was widely disseminated, receiving international news coverage. In response, two camps formed at McGill: one calling for Sadikov’s resignation from student politics, and one supporting Sadikov in the face of this backlash. Sadikov’s anti-Zionist beliefs and involvement in anti-oppressive groups on campus became reasons to hail him as a radical martyr. After two weeks, however, much of this public support dwindled as allegations of Sadikov’s past abusive behaviour were brought forth. Sadikov’s glorification in leftist circles, including our own editorial board, despite various degrees of knowledge of his previous abusive behaviour, is the latest example of misogyny and the willful disregard of abuse in activism. In the days following the tweet, a Facebook group chat containing over two hundred McGill and Montreal activists was created to mobilize students in support of Sadikov. The debate surrounding Sadikov’s resignation quickly turned from one about a tweet to one on the safety of anti-Zionists on campus, especially after several members of McGill’s senior administration published statements in condemning Sadikov. The Administration even threatened to withhold funding from SSMU if the executive did not request Sadikov’s resignation. Both within the aforementioned chat, on social media, and within the pages of this newspaper, Sadikov was painted as a victim being lambasted by the administration, various Members of Parliament, and countless organizations outside of McGill. In our coverage of the calls for his resignation The Daily defended Sadikov, and members of The Daily’s editorial board attended events in support of Sadikov. We regret our complicity in uncritically portraying Sadikov as a victim. The actions of the administration, and the harassment faced by anti-Zionist students every day are reprehensible, but so is Sadikov’s rise to glory despite his previous abusive behaviour. Being a male feminist allows abusive men access to activist spaces and the trust of the women in the community,
as well as a buffer against allegations of abuse or misogyny. The common belief is that a self-proclaimed feminist couldn’t possibly be abusive. This is true of former SSMU VP External David Aird and former President Ben Ger who, immersed in leftist circles, both faced claims of past gendered and sexual violence. In activist spaces, women are often pressured to downplay or ignore their experience of abuse and misogyny in order not to deflect from the ‘real’ issues. This tendency is particularly pervasive in movements seen as more ‘serious,’ such activism against capitalism or state violence, movements which Sadikov and Aird engaged in. Members of the community often share information about abusive men’s behaviours in private, but refuse or are unable to publicly denounce these men. There are valid reasons why some community members may not call out abusive men: if one is are triggered by discussions of abuse, in order to protect one’s personal or emotional safety, or to respect the wishes of the survivor. Even so, there are usually others in the community who are capable of denouncing abusive men but are resistant to holding their colleagues and friends accountable are resistant to holding their colleagues and friends accountable. As a result, many women and femmes end up leaving the community to preserve their mental health or safety, and other women are put at risk when abusive behaviour is kept quiet. Activist spaces are a microcosm of society and are not free of misogynistic and abusive behaviour. In fact, activist spaces are often hunting grounds of choice for abusive men; the inherent dynamics of these groups protects perpetrators of abuse. The public adoration of abusive men can often be intensely triggering and traumatic to people they – or other men – have abused. Instead of dismissing women’s concerns as gossip, those of us who come to organize out of a genuine desire for a more just world ought to listen to women’s voices, hold abusive men accountable and make their actions known to the public.
—The McGill Daily editorial board
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dps board of directors
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Compendium!
March 13, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
20
Lies, half-truths, and decentering the metropole.
Crossword
Jay van Put Official Crossword Wizard
“Names that bloom”
“Procrastination man”
Across 1. Famous astronaut Arsmtrong 5. Lets 11. Test for your heart 14. Giant or troll 15. _____ counter (measures radiation) 16. Sn 17. Actress who plays a Star Wars heroine 19. Chicken ___ king 20. Singer Sheeran, and others 21. Toyed (with) 22. Exhale 23. Thing that can beat a king 24. ___ Ming (Chinese basketball player) 26. Hummus company 29. Highest S&P bond rating 32. Smacks around 36. SNL Trump impersonator Baldwin 37. 1950s rock and roll singer 39. Not well 40. Hipster’s music genre 41. ___ name (pseudonym) 42. Mother of a famous wizard 45. “___’s eating you?” (4) 46. Smile mockingly (5) 47. Small amount of money 48. Type of cymbal or course 49. Place to park your car 51. Hudson’s ___ (3) 52. Throw onto a pile (4) 55. Gun or sword (6) 59. What a bill might become 62. Vase (3) 63. Daughter of a famous Princess, in a way (11) 65. “If the shoe ___s...” 66. Guarantee 67. Weapons don’t work without 68. McGill seems to make its money off of arbitrary ___s 69. Come together for a sport or a common goal 70. Most annoying Friend
Down 1. Point on a path 2. “oh my god!” 3. Part of the eye 4. ___ Mis 5. Concur 6 . Hawaiian garland 7. Jar tops 8. Check out 9. Thin or weak 10. Textese apology 11. including others 12. Prefix: 1000 13. Chew on 18. Village People song about a gym 22. Tie with aglets 23. __-en-ciel (french rainbow) 25. Baseball bat wood 26. Drives a motorless boat 27. Aggressive poker bet 28. Emma Watson’s character in Beauty and the Beast (2017) 29. Dad’s sisters 30. Increase (2 words) 31. “Farewell” 33. Type of wave or male 34. Requests 35. Piano used in EDM music, abbr. 37. Self story 38. “___ OUT!” Ump’s call 43. Restaurant review website 44. Not a novice, abbr. 45. Dry humor 48. bottles 50. String on a spool 51. Bent at the waist 52. “Walked of in a ___” (angrily) 53. One of the Great Lakes 54. Place into a poker pot 56.Anna’s sister in Frozen 57. McGill grad, for example 58. Study intently (with over) 59. Taxi’s classier cousin 60. Money dispensers 61. Abbott & Costello’s “___ On First” 63. Opposite of dry 64. Disfigure, spoil
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Matthew Wolf | The McGall Weekly