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Contents
October 2, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
FOIRE AUX LIVRES McGill BOOK FAIR Salle Redpath Hall -entrée libre-free admission-
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EDITORIAL
14
Sports
mardi 17 octobre 13 h à 21 h mercredi 18 octobre 10 h à 20 h jeudi 19 octobre 10h à 18 h
5
NEWS
16
Sci+Tech
9
COMMENTARY
18
Culture
11
Feature
20
Letters
Des milliers de livres, CDs, DVDs et vinyles Les revenus supplémentent des bourses d’études.
Tues., October 17 1 pm - 9 pm Wed., October 18 10 am - 8 pm Thurs., October 19 10 am - 6 pm Thousands of books + CDs, DVDs and vinyl Proceeds go to bursaries and scholarships.
3
BOOK LAUNCH CUBA-U.S. RE TIONS: OBAMA AND BEYOND Trump and Cuba “August’s deft analysis, firmly grounded in a prolonged exposure to Cuban history and debates while mapping out the possible future developments, makes for an enlightening book. — Claude Morin 6OJWFSTJUÎ EF .POUSÎBM
DISCUSSION WITH THE AUTHOR ARNOLD AUGUST (M.A. Political Science, McGill University) WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 6 PM TO 7:30 PM Refreshments will be served. Admission is free. LIBRAIRIE PARAGRAPHE BOOKSTORE 2220 McGILL COLLEGE AVENUE MONTREAL H3A 3P9
AGM &
Call for Candidates Ca All members of the Daily Publications Society (DPS), publisher of The McGill Daily and Le Délit, are cordially invited to its Annual General Assembly:
Monday, October 23rd @ 5:30 pm SSMU Building, Lev Bukhman Room (203) The presence of candidates to the Board of Directors is strongly advised.
The DPS is currently accepting applications for its Board of Directors. Positions must be filled by McGill students, duly registered for the Fall 2017 and Winter 2018 semesters and able to serve until October 31st, 2018, as well as one Graduate Representative. Board members gather at least once a month to discuss the management of the newspapers and make important administrative decisions. To apply, please visit dailypublications.org/how-to-apply/
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EDITORIAL
Volume 107 Issue 5
October 2, 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
Inori Roy
coordinating@mcgilldaily.com
managing editor
Marina Cupido coordinating news editor
Rayleigh Lee news editor
Ollivier Dyens has failed you
Nora McCready
commentary + compendium! editor
Jude Khashman culture editor
Caroline Macari features editor
Vita Azaro
science + technology editor
Tony Feng sports editor
Louis Sanger multimedia editor
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le délit
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contributors
Florence Ashley, Nadia Boachie, Laura Brennan, Maddie Gnam, Claire Grenier, Fernanda Juarez, Zach Kleiner, Molly Lu, Madeleine Pawlowski, Ana Paula Sanchez, Sean Sokolov, Rosalind Sweeney-Mccabe, Jay Van Put, Nelly Wat, Yuqing Yang
O
llivier Dyens was appointed as McGill’s Deputy Provost for Student Life and Learning (DPSLL) in September 2013 for a five-year term, ending in July 2018. The DPSLL plays a crucial role in university affairs, from enrolment to athletics, with the broad mandate of improving the “quality of student life.” However, multiple facets of student life have been detrimentally impacted by Dyens’ actions, particularly for students affected by mental illness and sexual violence. Leading up to his possible reappointment, McGill’s Advisory Committee is accepting comments on Dyens’ leadership by members of the university community. Students must seize this opportunity to emphasize the ways in which Dyens has continuously failed them. During his term as DPSLL, Dyens has supervised portfolios vital to the well-being of students, particularly through Student Services, which includes Counselling and Psychiatric Services and the Office for Students with Disabilities. Between 2011 and 2016, McGill saw a 35 per cent increase in students seeking mental health services. However, over $2.5 million has been cut from Student Services’ overhead finances in the past seven years. The Stepped Care program was introduced in 2016 in response to these cuts, often pushing students in need of one-on-one therapy towards resources like online self-help literature, deemed “unlikely to be highly valuable on their own” by former McGill Mental Health Director Norman Hoffman. While Dyens claimed that Stepped Care eliminated wait list times for over 100 students, it did so by making one-on-one counselling less accessible. Students have reported being turned away from counselling for being “too high functioning” to warrant help. The most recent reforms to campus mental health services prevent students from seeing a psychiatrist unless the student has a referral from a general practitioner or a McGill counselor. Mental health care remains even less accessible for trans students, who continue to face barriers due to inadequate staff training, and for students experiencing eating disorders, whose services were recently scaled down.
Dyens also supervises Athletics and Recreation, a department notorious for its culture of sexual violence and misconduct. Between 2011 and 2013, three McGill R*dmen team members were charged with and investigated for the sexual assault of a Concordia student. Despite being arrested in 2012, the players continued to play for the McGill team in the 2012 and 2013 seasons. Reports indicate that both their coach and Dyens himself were notified of the investigation and arrest, but Dyens refused to take action, stating that alleged sexual assault neither warrants disciplinary measures nor violates the McGill Code of Rights and Responsibilities if it takes place outside of campus and “the McGill context.” Pressured by public outcry that threatened to damage McGill’s reputation, Dyens promised to implement a better system of protection and accountability without compromising the security and well-being of assault survivors. However, earlier this year, Dyens once again publicly absolved himself of any responsibility to McGill students who have experienced assault by another student. In 2015, Kathryn Leci (now a McGill graduate) was physically assaulted by another student, Conrad Gaysford. Gaysford was found guilty of the crime in 2016, but completed his classes and graduated on time, as no disciplinary action was taken against him at McGill. Seemingly having learned nothing—nor having made significant improvements—since the 2011 incident, Dyens once again cited the lack of a “McGill context,” sparking anger from many on campus. In short, Dyens has clearly failed to fulfil his mandate of “ensuring the best student experience.” The McGill community must express its opposition during the reappointment period—Dyens must be held accountable for the harm done by himself and the offices he supervises. Students wishing to leave comments or forward this editorial should contact advisories@mcgill.ca. —The McGill Daily editiorial board
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Yves Boju, Marc Cataford (Chair), Marina Cupido, Mahaut Engerant, Ikram Mecheri, Taylor Mitchell, Inori Roy, Boris Shedov, Rahma Wiryomartono, Xavier Richer Vis All contents © 2017 Daily Publications Society. All rights reserved. The content of this newspaper is the responsibility of The McGill Daily and does not necessarily represent the views of McGill University. Products or companies advertised in this newspaper are not necessarily endorsed by Daily staff. Printed by Imprimerie Transcontinental Transmag. Anjou, Quebec. ISSN 1192-4608.
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NEWS
October 2, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
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Building Indigenous food sovereignty Fighting to reclaim traditional practices in a changing world
Nora McCready The McGill Daily
O
n Tuesday, September 26, the Concordia Food Coalition hosted a panel discussion on Indigenous food security and sovereignty. The event was part of a week-long event series called Bite Me, centering around issues of food security, urban agriculture, and sustainability. The panelists included Nahka Bertrand, Kanerahtiio Hemlock, and Wayne Robinson. The discussion was moderated by Brooke Deere. Nahka Bertrand is a graduate of Concordia Journalism School. She is a member of Acho Dene Koe, of the Dene Nation in the Northwest Territories. She lived in the Northwest Territories until she was five before moving to Quebec, and now runs a catering company with her sisters. Called the Three Sisters, the name is both a play on the familial relationship of the founders, and a reference to a traditional Indigenous farming practice involving the “three sisters”: squash, corn, and beans. Together, they are working on publishing a cookbook of healthy recipes inspired by Indigenous food practices. Kanerahtiio Hemlock is an adult education teacher in Kahnawake. He is a Kahnawake native and is interested in Indigenous food sustainability and sovereignty. Along with his students, Hemlock planted a garden in Kahnawake, which has served the community for three seasons. Wayne Robinson identifies as an “urban Indigenous” person and is a social worker for Native Montreal. Robinson is also the president of the First Peoples Justice Centre, a resource that he helped bring to the community in 2016. Indigenous food sovereignty Bertrand discussed how healthy the traditional Dene diet was. Access to this diet has been compromised by environmental destruction. “Traditionally, the Dene, [...] the ancestors, the old people, used to live a really long time and they just lived off a diet of moose meat, fish, some berries and that’s it. It was re-
ally healthy for them and it was really adapted to their lifestyle. [...] But today because of urbanization, because of proximity to urban areas and also because of pollution to the land […] there are stories of moose who have a lot of cancer and so they’re not really edible and healthy, and same with the fish too, as well as the water. […] How do we fix this issue? [...] Well, community initiatives, and little projects.”
“The ancestors, the old people used to live a really long time and they just lived off a diet of moose meat, fish, some berries, and that’s it. It was really healthy for them and it was really adapted to their lifestyle.” –Nahka Bertrand Robinson stressed that attaining Indigenous food sovereignty will be a tremendous uphill battle. The knowledge base is small, and many Indigenous people don’t understand the historical context of the foods that they believe belong to their culture. He illustrated this through the story of bannock. “It’s a pretty simple bread that we made and it’s one of the most pan-Native American things ever,” Robinson explained. “How did this one thing become so identifying for Indigenous peoples? [...] There were a lot of communities like my community where we were taken off our traditional hunting or farming grounds. [...] You
were given flour as a ration, you were given salt, you were given some lard, and when you put the flour and salt together with a bit of water and throw it in the lard, you could easily make a very rudimentary bannock. [...] This thing is more a symbol of [the] genocide that was committed upon us.” The panelists agreed that Indigenous food sovereignty is important because food is a universally recognized expression of heritage. The lack of a widely-known Indigenous food culture is harmful and isolating. “Primarily, today, it’s about taking back our independence. To produce our own food, I think it’s empowering,” said Hemlock. Kahnawake Community Garden Hemlock spoke at length about the founding and growth of a community garden in Kahnawake. The garden was planted on land along Highway 30 that had been designated for “economic growth.” Initial suggestions for usage included building a casino or a gas station. The garden, however, was universally embraced by the community as a more sustainable means of economic growth. “This isn’t a personal business, it’s to demonstrate to the community an alternative economic model than what’s being fed to us,” said Hemlock. “Whatever is produced from this garden goes back to the people. And [...] it was completely unanimous: the whole community said, ‘Yeah, go for it.’” When the time came for planting, about 40 community members showed up to help. Hemlock said he initially expected the planting to take all weekend, but the volunteers finished within three hours. The massive community turnout was indicative of overwhelming support for this initiative to improve Indigenous food sovereignty. “Everybody commented on the feeling that they felt out there,” continued Hemlock. “It was a good feeling because it was random people from the community that came out. Some of us knew each other, but it was a lot of people that we didn’t know.”
That was three planting seasons ago. Since then, they have given food to the local hospital, the elders lodge, and the independent living center, and every school in Kahnawake has come so that the children can pick their own corn. Looking to the future, Hemlock wants to explore the possibility of inter-nation trade. An elder from a nation in northern Ontario recently contacted Hemlock hoping to purchase food grown in the garden. “He said they feel like they’re being taken advantage of from the trade store where they get their food, and they’re looking for other sources to get food,” explained Hemlock. “So I mentioned, well, we’re starting this garden. He said, as much as you can produce, send it up and we’ll buy it off of you.” While this is not currently feasible for Hemlock and the Kahnawake community, there is room for growth. “We can open those old trade networks that we had with all different nations,” Hemlock told the audience. “We have corn, beans and squash. There’s places that have fish, in New Brunswick they have elk. Different communities, different things. We can feed ourselves and we can trade with other nations.” Indigenous food sovereignty Robinson voiced support for the movement towards Indigenous food sovereignty while encouraging others to recognize the inherent privilege that, in his eyes, accompanied the discussion at hand. “There’s a push [...] to go back to a way of sustaining ourselves that might reclaim some of our sovereignty,” he said, “but I think we have to recognize there’s also a lot of privilege there. I think a lot of Indigenous families [...] are dealing with a lot of challenges; a lot of barriers. [...] And then saying ‘Ok, on top of this, you’re also going to go and somehow collect country food, [...] you’re also going to serve food that’s nutritious,’ but we know there’s a reason why the supermarkets and the fast food chains are so popular because in our urbanized environment, I mean, it’s just easier.”
Robinson went on to emphasize that there is not just one way of embracing one’s Indigenous heritage. “I think there’s some sort of balance there, you know, respecting traditional techniques and tools, but also understanding that we live in a different society, and there’s a place in here for being Indigenous that doesn’t mean that I have to completely live off the land, doesn’t mean I have to be living in northern Ontario, doesn’t mean that I have to fall under these romanticized stereotypes of what an Indigenous person might be. There is a way to be Indigenous in the city.”
“There’s a push [...] to go back to a way of sustaining ourselves that might reclaim some of our sovereignty, but I think we have to recognize there’s also a lot of privilege there.” –Wayne Robinson
Similarly, Robinson stressed that in the fight for environmental justice, Indigenous peoples must not bear the burden of the damage that has been done by settlers. “There’s the whole stoic Indigenous media representation, where all native people are like mystical beings that live in the forest. That’s a lot to put on people who have had a very hard history. Growing up, I probably wasn’t the biggest environmentalist, I don’t think every Indigenous person has to be. [...] People that recognize the privilege in being a settler, what are you doing?”
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News
October 2, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
McGill professor accused of sexual misconduct
Stickers appear in women’s washrooms warning students of abuse Marina Cupido The McGill Daily
T
wo weeks ago, stickers began appearing in women’s washrooms across campus, alleging sexual violence perpetrated by a certain professor in McGill’s Institute of Islamic Studies, whom they explicitly named. Noting that the professor is up for tenure this semester, the stickers urged students to send testimonies of abusive behaviour from faculty and staff to zerotolerance@riseup.net. The professor in question agreed to make a statement to The Daily, on the condition that his name not appear anywhere in our coverage; after consultation with affected parties, we decided to comply with his request. “Anonymous accusations have been posted around campus about me that are categorically untrue and constitute defamation,” wrote the professor in an email to The Daily. “I am deeply committed to doing my part to make every student feel safe in my classroom and on McGill’s campus.” Testimony from students would suggest otherwise, however. One former student, who wished to remain anonymous, described her experience with the professor’s “predatory” behaviour.
Noting that the professor is up for tenure this semester, the stickers urged students to send testimonies of abusive behavior from faculty and staff to zerotolerance@ riseup.net. “I frequently went to office hours, [...] and [the professor] and I developed a friendship,” she explained. “A second year student at the time, I was excited to have a professor take such an interest in me and my academic plans. However, I soon realized this interest was not well intentioned. [The professor] would constantly bring the conversation back to our personal lives (including former partners), would slide his chair next to mine so that we were almost touching, would insist on keeping the door to his office closed, and multiple times would assure me that he was not the one marking my papers (I took this as him setting up why it was okay for us to have a sexual relationship when he was still my professor). I was not interested in his advances and nothing happened, but I [...] ultimately reduced my office visits. [...] It disheartened me, and made me feel unsafe in my learning environment.”
This testimony echoes an open letter sent during the Winter 2017 semester to Robert Wisnovsky, Director of the Institute of Islamic Studies. Written by the 2016-2017 executive team of the World Islamic and Middle East Studies Student Association (WIMESSA), the letter was circulated in petition form to all students taking courses at the Institute.
“I was not interested in his advances and nothing happened, but I [...] ultimately reduced my office visits. [...] It dishearteed me and made me feel unsafe in my learning. environment.” –Anonymous Islamic Studies Student “We (WIMESSA execs) believe that the department is partially not taking this seriously, because they don’t think many undergrads personally care,” read the preamble to the open letter. “There is also no ‘paper trail’ of student concern which makes the department less accountable to the university.” The letter itself, addressed to Wisnovsky, argued that the professor involved had repeatedly “violated [the] student-professor contract” through his abusive behaviour. “As undergraduate students in the department,” it read, “we rely on our professors to act as teachers and role models, and to uphold mutual relationships of respect. Our professors hold immense power and authority over us: they determine our grades, they write recommendation letters, they are often our employers as well as teachers, and they act as key networks for our future employment.” The open letter went on to describe the various ways in which women studying at the Institute had been impacted by the professor’s persistent inappropriate behaviour, including avoiding his classes when possible (though he sometimes teaches mandatory courses), changing their thesis subjects so as not to have to work with him, and feeling uncomfortable and unsafe in the Institute. “It is disconcerting that such an abuse of power appears to be going unreprimanded,” read the open letter. “As it stands, women are at a disadvantage within the Islamic Studies department, and this inequality needs to be corrected. For these reasons, WIMESSA vehemently encour-
A photograph of one of the stickers.
Claire Grenier | The McGill Daily
ages the impending tenure committee to deny [the professor] tenure.” It is unclear what steps Wisnovsky took in response to this letter. The professor in question has continued to teach, and Wisnovsky declined to answer The Daily’s questions on this matter following the appearance of the stickers.
that McGill has made little substantive effort to address the issue of abusive profs, leaving students alienated and unsafe, Associate Provost (Policies, Procedures and Equity) Angela Campbell replied that “the University takes all complaints of misconduct seriously.” However, said Campbell, “survivors can and should report through the appropriate channels,” and “McGill’s administration disapproves of attempts to address such matters through anonymous posters such as [the stickers] found on campus and is taking measures to remove these.”
“It is disconcerting that such an abuse of power appears to be going unreprimanded.” –2016-2017 WIMESSA executive team This year’s WIMESSA executive, meanwhile, released a public statement that expressed support for students at the Institute without naming the professor concerned, or making reference to any concrete details of the situation. “In light of recent events regarding the Islamic Studies Institute,” read their statement, “we want to extend our services to the community and support our students in any way we can. [...] Sexual violence is a serious issue that we do not tolerate and we recognize the institutional violence that this inherently causes. [...] This is a matter that we are taking very seriously and we are working as much as we can within our power to ensure transparency and accountability.” The executive team declined to respond to The Daily’s specific questions about this professor and the allegations against him. When asked about the stickers’ assertion
“Our professors hold immense power: [...] they determine our grades, they write recommendation letters, they are often our employers, [...] and they act as key networks for our future employment.” –2016-2017 WIMESSA executive team Indeed, McGill personnel seem to be making an effort to remove the stickers quickly, but more continue to appear across campus. It remains to be seen what concrete action, if any, the Institute of Islamic Studies will take, and what tactics the stickers’ creators will resort to next.
On
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News
October 2, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
McGill’s response to fentanyl crisis still lacking Floor fellows forbidden from administering naloxone
Ana Paula Sanchez The McGill Daily
C
anada is currently dealing with an ongoing fentanyl crisis, and the growing number of deaths have spiked serious concern from Health Canada. The ministry has concluded that nearly 2,800 overdose deaths have occurred due to fentanyl overdoses this past year alone. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid, typically administered intravenously or through transdermal patches for chronic pain management. Developed in the 1960s by Paul Janssen, a noted Belgian physician, fentanyl has become an increasingly popular prescription. However, its efficacy and addictive nature has resulted in widespread abuse. An overdose in fentanyl can result in severe respiratory depression, sleep apnea, and death. Just 3 milligrams will kill an averagesized adult, and according to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), it is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. After the United States, Canada is the world’s second largest consumer of prescription opioids. The relative ease with which fentanyl can be prescribed in Canada has led to high demand for the drug, mainly as a consequence of dependency. Some individuals, when they are no longer able to access the drug through their doctor, turn to street distributors. Quebec, meanwhile, has a unique history of illicit substance distribution by biker gangs and the mob. According to some sources, fentanyl may have entered the local drug market accidentally, due to improper drug manufacturing practices. Dealers often use the same tools to cut different drugs; unfortunately, as fentanyl is extremely potent, trace amounts can be mixed unintentionally with other substances, with potentially fatal results. As a result, communities across Quebec must prepare for the fact that fentanyl could be found in more popular drugs such as MDMA, PCP, cocaine, heroin, alprazolam (Xanax), and ketamine. As of August 2017, there have been over 90 drug overdoses in Montreal, 10 of which have been definitively linked to fentanyl. Mayor Denis Coderre currently “[wants] to speak to everyone concerned by this situation,” and has launched a pilot program to train more first responders. Meanwhile, the Quebec Ministry of Health is working on legislation
to increase the availability of naloxone, a substance that counteracts the effects of a fentanyl overdose. McGill has yet to offer any resources or information on the growing fentanyl crisis in Canada, or methods by which students can keep themselves safe. However, Hashana Perera, Director of Student Health Services, did acknowledge the crisis during a press conference on September 14. She claimed that Student Health Services will provide naloxone and drug-testing kits for students as soon as Quebec legislation permits. Sonya Bharadwa, Executive Director of McGill Student Emergency Response Team (MSERT), emailed The Daily about measures that the university is taking to address the crisis. “As of now, the only first responders that have access to and training to use naloxone are paramedics,” explained Bharadwa. “Recently, the government of Quebec announced a plan to expand the scope of people allowed to administer the medicine.”
“As of now, the only first responders that have access to and training to use naloxone are paramedics.” — Sonya Bharadwa, Executive Director of McGill Student Emergency Response Team “MSERT is working with Student Healwth Services,” Bharadwa continued, “as they are currently building a training module for naloxone that they can offer McGill community members. They will also help us find a supplier for naloxone so that MSERT can carry it. Until then, our current protocol is to call 911 for suspected overdoses, monitor vital signs, and provide stabilizing care until EMS arrives. In terms of fentanyl safety, we hope that in addition to the clinic, which does have injectable doses of naloxone, both floor fellows and MSERT will receive naloxone training, as this will provide nearly a 24-hour response plan.”
It is well known that students are highly susceptible to recreational drug use, especially when exposed to environments such as student residences. Growing concern over the possibility of fentanyl overdoses on campus has increased the demand for naloxone training to be given to McGill floor fellows.
“In terms of fentanyl safety, we hope that in addition to the clinic, which does have injectable doses of naloxone, both floor fellows and MSERT will receive naloxone training.” — Sonya Bharadwa, Executive Director of McGill Student Emergency Response Team When investigating protocols concerning fentanyl overdoses in residences, a floor fellow who wished to remain anonymous told The Daily that “administering naloxone to students in residences is strictly forbidden, as it poses too high of a liability risk to the University.” “In my opinion,” the floor fellow continued, “this policy is incredibly shortsighted and ignorant of naloxone’s purpose and mechanism of action. In light of the recent surge in opioid overdoses throughout Montreal, floor fellows have been pushing Student Housing and Hospitality Services to facilitate workshops and training related to the fentanyl crisis and overdose first aid. Another floor fellow encouraged colleagues to take a free naloxone administration workshop offered by a local organization unaffiliated with the university. Many floor fellows have already taken this training. Despite being well-equipped with knowledge of harm-reduction and certified in administering naloxone, however, they are officially prohibited from taking any action to prevent a fentanyl overdose from becoming fatal.
Rayleigh lee | The McGill Daily
Commentary
October 2, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
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A woman’s body Florence Ashley Commentary Writer
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have a woman’s body. My woman’s body comes with breasts and a penis. It didn’t used to have breasts. It was still a woman’s body. One day it will have a vulva and a vagina. But it’s already a woman’s body. Often I’m told that I don’t have a woman’s body, that I have a man’s body. That a woman’s body has a vulva and a vagina. I don’t see why. Ain’t I a woman? If I am a woman, wouldn’t my body be a woman’s body? It seems logical. How do we decided what is a woman’s body? I figure that you put together all women, look at the body they have in common, and call it a women’s body. If we have a group of cubes, two hundred are red and one is blue, would we say that the colour of the cubes is red? We would say that the colour of the cubes is typically red, but sometimes blue. If we say that cubes are red, we’ll be accused of forgetting the blue cube. It’s child’s play. When we say that a woman’s body has breasts, a vulva, and a vagina, we’re saying that trans women aren’t counted. We say that, at the time of deciding what a woman’s body is, we excluded trans women from the count. What we’re saying is that trans women are from the very beginning refused as women. To say that a trans woman has a man’s body is to say that we don’t consider her to really be a woman. Yet, I am a woman. I should be counted, as much as any red cube. It’s as simple as saying that women’s bodies usually have breasts, a vulva, and a vagina, but sometimes not. Sometimes they don’t have breasts. Sometimes they have a penis. Women’s bodies come as varied as the women that inhabit them. I have a woman’s body. My woman’s body comes with breasts and a penis. It’s no less a woman’s body.
laura brennan & jude khashman | The McGill Daily
October 2, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
Commentary
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Crossing lines
A reflection on belonging at Community Engagement Day
Sydney Sheedy Commentary Writer
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e are all embedded within communities. There are those which we have worked hard to be accepted into, those we have outgrown, those within which we are grouped against our will, and those which may transcend national divides, historical periods, and even physical realms. But what does it really mean to “be a part” of a community, and what constitutes an acceptable performance of belonging? With identity politics pervading every thread of society, we tend to become obsessed with who belongs in a space more than others, and forget that there are many different ways to cross the lines that keep us partitioned. Just last week, when I invited friends to come to Indigenous Awareness Week, more than once I was asked if they, as non-Indigenous folks, were allowed to participate. While it is important to respect that not all movements and spaces will want or require your presence, those who are not Indigenous, in this instance, are exactly who need to listen to and learn from the discussions that are being held by Indigenous writers and leaders. The spirit behind Community Engagement Day (CED) comes from this logic: that the things that have historically separated us (some more violently than others) require different approaches and strategies to be overcome, and showing up to the discussion, and listening to how you can help, is the best way to start.
With identity politics pervading every thread of society, we tend to become obsessed with who belongs in a space more than others, and forget that there are many different ways to cross the lines that keep us partitioned. CED is an invitation to consider those borders that we may experience between each other, and to take different approaches to exposing them, moving them, dissolving them, or crossing them, as well as think about how we can help others do the same. Acknowledging the different lines in the sand that may isolate us from one another, and considering our various responsibilities to confront them, is the only way we can begin to make room for the different realities we all experience while still facilitating an architecture of inclusiveness. The activities, workshops, and conversations that make up CED are meant to encourage a discussion on the meaning of community, and to expose those who may easily subscribe to the “McGill” moniker (and its accompanying resources) to different constellations of com-
People on Community Engagement Day. munity that exceed our terrains of comfort. Existing under the McGill umbrella does not preclude us from other identifications or ties we may have, but instead intertwines with them to produce new potential entanglements, perspectives, and opportunities for working with each other. Far from indicating that community engagement can be sufficiently wrapped up in a one-day or weeklong event, where the McGill populace can ‘try on’ and then shed solidarity lenses, CED inspires us to practice resource-sharing and to reflect on how one (whether they be staff, faculty, or student) is situated within a greater web of companionship, in the hopes of adding to a larger conversation about what it means to contribute. As Veronica Amberg, director of the Social Equity and Diversity Education (SEDE) office which hosts CED, points out: “We are all part of the community in which McGill is suspended … a big part of SEDE’s mission is to foster more equitable relationships with the outside community, and integrate those perspectives into the work we do.” Many of the activities, such as the drop in at St James, involve guided reflections built into the program for just this purpose, so that everyone involved has a chance to articulate their impressions and discuss how their preconceptions may have changed as a result. The idea behind CED is not simply to offer an extracurricular opportunity for students, but to encourage everyone on campus to recognize their own positionality with respect to McGill as an institution, and how they can leverage the various privileges this may award with support that moves outward to myriad others. Workshops such as Equity 101, Anti-Oppressive Childcare, and Collaborative Mental Health all offer perspectives and strategies on how to build more accommodating and equitable communities, and panel discussions such as “Taking Your Knowledge Outside the Classroom” offer techniques on how to bridge theory with practice
Sydney Sheedy | The McGill Daily in responsible allyship. Activities that include documenting stories at the Montreal LGBTQ community centre, preparing resource packets for queer and trans incarcerated peoples, and delivering meals with Santropol are just some examples of direct links forged between participants and those they will meet, which puts the needs of the given community at the centre. Events taking place at Welcome Hall Mission, Tyndale St Georges, and Chez Doris, to name a few, expose volunteers to the resources different communities have in their neighbourhoods, and shed light on the specific challenges they may face.
Initiatives such as these proceed from the notion that we cannot hope to offer support for those outside our communities without also examining the fissures within. Seeing Voices Montreal, which is hosting a Deaf Culture & American Sign Language workshop for the fourth time, claims “CED has been a great annual event that has become more successful year after year. We have been able to expose lots of McGill students and staff to the Deaf community and we are grateful that CED partners with us again and again.” Over the past six years that CED has been running, the Social Equity and Diversity Education (SEDE) Office has enjoyed stronger ties to the community partners they work with. This has allowed them to reflect on
what it means to carry out equitable research, and how it impacts various communities, and this has expanded into programs such as the Experiential Community-Engaged Learning & Research (EXCELR) program, which combines these questions with academic work in the classroom. Alongside the typical off-campus volunteering events, the past few years have also seen a noticeable increase in interest for activities such as equity training, which gives students and staff the tools to facilitate a more accountable campus. Hosting events such as the Radical Accessibility Audit-othon, Café Collab’s storytelling café, and the Evolution of Mental Health Services on Campus gives opportunities for people who usually experience access barriers to share their thoughts and to network with others to talk about ways of moving forward. Initiatives such as these proceed from the notion that we cannot hope to offer support for those outside our communities without also examining the fissures within. It is not the responsibility or requirement of those from marginalized communities to teach others about oppression, intersectionality, and accessibility. It is up to those who enjoy a certain amount of privilege to create supportive environments where these challenges can be addressed, and to hold the mic for others to do so. In setting up partnerships with various organizations around Montreal, Community Engagement Day attempts to create the conditions for different venues and organizations of community building to proliferate outside of the literal and figurative McGill gates. However, it is up to you to take the steps to make that crossing, whether you will be dancing, gliding, walking, or wheeling across. There are still some available spots to register for one of the many CED activities, all of which are free. To see how you can participate, visit www.cedmcgill.com/projects.
FEATURES
October 2, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
By Maddie Gnam
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FEATURES
October 2, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
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ecently I’ve been able to feel the energy surrounding us and flowing through the world. It crackles beneath my fingertips and causes resistance between my palms. I imagine it flowing from all that is living, then being transferred and reassigned through death. Opening myself up to the movement and ministrations of my surroundings has been essential to my healing, this art, and has touched me in ways I can’t fully describe.
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draw what I know, what I seek to find out from this world, and the way in which manifestations of reality are not as fixed as they might seem. I draw what other people don’t want to imagine. Rediscovering art, for me, came as a means of trying to feel while dealing with a host of debilitating mental illnesses and Bad Life Shit™. Through my art, I feel like I am free to explore my gender, race, and the fallacies of fine-tip markers in a way that feels manageable, meaningful, and accessible to me. My work is a way to explore ideas of changing energy, and to deal with trauma. It is a way to both depict and express genderfluidity, explore dimensional boundaries, and place pieces of a real and fantastical world together.
FEATURES
October 2, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
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little while ago, I experienced these real and fantastical worlds coming together and overlapping, complicating what is real and what is fantasy. I was vaguely indisposed in the park, staring at the houses of Esplanade, and in my peripheral vision I could see the tattoo of a tiger I have on my arm. Suddenly I felt the air grow hotter and my whereabouts in the world change. It was like I had come to a new place, and in this single static moment, I was a future form of myself. My tattoo was faded from life’s friction and years of being in the sun, and I felt a fullness, a calmness, a sense of tranquility that I hadn’t felt in years; like I knew it would be okay—like I am finally on a path after years of aimless wandering. My friend had recently done a tarot card reading for me that spoke to my need for decisiveness in order to feel fulfilled, and I had just made a big life decision. Meeting myself in time assured me that I had made the right choice; whatever path I was on, it was the right one. I can’t be sure, but as Fox Mulder once said, “I want to believe.”
Check out more of my work/dysfunctional life at on instagram!
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SPORTS
October 2, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
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Montreal’s sporting geography Examining the legacy of Montreal’s 1976 Summer Olympics
Rosalind Sweeney-McCabe & Louis Sanger The McGill Daily
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or the first time in the sporting geography photo series, the Daily leaves the Olympic Park. Heading to Ile-Ste-Helene, photographer Rosalind Sweeney-McCabe documents the Olympic Basin. The Basin is a 2km long artificial pond, built to host rowing, canoeing, and kayaking competitions. It is one of the only venues that still serves its original purpose as a recreational or competitive boating area. There is also a pond hockey tournament, the Classique Montrealaise, held annually at the Olympic Basin. During the summer season, it is open to anyone wishing to row, canoe, or kayak, although there are times when it is rented out by clubs. The Olympic Basin is found in Parc Jean Drapeau, on Ile-Ste-Helene.
Looking toward the start/finish line from the grandstand. Several people were running around the empty lane surrounding the basin. Beside the water, many signs stated that swimming is forbidden. Behind the grandstand, concrete dividers are stored for the Montreal Grand Prix Formula 1 race.
The seating at the Olympic Basin is identical to that found at other olympic venues, such as the Stade Olympique. However, at the basin, only one section remains while the rest of the grandstand is only concrete steps.
Overgrown plants line the entrance to the seating area, where several seagulls nest.
Sports
October 2, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
Kneeling in the land of the free
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The very American legacy of American football Molly Lu The McGill Daily
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Inori Roy | The McGill Daily
Why don’t we love NASCAR anymore?
Falling ratings show growing disinterest Sean Sokolov Sports Writer
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otor sports have their origins in France; the first official competition being a race from Paris to Rouen. Over the next few decades, motor races boomed in popularity as advances in technology allowed for faster and more responsive vehicles. Land speed records were broken frequently in France and Belgium, where some of the greatest early advances in automotive industries would occur. To the modern mind, however, there is perhaps no nation as associated with the car as the U.S.. Ford (and its production line) have changed the way the world travels, settles, and lives. The birthplace of uniquely American motor sports is in the sands of Daytona Beach, a provincial corner towards the north of Florida, with flat sands that stretch on for miles—hard packed, meaning you can drive on the beach. It was here that National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) began. NASCAR, as well as overseas counterparts such as Formula 1, are radical in that they have since their very conception challenged conventional notions of what sport is. It is an engineering competition as much as it is a sport; each team is in charge of
building their own car. Gone is the athleticism of muscle and tendon—in the automobile, horsepower and reflex rule all. In its philosophy of steel, gas, progress, and speed, NASCAR seems like a relic of middle capitalist glory, born from the heights of American industrialism. It relies on the myth of endless innovation—faster, stronger, better. But does that stand in today’s America? NASCAR may have lost some of its shine. The coveted 18-35 demographic has largely grown up in a world limping from oil crises and economic recessions, all with a backdrop of a declining manufacturing sector, and very real climate concerns. As more people move to cities and rely on public transit, the automobile may be losing its status as a cornerstone of the American way of life. Perhaps we have outgrown NASCAR, as recent viewership figures demonstrate; the ratings of NASCAR continue to plummet at an alarming rate. Its viewership has gone down by 50% since a peak in 2005. Despite its current decrease in interest, NASCAR is valuable in that no other sport has pushed the boundaries so far, while remaining somewhat mainstream. If today’s America is losing interest in NASCAR and its promise of progress, what can come next? Will there be a sport so symptomatic of a post-industrialist, late capitalist country, as NASCAR embodied the prior era so fully?
ver the past week, National Football League (NFL) players have knelt, linked arms, and sat out of the playing of the U.S. national anthem in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick’s protest of police brutality against Black people in the U.S.. At a rally in Alabama, Donald Trump called on NFL owners to “Get that son of a bitch off the field right now,” that “son of a bitch” being any player who, like Kaepernick, has knelt during the anthem to protest police brutality and the treatment of Black people and people of colour in America. Jeff Sessions, Attorney General of the United States, followed Trump, calling for the NFL to instate an official rule requiring players to stand for the anthem. Trump’s tirade against Kaepernick and call to boycott the NFL had the opposite of its intended effect, however: ESPN’s viewership ratings for the first four weeks of the 2017 NFL season were actually higher than their 2016 numbers, and over the course of the weekend and until Tuesday afternoon, #TakeAKnee showed up in nearly 2.2 million unique tweets, whilst #BoycottNFL had been used in just over 390,000 unique tweets. The firestorm caused by Trump’s statements have also brought much needed examination to a league that, despite 70 per cent of its players being Black, has a reputation for shying away from political or racial commentary. In his initial explanation for his decision to kneel, Colin Kaepernick stated, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black people and people of color. . . There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.” Trump, in a later interview, replied, “Maybe he should find a country that works better for him.” In 1965, the American Football League (AFL), which later merged with the NFL in 1969, actually played an active part in the Civil Rights Movement of the era and the creation of a country that would “work better” for people of colour. Immediately prior to the 1965 AFL All-Star Game, which was to take place in the historically segregated Southern city of New Orleans, Black AFL players were subject to racist exclusion, intimidation, and threats by the city’s white residents. The Black players were denied cab service from the New Orleans airport, barred from restaurants and clubs, and outside one nightclub, a bouncer pulled a gun on the Chargers’ Ernie Ladd and told him he
couldn’t enter. The 21 Black players, along with some white players, voted to boycott the game, and AFL owners chose to move the game from New Orleans to the more tolerant city of Houston. The 1965 boycott, like the political protest of Black players today, was a highly visible act born not from a need for racial equality. Despite this, the League has long branded itself as a haven from politics. A 2014 Experian Simmons study found that registered Republicans were 21 per cent more likely to be NFL watchers than Democrats, and the Sunlight Foundation in 2011 found that contributions from the league’s 32 teams were nearly three times more for Republicans than for Democrats, indicating that the NFL, rather than a haven from politics, has historically been a haven from “progressive” politics. American football historically segregated college teams until 1970, and racist notions of intelligence blocked Black players from the ‘thinking’ position of quarterback until this past decade and continues to prevent Black players from playing centre today. Moreover, the NFL accepted at least $5.4 million paid out to 14 teams from 2011-2015 by the Department of Defense for elaborate “paid patriotism” tributes to American troops. By 2009, the American military had failed to meet its recruitment targets for years, and so it began paying the NFL to help its recruitment efforts, paying teams to ‘sponsor’ military appreciation games, flying F-15s over stadiums, and unveiling American flags that spanned entire football fields. The patriotism on display at NFL games, then, has long been one fuelled by right-wing agendas and policy, and not ‘simply’ patriotism. Protesting the policy of a nation that continues to disproportionately kill, imprison, and exploit Black people and people of colour with impunity, then, should have at least as much place on the field as the paid promotion of the same state’s policies. Despite the front of unity that various NFL teams have presented this past week in the face of Donald Trump’s comments, it should not override Colin Kaepernick’s original intention: to protest anti-Black racism. His kneel was not a protest against the president in particular. While Donald Trump’s tanding in a stadium in Alabama calling for the silencing of predominantly Black protestors is as racist an overture as can be delivered, but the NFL must consider its own legacy of racism within the larger context of America’s before it can claim to stand (or kneel) for justice.
Write for Sports! The Sports Section is always looking for writers. If you are interested, contact us at: sports@mcgilldaily.com.
SCI+TECH
October 2, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
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Combatting cancer drug resistance The race to find more effective and efficient cancer treatments
Nadia Boachie The McGill Daily
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here are several treatment options that exist for cancer patients today which were not available a decade ago. Many of these treatments are successful and are able to eradicate the cancer, thereby sending patients into remission. But more often than not, tumours re-emerge. Drug resistance is the result of diseases becoming tolerant of pharmaceutical treatments, and is a major hurdle that must be overcome in cancer research. Cancers are living and evolving beings; they exhibit a very high “plasticity,” which is the ability to mutate and adapt to new environmental conditions. Researchers are trying to understand the rapid mutations that occur in cancer genes that enable them to become drug resistant. Dr. Janusz Rak is a senior scientist at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) in the Child Health and Human Development Program, and a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Experimental Medicine at McGill University. Rak describes the two types of drug resistance as the following: The first type has “acquired resistance,” which means that a drug that once worked for a given patient no longer works after a period of time. He explains that this is “a problem that essentially defines the incurability of certain cancers.” There are several chemotherapeutic drugs that are used to treat specific cancers, but are prone to becoming ineffective over time. Vemurafenib is an example of a very effective drug used to treat certain types of malignant melanoma (skin cancer). It operates by inhibiting a mutant BRAF oncogene (a type of gene that has the potential to cause cancer, usually expressed at high levels in cancer patients). Initially, these drugs are effective in shrinking tumours or even causing their complete eradication, but the effects are short- lived. Tumour resistance to these drugs usually starts with rapid tumour shrinkage, which leaves patients feeling hopeful, but it is then followed by the regrowth of these tumours weeks or months later. The second type of drug resistance is called “de novo,” or “intrinsic resistance,” and involves drugs that are expected to work but don’t affect a given patient at all. This type of drug resistance exists from the very start of treatment. The increasing prevalence of these drug resistant cancers necessitates further research and treatment development.
Nelly Wat | The McGill Daily How cancers evade chemotherapy drugs The problem with drug resistance is more related to cancer cells and their biological surroundings than to the drugs themselves. Some of these evasion tactics include DNA mutations and metabolic changes which promote drug inhibition and degradation. There are a few major categories of mechanisms that can enable or promote direct or indirect drug resistance in human cancer cells. They include drug activation, drug target alteration, drug efflux, DNA damage repair, cell death inhibition, and the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), according to a review published in the journal Cancers in 2014. They can act independently or as a combination of various signal transduction pathways. The mechanisms in which cancers evade treatments are numerous and highly complex. For example, DNA damage repair is a way cancer cells evolve an ability to “repair” the damage that chemotherapeutics have on cellular DNA. Rak explains that “for a fraction of glioma (brain tumours), patients’ cancer cells express an enzyme which removes certain damaged elements in DNA, and therefore prevents cancer cell from being killed by the drug called temozolomide.” How doctors are combatting drug resistance of cancers Doctors are trying to overcome drug resistance by using combination therapy. This involves treating cancer with many drugs at once, or
in specific sequences. It is a treatment modality that combines two or more therapeutic agents, and it is a cornerstone of cancer therapy. Rak explains that, “combining drugs could also exploit different weaknesses of cancer cells and become synergistic, that is, more effective than a sum of effects associated with individual drugs.” Combination therapy reduces drug resistance, while simultaneously providing therapeutic anti-cancer benefits, such as reducing tumour growth and metastatic potential, arresting mitotically (dividing) active cells, reducing cancer stem cell populations, and inducing apoptosis (selfprogrammed cell death). Combination therapy includes treatments of patients with immunotherapeutic agents. Doctors combat drug resistance by changing drugs, combining them, and using new therapeutic modalities, such as immunotherapy, to try to eradicate cancer cells. Immunotherapy, also called biologic therapy, is a type of cancer treatment that boosts the body’s natural defenses against cancers. It is a way of mobilizing the immune system to kill cancer cells. It uses substances made either by the body or in a laboratory to improve or restore immune system functions. This could be achieved either by vaccines, or by removal of immunosuppressive effects of cancer on the immune system, or by engineering T cells, a subtype of white blood cells that play a central role in cell-mediated immunity, to kill specific cancers.
“The big question is whether it’s the tumour cells that are becoming resistant, or whether the immune system is becoming dysfunctional, or a combination of both,” says Dr. Jesse Zaretsky University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Rak believes “it is probably a bit of both.” Tumours are exercising their ability to become resistant but patients may simultaneously be experiencing a dysfunctional immune system. Immunotherapy treatments work in different ways. Some boost the body’s immune system, while others help train the immune system to attack cancer cells specifically. Immunotherapy works for some cancers better than others and can be used by itself or in combination with other treatments. Some of the latest advances in research on immunotherapies involve checkpoint inhibitors to treat cancer. The immune system has checkpoint proteins (such as PD-1 and CTLA-4) which prevent it from attacking the healthy cells. One way cancers develop resistance is by taking advantage of these checkpoints to avoid being attacked by the immune system. Checkpoint inhibitors have shown impressive success in recent years; patients with metastatic melanoma as well as those with non-small cell lung cancer are showing promise in clinical trials. Combination treatments and research on immunotherapies have shown a lot of potential. There is a wealth of human creativity involved, and the progress
made has been tremendous. But despite advances in immunotherapies and molecular-targeted therapies, chemotherapy is still a frontline treatment for many cancers. Researchers have been hampered by the lack of biomarkers to predict whether a patient is resistant to these treatments, in which case the exposure to chemotherapy and its toxicity would be unwarranted. The issue of cancer drug resistance is a daunting one, and it is pertinent that more research is conducted about ways cancers evade chemotherapeutic treatments. Rak expresses the need to come up with effective and efficient drugs: “As many others, I personally believe that formation of cancer cells with their enormous growth advantage and ability to spread comes at a cost of certain vulnerabilities. Finding these cancer vulnerabilities is a great way to combat or circumvent drug resistance.” Immunotherapy, specifically immune checkpoint therapy, is one example of an area of cancer research that shows promise in combating cancer drug resistance. There needs to be further research to overcome the daunting prevalence rate of cancer drug resistance. There are several labs at McGill which conduct studies on cancer drug resistance and immunotherapies. For more information on McGill labs that conduct this research, check out the funded projects at Goodman Cancer Research Centre, Lady Davis Institute, RI-MUHC, and other sites.
SCI+TECH
October 2, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
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Connecting dots in autism research Pinpointing when autistic spectrum disorders manifest in children
Fernanda Pérez Gay Juárez The McGill Daily
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utism is a condition that affects one in 68 American according to the U.S. Centre for Control and Disease Prevention. Symptoms like atypical social and communication development, narrow interests, and repetitive behaviours manifest during the first few years of life. Autism is a lifelong condition, although it sometimes appears to alleviate with age as the autistic child learns strategies to adapt to the social world. The complexity of Autistic Spectrum Disorders Over the past decades, the fields of psychology, psychiatry and neuroscience have struggled to define the term “autism.” Currently, scientists use the term “Autism Spectrum Disorders” (ASD): a clinical label that groups together a range of conditions that fall within a “spectrum,” or continuum of severity. So far there are no accurate clinical tests to diagnose autism: no blood tests, no brain scans or any type of physical testing. Clinicians can only rely on the observations of certain behaviors to make the diagnosis. With the emergence of brain functional imaging techniques that can look at patterns of brain activity in real time, researchers have associated the underlying characteristics of this condition to atypical “brain dynamics;” that is, the way different regions connect and coordinate their activities within the brain. However, these new neuroimaging techniques are not routinely used in clinical settings, and the identification of these differences in brain activity is only beginning to be explored. To complicate the picture even more, the genetics of autism are very unclear as well. Even if there is a clear hereditary component in most cases of autistic children, the genetic basis discovered so far does not follow a clear pattern. When they looked for variation in each of the 23 pairs of human chromo-
somes, different teams of researchers have identified changes related to autism in twenty of them. Moreover, said genetic abnormalities do not resemble each other: some genes are deleted, others are duplicated. Alan Evans, a researcher of the Montreal Neurological Institute, said “there are genes which, if you have a duplication of the gene, the brain gets bigger. If you have a deletion of the gene, the brain gets smaller. [Both of these conditions are] called autism.” Given the heterogeneity of both genetics and neuroanatomy of autism, some researchers have suggested that ASD should be thought of as “the autisms,” corresponding to more than one condition with different genetic and neurological underpinnings. State of the art in autism research So, how should research approach such a complex condition? Which aspects of it should a researcher address? Genetics, behaviour, responses to new treatments, animal models, development of the disorder; these are all valid and important aspects that are discussed in current autism research. Different types of research lines are being developed in laboratories and clinical centers worldwide to try to understand the many sides of the disorder, and this has resulted in a boom in science journalism. Using web portals like Neuroscience News, anyone can easily access articles on autism published in the last six months, covering molecular investigations, animal models, genetic assessments, statistical associations, and neuroimaging studies. The abundance of articles can be overwhelming for those who are not experts on autism, but is still useful in understanding the implications of the ASD. If there’s one thing most researchers agree on, considering the evidence of atypical brain dynamics mentioned above, it is that the “abnormal” behaviors seen in people with Autism Spectrum Disorders are related to the way their brains process information. The computations done through this
Claire Grenier | The McGill Daily brain processing result in complex human behaviour; they consist of a long series of steps, and are organized at many cognitive levels. So far, the question remains: where and when in this long series of steps do autistic children’s brains start to function differently? Do they have trouble with attending to and organizing what we receive through our five senses? Or is their condition related to more complex functions, such as combining the information and analyzing it? Autism, brain networks, and information processing One of the studies that caught my attention in recent weeks was done here at McGill University. John Lewis, Alan Evans, and their colleagues studied 260 children with either low or high risk for autism. They measured their brain connections using a new technique called weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging at 6, 12, and 24 months of age, to investigate the way their brains are wired and how brain connections develop. They aimed to identify which areas begin to develop differently from those
in neurotypical children, and when that happens. Measuring connections between neuronal areas in our brain provides data on the stages of information processing. Weighted magnetic imaging help identify brain networks by measuring and mapping the brain’s connections. Identifying differences in brain connections during brain development between low-risk and highrisk individuals provides us with insights into the way that autistic brains function. These researchers measured strength and length of neuronal connections and correlated them to “network efficiency,” meaning how well this network functions considering the number and diversity of its connections. They showed solid results which indicated that the brains of children with high risk for autism begin to show different connection patterns when the infants are six months old. The differences in connections were seen mainly in areas involving processing of vision and touch, although a larger set of areas involved in sound and language was also affected later on. The study
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also showed a positive correlation between “network inefficiency” and symptom severity. Their results give us insights on when these children begin to process information differently. In their original paper, titled “The Emergence of Network Inefficiencies in infants with Autism Spectrum Disorder,” the researchers concluded that the social differences and atypical behaviour observed in children with ASD might be the consequence of differences in low-level processing, which refers to the computations done by our brain cortex to process sensory information. Brain connectivity is a very promising approach to link genetics and environmental influence, because some of our brain connections are inborn, but are then modified by experience to provide neural basis behavior. One of the merits of the work done by these researchers at McGill is that they have identified how soon these brain signatures appear. Addressing where, when, and how this condition arises gives valuable clues to why clinical manifestations arise later on.
culture
October 2, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
Exploring Aromanticism
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Considering intersections of romance, privilege, and social structures Caroline Macari The McGill Daily
M
oses Sumney released his debut album, Aromanticism, last week. Sumney is based in Los Angeles, California, where he graduated from U.C.L.A, and soon after started a monthlong residency at the Bootleg Theatre opening for KING, an R&B trio. This residency kick-started a string of ongoing opportunities: Sumney then went on to open for Sufjan Stevens and James Blake on tour, and began a close friendship with Solange that spurred several collaborations. Over the last three years, Sumney released a series of EPs while his fanbase and their anticipation swelled. Brief but dense, Sumney’s debut record spans 11 tracks across just over thirty minutes, each written, sung, and produced by him. Aromanticism is a concept album—it is contemplative, critical, and focused. Before the release, Sumney shared an essay on his social media detailing his thoughts behind the record. He claims, “many of the origin stories about the inception of our species establish this blueprint for coexistence—that everybody has an equal and opposite body, a destined companion without which we are incomplete. Our modern construct of romance still upholds this paradigm; romantic love is the paramount prize of existence. But what if I can’t access that prize?” With this question in mind, Sumney seeks to interrogate our preoccupation, obsession, and yearning for romantic love, and consider instead love’s other possibilities. He wonders “how privileged people can feel love interpersonally but still adhere to systems of social hierarchy that cause them to treat othered groups with loveless indifference.” He engages with the gritty side of love and romance—who has access to it? How do structures of oppression, operations of privilege, and personal feelings intersect, and how does one love in the space where these forces meet? The album begins with an instrumental reprise of one of Sumney’s first singles from his 2014 Mid City Island EP, “Man on the Moon.” It takes harmonies from the original track, which are unfamiliar without the song’s title. The following track sets the tone for the rest of the album: “Don’t Bother Calling” incorporates lush guitars and smooth harmonies to express Sumney’s insecurities in romance, singing “You need a solid / But I’m made of liquid… I don’t know what we are / But all I know is I can’t go away with you with half a heart.” After the music fades away, we hear a faint, private moment, where Sumney voices, “well, I tried.” This mindset seeps into his next track, a revamped version of one of his first singles, “Plastic,” which emphasizes vulnerability more than insecurity. “I know what it is to be broken and be bold . . . I know what it’s like to behold and not be held,” Sumney croons. He conveys a personal intricacy and self-awareness that should not be mistaken with fragility, whispering in the chorus, “my wings are made of plastic.” Aromanticism pursues a concept in narrative form. Sumney begins by drawing the listener into his mental space with
sequences of harmonies, then reveals his position as a romantic subject. It is a position fraught with vulnerability, walls, and feelings of non-belonging. In “Quarrel,” he suggests this feeling of non-belonging by calling out the differing subject positions that influence or create power dynamics, which pervade even interpersonal romance. If two individuals come from differing flows of identity, then is the partnership equal? “Calling this a quarrel isn’t right / quoting this a quarrel / so immorally implies / we’re equal opponents . . . we cannot be lovers / long as I’m the other,” he sings.
“Our modern construct of romance still upholds this paradigm [that everybody has an equal and opposite body]; romantic love is the paramount prize of existence. But what if I can’t access that prize?” —Moses Sumney The album’s climax is “Lonely World,” which perfectly captures Sumney’s idiosyncratic sound. It’s prefaced by a spoken word interlude, “Stoicism,” in which he recounts telling his mom that he loved her as they drove in her old caravan, and she simply replied “thank you.” Perhaps this experience of familial love mimics experiences in romance when there is not an equal give and take, where one party does not receive fulfillment or recognition for the love and labour they pour in. Giving more than you receive, or giving more than deserved, can be isolating for the one loving. “Lonely World” delves into these feelings of isolation and loneliness to an almost dizzying extent. After the first quiet verse, the phrase “lonely world” is looped several times, each time adding more harmonies and instruments until it becomes overwhelming, just as lonely thoughts can be. “After all the laughter, emptiness prevails / Born into this world with no consent or choice / lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely,” Sumney utters these words in different pitches but in the same tone of dreadful longing. The song’s diverse instrumentation and heavy force brings the listener to a palpable point of confrontation. When does the loneliness end? Does it? “Make Out in My Car” provides some sort of response, but not necessarily an answer. The song repeats, “I’m not tryna
Image Courtesy of Jagjaguwar Records go to bed with ya / I just wanna make out in my car.” Sumney looks not for romance or even sex, but just something that is not isolating. He takes this a step further in “Doomed,” which he describes as the album’s thesis statement. The song is haunting, slow, and introspective. Sumney seems to find some kind of sad resolve after repeatedly asking: “Am I vital / If my heart is idle? Am I doomed?” He later expands on the question, wondering, “If lovelessness is godlessness, will you cast me to the wayside?” The depth of these questions digs beyond self-worth, and they instead contemplate where purpose lies if not attached to, settled in, or driven by pursuit of love.
“Lonely, lonely, lonely,” Sumney utters these words in different pitches but in the same tone of dreadful longing. “Indulge Me” is the record’s final lyrical piece. It is slow and meanders through all of the vulnerabilities, hurt, and melancholy explored previously on the record. “Nobody troubles my body after / All my old others have found lovers / Indulge me / Indulge me,” Sumney sings. It is hard to
tell if he has answered his big questions, but his pleas for another to indulge his loneliness err towards an austere melancholy. He polishes off the record with “Self-Help Tape,” which sounds lighter than the rest of the album. A cacophony of angelic harmonies make sounds but not words, and as a pulsating swirl of guitar strums brings the harmonies to a close, Sumney whispers, “imagine being free / imagine tasting free / imagine feeling free / imagine feeling.” It is honest. It shows the constraints of being a human craving love, and being a person weighted by oppressive structures that claim romantic love to be a universal feeling. In his essay, Sumney notes that the “notyet dictionary definition of ‘aromantic’ is someone who doesn’t experience romantic love, or does to a diminished, abnormal degree.” He explores this concept with soulful words and sophisticated sound. He references an inability to feel invested in romantic love, but nevertheless is able to experience romantic thoughts and crave another. He destabilizes the notion that romantic love is inherent in each of us, and instead proposes that we are conditioned to love, though face barriers to this conditioned pursuit of romance. The album “seeks to interrogate the idea that romance is normative and necessary.” Seemingly still in search of answers, Sumney distills ideas of his personal identity and his interactions with the structures of the world around him. He notes that these structures can be oppressive and pervasive even in love, despite it feeling so personal and separate–but is it really?
culture
October 2, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
Apples, honey, and radical Jewishness
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Reminiscing on IJV’s celebration of Rosh HaShanah
Zachary Kleiner Culture Writer
I
ndependent Jewish Voices, or IJV, is an organization that gives a voice to Jews who refuse complicity in Israel’s continued disregard for and violence committed against Palestinians within Israel and Palestine. According to their website, IJV Canada is “a national human rights organization whose mandate is to promote a just resolution to the conflict in Israel and Palestine through the application of international law and respect for the human rights of all parties.” Rosh HaShanah, literally “head of the year,” signifies the beginning of the year according to the ancient Jewish calendar. It marks the beginning of ten days of penitence, but it also allows Jews to reflect on how to make positive change during the upcoming year. I’d been searching for outlets and organizations in which I could use my Jewishness towards both celebration and change, so I gladly attended a radical Rosh HaShanah celebration hosted by IJV McGill. One of the most grounding aspects of the celebration was the presence of different generations of Jewish activists. Although most of the individuals present were students, younger and older adults alike shared their backgrounds and their roots in Jewish activism and social justice. Never before had I been in a space where I related to Jews from older generations, in terms of my politics. Much of my conversation with older Jews, including with my parents and grandparents, has centered around how they believe Zionism is an integral part of a global Jewish identity. However, I felt as if everyone at the celebration, regardless of age, was working toward the same goals of advocating for the liberation of marginalized groups, specifically those Palestinians who are targeted by Israeli occupation. Because IJV is a radical organization with an anti-oppressive mandate, the organizers of the dinner felt it appropriate to alter the brachot, or blessings, over wine, bread, and other items to make them as egalitarian as possible. Gendered language was neutralized, and patriarchal phrases were altered or left out completely.
Doing the bracha on the candles. Following blessings, guests of the potluck-style celebration were invited to choose from a large selection of homemade dishes, with both Sephardic and Ashkenazi origins. Many of the items were vegan and vegetarian, including stuffed cabbage, vegan brisket, assorted salads, and lokshen kugel, which is a traditional noodle pudding served throughout the year in Ashkenazi Jewish homes. Schmoozing, feasting, and discussion ensued throughout the evening. Some folks discussed the importance of learning Yiddish as a means of reclaiming an ever-fading Yiddishkeit identity, another discussion centered around Jews originating from Northern and Eastern Europe. Others played Jewish geography, a game common amongst North American Jews, to see how many mutual acquaintances were had. General themes of the evening emphasized cooperation, personal growth, and organizing for the upcoming year. The existence of anti-Zionist Jews necessitates a conversation surrounding the importance of Zionist ideology to a greater Jewish identity. Hani Abramson, a Jewish activist, Jewish Studies
Corey Balsam | Photographer major at McGill, and member of IJV, explains how religious aspects of the Jewish New Year tie in with a radical, anti-Zionist Jewish identity: “Rosh HaShanah is a time for reflection and spiritual renewal. Many of us view our activism as a deeply spiritual activity informed by our connections to our Jewish identities. By fostering a Jewish space to celebrate Jewish custom and tradition that stands for justice in Palestine, we are defying decades of effort by the Zionist project to intrinsically marry Jewishness with the state of Israel.” Although Israel was founded in the name of the survival of the Jewish people, speaking out against Israel’s atrocities does not undermine one’s identity as a Jew. Israel’s founders were ethnically Jewish, but they were not necessarily religious Jews. In fact, being critical of Zionism perpetuates secular Jewish values of social, racial, and economic justice found amongst progressive Jewish communities worldwide. It seems pointless to embrace one’s identity as a Jew without continuously advocating for and empowering marginalized groups, including Palestinians.
This year, Rosh HaShanah coincided with a defeat for antiZionist and pro-Palestine groups on campus. Earlier in the week, the SSMU Board of Directors voted Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) unconstitutional according to the SSMU’s constitution and equity policies. The decision cites the existence of BDS as inconsistent with the their policy against discrimination based on national origin. The decision perpetuates the falsehood that BDS wholly advocates for the abolition of the state of Israel. BDS seeks to end international complicity in Israel’s continued occupation of Palestinian land. Speaking out against a state’s colonial atrocities is not equal to speaking out against students from that state. What does this decision on behalf of the SSMU Board of Directors in ruling BDS unconstitutional mean for IJV and SSMU services that exist to support marginalized folks, including those marginalized at the hands of colonial states? Hani expresses her distaste for SSMU’s decision: “The recent dealings regarding BDS at SSMU are not grounded in fact or reason. A small group cannot de-
cide that violence is not ‘extreme enough’ to warrant political action. Also, as an Israeli national who does support BDS, I find the Justice Board’s logic to be incredibly problematic.” This decision not only engenders feelings of disenfranchisement amongst Palestinian students, but it also invalidates the hard work that has been done on behalf of anti-Zionist and pro-Palestine organizations in promoting the rights of those victims of Israeli occupation. Priority must shift to the recognition of Palestinian voices which are not only present within the state of Israel, but must be heard in order to shift the debate over Zionism away from Judaism. IJV looks forward to hosting many upcoming events in Montréal to celebrate Jewish identity and to advocate for Palestinian justice. Look out for a radical Tashlich to celebrate the 5778 High Holidays, general meetings, and a talk in October with Rabbi David Mivasair on Jewish identity, Zionisms, and BDS. For more information on IJV, contact ijvmcgill@gmail.com, or check out their Facebook page! L’shanah tova, and cheers to a sweet and active new year.
Letters
October 2, 2017 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily
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In response to cutbacks to the Eating Disorder Program Submit your own: letters@mcgilldaily.com The following is a letter written to the executive director of Services for Students
D
ear Ms. Martine Gauthier, I am a strong believer in speaking out to support effective and impactful programs on campus, and in my five years at McGill I have never witnessed a more amazing program than the McGill Eating Disorder Program (EDP). While I have had many wonderful experiences at McGill, this program has by far had the most meaningful impact on my life. It would be an understatement to say that it has only changed my life, because it has probably saved it. While I am not yet in a position to financially offer support to the program as an alumna, the least I can do for now is offer my words. Trust me when I say that it is not enough to do this program justice, but it’s the least that I feel I can do at the moment. Many students struggle with challenges related to food and body image, whether it reaches the extreme of a full-blown eating disorder or not, and these disorders are especially prevalent in university settings. Eating disorders are often the illnesses of high achievers, perfectionists and straight-A students. For me personally,
Crossword
my eating disorder became a vehicle to cope with high levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. This program was phenomenal in that it did not only help to get my eating on track, but that it also addressed the underlying determinants of mental health and well-being that I had been struggling with for over a decade. This program is the best thing to ever happen to me. The EDP at McGill consists of a team of the most caring and competent health professionals I have ever met, and as a public health student and advocate, I have met many. Their level of coordination between different specialties within the EDP team—dietician, nurse, therapist, and psychiatrist, is the model for patient-centered care that we learn about in public health textbooks, but that most programs only aspire to. The program is intensive, the team is interdisciplinary, and they regularly communicate about each individual student’s progress at weekly team meetings to make sure that each student receives the best level of care. In an appointment with any given team member, the staff are always up to date on all other appointments that a student has had, and are quick to refer any problems that come up that are not within their area of specialty to another member of the team. No student need is ever left unaddressed. They keep track
of their patients, they care about their patients, and it shows. I felt so incredibly supported, invested in, and believed in throughout the program that I was not only able to make it through this difficult journey, but come out thriving. The program is very intensive, but I am so grateful for that because I have never been so happy and healthy in my entire life and I will forever be indebted to this phenomenal program. I understand that budgets at McGill are tight, so I want to emphasize what a gem of a program this is within the university, and how they deserve not only every ounce of funding that they get, but also some kind of award to recognize the supreme level of care that they provide to students. I think it’s important for the university to know what an amazing service it has put together of which it should be very proud. I hope that the program continues to grow strong, and that it continues to receive the support and recognition it deserves. Sincerely, Madeleine Pawlowski M.A. (’18 expected) Health Geography B.A. (‘15) Jt. Hons. Int’l Development Studies & Geography
Jay VanPut Official Crossword Wizard
Across 1. Baby cow 5. Stationed 10. Sword handle 14. And others, for short 15. Anxious 16. Paradise 17. Eat 18. Clamor 19. Carnivore’s diet 20. The Count of Monte Cristo 23. N.F.L. linemen: Abbr. 24. Casual shirt 25. Take a break 26. 2 peas in a __ 27. “Get ___ of yourself!” 30. Disney mermaid 33. Bit of slander 34. __-time music 37. Jane Eyre 41. Long, long time 42. Ocean channel marker 43. Not yet in place 44. Front of the lower legs 46. Classic card game 47. Physically sore 49. Dath Vader’s childhood nickname 50. Alias 53. Nicholas Nickleby 58. Proxima Centauri, for one 59. Appropriate 60. Dwarf planet similar to Pluto 61. Sit for a photo 62. Strong light 63. Free version of an app, maybe 64. Kind of dealer 65. Stitched 66. Termite, e.g. Down 1. Wood for chests 2. Not level
3. Usually 4 of these on a major highway 4. Show off a muscle 5. Prohibited 6. Opposite end of a cathode 7. Mix 8. To be, in old Rome 9. Colored a shirt or egg 10. Sewed the edge of 11. Brainstorms 12. Smallest amount 13. Explosive initials 21. Bikini, for one 22. Web browser entry 26. The “p” in m.p.g. 27. Voices below soprano 28. ___ Lewis and the News 29. Ball 30. King beater 31. Pi follower 32. Actor McKellen 33. “Set phasers to ___” 34. E.R. personnel 35. Chowed down 36. “___ lost!” 38. ___-Wan Kenobi 39. Having a secretive meaning 40. Yoko __ 44. Units of company ownership 45. 2013 film about a man in love with AI 46. “____ we stand, divided we fall” 47. Cast member 48. Gorge 49. Be head over heels for 50. Eagle’s home 51. Makes a sweater 52. Liability’s opposite 54. Falls behind 55. Fashion magazine 56. Cole ___ 57. Large seaweed 58. Health resort