The McGill Daily Vol. 112, Issue 10

Volume 112, Issue 10 | Monday, November 14, 2022 | mcgilldaily.com Hearkening back to our humorous days since 1911

Published by The Daily Publications Society, a student society of McGill University.

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

EDITORIAL

editorial board

3480 McTavish St, Room 107 Montreal, QC, H3A 0E7

phone 514.398.6790 fax 514.398.8318

mcgilldaily.com

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

Anna Zavelsky managing editor Olivia Shan news editors Saylor Catlin Emma Bainbridge Zoe Lister Robert Muroni commentary + compendium! editors Will Barry Meena Thakur culture editor Yehia Anas Sabaa features editor Zach Cheung science + technology editor Vacant sports editor Vacant video editor Vacant photos editor Genevieve Quinn illustrations editor Vacant copy editor Catey Fifield design + production editor Hyeyoon Cho social media editor Frida Morales Mora radio editor Vacant cover design Hyeyoon Cho contributors

Anna Berglas, Daniel Clarke Bouchard, Randa Mohamed, Mercedes Lingle, Zoe Lister, Maya Pack, Elsie Yang le délit Gabrielle Genest rec@delitfrancais.com

Here We Are

“ Well here we are, McGill, and here we are to stay.”

So begins a message to students that appears in the first issue of The McGill Daily, published on October 2, 1911. In this inaugural issue, a certain Miss Margaret M. Wherry advertised her shorthand and typewriting skills and the students’ union advised first-years, “Don’t be ashamed of being fresh.” Mostly, though, the editors of the Daily wanted to talk about sports. They congratulated McGill athletes on their performance in the Canadian Championships, announced the return of football star Daniel Percy Gillmor, and celebrated the “excellent material” of the new tennis team.

The McGill Daily has changed a lot in the last 111 years. We have a new focus, a new format, and a new set of editorial standards. We’ve moved from daily to weekly publication, and we’re now as visible on the internet as we are on campus newsstands. Much more than our sports reporting, we are known for our embrace of social justice and our commitment to anti-oppression. Now as then, The McGill Daily provides a critical forum for the exchange of information and ideas. It offers an outlet for students to express their opinions, voice their frustrations, and indulge their creativity, and it contributes to a healthier, more vibrant campus culture. For new and returning readers, we offer you this reflection on the role the Daily plays within and beyond Roddick Gates.

The Daily is the oldest student-run newspaper at McGill and one of the largest student-run newspapers in Canada. It is published by the Daily Publications Society (DPS), a not-for-profit organization that is run by and for students and that has complete autonomy from the university. Since 1977, the DPS has also published Le Délit, McGill’s only francophone newspaper. The DPS employs an administrative team that handles day-to-day operations and advertising, but all editorial board decisions are made by students. Any McGill student can write, edit, or contribute a visual for the Daily or Le Délit, and any McGill student can attend editorial board meetings and sit on the DPS Board of Directors.

So, why is the Daily important? For starters, the Daily provides coverage of news relevant to the McGill and Montreal communities, but it also aims to discuss issues and events that fall outside the radar of mainstream media. This semester, for instance, Eva Elbert examined the lack of healthy affordable food options on McGill’s campus, Auriane Journet and Robert Muroni provided insights into the Quebec provincial election and the rise of the CAQ, and Vishwa Srinivasan chronicled Montreal- and worldwide protests in support of women’s rights in Iran. The Daily reported extensively on McGill’s New Vic Project – from the announcement of the project, to the start of a contested archaeological investigation of the former Royal Victoria Hospital, to a series of demonstrations against the project held in solidarity with the kanien’kehá:ka kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers), to the Mohawk Mothers’ historic victory over New Vic.

their communities, on the latest in science and technology, and on the art and culture that surrounds them. Students have used the Daily to publish important investigations into acts of abuse and misconduct, and they have used it to hold both the McGill administration and their student representatives to account. This year, Abigail Popple reported on the grim effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on animal testing at McGill. Emily Black’s earlier article on “Sexism and Silence in SSMU” exposed a culture of gossip, distrust, and gendered discrimination in the upper ranks of McGill’s student union. Saima Desai’s 2016 article on a student’s claims of discrimination highlighted ableist and anti-Indigenous sentiment in McGill’s Faculty of Dentistry.

The Daily is a source of serious reflection, but it is also a source of humour, and the paper’s horoscopes, crosswords, and comics are perennial fan favourites. No matter the tone, the work of the Dailyis grounded in its Statement of Principles. We recognize that all issues are inherently political, involving relations of social and economic power and privilege, and that powers and privileges are distributed unevenly across social groups. To help combat the inequities that exist between people of different races, genders, ages, abilities, sexualities, and other markers of identity, the Daily seeks to depict and analyze power relations as accurately as possible and to give a voice to marginalized individuals and communities. In July 2020, the Daily’s editorial board published a set of action items in an effort to make the reporting and editorial process more inclusive and transparent, and to address the ways in which we may perpetuate systemic racism institutionally. Through this action plan, we aim to hold ourselves accountable to the Statement of Principles.

3480 McTavish St, Room 107 Montreal, QC H3A 0E7 phone 514.398.690 fax 514.398.8318

advertising & general manager Boris Shedov sales representative Letty Matteo ad layout & design Mathieu Ménard

Published by the Daily Publications Society, a student society of McGill University. The views and opinions expressed in the Daily are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of McGill University.The McGill Daily is not affiliated with McGill University. website Facebook Instagram twitter

dps board of directors Natacha Papieau (Chair), Saylor Catlin, Louis Favreau, Gabrielle Genest, Asa Kohn, Antoine Milette-Gagnon, Boris Shedov, Philippe Shi, Laura Tobon, Anna Zavelsky

But a newspaper is more than the news it reports. The Daily is a channel through which students can express their opinions on current events, on issues affecting themselves and

Finally, in the absence of a journalism program at McGill, the Daily provides excellent opportunities for students interested in journalism to learn how to write and edit articles, how to create content for print and online publications, how to thrive in a fast-paced work environment, and countless other skills. Past Daily editors have gone on to work for such publications as CBC/Radio-Canada, the Montreal Gazette, the National Post, and Slate. Former managing editor Willa Holt writes that “the training and experience I gained through the Daily have become the foundation for my professional career in journalism, informing how I think through stories, identify key perspectives, and push back against dominant narratives.” In our paper’s first issue, a special correspondent from the “LONDON TIMES” wrote that the launching of The McGill Daily was “unquestionably the greatest venture in the literary world since the days of Shakespeare. Oxford and Cambridge publications are reduced to mere satellites when compared with this scintillating star.” A lot has changed in the last 111 years, but this remains true. We at The McGill Daily could not do the work that we do without our readers and contributors. We thank you all for your continued support and dedication. To 111 more years of free press!

Read us online!

www.mcgilldaily.com www.facebook.com/themcgilldaily @mcgilldaily @mcgilldaily

CONTACT US

Coordinating NEWS COMMENTARY CULTURE FEATURES SCI+TECH SPORTS

coordinating@mcgilldaily.com news@mcgilldaily.com commentary@mcgilldaily.com culture@mcgilldaily.com features@mcgilldaily.com scitech@mcgilldaily.com sports@mcgilldaily.com

Managing PHOTOs

ILLUSTRATIONS

DESIGN + PRODUCTION COPY WEB + Social Media

MULTIMEDIA

managing@mcgilldaily.com photos@mcgilldaily.com illustrations@mcgilldaily.com design@mcgilldaily.com copy@mcgilldaily.com web@mcgilldaily.com multimedia@mcgilldaily.com

VOTE YES !

TESTIMONIALS FROM OUR ALUMS

Even though McGill doesn’t have a journalism school, during my time there I learned how to file a Freedom of Information request, interview a source, report a news story, and edit a feature investigation – all because The McGill Daily existed. Every single writing or editing job I’ve gotten – at publications from Chatelaine to Maisonneuve to Briarpatch – is thanks to the mentorship and support of Daily journalists and editors. At the Daily, I also gained an invaluable political education, learning about social and environmental justice. McGill would be a very different university were it not for 100-plus years of the Daily holding the administration’s feet to the fire and fighting for the wellbeing of students and marginalized groups. The Daily is the heart of journalism and social justice on McGill’s campus. I wholeheartedly support students voting “yes” in the Daily’s existence referendum.

Saima Desai, Features (The Daily, 2015-17)

The training and experience I gained through the Daily have become the foundation for my professional career in journalism, informing how I think through stories, identify key perspectives, and push back against dominant narratives. The values of non-hierarchy and antioppression that defined my time at the Daily made me a stronger and more compelling writer. Without the Daily, I might never have found my place in journalism, and I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to deeply explore Montreal and the communities fighting to survive here. The collaborative learning that the Daily fosters is crucial and difficult to find elsewhere. It provides the opportunity for students to explore what interests them, what burns a fire in their belly, and encourages them to chase those stories. The Daily was the single most impactful learning experience during my time at McGill. I can’t imagine a world without it.

Willa Holt, Managing (The Daily, 2018-20)

I credit my time as an editor and writer at The McGill Daily with helping launch my career as a journalist. At the Daily, editors get to learn the fundamentals of journalism in an environment often more immersive and practical than traditional journalism school. University is supposed to be a space to figure out your values, skills, and ideas, and the Daily is an integral part of that exploration for students interested in media and campus politics. The paper has international recognition among prestigious journalism schools, including Columbia University, and Daily alumni have gone on to do important and principled reporting and editing at a variety of Canadian publications. The Daily is one of the sole sources willing to scrutinize and report on the issues impacting McGill students, and has been at the forefront of covering student movements and moments that have shaped this campus for more than 100 years. In doing so, it has sparked curiosity and strengthened the skills of hundreds of aspiring journalists, myself included, and there’s nowhere else quite like it. Its loss would be immeasurable. Vote Yes for the DPS!

Inori Roy, Coordinating (The Daily, 2017-18)

My time with The McGill Daily was the highlight of my years at McGill. I wrote my first commentary article very early in my first year, and I was immediately hooked. I had no intention of becoming a journalist before nervously stumbling into the Daily office, but when I left, doing so was my only option. After McGill, I did a Masters of Journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University. While that degree was certainly helpful, I still believe my time with the Daily was the best crash course in journalism I’ve received. I not only learned the skills of how to be a good journalist, but also discovered an ethos of journalism that I’ve taken with me throughout my entire career. Since leaving McGill, I’ve gone on to work at Vice, the National Post, and The Globe and Mail. I’ve also had articles published in Al Jazeera, BuzzFeed, The Walrus, Maisonneuve, the Huffington Post, Canadaland, and many more. None of this would have been possible without my time at the Daily

Davide Mastracci, Commentary columnist & Copy (The Daily, 2011-12 & 2013-14)

Working at the Daily was probably the best decision I made in terms of preparing me to participate in the ‘real world’. When you’re at McGill, you’re not always taught to think applicably - it’s a lot of theory, research papers, broad strokes that are meant to show others that you’re smart. But that’s not really what things are about. The Daily taught me skills I could actually use in a job - application of research to a focused piece, how to (start) writing accessibly, how to pitch ideas, how to collaborate with others. I only spent a year working as an editor at the Daily, but without it I would have graduated without a job and without the skills to succeed in that job. The Daily isn’t necessarily about the articles it puts out - yes that’s part of it, but definitely not the whole picture. It’s about giving cohorts of young people the chance to focus themselves, to practice applying what they learn beyond a research paper, and to leave whoever contributes a little better off when they’re out of school. If it wasn’t for the Daily, I would’ve been in a much different place after graduating. And I’m happy where I am.

It’s a common refrain but one that bears repeating: I learned more working at the Daily as a writer and then editor than I ever did, or ever could, learn in my classes. School newspapers provide critical thinking skills and real life experience. Most importantly, the Daily’s particular political standpoint is intensely valuable: it broadens the limited perspectives of McGill students and exposes them to worlds they never knew.

Dana Wray, News & Coordinating (The Daily, 2013-14 & 2014-15)

Looking back at my time at McGill, I can hardly remember any of my actual classes or assignments. Unless you’re in academia no one really asks about your GPA and certainly no one cares about your essay on religious imagery in Shakespearean comedies (OK, so I remember that one paper). The experiences that have stuck with me most and proved to be the most educational came from The McGill Daily. I don’t mean this in terms of practical training in journalism and media careers; rather I’m thinking about how the Daily helped me see the world from new perspectives and challenged me to think critically. As a reader before joining the editorial staff, the Daily exposed me to communities and new ideas that I wouldn’t have thought of or experienced on my own. Even if you are not seeking a career in journalism, the DPS offers a real and enduring education.

Eric Wen, Sports | (The Daily, 2010-11)

Emma Hebert, Features (The Daily, 2021-22)

For endorsements and more info: mcgilldaily.com/savethedaily

The Daily Publications Society (DPS) is holding a referendum this week, between Monday, November 14, and Friday, November 18, that will determine the continued existence of The McGill Daily and Le Délit.

The student media is an important source for critical reporting and creative work on campus –vote yes for the free press!

Demonstration Against RBC Held at McGill

Pack News Contributor

On Saturday, November 5, protestors gathered in front of the Royal Bank of Canada’s (RBC) “On Campus” branch at McGill to object to the bank’s investment in the Coastal Gaslink (CGL) pipeline. The group Decolonial Solidarity organized the protest in response to a call to action from the Gidimt’en Checkpoint in Wet’suwet’en territory, which stated that drilling for the pipeline was ready to begin under the Wedzin Kwa (Morice) river.

“Working together is the only way we stand a chance to force this incredibly powerful and influential bank to abandon short term profits and divest from the CGL pipeline,” said one organizer speaking to the crowd. “RBC is in violation of Indigenous rights. Wherever RBC bank is, it will hear from the allies of those who its investments hurt.”

According to this organizer, the CGL pipeline will impact Wet’suwet’en people’s access to fresh water and food sources. The finished pipeline will cross over 600 waterways in BC, and has already been flagged for multiple environmental violations, including possible disruptions to fish habitats and potentially damaging water quality noncompliances. The pipeline will also contribute to the global climate crisis: the speaker stated that the pipeline is projected to move up to five billion cubic feet of natural gas a day – the equivalent of 585 million pounds of CO2.

“Where you put your money actually has an impact,” said Seph, a masters student in biology at McGill who works with Divest McGill. He wants McGill students to be aware that the CGL pipeline funded by RBC runs through unceded Wet’suwet’en territory; “they never gave consent for that so this is an issue both of Indigenous sovereignty but also climate destruction.”

The organizer with Decolonial Solidarity cited the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Article 10, which states that “Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their lands or territories. No relocation shall take place without the free, prior and informed consent of the

Indigenous peoples concerned and after agreement on just and fair compensation and, where possible, with the option of return.” The BC government passed UNDRIP into law in 2019.

“RBC has violated this fundamental right,” said the organizer. RBC, the pipeline’s biggest funder, is also Canada’s largest fossil fuel funding bank, and the fifth largest fossil fuel funding bank in the world.

“There are RBC branches all over Canada and every time there’s a demo like this it makes their brand look worse and worse and they need to respond to their investors who care very much what they do with their money,” Sepi, a protestor standing with the crowd in front of the On Campus branch, told the Daily. “Even if RBC doesn’t care, investors care.”

There are RBC On Campus branches at both McGill and Concordia, and according to one organizer, the McGill student union and many faculty groups bank with them. RBC is also currently collaborating with McGill to offer a

personal finance class in Desautels, and has sponsored frosh for the Faculty of Arts and Science.

Una Sverko, a first year law student at McGill organizing with Decolonial Solidarity, wants to ask the McGill administration to divest from fossil fuels: “Divest has been saying that for over 10 years now, so it’s about time you listen[…] listen to your student body,” she said. She also asks that faculty groups currently banking with RBC look for an alternative bank or credit union.

Of the On Campus branch and the collaborative course, Sverko said: “it’s allowing RBC to actively try to filter McGill students into their talent pipeline and actively allowing RBC to kind-of poach us as their customers.”

After a few short speeches, organizers from Decolonial Solidarity led the group in chanting: “Our climate, we’ll fight for that, RBC no time for that” and “Pipeline spills, RBC kills.” The protestors then marched to the RBC On Campus branch at Concordia, continuing to chant. When the group arrived, organizers spoke again,

offering actionable steps for those looking to continue to protest RBC’s involvement in the pipeline project.

“There is so much you can do, just yourself and one other friend, that is safe and that is beautiful, and that keeps bringing the message out” said Una. She suggested participants could sit in front of RBC branches, hand out flyers, set up information booths, or create sidewalk murals with chalk or washable paint. “We will share your stuff, it will spread, people do see the images of all of these actions, and it brings a lot of hope, so please do if you can.”

According to Una, there were similar protests on November 5 in at least 16 cities across six provinces, including Montreal, Victoriaville, and Valleyfield in Quebec. Despite this, Coastal Gaslink seems to be proceeding with construction. On Tuesday, November 8, security guards blocked Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Na’moks from entering the Wedzin Kwa site to monitor the drilling. As of November 11, Decolonial Solidarity has not publicized any new information about upcoming actions in Montreal.

Maya

Protestors gather to oppose RBC’s funding of Coastal Gaslink pipeline

Of the On Campus branch and the collaborative course, Sverko said: “It’s allowing RBC to actively try to filter McGill students into their talen pipeline and actively allowing RBC to kind-of poach us as their customers.”

Maya Pack | News Contributor

Montreal’s Hospitals: “We’re at a Breaking Point”

Elsie Yang Staff Writer

content warning: medical racism

As of November 10, 17 out of 21 Montreal emergency rooms were over capacity, according to Index Santé, Quebec’s Health Index directory. Montreal’s children’s hospitals have been particularly hardhit, with an influx of children with Respiratory Syncytial Virus (R.S.V.) and other viruses contributing to overflowing emergency rooms. R.S.V., a virus that infects the lungs and breathing passages, does not usually reach high infection levels until later in the fall and winter. Laurie Plotnick, Medical Director at the Montreal Children’s Hospital (MCH), told the Daily these unusually early spikes in R.S.V. patients are likely related to the fact that people haven’t been exposed to many viruses since the start of the pandemic. “Both kids and adults have less immunity [since

2020] — pregnant women were not exposed to viruses, so they weren’t passing on antibodies to their newborns, and children, infants, and toddlers haven’t been exposed as frequently to viral illnesses,” said Dr. Plotnick. As a result, “they’ve lost some of that immune capacity to fight viruses in a more effective way.”

Since the last week of October, the occupancy rates at Montreal Children’s Hospital have remained over 150 per cent capacity, leading to extensive wait times and forcing some parents to leave the hospital without their children receiving care. With talk of a winter “tripledemic” combining the Flu, R.S.V., and COVID-19, these numbers are likely to increase before they get better. In response, hospitals are turning to the COVID-era pandemic strategies that have been in use for the past two and a half years. “We run— and rerun— the same pandemic strategies, we go back to the same principles,”

Dr. Plotnick told the Daily . “The difference now compared to the beginning of the pandemic is that we now have healthcare staff who are fatigued, tired, chronically stressed, on sick leave, or have left the profession.”

Hospitals across Canada have faced staffing shortages and overcrowded emergency rooms since the start of the pandemic, forcing many hospitals to announce temporary reductions in services, including in their emergency rooms. The overcapacity rates experienced with R.S.V. in pediatric emergency rooms this season are equivalent to overcapacity experiences in adult hospitals during the COVID pandemic, according to Dr. Plotnick. “The issue now is that we don’t have the same staff pool that we had back then to be able to rally together [in the same way] because we’ve been doing it for two and a half years already.”

In particular, increased demand for family doctors has

Genevieve Quinn| Photos Editor

left emergency rooms with high numbers of patients that could have been treated elsewhere.

Dr. Plotnick told the Daily that ideally, the MCH would transfer stable patients back to a community hospital that is able to continue hospitalization until the patient is ready to be discharged — but shortages of community

clinics and family doctors has made this difficult. “What we’re seeing in the hospital is being seen in the community too,” said Dr. Plotnick. “The family doctors, they’re working hard. The community practitioners are overwhelmed by sick children, lots of viral illnesses, and lots of children with fevers.

Montreal’s hospitals face extensive wait times in the face of seasonal virus spikes and staff shortages

“We run - and rerun - the same pandemic strategies [...] The difference now compared to the beginning of the pandemic is that we now have healthcare staff who are fatigued, tired, chronically stressed, on sick leave, or have left the profession,”

- Dr. Laurie Plotnick

I just don’t think we have enough community healthcare practitioners right now to best serve our population.”

A McGill student recounted his experience with the Montreal hospitals to the Daily after he fractured his ankle in late September, demonstrating how difficult it can be to access even a short consultation. After being denied by a clinic because their x-ray room was closed, he went to Lachine Hospital, where he was forced to walk through multiple corridors on his injured ankle for purposes of paperwork. “It took me at least an hour and a half to be seen by a nurse just for her to fill in very basic info about where I was hurt and how bad it was from 1-10, and then I was told that it would be at least a 9-hour wait. I wasn’t given ice, medication, or anything”, he told the Daily . “Rather than waiting, I booked an appointment with an orthopedic specialist for the next day because I just needed an ankle expert to tell me how severe my injury was. That specialist canceled on me.”

In the end, the student was able to get a cast book for a next-day surgery at Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montreal (CHUM) hospital, but only after a 6-hour wait. Despite the lengthy wait time, he told the Daily that his experience

in Quebec’s emergency rooms. The team’s plan includes a goal to open a pair of clinics in Montreal run by nurse practitioners to accommodate patients without access to family doctors. It also aims to extend access to the “one call, one service” phone line to pediatric patients in order to provide consultations without having to go to the emergency room. Dubé added that the Health Ministry will continue to work with partners to provide more appointments through family medicine and pediatric clinics, as a lack of access to these doctors leads patients to emergency departments for treatment that could have been provided elsewhere. According to Dr. Plotnick, there needs to be more access to community clinics and healthcare professionals who specialize in pediatrics to prevent overcrowding in pediatric hospitals. “The [government’s] crisis task force is a good start, but funding is huge. Nurses need to be adequately compensated and incentivized for what they’re doing,” she told the Daily “It’s about improving access, and increasing the number of healthcare professionals, whether it be nurse practitioners or physicians in the community.”

Referencing the reinstitution of the “one-call, one-service” hotline, Dr. Plotnick said that

“It took me at least an hour and a half to be seen by a nurse just for her to fill in very basic info about where I was hurt and how bad it was from 1-10, and then I was told that it would be at least a 9-hour wait. I wasn’t given medication, ice, anything,”

- McGill Student

at CHUM was much easier than other hospitals since all the initial stages of seeing the nurse and doing paperwork were accessible with his injury. His experience may have been a lucky one: on November 10, 28 patients had been on stretchers for 24 hours or more at CHUM and nine patients had been on stretchers for 48 hours or more.

The Legault government has recently expressed the urgency of reducing experiences like his. At an October 25 news conference, Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé termed the situation “unacceptable” and announced the creation of a crisis team to address long wait times

“we don’t yet have the number of clinics available as they were when the initiative was running a year and a half ago.”

Currently, there is a limit on the number of physicians that the MHC is permitted to hire, and like at other academic hospitals, MCH’s physicians are required to take on an educational role as well as providing patient care — “an impossibility in this kind of crisis,” said Dr. Potnick. “More students need to be trained in medical schools — [we need to] enable more medical students in universities, more residency positions, and more positions for residents to work in after training. It’s a real pipeline that’s

been limited over the years and has been decreasing.”

McGill’s Student Wellness Hub, where McGill students have access to a variety of healthcare services as a part of their tuition, has not been immune to overcapacity issues faced by the rest of Montreal. According to Giovanni Arcuri, Associate Director of Operations at the Student Wellness Hub, “during the pandemic, 50 per cent of our doctors were redeployed to the public system. Some have returned; however, some are currently on extended leaves.” In order to meet the rising number of students requesting care, and due to the limited scope of its nurses, the Hub is actively recruiting family doctors — however, this is a challenging task due to provincial regulations determining how these doctors spend their time. “Hours worked in university clinics are not recognized by the government, so our doctors are putting in time beyond their governmentmandated requirements,” Arcuri told the Daily Healthcare professionals working at the Wellness Hub echo the difficulties faced in the profession as a whole as they face overcapacity.

Dr. Hashana Perera, Medical Director of the Student Wellness Hub, expressed the burden on the providers that have stayed at their jobs; “with fewer providers, the burden is higher on the providers that remain,” she told the Daily . “This is compounded by the challenges accessing testing and specialist consultations within the public healthcare system due to staff shortages, where more senior doctors are retiring earlier and more staff are on medical leave.”

Overcapacity and staffing shortages at the Student Wellness Hub have left many students to turn to more expensive alternatives for urgent care. One student spoke with the Daily about her experience in 2021 with the Wellness Hub: “as an international student who is required to pay for International health insurance as a student at McGill, both my parents and I have been extremely disappointed in the quality of healthcare offered here.”

Another student spoke of her experience trying to get a test for Celiac disease: “I was sent in circles trying to get an appointment and once I finally got a hold of someone, I was told to call at 8 a.m. on a Monday. I wasn’t able to make an appointment online, so I used Maple Telehealth services and was referred to a clinic not associated with McGill.

I ended up having to pay $200 for testing and didn’t receive my full result for 4-5 weeks.”

The Wellness Hub’s website states that it does not take students who are symptomatic with flu or cold symptoms “to ensure staff and student safety, and in accordance with McGill policy and the new circumstances,” leaving students to turn to other means of overcrowded healthcare services

published following repeated claims by Premier Legault that systemic racism does not exist in the province of Quebec.

On October 25, SSMU’s External Affairs team hosted an Accessibility Town Hall, where students were invited to express difficulties accessing healthcare, academic accommodations,

for the treatment of these widespread illnesses. According to Dr. Vera Romano, Director of the Student Wellness Hub, the Hub is now “examining and reviewing” the directives restricting the provision of care to students with COVID-19-like symptoms as the pandemic evolves.

Reduced access to healthcare and issues tied to the pandemic have exacerbated preexisting inequities in the healthcare system. Among the most impacted are Canada’s Indigenous populations. Findings from Statistics Canada data show that during the first year of the pandemic, “disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people were evident” in studies of the impact of pandemicrelated difficulties and delays in receiving health care services. First Nations people and Metis were more likely than nonIndigenous people to say that these delays caused them pain.

In September, a report was leaked regarding the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) detailing testimonials of racism experienced by patients and staff at the Centre, including many recounts of mistreatment towards Indigenous patients. The report came after the death of Joyce Echaquan, a 37-yearold Atikamekw woman, who recorded a live Facebook video exposing her abuse by nurses leading to her death in September 2020. The MUHC is Montreal’s largest hospital network and has made the treatment of Indigenous peoples a part of its mandate. The MUHC report, a two-year-long effort, was

and culturally-specific support at McGill. In the event’s description, SSMU wrote that “[t]he McGill Student Wellness Hub [has continued] to fail in delivering its promised basic health services.” It also noted that “Student Services has cut the BIPOC Local Wellness Advisor,” a position that previously worked to provide specific support to students who identified as Indigenous, Black, and People of Colour within a therapeutic context.

Dr. Perera expressed the Hub’s gratitude towards students “for their collaboration and feedback,” emphasizing that the Student Wellness Hub is “actively working to improve the things we can control and are communicating more effectively about the parts that are outside of our control.”

As overcrowding issues continue to worsen, healthcare professionals emphasize the urgency of the situation: “[t]his is not sustainable. We’re concerned because we already feel like we’re at a breaking point in many respects,” said Dr. Plotnick. Many of the issues behind the abundance of overcrowded hospitals, like staff shortages and a lack of resources, “[a]re just widening the cracks that were already there pre-covid.” Fixing these cracks, says Dr. Plotnick, will require systemic changes to address staff shortages and a lack of access to healthcare. In the meantime, she calls for a return to some of the easier community solutions learned during the pandemic: “wash hands, wear a mask, stay home if you’re sick.”

Many of the issues behind the abundance of overcrowded hospitals, like staff shortages and a lack of resources, “[a]re just widening the cracks that were already there pre-COVID.” Fixing these cracks, says Potnick, will require systemic changes to address staff shortages and a lack of access to healthcare.

McGill Will Review Honorary Degree Award

Turpel-Lafond’s Indigenous identity under question

status. The university defended its faculty, saying it “respects and trusts the Indigenous protocols used to identify those it considers Indigenous.” This case came after the University of Saskatchewan was made aware of the alleged mendacity of professor Carrie Bourassa’s claim to Indigenous identity. Bourassa resigned from her position after the university promised to investigate her Indigenous heritage and implement a review of its policies surrounding claims to Indigenous identities.

Though policies to review claims to Indigenous identities are being updated, many Canadian universities prioritize the hiring of Indigenous faculty. In 2019, then-provost Manfredi said: “One of the keys to fulfilling this commitment is to actively increase the number of Indigenous scholars in our professoriate.” UBC says that “Indigenous identity was not a criterion” for Turpel-Lafond’s position at the school.

Zoe Lister News Editor

Mary Ellen Elizabeth Turpel-Lafond, a Canadian lawyer, former judge, and law professor at UBC, received an honorary degree from McGill in 2014. However, she has recently come under fire after a CBC investigation published in early October revealed that information found in publicly available documents was inconsistent with Turpel-Lafond’s claims to Cree ancestry and her treaty Indian status, as well as the community where she grew up and her academic accomplishments. McGill has assembled an ad hoc sub-committee to review the honorary degree awarded to

Turpel-Lafond’s background and claims that she is a member of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation has been disputed since the mid1990s.

Turpel-Lafond, according to Interim Principal Christopher Manfredi in an email addressed to the McGill community on November 11.

Turpel-Lafond’s career took off in the 1990s when she served as a constitutional adviser to the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations Ovide Mercredi. Since then, Turpel-Lafond has served in various prominent roles that aim for restorative justice. She was appointed British Columbia’s first Representative for Children and Youth in November 2006, and she also served as the founding director of the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre (IRSHDC) at UBC. Turpel-Lafond retired from the position this past June but maintains her position as a law professor at UBC’s Peter A. Allard School of Law.

A prominent Indigenous scholar in Canada, Turpel-Lafond is highly decorated and has been awarded 11 honorary degrees from Canadian universities, including McGill. In 1994, she was named one of the “The Global 100” leaders of the new millennium by Time magazine, and in 1999, she was selected as one of the top “Canadian leaders for the 21st century.” The Indigenous Bar Association awarded her the distinction of “Indigenous Peoples’ Counsel” in 2007. She was also a recipient of the Order of Canada in 2021, one of the highest civilian

awards in the country.

CBC reports that that “there is a growing problem in this country of non-Indigenous people taking away opportunities from First Nations, Métis and Inuit people by improperly claiming Indigenous ancestry.”

Turpel-Lafond’s background and claims that she is a member of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation has been disputed since the mid-1990s. In 1995, a reporter for the Ottawa Citizen explained that in the interviewing process for a profile on Turpel-Lafond, “more than one person suggested checking into her Indian background.”

According to Turpel-Lafond, her father is Cree while her mother was English-Scottish. However, the CBC report found that genealogical records show that her paternal grandfather was of Irish, German, and American ancestry and that his wife was born in England to British parents. After a request from CBC, Turpel-Lafond declined to comment on her father’s biological parents’ identities, instead saying, “I respect my parents and all members of my family and I will never call anyone out. Growing up we did not question biological parentage.”

The same day as the findings of the CBC investigation about TurpelLafond’s Indigenous identity were published, UBC issued a statement to The Globe and Mail praising her accomplishments as the IRSHDC

Zoe Lister| News Editor

director and her connections to the Indigenous community. UBC Director of University Affairs Matthew Ramsey said: “[Prof. Turpel-Lafond’s] identity is her own and the university is not going to comment on it.” Others have also condemned the investigation into Turpel-Lafond’s claimed Indigenous identity; the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) said that Turpel-Lafond has been a groundbreaking advocate for Indigenous peoples for decades, adding that issues of First Nations identity should be personal for Indigenous peoples and not for media “digging into private matters.” Furthermore, UBCIC rejected using solely genealogy as the best indicator of Indigenous identity, deeming it a legacy of “assimilationist colonialism.”

The Muskeg Lake Cree Nation confirms that Turpel-Lafond is a member of their Nation and has been for the past 30 years, stating in a press release that “[k]inship determines who is a member of the Nation, and she is part of one of our kinship families.”

In recent years, Canadian universities have begun to address concerns surrounding the claims of Indigenous identities of faculty. Last year, an anonymous report published at Queen’s University claimed that six faculty members were falsely claiming Indigenous

The Indigenous Women’s Collective is calling on universities to rescind honorary doctorate degrees awarded to Turpel-Lafond, saying that “[r]econciliation starts with truth.” York University, Brock University, Royal Roads University, and the University of Regina are among the universities that have begun to review the honorary degrees they awarded to TurpelLafond.

McGill’s ad hoc sub-committee to review Turpel-Lafond’s honorary degree is composed of Manfredi and three to five Honorary Degrees and Convocations Committee members. Regarding the assembly of the committee, McGill claims that it “places the highest premium on respect and honesty.”

McGill did not elaborate further on the review process, per the Daily’s request.

UBC says that “Indigenous identity was not a criterion” for Turpel-Lafond’s position at the school.

Dr. Shannon Mattern on Her Book

‘A City is Not a Computer’

An unconventional book talk about an unconventional book

Mercedes Lingle News Contributor

On November 3, the Feminist and Accessible Publishing, Communications, and Technology series hosted Dr. Shannon Mattern, who discussed writing her most recent book, A City is Not a Computer: Other Urban Intelligences, over Zoom. Dr. Mattern is currently on sabbatical in her new home in Philadelphia, but she will soon begin work as a professor of Media Studies and Art History at the University of Pennsylvania. She was a professor of Anthropology at The New School in New York for 15 years and is currently the president of the board of the Metropolitan New York Library Council. Rather than approach the conference as a typical “book talk,” in which she might read excerpts from her chapters, Dr. Mattern chose to follow a “book biography” method and discuss what influenced her writing process. A City is Not a Computer explores how the modern metaphor of a city as a computer “reduces place-based knowledge to information processing” (Princeton University Press), and Mattern proposes other, more inclusive ideologies about city functions which are tailored specifically to individual cities.

Before getting into the details of her book’s production, Dr. Mattern explained why presenting her book in the “book biography” style made sense to her. She claimed that this insight into the making of a book extends its limits to become an “argument, story, object, [or] commodity.” Additionally, she wanted to approach the talk in a way that credits the outside forces that impacted the writing of A City is Not A Computer. She mentioned her classes, students, and work with the New York libraries, all of which she said “informed the book we are here to talk about.”

One of the reasons Dr. Mattern wrote her book was that she was “tired of big men with ideas publishing on tech-related and urban-oriented subjects without being burdened with the anxiety of influence.” She claimed that there are many men who have written books about the tech industry without actually considering the “thinkers” who came before them.

Dr. Mattern spoke on her own desires to break this supposed norm as a woman writing about tech. She was driven by frustration toward these “big men”; she noticed a repeated fault in tech-related books when the authors were “not thinking about citation as an ethical relation,” so she wanted to write her own tech book that would pay attention to the theorists who came before her. Additionally, Mattern

was upfront about times when she herself had neglected to include thorough citations. For example, when re-reading her 2018 piece “Maintenence and Care” to find out if she could include it in her book, she noticed that she had neglected some “issues from critical disability studies and the Black feminist area,” so she edited the piece in order to include these ideas.

In concurrence with her own feminist ideologies and those of the Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies faculty at McGill, which organized this event, Dr. Mattern was transparent in revealing her own tendency to people-please as another reason she wrote the book: “I will say this is something even 20 years into [it] and say yes to it because I feel obligated,” meaning that she often says “yes” to requests only because she feels worried about letting people down. She also wrote the book because she was invited to and because she was excited to be able to work with the publication group at Princeton University, as this provided her with access to what she believes to be a wellresourced group of editors.

Another informing factor of Dr. Mattern’s book was her ironic dislike for book-writing. Departing from the norm, A City is Not a Computer

is a collection of essays written by Mattern since 2014 and published primarily by the Places Journal (Places). Dr. Mattern described Places as “embodying certain feminist principles” and “a place that focuses on open free access.” The journal’s focus on the concept of “open access” is something that has been incredibly valuable to her. When collecting the work for her book from her previously written articles, she often grappled with the question of eliminating open access in the new book form. Since much of the work for her book had been published online and was readily available to any person with internet access, it seemed odd to privatize it by organizing it into a book. Thus, she was faced with the question, why write a book at all?

Dr. Mattern claimed that another one of her main motivations for writing her book was that the prestige associated with books greatly surpasses that of online articles. Mattern noted that her essays are called “think pieces” or “blog posts, because they are freely available online.”

She went on to expose how rigorously fact-checked and edited her articles have been for Places, even sharing screenshots of some of the edits she has received on her articles. Mattern provided

these examples to demonstrate that her freely available journal articles are edited with diligence, and she claimed that her journal articles should not be considered less academic or prestigious than her books just because they are available to the public.

Dr. Mattern approached her discussion of A City is Not a Computer in a semiunconventional style, and she was able to provide an extensive amount of context about how events in her life and her own ideologies shaped her book. To conclude her presentation, she spoke about the final chapter in the book, which explores how trees are often used as models for “organizing knowledge.” She stated that “thinking through trees allows me to combine several of the humanistic, material environment, urbanistic, ecological, and computational models that I’m encouraging us to bring together in the book.” Just as her book does through its unconventional writing method, Mattern’s “book biography” talk brought together different pieces to tell one story.

All quotations were taken from the recorded Zoom call with Dr. Mattern.

One of the reasons why Dr. Mattern wrote her book was because she was “tired of big men with ideas publishing on tech-related and urban-oriented subjects without being burdened with the anxiety of influence.”

Genevieve Quinn | Photos Editor

A Reckoning within the Arcade Fire Fandom

Anna Berglas Culture Contributor

content warning: harassment, sexual assault, suicide

Up until late August of this year, the band Arcade Fire was largely regarded as a source of national and local pride. This impression has since been shattered due to sexual assault allegations that have been levelled against Win Butler, the band’s songwriter and lead vocalist. Now, with Arcade Fire arriving for the Canadian leg of their tour on November 27, fans are having to make tough calls about whether to go to shows, to continue listening to their music, or to evade Arcade Fire entirely.

The band started off small; their first EP, released in 2002, was self-titled and self-produced. All members of the original group were based in Montreal. Butler was studying religious studies at McGill. Butler’s future partner, Regine Chassagne, and Josh Deu, were studying at Concordia. For these reasons, many McGillians,

Montrealers, and Canadians feel connected to Arcade Fire’s members and their journey to stardom. Four people have now accused Butler of sexual misconduct and assault. At the time of the incidents, the survivors’ ages varied from 18 to 23, while Butler was 34 to 38. The allegations are backed up by text messages sent to Pitchfork (which first broke the story) and by friends corroborating the survivors’ stories, although they have not been proved in court. While one accusation involves an instance of groping, most of the incidents are alleged to have taken place online. Survivors stated that they started as Arcade Fire fans before Butler came in contact with them and asked them to send him sexual videos and photos. Although Butler denies the accounts, he did later “apologize for any harm done” in a second statement sent to Pitchfork. Butler also admits to having been in relationships and to sexting with fans over a decade younger than him. The stories show a persistent pattern of predatory and harmful behaviour.

This fundamental shift in character has been difficult to grapple with for the band’s large following. Recent posts on the subreddit r/arcadefire perfectly display some fans’ struggle to reconcile their emotional ties with recent developments. At the time of the Pitchfork article’s publication, when sorting through the top posts of all time, “A woman attempted suicide because of Win Butler’s sexual harassment” comes first and “Win took our phone last night, and this happened!” comes second.

Perhaps the reason people find it so heartbreaking to swear off Arcade Fire is because of their

music’s vulnerability, which is a source of solace for many. Their first album, Funeral, released in 2004, is about personal grief. One particularly raw song from their discography, “Creature Comforts,” tackles depression and suicidal thoughts. It’s difficult to listen impassionately to the lyrics: “She told me she came so close/Filled up the bathtub and put on our first record.”

Parasocial relationships have been developed over years through interviews that reveal Butler’s quiet charisma and humble, down to earth nature, often going out of his way to

credit outside influences and speaking about the spirituality of music. In an interview with Tom Power, Butler is open about his depression at a young age, which resurfaces in his discography, particularly songs like “Unconditional I” and “Age of Anxiety I.” It’s a powerful story for those who’ve faced similar struggles.

Conflicting attitudes on how to move forward knowing Butler’s crimes are especially relevant considering the upcoming shows. Fans will be forced to choose whether to support a known abuser or to compartmentalize these scandals to maintain the magic.

An immediate defensive reaction argues that the music Arcade Fire creates is divorced from Butler himself. However, Butler is impossible to avoid in the band’s work. His voice is present in all the songs, and he tends to dominate the stage. More than a lead vocalist and writer, Win Butler was a person we could trust.

To condemn a fan for going to a concert is unproductive, especially when Ticketmaster is refusing refunds. A more fruitful approach might be to question the instinct to defend Butler from deserved accountability. Often, parasocial relationships can form between fans and famous personas who seem down to earth or approachable. But the persona emanating from Butler, or indeed any celebrity, is a facade, given the distance between the rich and famous and the average person. Butler’s own underdog narrative is an especially biting blow considering how he has abused his status as a person with a fanbase. Butler’s public personality is cherry-picked; his interviews and articles did not reveal his relationships with much younger women until Pitchfork broke the story. Butler’s outward humility diverts attention from the power of his celebrity status. The perception of the public that Butler was “one of the good ones” allowed him to exploit his younger fans for years before the survivors disproved that impression. If we are to take away anything from this, perhaps it is to stop idolizing those we don’t know in person and abstain from worshiping celebrities.

The navigation of celebrity disenchantment and why we fall for it

Hyeyoon Cho | Design Editor

Butler also admits to having been in relationships and to sexting with fans over a decade younger than him. The stories show a persistent pattern of predatory and harmful behaviour.

The Legacy Awards: A Story of Love, Will, and Passion Live

Daniel Clarke Bouchard Culture Contributor

Sunday, September 25, marked a special day in Canadian history.

Prominent artists and visionaries reunited in Toronto to celebrate and share their talents with Canadian audiences.

I had the pleasure of witnessing standout performances by Jully Black, Kardinal Offishall, and Deborah Cox at the Legacy Awards. Black, who performed alongside singer Melanie Fiona, commanded the stage with her signature blend of soul and edge. Deborah Cox rocked the stage with a very energetic rendition of her hit “Beautiful U R.” This performance topped off an incredible year for her; in May, she became the first Black woman to be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

Although the evening was a treat for fans of Canadian pop music, it was an equally special night for the artists involved. For the artists, this ceremony signified the culmination of their journeys and a validation of their hard work.

The road to success for many Black musicians, actors, athletes, and other personalities is akin to a never-ending rollercoaster. Black entertainers face an incredible amount of obstacles in their careers. They have to break stereotypes and fight for their voices to be heard. Those obstacles are experienced by Black people in all subsets of entertainment. Multiple artists I interviewed referred to a notion of adversity driving success.

Brothers Shamier Anderson and Stephan James, the hosts of this year’s Legacy Awards, are no exception to this. Outside of the Legacy Awards, both Anderson and James are accomplished actors.

Anderson, who will be starring in the upcoming John Wick movie, is dedicated to creating platforms to guide artists in the right direction. Along with Stephan, he founded Building a Legacy in Acting, Cinema + Knowledge (B.L.A.C.K), a non-profit company that facilitates the development of young and emerging Black talent

in the entertainment industry. This initiative led to the creation of the Black Academy in 2020, which built on the previous work Anderson and Stephan had done with B.L.A.C.K. One of the major projects they worked on with the Black Academy was the Legacy Awards, a project that took years of careful planning and organization.

The duo recalls pitching the Legacy Awards for years to television stations without success, but they eventually struck a deal with CBC. Their hard work was rewarded with a multi-year contract to host the award show. What makes their story so compelling is their passion for developing

and supporting Canadian rising talent and giving back to their community.

Black also faced an uphill battle. At 19, she signed with Warner Music. She eventually became a mainstay on the Canadian music scene, but she experienced firsthand the challenges of breaking into the entertainment industry. Luckily, she had great mentors that helped guide her. Those mentors taught her about the importance of ownership and knowing your rights, principles that stayed with her into her later years. She now heads her own successful record company, Jully Black Entertainment Inc., through which she releases her music.

Sprinter Andre De Grasse was honoured as Athlete of the Year at the Awards. He was rewarded for his “exemplary accomplishments in sport in Canada and the world along with his contributions to the Black Canadian identity.” Athletes go through long periods without competition or performance. The Olympics occur once every four years, and in between them, there are world championships for athletes to compete in. However, there is also a significant amount of downtime, which is typically dedicated to training and off-field activities. But De Grasse faced a unique challenge in 2016. He had just completed a thrilling race against former world champion Usain Bolt. He was one of Canada’s most famous athletes, and social media helped magnify the pressure and attention he was under. The Daily learned that, through that experience, De Grasse came to understand the importance of family and a strong support system. His wife, Nia,

and his off-field activities were two of the main things that kept him grounded and sane during that period of his life. Having a solid base and contributing to his community gave Andre the ability to overcome any potential lack of motivation or complacency. It keeps him motivated and ready to accomplish all of his goals. That’s why he founded the Andre De Grasse Family Foundation, which provides support and guidance for young people seeking a career in athletics.

All of these amazing stories intersected at the Legacy Awards. Everyone could feel the special energy in the venue, artists and audience members alike.

While this night represents but a small token of the work needed to properly recognize Black talent in Canada, we must recognize the victories along the way, and the Legacy Awards definitely does so. Make sure to check out next year’s awards, as we can expect to see some more amazing surprises!

from the red carpet!

Hyeyoon Cho | Design Editor

Black entertainers face an incredible amount of obstacles in their careers. They have to break stereotypes and fight for their voices to be heard.

THE DAILY CROSSWORD

ACROSS

elon’s ex who stayed in Solin Hall

are we even that daily?

sport invented by McGill alumni

where to buy your used books

what is not our leadership style

our local white squirrel

McGill alumni chef and YouTube personality

our most frequently updated section

predecessor of Canadian football

a prominent montreal celeb who wrote for The Daily

our local bar

our beginning year

prominent magician punched my a McGill student and subsequently died

DOWN

marvel hero who fictitiously studied at McGill

our french counterpart

our relationship to student government since 1980

our original format

our least frequently updated section

publication day

McGill produced PM

Where our funnies lie

since 1911 slogan

ahhh the fine arts

our original purpose to cover

artsy bar on campus

2015 drama movie filmed on campus

famous American essayist, alumni contributor

Randa Mohamed