Vol100Iss34

Volume 100, Issue 34

February 17, 2011 mcgilldaily.com

McGill THE

DAILY

Online only in 100 years

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

THE

FUTURE

PGSS Society Elec!ons 2011-2012

Need science credits?

What you need to know:

Campaign Period:

UVM Summer University offers a variety of science courses in medical, health, biological & physical sciences with credits that can transfer back to your institution. This summer, focus on the requirements that you really need. Post-baccalaureate summer premedical programs available, as well as over 400 general requirement courses.

Starts March 2, 2011 at 9:00 am Ends March 16, 2011 at 11:59 pm

Registration begins February 15.

Summer classes start May 23.

Thomson House Ballroom - 5 pm

Catch Up. Get Ahead.

On Campus. Online.

Mac Campus, Raymond Building Room 4-047 - 1:30 pm

Hus!ngs (Debates): Thursday March 3 Tuesday March 8

uvm.edu/summer/mcgill

Wednesday March 9

Thomson House Ballroom - 5 pm

Wednesday March 16

Thomson House Ballroom - 6:30 pm During AGM

Vo!ng Period:

Starts Thursday March 17 at 9:00 am Ends Friday March 25 at 5:00 pm Ques!ons? pgss.mcgill.ca/ELECTIONS or elec!ons.pgss@mail.mcgill.ca Vote online at ovs.pgss.mcgill.ca

Call for Candidates The Daily Publications Society, publisher of The McGill Daily and Le Délit, is seeking candidates for

student positions on its Board of Directors.

The position must be filled by McGill students duly registered during the upcoming Fall term and able to sit until April 30, 2012. Board members gather at least once a month to discuss the management of the newspapers, and make important administrative decisions.

Candidates should send a 500-word letter of intention to chair@dailypublications.org by 5:00 PM on March 22nd. Contact us for more information.

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A “Day of Action” for Concordia students Students and faculty demonstrate against university administration and tuition increases Adrian Turcato

The McGill Daily

T

his past Monday, around 1,200 undergraduate and graduate students met on Concordia’s Hall building terrace to hold the Wintry Hot Accessible Love-In for Education (WHALE).

It included both a Special General Meeting, and a demonstration opposing upcoming tuition hikes.

Both events took place with the support of Concordia’s Provost David Graham, who declared academic amnesty for all students participating in the event.

The Special General Meeting (SGM) of the Concordia Students Union (CSU) passed two motions.

The first denounced the Quebec Ministry of Education’s proposed tuition fee hikes, and the second motion approved the beginning of a Day of Action against tuition hikes, which began immediately following the meeting.

The motion regarding the Day of Action also reduced the quorum for a CSU SGM from around 790 students to around 500, in the hopes of facilitating more student involvement in the future. Previously, the quorum exceeded the capacity of any venue on Concordia’s downtown campus.

Mathew Brett, WHALE’s com-

munication coordinator told The Daily that the demonstration was primarily a grassroots organization and expressed his excitement over the student turnout on Monday.

“The hypocrisy is blatant,” added Brett, in reference to the university administration’s spending on severance packages in the face of increasing tuition.

A statement released by the Concordia University Part-time Faculty Association (CUPFA) on January 21 also spoke to the lack of focus and direction regarding the University’s recent spending priorities.

“No policy, plans, decision, collective agreement, or hiring at our University is sustainable.

Human resource management at the University is rudderless at all levels,” it stated. “There have been some 45 senior administrators and staff who have left, resigned, or been dismissed (whatever) since 2000. Conservative figures have placed the costs of all these departures (buy-outs) at $10 million.”

Last Thursday, the Concordia Student Union passed a motion at an Informational General Meeting mandating a call for the resignation of all the members-at-large of the Board of Governors (BoG).

In January the Concordia Senate unanimously passed a motion call-

Over a thousand Concordia students gathered to denounce tuition hikes. ing for the resignation of Peter Kruyt, the chair of the Concordia BoG. Neither of these motions are binding.

In response to tuition increases, province-wide demonstrations will be held on March 12. These protest plan to confront Quebec’s provincial budget and perceived deficiencies in its funding of public

services, such as Quebec’s universities.

Louis-Philippe Savoie, president of Federation Étudiante Universitaire du Québec (FEUQ), told The Daily that these demonstrations would be a “chance to send a clear message to the Quebec government that students do not agree with the policy of raising tuition fees.”

Erin Sparks for The McGill Daily

The projected tuition increases outlined on the CSU website predict that starting in 2011, Quebec students will have to pay an additional $1,500 for tuition, while out of province tuition will rise by an additional $4,500.

The Charest government is expected to address these tuition hikes in its 2011 budget, to be presented to parliament in March.

Out with WebCT, in with a new system Replacement selection committee urges for student feedback Ethan Feldman

The McGill Daily

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fter six years of use, Blackboard WebCT Vista 8.4 is no longer getting crucial retail support, and as a result McGill is now searching for a replacement Learning Management System (LMS).

In late January and early February, four providers presented their systems to McGill professors, information-technology personnel, and Engineering Senator Andrew Doyle.

Doyle says that he was approached and asked to get involved because he was already actively searching for a method to collect student feedback on the IT systems.

“Basically, these vendor demos were a big opportunity for students to participate, ask questions, voice their concerns, give their feedback in the form of a survey we are compiling, but I think that asking students or anyone to come out for four hours to four different sessions is unrealistic,” he told The Daily.

“The best idea is that we get one student to attend all four and compare the systems. Realistically, no one has that kind of time, except me.”

While Doyle said he is the only student consistently involved, the LMS replacement selection committee has been seeking students’ involvement from the beginning.

“We learned from the food-systems project that the stakeholders didn’t really feel like they were consulted, even though the committee thought they were doing a good job,” Doyle said.

“In that case, decisions were made before the committee even met.

There wasn’t really a place for students to participate in that project.”

Sharon Roy, director of Content and Collaboration Solutions and project manager of Moving Forward to select a new LMS, told The Daily that broad consultation is fundamental when it comes to executing such an enormous project that affects every part of the McGill community.

“We did interviews over the course of the year with 31 different faculties, students, and system staff members,” she said.

An extended list of requirements constructed from these meetings as well as surveys was sent to Learning Management System providers so that they would know what features were expected in a replacement for WebCT. Roy said that there were count-

Victor Tangermann | The McGill Daily

Students test a Web CT replacement system. less requests for features that WebCT lacks. For example, many professors requested open content so that course material can be shared online, and crawled – an automated program that scans web pages and creates a index of specified data – by Google and other search engines.

Ken Ragan, McGill Physics professor and member of the selection committee, said that he is looking for tools that he thinks will generate more student discussion and participation.

“I’ve seen things that I won’t use, but that are cool. I can imagine that my colleagues would use them,” he said.

“There’s a core set of functions [that any LMS will] provide, but it’s the additional things they do, or the upgrade path, the support, and how knowledgeable [the software providers] are, that we are looking at for valuation.”

Doyle added that a major debate on the committee is whether or not to go with an open source solution. He says many people in the community, especially Computer Science students and staff, would like to have a system that can be adjusted and augmented.

The problem is that most providers of open-source systems have an uninvolved and hands-off approach, which would require McGill to hire

specialists to provide in-house support.

Ragan said that the goal is to choose the product that provides the highest quality and most consistent services to the McGill community.

“The committee has been explicitly told not to deal with cost; we are not given a budget to balance, that’s not our concern,” he said. “We’re trying to see which ones work and, ultimately, rank/order them to see which ones are below threshold and which ones are above it. By law, we can’t even think about dollars until we’ve gone through the process.”

In terms of student consultation Doyle stressed that the committee would benefit from greater student input. “[The committee] asks me what students would think about certain features, or what students want in the system. I think I’ve done a good job, but it would have been nice to hear other voices.”

Students are encouraged to email andrew.doyle@mail.mcgill.ca or css@mcgill.ca and offer their opinions, positive or negative, about WebCT or possible replacement systems. Requests to poke around prototype versions of LMS candidates are strongly encouraged.

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New whistleblower site will focus on Quebec government QuebecLeaks will aim to fight province-wide corruption Misha Schwartz

The McGill Daily

T

he launch of QuebecLeaks. org, a website aiming for complete transparency of the Quebec government, will officially launch on March 9. Modelled on WikiLeaks, the site will publish leaked documents from anonymous sources, and focus solely on the province of Quebec.

In recent months, the provincial government has been plagued by controversy. A recent formal investigation, led by former Supreme Court justice Michel Bastarache, concerned allegations that fundraisers for the provincial government influenced the appointment of three judges – all judges were cleared of suspicion though Bastarache remains skeptical about the state of the provincial government.

“When almost half of the population believes that political ties are considered in the appointment of judges, there is a problem,” said Bastarache in an interview with the CBC.

QuebecLeaks plans on revealing its spokesperson when its site is launched on March 9.

Currently any correspondence with QuebecLeaks is attributed to “Noam Chomsky” – it is unclear who is behind the website.

“Our group is very decentralized and made up of many people... all sorts of people but mostly experts, entrepreneurs and professionals,” wrote QuebecLeaks in an email to Le Devoir.

A spokesperson for QuebecLeaks described to Le Devoir its hopes that a more limited focus on the province will make it more efficient in exposing corruption than an international site like WikiLeaks.

“WikiLeaks is a very large organization, it can often take a lot of time for the documents to be sorted, they also can be lost in the sea of information concerning all the other countries in the world.”

QuebecLeaks plans to launch several mirror sites at the same time to keep the site going if the original is blocked. The strategy is currently used by WikiLeaks,

The Québecleaks logo; the site will officially launch March 9.

which has over 1,400 functioning mirror sites.

The site’s launch date was originally set for February 16 but was recently pushed back in order to give QuebecLeaks additional time to improve its security and ensure better protection for whistleblowers who post documents on their site.

“It is, in fact, an excellent thing for our organization and the citizens [of Quebec]. It shows that the project is growing,” wrote a QuebecLeaks representative on their Facebook page in reference to the launch’s postponement.

QuebecLeaks will join a growing group of regionally focused leakwebsites, including BrusselsLeaks, BalkanLeaks, and IndoLeaks; focusing on the European Union, the Balkan region, and Indonesia respectively.

SSMU VP External Myriam Zaidi commented on QuebecLeaks: “I don’t know what they will be leaking, but I think it is important for any government to be as transparent as possible.”

All of the leak sites have the goal of eliminating corruption through more transparent government.

McGill withholds $90,000 from AUS Missing audits jeopardize critical student services Henry Gass

The McGill Daily

T

he McGill administration is withholding $90,000 in student fees from the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) until the Society can produce documentation verifying the state of their finances.

The AUS executive broke the news to Arts students in an open letter Monday night, which is now posted on their website.

The letter states that Morton Mendelson, deputy provost (Student Life and Learning), “has now decided to withhold your student fees until all outstanding audit reports are received.”

In the letter, the AUS executive wrote that Mendelson’s actions have put the AUS “in jeopardy,” and that “his actions have put our student services at risk.”

The $90,000 is intended for AUS’s general operating budget, including the Arts Student Employment Fund. Given that the AUS had to pay off $18,000 in unpaid taxes earlier this year and ran a $30,000 deficit for AUS Frosh, many of these services could suffer as a result of withheld student fees.

AUS President Dave Marshall said the executive had taken emergency measures to ensure the contin-

ued running of staple events like the weekly Bar des Arts.

Marshall said the executive had already “planned this year out to a tee because there is no extra cash.”

According to Mendelson, the AUS first committed to getting the administration financial statements by March 19, 2010, but, as of August 2010, the two missing statements – from fiscal years 2009 and 2010 – still hadn’t been submitted.

On October 5, 2010 Mendelson said the current AUS executive committed to submitting 2009 financial statements by October 15 and 2010 statements by October 30.

“Based on that commitment we released the cheque,” said Mendelson. “That’s the second cheque that we have released to the AUS on the commitment that we would get their financial statements, and then the financial statements didn’t come.”

Referencing an article published in the McGill Tribune, Marshall said he was insulted by a quote from Mendelson that read: “Once bitten, twice shy.” Marshall said he felt the quotes insinuated that Mendelson felt personally affected by events.

“I don’t think there was any malice ever intended by any executive in not producing these audits, and certainly [Mendelson’s] not

personally affected by any of this,” said Marshall. “Students are at the point where they will be personally affected by these services.”

Upon entering office this year, AUS executives learned that the Society had not submitted audited financial statements to McGill since the end of the 2008 fiscal year. Despite the missing audits, Mendelson’s office had continued to release fees to the AUS on the understanding that the Society would submit financial statements soon after.

Marshall also pointed out the difficulties student associations face in compiling annual financial statements, given the annual turnover of executives.

“The problem is if the auditor is missing any financial information from that year, that executive has already disappeared, and it’s up to the new executive to try and figure out what pieces are missing,” said Marshall.

Marshall described an instance from the 2008 Arts Frosh where AUS could not access their PayPal account for the event.

“The password for PayPal disappeared with the previous VP Finance, who ran off, was out of the country and no one was able to get in contact with him, and, by the time they were, he had forgotten the password to PayPal,” said

“We’re now doing more communicating through the press than an actual sit down meeting.”

Dave Marshall AUS President Marshall. “It’s an endemic part of the structure of how student organizations run.”

Marshall said it took AUS a year and a half to get the password for the PayPal account.

There was also confusion between Marshall and Mendelson concerning communication.

“We keep on writing to the president and say, ‘Look, we need to know certain information, can you please give us the information?’

We don’t hear back from him,” said Mendelson.

Marshall, however, said he has had difficulty scheduling a meeting with Mendelson, despite repeated attempts over the past few weeks.

“I’m still waiting for…a meeting with [Mendelson] that has been requested for the last two weeks,” said Marshall. “We’re now doing

more communicating through the press than an actual sitdown meeting.”

Mendelson said the administration had decided to finally withhold the fees for the benefit of students.

“The reason why the University does this is that…for us to fill our responsibility to students from whom we are collecting money we need to know that the money is being used appropriately,” said Mendelson. “That is to protects students from groups or executives who might be irresponsible with their money.”

Marshall said the AUS hopes to provide Mendelson’s office with Notice of Reader statements, informal audits that give an idea of where the Society’s past finances have gone, at which point he expects the funds will be released.

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Memorial march on Ste. Catherine Braving the elements in commemoration of missing and murdered indigenous women Erin Hudson

The McGill Daily

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pproximately 100 people gathered at Cabot Square, and walked east on Ste. Catherine to Phillips Square this past Monday as part of the second annual Memorial March for Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women.

Missing Justice, an activist volunteer collective, organized the march, which took place in solidarity with similar marches across Canada.

Monica van Schaik, one of the march’s organizers, explained that activism around this issue is especially important because it can be difficult for Aboriginal communities to mobilize due to the many other issues they face.

The march began with a song from the mixed drum group, Tiohtiake Drum. The group continued to play throughout the march. The drummers and singers were from different First Nations, and requested that the opening song not be recorded or filmed. The collective also invited speakers from various organizations to speak at the march.

Schaik noted that attention surrounding the issue increased after Tiffany Morrison, a 25-year-old woman from the Kahnawake region went missing in 2006, but that discussion surrounding missing and murdered Aboriginal women is still extremely “silenced” within public discourse.

According to Missing Justice, the number of murdered or missing indigenous women in Canada since 2005 is estimated to be between 583 to 3,000. Numbers are inexact due to the lack of serious measures the Canadian government and police services have taken to address this issue.

“Missing Justice, as a collective, saw there wasn’t any activism in Quebec going on around the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women,” said van Schaik.

Missing Justice works closely with Aboriginal communities in Montreal.

Last year the collective held ten events to bring attention to this issue.

“It’s a pretty devastating loss for families to go through. We need to

Victor Tangermann | The McGill Daily

Singing and chanting, the march followed Ste. Catherine from Cabot to Phillips Square. support our sisters, our family members, and our community, in helping resolve all these issues and find solutions so that all these issues can be addressed in a timely fashion,” said Jennifer Russell, an administrative assistant at Projets Autochtones du Québec, who sang with Tiohtiake Drum.

“It’s essential that people hear it... It’s part of our responsibility to do that,” said Chad Diabo, one of four drummers and a Mohawk from Kahnawake. “If you look at the emotions of the crowd after we sang – people were crying – this is what it brings out to people. And for us as native people that’s worth more than gold.”

Action in Montreal and Beyond Cesar Caceres, coordinator of Action Créative – an organization that explores cultural identities through methods of communication and art – carried a large banner throughout the march.

“It is important to be in the streets.

It is a problem in Montreal and in Canadian and Quebec society with respect to native women,” he said. “It must be put right on all levels.”

Sisters in Spirit is a nation-wide organization that spearheads mobilization efforts around the large numbers of murdered and missing

Aboriginal women.

Nakuset, the executive director of the Montreal Native Women’s Shelter spoke at the march about the Canadian government’s decision last November to reallocate $10 million dollars, originally marked to go to Sisters in Spirit’s projects, to Public Safety Canada. She told the crowd she received a phone call from a Public Safety Canada representative, and was impressed by the way they seemed to be handling the funding.

“It’s a good thing for Montreal… they’re asking Aboriginals what do you want to do with the money, where do you see a safety plan?”

Nakuset said. “They are actually coming to us. I don’t know if they are doing that everywhere else.”

Speaking to The Daily, Nakuset said she would to hold a weeklong conference for Aboriginal people on violence. She cited increased awareness, and resources such as anger management classes or traditional ceremonies tailored to provide for situations of domestic violence, as actions she would like to be undertaken.

“We need to step up” Stone Iwaasa attended the march on behalf of the Mohawk Tribal Council of Kahnawake. He

explained the traditionally matrilineal nature of Mohawk society and the Council’s commitment “to put things back in the right order” by bringing justice for murdered and missing women.

“We are here for the women,” Iwaasa said.

“It has to bring up change. To let the government know this is not acceptable. This is not tolerated.

They will have to listen to us and they will have to do something,” Diabo said regarding the significance of Monday’s march and the message it aimed to send.

“This is our future. These are our mothers, our lifebearers, so we need to step up and do our part,” he added.

“The strength of this community [is] being able to reach out to all of the races. It’s not just Aboriginals – all peoples to come together for the same purposes of healing people,” Russell said. “The fact that there are all different people here to support is an amazing thing.”

Community resources “There’s certain community centres that help keep people together,” Diabo said, referring to the Native Friendship Centre and the Native Women’s Shelter.

He added that organizations like these help to “keep the community

strong.”

France Robertson, Coordinator of women’s shelters and the promotion of non-violence for Quebec Native Women Inc. – an organization that offers support to Aboriginal women from abusive backgrounds – explained that, in Quebec, many Aboriginal women come to Montreal to escape the violence they experience in their communities. They are able to find resources and support in shelters run specifically for Aboriginal women.

Robertson grew up in Mashteuiatsh, a northern Quebec First Nations community on Lac SaintJean.

“I experienced violence there. In fact, for me, violence there was normal because I lived it,” Robertson said in reference to her upbringing.

“We know what helps our people.

To be able to foster a caring and compassionate environment for them to come out of that abuse – it’s a very big cycle. I’m a victim of it and a survivor of it,” explained Russell who comes from an Ojibwe community.

“The only thing that helped me was going back through my community and through my culture,” Russell said.

Robertson added that the process of healing has especially large implications in Aboriginal communities.

“For us, violence is a subject that was not spoken about for a long time in our community. To increase public awareness in communities and to help people in our communities, help families – it’s not just to help women, it is the family as well,” said Robertson.

According to Russell, the high statistics of violence against Aboriginal women are traced to residential school experiences, the effects of which are still resonating within indigenous communities today.

“It’s been ingrained in our children, in the past generation so that it’s something that we’ve been taught. A lot of people have been taught that that’s what normal is,” said Russell.

“This is kind of the society we’ve built I guess. Everybody has a responsibility in it so we all have to change it all together,” Russell said.

Régie du logement estimates Quebec rent increases Both landlord associations and tenant groups dissatisfied with this year’s predictions Zach Lewsen and Justin Reeve The McGill Daily

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n January 25, the Régie du logement du Québec issued a statement that Quebec tenants and landlords should expect a rent increase of approximately 0.5 per cent this year. Rents for apartments with gas and electric heating could increase by as much as 0.6 per cent according to an RDL statement.

For an apartment with a monthly rent of $650, the 0.5 per cent

increase would translate to an additional $3.25 each month, translating into $39 annually.

Régie spokesperson Jean-Pierre Leblanc said that the 0.5 per cent estimate comes from “the cost of renovations, tax increase, maintenance, and heating...calculated according to Statistics Canada figures for these increased costs across the whole province of Quebec.”

Leslie Bagg, community organizer with the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Community Council, explained how increased rents are examined

before the Régie.

“If the rent increase is contested and it goes to the [Régie], then [it] does the calculation based on all the expenses that the landlord did in the previous year,” she said. “All those expenses are taken into account.”

“The rent increase could be a lot more for a particular city or building if there was a major tax increase or repair costs,” said Leblanc.

Martin Messier, president of the Association des propriétaires du Québec, said the increase would not be enough to cover the costs of

maintaining a building.

“We cannot keep up with the increase of costs that we have. …

If a landlord redid a roof in 2010, it will take that owner more than thirty years to get back their investment,” said Messier.

“We have landlords postponing major repairs as much as possible because they simply can’t afford them,” Messier added. “[These postponements] affect the quality of buildings in Quebec.”

Bagg indicated that students are especially at risk of illegal rent hikes

in lease agreements.

“Students are a prime target more for the rent increases that happen between tenants because they often aren’t aware that they do have the right to know what the previous tenant was paying and that they can contest it at the [Régie],” she said.

“It’s important that people know what their rights are when it comes to rent increases,” Bagg said.

“Students are one of the groups that unscrupulous landlords unfortunately prey upon for those kinds of increases,” she pointed out.

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Online revolution

Online Party of Canada seeks to reshape the political process Brett Howie

News Writer

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he Online Party of Canada (OPC), billing itself as “Canada’s Political Revolution,” intends to make the internet not only an instrument of Canadians’ political will, but also the foundation of the Canadian political process.

“The impetus for the project is to return Canadian politics to their original democratic roots, a simpler system of pure democracy, people voting not for specific politicians or parties but rather voting on issues,” said Stephanie Penney, a senior advisor for the OPC. “The party got started about a year ago, but really rev ved up in the last few months,” she added, attributing the new momentum to the recent launch of the party’s website.

Through its unique methodology the OPC hopes to address what it sees as the major f law in our current political process:

voter apathy produced by a widespread feeling that personal concerns are ignored at the level of parliamentary power, and that elected officials lack accountability to their voters.

While Penney acknowledged that the notion of combating voter apathy is far from new, she affirmed that the OPC’s approach is “the best way to encourage people to go out and inform themselves and to get people invested again in the political process.”

OPC will field candidates in federal ridings, and, if elected, MPs would be legally obligated to carry out the majority position established by online votes.

Membership is available to any eligible voter, and grants access to online forums organized in terms of issues, and a right to vote on those issues.

The emphasis on issues is designed to avoid what the OPC sees as an inevitable pitfall of the party system.

“It’s not the case that somebody would be all Conservative for all issues or all Liberal, it’s always a

blend…so this approach can really embrace that heterogeneity in people’s opinions,” asserted Penney.

Given that the internet is increasingly the primary source of information for Canadians, Penney denies the possibility that the convenience of an online forum will enable the participation of uninformed and disengaged individuals in critical decision-making processes.

“With any system, internet-based or not, you’re going to have a sector of the people who are eligible to vote who are voting without sufficient information. OPC is the best shot we’ve got…of basically encouraging people to inform themselves more in a way that’s convenient for them,” said Penney.

In an email to The Daily, McGill Political Science professor Dietlind Stolle drew parallels between the OPC and other parties worldwide that are “focused on using the internet for political activities” and “like to appeal to young people and to the disaffection in politics that we observe in western democracies.”

Stolle questions the yet unclear role of leadership in the party, as

Citizen initiative calls for open data policy in Montreal Montréal Ouvert talks to The Daily about the benefits of public access

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ontréal Ouvert, a citizens’ initiative that aims to promote open access to civic information, is pushing the City of Montreal to implement an open data policy. This policy calls for the City to give the public free access to any collected civic information. In cities across Canada this policy has allowed citizens to create useful resources concerning municipal facilities and services.

Jean-Noé Landry, one of four co-founders of Montréal Ouvert, spoke to The Daily about the advantages of implementing such a policy in Montreal.

The McGill Daily: Cities such as Ottawa have created open data policies, which have led to the creation of websites and iPhone apps concerning municipal facilities and services. How does the open data policy allow individuals to create such resources?

Jean-Noé Landry: Well, all the civic information would be put into a centralized website. Other cities have done this as well, where you will see all the catalogues of data in a format that is free to be accessed.

When you have precious data – data that is untampered – posted on that website in a permanent way, developers can modify it, use it and share the information back. So in that way it’s a very simple website.

The key thing here in what were talking about is the change in how to manage information, the change

in behaviour. I think whenever you have change like this, every organization is going to have its inhibitions, but we’re here to share the positive experiences of other cities as well. Setting up the website is a mechanism by which to do this.

MD: Montreal has been slow in adopting an open data policy compared to other major Canadian cities, such as Vancouver, Toronto, and Edmonton. Why do you think Montreal has been more reluctant about this policy?

JL: To be fair, you do need to look at how many cities there are in Canada. If there are ten cities that have done this there are still about, what, 170 cities across Canada, who have not. But, hopefully, Montreal will be able to learn from the experience of other cities. We want to work collaboratively to help the city. It is behind, I’m not going to lie. Other cities in Canada are doing this...[but] all bureaucracies are going to be different; they are going to want to take the time to evaluate the feasibility of this. Obviously this is something that should have been done yesterday, but we’ll respect the process and try [to] put pressure to encourage them to work.

There is a demand for it, and we really hope that the city recognizes that this is an approach that the city needs to take on.

MD: What kinds of services and benefits can Montrealers expect to see from open data?

JL: As residents of this city there

are a lot of services that are accessible to us. But for each service there is information that organizes that service itself. We’re talking about schedules; we’re talking about the location of water fountains, parks, community services, [and] skating rinks. We understand that this may take time...not all citizens have the knowledge or knowhow to use that information in a way that is understood and a way that makes the services more accessible. So the thing is to connect with administrations, and then citizens can also innovate.

MD: With the growth of social media and professional blogging sites, more and more people are getting their information through non-traditional outlets. Open data is another way to access information through less orthodox means.

How do you feel about the trend toward a more citizen-oriented or populist media?

JL: If we look at trends – especially with youth – in terms of their public participation, I think it’s to the city’s advantage to have twoway interaction or an active mechanism where residents are able to meet their needs and give ideas about how to interpret data; where we are able to realize the kind of vision that Montreal has for itself.

The data is an outlet for this relationship to change and become more dynamic...it’s really a trend we’re seeing across Canada, and across the world.

—Compiled by Mari Galloway

“We are not trying to fit in with the current political system, we believe it’s archaic and flawed.”

Michael Nicula OPC Founder well as the practicality of the decision-making progress in certain contexts.

“Will there be a party leadership that defines what’s on the agenda and how issues are put on the agenda? If so, they need tools to discuss and weigh issues. Will all this be done online?” she asked.

She also raised concerns about the OPC’s reliance on what she called “referendum tools”—the population voting on a yes/no basis.

“First of all, not all questions lend themselves to a referendum with two choices. Second, it’s a majoritarian tool, and might, at times at least, suppress minority voices,” Stolle said.

However Michael Nicula, founder of the OPC, stressed the party’s

revolutionary agenda.

“We are not trying to fit into the current political system, we believe it’s archaic and flawed,” wrote Michael Nicula in an email to The Daily. “OPC is designed to be the new political system.”

These statements, however, highlight a fundamental problem for a party whose core principles involve a rejection of the system with which it must necessarily engage, and Penney admits as much.

“It’s going to be increasingly challenging as time moves on because we need to successfully interact with the existing system in order to move forward…but yet interacting with the system, it will be challenging to mesh that with the OPC principles.”

EUS VP announces involvement with Jobbook Henry Gass

The McGill Daily

J

osh Redel, VP Communications for the Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS), formally announced his involvement with startup website jobbook. com to EUS Council Tuesday night.

Redel made a brief presentation regarding his work with the company in the fall semester, including software development and recruitment trips to other universities.

Redel travelled with SSMU President Zach Newburgh, Jobbook CEO Jean de Brabant, and two other representatives to Harvard University in midOctober. He also accompanised Concordia student Antoine de Brabant – Jean de Brabant’s son – to multiple Ontario universities, including Queen’s University and the University of Toronto, for the purpose of pitching the website to student society representatives.

Redel told The Daily that his trip to Ontario coincided with a similar one Newburgh made to California with Jean de Brabant.

“It’s unfortunate I made these trips under the pretence of talking about student life and ended up talking about – well pitching – Jobbook,” Redel said.

Redel voiced two main regrets regarding his involvement with Jobbook: the use of his official

EUS executive email in contacting representatives from Ontario universities, and approaching other universities under the pretence of wanting to talk about student life.

Newburgh also contacted other university student representatives with his SSMU email, and approached schools under similar pretences.

“I realize now that it was a very stupid decision,” said Redel in reference to using his EUS email.

Redel clarified that he “never made a decision as part of Jobbook for the EUS,” and that he did discuss student life at length with several university representatives.

Usman Shahid, EUS representative to SSMU Council, asked Redel the extent of the EUS executives’ knowledge of his activities with Jobbook. EUS President Daniel Keresteci told EUS Council that the executive was aware of Redel’s involvement with the company.

“The day after he came back from the first trip I knew exactly what had happened,” said Keresteci.

EUS Council passed a motion resolving to form a consultative forum with Engineering students on the “SSMU President-Jobbook issue.” The motion passed with only two dissenting votes.

The first forum will be held tomorrow, with a second taking place after the break.

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From people to machines How societal complexity is turning us all into robots Wyatt Negrini Hyde Park

T

oday, most of us upper- and middleclass types take a university education for granted, as a necessary stepping stone to a complete life and later career. Despite attempts by government and private interests to restrict access to higher education, more and more people from all levels of income are attending university than ever before. University is becoming a necessity, but why? And a more fundamental question: Why university in the first place? Is university pushing us to become something beyond human?

The answers are not so obvious; go back only a few hundred years and the average education consisted of apprenticing for a few years under a craftsman, or learning basic farm work – while reading and writing was barred to all but the superfluously rich.

But then, with the industrial revolution we saw a sudden increase in society’s complexity, and with it came an increased need for a better understanding of the world.

By the 19th century, learning how to read and write had become important, and a few years of elementary school was sufficient to give one a head start in the labour force. Even fifty years ago, a high school education was more than enough to prepare a person for their adult working life.

Today, a four-year university degree is necessary, and as more and more people rush to get B.A.’s, we see an increasing proportion of the population pursuing Masters and even Ph.D’s just to land a decent job.

Two-hundred years ago, you could begin working at 14 as a craftsman’s apprentice.

I believe the reason for this increased

need for education is not people’s desire for knowledge, more leisure time, or increased affluence (although these are all factors) – but rather, it is the fundamental need to address the increased complexity of society. The required education one needs to function normally in any society is proportionate to that society’s complexity.

In simple societies, less complexity is required to maintain their structure; therefore few people have to be literate or learned, save a small class of elites. But as complexity increases so too does the weight of maintaining said complexity, and therefore an everincreasing proportion of people are needed just to maintain – let alone increase – the complexity of the system.

One-hundred years ago, simply being literate allowed one to easily navigate most of life’s obstacles and understand its workings. Today, in order to be truly “literate” of the world and its workings in any successful way, a university education is required.

This leads to a fundamental problem: society’s complexity continues to increase, but our human capacity for learning does not.

Two-hundred years ago, one could fully integrate into society at the age of 14. Today it takes well into one’s twenties and thirties to achieve the same level of integration.

The extra 15-plus years of time puts a lot of strain on the system. It puts strain on individuals who must sacrifice almost a third of their lives until they can start “living” it. All that time spent studying is not used in being productive, which drains a lot from society – not too mention the cost! An average university undergraduate degree costs thousands of dollars, and whether it’s public or privately funded, the total cost to society is the same.

Furthermore, demographically, society’s insatiable need for education requires so

much of individuals that it delays when they have children, which lowers the birthrate – a trend we see in most developed countries.

The point I’m getting to is this: the high educational burden required by a complex society is pushing the limits of human learning capacity. So what happens when we can no longer sustain our intensive education system? What happens when the creators of complex society can no longer educate themselves well enough to run it?

One of two things.

There will either be a collapse in complexity because of an inability to maintain it, or we will have to drastically alter our ability to retain information, learn, and adapt. Achieving this isn’t so far fetched.

If we want to maintain or increase our society’s complexity, we’re going to need to maintain or increase our ability to educate ourselves to run it.

What happens when human is not enough – when we need to retain even more information?

Do you want to study until you’re grey just for a job? At a certain point we are going to need to upgrade ourselves. At one point progress will outstrip our own ability to adapt to it. At this point we will have to choose whether to halt its march or change our-

selves irrevocably into something different from what we are – to become beyond human. But then again, how human is your modern frappe-slurping, BlackBerry-using university student compared to his hunter gatherer ancestors? That’s evolution baby.

Wyatt Negrini can be reached at wyatt. negrini@mail.mcgill.ca.

Clara Syme with Sheehan Moore for The McGill Daily

Where have all the women gone?

SSMU’s disconcerting lack of gender equity in elections Sarah Woolf Hyde Park

T

he position of women in electoral politics is, shall we say, less than desirable. Old news, right? One would expect, however, that student union elections would be at the forefront of trends toward equitable representation. My friends, I don’t know how else to put this, but if SSMU is any indication of how women politicians will fare in the future: we are fucked.

In over 100 years of the students’ society, nine of our presidents have been women – the first elected in 1965. In the 21st century, we have elected one woman president.

Like many of the women who had previously approached SSMU’s ‘top spot,’ Kay Turner was an incumbent of sorts: she was VP Internal of SSMU in the year prior to her turn as president, which began in 2008-09.

Before her, Tara Newell was president in 1997-98.

Women are not being elected by McGill students, and certainly not elected president. This fact should not come as any great surprise. It is symptomatic, however, of a much more disconcerting pattern: women are not even running.

Since the 2000-01 academic year, there have been 35 candidates for president of

SSMU. Just five of these candidates have been women. A ratio of one to six is abysmal, especially when you recall that our campus population skews sixty-forty in favour of women.

My own experience at SSMU mimicked these kinds of proportions, only ending when I ran against three men for president.

Perhaps the most striking statistic was during my time as an Arts Senator last year: among the 11 student senators elected, I was the only woman.

The last five years have demonstrated a slight trend toward gender parity at SSMU. Executive teams have consistently had two or three women represented among the six spots. However, as former VP Clubs and Services Sarah Olle noted in a February 18, 2010 Daily article, we ought to attend to a disconcerting trend within this “parity.” Roles requiring “external representation to other officials and astute financial analysis” are heavily dominated by men. Since 2000, men have been 10 of 11 presidents and VPs Finance and Operations, while VPs External have been 8 of 11. Meanwhile, the three portfolios where women are making some inroads are described aptly by Olle as “internal, administrative, [and] student-heavy.” VP Clubs and Services is the most heavily dominated by women, with only 3 of the last 11 posts filled by men. VP Internal and VP University Affairs

show even odds: 5 of 11 have been men.

I’m just about the last person to appeal to school spirit rhetoric in order to argue that we should elect more women but, to give some context, Queen’s University has had two women presidents in the last three years, and their students just elected another woman to lead the Alma Mater Society in the coming year.

That’s right, people. Queen’s. What the fuck?

This special issue of The Daily is dedicated to the future. So here is to a future where I don’t get phone calls from new SSMU councillors asking me if a former colleague “just hates women.” Here’s to a future when a woman candidate isn’t endorsed by the press alongside a caveat that she “control her emotions” (I’m looking at you, Tribune). Here’s to a future when SSMU’s women candidates don’t worry that their campaign photos make them look vapid just because they are smiling. And here’s to a future where maybe, just once, McGill students choose a figurehead from among a crop of presidential wannabes that features more than one woman. God forbid she should be elected for her politics!

Sarah Woolf is a U3 Political Science and Women’s Studies student (Joint Honours) and a member of the QPIRG board of directors. She can be reached at sarah.woolf@ mail.mcgill.ca.

Errata In “Working under the covers” (Features, February 14) the names of Vandal Vyxen and Simon Templard were originally misspelled. Additionally, Freaky Steve and Jasmine Jade were originally said to have been recipients of Feminist Porn Awards. They were in fact nominees.

In the article “Newburgh deceives Ivies” (News, February 14) it was incorrectly stated that there was only one student representative to McGill’s Board of Governors. In fact, there are two students: one undergraduate and one graduate.

The Daily apologizes for the errors.

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The space superpower of the future How Nigeria could become a leader in global space research Timiebi Aganaba Hyde Park

W

hile a student at the International Space University in Strasbourg, I had the good fortune of being taught the art of futures thinking by award-winning futurist James Dator, founder of the Institute for Alternative Futures. While for some of the futurist practitioners out there, futures thinking is about trying to make predictions using technical methods, including trend extrapolation, economic and technical forecasting, and simulation of change processes; Dator’s philosophy is that the future cannot be predicted, because “the future doesn’t exist.” Instead, futures research and forecasting should be directed toward developing and understanding “alternative futures.”

I understand the skepticism one feels when one first hears about futures thinking without having learned about it – it sounds almost cultist. But it’s actually a fascinating endeavour that teaches you about yourself, the views you hold, why you hold them, and where they came from. It’s akin to history in the sense that you must understand where you are coming from to have any idea of where you are going. The best thing about futures thinking is

that it gets you to look at things from the perspective of how you want the future to be, and most importantly to look for feasible ways to bring about your chosen future. Or, under Dator’s alternative futures theory, it gets you to set out different images of possible or imagined futures, an exercise that can have “terrestrial” applications alongside the “spacey” ones that Dator’s research emphasizes.

So in my alternate imagined future, what do I see? I see my mother land Nigeria as the leading space-faring nation in Africa. I see a series of satellites designed, manufactured, and launched from Nigeria. I see high school kids opting to study science and engineering so they can contribute to Nigeria’s goal to be a space super power. I also see a 24-hour continuous electricity supply.

To make such visions a reality, we must commit to continuous development of our human capital and give people the tools to not only imagine this future but to be able to actualize it. This is no mean feat for any country, let alone a developing one that still struggles with the basics of electricity supply.

In 1962, John F. Kennedy stated in his now-world-famous speech “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because

they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”

For my imagined future to be a reality, we must rid our society of the cankerworm that is corruption. This pervasive evil vice, to some almost synonymous with the name “Nigeria,” means that despite the goals, ambitions, plans, and targets, expected outcomes do not always materialize. But, credit must always be given where it is due, so that we do not neglect the initiatives that actually are meeting their objectives. We have a space centre that is on its way to rivalling others internationally; we have trained over 100 engineers in satellite technology; we have two Earth observation satellites that are providing international services (and one built by Nigerian engineers); and among other things we have a telecommunications satellite on the way that will provide efficient communication services at a fraction of the price of those currently offered.

That the Nigerian Space Agency has been able to achieve all this in just ten years, compared to other government agencies, is a testament that with the right vision and the

right people in charge, anything is possible. In my imagined future, tomorrow’s leaders of the Nigerian space agenda will see these feats as but a stepping stone and take the great leap that is needed to catapult

Olivia Messer | The McGill Daily

Nigeria beyond her status as a giant of Africa, to a giant of the world.

Timiebi Aganaba is a LL.M Air and Space Law student. Write her at timiebi.aganaba@mail.mcgill.ca.

The case for the big red tent How to stop the Conservatives from ruling Canada forever Ben Hanff

Hyde Park

A

s campaign rhetoric heats up in Ottawa and the possibility of a spring election becomes more likely, many on the left are asking if there is any chance of Stephen Harper being kicked out of the prime minister’s residence.

Though the Harper government has made countless mistakes, some egregious, over the last five years, the Conservatives have never dipped below 30 per cent in the polls. Harper’s base constitutes a floor of support that will vote Conservative until the end of time.

If he turned out to be a murderous vampire, his supporters would just become ‘Team Stephen.’ No matter how much is wasted on corporate tax cuts, how many times Parliament is prorogued, or how many government agencies – like

Statistics Canada – are rendered useless, the Conservatives will never lose power, as its support remains above the next largest alternative: the Liberals.

Left-wing division has long been a feature of Canadian politics.

However, since the emergence of the Bloc Québécois and the consolidation of right-wing parties, the effect of this fragmentation has become much more acutely felt.

And if the Conservative division of the 1990s is any indication, unless it finds unity, the left just might be in the political wilderness for a long time to come.

That being said, a recent article by Globe and Mail columnist Jeffrey Simpson examined a public opinion poll that, contrary to popular belief, shows that Canadians are not becoming more conservative in their values. We remain as entwined as ever with the socially progressive

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values that have defined us for over a generation. Moreover, it is important to remember just which party has transformed those values into public policy.

Though the Liberal party has been dragged through the mud over the last few years and its ranks of members seem depressed and not terribly enthusiastic about its leader, Michael Ignatieff, it is important not to forget just how entrenched the Liberal brand is in Canadian politics. The Liberals are the party of Pearson and Trudeau, of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and multiculturalism, and of course through adopting the policies of the NDP, have become the standard bearers of universal health care as part of a larger social safety net, facilitated by a strong federal government.

Though Liberals may be unpopular, their policies and values not only

still resonate with the Canadian people, but are also an integral part of the Canadian identity. Moreover, realistically speaking, the Liberals are the only truly feasible alternative to the Tories at the Federal level of government. In effect, a vote cast for the NDP or Greens is a vote for more of Stephen Harper as neither of the more radical left-wing alternatives can appeal to a wide enough segment of the electorate to put them in power. So, with an election on the horizon, one cannot help but ask whether the throngs of socially progressive voters will be able to hold their noses and come together, under the Liberal banner, to get rid of the Conservatives.

Former Prime Minister Louis Saint-Laurent used to describe the CCF (The Cooperative Commonwealth Federation, the predecessor of the NDP) as “Liberals in a hurry.” Surely NDP

and Green voters can see that though the Liberal party may seek less drastic action than their own parties, at least the Liberals, unlike the Conservatives, seek to move in generally the right direction.

Recently Michael Ignatieff said in reference to one of his proposals to expand the Canadian welfare state that “it’s not just a plan, it’s a statement of profound value. A sense we’re all in this together. Nobody goes to the wall. Nobody faces that fear alone. We stand together. That’s a Liberal value!” Clearly Michael Ignatieff is trying to appeal to NDP and Green voters as he realizes that they are his only chance at governing. The question is, will they take the bait?

Ben Hanff is a U0 Political Science and Drama and Theatre student.

He can be reached at benjamin. hanff@mail.mcgill.ca.

Haaris Khan on racism and discrimination Isaac Stethem on Egypt and the use of violence

mcgilldaily.com/commentary

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Running out of time to change course Alex Briggs

The McGill Daily

W

e need to accept some things. We are running out of resources: water, oil, space, and the time to change the way we use them. First I’ll say where we’re headed, then where we could go.

The crash is inevitable. The established order – corporate capitalism – will never allow our society to make the necessary changes. A transformation is fundamentally opposed to their interests: the world is ruled by money, money is driven by energy, and energy is driven by oil.

Those with money made it from oil (one way or another) and they continue to profit from the petroleum addiction – the change we need will never be top-down. We must step up.

As easy oil runs out it will become more expensive: a Wikileaks cable revealed that the largest oil reserve in the world is overstated by nearly 40 per cent.

The days when a barrel of oil trading at one-third the price of water are ending. The globalized economy will flounder and fail: shipping consumer goods across oceans will cost too much, and even after cutting wages and benefits, prices will begin to deter consumers – then depression will strike.

It is the small southern countries that will suffer greatest.

Populations that have ballooned on fossil-fuelled agriculture will burst and the trauma caused will scar these regions for generations to come. Established

populist movements will help, but there just won’t be enough to go around. Civil strife will be rampant. Migrations will move away from the hot deserts and encroaching coasts. The Middle East, Australia, and much of Africa will boil. Starving humans will devour everything, biodiversity will plummet, and as it does ecosystems will fail – feeding back in to the crisis as the food web unravels.

Most governments will fail.

Democracy will vanish: it is too ungainly. Small countries and communities may escape. States will survive by stripping humans of their dignity and squeezing them into the slots necessary to run their machines. Small, participatory communities may survive by learning to cohabit and live in balance with their ecosystems.

Here lies our hope. Selfsufficient societies live within their boundaries – it is outsourcing that causes cancerous growth.

Localization also makes technical sense: engines turn only 40 per cent of their fuel to electricity, the rest is lost to heat – which accounts for over 50 per cent of what we use that electricity for!

If we generate that power on-site, then the waste heat isn’t wasted at all. Nearly anything can provide us with the energy we need: the sun, our feces, crop stalks, grass, algae, the wind, or one of those plastic-bag whirlpools (the size of Texas!) that collect in our oceans.

We have plenty of options, if we stop waiting for capitalism to do what it won’t and start building alternatives ourselves.

Life will be better. Contributing directly to your own self-sustain-

Ian Murphy for The McGill Daily

A case for adapting to sustainable, small-scale living

ing community is extremely gratifying. We won’t need drugs (prescription or otherwise) to pretend to be happy. School will no longer be a system to build uniformity, but rather one that grows dynam-

ically with the needs and desires of you and your loved ones.

We can even keep the internet – the most amazing invention of humanity to date – and this can be the basis for a new and revo-

lutionary form of government: direct participatory democracy.

I am referring to the time-honoured creation of the ancient Greeks, not this frustrating lobbyfest pig-circus that we call representation today. Politicians would fuse with the media to serve as the mediator in debate and to clarify the issues, but they would hold no more voting power than anyone else.

A world democracy could grow from coordinated and cooperative grassroots activist movements that would defend everyone’s human (and non-human) rights and allow them to represent their own interests fully. Police would be made obsolete and violence would vanish along with repression, while psychosis would be recognized and dealt with by communities before it escalated.

Another world is possible!

But it probably won’t come about. Money does continue to hold a lot of power in our world, and those with money also hold a lot of guns. Still, look at any population curve from biology and you can see where we stand – our numbers are booming, and soon they will bust. Luckily, among all the strife and suffering, the corporate-crony governments will no longer be able to control the entire world. Spaces will open where those with the will and the preparation can begin to rebuild refreshingly functional societies.

If I survive the crash, I hope to find one – and I hope that you do too.

Alex Briggs is a U2 Mechanical Engineering student. Write him at ajhbriggs@gmail.com.

Intersections: immigration, activism, consumerism The gadfly Shaina Agbayani

shaina.agbayani@mcgilldaily.com

F

rantz Fanon observes in Black Skin, White Masks that “there is but one destiny for the black man. And it is white.” For Francis Fukuyama, The End of History bears the contours of a universal liberal democracy. Fukuyama and Fanon – prominent, scholarly, non-white products of the wealth of opportunities afforded to them by elite European educations – perceive that a trajectory of mass initiation into whiteness and Europeanestablished liberal democracy will chart our future. All quarters of the world will eventually integrate themselves into the institutional components of what have historically been wedded to white hegemony: English, a higher standard of material living, education, liberal democracy,

beauty, “culture.”

Whether in the realm of beauty or intellect, what whiteness has come to emblemize is enchanting.

Whitening creams and soaps are regularly advertised products in culturally-marketed beauty magazines. Once, after I shared with a friend that McGill is the “sexiest university” – as per an online student forum – she attributed this fact to our overwhelming whiteness. The blunt comment “sometimes I wish I were white,” is heard from second-generation immigrants – who are not in fact self-hating downers, just in liminal, ambivalent cultural spaces.

In Zadie Smith’s contemporary classic White Teeth, JamaicanEnglish protagonist Irie Jones becomes enamoured with the English-English Chalden family, which has taken her under their wing as their cultural beneficiary.

Irie “was fascinated. … No one in [her] household made jokes about Darwin, or said ‘my foot and mouth are on intimate terms’

or offered choices of tea, or let speech flow freely from child to adult, as if the channel of communication between these two tribes was untrammelled, unblocked by history, free.” This passage spoke to my upbringing that, come university, rendered me somewhat aggrieved of my parents’ apolitical pleasantry, mostly my father’s recurrent jokes about the only fruit of his Philippine agricultural degree – that he’s the Asian male Martha Stewart of plant-watering (still gets me…and he does water well).

Yet it is ineffective to chastise the widespread de-politicization of immigrants – disproportionately visible minorities – forming the lower class majority: multiple underpaid jobs render opportunities for political “acculturation” and “integration” remote, romanticized realities.

What results is a scarcity of activism within an immigrant community that would benefit tremendously from such to redress

their socioeconomic grievances.

Activism, however amorphous the term, typically requires the luxury – time, resources – to cultivate knowledge about your “oppressions,” then battle against them. Marching with a throng of protesters brandishing signs emblazoned with socialist axioms; joining legions of idealists in allyou-can-drinks to raise money for the drinkless; or writing an article to rebuke odious institutional practices are all exclusive forms of activity.

Ironically, “commercial activism” supplants community activism for socioeconomically marginalized immigrants. Consuming and flaunting frippery becomes the primary form of activism-oncredit when commercial “communities” replace the virtues of the gregarious and homogenous cultural community that was left behind. Not surprisingly, then, working unrelentingly during the week and spending Sundays relishing in the pseudo-communal

frenzy at the mall becomes a norm for many immigrants I observe (who, in fact, appear miserable while shopping).

Cultural alienation, little money and much work are counter-productive to political consciousness and activism, and, ironically, conducive to materialism – the idea that it is the “materialessness” that makes life so miserable.

Meanwhile, our government fails at making activism more inclusive for immigrants. The Conservatives’ December decision to eliminate funding from educational, social, and employment services to newcomers aggravates their disenfranchisement. This decision compounds the negative impacts of the disposal of the long-form census last July, which threatens the existence of government services that reflect the needs of those on the margins.

Fortunately, this is not the end of history. !

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PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE

“W

e affirm that the world’s magnificence has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed. A racing car whose hood is adorned with great pipes, like serpents of explosive breath – a roaring car that seems to ride on grapeshot is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace.”

—F.T. Marinetti, The Futurist Manifesto

Merging the awe of myth and the promise of motion without bound, the Futurist Manifesto tore across the front page of the French daily Le Figaro on February 20, 1909, setting the bar for the way we continue to fantasize the future. The promise of untramelled prog- ress came at a cost.

The manifesto went on to promise Futurism would “destroy the museums, libraries, academies of every kind, will fight moralism, feminism, every opportunistic or utilitarian cowardice.”

Within a decade, the manifesto’s writer, F.T. Marinetti had become an ardent and early adherent of Mussolini, and the shortlived Futurist Party had merged into the National Fascist Party of Italy. The Futurists believed in motion, technology, and progress and this necessarily meant violence, destruction, and conflict.

The temptation to view progress as an inexorable movement forward remains a seductive, but ultimately brutalizing lens through which to view the future. Ten years into a new millennium, our collective visions

of what’s to come still often fall into the same totalizing logic of forward motion that was so alluring to the Futurists. There are better ways to conceptualize the future. Change is inevitable, but the way we think about it isn’t. Universal visions are valuable, but so are small-scale local ones. The past, be it recent or ancient, as well the present, have as much to show about the way forward as futuristic fantasies. Instead of imagining flying (or roaring) cars, we need to think more about the relationship with the cars we have now.

Huge change can happen with huge speed (one need look no further than the recent revolution in Egypt) and more often than not it’s impossible to predict. And even the greatest transformations are made up of myriad smaller increments: the multitude in the streets includes individuals with unique pasts, presents, and futures, distinct from but inseperably constitutive of the whole.

—Emilio Comay del Junco

I

n this issue of The Daily, we want to look into the Future in all its infinitude and its immediacy – from next year’s campus politics, to how global society will survive after the end of oil. Some of the content we’ve included could be in any other issue, other articles are more unconventional.

In an effort to give voice not only to students – The Daily’s usual writer and readership – we’ve also asked four professors and one community member to give us their visions of the future.

THE FUTURE OF LABOUR RELATIONS AT MCGILL As McGill becomes more corporate, rather than collegial, and continues to treat its staff as workers rather than valued community members, I foresee a continuation of the unionization surge among McGill employees – most recently, casual non-academic staff, research associates and research assistants becoming members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada. Also, inter-union solidarity will increase, in an effort to create an equitable workplace and balanced labour relations. In our own negotiations, begun this January, we are prioritizing the key issues of wages, which are sub-standard for the sector, pension and benefits, hours of work, staffing, and job protection.

KEVIN WHITTAKER President, MUNACA

THE FUTURE OF IRELAND’S DEBT CRISIS The Irish government, to reassure the markets, has introduced a deficit-slashing budget, threatening years of austerity. The Irish economy will no doubt bounce back, in time. But the meltdown may well alter the political landscape irrevocably. Fianna Fáil, the dominant party in the governing coalition during the crisis, is facing voter wrath.

Emerging from the wreckage of the Irish Civil War (1922-3), it has been in power for all but 18 of the years since 1932, with never less than 39 per cent of the vote. But the latest polls for next week’s election put it in third place, at just 15 per cent, behind its long-time rival, Fine Gael, and the Labour Party. We may well be witnessing a major – and welcome – realignment of Irish politics, less beholden to the ghosts of the past, more suitable for the Ireland of today than for the troubled new nation of the 1920s.

BRIAN LEWIS

Professor of History

THE FUTURE OF CANCER PREVENTION

THE FUTURE OF HOUSING

Current trends raise concern as globally, the cancer burden is increasing. There are questions regarding the practicality of making very expensive new treatments available to all cancer patients who might benefit from them, and this is especially the case for those treatments that are known to offer benefits that are real, but very small in magnitude. The complexity of cancer makes a single “breakthrough” unlikely, but this possibility cannot be excluded. Incremental progress in treating advanced cancer are likely. Improvements in cancer risk reduction strategies may do more to reduce cancer burden on the planet in the next twenty years than advances in therapies for advanced disease.

In the future, home design will have to respond to pressing environmental concerns, in a big way – for example, by developing new materials. It will have to respond to an aging society, and nd we will have to bring the cost of housing down to let young people be homeowners. This is very, very important. It is almost impossible to imagine how a young person can afford to buy a home today, unless we become more innovative.

AVI FRIEDMAN

Professor of Architecture

MICHAEL POLLAK

Alexander Goldfarb Research Chair Department of Oncology McGill University / Jewish General Hospital

THE FUTURE OF DATA In 1997, we would have needed 10,000 interconnected processors working in parallel and taking 150 m2 of space to match the peak performance of 2006’s Sony Playstation 3. By 2030, increase transistors density through 3D integrated circuit (IC) process technology in microprocessors, and technology advancements related to photonic integration enabling high throughput data communication between interconnected servers, will enable us to pursue such scaling improvement. This will give rise to novel scientific methodologies where massive amounts of data can be collected and computed, enabling better drug development and digital media, and many other applications. But more importantly, enhanced mobile devices supported by what is today referred to as the cloud computer will reach out to rural areas and developing countries, giving the power of knowledge to more citizens of the world.

ODILE LIBOIRON­LADOUCEUR

Assistant professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

//THEMCGILLDAILY//THURSDAYFEBRUARY17//MCGILLDAILY.COM//FEATURES 11

Olivia Messer | The McGill Daily

Enviropig: the other white meat Are consumers in the loop on their genetically modified food?

Pierce Nettling

The Ubyssey (UBC)

V

ANCOUVER (CUP) – A genetically modified Yorkshire pig may soon be available in your grocery store. Cecil Forsberg, professor emeritus at the University of Guelph, has co-invented the Enviropig: an animal which, according to its website, has the “capability of digesting plant phosphorus more efficiently than conventional Yorkshire pigs.”

While genetically modified plants have been on the market since 1993, the genetic engineering of animals hasn’t yet been approved.

But are genetically modified (GM) products, in particular animals, dangerous?

Lucy Sharratt, coordinator for the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN), says you should not only worry about what is in your food, but also the commercialization of GM foods.

“We need to look at the current reality of genetic engineering, and see that it comes from an agenda of corporate profits and not a public mandate or interest,” said Sharratt.

Forsberg, meanwhile, believes that “whereas everyone is getting ill from [regular] hamburger disease and bacterial infections,” GM foods have been shown in studies to be harmless to humans. According to Sharratt, if the Enviropig is approved, it would become the first genetically modified animal available for human consumption.

It raises the question of whether we can trust regulators to make the right decision for consumers and pork farmers. Sharratt believes that

Health Canada is unable to make a non-biased opinion.

“There’s no labelling, democracy, or transparency on this issue for consumers,” said Sharratt. “All of the science behind the products on the shelf is corporate science, and [consumers] don’t have access to any of that science. It is corporately owned, and it’s kept confidential.”

Forsberg sympathizes with these complaints about the Canadian regulatory system. “It is quite true that it is confidential,” he said, “[but] that is something we cannot change.”

And while Forsberg also rebuked any criticism that suggested the University of Guelph was not following the rules set out by the Canadian government, he does wish to see the current system reformed.

“In the U.S., there is a comment period where people have access to the data,” said Forsberg, who is in favour of a more open process within the Canadian regulatory system.

“We are not trying to hide anything – I think you can put a lot of trust in the regulatory agency in Canada.”

The Enviropig faces further concerns than just marketing. Even the labeling of GM foods has become a contentious issue. According to Forsberg, the problem with labeling foods from genetically modified plants is due to the inability to detect a difference from naturally occurring plants.

“There is just no way of tracing the oil from transgenic crops because they’re identical – so you can’t label them,” said Forsberg.

However, when it comes to the Enviropig, he and Guelph University would welcome such labeling on

their product.

“I would have nothing against labeling [Enviropig] as transgenic, because we would be delighted to see our Enviropig go out and have it labeled as Enviropig pork.”

Besides the political obstacles facing the labeling of GMO foods, Sharratt said there is a more pressing concern: safety. According to her, little to no independent research is currently being conducted on the safety of genetic engineering.

“There [are] very few independently funded, peer reviewed, scientific studies that look at specific health questions about genetically engineered foods,” she said.

Although University of British Columbia Botany professor emeritus Ian Taylor understands that the criticism levelled by Sharratt and others is important, he feels it is ultimately over-emphasized. Taylor believes that the media and other organizations should be suspicious of someone who proclaims, “it’s peer reviewed and therefore it is somehow magically truthful.”

He added that the peer review process only involves academics within their specific field verifying the specific research – but the research itself is rarely absolute and frequently altered by later studies.

Fears aside, what role would a product like the Enviropig assume in our society? According to Sharratt, the difference between genetically modified crops and animals and biotechnology advancements in medicine can be determined through their social use.

“The use of animal products in medicine is the introduction of a

technology that has a social use,” said Sharratt. “The introduction of genetic engineering for food…is the introduction of genetic engineering that has no social use.”

Sharratt believes the push for genetically engineered animals is coming from small, rogue companies or university research departments that have no public mandate. In her view, this mandate has allowed universities to develop unnecessary scientific advancements for specific industries – in this case, the pork industry.

“This is why we see genetically engineered pigs from the University of Guelph,” she said.

The main contention between CBAN and Guelph on research ethics is the university’s combined use of public funding along with a grant from Ontario Pork (the Ontario hog producers association) for the sole purpose of creating a product that the university intends to sell commercially.

“Universities are taking public research and then they’re commercializing that research,” said Sharratt. “Universities have established [business] offices with the sole purpose of bringing university research into commercialization.”

This corporate business aspect is not lost on the University of Guelph. David Hobson, of Guelph’s Business Development Office, reiterated his office’s mandate with the Enviropig: “My current focus is to find an industry receptor that would like to take the project from its current state (research) and attempt to bring it to the market.”

Forsberg, meanwhile, said the allegations by CBAN lacked credibility. According to him, the

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, along with local governments have emphasized and encouraged universities to move toward commercialization of their research, in order to gain additional revenues and royalties.

“It’s a standard practice,” he said. “[Universities] cannot do research without receiving money from an organization. Our funding has come from contract funding from Ontario Pork. They don’t have any research arm themselves, so they contract out for their research and most of it is in universities.”

Taylor calls the symptom of this commercialization in university research “inventor syndrome.” He describes this as being when inventors, usually at the behest of their universities or employers, proclaim their invention to be universally good – or as he puts it: “I invented it, and therefore it’s used for the good of humanity, and therefore it’s good, because I said so.”

However, Taylor noted that we have to understand why universities are so defensive and organizations like CBAN are so critical.

“If you invented something,” said Taylor, “and you start to develop, put money into it – suddenly you become very biased. And equally, the response to bias…is another bias in the opposite direction, probably more extreme and less rational.”

If the Enviropig hits shelves, it would open the market for more research and more GMO products. So are genetically modified products safe? Does anyone know?

Taylor doesn’t.

“They don’t tell us that sort of thing.”

McGILL

UNDERGRAD ENROLLMENT

BY FACULTY

UNIVERSITY

PROPORTION OF MONTREAL ADULTS WHO WILL BE CONSIDERED TO HAVE LOW LITERACY SKILLS TODAY

57% / 51%

= 100 STUDENTS

Source: McGill University Enrolment Report

ARTS

2005

2010

PROPORTION OF MONTREAL ADULTS WHO WILL BE CONSIDERED TO HAVE LOW LITERACY SKILLS IN 2031

SCIENCE

2005

Source: Canadian Council for Learning

2010

TRANSFERS TO PERSONS

MANAGEMENT

2005

2010

ENGINEERING

2005

2010

EDUCATION MEDICINE

2005

2005

2005

2010

MUSIC

2005

2005

DENTISTRY

2005

2010

TRENDS FROM 2006-2021

-3.3% 3.2%

ALL QUEBEC UNIVERSITIES

MCGILL UNIVERSITY

B

18%

OF CANADIAN KIDS AGED 2-5

11%

CAN PLAY WITH A SMART PHONE APPLICATION.

2010

ARTS+SCIENCE

ENROLLMENT

2010

AGRICULTURE+ENVIORNMENTAL SCIENCE LAW

OVERALL PROJECTED

2010

2010

2005

2010

RELIGOUS STUDIES

2005

CAN TIE THEIR SHOES

Source: AVG

2010

THE AVERAGE AGE OF

$13

CANADIAN STUDENTS COLLECTIVELY ARE OVER

BILLIO

A CANADIAN GAMER IS

BILLION IN DEBT

Source: Financial Post

280.5

35.8

YEARS OLD

Source: Entertainment Software Association Of Canada

QUEBEC

$3,748

FEDERAL PROGRAMS

RESIDENCY INTL

$7,348 $20,122

CANADA

McGILL TUITION BY

EXPENDIT Source: Globe and Mail’s Special Report

Source: McGill University Tuition Estimate

1800

1900

CORPORATE TAX

FEDERAL

REVENUE

EI PREMIUMS

231.4

GST AND OTHER DUTIES

THE

BILLION

BREAKDOWN

5

OF THE

PERSONAL TAXES OTHER REVENUE

2010-2011

OTHER INCOME TAX

FEDERAL

$

BUDGET

SOCIAL TRANSFERS

ON

TURE

PUBLIC DEBT ACTUAL PROJECTED HIGH PROJECTED AVERAGE PROJECTED LOW ESTIMATED

ESTIMATED

WORLD1800-2100 POPULATION GROWTH Source: United Nations World Population Projections

2000

2100

!HEALTH&EDUCATION

14 HEALTH&ED//THEMCGILLDAILY//THURSDAYFEBRUARY17//MCGILLDAILY.COM//

Healing between the margins Addressing the health needs of a diversity of sexual and gender identities Amina Batyreva

The McGill Daily

T

he Gay and Lesbian Medical Association website states that, “patients should see their provider as an equal partner in their health care, not as a gatekeeper or an obstacle to be overcome.” Yet the reality for queer people seeking medical care is often quite different. Those of minority sexual identities often face adversity in the doctor’s office: be it discrimination, stigma, or even cost, these issues extend far beyond the reach of the waiting room.

One of the most harmful myths regarding LGBTQ healthcare is that queer people do not have health care needs distinct from the general population. Perhaps due to a willful refusal to recognize the unique LGBTQ struggle, this health care myth results from the conflation of queer people deserving equal rights as nonqueers, with queer people having the same needs as non-queers, according to Allan Peterkin and Cathy Risdon’s Caring for Lesbian and Gay People: A Clinical Guide.

Facing the oppressive workings of heterosexism, queer people experience “minority stress” – a research term describing the chronic psychological distress associated with internalizing stigma and experiencing repeated incidents of prejudice. Countless studies have shown that oppressive social environments lead to very tangible negative health outcomes for queer people. This can include depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and substance abuse. Lesbians and gay men have been shown to be more likely to smoke, and lesbians are more likely to be overweight than the general population; both are more likely to suffer from heart problems. A study in the The Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry connected risk of suicide in GLB teens with negative attitudes toward homosexuality.

The LGBTQ community has a precarious relationship with the health care system, sitting atop a rocky foundation of a lack of awareness among health care providers, as well as a reluctance to engage with the health care system on the part of the queer population. There are many reasons that queer people choose not to engage in the traditional patient-provider model of health care services, the biggest reasons often being discrimination or judgment. Surveys of LGBTQ individuals show that many are reluctant to “come out” to their doctors, due to a fear of being judged or turned away.

Barriers to care include heterosexist environments fostered by aspects such as heteronormative language on medical forms, lack of awareness on behalf of health care providers, prohibitive costs as well as a lack of adequate insurance coverage, and a reluctance on the part of the patient or provider to discuss salient issues concerning sexuality and sexual history. Patient histories assume hetero-

Olivia Messer | The McGill Daily

sexual sexual activity, or even a gender binary between man and woman.

Quinn Albaugh – a former Daily columnist on trans issues – stated in an interview that, “The onus is always on you to disclose information, and you may not be comfortable doing that. Finding a reliable physician whom you can trust is a lifelong challenge.” In fact, in the absence of a trusted doctor, many LGBTQ individuals put off seeking help until their conditions become aggravated, and they often fail to come back for follow-up care after the initial visit. The institution is in a state of transition, with the gay rights movement making strides that are perhaps not reflected equally across the board.

For example, Albaugh talked about the awkward state of Quebec health care in covering sex-reassignment surgery operations. “They will cover it if you get it done at a public hospital, but there are no public hospitals that currently offer the surgery. So you have to go to a private clinic where it’s not covered,” they said.

Alongside high fees, potential stigma, or bureaucratic issues that may stop many people of non-normative sexual identities from seeking health care, transgender people also face an additional obstacle which homosexuals have generally overcome: having transgender status classified as a mental disorder within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (DSM), used in America and to varying degrees around the world. The pathologization of homosexuality has historically impeded the fight for gay rights and equality, though it was removed from the DSM as a mental disorder or “disturbance” in 1980.

Nicola Brown of the national Centre for Addiction and Mental Health stated in an email that “because of the positioning of Gender Identity Disorder within the DSM, many trans people interface with mental health providers in order to be assessed for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health diagnostic and readiness criteria as part of their eligibility for hormonal and surgical treatments.”

Yet these conditions may change, as the DSM-V is currently in preparation for publication in May 2013.

Danielle Chénier of the Association des transsexuels et transsexuelles du Québec (ATQ), an organization that maintains a list of trans-friendly medical resources and services, wrote in an email that especially for queer and trans people living in remote locations, access to care is hampered by a dearth of trained specialists – instead, they are referred to general hospitals which are often not equipped to deal with their needs. “Many transgender people end up discovering ATQ by chance, and we make sure that they are provided with good quality services and served by specialists who won’t exploit these people to line their own pockets,” Chénier wrote. Other similar organizations include Montreal’s Project 10, Stella, and the Concordia-run 2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy, all part of of the Montreal-based Trans Health Network along with ATQ.

Aid for the queer student Though the situation seems bleak outside the hallowed halls of academia, queer students at anglo Montreal universities like Concordia and McGill have a much more robust resource network, and services that are considerably better-suited and aware of their needs. For instance, the 2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy is a powerful queer- and transfriendly institution in Montreal, and also a student-funded Concordia organization catering to student interests, as well as those of the general community. PierrePaul Tellier, director of McGill’s Health Services, has worked at McGill for over thirty years and also works as a physician at Head and Hands – a non-judgmental and largely free clinic which is famously queer-friendly and trans-positive.

Albaugh noted that Tellier himself provides endocrinology consultations and prescriptions for a number of trans patients. More broadly, McGill’s SEDE (Social Equity and Diversity Education)

Office provides safer space training for various bodies at McGill, including the counselling services, security, administration, faculty, and notably the health services. Albaugh notes, however, that “university students are in a place where they’re not quite financially independent.

So navigating everything with your parents in terms of starting to transition [for transbodied students] can be an issue.

Not having supportive parents can be a big deterrent to getting care, because they can always cut you off.” For many students, university is the first time to explore or determine sexual identities, and these resources are especially important in this context.

Ryan Thom, co-administrator of Queer McGill, believes that health services for students can be improved by making students feel more comfortable with using them. It may be the responsibility of the student to seek out help if they need it, but seeking help is easier if the environment is non-judgmental and discreet. Thom says, “Right now, of course, things are operated with an emphasis on the doctor-patient confidentiality policy, wherein to access McGill health services you have to provide your student ID and your legal name and other such information. I’d like to see more services available that are anonymous and specified as non-judgmental. … I would not only like to see a shift toward a more queer-friendly paradigm, but also a greater emphasis on general sexual health.”

Concordia University professor Deborah Dysart-Gale of General Studies Unit of the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science wrote a review article in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing arguing that nurses can leverage and provide better health services for queer teens. Dysart-Gale was quoted in The Science Daily on the topic of the suicides committed by queer youth last fall, “Bullying and such resulting suicides are avoidable. Health care workers have tools that can help queer teens – no one needs to die because of their sexual orientation.”

To place an ad,

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via email: ads@dailypublications.org • phone: 514-398-6790 • fax: 514-398-8318 in person: 3480 McTavish St., Suite B-26, Montreal QC H3A 1X9 Cost: McGill Students & Staff: $6,70/day; $6.20/day for 3 or more days.

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150 character limit. There will be a $6.00 charge per contract for any characters over the limit. Prices include taxes. MINIMUM ORDER $40.50/ 5 ads. Lost & Found ads are free. Other categories include: Movers/Storage, Employment, Word Processing/Typing, Services Offered, For Sale, To Give Away, Wanted to Buy, Rides/Tickets, Lost & Found, Personal, Lessons/Courses, Notices, Volunteers, Musicians, etc.

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THURSDAYFEBRUARY17//HEALTH&ED

15

Public purpose, private goal Globalized trade agreements pose threats for Canadian health care Critical Condition Debbie Wang

debbie.wang@mcgilldaily.com

A

ccess to an equitable and comprehensive health care system is a defining aspect of Canadian citizenship. According to a 2002 report by the Commission of Health Care in Canada, Canadians “want and expect their governments to work together to ensure that the policies and programs that define medicare remain true� to values of “equity, fairness, and solidarity.� The public health system we enjoy today, however, exists in a globalized world. Health services and related industries, from pharmaceuticals to diagnostic testing, are like most other things, tradable commodities.

Relations of trade have come to be defined by multilateral trade agreements that liberalize the trading process through measures such as tariff reduction. One key agreement – the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) – exists explicitly to guard against the creation of policies that would hamper access to markets between the tri-nation bloc of Mexico, the United States, and Canada. Canada is also a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and a signatory of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), which binds countries to a set of international

trade rules. Thus far, certain stipulations on NAFTA exempt “social services established or maintained for a public purpose� from the kinds of regulation other industries are subject to – and certain public sectors can be excluded from GATS’ jurisdiction. This means that at present, our markets are not open to competitiveness from private health care providers. Our current medicare system – one that guarantees a basic minimum, and relatively equal, access to healthcare – is still strong.

However, these binding trade agreements may soon threaten our 70 per cent publically funded health services sector in the future, as policy changes force Canada to comply with rules it had previously signed onto. Already, the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights agreement that all WTO members must comply with has forced Canadian governments to extend patents’ rights – from 17 years to 20 – to pharmaceutical companies. This means that these corporations hold exclusive rights to drugs for longer. With generic drug companies unable to manufacture more affordable alternatives to critical medications, it will become increasingly difficult for governments to afford prescription drug support for their citizens.

Also, changes to health policies that open the marketplace to certain private health care providers – and in turn foreign investment – may subject Canada’s health sector

to international trade agreements.

The WTO states that, “wherever there is a mixture of public and private funding‌the service sector should be open to foreign competition.â€? Provinces like Alberta, which has already begun privatizing portions of their health services, could be opening a Pandora’s box by “commercializingâ€? health care.

Once one part of health care delivery has been contracted out, American companies wanting a larger slice of the multibillion-dollar Canadian healthcare industry could leverage trade agreements to further penetrate the market. When for-profit health care providers come into place, can the industry really be exempt from trade regulations by masquerading as a “social� service? And when one health delivery service is opened up to competition from private companies, how far behind is the entire system?

Our health care structure is not immune to the influences of an increasingly globalized world.

To protect a system that many Canadians value (and indeed, are proud of) requires strategic alliances with other countries and vigilance in ensuring we can evolve our policies without incurring unwanted consequences. Although Canada’s economy benefits from its position as a nation heavily engaged in trade our health care sector on these same global markets threatens a foundational facet of Canadian identity.

Interested in becoming a

DAILY EDITOR? Now’s the time to get involved.

Come by room B-24 in the SSMU building, or email coordinating@mcgilldaily.com for information

L’achat de cigarettes de contrebande coûte plus cher qu’on le pense : il alimente d’autres activités criminelles comme le trafic d’armes et de drogues. Les individus pris en possession de cigarettes de contrebande s’exposent à de graves conséquences, allant de l’amende jusqu’à l’emprisonnement.

consequencesdelacontrebande.gc.ca Buying contraband cigarettes costs more than you think. It fuels other criminal activities, such as the trafficking of drugs and guns. Individuals caught in possession of contraband cigarettes face serious consequences ranging from a fine to jail time.

contrabandconsequences.gc.ca

!CULTURE

//THEMCGILLDAILY//THURSDAYFEBRUARY17//MCGILLDAILY.COM//CULTURE

17

Power to the pen

Artist-run collectives like The Room 22 expand the limits of online publishing Tamkinat Mirza Culture Writer

M

ost creative writers encounter a bleak reality when attempting to get their work published.

Publication is a process that always seems to involve massive amounts of heartbreak, resentment, and textual ranting – possibly with a vat of vodka thrown into the mix.

The continuing emergence of creative blogs spanning all literary genres indicates that many writers have had enough of these frustrations, and are taking the matter into their own hands.

Although it circumvents the red-tape of conventional publishing, self publication is not without its faults. A lack of standardized quality controls coupled with the vast number of creative blogs means readers must sift through a lot of painfully average writing in order to get at some actual creativity, especially since many blogs have an inherent tendency to disintegrate into angst-driven ranting.

Among the countless forums dedicated to sharing creative writing on the world wide web, Montreal-based The Room 22 has emerged, not as a personal blog, but as an online art collective – a means of disseminating writers’ work while providing feedback from within. Being surrounded by writers who have their own unique, creative styles creates a sort of built-in quality control. It also counters bloggers’ The Room 22 crowd established the creative writing collective online, and are tendency to disregard anonymous feedback by steeping the members’ relation- wanted to do a zine... it’s taken two years It’s not just us presenting our work... ships with each other in an atmosphere to get to a point where we have some- We’re more an art collective than a writof creative inspiration and critique. “We thing decent and solid,” said Marie Jane. ing collective,” said Marie Jane.

Self publication allows writers to bounce off each other a lot...we’ll go back With the flexibility that websites offer, it and edit certain pieces...we found a voice become easier to post works-in-progress, regain control of the creative process. that felt like the one we wanted to offer,” as there is no sense of finality. Being While there is a certain stereotype of said Guillaume Morissette, one of the online-based then characterizes the col- glamour associated with publishing in lective as a fluid dialogue, allowing the established journals, striving blindly members of the collective.

Within this dynamic, writing becomes creations to grow and evolve with feed- toward this can be constrictive, especiala means of relating to each other, an back. “[A zine] is more substantial... The ly for newer writers still discovering their aspect absent from single-author blogs. blog is a tool for us to get our work out artistic styles.

One of the members of the collecIt also allows for a personal element there and maybe finish it...the zine will that conventional publications lack. “We have some finale to it... The poems I post tive, Olivia Wood, has been self-publishhave a concept of inspiring each other, aren’t final and I haven’t decided how I’m ing since before she got involved in The of writing for ourselves but also for each going to present them yet... We’re [still] Room 22, and finds that the appeal of self other,” said Marie Jane. One of the col- working our way toward the zine,” said publication lies in the freedom it offers.

“It bypasses that whole perpetual filter lective’s original members, Marie Jane Devin Charitonidis.

The Room 22 is concerned with more that’s super subjective, especially when it has remained active an active part of the collective since its creation two years ago. than just writing; it provides its members comes to poetry...When you start writing “Once you’re part of it, you’re always part with an outlet for a variety of art forms. things to cater to publications, you start Its aim to create an artistic experience on getting far away from your own actual of it,” she added.

The common conception of blogs as various sensual levels is evident in how process,” she said. It comes down to a adhering to a single-author, confessional the website draws its audience in, not choice between finding and refining your structure often leads to a lack of respect only with access to the members’ writing, own voice or moulding it to that of a puband general disregard from literary com- but also by providing a window into their lication.

Creative collectives can combat the munities. As a result, it has become dif- lives – from artwork and music they find ficult to employ blogs as a platform to inspirational to a section dedicated just to restrictions enforced by publishing houses by providing a platform that is more establish credibility. With this shortcom- images.

“We’re interested in visual arts, multi- personal, creating room for a multitude of ing in mind, The Room 22 will soon use a parallel medium for establishing its mem- media arts, video collaboration, events, voices. “People like reading our blog and having people involved in the process, enjoy the whole process because its really bers’ work more concretely.

“When The Room 22 started, we showing the whole process of writing... personal...we don’t really censor ourselves

Nicole Stradiotto | The McGill Daily

expanding into a zine. at all... I know that from my writing, I’m nervous about wanting to publish eventually, because its a very specific genre of writing...it’s not going to be easy to find place to submit that kind of work...I don’t feel that pressure when I write on the blog,” said Marie Jane. The collective has found its identity through the various voices that comprise it, not the other way around.

The essential role of creative collectives in allowing a place for writers to grow, to develop their own artistic voices without succumbing to what Morissette aptly referred to as “the arbitrary directive to submit in a [certain] template, with no control over which people like it.” Even adhering to these requirements is never a guarantee of publication. “It’s like a Magic Eight ball,” Morissette believed.

Creative collectives may be a stepping stone to publications, but aren’t yet established enough to serve as a substitute.

Regardless, collectives provide a concrete platform for critical feedback, create relationships of inspiration, motivation and improvement, and could hold the future of creative writing in their URLs. The Room 22 is at theroom22.wordpress. com. They welcome submissions at theroom22@gmail.com.

Inkwell wants your creative writing.

Submit poetry (max 20 lines) or prose (max 500 words) to culture@mcgilldaily.com

You’re always writing it? We’re always taking it.

18 CULTURE//THEMCGILLDAILY//THURSDAYFEBRUARY17//MCGILLDAILY.COM//

After the funeral Art collective goes post-technology with a DIY journey through time and space Anqi Zhang

The McGill Daily

“I

want to make it look like a big pirate boat.” This was Sami Blanco’s answer when asked about the art show “Time Travel Fuzion Clonage,” which runs on the 19th and 20th at the Torn Curtain. In any other context, this might sound strange, but in the Torn Curtain’s loft – the rehearsal and work space for many members of the artists’ collective Internet is Dead, this sentiment makes perfect sense. Surrounded by art, and in the midst of preparing for “Time Travel Fuzion Clonage,” Blanco spoke to The Daily about the upcoming art show, his vision, his art, and the artist collective Internet is Dead.

“Time Travel Fuzion Clonage” will serve as the grand opening for the Torn Curtain Art Gallery.

It promises to feature both visual artists and musicians, largely from Montreal’s Do-It-Yourself – read: innovative and independent – art scene. Borden Phelps, the owner of the Torn Curtain, said that they hope to “get noticed by Montreal’s art elite as well as influence our young artists to create”. Blanco is confident in his peers’ – and his own – work: “It’s going to inspire other artists,” he said.

Both Phelps and Blanco are

hoping to “blow people’s minds and inspire them to travel through space and time.” From their descriptions of the event, it looks like they’re well on their way to achieving this. When asked about origins of the name “Time Travel Fuzion Clonage,” Blanco went on to describe the elaborate interconnectedness of people through time: “[Each person is] one identity that travels in time between thousands of universes, and fuses with these universes, and retains the same identity, and then multiplies by a thousand, and then we’re all the same.”

This is the first event of its type for Internet is Dead and its artists, and Blanco is going all out. “We’re going to have projections of the sky,” he said, to create the illusion that the pirate boat is flying. Musicians who work with the Internet is Dead record label, including Flow Child and Super Fossil Power, will also be featured during the event. “Time Travel Fuzion Clonage” is not merely an art show; it is a collaboration of all of the talent behind the collective.

Internet is Dead is in itself more than just a collection of artists or an online showcase of artwork; it is an art community. “I’m friends with everyone [I work with],” said Blanco.

Friendship has been the foundation of this project from the beginning.

When Blanco met his friend Erik

Stacey Wilson | The McGill Daily

Zuuring – an artist and co-founder of the collective – he felt what he described as a “cosmic explosion.”

This aligning of universes eventually led to the formation of Internet is Dead – the realization of Blanco and Zuuring’s shared dream.

Blanco draws his inspiration from the closely connected Icelandic art scene and has wanted to recreate that sort of artistic community to a larger city like Montreal for a while. He sees importance in bringing people together to create and then to share their creations, especially in terms of eliminating barriers between the francophone scene and the anglophone scene. What started with the publication of a zine to showcase Montreal’s DIY artists has

grown quickly. “Time Travel Fuzion Clonage” will hopefully be the first of many art shows, and Internet is Dead is already preparing for the release of an audiobook zine.

“Time Travel Fuzion Clonage” marks a new endeavour for the Torn Curtain. The venue has previously been known for primarily showcasing local musical talent.

Phelps hopes that, after this weekend, the Torn Curtain will also be a “success as an art gallery” with opening hours on a weekly basis.

Both Internet is Dead and the Torn Curtain are looking forward to the near future with anticipation, and with good reason. Borden said, “More people are getting involved for sure.

There are...some who I have just met

who have really amazing work.” The DIY art movement is certainly growing in Montreal, and Blanco’s vision of creating a “big art spaceship” – that is, a self-contained world in which artists collaborate and inspire each other – is starting to realize itself.

When asked about the essence of the artist collective and the DIY art scene, Blanco said simply, “DIY is when you have an idea, and you totally believe in it.” Defined in this way, it seems Blanco has everything that he needs in order to create truly “mind-blowing” DIY art.

“Time Travel Fuzion Clonage” is running from 5 to 11 p.m. on February 19 and 20, at Torn Curtain, 6595a St. Laurent.

On the cards and in your hands Soothsaying as practiced and experienced in Montreal Naomi Endicott

The McGill Daily

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un Tarot is remarkably different from the few occult shops I’ve visited before – small tents at folk festivals, crammed with charms and bottles and dogs. In a sunny basement on Parc, nestled under a restaurant next to a fishmonger, I was greeted by Jason.

Instead of being asked to step behind the black curtains at the back of the room, he asked me to sit down at a velvet-covered table in the foyer.

Our session was accompanied by the chattering songs of a number of budgies in the window. Jason, reading from my astrological chart and tarot cards, gave me little specific information about my future, and what he did say wasn’t concrete. Instead, what I came away with was a compendium of good

advice. Jason was a neutral stranger – I didn’t spill my life story to him, but he asked such specific questions and gave such specific ways to proceed – based on what the chart told him, that I was able to draw tangible suggestions. I can’t tell yet how accurate or otherwise his predictions may be, as I only went this past Tuesday.

The whole experience did not feel mystic, spiritual, or occult.

Jason wasn’t trying to convert me, or impress me with spookily accurate details about my life. Nor could his readings be written off as general enough to apply to everyone – the common skeptical view of fortune telling, and one that certainly was my own perception of the field after reading too many horoscopes in old copies of 24 Heures on the bus. The Sun Tarot website describes their mandate: “Just as each person is unique, so is each reading. It can be a question,

a need or clarification. All points of view are valid and respected. The mystical, spiritual, or mundane – the choice is yours,” and this is the atmosphere I felt.

Jason first came across the occult when he was 15 years old.

After trying a communications spell that resulted in falling down several flights of stairs, and being arrested (the police mistook him for somebody else), he threw the spell into the sewer. But, he said, “the spell worked, invariably” – twenty years later, he had conquered his shyness. Despite initial skepticism he continued to study astrology, using early computer programs in the eighties to write and then sell astrological charts.

But it took longer for Jason to get into the occult that Sun Tarot now also focuses on. “I was not all that open… I remember one day somebody said they were burning black candles. I thought, burn-

ing black candles? That’s witchcraft, you know, that’s fucked up…

Despite having this openness I was pretty closed-minded on some levels. Then over time I got involved in a spiritualist church. I went there for a while and a man read for me.”

This reader’s predictions – while “so wrong” at the time – all happened: the new woman, going back to university, becoming a very good tarot reader. “I put a lot of energy into learning it…it’s a lot of effort.”

This led him to a job in an occult shop in Montreal, and finally to the place he runs now.

I asked about the usual demographic. Four Ph.D. math students in the past week, Jason noted, and none of them knew each other.

College professors, professional people, even a psychiatrist once – and “dancers, hookers, criminals.

So a broad spectrum of people.”

Although more women come in than men, he said, he prefers read-

ing men. “Some of the nicest, and maybe more serious life-affirming decisions have been made with men.”

Our curiosity for the future is insatiable, and demand for soothsayers will continue as long as this trait lasts. “People have been doing my line of work since the beginning of time,” Jason pointed out. “Can you peer into the future?” he asked rhetorically. “To some degree you can.

We all have archetypes…So [with] our ability to tap into an archetype, we’re able to push the window a little bit forward. If you work with people, a question and an answer in this moment in time is absolutely true for this moment in time… But when you leave, your life continues on. So it’s the decisions you make along the way that are going to show us your outcome.”

Sun Tarot is at 5012a Parc. Phone 514 313 9767 for more information.

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New horizons for physics The search for gravitational waves, dark energy, and time travel Alexander Kunev

The McGill Daily

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little over 100 years ago, a patent worker by the name of Albert Einstein came up with the theory of relativity, stating that the speed of light is constant and unattainable, and completely revolutionizing physics in the process. Great theories followed his work, and we now have a better understanding of black holes, the possibility of multiple universes, and the beginning of our own universe. Physics has given us the ability to develop technologies like GPS satellites and particle accelerators, but in many fundamental areas of study we have consistently failed to find the right answers and to devise equations that work all the time.

The theory of everything By the 20th century, scientists were already on a quest to find a theory of everything. The discovery of the laws of electromagnetism by James Maxwell in the late 19th century, and the development of the special theory of relativity by Einstein in 1905 have encouraged scientists’ attempts to unify the laws of physics.

However, no such unifying theory has yet been verified. The strongest candidate – string theory – hasn’t yet been proven in an experimental setting and would require an atom smasher the size of the galaxy for us to test it.

What would a theory of everything

serve? Its development would give us an enormous power to answer some of the oldest and most puzzling questions about the universe. What came before the Big Bang? Was there even such a thing as before? How many dimensions are there, and why can’t we see the higher ones? Such a theory might also be able to give us the basic tools to construct a wormhole, a hypothetical bridge in the curvature of spacetime that could give us the ability to travel back in time (but only to the point where the time machine was built) or help us make interstellar travel that exceeds the speed of light a feature of daily life.

The origin of the universe Ultimately, the Big Bang is the holy grail of physics. It can unlock the final frontier of human understanding of the universe, and a lot has been going on in the last few decades to uncover these secrets. The real mystery, however – and the discovery that could bring us even closer to the moment of the Big Bang – are gravitational waves.

Predicted by Einstein in 1916, gravitational waves are fluctuations in the curvature of spacetime, which propagate as a shock wave.

Matt Dobbs, professor of Physics at McGill, is trying to detect the trace of gravity waves left from the increased inflation in the beginning of time. His team is currently working on the EBEX project, which aims to send a balloon to the stratosphere in order to investigate for these traces, and try to push our picture of the Big Bang up until 10 to 35

seconds after the event. When asked by The Daily, Dobbs affirmed that these waves do in fact exist, adding that he’s hopeful they will be detected in the next twenty to thirty years.

Dark energy A long-standing problem for physicists dating back to Isaac Newton is the inexplicable behaviour of gravity on a large scale. If the gravity force is always attractive, then why doesn’t the universe collapse into itself? This question was put to Newton by a priest, who believed that in order to maintain this “metastable” state the universe must be a gigantic clock, wound up by God at the beginning of time and obeying the laws of physics. Later on in the 20th century, the mechanical clock was replaced by a cosmological constant, an antigravity force pushing the stars apart. We now know this cosmological constant simply by the name of dark energy, which accounts for 73 per cent of the total mass-energy in the universe.

Finding the true nature of dark energy will reveal the ultimate fate of the universe – whether it will expand indefinitely until it freezes, or reverse the expansion and be crushed into itself.

However, for Dobbs, dark energy is one of the biggest unknowns, given that it is still a hypothetical form of energy.

Dark energy also can’t explain anything about the initial state of the universe, because it first appeared at a much later time. One of the things that his research is trying to uncover are pockets of dark energy, by using large telescopes such as

the South Pole Telescope, even if such methods presume gravity is exactly as described in Einstein’s general relativity.

A slight deviation in our measurements of relativity might lead to fundamental change in theoretical physics, and the relativity equations might have to be modified, if possible.

But is the theory of general relativity wrong, and what would this mean for physics? According to Reg Cahill, professor of Physics from Flinders University in Australia, there are numerous sets of experiments that show the effects of changes in the speed of light. But such results are not yet recognized because for now, error probability in terms of measurement of the mass of Earth, the moon, or the sun, is inserted. Cahill explains this with the artificial creation of the dark energy concept, to account for the extra gravitation pull. If there are errors in relativity, this would effectively deal a great blow to dark energy. And mostly it would mean that that the laws of physics might have to be reworked, and that the last 100 years have given us a lot of unproven theories, but not enough solid ground to build on towards a theory of everything.

Whether we would be able to answer all of the fundamental inquiries about the universe is without importance in the face of the growing divisions within physics. A unification of gravity and quantum mechanics is needed in order to be able to answer the growing questions. Only then could we have as clear a picture of physics as Newton had, and start discovering ideas and inventions that could completely revolutionize our lives.

Visions of the future

The Daily’s Shannon Palus looks at past computer ads and their projections

“T

he idea of a computer in every office and home used to be science fiction,” begins a thick page of copy advertising Commodore computers. William Shatner, with a head of thick brown hair, is pictured holding the unit, which boasts a real-time clock and 500 kilobytes of disk capacity. The ad ran in 1981, shortly after the first home computer hit the market. These first generations of PCs looked like clunky over-sized calculators, and many were designed to plug into a television set. The ads invited interested customers to call a phone number or write via snail mail for more information. They often didn’t just advertise computers, they advertised the future, as though computers were time machines that could make the future happen now.

Apple II: Even in the early days, Apple ads featured a clean design and timeless copy. One ad featured a red apple on a white background, below the words, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

The makers of Sinclair ZX80 promise that “you don’t have to wait for the future.” Though the copy lists math lessons and creating home budgets among its uses, it’s marketed as more of a plaything, a fun experiment, than a tool: “take a trip to the computer age now.” It cost just shy of $200, and came with a guide and a ten-day money-back guarantee – and the promise that “in one day you’ll be writing your own programs!”

Atari Home Computers: A girl with a clear space-helmet sits next to her dog, as she plays a game called, “Caverns of Mars.” The caption reads, “Learn to Brave New Worlds.”

“By the year 2000, the world may catch up with the way CompuServe’s new electronic mall let’s you shop today.” The ad promises at-home shopping: customers could call up descriptions of products, view catalogues, and place orders. A “unique ‘feedback’ service” was available to ask merchants questions, and electronic bulletin boards – mostly run by amateurs – were also gaining popularity.

In a two-page IBM ad spread, Charlie Chaplin rides a bicycle with a large tan case neatly strapped to the rear wheel. The large copy reads, “How to move with modern times and take your PC with you.” The fine print includes: “It’s a PC. In a case. With a handle.” IBM ran many ads with the words “modern times” accompanying Chaplin’s image – perhaps in ironic conflict with the 1936 movie Modern Times, where Chaplin plays Little Tramp, a character struggling to fit into a world which relies increasingly on technology and industry.

Illustrations Olivia Messer | The McGill Daily

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The new battleground How the internet shapes social movement in the face of regulation Marzieh Ghiasi

Science+Technology Writer

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t has become commonplace to describe the web as the Wild West – a place where there are no rules, no regulations, and not much protection. It is therefore no surprise that the web has become a battleground for governments, commercial entities, and users, each fighting to preserve their own interests for the future.

Derek Ruths, an assistant professor of Computer Science at McGill who teaches COMP 189, a course on Computers and Society, explains that forecasting the future of the internet is difficult because these changes will be accompanied by society’s changing ideas and expectations about privacy and regulation.

“Ten years ago people would have thought Facebook, the idea of putting all that information online, was ridiculous. But somehow society has changed,” he said in an interview with The Daily.

The rise of networking sites like Twitter and information warehouses such as Wikileaks has been attributed to civil uprisings that have occurred across the world. The 2009 protests in Moldova were dubbed by the media as that country’s “Twitter Revolution.”

However, some, like Malcolm Gladwell, the author of the New Yorker article “Why the revolution will not be tweeted,” have argued that the internet plays a peripheral role in social uprisings, such as those that took place in Moldova and Iran. Ruths, while agreeing, stated that the role of the internet may expand in future uprisings.

“Large parts of the population

Olivia Messer | The McGill Daily

[are] not online, and we don’t have a good understanding of how to use [the web] yet,” he said. It may then be the case that once the social theory around the use of the internet is developed, future online networks will become not a reflection of, but a basis for social movements.

However, while society is figuring out new ways to harness the power the internet, legislators across many countries have been moving toward enacting regulatory measures on the web.

In an address to students at George Washington University on February 15, the United States

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for “ground rules to protect the World Wide Web.” International treaties in the future might follow the example of Finland, where, in 2009, broadband access was made a legal right. In Egypt, where the government retains control over internet service providers (ISPs), some 88 per cent of internet traffic was shut down within tens of minutes for a period of five days this month in response to the wave of protests in that country.

The establishment of international ground rules and penalties may serve to discourage nations from restricting access to the internet.

On the other hand, with increasing regulation we may also see the establishment of tighter controls, similar to China’s “Great Firewall.” In the U.S., senators have introduced the “Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010,” a controversial bill that if enacted, will grant emergency powers over the internet to the president, potentially including “kill switches” or legal control over ISPs in times of emergency. Ruths pointed out that with threats such as spam, viruses, worms, and denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, concerns about the lack of rules and regulations concerning the internet are legitimate and must be

addressed. However, he expressed some reservation about the regulations that are being enacted. “It’s not clear that people who are the decision makers in this have the technical knowledge to sort of think about the actual options and their implications.”

Along with governmental regulatory bodies, the market is proving to be a powerful force in shaping the future of the internet. One of the battle fronts, the “net neutrality” dispute, has pitted ISPs against content providers. Many ISPs are seeking to implement tiered networks that will charge content providers to deliver different levels of services. ISPs maintain that tiered networks will allow for better delivery of services and innovation, while content providers argue that their implementation will allow ISPs to discriminate between data, and threaten web freedoms and openness.

On another front, many ISPs are looking to regulate internet usage at the user level. Recently the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ruled in favour of regulation by allowing telecommunications companies to charge usage-based fees – as opposed to the current monthly flat rate. After a wave of petitions and protests, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Minister of Industry are set to reverse the ruling.

With an ever-changing landscape, the future of the internet remains unpredictable. However, Ruths encourages the public to inform itself about these critical issues, and, cautiously optimistic, remarked “there’s some rough times ahead for sure… [but] I find it hard to believe that we’re going to end up in a very dismal scenario.”

Harnessing the sun to power the future The potential, and limitations, of fusion power Prose Encounters of the Nerd Kind Andrew Komar

andrewkomar@mcgilldaily.com

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ny vision of how we will meet our energy needs in the distant future is difficult to imagine without harnessing the power of nuclear fusion. Fusion represents the ability to generate essentially unlimited energy from seawater, creating virtually no waste or CO2. Physicists working on making that vision a reality have predicted that fusion power may be just thirty years away, though they have been making that prediction for a very long time.

The basic physics behind fusion are simple. Take an atom of heavy hydrogen (known as deuterium) and smash it together with another

atom of heavier hydrogen (called tritium). The collision results in an atom of helium, which weighs less than either of the other two elements. We know that that a change in mass results in a massive release of energy to balance the conservation of energy. The real trick with fusion physics is providing the necessary energy to get the deuterium and tritium close enough so that they stick together, because these atoms are normally electromagnetically repelled by each other.

The sun is a perfect example of a working fusion reaction, and it has been steadily burning for the last 4.6 billion years. It gets around the issue of providing energy by virtue of the titanic force of gravity at its core – some 330,000 times the mass of the Earth all bearing down on the same spot. This causes about 4 million tonnes of mass to be converted into pure energy every sec-

ond, which generates all the heat and light from the sun.

Obviously, we do not have the luxury of having 330,000 Earths worth of stuff to make our own sun, so more ingenious methods must be employed to get the required energy for fusion. The crudest working example of fusion on Earth is found in the hydrogen bomb, using the force of an atomic blast to provide the necessary energy.

The resulting reaction is uncontrolled, which is fine if you are bent on causing a global apocalypse, but unfortunate if you wish to use the incredible energy created for more constructive means.

Modern research into fusion is broadly divided into two different methods for achieving the required energy: using powerful magnetic fields to heat and compress the atoms until they fuse together, or shooting a tiny amount of mat-

ter with colossal laser beams. A demonstration reactor using the first approach is currently being built in France. It is known as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) and when it is completed in 2018, its doughnut-shaped magnetic chamber will compress hydrogen gas to the millions of degrees necessary to ignite the reaction, hopefully resulting in up to five times the input energy. The research resulting from ITER will be used in the next generation fusion reactor, tentatively titled DEMO, which will be designed to be a working electrical power plant and should be online by 2040.

The laser approach is best observed at the National Ignition Facility in California. Their strategy is to use 192 of the most powerful laser beams ever created to focus the energy equivalent of 500 lightning bolts (500 terrawatts, or 500

trillion watts) on a deuterium and tritium target a couple of millimeters across for a billionth of a second. The resulting heat will cause the target to compress, resulting in fusion. It is unclear, however, how this laser approach will result in the sustained power generation necessary for a commercial power plant, since the “cool off” time required by the system is a matter of hours, if not days.

Regardless of the method we use to achieve fusion, when it is successfully achieved, it will represent a massive increase in the potential energy generation of humanity. Deuterium is easily obtained from seawater, literally allowing for the conversion of water into energy. With a supply of essentially unlimited and free energy, solutions to the problems that we will be facing will be much easier to access. And all of this may be possible in just thirty years.

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When bigger isn’t better Avi Friedman’s narrow home designs save space, money, and resources Farid Rener

Science+Technology Writer

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vi Friedman, professor of Architecture at McGill, told me that his office, on the third floor of the MacdonaldHarrington building, is the size of a house.

While his office is bigger than most, Friedman, who was selected

by Wallpaper magazine as one of ten people most likely to change the way we live, wasn’t exaggerating. Houses “that literally have a small footprint,” he said, are the future of home design.

His new book, Narrow Houses: New Directions in Efficient Design, suggests that homes less 25 feet (7.6 metres) wide are a sort of panacea for so many of the problems currently faced by our cities.

Narrow houses use fewer resources during construction, and consume less energy once they are built. These homes, which can be built in high density, help combat urban sprawl and provide a sense of community not present in the large majority of

newly built urban and sub-urban environments.

Friedman, the director of the Affordable Homes program in the McGill School of Architecture, notes that these “sustainable homes” also respond to demographic trends: “families are smaller, not everyone needs a home with six bedrooms and four bathrooms all connected to the internet. People are willing to live with less.”

“Once you train yourself to live with less, and you are happy with what you have, you don’t seek more,” he told me.

Friedman, also the author of The Adaptable House: Designing Homes for Change, doesn’t believe that you should have to throw away your house once your needs change.

“You don’t need to gut and throw away walls if you can design a wall that can easily be dismantled and be installed somewhere else.”

This is a topic of current research for Friedman and his students.

“What I have been trying to do over time is to introduce concepts that let people intervene and easily adapt homes to their conditions.”

The homes highlighted in Narrow Houses present a more human alternative to space-saving high-rise apartment buildings. They provide tenants with a “relationship to the ground,” as most have back or front yards. This provides space, he said, for further reducing our environmental footprints.

“One way of reducing our footprint is to grow our own food. This can be done individually, you can do it at home on a balcony, on a roof, or in your backyard.”

Most of Friedman’s designs are meant for factory production. Conventionally built houses, he said, often create tremendous amounts of waste.

“Usually, if you are building on a cold day, on a rainy day, you don’t have time to think, you just want to finish quick and go home.” In a factory, however, there are opportunities to take waste and reuse it in constructing other parts of the building.

While looking to the future of home design, Friedman notes that the narrow house is not a new concept.

“The origin of the narrow home dates back to the middle ages,

when cities had to limit what they could build within their walls.”

Flipping through the book, which is filled with lavish colour photographs of narrow homes in over 14 countries, Friedman paus-

es on one project, the Modern Wooden Town, in Porvoo, Finland.

He points out to me the most exciting, grounding feature of this town: “Near every group of homes, there is a place to play.”

Grace Brooks | The McGill Daily

The Father, the Son, and cyberspace Catholicism is embracing technology, but risks losing itself along the way Erin O'Callaghan

The McGill Daily

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ho needs to go to Church when an iPhone can walk anyone through a proper confession? A quick Google search inspired by a new application – a “Confessions” app available for $1.99 – brings up a host of further connections between the Catholic Church and technology.

Though the Catholic Church did not approve the application, ranking members of the Church do have personal Facebook accounts, and the Vatican has a YouTube channel and a slew of Twitter accounts.

There is even a Facebook application that allows people to send virtual postcards featuring the Pope.

While it may seem counterintuitive for a primeval institution such as the Catholic Church to embrace these seemingly frivolous forms of new communication, mass media is actually an effective tool in the modern history of Catholicism.

In 1931, the Vatican established a radio channel and in the 1980s the phenomenon of televangelism – televised sermons – gained immense popularity. Televangelists brought the visual spectacle of preaching to the homes of millions, further

increasing the ability to experience religion in seclusion. These technological advancements are accepted as inherently good and useful – after all, the Catholic experience can now be shared worldwide – but the question remains: is more always better?

The Daily asked Torrance Kirby, director of the Centre for Research on Religion, to comment on the relationship between religion and technology. Kirby said that it is nothing new.

“If you take a very traditional Catholic view of religion, a lot of it has to do with spectacle… Baroque decoration is all about…the tricks of sculpture and painting to bring people to some kind of condition of awe and wonder at the divine splendour.

[Therefore,] is there anything different [between] what Bernini is doing in his design of ecclesiastical spaces and what modern technology does?”

However, Kirby does acknowledge that today’s technology allows for greater individualization and seclusion, which is contradictory to the traditional message of Catholicism and worship.

“There is something qualitatively different when, [compared to Bernini’s Baroque decoration], you think that with YouTube you can project some religious event or service or action around the world

which anyone can pick up in their comfort of their own bed. [This] is problematic to say the least.

There’s some way in which traditional notions of worship are challenged,” explained Kirby.

Kirby was ultimately interested not in the future of the relationship between religion and technology, but the prospect of technology as religion. Citing Martin Heidegger’s essay “The Question Concerning Technology” throughout, Kirby posits the existence of a religion of technology.

“It seems to me arguable that a certain kind of commitment to technology, an unquestioning commitment that technological advancement is progressive and beneficial to humanity, is a kind of religious commitment itself,” Kirby stated.

Most people view technology as means to an end: tools that we control in order to better serve our lives on Earth. However, what if technology actually controlled us?

What if the way in which we used technology determined our actions, and the technological progress we made was pre-determined by the technology we already possess?

Kirby explained that society tends to assume that technology is ethically neutral. It is merely an instrument of progress that we

as human beings control. He told The Daily that Heidegger calls this common assumption into question. “Technology is a way that we as human beings have a relation to truth,” quoted Kirby.

It is therefore possible that this relationship that we have with truth through technology is similar to our traditional understanding of religion. Catholicism is a way in which certain people have a relation to truth. However, there is a fundamental difference between the relationship to truth that religion provides and the interconnection experienced through technology. While technology is a necessary element of modern society, and a valid method of communication for the Catholic Church to pursue, society’s commitment to technology risks overshadowing its commitment to faith.

What is the future of religion and technology? February 12, 2011 was the 80th anniversary of the Vatican radio.

In his message for the 45th World Day for Social Communications on January 24, Pope Benedict XVI said, “The new technologies are not only changing the way we communicate, but communication itself, so much so that it could be said that we are living through a period of vast cul-

tural transformation. This means of spreading information and knowledge is giving birth to a new way of learning and thinking, with unprecedented opportunities for establishing relationships and building fellowship.”

This acceptance of technology further emphasizes the implicit trust society as a whole puts in the virtue of technological advancement.

Every day, people are inundated with an incomprehensible amount of information. In a matter of seconds, a Google search garners countless Catholic websites, blogs, and podcasts – both official and unofficial – for personal perusal. Our increased unquestioning dependence on technology allows for the flow of more information than ever before and, in the case of the Catholic Church, more people are able to access the Church and experience Catholicism.

While most may argue that this new communication technology is a fact of life that institutions must adapt to in order to survive, some believe that the true meaning of religious worship is lost when using Facebook or Twitter to connect with the Church, and that by using an iPhone app to express spirituality, we are in danger of losing ourselves within technology itself, and missing the true aim of religion.

Dear Daily, Here we are, a day away from reading week. I’ve been dreaming about _________ since the first _________ of the semester.

VERB ENDING IN -ING

NOUN

But before I ________ off to __________, there’s something I ACTION VERB

PLACE

need to _______ you: I ______ your _______.

VERB

VERB

NOUN

I mean it. Even when I’m _________. I’ll never forget the time ADJECTIVE

you _______ while you were in the _______ – I couldn’t help but VERB ENDING IN -ED

NOUN

________!

VERB

I hope this doesn’t make things ________ between us, but I couldn’t ADJECTIVE

________ for a week without telling you.

VERB

Love,

BRING YOUR BEST MADLIBS INTO IN TO THE DAILY OFFICE IN SSMU B-24. MAYBE WE’LL PUBLISH THEM.

______________ NAME

E

Finishing a degree?

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MCGILL DAILY. COM

Late applications accepted

Annual General Meeting The Annual General Meeting of the Daily Publications Society (DPS), publisher of The McGill Daily and Le Délit, will take place on

Tuesday, March 22 in Leacock 232 at 6pm.

Members of the DPS are cordially invited.

The presence of candidates to the Board of Directors is mandatory.

For more information, please contact the Chief Returning Officer, at: cro@dailypublications.org

//THEMCGILLDAILY//THURSDAYFEBRUARY17//MCGILLDAILY.COM//EDITORIAL

23

volume 100 number 34

EDITORIAL

The future of information In late October, the CRTC (Canadian Radio-Television Commission) ruled that large telecoms like Bell would be permitted to charge smaller, wholesale buyers who resell bandwidth a higher premium on the internet they use. This increase would then be passed on to consumers, meaning that people who enjoy unlimited or high bandwidth caps would now be subject to limits as low as 25 gigabytes per month – equivalent to streaming roughly 25 to 30 hours of television – for the same price. This would have effectively granted the larger providers an oligopoly on the market, allowing them to set prices where they could profit most with little or no competition. As a direct result of public action, including protests in Montreal and other major cities and petitions circulated nationally, the government responded by calling on the CRTC to reverse its ruling. The ruling is now being reevaluated, and hopefully is on its way out.

It is admirable that the government reacted so strongly to public pressure and stepped in to prevent a clear abuse of power on the part of the CRTC, but beyond this unique event, the commission isn’t functioning as the independent and publicly accountable body it’s supposed to be. Ad hoc interference on the part of elected officials is a disastrous long-term prospect, and an abuse of the relationship between the party in power and a body that should be impartial and nonpartisan, much like the judiciary.

editorial 3480 McTavish St., Rm. B-24 Montreal, QC H3A 1X9 phone 514.398.6784 fax 514.398.8318 mcgilldaily.com coordinating editor

Emilio Comay del Junco coordinating@mcgilldaily.com coordinating news editor

Henry Gass news editors

Rana Encol Mari Galloway Erin Hudson features editor

Niko Block

commentary&compendium! editor

Courtney Graham

coordinating culture editor

Naomi Endicott culture editors

Fabien Maltais-Bayda Sarah Mortimer science+technology editor

The CRTC has recently proposed changes to several radio and television regulatory acts. Its amendments would change the provisions in these acts that call for “the prohibition on broadcasting false or misleading news” and amend them to “any news that the licensee knows is false or misleading and that endangers or is likely to endanger the lives, health or safety of the public.” What seems like a small change could be a huge blow to the quality of information that Canada receives from its news sources. By effectively removing the need for fact checking in news, the CRTC is undermining citizens’ ability to trust in news sources and will effectively make it impossible to hold the media responsible for its content. The CRTC must be held publicly accountable for its actions.

There is a thin line between government regulation of the internet and unchecked access to and dissemination of information. While regulation to keep the media responsible and affordable to citizens is necessary, it is also important that governments are not allowed to have complete control over either access or the type of information presented. There is a delicate balancing act to maintain, one that becomes more complicated to control as media and the internet become more integrated into our daily lives.

The CRTC’s recent actions have shown a disregard for both citizens’ ability to access information and the quality of information that they receive.

Canadians need to continue both to stand up for their right to affordable internet and access to high-quality and accurate information, but also be aware of what role they want their government to play in that regulation.

Alyssa Favreau

health&education editor

Joseph Henry sports editor

Eric Wen

photo editor

Victor Tangermann illustrations editor

0livia Messer

production&design editors

Sheehan Moore Joan Moses copy editor

Flora Dunster web editor

Tom Acker cover design

Victor Tangermann le délit

Mai Anh Tran-Ho rec@delitfrancais.com Contributors

Amina Batyreva, Grace Brooks, Ethan Feldman, Marzieh Ghiasi, Brett Howie, Andrew Komar, Alexander Kunev, Zach Lewsen, Ian Murphy, Pierce Nettling (CUP), Erin O’Callaghan, Shannon Palus, Justin Reeve, Farid Rener, Misha Schwartz, Erin Sparks (CUP) Nicole Stradiotto, Clara Syme, Mark Turcato, Stacey Wilson, Debbie Wang

The Daily is published on most Mondays and Thursdays by the Daily Publications Society, an autonomous, not-for-profit organization whose membership includes all McGill undergraduates and most graduate students.

3480 McTavish St., Rm. B-26 Montreal, QC H3A 1X9 phone 514.398.6790 fax 514.398.8318

Boris Shedov Letty Matteo treasury & fiscal manager Pierre Bouillon ad layout & design Geneviève Robert Mathieu Ménard

advertising & general manager

sales representative

dps board of directors

Olivia Messer | The McGill Daily

Tom Acker, Emilio Comay del Junco, Humera Jabir, Whitney Mallett, Dominic Popowich, Sana Saeed, Mai Anh Tran-Ho, Will Vanderbilt, Aaron Vansintjan (chair@dailypublications.org)

The Daily is proud to be a founding member of the Canadian University Press.

All contents © 2011 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.

!COMPENDIUM!

//LIES //HALF­TRUTHS //AND OUTER SPACE!

//THEMCGILLDAILY//THURSDAYFEBRUARY17//MCGILLDAILY.COM//

Intergalactic Hipster Invasion Fulgencio Marxista The McGill Daily

I

t has been predicted that in the year 2013, humanity will be enslaved to a gang of intergalactic hipsters from a far off planet. The name of the planet isn’t important, you won’t have heard of it. These ugly ducklings of the vicious alien warfare world are rebels, naturally hating their conservative Death-Star-toting parents.

They only attend the University of Milky Way to smoke cigarettes and change the world, putting in the minimum amount of effort in their Arts courses to keep the universal trust fund flowing.

Tired of the squares on their planet, they depart to find a new one to frolic on. Naturally of course, they avoid the mainstream, and choose an often ignored planet known as Earth. Upon landing, they actively search for fellow hipster brethren. Unfortunately, they find millions who all look the same, none of course, who admit to being hipster. The intergalactic hipsters are not impressed. They need change.

So, they put hipsters to work.

These alien hipsters set up a network of intergalactic Starbucks where the human hipsters are put to work for the first time in their lives. Forced to mass market what was once a unique cultural icon to

PLUS 100

Reading week is finally here!!

Bikuta Tangaman | The McGill Daily

earth – no-foam lattes and such – the intergalactic hipsters make Starbucks a universal commodity, while of course heavily distorting the original image of the scene. Some humans try to stand up for the hipsters, but for many more “Fascist” ones the generally improved smell of the earth is too much to give up.

The reforms don’t stop there.

The members of Nickleback, regarded as universal war criminals to these intergalactic hipsters, are publicly flogged with non-leather whips to the amusement of aliens who haven’t listened to the radio in ten years.

Bikes are all converted to the fixed gear sort, and any new clothes are removed from the

market. Macbook Pro’s become the only legal computer to sell on the market, much to the dismay of their conservative parents who prefer Alienware. Sports are banned, being replaced by Marxist literature circles broadcast through the nation on low quality internet streaming sites.

The attitude of the earth will have changed too. Ask any human what’s wrong with the establishment now, and they’ll all give you the same answer. “Well umm, yeah, I feel like uhhh, yeah, just, well, fuck the system.” No one would have predicted it. Their parents call it an embarrassment. Human rights activists call it disgusting. But the intergalactic hipsters? Well they just call it ironic...

Government gets CRTC to back down (hopefully) on internet caps, but we aren’t sure yet

EVEN

Bahraini police kill two citizens in a raid on a peaceful demonstration against the murder of two young men

MINUS 50

Wisconsinites fight back against their governor when he tries to ban public sector unions

PLUS 65

It looks like democratic revolution is contiuing to spread around the world!

PLUS 32 EVEN

They’re making a Men In Black III...?

Students in the U.K. make an awesome video about education

PLUS 80 PLUS 13

There are parachute pants!

The U.S. proposes a fee on every Canadian visitor by air or sea. I’m walking over the border from now on!

MINUS 23

TOTAL

PLUS 217

LAST WEEK’S TOTAL

PLUS 19

No one wants to hear about just our quality of life: compendium@ mcgilldaily.com.

Twit for Twat Twitter launches new service Stefan Goulet

The McGill Daily

W

Marlee MacmIllan for The McGill Daily

ith a new service, users are able to tweet what sexual service they are “solicitating” followed by the hash-tag “#twit4twat” and they will receive a direct message arranging a liaison. However, this move has come under fire since its launch last week.

“I think it’s disgusting,” said Bethany St. King, head of Mothers Against Twit for Twat (MATFT). “Selling your body is sinful. I don’t think anyone should be selling themselves on the streets or on the internet.”

MATFT organized an anti-Twitter protest this past weekend in Jacksonville, Florida asking participants to bring signs with more than 140 characters.

However, in spite of its critics, Twitter has no plans to stop its services. Industry analysts speculated that Twitter has tripled in value since last week.

“Twitter has taken a new direction in social media ventures,” said Annabel Liste, Wall Street Journal business correspondent. “Unlike Facebook which based its business model on advertising and selling information, Twitter does not do that – they don’t have ads on their website. Instead, they have decided to go the different and very lucrative route of being digital pimps.”

The new service has been popular, leaving most users satisfied with their experiences. A McGill student – who asked to remain anonymous but allowed The Daily to print his username – had glowing reviews of the new

service. “Twit for Twat is da [sic] bomb,” said hornybro69. “I just tweet, ‘Yo, I want some biddies,’ and then they come.”

Following from the instant explosion of sites such as likealittle.com, which took off last term during exams, students are jumping on the chance to tweet their desires for a “random hook-up” from their own cell phones.

“I mean, I can just tweet, and bam! All the phones that go off around me tell me that someone else follows the service. There’s my Friday night,” explained Billy Marchuk, U3 Economics.

In the midst of the controversy surrounding it, Twitter is now finding way to expand its services. Facebook has recently registered the names “Pokes for Blokes” and “Tag and Shag,” but was unavailable for comment at press time.