Vol103iss1

Volume 103, Issue 1 Tuesday, September 3, 2013

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News 03 NEWS

The McGill Daily

3

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Critical Mass celebrates urban cycling No conflict despite police presence

Critical Mass: celebration of urban cycling What happened this summer?

Hannah Besseau | The McGill Daily

Frat participates in Gay Pride McGill tackles budget cuts The fight for trans* rights

07 COMMENTARY

The secularism charter in a global context

08 FEATURES

Science’s biggest debate and Suzanne Fortier

DISORIENTATION GUIDE

11

SCI+TECH

Mimicking mother nature The nanotech revolution

13

SPORTS

14

HEALTH & ED

The NFL punts on concussions

Life with Tourette’s Fighting Islamophobia with education

16

CULTURE

Porn karaoke Rap moves on I don’t hate “Blurred Lines”

19

EDITORIAL

Welcome to The Daily

20 COMPENDIUM!

Confronting the #tomatotornado Campus safety announcement

C

ritical Mass, a collective bike ride held in cities around the world, took to the rainy streets this past Friday for its monthly “rolling celebration of urban cycling.” Tensions were high due to both the arrests and fines at July’s Critical Mass event, and the heavy police presence at this month’s event.

The ride was declared illegal by the Service de police de la ville de Montréal (SPVM) at 6 p.m., as soon as cyclists took off from Square Phillips. Cyclists moved through the downtown area heading east before finally dispersing at the Fullum and Hochelaga intersection.

Despite police tailing the cyclists on motorbikes and in cars, no arrests were made, and the ride remained peaceful.

Critical Mass aims to make a statement in favour of sustainable transportation, but reasons for individual participation vary. “I think it’s really bad what’s happening in the city right now with the police,” Nellie Briar told The Daily. “I am here to send the message that police intimidation should not work.”

Participant Fannie Dulude offered a similar sentiment. “The more people there are, the more festive it is and the safer people feel.

There’s the idea that we are looking out for each other.”

Last month’s Critical Mass sparked an outcry in the media and among cyclists after an unexpected police crackdown landed some participants with a $500 fine, while 23 others were arrested.

Cyclists were ticketed under article 500.1 of the Highway Safety Code of Quebec, which prohibits the obstruction of vehicles on a public road without authorization of, and control by, the police.

Robert Smith | The McGill Daily Ian Lafrenière, Commander of the SPVM, told Le Devoir that cyclists were arrested in July for zig-zagging between cars, cycling against traffic, running through red lights, and, in two cases, trying to bike on the Jacques-Cartier bridge.

Darren Becker, Director of Communications for the city of Montreal, told Le Devoir that the city supported the intervention of the SPVM at the Critical Mass in July.

“I have the impression that police were profiling some of the participants last month because they thought they might have been involved in the student strikes. They don’t have a tolerance and I don’t think it is a good enough reason for their intervention,” Briar told The Daily.

The police crackdown on Critical Mass is part of a larger picture: the SPVM has been paying special attention to enforcing highway safety code provisions more strictly as part of a summer-long cyclist safety campaign.

“The issue is that we gave privilege to a police force and they’re abusing it,” participant Katie Nelson told The Daily at July’s Critical Mass. “At some point this isn’t just a cyclist issue, its an issue for everyone.”

News sources and Montrealers have taken very different stances on the crackdown. In an editorial, the Montreal Gazette supported the police crackdown, concluding, “Rather than seeing injustice in police enforcement of rules of the road for cyclists, or trying to frustrate it, cyclists would best be served by strictly obeying reasonable rules enforced in a reasonable manner.”

In contrast, the Link’s managing editor Erin Sparks published an opinion piece in June decrying the “outdated laws” for cycling in Montreal. In the Gazette’s editorial, they

referred to Sparks’s piece as “the cycling lobby complaining bitterly about the crackdown.”

“The majority [of tickets] appear to be misguided attempts to criminalize cycling in a city oriented towards car travel,” Sparks wrote, adding, “Considering the increase in cyclists in the city, as well as how easy it is becoming to travel by bike around the city, the law should be adjusted to reflect these changing realities.”

A crowd-sourced Google Map created

by Montrealer Dominik Richard has also garnered significant attention; it allows Montreal cyclists to mark locations where police have been seen ticketing cyclists.

Those critical of the crackdown have pointed out that many of the offenses are petty and obscure, such as $37 fines for missing pedal reflectors. In response, police promised in mid-June to focus on more severe offenses such as running red lights, and promised to meet with Vélo Québec.

To avoid being hit with these potential fines, participants of this month’s Critical Mass came prepared with extra reflectors to give out to fellow cyclists.

Statistics from both the city of Montreal and the SPVM show that accidents are not increasing, but instead decreasing, even with more cyclists on the road. In recent years, according to statistics provided by the SPVM on their cyclist safety campaign page, the total number of injuries (both minor and serious) as well as deaths has fallen from 733 in 2009 to 641 in 2011. According to Le Devoir, the number of cyclists has increased by 10 to 20 per cent each year.

An earlier edition of this story was previously published online on August 10.

The McGill Daily

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News

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

While you were away

Do you love music?

Want to learn more about it?

Jordan Venton-Rublee & Dana Wray | The McGill Daily

Fall 2013 and Winter 2014 Courses Available for McGill Students!

Open to non-music majors/minors:

MUAR 201 Basic Materials: Western Music MUAR 211 The Art of Listening MUAR 393 IntroducƟon to Jazz MUAR 392 Popular Music aŌer 1945

Fall & Winter Fall & Winter Fall & Winter Winter

Open to music and non-music majors/minors: MUSR 200 Audio Recording EssenƟals MUPD 200 IntroducƟon to Music MarkeƟng MUPD 201 Business Fundamentals for Musicians MUEN 568-073 Tabla Ensemble (purchase of instrument required) MUEN 593-003 University Chorus*(voice type audiƟon required) MUEN 567 Beethoven Orchestra* (audiƟon required)

Fall Winter Fall Fall & Winter Fall & Winter Fall & Winter

*For more informaƟon on audiƟons, visit Ensemble AudiƟon Schedule at: hƩp://www.mcgill.ca/music/ensembles

For more course informaƟon please consult the MINERVA class schĞdule hƩp://www.mcgill.ca/minerva

E

ven though most classes were out for the summer, McGill and Montreal saw its fair share of shakeups and change. Here’s what you should know:

New DPSLL After Morton Mendelson’s seven-year term as the inaugural Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) (DPSLL), Ollivier Dyens was appointed to the position.

The DPSLL oversees aspects of Student Life (such as Athletics and Recreation, and Student Services) and Learning (including quality control for programs and courses, and Exchanges and Study Abroad). The position has been controversial, but Dyens is determined to make amends and deal with budget cuts.

Life Sciences Library closure The Life Sciences Library, formerly housed in the McIntyre Medical Building, will be moving all of its books – excluding reserve books and the books in the Osler Library – along with its librarians to the Schulich Library of Science and Engineering. This comes after a $1.8 million budget cut, which has also caused the number of support staff to dwindle and 24-hour access to the McLennan, Schulich, and Law libraries to be cut, with the exception of final exam periods.

Preferred name policy As of June, students are now able to have their preferred names on unofficial McGill documents such as exam rosters, class lists, and ID cards. This policy change doesn’t extend to official documents like diplomas, ebills, or official university transcripts. As for email, students may create an alias, but must still log into portals using their legal first name. Name changes can be done online over Minerva, but hurry up: the $25 fee for a new ID card will only be waived until September 30.

Montreal’s Mayor resigns In June, former Montreal mayor Michael Applebaum resigned amidst 14 charges of corruption.

Applebaum had been elected as interim mayor after former mayor Gérald Tremblay resigned in November 2012. Laurent Blanchard was elected to serve as interim mayor until November 3, when Montrealers will take to the polls for municipal elections.

Unfit

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ONDAY 11 - 12 CKUT 90.3FM M

Campaign McGill After eight years, Campaign McGill, the University’s fundraising campaign, came to a close with the announcement that just over $1 billion was raised.

This money will not cover losses from budget cuts, but will instead fund student aid, the renovation of infrastructure, teaching and learning spaces, and research. Over 60 per cent of the funds are earmarked by donors – both Quebec-based and international – to go towards support for students.

AUS VP Academic resigns At the end of July, the AUS Executive announced to the McGill community that former VP Academic Colleen Morawetz had resigned from her position due to personal reasons. The AUS Executive Committee has been fulfilling the responsibilities of Morawetz’s position since her resignation. A new VP Academic will be appointed during the first AUS meeting on September 4.

AGSEM ratifies contract for invigilators On May 15, after over 2 years without a contract, the university’s 800 invigilators ratified an agreement between the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM) and the administration. The invigilators are unionized under AGSEM, which also represents teaching assistants at the university. The contract establishes important improvements, including a paid 15-minute break for every four hours worked, and paid overtime and training.

It will be in effect until April 2015.

Lola Rosa Xpress leaves the second floor cafeteria Lola Rosa Xpress has closed up shop in the Shatner building after only a year. According to its owner, problems such as delayed repairs, high rent, and poor communication led to a year-long loss of $30,000. In the end, Lola Rosa’s focus on madefrom-scratch vegetarian food proved incompatible with the space and ethos of the second floor cafeteria. By the time The Daily went to press, SSMU VP Finance and Operations Tyler Hofmeister reported that there was no information available on a replacement.

A.M. ALL THING

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Tuesday, September 3, 2013

“Gay, bisexual, and progressive” frat participates in Montreal Pride A first for fraternities at McGill Tom Portsmouth | News Writer

T

his summer, McGill’s Beta Omega Chapter of fraternity Delta Lambda Phi (DLP) made history by participating in Montreal Pride (Fierté Montréal).

According to the chapter’s press release, this was the first time that any university fraternity has participated in Montreal Pride, an annual LGBTQA festival.

Beta Omega, describing itself on Facebook as targeting “gay, bisexual, and progressive men,” held a booth on August 17 during Community Day and marched in the parade on August 18. Although individual brothers have participated in the parade before, this was the first time the chapter made an official appearance as representatives of the larger brotherhood.

The official participation is a sign of the chapter’s coming-of-age. The fraternity, Delta Lambda Phi, was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1986, but McGill’s chapter was only founded in 2009, starting as an interest group by Sam Reisler, then a U1 Arts student. The first Canadian chapter, it only received an official designation to step up from “colony” to “chapter” status in February 2012.

The original class consisted of a group of ten young men, “all frustrated by some of the attitudes of the existing queer organizations,” Beta Omega’s Vice President Brendan Edge told The Daily.

Although the chapter was praised by media across the country and on campus, there was some controversy at the time over the wording of Beta Omega’s stipulation that the fraternity was open to “males and those who identify as males.”

Queer McGill argued the language

could be potentially offensive to trans* individuals who identified as males, but the fraternity’s then-president Michael D’Alimonte was at the time open to reworking the language and building a stronger relationship with Queer McGill.

It is still early days for the brothers, and therefore Beta Omega’s landmark participation in Fierté Montréal could act as a stepping-stone to an even swifter rise in prominence. Echoing one of the chapter’s mottos, “to make our presence known,” Edge said, “One of our goals this year is to get more involved in the Montreal Queer Community, while maintaining a strong presence on campus.”

Edge said that he and the chapter are working towards hosting DLP’s Spring or Fall 2014 Eastern Regional Conference, “which all of the chapters in the Eastern part of the United States attend.”

Beta Omega now counts 15 active brothers, “from diverse backgrounds all across […] the globe,” said Edge, adding that the diversity also extends to the brothers’ studies and hobbies.

What binds this diverse mix of men together is the fraternity. “We are brothers after all and like any family we try to stick together,” said Edge.

Beta Omega founder Reisler also praised the special connection the brotherhood provided. “Without a doubt, DLP was one of the most formative experiences of my time at McGill. Even though I’ve graduated, I carry the memories and bonds of friendship with me everyday.”

The purpose of DLP, as stated on their website and repeated on Beta Omega’s Facebook page, is “to develop dignified

Robert Smith | The McGill Daily and purposeful social, service, and recreational activities, for progressive men irrespective of sexual orientation, to lead in determining the rights and privileges of individuals in society, to present a strong and positive image, which respects the diversity of all individuals irrespective of sexual orientation.”

When asked how these guiding principles translate into reality for Beta Omega, Edge replied, “Through the social, service, and recreational activities that we do, we’re able to further our respect for our brothers’ diversity.”

Beta Omega regularly holds fundraisers, service projects, and social events at McGill and around the city. According to the press release, the chapter “raised

funds to support a no kill animal shelter and an AIDS organization.”

Beta Omega’s most burning ambition, however, is less tangible: they are eager to attract more straight members. Believing that some progressive men might be put off by the idea of joining a queer brotherhood, the brothers are keen to dispel the false notion that the chapter is, in Edge’s words, a “hookup frat.”

“We need more guys who are progressive enough to join our brotherhood,” Edge explained, “because until that happens we are still very far away from equality”.

An earlier version of this article appeared on The Daily’s website on August 19.

McGill closes in on expense reduction target Over 250 staff members take retirement package Jordan Venton-Rublee | The McGill Daily

O

ver the summer, the University announced that McGill has reached 95 per cent of their $43.5 million cost reduction target, following provincial budget cuts that started last winter. The remaining 5 per cent of cuts will be made by individual faculties, mainly through the abolition of some positions, according to Provost and Acting Principal Anthony C. Masi.

The information comes after a winter semester full of uncertainty. In early December 2012, the current Parti québécois (PQ) government revealed that they would be cutting $250 million between December 2012 and April 2014 from universities across the province.

The move meant that McGill found itself out close to $38 million for 2013 and 2014, and left the University scrambling to reduce

their operating budget. One of the approaches taken by the University to reduce their budget was a Voluntary Retirement Program (VRP), which aimed to avoid widespread staff dismissals by giving staff the option of a retirement package.

According to the press release sent out on July 16, over 250 staff members took advantage of the VRP, leading the University to approach their goal. The VRP was in effect from April to August 2013, and was available for university employees sixty years or older.

The majority of the 250 positions emptied by the VRP will not be replaced due to a one year hiring freeze also put into effect by the University as a cost-cutting measure.

However, Masi said, there would be “moments of thaw” throughout the year to ensure that “mission-critical services” are

maintained – such as health services, and courses and educational programs – and “key positions” are protected.

In addition, the freeze only applies to staff paid from the operating fund, and does not include jobs paid for by soft funds such as research grants, which do not affect the University’s operating budgets.

Still, according to Masi, due to the size of the cuts McGill has had to absorb, students should watch out for changes in how services are provided, such as longer wait times at peak periods and changes in operating hours.

Other cost-cutting avenues pursued by McGill include 3 to 5 per cent reductions in the operating budgets of all Faculties, and a salary freeze for senior administrators.

In an interview with The Daily, Dean of Arts Christopher Manfredi explained that

the VRP was one of the major ways the Faculty of Arts was able to reduce costs after huge budget cuts. “The remainders [of the cuts] were met primarily through not filling vacant positions and reducing non-salary expense items.”

Despite the fact that the Faculty of Arts saw the loss of approximately 100 “low enrolment” courses, as dubbed by Dean Manfredi, the faculty will see a 15 per cent increase in the budget for teaching assistants (TAs).

The Dean explained that the money for these extra TAs came from the reallocation of resources from cancelled classes.

Despite the challenges faced by the university, Masi still expressed optimism. “We are moving in the right direction, we just need to keep our eye on the target and continue plowing ahead.”

The McGill Daily

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News

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Why reduce gender to a letter?

The fight for trans* rights in Quebec Dana Wray | The McGill Daily

W

hen Akiko Asano brings her daughter Mat to their local clinic for a routine appointment, she’s never sure how they’ll be treated.

Once, Asano said, when Mat was seven years old, a new receptionist took Mat’s medical card, which had a little “M” marked down beside the sex designation.

“You’ve given the wrong card,” the receptionist replied dismissively, “this card is for your son.”

Mat merely rolled her eyes, but Asano was anxious and frustrated. There was a line of people behind Asano in the office, but she explained anyways: Mat was female, as her name on the card indicated – it was just her body that was assigned male. “Oh,” the receptionist said. “So she’s intersex.”

“No,” Asano replied, frustrated. “She’s transgender. Physically she is male but psychologically she is female.” The receptionist’s only response before finally processing Mat’s information was, “That’s weird.”

Although gendered documents may seem inconsequential in day-to-day life to those whose assigned sex, gender, and self-identified gender match up, the little “F” or “M” glaring up from official identification can be the difference between a pleasant experience and a dangerous situation for trans* people. *** “[In Quebec], trans* people are structurally marginalized,” Gabrielle Bouchard, trans* advocacy coordinator at the Centre for Gender Advocacy, told The Daily.

“There are laws in place that will have a negative impact for sure for all trans* people, regardless of the type of transition they want to make.”

That marginalization has severe consequences for the trans* community. In 2010, a study done by Trans Pulse found that 43 per cent of trans* Ontarians had attempted suicide at some point in their life. In Montreal, local women’s shelters made headlines last winter during a severe cold snap when it was revealed that they were turning trans* women away.

Article 71 of Quebec’s Civil Code states that to change one’s gender markers, an individual must have “successfully undergone medical treatments and surgical operations involving a structural modification of the sexual organs intended to change [their] secondary sexual characteristics.”

Currently, Ontario is the only province in Canada that doesn’t have a surgical requirement. In 2012, the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal ruled that requiring the surgery was discriminatory.

Although it varies, for trans* women, the required surgery is usually a vaginoplasty; for trans* men, a hysterectomy. “The only thing these two surgeries have in common is that, at the end of the day, you’re sterile,” Bouchard said. “To be clear, [these surgeries

are] important, and life-saving, for a lot of people […] But right now we’re talking about a question of choice.”

Sex reassignment surgery (SRS) – which, when mandated by law, some activists call forced sterilization – has come under fire around the world for its implications. In February 2013, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture (SRT) distributed a report calling for all countries and states to “outlaw forced or coerced sterilization in all circumstances and provide special protection to individuals belonging to marginalized groups.”

Apart from being tantamount to forced sterilization, the surgeries required are also astoundingly expensive. In Quebec, even a name change can cost up to $500. Quebec’s health care system covers the cost of the SRS if individuals have two letters from different psychologists, in addition to a doctor’s letter, asserting that the individual suffers from gender dysphoria – currently classified as a mental disorder.

A simple letter might sound easy to get, but in reality requires a lot of time and money. Just for the letters from psychologists, Bouchard estimated that an individual would “need to go see them between five and 25 times at $100 a pop.”

Even if an individual has the required surgery, if they are not legally a Canadian citizen, “it doesn’t matter,” Bouchard said.

One of the requirements stipulates that you must be a Canadian citizen in order to have your legal gender marker changed; this requirement does not exist in any other province outside Quebec. Permanent residents who identify as trans* and have had surgery are prevented from full integration into Quebec society.

Alice Shen | The McGill Daily

was possible that the surgical requirement might still be abolished through the legislative process, she was adamant that the Centre keep fighting to abolish the age and citizenship requirements.

“Either way, we will have to go to court,” Bouchard said. “Because there’s no way that we will leave behind kids, teens, and people who are trying to make Quebec their home. [...] So even if we win one small portion, we’re not going to leave those people behind.”

On August 11, the Centre submitted a discrimination complaint to the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la *** jeunesse, alleging that the requirements for In April 2013, the Quebec National changing a legal gender marker infringe on Assembly began to debate Bill 35, which the rights of trans* people. *** Although she was optimistic about the aims at modifying part of the Civil Code.

The third requirement of a minimum age Originally, only the requirement to publish complaint, which will be either recognized of 18 years is especially problematic for kids one’s name in a local paper and La Gazette or dismissed in a few weeks time, Bouchard like Mat. Mat socially transitioned, or began officielle du Quebec upon a name change or noted that it is possible that it might be thrown out on technicalities. to live as a girl, when she was only three sex change was up for debate.

In that case, the Centre and its allies In May 2013, the Trans Committee of years old. In earlier years, the bullying was mostly teasing, but in middle school, it began the Conseil Québécois LGBT presented a are prepared to mount a legal challenge. report to Quebec’s Minister of Justice and A top human rights lawyer, who wishto intensify.

Although Mat had been living “stealth” the Commission on Institutions, outlining es to remain anonymous at this time, – essentially undercover as her preferred recommendations to abolish the surgical, has already agreed to take on the case gender – for several years, Mat’s best citizenship, and age requirements for a legal pro bono. Bouchard has also started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for friend accidentally let it slip that she was gender marker change.

When the bill was put up for debate, the potential administrative costs associated trans*. Classmates taunted her, telling her to pull down her pants to prove she was a Minister for Justice proposed amending it to with a trial, as well as compensation real girl. The three-hour bus ride from her abolish the surgical and age requirements as for trans* people and allies volunteering school to her Northern Quebec community well. However, this was met with fierce oppo- their testimony.

It will be a long and drawn-out fight, sition from the Parti Libéral du Québec (PLQ) became a nightmare.

After switching schools and even trying and the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ). The but Bouchard and her allies are up for it. homeschooling, Asano and Mat moved to bill and its proposed amendments were never As for Asano and her daughter Mat, they Montreal. Here, Asano began to meet with put to a vote, and were ultimately shelved are ready as well. “There is negative attenother parents of gender non-conforming or for possible discussion when the National tion,” Asano said, referring to going public with Mat’s identity, “but at the same time trans* kids for potlucks, picnics, and other Assembly reconvenes this fall.

In Bouchard’s opinion, the PLQ and [… these things] actually save people’s lives. informal meetings. Now, that once casual support group has blossomed into Gender CAQ “clearly showed their colours, their [That] makes up for all the negative comtransphobia.” Although she admitted it ments and backlash.”

Creative Kids.

Asano knows firsthand how important it is to abolish the minimum age to change the legal gender markers on her daughter’s identification. “When they’re young […] these kids don’t believe they’re trans*, they believe they are the other gender,” Asano said. “So it’s hard when they’re met up with resistance around them.”

“It’s like having a little girl who’s two years old, who says to you ‘I’m a girl’ – you don’t check her genitals to make sure she’s right.”

Commentary

The McGill Daily

7

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

“Secularism” or white supremacy

The secular charter of values in a global perspective Mona Luxion | The McGill Daily

T

he big story these days in the Quebec media and political world is the newly-proposed Charte de la laïcité, or secular charter of values. The charter would forbid the wearing or display of “religious symbols” in public buildings, including any government office, hospital, or school. This is allegedly done in the name of the separation of church and state, though no one’s ever adequately explained to me how what one wears affects whether or not one will support religiously motivated laws, or try to pass off religious doctrine as education.

In fact, the only thing this charter seems certain to do is make life more difficult for people whose religion and culture require certain forms of dress – most prominently Muslims, Jews, and Sikhs, and notably not the majority of Christians. As a result, this law does not unify people under a common umbrella of secularism, but in fact targets many religious people of colour and Jewish people for harassment, disciplinary sanctions, or difficult choices between employment, culture, and faith.

It can be tempting to see laws like this as a Quebecois problem, to point to Law 101 and the new charter as unique issues with the Parti Québecois and leave it at that. The national media has treated this as a provincial issue – one that might display a fundamental incompatibility of the Quebecois mindset with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But nationalism based on fear, hate, and exclusion is not unique to Quebec. Some have called the Charter “Putinesque” in reference to queerand transphobic laws in Russia, highlighted by the coming winter Olympics in Sochi.

Indeed, the laws against so-called “homosexual propaganda” have gotten attention recently, but Russia’s intolerance began with viciously anti-immigrant policies reaching back decades.

Across Europe, nationalist movements based on xenophobia and a myth of racial purity are gaining strength. Earlier this summer, the English Defence League organized large demonstrations across England on an anti-Muslim agenda, with an exclusionary ideal of Englishness. Even more frightening is the rise of the fascist Golden Dawn party in Greece, which now holds seats in Parliament, controls large elements of the police force, and is known to support armed attacks on immigrants as well as queer and trans* people, Roma, and other social “deviants.” It is not simply the presence and power of extremists that should worry us, but the ease with which these attitudes make their way into the mainstream.

Closer to home, a recent poll by Forum Research found that 42 per cent of Canadians agree with the proposed charter. Policy in Ottawa already reflects this attitude, with increasingly harsh bills attacking the rights of refugee claimants. The structure of Canadian immigration is shifting from one in which most immigrants had a chance at citizenship to one where immigrants are left in precarious, temporary situations with barely any rights.

This is a global trend. In times of economic crisis, people’s frustration and anger can easily be turned on convenient scapegoats rather than the true destroyers of our economy in high-powered, white collar positions. Identification based on whiteness and “nativeness” (co-opted from the actual native people of this land) has long been used to link white workers’ interests to those of the elite, rather than to those of their fellow workers of colour. But we know where this path can lead: not to economic success, but to the cruelties of the gulag and concentration camp. Hannah Arendt, the political theorist who spent much of her career trying to understand the origins of totalitarianism, points to the lack of critical thinking and

Alice Shen | The McGill Daily debate as part of the route to accepting and perpetrating atrocities.

We must resist attempts to define “normal” or “worthy of rights” by skin colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or anything else. We must find ways to assert our differences without allowing them to mark some as subhuman. And where those at-

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titudes are found – in our legislatures, our classrooms, our homes, and our streets – we must resist them, cutting them out like a cancer before they grow and metastasize.

Mona Luxion is a Ph.D student in the School of Urban Planning. They can be reached at m.luxion@gmail.com.

Features

The McGill Daily

8

Tuesday September 3, 2013

New sheriff in town

Welcoming new principals and principles Molly Korab | The McGill Daily

Alice Shen | The McGill Daily

S

cientific research, it seems, is making its way down a path uncharted.

A debate has surfaced over the past few years, largely focused on contentious questions involving the source of research funding and the longstanding goal of scientific research. Suzanne Fortier, McGill’s incoming principal, who starts her stewardship on September 5, has found herself at the center of the raging debate.

Fortier comes to McGill at a historical crossroads. Being a native Quebecoise and a fluent French speaker certainly distinguishes her from Heather Munroe-Blum, who recently left her ten-year tenure as McGill’s first female principal. Fortier also holds the distinction of being a McGill graduate – a trait that Munroe-Blum did not share.

Despite the historical relevance of Fortier’s appointment, her role as president of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) has garnered something of a controversy. In fact, Nassif Ghoussoub – Mathematics Professor at the University of British Columbia – has covered scientific research in Canada extensively, including NSERC’s actions, often with a hefty amount of criticism to go with it.

Fortier started at NSERC in 2006, after a long tenure at Queen’s University, where she taught chemistry and held several

senior administrative positions. She was the VP Academic at Queen’s for five years prior to her start at NSERC, and VP Research prior to that. Speaking to The Daily upon her initial appointment at McGill, Fortier pointed to her work at Queen’s as part and parcel of what she may do at McGill.

“I have experience with dealing with some sort of financial constraints in periods where institutions have to make cuts,” she said. She also added that she had a fair amount of labour experience at the university, saying, “When I was at Queen’s, my

“I have experience with dealing with some sort of financial constraints in periods where institutions have to make cuts.”

Suzanne Fortier last responsibility there as VP Academic was in fact at the bargaining table.”

After 25 years at Queen’s, Fortier was appointed as President of NSERC by then-Industry Minister David Emerson,

notoriously labeled as “Canada’s Corporate Cowboy” by rabble.ca back in 2006. This reputation is mostly due to his key role in a $1.5 billion bailout of the forestry industry, as well as supporting “tax regimes that rewarded forestry companies for rapidly replacing workers with machinery.”

Once Fortier assumed her position as NSERC’s president, she helped transform the organization into one with a defined mission. Those who value scientific research that is either funded by industrial backers, conducted for industrial purposes, or, quite simply, driven with a defined purpose in mind consider her time at NSERC a success. However, those who may perhaps yearn for the days of old-fashioned, somewhat-meandering, “research for the sake of research,” and the happy accident of discovery without a specific goal, see some problems. This age-old tension, between what is termed applied versus basic research, has only grown more pronounced as industrial pursuit takes a larger role in scientific innovation over that of government.

Ghoussoub has been a vocal critic of the emphasis that Fortier has placed on applied research during her time at NSERC. “NSERC changed in many directions,” he told The Daily. According to Ghoussoub, Fortier interacted with the scientific community far less than her predecessor, and

Fortier has been aggressive in her emphasis on applied research – a trend that has been increasing over the past few years. prioritized interaction with the “political class” to support scientific innovation.

“The basic research budget has been frozen for years,” he said.

Fortier has been aggressive in her emphasis on applied research – a trend that has been increasing over the past few years. Namely, there has been significant debate over NSERC’s allocation of its Discovery Grant program under Fortier. The Discovery Grants fund basic research that does not have short-term, specific goals in mind, and instead seeks to experiment and innovate without the pressure of a specific activity or purpose.

According to NSERC’s website, Discovery Grants “recognize the creativity and innovation that are at the heart of all research advances, whether made individually or in teams.”

But Discovery Grants saw a decline

Features

The McGill Daily

9

Tuesday September 3, 2013

during Fortier’s tenure. According to industry and scientific pursuit: “NSERC the Gazette, the Canadian Association of is committed to up its game in stimulating University Teachers – the main federation these dynamic interactions between busirepresenting professors, researchers, and ness and academia.”

In another piece, she directly acknowluniversity staff across the country – calculated that Discovery Grants have “been edged the actions that NSERC was taking dropping in constant 2010 dollars, while to achieve such a dynamic: “While fostering academic-industargeted research funding has been on the rise at NSERC.” That drop translates try partnerships has always been a key into real numbers: 2008-09 saw Discovery NSERC priority, we have substantially Grants leading targeted grants in funding ramped up our efforts in the past year. by a gap of $109 million. But in 2012-13, In particular, we saw the potential to targeted grants saw an increase in fund- expand our reach with industry through ing while Discovery saw a drop, and the funding support designed with small and gap narrowed to a mere $7.4 million. With medium-sized enterprises in mind. Last such a dramatic change, it is not incon- November, NSERC launched its Strategy ceivable that targeted grants may beat out for Partnerships and Innovation (SPI) – Connect. Collaborate. Prosper. a comDiscovery Grants in the very near future.

“The Discovery Grant … not only has prehensive and ambitious venture whose been frozen, but also it has been restruc- goals include doubling the number of tured,” Ghoussoub told The Daily, point- companies that partner with NSERCing toward that same emphasis on tar- funded researchers. This plan builds on existing initiatives and introduces geted grants and research partnerships.

Ghoussoub was a signatory on a 2011 new government programs intended to open letter from over 300 Canadian bring together Canadian businesses with mathematicians and researchers from the academic researchers to heighten their mathematics and statistical communities, [Research and Development]. We have expressing concern with the direction of been supported in our efforts with extra funding allocated in the federal budget the Discovery Grants program.

The “mission drift” away from basic of 2010, which included $5-million to research and Discovery Grants has tended further SPI and an extra $15-million for toward research partnerships – another our College and Community Innovation core part of NSERC’s mission – that focus (CCI) program.”

This controversy over research prinon commercializing research in a variety of ways. For instance, NSERC’s Engage ciples – whether with or without merit Grant program remains one of the orga- – speaks volumes to the importance of nization’s larger programs in research Fortier’s appointment as principal, perpartnerships, bringing together business haps more so than her status as a francoand academic researchers. The program phone, her scientific background, or her – despite the freeze in the basic research role as the second woman to run McGill.

McGill’s Vice-Principal (Research and budget – has seen a huge boost in funding over the years, from $2 million in 2010-11 International Relations) Rose Goldstein noted that McGill has historically had a to $18 million in 2011-12.

Does an emphasis on commercialized very good relationship with NSERC. When research take away from the so-called asked about the debate over basic ver“purity” of scientific pursuit? Maybe, sus applied research, however, she spoke maybe not. The Daily was unable to reach little to the controversy, and emphasized Suzanne Fortier to hear her side of the that McGill seeks to include a wide varistory – though she has written several ety of types of research as outlined in its opinion pieces over the years touting the Strategic Research Plan.

The Strategic Research Plan, endorsed importance of industrial partnerships, consistently pointing to the perceived by both Senate in November and the need for such partnerships in order to Board of Governors in February, is a spur scientific innovation and economic tool outlining McGill’s future in scienprogress. In one 2011 article for the Hill tific research endeavors. In particular, it Times, she emphasized the link between facilitates the University’s distribution

of CRCs, or Canada Research Chairs – a prestigious sort of research professorship. McGill uses the Plan as a means of guiding its CRC allocation, often used as a tool for recruitment. Expecting its rate of CRC allocation to remain relatively stable throughout 2017, McGill allocates 35 per cent of the chairs to NSERC-centric grants, primarily involving the natural sciences, life sciences, engineering, space exploration, and “technology applications in the Digital Age.” Most of NSERC’s grants at McGill go to students in the faculties of Science and Engineering, due to the agency’s mission, though students can apply from anywhere as long as their research meets NSERC’s criteria. According to Julie Fortier, Associate Director of McGill’s

“While fostering academic-industry partnerships has always been a key NSERC priority, we have substantially ramped up our efforts in the past year.”

Suzanne Fortier Media Relations Office, in 2011-12 NSERC awarded McGill 1,186 grants and scholarships, through more than forty programs, for $58.4 million in total funding.

McGill, too, has seen its fair share of corporate research – in February, for instance, two McGill professors received Synergy Awards for Innovation from NSERC, funding $200,000 in further research, in partnership with companies both well-known and unknown, like General Motors of Canada and CelluForce.

Interestingly enough, one of the professors to receive the award is researching cellulose nanocrystals, a technology that Fortier specifically championed in an op-ed for the Hill Times.

McGill may be a microcosm of what

is happening in Canada’s scientific community at large: a shift away from basic research toward applied research. The merits of such a shift are largely debatable; does either form of research hold a more important role in the future of scientific innovation?

There are arguments for both sides of the story. For one, basic research has historically provided a foundation for later technological innovations, despite its seemingly superfluous nature. Not only can it result in new information, but also new forms of instrumentation and methodologies. Basic research does provide huge economic benefits in its general dissemination of knowledge.

On the other hand, the very methodology of applied research targets specific problems at hand with backing that, often, the government may not be able to provide. Additionally, it can tackle issues seen as more “relevant” – based on the amount of money thrown at each applied research endeavor.

But in a globalized economy with shrinking government power, and a societal emphasis on efficiency, the move toward applied research may seem only logical. Additionally, with the federal government’s gradual move toward privatization in full force, a national science agency that emphasizes business ties seems to fit into such a vein.

While the pernicious forces of privatization may continue to force agencies like NSERC to promote business partnerships, ultimately, there is no reason to say that Fortier does not care about basic research.

Fortier’s principalship at McGill will have little to do with the allocation of scientific grants, and we cannot expect her past at NSERC to have much bearing on her position at the University, apart from her apparent expertise in administrative management.

However, one might expect to see Fortier continue Munroe-Blum’s slow march toward privatization in the University at large, as McGill becomes friendlier to corporations and business interests. As with Munroe-Blum, it will be essential for students to carefully evaluate and criticize McGill’s path forward, and what kind of university we want the administration to help us build.

Storytellers of the world, The Daily wants your fiction and prose. Send your ideas to features@mcgilldaily.com

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The Disorientation Issue

1. Cut out mask along the lines and punch holes in the hair curls 2. Wear mask 3. Take self portrait of yourself wearing James McGill mask 4. Tweet @mcgilldaily or use hashtag #dailydisorientation

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Disorientation

Introduction to McGill governance Jordan Venton-Rublee | The McGill Daily

Welcome to McGill University – it can be a little overwhelming at this institution of higher learning. Feeling like a little fish in a big pond? Want to know who’s reigning over you throughout your tenure as a student? Who are the big names on campus?

Governance at McGill is a many-headed beast; various bodies and individuals make up those who “rule the school.”

Whether you are an incoming student or someone who has been here for a while, these are a few of the names to keep in mind.

Board of Governors Known formally as “The Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning,” but more popularly referred to as the BoG, the Board of Governors is the governing body of the university. The BoG has 25 voting members and two student observers. Some of these members include people directly involved with the university, such as representatives from the Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) and the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), as well as McGill’s principal. Other members come from outside of the campus – including the chairman of the Board of Directors of HSBC Canada, and the heads of Hydro-Quebec and the World Wildlife Fund, among others.

How do they affect you?

The BoG has the “final authority over the conduct of affairs of the University” – simply translated, the BoG has the last word. It is also behind massive decisions like appointing the principal. The problem? Despite the fact that it is the highest body at McGill, only two of the four students on the BoG actually have a vote to go along with their voice.

cerned with academic matters at the university, and generally meets once a month.

Senate is governed by the Statutes of McGill University, and is considerably larger than the BoG, with 107 voting members.

Compared to the BoG, the composition of Senate is much more University-oriented: the Deans of all Faculties, as well as some professors, and 19 student representatives (both undergraduate and graduate), sit on Senate. There are also numerous sub-committees within Senate, including a committee on libraries, to an advisory committee on the charter of student rights, and a committee on student discipline.

How do they affect you?

Although Senate is not as high ranking as the BoG, it is still an extremely important body at McGill and has a large say in the academic affairs of the university. Before things pass to the BoG, they need to be ratified by the Senate. In a recent example, Senate ratified the Statement of Principles that gave definition to peaceful protest and dissent on campus.

How can you get in contact?

Call them up, write letters, but better yet: go to an open session. The BoG usually meets six times a year, and while part of the session may be a “closed session” – meaning members only – the majority is open to students and members of the public.

The calendar for the academic year can be found on their website (www.mcgill.ca/ boardofgovernors).

Principal This academic year McGill will see a new principal come to the university. Suzanne Fortier steps into the role formerly held by principal Heather Munroe-Blum, whose contentious ten-year term came to a close earlier this summer. Fortier was previously the president of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and has held several positions in senior administration at Queen’s University.

(See page 8 for more on Fortier)

The Senate: McGill Senate is the governing body con-

How do they affect you?

Fortier is responsible for the day-to-day

workings of the university; she does everything from sitting on the BoG as ViceChancellor to being in charge of the Provost and Vice-Principals. While the BoG is technically the top dog when it comes to organizations, the biggest name on campus is definitely that of the principal.

Provost Considered the “chief academic officer” of the university, the provost oversees a variety of other positions that students may come in contact with more often, such as the Deans of Faculties (Arts, Science, Music, etc.), the Dean of Libraries, and the Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning).

How do they affect you?

The provost oversees the development of academic policies and programs, most notably changes to academic affairs. The provost also makes financial decisions for academic programs, especially important this year, due to the massive budget cuts that the University is facing.

Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) In addition to welcoming a new principal, McGill has also appointed a new Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) (DPSLL). Ollivier Dyens, who comes to McGill from Concordia, is stepping into the often-contentious position held for the past seven years by Morton Mendelson.

How do they affect you?

The DPSLL is intended to be the main liaison between the administration and the students, and oversees both the learning and life of students at McGill. Bringing that language

more down to earth, this means overseeing international education (including exchanges and study abroads) as well as athletics and recreation, food and dining services, residences and housing, and student and enrolment services. Out of all the positions in the senior administration, the decisions made by the DPSLL have the greatest effect on students’ day-to-day lives at McGill.

Faculty Associations If you are an undergraduate student at McGill, you will be represented by one of the student societies listed at the end of this section, all of which are governed by a constitution and a set of by-laws. Being a part of a student society means you can attend meetings, and even run to be a part of the Executive. The Executive is made up of the President and various Vice Presidents, who take care of everything from external affairs to finance to communications.

Your student society represents you, and sends representatives to various other administration meetings, such as bi-weekly SSMU Legislative Council meetings.

Get your voice heard by attending council meetings, going to office hours hosted by the executives, and running for open positions. As well, some student societies host general assemblies several times a year to allow members to put forward and debate motions, allowing you to actively participate in the governing process.

AUS: Arts Undergraduate Society EUS: Engineering Undergraduate Society MUSA: Music Undergraduate Society MUS: Management Undergraduate Society SUS: Science Undergraduate Society

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Introduction to your student society Jordan Venton-Rublee | The McGill Daily

SSMU The Students’ Society of McGill University which represents all undergraduate students at McGill. The Executive of the SSMU (pronounced “smoo”) is made up of several positions: President: Katie Larson VP University Affairs: Joey Shea VP External: Samuel Harris VP Internal: Brian Farnan VP Finance & Operations: Tyler Hofmeister VP Clubs & Services: Stefan Fong SSMU is responsible for the clubs and services that students enjoy on campus.

SSMU also acts as the voice of students on campus, sending representatives to McGill’s Board of Governer’s (BoG) and Senate meetings. You can find SSMU in the Shatner Building on McTavish, along with many offices for clubs and student groups at the university. Additionally, SSMU is a part of TaCEQ, a roundtable organization in Quebec that discusses higher education funding.

What do they do?

New students will most likely get to know SSMU through frosh. If you are a returning student and still unfamiliar with what SSMU does, no worries! Despite a changing executive every year, there are still issues from several years ago that remain unresolved. Some of these unresolved issues include ongoing lease negotiations – now in their third year – with the University, which owns the Shatner building, as well as the lack of a student-run cafe, an issue that dates back to 2010. Another issue that needs to be tackled by SSMU is poor participation in General Assemblies (forums held twice a year for the undergraduate student body to raise and debate student issues).

Keep your eyes out for The twice-a-year GAs; this is the time when you put forward motions you would like to see SSMU take a stance on. As an undergraduate student, you can also attend SSMU Legislative Council’s meetings – held bi-weekly – if you want to keep abreast of the

inner workings and ongoing discussions of your student society.

PGSS The Post-Graduate Students’ Society. PGSS is the voice for graduate students at McGill.

PGSS can be found in Thomson House, just a little up the hill from the Shatner building – though quite a bit more posh than SSMU’s home turf. PGSS, in similar fashion to SSMU, meets several times a month to discuss issues brought forward by members of the executive: Secretary-General: Jonathan Mooney External Affairs Officer: Navid Khosravi Hashemi Academic Affairs Officer: Adam Bouchard Financial Affairs Officer: Erik Larson Internal Affairs: Michael Krause Member Services Officer: Elizabeth Cawley If you are a returning graduate student and you think you recognize the names of the executives, you probably do. Many were re-elected to the same positions they held

the previous year after running unopposed.

What do they do?

PGSS provides a space for graduate students, and often collaborates with SSMU on events for both undergraduate and postgraduate students at McGill. PGSS also provides services like insurance, health plans, grants, and bursaries to postgraduate students, in addition to an accessible social environment at Thomson House.

Keep your eyes out for The PGSS annual general meeting (AGM), held twice a year, is the time to get your voice heard. Keep your eyes out for strife among the executive – last year, there was a fair amount of tension between members of the executive. As a post-graduate student you can attend both the AGM and PGSS’s monthly meetings and observe the workings of your student society. Come winter semester, students can even run for an executive position! You can also attend office hours of the executive to raise questions and keep your executive accountable.

Get schooled Dana Wray & Hera Chan | The McGill Daily

McGill University Located in downtown Montreal, in what Google archaically calls the Golden Square Mile, McGill University’s main campus occupies the base of Mount Royal on what was formerly Iroquois land. The Macdonald Campus of McGill is located in Sainte-Annede-Bellevue and is home to the Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, the School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition, the Institute of Parasitology, and the McGill School of Environment. McGill University is one of three universities in Quebec where the primary language of instruction is English.

In 1821, during the British colonial era, McGill University was founded and named after Scottish merchant James McGill who left money to form the university in his will.

McGill himself was a slave owner, landowner, and fur trader, making him one of the richest men in Montreal upon death. Other postsecondary institutions established by McGill University include the University of British Columbia, the University of Victoria, and Dawson College.

Today, McGill boasts over 38,000 students.

Approximately 60 per cent of those students

have Quebec residency, but only 18 per cent of students – including international students – claim French as their first language.

Concordia University Concordia University has two campuses: the Sir George Williams Campus is located in downtown Montreal near Guy-Concordia Metro station, while the Loyola Campus is housed in the more residential area of NotreDame-de-Grâce. Concordia offers more French-oriented resources to integrate students into Quebec society than McGill, including the Oui Can Help! program, which awards bursaries to students seeking out French-language resources on Concordia campus and in the city of Montreal.

Concordia University was founded in 1974 when Loyola College and the Sir George Williams University were merged. Initially founded in 1896 by Jesuits, Loyola College was the English sector of the Collège SainteMarie de Montréal.

Currently, Concordia has over 45,000 students enrolled. At Concordia, 21.4 per cent of students claim French as their first language, and 24.9 per cent of students claim a lan-

guage that is not English or French as their first language.

Université de Montréal The Université de Montréal (UdeM) is on the northern side of Mount Royal in Outremont. As a French-language institution in Montreal, UdeM has seen many notable people pass through its doors, including former Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau.

The university was originally established in 1878 when Université Laval, located in Quebec City, expanded a branch to Montreal. Initially, UdeM was known as the Université de Laval à Montréal. The university only became independent from Université Laval in 1919, and became a private denominational university governed by the Roman Catholic church. In 1967, the Quebec government passed a bill making UdeM a public, non-denominational university.

UdeM now is one of Canada’s strongest research universities, excelling predominantly in health sciences. Almost all courses are taught in French, and although there are French language requirements for admission, there are also resources for students with another language as their mother tongue.

Université du Quebec à Montreal The Université du Quebec à Montreal (UQAM) is the largest division of the Université du Quebec, a public university system in Quebec consisting of ten universities and serving 87,000 students in total. UQAM is a French-language university, and its main campus is nestled in the heart of downtown Montreal near the Berri-UQAM metro station. UQAM also has four additional campuses in Laval, Lanaudière, Longueuil and l’Ouest-de-L’Île.

UQAM was established in 1969 by the government of Quebec through a merger of the École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, a fine arts school; and other smaller schools.

When the downtown campus was built in the early 1970s, the architects worked many heritage buildings into the University, including notable buildings such as the Eglise Saint-Jacques.

Over 41,000 students attend UQAM, and are enrolled in one of the nearly 300 programs and six faculties that the University offers. As one of the two French-language universities in Montreal, only 1 per cent of UQAM’s population claims English as their mother tongue.

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The Mile End

The Mile End is the de facto bohemian hood, where the hip students flock in droves. Its got great cafés, restaurants, bars, and lots of vintage shops. You can catch some good live shows at Casa del Popolo (4873 St. Laurent), or its sister venue La Sala Rossa across the street. The Mile End is also home to the famous Montreal bagels. Pick up a fresh one anytime – both Fairmount Bagel (74 Fairmount W.) and St. Viateur Bagel (263 St. Viateur W.) are open 24/7 – and let your taste buds decide if we beat New York at this. If you’re up for exploring some art spaces, check out Monastiraki (5478 St. Laurent) for original prints, zines, and many other found objects.

The Plateau

The area right to the east of the mountain is quickly becoming the new McGill hot spot as students rent out the nice old creaky apartments neighbouring trendy St. Laurent (which we like to call “The Main”). There’s a reason so many people fall under the Plateau’s charm. It’s an important cultural hub for the whole city, and you’ll find so many good restaurants, bars, jazz joints, cafes, and shops here that it’s virtually impossible to tire of the hood that Leonard Cohen called home. Just stroll along The Main with a smoked meat sandwich in hand, or go check out the ostrich heads on the walls at the candlelit Bily Kun bar (354 Mount Royal E.).

Notre-Dame-deGrâce (NDG)

This middle-class anglophone haven, almost always referred to as NDG, is allin-all a pretty, quiet, leafy, residential area, home to many young families. But don’t let its nice semi-detached brick houses fool you into thinking NDG is bland – the hood is increasingly multicultural, and offers some delicious grub as a result. Pick up a cupcake on yuppie Monkland Ave. or a samosa on the more eclectic and interesting Sherbrooke stretch, and stop to eat up in Girouard Park (also called NDG Park).

Pointe-SaintCharles/Verdun

Pointe-Saint-Charles is an old working class neighbourhood, full of mid-century apartment buildings. Verdun is further west, and borders the river, along which you can cycle, go kayaking, surf, or even jump in for a swim. Bars were banned for years in Verdun, but a Benelux brewpub (4026 Wellington) just opened in the neighbourhood last spring – the first bar in Verdun since 1875.

St. Henri

The old industrial heart of the city, St. Henri was just a bunch of abandoned factories a few short years ago, but that’s all changing now. St. Henri is home to McGill residence Solin Hall, making it a relatively popular off-campus spot. Browse the indoor and outdoor food stalls at Atwater market (138 Atwater), and chow down on your finds on the banks of the Lachine canal before checking out Arsenal (2020 William), a 19th-century shipyard converted into a contemporary art gallery. If you explore late at night, you might just catch one of the underground rave-like parties

at Jean Talon market (7070 Henri Julien).

Some cool Mile End cats are moving up here for the cheap rents, bringing along trendy joints like the Berlin-inspired bar Alexandraplatz (6731 Esplanade) or the Triple Crown Dinette (6704 Clark), where Right past the Mile End, over the they’ll give you your Southern meal in Rosemont overpass, you’ll find this hodge- a picnic basket you can take to the park podge of areas making a big – really big across the street.

– neighbourhood. You can bowl the night away while sipping a cocktail at Notre Dame Des Quilles (32 Beaubien E.), or go If imposing mansions and $5 lattes are wander the vast expanses of Jarry Park. In Little Italy, predictably, you’ll find deli- your cup of tea, then check out the anglocious cheap pasta. You’ll also find the wid- phone upper-class residential Westmount est selection of fresh produce in the city area. By upper class, we mean sky-high regularly hosted in St. Henri’s repurposed old factories.

Rosemont–La PetitePatrie

Westmount

class: Westmount, technically an autonomous city, is one of the richest hoods in the country and boasts famous residents such as former premier Jean Charest and the Molson family. Hike up to the lookout at Summit Circle for a great view of the city.

Côte-des-Neiges (CDN)

Côte-des-Neiges is home to the Université de Montréal (UdeM) and its many students as well as a large ethnic community. It borders Westmount but has

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Greek and Indian food may be the stars, you can also find some delicious West African food in this hood.

HochelagaMaisonneuve (HoMa)

Good luck finding any English in total Frenchie Hochelaga. Yes, this hood is far from downtown, but it’s a great place for a bargain. Hit up the Value Village (2033 Pie-IX) for some $3 tops and 25¢ plates.

If you need some cheap new wheels, SOS Vélo (2085 Bennett) will be your treasure chest. HoMa is also home to the Botanical Gardens, Olympic Stadium, and Biodôme (check out the awesome capybaras). Pick up a baguette at ArHoMa (15 Simon Valois) while you’re in the neighbourhood – their baguettes are supposed to be the best in the city.

The Milton-Parc Community

It might seem tired, but you certainly can’t escape it. The houses are beautiful, and we’re all a bit jealous of those lucky students who can roll out of bed ten minutes before class – and maybe grab a tasty espresso from Pikolo café (3418 Parc). This party central has little to offer in terms of shops and restaurants, which explains why many students move out of the area after first year. If you’re in the area (which is pretty much inevitable), you might as well check out the MAI gallery (3680 Jeanne-Mance).

The Concordia Area

If cheap noodles and funky boutiques are what you’re looking for, head to the Concordia area. At Japanese joint Kazu (1862 St. Catherine W.), the line is long but the food is unbeatable. Check out the Canadian Centre for Architecture (1920 Baile) tucked away on a side street. It’s best to avoid the Crescent nightlife – you’ll find a richer experience on St. Laurent, and avoid the belligerent frat boys.

The Latin Quarter

a completely different hodge-podge feel.

The area is also home to the impressive Saint-Joseph’s Oratory (3800 Queen Mary) and the huge Mount-Royal Cemetery – it’s quite beautiful, if that’s your thing.

The (Gay) Village

The name sums it up. The Village has long been the go-to neighbourhood for members of the LGBTQ community.

In past years, it has become increasingly commercial, and young Villagers are increasingly moving out further North into the Plateau and Mile End areas as the idea of a restricted LGBTQ neighbourhood

becomes outdated. The Village still has all the traditional drag entertainment you’d expect, and the famous drag queen Mado Lamotte has her Cabaret in the area (1115 St. Catherine E.).

Outremont

The francophone mirror image of Westmount, swanky Outremont borders the hip Mile End neighbourhood, and yet feels miles away. Think tree-lined streets, beautiful mansions, and elegant old apartment buildings. It’s home to the crème de la crème of Quebecois folk – including many UdeM professors – and

The area centering on the lower part of St. Denis is home to lots of cafes and shisha lounges, largely catering to the local UQAM student population. Some famous spots in this hood include renowned condom shop La Capoterie (2061 St. Denis) and the Fresh Paint Gallery (180 Ste. Catherine E.), showcasing graffiti and street art. At night, the area turns into a sort of francophone Crescent street, centering on the buzzing terrasses, including the multi-storey Le Saint-Sulpice (1680 also has a sizeable Hasidic community. St. Denis).

It’s a nice place for a meandering walk, but good luck finding something within your budget on pricey commercial streets Bernard and Laurier.

Chinatown

Parc Extension (Parc Ex)

Parc Ex is the best place to go for some truly amazing (both in taste and price) Greek and Indian food. Jean-Talon is lined with dozens of curry houses, but you’ll find the tastiest bites at Maison Indian Curry House (996 Jean-Talon W.). While

As people invariably point out, this is nothing compared to the Chinatown in New York or Toronto. Nonetheless, if dumplings and green tea are your kind of thing, Montreal’s Chinatown is definitely worth checking out. The best dim sum in town is La Maison Kam Fung (1111 St. Urbain), and you can burn off those noodles by walking along the pedestrian section of De Maisonneuve, where you’ll find everything from exotic grocery stores to parasol shops.

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Montreal Bike Collectives Hera Chan | The McGill Daily

The Flat Location | 3480 McTavish, B-02 Hours | Monday, Tuesday, Thursday from 5 to 7:30 p.m.

McGill’s very own bike collective is located in the basement of the Shatner building, right by the side entrance to Gert’s. Members of the Flat strive to make the space non-hierarchical and anti-oppressive. It’s a hands-off space, meaning those who run the Flat are there to teach you how to fix your bike rather than repair your bike for you. They run free workshops, and are always looking for volunteers. Well stocked for your basic mechanical bike needs, the Flat carries old and new parts, with people always there to help you find something cheaper.

Right to Move Location | behind Concordia’s Hall building, in an alley between Bishop and Mackay Hours | Monday to Friday from 6 to 9 p.m.

Founded in 1997, Right to Move is facilitated by dedicated cyclists who try to make biking accessible for all, regardless of gender, age, or wealth. The political mandate they ascribe to includes striving to improve the environment and empowering women to have equal access to mechanical knowledge. The second and last Saturdays of every month are “Girls’ Night In,” where a women-only shift is hosted at the bike collective from 6 to 9 p.m.. Bikes are donated to Right to Move to be sold or donated to people who would not otherwise be able to afford a bicycle and have the need for one. An annual membership fee of $20 is suggested to support Right to Move, which is a non-profit organization.

BQAM Location | 200 Sherbrooke Ouest, SH-R315

pavilion (enter building on southeast corner) Hours | Monday to Thursday from 4 to 8 p.m.

BQAM is the first bike collective at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) that provides workshops and repair space to the community at large. With a mandate to be accessible, BQAM promotes equity and social justice among the people within their space.

Becoming a member costs $25 a year, which includes all the tools and training needed to fine tune your pair of wheels.

Santrovélo Bike Shop Location | 111 Roy Street, corner of Roy and Coloniale Hours | Monday to Wednesday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Saturday from noon to 3 p.m.

Located conveniently in the Plateau area, and a branch of Santropol Roulant, Santrovélo is a fun and frugal alternative to more expensive bike shops in the neighbourhood. Like the Flat, volunteers will teach people how to fix their bikes instead of simply repairing it for them. With attention paid to the arrangement of the space, Santrovélo will be sure to make you feel like you’re a part of a community. Membership fees are $5 per visit or $15 for the whole season.

Mile End Bike Garage Location | 135 Van Horne, second floor Hours | Monday to Friday from 6 to 9 p.m.

The Mile End Bike Garage is a quick and dirty way to learn how to fix your bike. In operation as a do-it-yourself bike collective, this bike garage is a great place to meet some new friends. Membership is $5 per month or $20 per season, but children under 12 can use the shop for free.

Alice Shen | The McGill Daily CRABE Location | 1100 Notre-Dame West street, corner of Peel Hours | members anytime, non-members must make an appointment The Centre de Réparation et d’Ajustement de Bicyclettes de l’ÉTS (CRABE) is – as you probably guessed – another wonderful bike collective run by uni-

versity students. The mission of the CRABE is to share tools, equipment, and know-how in order to have proper functioning bikes.

They offer training workshops and operate on a paid subscription system. A $20 yearly membership fee gets you full-time access to the CRABE’s facilities. To get help from a volunteer mechanic, an appointment is required, even for members. According to their website, buying or borrowing tools is not allowed.

McGill Religious Resources Hillary Pasternak | The McGill Daily

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f you’re looking to commune with a higher power, or track down some people who share your spiritual background, there’s probably a resource on campus that can help you out. Here’s a quick look at a few of the services and clubs on and around campus that mention some variation on the phrase “spiritual growth” in their online bios.

Newman Centre – 3484 Peel A branch of the many similar Newman centres around the world, this centre aims to provide Catholic students at McGill with “intellectual as well as spiritual formation within the context of a community centered on Christ.” They offer mass, bible study, a daily lunch in the “Bagelounge,” and more.

counsel for the searching soul, organizes interfaith activities and volunteer work, publishes student-run spiritual/philosophical magazine Radix, and runs more meditation groups than you can shake an evolving consciousness at. The Chaplaincy can also help connect you with religious institutions around Montreal.

Birks Chapel – 3520 University This gorgeous, 2-storey chapel located in the Birks Religious Studies building offers regular services. You can also get married or baptized there if the mood strikes you.

Chaplaincy – Brown building The McGill Chaplaincy offers support for adherents of everything from Anglicanism to Zen Buddhism, as well as those who don’t like to label their beliefs. It provides

Muslim Student’s Association (MSA) Shatner Building, room B-09 In addition to a student-run library and social events, the MSA holds Jum’uah (Friday) prayers in the Shatner ballroom and

keeps a regularly maintained general prayer space in their Shatner building space the rest of the week.

Ghetto Shul – 3919 Clark This synagogue just off campus is best known for its Friday night Kabbalat Shabbat services and the locally-sourced “Sustainable Shabbat” meal that follows. Similar services are available at the Chabad Jewish Student Center (3429 Peel) and the Jack Reitman Hillel House (3460 Stanley).

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Your health is priceless Ralph Haddad, Tyler Michaels, Kai O’Doherty, Lilya Hassall, Ethan McDonald & Susan Tardiff Illustrations by Alice Shen

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hough McGill Student Health Services offers their hand in informing students on general health queries, we’ve compiled a list of all the health centres and organizations, at McGill or otherwise, that you may not have heard of. They’re not your runof-the-mill health and well-being establishments, and they generally offer much more in the way of non-judgemental, anti-oppressive, and safer space services for all members of the McGill and Montreal community.

The Shag Shop The Shag Shop is McGill’s on-campus safer sex & health boutique, as well as resource for sexual health information. The shop is staffed by undergraduate students professionally trained to answer questions about sexual health. The shop also sells safer sex items, such as over twenty types of condoms, lubricant, alternative menstrual products, massage oils, toys, books, nonhormonal contraceptives, and pregnancy tests. These are priced at a cheaper rate than what can be found at a pharmacy – usually at a third to half the cost.

The Shag Shop strives toward a sex-positive campus where information about sexual health and healthy relationships is accessible and available to everyone. The shop is committed to providing a welcoming environment for people of all identities, backgrounds, and abilities.

Drop by to ask the staff any sexual health questions you may have, or to check out the selection of products we offer. The Shag Shop is located on 3511 Peel, Suite 3312. It is open Monday to Friday from 12 to 4 pm.

volunteers always believe survivors. These services include individual support via a helpline and drop-in hours, as well as running workshops that include, but are not limited to, gender, queer, and trans* issues, and sexual assault and consent. SACOMSS also advocates for changes to the McGill Sexual Harassment policy to make it more survivor-friendly, and offers “accompaniment services to members of the McGill community filing a complaint through the policy.” The centre opens its door to everyone in the Montreal community.

SACOMSS is located in the Shatner building basement, room B-27.

Head & Hands Head & Hands’ mission is to promote the mental-health and physical well-being of Montreal’s youth community as most programs target the persons aged 12 to 25 years old. The organization manages this in many ways, offering – among other things – sexual and physical health advice and guidance, workshops on topics such as sexual health and drug education, racial profiling, and depression and suicide. Head & Hands also has walk-in clinics if visitors to the centre need to consult a doctor. Legal services are offered on a slew of issues, ranging from labour law, divorce law, discrimination, tenant law, or even how to get out of debt or contest a ticket.

In an initiative called the Young Parents Program, Head & Hands offers a judgment-free space for parents or parents-to-be under 25 to meet each other in a friendly and open atmosphere. The centre helps youth survive institutional racism and racial profiling as well.

Head & Hands also provides emergency food security twice a month, where centre volunteers “provide two days worth of food to young families, newly independent youth, and students.”

Head & Hands main offices are located on 5833 Sherbrooke W. The operating hours calendar for their walk-in clinics is posted on their website www.headandhands.ca.

Sexual Assault Centre of McGill Students Society A non-hierarchical organization made up of volunteers from within and outside McGill, the Sexual Assault Centre of McGill Students Society (SACOMSS) is pro-feminist, anti-ageist, anti-ableist, queer-positive, trans-positive, anti-racist, anti-classist. It also aims to be anti-oppressive in order to be inclusive of the experiences of all survivors. SACOMSS provides a number of services in order to support Queer McGill Queer McGill (QM) is a university-wide survivors of sexual assault, all of which are fundamentally non-judgmental, completely support service for queer students and their confidential, and based on the principle that allies. People are welcome to come and hang

out at the QM office, where they can find resources, ask questions, and have discussions in safer spaces. QM has a library stocked with books (including fiction, non-fiction, scientific, biographical, and photographic), comic books, manga, DVDs, CDs, and a Barbra Streisand record that’s been there since the dawn of time. Free condoms (for all kinds of phalli!), lubricant, gloves, and dental dams are also available courtesy of the Shag Shop. QM also hosts a variety of events focused on McGill’s queer community, ranging from parties to discussion groups to workshops, and more.

The QM office is located in the Shatner building, room 432. Visit www.queermcgill.ca for more information.

safer sex resources and trans* health resources. Trans* health resources offered includes binders (in multiple sizes) to alter one’s torso, and a list of gender neutral bathrooms around Montreal.

The second category advocates for – among other things – the justice for missing or murdered Indigenous women, and for improved reproductive health by raising awareness “about the injustices faced by those trying to assert their reproductive autonomy in Canada.”

The Centre for Gender Advocacy is located at 2110 Mackay. The list of gender neutral bathrooms is available at http://genderadvocacy.org/trans-health-advocacy.

Union for Gender Empowerment The Union for Gender Empowerment (UGE) is a trans*-positive feminist service of the SSMU, and is open to everyone. The union coordinates an alternative lending library with over 1000 titles, inluding a zine library, DIY sex toys, safer sex supplies, and gender empowerment items. It also boasts a co-op stocking pay-what-you-can ecologically responsible menstrual products.

The UGE also runs trans* 101/allyship and anti-oppression workshops for other organizations and projects, and has a resource binder with information about abortion services, counseling, and queer/trans*-friendly health services available in Montreal. UGE’s office and lounge space, which is located in room 413 of the Shatner University Centre, is a wheelchair-accessible safer space for people of all genders, and is equipped with a microwave, dishes, a kettle, and lots of tea!

Stop by to eat lunch and hang out! Check out the UGE’s website at unionforgenderempowerment.wordpress.com.

The Inclusive Mental Health Collective The Inclusive Mental Health Collective is a new community for individuals with shared experiences of mental or emotional distress, trauma, extreme states, psychiatric diagnosis, psychological suffering, et cetera, and their allies. The Collective was started by psychologically diverse individuals seeking to create a safe, peer-directed environment for action based on peace, respect for others’ experiences, and collaboration.

Members may speak openly without fear of ‘intervention’ or judgement, ask for/receive support, and work towards personal empowerment and well being. Acceptance of many paths and solutions to reduce suffering, and the understanding that what helps one may not help (or may even harm) the other, is the cornerstone of the collective. It believes in promoting therapy and social options from radical to conventional.

The Collective centres around the main space in QPIRG, gatherings where support is given, ideas are shared, and plans for projects are put forward for individuals with shared experience. Group members decide on the structure, goals, and overall mission of The Collective. Projects may include ‘Shared Experience’ groups (ex. hearing voices, social anxiety, life on or off meds et cetera), skill building workshops, peer support, participatory action research, activism, ally groups, film nights, and book clubs. the Collective also has a peer-directed meditation group, which is open to anyone who is interested in nurturing their own mental health. Project possibilities are limited only by the needs, imagination, and energy of Collective members.

Members of the public and student body are invited to participate based on their personal time, energy, and comfort level.

Contact The Inclusive Mental Health Collective for more information at inclusiveMH@gmail.com.

Centre for Gender Advocacy While the Centre for Gender Advocacy is located on Concordia University premises, it opens its doors to the greater Montreal community as well. Services offered at the centre are split into two broad categories. The first category includes offering free-of-charge peer support and advocacy services – “based on the principles of empowerment, harm reduction, and self-determination” – such as

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Childcare at McGill Dana Wray | The McGill Daily

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alancing assignments, tests, social lives, and extracurriculars makes it hard enough for the average student – but for students who are also parents, adding children to the mix can be even harder to manage. Childcare at McGill comes in many forms, from parent support groups to daycare centres. Many students think it falls short – childcare is often in short supply in Quebec unless you have the means, and flexibility is hard to come by at such a big school, like McGill.

There are two types of childcare in Quebec: subsidized and private. Subsidized childcare centres are partially funded by the government, meaning parents only have to pay $7 a day. The problem is that it’s

incredibly difficult to find a spot for your child. The unlucky parents who aren’t able to do so have to pay for private childcare centres, which can range anywhere from around $25 to upwards of $60 a day. Nannies, babysitters, and other kinds of childcare can often cost even more, seriously stretching the already tight budget of student parents.

The McGill Childcare Centre, is a subsidized childcare centre open to McGill students, staff, and faculty. With only 106 spots for children from four months to five years old, and a waiting list of 680 children, it’s a hard one to squeeze into.

The SSMU Daycare Centre’s mandate is much more focused on student parents. The 32 spots in the daycare and eight spots in

the nursery are awarded by priority, first to full-time undergraduate students, and then to graduate students or staff and faculty of McGill. Since it is subsidized by both the government and student fees, parents only pay $7 a day, making it a hot spot – the waiting list here has a whopping 381 names.

For a less permanent and more last-minute solution, Westmount Preschool accepts drop-ins on a first-come, first-serve basis for $10 a day – but only for members of the PostGraduate Students’ Society (PGSS).

Apart from childcare, there are support groups for student parents on campus. The PGSS Family Care Caucus advocates on behalf of post-graduate students who are pregnant or caring for a dependent child

or elderly relative. They serve as a liaison between graduate students and the administration at McGill, and also host occasional social events. For those who aren’t post-graduates, the McGill Student Parents’ Network (SPN) – a non-faith-based initiative coordinated by McGill Chaplaincy – offers support services to the student parent community such as social events, “Study Saturdays” (where kids play with volunteers and parents are free to hit the books), and resources such as gently used clothing and toys. The McGill SPN also offers free babysitting by volunteers for up to three hours a week, as well as a babysitting co-op, where parents can volunteer to help babysit other children on an informal basis.

Hospital Systems Jordan Venton-Rublee | The McGill Daily

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eeling a bit poorly? Woke up with a sore throat or fever? Or maybe you just sprained your ankle and don’t know where to go – this is the guide for you! As a student of McGill, you are able to access the services provided by McGill, as a portion of your student fees go towards health services.

factors, including the nature of your ailment and your location in the city.

of insurance you may have (such as provincial, international, Blue Cross, and so forth).

An Important thing to know about walkin clinics outside of McGill is that wait times can be long depending on what time of day you go. Also, check McGill’s website for offcampus health services before you go to see if the clinic in your area will accept you as a walk-in patient. Additionally, sometimes the clinic will not be able to fill prescriptions for you, and many make you pay upfront if you are out of province or an international student. If you have provincial health care or insurance, you can claim a portion or all of the money back.

Check out www.mcgill.ca/studenthealth/ offcampus to see what clinics in your area will accept you as a walk-in patient.

Info-Santé If you have an urgent health question you can call 8-1-1 to access Info-Santé. This province-wide number, active since 2008, connects you to a healthcare professional, and is the first line of care. If you’re unsure whether McGill Student Health Services Located on the third floor of the Brown you should be going to see a doctor or headBuilding, McGill Student Health Services ing straight to the emergency room, you can provides basic clinic services for those who give Info-Santé a call. These healthcare proneed treatment. They offer a walk-in clinic fessionals can answer basic health questions, that opens at 8 a.m. and operates on a first- and are best used for non-urgent cases – for come, first-served basis. There are a limited example, if you have a cold, a basic question number of appointments every day, so it is about your health, or need direction to furbest to arrive early. If you are looking for ser- ther care. If you’re suffering from something vices that can be booked in advance like STI you believe could be serious, it’s probably testing, obtaining a prescription, or check- safer to skip this step and head immediately CLSC ups, call on the 15th of the month to get an to a clinic or an emergency room.

CLSC (Local Community Services Centres), appointment. are local clinics operated by the government.

If McGill Student Health Services is not Walk-in Clinics If you’re unable to access the McGill Started in the 1970s, they are operated in accessible, there are also a number of other options provided by the province of Quebec, health clinic, the next option is one of the the Montreal by the Centre de santé et de services all of which can be accessed if you’re from walk-in clinics across the city. The McGill sociaux (CSSS). The CLSCs provide routine Quebec, have an out-of-province health card, Student Health Services website offers a services – everything from blood testing and or have international insurance. Where you wide variety of clinic listings based on the vaccinations to rehabilitation services. The go and what you do all varies on a number of area of the city you are living in and the type local CLSCs will only accept people who live in

the area, which is decided by your postal code.

They are best for basic and day-to-day needs, similar to your average walk-in clinic.

Hospitals in Montreal Sometimes, it can’t wait. If you have been in a more serious accident, or have a persistent high fever, you should skip all the steps previously mentioned and head to your nearest emergency room. Depending on your coverage, you may be billed for services like an ambulance ride or treatment at the hospital. In Montreal there are close to two dozen emergency rooms you can go to, all open 24/7 for your needs.

For a list of emergency rooms, see www. santemontreal.qc.ca/en/support-services/ emergency-services/hospital-emergencies/.

Abortion Clinics There are four abortion clinics in the Montreal area: Clinique Médicale Fémina, Morgentaler Clinic, Clinique de L’Alternative, and Centre de la Santé des Femmes de Montreal. The clinics listed are open from Monday to Friday, with varying hours.

Telephone numbers and addresses are available online.

If you see something seriously wrong with this line of text...

please consider joining Design at The Daily! design@mcgilldaily.com

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General Assemblies Anqi Zhang | The McGill Daily What are they?

General Assemblies (GAs) are legislative meetings that are open to all members of the society holding the GA. All members have equal voting power at GAs. This distinguishes GAs from Council meetings, where elected representatives hold the voting power. At a GA, motions are put forth to approve, modify, or reject policies and bylaws.

advance on the relevant society’s website. GAs are also frequently announced and promoted over social media, and are also publicized using posters and flyers on campus.

How do they work?

Any member of the society can submit a motion to be decided upon at the GA. The deadline for submission of motions is often a couple of weeks before the date of the GA itself, in order to allow the distribution When are they?

GAs can happen at various levels: the of motions to members of the society for school-wide level, the faculty level, and the review prior to the GA. If it’s your first time departmental level. SSMU and faculty-level writing a GA motion, don’t worry: the SSMU student society GAs are regularly scheduled website offers a document that introduces and take place either once a term or annually. how to write a motion. One thing to keep Beyond these regular GAs, Special General in mind though, when writing a motion, is Assemblies can also be called to discuss a that GAs, and therefore GA motions, cannot make decisions on budgetary concerns or particular issue or policy change.

The dates and times can be found in human resources.

At a GA, motions are read, explained by those who have put them forth, and then opened to questions from the attendees. A voting period follows the questions, and this decides whether a given motion is passed.

In order to make binding resolutions, quorum must be met (quorum is often defined as a minimum number of people in attendance and, for SSMU GAs, proportional representation of various faculties). Quorum differs for different kinds of GAs, and for the GAs of different societies and groups. If quorum is not met at the time of voting on a motion, the decision made by popular vote at a GA serves only as a recommendation – in the form of a nonbinding resolution – to Council on that particular motion.

Who can go?

All members of the society in question

are welcome to attend and vote at GAs. For SSMU, this means all undergraduate students on the downtown campus. For faculty-level associations such as AUS, SUS, EUS, and others, all students registered in those faculties are invited to attend.

Why would you go?

GAs are a good place to get involved in the political decisions made by the student societies and associations that represent you.

They are a place where you can make your voice heard on the issues that matter to you, and where your vote helps determine stances taken by your representative societies on issues that relate directly to you as a McGill student. Motions discussed at various GAs in the past have included accessible education, divestment from tar sands, and creation of student space.

What’s in an acronym?

Unions at McGill

Benjamin Elgie | The McGill Daily

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union is a legally accredited association of employees that has the right to bargain for its members’ rights as a collective unit. This gives them much greater bargaining power than individual employees or the non-union associations, which lack the ability to seriously pressure the employer during contract negotiations.

There are five accredited unions at McGill (representing 13 bargaining units) as well as two non-unionized associations. The three unions principally composed of student workers have, with the exception of the Teaching Assistant (TA) union, all been accredited since around 2010. McGill has successfully drawn out the first contract negotiations for two to three years for each of these three unions. This has, until recently, left student workers vulnerable to low wages, arbitrary hiring and firing procedures, and few meaningful ways of redressing grievances, particularly compared to other Quebec universities. A number of students remain unionized, including those working as graders, classroom assistants, mentors, and tutors, as well as in other positions. The ability of unions to operate on campus has been hindered

by McGill’s tendency to apply for injunctions against picketing, along with the adoption of a new protocol concerning on-campus demonstrations. This protocol was denounced by numerous civil rights organizations.

invigilators and course lecturers still lack a first contract. However, the invigilators have accepted a final contract offer after forcing McGill to accept the intervention of a provincial arbitrator. The delays mean that invigilators have been working at around minimum wage since the early 2000s. The TA contract expires in July 2014, and the TA unit is currently preparing a bargaining proposal.

Association of McGill University Research Employees (AMURE/AERUM) AMURE represents both research assistants (including undergraduate and graduate students) as well as research associates (typically post-docoral fellows). The union has been accredited since 2010, but negotiations for their first contract lasted until March 2013, and required the intervention of a provincial mediator.

Association of McGill University Support Employees (AMUSE/SEOUM): This union represents McGill casual and temporary non-academic workers, and as such includes a large number of the undergraduate workers on campus. They have been accredited since 2010, and finished negotiating their first contract in 2012.

McGill University Non-Academic Certified Association (MUNACA) MUNACA represents non-academic perAssociation for Graduate Students manent workers at McGill, including cleriEmployed at McGill (AGSEM/AEEDEM) The largest union at McGill, AGSEM cal workers, laboratory and IT technicians, represents teaching assistants (since 1993), support staff, and library assistants. They invigilators (since 2010), and course lectur- have been accredited since 1994. Their preers (since 2011, after nearly two decades vious contract expired in 2010, and their of unionization drives). Due to delaying new contract was not ratified until 2012, tactics by McGill’s administration, both the after an extended strike that lasted most of

Alice Shen | The McGill Daily the fall 2011 semester. Some issues at stake were cost-of-living increases, protection of pensions and benefits, and overtime pay.

McGill secured multiple injunctions against the union in an attempt to halt picketing by MUNACA workers.

Service Employees’ Union (SEU) This union represents service employees, including computing, printing, facilities, and trade workers. Their various accreditations have occurred at different times from 1978 to 2002. Three of their units are currently negotiating new contracts, while the other three units signed three-year contracts in 2011.

McGill Association of University Teachers (MAUT) Unlike most Quebec universities, McGill faculty members are not unionized, which has left professors, particularly non-tenured professors, vulnerable to administration-imposed salary freezes and pension changes.

McGill University Non-Academic Staff Association (MUNASA) A non-union association which represents management-level non-academic staff, MUNASA provides advice to members and lobbies McGill’s administration on their behalf, but does not engage in any collective bargaining.

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Satisfying the frugal foodie A quick guide to cheap student eats Compiled by E.k. Chan Map tiles by Stamen Design, under CC By 3.0. Data by OpenStreetMap, under CC By CA

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or freshmen looking to broaden their culinary horizons beyond the overpriced packaged sushi found in residence halls, Montreal can be a true paradise. This quick guide surveys three easy-to-access hot spots for hungry McGill students: the campus area, Concordia area, and the Plateau-Mile End. This is by no means a comprehensive guide. Instead, it is a selection of highlights to get you started on your noble journey of eating your way across the city.

Concordia Area

In comparison to the downtown McGill area, the Concordia University area is a treasure trove of good eats. Closer than the Plateau and more densely populated with restaurants, a 15-20 minute walk or a five minute bike ride will land you in cheap food heaven.

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Patisserie Cocobun 1500 Atwater; 1550 Maisonneuve W. A somewhat Quebecois spin on Hong Kong bakeries, Cocobun entices passers-by with heavenly smells, and follows through on its fragrant promises. A wide array of sweet and savoury buns and tarts await your self-serve selection. At $1 to 2 each, finding a few favourites is a painless venture.

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Avesta | 2077 Ste. Catherine W. While the expensive desserts could break your budget, sandwiches at this Turkish eatery (“the one with the woman making lavash in the window,” as it is often described by patrons) are around $6. The best experience, though, involves bringing friends and ordering several small dishes to share.

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Yuki Ramen (Le Faubourg Mall) | 1616 Ste. Catherine W. Prices for a hearty bowl of noodle soup topped with BBQ’d meats or veggies are low at this unassuming restaurant. The price also includes the spectacle of watching the noodle dough being expertly slammed and stretched before your eyes, hand-pulled to order.

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Qinghua | 1676 Lincoln A soup dumpling restaurant with a variety of seafood, meat, and vegetarian options, Qinghua lends itself best to coming with friends and order a few dishes to sample around. The menu is simple, with your options being fried or steamed.

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Antep Kabab | 1626 Maisonneuve W Great Turkish-style grilled meat sandwiches can be found here, with nary an overly-dry pile of shredded chicken in sight. Service sometimes runs slow, but the smell of oven-fresh buns will occupy your thoughts during the wait. Expect to shell out over $10 for anything more than a sandwich.

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Bangkok (Le Faubourg Mall) | 1616 Ste. Catherine W. Le Faubourg Mall does not immediately capture one’s excitement, with its bland exterior and sparrow-populated interior. But among the urban wildlife lies a Thai restaurant with absurdly large portions – the pad thai in particular is showered with rave reviews.

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The Green Panther| 2153 Mackay; 66 St. Viateur With two locations, the Green Panther provides vegan meals, including sandwiches, smoothies, soups, desserts, and more. Bike delivery is also available in the downtown, Plateau, and Mile End areas, for those of you who feel like staying in.

Boustan | 2020 Crescent A stand-by for Daily editors in particular, Boustan offers delivery until 4 a.m. for its cheap, fast, and satisfyingly greasy, garlic-smothered grub.

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McGill Area

If you’ve only got an hour to eat between class, your options may seem limited to the on-campus cafeterias and the Subway in the Arts Building, but this isn’t necessarily the case. There are a number of pricey, business-formal-implied restaurants on the streets around campus, but cheap food is hidden throughout.

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Super Sandwich | 1115 Sherbrooke W. Tucked into a basement at Peel and Sherbrooke, Super Sandwich dishes out lunches to a daily horde of businesspeople and students. The line may be long, but you’ll be in and out in five minutes anyway.

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Midnight Kitchen | 3480 McTavish Pay-what-you-can vegan lunches are available here five days a week during the school year, served up by student volunteers in the SSMU building. BYO-Plate in the spirit of reducing waste.

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Saigon | 2044 Metcalfe Filling Chinese and Vietnamese food abounds, with a 10 per cent discount for McGill students. While the food is nothing to write home about, the quick service provides an easy way to satiate your MSG cravings.

Anton & James | 1414 Stanley A trusty stop for downtown business people, Anton & James serves up fantastic hot pizza for a sit-down lunch, as well as quick to-go items from their fridge.

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These figures are averages for a one-person meal, not necessarily including a drink. At a “$” restaurant, it may be easy to tip into the $10-20 range.

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= Gluten-free options

= Vegan options

= Vegetarian options

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Plateau-Mile End

A great number of McGill students move out of rez and straight into the scenic and trendy Plateau-Mile End area. If you don’t, your friends probably will, so either way it’s no loss to get familiar with the plethora of student-priced eats in the area.

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Schwartz’s | 3895 St. Laurent A well-deserving Montreal landmark, Schwartz’s melt-in-yourmouth smoked meat sandwiches are exactly as famous as they are delicious. Have a medium sandwich with a side of fries, a pickle, and a black cherry cola for the full experience.

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Arepera du Plateau | 4050 Bullion Specializing in Venezuelan arepas sandwiches, the generous glutenfree and vegan options will leave even those with dietary restrictions satisfied. If you’re looking for bold flavours (and a bit of a messy meal), you’ll find something new to try here.

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Rotisserie Portugalia | 34 Rachel W. As the name implies, this is a no-nonsense Portuguese grill, bustling with a steady flow of takeout orders. A sit-down meal will usually include a 45 minute wait for your food unless you call ahead, but for the tender, charred meats, the wait is worth it.

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Patati Patata | 4177 St. Laurent As one of the “best poutine in Montreal” contenders, this tiny dozenseat diner is often full to bursting. Once seated inside, the guys behind the counter will make you feel like a regular, even if it’s your first time, and you’ll watch them make your meal hot and fresh.

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La Banquise | 994 Rachel E. La Banquise is a tried and true haven for middle-of-the-night munchies, with a delicious basic poutine that comes in many dressed-up iterations. More than one friend has made a goal of trying every item on the menu, with no bad choices to report so far.

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Chez Boris | 5151 Parc After tasting these made-to-order doughnuts, you may never go back to Tim Hortons. These doughnuts have a not-too-sweet base flavour that allows the restaurant to cook up their unusual “beignewiches” in addition to the simple, sugary varieties that go perfectly with a coffee.

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Fairmount Bagel | 74 Fairmount W. St. Viateur Bagel | 263 Saint Viateur W. These two famed bagel shops are both renowned for churning out delicious bagels 24/7 to satisfy the endless city-wide demand.

Arguments about which bagel is best can occupy an entire night – so you’d better try both and choose your side wisely.

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Ta Chido | 5611 Parc Ta Chido serves up fast, cheap Mexican food with everything made in-house, including the gluten-free breads that form the basis of their filling sandwiches. A rotating selection of aguas frescas will keep your palate light between bites.

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Comptoir 21 | 21 St Viateur W. With fish and chips, clam chowders, and poutine thrown into the mix, Comptoir 21 is just what you’d expect of fish and chips à la Montréal.

Though the selection of fish is left to the discretion of the kitchen, you’re in safe hands, and you’ll leave satisfied.

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Le Cagibi | 5490 St. Laurent Frequently described as a hipster haven, Le Cagibi serves mean vegetarian cuisine that won’t hit your wallet too hard. They host talks, shows, and movie nights alongside their servings of simple fare and drinks.

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Food courts Each of the underground malls downtown bears an array of fast food options, from cheesy paninis to generous bowls of noodle soup. As the malls span the width of McGill campus, the short trek down from any point on the quad is all but guaranteed to find something to your tastes.

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McGill Pizza | 625 Milton If you’re stumbling back to campus the morning after a mid-week party, McGill Pizza has your back. Generous breakfast plates or slices of fresh pizza will get you going, for just the few dollars left over from last night’s beer fund.

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Lola Rosa | 545 Milton; 4581 Parc A small vegetarian restaurant with lots of wood decor, Lola Rosa is a good place to ask that cute hipster in your class out for lunch. A variety of veggie dishes are on the menu, along with delicious, fresh daily soups.

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Kantapia | 364 Sherbooke W. For good Korean food on a budget, Kantapia is a promising new restaurant. The peppy staff quickly prepare a range of Korean dishes, from filling tofu stews to udon bowls to bibimbap.

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La Crêpe 2 Go | 2150 Bleury Sweet and savoury crepes each have their own page of the decadent menu at La Crêpe 2 Go, indulging whatever craving you have. And with a name like that, you know you’re not visiting to try the salads.

Résonance Café | 5175 Parc A trendy café nestled in the Mile End, Résonance hosts live music every night to accompany a simple menu that features vegan sandwiches and rice bowls. There’s also a creative brunch menu available from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on weekends.

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Disorientation

A primer on Quebec politics Dana Wray | The McGill Daily Illustrations by Alice Shen

Main players Parti libéral du Québec Currently headed by Philippe Couillard, the Parti Libéral Québécois (PLQ) is a federalist party – a party in support of Quebec remaining a province of Canada – that is independent of the federal Liberal Party. Typically described as centre-right compared to the more left-leaning Parti Québécois, the PLQ under Jean Charest was in power for a decade, from 2002-12. In 2009, Charest’s government suffered its first controversy when a series of criminal dealings associated with municipal political players dating back decades began to appear in Montreal (see Charbonneau Commission).

In 2011, the PLQ announced that they planned to raise tuition for post-secondary schooling by 75 per cent in 2011. When the move proved controversial, and led students and members of the community at large to demonstrate on the streets (see Student strike), Charest’s government swiftly passed provincial Bill 78. This bill, a controversial measure that highly restricted the right to protest, was met with widespread outrage.

Parti Québécois The Parti Québécois (PQ) won the most recent provincial election in September 2012, establishing themselves as a minority government within the National Assembly. Their leader, Pauline Marois, is the current Premier of Quebec. The PQ is a provincial political party that only exists in Quebec, where they were founded in 1968 as a separatist party after the beginning of the Quiet Revolution.

In the lead-up to the elections in September 2012, the PQ publicly supported the student strike. However, in February of the following year, they reneged on their promise not to increase tuition fees at the Summit on Higher Education.

With Quebec sovereignty still an issue on the backburner for Marois’s government, the PQ’s focus has shifted more to the protection of the French language, francophone culture and identity, and secularism, in Quebec.

Coalition Avenir Québec The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) was formed in 2011 and merged with an older right-wing party, the Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ), in the following year. The party is currently led by its cofounder, François Legault.

On the political spectrum, the CAQ is mainly identified as a centre-right party, and self-identifies as autonomist – it advocates for Quebec nationalism, including limiting immigration and promoting the French language, while advocating against separatism.

Québec solidaire The leftmost on the political spectrum of Quebec’s four main parties, Québec Solidaire (QS) supports popular movements and aims to unite a variety of progressive movements such as environmentalism, feminism, anti-racism, anti-neoliberalism, and other social justice causes.

Founded seven years ago as an alternative form of the Quebec sovereignty movement at the time, the social democratic QS practice gender parity in always representing themselves with one female and one male co-spokespersons. These positions are currently filled by Françoise David and Andrés Fontecilla. The party’s recognized leader is Régent Séguin.

Hot button issues Student strike Popularly known as Quebec’s Maple Spring, the student strike of 2011-12 was initiated after Jean Charest’s PLQ government announced that they planned to raise post-secondary tuition for Quebec students from $2,168 to $3,793 over five years.

Students and other grassroots movements took to the streets of Montreal to protest for the accessibility of higher education by pushing for the PLQ to enforce a tuition freeze.

The red square – known in French as the carré rouge – became the symbol of the Maple Spring.

While the Arts Undergraduate Society at McGill voted against going on strike, smaller associations on campus did vote to support the movement. Other universities also saw students mobilize to join the movement – notably, Concordia became the first English-language university to strike. As of March 22, 2012, 310,000 other students in the province were declared on strike.

Protests continued into the fall semester of 2012. In the winter semester of 2013, the PQ held the Summit on Higher Education. The student union L’association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (ASSÉ) – which represents over 70,000 students in Quebec – chose to boycott the Summit because of the provincial government’s refusal to discuss the possibility of a tuition freeze, as promised during their campaign leading up to the elections.

The summit concluded with a PQ decision to implement a 3 per cent tuition hike. Though the PQ presented it as an indexation of tuition to inflation, some doubt the financial reality.

While relationships between the people of Montreal – especially students – and the police had been contentious long before, the student strike only furthered antagonism, especially as police brutality became more rampant on the streets.

Restrictive bills passed by the government also helped inspire furor in the general population. Bill 78, passed by then-PLQ Education minister Michelle Courchesne, suspended winter and summer semesters for striking institutions and required that demonstrators provide police with a route beforehand, among other restrictions that civil liberties associations decried.

Similar to Bill 78, municipal bylaw P-6 severely restricts the right to freedom of expression and peaceful protest in the city of Montreal. It requires demonstrators to provide a route to the police at least 24 hours in advance, and makes it illegal to wear masks at a demonstration. In recent months, police have been using the bylaw to shut down protests quickly by kettling protesters and slapping them with fines of $637 – sometimes before they begin, and almost always before there is any violence.

Sovereignty

Charbonneau Commission

Language

The issue of sovereignty – otherwise known as Quebec separatism – is a uniquely francophone issue in Canada.

Sovereigntist political parties, such as the PQ, believe that Quebec should separate from the rest of Canada and form its own nation.

Many supporters of sovereignty suggest that Quebec’s unique French identity, culture, and language, need protection. Detractors point out that Quebec is an essential part of the cultural fabric of Canada as a country, while others simply state that economically, Quebec could not survive alone.

During their various periods in power, the PQ headed two separate referendums – one in 1980 and one in 1995 – asking the citizens of Quebec whether they wanted to separate from the rest of Canada and become their own nation. Both referendums showed results in favor of federalism, although the margins were small – just 19.2 per cent and 1.2 per cent, respectively. Quebec remains a part of Canada today.

The Charbonneau Commission is a public inquiry started in 2011 by Charest’s PLQ government that is investigating the possibility of corruption in the management of public construction contracts. So far, the inquiry has exposed the widespread collusion between public officials and organized crime, such as the mafia in Montreal, as well as between engineering firms and the construction industry.

Colourful stories such as socks stuffed with bills, and wads of dirty money funding political parties, have both gripped and exhausted the Montreal public. The revelations of corruption have left their mark on Montreal’s mayoral office: in the past year, Montreal has had three different mayors.

Gérald Tremblay resigned in 2012 after allegations of illegal fundraising surfaced. Michael Applebaum, who portrayed himself as a reforming white knight, resigned in June 2013 in the wake of 14 criminal charges, including conspiracy, fraud, and breach of trust. Now, interim mayor Laurent Blanchard will lead until the municipal elections on November 3.

The Charter of the French Language, or Bill 101, is an essential watershed moment in Quebec history, and is an absolutely crucial piece of legislation for understanding Quebec’s social and cultural fabric. Bill 101 was passed by the first PQ government led by Premier René Lévesque in 1977 as part of their mandate to protect and promote French identity. It defined French as the official language of Quebec.

To this day, Bill 101, drafted to protect the rights of the francophone majority in the province, is met with major criticism from the Quebec anglophone community. Although the anglophone community in Quebec constitutes a numerical minority in the province, they hold on to a majority of the province’s wealth. This historical power imbalance provides part of the backdrop for language and identity protection in Quebec.

Sci+Tech

The McGill Daily

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Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Lessons from Mother Nature

Human innovation inspired by plants and animals Omar Saadeh | The McGill Daily

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ankind has accomplished some pretty big feats over the ages. As a species, we’ve managed to develop and improve communication in the form of countless intricately complicated languages, formed cooperative governing structures that are based on equality and freedom, and are unremittingly pushing back the boundaries of technology on a daily basis. Birds fly, and so can we. Fish swim, but so what, we’ve got nuclear-powered submarines that can circumnavigate the globe. Heck, we’ve built buildings so tall that if Zeus did exist, he’d be submitting an application to purchase the penthouse suite.

We’ve conquered flight, put a man on the moon, developed disease-fighting drugs, and have succeeded in harnessing energy from the sun and wind. It’s hard to doubt, we’re a pretty intelligent species.

Yet to the ordinary person, it may come as somewhat far-fetched that the humpback whale has played a significant role in the design of wind turbines. Or that the Zimbabwean termite mount is currently serving as a model of sustainable building architecture. It may be easier to start with something seemingly more plausible, for example, Speedo’s sharkskin inspired swimsuits that allowed swimmers to break 13 world records at the Sidney 2000 Summer Olympics. As a matter of fact, the hydrodynamic suit gave athletes the equivalent of a six metre head start in a 200 metre race.

We have invented a lot of cool stuff, most of which tackle specific problems; however, the most ingenious solutions often aren’t truly our own, but nature’s.

Biomimicry translates to the “imitation of nature,” from the Greek words bios and mimesis. The world can be interpreted as nature’s petri dish, where species continuously adapt to their environments and each other. Only the most effective characteristics survive. As a matter of fact, this particular research and development project (also known as evolution) has been ongoing for the past 3.8 billion years.

Take the ultra-fast Japanese Shinkansen bullet train. When designing it, engineers came across a unique problem. The highspeed train, traveling at over 320 km/hr would produce a sonic boom effect caused by the transition from a high to low pressured environment as it leaves the tunnel.

Coincidentally, the train’s chief engineer, Eiji Nakatsu, was an avid bird watcher. He realized that the kingfisher bird traverses two different mediums – air and water – when hunting for fish. He proposed to

Francois Barthelat and U3 student Xuan Hu from the Biomimetics Materials Laboratory design the nose of the train in such a way that it mimics that of the kingfisher’s beak.

This seemingly simple modification not only resulted in a quieter train, but a faster and more electricity efficient one.

At McGill’s Biomimetic Materials Laboratory, Francois Barthelat and his students work together to produce new and innovative ways to build synthetic materials such as ceramics and biopolymers. Inspired by this idea of biomimicry, Barthelat is presently investigating the natural formation of what would seem an unlikely candidate of engineering research: the seashell.

After meeting with The Daily, Barthelat explained that nature has the unique talent of making the best out of what it has available. Over the course of millions of years, seashells have evolved to protect their soft tissue inhabitants from oceanic debris, predators, and parasites. The shell’s inner membrane is composed of a lustrous, rainbow coloured coating more commonly known as mother of pearl.

On the ocean seabed, which consists mainly of soil, rock, coral, and mud, one can’t be too picky. There is, however, an abundance of calcium carbonate, an

element commonly found in rocks all over the world. Seashells use this compound in layered sheets separated by an organic matrix of proteins. Amazingly, by combining these basic ingredients, the shell’s inner membrane becomes essentially 3,000 times stronger than its individual prerequisite components.

Adapting this process of “toughness amplification” to a more industrially relevant application, Barthelat replaces the relatively weak calcium carbonate based starting blocks with more robust elements such as boron carbide – the stuff used to make cutting edge body armors. Recently, the lab has been able to produce some exciting high-performance biomimetic composites – it’s no surprise that Barthelat is also considering the biomedical applications of such materials.

One such application is to artificially build more capable and strengthened bone replacements. In order to do so, Barthelat uses the bio-friendly element chitosan.

Found in the crustacean shells of shrimp, chitosan makes for a prime candidate in medical applications due to its unique adhesive properties.

By examining the unique structure

Omar Saadeh | The McGill Daily of human bones, one will notice a network of multi-cylindrical arrangements known as osteons. The outer layers are composed of compact bone tissue that surround a more fragile interior. The magic, explained Barthelat, is again in the structure. Rebuilding the multi-layer osteon, Barthelat’s chitosan-based substitutes show a seven-fold improvement in strength when compared to ordinary bones.

We don’t always think of Mother Nature to have developed the most adept solutions to life’s problems. When looking towards a sustainable future, it is interesting to draw comparisons between our rapid and resource-heavy development and nature’s relatively sluggish yet elegant evolution. In nature, almost everything is made at low temperatures and near atmospheric pressured environments – there are neither Bunsen burners nor vacuum chambers. Taking the McGill Biomimicry Lab as an example, the key to unlocking the processes of sustainable development may be right in front of us.

The next big leap for mankind may not be on Mars, but somewhere closer to home – where we may be more inclined to learn from nature rather than simply extract from it.

Are you a science or tech enthusiast interested in journalism?

Come write for The Daily!

Pitch meetings for Sci+Tech in Shatner B-24 on Wednesdays @ 6 p.m.

Contact: scitech@mcgilldaily.com

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Sci+Tech

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Good things come in small packages Taking a look at the field of nanotechnology Diana Kwon | The McGill Daily

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he physicist Richard Feynman once said, “There’s plenty of room at the bottom.” Feyman’s speech in 1959 urged scientists to shift their view of the world to smaller scale, and is regarded by many as a seminal event in the birth of nanotechnology. From electronics to medicine, nanotechnology is believed to have widespread potential applications. However, this developing field of study works in a playing field where all the rules are not yet known, where making regulation and policy is just as important as the research itself.

Feynman described the world seen through a miniature lens as a place with an incredible amount of possibility that had yet to be explored. In the 1970s, the engineer K. Eric Drexler popularized the notion of molecular nanotechnology, envisioning the “molecular assembler” – a nanoscale machine able to recruit matter from the environment in order to make copies of itself or anything within physical possibility. Drexler’s machine would allow the production of just about anything that could be imagined. Though such a machine does not yet exist, Drexler’s dream is slowly being realized across a multitude of fields.

At the nanoscale, even a minute change can lead to a huge difference. These possibilities are being studied and applied in labs across various departments at McGill. The McGill Institute for Advanced Materials (MIAM) includes researchers across the fields of science and engineering, and in interviews with The Daily, some of MIAM’s members shared insights into their research and their views on the future of nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology has been around for much longer in some fields than others. In microelectronics, transistors – devices in electronics used to control the movement of electrons – have been driven down in size for decades prior to the current nanotechnology hype. This trend of shrinking transistors has been a large driving force in the technological revolution. One of the areas of study David Plant and Andrew Kirk of McGill’s Engineering department are working on is silicon photonics, an emerging field in nanoelectronics. Silicon photonics involve enabling silica – the building blocks for all modern electronics – to use light rather than electricity. “Nanotechnology is an enabler of many things,” says Plant, “and one of the places it enables is the internet.” Silicon photonics hold the potential to address the growing global demand for the internet in future years.

More recently, the ideas of nanotechnology have seeped into many different scientific realms. In biology, the application involves examining and modelling systems that work at the nanoscale.

One example is nanocrystalline cellulose, a material currently studied at McGill.

These tiny needle-like structures come from forest products and exhibit extraordinary properties. Mark Andrews, a researcher in the chemistry department, is involved in this research. “They are beautifully iridescent, brightly colored, and create highly ordered phases of materials

Ralph Haddad | The McGill Daily spontaneously in certain conditions,” described Andrews. He went on further to explain, “They are being widely studied in industries from aviation to catalysis…

The little crystal has unusual properties – including enormous strength and the ability to be chemically modified.”

These are just a few examples of the many applications of nanotech. “[In nanotech], the development of equipment and research go hand in hand,” says Andrews. Because this field involves looking at materials too small to see with the naked eye, the advancement of more sensitive equipment, such as microscopes and atom traps (devices that can hold single atoms), is a critical element in determining the rate of progress.

One of the challenges when it comes to nanotechnology is agreeing on an exact definition. While purists argue that it refers solely to the ability of controlling matter on the atomic scale, other scientists include assemblies that have been made with nanoscale materials. Though the definition does not make a huge difference at the level of scientific discovery, it becomes important when considering the development of nanotechnology policy.

While examining nanotech applications for health and environment related is-

sues, it is important to weigh the potential side effects of applying new nanomaterial against the potential benefits. “We need to be cautious of what the impact will be,” says Peter Grutter, a physicist in the MIAM group. “There is only one thing I’m 100 per cent sure of, [and that] is that we’ll never be 100 per cent sure.”

At the nanoscale, properties of materials often change. For example, though gold is non-reactive on a macro scale, it becomes highly catalytic – a driving force for chemical reactions – at around two nanometres.

This makes it imperative to create policies surrounding issues such as workers’ safety.

Andrews stresses the importance of considering the health and safety, social, and economic elements surrounding the emerging field of nanotechnology. “Our artificial derivation of scientific, social, and ethical also needs to simulate the notion of looking from the bottom up,” Andrews explains.

Policy makers in nanotechnology need to be as detail-oriented as those studying and engineering the materials.

Quebec and the rest of Canada are very different when it comes to scientific policy.

According to Grutter, in Quebec there have been many written reports by scientific advisory and ethics committees on the poten-

tial impact of nanotechnology and its economic, social, and logistical challenges. The first regulation for workers in nanotechnology was written in Quebec; however, on the federal level, no scientific policy for nanotechnology exists.

Nanotechnology holds great potential at both the local and global levels. Locally, nanotechnology opens possibilities across various types of industry – allowing people to create new businesses. Globally, nanotechnology may be able to address problems in energy and healthcare in ways that have never been possible before.

Historically, a new revolutionary force has entered the world every fifty or so years. From the initial rise of textiles, railroads, and automobiles during the industrial revolution, to the rise of computers in the information revolution, each new technology has followed a similar trajectory. They are usually slow to take off and have a period of rapid growth before innovation plateaus. Currently, the only real limitations for the possibilities of nanotechnology are time, patience, and imagination. As it is just now at the initial stages of growth, the future holds much potential for this emerging field of exciting research.

Sports

The McGill Daily

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Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Football’s raw deal

The NFL errs again with concussion issues Evan Dent | The McGill Daily

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Alice Shen | The McGill Daily

told a friend that I was writing my latest article on the National Football League (NFL) and concussions, and she replied, “Again?” It’s become frustrating, but, yes, I’m writing about the NFL and its harebrained, morally ambivalent, public-image focused and money-obsessed policy on concussions in football.

First, there was the period of ignoring concussions and post-career brain diseases (circa the invention of football till about the mid 1990s.) Then, there was the “Big Tobacco” phase, wherein the NFL hired a doctor (with dubious medical qualifications) to study the effect of concussions on players – which, till 2009, came back as inconclusive, as decided by the NFL (I think the phrase here is ‘conflict of interest’). In 2009, the NFL finally admitted that concussions or other head injuries were linked to brain diseases, while not claiming any responsibility for these effects on retired players. Since then, the NFL has been battling the media, which started to turn on the league (especially when it was revealed that the league had denied coverage to many retirees who were suffering from brain diseases), as well as the players and general public. And the latest stage: a coup for the league in the

fight for public opinion.

On Thursday, the NFL announced that it had reached an agreement in a critical lawsuit.

A group of former players had sued the league for ignoring evidence that football leads to concussions and not offering financial support for players dealing with brain or mental injuries. Thursday’s settlement agreed that the NFL would give its entire pool of 18,000 retired players a total of $765 million over the next twenty years, with differing levels of financial aid given to players suffering from various diseases in retirement. So this is all ponies and rainbows, right? The NFL finally did something about the horrible concussion problem it’s been avoiding for nearly twenty years, right? Right?

Sadly, no. The NFL did a whole lot of nothing, created a settlement designed to deflect outside criticism while having a very small impact. In essence, the settlement gives the appearance of proactivity. For one, the NFL denied any wrongdoing in the case; that is, despite former players coming out and saying that they had been denied coverage for concussion-related diseases after retirement, the NFL still publicly claims innocence, that they were not wrong in misinforming players of the dan-

gers of concussions, or not giving medical coverage to retired players, or not even acknowledging that playing in the NFL was the cause of these injuries. And even if you were going to say that those $765 million dollars might be an admission of guilt by default; well, the NFL has it in the settlement that the agreement “cannot be considered an admission by the NFL of liability, or an admission that plaintiffs’ injuries were caused by football.” (Which is darkly funny, in a way, as if we’re supposed to believe that the money is just a good-will gesture: here’s $765 million for your debilitating brain injuries, but it sure wasn’t our fault!)

In addition to this, while $765 million isn’t anything to scoff at, it pales in comparison to the $9 billion the NFL makes annually.

It really pales in comparison to the $27 billion the NFL is projected to make in 2025, as was noted by former player Kevin Mawae on Twitter. The NFL is in essence actually, finally doing something: as little as they can. (There are some in the media who have blasted the players for taking the deal when they had the leverage to get a lot more – though their leverage was not so strong when you consider that there were thousands of veterans who needed the money as soon as possible; the NFL was

negotiating with active patients, in a sense.)

Bill Barnwell, of Grantland, also noted that the settlement might not be that helpful to veterans because with thousands of retired players seeking compensation from the $765 million dollar pool, the money could run out.

If you go to ESPN.com right now and find their story on the settlement, the video accompanying the piece is entitled: “Monumental Day for NFL.” Sports Illustrated, on its website, have called it a “major victory for the league.”

Those media outlets – two of the biggest in the country – have fallen hook, line, and sinker for the NFL’s pitch, that this agreement shows a commitment to player safety for the future. (It should be noted that ESPN was asked by the NFL to end their involvement in a documentary about the damage of football). And those two outlets shape much of the discourse on the subject – so this half-assed, barely-there settlement has become a beacon of hope. The settlement is a hand-washing, an attempt to get rid of the ugly media spectre of concussions and their post-career effects on players, without actually copping to any fault. I don’t want to say that this is nothing – it’s great that formerly ignored players are finally getting treatment covered – but shouldn’t we expect more?

Sports writers wanted!

Email sports@mcgilldaily.com for more info.

Health&Ed

The McGill Daily

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Tuesday, September 3, 2013

100 per cent normal The story of growing up with Tourette’s Diana Kwon | The McGill Daily

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or Ethan Macdonald, a psychiatric diagnosis at a young age meant homeschooling, medications, and hospitalizations. Despite facing difficult experiences as a child, he emerged with a positive outlook on life and is actively working towards a changing force in the mental health system.

In fourth grade, Ethan was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome. Tourette’s is a neurological disorder characterized by tics – sudden, rapid, and involuntary movements or vocalizations. At the time of his diagnosis, he was attending a small Christian academy where the visibility of the tics resulted in abuse and ridicule from certain classmates and teachers. “I had a tic where my head would go to the left and I had to do a test on multiplication tables, but I couldn’t look at the page for a long enough time to finish the equations in time. I was in a classroom where the teacher didn’t really understand my tics, and was rather abusive. He later apologized – but he basically singled me out in front of the class.”

This is when Ethan decided that he wanted to be home-schooled.

Though his tics were still an issue, homeschooling allowed him to study what he wanted to, while being free of the difficulties he faced in the classroom. After a year Ethan

“Even with my diagnoses, I’ve always been quite a functional person…” returned to school, where he once again faced abuse – this time both emotional and physical.

The misunderstanding of his tics led to public ridicule and physical retaliation behind closed doors.

At the time of diagnosis, Ethan was told he would have his tics for life. For the first few years, Ethan remembers that he was seeing a pediatrician “whose notion of treatment was mostly pharmaceuticals.” Though the tics were not debilitating, the feeling of being isolated caused depression, and he was initially put on Zoloft, an antidepressant. After three weeks on the drug, he had his first episode of what he called “losing control.” The medication continued for five years, during which

he was hospitalized with medication related emergencies several times. “If I look at [the doctor’s] notes, it literally says, ‘Ethan is about 75 per cent normal, or 50 per cent normal, or 25 per cent normal.’ He had this arbitrary scale of normal, and I could never figure it out or live up to it.”

Ethan’s medication schedule became an endless loop, which frequently resulted in more pharmaceuticals. “Sometimes my par-

some of which caused terrible adverse reactions – including paralysis of his whole upper body. After leaving solitary confinement, he spent the remainder of his time in the pediatric ward of the hospital.

The return to middle school after hospitalization was difficult. Rumors had circulated, and the bullying meant a return to home-schooling. The tics were not the only thing Ethan was dealing with in middle school – not only did he come out as gay in eighth grade, but the medications caused his weight to increase to over 200 pounds.

“A funny thing is, it was a hard time for me, but I had a wicked group of friends … it was kind of beautiful that they were accepting of me even though things were a bit weird in my life,” Ethan recalled. “The result of that is that the people who stuck around were really not the type that was judging.”

One notable incident marked the beginning on the road to a drug-free life. His mothents and I would go with a really good review er had accidently taken one of his pills – havand I’d come out with more medication. I ing mistaken it for her own heart medication was diagnosed with Tourette’s by a psychia- – and fell asleep for 48 straight hours. Upon trist, but under [the pediatrician’s] care, I was awaking she realized why it was that it was diagnosed with ADHD, OCD, oppositional so difficult for her son to wake up for school defiance disorder, explosive intermittent dis- in the morning. At the same time, his parents order, depression. He even considered As- had gotten connected with the Tourette Synperger’s at one point. By the end, we didn’t drome Foundation of Canada – an experience know what I had.” As the diagnoses piled up, that allowed the whole family to gain a new so did the pills. perspective by connecting with others who From the early days of his diagnosis, Ethan turned to theatre, where he felt most comfortable. While many people in his surroundings did not understand or accept his tics, he felt that theatre was a place where he could express himself and be accepted. “Even with my diagnoses, I’ve always been quite a functional person … even as a young kid I was doing a lot of theatre. Interesting enough, on stage, I didn’t have tics.”

In seventh grade, Ethan went to public school for the first time – something he had been previously told he would never be able to do. This school experience was a significant improvement over his last, until a mistiming of medication led to a meltdown, and landed him in solitary confinement. “It was interesting, being in solitary confinement as a 12 year old kid. It definitely changes your perspective on the world you live in,” he remembered.

“One thing to note is that when you are hospi- were in a similar situation. talized you lose pretty much any legal rights.”

And so, the long journey of weaning off During his time in solitary confinement, he the assorted drug cocktail began. Ethan’s pewas not allowed to see friends or family, and diatrician did not agree with the idea of takwould be forcibly injected with medications, ing him off the drugs, so the process was done

“It was kind of beautiful that they were accepting of me even though things were a bit weird in my life…”

Hey you!

“I think it would be really great if at some point we’d have acceptance of people just the way they are – for those who experience extreme states, hear voices, or have emotional distress.”

independently of a physician. It was carried out in an extremely careful and strategic way, as many of the drugs that Ethan was taking at the time very powerful antipsychotics. With one particular antipsychotic – Risperdal – they would decrease the dosage by one eighth by cutting it into small pieces each time he had to take it. According to Ethan, his parents described this period as two weeks that were edgy, a third week of hell, and a fourth week when they got their son back.

His last days on prescription drugs were spent on an acting internship in Los Angeles.

At this time he was left on only one pill every two days, and by the time he returned home, he wasn’t taking the pills at all. The nearly two year long process had ended. The return to school that year was the start of a completely changed life.

After high school, he pursued his acting career until he had a realization that he wanted to pursue work in a healthcare-related field. This desire brought him to McGill University, and into a neuroscience lab where he now studies Tourette’s, with hopes to one day help others who have similar experiences to his own. Not only is he is actively pursuing change, but he is also an advocate for psychological diverse individuals like himself.

“I feel the LGBT and psychologically diverse communities are quite parallel.

They are this incredibly rich and diverse community of people and they are unseen … and I think it would be really great if at some point we’d have acceptance of people just the way they are – for those who experience extreme states, hear voices, or have emotional distress.” His desire for equality has driven him to begin the Inclusive Mental Health Collective at McGill – which he envisions as a safe space where people with shared experiences can come and build a community with one another. ‘Shared experience’ can mean a great number of things, but in Ethan’s case, it includes those who have experienced mental or emotional distress, trauma, extreme states, psychiatric diagnoses, or psychological suffering.

Ethan strives for justice for those who are psychologically diverse. Though he holds no resentment against those who caused him pain in the past, he realizes the desperate need for social justice in the mental health community.

Despite his struggles, Ethan extends an immense amount of compassion to those who hurt him throughout the darker years.

Want to contribute your awesome ideas to Health&Ed? Come to our meetings Wednesdays at 6 p.m. in Shatner B-24, or email healthandeducation@mcgilldaily.com.

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Health & Ed

15

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Tolerance and coexistence The importance of education in ending Islamophobia Sarah Fortin | Health & Ed Writer

I

slamophobia was first defined in 1991 by a Runnymede Trust report as being an “unfounded hostility towards Muslims, and therefore fear or dislike of all or most Muslims.” It includes the view that Islam cannot adapt itself to new realities, does not share values with other faiths, is inferior to Western religions, and is violent and terror-based. Syed Fida Bukhari, the Imam of Quebec’s first mosque, the Islamic Centre of Quebec, states that “One of the biggest problems facing Muslims in this day is misrepresentation [...], judgments are being made without enough knowledge.”

A 2010 poll showed that 58 per cent and 50 per cent of the British population associate Islam with extremism and terrorism respectively. Only 13 per cent thought Islam promoted peace, and 6 per cent believed it to promote justice. 33 per cent of the British population believed Islam to be a violent religion, with 68 per cent associating it with the promotion of female oppression.

This poll was commissioned by the UK’s Exploring Islam Foundation (EIF), and conducted by YouGov, an internet-based market research company.

As a result of the poll, the EIF launched the Inspired by Muhammad campaign. The campaign explores Muhammad’s views on social justice, women’s rights, the environment, charity, education, healthcare, animal welfare, human rights, and coexistence, showcasing these views as the basis of Islam.

Campaign posters – featuring Muslim Brits working in fields such as social justice and women’s advocacy – were placed in tube stations, in bus stops, and on cabs. Each poster’s photo of the profiled individual was superimposed with a message that parallelled their proclaimed individual social belief with Muhammad’s social belief on the same subject. One poster profiled a human rights barrister named Sultana Tafadar, with the message “I believe in women’s rights. So did Muhammad.” Each campaign poster showcased a variation of this message.

The website has a number of different sections, explaining who Muslims are, as well as who Muhammad was. A large portion of the site is dedicated to explaining what Islam is as a religion, and in the process, counters negative preconceived ideas about Islam’s connection to violence, Jihad, the status of women in Islam, and the hijab. While the public campaign posters do serve their purpose, inspiredbymuhammad.com has the benefit of reaching populations beyond the UK, seeing as Islamophobia and misconceptions about Islam are international.

One Muslim convert – living in Montreal and who chose to remain anonymous – is

Alice Shen & Ralph Haddad | The McGill Daily skeptical of the campaign. “It is difficult to change people’s minds when they have a set idea.”

Some of the ways the material was presented in this campaign also made this person uncomfortable, as they stated “It is mentioned that Islam came to correct some of the human errors that slipped into the practice of Judaism and Christianity. I can’t help but think of what human error has slipped into the practice of Islam.”

Imam Bukhari holds that there are other ways, beyond campaigns like Inspired by Muhammad, to reduce misrepresentation. “I always stress that the most effective way to break down these misrepresentations is to implement the teachings of our religion in our daily life, as our holy Quran told us and our Prophet (peace be upon him) showed us through his good example. Through our practices, we can show [...] how Islam places importance on human rights, dignity, social justice, family values, and equality,” Imam Bukhari said.

The topic of religion and by extension, Islamophobia, is an interesting one in

secularized Canada. Canada’s Multiculturalism Policy aims to foster a better understanding and respect for religions, as well as highlighting the importance of religious coexistence.

Imam Bukhari holds that Canadians are “open, kind, and understanding,” that there is a strong “Canadian spirit of acceptance,” and that Canada as a nation treats its citizens with “respect and dignity.” Nevertheless, Statistics Canada reports that in 2011 – the most recent year for which statistics are available – religion (though it was not specified which) was the second highest hate-crime motivation. In accordance with this, Imam Bukhari holds that Canadian Muslims have had to deal with negative Islamophobiafueled encounters, especially when “viewed or categorized as outsiders who are to be tolerated or accepted.”

Quebec is a bit different from the rest of Canada. Its policy, as described by Michael Dewing – of the Social Affairs Division of the Parliamentary and Information Research Service, is one of “interculturalism.”

Overlapping with this is Quebec’s strong emphasis on secularity, which reached a

new high – or low – when the ruling Parti Québécois government announced that in the fall of 2013, it hopes to introduce a Charter of Quebec Values that would effectively ban the wearing of religious symbols such as the hijab, the kippah, the turban, and the crucifix in the public sector, including schools and hospitals.

While a problematic issue in itself, it should be emphasized that this Charter is not directly a reflection of Islamophobic attitudes. Nevertheless, concerns do exist, as evidenced by the previously mentioned Muslim convert, about Islamophobia at least partly fueling the bill.

The Muslim convert goes on to say, “When I tell people that I lived in Algeria they invariably ask me if I had to wear the veil or if I had any trouble as a woman...no and no. There is always this assumption that it is a Muslim country, so it must be oppressive to women.”

Misconceptions like these are damaging to the Muslim population living in Quebec. Programs, campaigns, and overall education about Islam are therefore necessary in order to finally end Islamophobia.

Culture

The McGill Daily

16

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Fake orgasms and 1970s funk

Montreal Porn Karaoke lets you provide the soundtrack Nathalie O’Neill | The McGill Daily

Alice Shen | The McGill Daily

H

ave some drinks, get up on stage, and moan for two minutes while a porn clip rolls. Because regular karaoke is so passé, Montreal Porn Karaoke will be the place to see, be seen, and watch some entertaining fake orgasms this Thursday, September 5. It’s pretty much what it sounds like — participants get up on stage and provide the soundtrack for porn clips, all to the sound of 1970s funk music.

It’ll be cheesy, it’ll be hilarious, but it’ll also be an interesting exploration of pornography in all its forms. You might just spend the evening blushing, but you’re also bound to learn a thing or two about pornography — and maybe you’ll even start to think watching people getting it on isn’t such a big deal. The Daily sat down with Sherwin Sullivan Tjia, organizer of this sexy queer-friendly event, to talk about making a fool of yourself onstage and what porn and action movies have in common.

The McGill Daily (MD): Is this the first time you’ve done a Porn Karaoke event?

Sherwin Sullivan Tjia (SST): I did it once before two years ago and it was a huge success! I did not expect it to be so funny. I thought it would be all about sex. But folks in the audience were laughing the whole time. I learned a lot from that first one. First of all, make the porn clips shorter. And break

up the porn karaoke with actual karaoke.

Porn is such a concentrated and potent movie — you have to have a palate cleanser after every few clips.

MD: Can you take us through the different steps of this karaoke competition?

SST: The competition element is very loose. People just sign up to “sing” a porn clip beforehand and we call them up one at a time. It’s very similar to actual karaoke, only we play porn clips, provide microphones, and play a cheesy 1970s funktastic porno soundtrack in the background. It is, frankly, ridiculous.

MD: Who will be judging the event?

SST: Myself, my co-host, and a secret judge hidden in the audience!

MD: Can you give us a little info on your background? How did you first start throwing events?

SST: I started putting on weird events a few years back. I wanted to put on events that I would want to go to myself. Also, I wanted them to be participative – excuses to do something, have a new experience.

That’s why I did the slow-dances, the strip spelling bees, the crowd karaokes, the cardboard fort nights, the love-letter reading open mics. I wanted to create events that people could add to their bucket lists and

tell their friends about. And I wanted my events to be warm and friendly. So many events are designed to be “cool,” so you feel like an outsider just attending. I wanted events where people had reasons to talk to each other, so they could form a kind of improvised community.

MD: Your events are always pushing people toward a more queer-friendly and openminded attitude. Do you think Montreal Porn Karaoke can help create a safer and more accepting environment?

SST: I am hoping to show a wide variety of porn, and I encourage the participants to have fun but not at other people’s expense. I think we all have to work together to create a safe space for folks to express different kinds of sexualities. I kind of see myself as the coach of a volleyball team, and when you come to one of my events, you agree to be a warm and friendly team player.

MD: In that vein, what do you think of the porn that’s around today? Some people argue that all porn has negative consequences, while others think it can be an important part of our lives and our sexuality. What’s your take on all this, and how does Montreal Porn Karaoke fit in?

SST: I don’t think porn is getting better or worse. It’s kind of in a holding pattern.

I wish it were more artistic or interesting.

My favourite movie ever is Gummo, and I wish they would make porn like Gummo.

The entirety of porn these days are like action flicks, recycling the same explosions and plots. Certainly porn is a fantasy reality and you shouldn’t take it too seriously.

It’s a dark, campy, horny Hollywood. The trouble is when you mistake fantasy for reality. Nobody is saying the Fast & Furious movie franchise is encouraging speeding and car accidents, even though it probably is. Porn is judged much more harshly because America has a neurotic complex about sex, but not violence. Porn Karaoke is hopefully a place where people can have fun with porn in a public way that isn’t untoward or inappropriate.

MD: What would you say to those intrigued by porn karaoke but a little too shy to try it?

SST: You can just watch! Just like regular karaoke, if you are too shy, you can just have a drink, enjoy the show, and watch your friends make fools of themselves!

Montreal Porn Karaoke will be hosted at MainLine Theatre (3997 St. Laurent) on Thursday, September 5 at 9 p.m. Tickets are $8 at the door.

The McGill Daily

Culture

17

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

The juggernaut in your jugular Shifting trends in the rap game Matt Shi | Culture Writer

“Things done changed on this side.

Remember they used to thump, but now they blast, right?”

— Dr. Dre, “Lil’ Ghetto Boy”

H

ip hop is about change – staying fresh, if you will – producing and reflecting the changes in society.

Rap, hip hop’s most celebrated outlet, has evolved from poets in the park to multimillion dollar deals and global recognition. (For more information, listen to “I Used to Love H.E.R.” by Common.) Rap has exploded into the commercial spheres of entertainment and in 2013, just about four decades since the “birth of hip hop,” rap’s consumer base has undergone a similar evolution. Listeners have always demanded a wide spectrum of style and content from rappers, but as in any genre, tastes change. Today, for example, the long shadow of 1990s gangsta rap that once dominated the charts has dissipated.

Instead, mainstream listeners have come to prefer either emotionally vulnerable lyrics or energizing club-beats.

One Monday night this summer, my Twitter newsfeed exploded after Kendrick Lamar’s “Control” verse reached the internet. In this verse, Lamar mentions the few artists whom he believes to be at the forefront of rap in 2013: J. Cole, Big K.R.I.T., Wale, Pusha T, Meek Mill, A$AP Rocky, Drake, Big Sean, Jay Electronica, Tyler, the Creator, and Mac Miller.

Lamar’s list mirrors society’s musical preferences. After all, how is relevancy measured but by popular opinion? These artists together are the face of rap today. They are undeniably talented (though a case can be made against Meek Mill), and their music can be separated into two groups: heartfelt and catchy in a smooth way, or upbeat, with production designed for clubs.

This listing, as well as the verse itself, caused an incredible amount of controversy in the hip hop community and provoked numerous responses from other rappers.

One of the first artists to respond was Joell Ortiz, a member of the group Slaughterhouse.

Ortiz was offended that Lamar did not acknowledge his group as an important force in rap. All four members of Slaughterhouse exemplify the more aggressive, hard-hitting styles that are losing favour.

The ability to adapt and remain relevant despite rap’s constantly shifting trends is part of what makes a rapper great. For example, Eminem, Nas, and Jay Z — arguably the three greatest living rappers — have all consistently developed their craft from album to album to keep up with the times.

Two other artists, Tech N9ne and Joe Budden, have also displayed significant growth throughout their careers, but they have not been as well-received by the public.

Tech N9ne and Joe Budden, though different in almost every way, are similar in that they go hard. (Budden is a member of the aforementioned Slaughterhouse, and Tech N9ne is one of the most complex, animated lyricists in rap history.) Tech and Budden have both released catchy, party-appropriate music (e.g., “N.B.A. Ft. Wiz Khalifa and French Montana” and “Pump It Up” by Joe Budden and “Caribou Lou” and “Fuck Food Ft. Lil Wayne, T-Pain, and Krizz Kaliko” by Tech N9ne); however, their styles are built upon a hardcore base that not as many of today’s listeners are interested in.

Ten years ago, 50 Cent had just debuted with Get Rich or Die Tryin’. His album was riddled with the sounds of gunshots and “gangster” lyrics. Snoop was still Dogg, not Lion; in other words, he had not yet become a self-proclaimed reincarnation, distanced from the gangster life. Jay Z (we all believed) was peaking and ready to

Alice Shen | The McGill Daily retire, but still managed to include disses toward fellow rappers on The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse. This year’s Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards winner for “best male hip hop artist,” Kendrick Lamar, did speak on issues surrounding “gangster” lifestyles on good kid, m.A.A.d. city, but he did so as a storyteller rather than a shooter, and aimed to expose the negative sides of such lifestyles rather than to claim them as his own.

This year’s BET nominees for “best male hip hop artist” were Kendrick Lamar, 2 Chainz, A$AP Rocky, Drake, and Future. Ten years ago the nominees were 50 Cent, Baby, Eminem, Jay Z, Nelly, and Snoop Dogg (with 50 Cent winning the award). Although there are the outliers ¬ Nelly has a very distinct style and is therefore difficult to compare with others,

and Baby’s nomination was a precursor for the rise of the Young Money/Cash Money Records label – the changes within this decade are evidence that rap listeners are turning away from harder styles of rap.

Shifting trends in rap can focus the public eye on artists whose talents deserve recognition. That often means taking the spotlight away from an equally gifted rapper with less-of-the-moment style to make room. This is not to say that one type of rap is better than another. But things done changed on this side, and they will keep changing. Perhaps producers will veer away from today’s electronic-heavy composition and return to soul samples. Perhaps radio stations will begin playing Wu-Tang Clan again. Perhaps Dr. Dre will finally release Detox and leave another mark on the sounds of hip hop.

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Join the Design team at The Daily!

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The McGill Daily

18

Culture

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

What rhymes with “hug me?”

“Blurred Lines” and the politics of liking things that you should hate Hillary Pasternak | The McGill Daily

“

Blurred Lines” has been called the “song of the summer,” and it’s a little… problematic, to use the collegiate term.

Sung by R&B crooner (and some would say poor man’s Justin Timberlake) Robin Thicke, with some help from hip-hop polymath Pharrell Williams and rapper T.I., the track has been on heavy rotation on pop radio, in every public place one can imagine, and as a result, in many people’s heads. Over a spare, rumbling beat, Thicke breaks out his best falsetto to tell us that you’re an “animal,” contrary to your old boyfriend’s understanding.

It’s in your nature. He begs for a chance to “liberate” you. He has always wanted a good girl. The phrase “I know you want it,” that classic signifier of imminent nonconsensual shenanigans, is prominently featured. The song is punctuated by Pharell’s Fat-Albertas-dirty-old-man “Hey, hey, hey’s.” Are you turned on yet? Where are you going?

In a GQ interview earlier this year, Thicke offered invaluable insight into his writing process for the single: “[Pharell] and I would go back and forth where I’d sing a line and he’d be like, ‘Hey, hey, hey!’ We started acting like we were two old men on a porch hollering at girls like, ‘Hey, where you going, girl?

Come over here!’”

Thicke’s made some noise about how the song was a parody of slobbering masculine behaviour, a “feminist movement within itself,” but that attempt at retroactive damage control sounds almost too silly to validate.

Even if that was his intention in writing the song (somewhat doubtful, considering the above quote), few listeners were in on the joke. But you know, maybe we’ve got it wrong. Maybe this song is only being mistaken for a product of the rape culture it seeks to eradicate. Maybe its music video is a social statement. The clip features Thicke, Pharrell, and T.I. frolicking with plastic-clad models against a trendily off-white background.

At intervals, the figures become obscured by oppressively of-the-moment hashtags – “#THICKE” and “#BLURRED LINES” – in red. When the camera cuts to a balloon arrangement reading “ROBIN THICKE HAS A BIG D---,” it’s quite obviously a reference to his “Desire to dismantle the patriarchy.”

We all had it wrong, man. Those nipples in the unrated version were standing up for women’s rights. Maybe. Probably not.

To make matters worse, “Lines” is an entirely unnecessary song. There’s nothing

here you can’t get elsewhere. If you’re interested in an ass-shaking, cowbell-studded groove, listen to “Got to Give it Up” by Marvin Gaye, from which Robin Thicke drew his “inspiration” (there’s a lawsuit brewing, in fact). If you prefer your 1970s throwbacks with a guest spot from Pharrell, listen to Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky.” You’ll get more of him.

I should hate this song. “Blurred Lines” has sleaze embedded in its DNA, an anthem for every “creepy guy” you’ve avoided eye contact with on public transportation or at a party. Most of its redeeming qualities were lifted wholesale from another – better – track, adding another entry to that titanic ledger where they record instances of white people stealing work from black musicians. For the most part, I am not a fan of misogyny and cultural appropriation. Just not my thing. I should hate this song. Right?

But, well … I don’t. I listened to it frequently and on purpose throughout the summer, enough that I had T.I.’s gentlemanpervert guest spot (“One thing that I ask of you / Let me be the one you back that ass into”) memorized. I danced to it. My friends and I took great pleasure in blasting the song at top volume in my car, giddily awaiting the opportunity to bark “YOU THE HOTTEST BITCH IN THIS PLACE” into each other’s faces. We’re a pretty solidly feminist lot. The type that get called “killjoys” on the internet.

What are we doing dancing as an overly-slick blue-eyed soul singer tries to holler at us from the passenger’s side of his best friend Pharrell’s ride? Shouldn’t we be running?

The truth of it is that music is not political. It doesn’t care about your deeply held personal convictions. Lyrics can be political, the people who make music certainly have their views, but the noise, the sounds that themselves compose beat and melody – the timbre of a singer’s voice, the thrum of a bassline, the crash of a snare drum – they don’t care about your feelings on the patriarchy. Noise is nature. And nature doesn’t care if you don’t like the words packaged with the vibrations. Nature wants you to shake what your evolutionary foremothers gave you. (This is all, of course, anecdotal.

There’s plenty of actual, serious debate in the neurological field over whether musical taste is innate or acquired. This is not the place to find that.)

But we’re human beings. Most of us don’t live in nature. We live in society, because it’s

Catherine Polcz | The McGill Daily in our nature to screw around with nature.

And society has a bit of a problem with pushy, entitled men who know exactly what rhymes with “hug me,” mainly because they’ve grown up surrounded by endless books and movies and songs that argue that even as her lips say “no,” her eyes are saying “yes.” Nothing exists in a vacuum. Do I really want to give my YouTube views to one of these guys?

So how do we deal with this? There are plenty of folk out there who will probably just tell us to turn our brains off and dance.

It’s just music. Don’t bring your “rape culture” into this. You’re depressing us. It’s hard to protest against that. Entertainment should be an escape for those who need it.

But maybe circle back around once you’ve had enough of escaping. Maybe look

up the lyrics to your favorite songs. There’s no way to completely cleanse your cultural intake of material that doesn’t align with your politics unless you’re willing to take up residence in a cave and retreat completely from pop culture. Just know what you’re listening to, where it comes from. Talk about it. It’s not going to be easy. People will probably find you annoying, say that you’re making them “uncomfortable.” But if the patriarchy’s comfortable, it’ll never leave.

Maybe it’s inevitable that we’re all beaten down by the inexorable, heaving waves of popular opinion. Maybe we will allow our pointy, angry edges to be sanded down. But that’s later. We’re young now, right? We’ve got energy. So sure, go dancing. But keep your brain turned on.

Interested in contributing to the Culture section?

Come to our meetings, Wednesdays at 5 p.m., in The Daily’s office.

Editorial

volume 103 number 1

editorial board

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

Anqi Zhang

coordinating@mcgilldaily.com coordinating news editor

Hannah Besseau news editors

Molly Korab Jordan Venton-Rublee Dana Wray commentary editors

E.k. Chan Vacant

culture editors

Nathalie O’Neill Hillary Pasternak features editor

Juan Velásquez-Buriticá science+technology editor

Diana Kwon

health&education editor

Ralph Haddad

19

Welcome to The Daily

O

perating out of a basement office in the Shatner building, The McGill Daily is your independent, student-run, campus-community newspaper. Autonomous from profit or any political body, The Daily is able to publish studentproduced content radically different from other publications. Our Statement of Principles (SOP, reprinted below) guides our coverage and attention to issues ignored by most mainstream media, providing a space for marginalized voices. The Daily strives to include, in its coverage, analysis of race, gender, age, social class, sexuality, religion, ability, and cultural identity, and to challenge all forms of oppression.

The Daily’s editorial board is organized as a non-hierarchical collective and engages in consensus-based decision making to uphold these values.

Through its 102 years of existence, The Daily has undergone numerous changes. Once a single broadsheet focused on sports news, it has evolved to become a critical voice on campus, providing insightful news coverage and alternative angles on stories. In this process of metamorphosis, The Daily has earned a reputation for taking courageous stances that were ridiculed

at the time, but later embraced by the mainstream, such as when it published a special issue for International Women’s Day in the late 1970s.

The Daily boasts its status as McGill’s surrogate journalism school, training the soon-to-be New Yorker and Washington Post writers, radio and video producers, and Leonard Cohens of the world. And those of the visual persuasion use our pages as learning spaces for photojournalism, illustration, and design skills.

The upcoming year marks further transformation for The Daily, as the paper transitions into a more digitally-oriented publishing model. As it aims to become ‘daily’ again, the paper will now produce one print issue a week, while increasing the amount, variety, and quality of web-exclusive content. Digital publishing opens new doors for information distribution; in addition to reporting and photojournalism, the web allows us to further explore radio and video as avenues for journalism, and provides an opportunity for new forms of visualization and interactivity. All sections are looking for contributors eager to write, report, photograph, design, and destabilize the status quo – no experience required.

sports editor

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design&production editors

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contributors Benjamin Elgie, Sarah Fortin, Lilya Hassall, Mona Luxion, Ethan McDonald, Tyler Michaels, Rachel Nam, Kai O’Doherty, Catherine Polcz, Tom Portsmouth, Omar Saadeh, Matt Shi, Susan Tardiff

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The Statement of Principles 2.1 The fundamental goal of The McGill Daily shall be to serve as a critical and constructive forum for the exchange of ideas and information relevant to McGill and related communities.

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2.3 As an autonomous student newspaper, relatively free from commercial and other controls, The Daily can best serve its purposes by examining issues and events most media ignore. In particular, it should deal with the role postsecondary education plays in constructing and maintaining the current order. It should also assist students and other groups working for change in a critical framework, with the aim of giving a voice to individuals and communities marginalized on the basis of the criteria mentioned in section 2.2. The Daily’s non-hierarchal structure serves as a space for education, discussion, and participation. The Daily’s methods should be determined by its staff on the basis of consensus.

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Compendium!

The McGill Daily

20

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Lies, half-truths, and the fruit speaks...

Enormous tomato cake “the best we came up with” Heads scratched for three days over tomato influx

M

cGall is breathing a sigh of relief after the passing of what has been straight-facedly deemed the #tomatotornado. A bountiful year for the McDoodle Campus tomato harvest left farm staff reeling as truckful after truckful was harvested from the Saint Andrew de Baudelaire fields. “It’s just a lot to take in at once,” said Dennis (‘Dee’) Lish, spokesperson for the Department of Edibles that oversaw this season’s Tomato Growth Operations. “Please don’t call it a grow-op,” Lish noted.

The grow-op’s success is due in part to unexpectedly good weather this summer, said Lish. “But let’s not forget the ridiculous number of harvest goddesses that started ‘cropping up,’ if you know what I mean?”

While The Weekly is not in a position to confirm that it knows what he means, the goddesses’ influence is undeniable. Even now, they linger at the McDoodle Campus farmland with ominous smiles, holding scythes at their sides, and whispering “we must consume / the fruit speaks / listen,” to passers-by.

Their presence has made the informational farm tours “kinda awkward,” according to Lem Ma, a student in the Department of Edibles and a volunteer tour guide.

Senior administrators as well as staff from the Department of Edibles spent three days behind closed doors hashing out an emergency plan. “Dark days,” Lish said, shaking his head. “You think you’d be happy to have too many tomatoes, but then, man…

You really have to challenge what you think you know, you know?”

On the proposed list of ideas were: “giant salsa,” “giant gazpacho,” “giant pizza,” “put it in cans,” “a free tomato sandwich for everybody,” and “have the froshies run around, and you can throw tomatoes at them from the buildings, like in Spain??”

“We finally settled on donations, and a short list of giant tomato dishes. The cake

E.k. EK | The McGall Weekly

Mister Smithers | The McGall Weekly was just, like, a no-brainer, right? Everybody eats cake.” When reminded of the presence of vegan and gluten-intolerant students and staff, Lish paused momentarily. “Ahhh, shit.”

The cake was baked off-site, then assembled and frosted on the McGall lower field.

The first cut was made by the outgoing Deputy Provost of Student Purchases and Receipts (DPSPR) Mortono J. Fendelson, despite confusion regarding the fact that he still holds the aforementioned title. “He doesn’t even go here,” muttered Anne Gee, a U3 Brain Thinky Problems student, amid the

cacophony of photos being snapped.

Tensions briefly spiked when the cake was first revealed to the DPSPR, and a “dark glint” reportedly caught Fendelson’s eye.

Unidentified security agents at Fendelson’s sides were seen gripping his arms to restrain him from re-enacting an episode of fruitrelated fanaticism that cast a grim shadow over last year’s world-record fruit salad.

Fendelson was quoted as saying, “the fruit speaks…” This was hissed, barely perceptible to the human ear, yet it pierced the murmur of the crowd and echoed in the

deepest recesses of one’s mind.

The moment passed without further incident. The question of whether Fendelson was, or is, currently involved with the goddesses at McDoodle Campus has gone unaddressed in McGall MROs and press releases to date.

As for the cake itself, the flavour and consistency was “alright,” according to sources who wished to remain anonymous. “Is it supposed to taste like carrot cake?” When contacted, McGall administrators declined to comment on the concerns raised.