Vol104iss7

Volume 104, Issue 7 Thursday, October 16, 2014

EDITORIAL: COMMIT TO CONSENT PAGE 19

McGill THE

DAILY

True knowledge since 1911 mcgilldaily.com

THE EXPERIENCES OF WOMEN IN SCIENCE AT MCGILL PAGE 11

Table of Contents 03

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NEWS

SCI+TECH

Extending human lifespan

Sustainable housing project overcomes years of set-backs

Review of the Chaos and Order immersive film

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Tariq Khan drops case against SSMU

SPORTS

Concussions are back in the NHL

Post-grads talk student aid, AGSEM drive SSMU will recognize occupied Kanien’kehá:ka territory

CANADA GOOSE, MOOSE KNUCKLES, MICHAEL KORS, SUPER DRY, TOMS SHOES,

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Forum on diversity in engineering

Sexual assault policy being drafted

S A L E

October 16, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Montrealers show solidarity with missing Mexican students

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CULTURE

A conversation with Alex Sheaf of Our House Music

KATE SPADE, WILD FOX, GSTAR, TRUE RELIGION, RAG + BONE, ROCK REVIVAL, NUDIE, NAKED ZEBRA, AG, SEVEN FOR ALL MANKIND, HUDSON JEANS, VINCE, FRED PERRY, LACOSTE, VERSACE, LOVE PEACE WORLD, BENCH ET PLUS.

FIRST TIME IN MONTREAL

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What to check out this week

ART ESSAY

Reviewing an evening of experimental art

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COMMENTARY

19

Immigration detention in Canada must stop Montreal’s action plan on homelessness doesn’t go far enough

11 THESAMPLESALEGUYS.COM

The new releases from Single Mothers and Flying Lotus

EDITORIAL

#ConsentMcGill is a good start, but we need an ongoing culture of active consent

20 COMPENDIUM!

FEATURES

Is there sexism in McGill’s science faculty?

Women in science share their experience

Christopher Columbus says howdy to McGall students

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Think you’re the next Leonard Cohen?

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News

October 16, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Forum explores approaches to inclusivity in engineering

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Event part of move to expand equity initiatives in the faculty Subhanya Sivajothy News Writer

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n October 9, the first Forum on Diversity and Inclusivity in Engineering was held in the SSMU ballroom, with about eighty attendees including students, faculty, and staff.

“This forum started because last year I had a discussion with some of the students about having a safer space in engineering, and one of the ideas was to have a bigger discussion to engage the faculty – professors – and the [teaching assistants] as well,” Christopher Tegho, former Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS) Equity Commissioner, told The Daily.

As the event’s keynote speaker, Karen Tonso, an engineering professor at Wayne State University dedicated to engineering education and diversity, highlighted the benefits of diversity in engineering.

She also explored how diversity can be promoted within the engineering environment.

“Without participation of the members of diverse communities, engineers run the risk of having a myopic view of the world and of their technological creations,” said Tonso.

Tonso argued that there needs to be a shift in how engineering deals with diversity. Currently, she explained, equity is treated with compensatory actions, where “you compensate for the disadvantages to enhance the capabilities of members of underrepresented communities, but you’re expecting them to assimilate to the existing culture.”

Tonso called for a transition to participatory action, “guaranteeing the participation as equals of members of diverse communities, the needs, interests, and perspectives of all included in making engineering a way of life that’s worth having by everyone.”

A panel followed Tonso’s address with panelists including a professor, a student, and staff working in admissions and counselling.

During the question period, one audience member brought up the concern of engaging the broader community, since audiences at the forum and events like it are often already interested and involved with the issues discussed.

Addressing the question, EUS Equity Commissioner Simrin Desai pointed out the value in having this type of forum in spite of the relatively narrow audience.

“People always say that about these events, ‘you are preaching to the choir’ [...] and I think the conviction that Chris [Tegho] and I had to organize an event like this, if that conviction can be spread to other people [...] they themselves can do something about it, and it becomes this whole big domino effect,” she told The Daily. “Like dye in the water.”

Other members of the audience also responded, pointing to the work of organizations and groups dedicated to spreading the

“Without participation of the members of diverse communities, engineers run the risk of having a myopic view of the world and of their technological creations.”

Karen Tonso, engineering professor at Wayne State University message about diversity and inclusivity throughout McGill and the surrounding community, such as Promoting Opportunities for Women in Engineering (POWE).

EUS President Robert Forestell, who was also present at the forum, commented on the increased presence of and involvement with equity in general.

“I think that people are being more and more progressive in their thinking and realizing that there still are a lot of problems,” said Forestell.

Related to the event, a whiteboard was also put up earlier that day in the McConnell building dedicated to expressing thoughts on diversity.

“People were actually engaging. Every time someone walked in the building, they looked at it while they were walking by, so getting that in their minds is a start,” EUS equity committee member Emilie Froeliger told The Daily.

After the event, Froeliger said that while she was extremely

Andy Wei | Photographer

Professor Karen Tonso. pleased with how it had gone, she had hoped to touch on trans issues in engineering during the forum.

“I don’t think right now it’s a super safe space for transgender people,” Froeliger told The Daily. “[The] engineering community, [it’s] very cisgender [and] heteronormative.”

Creating change through conversation The EUS equity committee, which organized the forum, is an informal body that was newly formed this year. It evolved as a group of interested students around the Equity Commissioner, a position that was added to EUS two years ago.

Tegho said that when he was Equity Commissioner last year, he did not feel that the problem of equity in engineering could be tackled by

just one person, and began calling on people to help with the position.

The committee has already started several initiatives to promote equity in engineering, including giving a presentation as part of FACC 100 – a mandatory first-year engineering course – on gender, sexuality, and safe space, which Desai and Froeliger said was an opportunity to speak to those not necessarily interested in equity.

“It was definitely interesting to see points of view of people that don’t necessarily think about these things, because then you are talking to a larger audience that doesn’t necessarily have the same opinions as most of the EUS equity committee,” said Froeliger.

“I think if we went into a FACC 100 class, and there were no bad

comments, then no one would come out of that class learning as much as they would have [if ] there were bad comments and we addressed them,” said Desai.

Overall, the organizers were pleased with the forum and said they would continue to work on the issue of equity in engineering.

“I think it went really well, there were lots of people, and people were able to express what they wanted. The forum was not just this event, but all the discussions that were initiated before [...] and I think that the discussions will continue,” said Tegho. “We hope that [the forum] is going to happen every year – the purpose of it was to create support for people who want space to share their ideas, thoughts, experiences.”

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News

October 16, 2014 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

Sustainable living project launches after years of rejected funding ECOLE initiative receives positive feedback from residents Jill Bachelder The McGill Daily

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n October 3, the Educational Community Living Environment (ECOLE) project officially launched a sustainable housing initiative at a former MORE house on University. The project, which aims to promote sustainability in the McGill community, allows ‘facilitators’ interested in sustainability to live together and complete projects related to environmental conservation, and provides a space for sustainability-related events, workshops, and meals.

“I basically walked in and immediately started bawling because I was so happy and so proud,” Courtney Ayukawa, the current Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) president who has worked on the project since May 2013, told The Daily.

“It’s really amazing to be able to walk by now and see the chalk on the sidewalk in front of the house and see that it’s an actual real thing and it’s not some amorphous intangible project that people are working on – it’s an actual house where people are doing research and people are having meetings and workshops and trainings.”

Thomas Saleh, a Sustainability, Science and Society student, and Rachel Cross-Calvert, a Mechanical Engineering student, are two of the eight facilitators currently living at the ECOLE house. They say they each pay roughly $525 per month in rent and that their fellow facilitators are about half Sustainability, Science and Society majors, while the other half come from a highly varied, but majority science, background.

Each person living in the

house has their own bedroom, and some of the rooms on the upper floors have been converted into meeting rooms that can be rented by student groups or used as study spaces.

According to Saleh and CrossCalvert, the house itself is not built to be sustainable, nor are the appliances meant to be particularly environmentally friendly. “It’s got to do with our practices, and so [...] our building is a normal MORE house, and all our appliances are pretty standard. We’re more looking at [sustainability] through our consumption – what we buy, what we eat – and then through practices: how we do things, how we live in the house,” said Saleh.

Residents of the ECOLE house are required to complete a project related to sustainability during their time living in the house, and some, depending on their program, will receive course credit. Many of the current facilitators’ projects are related to social sustainability; according to Saleh and Cross-Calvert, topics include healthcare for migrants without status.

Saleh explained that his project will look to document energy consumption within the ECOLE house. “I’m mostly looking at energy and I’m going to try and see whether we make progress in terms of our energy in, energy out, waste, things like that. And then try, as my own personal research project, to look into what the actual impacts of the ECOLE house are in terms of what that means from an ecological point of view,” he told The Daily.

Overall, Saleh and Cross-Calvert were pleased with their experiences at ECOLE. “I really like how many people are in and out of our house all the

The ECOLE house. time,” said Cross-Calvert. “It’s great because there’s people from all different organizations and clubs from McGill, using our space and coming into our house, and it’s exciting to meet all those people, and with all those people come a lot of ideas and creative energy.”

Saleh, on the other hand, cited the price of rent as a downside to living at the ECOLE house. “The downside is I think, obviously, I probably wouldn’t be living here paying this much rent if I wasn’t doing ECOLE. I would have liked maybe to live a little bit further out, see Montreal a little bit more, stuff like that.”

“I kind of like the fact that our work and our living situation, you can’t separate them, because if you believe these things about sustainability it can’t really be separated,”

Tamim Sujat | The McGill Daily said Cross-Calvert. “It’s our way of living it out.”

ECOLE project, four years in the making ECOLE Coordinator David Whiteside told The Daily about the ECOLE project’s main goals.

“The aim of the project is to be an ongoing experiment in sustainability, and we want to get as many people thinking about that and engaging with that project as much as possible.”

Funded by SSMU, Student Housing and Hospitality Services, and the McGill Office of Sustainability, ECOLE has been in planning for approximately four years.

Ayukawa said she began working on the project in May 2013 because she was hired by SSMU to work as a coordinator for the proj-

ect along with two other students.

She worked on administrative tasks to get the project on its feet.

“My personal hope for the project is that it will be able to last, and in the very long term, as it finds a sustainable source of funding, it becomes a space that every student on campus knows, and is familiar and feels welcoming to go to,” said Ayukawa.

The project was initially brought to the table by the the Alternative University Project, which applied for funding from the McGill Sustainable Projects Fund (SPF). However, the request was rejected, and when the group applied for a second time, it was rejected again. After SSMU began supporting the project in 2012, it was finally able to secure funding from the SPF.

News

October 16, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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New sexual assault policy in student-led drafting process Student groups aiming for proactive, pro-survivor approach Emma Noradounkian The McGill Daily

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working group composed of representatives from several student groups is currently involved in the drafting of a new sexual assault policy for McGill in collaboration with the administration. The process follows the proposal introduced by the group at McGill’s Forum on Consent in February, seeking to address the fact that McGill has never had a specific policy that deals with sexual assault.

The student working group responsible for the policy’s drafting includes representatives from the Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS), the Union for Gender Empowerment (UGE), the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) McGill, and the office of Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) VP University Affairs Claire StewartKanigan. The Feminist Collective of McGill Law and McGill Women and the Criminal Law are also participating as consultants.

“The reason that we wanted to work on a sexual assault policy was so that McGill would have a way to respond to [sexual assault] cases, such as the one [involving three McGill Redmen football players] that happened last year, in a responsible way. But it’s also to institutionalize a way to work against issues of rape culture and sexual assault on campus, so to recognize this as a broader issue,” explained Kai O’Doherty, a former member of the UGE and current board member of QPIRG, in an interview with The Daily.

SACOMSS External Coordinator Jean Murray noted to The Daily that, although the University’s initial response to the case involving the three McGill Redmen football players charged with sexual assault in July 2012 highlighted the need for a sexual assault policy, the need itself is not new.

“I would say it was more in direct response [to the fact] that McGill doesn’t have a policy than to the case. The case just sort of brought it to greater attention that McGill doesn’t have a policy,”

said Murray.

The current draft of the policy roughly follows the structure of the proposal that was created and endorsed by the same student groups in February. The policy is meant to be pro-survivor and to have a proactive, as opposed to reactive, approach to sexual assault on campus through the institutionalization of awareness campaigns and education on sexual assault and consent.

According to SACOMSS External Coordinator Frances Maychak, the draft also requires the institutionalization of a sexual assault response coordinator position. The individual would be “responsible for coordinating awareness campaigns (such as the upcoming consent campaign) and acting more broadly as a resource for survivors on campus.”

“Essentially Bianca [Tétrault, Liaison Officer (Harm Reduction)] is currently in this position, although the details of the position are still being figured out and negotiated,” said Maychak in an email to The Daily.

Though the drafting of the

policy is student-driven, there has been consultation with Tétrault and Dean of Students André Costopoulos, both of whom met with members from the student groups involved with the policy at the end of this summer.

“We’ve had a couple of meetings since then and Bianca and I have both given our ideas on [the draft].

The student groups have taken them back for a second round of drafting based on our feedback, and we’re very soon going to have the meeting to go through this second draft and give our feedback,” said Costopoulos in an interview with The Daily.

Murray explained that, in response to Costopoulos and Tétrault’s suggestions, changes to the draft have been made regarding the University’s ability to apply certain aspects of the policy.

“It’s often things that [Costopoulos and Tétrault will] say the University doesn’t have jurisdiction over, or the University can’t actually implement this thing that we want, and that the University doesn’t yet have the power to put a policy about

that,” said Murray.

In addition to consulting with Costopoulos and Tétrault, the student working group will also be seeking input from the McGill community on the policy. It will take the policy to Senate by the end of the academic year, as a first step toward its implementation.

Costopoulos said that it might take a while before the policy is officially in effect.

“Things like new policies in a university take time to put together,” he said. “There’s a good reason for that; you have to get them right.

They’re important documents, policies, especially if they affect a whole community, like a sexual assault policy. So you want to take the time to do it right.”

Despite the McGill administration’s efforts to help the working group to bring the policy forward, Stewart-Kanigan highlighted in an interview with The Daily that the group “want[s] to make sure that [the policy is] on [its] own terms and reflects the original spirit that was created and endorsed by the working group.”

Tariq Khan withdraws Superior Court case against student union Case cost SSMU $50,000 in legal fees Igor Sadikov The McGill Daily

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he Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) has received confirmation that Tariq Khan has withdrawn the court case he had previously filed against SSMU, according to a statement released on October 10

by VP External Amina MoustaqimBarrette. The Quebec Superior Court has accepted the withdrawal.

Khan filed the case in May to contest the April 1 invalidation of his presidential election by Elections SSMU, and his request for a provisional injunction reinstating him as SSMU president while the case was being heard was dismissed by the Superior Court on June 3.

The full hearing of the case was to take place in the coming months.

In an interview with The Daily, Khan explained that financial considerations, as well as the decreas-

ing timeliness of the case, motivated his decision. “It was putting on me a financial burden that I could not bear anymore [...] and at the same time the second reason was that the hearing we were getting was in late December,” said Khan. “There’s no point [in] going for the case.”

“We were expecting a lot lower costs, but the costs got out of hand, and unfortunately I’m not able to bear it,” added Khan.

On the other side of the dispute, continuing to fight the case would have required an increase in SSMU’s legal budget, which, according to SSMU executives, is usually around $80,000 per year. With the case withdrawn, SSMU will not have to plan for this increase when it revises its budget later this month to account for increased revenue from the building fee.

“Now that the case is dropped, and since the budgets aren’t in yet,

it will mean that we don’t have to add anything to our legal budget, which is great,” MoustaqimBarrette told The Daily. “It’ll just mean that we can all continue with our projects as foreseen, and we’re excited to keep going.”

Moustaqim-Barrette noted that SSMU has spent about $50,000 on this case in total, with the cost being split between the 2013-14 and 201415 financial years.

“It’s a relief for all of us to not have to deal with the case anymore,” she said.

In an email to The Daily, SSMU President Courtney Ayukawa said that “the case being dropped lowers the stress on SSMU’s legal budget,” but declined to comment further.

Electoral bylaw changes ongoing Despite withdrawing the case, Khan said that he still believes he was treated unfairly.

“[A court case] is very stressful, it’s not fun. But when you put me in a position [where] you accuse me of something, and you do not show me the evidence for it, and an entire election is just overthrown by one person [...] what precedent has been set? The precedent that’s been set is that anyone can set anyone up, and it can be backed up by the system very easily,” said Khan.

“When I ran my election campaign [...] I knew there was something fishy in SSMU, but I didn’t know it was to this extent,” added Khan. “I don’t think there is fairness inside SSMU; there is a lot of nepotism. [...] There are some core issues that have to be seriously addressed [...] and this is something we all need to do together.”

Khan described SSMU’s constitution, bylaws, and policies as “flawed,” but noted that he is willing to help improve them.

“Institutionally, there are a lot of things that can be done. All my work I would be willing to share if there is someone sincere enough in SSMU to want to make it better who is in a position to do so,” said Khan.

“I would love to make it unbiased, I would love to make it more transparent, more accountable.”

Moustaqim-Barrette indicated that Elections SSMU is conducting a review of SSMU’s electoral bylaws, and is open to student input.

“I think it’s important that [SSMU] considers any member of the Society’s criticism,” said Moustaqim-Barrette. “The bylaws have been in review all summer, and there will be wide consultation with students. If [Khan] was to provide input, of course it would be considered like any others.”

An earlier version of this article appeared online on October 11.

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News

October 16, 2014 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

Post-grads endorse teaching support staff union drive Student aid, transit passes also discussed at PGSS Council meeting Emmet Livingstone The McGill Daily

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t the McGill Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) Council meeting on October 8, councillors and departmental representatives passed a motion to endorse a union drive by the AGSEM – McGill’s Teaching Union, which represents teaching assistants and invigilators, and another motion on universal public transit passes for students. Council also discussed a joint statement on student aid by PGSS and other student associations.

Support for AGSEM union drive During the announcements period, AGSEM President Justin Irwin told Council that the union was seeking to expand membership to teaching support workers doing similar work to post-graduate teaching assistants (TAs). Isabel Harvey, History and Classics Graduate Student Association representative, put forward a motion for PGSS to endorse the union drive.

Irwin explained that teaching support workers, such as graders, markers, tutors, note-takers, and course assistants, are not currently unionized, meaning that these employees must represent themselves

if labour disputes arise.

AGSEM also hopes to introduce equitable pay conditions for teaching support workers. “Essentially, people in these positions [...] do very similar work to graduate TAs,” said Irwin. “While they’re doing very similar work, and oftentimes identical work, especially in the case of undergrads working these jobs, they’re being paid very different sums of money.”

Irwin added, “We’ve spoken to plenty of people working as graders or as undergraduate TAs who are basically paid minimum wage for something I can be paid $15 more an hour to do.”

A departmental representative asked Harvey to explain whether higher salaries for undergraduate teaching support workers would have repercussions on the wages of post-graduate TAs. “We don’t have a way of knowing exactly what the effects will be.

But it is quite clear that these types of students are necessary to the functioning of McGill,” responded Harvey. “[TAs are] not just hired for fun, they are necessary positions, and as such it is likely that they would be carried forward.”

The motion to endorse AGSEM’s union drive passed with a large ma-

jority, but with several abstentions.

Universal public transit pass for students The PGSS executive moved to create a student card which would serve as both a McGill identity card and a reduced-rate public OPUS card, in partnership with Je Vois Montréal, a movement that aims to stimulate development in the city.

“It will be like a new universal pass: it will be a student ID pass, on top of that it will serve as a public transit pass, [and] as a rebate coupon,” said PGSS External Affairs Officer Julien Ouellet. “It’s basically like Montreal’s student master card.”

The proposed transit pass generated particular interest among PGSS councillors and departmental delegates because it would be made available to all McGill students, regardless of age. As it stands, students over 25 years old are not eligible for reduced fare in public transportation in Montreal.

“What we want to push is [for] graduate students who are over the age of 25, [to] have the same rebate on the fee,” Ouellet explained.

All delegates who spoke to the issue expressed their support for the motion, and the only questions raised related to points of clarifi-

cation. The motion passed with an overwhelming majority.

Memoir on student aid In cooperation with a number of other Quebec student associations, PGSS co-signed a memoir on student aid in September, which was presented to the Commission d’examen sur la fiscalité québécoise, an agency that reviews tax expenditures within Quebec.

The memoir recommends that tax credits to student savings accounts be cut and that the savings be funnelled into direct student aid instead. Co-signing student associations argue that the current tax credit system only benefits middleclass students and does not promote access to higher education.

However, former PGSS Secretary General Jonathan Mooney raised the concern that, if the student aid memoir is adopted, international students – who can seldom access provincial aid – will feel the pinch.

“This is a very, very complicated issue that we’ve been working on. Unfortunately, [though] it is true that 90 per cent of this memoir is good for our students, 10 per cent could be affected,” said Ouellet.

Referring to the recommenda-

tion that affects international students, Ouellet admitted that it was “a bit controversial.” “[The recommendation] allocates about $48 million, takes [it] away from the tax that you get from tuition and student fees, and puts it into bursaries and scholarships. According to the equation that Jonathan [Mooney] and I made, about $15 million of that money could potentially go to international students if they know about this program, and meet certain criteria, and if they choose to stay in Quebec.”

“I want to make it clear to international students that we’re not abandoning them,” he continued.

During his statement, Ouellet emphasized that the PGSS External Affairs Committee was also working on getting access to provincial healthcare plans for international students. However, he admitted that if the memoir on student aid is adopted, he was unaware of how many international students it would impact. “[We] still don’t have the information to know how many of our international students will be affected.”

An earlier version of this article appeared online on October 14.

UQAM support employees on strike for a second day 2,000 union members without collective agreement since 2012 Igor Sadikov The McGill Daily

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ver 2,000 academic and administrative support employees at Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) went on strike on October 9 for a second time this fall. Without a collective agreement for over two years, workers of the Syndicat des employées et employés de l’UQAM (SEUQAM) obstructed the entrances to the university to bring attention to the stalemate in their ongoing negotiations with the administration.

The union and the administration have failed to reach a new agreement since SEUQAM’s collective agreement expired in May

2012, leading the union’s membership earlier this year to agree to hold five ‘floating’ days of strike, to be held one day at a time at the discretion of the executive.

“It’s five days of strike, which 94 per cent [of the membership] voted in favour of,” Alexandre PagéChassé, coordinator at the office of the associate academic dean for the Faculty of Management and SEUQAM member, told The Daily in French. “This is the second day, so technically there are three more days available on this mandate for the rest of the fall, depending on what happens, on whether the negotiations resume.”

“On the first day of strike [on September 3], we did some picketing. We

walked around the different buildings,” Danny Glaude, a lab technician at UQAM, told The Daily in French “Today, we’re trying to do a little bit of obstruction in front of the doors to make people aware of our demands.”

According to Pagé-Chassé, the union is not asking for a raise in salaries when accounting for inflation.

“We’re not asking for much,” said Pagé-Chassé. “Qualitatively, there are no serious clashes – we’re aware of the economic and financial situation of the network [of universities] – but at some point we have to say that we won’t be the only ones paying for it with our working conditions and our salaries. It makes no sense.”

“We’re asking for the status quo

relative to our old collective agreement, and what we’re offered is a drop in salaries over the next few years, and in fact over the past year and a half, because they don’t want to index salaries [to inflation],” added Pagé-Chassé.

“I think this is the first time they have lasted so long, these talks,” said Glaude.

The union executive will decide on further escalation of pressure depending on the progress of the talks, according to Pagé-Chassé.

A group of students was also present at the site in solidarity with the striking workers, obstructing a doorway to discourage people from entering the university.

“It’s important for us to support

the SEUQAM, because they are essentially under attack by the UQAM administration, who wants to undermine their working conditions,” Vincent, a History student at UQAM, told The Daily in French. “It’s also important to support all workers who are fighting, who are on strike, who want to fight against austerity.” “[Workers] are undergoing disgusting attacks from the capitalist class, from the state, and we’re fighting against that. It’s important that students support that fight, because they can help, like I’m helping here, by obstructing the doors,” said Vincent.

An earlier version of this article appeared online on October 10.

News

October 16, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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Montrealers gather in show of solidarity with missing Mexican students Protesters speak out against corruption, inaction of Mexican government Gavin Boutroy and Molly Korab The McGill Daily

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n October 8, around eighty people gathered in the early evening outside of Montreal’s Mexican consulate to express solidarity with ongoing protests in Mexico over the disappearance of 43 students in the southern state of Guerrero.

The students, who attended a rural teaching school known for its revolutionary politics, disappeared after being attacked in September by local police suspected to be affiliated with criminal networks. The attack left six dead and 43 missing; a motive for the attack remains undetermined. Last weekend, a mass

grave was discovered with at least 28 badly disfigured bodies, feared to be the missing students.

The tragedy has sparked nationwide and global protests. Many have pointed to the incident as evidence of endemic corruption, lawlessness, and the Mexican state’s failure to protect its citizens.

“I think it’s the tip of the iceberg. It’s a small sample of what is happening in Mexico,” Dagoberto Acevedo Hernandez, a Mexican studying in Montreal, told The Daily in French.

“The situation in Mexico is impossible… it’s truly terrorism,” Leticia Vera, a Mexican attendee at the vigil who has been living in Montreal for eight years, told The Daily in French. “Everything is out

of control… it’s just organized crime and narco-politique.”

The crowd formed a circle outside of the entrance of the consulate, chanting, singing, and listening to speakers, who mostly spoke in Spanish. The mood was sombre, but angry. Later in the event, attendees joined hands in a moment of silence to commemorate the missing students, some holding Mexican flags and others handwritten signs.

“We will not forget,” a woman standing toward the side of the crowd called to the others in Spanish. Attendees later chanted together, remembering the victims and calling for justice.

Tealights and candles lined the outside wall of the building along-

side photo printouts of the missing corruption and often complicit in students. A banner hung overhead, the violence.

Vejar called for action, not only reading “stop the terrorism of the on the part of the Mexican governMexican state” in French.

“It’s very obvious that there’s no ment, but also other states, particulonger any rights, that justice is no larly Canada and the U.S.. “Why longer respected in Mexico,” Patri- won’t they help Mexico?” she asked. cia Vejar, a Mexican student at the “They go there to exploit natural reUniversité de Montréal who helped sources, but they won’t help people.”

She also spoke to the impororganize the event, told The Daily tance of seeking justice for the in Spanish.

Approximately 70,000 Mexi- missing students and protesting cans have died over the past few the Mexican government, even years in the drug wars, accord- from afar. “I love my country, ing to estimates. The Mexican I love my homeland,” she said. government has been ineffective “Even though I’m here, I’m still in the combat against the cartels thinking of my homeland – I’m and criminal networks terror- still Mexican.” izing the country. State agents – such as the army and municipal An earlier version of this article police forces – are plagued by appeared online on October 9.

SSMU to start recognizing occupation of Kanien’kehá:ka territory Motion to support AGSEM union drive passes at Council meeting Lauria Galbraith The McGill Daily

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he Students’ Society of McGill University’s (SSMU) Legislative Council met on October 9 to discuss the adoption of a traditional territory acknowledgement statement, cycling on campus, councillors’ employment at SSMU in contravention of SSMU’s bylaws, and AGSEM – McGill’s Teaching Union’s campaign to unionize undergraduate teaching support workers.

Recognition of traditional territory and referendum questions VP University Affairs Claire Stewart-Kanigan brought forward a motion for Council to recognize that SSMU operates on the traditional territory of the Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) nation, and to acknowledge this fact with a statement before every Council meeting and major SSMU event. The Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) Council passed a similar motion a few weeks ago, which Stewart-Kanigan co-drafted.

“The AUS motion and this motion are part of a broader movement of increasing accountability to Indigenous communities on campus,”

Stewart-Kanigan told The Daily.

“By saying it every council, it’s acknowledging that decolonization is an ongoing process that requires ongoing commitment and ongoing recognition of the situation as settlers on the territory that we’re on.”

The motion passed.

Stewart-Kanigan, VP External Amina Moustaqim-Barrette, and VP Clubs & Services Stefan Fong motioned to include a plebiscite question on cycling in the second Fall referendum, asking whether cycling should be allowed on campus and whether SSMU should lobby the administration to allow it.

A plebiscite question differs from a referendum question in that its purpose is to consult students rather than to take action on an issue. “[When McGill put in the dismounting policy] there was no consultation done with students,” said Moustaqim-Barrette, arguing in favor of the motion. “It was an administrative decision done by McGill higher-up administration, just as there was no consultation when the bike gates were installed.” “[The current policy] is really hard to enforce, and McGill has hired extra security to enforce it

and it ended up being really expensive [...] bikes just kind of go by anyway,” added Moustaqim-Barrette in an interview with The Daily.

Council also approved a referendum question seeking to modify the structure of TVM: Student Television at McGill’s fee levy from $0.10 per credit per student per semester – up to a maximum of $1.50 – to $1.50 and $0.90 per student per semester for full-time and part-time students respectively.

Councillors employed at SSMU Motions were put forth for Science Representative Zacheriah Houston and Arts Representative Alexander Kpeglo-Hennessy to be allowed to be employed at The Nest and Gerts respectively. SSMU’s bylaws prohibit councillors from being SSMU employees, unless explicitly allowed by a vote at Council.

General Manager Pauline Gervais, a non-voting member of Council, opposed Houston and KpegloHennessy’s employment. “There could be potential situations where [...] you place me into a position where I have to reprimand, fire, talk to – whatever the reason is – to an employee who is also above me and

has authority over my position,” said Gervais.

When asked whether they knew they would be seeking employment at SSMU at the time of their candidacy, Kpeglo-Hennessy said he did not, and Houston said he had been told “it would not be a problem.”

“If people feel that there are issues with councillors working these positions [...] it might be worth examining whether or not that bylaw should exist that allows us to grant councillors special permission to work for SSMU,” said Houston.

Council approved Houston and Kpeglo-Hennessy’s request, but they will be required to “abstain from voting on matters with material impact or connections” to The Nest and Gerts respectively, as per the SSMU Conflict of Interest Policy.

Support for AGSEM’s union drive Moustaqim-Barrette introduced a motion to support the AGSEM unionization campaign, which was presented to Council at the previous meeting and seeks to unionize undergraduate teaching support staff, including notetakers, graders, tutors, and teaching assistants (TAs).

Engineering Representative An-

ikke Rioux spoke against the motion, arguing that a survey conducted among members of the McGill Engineering Facebook group found that 60 to 70 per cent of students were against it.

Services Representative Rachel Weaver also argued against the motion.

“In [the Science] faculty, many benefit just from the experience,” said Weaver. “In the science courses, there aren’t a lot of TAs to go around and this would cut it down even further.”

Stewart-Kanigan spoke in favour of the motion. “We need to realize the implications of this structure for financial accessibility of these TA positions; not everyone can afford to work that many hours as volunteers or work at half-pay,” she said.

The motion passed, with Arts, Education, and Music representatives voting in favour. Engineering and Arts and Science representatives voted against it, while Management, Science, and Nursing representatives abstained from the vote.

An earlier version of this article appeared online on October 14.

Art Essay

October 16, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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Alice Shen | The McGill Daily

Commentary

October 16, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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Freedom for the wrongly jailed Indefinite detention of migrants in Canada must stop Nicholas Pullen Commentary Writer

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n September 20, 2014, protesters staged a rally in front of Laval Immigration Detention Centre, only thirty kilometres from McGill’s campus, in solidarity with the struggle of non-status migrants detained indefinitely in prisons across Canada. Our country has long treated non-status migrants abusively, but the action on September 20 was symbolic since it marked almost exactly a year since the largest migrant detainee strike in Canadian history.

In Lindsay, a town in southeastern Ontario, hundreds of migrants who were being detained indefinitely were moved from a minimum security facility in Toronto to the Central East Correctional Centre (CECC), a maximum security private prison. Having only been in Lindsay a few weeks, on September 17, 2013, 191 migrants went refused to enter the cells, protesting initially against the reduced access to health and social services.

In response the CECC administration put the strikers on lockdown, confining them to their cells for up to 18 hours a day. Several migrants went on hunger strike, and the scope of the strike widened to demand an end to the policy of indefinite detention.

If not having a Canadian passport is sufficient reason to deny someone their legal and moral rights, then a Canadian passport isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.

The protesting detainees in Lindsay made four simple demands: freedom for the wrongly jailed, that is – freedom for migrants who had been imprisoned for more than ninety days; an end to the policy of arbitrary and indefinite detention; an end to detention in maximum security prisons; and an overhaul of the adjudication process for migrants, to per-

Katrina Gibbs | Illustrator mit them to access the full range of legal options available to Canadian citizens. All demands should be met, but the last is not debatable. If not having a Canadian passport is sufficient reason to deny someone their legal and moral rights, then a Canadian passport isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.

Migrants unlucky enough to be detained have committed no crime, in the conventional sense of the word. They are not murderers, they are not rapists, and they are not thieves. They are people who came to Canada for a better life. For this so-called ‘crime,’ over one hundred migrants are still on strike. Others are currently incarcerated in similar detention centres in Toronto, Vancouver, and right here in Laval, the site of the solidarity protest in September. Unfortunately the policy has not changed, and the protesters’ demands have not been met. So long as migrants are kept in these conditions, Canada cannot

make any serious claim to being a civilized nation.

No society that claims to be civilized or to respect common decency would treat other human beings this way without cause. Entering a country without government approval is a crime against nothing and no one. Placing migrants in remote, maximum security prisons also wrenches them away from any contact with their family, friends, and communities.

Only a soulless and incurably callous person would deem entering a country without documents worthy of indefinite incarceration in a maximum security prison. For the most part too, migrant detainees are people of colour from poor backgrounds. These are people whom the state feels it can abuse with impunity: because justice in Canada for the poor, the ill-educated, or for people of colour, isn’t really justice at all. At least not in any sense that we would recog-

nize. Racism and classism remain weaved into the fabric of our legal system and our society.

It’s worth pointing out that Canada’s detention system, in which migrants can be imprisoned indefinitely, is almost unique in the Western world. Both the European Union and the U.S. specifically forbid arbitrary detention for longer than ninety days.

Though the opinion of the United Nations (UN) has counted for little in Canada since Harper came into office, on July 16 this year, Canada was informed by the UN that “[d]etention shall be the last resort and permissible only for the shortest period of time and that alternatives to detention should be sought wherever possible.”

So long as these detention centres remain open, we have little right to sniff at the legal limbo of Guantanamo Bay. We have similar limbos right here at home, where innocent people are being held

with even less cause and legal recourse. None of the migrants being held in detention are guilty of violent crimes.

In the year since the hunger strike at Lindsay – a full year of protests, activism, media coverage, and condemnation by outside legal bodies – the Canadian government has completely failed to release any of the detainees, meet any of the protesters’ demands, or make any move on reforming the system that keeps them suspended in a stateless void of jumpsuits and bars. We should not allow injustice on this scale to happen under our name.

Canada should be country where no is illegal, and all human beings are entitled to basic human dignity.

Let’s put a stop to immigration detention now.

Nicholas Pullen is a Masters student in History. To contact him, please email commentary@mcgilldaily.com.

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Commentary

October 16, 2014 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

A man with a plan Mayor Denis Coderre is not doing enough to tackle homelessness Jacob Frackson Commentary Writer

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ontreal Mayor Denis Coderre has taken the first political step to dealing with homelessness in the city. Unfortunately, it’s a misguided one.

In his method of approaching the issue, he has silenced important voices in the conversation: those of the people who are homeless and their allies.

Recently, Coderre announced a new drive to tackle homelessness in the city of Montreal. The central component of the project is a new “homeless census,” a collaborative effort between the government, homeless shelters, and various university researchers, which is meant to fill the current lack of data on homelessness in Montreal. According to the mayor, this will allow the city to better allocate its resources.

Some of the main areas of interest include Indigenous people who are homeless, young people who are homeless, and, most importantly, establishing an accurate number of people who are homeless in the city.

Though the census will lay the groundwork for Coderre’s new three-year strategy, the plan also includes implementing specific training for police officers on how to deal with people who are homeless; introducing supervised injection sites; creating a “protector of homeless individuals,” an intermediary between City Hall and the homeless community; as well as increasing the number of beds in shelters across the city. These aspects of the plan are greatly needed. However, Coderre’s plan has also raised a few key questions: where are the opinions of the homeless community in the plan?

Is this a plan for real social change, or just a political gesture?

To begin answering the last question, some context on homelessness is needed. According to estimates from the Homeless Hub and the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, at least 200,000 Canadians experience homelessness in a given year. On top of that, there are an estimated 30,000 people sleeping outside on any given night across Canada. The annual national cost of addressing homelessness – including shelters, additional police officers, and emergency medical aid – is an immense $7 billion per year.

Research conducted by advocates for people who are homeless suggests a more effective plan. A 2012 report on homelessness in

Carmen Fenech | The McGill Daily Canada found that spending on emergency responses was more expensive and more detrimental to individual health than long-term alternatives. The report also advocates for two long-term plans: ‘Housing First’ and stigma reduction. ‘Housing First’ is a strategy that uses more funding upfront to provide subsidized and low-income housing. Stigma reduction is concerned with targeting misperceptions about homelessness through media campaigns in order to educate the public, and highlighting the fact that people who are homeless deserve jobs, homes, and respect as much as anybody else. Adopting some of these ideas might actually benefit people who are homeless in the long run. This, however, is not Coderre’s plan.

Coderre’s plan deflects from the real issues. Rather than questioning the city’s continued focus on emergency responses, this new action plan is simply a renewed emphasis on old ideas. Granted, emergency responses are essential and should continue to receive funding, but addressing the wider issue of the social context of homelessness is crucial. Where a social plan was needed, Coderre gave only a political one.

There are more problems.

First, the funds directed toward

tackling homelessness are marginal: out of an annual $4.9 billion operating budget, the city has committed only a modest $2.5 million per year for the plan. Local estimates put the number of homeless people in Montreal at 6,000; that leaves about $417 per person annually, which is a pittance. Second, the logistical plan is ill-conceived. In order for the plan to receive full funding, provincial and federal governments have to agree on the plan as a whole as well as its financial breakdown. On a topic that already has too many politicians and too few homeless voices, this simply invites more bureaucrats to the table. Third, the issue has been tackled unsuccessfully with similar methods in the past. The last homeless census happened more than 15 years ago and, based on that data, the three main Montreal shelters have only been allocated an annual grant of $125,000 each – this number will not increase with the implementation of the new plan. Clearly, this strategy will be hard-pressed to bring about real change.

For too long, both politicians and the public have neglected the issue of homelessness; in order to address the issue, it must be put on centre stage. With systemic and ongoing social problems like fam-

ine and disease, charities and activists need what NPR journalist Robert Smith has called a “galvanizing moment” to break the cycle. When the public becomes sympathetic, action is made possible; but if circumstances allow the public to become indifferent, stereotypes develop and action is stymied. With the issue of homelessness, the latter circumstance has been the norm for decades, and Coderre’s plan does not fix that problem.

The homeless census will improve the city’s knowledge of the issue, and the new position of “protector of homeless individuals” will give the homeless more representation in city policy, but this sort of action is not enough.

More funding and a reallocation of resources will inevitably be needed to fully address the issue, but misperceptions and stereotypes should be the primary target.

A study by Hanover, an Australian homeless advocacy and support agency, found evidence that a general fear of people who are homeless, a false perception that people who sleep on the streets are either substance abusers or mentally ill, and a lack of awareness combined with an unwillingness to seek further information drive harmful stereotypes about homelessness.

Essentially, a misinformed public

is a public that is okay with leaving the people who are homeless on the streets, out of sight and out of mind.

What’s conspicuously lacking from most plans to tackle homelessness, including Coderre’s, is the unique insight of people who have been homeless. Those who have personally experienced homelessness and those that have worked in shelters have developed an understanding of the issue, including what has helped, what has not, and what might. Most importantly, they are aware of the nuances and diversity of homelessness, understanding that not all cases are the same.

Coderre’s plan may do good, but it does not get to the root of the problem. Rather than listening to the voices of the homeless and their advocates, Coderre’s administration has decided to play politics. Instead, an effective plan should combine the best of the local knowledge of the homeless community and the resources and executive powers of the city. Only by working together can the city begin to address the issue of homelessness.

Jacob Frackson is a U1 Economics and International Development Studies student. To contact him, please email jacob.frackson@ mail.mcgill.ca.

Features

October 16, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Sy(STE M)ic misogyny A look at gender dynamics in science WRITTEN BY JILL BACHELDER ILLUSTRATIONS BY ALICE SHEN

AR I EL L E’S EXPE R I E N CE

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JI L L’S EXPE R I E N CE

rom offhand comments, double standards to stereotypes, as a woman in science I have had my share of experiences with sexism in the field. But I can’t help wonder – have other women in science at McGill faced similar discrimination? Is this a problem stemming from McGill, or are issues of discrimination and sexism not as relevant to our campus?

In an attempt to answer these questions, I invited women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to come and discuss the issues they face on a day-to day basis in sciences at McGill. The following is a collection of these stories and experiences.

UN DE RG RA DUATE EXPE R I E N CES P ROFESSO RS CHI ME IN DISCUSS ION, AN D FURTHE R ST U DY

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AR I EL L E’S EXPE R I E N CE I always considered science my strong point in school: I was inquisitive, logical, and really into figuring out how stuff worked. The fact that I was a girl changed nothing about my passions.

I was exposed to science’s gender issue from grade five onward through the science fair, where students got to be real scientists and pick their own projects. At first, they were mandatory for everyone, but as we grew up, the gender ratio became more and more skewed. It wasn’t as simple as more boys than girls: different fields of science were dubbed “guy fields” and “girlfriends.” The biomedical row at the national fair was filled with smiling young female scientists, while I was one of three girls in the physical sciences section.

This subject gap became even more prominent in high school, when I was again one of three women in my physics class (despite the nearly 50-50 ratio in biology and chemistry). Were women less capable of building catapults and calculating kinematics? The gender imbalance alone scared my peers. I know I felt the same way about computer science in high school: it was the place for boys with glasses who played video games.

I did well in physics, and I participated in enrichment programs and contests. I was constantly encouraged by my female physics teacher, who emphasized the need for women in science. However, I was left wondering why I had to be so special. Why did I need special treatment and support?

Alone or not, I progressed from physical sciences to the even more male-dominated world of computer science. Though being the only female in the computer lab didn’t bother me too much, the ‘bro-culture’ certainly did. Coding competitions were laced with insensitive jokes, unwanted flirtation, and a complete disregard of any female teammates.

I had to push to get my voice heard and respected in the tech community. It took determination, perseverance, and many instances of almost giving up. Many women don’t have the time or desire to work through the barriers, and they shouldn’t have to. Now I’m working from the inside to better the situation. As it turns out, a lot of people like to ignore the issue altogether.

I found this out the hard way on social media, where I spent hours trying to convince people that the obstacles I experience on a daily basis actually exist. Not only were they not listening, they also opted for personal attacks instead of discussion. It shouldn’t be so hard to talk about this.

Why do we still have to talk about this? Because I don’t want to be recruited based on my gender identity first and skill-set second. Because I don’t want to hear about another woman being too scared to go to an amazing event, or enter a field she’s passionate about. Because I’m tired of being underestimated. Because there are still people ignorant to the fact that this is still an issue.

Coding competitions were laced with insensitive jokes, unwanted flirtation, and a complete disregard of any female teammates.

JI L L’S EXPE R I E N CE There have been three separate occasions where educated men, with good intentions, have sat me down and explained to me how it has been scientifically proven that women are inherently worse at science. First was when I was 17; it was over dinner with some boys who were trying to explain why there were only a few girls involved in our science club compared to the amount of boys. The second time was a couple years later, in a conversation with an older man who was complimenting me on being successful in school ‘despite my biology.’ Finally, the third was just last summer, and the comment came from a classmate in my physics class at Concordia.

It’s a common theory used to justify certain remarks – they explain that women’s brains are smaller, that they have done tests showing that the areas of their brains responsible for math and science are smaller or less developed than in a man’s. They point to other biological differences: women take on mothering, or prefer social sciences, whereas men like science and logic; women face more pressure to look nice and feminine, and science doesn’t leave much time to get dressed up and do your hair in the morning, plus who will see you looking so pretty if you’re spending all your days in a lab? These are the reasons I have heard from both men and women for why there are still so few women in science.

The first time I encountered sexist remarks like this, I was dumbstruck, outnumbered, and too uninformed about potential responses to defend myself. I knew these comments were wrong, but I found myself falling into the same gendered tropes that were used to hurt me: men are smart, logical, and authoritative, so perhaps what they were saying was true.

I often felt special growing up to be the only girl, or one of few girls, involved in science clubs and groups. Last summer, though, I tried to stand

up to the arguments thrown at me years earlier about women’s brains being inferior in the science field. I sent the men articles comparing intelligence between men and women, as well as articles about women’s experiences now in science. I explained to the best of my abilities the uninviting nature that male-dominated settings can have.

In high school, my friend told me she thought that girls in our grade would have enjoyed science clubs, but didn’t have an interest in joining them because the environment was so uninviting. I didn’t know what she was talking about at the time, but looking back I think that definitely could have deterred them – there were lots of gross comments from guys all over.

If you made a mistake or did something dumb, there was always someone who’d say something along the lines of, ‘Oh, dammit woman, go home and make me a sandwich.’ It’s not horrible, not scarring, but it’s the sort of thing where, if you have a choice, you’d prefer to just... not.

So coming to McGill was like a breath of fresh air for me, though this might have been partly due to my not really being involved in science since I came here; I am just this year starting my program, and have become involved in activities outside of the science technology engineering and math (STEM). Recent conversations with peers made me curious about what it’s like to be a woman in science today, especially at McGill – with all this talk of equity from student and departmental groups, organizations for empowering women, and the general progressiveness of the school’s student body, what, if any, are the problems faced on a regular basis by students who are not the stereotypical nerdy guy in a labcoat?

I was interested in hearing more about people’s thoughts on the issue of women in STEM, so I held an event inviting the McGill community to discuss their experiences with gender in science. About 25 students and professors came to the event.

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October 16, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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UN DE RG RA DUATE EXPE R I E N CES At the event, Emilie, a third-year Electrical Engineering student, told me that she and her friends face sexist and discriminatory comments every single day.

“If you’re looking for experience, boy have I gotten some,” she said.

She told me about a robotics project where she worked with five guys. “We each had a role in the group, and I was doing testing and documentation on the whole project. The jury came up and said, ‘Oh, tell me your names and your role.’ I [responded] ‘I’m Emilie, and I’m documentation,’ and he goes, ‘Oh, yeah, the women, they’re always the secretaries in the group, they like to make things nice and pretty.’” Everybody cringed.

“And this isn’t unheard of, this is a very normal thing,” Emilie told me as she recounted this story. “Everyone laughed, including me, because I just felt super uncomfortable and like I couldn’t speak out [...] these are things that happen really often and people don’t necessarily think they’re being mean, or not inclusive, or sexist.”

Another student, this time in Chemical Engineering, told me that

she was only just becoming involved in Engineering groups and activities – after being at McGill for more than two years – because she hadn’t felt like she fit into her program due to a lack of gendered support.

“I distanced myself from engineering for a long time because it made me feel unwanted, or like I didn’t really fit in it. I realized that’s not the solution to anything. I want to be an engineer and I want [the program] to want me to be an engineer.”

Many of the undergrads brought up a general lack of confidence, fear of sexual harassment, and scarcity of female role models in STEM. “All of my science professors are men,” said one undergrad, pointing to the lack of female representation in higher-up academic roles.

I asked Emilie if she ever felt intimidated, and wondered aloud to her about how professors could have never felt intimidated.

“I think I get it, because I get used to being the only girl, and sometimes it’s kind of nice, not going to lie,” she said. “You kind of brace yourself for the sexist comments and just be like, ‘This is the way it is.’ It just kind of becomes normal.”

P ROFESSO RS CHI ME IN Of course, institutional problems were also brought up by several people. Most of the professors who came to the event (as well as a biology professor who emailed me beforehand) said they had had serious difficulties with McGill’s childcare system, which, according to one professor, has a huge waitlist due to a lack of space compared to the demand.

Another physics professor spoke about her experiences with sexual harassment.

“I know that I’ve had some problems when I was a graduate student and one of the post-docs that I was working with was basically harassing me. I had to work five feet away from him, so it was a real source of stress for a long time. My advisor’s response was, ‘It’s just cultural differences, get over it,’ and that was not really the response I was looking for.”

She continued, “It stemmed back to there not being any real path forward for responding appropriately to these situations. I think a lot of these institutions are moving forward and establishing avenues of communication and best practices so that when an advisor has a student come to them and say, ‘I’m having a problem,’ the advisor knows what to do. Educating our faculty on inappropriate responses is an important move forward as well.”

A math professor spoke to the smaller interpersonal interactions that some of the undergraduates mentioned, saying she felt at conferences that her colleagues weren’t taking her seriously. She said benevolent acts, such as holding the door open more explicitly,

were part of the problem.

“I think it’s called benevolent chauvinism, when someone opens the door for you and says, ‘Oh, that’s so good we’ve got some women in physics.’ The [idea] is the fact that you should protect women because women are considered weaker [...] this often goes with [the fact that] they don’t take women as seriously.”

The physics professor, however, didn’t agree that this should be a concern. “The door holding doesn’t bother me. [...] Let them hold the door,” one said.

One of the physics professors who came to the event said that she was intrigued when undergraduates came to her saying they felt intimidated in spaces dominated by men, saying she never felt this way herself.

“I went through all my education in physics always surrounded by men and I never felt intimidated. I only felt difficulty once I got married and had kids. I’m hearing from undergrads that they are intimidated, and I’m wondering, why is it, are the undergrads misbehaving or what?” she asked the room.

These testimonials can’t represent everyone, but to me what’s so interesting is the disconnect between the experiences of these women, who are either in STEM or well on their way to joining, versus us younger students who, judging from my conversations, seemed to be more open to acknowledging the problem. I have never worked in STEM proper, nor have my friends, yet we see the problem so clearly. Why couldn’t they?

“It stemmed back to there not being any real path forward for responding appropriately to these situations.”

A physics professor at McGill on their experience with the university’s lack of action in an incident of sexual harassment

DISCUSS ION, AN D FURTHE R ST U DY Hearing the stories of the women I spoke to was in some ways disappointing, but it also brought me hope. For many, it seems, the environment of STEM is still highly intimidating, and problematic fields and a certain level of misogyny seems to be expected. Common gender stereotypes continue to resurface. I was struck by the interest the event I held received from so many people. From the large turnout of students and professors at the event to the generally positive responses from interviewees and from professors I contacted, it is evident to me that now, more than ever, people are opening up to discussing the problem of women in STEM. Many are eager to fix this problem.

Of course, I could never cover the huge scope of the problem of

women in science and technology. To get a fuller picture, more departments and identities would have to be involved, and unfortunately the group of people that came out to the event offered a limited scope. The collection of stories, from a handful of women, could never represent all women in STEM fields at McGill.

But, in the end, I hope this essay sheds some light on what it’s like to be a woman in science here at McGill. This may be just a snapshot of people’s experiences, but it is a start. I hope that in bringing these stories to the table, and putting them together, we can move beyond the question of ‘Is there really still a problem?’ to figuring out how we can tackle gender discrimination in sciences.

Sci+Tech

October 16, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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Radically extending human life $1 million prize dedicated to “ending aging” Trent Eady Sci+Tech Writer

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I feel like it’s inevitable that we’re going to solve aging,” says Joon Yun, the benefactor behind a new $1 million prize of which goal is to extend the healthy human lifespan beyond its current limits. Yun, a doctor and healthcare analyst, launched the Palo Alto Longevity Prize on September 9. 11 teams of scientists will compete to achieve milestones toward the ultimate goal of “ending aging” in humans.

The prize is split into two parts. $500,000 will be awarded to the first team who can successfully turn back the biological clock in the heart of an older mammal, such as a mouse. The teams will compete to restore the older mammal’s heart rate variability — how the duration of the pauses between heartbeats varies over time — to that of a young adult. The hope is that eventually the same procedure could be applied to humans, setting the heart of a senior citizen ticking like that of a sprightly twentysomething.

Another $500,000 will be awarded to the first team who can extend a mammal’s lifespan by 50 per cent through the same or similar methods.

Since the average life expectancy in Canada is 81, a similar effect in humans would translate to the average Canadian living to be over 120 years old.

The search for a cure The Palo Alto Longevity Prize reflects a turning tide in the way that doctors and scientists look at aging.

For the most part, aging is perceived as a normal and natural part of life.

However, a growing number of researchers are beginning to see aging as a disease, like cancer or Parkinson’s, and are searching for a cure. Most of us have lost someone we love to due to aging-related causes of death such as heart disease, and we are bound to lose more loved ones as time goes on.

Aging touches everyone. This makes the search for a cure deeply personal.

Doris Taylor, the Director of Regenerative Medicine Research at the Texas Heart Institute, is leading one of the 11 teams competing for the prize. Her team plans to treat aging by replenishing the body’s supply of stem cells, the generic cells from which all the body’s specialized cells are formed. Taylor describes her mother’s passing as the moment she realized that scientists need to better understand the aging process.

“When my mom passed away, she was healthy most of her life, until the last week or so of her life,” she recounts. “As I saw her deteriorate very rapidly in just a week, it became

very obvious to me we have no idea what aging really does, or is, or how it happens.” Taylor is optimistic about the future of life extension research.

In her team’s promotional video, she claims that “aging is both a failure of stem cell number and stem cell function.” The solution, then, is clear to her: “It’s really not that complicated.

Replace stem cell number. Replace stem cell function. Prolong life.”

Living long enough to live indefinitely Making 120 years old the new 80 years old is impressive, but it’s not “ending aging.” So how can Yun set such a lofty goal for Taylor and other competitors? The key is the potential runaway effect of life extension research. If those of us who are alive today live long enough to benefit from the sort of medical treatment that would extend life by forty years, we may end up living for hundreds or thousands of years. The idea is that during the extra decades of life that an initial treatment would give us, science and biotechnology would continue to progress and develop new treatments that would extend our lives even further.

Aubrey de Grey is a biologist and

If those of us who are alive today live long enough to benefit from the sort of medical treatment that would extend life by forty years, we may end up living for hundreds or thousands of years. life extension advocate who sits on the advisory board of the Palo Alto Longevity Prize. He calls this runaway effect “longevity escape velocity,” an analogy to the speed a rocket needs to reach before it can break free from earth’s gravitational pull and sail through space indefinitely.

Just like a rocket escaping the earth’s gravity, de Grey claims that we will escape death by aging when we pass a tipping point where every decade, new life extension research will be

Eleanor Milman | The McGill Daily adding over a decade to our lives.

Once we reach that point, the sky’s the limit.

De Grey argues that aging is the accumulation of damage to our bodies, an inevitable byproduct of our bodies’ normal functioning. To reverse aging, de Grey claims, all we need to do identify and repair the different kinds of damage that occur. “Longevity escape velocity,” then, is the point at which damage can be undone faster than it accumulates. “Once we are really, truly repairing things as fast as they go wrong, game over,” de Grey says in the documentary Immortalists. “We will have the ability to live indefinitely.”

De Grey believes that aging related deaths are “humanity’s worst problem” since it is responsible for two-thirds of deaths worldwide — 100,000 of the 150,000 people who die every day die of aging-related deaths. He sees himself as on a mission to save lives. “Even if I bring forward the defeat of aging by just one day,” de Grey says, “that’s 100,000 lives that I’ve saved.”

Do we want to extend life?

Some people are alarmed about the social ramifications of life extension research. The two main concerns are overpopulation and unequal access to life extension medicine.

Perhaps counterintuitively, population has a lot more to do with the birth rate than with the death rate.

Even if nobody ever dies, population growth will run into diminishing returns as long as couples have less than two children on average. A demographic study by Leonid Gavrilov

and Natalia Gavrilova looked at what would happen to the population of Sweden if aging were stopped completely. They projected that the country’s population would only grow by 22 per cent, from 9.1 million to 11 million, over the next 100 years. As long as a majority of people are content with having no more than two children, population growth will decline over time.

What about unequal access? Although people commonly assume that medical treatments to extend life would only be available to the rich, they don’t explain why such treatments would be different from any other kind of medicine. Access to medical treatment is distributed more equally in some countries, less equally in others, and very unequally on a global scale, but the advancement of medicine has nothing to do with that.

Nobody says we should be concerned about curing cancer because only the rich will be able to afford the cure.

Whether or not treatments to reverse aging are equally available to everyone is independent of whether those treatments get developed in the first place.

Yun, in an interview on Bloomberg TV, explains why medicine that keeps the body in a youthful state will ultimately reduce the costs of healthcare, giving all healthcare systems an economic incentive to offer that medicine to their patients. “Think about your body as having a homeostasis system,” Yun explains. “When we’re young, it helps our body selftune, and as we get older, especially beyond the age of forty, the system starts breaking down.” Once the body

loses the ability to self-tune properly, “we create this thing called a healthcare system to try to make up for the lack of homeostasis. But imagine if we could put the healthcare system back in the body, allow the body to self-tune. Then we can spend those $2 trillion [Americans] spend right now on healthcare on something else, such as education.” Since age-related chronic diseases take up most of the overall cost of healthcare, treatments that reverse aging would make healthcare less expensive. Rather than being exclusively for the rich, those treatments would end up being more affordable than the medical care that exists today.

A less serious, but perhaps sadder objection to life extension is that we’d all get bored living so long. But should weariness with life be treated any differently in a 200-year-old than in a 20-year-old? Is a desire for an end to life in a 200-year-old “normal” or is it a sign of depression? The thought behind this objection seems to be that the joy of living is a limited resource that can be used up over time. To life extension advocates, however, the joy of life seems unlimited. De Grey says he “can’t imagine ever running out of new things” he would “like to do”.

De Grey re-frames the issue of life extension by asking, “Why do you want to die?” The overarching argument of life extension advocates is that death caused by aging or ‘natural causes’ is no different from death caused by anything else. For them, the question ‘Do you want to live longer?’ is ultimately the same as the (Continued on page 15)

Sci+Tech

October 16, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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The colours and sounds of math Chaos & Order at the Satosphere Erica Jewell Sci+Tech Writer

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ntil October 17, Montreal’s Société des Arts Technologiques (SAT) is host to Chaos & Order: A Mathematical Symphony, a mesmerizing film that presents viewers with the opportunity to experience math visually and sonically at giant proportions. The film, created by a German team made up of media artist Rocco Helmchen and composer Johannes Kraas, is presented by the SAT as an exploration of “one of the fundamental links between reality and mathematical abstraction,” manifested in computer-generated animation and a complementary symphonicelectronic soundtrack. Watching Chaos & Order is a unique cinematic experience – closer to stepping inside a giant, melodic kaleidoscope than sitting passively at the movies.

The film is being screened at the Satosphere, an immersive, dome-shaped theatre that extends from the roof of the SAT building at 1201 St. Laurent. A testament to Montreal’s innovative art scene, the SAT is a non-profit organization that has been working since 1996 to foster experimentation in immersive arts and technologies.

The Satosphere, which opened in 2011, exemplifies the multi-

functional spaces housed in the SAT building, as it can serve as a venue for performances, visualization projects, film screenings, and dance or game programs. A 360-degree screen, eight projectors, and 157 speakers envelop the circular floor of the theater, where an array of plush futons have been placed around the room for the Chaos & Order screening. The audience is encouraged to find a comfortable position from which to gaze up and around at Helmchen and Kraas’ portrayal of the beauty of mathematics.

The film is comprised of four sections: “form,” “simulation,” “algorithm,” and “fractal,” each of which use dizzying colours and perspective to dynamically illustrate mathematical structures and systems like geodesic spheres, n-body simulations, thermodynamics, or fractal sets. Sections shifting from representations of geometric forms to chaos theory are blended together with quick transition shots of urban environments. These short bits of reality then break apart into digital animation and lead the audience back into Helmchen and Kraas’ psychedelic audiovisuals.

Each mathematical structure is given a small label in its on-screen introduction, yet no further explanation or audio narration is included in the film. If viewers are

Erica Jewell | The McGill Daily not already familiar with math and science, those expecting a math lesson may be disappointed when they cannot find much more than beauty in the screening. After seeing Chaos & Order, Zoltan Bardos, a U3 Electrical Engineering student, remarked, “It was way more of an experience than a lesson. I liked that I could recognize some of the elements in the show having studied math, but if you didn’t already understand it going in, I don’t think you would have

brought much away from it.”

For those who are interested in math, this screening presents a unique opportunity to visualize complex concepts. For Bardos, previous knowledge of fractal patterns made the show interesting.

“I knew that to build a fractal really isn’t that complicated, all you need is a simple recursive equation that is pretty basic on its own, and if you just let it run it will create these highly complex images,” he said. “I think that the contrast

between the simplicity of math and the super-complexity it can lead to in the macro scale was key to the show,” said Bardos.

Whether math is your passion and you want to see the beauty of the forms described by formulas with which you are familiar, or if you have no mathematical background at all but are interested in the surreal beauty of immersive colour, light, and sound, the Satosphere makes going to see Chaos & Order worthwhile.

vard geneticist George Church, best known for his work in human genome sequencing, the process by which the complete DNA of a person can be examined.

The SENS Research Foundation remains relatively small and poorly funded. In 2012, its budget was under $3 million. Even so, the Foundation has managed to make progress.

One of its greatest successes to date involves 7-ketocholesterol, a type of cholesterol waste product of the body’s normal processes. As it accumulates in the body over a lifetime, it reaches toxic quantities. 7-ketocholesterol is associated with atherosclerosis, an age-related disease where the walls of the body’s arteries thicken and harden. The Foundation’s researchers discovered a species of bacteria that consumes 7-ketocholesterol and isolated the enzyme those bacteria use to digest it. That enzyme could, one day, be used in a drug that would break down 7-ketocholesterol in the body.

The build-up of 7-ketocholesterol

is one tiny example of the naturally occurring damage to the body that de Grey claims is responsible for human aging. As studies like these add up, finding more solutions to more examples of damage, de Grey believes we will eventually have the solution to aging as a whole.

Radically extending human life (continued) question ‘Do you want to live?’ The passion driving advocates like de Grey comes from the belief that passivity about life extension is passivity about life itself.

Is life extension a pipe-dream?

Since 2009, de Grey has been working toward that goal at the SENS Research Foundation, a non-profit organization in Mountain View, California that he co-founded to pursue his plan to repair all the different kinds of damage that are believed to constitute aging. He calls that plan SENS, or Strategies for Engineered for Negligible Senescence. The SENS Research Foundation now houses seven scientists working on research related to the SENS plan, and has funded or is currently funding studies at over a dozen universities and outside research institutions.

Since it began receiving public attention, the SENS plan has struggled to attain mainstream credibility. In 2005, the MIT Technology Review issued a challenge to biolo-

gists, offering a $20,000 reward to anyone who could demonstrate that the SENS plan is not “worthy of serious consideration.” Three written submissions were published and a panel of judges was convened by the Review. The judges concluded that none of the submissions successfully debunked the SENS plan. However, they awarded half of the prize money to biologist Preston Estep and his colleagues for its eloquence. Estep and his colleagues condemned the SENS plan as “pseudoscience” and a “pipe-dream.” The judges concluded that although the submission presented “many reasons to doubt SENS,” Estep and his colleagues were “too quick to engage in namecalling, labeling ideas as ‘pseudoscientific’ or ‘unscientific’ that they cannot really demonstrate are so.”

One of the judges was biologist Craig Venter, known for his key role in the Human Genome Project and his breakthroughs in synthetic biology. Venter summed up the judges’ opinion by writing, “Estep et al. in

my view have not demonstrated that SENS is unworthy of discussion, but the proponents of SENS have not made a compelling case for it.”

The credibility of the SENS Research Foundation has since been boosted by the fact that it has attracted some prominent scientists to its research advisory board. One such scientist is Anthony Atala, the Director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Atala made headlines in 2006 when he led the first-ever implantation of an artificially grown organ, a bladder, into a patient. Since then, under Atala’s leadership, the Wake Forest Institute has implanted lab-grown urethras and vaginas into patients and is experimenting with artificial kidneys, livers, and skin. In the future, techniques such as these could be used to replace body parts that have deteriorated from old age with new, healthy parts grown in the lab. Another prominent scientist who has joined the SENS Research Foundation’s advisory board is Har-

The dying of the light Despite lambasts by critics, life extension advocates burst with optimism. Yun and de Grey believe it’s only a matter of time until aging is solved. Likewise, biologist Bill Andrews confidently predicts, “Hundreds of years from now, we’re going to look back and be shocked by this horrible world that we all used to live where people used to get old and die.”

The motto of Andrews’ company, Sierra Sciences, succinctly captures the spirit of life extension research: “Cure aging or die trying.” If this optimism proves to be justified, for the first time ever, people will be faced with a genuine choice of whether to go gently into old age or to rage against it.

Sports

October 16, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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The NHL’s headaches Hockey is back, and so are concussions Tanner Levis Sports Writer

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he National Hockey League (NHL) started its season on October 8, which means a full year of highlight-reel goals, dramatic overtime victories, goalies standing on their head, and so much more. But it also means that another thing has arrived: concussions. A concussion is a traumatic brain injury that alters the brain’s function. Effects are usually temporary but can include headaches and problems with concentration, memory, balance, and coordination. With the high speed and full contact nature of hockey, concussions have become more and more common in the NHL. When approaching this problem, however, the league remains apathetic at best, and negligent at worst.

In 1997, the NHL implemented a concussion policy, making it the first professional sports league to start a working group that focused on the study of concussions. It created a neuropsychological baseline testing program, and claims to be working on and continuosly updating the program based on newer research. Ruben Echemendia, the Director of the NHL’s Neuropsychological Testing Program and Co-Chair of the NHL/NHLPA Concussion Working Group, claims that this will improve ‘‘conditions for players” – but has it really? Concussions are injuries that can take out the most talented players for an entire season in the blink of an eye.

Take the case of Sidney Crosby. Most NHL fans would consider Crosby to be one of the top players in the league. In just his second season, Crosby was awarded the Art Ross Trophy for receiving the most points in the NHL, becoming the only teenager to ever win a scoring title in any major North American sports league, and has been named an All-Star multiple times.

On January 1 and January 5, 2011, Crosby suffered blows to the head from Dave Steckel and Victor Hedman, respectively. In both cases he did not see the hit coming. He missed the final 41 games of the season after experiencing several concussion symptoms. He also missed the first twenty games of the following season due to nagging symptoms, but was finally medically cleared to play against the New York Islanders on November 11, 2011.

Crosby is arguably one of

the most talented players in the league; we have seen him deke through players and score numerous game-winning goals. The ugly nature of concussions is that one hit can destroy a season; in Crosby’s case, two hits made him miss 61 games in the 2010 and 2011 seasons. Even when Crosby felt better, it only took one more hit from David Krejci to put him out for another forty games. He returned in March of the following year and was able to finish the season.

Usually the saying goes, ‘with risk comes reward’ – but what about ‘with reward comes risk?’

Most professional athletes are putting themselves at physical risk simply by participating in these high-intensity sports. Although the nature of the sport is high-contact, it is the league’s responsibility to put rules in place to prevent the types of hits that lead to career-ending injuries and long-term health concerns.

Although current fans know of Crosby and his injuries, he is not the only professional hockey player to experience concussions.

Some of hockey’s greatest players including Eric Lindros, Paul Kariya, Keith Primeau, and Marc Savard all sat out for lengthy periods of time due to concussionrelated injuries.

In the 2013-14 season, concussions in the NHL were at an alltime high. Within only the first three weeks of the season, which included 136 games, there were over ten concussions or suspected concussions.

In July 2013, an extensive study done by Michael Cusimano, whose specializations include Clinical research in neurosurgery, he and his team found that there are 5.23 concussions or head injuries per 100 NHL games. This study was published two years after Rule 48 was introduced, finding that even though Rule 48 was supposed to reduce the number of concussions, it has not been efective.

Rule 48, according to the NHL’s official rule book, states that an illegal check to the head, or “a hit resulting in contact with an opponent’s head where the head is targeted and is the principal point of contact, is not permitted. However, in determining whether such a hit should have been permitted, the circumstances of the hit, including whether the opponent put himself in a vulnerable position immediately prior to or simultaneously with the hit, or whether the head contact on an otherwise

Kristian Picon | The McGill Daily legal body check was avoidable, can be considered.”

This new rule will penalize all hits where the head is the primary point of contact. The previous rule only made blind-side hits illegal, but now the penalty will also be based on whether or not the player is putting himself in a vulnerable position or if the hit is unavoidable.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and league representatives have been aware of how severe concussions have been amongst players, but it seems like the only changes that have been made in recent years are to gameplay rather than to rules to improve the health and safety of its athletes.

In the summer leading up to the 2014 NHL season, the league imposed new rules which included the expansion of the size of the goalie’s restricted area behind the net, new game misconduct penalties, diving and tripping penalty reviews (including fines), as well as new overtime and face-off rules.

The league’s competition committee has manipulated the rules this season, primarily in an at-

tempt to speed up the game and generate more offence, which may have its consequences. With a quicker game speed comes the opportunity for more high-speed collisions, some of which may end up being to the head.

Since the league’s games have commenced on October 8, there are already six players on TSN’s injury report list with head-related injuries. Marc Savard of the Boston Bruins and Chris Pronger of the Philadelphia Flyers are two players that have been placed on the injured reserve due to injuries from previous seasons. Both have post-concussion syndrome, where symptoms may persist for days, weeks, or months after the inital injury. Forward Jeff Skinner of the Carolina Hurricanes was diagnosed with a concussion after getting hit by Washington Capitals defenceman Matt Niskanen. Colorado Avalanche forward John Mitchell is out with concussion-related symptoms, Washington Capitals forward Aaron Volpatti is out with neckrelated injuries, and Toronto Ma-

ple Leafs goaltender James Reimer left midway through a New York Rangers game after a collision where he hit his head.

If the NHL’s plan is to speed up gameplay, they’ll also need to plan how to deal with the amount of head- and concussion-related injuries they will face this season.

On March 2, 2013, the Montréal Canadiens played the Pittsburgh Penguins, ending in a score of 7-6 – does that sound like the NHL really needs to improve scoring?

This is not to say that all of the games end in this high of a score, but what if that game were to be played this season with all of the new rules put in place?

The league doesn’t need to improve the speed or scoring of the game, they need to learn how to prevent injuries. The average length of an NHL career is 5.65 years, and it is an easy assumption that this average is lowered by career-ending injuries. With five concussions per one hundred NHL games, it’s absurd that the league hasn’t taken a stronger and more in-depth approach to injury prevention.

Culture

October 16, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

The home of house at McGill

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A conversation with the co-president of McGill’s Our House Music Grace Bill Culture Writer

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cGill Frosh usually celebrates its final night with a concert.

In recent years, the headliner has invariably been an up-andcoming electronic DJ. With the rise of electronic dance music (EDM) festivals and stadium DJs like Calvin Harris and Avicii (who played Frosh in 2012) in the past five years, as well as the crossover of British house hits by such acts as Disclosure and Clean Bandit, house music has become arguably the most popular genre of music for young people – McGill students included. The rise (or return) of house music in North America has seen the development of a vibrant house community in Montreal and at McGill. Our House Music (OHM) is McGill’s resident house collective, an epicentre of the McGill house community. The Daily sat down to talk with OHM co-president Alex Sheaf about the phenomenon that has become house music, and what that means in McGill and Montreal.

House music began in Chicago in the mid eighties as the heir to disco, and has since spawned a plethora of sibling genres and subgenres. Today, EDM (an umbrella term for dance music including house, techno, et cetera) is inescapable, from gigantic music festivals like Coachella to McGill dorms. While this might seem to signal a new surge in popularity for the genre, Sheaf says that’s not the whole story. “Some of the biggest chart hits of the eighties, nineties, and two-thousands were straightup house records,” he says. “Off the top of my head, [there was] Inner City’s ‘Good Life,’ Madonna’s ‘Vogue,’ Nightcrawlers’ ‘Push the Feeling On’ and then the various strains of house that came out of France: Daft Punk, Modjo, et cetera.”

Sheaf does agree that a change is taking place, stating that “[house] vi-

nyl sales have increased dramatically in the past five years relative to the decade before that, and more and more [event] nights seem to be starting up all over the place.” But the change is not a sudden discovery of house music so much as its evolution and reappearance in the mainstream. “Dance floororiented music – which in essence is what house music is – has always been in our collective cultural consciousness, pretty much since the seventies, in its current incarnation,” he says.

So where does OHM fit into the generations of house? Sheaf describes OHM as “a group of people with a shared like and interest in non-commercial forms of dance music, mainly house and techno, who get together and put on parties at venues around Montreal.” OHM is one part of a thriving underground scene in Montreal that has been driving this buzz in the past five years.

Sheaf is careful, however, about using the word ‘scene,’ claiming that the reality is much more fragmented.

The multiple subgenres and massive popularity of house make it hard to speak of it as a scene; instead, various underground styles of house music, as Sheaf says, “bring together likeminded [people].” Sheaf admits all the same that, at McGill, OHM and the McGill DJ Collective – another student-run network for house artists – do constitute “something resembling a scene.” The McGill community is a part of the larger Montreal context, where clubs such as Bleury Bar, Salon Daomé, and Stereo Bar, along with regular DJ-organized dance events like Raw Feelings, Psychic Drive, and Morning Fever bring a “friendly regular group of attendees” into a “tightly [k]nit, strong community.” Our House Music itself has done parties at venues around the city such as Stereo Bar, Espace des Arts, and various loft spaces, for over five years.

As dance music, house is inher-

ently social, and Sheaf sees the kind of parties OHM puts on as part of what makes house so appealing: “When attending nights you get to meet like-minded people [...] in a neutral, ‘hair down’ context [...] that you would never get the chance to in everyday life. [...] In essence, there’s no better party music.” The community that house music offers is more or less unique: “Dance floors are places of immense social cohesion which few other situations we experience in our everyday lives can claim to offer.” It is perhaps for this reason that house music has gained so much popularity; dancing to house is a good time for sure, but it also fosters a rare spirit of togetherness that is almost unparalleled in the age of neoliberal individuality. House music offers the community today what the hippie counterculture of the sixties provided back then – EDM festivals are the new Woodstock.

The underground in particular, however, displays an “adventurous, even punk spirit,” according to Sheaf.

He seems to believe that the primary division in EDM is not between the subgenres (techno, deep house, et cetera) but between mainstream and underground. Mainstream house is so vast that it results in a homogenization of the music; the underground has more of a sense of community and acceptance of musical variety.

Sheaf points to Ben UFO, who coined the recent subgenre “outsider house,” as an example of a great DJ who is “at ease playing a techno record or a grime record within a set that still maintains a house aesthetic.”

Sheaf’s own taste reflects this adventurousness; he names record labels that release mainly deep house and/or “outsider house” such as Mood Hut, Wild Oats, and L.I.E.S. as current favourites. Sheaf also suggests checking out techno label PAN, dubstep label Hessle Audio, UK bass label Livity Sound, and recently-founded ambi-

Jonathan Reid | The McGill Daily ent label Johns’ Kingdom for a more diverse listening experience.

This cross-pollinating between various underground scenes and sounds makes for an exciting and innovative musical climate. It was this sort of freedom that allowed house music to arise in the first place: “[F] rom its inception, the scope of what ‘house music’ can be has always been incredibly broad,” Sheaf explains.

“Back in the [late seventies and eighties], house pioneers Ron Hardy and Frankie Knuckles used to mix disco [...], post-punk, and new wave records along with the more drumbased music which would morph into ‘house.’”

Today, another component has been added to the mix: the internet.

The internet has made it much easier for underground scenes around the world to reach out and influence one another. Sites like Bandcamp make it possible for labels around the world –

like Johns’ Kingdom, which is based in Moscow – to reach house fans they would not have had easy access to even a decade ago. All of these factors – the tight-knit communities, the widespread eclecticism, and the accessibility of the internet – have helped foster house scenes in Montreal. As house moves more and more into the mainstream, small grassroots groups of house enthusiasts like OHM are working to maintain house’s underground subcultures, while also welcoming newcomers and wider support. While no one can tell where this house revival will end up, OHM is making the most of the moment and cultivating a vibrant scene for McGill students, whether they’re die-hard house aficionados or just dying to dance.

The DJs of OHM are playing The Blue Dog Motel Saturday, October 18 at 10 p.m..

Austra and The Bazaar of the Bizzare Rosie Long Decter and Niyousha Bastani The McGill Daily

Rosie’s Pick: Austra Since 2009, Austra’s brand of electro-pop has been generating buzz on the Canadian indie scene.

The Toronto-based band has released two albums, Feel it Break and Olympia, the first of which was nom-

inated for the Polaris Music Prize in 2011. The four-piece is fronted by Katie Stelmanis, whose vocals are both chilling and endearing.

Opening is Petra Glynt, a solo artist who veers more toward experimental electronic. Her demo “Propaganda” came out this summer. It’s an eerie soundscape carried forth by her urgent vocals that ask, “Do you like the sound of a modern-day enchanter?”

For a performance that will get you grooving and leave you with chills, head to the SAT this Saturday.

Niyousha’s Pick: Bazaar of the Bizarre The Bazaar of the Bizarre is a travelling, alternative marketplace that’s taking over Katacombes, a St. Laurent venue, this Sunday. Presented by Plastic Wrap, a fashion compa-

ny of the cyber industrial variety, the Bazaar travels throughout the year and is your peculiar one-stop-shop for “all things exotic, whimsical and macabre,” crafted by local artists and artisans. The independent vendors at this special Halloween Extravaganza in Montreal will be selling unusual art pieces, crafts, clothing, accessories, and even home decor. Even if ghoulish doesn’t exactly suit your

daily fashion, it can’t hurt to get in the Halloween spirit early by picking up a morbid accessory or two.

Austra are playing Friday, October 17, 8 p.m. at Société des Arts Technologiques (1201 St. Laurent).

The Bazaar of the Bizarre will be open Sunday, October 19 from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m., at Katacombs (1635 St. Laurent).

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Culture

October 16, 2014 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

Up close and experimental Rats 9 presents an evening of art that pushes boundaries Christian Favreau The McGill Daily rt today is not what it used to be – and that’s not a bad thing.

Rats 9, one of Montreal’s many artist-run spaces, is a perfect example of a site where attendees can actually watch the evolution of visual art beyond galleries, as it becomes increasingly interdisciplinary, experimental, and interactive. The most recent show at Rats 9, simply titled / / , featured four artists at the forefront of this experiment in an evening of movement performance, video, “queer necromantix,” and “sensual telepathy.” Confiding in audience members as though they were familiar friends, the artists created an intimate vibe. Far from devaluing the show, this comfortable approach allowed them to transform aspects of themselves into art without the constraints of more conventional performer-audience relationships. With artists from Montreal and beyond, the evening of shows was an odd and exciting glimpse into the future of art.

became informal and very personal as Ross spoke to attendees about his preteen years, blurring the lines between performer and person. He talked about when he used to “hide his faggotry,” and would code his journal entries with “sigil magic” – he explained this as writing in a code which his conscious mind would eventually forget through a form of meditation. The writing is then therapeutic and not traumatic.

Ross picked a journal page at random onstage and began to decipher the secret passage. Then suddenly, he decided amidst fits of laughter that the page was too personal. With Ross unable to continue, his show abruptly ended. After the show, Ross told The Daily that although driven to “pretty deep depths of despair” in the past, he is “actively reclaiming that method of self-help” with his performance by divulging his “sigil magic.” Ross retells pockets of his past onstage, and so he is indistinguishable from his art. His performance was both off-putting and captivating in its unusual rawness.

Jamie Ross: A Script of Desire The first performer, Montrealbased Jamie Ross, knelt on the stage while a series of radio recordings played, broadcasting interviews on the “fear of our greatest cravings.”

Once the audio faded, Ross snapped out of his trance. The performance

Acid Wave Film & Video Laboratory: Arachne This terrifyingly trippy video experiment from Montreal video artists Acid Wave Film & Video Laboratory retells the myth of Arachne, the mortal-weaver-turned-spider by the jealous Athena. The film focuses

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less on the myth itself and more on a presentation of Arachne as a strong, outspoken woman who challenges the hierarchal structure of the gods.

Acid Wave also opposes hierarchy in its own creative processes, as Arachne is an experiment in collective artmaking. The story was made in seven distinct pieces and afterward woven together with noise music, computerized hands weaving data-like silk, and a stop motion transformation from human to spider. Simply put, the overall effect was very cool.

Amalia Wilson: Poster in Two Acts The uncanny took a backseat to the mundane with Amalia Wilson’s movement piece, Poster in Two Acts. The abrasive sounds of two coffee makers plugged into an amplifier brought the ordinary to the forefront of the show.

Wilson, the lone American performer of the evening, reminded the audience of the beauty in the everyday, performing tasks like folding blankets with a careful movement. In two acts, Wilson explored the possibility of combining theatre and dance into a moving sculpture. Just as Ross embodied his performance, Wilson also says that she and her art are “inextricably connected.” Though unwilling to speak explicitly on the subject, Wilson told The Daily after her show she recently experienced a personal loss. With this experience in mind, she offered a fresh perspective on how to prepare for our

Srijan Shukla | Photographer own death. For Wilson, life is “an accumulation of tiny movements or actions that aren’t notable.” Though this may appear bleak at first, her outlook is actually hopeful. Every ordinary action could be the last thing she ever does and that in itself gives meaning to her show.

Sunny Nestler: 1-D Simulator Centring a superb performance around “the childhood experience,” Sunny Nestler showcased an experience that fed off of both comfort and discomfort. Nestler prepared 1-D goggles for the audience that plunges their vision into utter darkness, except for one thin line. Props like earplugs, juice boxes, and illustrations of strange sea creatures with tentacles and spider legs were also provided, creating

a clash between childhood stimuli and sensory deprivation. Through its “sensory deprivation aspect,” the “alternate experience” as a group was off-putting, yet still reassuring in its communal nature. Not much happened in the ‘performance,’ leaving the audience to contemplate the senses, depth perception, and general feelings of aberration.

Artists like Nestler are redefining art on the daily, and studios like Rats 9 give them the space to do it. Spaces like these encourage artists to explore the unanswerable question, “what is art?” While Nestler and the other performers did not provide a definite answer, they left audience members with a whole host of questions that will keep Montrealers engaged and excited for what comes next.

The Daily reviews

Sonia Larbi-Aissa Culture Writer

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ou’re Dead!, the latest album from rapper-producer Flying Lotus, rushes you through a dark tunnel of death and spits you out in an alternative universe with the very first track. The L.A. native’s fifth studio album is a mixture of jazz, hip-hop, rock, and experimental electronic.

The track “Tesla” embodies exactly what makes jazz cool. The nephew of Alice and John Coltrane, FlyLo grew up on the stuff. But for his fans born at the turn of the century, jazz has never sounded so frenetically arresting. From the flying double bass to the sexy jazz piano to the sly snares, this is a song that will bring stragglers back to the original counterculture.

The album features some big industry names: cue Snoop Dogg bleakly rapping about holding the hand of a flatlining gun shot victim to a backdrop of creepy laughter.When Kendrick Lamar and Snoop Dogg laid down “Never Catch Me” and “Dead Man’s Tetris,” respectively, they likely were not looking for chart-topping hits.

The album covers the sounds of the living, the dying, and the dead. Opening with the sound of falling rain, “Coronus, The Terminator” mixes electronic slink with gospel-choir praise, floating you to a faraway peaceful place.

“The Boys Who Died in Their Sleep” however, shakes you out of your stupor with pharmaceutical-grade anxiety. As Captain Murphy, Flying Lotus’ rapping alter-ego, screeches for more pills, the hair on the back of your neck is bound to stand up.

You’re Dead! begins with death but ends with life. The ending feels like returning from a journey into the hereafter. 18 tracks later, “The Protest” wraps up the album with the lyrics, “I will live on, forever and ever.”

Daniel Griffin Culture Writer

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he Ontario boys of Single Mothers are back with their new release, Negative Qualities.

Preceded by the release of two EPs in 2010 and 2011, this long-awaited debut LP finally dropped on October 7.

Negative Qualities is, in a word, arresting.

The first track, “Overdose,” is immediately aggressive, gradually building up to the band’s full sound by starting with guitar, then bringing in drums, and finally adding vocals. The album as a whole demands full attention. The band’s tendency to switch pace unexpectedly prevents the listener from escaping the powerful beats and grinding vocals. It mesmerizes anyone who comes within earshot.

Each song presents a contrast between the harsh, throaty vocals of frontman Drew Thomson and the often soothing melodious instrumentals. In refusing to conform to one style, Negative Qualities escapes the overly simplistic approach all too common in punk rock.

The powerful lyricism is also complex: angry but candid, it somehow evokes both angst and introspective thought. Phrases like “held hostage by dead trends” and themes of self doubt express a vulnerability that is refreshingly honest.

This duality in sound and substance is best exhibited in the ninth track, “Blood Pressure.”

It begins with just two chords and a simple beat. But before the listener can get settled, the music changes, adding layers to gain a textural sweetness. The song’s lyrics explore the nature of nightlife and partying, harshly critiquing society while also expressing an ironic frustration at not belonging in this same society. The beauty of the music is its ability to make this hypocrisy endearing.

The candid punk of Single Mothers is not bound to the dogma of the genre. While Qualities maintains a punk attitude on the surface – just look at its angst-ridden title – it is the album’s nuances that keep the listener hooked, the stops and starts amidst the loud noise. Negative Qualities proves that punk is still alive and evolving in the 21st century, and that these emerging Canadian rockers are well worth the wait.

Editorial

volume 104 number 7

editorial board 3480 McTavish St., Rm. B-24 Montreal, QC H3A 1X9

October 16, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Commit to consent

phone 514.398.6784 fax 514.398.8318 mcgilldaily.com coordinating editor

Dana Wray

coordinating@mcgilldaily.com coordinating news editor

Janna Bryson news editors

Jill Bachelder Emma Noradounkian Igor Sadikov commentary & compendium! editor

Emmet Livingstone features editor

Hannah Besseau science+technology editor

Zapaer Alip

sports editor

Drew Wolfson Bell culture editors

Niyousha Bastani Rosie Long Decter multimedia editor

Alice Dutrut photo editor

Tamim Sujat illustrations editor

Alice Shen copy editor

Molly Korab design & production editor

Rachel Nam web editor

Arielle VanIderstine community editor

Diana Kwon le délit

Joseph Boju

rec@delitfrancais.com cover design Alice Shen contributors Grace Bill, Trent Eady, Christian Favreau, Carmen Fenech, Jacob Frackson, Lauria Galbraith, Katrina Gibbs, Daniel Griffin, Erica Jewell, Jasreet Kaur, Sonia Larbi-Aissa, Tanner Levis, Eleanor Milman, Kristian Picon, Nicholas Pullen, Jonathan Reid, Srijan Shukla, Subhanya Sivajothy, Daniel Vosberg, Andy Wei

Alice Shen | The McGill Daily

F

rom October 20 to 24, McGill will be launching #ConsentMcGill. The campaign is an important step forward, bringing the university toward a “yes means yes” model of consent, where silence or the absence of a “no” does not mean consent. However, this event is a small step. Establishing a culture of active consent is a constant commitment, one that requires the University’s wholehearted backing and the ongoing inclusion of student groups.

While McGill appears to finally be paying attention to the importance of consent, until recently, its actions on consent have been largely reactive. It created a harm reduction coordinator position in the wake of last year’s sexual assault incident involving three Redmen football players, a move that seemed designed to prevent further scandal. It also has yet to create an explicit sexual assault policy, although one is in the process of being drafted.

Quite simply, the University needs to take a more proactive stance on sexual assault and rape culture, following the example of the many student groups, such as the Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS) and the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), who have been working toward a safer campus for years.

Attention to consent has been growing on North American campuses, though that attention is overdue.

In Canada, one survey found four out of five female undergraduates have experienced violence in a dating relationship, and of that number, 29 per cent experienced sexual assault. These numbers don’t take into account the underreporting of sexual assault. Another national study noted that crimes of sexual assault are typically reported at a rate of about one in ten. Some are taking action:

Emma Sulkowicz, an undergraduate at Columbia University and a survivor of sexual assault, has been in the news recently for carrying a mattress around campus to protest the university’s lack of action against her attacker.

The state of California also took action by passing a “yes means yes” campus consent law, taking a definitively proactive stance against sexual assault.

Here at McGill, progress has been inching forward – largely thanks to devoted student groups, such as SACOMSS, the Union for Gender Empowerment, and SSMU. The most visible existing campus resources are largely student-run – such as Rez Project, an antioppression workshop series in McGill residences that provides consent education to first-years, and SACOMSS, which offers therapy and assistance to guide survivors through internal McGill policies, rather than the legal system as a whole. SACOMSS is also largely behind the ongoing creation of a sexual assault policy at McGill in conjunction with other student groups and the administration.

There is still much progress to be made regarding consent at McGill, such as establishing safer space at Frosh and providing more thorough consent training. #ConsentMcGill is a good start, but the University must remember that consent is not just an event; it is an ongoing commitment that needs to be continuously upheld through education, policies, and enforcement. Beyond this week-long event promoting and acknowledging the importance of consent, we must move toward supporting survivors of sexual assault and establishing a culture of consent, both on and off campus.

—The McGill Daily Editorial Board

Errata 3480 McTavish St., Rm. B-26 Montreal, QC H3A 1X9 phone 514.398.6790 fax 514.398.8318 advertising & general manager Boris Shedov sales representative Letty Matteo ad layout & design Geneviève Robert

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dps board of directors Joseph Boju, Juan Camilo Velásquez Buriticá, Joelle Dahm, Alyssa Favreau, Ralph Haddad, Rachel Nam, Hillary Pasternak, Thomas Simmoneau, Dana Wray All contents © 2014 Daily Publications Society. All rights reserved. The content of this newspaper is the responsibility of The McGill Daily and does not necessarily represent the views of McGill University. Products or companies advertised in this newspaper are not necessarily endorsed by Daily staff.

Printed by Imprimerie Transcontinental Transmag. Anjou, Quebec.

ISSN 1192-4608.

The article “Off Campus Fellow Program sees budget cuts” (News, October 6, page 4) incorrectly stated that the Off Campus Fellows Program was now classified under the general umbrella of Student Services. In fact, the program remains classified under the Rez Life department of Student Housing and Hospitality Services.

The article “Safe space still lacking at Frosh” (News, October 6, page 9) incorrectly stated stated that AUS executives are compensated $10.00 per hour. In fact, they are compensated $10.35 per hour, $10.00 of which is contributed by the Work Study program.

In the article “McGill Athletics needs to wake up” (Sports, October 16, page 18), The Daily stated that the three Redmen players had been convicted. In fact, the three players were under investigation.

The Daily regrets the errors.

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19

Compendium!

October 16, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

20

Lies, half-truths, and thanks for nothing.

Students and staff give thanks for colonialism

Inconsistency in values important, says administration Lucy Peaseblossom The McGall Weekly

M

cGall organized and impromptu event, “Let’s give thanks for colonialism,” to coincide with Columbus Day and Thanksgiving earlier in the week.

The administration opened the doors of the James Defenestration building to a curious student body, eager to discover the secret colonial delights within.

The event organizer, Deputy Provost for Student Gripes and Weed, Trololollivier Bitumens, spoke to The Weekly about his motivations.

“You know, colonial history isn’t all about pillage, and theft, and disease, and slavery, and genocide,” he explained. “There was also a little commercial export thrown into the mix. Sometimes, it’s nice to accentuate the positives.”

“McGall of course had its own part to play in the whole business – and we want to show the student body what a great time we had of it.

Sharing is caring, after all.”

According to the promotional literature for “Let’s give thanks for colonialism,” the event was billed as something that would “at last cut the bullshit” about what Thanksgiving is really about. “We might as well give up pretending this is something it’s not.” said Blinda Hebb, a mandarin at the Office of the Deputy Provost (Student Gripes and Weed). “Let’s throw caution to the wind and celebrate like it’s 1899.”

Students attending the event were encouraged to come in fancy dress – those who turned up without a costume were handed skimpy white shorts, long socks, trilby hats, and pipes. Many were shocked by the scale of the imperial splendour at the festivities, but expressed their thanks that this was a system from which they could all benefit.

“It’s nice to know that whatever I do, colonialism, colonial history, and McGall have got my back,” said Major Rand Trilby, a U3 Objective History student and event attendee. “It’s important that we collectively give thanks for the opportunity to feel superior. I mean this has been going on for centuries and we’re still reaping the benefits – jackpot,” he added.

Undercover Weekly journalists at the event told of the undisguised debauchery in James Defenestration, with members of the administration reportedly riding around on horseback, inebriated with gin and tonic, while students enthusiastically debated which among them had the most extensive feudal land rights. The highlight of the event however was a panel discussion, with surprise guest speaker, Christopher Columbus, conjured back from the dead with the combined wizardry of McGall’s Board of Governors.

“I thought there was an Eyes Wide Shut theme going on or something like that,” said Jill Spellbinder, U2 Occult Sciences. “All these old white guys dressed in robes sort of dancing around a cauldron. Then all of a sudden this old Italian dude jumps out with a comedy grin.”

Columbus, reportedly pleased to return to the mortal realm, took questions from an inquisitive, if drunk, audience. Some students at the event were still confused about what to think of the morality of colonialism and Thanksgiving.

“There’s some confusion I know, but it’s important to bear in mind that holding inconsistent values is the key to a happy life. I’m sure Trololollivier [Bitumens] would agree,” said Columbus.

“True that – how else do you think we manage to keep the moral high ground with students while doing all our sketchy research,” quipped Bitumens.

WANT TO BE MY CROSSWORD FAIRY? Email compendium@mcgilldaily.com

When the prices at the grocery store just aren’t competitive enough.

Meedja: a crossword

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Canada’s answer to U.S.-style long-form journalism Every journalism keener wants one British, newspaper of the moneyed elite U.S., national news and news from the hill Newspaper, and the world’s most visited website Became independent of SSMU in 2010 McGill’s management faculty magazine Canada’s answer to Fox Margaret Wente’s employer Long-form magazine. People think it’s pretentious The newspaper that hates Rob Ford haters