Chloë, 19 Favourite colour: Baby pink & royal blue Favourite season: Any time when it’s 10-15° or more Favourite song: All the songs on Sylvan Esso’s self-titled album. Favourite book: Paper Towns , inspirations: Piet Mondrian, Chloe Wise, Grimes... Fun fact: I love black licorice.
Tell us a little bit about Cassidy Zine. When was it founded? I founded CASSIDY in February 2016 as a platform encouraging young artists, cruelty-free living and locally made merchandise. Right now, CASSIDY is not a physical magazine, it’s currently still in production. I’m working out the kinks and creating a concrete definition for what we want CASSIDY to be. Simply put, we want an all around, ‘harmless’ arts and culture magazine, promoting this type of sustainable lifestyle on a local and international level. It’ll contain interviews with artists and brands from around the world, essays, creative writing, DIY of the season and much more. We’re taking submissions from anyone who’d like to have a piece of writing (be it poetry, short stories, op-ed’s...) as well as comics or other forms of artwork - as long as it follows or subverts our values. What do you plan to accomplish with Cassidy Zine? I hope to turn CASSIDY into an all around ethically made magazine, supporting good people all over the world. I want CASSIDY to be the go-to for everything sustainable and Fair Trade. I believe there’s
so many opportunities to live sustainably. I want to make them available to everyone. I want to spark inspiration in young artists. Hopefully we’ll eventually have a pop-up shop or an art exhibition. What kind of posts are up on your blog? So far we have a few interviews with artists from Dawson, as well as some young artists from around the world. They all work with different media, so we have some painters, photographers, digital artists, filmmakers, and even a musician. I’ve also had the opportunity to interview many artisans and designers like Mercedes Morin, Baby Slice NYC and Fablingerie from Venezuela. How do you pick the featured artists and brands? How do contact them? In the past I’ve collected business cards from artisan fairs, or wherever I can find them. But now I make connections through instagram, endlessly searching for new content and meeting amazing new individuals from all over. For artists, I have no criteria, though I prefer to give exposure to those who need it. For the artisans and brands, I pick those who create their products locally, sustain-
ably and ethically. I also feature those who serve some other greater purpose like reusing materials or making something to solve a problem... It’s very important to me that everyone I write-up has the same, or similar values to mine and CASSIDY’s. Why was it important for Cassidy to be a cruelty-free zine? How does it qualify as that? It’s important that CASSIDY is cruelty-free because I want everything I do and support in life to do as little harm as possible. When I decided to make a magazine, I knew it had to support my values ie; cruelty-free sustainable culture (and art of course!). The magazine is cruelty-free as it won’t promote products and brands that aren’t. Do you yourself live a cruelty-free lifestyle (i.e. are you vegetarian or vegan)? Though I do consider myself to live cruelty-free, I’m not strictly vegan or vegetarian. I’m pro-sustainablemeat-eating yet strongly plant- based diets, Trying to do as little harm as possible. I believe only in eating meat when it is served to me. I will not go looking for it, and I do this out of respect for my parents, grandparents etc. While being vegan/vegetarian is something I highly praise, I don’t want to label myself as either and set myself up for failiure. I will always eat fruits and vegetables before I consider meat, but I will not write it off completely. I believe that if you do eat meat, the whole animal should be respected , each part should be used or disposed of in a respectful manner. I encourage local farming above all, the meat industry will never go away, but there are things we can do to make it better.
Apart from that, I make sure all the clothing I buy is not made in China, Bangladesh, Indonesia or any other country manufacturing clothing in factories that have slavelike conditions. When possible, I aim for clothing made in Canada. I’ve honestly weaned off of buying made-in-america (united states) as the country in itself has too many ties to unethical conditions. Anyway, in all reality, all the clothing I buy these days comes from thrift shops as it’s the most sustainable and affordable option. When purchasing products such as clothing and makeup, what kind of signs do you look out for? What materials are cruelty-free and which aren’t? What are some of your favourite cruelty-free brands? I don’t know much about which materials are cruelty-free and which aren’t - the question isn’t about what is used in the product so much as if it’s tested on animals. All natural is the best way to go. DIY cosmetics and indie brands typically use ingredients you can understand. but that doesn’t mean it’s cruelty-free.
I do a lot of research before buying makeup. I know anything sold in China isn’t cruelty-free , they have a law that all products must be tested on animals before they can be sold in stores. It’s horrific. There’s a cruelty-free section at most pharmacies. It’s typically the aisle beside, or a section separate from all the more commercial stuff. Brands like Physician’s Formula, Elf, Marcelle, Annabelle, Lise Watier… Bonus points to the last three because they’re made in Quebec! When it comes down to it - I look for made in Canada or Quebec, as organic as possible, and I research the company I’m interested in beforehand. I can tell you off the back that Revlon, Covergirl, l’Oreal, and Mac cosmetics, are some of the absolute worst companies you can support. There are so many better options out there.
Camelia, 22 Favourite colour: Aqua Green Favourite season: Fall Favourite song: “Red Light” by Maud Belair (this song changed my life and it could change yours too!) Inspiration: Any Public Art – people claiming public spaces for artistic expression. Hobbies: Playing with melted wax. Fun fact: I don’t have wifi at home Yourself in three words: I said patient, empowered, thoughtful. [my girlfriend] said: goofy, smelly, perverted.
At what point did you realize Dawson needed a safe space like the hive? When I got to Dawson, I was in the Interior Design program. There were only women in my program and yet I didn’t feel supported by a strong feminine community. Our male teachers would address our class in a very man-to-woman manner. I felt very uncomfortable since I’d come with a critical feminist perspective. I mentioned I wanted to start a feminist club to a few of my peers and they thought I was crazy. I figure they must have thought of feminism as man-hating, extremist, burn your bra kind of movement which is exactly the way the media portrays feminism to make it off-putting, intimidating, and seemingly unnecessary. During my second semester at Dawson, there was a banner placed in the atrium for a “Hive Meeting”. I heard it was a feminist group so my friends, who I’d known before Dawson, and I all showed up to the first meeting and every meeting thereafter. What did you do to make it as established as it is today? First of all, it’s always been a large WE behind the organizing and creating, those executing, and doing, and those supporting and participating. During the second year of its creation (2013-2014), we got the Hive Centre a room to carry out its mandate to be able to provide a safe space for women on campus to:
breast feed, relax on a couch while experiencing menstrual cramps, get pads, tampons, condoms, pregnancy tests, have someone to talk to, get information on sexual health and gender rights, etc… During the second year the Hive became more inclusive, it went from being Dawson’s Women’s Centre to being Dawson’s Centre for Gender Advocacy which encompasses the needs of all genders and not just those of women. The third year, we hired Ariel to “woman” the office, which allowed us to be open more often and also ensured that the service would be taken seriously, and not just a hang out space. Explain the “sale pub sexiste” sticker campaign. My favourite period of the Hive’s evolution was before we got a space. This meant that all of the Hive’s efforts went into raising awareness and taking action. During the first semester of its existence in 2013, the Dawson newspaper, The Plant was selling ad space to the now bankrupt, American Apparel, infamous for its extremely sexist and exploitative advertising. The Hive was already in communication with the Plant regarding a column which gave dating advice instructing a girl to roofie a boy in order to get him in bed. We got our hands on a large quantity of “Sale Pub Sexiste”(SPS) which were making an appearance all over the city’s all over the city’s sexist advertisments.
A few of the Hive members went to an AA sale that offered Dawson students a discount and handed out fliers to everyone that entered the store. I remember cutting an advertisement out of The Plant (which took up the entire back page) and using the stickers to stick it all over the school and on The Plant’s door. I’m not sure what impact it had overall, but I do know that both the rape-y dating Column and the AA advertisements stopped. I also noticed that throughout the city, advertisements which got SPS stickers were replaced promptly with new, non problematic adverts. What projects are you working on now? I am currently very confused as an artist. In 2015 graduated from Dawson in Studio Arts where I studied many different Mediums. I then took a year off to travel where I focused, mainly due to a limited variety of materials, on Photography, Photoshop, and Drawing. I returned to Montreal to study Studio Arts at Concordia. I studied printmaking and drawing but felt very miserable and discouraged so I did not return the following semester. I feel I’ve been artistically traumatized by Concordia and so every day I’m slowly working on regaining my motivation to create. Taking a few pictures here, a painting there, editing pictures or little videos on my phone. Trying to regain my confidence to create and be vulnerable again. I’ve been commissioned to make a sticker to cover the mouth on the Thai Express advertisement. You know, the one with the illustrated woman’s face where her eyes are covered and her mouth is wide open with her finger pointed into it, resembling a phallic object going in? If you haven’t noticed, there’s a giant fucking blindfolded blow job posted all over the city. I’m in the process of creating a sticker to put over her mouth to close it, very subtly
dealing with the problem. Who do you think was your first introduction to feminism? My first introduction to a feminism I identified with was through Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain. Before then, I thought feminists hated girls who dated boys, wore makeup and shaved. I thought that the only way to be an empowered woman was to act like a man and that didn’t make much sense to me. I learnt from Kurt was that being feminine was empowering. He would often wear dresses on stage and be outspoken when it came to gender issues. It might seem strange that I learnt about feminism from a man but now that I think about it, that in itself is gender progression! Through punk music I learnt a lot about girl bands and I felt very empowered by it. My iPod at the time the Hive was starting up was full of Hole, Bikini Kill, L7, Jack Off Jill... What would you direct young women to in their quest to empowerment? Notice & Question. Notice things that make you feel disempowered and question why it makes you feel that way and why are you putting up with it? In 2012, I asked myself: in high school, none of us girls would shave our legs in the winter because we wore tights and not one saw our legs
except in the gym changing room. So, I asked why? Why should I shave when spring comes along and I take off my tights? If I don’t mind having hairy legs and I don’t mind if my friends see my hairy legs. I then thought about the boys at my school and if they saw my hairy legs and I noticed my body became anxious and scared. So there it was, the only reason I wanted to shave was because I was scared that boys would make fun of me. I stopped shaving and it was terrifying at first but after a while I felt so empowered showing off my hairy legs because I wasn’t doing something I didn’t want to do just because I was scared of how boys would react. The feeling of disempowerment needs to be much stronger that the fear of standing out and speaking up. Imagine witnessing sexual harassment taking place? What would be stronger? The feeling of disempowerment, oppression, and restriction or the fear of taking action to stop what’s happening? I’ve been actively practicing hating disempowerment so much that I’m not afraid to speak up and take action.
You gave a great speech during Women’s Week at Dawson. What made you partake in this event? I think it’s because I’m a Muslim woman and I’m sick and tired of people talking shit. I wanted to do it because of recent events, it’s become increasingly obvious that a lot of misconceptions about Islam keep growing. If I can change that, even if it’s just by making a speech, I’ll do it.
Djazia,19 Nickname: Jazz Favourite colour: black/ metallic pink Favourite season: fall Favourite song: “Give me Love” by Ed Sheeran Favourite book: Falls Into Place Inspirations: Malala, Hassiba Ben Bouali Hobbies: writing and reading Fun fact: I can’t wink. Yourself in three words: Bold, Eccentric, Sarcastic
In your speech, you mentioned you are a Muslim woman who does not wear a hijab. Does this have a special kind of significance to you? Not really. Personally, I value women who wear and don’t wear the hijab the same. I don’t think one is better than the other. I’ve chosen not to wear the hijab yet for several reasons. One of them being, due to recent events, my parents are scared. They want to hold off for a bit. I guess for other people it can represent freedom. Both women are equal. I would say it’s more a personal choice. The hijab, for me, has always been a source of empowerment. You’re more than just your body, you achieve great things because you have a great mind, not because you’re good looking. That’s what the hijab means to me personally. I feel like, especially in our society, we are restricted by our physique. The hijab gives the freedom of having to know what’s underneath. I believe it’s a
choice. In my religion, it says loud and clear, it’s not something to force on others, and I think that Muslim women, men or whoever, should take that into account. Some people view Islam as a misogynistic religion, what do you think of this idea? There’s a lot of misconceptions and propaganda from by the Western community and even within the Eastern world, a lot of misconceptions about Islam influencing how people view it. In the Quran, whenever there is something men are told to do, there are also instructions for women. I can take this page, (opens Quran) it says “rarely the Muslim men and women, the believers men and women, the men and women, who are obedient, the men and women who are truthful, the men and women who are patient,”. Both of them are mentioned, which is not something you see in the Bible. I would say that the Quran is gender inclusive. Whenever there’s a restriction on women, there’s also a restriction on men. I don’t quite remember the verse, but I know that somewhere it says that there’s no difference between souls except for how obedient and faithful they are to Allah. Some cultures say that women are meant to be submissive, and they shouldn’t drive, but I ask: where did you read that in the Quran? Where? A lot of cultures are patriarchal. The Quran was mostly interpreted by men at first obviously they read it in
a way that advantaged them, which is not the way they should have done it, but… What are your thoughts on cultural relativism? Should the Western world take the right to interfere if they disagree with a policy in an Islamic country? No, they should not interfere. The US are the last of all people that should be intervening because they’ve created most of the social constructs surrounding Muslim people, they are the cause of the stigma. I get that in some countries, there is oppression and whatnot, but usually Western countries don’t intervene for the benefit of the people. They intervene for their own benefit. For example, in Libya, they shot the president, who are they to do that? Who do they think you are?. I don’t think anyone should intervene that way. The only way that oppression can ever change is if the women themselves stand up. You can’t force them. The best way is knowledge. If western countries try to reach them in a way to educate them about who they’re “supposed” to be and not how society made them be, then I think it’s the only way they could ever change that. Violence should never be the solution. Can someone who wants to learn more about Islam visit the MSA to respectfully ask some questions? What other ways can someone who is looking for more info educate themselves about Islam? The MSA has open doors to all , Muslim and non-Muslim, we don’t care. If you’re going to be respectful and polite, you’re always welcome. We’re open to all kinds of questions, any misconceptions you want to clarify. You want to learn about Islam? You want to make a statement? You just want to talk about it? We’re always
open to hear you out. Otherwise, reading the Quran, the book we believe in, and actually reading, not through the filters of the Western world. It actually will make a difference because you will see it’s not what people make it sound like. You will see that it’s not about killing people, it’s not about beating women, or something like that. Try to not be influenced… I know it’s hard to not be biased but try to be as objective as you can. Obviously if you go into it already thinking that Islam is a bad religion, you’re going to misinterpret it.
At the base, it’s just about respecting everyone. You’ve probably heard about the Sharia, one of the rules is you have to live by the rules of the country you live in, which people tend to ignore. Sharia is praying, Sharia is giving back, people usually tend to focus on the bad things, so I guess it’s a religion that grows with you, rather than changing. We banned slavery before anyone else did. You don’t have the right to torture, you don’t have the right to mistreat animals, you don’t have the right to do that.
What do you think about older religious movements such as Islam adapting to social Change? One great thing about Islam is it should not change, that’s what it says. I know there are some aspects of it, you’ve probably heard that we cut people’s hands, but that’s obviously not an actual punishment that was carried out. It was more of a way to scare people out of mischief. There’s a lot of stories of how a man did something, a sin, and the prophet didn’t want to punish him, he said “go, go”. It’s more about scaring people away from sin than to punish. Second, I think my religion fits in all times, because I don’t see much change, I know a lot of societies develop and whatever, but the principle of it, fits.
Why is feminism important to you and why do you think we still need feminism Today? Feminism is important to me because women are still treated differently than men, whether it be socially, economically, or politically. We need it because without it, we’d be taking a step back to when women had no place, and I wouldn’t want to live in a world like that. Honestly, I can’t imagine a world without feminism. Just to think: we have it now, and women are still being beat, abused and still being asked “what did you wear that night?”. We can never have a world without feminism.
Kim, 30 something Favourite colour: Red Favourite season: Fall Favourite song: “Talkin’ About a Revolution” bu Tracey Chapman Favourite book: “Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit” by Jeanette Winterson Hobbies: Singing, Swimming, Cycling, Camping, Hiking Fun fact: I have wires in my knee Yourself in three words: Curious, Anxious, Intense
Have you always considered yourself a feminist? When did it become a very important aspect of your life? I have not. I think I’ve only heard students very seriously say that they were in maybe the last three years, and not being shy to say so. I think there was a backlash to feminism in the 90s, when I was growing up, probably because people were scared of the term. The Polytechnique shooting happened and people were targeted for using the F-word, which is what it was called up until recently. I was really into Girl Riot and a bunch of stuff that was considered Feminist but I never blatantly said it. I didn’t identify with the movement, and no one really did. I think it only really happened in university. I started considering what it meant to work as an artist and as a filmmaker, being one of the three female students in my class. I was still denying the whole feminist thing, but I was making work related to that; related to my identity as a woman, and relating to my identity as a queer woman as well. One of my films was called “Shave Your Legs”. It was about just what it means to be a woman and do we have to follow “pretty” standards, making comments about disadvantages or injustices that occur. What are some of your goals at the W/GS coordinator? I have many, one of the major ones is to be visible and inclusive. I think what’s most important right now is to
be recognized even outside the school. To start making links with other colleges and universities. I hate using the term wave to describe how women’s movements work but I think that’s what’s happening, there’s a fourth wave occurring right now. I want us to be politically engaged. I want our certificate to reflect the diversity in our teaching strategies, and I think we need to start branching out to other institutions, educational or not, to make connections, to learn from each other. I want to build on what we have here and learn from others. How does your feminist perspetive shine through in your everyday life, outside of work? As a parent, I’m affected by my feminist perspective constantly. It’s this weird thing where it shines through in conversation with family members about what kind of clothes my son should wear, for example. I just want to facilitate his openness and his will to wear what he wants. If he wants to play with dolls instead of trucks, that’s okay! I try my best. We all have our preconceived ideas of what it is to be a child growing up and I think being a boy growing up is much different to being a girl, whether we want it to be or not. The way that he’s talked to at daycare, all those things. I’m not saying he’s never wearing blue and always wearing pink, or anything like that, but it’s more a question of what do I, as a parent, feel comfortable with? My partner and I deal with determining those things.
Oftentimes, it sounds silly but, we censor books. Some books say “police man” or “fireman” instead of saying “firefighter” or “police officer” and we change it as we read it. Sometimes he’ll come back from daycare and he’ll be say “police man” and I’ll say “you mean police officer!”. I’m kind of a stickler about it. He’s gonna be so annoying growing up. He’ll be that person to ask “You didn’t just say that, did you?”. The vocabulary we use is quite important and I often think about how these things relate to gender. There’s this really cool book called “A is for Activist” one of my friends got me. He’s more on the right side of things in a lot of cases but he gets feminism. There’s little slogans like “F is for Feminist, for Fairness in our pay, and the right to choose our own way” and “L is for LGBTQ”, we read it to my son at night and he loves it. “P is for Peace March, P, P, P!”. I’m involved in the Queer Media Database, an organization trying to preserve and justify the need for having queer media in the public eye. There was a film about the role lebians played in the queer rights movement, and the national film board was going to take it off their list of films you can rent or view online and Thomas Roi (the head of this project) said “what the heck are you doing? This is one of the best documentaries ever made and one of the only ones that depicts lesbians’ role in the history of queer rights”. I’m also part of a feminist choir! We’re called Choeur Mara. It’s open to all women singers! Our next concert is at the mainline theatre on May 12th and 13th. One of the songs we’re going to do at the concert is called “I Can’t Keep Quiet”, which was made famous after the Women’s March. Has there been a certain feminist book or film that has had a lasting impression on you?
There are so many. The first one would be Maya Deren’s Meshes “Of the Afternoon” made in the 1940s. It’s not explicitly a feminist film, but I think films made about women’s sexuality almost automatically have that aura. It allowed the audience to reflect on how it can be seen through women’s eyes. That was one of the first times it actually happened; where a woman was the producer, the maker, and the director of a film that allowed her to express herself in a way that she wanted. How would you explain intersectional feminism? I feel like if we do attempt to define it, we’re missing the point. Historically it’s meant to include those who have been excluded. It’s about inclusion for the most part. But to me, intersectional is the concept of making sure that the rights and justice that we’re fighting for are not only benefitting women, but also furthering issues that cross class, race, sexuality, gender… They need to be addressed also and feminism is one way to do that. It needs to be inclusive in the understanding. Would you say that intersectional feminism is meant to address issues of class, race, sexuality and gender that maybe aren’t specifically about women? I would be scrutinized by some people for saying that, but yes. At its essence, that’s what intersectionality means. I think it means that the
person being discriminated against because they’re identifying as queer, whether they’re male or female. I hate the word equality, but what you’re trying to do is to put emphasis on what is needed for women to have the same opportunities. Feminists throughout history have realized: it’s not the same if I’m a poor woman, a woman of colour, or if I’m a trans woman. There are some additional challenges in reaching the goals you want to reach. I can’t stand the rhetoric around trans women are not real women, it just drives me crazy.
Rachel, 19 Favourite colour: Green Favourite season: Summer; for the lakes and canoes Favourite album: Recently, Songs From a Room by Leonard Cohen Favourite book: East of Eden Fun fact: I pretend I’m very good at navigating but I love getting lost. Emma,18 Favourite colour: Green and brown Favourite season: Fall Favourite song: Inner City Blues by Rodriguez Favourite book: The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls Fun fact: My thumbs look like toes
Have you always been interested in environmentalism? Emma: I was one of those kids that you see at an environmental march with a sign saying “stop climate change!”. I fell in love with Mother Nature and the earth so I knew I wanted to do everything in my power to protect it. I felt that students needed an outlet to be able to initiate projects. Green Earth gives us a platform to execute our ideas. If something needs to be done, instead of waiting for it to happen, why not start it ourselves? Rachel: I’ve been involved in environmentalism for a while now. I joined the environment committee at my high school in Grade 9. I was very inspired by the people who ran it. They had a lot of really cool projects that I wanted to be a part of. They were in the middle of tearing an entire parking lot apart to create a community garden called Park N Lot when I joined the committee. From Grade 9 to 11, we kept improving it and we kept getting more funding and grants. We also created a Green Bean student-run café that we hosted every Friday, we made vegan and vegetarian meals. A lot of
the stuff we served were made with food taken from our garden, so that was an extension of the project. What incited you to form this year’s Green Earth Club? R: I was super excited to come to Dawson because of Green Earth. I’d heard so many things about it and a lot of the older environment committee members were involved. Once I got here, I saw a lot of really interesting things happening around campus, a lot of sustainable action happening with the DSU (especially since the sustainable sector that was created). A lot were run by teachers and staff, three different gardens were being cared for, and instead of students volunteering for the well-being of the gardens, teachers were carrying out most of the tasks involved. There was a lack of student involvement on campus I thought that was especially important and needed. We needed some resource where students could come express their concerns, And yes, the DSU is for that, but there was a lack of student-run environmental initiative.
Tell us a little bit about Green Earth and the kind of work you do. E: We just started back up this semester but we’re already getting our hands dirty! We’ve been working to advance compost awareness. We’ve been reaching out to Montreal based organizations, such as Equiterre. We’ve been hosting events to support environmental organizations and to promote environmental values such as non-consumerism and hosting a plethora of workshops and talks during Earth Week. All-in- all, we are working to implement a more sustainable lifestyle for Dawson students and, hopefully impact the rest of the world in doing so. In your opinion, why is climate change a social issue? E: I think it’s a social issue because of the disconnect we have. We aren’t feeling the impact of climate change, but a lot of people are. In terms of water accessibility, natural disasters and clean air. In terms of accessible food, local businesses and food suppliers being put out of business by huge corporations, these are all both social justice issues and environmental issues. Like I said before, environmentalism is interdisciplinary, it’s something that touches all aspects of who we are and how our society runs. It will relate to politics, human resources, social justice, architecture, agriculture... They’re all majorly affected by the constant and rapid change in our environment and it’s important for people to tune in a little bit. I think it’s just important for us to realize that we’re not superior. I feel like humans just think that they are, and they get out of touch sometimes. R: I actually just watched this very interesting David Suzuki talk; He ad-
dresses how we seem very disconnected from the environment when we’re living in an urban setting. We’re disconnected from what we’re eating, how we’re getting places, what we’re wearing... Everything seems sped up and we need to slow down to realise we aren’t isolated from our environment, we are our environment. For example, the air we breathe will go into us, and out, and someone else will breathe it in. We are that air because it allows us to survive. What other major issues arise as a result of climate change? R: It’s important to look at how our market works. There are big horrible companies getting our support because we’re literally buying into them. Most of us don’t realize it’s harming local vendors and smaller businesses. Which is problematic because there’s literally seven fucking companies that own 90 percent of everything we have. It’s pretty scary to see the power they have, which is why it’s important to support smaller businesses and things that help your community directly, instead of things that are implemented in your community because they have the money to do so, like for example, the Tim Hortons in our cafeteria.
It’s important to support these people on a community level but also to side with politicians advocating for environmental justice, to realize who you’re supporting and how you’re getting places. Everything affects somebody else. It might not affect us directly but we have to realize that what we consume can impact the lives of others. A huge reason to support smaller, local, eco-friendly businesses is because it’s important not to encourage huge corporations producing things because it’s cheap. They’re not going to do something moral; it costs two more dollars. That’s just the mentality they operate with, it’s only cheaper for you because it’s affecting people halfway across the world who are charging a tenth of the real cost of their labour, using materials that soils their drinking water, incidentally the entire production of food and the whole ecosystem. E: It will lead to natural disasters, intense decrease of air quality, vast losses of species, drought and short water supplies, and to put it grimly, it can end with the death of our own species. We are running out of time but if we act immediately, we can help prevent that dystopia.
Sarah , 38 Favourite colour: he blue turquoise of the water down south. Inspirations: I’ve never really been the type to look up to any sort of figure Hobbies: I’m a bit of a news junkie. I play backgammon. I bike. Fun fact: I feel alive when I’m dancing. Yourself in three w words: curious, critical person.
What began your community involvement in NDG? It really began because I needed a job and I live in NDG. It was more for practical reasons. I didn’t know this to be a fact at the time, but I thought that community people might be more accepting of somebody with a disability (Ring is hard of hearing and wears hearing aids). It wasn’t such a huge barrier to employment. I decided to become more involved after [my friend] moved away because I used to be tied into what was happening in the community via her. She was the person who knew “how to do things” and “what’s going on”. When she moved away and I told myself “now I need to do this by myself ”. I felt out of touch. I had my kids at home but they were old enough that I could do my own thing. I needed to do it as an adult. I cooked and volunteered at the food depot before that and I got involved in action communautaire, which is collective gardening. I really liked working at the food depot and it’s a big hub in NDG. You get to meet a lot of people who go through there. I remember, even from just those few hours just volunteering there every week, being in the neighbourhood and walking along sherbrooke street, I’d run into them. It just made for a more pleasant experience being out in public because you would see and recognise more people. I applied at Bienvenue A NDG because I wanted to get into teaching and I didn’t have much experience. They were offering conversational french courses to people who had actually been enrolled in government frenchification programs. They were on hiatus over the summer so welcome to NDG decided to
have free informal, casual conversational french courses and I decided to teach those. And at the same time, I took the opportunity not just to do stuff about just french as a language but using the community and getting them to know NDG and/or montreal through those classes as well. Did you have that approach to teaching in order to give these people more tools? You need to use some sort of material that you’re going to give students to get them to learn french so what’s the content going to be? I thought let’s just do stuff, let’s get them to know montreal. Every week we would do something. I’d ask them to tell me about something, somewhere that they visited and each week someone would present on something else in Montreal or the NDG community. I brought them to action communautaire to get them to know collective gardening. I used it as a trampoline to not just get them to integrate into society via the french but also to get them to know more about culture and their own environment so they would feel more welcome. Do you think you were drawn to doing that because of your background and interest in montreal history? I thought it was a good way for them to get to know things and it’s something that I’m familiar with. I have a masters in history and a degree in political science so I obviously tapped into that. I invited different levels of government to come talk to them so they wouldn’t just be familiar with the community aspect but also politically understand how Can-
ada is structured. They’re gonna do their citizenship They’re studying this booklet and answering multiple choice questions, but how does that actually translate into practice? What is actually happening? Who are these people that they’re actually voting for or not voting for? I thought that was good. What have you done in order to help people transitioning into the neighbourhood? At Bienvenue A NDG, they would have five different people that newcomers could meet with. Somebody who spoke korean, mandarin, persian or spanish… That person was the contact for people who had newly arrived to the community and they would help with information like “this is what you need to do for school”,“this is what you need to do for a job” and “these are the services to come see”. Then we would have a bank of data on people who’d newly arrived. We started putting on these classes and activities. We’d put on festivals and get some to volunteer. That’s when I would meet them, when we’d ask for volunteers to put on the intercultural festival at the end of the summer. We’d get people to help us by volunteering, to organize, set up, bring food… Ultimately the goal was to get them to share their culture with the rest of the community and get them involved again in things that they’re familiar with. Do you think that including these people in events helps destroy the sense of alienation they might feel? I think it helps, sometimes though it is quite a bit of chain migration so people arriving in NDG are people who are just a big korean, persian, mandarin community. Usually they come because they know somebody that’s already living there. There’s a community in existence but it is effective in terms of getting them to branch out and tap into other cultures and other resources. The government
of Quebec doesn’t do multiculturalism anymore, they do interculturalism. It’s just a bit of playing with semantics but it also means that a) things have to happen in french and b) it’s not about integrating into Canada but to get everybody to come and bring something to the table. It’s more sharing rather than forming pockets of people. Different ethnic communities sharing their knowledge with other ones to raise everybody up. It does break down barriers and stereotypes that people have. NDG/Cote-Des-Neiges has one of the largest non-francophone white populations and it’s constantly growing. As a mother of two, what do you wish to instill to them in terms of being involved and the treatment of others? I think it might be easier for them to see Montreal and different people in a more inclusive way than I did growing up in a very limited scope of people that I was surrounded with what I was in grade school. It’s not just exposure to different races but because the the territory surrounding their school has people from Benny Farm and Walkley to people from Cote-St-Luc Road and King-Edward. Million dollar house people and people that live in subsidised housing. They’re surrounded by people who look different as well as this hub of different classes, different ideals, different religions… On that front, I don’t think I need to do that much education with them but I definitely think that getting involved in the community and then seeing how that enriches your life is definitely essential. I often bring them to events
because they happen during the weekend. I’ll have them and schlep them with me and say “let’s go do this thing!”. But I’m also a big proponent of doing things rather than buying things, especially at the beginning when I was with them before working [at Dawson]. I didn’t have any money to buy them anything so I was always trying to find some free things that are fun, intellectually stimulating, culturally weighty and ultimately valuable to them. I definitely expose them to the arts, we go to the museum. Almost every weekend, we go to the library because I have to work but also because it’s fun to be in places with books. How did you and Aurora Robinson hear about Porchfest? Aurora was in Boston when her husband was finishing his PhD. and had experienced it there. When they came here, for the first year she kept thinking “I could totally do this thing” but didn’t have the resources to put it on. She then met Sharon Sweeny, the “queen of NDG” who knows everybody and everyone.
When I met Sharon at the council doing Bienvenue A NDG stuff, she said “Sarah there’s this girl Aurora. She want to to do this thing. do you want to get involved?” And I said yes. This is just so amazing. It’s free, it’s available to everybody. Access to public spaces is ultra important to me and what is more accessible than people’s front lawns? What’s so flawless about it is it plays on the fact that people performing and being in public spaces but, because the porches are private residences, we don’t need permits. It’s the perfect combination. Even now, when the city contacts us, it’s always like “here’s a little bit of money, we don’t even want to get involved”. They know that they ruin things sometimes, by putting too many barriers for people putting on fun events. Has Porchfest become more of a commercial thing? That’s increasingly become an issue. Another thing about public spaces is there’s this tendency to privatise them constantly. The private world puts pressure to be less accessible and democratic to people and so, even with this we have people wanting to host people in front of their business or to sponsor musicians. They don’t even understand what the foundation of this is. It’s so not about that. They forget to ask what is the basis of this event is; Non-commercial. It’s about it not costing money and for people to play and for people to attend. For one day, can it not be about people trying to make money off others! There’s a constant pressure on us. We get these emails asking to play in front of businesses. We’ll say very politely “this is really not what we’re into, please don’t”. I don’t know if it’s because we’re two women answering but the no is a beginning of a conversation and not the end of one. You’ve previously worked on
many different projects like urban chickens and food trucks, but have always had problems dealing with the city, is that why Porchfest is so perfect? I like things that are different and I have, I don’t want to say a natural, but a strong dislike for authority. I don’t like rigidity or just “this is that way it is” mentality. With the chickens, I remember calling the city saying “hey can I have chickens” and they say “let me get back to you” to ultimately get a no. why? Nobody could give me a reason but it was just no. Oh the avian flu! If you give me a good reason why I shouldn’t do something then I won’t do it but if it’s just a reason for a reason then I don’t have a very high tolerance. What I liked about Porchfest and what I like about the chickens is that you get to get to use places in a way that is new. Even public property, why can’t we just have community gardens? The city looks the way it does because of cars. I think there are other ways it can be than the way it is right now. I don’t know what the solution is but I think that there are things everyday citizens can do. Why do we need all these advertisements. Who decided that this is the way that the city needs to look. Who decides that you get to sell this billboard for five thousand dollars a year and I have to look at your stupid Buffalo ads every single day. I find it so offensive. It’s visually assaulting and insulting that this is the way that this place needs to look. You teach a class on Landscapes, how do you feel about graffiti and advertising in the public sphere? I try to get my students to think about aesthetic. You look at graffiti and it can be illegal to do any of it on a wall but then one you’re okay with and one you’re not. What’s the distinction between urban art and graffiti? Is it the way things look? Does that mean
they’re both not illegal? Or, should they be illegal? Is it a democratic form of expression? Is it allowing more people to express themselves in a public space beyond just advertising? One percent of all major public works have to go toward art. So that’s why, outside of the new super hospital, they have all these different statues and outside the Benny Library and the CLSC there are these artworks. Those are approved by the city though. I’m all for people taking up more public space that isn’t just for commercial purposes or sanctioned by the state. MURAL Festival is great because it makes places often look nicer and that’s good. I did read last week that there’s some controversy about having a mural dedicated to Leonard Cohen on Crescent street. He would never go to crescent street. He’s from St-Urbain and St-Laurent. Who made that decision! The MU people get a lot of contracts with the city. I don’t know how that decision came about and people complain about it because it’s illogical. I think sometimes those things are problematic, when you get the government involved and then also people just like complaining about things. All I’m saying is that a lot of things making artists finally go from public fines to being commissioned, people like complaining about. About that or spending money on the Pont JacquesCartier to light it up. They say “but our healthcare system!”. Are we not allowed to have nice things?
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