QPIRG CONCORDIA community research resistance
The Quebec Public Interest Research Group at Concordia is a resource centre for student and community research and organizing. We strive to raise awareness and support grassroots activism around diverse social and environmental justice issues. Both students and community members are welcome to make use of our space and resources as well as participate in QPIRG projects. Our core projects include:
Study in Action, an undergraduate research conference where students present social and environmental justice-related essays and art works to other interested and communityinvolved students and non-students alike (qpirgconcordia.org/studyinaction). The Community-University Research Exchange (CURE), a database of research requests from community groups across Montreal that students can search through and connect up with their own academic research projects (qpirgconcordia.org/cure). Alternative Orientation, an annual week-long event series for new and returning students looking for a different side of campus life at Concordia.
Events include film screenings, panel discussions, dance parties, bike tours, skill-share workshops, and more! This year, Alternative Orientation will take place from September 20 – 24, 2010. Over twenty working groups operate out of QPIRG. They organize on a wide variety of issues ranging from anti-war organizing to prisoner justice, from art skill-sharing to immigrant rights, and from queer liberation to indigenous solidarity. Visit our website for information about how to get involved with any of these groups! In addition to these projects, QPIRG maintains an active schedule of ongoing events including the “Keeping it Reel” monthly film series, the Tools for Change skill-shares, QPIRG 101 workshops on social and environmental justice issues, and much much more. Visit our website for up-to-date information about programming throughout the year. Come check us out! www.qpirgconcordia.org 514-848-7585 info@qpirgconcordia.org 1500 de Maisonneuve W. #204
QPIRG MCGILL
The Quebec Public Interest Research Group at McGill (QPIRG McGill) is a student funded, non-profit organization that strives to raise awareness and motivate grassroots activism around diverse social and environmental justice issues. Here’s a quick guide to our resources and events:
Board QPIRG McGill is run by a student volunteer Board of Directors, elected through campus wide elections each March. The Board of Directors is responsible for all decisions pertaining to the operation of the organization. The Board defines the vision and direction of the organization, allocates the budget, and also organizes independent QPIRG events. The Library The QPIRG Library offers McGill Students and the general public hundreds of books, films zines, and magazines that you won’t find at university or public libraries in the city. Rad Frosh Rad Frosh is an alternative orientation program for incoming frrst-year students. Running alongside the SSMU Frosh Program, Rad Frosh brings a fresh, political and active approach to introducing new students to life at McGill and in Montreal. Summer Research Stipends QPIRG’s Summer Stipend is intended to provide individuals or groups with a budget/honorarium of $3,000 to work over the summer doing research leading towards action and change within the Montreal community. Students proposals must fit into QPIRG’s social justice mandate.
Film Series QPIRG, often in association with our working groups, presents an annual program of films that deal with specific issues. All films are free of charge. Discretionary Fund QPIRG’s discretionary program aims to provide support for external, non-QPIRG-affiliated groups and individuals to conduct short-term action-oriented social change projects or events both on- and off- campus. Proposals are reviewed by QPIRG’s Board of Directors bi-weekly, and a sum of $250 is allocated each time. Space QPIRG-McGill offers meeting space, computers, phones and other resources to groups an community organizations free of charge. Call to make sure the space is free. Working Groups Working Groups - autonomous organizations that work with and under QPIRG’s mandate - are the heart of QPIRG. QPIRG-McGill’s working groups organize around a plethora of issues, ranging from environmental concerns to research for social change to queer activism to environmental justice to HIV/AIDS campaigns. Volunteer Q-PIRG is seeking volunteers to help to plan inspiring events for social and environmental justice, to participate in campaigns, keep up the library, offer translation, childcare and publicity. 3647 University, 3rd Floor 514-398-7432 or 514-398-8976 ( fax) qpirg@ssmu.mcgill.ca or www.qpirgmcgill.org
why school schmool? because school schmool is your radical guide to your often unradical school; a preview of groups doing important work in your community; a resource with information on how to get involved with, support or start your own projects; an eye-opener to the issues around you; and a place for you to keep track of your busy life…because your life goes beyond the confines of the campus. academia doesn’t need to be kept separate from real world issues, and we hope that you find a way to bridge this often hard to navigate gap. in 1994 school schmool started as a bi-annual publication seeking to bring together information, groups, and practical tools of use to all students, but particularly those interested in social justice, equity, and sustainability issues. today it is meant to connect the mcgill, concordia and montreal communities, and render them more accessible to students. we hope this ad-free, non-corporate, autonomous guide will help you locate the struggles you want to engage with, fight for and find support within. whether you need support yourself or want to become familiar with organizing and activism on or off-campus, we’re here to help. soooooo educate yourself! become a good ally! self-represent! honour people’s struggles and history! and FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT! in solidarity, the organizer CONTENTS The Issues......................................................................................................................................... 3 The Groups.................................................................................................................................... 41 The Agenda................................................................................................................................... 75
G20 Resistance and Reflections The intersection of King and Bay is the financial capital of Canada. Within blocks of these infamous cross-streets, amidst iconic skyscrapers, are the headquarters of the banks, corporations, public relations companies and law firms that help drive global capitalism. King and Bay in Toronto is the heart of Canadian colonial capitalism, which projects its misery all over the world, through mining, forestry and other resource extraction companies. While the G20 leaders met behind a steel cage and an unprecedented 1-billion dollar security operation, on June 26th 2010, a contingent of thousands-strong protesters gathered to defy Stephen Harper’s Fortress Toronto. Activists and community organizers represented rank-and-file, labour, migrant justice, Indigenous solidarity, anti–police brutality, ecological justice, anti-war, anti-occupation, queer and trans justice, anti-poverty, anti-capitalist, feminist, anarchist, and many more struggles and campaigns. They were united together, learning from and inspiring each other.
On Saturday of the summit the radical contingent separated from the “People First” Labour March. Led by the Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble street band of Montreal, the contingent took the streets and occupied a large bloc within the labour march. Several times along Queen Street, protesters attempted to break through police lines, only to be met with riot police who hit and bloodied protesters with their batons and shields. Undeterred, protesters waited for the People’s First march to continue up Spadina Avenue; the radical contingent doubled back and headed east along Queen Street, with some protesters engaging in corporate property destruction. At times running, at other times waiting to gather together, the protesters were able to march south down to Canada’s financial capital at Bay and King. Chants of “No G20 on stolen Native land” and “No borders, no nations, stop the deportations” were heard amidst cheers of support and the sounds of glass smashing, as targeted property destruction of well-known corporate criminals continued down Bay Street.
The targets of destruction are symbols to many of the ethical backwardness of a society in which wealth is systematically stripped from poor and racialized people who produce it, and remains concentrated in the hands of a few corporations, banks, and global elites. Several police cars were also destroyed by protesters, who felt anger over a week of unlawful searches, arrests, and arbitrary violence that affected many on a day-to-day basis. We live in a world that is defined and maintained by violence, a violence that self-interested G8/G20 leaders both perpetuate and deny. This violence is lived daily by those in the Global South. It is lived by Indigenous people in “Canada� and worldwide, who face continued destruction of their cultures
and environments by mining companies, mega-dams, and other forces of ongoing colonization. It is lived by racialized people who are harassed by the police. In the face of this extreme social violence that is day-to-day reality, no tears can be shed for the cars and windows broken by those who have had enough with the forces profiting from their exploitation. The fence did not come down, but the interests that the G20 protects on Bay Street were attacked. We organize, daily, in our communities. But those communitybased struggles also came together today, for a few hours, to courageously defy Stephen Harper’s billion-dollar Fortress Toronto and the G20 agenda. www.nooneisillegal.org
Kick-Start!
Ideas for starting up a project on-(or off-) campus around an issue? Are you trying to change a practice? Are you trying to provide a specific resource or service? Having a good understanding of your goals will help you to identify creative and effective + find out what’s out there already ways to achieve them. There may already be folks working on the exact thing you are interested in + find people who are interested (they may even be represented in this in working with you very edition of School Schmool!) - look Either by joining an existing group or by through campus organizations, QPIRG starting your own, working with other working groups, posters and flyers that people will make your project that much you can find on campus, attend events more effective. The more visibility you and talk to people. Chances are you’ll have through your events and campaigns, the more interest there will be in joining make some great connections. your group. + identify your goals What is it that you are trying to do? Do +get QPIRG support and resources you want to learn more about an The QPIRGs are here to support student issue? Do you want to raise awareness and community social/environmental justice activism. They offer support to new initiatives like yours by providing computer access, meeting spaces, discretionary funding, and logistical and administrative support. QPIRG staff and board members are great resources and can point you to all the things that you’ll need to get started. If you have an idea for a group or project and need some back-up, info and/or support, there are a few ways to go about it.
* start a working group Both QPIRGs support working groups – small groups of volunteers working on a specific issue, project or campaign. Working groups benefit from a QPIRG budget and further logistical, administrative, and financial support. The QPIRGs are always looking for new initiatives on campus. Applications are due at the end of August at QPIRG McGill, and at the end of September at QPIRG Concordia. Contact a QPIRG directly for more information on how to become a working group and for exact dates. * apply for discretionary $$$ You might need some cash to get your project going for things like photocopies. Many campus groups set aside money to provide discretionary funding for projects that are affiliated with the campus community, and that are aligned with the group’s mandate, but that don’t require sustained, long-term financial support. Contact QPIRGs and other organizations directly for funding details and deadlines.
Tailor Your Degree Don’t let your department’s limited and conventional course offerings get you down. There are lots of ways to learn what you want to learn. With a little persistence you can make university bureaucracy work for you! Independent Study Available through many departments at Concordia and McGill, an independent study is one of the most underutilised tools at your disposal. If you can find a sympathetic professor, you can get credit for doing almost anything. IndyClass Over the past couple years, students at McGill organized collective independent study classes on prisons, student movements
and Indigenous solidarity. For more info about how this was done check out www. indyclass.wordpress.com or email indyclass@gmail.com. Make it happen again this year at McGill or start an IndyClass at Concordia! Ad-hoc Major At McGill, it’s possible to create your own interdisciplinary major by choosing courses around a particular theme. You need to find a professor who’s willing to supervise and submit a proposal to the associate dean. The proposal should include a cover letter, a description of the program, the credit break-down and, if possible, a list of other universities where the program is available. Inter-University Transfer Every term, you can take one course at another university in Quebec and have it apply to your degree! Read up on the program and register at www.crepuq.qc.ca. Make sure to get organized early because it might take a while passing through both schools’ administrations. Study Abroad The deadlines for study abroad vary by university and department, but generally you must have departmental approval by late January or early February in order to leave the next fall. Find more info at www. international.concordia.ca and www.mcgill.ca/ studyabroad. CURE for Class If you’re already in a class that allows a bit of freedom for final papers and projects, search the CURE website www.qpirgconcordia.org/cure for a proposal that interests you, and run it by your professor as your final paper or project proposal. It’s a win-win situation. Don’t let your department’s limited and conventional course offerings get you down. There are lots of ways to learn what you want to learn. With a little persistence you can make university bureaucracy work for you!
Bike the City! Why Ride? Cycling is healthy, cheap, fun, and environmentally sound. It’s is also good for your community. Each trip you make by bike, you make one less trip in a noisy, polluting car or bus. Riding your bike allows you to reclaim your streets. It allows you to send the message that you are opposed to cars and other polluting forms of transport. Your bike is a weapon against the globalized forces of mass destruction. With a bike, you will get a key to the city that will allow you to explore its wonderful and mysterious corners. Where to get a bike: Our website has a list of bike stores that we support. However, buying a new bike should be your last resort. Buying and refurbishing a used bike has many benefits: you divert waste; you learn how your bike works, removing your reliance on other people to get around; and you hopefully meet some wonderful people in the process! Our website has a “buying a used bike” guide (www.theflat.wordpress.com/ buying-a-used-bike), which should
be your first starting point in buying a bike in this city. You can also talk to a volunteer at any of the bike organizations listed below for more information. What are all these volunteer-run bike organizations? Many of the volunteer-run bike organizations in Montreal, such as The Flat and Right-to-Move, aim to make bikes and cycling more accessible through sharing knowledge and tools. These organizations have open workshop hours when volunteer mechanics are available with advice on how to fix your bike. Fixing your bike yourself is always cheaper than taking it to a shop, and learning how your bike works is rewarding and empowering. Fix up your bike at any of these places: The Flat, Right to Move, Mile End Bike Garage, CRABE, Women In Gear, BQAM, and Santropol Roulant. These are just a few of the volunteer-run bike organizations around Montreal. Check our website for links/info on each.
Cheap Eatz Bixi Bixi, Montreal’s public bike system, is great if you don’t want to deal with the upkeep of your own bike. But the system has some downfalls: you need a credit card or bank account to use it, and stations have not been deployed in all parts of the city. Check out www.bixi. com for more info. Join us for Critical Mass! Cyclists meet on the last Friday of every month at Phillips Square (Ste-Catherine/Union) at 17h30. Critical Mass is a community bike ride through the streets of Montreal, open to everyone. More info: www.crasseux.com/ cm/en/index_en.html Check out: www.theflat.wordpress.com for resources and more information !
Got an appetite for tasty food that you can pay for in twonies and loonies? Me too. Here are some of my favourite spots to grab cheap eats around Montreal. Chinatown offers some of the most delicious-for-the-dollar snacks. Try Jardin de Jade (57 =Gauchetiere O.) for their vegetarian steam buns and shrimp dumplings, and Haong Oanh (1071 St-Laurent) for some of the best Banh Mi (Vietnamese sandwiches) at a tasty price. If you’re stumped by downtown’s lack of affordable snacks, make your way to any of the Al-Taib locations (e.g. 2125 Guy) for zataar with zest. Or try Boustan (2020 Crescent) for felafull-of-flavour. If burgers are your thing, there’s Buns Hamburgers (1855 Ste-Catherine O.) where you won’t have to break a big bill. On Concordia campus? Why not snack on fresh spring rolls or a crunchy Vietnamese sandwich at Cafe-Sandwich Ba-le (2148 Mackay)? It’s worth the wait. Among palatable places in the Plateau are Chilenita (64 Marie-Anne O. or 5439 St-Laurent), offering a wide selection of
empanadas for $2.50 apiece, and Patati Patata (4177 St-Laurent) – the mini tofu burgers and fries are worth the wait in line. And if you manage to actually find this place, Chez Nouri (10 Pine O.) has a large sandwich menu at just three bucks a pop. One item you can truly pay for in twonies is pupusas. At $2.50 each you’d be wise not to miss out on this Salvadorian delight. La Caretta (350 St-Zotique E.) is consistently incredible, although there’s no shortage of places to try. For a real meal deal head north to JeanTalon for Indian food. Bombay Mahal (1001 Jean-Talon O.) and the everpopular Pushaps (975 Jean-Talon O.) are just two of many that have vegetarian thalis for under five dollars (though only at lunch – prices go up as the sun goes down). The following are just over the $5 mark, but get honourable mentions for sheer deliciousness: the Vegetarian Pulled Pork (VPP) sandwich at Depanneur Le Pickup (7032 Waverly) and the vegetarian croquettes at Euro-Deli Batory (115 St-Viateur O.). And if you’re looking to sit down a while, Le Cagibi (5490 StLaurent) is always a popular spot and has vegetarian chili for $5.50 (and $3 rice
and beans!). Caraibe Delite (4816 Parc) makes a generous vegetarian roti, stuffed with chickpeas, potato and pumpkin, and is definitely worth the extra couple dollars. Of course if you’re really looking to save money, just go grocery shopping. Some of the best deals can be found at Segal’s Market (4001 Saint-Laurent) and PA Supermarche (5001 Av du Parc). For more info on tasty treats around the city check out : www.stillcrapulent.wordpress.com
Gentrification and Resistance In a narrow sense, gentrification is the physical displacement of the poor by those with greater access to capital – the upper class or upwardly mobile. More broadly, it includes the displacement of social and political networks and cultural forms and practices. Gentrification is a process driven by the inequalities between classes that disproportionately affect immigrants, racialized people, sex workers, drug users, and the homeless. In Montreal, gentrification is steadily increasing, with five times as many gentrifying neighbourhoods today than in the first wave of gentrification that occurred during the late 1960s. Gentrification takes on a multitude of forms. It is often exacerbated when tenants don’t know their rights and don’t have access to information about their rights, causing many to live in slum-like conditions until a space becomes entirely uninhabitable. In these cases, instead of being repaired, buildings are commonly sold, torn down, and rebuilt into fancy condos that only the rich can afford. Gentrification is also influenced by municipal development projects such as the Quartier des Spectacles (QDS) in downtown Montreal. The QDS adopts a specific vision of artist practice
spaces, studios, and blockbuster festival grounds to both cultivate and nourish Montreal’s creative class and garner capital investment and profits from tourism and property taxes. The QDS represents urban neoliberalization’s focus on privatized megaprojects, which functions at the expense of the workers and histories of the downtown area . For example, Cafe Cleopatra and other longstanding Red Light District establishments are on the verge of being bought out to make way for this project. The effects of such actions are numerous but, essentially, QDS works to displace sex workers, trans people, and other marginalized populations city decisionmakers choose to ignore. A first step in combating the evils of gentrification is to stay informed and stand in solidarity with those fighting against it. Online forums such as “The Leak” have been developed to facilitate communication between tenants and apartment hunters. Such forums can stymie illegal rent hikes and pressure landlords to perform necessary repairs, slowing down the cycle of devaluation and revalorization that is crucial to gentrification. The “Save the Main”
campaign provides articles and up-todate information about ongoing efforts to maintain Montreal’s underground art counterculture and Red Light District. Creating networks with your neighbours—through discussion and an understanding of the history of your neighbourhood—is an important step in combating the process of gentrification. For more information, visit: www.the-leak.org www.savethemain.com
Out of the classroom and into the streets! Newcomers to Quebec universities are often surprised by the degree to which the student body is politicized here in the province. We want people to get a better understanding of the issues around which many students mobilize and of the struggles to come. First, it’s important to know that, just like in other Canadian provinces, the government of Quebec determines the amount of tuition fees that universities can charge students. The government of Quebec also provides students with financial aid in the form of loans and bursaries. In the past, tens if not hundreds of thousands of students have come out to demonstrations and staged strikes each time tuition increases or cuts to the loans and bursaries program were announced. As a result, the government has often been forced to back down or make concessions, which means Quebec’s tuition fees have remained significantly lower than other provinces’. In 2010, a full-time student paying inprovince fees will be billed about 2000$ for two semesters, while tuition in other
provinces can be well above three times that amount. Some folks might not understand why the student movement in Quebec fights against tuition increases. While Quebec tuition is relatively low by North American standards (though not by world standards; many countries forgo tuition fees entirely), consider the fact that any amount of tuition creates an access barrier that disproportionately affects low-income students and their families. The sentiment that the very existence of tuition fees constitutes an affront to social justice has currency in Quebec, and many student associations are demanding that post-secondary education be completely free. Since 2007, tuition fees have increased every year, for in-province as well as out-of-province students. Last March, the Liberal government announced that tuition fees will continue to increase past 2012, possibly at a much faster rate than before. There is even currently talk within right-wing circles of raising Quebec tuition to the Canadian average, despite the disastrous effects this would have on equal access to post-secondary education. One of the main public
figures pushing this agenda is none other than Heather Monroe-Blum, principal of McGill University. How can you help fight the tuition hike? Get informed about the issues and spread the word. Help organize a demonstration or a strike, then go out into the streets. Get some folks together and stage a sit-in or an occupation. We are many, they are few!
The University and Contingent Labour
We have all heard the predictions and the warnings: There will be no more steady jobs. We must be flexible, not only ready for change, but ready to revel in it. This is the latest of our new and exciting freedoms. We will now be free to choose our work just like we choose laundry detergents at the supermarket – and able to jump from one job to the next every 40 washes. Of course, flexibility in this case also means expendability. As work becomes “virtual” so does our job security, our non-working time and our wage. This is the dawning reality of contingent labour: part-time contract work whose parameters are created at the boss’ discretion. The university is an important site in the brave new world of encroaching contingency. Its role is two-fold. On the one hand, universities have been at the forefront of the actual increase in contingent labour. At present, over three-quarters of university teaching in the United States and over two-thirds of that in Canada is done by contract faculty. Poorly-paid, over-stressed and without realistic hope for tenure and permanence, contract faculty are the higher-education equivalent of McDonald’s counter staff. An impoverished and over-worked underclass of contract staff makes possible a small handful of highly-paid and glorified academic “stars,” while at the same time those lucky enough to be on the lower rungs of the tenure ladder are kept from asking why they are working more and more for less and less. And if the stillpowerful and well-organized teachers unions are to be broken, then trickle-down contingency is one very real available strategy. Equally important is the university’s other role as the training ground for the future labour force. Curricula are changing to inculcate and reflect the values — speed, flexibility and individuality — that support ever-increasing contingency structures across the workforce. How, then, do we counteract the growth of contingency labour? As we always have: by organizing! In doing so, we have to both move beyond traditional methods that are no longer applicable while strengthening the core values of the labour movement. Solidarity, substantive equality, true democracy and the hope for real freedom are the bedrock on which we have to build our unions – for contingent and permanent workers alike. Contingency is a success for those who would impoverish us further. We have to fight back!
AGSEM is active in the struggle to unionize contingent workers on McGill campus. Our UDrive team is working with sessionals to help them form a union and protect their rights. To get involved, contact AGSEM UDrive by email at udrive@agsem-aeedem.ca or by phone at 514-398-2582 or come by our office between 10am and 2pm at 3479 Peel.
Institutional Racism and the Canadian Academy: Challenging Denial As a racialized student who self-identifies as First Nations, a “visible minority,” mixed race, or a person of colour, have you ever reflected upon the role of race and racism in your pursuit of post-secondary education? Racism that is institutionalized is usually invisibly embedded into the social processes and practices of the academy, making it difficult to identify. Institutional racism impacts many aspects of our academic experience. It impacts what and how we learn, who gets hired to teach us, which scholars we read and prioritize, whose research receives full funding, who assesses our research, and what criteria are used to evaluate our success in the academy. For example, institutional racism is perpetuated through “eurocentric frameworks, standards and content... [which are] often given more resources and curriculum space” (Henry and Tator, 2009, p.46). Additionally, a recent Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) report noted that “despite some notable progress [...] towards greater diversity, the Canadian academy remains largely white and male” (2010, p.1). Racialized (and especially women) professors are under-represented, earn less and have higher rates of unemployment than their white counterparts. Importantly, one way in which instances of institutional racism are maintained and the denial of institutional racism is left unchallenged is through tokenism, where small changes (with little accountability) are promised to tackle racism through (unenforced) employment equity policies and the hiring of one or two racialized non-tenured faculty (Bishop, 2005).
Therefore, fighting institutional racism means engaging in anti-racism by “questioning existing social and political structures [and] closely studying and revealing the sites, institutions, and ways in which racism originates” (Rezai-Rashti, 1995, p.7). Furthermore, keeping in mind how class, gender, sexual orientation, ability, and religion intersect and mediate how individuals experience and negotiate institutional racism is important for considering the following questions: Who has the power to make decisions within a university? Who is and is not represented within university decision-making structures? What social practices constantly remind historically underrepresented students that our presence at university is always tenuous and, at best, honorary?
G-CARE is committed to identifying and addressing institutional racism by implementing anti-racism initiatives on- and off-campus. This process can start with acknowledging that you are not alone. The next step is to collectively ACT! If you are interested in joining the fight against institutional racism, we want to hear from you! Please contact us at gcare.info@gmail.com.
Dis/ability Disability has been defined in many different ways and viewed through many different lenses. The definition of disability is shifting and political; it is often employed as a tool of marginalization and as a means of controlling access to benefits, resources, and civil rights. Many definitions of disability (such as the medical, charity, or rights-based approaches) are dependent on an individualized experience of disability, and fail to fully address the role of social barriers, systemic oppression and exclusion in the creation of disability. A radical approach considers disability to be entirely a social construct. Particular social meanings are placed on our minds and bodies, and these meanings are dependent on time, culture and context. Disability is defined within the radical model to include those who are externally identified as disabled and those who self-identify as disabled. Radical disability organizing recognizes that our struggle must demand more than charity or equal rights. It is necessary to make fundamental changes to a system that marginalizes and oppresses those who are considered to be under-productive or un-productive.
For those of us who come to university with a disability, or acquire one along the way, the lack of a radical disability analysis in our classes and communities is readily apparent. However, there are resources at our disposal. Both Concordia and McGill have centres for students with disabilties (Concordia:www.supportser vices. concordia.ca/disabilities and McGill: www.mcgill.ca/osd). These offices can connect you with important resources on campus, help you advocate for your specific needs, and connect you with interest groups, discussion groups and workshops on campus and in greater Montreal. Off-campus, Montreal is home to a host of disability-centered organizations, many of which are partially organized by students. They include: The Quebec Association of Post-Secondary Students with Disabilities (QAPSD/AQEIPS) a bilingual and student-run organization; National Educational Association of Disabled Students (NEADS) which holds a national conference every year; and the Multi-Ethnic Association for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities, which has resources specifically for people of colour and new immigrants with disabilities.
Finally, for more in-depth information about radical disability analysis, web resources, and reading recommendations, go to www.still.my.revolution.tao.ca. Libraries such as those at the Union for Gender Empowerment at McGill, the 2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy, the QPIRGs, and the Ste-Emilie Skillshare (3943 Ste-Emilie) have books and zines about disability and mental health. You can also check out other radical disability rights organizations, such as ADAPT (www.adapt.org), which has chapters throughout the United States, and DAMN 2025 (www.damn2025. blogspot.com), which is based in Toronto.
Anti-Racism in Action What does it mean to be antiracist? “I’m not racist!” Some people think that being a “NOT racist” is something like: “I don’t hate black people at all!” or “I don’t look down on my friends of colour!” Although racist stereotypes ARE a form of racism, (and a shitty, very direct one), racism is much more complex than this. Canada has a history of systemic racism: from the dispossession of most Indigenous territories, to a racist immigration policy that was by definition based on the exclusion of particular races until 1976. Contrary to popular mythology, Canada’s history is one of white supremacy, not of “tolerance;” from the fact that Canada is a settler state that is still actively colonizing Indigenous territories, to its policing systems that primarily target people of colour; from security certificates that are used to detain Muslim and Arab peoples in this country, to the fact that prisons in Canada are made up disproportionally of Indigenous peoples (who comprise 4% of the adult population of Canada but made up 21% of the male prisoner population and 30% of the female prisoner population in 2005/2006).
Racism often plays out in ways that are much more complicated than anyone “hating” anybody else. Some examples of this include: 1)Portraying countries as “backwards” in terms of the makeup of their people in order to bomb and occupy them, such as Canada’s presence in Afghanistan, 2)Participating in a global economy that uses the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to force mass privatization of industries, causing increased poverty and dispossession of land across countries in the Global South, such as Canada’s support for mining projects in Columbia, which force thousands of people off their land and destroy Indigenous territories, 3)The 501 missing Indigenous women across Canada who have been forgotten both by the justice system and by the mainstream media. Because racism is so entrenched in our society, simply being “not racist” isn’t possible: our entire society is structured around the exploitation of people of colour, and merely not having explicit prejudices doesn’t challenge this. Being white in a society that privileges white people, and our very presence here in a
settler society, implies a certain necessity to be accountable for our actions or our inaction. Being “neutral” is actually a political choice; it means that you are accepting the status-quo as legitimate. What does it mean to do anti-racist work? Being anti-racist is a process, which means there is no end point in which you declare yourself “not racist,” but instead continually try to challenge racism as part of a larger system of exploitation and oppression. This involves both changing your interpersonal relations, examining the stereotypes and expectations that you have and the way that you interact with people (often these things can be subtle and hard to pinpoint). It also involves schooling yourself — learning to recognize the different ways that race structures your life, and those of others — and challenging this where you can, from unjust migrant workers programs, to racial profiling, to Canada’s presence in Afghanistan. Complexifying the way that racism works in our society makes it easier to see the different ways there are of challenging racism. Racism does not stand alone, but it works in complex ways with capitalism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, and notions of “citizenship” in order to hurt peoples ability to determine their own lives.
Where is my mind? Tips for nailbiters
Many of us deal with mental health issues, but often these experiences are private and isolating. Navigating through these tough times and finding support and understanding can be really hard, and school can be an especially stressful environment for triggering mental health issues. Everyone deals/copes/ heals in different ways and no judgment should be applied to how people choose to deal. With that being said, here is a list of some of the options for self-care: + exercise (especially cardio because it can help to combat levels of anxiety in your body) + diet (changing the way or the things that you eat can help take better care of your body making it less prone to stress and anxiety) + talking with friends + getting support from a therapist + pharmaceutical drugs (it’s a good idea to research/talk about this option a lot – it’s controversial, but can be very useful for some) + herbal alternatives to pharmaceuticals
+ creative outlets (writing, drawing, ways of expressing what you are dealing with) + meditation/yoga/relaxation exercises. Mental health issues can be complicated by the lack of understanding of experiences of oppressions in many mental health resources. For example, it can be hard to find a queer-positive therapist or a self-help book that addresses racism. However, there are many options for support in Montreal. In terms of seeing someone, like a therapist, it’s great to find someone who has been recommended or peer-reviewed. If you are trying to assess a therapist for yourself, it can be useful to ask yourself if you feel better or worse after seeing them.
Look at the resource guide for places to start. Friends can also be important supports for folks experiencing mental health issues. As an ally, it can be challenging knowing how to support your friend, but it helps to + learn everything you can about mental health experiences; take books out from the library, talk to friends + act calm; don’t fuss and worry + check in once in a while about your friend’s needs + sometimes it can help relate similar experiences + accompany friends to the doctor/ therapy/appointments, if they want + instead of judging your friend’s method of coping, try to meet them where they’re at!
Mental Health Resources Affordable Counselling and Mental Health Resources: Ami Quebec Committed to helping people manage the effects of mental illness though support, education, guidance and advocacy. Free or low cost services. 514-486-1448 Argyle Institute Cheapest private counselling in Montreal: sliding scale between 25 and 60$ per hour sessions. When you call them, they ask you to describe the topic you will want to talk about and then they take two weeks to pair you with an appropriate counsellor. 215 Redford 514-931-5629 Concordia Health Services www.health.concordia.ca 514-848-2424 ext. 3565 Range of psychiatric/psychological services. No fees. Must be a registered student at Concordia. Head & Hands Counselling service is free of charge, youth-oriented, non-judgmental and
flexible in duration. Counselling services are limited to youth aged 12 to 25. Referrals provided for those over 25. Queer and trans positive. 514-481-0277 2110 Center for Gender Advocacy Queer and trans positive, anti-racist environment. To make an appointment with a peer support and advocacy volunteer, or for referrals over the phone, call 514-848-2424 ext.7800 (confidential line). Queen Elizabeth Health Complex - Cognitive Behaviour Clinic Cognitive Behavioural Therapy: A ‘practical’ form of therapy that targets the thoughts and behaviours that affect our well-being. The Queen Elizabeth Health Complex’s CBT clinic doesn’t have an anti-oppressive mandate and the screening process involves filling out a questionnaire and talking to a panel of doctors. 514-481-0317 Projet Suivi Communautaire www.projetsuivicommunautaire.com Support services for autonomous housing integration and community
support for people with mental health problems. They come to your home. Must live in the Southwest and be 18+. No fees. CSSS (Centre de Santé et de Services Sociaux) Quebec’s community health clinics, which offer mental health and social services. Find the one in your district, like CLSCs. McGill Mental Health Services www.mcgill.ca/mentalhealth Range of psychiatric/psychological services. Must be full-time McGill student. No fees. Douglas Mental Health University Institute/Hospital www.douglas.qc.ca Specialize in mental health. Will see anyone but must be referred by a doctor. No fees. Open 24 hours a day for emergencies. Will see people with no health care card.
Phone Lines: Infosanté/Health Links: 514-521-2100. 24/7. Nurse will talk with you in English or French. Phobies-zero: 514-276-3105. Mon-Fri. 9am-9pm. Active listening. Revivre: 514-REVIVRE (738-4873). Mon-Fri. 9am-9pm. Local Zine Resources: (These zines can be found at the 2110 Centre Lending Library, 2110 Mackay) -Pathologize This! 1, 2, 3 -Nailbiter, an Anxiety Zine 1, 2 Web Resources: www.phobies-zero.qc.ca theicarusproject.net www.radicalmentalhealth.net/?cat=7 pseudochainsaw.yuku.com www.ataq.org www.revivre.org
Safer Sex: communication and risk reduction Honesty, trust and consent can be huge turn-ons. If you’re worried about the conversation being a mood killer, consider bringing it up before you have sexy times and then it’s out of the way! The point is to make sure you’re doing what feels good and safe for your physical and emotional self. Some things you could bring up before you get physically intimate with someone Why saf ER? There’s always an element for the first (or hundredth) time: of risk with sex. 100% safe sex doesn’t exist, but we can take steps to make +What do you feel like doing with me? I it SAFER. Having safer sex is about would be really into _______. assessing/minimizing risk and figuring +Do you have any no-fly zones? Is there out what you and your partner(s) are anything in particular you don’t like? comfortable with and respecting that. +I was tested __ months ago and my results were _____. When were you Beyond barriers... When we hear the last tested and what for? Is there anything words “safer sex” our minds often jump I should know about? Have you ever had to condoms or other latex barriers that an STI before? we can use to protect our junk when we +I know I’ve had HPV before. Does that have sex with other people. But safer sex sit ok with you? Do you want to ask me is about more than just using barriers! It’s any questions about it? about having sex that you feel good and +I noticed that you have a cold sore right secure and hot about in every way, and now, but I really want you to go down on this goes beyond not swapping bodily me... Would you be into that? How do fluids. you feel about using a dental dam? Talk about it! The first step is to have a conversation with your partner(s). TERRIFYING?? Try it and see... you might be pleasantly surprised.
Remember: it’s your health, your body, your well-being. There are no rules. Safer sex is about mutual and self respect. Minimize the risk and maximize the fun!
Sexual Health: barriers and beyond Protection? If you’re having penetrative sex, condoms protect against most sexually transmitted infections (i.e. HIV and chlamydia), but keep in mind they don’t offer complete protection against STIs that are spread through skin-to-skin contact (herpes, HPV). If you’re enjoying the penis-invagina variety specifically, they’re also 97% effective at preventing pregnancies (when used properly and consistently). But what if you’re having other kinds of sex? Here are some other ways to protect yourself and your partner(s): +avoid unprotected contact with areas where there are bumps, rashes, broken skin +if you’re going to share sex toys, wash them before using them on yourself and/ or sharing them with someone else +use a condom on dildos and vibrators if you’re sharing them or haven’t had a chance to wash them properly +condoms are also great for oral sex on a penis +dental dams are great for oral sex on a vulva or anus +use water-based lube when having penetrative sex!! not only does it feel
good but it helps prevent condoms from breaking and skin from tearing +if you’re doing stuff with your hands, you can use gloves (latex or nitril)! if you’re not into that or there aren’t gloves around, the ol’ “this hand is for me, this hand is for you” trick is great for not swapping fluids. Get tested! Do it regularly. Do it more often if you’ve had unprotected or risky sex with someone. Know what you’re being tested for (i.e. a pap test doesn’t tell you anything about your HIV status!). Follow up with the clinic afterwards to find out your results. The most routine tests are HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B, chlamydia and gonorrhea. Genital warts (HPV) and herpes are usually visually diagnosed. Pap smears test the health of cervical cells; abnormalities are almost always the result of an HPV infection. You have the right to be tested for anything you want; some doctors/ nurses may try to tell you that you don’t need to get tested for something based on what you disclose to them and/or assumptions they make about you. Insist on getting what you came in for or go somewhere else!
Always carry condoms (or anything else you may need)!! Hot sex could be waiting for you around the next corner, so come prepared. You can get free condoms at most health clinics, CLSCs, Head & Hands, and at tons of student spaces on Montreal campuses (QPIRGs, the UGE, Queer McGill, 2110 Centre, etc). The Shag Shop on McGill campus sells condoms, lube, gloves and dental dams for cheap. You can make your own dental dam by cutting the tip off a condom and then cutting it up the side, or by cutting the fingers off a glove and cutting it up the side. Resources: • Online: www.sexualityandu.ca • McGill Health Services (for McGill students): Suite 3300, Brown Building, 3600 McTavish. 514-398-6017 • Shag Shop: next to McGill Health Services. 514-398-2087 • Concordia Health Services (for Concordia students): 1550 De Maisonneuve W., Room GM-200, 514848-2424 ext3565 • Head & Hands (for 12-25 year olds): 5833 Sherbrooke O. 514-481-0277 (for medical clinics, info and education) • Info-santé line: dial 811 to speak directly to a nurse
Queers Come Out in Solidarity with Palestine For more than sixty years the Palestinian people have been fighting against Israeli checkpoints, house demolitions, political and military repression, land confiscation, the apartheid wall, unequal access to basic rights like health care, clean water and education, and the list goes on… In 2010 the marketing budget for attracting international gay tourists to Tel Aviv increased ten times over. Yet the Israeli state’s recent construction of the “gay oasis” image with sexy, campy advertisements does little to conceal the injustice, and queers can’t be fooled so easily. Globally, there is a growing queer opposition to Israel’s attempt to brand itself as a liberal democracy friendly to queers while it continues to oppress an entire people whose land it has been occupying for more than half a century. We reject the use of our rights and our identities as a state propaganda tool to justify Israel’s apartheid system. Queers will not be complicit. Responding to Israel’s gay-washing campaign, queers in Montreal have been playing an integral part in Palestine
solidarity organizing, from ensuring Israeli Apartheid Week has a queer voice, to creating and distributing flashy educational flyers, from holding workshops in our communities, to planning strategizing sessions and flash-mob style dance parties protesting a local gay nightclub’s celebration of Tel Aviv Pride. This year, Toronto Pride attempted to censor messaging of Palestine solidarity by banning the use of the words “Israeli Apartheid” from the entire festival. With the support of Montreal queers, Toronto’s Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA) did march in the July 2010 pride parade. And they did so with great determination, strength and numbers. We can be sure that Pride in our city will be met with the same fierceness. When our protests emphasize building alliances — and dancing on the street — we can be sure we’re building a long-lasting movement of solidarity and resistance. Queer liberation has a long history of recognizing the importance of linked struggles and the assertion that none of us are free until we all are free. It is for this reason that we continue to declare loudly and clearly: THERE IS NO PRIDE IN APARTHEID. SOLIDARITY WITH QUEERS IN PALESTINE! For more information or to get involved: www.qteam.org bdsquebec.org tadamon.ca queersagainstapartheid.org
Israeli Apartheid Week Initiated by students at the University of Toronto in 2005, Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) has since spread to more than forty cities across the world, including in Palestine and South Africa. The week-long event series is organized by a global network of student and community organizations as part of worldwide actions in solidarity with the Palestinian people. The aim of IAW is to educate people about the nature of Israel as an apartheid system and to build a global movement of Boycott,
Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns in response to the call issued on July 9, 2005 by over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations. The Israeli apartheid analysis is modeled after the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa with many similarities and some differences, and is equally grounded in the tenets of international law. Israel’s apartheid system works on several registers. For example, Palestinian citizens of Israel are barred from living on over 90% of the land and are discriminated against in most aspects of life, particularly in education, health care, public services, and employment. Palestinians expelled in 1948 and 1967 are denied the right to return to their lands, making them one of the largest refugee populations in the world, while anyone of Jewish background — from anywhere in the world — has the automatic right to become an Israeli citizen and live in Palestine. The goal of IAW is to contribute to building a movement that targets the extensive political and economic support that governments, corporations, and educational institutions in Canada and elsewhere provide to the Israeli apartheid regime. It is also important to understand Israeli apartheid to be one element of a
global system of economic and military domination. To this end, IAW organizers stand in solidarity with all oppressed groups around the world, and in particular with Indigenous communities suffering under settler colonialism, exploitation, and displacement. It is worth noting that contemporary Canadian complicity in Israeli apartheid has a longstanding historical precedent. Israeli and South African apartheid policies were inspired by and modelled after the Canadian Indian Act of 1876, which established reserves for Native people on undesirable areas of land, isolated from one another – a project which, through this isolation, attempted to “divide and conquer” Indigenous nations as well as dispossess them. Understanding that oppression is not a singular phenomenon, the organizers of Israeli Apartheid Week maintain a commitment not only to freedom of speech and respect for dissenting voices, but also to working against all forms of oppression, including Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and other forms of racism or discrimination based on religion, nationality, gender or sexual orientation. For more information check out: apartheidweek.org or iawmontreal.org Look for IAW 2011 on your campus.
Canada & the State of Prisons Although official statistics show that “crime” has been on the decrease since the 1990s in Canada, carceral and other punitive community sentences have increased. Canada’s obsession with incarceration results in billions of dollars being funnelled from the public purse each year into the prisonindustrial complex, with a mere 2% of the budget allocated to programming for prisoners. Extensive and elaborate spending on security, surveillance, and personnel amounts to a decidedly repressive — over rehabilitative — state of incarceration. In addition to common violence from prison guards, many penal policies contribute to high and ambiguous death rates in custody. These include involuntary transfers, segregation, lack of medical care (or any other care), long prison stays, and denial of transfer or parole. In 2004, at least 184 people died while under correctional care, 132 of those in federal custody. HIV transmission rates are 10 times higher in prison than in the general population and Hep C prevalence is 25 times greater. Suicide rates for prisoners in Canada are nearly 8 times that of those on the outside.
In Canada Indigenous people are nine times more likely to be incarcerated than the rest of the population. In Saskatchewan, over 77% of prison population is Indigenous (87% of all women admitted). Parole release rates are at their lowest in a decade. Parole conditions are becoming increasingly restrictive and impossible to abide by, with parole officers able to throw someone back in prison on the grounds of suspicion. The frequency with which folks on parole are accused of “lack of transparency” makes recidivism rates ambiguous. If you receive a life sentence, you remain on parole — under the shadow of re-incarceration — until you die. On the inside, if you fail to toe the line, you are not only less likely to get out on parole but also face the threat of solitary confinement, which is akin to torture. Inside prison walls, you become a kind of non-citizen and live without many basic rights. Extensive plans for the expansion of Canada’s prison system exist for the future.
Wanna learn more about prison justice issues? Yet resistance is growing. Currently in Montreal there are a number of approaches to prisoner solidarity and community safety that are based on an abolitionist framework. Prisoner solidarity can include providing resources like books; becoming a penpal; organizing skillshares for folks on the inside; noise demos; and public education through panels, workshops, film screenings, talks in high schools, and distributing radical brochures and flyers. Based on values of support, autonomy and self-determination, these approaches take care to depathologize prisoners and instead focus on the systemic nature of the crisis of Canada’s prisons.
Check out these websites: Critical Resistance: www.criticalresistance.org Free the New Jersey 4: freenj4.wordpress.com Just Blog joanr73.wordpress.com Open Door Books opendoorbooks.wordpress.com PASAN www.pasan.org Prison Justice www.prisonjustice.ca Listen to: Stark Raven Radio www.prisonjustice.ca/current/news.html CKUT’s Prison Radio 90.3 fm in Montreal www.ckut.ca/news.php Read: Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Y. Davis Prisoners on Prison Abolition by Howard Davidson (jpp.org) Discipline & Punish by Michel Foucault Right to Be Hostile: Schools, Prisons, and the Making of Public Enemies by Erica R. Meiners An Ideal Prison?: Critical Essays on Womens Imprisonment in Canada by Kelly HannahMoffat & Margaret Shaw
Challenging Police Violence and Impunity “Our job as police officers is repression. We don’t need a social worker as chief, we need a general. After all, the police is a paramilitary organization, don’t forget that.” — Yves Francoeur, President of the Montreal Police Brotherhood. The Forum Against Police Violence and Impunity took place in the neighborhood of Parc Extension in Montreal, from January 29 to 31, 2010. Initiated by the Justice for Anas Coalition, it was a collaborative effort by grassroots social justice activists and community organizers to create a space that allowed for discussion, sharing experiences, and developing strategies in the ongoing struggle to live free of police violence. By focusing primarily on the reality in Montreal, while dealing with various themes — including migration, social and racial profiling, gender-based violence, political repression and colonization — the Forum sought to break the isolation of various communities affected by police violence and expose its systemic nature. Well over 300 hundred people attended throughout the weekend.
Several initiatives were inspired by or revitalized at the Forum, including: +documentation (written, audio, video) of the various sessions that took place throughout the Forum +facilitating the collaboration between families who have had members killed by the police +establishing a cop-watch network on the island of Montreal +organizing an event to coincide with the US-based October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation Get involved and work to stop police violence and impunity in Montreal! www.forumcontrelaviolencepoliciere.net forumcontrelaviolencepoliciere@gmail.com Le Collectif Opposé à la Brutalité Policière http://www.cobp.resist.ca cobp@hotmail.com
Indigenous Disappearances & Missing Justice Written in October 2009
Indigenous women are five times more at risk of dying as a result of violence than any other group of women in Canada. They are also being added to missing person reports at an alarming rate. When these two horrific facts are coupled with the reality that the Canadian government and law enforcement are often (too) slow to react, we have a crisis on our hands. In the past 12 months, five Native women and girls have disappeared in Quebec alone. “The disappearance of your child speaks volumes of worries, immense feelings of loss, isolation, heartache, mental anguish, and extreme emotional pain. I live with these emotions every minute of each day,” explained Laurie Odjick, whose daughter has been missing for over a year.
Maisy Odjick’s mother is one of many seeking some semblance of justice while fighting with the reality that her daughter is not a priority for Quebec’s police force. In the case of Maisy’s disappearance, her family actually had to organize its own search and rescue team. This was also true with Shannon Alexander, as the police force made no efforts towards finding her either. This is not uncommon. “I think the most important thing for people to understand about violence against Indigenous women is that it is not arbitrary. We are talking about systemic gendered and racialized violence, and it is perpetuated by police forces, the media, and the Canadian government’s ongoing colonial policies which continue to hold Indigenous women and their families in poverty and cycles of abuse,” says Maya Rolbin-Ghanie, a member of Missing
Justice, a Montreal-based grassroots solidarity group. The systemic nature of this violence indicates that policies must be changed, paradigms transformed, and justice brought to families in order for it to end. If Native women can go missing or be subject to violence without police attention and with impunity for the people responsible for the violence, the perpetrators are further encouraged to continue and the cycle is not broken. With the risks already so high for Indigenous women, as a result of a colonialist and patriarchal history and present, the attention given to keeping these women safe ought to be made a priority. Missing Justice and Sisters in Spirit are two groups working on this issue and demanding justice for the women who have been silenced through murder, disappearance, or both. Join us in this awareness-raising and shaming campaign to confront the vicious remnants of our colonialist past and fight for all women and men to be treated with proper dignity and respect, regardless of their race, gender, cultural identity, or class. Join us so that we can bring our sisters home. www.missingjustice.ca
Mobilizing for Migrant Justice Montreal is a frontline terrain in the struggle for justice, dignity, and selfdetermination by migrants. On a dayto-day basis, migrants struggle against deportations and detentions, for basic rights and recognition in the workplace, and against racism and racial profiling. Montreal’s migrant reality is reflected in the tens of thousands of families and individuals who live here without formal status. These “non-status” migrants, who can face removal at any time, are part of the fabric of this city; they are our neighbours, friends and co-workers. You can’t walk through the streets and neighbourhoods of Montreal without meeting a non-status person, whether you know it or not. All migrants, whether refugees, immigrants, temporary workers or
non-status people, constitute a pool of disposable labour that our economy both exploits and needs. We see the face of this hyper-exploited immigrant labour by looking at who cleans hotels, picks fruits and vegetables, and works in factories, warehouses, and restaurant kitchens. The Canadian government is reinforcing this structural exploitation through ever-expanding “temporary work” programs, while limiting other channels of immigration. Migrants come to metropolises like Montreal due to the reality of global apartheid, displaced from their homes by economic and political policies created by Western governments and institutions like the World Bank and IMF. It is a migration with a clear pattern: from the Global South to the Global North; from Latin America, Asia and Africa to North America and Western Europe; from the Third World to the First World. These migration patterns reflect historical and contemporary realities of colonialism and imperialism. Instead of blaming migrants for exercising valid choices to improve their lives and undertaking difficult and courageous journeys to get to their destinations, migrant justice organizers in Montreal instead organize to offer support, in
the spirit of solidarity and mutual aid. Support work strives to create conditions for meeting basic needs, such as health services, schooling, legal resources, housing, workplace rights and more, in the face of structural barriers. This support work is direct action for survival and dignity. Meanwhile, migrants’ day-to-day struggle is linked to larger long-term campaigns around meaningful and substantive demands, embodied in slogans like Status for All, No One Is Illegal, Access Without Fear, and No Borders. Migrant justice organizing proceeds on the understanding that all human beings deserve full dignity in their lives, and that there is no such thing as an “illegal” person, but rather unjust laws and governments. Several Montreal-area groups and collectives, over the past several years, have done support work and organized campaigns as part of a larger migrant justice movement in Montreal. Solidarity Across Borders, No One Is Illegal, the Immigrant Workers Center, Pinay, Siklab and many others are all active in the collective struggle for migrant justice. Check out the group profiles section of the agenda to find out more about these groups and others, and get involved.
Where Injustice Flows: An Environmental Justice Analysis of Hydro-Quebec Travelling 500 kilometres south to its mouth in the Gulf of St-Lawrence at Mingan Archipelago National Park, the Romaine River is one of Quebec’s largest remaining undammed rivers. But not for much longer. Hydro-Quebec has already begun construction on the four major dams that will convert this key river system into 1500 MW of power for export to the United States. Hydroelectric power is often seen as a “green” solution to the many other harmful methods of energy production our industrialized capitalist economy demands. In reality, large-scale hydro projects come with their own flood of problems. Rivers such as the Romaine host important aquatic ecosystems, especially for the precarious Atlantic salmon populations that spawn in the flows of the Romaine. Road construction will fragment habitats, reduce biodiversity, and open up the area to forestry and mining projects. The construction of these dams will flood 278 square kilometres of pristine boreal forest, releasing methane and carbon dioxide. This process will also result in methyl-
mercury accumulation, which poses serious health concerns for the Innu populations that subsist upon the fish of this river. These issues are compounded by HydroQuebec’s long history of disregarding treaty rights and failing to consult with Indigenous populations. Recently the Innu community of Uashat-Maliotenam has taken legal action against HydroQuebec and their Romaine Project, demanding justice for the damage that transmission lines are expected to cause within their territory. While the destructive consequences may seem apparent, the communities along the Côte-Nord find themselves in a tough place. Economically strapped and in need of jobs, communities may push aside concerns of long-term
environmental impacts, treaty rights, and health when compensation packages offer short-term economic relief. The Romaine is just one example of the environmental injustices occurring all over Canada. In order to confront the democratically deficient and inequitable models of governance and private power which fuel ecological destruction, activists work through the vision of Environmental Justice. Applying the principles set forth at the First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit held in1991, Environmental Justice seeks community self-determination and meaningful change within social institutions to ensure the health of communities and the environment. Visit: www.ejnet.org/ej/principles.html to read the principles of Environmental Justice. For more information on the Romaine and the fight against Hydro-Québec check out: www. allianceromaine.wordpress.com To get involved in the fight for climate justice check out Climate Justice Montreal: www.climateactionmontreal.wordpress.com
Where do I pee? gender neutral washrooms To find gender-neutral washrooms on campus, ask these folks: at McGill www.mcgill.ca/queerequity/washrooms There is a list on the McGill Equity Subcommittee on Queer People website of some gender-neutral washrooms as well as a list of buildings without any. The SEDE office For more information, talk to Tynan Jarrett, the LGBTQ Advisor at the SEDE office: tynan.jarrett@mcgill.ca. at Concordia The 2110 Centre You can get a list and info from the peer support and advocacy folks. Email them at: psa@centre2110.org also check out www.safe2pee.org/beta It’s a website with user-generated information about gender-neutral washrooms in the city.
Queer Fiction Book List Queer Fiction is the perfect supplement for any university curriculum. You can find or order most of this stuff at the Concordia Co-op Bookstore (2150 Bishop), Drawn and Quarterly (211 Bernard), or the Toronto Women’s Bookstore (www. womensbookstore.com), which will deliver books right to your door. Also, if there’s a book you’d like to borrow from McGill or Concordia’s libraries that they don’t have in the catalog, you can request it for free through interlibrary loans (www.mcgill.ca/ library/library-using/otherloans/colombo or library.concordia.ca/research/ill). The Union for Gender Empowerment (Shatner Building, 4th floor) and the 2110 Centre (2110 Mackay) also have great libraries and fabulous staff. Audre Lorde: Zami: A New Spelling of My Name. This is Audre Lorde’s “biomythography.” It captures a slice of New York City, and the sexy parts are pretty hot. Sarah Waters: Tipping the Velvet. Victorian lesbian period fiction. Inspired an entire BBC miniseries. The sexy parts are actually out of control. John Fox: Boys on the Rock. Monumental gay boy coming-of-age fiction. The teenage narrator is the greatest. He coined the phrase “the Famous 69,” which I try to use whenever possible. Leslie Feinberg : Stone Butch Blues. Transgender cult classic. Coming-of-age fiction at its finest. Melvin Dixon: Vanishing Rooms. This book is really intense in an amazing way! It’s about violence but also about ballet and dance. It’s actually terrific. Lynne Breedlove: Godspeed. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Punk Rock. With bike messengers! James Earl Hardy: B-Boy Blues. Gay Brooklyn, High Drama Queens. Probably the best way to procrastinate for anything.
Sarah Schulman: People in Trouble. A classic AIDS activist novel. With bonus lesbian love triangles. Adrian Tomine: Shortcomings. The main character of this graphic novel is not queer but the queer best friend is just about the best character of all time. She made this book make this list. Alison Bechdel: Fun Home. This graphic memoir is brilliant for so many reasons. You might also want to check out Dykes to Watch Out For, which are monumental comics by the same author. Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki: Skim. Graphic novel featuring goth comingof-age and inappropriate teacher crushes circa mid-1990s Toronto. Jamie Hernandez: Wigwam Bam. Is this a comic or a novel? You decide! Also, check out Love and Rockets. Ariel Schrag: Potential. Comics Schrag wrote about highschool while she was in highschool. Really clever but also slightly heartwrenching.
That should get you started. You may also want to check out historical classics by James Baldwin, Oscar Wilde, and Radcliffe Hall. For deep sci-fi, try Samuel Delany. For autobiography and nonfiction, might I suggest David Wojnarowicz.
GRIP-UQAM: Beyond McGill & Concordia... Par, pour et avec la communauté uqamienne, le GRIP réfléchit sur les enjeux socio-écologiques qui touchent directement et indirectement tous les individus et toutes les sociétés présentes et futures. Devant les défis posés par la crise écologique (changements climatiques, perte de biodiversité, rupture des mécanismes naturels de régulations, etc.) due à l’activité humaine, le GRIP travaille, recherche et s’appuie sur des modèles politico-économiques alternatifs, existants et à construire, fondés sur le développement d’initiatives locales, communautaires et écologiques axées sur la démocratie participative, la coopération et le partage des connaissances et des ressources. En remettant en question le productivisme, la croissance économique illimitée ainsi que la culture économiciste dominante, le GRIP réinterprète et réaffirme, de manière non utilitariste,
l’interdépendance des humains entre eux (entraide et solidarité) et entre les humains et les écosystèmes (l’humanité dans la nature). Engagé dans une réappropriation critique de l’espace physique, culturel et symbolique, grâce à la sensibilisation, la concertation, la transdisciplinarité et la mise en relation des partenaires intra et extra uqamiens dans un but d’autonomie collective et de convivialité humaine, sa mission est d’encourager, dans la communauté, le sentiment d’appartenance au projet d’une société écologique et conviviale. Le Groupe de Recherche d’Intérêt Public de l’UQAM www.gripuqam.org
CURE, the Community-University Research Exchange, is a database by which students can integrate their academic research with the work of local movements and activist organizations. Through an independent study or as a term paper for an upper level class, students may complete a CURE project for academic credit. CURE operates on the principle that the University is an institution which maintains systems of privilege and oppression around race, class, and neocolonialism. By redirecting resources to groups and individuals in need of theory, information, and the energy to supply them, CURE encourages students to acknowledge their institutional advantage, and convert it into a useful tool for political action. cure.mtl@gmail.com
Study in Action is an undergraduate social and environmental justice conference designed to link students and community activism. The conference is a space for undergraduate students to present research, develop greater knowledge of social and environmental issues and build ties with community organizations working on those same issues. Deadline for submissions for PAPER, WORKSHOP or ART submissions from undergraduate students and community organization members is January 21st, 2011.  The conference takes place at Concordia University March 11th - 13th, 2011. The conference is free and open to all. Join the organizing committee! studyinaction@gmail.com www.qpirgconcordia.org/studyinaction 514-848-7585
Interested in social justice issues in Montreal but not sure where to start? Trying to write an essay but can’t find the right book? Just want a comfortable place to chill out and read? Montreal has a number of community resource centres on or near the McGill and Concordia campuses, each with their own lending library, and you can search their collections with the click of a button. The Alternative Libraries Database is an online catalogue with the current library holdings of the 2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy, QPIRG Concordia, and QPIRG McGill, and will soon include the Union for Gender Empowerment, the Center for Community Organizations, the DIRA Anarchist Library, GRIP UQAM, and the Sexual Assault Centre of McGill Students’ Society. The database permits you to search and borrow alternative books, periodicals, zines, and audio-visual materials on topics including art and activism, indigenous and migrant struggles, antiracism, sexuality, gender, accessibility, environmental justice, and much more! www.alternativelibraries.org
Activism for Students 101 Workshops
“I don’t believe in charity. I believe in solidarity. Charity is so vertical. It goes from the top to the bottom. Solidarity is horizontal. It respects the other person. I have a lot to learn from other people.” – Eduardo Galeano
QPIRG Concordia presents monthly sessions about activism and community involvement for students. These sessions are meant for anyone who is curious or interested in getting more involved in their community, and engaging in social and environmental justice issues. The workshop will include an overview of collectives, groups, organizations, campaigns and projects that people can join or volunteer with, as well as answer any questions participants might have about social justice organizing in the Montreal context. We will also discuss QPIRG’s anti-oppression, grassroots organizing framework. Workshops take place monthly at 1pm at 1500 de Maisonneuve West, #204 (GuyConcordia metro) on: September 20, October 12, November 3, December 2, 2010 & January 17, February 15, March 16 & April 7, 2011. The QPIRG Concordia space is wheelchair accessible. Welcome to all, including students from all colleges and universities, as well as community members.
www.qpirgconcordia.org
Cinema Politica is a weekly free political film series at Concordia University and on campuses across Canada and abroad. We screen Canadian and international independent political films and we believe in the power of art to not only entertain, but to engage, inform, inspire and provoke social change. Screenings are on Monday nights at 7:30 p.m. in Room H110, Concordia University and admission is free or by donation. See you all there!! concordia@cinemapolitica.org www.cinemapolitica.org/concordia Weekly screenings: 1455 de Maisonneuve West, Room H110 Viewing Library: 2110 Mackay Room 403 514-848 - 2424 ext.7403
The Concordia Co-op Bookstore is an independent and not-for-profit cooperative bookstore in downtown Montreal, on Concordia University's SGW campus. As the only co-operative bookstore serving an Anglophone community in Quebec, and the only academically affiliated Solidarity Co-operative, we have been busy breaking barriers and offering an alternative to corporaterun book stores over the last 8 years. Membership is $10.00 for a life-time membership! You don't have to be a student to be a member – everyone is welcome! Being a member entitles you to discounts and also gives you the right to vote at our general assemblies. Services: *Used Textbook Consignment, Artisan Consignment, Newsletter, Button Making, Individual Ordering Products: *New & Used Books, Sustainable Products, School Supplies 2150 Bishop Street 514-848-7445 www.co-opbookstore.ca General Inquiries: coopbookstore@gmail.com Book Related Inquiries: orders.coopbookstore@gmail.com
The Montreal Anarchist Bookfair and Festival of Anarchy: May 2011
“No gods, no masters; no bosses, no borders!�
The Montreal Anarchist Bookfair -- and month-long Festival of Anarchy (May 2011) -- bring together anarchist ideas and practice, through words, images, music, theatre and day-to-day struggles for justice, dignity and collective liberation. The Bookfair and Festival are as much for people who don’t necessarily consider themselves anarchists, but are curious about anarchism, as they are spaces for anarchists to meet, network and share in a spirit of respect and solidarity. All are welcome. The Bookfair and Festival are organized in a spirit of openness towards the different traditions, visions, and practices of anarchism. Together we share a commitment to promoting anarchism through the values of mutual aid, grassroots democracy, direct action, autonomy and solidarity, while opposing oppression in all its forms. The Bookfair and Festival involve diverse events and expressions of anarchism, including a theatre festival, art exhibitions, films, poetry, demonstrations, benefit shows, a cabaret, book launches, discussions and roundtables, an entire day of anarchist workshops and presentations, and much more. The Bookfair and Festival are together one of the largest anarchist events in North America, and for the past decade, an important gathering and reference point for antiauthoritarian ideas and practice. Curious about anarchism? Come check us out! More information at www.anarchistbookfair.ca
Le Midnight Kitchen sert des repas végétaliens de lundi à jeudi dans la salle 302 du édifice Shatner et dans le sous-sol les vendredis. Les dons ne sont pas requis mais on les apprécie beaucoup! En plus on fournit la nourriture par solidarité aux groupes qui sont d’accord avec notre mandat et nos principes. Nous visons de fournir une option opposée au système de distribution alimentaire actuel. Nous sommes opposé(e)s à la privatisation, la corporatisation, et les processus qui privent le pouvoir des individus en entravant leur accès aux ressources et l’indépendance. Nous sommes conscient(e)s du fait que la politique alimentaire actuelle fait partie d’un système d’oppression qui se répand dans d’autres domaines. En réclamant le contrôle du système de distribution alimentaire nous poursuivons la justice sociale et environnementale. Pour en savoir plus, veuillez envoyer un message à midnightkitchencollective@gmail.com. Nous offrons aussi des formulaires – venez à notre cuisine (3e étage de l’édifice Shatner) pour en obtenir un.
The People’s Potato was established in January 2000, and has been raging on ever since. We serve lunch every school day on the seventh floor of Concordia’s Hall building, from 12:30 to 2:00 pm. The meals are always vegan, filling and delicious. Generally, we serve a soup, salad, a main course, but sometimes even more… We encourage anyone to come and drop-in to enjoy the great meal. The People’s Potato is a by-donation, pay-what-you-can service, and no one is turned away! Volunteers are always needed as well. The People’s Potato strives to be an anti-oppressive space, so please respect those you eat with! peoplespotato.blogspot.com
An anticapitalist food store. Le Frigo Vert is *the* place downtown for real food. Drop by for cheap but nutritious sandwiches, snacks and 50¢ fair trade coffee! Do your weekly shopping for organic fruit and vegetables, bulk food (grains, cereals, flours, nuts, dried fruit), canned goods, sauces, spices, juice, tea, bread and more! Check out our alternative health products and environmentally friendly household cleaners. Services include: +lounge (you don’t have to buy anything to be there!) +news about political and social events around Montreal +workshops, events and other resources 2130 Mackay (across from the Hall Building) 514-848-7586 lefrigovert@resist.ca lefrigovert.com Hours: Monday – Friday: 10am-7pm (September – May)
The Flat is a collective that encourages cycling through the sharing of knowledge and tools. We have everything you need to learn how to fix your bike. All persons and bikes welcome - no experience necessary! We seek to make bicycling more accessible, provide a welcoming environment, minimize our environmental impact, and promote a greater sense of community. theflat.bikecollective@gmail.com theflat.wordpress.com 3480 McTavish SSMU Building B-02
Right to Move /La voie libre
(www.rtm-lvl.org) is the oldest of Montreal’s many community bike workshops. It runs an open workshop/ bike repair space with the full complement of tools, and is staffed by volunteers. People can drop in and do their own maintenance and repairs, with the help/guidance of the volunteers. Used (and some new) parts are available and workshops and other special events are offered occasionally. Membership is $20/year. New volunteers are welcome! Right to Move is located on the downtown Concordia campus, behind the Hall building (see website for directions and opening hours).
Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar is a joint fundraising and educational project between outside organizers in Montreal and Toronto, and three Political Prisoners being held in maximum-security prisons: Herman Bell, David Gilbert and Robert Seth Hayes. We work from an anti-imperialist, anti-racist, anticapitalist, feminist, queer and trans positive position. The theme of the 2011 calendar is Political Prisoners: Still in the Struggle. Â 42 GORGEOUS FULL-COLOUR PAGES OF ART AND WRITINGS! A GREAT FUNDRAISER FOR GROUPS! AN IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION TO GRASSROOTS ORGANIZING! AND A MEANINGFUL GIFT! Certain Days - a QPIRG Concordia working group www.certaindays.org info@certaindays.org
The Open Door Books collective, based out of QPIRG-Concordia in downtown Montréal, is part of an informal network of Books to Prisoners programs throughout North America. We at Open Door Books send books to prisoners as a form of prisoner solidarity. We believe that prisons and the (in)justice system act as institutions of social control, further targeting marginalized communities as a result of forms of oppression such as patriarchy, racism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, ableism and an ongoing history of colonization. bookstoprisoners@gmail.com opendoorbooks.wordpress.com
Prisoner Correspondence Project Started in 2007, The Prisoner Correspondence Project is a collectively-run initiative based out of Montreal, Quebec. It coordinates a direct-correspondence program for LGBTTQ inmates in Canada and the United States, linking these inmates with people who are a part of these same communities outside of prison. It also coordinates a resource library of information regarding harm reduction practice (safer sex, safer drug-use, clean needle care), HIV and HEPC prevention, homophobia, transphobia, coming out, etc. The project aims to make prisoner justice and prisoner solidarity a priority within queer movements on the outside through events like film screenings, workshops, and panel discussions which touch on the broader issues relating to criminalization and incarceration of queers and transfolk. The project seeks to forge gay, trans and queer cultures of self-determination and self-defense as well as develop new strategies for trans and queer survival inside and outside prisons.
www.prisonercorrespondenceproject.com info@prisonercorrespondenceproject.com The Prisoner Correspondence Project C/O QPIRG Concordia 1455 de Maisonneuve O, Montreal, QC, H3G 1M8
qteam is a radical queer collective that aims to queer activist spaces, and politicise queer spaces. Through fundraiser parties, panels, workshops, pink blocs and film screenings, qteam values solidarity and endeavors to make links with many different social justice movements within and beyond montreal. qteam has been a working group of qpirg mcgill and qpirg concordia over the past five years. qteam is committed to anti-imperialism, anti-racism, short shorts, queering activist spaces and politicizing queer spaces, the downfall of single-issue politics, raging pervy queer dance parties, destroying all prisons, opening all borders, burning pink dollar$, and keeping on keeping on. www.qteam.org
Queer McGill is a social/political/information/support service organization for queer students and their allies. We welcome members from all racial, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds; all socioeconomic classes, religions, cultures or subcultures; and regardless of sex, gender, sexual orientation, ability or age group. We have an extensive library and resource centre. We also work in conjunction with Queerline, a confidential, anonymous and non-judgmental peer support phone line, and Allies, a student-run outreach program that works with middle and high school students in the greater Montréal community. We offer discussion groups and social activities at McGill and across the city. We’re also involved in political actions on campus and beyond. We strive to build a strong, self-aware community, infused with queer-positive and sex-positive thinking. To accomplish this goal, we try to create environments where everybody can come together and have a good time in a safer space environment. If you want to find a Queer soccer team, a book about gay cartoons, or simply a good place to enjoy your lunch, drop by our office in the Shatner Building (Room 432) on McGill campus. Or visit our website at www.queermcgill.ca. We’re here for you!
queermcgill@gmail.com 514-398-2106 QueerLine: 514-398-6822 (queer peer support, info and referrals) Monday - Saturday, 8-11pm
PolitiQ est issu des rencontres effectuées pendant la Radical queer semaine 2009. Notre collectif se définit par ceux et celles qui le composent et militent à l’intérieur. Nous souhaitons ouvrir des espaces de discussions et de débats autour des enjeux politiques liés à la sexualité et au genre pour construire un projet de société alternatif. Nous voulons combattre toutes les formes d’oppression et d’exclusion hétérosexistes et interroger la légitimité des pouvoirs. Nous ne voulons pas attendre demain pour danser. C’est pourquoi nous pensons qu’il est central de construire une communauté alternative, queer et solidaire, mixte anglo-franco-allophone et une scène culturelle émergente. info.politiq@gmail.com sites.google.com/site/radicalqueersemaine
Pervers/cité is a collaboratively organized summer festival that aims to make links across social justice groups, queer communities, and radical visions of pride. In a climate of corporatized gay agendas and whitewashed homogeneity amongst queers, Pervers/cité strives to provide a critical and accessible schedule of activities, designed to bring back the radical underpinnings to the pride movement. We reject the ideas of hierarchy, coercive power, and internal authority within our collective. We intentionally organize our events to contrast the corporate, mainstream pride agenda, and attempt to create dialogue with it, disrupt it, and call into question the power of pink dollars. www.perverscite.org perverscite@gmail.com
Project 10 provides services and support to LGBTTIQQ2S youth (14-25) in Montreal, using an empowerment and harm reduction approach. Services include: a weekly dropin night, a summer and winter retreat, a listening line (M-TH, 12-6pm), advocacy and accompaniment, and workshops. All services are free, confidential and bilingual. 514.989.4585 www.p10.qc.ca
The 2110 is an independent, student-funded, Concordia University organization that works to promote gender equality and empowerment, particularly as it relates to marginalized communities. This mandate is achieved through ongoing programming, campaigns, resources, services, and advocacy. We believe that gender oppression is inextricably linked to social and economic justice, and we work within a feminist framework that challenges systemic oppressions. To this end, the 2110 acts in support and solidarity with broader social movements. Guided by its membership, the 2110 aims to create a space that promotes gender self-determination, bodily sovereignty, and a self-reflexive politic. Along with a variety of programming and campaigns, the 2110 provides respectful, confidential peer-to-peer support, advocacy, and resources with a focus on harm reduction, empowerment and self-determination; houses a multi-media resource centre and library; and is an accessible space that can be used to facilitate community organizing and action. Please watch out for Too Cool for School in September and PSA trainings in October. For more info about our resources & services or to learn more about the Missing Justice Campaign, the Solidarity ID Project, Reproductive Autonomy campaign or other projects, please contact: www.centre2110.org or centre2110@gmail.com 2110 Mackay Office line: 514-848-2424 ext. 7431 Confidential peer support line: 514-848-2424 ext. 7880
Solidarity I.D. Project Whether it is your name, sex or gender, territory or nation of allegiance, the Solidarity IdentiďŹ cation (S.I.D.) Card is your space for self-determination. The project aims to provide people with a piece of photo ID that is reective of their identity. It comes from a desire to work in solidarity with transsexual, transgender and gender-non-conforming people. It is about being in solidarity with those who struggle daily against assimilationist policies through the anglicizing (or franco-cizing) of their names, and erasure of their nation and space. The Solidarity ID Project on McGill Campus: you can get your Solidarity ID Card at the Union For Gender Empowerment, room 413, on the 4th floor of the Shatner University Centre at McGill University. Contact: mcgill.SID@gmail.com On the Concordia campus: come to Le Frigo Vert Coop at 2130 Mackay or the 2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy at 2110 Mackay to get your Solidarity ID Card from Monday to Friday (12-5pm). Contact: solidarityidproject@gmail.com The Social Equity and Diversity Education (SEDE) Office is committed to fostering a fair and inclusive environment that respects the dignity of each member of the McGill Community. Through events, information campaigns, workshops, consultations, and print and electronic media, we strive to raise awareness and understanding by members of the University community on matters of equity, diversity, discrimination and harassment. 3610 McTavish, Suite 12 514-398-2039
equity.diversity@mcgill.ca www.mcgill.ca/equity_diversity
The Union for Gender Empowerment is a trans-positive feminist organization and a service of the SSMU. The UGE offers an alternative lending library, a zine distro, and a co-op selling at-cost ecologicallyresponsible menstrual products, DIY sex toys, safer sex supplies, and gender empowerment items. The UGE runs Trans 101 and antioppression workshops for other organizations and projects, the McGill branch of the Solidarity ID project, and takes part in the Rez project. It is a safe(r) space for people of all genders, and is equipped with health and counseling referral services, a free phone line, a microwave, dishes, a kettle, and lots of tea! You can find us in room 413, on the 4th floor of the Shatner building on McGill’s downtown campus.
SACOMSS is a volunteer organization whose mandate is to support and empower survivors of sexual assault and their allies. SACOMSS offers a phoneline, support groups, resources, accompaniment and advocacy through the McGill sexual harassment and discrimination procedures, as well as information and workshops about sexual assault. Our services are free of charge and open to anybody. Interested in volunteering? We offer trainings at the beginning of each semester and can be reached at:
514-398-8500 main@sacomss.org www.sacomss.org Office hours vary seasonally and are Room B27 of the Shatner building posted on our blog at: unionforgenderempowerment.wordpress.com We will also be present at Activities unionforgenderempowerment@gmail.com Night at McGill! 514-398-2569
ASTT(e)Q
Action Santé Travesti(e)s et Transsexuel(le)s du Québec is a project of CACTUS Montreal, and was founded in the late nineties in order to encourage the health and well-being of trans people through access to resources and support. The organization aims to develop and strengthen trans people’s social and medical support networks. We also work to educate health and social service providers regarding transsexuality and gender variance. We provide information about the medical, social and legal aspects of trans lives and transitioning. astteq@yahoo.ca 514-847-8850
Head & Hands is a non-profit community organization for youth between the ages of 12 and 25; we envision a society where all youth are participants and are inspired by the endless possibilities available to them. Our mission is to work with youth to promote their physical and mental well being. Our approach is preventative, non-judgmental, and holistic with a fundamental commitment to providing an environment that welcomes youth without discrimination. We facilitate social change, popular education and the empowerment of youth based on their current needs within our community and society at large. We provide: Health services, including drop-in clinics, legal services, social
services, street workers, a young parents’ program, a youth drop-in centre, an emergency food pantry, information and referrals, volunteer opportunities, and amazing benefit parties, such as Faggity Ass Fridays at the Playhouse. Come stop by and have a coffee, or check out our website: www.headandhands.ca 5833 Sherbrooke Ouest (NDG) 514-481-0277 Open Monday-Thursday 10am-9:30pm, Friday 10am-5pm To keep posted on Faggity Ass Fridays: faggityassfriday.blogspot.com Check out The Sense Project’s details: www.senseproject.org
The Ste-Émilie Skillshare DIY COMMUNITY ART SPACE
Concordia University Student Parents Network (CUSP) is dedicated to offering support and services that assist parents studying at Concordia to achieve their academic goals. CUSP provides resources and referrals as well as a safe and accessible space where student parents can congregate, voice their concerns, share common interests, and develop a support network. The CUSP office includes a lounge with couches and a microwave, computers, and a play area with books and toys for children. CUSP also holds events throughout the year for student parents including a community kitchen, clothing swaps, and meet-and-greets.
2150 Bishop Suite 200 514-848-2424 ext. 5954 cusp@alcor.concordia.ca
Ste-Émilie is a group of artists and activists, primarily people of colour and queer people, committed to promoting artistic expression and self-representation in our communities. The collective runs a DIY art studio that provides space for people to share their skills, learn new skills, and create art in the spirit of revolution and anti-oppression. Our space is open to all... workshops | open studios | silkcreen studio | ‘zine distro | b&w darkroom | ‘zine launches | art shows | fundraiser events | film screenings | clothing swaps | sewing stations | read aloud club | dance parties | art parties | bike parties | kids days | more SELF-REPRESENTATION | SELFEXPRESSION | ANTI-RACIST | QUEER LIBERATIONIST steemilieskillshare.com mtlskillshare@gmail.com 3942 Ste-Emilie (corner/coin St. Augustin) Montréal, QC H4C-2A1 *Metro Place-St-Henri*
Chaotic Insurrection Ensemble We are an activist marching band which organizes according to anarchist principles. We play songs of a political nature in remembrance of worldwide struggles against oppression; these songs are historical monuments to our own culture of resistance and are played to inspire our communities. We seek to reclaim public spaces, to help make political movements fun and exciting, and to celebrate resistance in a way that reflects our vision of the world we want to live in. Born for the 2006 “Status for All� demo in Montreal, we have been marching ever since. Many marchers have come and gone, and many have yet to come... maybe you are one of them? www.chaoticinsurrectionensemble.org
Ethnoculture’s primary mandate is to organize an annual, bilingual (French and English), and free social/cultural/ artistic event which raises awareness and provides visibility for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQ) people, ethnic/racial minorities, queers of colours and two-spirited people in the Montreal area by prioritizing selfrepresentation and showcasing their diverse skills, talents, and knowledge. Activities include consciousnessraising workshops, educational panels, artistic performances/presentations, and a community fair. One of our main objectives is to engage in dialogue and challenge multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination. Taking place Sept. 25-26th, 2010, this event is open to all. Check out www.ethnoculture.org for more information.
Rock Camp for Girls is a volunteerrun, not for profit, 5 day music camp where girls ages 10-17 learn and practice instruments, form a band, write an original song together, and perform at the Showcase Concert. Through collaborative music composition and performance, as well as nonmusic workshops based in feminist and anti-oppression frameworks, Rock Camp aims to foster the development of self-esteem, skillbuilding, critical thinking and empowerment. Rock Camp is a space where girls discover and express their talents, and become leaders in creating their own kind of cultural production through music. The goal is for girls to rock in all aspects of life. www.girlsrockmontreal.org
V-Day McGill is a group of McGill students joining over 2000 college initiatives worldwide to generate broader attention for the fight to end genderbased violence. V-Day McGill is proud to be part of the V-Day College Campaign: a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money and revitalize the spirit of existing antiviolence organizations through benefit productions of Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues.” V-Day McGill was founded in late 2002 by Queer McGill. Since the group’s inception, over $125,000 has been raised for V-Day and Montreal anti-violence organizations. vday.mcgill.ca organizer.vdaymcgill@gmail.com producer.vdaymcgill@gmail.com
Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Missing Justice is an action-based, grassroots solidarity collective based in Montreal that works to eliminate violence and discrimination against Indigenous women living in Quebec and the rest of “Canada.” The collective seeks to consult and collaborate with Indigenous families, activists, communities and organizations to foster understanding and dispel harmful stereotypes commonly held in regard to Indigenous women who are targets of violence. Our goals are to raise public awareness and to create a safer environment for Indigenous women by tackling issues of systemic racism, sexism, classism and negligence that are present in the media, the justice system and the police forces. www.missingjustice.ca
Barriere Lake Solidarity Committee The Algonquins of Barriere Lake are a small community 5 hours north of Montreal who are fighting to have a governing say over 10,000 square kilometers of their traditional territory. Canada and Quebec signed a groundbreaking land rights agreement with the First Nation almost 20 years ago, but have refused to implement it, going so far as to oust the community’s traditional Chief to undermine the agreement. Barriere Lake Solidarity provides support through fundraising, film-making, direct action and popular education. Collective members have also set up a radio station in the community and helped to pilot a crafts business. www.barrierelakesolidarity.org
The Indigenous Solidarity Committee The Indigenous Solidarity Committee of the People’s Global Action (PGA) Bloc works from an anti-colonial and anti-capitalist perspective in direct solidarity with indigenous organizers and communities fighting for land, freedom and self-determination. Currently, we comprise the Tyendinaga Support Committee in Montreal. We have organized efforts in opposition to the 2010 Olympics and we provide support in particular indigenous-led efforts. We are also active in support of other indigenous self-determination efforts, including direct solidarity work with communities in Grassy Narrows, Six Nations, Akwesasne, Kahnawake as well as Churchill Falls. The Indigenous Solidarity Committee is a working group of QPIRG-Concordia. indigenoussolidaritymontreal@gmail.com 514-848-7583
KANATA:
McGill Indigenous Studies Community KANATA was created in 2009 in the spirit of developing a niche within McGill/academia for discussing Native issues. By publishing student papers, literature, and artwork, lobbying for a Native Studies minor, and holding a peer-to-peer conference where students can share knowledge with one another, we hope to broaden the discourse on Native issues as well as expand the ways in which knowledge is made available, thereby legitimizing alternative approaches to learning about issues which affect Indigenous Peoples. For more information, contact us at: mcgillnativestudiesjournal@gmail.com or visit our website at: kanata.qpirgmcgill.org
Solidarité Sans Frontières : Justice et dignité pour les migrantES et réfugiéES Nous réclamons UN STATUT POUR TOUS ET TOUTES ! Nous résistons aux expulsions et aux détentions, et nous revendiquons un régime complet et exhaustif de régularisation pour toutES les migrantES qui n’ont pas de statut. Nous sommes un réseau, composé de migrantES, de réfugiéES, de personnes sans statut et de personnes qui leur sont solidaires. Nous accompagnons de plusieurs manières des individus et des familles tandis que ces personnes affrontent le système d’immigration. Depuis 2004, nous avons collectivement bâti un réseau d’entraide et de soutien pour les migrantES en lutte pour la survie et pour un statut, dans la région de Montréal et même ailleurs. Ensemble, nous voulons briser les murs de la peur et de l’isolement, et bâtir une Cité Sans Frontières où tout le monde puisse vivre dans la dignité. www.solidarityacrossborders.org -- 514-848-7583-- solidaritesansfrontieres@gmail.com
PASC
Projet Accompagnement Solidarité Colombie is an autonomous collective based in the province of Quebec that aims to create a direct solidarity network with Colombian organizations and communities that struggle for Life, Dignity and Autonomy. Our work in Colombia consists mainly of accompaniment to threatened communities and support to the Political Prisoners Solidarity Committee (FCSPP). In Canada, we strive to build awareness of the Colombian situation and State Terrorism, links between economic interests and systematic Human Rights violations, and Food Sovereignty, among others. We maintain an Urgent Actions Network and a correspondence with political prisoners, while distributing journals and brochures. We participate in community events with our photo exhibits, video documentary, theatre play and different workshops. www.pasc.ca info@pasc.ca 514-966-8421
The Filipino Solidarity Collective Haiti Action Montreal was founded in early 2005, as a growing number of activists became aware of Canada’s role in Haiti’s coup d’etat of February 29, 2004 and the grave human rights abuses that followed. Haiti Action Montreal works to oppose Canadian government policy in Haiti, as well as the destructive actions of corporations, NGOs, and the UN occupation while building links of solidarity between ordinary Haitians and Canadians. Haiti Action Montreal is a member of the Canada-Haiti Action Network, which unites the solidarity committees of 12 different cities across Canada.
If you would like to learn more about Haiti Action Montreal, please contact Nik at: nikbarryshaw@yahoo.ca Canada-Haiti Action Network website: www.canadahaitiaction.ca
The Filipino Solidarity Collective is a student group dedicated to promoting solidarity with grassroots groups in Canada and the Philippines to further the political, economic, and cultural struggles of Filipino people internationally. Its primary mandate is to raise consciousness and to educate about the everyday experiences of Filipinos in Canada as they encounter social challenges concerning migrant work, women’s issues, and barriers facing Filipino youth. The FSC also works to further the understanding and meaning of a genuine settlement and integration of Filipinos in Canada’s multi-ethnic and multicultural society. filipinosolidarity@gmail.com
The Immigrant Workers’ Center A social justice organization that offers resources and support to immigrants, refugees, and people without status. We focus on labour issues but are also willing to provide assistance on anything ranging from health care to racial profiling. The center also has political campaigns that target the root causes of various issues affecting migrants. The center is looking for volunteers who are interested in forming an outreach team that would be responsible for tasks such as maintaining connections with the community, making contact with workers who may need our services, handing out flyers, and providing popular education. The centre is active in bringing together precarious immigrant or migrant workers who are either working in temp agencies or are here as temporary foreign workers. These people often face deportation, poor work conditions, or lack of pay and have become the most exploitable layer of our society. The IWC has been engaged in these struggles for the past 10 years, and is now in a financial crisis of its own. The IWC needs the help of activists and volunteers to support us in our efforts in fundraising so that the important work conducted by this institution will be able to continue for at least another 10 years.This is a vital part of how the center works, and we need your help! If you are available to help us with these actions, whether on one occasion or an ongoing basis, please contact us. We are particularly in need of people who speak French and a third language, especially Tagalog, Spanish, Tamil, and Arabic. Contact us by email at: iwc_cti@yahoo.com or call us at: 514-342-2111
No One Is Illegal-Montreal is part of a worldwide movement of resistance, struggling collectively for the selfdetermination of migrants and indigenous peoples. We are in active confrontation with a colonial system built on the dispossession and genocide of indigenous peoples, as well as racist anti-immigrant laws. We struggle and organize for the right of peoples to maintain their livelihoods and resist displacement, as well as to migrate freely. We organize as a part of the resistance movement within the walls of Fortress North America. For more information or to get involved: nooneisillegal@gmail.com nooneisillegal-montreal.blogspot.com
The People’s Commission Network is a Montreal network monitoring and opposing the “national security agenda.” The network is a space for individuals and groups who face oppression in the name of “national security” - such as indigenous people, immigrants, racialized communities, radical political organizations, labour unions - and their allies, to form alliances, share information, and coordinate strategies to defend their full rights and dignity. The People’s Commision has several current projects including a Popular Education Committee, CSIS Watch, and Project Fly Home (which supports Abousfian Abdelrazik’s campaign for justice). We are also organizing a public forum in Montreal from 4 to 6 February 2011 called “Whose Security? Our Security! Countering the National Security Agenda.” For more information and to get involved: www.peoplescommission.org abolissons@gmail.com.
Tadamon! (“Solidarity!” in Arabic) is a collective working to build solidarity with grassroots movements for social and economic justice in the Middle East, in coordination with grassroots activists in Lebanon, Palestine, and internationally. We are currently focusing on the international campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israeli apartheid, including preparing a major BDS conference in Montreal from October 22-24, 2010 and ongoing events such as workshops, film screenings, and the Artists Against Apartheid concert series. We also aim to provide an analysis on labour, women’s, queer, and refugee struggles in the Middle East. New members welcome! www.tadamon.ca info@tadamon.ca 514-664-1036 Find us on facebook and twitter!
SPHR (Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights) is a non-profit, student-based organization that advocates on a strong social justice platform to uphold the rights of the Palestinian people in the face of human rights violations and all forms of racism, discrimination, misinformation and misrepresentation. Through awareness raising, advocacy work, non-violent direct actions, solidarity building, and the promotion of Palestinian identity, culture and history, SPHR works to support and protect Palestinian human rights both locally and internationally. SPHR advocates for the end of colonialism and all forms of imperialism that infringe upon the right of the Palestinian people to selfdetermination. SPHR is active at both McGill and Concordia campuses and in the wider Montreal community. New members are always welcome, contact us at: sphr.concordia@gmail.com sphr.mcgill@gmail.com info@sphr.org
G-CARE The Graduate Collective Against Racism for Equity (G-CARE) is a diverse group of graduate students working in collaboration with their undergraduate and community allies to identify and take action against institutional racism and intersecting forms of systemic oppression at McGill and in the wider Montreal community. We engage in activist support for racialized students, and work to strengthen relationships with activist groups on and off campus, in order to challenge dominant Eurocentric, neo-liberal and racist ideologies/ culture through research and action. Presently, we are developing critical consciousness-building workshops, policy research, and a media justice campaign. To get involved, please contact us at: gcare.info@gmail.com
TAPthirst (tap drinkers against privatization) is a joint QPIRG McGill and Concordia working group dedicated to promoting awareness of the environmental, health and socioeconomic costs of the privatization of public water systems and the packaged water industry. We aim to empower people at a grassroots level in order to question the privatization of public water resources and the detrimental effects this has on our communities as well as the world at large. We hope to bring people one step closer to ethical water consumption and to acknowledge/help deter the dangers of privatizing natural resources. We work with Sustainable Concordia, CSU, the Polaris Institute and various community groups, and are always looking for new members! To learn more about or get involved with TAPthirst and our events and initiatives you can visit us at: tapthirst.blogspot.com
The Farmers’ Market at McGill is an annual fall event on the downtown campus founded on social and environmental sustainability. The project brings together McGill students, administrators, local farmers, artisans and neighbourhood residents to create a space for networking and community building. This provides alternative marketing opportunities for growers and producers of agricultural commodities and other farm-related products. It also improves the variety, freshness, and taste of produce available in the McGill area. The Market addresses the importance of local, sustainable, and alternative modes of agriculture by featuring student-run information booths and workshops alongside the locally produced foods. By facilitating the community’s access to local goods, the Market provides concrete solutions for reducing carbon emissions from food transport, supporting local food production, and minimizing participants’ ecological footprint. The market runs every Wednesday from September 8th until October 27th from 11 AM to 6 PM at Three Bares Park on Mcgill Campus.
Greening McGill is a working-group of QPIRG-McGill dedicated to promoting environmental awareness and activism on campus. We do this by holding events as parts of larger campaigns, for instance by holding a local-food challenge as part of a principled purchasing campaign. We also run campaigns focused on making administrative changes on campus, which have included such things as holding Car-Free Day events in support of a car-free campus and founding the Plate Club to provide reusable dishes and utensils for campus events. We’re always interested in new projects, so if there’s a cause you’re passionate about, let us know! greeningmcgill@mail.mcgill.ca
Campus Crops As a handful of multinational corporations continue to monopolize and patent our staple crop seeds, and fresh produce in urban spaces remains dependent on an international oil economy, homegrown organic food has become a means of resistance and community building for these issues. Campus Crops is a student group dedicated to gaining the skills and knowledge to provide ourselves with healthy food grown in our own backyards (or University campuses). During the summer we run a volunteerbased garden and a series of workshops on urban agriculture and food politics, and in the colder months we experiment with indoor growing techniques. We work closely with Midnight Kitchen and are a working group of QPIRG McGill. Get in touch with us at: campuscrops@gmail.com See you in the garden!
Sustainable Concordia & The Sustainable Action Fund
Sustainable Concordia is an organization that strives to create a culture of sustainability at Concordia, and improve our university community by making Concordia an ecologically aware, economically responsible, and socially equitable institution. By encouraging communication within the campus community, we act as a nexus to identify, assess, and address challenges of sustainable development faced by the Concordia community, as a community. The Sustainability Action Fund has a mission of building sustainability on campus. We provide funding for new and current sustainability initiatives and offer short-term financial support to worthwhile ongoing projects. As youth and global citizens, Concordia University students are striving to ensure that our common future will be a prosperous one. We seek to better the ecological and social system by allocating resources to sustainable development at Concordia; with the aspiration of our actions in Montreal resounding globally. 514-848-2424 ext. 5138 sustainable.concordia.ca/ourinitiatives/saf safconcordia@gmail.com sustainable.concordia.ca
TheConcordia Greenhouse Project
The Concordia Greenhouse Project uses the Henry F. Hall building rooftop greenhouse (13th Floor) as an all-organic space, geared towards education and research, urban sustainability, and community-building. The project is a working group of Sustainable Concordia, a multi-stakeholder initiative seeking to create a more ecologically, socially and economically sustainable university community. As an educational space, the greenhouse functions as an environment for workshops, projects and events. The greenhouse is used as a springboard for spreading innovative solutions for urban sustainability and food security through popular education. Get in touch with us at concordiagreenhouse.@gmail.com to learn more about our upcoming workshops, film screenings and lectures; everyone is welcome and we are always looking for volunteers!
PGSS Environment Committee
The PGSSec represents the interests of graduate students on the environmental front. We organize several activities throughout the year, including a monthly Green Drinks get together where we have speakers/films, and PGSS Green Month in which we have speakers/ films/workshops covering a number of environmental themes. We also participate with other environmental groups in several events including Car Free Day and the annual Rethink conference. Check us out at: www.pgss-environment.mcgill.ca Or reach us at: environment.pgss@mail.mcgill.ca
SSMU Environment Commission
The SSMU Environment Commission coordinates between the Student Society and McGill students interested in building a sustainable campus. EnviroComm meets weekly to share and collaborate on sustainability initiatives (all welcome!), helps students access funding for environmental projects through the SSMU Green Fund, and works to implement SSMU’s Five Year Plan for Sustainability. EnviroComm hosts www.ssmu.mcgill.ca/environment, a hub for campus sustainability events, group info, and blog postings. environment.ssmu@gmail.com
ASSÉ
Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill - is McGill’s Teaching Union. We represent more than at 2100 students employed as Teaching Assistants and Invigilators. From its inception in 1993, AGSEM fought to improve working conditions and to ensure better recognition for the contribution of graduate students to McGill’s academic community. We are part of the contingent academic labour force, as such we support all other contingent workers who experience the same uncertainty in income earnings as we do. We call on all employers to not lose sight of the needs and aspirations of PEOPLE, who toil within their organizations. More info can be found on our website: www.agsem-aeedem.ca
The Association for Solidarity among Student Unions (ASSE) is a union organization grouping student associations from CEGEPs and Universities across Quebec. For almost ten years, ASSE has been a key player in Quebec’s student movement and an agent of social progress in education. ASSE considers education as a fundamental right – not a privilege. We aim to fight for unequivocally free education for all, at all levels and against the discriminatory status quo of student debt, which denies low-income individuals access to higher education – reproducing societal inequalities. Within ASSE, each student association is sovereign. ASSE encourages and assists member associations to hold General Assemblies regularly to give it and its membership final say on demands and national action plans. webmestre@asse-solidarite.qc.ca www.asse-solidarite.qc.ca 514-390-0110
Celebrating 31 years, The Link has been Concordia’s independent newspaper since 1980. The Link is a progressive institution that promotes diversity, equality and acceptance. Our space is a learning space where everyone is a volunteer and everyone learned what they know from another volunteer; we have a responsibility to pass along our knowledge. The Link aims to publish stories not usually covered by mainstream media and focuses on advocacy journalism. Our space is a venue for writers, photographers, designers and artists to hone their skills and gain experience by working with the newspaper’s staff. Visit us at H-649 (Hall Building) editor@thelinknewspaper.ca 514-848-2424 www.thelinknewspaper.ca
For nearly 100 years, The McGill Daily has been McGill’s only independent English newspaper. Created and sustained by student volunteers, the newspaper is recognized as the leading progressive and critical voice on campus. The Daily gravitates to issues generally neglected in mainstream media sources, covering issues of social justice, inequality and grassroots student activism. The Daily also strives to be an accessible publication. We constantly seek new contributors- to write, draw, edit, design, photograph and entertain- and publish all letters that we receive allowing for lively and diverse content. A new Daily is published twice weekly, on Mondays and Fridays, and is available at paper stands throughout campus or at www.mcgilldaily.com. Visit us at B-24 of the Shatner Building. coordinating@mcgilldaily.com
CKUT 90.3 FM is a campus and community radio station that is owned and operated by volunteers. Programming is broadcast by and for the students of McGill and the community of Montreal. CKUT modulates the 90.3 frequency on your FM dial and streams on the web at www.ckut.ca McGill students are automatically members of CKUT through a small levy that is part of the annual student fee. Membership to CKUT includes access to all CKUT facilities, trainings, equipment, and the extensive library of music. There is a wealth of knowledge, history, skills, and hands-on-experience to be gained at CKUT. Orientations are every Thursday in September and January and every third Thursday of the month throughout the rest of the year at noon, 3pm, and 6pm. Come check out CKUT and learn to make radio from the ground up.
CJLO is Concordia’s one and only radio station. The station is 100% non-profit, and is run entirely by volunteers. In 2008, CJLO began broadcasting on 1690 AM throughout the Montreal area and features a wide variety of programming. CJLO has over eighty DJ’s who spin live. Whether you are interested in Rock, Alt, Hip-Hop, RPM, Punk, Metal, Jazz, World, Country or Talk, CJLO has something for you, and is always looking for more volunteers and on-air talent. Tune in to 1690 AM or online at cjlo. com, or come down to the Loyola campus at CC-430 and get involved.
Équipe Sonores Équipe Sonore/Soundteam provides sound services in the Montreal area for community groups that cannot afford to pay professional rates. We build and maintain P.A. systems for community events, rallies, conferences, and performances. We also strive to disseminate and democratize the technical knowledge that is required in order to operate audio production systems. Our purpose is to support the interests of communities and their grassroots struggles for economic and political justice. Équipe Sonore/Soundteam is a working group of QPIRG-Concordia. w w w.eq uip e s onore .wordp re s s .c om equipesonore@riseup.net
überculture is an organization of culture jammers, pranksters, artists and activists. We are deeply committed to the promotion of free and public expression (particularly on campus and within the realm of student space). At the intersection of art and activism, überculture’s primary objective is to resist the commercialization of the public sphere—while working to provide innovative alternatives, progressive campaigns, and a space to (re)create. Through guerilla theatrics, the promotion of independent media, and major campaigns like Buy Nothing Day, überculture works to reinvent the cultural landscape. Find us at 2020 Mackay Annex P-105 or drop us a line at uberculture@csu.qc.ca
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no school (labour day)
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concordia classes begin
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2002 concordia students protest speech by former israeli p.m. netanyahu; five are expelled
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qpirg mcgill film screening (leacock 26)
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activism 101 workshop 13h00 qpirg concordia linking research from classroom to community 15h00 qpirg concordia
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1934 leonard cohen is born
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concordia campus-community tabling fair
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2002 45 minutes after 60 people speak against a proposed condo development at a public consultation in montreal’s southwest, the permit is granted
mardi/ tuesday
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1885 riots in montreal against the compulsory smallpox vaccine
mercredi/ wednesday
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study in action organizing meeting 18h00 qpirg concordia
agsem union council meeting 17h30 thomson house, ball room
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qpirg mcgill culture shock week begins
qpirg concordia annual general meeting 19h00
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1969 montreal police and firefighters stage an 18 hour strike, sparking riots
vendredi/ friday
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no school (anti-colonial thanksgiving)
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activism 101 workshop 13h00 qpirg concordia linking research from classroom to community 15h00 qpirg concordia
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agsem general assembly 17.30 thomson house, ball room
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1966 inauguration of montreal metro
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anti-police family day in montreal
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1977 montreal police raid the gay bar truxx; arrest 146 men and administer compulsory v.d. tests
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boycott divestment sanctions conference in montreal
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2009 three years, nine months and twenty-two long days after taking sanctuary in st-gabriel’s church in montreal, abdelkader belaouni is finally free, having won his struggle for status in canada
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1977 first woman bus driver in the history of montreal transit takes the wheel
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conflict resolution week at qpirg mcgill
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2006 ssmu bans blood drive in the shatner building due to the organization’s discriminatory screening policies
mercredi/ wednesday
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activism 101 workshop 13h00 qpirg concordia linking research from classroom to community 15h00 qpirg concordia
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1987 anthony griffin, a black youth, is shot in the head and killed by montreal police
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1987 ckut receives it’s license to broadcast throughout montreal and surrounding areas
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1972 gay mcgill holds their first of many community dances
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2005 roadsworth, famed montreal street stenciller, is charged with 53 counts of vandalism
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2006 after leaving his morning prayer, mohamed anas bennis is killed by two bullets fired by montreal police
activism 101 workshop 13h00 qpirg concordia linking research from classroom to community 15h00 qpirg concordia
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1997 the comite des sans emploi organize a “food grab� in a fancy montreal resaturant to share the buffet among the 100 supporters
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mcgill exam period begins
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1986 the montreal massacre: 14 women, engineering students at ecole polytechnique, are shot and killed
mardi/ tuesday
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concordia exam period begins
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1968 the flq sets off a bomb in westmount
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march on the international day to end violence against sex workers: marche des parapluies rouges
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1875 bread riots in montreal
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qpirg mcgill offices closed until january 2
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pick up your certain days for political prisoners calendar
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concordia classes begin
mardi/ tuesday
mcgill classes begin
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1919 fairmount bagel opens: the montreal-style bagel is introduced to the world
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1993 agsem receives union certification from the quebec labour commission
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new year’s revolution day of events at qpirg concordia
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1929 first international dogsled mail arrives in montreal
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activism 101 workshop 13h00 qpirg concordia linking research from classroom to community 15h00 qpirg concordia
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1972 canadian air traffic controllers start a 12 day strike, grounding most commercial flights
mardi/ tuesday
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deadline for paper, workshop or art submissions to study in action
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1969 the computer riots begin as over 200 students occupy concordia’s computer centre to protest racism at the university
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1
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qpirg mcgill social justice days start, lasting two weeks
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people’s commission conference http://www.peoplescommission.org/
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1977 premier rene levesque drives over a man lying in a montreal street; the coroner rules no criminal responsibility and levesque is fined $25 for not wearing his glasses
lundi/ monday
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2007 students across canada demonstrate in opposition to rising tuition fees as part of the canadian federation of student-sponsored day of action
mardi/ tuesday
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1928 emma goldman travels to montreal where she gives lectures in yiddish- one on birth control and one on art and revolution
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mardi/ tuesday
activism 101 workshop 13h00 qpirg concordia linking research from classroom to community 15h00 qpirg concordia
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2007 no-one is illegal protest the reasonable accommodation debates in montreal
mercredi/ wednesday
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jeudi/ thursday
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1977 nationally coordinated protests take place against cbc radio’s refusal to air gay public service announcements
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concordia and mcgill reading weeks begin
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mardi/ tuesday
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1982 claude charron resigns as pq house leader after admitting he stole a sports jacket from an eaton store
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israeli apartheid week begins
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2006 mcgill evicts the campus sexual assault centre from it’s night office
mardi/ tuesday
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international sex worker’s rights day
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2007 police attack montreal international women’s day march; several women are beaten and one person is arrested
mercredi/ wednesday
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agsem union council meeting 17h30 thomson house, resto
jeudi/ thursday
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vendredi/ friday
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study in action conference
dimanche/ sunday
13
lundi/ monday
14
mardi/ tuesday
15th international day against police brutality and violence
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mercredi/ wednesday
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activism 101 workshop 13h00 qpirg concordia linking research from classroom to community 15h00 qpirg concordia
jeudi/ thursday
17
1955 fans in montreal pelt nhl commisoner clarent campbell with garbage and smoke bombs at a game for suspending star player “rocket� richard and start a stampede and a 7 hour riot
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agsem general assembly 17h30 thomson house, ball room
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2006 montreal’s ecole de technologie superieure provides space for muslim students to pray
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1989 300 people, mostly mohawk, march through oka to oppose a golf course expansion into a sacred area and mohawk graveyard
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activism 101 workshop 13h00 qpirg concordia linking research from classroom to community 15h00 qpirg concordia
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mardi/ tuesday
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concordia and mcgill exam periods begin
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2006 over 50 police officers raid a solidarity with palestinian political prisoners event at el salon, arresting three individuals
mercredi/ wednesday
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2001 the summit of the americas begins in quebec city; 10,000 people demonstrate in the streets
jeudi/ thursday
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no school
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1845 hundreds of rioters set fire to canadian parliament in montreal while members of the legislative assembly sit in session
mardi/ tuesday
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mercredi/ wednesday
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no school
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2005 la grande bibliotheque opens to the public
status for all march
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2009 bixi, a public bike share program is launched in montreal
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1976 montreal police raid neptune sauna arresting 89 men in a clean up for the olympics
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2005 stella’s forum xxx, a sex worker’s rights conference, opens
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1917 montrealers demonstrate in high numbers against impending draft calls
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1969 john and yoko check in to the queen elizabeth hotel
vendredi/ friday
27
2006 montreal anarchist marching band founded
samedi/ saturday
28
dimanche/ sunday
29
lundi/ monday
30
mardi/ tuesday
31
2005 mcgill evicts the muslim student’s association from their prayer space
mercredi/ wednesday
1
1970 dr. henry morgentaler is arrested in montreal for performing illegal abortions
jeudi/ thursday
2
vendredi/ friday
3
samedi/ saturday
4
dimanche/ sunday
5
lundi/ monday
6
mardi/ tuesday
7
mercredi/ wednesday
8
jeudi/ thursday
9
vendredi/ friday
10
samedi/ saturday
11
1872 labour unions become legal in canada
dimanche/ sunday
12
1843 twenty die when striking workers on the lachine canal are shot by the 74th regiment
lundi/ monday
13
mardi/ tuesday
14
mercredi/ wednesday
15
jeudi/ thursday
16
vendredi/ friday
17
samedi/ saturday
18
2005 no one is illegal march on ottawa begins
dimanche/ sunday
19
lundi/ monday
20
mardi/ tuesday
21
mercredi/ wednesday
22
jeudi/ thursday
23
vendredi/ friday
24
samedi/ saturday
25
1970 minister of indian affairs jean chretien announces a plan to end legal status for native persons
dimanche/ sunday
26
lundi/ monday
27
mardi/ tuesday
28
mercredi/ wednesday
29
jeudi/ thursday
30
anti-canada day
vendredi/ friday
1
samedi/ saturday
2
dimanche/ sunday
3
lundi/ monday
4
mardi/ tuesday
5
2003 clac-logement and other housing activists set up tent city in parc lafontaine
mercredi/ wednesday
6
jeudi/ thursday
7
vendredi/ friday
8
1852 the great montreal fire leaves one fifth of the population homeless, mostly artisans and labourers
samedi/ saturday
9
dimanche/ sunday
10
lundi/ monday
11
1990 the oka crisis begins as quebec police attack a mohawk land occupation in kanehsatake
mardi/ tuesday
12
mercredi/ wednesday
13
jeudi/ thursday
14
vendredi/ friday
15
1990 police raid sex garage loft in old montreal with over 400 queers in attendance
samedi/ saturday
16
dimanche/ sunday
17
lundi/ monday
18
mardi/ tuesday
19
mercredi/ wednesday
20
jeudi/ thursday
21
vendredi/ friday
22
samedi/ saturday
23
dimanche/ sunday
24
lundi/ monday
25
mardi/ tuesday
26
mercredi/ wednesday
27
jeudi/ thursday
28
vendredi/ friday
29
samedi/ saturday
30
dimanche/ sunday
31
lundi/ monday
1
1993 montreal hosts divers/cite for the first time, an lgbt arts and music festival
mardi/ tuesday
2
mercredi/ wednesday
3
jeudi/ thursday
4
vendredi/ friday
5
2007 pervers/cite is launched as a queer summer festival in contrast to divers/cite’s white-washed, corporatized gay agenda
samedi/ saturday
6
dimanche/ sunday
7
lundi/ monday
8
2008 montreal north riot: following the murder of fredy villanueva by the montreal police, and in the context of constant racial profiling, montreal north residents take to the streets
mardi/ tuesday
9
mercredi/ wednesday
10
jeudi/ thursday
11
vendredi/ friday
12
samedi/ saturday
13
dimanche/ sunday
14
lundi/ monday
15
mardi/ tuesday
16
2000 prime minister jean chretien is pied; canadians claim the distinction of being the first to pie their head of government
mercredi/ wednesday
17
jeudi/ thursday
18
vendredi/ friday
19
samedi/ saturday
20
dimanche/ sunday
21
lundi/ monday
22
mardi/ tuesday
23
mercredi/ wednesday
24
jeudi/ thursday
25
1689 1200 iroquois warriors attack montreal
vendredi/ friday
26
samedi/ saturday
27
dimanche/ sunday
28
lundi/ monday
29
mardi/ tuesday
30
mercredi/ wednesday
31
1968 grade school students occupy their school in a montreal suburb, demanding reforms
contacts, notes, whatevs...
school schmool: the organizer 2010 -11 was made possible by . . . co-ordinators kim roos & julia de montigny artwork carly glanzberg, echophone , derek broad, kerri flannigan. kristin li, marcus lobb, noam lapid, rez knoppers, sves, and tyler k. rauman layout and design kim roos & julia de montigny editors/translators amy zanoni, anna leventhal, clayton beugeling, larissa paperscissors, oliver fugler, olivia pojar, joĂŤl pedneault and roberto contributors agsem, carly glanzberg, dana holtby, emilie connolly, emma, farid rener, g-care, kerri flannigan, krzysztof kryzys, jaggi singh, joĂŤl pedneault, jos porter, maggie schreiner, marty fink, michal rozworkski, monica van schaik, robyn maynard, rochelle ross, samir and tasha zamudio
funders campus life fund, mcgill chaplaincy midnight kitchen, qpirg concordia, qpirg mcgill, radical frosh, the sede office, sustainability action fund and the 2110 centre for gender advocacy general l-o-v-e to both of the cutepirgs’ boards and staff and to kinneret and cleve too! many, many thanks to sabine and chadi at katasoho !!! anti-copyright! re-print freely in any manner desired. do not attempt to claim this creative work, in whole or in part, as private intellectual property. to get involved with next year's edition, contact the coordinators: theorganizer@riseup.net
katasoho design & printing 100% recuperated paper