November 26, 2019

The Concordian.

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017

LIFE // Trash Talk profile / The Art of being Single / Fashion staples at The Concordian

ARTS // Cadavre Exquis / Reviewing the Syrian War / Live art meets synth wave / White Cube

SPORTS // Jeremy Murphy profile / A look at the Stingers' shots / Colour Commentary

MUSIC // Raven profile / Quickspins / Clairo review

*news pg.2

 // theconcordian  @theconcordian  @theconcordian theconcordian.com

OPS // Taylor Swift vs. Big Machine / Greenwashing / Healthcare system neglects amputees / Childcare in Canada

*news pg. 2 VOLUME 37, ISSUE 14 TUESDAY NOV. 26, 2019

News.

NEWS EDITORS Jad Abukasm /  @JAbukasm Virginie Ann /  @LaVirginieAnn news@theconcordian.com

COMMUNITY

STITCH & BITCH: CJLO edition

Event brings knitters together to produce their craft while bitchin' about life Hadassah Alencar Contributor

A Stitch and Bitch session was held at Loyola’s Art Hive on Nov. 21, organ i zed by C JL O st at ion manager Francella Fiallos.

The event aimed to build a community among CJLO volunteers and Concordia University students.

The term Stitch and Bitch was initially coined in the 1950s. Participants teach newcomers, share tips and tricks on how to improve each others’ skills, and of course, bitch about anything and everything. Even though the event is knitting-oriented,

anyone with a craft project, from crocheting to scrap-booking, is welcome to join.

Fiallos said she was inspired to create the event because most volunteers at the station rarely get to meet each other. After their shows, DJs usually leave right away.

She wanted to create a sense of community between CJLO members and encourage all university students to come hang out and learn about the station.

“We’ve expanded it to anybody that wants to come because we’re a community radio,” said Fiallos.

“We’re open to new volunteers and people learning about the station and just people who want to have a nice time.”

Fiallos came up with the idea following her passion for the art of knitting. “Knitting is one of my pastimes, it’s one of my favourite things to do, so I thought I would start [these events] with something I love doing,” she said.

Fiallos started knitting after her therapist recommended it as an activity that could help cope with the idleness of winter and the negative effects of seasonal blues. Knitting has been Fiallos’s main hobby for two years now. Her knitting achievements include mittens, scarves, and her current project, a long grey blanket requiring advanced knitting techniques.

“I just found it such a very meditative, cathartic, enjoyable activity that makes you feel really productive and really balanced,” said Fiallos.

She described how the idea is to keep your hands moving but your mind concentrated and still; the activity has a calming and satisfying effect because you can produce something as you sit down, relax and listen to music, a podcast or, if you’re a pro, watch TV.

Knitters were offered how-to instructions, knitting needles and plenty of different colours of yarn, donated by Concordia University’s Centre for Creative Reuse.

Even though everyone’s eyes were on their knitting needles and yarn, conversation came effortlessly. Frustrations

WORLD IN BRIEF:

China’s mass Muslim detention, Koalas killed by fires and Indigenous collaboration on Frozen II Virginie Ann News Editor

On Nov. 24, leaked classified documents showed China’s strategic plan of mass detention for ethnic minorities. They were obtained and verified by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in collaboration with CBC News and other media organizations around the world. Identified as the China Cables, the documents describe the large-scale incarceration and brainwashing of Uighurs, a predominantly Muslim minority in China's Xinjiang province. Adrian Zenz, a leading researcher on the Uighur crisis, estimates

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some were having trying to get their stitches to work turned into rants about school, work, bad choices, their pers ona l l ive s , c h i ld ho o d memories, and funny habits.

Members flowed in and out of topics, as they changed from quiet pauses to focus on t heir projects to laughter.

Stitch and Bitch seems to work for any personality.

For introverts, the knitting project provides a shield and allows you to engage only when you want to. Others fill in when you don’t have much to say. For extroverts, your audience is open for conversation and won’t be moving any time soon. The CJLO

volunteers are easy going and helpful, and the event proved to be a good way to engage w it h and meet ot her students.

While this event was centred around knitting, Fiallos said the purpose of events like these is about building the community and introducing Concordia students to the CJLO radio. Any future events will feature new activities to promote that end.

“Right now it’s a Stitch and Bitch, maybe next time it will just be like a very good old-fashioned pizza night or movie night,” Fiallos said. Photos by Laurence B.D.

that more than 1.8 million Uighurs are or have been imprisoned over the last three years. “What we are looking at in Xinjiang is probably the largest internment of an ethno-religious minority since the Holocaust," said Zenz, in an interview with CBC. Record-breaking fires continue to devastate Australia’s East coast as yet another heatwave worsened the situation last week. Various media reported that more than 1 million hectares of New South Wales and Queensland have been ripped apart by the devastating bushfires which destroyed more than 300 homes. While bushfire season is not uncommon for the country due to dry weather, several scientists agree that this year is abnormally overwhelming, and for all types of lives. The chairperson of the Australian Koala Foundation, Deborah Tabart, estimates that over 1,000 koalas weren’t able to flee the fires and lost their lives, reported the Daily Mail.

Disney is fostering Indigenous collaborations with Frozen II as it hit the theatre over the weekend. Critics over cultural appropriation from the first

movie adopting Scandinavia's Indigenous Sámi culture led the Hollywood magnate to work on the sequel with a team of Sámi experts from Norway, Sweden, and Finland, as reported by CBC. The group was constituted of Sámi artists, historians, elders and politicians. They were consulted on the historical aspect of the storyline, the costumes and the songs to ensure that their culture would be properly represented onscreen.

Graphic by @sundaeghost

SUSTAINABILITY

After seven months, CUCCR reopens in a new space Fern Clair Assistant News Editor Concordia Universit y’s Centre for Creative Reuse reopened last week in a new location after seven months of renovations. The new centre is located in the Grey Nuns Residence, and the bigger space allows for more room for CUCCR to grow.

CUCCR is an organization that takes material – like school binders and fabrics – that would usually be thrown out by Concordia, and offers it for free to Concordia students and anyone that is a member.

“It’s really wonderful to be back and have our doors open, see a bunch of familiar

were delays.

With a new and bigger space, Timm-Bottos is excited to see an influx of people, but because they reopened in a quiet time of the year – with exams and holidays – it's hard to say how popular the new space will be.

Yet, the traffic is still increasingly higher than what it was last year. Timm-Bottos explains that according to their records from last year, around this time of year they would have 20 to 30 people a day, and in the busy times of the year, 70 people a day.

According to TimmBottos, with the new space, they are having around 50 to 60 people a day, and in the

Concordia’s sustainability community, and realized the huge amount of material that an institution like Concordia throws out. The project she then proposed was originally waste diversion, but now it has become a complex organization with around 3,000 members.

There was just a missing link, which was CUCCR.

“There was a lot of fear of what it could look like,” said Timm-Bottos. “But what we found is we have diverted over 19 tons of material in the two years we were open.

Concordia discards over 60 tons a year, so we are barely

SIMPLY SCIENTIFIC: ADDICTION Camila Caridad Rivas Contributor ‘Addict’ is a label that is often thrown around without much thought. If someone likes something a little too much, they’re consider e d a n add ic t i n t he e ye s of t hei r entourage.

Addiction is not a quirky way to describe someone’s love and passion for a hobby. The reality is that addiction and negative stereotypes are causing fewer people to seek help, according to Recovery Lighthouse’s website, an addiction recovery clinic.

Due to a fear of judgment and rejection, addicts often suffer alone and in silence.

How does addiction start though? An addiction is when people lose control over their consumption behaviours as well as the freedom to stop despite the consequences. Lacking self-esteem or being fueled with high levels of anxiety can exacerbate feelings of loneliness and sadness, due to missing their family and friends.

This loneliness may be the door that lets an addiction makes its way into their life. A person may perceive the consumption of certain substances as helping them cope with their negative feelings. The substance brings instant gratification – a phenomenon where a desire for instant happiness causes the person to do certain acts in order to feel better right away.

faces, and a bunch of new people discovering CUCCR,” said Anna Timm-Bottos, the creator of the organization.

“People really were waiting very patiently, and we felt so bad not being open because we know this is such a valuable resource.”

The new space in Grey Nuns, open Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, mainly focuses on being a place where people can create things. It currently has sewing machines, cutting and book binding stations, and Timm-Bottos plans to expand this in the future.

She explained that in May, CUCCR’s original space in the basement of the Hall Building closed to allow for renovations in the new space.

She had planned to open in September, but because of strict security at the Grey Nuns Residence – as it has to be secure for students – there

first week since reopening, they had over 250 visitors.

One of the plans for 2020 is to have a tool library, where people pay either a monthly, yearly, or by-the-semester membership fee, to rent out simple tools like power drills and wrenches, to take home. Timm-Bottos explained that she wants people to have more tool literacy, so that people understand how and when to use them.

She started off as a high school art teacher, where she witnessed teachers being afraid of lacking the budget to buy art supplies and being forced to use their own money to buy them. When she came to Concordia to do her Masters, she saw the same fears in the teachers she was training.

Two years ago, TimmBottos got involved with

scratching the surface, but at least it's something.”

Timm-Bottos hopes the new CUCCR will be more active in making things, rather then the Basement Shed, which refers to the old space in the Hall Building and was seen as more of a free store.

The Basement Shed is currently open Tuesdays and Fridays as a material depot. In January, it will focus more on being a space where people can make things with reused material.

“It still functions that way, but hopefully there are more opportunities [with the new space] for skill shares, workshops, more educational opportunities, where people can learn some skills,” said Timm-Bottos.

Photos by Maya Jain

Sometimes it’s merely habit-related. Imagine someone drinks every single day at a certain time.

The repetition becomes a habit and triggers a need. An addiction will start to form, not only when the person obsessively thinks about drinking, but when habits result in negative consequences.

Such consequences can be social isolation from being in a state of enormous exhaustion, caused by the physical and mental toll of over-consumption.

Other symptoms of addiction include depression and high levels of anxiety during periods of withdrawal. Some may become aggressive. Even when the desire is present, cutting back altogether can be difficult when emotions the addiction helped cope with were never really dealt with.

The victim may not be aware of what they’re going through. It is important never to judge a person who is suffering from addiction: you’re never alone.

Graphic by @sundaeghost

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HEALTH

FEBRUARY 20, 2017

Zoning bylaw means no new fast food restaurants to open in the CDN-NDG borough

POLI SAVVY:

Councillors are finding ways to promote healthy eating Juliette Palin Contributor

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No new fast food restaurants will be allowed to open their doors in the majority of the Côtedes-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough – with the exception of Saint-Jacques Street, upper Décaire Boulevard and Plaza Côte-desNeiges – and the Quebec Superior Court is to thank.

After a three-year battle with Restaurants Canada beginning in 2016, the Quebec Superior Court ruled to uphold the boroughs’ zoning bylaw.

Borough councillor Peter McQueen told The Concordian that only restaurants that don’t fry and don’t use paper plates and plastic cutlery will be allowed to settle in the area.

This ban was brought on by the ongoing obesity crisis in Quebec; whereby, according to the National Institute of Public Health in Quebec, abdominal obesity rates affect one third of the male population and nearly half of the female population. In an effort to break bad habits, the bill targets areas around schools.

McQueen said “the way (students) eat, the kinds (of food) they eat, that has to do with the kinds of food that are available.”

A grandfather clause would apply to the existing fast food restaurants in the area.

They will be permitted to maintain their current location, but if they close down, say goodbye to your favourite cheap pizza joint because they will have to find a space elsewhere.

According to the Institut National de santé public du Québec, it calls for involvement from the community, the city council and the schools. McQueen affirms that councillors “have limited powers. It's not like we’re going out there and, you know, finding entrepreneurs to open these restaurants. I don't think that's the role of the city council or the borough council.”

Le Dépôt, a community food centre in Montreal, is hoping to bridge these gaps. Beccah Frasier, Coordinator of the Youth Programs and “Boite à lunch” After School Program at Le Dépôt remembers a summer promotion hosted by a fast food giant where consumers were encouraged to purchase large sodas, with the promise of free refills all summer long.

“We wrote a letter to the councillors to say ‘this is problematic, giving kids endless access to a soda fountain,’” Frasier said.

“I think some of these efforts to shut down some of the advertising to kids around junk food specifically came out of experiences like that.”

In addition to kick-starting the initiative to increase clean food security in the borough, they have put in place after-school programs and affordable local farmer’s markets on top of the traditional food donation services they regularly provide.

Nicolas Braesh, the Dépots’ farmer’s market coordinator said they target families in the neighbourhood that have trouble affording mainstream market food. He explains that to make a change in students’ eating habits, initiatives should be more concentrated towards schools.

“We’re not going to be against them banning new McDonald’s, especially near

schools,” Braesh said. “All the fast food joints that are already here get to stay, so [the bill] is not very constricting.”

Braesh sees kids from the nearby secondary school rush past the food bank’s windows with enthusiasm every day for a cheap double-slice instead. Most high school students aren’t in dire need of a diet change, but variety is important in order to build balanced and healthy knowledge of what eating should look like, according to Braesh.

It is crucial for school boards and provincial governments to address the cost of healthy foods and the current easy access to cheap, unhealthy options. “What we support is for schools to open cafeterias that make use of ‘le bon sense’,” said Braesh, highlighting the importance of access to a balanced and affordable meal for all students.

For Braesh, school lunches were simple.

“At the time, we had a school cafeteria where it cost 3$ a day and you would get a full meal,” he said. He explained that during the process of passing the new initiative, school boards and institutions could have come if they wanted to.

While we wait for canteens to change, Le Dépôt runs many other after-school and in-class activities with different schools in Montreal. “We work with the kids and they learn to cook and make their own lunch. If they have developed a liking to cooking, they will be more inclined to want to cook their own food later in life,” said Braesh.

Frasier discussed the variety of programs that the organization offers, including elementary and secondary after school cooking programs. Students are taught how to meal prep, about a variety of ingredients and food transformation.

“Food skills and food literacy should be included in the curriculum, absolutely,” Frasier said.

The after school program the food depot runs has its advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage being that the independence of an extracurricular allows for much more freedom to discuss any topic related to food security.

But even most adults have a cloudy knowledge of what constitutes a balanced diet and resources to access to clean food. To bridge the gap is to educate people. “The important thing about putting food literacy back into the curriculum is not to just do it in the same way we used to do it long ago,” Frasier said.

Graphic by Victoria Blair

The growing presence of women in power politics Mishkat Hafiz Contributor

The Trump presidency has allowed for a constant state of spectacle and amusement in the political sphere; these political spectacles have shed light on many issues, including the treatment of women in politics.

Two women who have had a huge impact on female representation and female empowerment were Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.

Ford’s testimony in 2018 gave courage to more women to speak up about their sexual assault experiences. Yovanovitch’s testimony was one of the major highlights of the impeachment hearings on Friday, Nov. 15.

Yovanovitch was removed from office a few weeks prior to Trump’s allegedly incriminating phone call. The speculation around Yovanovitch’s removal from her post in Ukraine was because she would not cooperate with the unconstitutional requests between the two countries that would help Trump’s chances of winning the 2020 elections.

Her testimony reinforces the power of women in politics and high levels of competency and professionalism. The same cannot be said about Trump’s rhetoric through his about Yovanovitch , which were labelled “intimidating” by Adam Schiff Chair of the house intelligence committee.

Yovanovitch’s highly respected testimony echoes the same composed and professional decorum that Ford had when she testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, during the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court of the United States. Kavanaugh was under investigation just like Trump, albeit for different allegations.

He also conveyed anger and hate through his demeanor and words.

The connection between Ford and Ambassador Yovanovitch is important to pay attention to because of their public positions against powerful men. Trump and Kavanaugh had their political power questioned by these women. Yovanovitch and Ford did not attack these men or their reputations; these women only spoke with facts and honest recounts.

It is important to draw this correlation between Trump and Kavanaugh, not just because of the ideologies they’ve expressed, but because of their public rhetoric and behaviour towards women. They both symbolize female oppression through public displays of aggression, whether it was verbal or indirect.

Yovanovitch had her reputation and career publicly attacked by the president. Ford was the target of death threats and public shaming after her testimony. Yet, both stood in public televised hearings to speak up for justice. It is essential to highlight their endurance and courage despite the attacks because they can be considered symbols of female power in the political sphere.

Graphic by @sundaeghost

ENVIRONMENT

Climate Stories: An Inuk Perspective

Jason Sikoak hosted a workshop at 4th Space about Indigenous art and climate change Anthony-James Armstrong Contributor An Inuk Perspective, with Jason Sikoak is an event part of the five-year project led by Elizabeth Fast, an assistant professor in the Depar tment of Applied Human Sciences at Concordia.

The project is called Land as our teacher, and, according to Fast, it occurs “to create land-based prog ra mming by a nd for Indigenous youth to understand the impact [of land-based teachings].” Her initiative has a lot of collaborators, as well as an Indigenous youth advisory council, as she explained.

Land as our teacher is not about raising awareness to non-Indigenous people, but forming a safe space to promote exchanges between communities and connection with nature.

Un i t i n g n a t i o n s through their roots is a great way to heal Indigenous difficulties, according to Fast. She agreed that Indigenous perspectives have a wholesome and sustainable approach in relation to the environment and community, to name a few.

She also explained how meaningful the project is, especially for Indigenous

youth who grew up disconnected from their culture and land for reasons related to colonization.

Fast is driven by offering Indigenous youth land connectedness she did not experience growing up in Manitoba. Understanding the interaction with nature shaped an essential part of Indigenous peoples’ language, culture and identity.

“Some land-based teachings have been lost,” Fast said.

This initiative is purposefully addressing problems within Indigenous communities such as lateral violence, Fast said. It is the result of various assimilation and discrimination policies from the Federal and Provincial governments. According to Indigenous Services Canada, about 30 Indigenous communities across the country still don’t have access to clean water to this date.

Fast acknowledges the lack of education regarding Indigenous knowledge and culture and encourages a focus on Indigenous perspectives. She reiterates her support of The Indigenous Directions Action Plan, a Concordia based initiative, which promotes decolonization and Indigenization of the University with concrete steps.

This workshop was

also meant to acknowledge art as a vehicle for social and environmental progress. Its facilitator, Jason Sikoak, who is from Nunatsiavut, an Inuit territory in Newfoundland and Labrador, taught attendees on how to make painted designs on fabric bags. He stressed the importance of making sustainable art with r e u s a b l e a n d r e c yc l e d material.

Sikoak’s perspective on climate change is based on territorial exploration with his father who witnessed the deterioration of the land over the course of his life. The artist started to address environmental issues with his art after his brother got arrested during the Muskrat Falls protest in Manitoba over the Lower Churchill project.

The ongoing hydroelectric project, next to Muskrat Falls in Labrador, requires the flooding of a 41-square-kilometre reservoir for the dam.

This reservoir is home to soil and plants which contain mercury, and flooding can release carbon that fuels a process called methylation.

According to an article published by the CBC, this phenomenon generates the formation of methylmercury, a neurotoxin linked to health problems. It can poison food supplies, especially fish, which is essent ia l for Inu it survival.

Hydroelectricity is seen as a great green alternative, but it actually devastates Indigenous lands, explained Sikoak. Flooding thousands of hectares of forest destroys the fauna and flora as well as impacting the population who depends upon it.

Sikoak insisted on the

importance of ever yday behaviour regarding a sustainable lifestyle such as avoiding single-use items, buying local, and using reusable bags.

In addition to individual behaviours, collective initiatives such as environ-

menta l art proposed by Greenpeace and climate strikes are creating more exposure.

A significant example is the climate march on Sept. 27, with approximately half a million protesters in the streets of Montreal demanding for the government to make environmental changes.

Rega rd less of a n individual’s understanding

of the state of the environment, t he work shop demonstrated that we are directly affected by climate change and it is only by uniting that we can redefine governance and the way large corporations operate.

“We can’t eat money,” Sikoak said.

Photos by Cecilia Piga

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Life.

LIFE EDITOR Kayla-Marie Turriciano /  @lifewithk_ay life@theconcordian.com

FASHION

Here are some of The Concordian staff’s favourite fashion staples Lillian Roy Assistant Life Editor

As my fashion sense has evolved, so too have my fashion staples. When I was nine, my go-to look was a Paul Frank T-shirt and a thick purple headband. In junior high, it was UGG boots and leggings. By highschool, my typical outfit had shifted to an oversized flannel and shaved head. So, it’s safe to say I was pretty consistent throughout.

When it comes to my current signature look, I typically gravitate towards cropped jeans with white, vintage-inspired sneakers. I love cropped pants because they instantly make a basic outfit look a little more chic and effortless, ya know? I feel the same way about my Reebok Club C 1985 sneakers — I wear these bad boys with everything, from wrap dresses to cargo pants.

As of right now, I’m pretty content with my style.

Then again, I was content in highschool too, when I looked like that mutant spider-baby from Toy Story, so I suppose my wardrobe is always going to be subject to change. That’s the fun in fashion, right?

I asked my friends at The Concordian what they consider to be their fashion staples, and their answers both surprised and delighted me.

I realized I needed them like seven years ago. Each time I would spend a long time choosing them because I didn’t want them to be boring, you know?

They really had to fit my personality. I got this pair when I started university, and they’re actually sunglasses. It took me over a year to find them because they had to be perfect. And here I am, three years later, and I love them and I feel like they really complete me.”

“I’ve always been told by my friends that I’ve been ‘blessed with bad vision,’ which is them saying nicely I’m ugly without glasses and frankly, I agree.

I’ve been wearing glasses since I was in grade three but only got to pick out a pair for myself in Grade nine — before it was my mom picking them out for me. Now, I’m obsessed with glasses and buy a couple of pairs a year.”

Here’s what they had to say:

Katelyn Thomas, Editor-in-Chief Dr. Martens — Chelsea Boots

“My vegan docs are my fashion staple because of their versatility. They can be worn with pretty much anything, they’re SUPER comfy once you break them in (RIP to your feet before that), and they don’t get ruined in the winter because they aren’t made of leather, so the salt doesn’t eat away at them. One quick wipe and they look as good as new, despite the fact that I bought them about five years ago.”

Matthew Coyte, Managing Editor Northern Souvenirs — Flannel

“For me, it's just something warm to wear during these hella long winters, and it's easy to match it with whatever else I'm wearing.

In my first year, I got chirped a lot by my friends for wearing it. Now that I'm in my fourth year, they tell me that it's basically a part of my personality, so I don't think I can ever stop wearing it now.”

Alex Hutchins, Creative Director Brand Unknown — Socks

“Matching my socks to my outfit makes me feel complete, kinda like that cute lil’ cherry on top.

Whether I look like a moderate bum or literal death reincarnated, if my socks match, I feel pretty damn good. I don't go for particular brands, just designs that stand out; cacti, Batman, red roses, pot leaves, rainbow stripes, toe-socks, everything! Even if my socks are a boring, neutral tone, they'll still match an accent piece of my outfit.”

Jad Abukasm, News Editor Simons — Turtleneck

“I just love turtlenecks and always wear them. Quality turtlenecks feel like a warm hug!”

Kayla-Marie Turriciano, Life Editor Etnia Barcelona — Glasses

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“I’ve only had three pairs of glasses since Photos by Laurence B.D.

Chloë Lalonde, Arts Editor/Production Assistant Brand Unknown — Pouch

“After some thought, I think my favourite ‘fashion item’ is a good ol’ pouch. I have many! I like to switch them up depending on their size or what I’m doing. I also have designated pouches for many things — a drawing/pencil case pouch, an everyday pouch… What I love about a pouch is that you can be a bag lady in the day, but by night for vernissages and other art stuff I so often attend — voila! A chic clutch!”

Matthew Ohayon, Sports Editor Ray-Ban — Glasses

Youmna El Halabi, Opinions Editor Calvin Klein — Leather jacket

“I've always been fascinated with the Joan Jett, rock'n'roll style, ever since I was 15. So at first, I was copying a certain style I loved, but now it feels like a necessity in any type of outfit I wear, like my outfit is incomplete unless I top it off with a leather jacket, ‘cause it kind of sets a ‘Youmna’ mood.”

Callie Giaconne, Assistant Opinions Editor Blundstones — Boots

“When I wake up on a dark cold winter morning, finish my coffee and head for the door, my dirty, ugly, stained Blundstones bring me comfort and security. They aren’t cute, they aren’t that stylish — but you literally will not see me trudging through the ice and snow in anything else.”

Laurence Brisson Dubreuil, Photo Editor Members Only — Bomber Jacket

“I love how easy it is to pair this bomber jacket with everything — it’s a lot more versatile than what you’d expect it to be. The bomber style makes it casual enough to wear with jeans and a simple tee. Meanwhile, the shimmer gives it a somewhat chic look that can easily be matched with a blouse and a cropped flare pant. Overall, it’s just a really comfy and interesting piece!”

ENVIRONMENT

Let’s talk about trash, baby!

TrashTalk aims to remove garbage from public spaces to restore their pristine state

“Half of the name is Talk: more than just cleaning it up, it’s preventing it for the future,” said Angad Malhotra, a computer engineering student at Concordia.

Malhotra is one of TrashTalk’s members, taking care of the visual design and marketing aspect.

He and Hygate know each other from John Abbott College, where Concordia has a sister club, but it wasn’t until TrashTalk that the two became closer.

“I didn’t talk to Angad three years prior but I still had his number in my phone,” said Hygate with a laugh. “We don’t remember why. And now we’re friends.”

Diego Rivera, the VP External in charge of event planning for TrashTalk Concordia, is also a philosophy student, which is how he met Hygate and decided to join the club. He spent time in Cambodia over the summer and heard about Tijmen Sissing, the Trashpacker who backpacked across Asia picking up trash.

“Out of that, I really wanted to start some kind of movement that, when I met Lucas, I was like ‘holy shit, this is perfect’,” said Rivera.

On the note of international trash cleanup, 18-year-old Joseph Poulin, who recently joined the club after meeting Tooke, was also inspired. During his trip to Kigali, Rwanda over the summer, townspeople would congregate every week or so and clean the community. Not only has the movement inspired him to join TrashTalk to pick up trash, it has also inspired him and those around him to create less trash.

Native to a small town near Quebec City, Poulin’s family owns a sugar shack. “We started a garden right next to it so that reduces our amount of

the art of being single

W/ KAYLA-MARIE TURRICIANO

Show that you care

Kayla-Marie Turriciano Life Editor “One day, I was browsing Reddit and I saw a lot of posts that were tagged #TrashTag; it was a picture of before and after of a trash cleanup,” said Lucas Hygate.

“I saw that and was like ‘hey, I can do that.’ Then I thought I’ll do it way bigger and now it’s TrashTalk.”

Hygate, a 21-year-old philosophy student at Concordia, began TrashTalk Montreal, or TrashTalk for short, earlier this year. The idea started in February and has massively evolved from the stages that began in Hygate’s basement.

“Now, we’ve grown and evolved into a much larger, official organization that really tries to cater towards hosting these cleanups and inviting people to an event that is really something that we do, rather than just for helping the earth, the motivation is really to try to have some fun with it,” said Hygate.

The project came into fruition in April after floods devastated many communities in the West Island. Hygate recalls the intersection of Pierrefonds and Saint-John Boulevards was so flooded that it resembled a lake more than a street.

The organization is a non-profit that aims to pick up trash in public areas that’s been discarded and collecting for years – but why call it TrashTalk?

“One night I was telling my friend Sam about this idea, he was driving me home,” said Hygate.

“Suddenly, he looks at me and goes ‘Lucas! I have the perfect name for you: TrashTalk’ and then it was TrashTalk.”

“We want to make sure it’s not just superficial talk, we actually want to turn that talk into action,” said Kayleigh Tooke. Tooke is the VP of communications for the Concordia club of the same name that was started on Oct. 7 to facilitate the non-profit’s activities, according to Hygate. She also works with the nonprofit by trying to connect to people to get involved with the organization. Also members of the nonprofit are Malcolm Adamson, Nicholas Tsibanolis and Nicolas Vyncke.

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017

Why are you so scared of showing you care? Is it the fear of rejection; that the other person doesn’t feel the same way? Is it because you value your ego more than developing and nurturing actual human connection? Is it because you’re just an ass and don’t care about other people?

Whatever the reason, it’s – and this might be controversial but that’s what we do here – not good enough.

trash,” said Poulin. “Instead of going to the grocery store and buying packages, we produce our own stuff, like fruits and vegetables.”

“On the first cleanup, it was me and my friend Nick,” said Hygate. “We were going out and we went to this place right next to this very popular commercial area. We looked at it and we started picking up. We cleaned for a solid half an hour or so, not too long, and we found a $10 bill – our first piece of good karma came out of the very first cleanup.”

Since its founding, TrashTalk has conducted approximately 15 cleanups in various areas throughout the West Island. Each cleanup takes approximately four to six hours and can yield massive amounts of trash. To plan a cleanup, they usually scout a few areas that potentially have lots of trash, choose one, then tell city councillors they plan on conducting a cleanup.

They’re well supported by the community in this respect: most of the cleanups attract local politicians, city district members, large groups of volunteers.

One of the places that they’ve worked on is Angell Woods in Beaconsfield. Their most successful cleanup at this location resulted in 1,275 pounds of trash collected – in a space no larger than a couple of hundred square feet. After the trash is picked up and sorted and divided, it’s usually brought to the edge of the location and sectioned off until city workers pick it up and properly dispose of the various types of trash.

The boroughs also often offer gloves and garbage bags to facilitate cleanups which, as Hygate explains, is already a solid blueprint for successful trash removal.

“At all of our cleanups, we’re able to find some very interesting things,” said Hygate. With the interesting trash they find – tractor parts, decomposing cars and 50-year-old 7-Up cans with branding that no one recognizes anymore – they plan to create art pieces such as sculptures. The aim is giving passerbys an incentive to keep the space clean and to not litter in the first place.

“There’s a lot of layers that add up to why TrashTalk is a fun thing to do and a purposeful thing to do as well,” explained Hygate. “People need the opportunity to come out and engage with the environment in a whole, very productive manner where the impact is direct and you see it right in front of you. When you’re done a trash cleanup, what will happen is you’re going to turn around and the place you’ve just been slaving at for three or four hours, and you took out a thousand pounds with another 20 people, you look back and that place really does look cleaner and it really does have a great difference to it.”

Photos by Laurence B.D.

There used to be men (going with this because of the climate of the era) who would literally send photos of themselves and write letters while they were at war to their beloved back home. Men would literally be thousands of kilometres away, on the brink of potentially getting their head blown off, and they still made the effort to show they cared about someone. People literally would die for love – Romeo and Juliet, anyone?

My own grandfather, after asking my grandmother’s father for her hand in marriage and being denied, threatened to lay himself on the train tracks to die if he wouldn’t be able to marry her. He eventually ended up marrying her and they lived a wonderful life together, but do you think that would have happened if my grandfather didn’t show he cared?

Now, I’m not saying you have to go to war and then write love letters to your beloved back home or threaten to kill yourself on the train tracks (seriously, please don’t ever do this) – but show you care. Show that you’re willing to put in the effort for someone, that you care for them, that you’re willing to try everything to be with them.

So many people are afraid of rejection or of having their pride take a hit – but is it worth having fear prevent you from showing someone you care?

Is it worth not appreciating someone to the fullest capacity? Is it worth not going all in for someone you care about?

I don’t think so, and you shouldn’t either.

Life is short, people. Show people you care about them. Tell people you care about them. Your pride and ego can adjust, but opportunities to show someone how you feel about them might not present themselves again.

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If you have any topic suggestions or questions for advice, feel free to reach out to life@theconcordian.com

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Arts.

FEBRUARY 20, 2017

ARTS EDITOR Chloe Lalonde arts@theconcordian.com

EXHIBITION

Erasing misconceptions of war through storytelling Syrian refugee creates exhibition to highlight afflictions of the Syrian War

Ana Lucia Londono Flores Staff Writer

(Re)viewing the Syrian War: Stories from a member of the Red Crescent presents the work of exhibition curator Abood Hamad, a Syrian refugee who worked as a humanitarian aid worker and an aid trainer in the Syrian Arabic Red Crescent. Humanitarian work was urgently needed during the war because of the dangerous conditions in the country.

The exhibition reflects Hamad’s experience while working with the Red Crescent between 2010 and 2016. (Re)viewing the Syrian War challenges misconceptions that North Americans tend to have about Syria.

“Misconceptions tend to be heard when I speak to people about daily life in Syria during the war,” Hamad said. “This can be when I speak about the country’s religion, history or the weather.”

This is the first time that Hamad has curated an exhibition.

He has been working on it for six months, and is feeling excited.

“It’s a great chance for me to connect with Montrealers around a topic I care about,” he said. “After six

months of hard work, I wonder if it will have the impact that I’ve been hoping to obtain.”

Hamad arrived in Canada in 2017; he has only known English for two years.

“I also feel a little bit nervous to present my work in a language that I’m still learning,” he said.

The exhibition presents a collection of images, videos, objects and personal stories written by Hamad. Preparing all of this was difficult for him. The writing process brought him memories of his time working in Damascus, Homs and other parts of Syria.

“I think it’s valuable to share these memories,” Hamad said.

He hopes his work will help the public better understand the experiences that some newcomers from the Middle East have lived.

According to Hamad, North American news media have their own ways of depicting war, which has resulted in some distorted perceptions. “To understand the situation in Syria, I think that the public has to listen to those who’ve survived the war and lived it,’’ Hamad

said. “This exhibition is an opportunity for the public to do so.”

Additionally, the exhibition provides insight as to how the war affects Syrian children.

“In my opinion, children are the most affected,” Hamad said, adding that he served as a child psychosocial aid worker during the war.

The exhibition is also related to two other events: Syrian Art as Transformative Energy, which will be presented on Nov. 29 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. by Alma Salem, and Two

Years in Canada: A Conversation about a Syrian-Canadian Friendship, a discussion that will be held on Dec. 4 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. During which, Hamad will speak about moving to Canada and the way his newly formed relationships have supported him through his journey until the present day.

The events will be held in the Curating and Public Scholarship Lab in the library building, (LB-672, 1400 de Maisonneuve Blvd. W).

(Re)viewing the Syrian War will be open Tuesday through Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m as of Nov. 28 until Dec. 13.

EXHIBITION

Virtual reality meets fine art at Centre Phi

Photo by Shannon Roy.

six artists’ virtual reality creations has one’s mind spinning with curiosity from the moment the VR headset is put on you.

Shannon Roy Contributor The entrance of Centre Phi is open and minimalist as you make your way to the ticket booth. Simplicity, high ceilings and white walls don’t surprise an avid art gallery visitor however, one must not let the simplistic interior fool you.

This creative space is known for its eclectic programming and original content; it’s not your traditional art space. The

8

mission statement declares Centre Phi as a creative hub for a range of artistic practices, not limited to art, cinema, music, design and technology.

What lies at the top of the stairs is an adventure that one would not have imagined to experience while gallery hopping on a typical Sunday afternoon.

Marina Abramović, Olafur Eliasson, Laurie Anderson, Antony Gormley and Paul McCarthy, among others, have used virtual reality as a medium for expression in Cadavre exquis. Being completely immersed in the vision of

Marina Abramović’s creation was the first world that I stepped into. The visuals had me awestruck, and I found myself entirely immersed in the storyline of Rising. Abramović standing before me, in all of her three-dimensional glory, begging for my help to change this planet’s climactic demise. Although a premise-based in a frightening reality, the graphics and sound effects were stunning.

The sound and movement involving waterfalls reflecting Eliasson’s Rainbow seemed out of a glorious dreamworld. Participants stayed moving amongst the dripping reflections longer than expected. The experience was meditative.

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, McCarthy’s C.S.S.C. Coach Internship Stage Coach VR experiment Mary and Eve is a recipe for nightmares, although fascinating, bewildering ones. The shocking, confusing and profound message of this vir-

tual reality experience is not for the faint of heart (or anyone under 16, for that matter). The piece is made up of 12 chapters, and you have the option to try all 12 – each nine-minute chapter becoming more confusing and difficult to withstand. I did not complete chapter 12.

Many of the other pieces were exciting and visually intriguing. Still, I struggled with the reality of the movements. Flying through space or making my (virtual) way through a dark chalk ridden abyss seemed to make my sensitive stomach turn. The reality of the experiences had me take the headset off early to avoid full-on motion sickness.

For anyone aching to try something new and extraordinary, experienced art-goers and less-inclined alike, this is an experience not to be missed.

The aesthetics, concepts, technology and interactive nature of this show boast attractive draws for many.

Tickets can be purchased through the Centre Phi website until Jan. 19.

HAPPENING

Live Art & Synthwave was perfect for socially awkward lo-fi and cookie fans

Happening

in and around the White Cube this week...

CHLOË LALONDE | ARTS EDITOR

Writing has always been a subcategory of making for me; they are one in the same.

On Nov. 15, I got a free pass to Live Art & Synthwave in exchange for guarding the Nintendo. The mini classic Nintendo Entertainment System was set up in a nook with a projector, couches and all the old games on the drive. I had to make sure no one got into any fights or hogged the controllers.

Thankfully, the crowd didn’t need too much moderation. It was a wholesome group, everyone taking their turns to play and otherwise happy to sit down.

With everyone so well behaved, I could ignore my responsibilities for most of the evening. I proceeded to wander, admire the art, bask in an electronic music bath and eat cookies.

“I’m not a snitch.”

— Bonnie Jean

The official line is that the event was produced and organized by Artwave MTL, a new “volunteer-run Montreal project aiming to get local musicians, artists and friends together through live performance events.”

The truth is that this whole affair was dictator-ed into being by an event planner and jam night aficionado who goes by the name Bonnie Jean.

“I actually had friends who tried to throw events and they sucked at it and they would never take my advice and it bothered me so I’m like f*ck you imma do it my way,” said Bonnie Jean in half the time it took you to read it.

“It’s going swimmingly.”

— Mr. Mulgrave

unironic statements of the night. “I think it’s really interesting to see live painting happening in a space where live music is happening because it’s not an art form that we see the process of,” she said. “So it’s really nice to see different art forms being celebrated.”

DJs Tryptish and ELIAS kept the room cozy with warm lo-fi (low fidelity, if you didn’t know… I didn’t) lounge music throughout the evening.

This was intercut with moody and exciting synthwave acts

by Bashu, NAHJI and M.M. Crone, all big deals and worth a trip across town.

While the three bands played, three artists painted away, though the symmetry was accidental. One of the acts had to cancel at the last minute.

Bonnie Jean took it in stride.

“Adapt and overcome, I always say.”

The three artists chose acrylic as their medium, which doesn’t have to mean anything. Although, if I had to make something up, acrylic’s fast drying and permanency of colour, mixed with its crisp edge and flexibility could seem appropriate for an evening obsessed with an 80s aesthetic.

“I like to paint animals.”

— Elizabeth Sorokina

Elizabeth Sorokina, a fashion designer, was painting a rhinoceros and her calf.

I was staring mesmerized at it, picking cookie dough from my teeth, when suddenly she stuck packing tape over the mother rhino. She explained to me that it created an effect when you took it off later and pointed to her other paintings hanging on the wall. I saw it. I thought it imbued them with a strange brightness.

“National Geographic does amazing images of these animals, of a really peaceful moment in the wild,” Sorokina said. “It’s always unpredictable, so it’s always a really rare moment.”

There was a volunteer tasked with taking polaroids in exchange for Packman stickers that people purchased at the cookie and tortilla chips table. He introduced himself only as Mr. Mulgrave, though you can easily track his real identity down on the event page.

Other volunteers took pictures, filmed, checked the door and manned the coat check and ticket “I’m probably just going to counter. It was a labour of love. smoke some weed and come

Maya Brobove, the official back.”— Andres Granados photographer, gave me one of the few

Yoga teacher and musician Andres Granados’s painting embraced the night’s theme. With his dreamy accent, he described it as a Roman statue in a synth-futuristic-neon-80s style. “I’m doing a paperweight-themed painting,” he said.

Andres’ other work was also quite funky, like the floating multicoloured elephant head and the surreal black and white ink giraffe/goat/fish.

“I seem to have a Montreal theme going on.”

— Chris Roy

Beside finished pieces featuring construction cones and the Couche-Tard owl, Chris Roy was painting what I initially thought was a block of swiss cheese covered in red arrows. “Straight lines, no blending of colours, just very clean-cut,” is how he described his work with satisfaction. When I arrived he was adding clean black letters and numbers that referred to significant elements of his life growing up.

I dared to ask about the swiss cheese.“Do you remember the old STM bus transfer?” was his answer. Ohhhhh. The holes…That was way better than cheese, I thought.

“We take debit or credit.”

— Elena Blanco Moleón

The star of the evening, in my opinion, was Elena Blanco Moleón.

The chocolate chip cookies she baked were both rich and sickening. I had four, which was no mean feat.

“They’re all coming back and saying, ‘Oh my god they’re awesome’,” Moleón said confidently. “So I’m really hopeful that the word will spread.”

While art and music were an excellent pretext to leave home, nostalgia, comfort and acceptance were the real themes of the evening. You could draw on the art wall, dance awkwardly to the synthwave, stuff your face or simply sit alone in a corner, absorbed by the rad sounds. It was an event/show/expo/bake sale that gave you permission to miss being a kid for a few hours and I’m looking forward to the next one (looks like it’ll be in early February).

Hi, my name is Chloë and I am in the midst of a brain fog, of some sort, while simultaneously drowning in coursework. I’ve got one foot in Arts & Sciences (Anthropology), and another in Fine Arts. I write stuff, I make stuff, and I teach stuff. Art stuff. I like stuff – there are lots of projects.

Among all my proposals for my assignments this semester, there is one element in common: my inability to focus, and my interest in finding a balance between working intuitively with what one has, as opposed to buying new, following a strict step-by-step process. I was never one for instructions, I improvise recipes and toy with the proper ways to do things, questioning that very notion of “proper,” “authentic”... Why can’t I be... just?

Why must I do anything in any specific way? I am not trying to copy or replicate. I want to absorb what speaks to me, cycling that knowledge out it a way that is my own. I want to investigate industrial and craft practices, how they can both lead to something very well made, though higher value will be placed on that which is handmade, rather than machine-made.

Finding this balance, drawing a line between different genres of Arts writing, between making, is one I still struggle with.

I think of how power and politics lie in the way a message is embedded, in the material they’re conveyed in. Whether in paint or printed words. There seems to be a tug between that which is free, liberating, therapeutic, and that which is skilled, following a specific framing.

It may be this idea of needing to frame work that frustrates me. To differentiate between my writing for The Concordian and my writing for research projects. Why can I not write in the same tone? Why can that not become my very practice?

I hope to do that without failing my classes. It’s hard to create within your own framework… let alone a professor’s? I need clear guidelines in order to make (write) work in the way they would like. If it were me alone, making, writing, it would be easier. I hope. Otherwise… why bother? What’s the point?

I’ve found solace in my not-so-turmoilturmoil with The White Pube, an online alternative art criticism platform with pieces like, “I LITERALLY HATE THE ART WORLD,” “WHY MUSEUMS ARE BAD VIBES” and “Are White Girls Capable of Making Art That’s Not About themselves??”

In “I LITERALLY HATE THE ART WORLD,” White Pube creators, Gabrielle de la Puente and Zarina Muhammad write: “art doesn’t have inherent value, it’s always worth prodding […] the art in amongst all of this is hardly ever worth what we put ourselves through to facilitate it.”

Graphic by @joeybruceart

Martin Payette Contributor

I feel that GDLP/ZM, I feel that. And I don’t really know what to do.

9

Music.

MUSIC EDITOR Immanuel Matthews /  @immanuelmatt music@theconcordian.com

PROFILE

Raven talks inspiration, performing live, and her new EP Evan Clarke Contributor Hot off the release of her second EP Some Kind of Solace, Raven sips a pint of Guinness as she talks about the musical journey that led her to Montreal.

Being from Invermere, a small town in the Rockies, she talked about her life in the mountains.

“I grew up on a small cabin homestead in the woods, definitely a sort of hippy upbringing which is reflected in my full name—Raven Juniper Winona Jane Hart-McAllister,” she said as she laughed, “I definitely didn’t have a shortage of artist names to choose from.”

Raven began her career by playing covers of folk and country songs—the types of songs commonly heard in her mountain town of 3,000 people.

It wasn’t until her parents introduced her to the musical stylings of Norah Jones, Morcheeba and Billie Holiday, that Raven found her niche.

From the age of five, piano and singing recitals were a regularity for Raven. This resulted in a deep love for performing.

Taking a quick sip of her stout, she mentioned that her “favourite part of the entire process is performing.” This is not surprising considering her performance at the Some Kind of Solace release party in an Old Port graphic design office turned, intimate, dimly lit music venue.

With the help of her band, Raven confidently took the audience through the entirety of the new EP, granting the audience’s request for an encore of her single “E.T.A.” Pink lights lit the stage while Raven swayed to the beat, the saxophone player adding an element of depth to the music that filled the space.

Her love for fashion and stage aesthetics helped create a dreamscape in which the audience was

10

enveloped, as the neo-soul songs grooved through the Old Port graphic design office turned intimate, dimly lit music venue.

After highschool, Raven travelled the globe before returning home and beginning work on her first EP Illusions with her childhood best friend, Moneo. Although she did not have the ability to record while moving from country to country, Raven believes that the experiences heavily influenced her songwriting and helped her find her voice.

After three years of country-hopping, Raven found herself back in Invermere, unsure what to do next. This is when she and Moneo decided to put those emotions and experiences into Illusions. This gave her insight into the writing and recording process – insight which would be used to improve her songwriting and enabled her to hone her craft before heading east.

Shortly upon arriving in Montreal in 2017, Raven met producer and partner Fabrice Jean. Together, they spent hours in their home studio in the Mile

End, writing and producing her most recent work. With a love for R&B, jazz, and soul, the duo worked tirelessly on the recent batch of songs, some of which include lyrics that were directly influenced by the recording process.

In “Golden Hour,'' the first track off the new EP, Raven sings of

Judging by the quality of the most recent EP and the response to her live shows, it’s safe to say that she is one to keep an eye on.

Photos by Laurence B.D.

“My voice didn’t suit folk or pop covers, they just ended up sounding more jazz and soul than I intended – my voice led me to the direction I’m going in now."

ment, where the “bed touched the fridge and it was chaotic, but something about it was really special.”

Throughout all of the songs on the EP is Jean’s impeccable production that draws influence from multiple genres, seamlessly blending them in a unique mix, which provides the perfect soundscape for Raven’s voice. Although all of the music was produced in the home studio, the lead vocals were recorded at Celine Dion-frequented Piccolo Studios in Montreal, where the new environment inspired some of Raven’s best takes.

“Sonically, I felt like I was finally creating stuff I really liked and wanted to share it and to keep up that creative momentum Fabrice and I had going for Some Kind of Solace,” she said as she finished off the pint.

Graduating from Concordia’s Communications program this year, Raven is looking forward to having more time to put towards her music. With a new single ready for release this month, and an album release show in Quebec City on Dec. 6, Raven has a busy schedule ahead.

“I have no intention of slowing down,” she said. “Actually, quite the opposite.”

spending a scorching hot summer day in Jean’s tiny, studio apart-

SHOW REVIEW

Clairo’s anthems are as soft as lullabies A slight audio mishap wasn’t enough to discourage the crowd

“I never say your name But I wrote these chords with you in mind I've met you on the benches Of places where I know we can still hide Sometimes it’s hard 'Cause I just wanna call you and cry”

Chloë Lalonde Arts Editor

Monday, Nov. 18, was not a pleasant evening. It was cold, the promise of freezing rain lingering in the air. Clairo’s stage at Corona Theatre was set with a carpeted platform and a crescent-moon-like semi-circle structure.

I first came to know Clairo sometime last year, my little sister (so little, she’s 18) showed me her favourite song, “Flaming Hot Cheetos.” It’s a vibe. I wouldn’t describe Clairo’s music as “flaming hot,” it’s more so sleepy, kinda moody, almost sullen, and very pastel.

I expected her performance to be bit dancey. It wasn’t. My sister said it was as though Clairo was frightened of the crowd and absolutely did not want to be touched by anyone, under any circumstances. Cotton candy clouds projected on her crescent moon, Clairo’s anthems are as soft as lullabies.

Fans handed Clairo a box of crackers, she considered it, seemingly reading the ingredients. My sister whispered to me, “oh my god, those are veggie thins!” We used to eat these crackers with chicken noodle soup at my grandmother’s house.

Apparently Clairo discovered a straw in the box, disgusted, she returned it to the crowd. I was distracted by a loud pop, followed by a couple more loud pops.

The people in the crowd kept on, despite the sound mishap, shouting compliments and swaying. Eager for her attention, someone threw a single rose on stage, she barely noticed it. But my heart lies with Clairo’s guitarist, Hayley Briasco (aka Kim Tee), who was jamming, dancing and really feeling herself in her small corner of the stage. She really kept up group morale.

Throughout the night, cheesy sunsets, landscapes, seascapes, waves, desert, mountains, alps and a worm burrowing into

Graphics by @sundaeghost

Quickspins TINASHE

SONGS FOR YOU

Songs for You is Tinashe’s first album since her departure from RCA Records shows how much better she is on her own terms.

Following a lengthy period of silence and frustration from Tinashe, she divorced her label, RCA Records, after her last album, Joyride, received mixed reactions and poor album sales. Now with no leashes or boundaries, Tinashe has released Songs for You, her best work in three years. She seems at home, bouncing from sultry R&B, to club bangers, and even genrebending tracks such as “Die a Little Bit.”

TORY LANEZ

8/10

CHIXTAPE 5

 TRIAL TRACK: Hopscotch

With the fifth installment in his Chixtape series, Tory Lanez has refined his formula, and expounded upon it, bringing in a stacked list of features

 STAR BAR:

Since 2011, Tory Lanez has been

"Wish you would say somethin' to make me change my mind Got me feelin' like somebody else I been so patient with you but you won't act right And I'm tired of sleepin' by myself What is we on? Somethin' is wrong” - Tinashe on “Touch & Go”

The production is gleaming with personality, especially on the highlight “Hopscotch,” Tinashe’s most club-ready hit with an infectious hook and stylish flows spread across the track. Tinashe shines the most on “Story of Us,” “Die a Little Bit,” and “Feelings” which are all sharply written.

Songs for You is a strong return to form for Tinashe that might help her regain some traction in the mainstream. It’s a carefully-crafted album that ranks among 2019’s most consistent R&B releases.

sand took turns filling the crescent moon behind the performers. Maps of the world, smushed together, all continents one, only to break apart. An outline of the United States, California underwater… softly sinister topics sprinkled between the natural beauty. An honest, dark humour shared by all millenials and GenZ’s when facing our uncertain futures.

Clairo is, like her music, timid, caring, calm, and quite reserved; her lyrics melting in with the melody. She put forth a new, currently untitled song, created on tour in Oregon. She sang alone on stage, with her guitar, without her band. I was disappointed I couldn't keep watching Kim Tee wiggle.

I can’t help but wonder who she’s singing about, who hurt her? Immunity is the artist’s first polished album, with angsty, emotional and romantic tracks.

The album seems to manifest immunity from other people’s bullshit, from staring gazes and pointed fingers at queer couples in small towns.

The artist closed off the night with the viral Youtube video that gained her fame in 2017, "Pretty Girl,” a lo-fi track captured the eyes of millions of viewers.

The video projected on stage, her eighteen year old self wearing cat eye glasses, her hair in pigtails, lip synching and dancing to her song while seated in her bed.

Ending on a warm, happy note, orange flowers in the background, Clairo wrapped the audience in a warm hug before sending them off into the cold.

— LOUIS PAVLAKOS, STAFF WRITER

carefully crafting a fan-favourite collection of R&B mixtapes with the Chixtape series. With the fifth installment, Lanez takes the sampled-based formula that he’s familiarized fans with and expounds upon it.

On Chixtape 5, Lanez and producer Play Picasso put a tremendous amount of care into updating these classics to fit contemporary R&B conventions.

The inclusion of the original artists on most of these tracks helps to take the series to the next level, though not all the features connect as they should.

Overall, Lanez has delivered a nice ode to the classic R&B sound of the 2000s. The production is consistently fantastic throughout, and while Lanez himself isn’t saying much of substance, his melodies and energetic presence make up for it. Chixtape 5 might not reinvent the wheel, but it builds on the foundation laid by its predecessors, taking the series to new heights.

7.8/10  TRIAL TRACK: Jerry Sprunger

 STAR BAR: “I know dropout Rovers, pop out sofas Was with me when I wasn't eatin', we would pop out Stouffer's You see, that's why I'm still f***in' with you Head down, ten toes, still thuggin' with you” - Lanez on “A Fool’s Tale (Running Back)”

— WESLEY MCLEAN, STAFF WRITER

11

Sports.

SPORTS EDITOR Matthew Ohayon /  @MatthewOhayon sports@theconcordian.com

HOCKEY

How shot location has been key to Stingers' early success

Breaking down the Stingers' elite shot generation and suppression Matthew Coyte Managing Editor

team succeeds when it’s able to control the puck around the net, crash the crease and generate rebounds. In the team’s first game against McGill, the What’s that famous saying? shots were scattered with no real concentration. On Nov. 10, the “You miss 100 per cent of the Stingers played Montreal, one of the shots you don’t take. - Wayne top teams in the country. They manGretzky” aged to control play around the net,

- Michael Scott and that led to 15 shots from the crease, and the Stingers shutout the

Despite the obvious cliché, Carabins 4-0. Their only loss of the the best way to win hockey games season, a 3-2 shootout loss to Carleton, is to get pucks on net. The Concordia was largely due to defensive lapses Stingers women’s hockey team is and a hot opposing goalie that made currently the top-ranked team in U 45 saves.

Sports, and one of the biggest reasons "For us, the best areas to be able to has been the team’s ability to generate score goals is net-front, within the high-quality shots, without sacrificing dots, up to the top of the circles,” any defensive intensity. said head coach Julie Chu after her

team’s weekly Wednesday skills

In nine games so far this practice. “I think that's a really big but also spreading the offence to see how good they are, just look at season, the team is averaging 34 emphasis for ourselves. To not only other players. Add high-end players how they managed to shut out McGill shots per game, and have scored 30 be an exterior team moving the puck, like Olivia Atkinson, Marie-Pascale and Montreal in back-to-back games. goals. On the defensive side of the but we have to get to the net. And B e r n i e r a n d B r i g i t t e Goa lie Alice ice, they’ve only allowed with the goalies we play Lagnagniere, and you see why Phi lber t has 26.56 shots per game. While against, they're talented, teams have struggled to slow been a massive some teams play above so if we only stay on the down the Stingers. part of this sucexpectations due to balexterior and only take “What's fun is that cess, but looned shooting percentages, shots from there, they're we have a lot of talented players suppressing goals/game the Stingers have a team easy saves. We're focusing with a lot of skill,” said Chu. high-quality shooting percentage of 9.8 a lot on getting to the “That increases our opporshots has per cent, an extremely shots/game net and trying to create tunities to be threats on the ice. When become the Stinger M.O. lately. For sustainable rate. Their 3.33 traffic and winning net- you only have one player that really Chu, all of that starts at the offensive goals per game is tied for first in all front battles as much as we can.” has a tremendous shot, and the other end of the ice. of U Sports. It’s not surprising that With all of the talent that [players] aren't really threats, and “When we have a good forethey’ve only been outshot twice all Chu has managed to recruit to the you're only trying to feed one person, check, the ability for the transition season, against the University of Stingers since becoming the team’s it's easy to eventually shut down of the opposing team becomes less,” Ottawa on Nov. 17 and on Nov. 24 head coach in the summer of 2016, attacks.” said Chu. “Or we might have extra against McGill. The Stingers won it shouldn’t be a surprise With the most goals numbers back, so they don’t have both of those games. that they’ve emerged as the in the RSEQ so far this the ability to attack and get more

This season, I’ve been tracking top team in the country, and season, and peppering 3-on-2's. I think our forecheck has shots (for and against) for seven out were named the number one opposing goalies with been really good, which is our first of the team’s first nine games of the ranked team in U Sports for endless high quality line of slowing down the offence of season (only games I’ve missed have five weeks in a row at the shots per game, they’re the opposing team. Secondly, in [our] been the ones where the team travels time of publication. Players bound to tire any goalie zone, we work a lot on our defensive to Ottawa to play Carleton and U of like Audrey Belzile, Rosalie goals out. It’s been their key zone coverage, and we were just O). As this team keeps playing games, Bégin-Cyr, Emmy Fecteau to outlasting talented trying to find ways to smartly prespatterns start emerging. and Claudia Dubois have shown that teams like McGill and Montreal. The sure.Being good with our sticks,

The big one being that the they’re not only capable of generating Stingers are not only taking a lot of being great with contact, those are Stingers love to shoot in close. The high quality chances basically at will, shots, but they’re managing to get going to help us hopefully keep our the majority of those shots off in opponents to the exterior." dangerous areas. Olympic pistol Despite the team’s hot start shooters and archers would be jealous to the season, Chu still says that there o f t h i s k i n d o f c o n s i s t e n t are “lots of different aspects” that placement. she wants the team to focus on. Most

On special teams, while the of all, the team’s breakouts. power-play struggled to start this "The consistency of our season only scoring four times on 37 breakout is always something that's power play chances it’s improved as huge,” said Chu. “In the same way the season has gone on. Chu talked that we say our forecheck 200-feet about how the team has been working away from our net is really important on reading the play better and estab- in the defensive side of our game, lishing that net-front presence that’s our breakout is huge in our ability frustrated other RSEQ teams all year. to create offense. Our ability to shut

Looking at the scores, it would down the opponent, be able to turn be easy to fixate on the Stingers the puck, make the right reads and offensive prowess, but they’ve been get momentum and energy up the just as good on the defensive side of i c e w i t h n u m b e r s i s r e a l l y things. They’re the only team with a important.”

Photos by Cecilia Piga positive goal differential at +14. To 12

3.33

34

30

PROFILE

Jeremy Murphy is the RSEQ rookie of the year

Oh

Alec Brideau Assistant Sports Editor

What’s going on with Mason Rudolph and Myles Garrett?

When the Concordia Stingers football team recruited wide receiver Jeremy Murphy, they were confident they were getting something good. However, they couldn't have guessed at that time how much of an impact Murphy would have in his first season.

“I thought Murphy was a very good receiver in college, and that he could bring that talent to the university level,” said head coach Brad Collinson.

“He exceeded our expectations. To do what he did in his first year is rare. I knew he had it in him. I just didn't know he would show it this year.”

Murphy comes from the Collège ChamplainSt-Lambert Cavaliers where he played in the Réseau du Sport Étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) division 3.

Murphy was named the rookie of the year in his first season there in 2016, as well as being named to the offensive all-star team. Last year, he was named the best offensive player and was once again on the offensive all-star team.

In his first season with the Stingers, the Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville native caught 34 passes for 491 yards. He also scored four touchdowns in eight games, which ranked him first of all RSEQ receivers. Murphy said his first season with the Stingers was a blast.

“It was a great experience, especially for a first-year player like myself,” Murphy said. “I learned many things, on and off the field, about being on time, my occupations, school and others.

On the field, you learn just by the way you listen to your coach, and then apply the instructions.”

It was clear after their first game of the season against the Carabins de Montréal that Murphy would become a staple in the Stingers offence. People around the team knew that veteran James Tyrell would be the number one receiver, so it was up to the rest of the receiving corps to prove their worth -- Murphy had an instant impact.

Collinson thought Murphy developed well in his first year with the Stingers, and showed he was one of the best freshmen in the league. He said Murphy is a competitor who trusts his abilities, explaining why he had success.

“I think he became a better route runner,” Collinson said. “He always had great chances as a

R ARY U T O L N CO MME ew h t t O a C w/ Mayon

During week 11’s Thursday Night Football game, an ugly incident happened in the dying moments of the game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns.

receiver, which is key. Those are really things we enjoyed [from] him this year. Football's very important to him. He enjoys the sport, and that passion transferred to how he played on the field.”

Murphy’s statistics allowed him to be named the RSEQ rookie of the year earlier this month. The wide receiver said he’s happy to receive such a reward.

“Obviously I wanted to win the

RSEQ rookie of the year, but it wasn't part of my expectations [entering the season],” Murphy said. “I was just trying to make my name known, and create a spot on the team for myself, nothing more than that.”

In addition to the RSEQ rookie of the year, Murphy was named the most outstanding rookie in Canadian university football last week, a first for a Stingers player since Liam Mahoney in 2007.

Collinson said the team won’t change its coaching because of how Murphy performed in his first year. He explained that everyone will start over again next season and progress at their rhythm.

“It's not going to put pressure on [Murphy],” Collinson said. “We just want him to have a good season, and continue to develop and trust the process we coach here at Concordia. If he does that, good things will happen.”

Pressure or not, Murphy will be a player to watch in 2020-21. Teams now know what he's capable of, and will try to limit his production when they play against him and the Stingers.

With a new quarterback next season, as veteran Adam Vance completes his fifth and final season with the team in 2019-20, players might have an adjustment period entering the new season.

However, some of the team's wide receivers were also playing their last season, which could put Murphy into a bigger role in 2020-21, and allow him to continue on where he left last year.

Murphy said the goal for him is just to continue developing his game and what he's been working on since joining the team last season.

“For me, it's just to improve on what I've already created,” Murphy said. “As a team, we just have to win more than we did this year, and push it to the second round of the playoffs.”

Photos by Kyran Thicke/Concordia Stingers

Mason Rudolph was hit by Myles Garrett after he threw a pass. Rudolph was pissed and went after Garrett, tugging on his face mask. Garrett responded by removing Rudolph’s helmet and hitting him in the head with it. If you haven’t seen the video by now, take a look at it. It’s pretty frightening.

Garrett was subsequently suspended indefinitely by the NFL. He appealed the suspension but it was quickly upheld.

In an investigation of the incident, Garrett insisted that Rudolph called him a racial slur which sparked the entire thing in the first place. This happened about a week after the initial helmet-swinging brawl.

The NFL responded by saying that they found “no such evidence” that supported Garrett’s claim.

I’m going to say this before I give my opinion on the whole situation: I am very well aware that I, a white male, am about to give an opinion on something race-related.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s think critically about this for a second before calling Rudolph a racist.

The NFL mics up every quarterback in the league during games to acquire audio for NFL Films purposes.

So if Rudolph did in fact utter a racial slur at Garrett, they would be able to track down that audio right away. Garrett said “I know what I heard,” so if he is telling the truth, this is a major problem not only for Rudolph, but the NFL as well, as they would be seemingly trying to hide this.

The second part that raises my suspicion of this story is the fact that Garrett came out with this accusation about a week after the incident. I don’t know the thinking behind this is. In my experience as a Jew, if I was faced with any type of anti-semetic comment, I wouldn’t wait to take this privately. The second a microphone was placed in front of my face, it would be the first thing that left my mouth.

No one can say for sure what was said between Rudolph and Garrett.

Maybe Rudolph did say something.

Maybe Garrett is lying. Or maybe Garrett misheard Rudolph.

I won’t come out and call Garrett a liar, but let’s pump the breaks on calling Rudolph a racist for something we aren’t 100 per cent sure he said.

13

Opinions.

FEBRUARY 20, 2017

OPINIONS EDITOR Youmna El Halabi / @HalabiYoumna opinions@theconcordian.com

FAMILY

The provincial government needs to fix the childcare system Lucie Laumonier Contributor While planning my move from Calgary to Montreal with a toddler last year, I was in a state of joy. Not only is childcare largely subsidized in Quebec, but I had heard wonders about the CPE system. CPE stands for “centre de la petite enfance,” government-funded daycares where qualified educators follow Montessori-like pedagogical programs.

It turns out things were more complicated than I expected. First of all, the length of the CPEs waitlist is unfathomable.

According to the Québec Ministry of Family, as of March 2018, CPEs had a capacity of 96,000 spaces.

Compare that to more than 115,000 in private daycares and some 90,000 in athome private daycares. Most children, therefore, attend private facilities — subsidized and unsubsidized, the cost of the latter being alleviated by tax returns.

Licencing private daycares costs less than opening more CPEs, which is the avenue the past and present governments have embraced. While childcare in a CPE costs on average $60 of public funds per day per child, a day in a private daycare usually amounts

to $22 in taxpayer money, say Le Soleil and L’Actualité.

Second, too many private daycares are of substandard quality.The Observatoire des tout-petits, part of the Lucie et André Chagnon Foundation, said in a 2018 report that between 33 and 40 per cent of children placed in private daycares “are attending facilities of poor or very poor quality.”

The proportion is below 3 per cent for CPEs. In a mirror effect, while 45 per cent of CPEs provide “good or excellent” care, less than 10 per cent of private facilities do.

In one private daycare I had put my child in, I found that kids aged between two and three were just put

in front of the TV for several hours a day instead of taking part in the educational activities I was told they were doing. Some weeks, children did not go outside a single time, even when the weather allowed it.

Besides health and safety regulations, requirements to open a private daycare are minimal. In theory, two out of three educators should be ‘qualified,’ which is to say that they have a diploma in early childhood education.

But a 2016 report of the Ministry of Family found that only 16 per cent of private daycares respect the two out of three qualified educators’ rule.

In an attempt to make childcare more affordable for families, the

Legault government announced on Nov. 8 the reduction of fees in subsidized facilities, from up to $13.20 per day to $8.25 per day. And, according to La Presse, the government is working on subsidizing 3,000 spaces in private daycares. These measures are beneficial to Quebec families. However, they do not solve one of the most pressing and worrisome issues of childcare in Quebec: the quality of care in private facilities.

Finally, Premier François Legault campaigned on the promise of developing the preschool system for kids of age four. But the educational support and equipment in preschools are poor as per the study by the Observatoire des tout-petits. Children in CPEs receive a better education than children in preschools.

Too many families struggle to find decent daycare. Low-income parents rarely have the time and money to invest in finding a good option and potentially commuting to get there. More CPEs have to be established to foster the needs of Québec children, especially in underprivileged neighbourhoods. And the bar needs to be raised with respect to the regulation of private daycares.

The future of the next generation is at stake.

Graphic by @sundaeghost

MUSIC

Gender inequality is real in the music industry Taylor Swift can’t re-record or use her old songs Maria Bouabdo Staff Writer owning Swift’s music means he legally controls it, which is why he’s As a 20-year-old music fan living in Canada, I have been listening to Tayallowed to tell her what she can and can’t do with it. lor Swift for as long as I can remember. When I was younger, she was an

Essentially, two men who didn’t write, sing or collaborate on her idol, and I still love her and her music. From “Our Song” to “Lover,” her songs wouldn’t let her perform them or use them in a documentary she songs just keep getting better. I have to admit is filming with Netflix. It is evident that that there’s something about her old songs this is all an attempt at controlling Swift in that hits me differently – perhaps because of order to make more money off of her and my sentimental ties to the memories of these her work. older songs.

This issue speaks to a wider systemic is On Nov. 14, Swift tweeted about sue of women’s rights in music. Swift is a how Scott Borchetta, founder and CEO successful and well-respected artist, but it of Big Machine Label Group, and Scooter seems like it’s never enough. This has hapBraun, the company’s new owner, wouldn’t pened to many other amazing women in let her perform at the American Music the music industry. Demi Lovato has been Awards (AMAs), where she’d be honoured body-shamed countless times by fans, mewith the Artist of the Decade Award. dia, and other celebrities. According to

Ironically, as soon as she expressed MSN, Lady Gaga was also judged because of concern about the restriction, Big Machine her looks and fashion sense and felt she was Label Group released a statement saying never enough. Miley Cyrus was also judged artists can perform their music live withafter the split with Liam Hemsworth. This out the label’s permission. They granted confirms that there is still a long way to go “all licences of their artists performances for gender equality. to stream post-show and for rebroadcast However, according to Vox, Swift will be on mutually approved platforms.” HowevGraphic by @sundaeghost re-recording all of her old songs starting in er, they still won’t let the artists re-record or use them. This November 2020, when her contract with Big Machine Label Group lestatement was obviously directed at Swift. gally allows her to. But what about her Netflix documentary? Borchetta

When Braun purchased Big Machine Label Group, he became and Braun won’t let her use any of her old recorded songs. What would a the owner of Swift’s first six albums. According to Swift, Borchetta Taylor Swift documentary even be without “Mine” or “I Knew You Were never gave her the opportunity to buy her music before selling the Trouble?” label, even though it is suspected he did with other artists. Braun In the meantime, show Swift some support by using #IStandWith-

14

Taylor on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

SUSTAINABILITY

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017

Why we have fallen victim to greenwashing

We need to learn how to become educated consumers, and debunk the false branding of “sustainable” products.

Callie Giaccone Assistant Opinions Editor Have you ever noticed that your favourite shampoo is now mysteriously in a green bottle, with shaded trees and reminding you that plastic can be recycled? Or maybe you feel like the paper towel you usually buy to wipe your dirty counter is helping you change the world because it has a leaf on it? Did that kombucha bottle come up from the roots of the earth, or is that just the new design?

If any of these scenarios resonate with you, you might be a victim of a marketing tool called greenwashing. This term was coined by an environmentalist named Jay Westerveld in the 1980s, “to describe companies which grossly overstate the environmental or ethical benefits of their products and services.”

That’s right, 1980. We have been manipulated by falsely sustainable products for almost 40 years and the trend is only growing. This marketing tool could not be more valuable in our modern economy, as everyday we collectively panic about the climate crisis.

Many of us are doing what we think is right by buying what we

think are sustainable products. Capitalism has a funny way of turning a disastrous crisis into an economic opportunity, with big companies exploiting and manipulating the market for their personal gain.

One of the main issues with greenwashing is that defining sustainability is not as straightforward as it is marketed to be. We tend to respond well to simplified categories and digestible explanations, but sustainability is a very complex issue. It is often defined as maintaining ecological balance or being environmentally conscious, but these terms are vague, and companies are using this to their advantage.

Let’s take a look at a textbook greenwashing example: Fiji water bottles. Fiji as a company has done a very effective job at perpetuating a message that they will help you connect with nature. One of their slogans was “a gift from nature to us.” Not to mention, they got a cute little girl to say it, which creeped me out, but seemed to work for others. The creepy little girl also says, “bottled at the source, untouched by man.” I mean, it’s beyond me how they created mass amounts of bottled water without touching anything. Also, where is that girl’s mother? Anyway, the irony here is obvious.

Fiji promotes connection to nature, while feeding into the destruction of it.

According Our Changing Planet, 47 per cent of Fijians do not have access to clean, safe water. This

company is sending a message that they are saving forests and creating sustainable change, but it’s propaganda. The unnerving thing is, even though, New York Times Magazine came out with an article criticizing Fiji’s integrity in 2008, the company is still a massive capitalist giant. Although we can rationalize the clear intent of the company, they are professional manipulators. We have to push back against our instincts to get lost in a little girl’s cute voice and a pretty forest background.

My consumer conscience relaxes when I clean my toilet bowl with a green bottle. I fall for buzzwords like “all natural,” “eco-friendly,” and “sustainable” all the time. A lot of people do — that’s why companies continue to do it. This being said, we have more control than we

HEALTH

What about amputees?

Canada’s “free” healthcare is actually pretty limited Patrick McKenna Staff Writer On the east end of my not-so-prosperous neighborhood, and, on occasion the green line, I notice an increasing number of amputees — usually with one or both legs removed at or below the knee. Curious as to why they all were wheelchair-bound, I did some research and discovered that they probably can’t afford anything better.

In some Canadian provinces, Ontario being one of them, about 70 per cent of healthcare funding comes from our taxes and the remaining 30 percent is paid for by you and I directly — or through private medical insurance. The 30 per cent that we passy for

ourselves includes most dental, hearing and vision care, prescription medication, certain vaccinations, or a ride in an ambulance. While these holes in the system are known to most Canadians, they’d probably assume that a prosthetic limb required after an amputation would be covered. Sadly, they’d assume wrongly. Fact is, the Canada Health Act doesn’t cover prosthetic limbs.

Provincial programs to fund prosthetic limbs are complex to navigate and may even be deceptive. According to CBC, Ontario’s Assistive Devices Program (ADP) claims to cover 75 per cent of the cost of artificial limbs but the coverage is capped. ADP’s approved prices were last reviewed in 2012; advocacy groups claim that even back then, prices were severely out of date.

Nineteen-year-old Emilio Dutra-Lidington lost his right leg to the propeller of a boat on Lac Pemichangan two hours north of Ottawa.

Following multiple surgeries, the time came for a prosthetic leg – the quoted price was $91,577. Emilio’s family learned that the leg had to be replaced every three to five years for common technology and every six to seven for higher technology. The life-time cost of the prosthetic leg might run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

How much would Ontario contribute? A sum of $6,792. Help for Emilio came from a crowd-funding campaign launched by his parents in June 2019; within four months it amassed $130,000.

Ontarian Patty De Guia lost her leg to cancer a few years ago. Global News reported that while in hospital, her chemotherapy meds were covered; but once home, her lower-dose chemo pens ($4,000 each) were only partially covered by her private insurance.

With her finances already depleted by out of pocket expenses for at home chemo, she couldn’t afford the $50,000 prosthetic leg her doctor recommended. She opted for a $10,000 “loaner,” $2,500 up front and a promise to return the leg once she got something better.

After nine years, De Guia’s neighbours set up a GoFundMe page to help her buy a suitable prosthetic which cost almost $90,000.

think. There are good companies out there — but greenwashing is loud and invasive, and often drown them out.

When you are buying products keep in mind where they are coming from, how much packaging they use and what ingredients they consist of, although this is just the tip of the melting iceberg.

Like Our Changing Planet states, “One of the greenest things you can do is to buy fewer things. No matter how great the product is, it’s probably still kind of deceptive to market it as green.”

So remember, mass consumption of sustainable goods is a harmful paradox, and for goodness sake, get a reusable water bottle.

Photo by Britanny Clarke

In Quebec, the Régime d’Assurance Maladie du Québec (RAMQ) decided that Hugues Leblanc’s two hand prostheses, a complete bio-mechanical hand valued at about $35,000 and a forceps worth about $25,000, would be 100 per cent covered – a wonderful outcome that might not have happened if the Journal de Montreal hadn’t covered Leblanc’s tragic story and if his deputy, Pascal Berubé, and heavy hitter Danielle McCann, Minister of Health, hadn’t intervened.

Surely in Canada we can do better? I mean, how can Canada make amputee Terry Fox a national hero while nickel-and-diming its everyday amputees? It just seems so un-Canadian, hypocritical even. What to do? Canada could revise its Health Care Act to include prosthetic limbs and other assistive devices, and provinces could cap costs rather than coverage. The provinces could get together to create a national purchasing agency for prosthetics, or prescription meds like the one in the UK, to bulk buy and drive down costs. A “Canadians with Disabilities Act” similar to the United States’ “Americans with Disabilities Act” (ADA) might help.

Learning more about this risk that might come knocking at your door is important. We all need to know and make some noise about it, which is what I’m trying to do.

READ MORE ONLINE

Graphic by @sundaeghost

15

FEBRUARY 20, 2017

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