September 25, 2018

theconcordian

CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY’S WEEKLY, INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER

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

VOLUME 36, ISSUE 5 | TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2018

From Bristol with self love British band Idles finds joy through resistance Music p.10

also in this issue...

news

life

arts

sports

opinions

Provincial debate Carving art out Spike Lee comes Homecoming slams The struggle with at Concordia p.2 of destruction p. 6 to Montreal p. 8 the Stingers p. 14 tuition fees p. 17

news

NEWS EDITORS /// news@theconcordian.com IAN DOWN & MIA ANHOURY ( @IanDown1996 @mia_anhoury)

CITY IN Bilingual debate on student issues BRIEF PROVINCIAL ELECTION

Candidates tackle student-submitted questions on internships and more

MIA ANHOURY NEWS EDITOR The 2018 Oasis International Marathon de Montréal race occured this weekend with more t h a n 7, 0 0 0 r e g i s t e r e d participants. It began with the 5 kmand 10 km events on Saturday, and ended with a marathon and half marathon on Sunday.

The provincial party leaders and candidates gathered after the debate. Photo by Gabe Chevalier.

MIA ANHOURY NEWS EDITOR

IAN DOWN NEWS EDITOR

Tuition fees, climate change and mental health are just some of the issues on the minds of Quebec students this election, based on the questions submitted at the all-parties debate on student and youth issues.

On Friday, Sept. 23, representatives of six provincial political parties hashed out their ideas and traded respectful jabs for a mostly young audience at Concordia’s D.B. Clarke theatre. The debate was organised by the Concordia Student Union and the Political Science Student Association. Among the representatives were former Montreal Gazette journalist and Liberal Member of the National Assembly David Birnbaum, Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) candidate Christopher Skeete, New Democratic Party of Quebec (NDPQ) leader Raphaël Fortin, Québec Solidaire (QS) co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, Parti Québécois (PQ) candidate Jennifer Drouin, and Green Party of Quebec (PVQ) leader and Concordia alumni Alex Tyrrell.

Here are some highlights from the debate: INTERNATIONAL STUDENT TUITION FEES Drouin said the PQ has a plan to facilitate studies in Quebec for international students from french-speaking countries. Fortin and Nadeau-Dubois agreed that international students are beneficial to the province. “I think the Liberal Party of Quebec [made] a big mistake by deregulating completely the tuition fees for international students. The consequence is that we won’t recruit the best students, but the students who have the means to pay for those unbelievably high tuition fees,” added Nadeau-Dubois.

C AQ c andidate Ske ete s aid international students are “a vector for immigration [and should be kept] within normal parameters. However, we don’t believe the price should go up beyond inflation.” On the one hand, Birnbaum stated “our universities start by belonging to quebecers.” On the other, Tyrrell said “we’re opposed to this bill to deregulate international tuition fees.”

CLIMATE CHANGE All parties focused on the importance of investing in public transit across the province, as

a solution to climate change.

QS’s plan includes a $7.6 billion investment into public transport.

While Birnbaum praised the Réseau express metropolitain (REM), a rapid transit train connecting downtown with the greater Montreal area, Drouin said “the REM actually stands for ‘real estate money.’”

Both Tyrrell and Skeete said they would implement a carbon tax.

BILL 15: SEXUAL ASSAULT ON CAMPUS Creating a special chamber of the Courts of Quebec for sexual crimes is on the to-do list for the Parti Québécois, according to Drouin. PQ, CAQ and QS all agree on extending the prescription time for reporting sexual crimes.

NDPQ would invest funds into community groups to research the reality faced by Indigenous women and people from the LGBTQ+ community. Tyrrell added that the Green Party wants to make catcalling a ticketable offence.

Skeete proposed a specific help line for reporting sexual violence.

PAID INTERNSHIPS The Liberal Party of Quebec (LPQ) and PQ focused on the importance of paying teaching internships, as many teachers leave their field after five years

of work, according to Drouin.

Skeete, Nadeau-Dubois and Fortin were all in agreement that all internships should be paid.

Nadeau-Dubois pointed out that often times the unpaid internships are in female dominated fields, and it’s important for every type of internship to be remunerated whether it be in the private or public sector. While Tyrrell agreed, he said it shouldn’t apply to NGOs, as their work is considered to be activism.

INDIGENOUS SOVEREIGNTY “Canada is a colonial state, and we have huge problems with systemic racism towards First Nations people,” said Tyrell of the PVQ. He pledged to offer seats in the national assembly to each of Quebec’s 11 First Nations, and to allow Indigenous communities to return to traditional governance.

The CAQ pledged to adopt the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, while the PQ promised to repeal the Indian Act. Drouin said that PQ leader Jean-Francois Lisée was the first and only leader to meet Ghislain Picard, Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador, in the first 100 days of his mandate; Nadeau-Dubois contended that

Lachine resident André Faivre was convicted on Friday for possession of child pornography and sexually abusing two young boys, according to The Montreal Gazette. In 2016, Faivre created an online network where pedophiles could share their files. He was arrested in January of that year by Sûreté du Québec with 14 other men as part of Projet Malaise. He was found guilty of 13 charges, and will be sentenced in November.

TVA averted a strike from its journalists, camera operators, and other employees on Friday by reaching an agreement in principle with its union. Its members will vote on the new offer on Oct. 6.

Montreal hosted what is believed Manon Massée had also to be the first summit of the done so. world’s female foreign ministers RETAINING on Saturday. CTV reported that NON-FRANCOthe event brought together at least PHONE STUDENTS half of the 30 women who hold “The last thing we want foreign affairs portfolios in the is for anglophone students world, from Bulgaria, Kenya, Norway to take the 401 to Toronto and South Africa, among others. at the end of their studies,” said the PQ’s Drouin, quotFour pedestrians were hit by ing her party’s leader. She vehicles this week in Montreal said the PQ would impose within a span of 48 hours. One mandatory French tests is dead, and three are in hospital. on anglophone CEGEP The number of pedestrian deaths students, as well as is now at 18 in the last year. According mandatory exchanges with to Global News, Ville-Marie is the French CEGEPs, before deadliest neighbourhood on the graduating. QS, C AQ island. and PLQ agreed that the workplace is the most Graphic by @spooky_soda important environment for learning French. The PVQ pledged to offer free French be provided on-site at hospitals. classes for all Quebec residents QS pledged to fight the causes and to introduce universal bilingual of mental illness by improving schooling in a second language work and study conditions, and of the students's choice. by investing $250 million into mental health services during MENTAL HEALTH t heir f ir st mandate. T he P Q Several candidates opened up pledged to increase the salaries about their own battles with mental of mental health professionals health; Fortin, his experience with and appoint a minister of mental burnout; Skeete, his struggles health. The Liberals’s Birnbaum with panic attacks. The NDPQ’s touted his party’s $29 million Fortin said that super-clinics Autism Spectrum Disorder action were not the solution, and that plan, which drew praise from the mental health services should CAQ’s Skeete.

SEPTEMBER 25, 2018

theconcordian

3

PARENTHOOD

Providing resources for student parents CSU executives will soon implement childcare services and accomodations MINA MAZUMDER ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR “We want people to realize that some students have different experiences and realities that they have to deal with. Our goal is to make sure that [student parents] are as successful as possible in their education,” said Mikaela Clark-Gardner, the Concordia Student Union’s (CSU) academic and advocacy coordinator at a council meeting on Sept. 19.

At the meeting, Clark-Gardner sought council approval for a yearlong project to help student parents during their time at Concordia. In the motion, Clark-Gardner said the CSU will call on the federal and provincial governments to

improve access to education for student parents through a variety of services and accomodations.

Some of their requests include recognizing part-time student parents as full-time, providing bursaries, funding childcare services and family residences on c amp u s e s , an d of fer ing academic accommodations for having missed a class or exam due to parental obligations.

According to a 2011 North American survey by the Concordia University Student Parents Centre (CUSP), 27 per cent of student parents are single parents, 90 per cent of whom are women.

Furthermore, the majority of them have one or two children, most of whom are at the daycare or elementary level. The average

age of these parents is 39.

The CSU’s Loyola Coordinator, Alexis G. Searcy, emphasized the importance of obtaining more data on the statistics of student parents at Concordia.

“We need a lot [more] research into demographics,” she said.

S earc y, w ho is al s o coordinating the project, said that loneliness is a big issue among student parents. Due to parental responsibilities, many of them have difficulty attending social events and spending time with friends.

C l a r k- G a r d n e r s a i d t h e majority of the surveyed parents are international students, and that many of them go to CUSP. “They are also in more precarious situations because they have to

be full time in school, otherwise their visa is revoked, so that can make things more challenging,” she said.

B ot h C l a r k- G a rd n e r a n d Searcy want student parents to be more visible so that CSU executives can provide help. “ The most impor tant thing now is to self-identify on the [Concordia] portal so that we can give them access to a variety of re s ource s ,” S earc y s aid .

While this feature isn’t currently available, CSU executives are working with the administration to implement it.

Clark-Gardner wants student parents to be involved in policy affairs so that the changes are in accordance with their wishes. “We would love to hear your voice and

[for you] to be involved,” she said.

For now, Clark-Gardner plans to work with Searcy to have a daycare service for all CSU events.

“Somebody who is interested in the event within a [short] notice, they can request child care so they can go to the events.” She will also create a focus group to look at theßir policy recommendations and any input they would like to provide to the CSU. “I think it’s very important to represent student voices and we are taking the time to listen,” Clark-Gardner told The Concordian . “We are on the ground and we are listening to students because they are most informed about what is best for them and the success of their education.”

Mikaela Clark-Gardner explains the motion at the council meeting. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

STUDENT HOUSING

Woodnote housing co-op confronts unexpected costs American tariffs, lack of labour driving up costs, says project spokesperson ALEXIA MARTEL-DESJARDINS CONTRIBUTOR

Unanticipated hikes in construction prices are delaying The Woodnote Housing Co-operative, a Concordia Student Union (CSU) initiative to help students facing difficulties in the housing market.

During the Sept. 19 CSU council, Laurent Lévesque, general coordinator of UTILE (Unité de travail pour l’implantation de logement étudiant), gave a presentation to update the councilors on the progress of the project. Since last year, Woodnote’s budget has increased by $4 million, and is now evaluated at $18 million.

Lévesque explained this jump is due to unforeseen costs. “The

main factor is the commercial war with the States,” he said. “Every month, prices for materials are inflating. We’re still working, by the way, with the architecture team to try to reduce the cost and not just increase funding.”

On June 1, the United States imposed tariffs of 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminum, which resulted in the rising costs and rarity of those materials. Other external factors are at play in the booming cost of construction projects in Montreal during the last few months. According to Eric Côté, executive vice-president of the Corporation des entrepreneurs généraux du Québec, the lack of labour and high number of current work sites increase the demand—and thus the price—for

construction work.

These circumstances “can provoke a price inflation, because an entrepreneur can accept another construction contract but he will have to provide for supplementary costs, since he will have difficulty [finding] the materials and the labour to accomplish the work,” said Côté.

The land on which the housing will be built was decontaminated during the summer. However, the start of construction depends on when the budget is finalized by UTILE and their financial partners.

“I can’t confirm what the final budget is going to be because everything is being negotiated right now,” Lévesque said.

The date of completion remains uncertain. “I can’t commit

to any timeline right now. [But] in the term sheet, we’re looking at late 2019 as the goal,” said Lévesque.

The Woodnote student housing will be located in front of Lafontaine Park on Papineau Ave., near the Sherbrooke St. intersection.

The 2014 market study on affordable student housing in Montreal, a collaboration between the CSU and other organizations, identified a demand of 4,200 beds for students in Montreal. The plans Lévesque presented to the CSU showed that, once complete, the four-story building will include 144 bedrooms divided in 90 units. The apartments will vary from one to four bedrooms and will offer all amenities, common spaces, as well as a rooftop access and a green alley shared with neighbours.

“The rents are going to be anywhere between 450 per room to 600-something for the studio, which is also in flux,” Lévesque said. “The numbers we have right now tend to be about 10 to 15 per cent below market rents.”

Although Woodnote’s objective is to provide affordable housing to Concordia students who are most vulnerable to high rent, it might not suit the means and needs of student parents.

“It’s really hard, from a financial perspective, to achieve something that’s affordable for student parents,” said Lévesque.

“We’re working now with some other social actors to see if we could get granting for that population but we don’t have the answer yet.”

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theconcordian

SEPTEMBER 25, 2018

PROVINCIAL ELECTIONS

The other green party

Bloc Pot candidate Hugô St-Onge talks anti-prohibition, stigma and inclusivity

NATION IN BRIEF

MACKENZIE LAD PHOTO EDITOR “I think prohibition is just a tool of persecution. Period. Then you just have all of the other bullshit to justify it,” said Hugô St-Onge.

St-Onge doesn’t use what he calls “the language of public relations” to state his position on cannabis legalization in Canada. In fact, he is loud and clear when he says that legalization, the way the Canadian government has chosen to proceed with it, is just a smokescreen to obscure a prohibitionist agenda.

St-Onge is a candidate for Bloc Pot, running in the Laurier-Dorion riding in the upcoming provincial election. The 44 year-old father of two might seem like an unlikely candidate. He was adamantly against drugs in his adolescence after seeing the darker side of substance use manifest in the form of alcoholism. He was 18 when he smoked his first joint, and it wasn’t until several years later, after a severe bike accident, that St-Onge became a frequent cannabis user during his recovery. “For those six to seven years, I was using weed for medical purposes and for anxiety but I didn’t know it,” he recalled. “I only started to make the connection in my 30s.”

Years later, St-Onge is an outspoken pro-cannabis advocate and a major voice leading the discussion about legalization in the province.

Bloc Pot isn’t asking for your votes so much as asking for your attention.

Its status as a registered political party allows its candidates to engage with fellow politicians about the issues surrounding cannabis at a level where advocacy groups and non-profit organizations are routinely dismissed.

The key points of their platform include establishing a legalization policy through an open and inclusive legislative process, educating the public about cannabis, and breaking down stigma around its culture and users. Overhauling existing institutions is also a priority. To do so, they outline their intentions to expedite access to medical cannabis for all patients, advocate for cannabis users that have fallen victim to the judicial system prior to legalization, and to amend Quebec’s Election Act. "We have a really clear position: we are anti-prohibitionist. We want the end of prohibition, and this begins with removing cannabis from the Criminal Code. If you do that, then the federal government has no right, power, or reason to deal with cannabis,” said St-Onge.

“It should be a provincial responsibility to deal with the questions of health, the market, and agriculture.”

Bill C-45, the federal legislation for cannabis legalization, will come into force on Oct. 17.

However, St-Onge said this milestone is no reason to celebrate. Under the new act, there will be more rules and regulations restricting the production, distribution, consumption, and criminality of cannabis than ever before, with many of the logistics being determined on a provincial level.

Quebec has adopted its own framework, the Cannabis Regulation Act, which further restricts the guidelines laid out in C-45. This includes a blanket ban on home-growing and a government monopoly on the retail of cannabis with a newly-created subsidiary of the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ): the Société Québécoise du Cannabis (SQDC).

MIA ANHOURY NEWS EDITOR The severe thunderstorm and tornado that started Friday afternoon and moved quickly across the Ottawa-Gatineau area caused extensive damage to its electric transmission system resulting in power outages. Quebec’s political party leaders took the day off from campaigning on Saturday to visit the Gatineau area. Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard announced that $1 million in emergency aid would be given to the Red Cross to help victims left without a home.

The Town of Gananoque in eastern Ontario was selected to take home the rink built for Canada 150 celebrations in Ottawa. Several cities had applied to receive the outdoor rink, according to Global News.

The Bloc Pot’s slogan is “Pousse Égal, Égalité Sociale, Égalité en Opportunité” (Grow Equality, Social Equality, Equality in Opportunity.") Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

“People say to us, ‘Why does Bloc Pot exist if there is now [cannabis] legalization?’" said St-Onge. "But I would ask them, ‘What is the meaning of legalization?’ For us, legalization is about more than what the government is presenting. Legalization is just a word, but what is our objective?”

St-Onge strongly disagrees with what he sees as an oligarchy determining the nature of the cannabis market. “We should have many producers, because this will ensure better accessibility, price, and supply. Licenses should be easy to to get, like a micro-brasserie licence.

If [cannabis] isn’t more dangerous than beer, it shouldn’t be more restricted under the law,” said St-Onge. “For us, it is really important that more people should be involved in the market, not less, and from the bottom up.”

Inclusivity is embedded in the mission of Bloc Pot, starting with an effort to involve cannabis entrepreneurs and consumers in the creation of regulations that protect their freedoms. “[Cannabis users] have a right to be involved in the systems that concern us,” said St-Onge. “If you talk about legislating women’s rights and you have a table of just men, it makes no sense. So why, for the question of cannabis, do you only have people and professions who have supported prohibitionist policies at the table?”

The bottom-up approach is reflected in Bloc Pot’s slogan, “Grow Equality, Social Equality, Equality in Opportunity” (“Pousse Égal, Égalité Sociale, Égalité en Opportunité”).

“Ending prohibition, for us, is integrating people into the market, because prohibition pushes people out and denies them their civil rights,” said St-Onge. “We think we have the right to be equal in social matters and opportunity,” meaning that everyone should have the chance to be involved in the budding market, contrary to the SDQC’s requirement that potential employees have no previous record of cannabis-related offences.

St-Onge said equality is a loaded term, and reaching a place where stigma is not

a pervasive force in shaping the public’s opinion of cannabis requires government acknowledgement of the discriminatory practices, unnecessary prosecution, and wrongful criminalization of cannabis users. “[Cannabis users] are not bad people; we are being made into criminals by a system.”

He added that the nuances of race and class must be a central part of the conversation if the public is to change the systems that oppress them.

To read Bloc Pot's campaign solely as a radical call for a weed revolution would be missing the point; cannabis-related issues are important, especially given the timing of the provincial election, but they are only the tip of the political iceberg. “Weed, for me, is a reason to talk about political hypocrisy. Bloc Pot questions the power of the institution to persecute [cannabis users] like us for no good reason,” said St-Onge. “We are using pot as a symbol to talk about that. Weed is a plant; the politics are the problem.”

On Friday, three First Nations in British Columbia raised a restored replica totem pole at a CanadaU.S. border crossing, which was removed without notice a decade ago. B.C. Premier John Horgan told The National Post it was a “historic wrong” and apologized.

The body of a 16-year-old boy was found three weeks after he fell off a boat into Alberta’s Gregoire Lake. Mounties were called to the lake after a witness saw him fall.

Police officers, firefighters, sniffer dogs, as well as a mapping team were later called to the scene.

A train in northern Manitoba derailed on Saturday, killing a railway worker and injuring another in the wreck. The train is also leaking diesel fuel into the Metishto River, according to The Star.

Graphic by @spooky_soda

St-Onge is running for Bloc Pot in the Laurier-Dorion riding. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

SEPTEMBER 25, 2018

theconcordian

WORLD ASFA to test online voting in by-elections IN BRIEF Concerns about security, logistics dominate council discussion BY-E L EC T I O N S

IAN DOWN NEWS EDITOR

online voting. The motion was struck down by council.

In response to calls for the research to be preThe November by-elections for sented, Karasick gave a the Arts and Science Federation presentation on the research of Associations (ASFA) will be conducted by the online conducted entirely through voting committee. He said electronic voting, thanks to a the committee conducted an motion passed by council last informal survey of student week. unions and associations across On Thursday, Sept. 20, council Canada, including some from approved a motion to implement the University of Manitoba, electronic voting and, following ASFA’s online voting motion passed with one vote against Bishop’s and McGill. Karasick the elections, conduct a review and two abstentions. Photo by Hannah Ewen. said his questions about of the results for future elections.

MyVote, the system chosen by ASFA’s being tampered with was low. “It’s a the benefits, drawbacks and logistics Ad-Hoc online voting committee, allows by-election, so no one cares,” he said. of online voting were “generally very “What we want to do here is determine favourable” with regards to accessibility, voters to cast their ballots on their mobile devices or desktop computers. Electronic whether or not online voting is feasible sustainability and participation.

ASFA General Manager Chris Lechkobitvoting booths will also be installed on by doing it in a case where it doesn’t have severe consequences, were anything to Carpenter said achieving quorum for campus. an election has been a challenge since Alex Karasick, chair of ASFA’s online happen,” said Karasick.

“I think it’s very important to protect before he started working for ASFA. “Any voting committee, said the system could be implemented in time for the democratic integrity of all of our means of assisting with participation and engagement is a good idea,” he said.

November’s elections and would cost voting,” said Berner.

“While this seems like something very When the Commerce and Administration less than $1,000. By comparison, the federation spent more than $9,500 interesting, it seems very rushed,” said Student Association (CASA) implemented on last year’s by-election, according Berner. “I would urge someone to table online voting in its general election last [the motion] for later, when the logistics March, voter turnout increased by 25 to an end-of-year financial report.

The motion passed after more than have been determined, the research has per cent, according to The Link.

In March 2017, ASFA’s general elections 45 minutes of debate in council. Irish been presented, and we can all make Studies Student Association councillor an informed and empowered decision.” had to be extended by half a day after Berner introduced a motion to remove failing to reach quorum.

Margot Berner, who voted against the Karasick plans to have a formal motion, expressed concern that voting the implementation and review clauses electronically would compromise election from the motion, which would reduce it research document finished and ready to a mandate for the Internal committee to be presented within the next two security.

Karasick said the risk of a by-election to review the logistics of implementing weeks.

CAMPUS DEVELOPMENT

What is the 4th Space?

Concordia’s new research showroom, will be unveiled in the coming months EITHNE LYNCH ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

The mysterious 4th Space project under construction in Concordia’s former bookstore on the Sir George Williams campus will be a new and innovative research facility.

4th Space is expected to cost $1.9 million in total and will be paid for through soliciting sponsors and donors. “Some of the costs are borne by researchers from their grant funding,” said Nadia Bhuiyan, Vice-Provost of Partnerships and Experimental Learning.

Concordia’s 4th Space project has been in the works for the past two years and will be open to the public by mid-November, with an official launch in January 2019.

“We don’t know of any other space that exists like this in a university setting,” said Associate Vice-President of Strategy and Operations, Research and Graduate Studies, Justin Powlowski.

The facility will combine science centres, design showrooms, museum exhibitions and theatre sets in rotating residencies. “It will be a flexible space that can be easily adapted to mix things up,” Powlowski said.

Bhuiyan said the 4th Space will encourage the sharing of knowledge within the university, as well as “provide a dynamic space for experiential learning and encour-

“Espace 4” is located at the corner of Mackay St. and de Maisonneuve Blvd. W. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

age and provoke the public’s curiosity for current research questions.”

4th Space will enhance outreach efforts and the sharing of ideas by creating an immersive area where “the university community and the public can engage with new and challenging ideas, and learn to understand research,” said Bhuiyan.

Powlowski said the space offers exciting prospects that will bring research and researchers to the university, the city of Montreal and the general public. Concordia President Alan Shepard agreed: “This is the future of what knowledge creation and outreach will look like,” he said.

This new venture will benefit students by providing them with the opportunity to do their research. “The experience of being involved in the 4th Space will also help to prepare students to acquire skills in better communicating what they have

done and can do in the world of research,” said Powlowski.

The university’s Strategic Directions plan is a nine-step initiative to enhance learning and collaborative thinking at Concordia. One of the steps is doubling the research at the school in various ways, such as launching trans-disciplinary research institutes, recruiting postdoctoral fellows, and fostering a collaborative research environment. Creating 4th Space will aid in achieving these goals as well as “enhance our ability to generate additional research funding,” said Powlowski.

It will accommodate a variety of activities that range in scale and scope, “from on-the-fly research studies, to public consultations, performances, idea labs, festivals, and many other types of programming activities,” said Powlowski.

IAN DOWN NEWS EDITOR Ireland’s president, Michael D. Higgins, signed a bill officially repealing the country’s abortion ban. The Eighth Amendment had given the same right to life to an unborn child as its mother. Irish Health Minister, Simon Harris, was quoted in The Irish Examiner saying he would like to make abortions free for all women in the country.

In his first interview as Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel spoke out in favor of samesex marriage. The recognition of same-sex marriage is included in the draft of Cuba’s new constitution, which is currently being debated by the country’s National Assembly.

South Africa’s highest court ruled that laws prohibiting the recreational use of cannabis were unconstitutional, effectively permitting private use and growth. South Africa’s parliament now has two years to rectify the country’s laws to align them with the constitution.

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa will become the first tourist to visit the moon, after signing a deal with the private aerospace company SpaceX. Maezawa, an online retail mogul, also plans to invite a small group of artists on his trip, which is scheduled for 2023.

Alexandre Benalla, a security official who worked for French President Emmanuel Macron, faced questions from France’s senate after being fired for allegedly assaulting May Day protesters earlier this year.

Macron allegedly knew about the incident more than a month and a half before Benalla’s firing in July.

Spain’s foreign minister, Josep Borrell, has claimed that U.S. President Donald Trump advised him to build a wall across the Sahara desert to solve Spain’s migration crisis.

Graphic by @spooky_soda

5

life

LIFE EDITOR /// life@theconcordian.com ALEX HUTCHINS ( @alexhutchinns96)

TREE CARVING

Immortalizing a community

NDG jack of all trades wants to create unique public spaces

Peeing in peace

It shouldn’t be so hard to make washrooms gender-neutral on campus

ALEX HUTCHINS LIFE EDITOR

Olynyk poses with Annie, one of the local dogs to be carved in the stump in Girouard Park's off-leash dog zone.

Photo by Alex Hutchins.

ALEX HUTCHINS LIFE EDITOR “I guess I’m technically a jack of all trades,” said Ralph Olynyk, a local Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG) artist, as well as former theatre design and film animation student at Concordia.

“Artistically, I dabble in everything,” he said.

I first met Olynyk one morning in August, doodling at the coffee bar in Le Maison Coop Verte on Sherbrooke St. W. We got to talking about artistic expression and muses, then about half an hour later, found ourselves tag-team drawing fusilli pasta on the outside of a bucket. All the while, Olynyk was telling me about one of his latest art projects: carving the faces of dogs into a tree stump in Girouard Park’s off-leash dog zone.

A week ago, I met Olynyk in the off-leash area, next to the stump, to chat more about his project. “Meet my newest customer,” he said, scratching behind the ears of a lovely poodle mix named Annie. Olynyk is looking to immortalize the faces of dogs like Annie who live in NDG on this stump that is approximately 4.9 m in diameter and 2.7 m tall. Why? Simply because he wants to. “I don’t care [to be paid],” he said. “This is not something where I’m in it for the money.”

Olynyk explained that he’s been interested in the idea of carving trees for a while. But in regards to carving stumps found in the city’s public spaces, his inspiration came after the microburst thunderstorm that decimated Girouard Park last August. The brief storm left multiple fallen trees throughout the park, “and now, I’m just noticing stumps everywhere,” Olynyk said with a smile.

However, bringing this project from concept into practice is proving to be more difficult than he initially anticipated, for multiple reasons. “It’s been a very

eye-opening experience,” Olynyk said. “I may follow [the grain] and go, ‘oh “Like, how does a citizen actually do there’s a chihuahua here, and there’s things?” He spoke about the struggle a pug here,’” he explained. of trying to navigate the slew of legal The unique idea of carving familiar permits and legislative restrictions that dog faces has begun to spread from one stand between him and simply enhancing canine owner to another in NDG. “I was a public area. looking for a chisel at the Réno-Dépôt Thankfully, Olynyk is in the process of in [NDG], and it was hilarious because I trying to arrange getting the necessary was talking to the worker, and he [was permits with help from affiliates on the showing] me all the different kinds of board of NDG Arts Week. “The idea chisels,” said Olynyk. “And I started to would be me fitting under the umbrella explain what I needed it for—and it’s of [NDG] Arts Week,” he said. Olynyk also carving this tree stump. And [the worker] explained that, because he was already goes, ‘so you’re the guy!’” planning to begin carving the stump in Olynyk said that when he receives the spring, “[his] goal would be to have it comments like that, it does two things unveiled in its finality during [that] week.” for him: it calms him—sort of reassures On top of navigating legal param- him that he’s on the right track—and it eters, the logistical side of carving the motivates him. “It gives me that extra, dog's faces into this particular stump ‘being stoked’ feeling,” he said. Even isn’t as simple as it may seem. Olynyk though Olynyk is still navigating how described a rather complicated process to get the right permits and figuring that involved pulling off the bark and out what safety precautions are necscanning the stump, creating multiple essary, he remains optimistic. “Yes, 3D designs on his computer, followed by this is a big project,” said Olynyk. “But some trial and error experiments with 3D for some reason, I feel comfortably printing. All of this is merely preparation committed to it.” for the actual carving of the dog faces come springtime, which will pose its own set of challenges.

“My idea [is] to have it like a spiral,” he said. Olynyk has multiple carving plans that he hopes to create silicone castings of which, he explained, will be used for referencing the dog's faces when shaping the stump. Last winter, Olynyk made a Facebook group that now has 22 members who have submitted photos of their dogs to be included in the project. But realistically, Olynyk has to wait until he can actually start carving to see what the grain of the The stump Olynyk wants to carve is approximately 4.9 stump will allow him to do. m in diameter and 2.7 m tall. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Ah, gender-neutral washrooms: so controversial (sigh), yet so simple. News flash! Everyone has a gender-neutral washroom in their home, and everyone deserves access to a facility that suits their needs. But the call for more gender-neutral washrooms goes far beyond that. It’s about advocating for the right to feel safe in a washroom—a right cisgender people often don’t think about.

Dalia Tourki, a trans advocate and public educator for the Centre for Gender Advocacy, said it’s hard to pinpoint the exact number and location of accessible gender-neutral washrooms across the Concordia campuses. “I also have a problem with ‘single-stalled’ washrooms in general,” said Tourki. “Why do we have to exclude ourselves, and further isolate ourselves?”

Ella Webber, a trans student at Concordia, said they found a list of gender-neutral washrooms on the Centre for Gender Advocacy website. It also has information about other resources available to trans and nonbinary students, both at Concordia and around Montreal. “Concordia never mentioned that in [the] orientation which I went to,” said Webber. Tourki explained that the list on the centre’s website hasn’t been updated since 2016 and doesn’t account for construction on campus that may bar accessibility. “I think at orientation we should be notified about Concordia’s queer facilities like [the centre] and their ressources,” said Webber. “When I do find [gender-neutral washrooms] it’s super helpful, and so much more comfortable for me as a trans person.”

Personally, I know there are single-stalled gender-neutral washrooms on the Loyola campus on the second floor of the CC building, in the Hive Café, and in the basement of the CJ building. Tourki informed me that, in the H building on the downtown campus, Reggies bar, the Hive Café, plus the 5th, 7th and 10th floors, all have gender-neutral washrooms as well (although, due to construction on the 7th floor, the washroom is currently inaccessible—same goes for the VA building).

Tourki and the centre described the H building as extremely problematic in terms of accessibility, one of the reasons being that many of the single-stalled gender-neutral washrooms in the building are shared with wheelchair users. This means they are only accessible with an access code or key provided by the security desk on the first floor (not where the washrooms are). Trans and nonbinary students not only have to locate the gender-neutral washrooms that are actually open on all of three floors in the Hall building (total number of floors is 12), and plan to get the necessary key or access code, but after all that, once at the security desk, they may be asked to justify their needs to the security officer. “They run the risk of being outed and asked intensive questions,” she said. “It’s super shitty.”

I’m a big fan of the ‘my rights end where your rights begin’ logic, so let’s talk privilege for a second.

Do you navigate your days thinking about where the next available and safe washroom is? Do you mediate your liquid intake so you don’t have to go as frequently? If you answered ‘no’ to the above, I’d suggest rethinking the privilege—yes privilege—you have of simply using a washroom.

Everyone should be able to pee in peace.

Ch e ck o ut th e full version of this article on The Concordian’s website!

Graphic by @spooky_soda

SEPTEMBER 25, 2018

theconcordian

7

MENTAL HEALTH

Practicing mindfulness with Moksha Take a break and reconnect with your mind, body and spirit through yoga

SARA CHAHROUR ASSISTANT LIFE EDITOR Juggling work, studies, and trying to maintain an active lifestyle isn’t easy. We all dream of being fit and healthy, but not everyone is up to the commitment of subscribing to a gym, paying the monthly fee and going three to four times a week.

Some people may have it all scheduled perfectly, but for those who don’t, you're not alone.

I treasure my down time spent on the sofa, with one hand in a bag of chips and the other queuing up Netflix—heck, I need those relaxation days. But I can't argue with studies like the ones outlined by Natalie Gil in The Guardian, that show a staggering correlation between physical activity and academic performance. According to the article, students committed to routine physical activity are more likely to possess skills such as self-discipline, time-efficiency and leadership, than those who are not. The issue with these articles is that they aren’t convincing enough, at least not for me.

For those, like myself, who are not a fan of aimlessly jogging, chasing after balls in a field, or hate going to the gym, I’ve found yoga to be a great way to stay active as well as in tune with one’s mind, body and spirit.

“What I love the most about yoga is that it gives me a chance to check in with myself

“To Moksha Yoga,” reads a note in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce location.

“You guys are the greatest! Please try to remember.” Photo by Alex Hutchins.

everyday,” said Julia Speirs, a Concordia student, front office secretary and regular student at Moksha Yoga in Griffintown. “I always feel a hundred times better when I leave the class. It gives me the chance to just reconnect my mind and body and breathe for an hour.” There are Moksha Yoga locations in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG) and on St-Laurent Boulevard as well.

Moksha offers hot yoga, which is different than a regular practice because the classes are held in a humid room, typically at 35 °C to 40 °C. In general, not only is yoga a great way to sweat out the toxins in your body,

it’s also conducive to overall good mental health. “It helps with stress management and, especially [since] Moksha yoga is hot yoga, it's really soothing to my muscles.

Afterwards, I just feel so much healthier and so much more energetic,” said Speirs. If you’re ever having a bad day and want to get rid of some negativity, Moksha might prove to be something that works for you. Am I not convincing you to drag your butt out to the studio? I get it. It's easier said than done.

Despite all the benefits of yoga and its trendiness in pop culture, many feel intimidated by it. We walk past Lululemon

advertisements with people practicing yoga gracefully and with such precision.

We see Instagram videos of people holding handstands for minutes on end with apparent ease, while we can barely reach our toes— how can we not feel intimidated?

“I always remind myself and the clients that you don’t practice yoga to be good at yoga. You practice it for yourself and the benefits you feel from it,” said Speirs. She explained that, while practicing yoga does require strength and concentration, most importantly, it requires respect for our bodies.

“A yoga room is a place of peace.

If you feel like just laying down the whole class and focusing on your breathing, that’s perfectly fine,” said Speirs. “Yoga is about connecting body and mind, and each person has [their] own way of feeling that connection.”

Some Moksha classes are $5 or pay what you can, and there is a Facebook group where instructors working towards their Moksha certification offer occasional free classes! If you don’t have your own mat and towel (and you will need a towel), they’re only $2 to rent.

More information about classes offered at each Moksha location can be found on their respective websites.

NDG.MOKSHAYOGA.CA/ ENERGY-EXCHANGE

APP DEVELOPMENT

Today, we practice #SelfCare with TRU LUV Meet the dynamic duo spearheading unconventional app industries

ALEX HUTCHINS LIFE EDITOR We scroll through social media and often don't consider that we're experiencing a kaleidoscope of emotions simultaneously.

“You’re [online] for ten minutes and you already have forty emotions,” said Eve Thomas, a Concordia communications and journalism graduate. “You can be angry, and frightened, and jealous, and hungry all at once.”

Brie Code, former Artificial Intelligence (AI) lead with Ubisoft Montreal and founder of the company TRU LUV, partnered with Thomas to release the company’s first app, #SelfCare. “For me, [the app] is to help people renegotiate their relationships with their phones," said Thomas. #SelfCare is a game-type of app where users maintain their avatar’s well-being by carrying out everyday tasks, such as sorting laundry, tending to your plants, and petting the avatar-kitty (which purrs in response).

“In this universe, our goal is simply to feel better. There's no winning, no failure, no score. No difficulty, no ads, no notifications.

There is just us and our feelings,” reads the #SelfCare app description. The more tasks you complete, the more your avatar’s mood balances out; there are no penalties for neglecting to play the game, which is what makes the app unique. You can also be guided through breathing exercises, daily Tarot card

readings, and even play a simple word jumble or plant-watering game.

Thomas and Code met about three years ago when Thomas, a magazine editor at the time, wanted to profile Code for an article.

Code revealed during their interview that she had plans to quit her job to make games for people who don't like games.

“I was growing increasingly frustrated with what the industry was making,” Code said, referring to “[shooting] and other fighting games.” She also explained that puzzle games can be boring and often leave her feeling more stressed than when she started playing them. Thus, a beautiful partnership blossomed into a transnational collaboration, with four other core members throughout Europe and Africa.

Most conventional gaming and social media apps are designed to keep users locked in for as long as possible. As users, we’re either incessantly scrolling, resisting the urge to check our phone or trying a digital detox.

“We’re very feast or famine,” said Thomas.

We’re not good at moderation, or respectively limiting our social media intake, she explained.

Thomas added that, “if you're on call, which a lot of jobs are now, [...] you don't have the luxury of turning off your phone.” This is a large part of why she and Code made the app the way it is. Both saw the need to renegotiate a way to open up your phone, and maybe click on a different app—one that you exit feeling calm and relaxed.

Both Code and Thomas actively use downloads in only six weeks. “The day their app. “We definitely made [#SelfCare] I read the review that said ‘thank you because we needed it,” said Code. “And for this app. I can tell it will change my I'm finding that I'm not using any other of life,’” said Code, “I knew that all the the mobile games I used to turn to when risk [we’d] taken on committing to this I had a twinge of anxiety.” Thomas also project was worth it.” explained to me that, particularly during the game’s beta testing and prototype YOU CAN DOWNLOAD TRU LUV development, an understandably stressful #SELFCARE IN THE APP STORE AND period, she used the app as one of her GOOGLE PLAY RIGHT NOW! coping mechanisms.

Code and Thomas b o t h s p o ke o f t h e pushback #SelfCare received from incumbent members of the conventional gaming industry due to their unconventional app structure. “They told us that this would fail,” said Code. “We've also been told that [...] what we made is too feminine [and] that it's not worth making products for women because [they] are too unpredictable.”

Despite these sexist comments and being largely self-funded, the app is succeeding “We definitely made [#SelfCare] because we needed it,” and has received more said Code (right). Photo courtesy of the interviewees. than 500 thousand

arts

ARTS EDITOR /// arts@theconcordian.com CHLOË LALONDE

EXHIBITION

Reimagining identity through participatory storytelling Birds Crossing Borders creates a collective memory

LORENZA MEZZAPELLE CONTRIBUTOR Home and identity are important themes concerning one’s individuality. So how do people displaced by conflict deal with the deep-rooted trauma that arises from events such as war? How do victims reclaim their identity and find a safe space?

Khadija Baker's Birds Crossing Borders, a multimedia installation that includes sound, video and a performance involving falling water, aims to develop consciousness and remembrance through storytelling, with the ultimate intention of creating a collective memory.

A multi-disciplinary artist of KurdishSyrian descent, Baker’s cultural identity is present in her works. She shares the stories of refugees who have been displaced by the current conflicts in Syria. Her performative, video and sculptural installations explore socio-political themes, specifically in relation to identity, displacement and traumatic events such as war. Recurring themes in her works delve into unsettling feelings associated with the idea of home and aim to promote an understanding of cultural complexities.

Consisting of multiple screens highlighting the collective stories of refugees, Birds Crossing Borders reflects on the shared memories of home, particularly in relation to the identity shared by Syrian refugees.

FESTIVAL PREVIEW

The black liquid mixing with the water in the boxes is meant to demonstrate the integration of refugees into western society, explained Baker. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

“We are used to estrangement in many places. Even in my own country, I felt the estrangement,” shared one of the men featured in Baker’s compilation of recordings.

Addressing these sentiments of estrangement from one’s native land or hometown allows the viewer to further recognize the importance of home and the significant impact displacement has on those affected by war.

The exhibition creates a space of understanding and empathy by leaving room for discussion. The sharing of these collective stories serves as the representation of refugees and victims of war.

While the stories in the exhibit describe various individual struggles, Baker’s performance highlighted a unifying theme present among their experiences, by shedding light on the struggles of integrating into a new community.

Her performance focused on the identities of newly arrived refugees.

With no distinct description, its primary purpose was left to the audience’s interpretation. Moreover, the nature of the piece demonstrated the prejudice associated with immigrants and refugees.

The centrepiece of the performance itself consisted of 14 transparent boxes. Each

box contained varying amounts of water. A balloon filled with black water hung above the first box as a symbol of the common judgement of refugees as “contaminated.”

Barker began by squeezing the black water from the balloon into the first box.

The water began to travel through a tube that connected each box to one another, and the remaining 13 boxes slowly began to fill with the black liquid. This illustrated what could be perceived as “contamination.”

By the end of the performance, each box contained the same amount of water.

The black liquid mixing with the water in the boxes is meant to demonstrate the integration of refugees, Baker explained.

Although at first, they can be seen as “disrupting” the flow of society, in the end all will balance out. Society will equalize over time, Baker said; refugees want to contribute to society, and they do.

“Each human has to be an effective person.

If we all long for and become attached to our identity in its limited meaning, we won’t reach any place,” said one of the refugees highlighted in Baker’s videos. “You chose a place to live in, and you have to be loyal and integrated and positive and interact within [it].”

Birds Crossing Borders is on display at Montréal, arts interculturels until Oct. 13.

The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

A dream come true

The 14th annual MIBFF features over 70 new, international productions ESTEBAN CUEVAS CONTRIBUTOR "This is a dream," Fabienne Colas, founder and general manager of the Montreal International Black Film Festival (MIBFF), told CBC in early September. Her excitement stemmed from Spike’s Lee agreement to participate in an open discussion with film goers and other filmmakers on Sept.

26. "He chose Montreal, and he chose the Montreal Black Film Festival, so it's a huge honour for us.”

Lee is an influential figure in black film; his work tends to gravitate toward black issues in the modern world. His most recent film, BlacKkKlansman, won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival last May. Lee has also been nominated at the MIBFF for Do the Right Thing and 4 Little Girls.

The festival was created by the Fabienne Colas Foundation in 2005 under the name Montreal Haitian Film Festival. In addition to a name change that has broadened the scope of the festival to include all black culture, the festival has gone from presenting three films over three days to screening more than 70 films in English and French

over the course of six days.

On Sept. 26, Lee will lead a panel discussing his experience in the film industry as a director and producer, and his views on today’s socio-economic climate. Tickets are available online for $35. A $135 VIP package is also available for those who would want to have a drink with Lee and take a picture with him. The cocktail hour is set at 7 p.m. while the conference starts at 8 p.m.

Throughout the week, theatres around the city will host more than 70 films made by students and professionals alike.

The annual event promotes independent film productions, and the projects are diverse. Among the 70 productions are documentaries, short films, animations and children’s movies that explore the often ignored reality of living as a person of colour. This year, filmmakers from 25 countries have submitted their work. Over the last 14 years, grants and awards have been given out to the winners in efforts to help develop the Canadian and international cinema industries.

Starting off this year’s festival is the British film OBEY, directed by Jamie Jones.

The film is centered around a man living

OBEY will make its Canadian debut at the Montreal International Black Film Festival on Sept. 25 at Cinéma Impérial.

in eastern London who is torn apart by his love for a woman while living in an ever-changing and turbulent society. OBEY will make its Canadian debut as a strong, emotional opening to the festival on Sept.

25 at Cinéma Impérial.

Throughout the week, a multitude of films will be presented daily. Festival goers may also participate in a series of Black Market

conferences, where a wide range of topics, from social issues to how to navigate the film industry will be covered.

For more information about the schedule, visit montrealblackfilm.com.

Tickets for films and conferences can be acquired on the website or in person 30 minutes prior to a screening.

SEPTEMBER 25, 2018

Happening in and around the White Cube this week…

theconcordian

9

EXHIBITION

Emotion, representation and identity Navigating the complex history of painting and landscape in the contemporary world

CHLOË LALONDE | ARTS EDITOR

INUIT WOMEN IN THE ARTS Part of McGill University’s eighth annual Indigenous Awareness Week, Inuit Women in the Arts will feature a panel of distinguished Inuit artists and curators. Heather Igloliorte, co-curator of Among All These Tundras and professor of art history at Concordia, as well as Niap Saunders, a multidisciplinary artist from Kuujjuaq, Que., will be among the women participating in the panel discussion.

When: Sept. 25 at 5 p.m.

Where: McGill Indigenous studies program building, 3643 Peel St. Admission is free. RSVP with Eventbrite.

WORDS BEFORE ALL ELSE: ORAL HISTORIES IN THE DIGITAL AGE Art centres Vidéographe and Dazibao come together to present multiple screenings that explore traditional stories and storytelling.

According to Vidéographe’s website, “the works in this program make use of experimental forms akin to computer animation.” Words Before All Else will present short, digitally animated films

by Skawennati, Mary Kunuk, Zacharias Kunuk, Trevino L. Brings Plenty, Doug Smarch Jr., Elizabeth LaPensée, Zack Khalil and Adam Shingwak Khalil.

When: Sept. 27 at 7 p.m.

Where: Dazibao, 5455 Gaspé Ave., Suite 105 Admission is free. Space is limited.

ART POP MONTREAL Art POP curators Terrance Richard and Hugo Dufour have organized a collection of more than 70 artists for this year's festival, with works that explore identity, heritage, narrative, class and culture. Taking over the entire third floor of the Rialto Complex with solo and group shows, the Art POP studio will showcase live dance performances and an independent writers reading event. Richard and Dufour have also organized satellite exhibitions all over the city. The locations include Espace POP, OBORO, Centre Clark, Ellephant and Pied Carré.

When: Vernissages, workshops and other events will take place until Sept. 30.

Admission to all Art POP exhibitions is free.

ALEXANDER CALDER: RADICAL INVENTOR Calder worked in a variety of disciplines—from painting and drawing to jewelry and sculpture.

Organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 150 of Calder’s most innovative artworks have been brought together in a new exhibition. Born into a family of artists, Calder had a passion for invention. He designed several large sculptures, such as Trois Disques, which was created for Expo 67 in Parc Jean-Drapeau. The museum will be hosting several lectures, film screenings, workshops and family activities associated with Radical Inventor until the end of October.

When: Now until Feb. 24 Where: MMFA, Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion, Level 2 Admission is $15 for people under 30.

Graphic by Ana Bilokin.

Finding Myself at the MMFA III depicts Yee standing in front of landscape paintings, with her figure blending into the artwork. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

DAISY DUNCAN ASSISTANT ARTS EDITOR Painting is a medium with a complex yet polarizing history; how does one contemporize it? Le Salon , an exhibition featuring works by Gabriela Avila-Yiptong and Florence Yee, focuses on the medium of painting in history and within the contemporary world.

Many of the works in Le Salon feature landscapes—a subject matter very prominent throughout the history of painting specifically in Canada. This was popularized through the works of the Group of Seven, a group of artists who were very successful across the nation for their paintings of the untouched Canadian landscape and wilderness.

Thought to be distinctive of Canadian art, the genre of landscape painting brought up many contemporary concerns and critiques. Most prominently, there are serious issues of representation, national identity and exclusion in defining a nation’s artistic identity based on the paintings of the Group of Seven, which was exclusively made up of white male artists. Other issues arise in the depiction of bare landscapes, with no human or industrial impact. This often ignores the presence of Indigenous peoples and communities on the land.

Yee, a recent Concordia fine arts graduate, is now attending Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) for her master’s in interdisciplinary art, media and design. Her work, which has been displayed around Montreal and at Concordia, focuses on themes of diaspora within her identity, issues of representation, the colonialist and patriarchal history of the art world and art canon.

Yee’s pieces in Le Salon include Finding Myself at the MMFA III and IV. These self portraits were completed with oil paint and depict Yee standing in front of landscape paintings, with a projection of the painting covering her figure. Quite literally, Yee paints herself into these historically celebrated works.

Another work by Yee, Oh Canada , consists of embroidered yarn on canvas and recreates a Group of Seven landscape through the patterns of threading. Displayed

in a glass case, the viewer can see the back side of the piece and further discover the detailing of a red flag, with the design of the U.K.’s flag in the upper left corner. This ensign on the back of the landscape can be considered as a way to remind viewers of the colonial presence across Canada’s lands, along with the patriarchal nature of the history of landscape painting.

Avila-Yiptong‘s works in Le Salon focus primarily on landscape. Florida Motel and I Could Die Here display idyllic landscapes in soft shades, featuring details of the sea and rainbows. The images are realistic yet dreamlike, as if they are a fantasy.

Through these works, contrasting with Yee’s focus on identity and ethnicity, AvilaYiptong aims to remove the narrative and influence of culture and race, according to the artist statement on her website. Instead, she focuses on personal and emotional relationships with nature, through featuring places she has visited, and mixing styles of realism and abstraction.

This in itself also addresses the patriarchal nature of painting, by representing resistance against normative ways of viewing art and artists; white male artists do not have to fight for representation or opportunity within the medium, while women and artists of colour often do, historically and in today’s art world. By removing the focus on identity and race, and looking at the emotional relationship to landscape, Avila-Yiptong reclaims painting from these

normative structures.

Early in their respective practices, both artists discovered an interest in painting and the subject of landscape, but experienced racialized discussions and reactions to their work, as discussed in “Keeping Painting Contemporary: Inserting New Perspectives in an “Old” Medium,” a gallery text by Ariane Fairlie.

The significance of painting and the landscape depictions within Canada are very much promoted through university art classes, which adds to their relationship with painting. These aspects of personal experience and representation through academia influence the artists’s respective work. A conversation emerges from the way the artists react, reclaim and find influence from these experiences and historical representations.

While both Yee and Avila-Yiptong look at different themes within their respective works, both question and explore the presence of painting within a contemporary context. Both artists are concerned with how the history of the medium and the subject of landscape can be contested. They are spaces that require much consideration, critique and change.

Le Salon is showing at Articule until Oct. 14. The gallery is open Wednesday to Friday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. and from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Avila-Yiptong’s work focuses on places she has visited, mixing styles of realism and abstraction. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

music

MUSIC EDITOR /// music@theconcordian.com SIMON NEW

COVER STORY

Idles joyfully resists En gl i s h p o s t - punk o ut fit l eave l ife and l yrics on the lin e a t Théâ t re Fa ir mount SIMON NEW MUSIC EDITOR

Guitarist Lee Kiernan gets some close praise from a fan.

“It's not up to me whether you love yourself, it was a period in my life where I had to do it,” said Joe Talbot, lead vocalist of Idles. The five piece band from England is touring North America and Europe with their new album, Joy as an Act of Resistance. They broke out last year with Brutalism, which put the punks on the map for their sardonic polemics on nationalist English politics over unfiltered, blaring guitars and percussion.

For their second album, the pressure was on to feed the flame first fanned with Brutalism.

Ultimately, they tried to make the first record again. The band felt frustrated in attempting to capitalize on hype, and finally scrapped the project. “We were in a downward spiral; we had to learn to enjoy ourselves, for ourselves,” said Talbot. His mother passed away during the creation of Brutalism and, in February, he stopped drinking after struggling with alcoholism. Joy as an Act of Resistance shows joy as resistant to different things, one being turbulence in the band members’s own lives.

At the depths of Talbot’s depression, he found joy through vulnerability in therapy. “I carried so much weight of turmoil and insecurities all my life. As soon as I started becoming vulnerable, exchanging vulnerability with my partner and my friends, a weight was lifted,” he said.

The idea of vulnerability is fuel for the joy expressed throughout the album. Each song is a detonation of ego, masculinity, xenophobia and other topics that Talbot and the gang gun down one by one. When explaining the project to me, Talbot retained that same humility and honesty, making no attempt to oversell his

recent indie smash. While technically robust and more polished than ever, Idles’s sound alone was never their defining feature. “I think being derivative is a dirty word in cool bands,” Talbot admitted.

The tone is raucous, but the lyrics are dead-simple. After Brutalism, Talbot resisted overcomplicating the next record. “I just wanted to make an album that was as naive as possible,” he said. He explained that on the track “Danny Nedelko,” a pro-immigration anthem about Talbot’s best friend, a Ukrainian immigrant to Bristol, Talbot’s simple thesis is “why would you want to kick someone out who’s a nice person?” Talbot said he wants to make people dance and think at the same time. “Obviously, there's a huge weight behind what I'm saying. If you sit me down with some

Kiernan lets the crowd know what’s on the menu.

Guitarist Mark Bowen shreds briefs-only all night.

other pseudo-intellectual we could sit there and ponder on the importance of immigration,” he laughed.

Talbot writes in simple, childlike syntax on this album as an intentional subversion of hype from Idles’s last album. “What I wanted to do is make an album that joyfully resists the trope of ‘this pseudo-intellectual band that are gonna do something clever with the second album, like they did that rudimentary first album,’" he said. "So I was like alright, I'm going to make something that sounds childlike.

I'm going to write lyrics that a 10-year-old could write,” he said.

“It's also something that I thought would be a vulnerable act, is to be naive, because critics don't like naivety,” said Talbot. Indeed, Pitchfork’s review panned the latest record

for painting with too broad a stroke.

The direct nature of the lyrics and the explosive energy of Idles’s sound makes for a wildfire of a live show. The boys played Théâtre Fairmount on Tuesday, Sept. 18. As they opened with “Colossus,” a booming, slowburn of an album opener on Joy as an Act of Resistance, you could see that the crowd had been waiting for this moment for months. All of the visceral, focused chaos that comes across in Idles’s sound was there in the live show. Explosive, animated performances from all five members left the crowd teaming with energy, boiling over into moshes that made you check your ego at the door. And for a time, there was nothing to resist, just pure, unmitigated joy.

Photos by Simon New.

Crowdsurfing as an Act of Resistance.

SEPTEMBER 25, 2018

theconcordian

11

SHOW REVIEW

Synths and cellos slow dance to Syngja’s folklore A Saturday night performance feels more akin to a ritual than a concert ARIANNA RANDJBAR VIDEO ASSISTANT Synths and cellos slow dance, then tango to dream-pop fables

by Montreal storytellers, Syngja.

Appearing on stage like apparitions in a dream, their Sept. 15 performance at Brasserie Beaubien feels more akin to a folkloric ritual than a musical act. Watching Týr Jami and Justin Guzzwell is like overhearing a secret you’re not supposed to know about.

Lights of all colours spill into every crevice of the room, alongside images from another time and place.

Much of Syngja’s music is inspired by tapes—Jami’s great grandmother would record and send them to family members following her migration from Iceland to Manitoba. Tonight, spinning projections of lang amma (Icelandic for great-grandmother), light the way for Syngja as they time travel through her memory.

The journey begins in a landscape of reverberating sounds, like whispers on a cave wall. Between slow tambourine samples and anxious strings, Jami and Guzzwell seem to be warning the audience of a sinister presence, one which lyrics caution is dangerous “when you lock eyes” and “when you can’t see.”

This new song, “Water Spirits,” is more experimental than the pop-beat anthems of Lang Amma, Syngja’s last record, and

INDIE FOLK

Syngja is preparing for the release of their new album, Echoing Rose (Live in Iceland), on Nov. 3 at The Diving Bell Social Club. Photo by Arianna Randjbar. shapes a vision of what their upcoming releases might be like.

The eerie tambourines soon evaporate, replaced by the popcorn beat from “Surface of the Sea.” Guzzwell’s synths and Jami’s cello entrance the audience while lyricism weaves the tale of “a madman about to find love.” The crowd sways back and forth to the oscillating beat. During the last song, “Palm Reader,” Jami puts down her cello and dances

alongside Guzzwell, sometimes bouncing, other times gliding in a sparkling mirage of sequins. Syng ja’s musical acts are frequently accompanied by dancing and theatrics, often involving a troupe, but tonight, it is just the duo. Zuzu Knew, mastermind behind the evening’s visuals, is absent, but nevertheless feels present among the many pools of light emanating from the stage.

Having recently returned to Montreal

af ter an ar tist residency in Iceland, Syng ja is preparing for the release of their new album, Echoing Rose (Live in Iceland) , on Nov. 3 at The Diving Bell.

T heir f ir st relea se since 2016, Jami s aid Echoing Rose will cont inue to explore the mythology of lang amma’s memor y. Through dreamlike, sonic storytelling, Syngja will once again offer mere mortals an opportunity to travel through time and space.

“ Someone” to listen to

Montreal singer-songwriter, Vikki Gilmore drops new song following her latest EP MIA ANHOURY NEWS EDITOR

The song “Someone” begins with smooth arpeggios on guitar before her soft voice comes in. “There are songs where love and romance are very conclusive with a start, a beginning, and an end,” Gilmore explained. “Where they break up and it’s sad, but there’s no in between where somebody can come into your life [..] even if they’re not there forever, they have a lasting impact on you. I’ve yet to find a song like that, so I wanted to write it.” These musings were

the inspiration behind the title track.

Opening for English band the Still Corners at Bar Le Ritz on Wednesday Two years ago, at her aunt's house, was a dream come true for Gilmore. Her with a basic melody of chords in mind, clear, crisp voice flowed perfectly with Vikki Gilmore wrote her song every run she performed. Accompanied “Someone,” which later became the by an acoustic drum set and a lap steel title of her second EP released on or electric guitar, and flooded with Sept. 7. For this new project, the burning red light, Gilmore captivated singer-songwriter collaborated with the crowd’s attention. a full band instead of recording an “I think in my head with all the acoustic EP. accompaniment, and I hear the song with the drums and percussions and lap steel s ,” said Gilmore.

“And now, everybody is hearing what I always hear, which is a really cool experience.”

Her beautiful, haunting notes were just as powerful live as on the record itself.

Even her acoustic songs from her debut EP, Where you are from, were readapted to include the whole band.

The Montreal-based artist told The Concordian that she sees every EP she produces as a specific chapter in her life. “My first Gilmore’s mature and unique sound captivated the 50 people at Bar Le Ritz PDB, as they swayed along.

Photo by Hannah Ewen.

EP was my journal-entry

from [when I was] 18 years old. It was representative in my music because I was still figuring out who I am as a person and as an artist,” said Gilmore.

Writing her own songs is therapeutic, the artist explained. Someone is inspired by a collection of stories she’s heard from friends, or things she’s gone through. The song “After All” is about “the idea that you give everything to somebody and they recycle it, [...] and you’re wasting your time on this ride thinking it’s a hundred per cent and really it [isn’t],” Gilmore said.

“Mountains” was inspired by a huge storm while she was in Rovereto, Italy two years ago as an au pair. “It was the most beautiful storm I’ve ever seen, even though I should’ve been scared of it,” said Gilmore.

The final song on the EP is “Home.”

“I wanted ‘Home’ to be the conclusive song in the EP, where you’re reminiscing on everything that you’ve been through and you kind of have that warm feeling in the end [...] so we added a fireplace crackling in it, but it comes off as sounding like vinyl,” said Gilmore.

Gilmore’s new single with U.K. artist Spectrum called “If we’re this close” was released today and is available on all streaming services.

12

theconcordian

SEPTEMBER 25, 2018

SHOW PREVIEW

Local clothing brand ready to make their name Young Montrealers to host show with established and emerging artists

Affiliate set to impress with upcoming show.

IMMANUEL MATTHEWS ASSISTANT MUSIC EDITOR Most 17-year-olds like to play video games or hang out with friends in their spare time, Samuel Shiffman and Lyall Johnson are a little different—they like to organize music shows.

On Saturday, Sept. 29, a wide array of talent from Montreal’s hip hop and R&B scenes will be performing at Théâtre Fairmount.

As part of POP Montreal’s artistic festival, the show is organized and produced by Shiffman and Johnson’s collective “Affiliate,” a clothing brand and social movement they founded in 2017. Their goal is to provide a platform for the city’s artists, from photographers, to dancers, to rappers.

The Montreal-based collective wants to provide creators with the opportunity to display their talents and collaborate on projects.

“We want to enable opportunities and create connections between artists,” Shiffman said. “That’s the key.”

For the past five months, the duo has been working meticulously to organize the show and get the necessary pieces together.

But since the start of CEGEP in August, things have become harder to balance.

“High school was a little more manageable, but now we’re in a new school with more work, and it’s rough,” Johnson said.

The Affiliate founders are coming off a successful first show held last March.

It featured less recognized talent from the city, including artists like Cato The Elder, Lord Kitamba and Montrealways, an R&B singer who will return to perform at their Sept. 29 show.

While Affiliate’s first show was comprised of mostly friends and acquaintances who had a passion for music and yearned to gain performing experience, their sights have since widened. Now Shiffman and

Johnson want to work with more established artists as well as emerging ones, to demonstrate their limitless determination.

While they faced difficulties in reaching out to more well-known artists, the duo responded with poise, confidence, and maturity well beyond their age.

“Especially us being this young in this business, the fact that they’re onboard and working with us—it’s huge,” Johnson said.

Some of the popular artists set to hit the stage at the Affiliate show include rapper Nate Husser, one of Montreal’s hip hop success stories. Husser has been ranked in “rising star” lists all over the internet for some time now, including DJ Zane Lowe’s “Breaking” list and was featured in various well-respected music media outlets, such as Noisey and Pigeons & Planes.

Tommy Kruise, a hip hop and trap DJ/ producer, is another established name in

the show’s lineup. Having played at huge festivals like Osheaga and SXSW in Austin, TX, Kruise is sure to bring some experienced energy to Fairmount.

In a creative set shift, Affiliate have decided to have Tommy Kruise on stage DJing for Nate Husser, effectively creating a local powerhouse performance.

Kruise and Husser will be preceded

by R&B singer Montrealways, followed by a collective called The Grey Era, and francophone rapper Salimo.

There will also be a professional barber at the venue throughout the night. The owner of Montreal’s Salon Chez Bobby, who was at Affiliate’s first show back in March, will be giving out free haircuts to anyone who purchases a limited edition Affiliate t-shirt.

The doors are set to open at 8 p.m. at Théâtre Fairmount on Saturday, Sept. 29. Tickets can be purchased on Théâtre Fairmount’s website or at the door the night of.

sports

SPORTS EDITOR /// sports@theconcordian.com NICHOLAS DI GIOVANNI ( @n_digiovanni)

PROFILE

A giant football prospect

Maurice Simba trying to stay humble with scouts watching

Maurice Simba came to Canada six years ago thinking he would be a plumber, but started playing football instead. Photo by Gabe Chevalier.

ERIC BEAUDOIN ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR On Aug. 30, the Canadian Football League (CFL) announced the top-20 prospects for the 2019 CFL draft. Maurice Simba, offensive lineman on the Concordia Stingers, was ranked 18th on the list of top Canadian prospects from U Sports and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

“It was special for me and I had tears on my face,” Simba said. “My goal now is to work harder to be number one and the best at my position.”

Simba stands at a commanding six feet eight inches, weighing almost 320 pounds.

The Stingers's offensive lineman is a pure powerhouse, and as described by fellow lineman Matt Halbgewachs, a true leader.

“I think of him as like our spark plug, once Maurice gets going, we all get going,” Halbgewachs said.

Born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Simba lived there with his grandparents until he was 18 years old. After that, he moved to Montreal to reunite with his parents. He had never played football and had a different idea of what his life and career in Canada would be like when he arrived.

“My first thought when I came here was that I was going to be a plumber,” Simba said.

“I guess God had a different plan for me. My uncle was friends with a coach in Cégep at Montmorency. They set up a meeting and said I was going to play football. So, then my mind changed to ‘now I’m going to be a football player.’”

Simba began his path in football in 2013 with the Montmorency Nomades

before joining the Stingers in 2015. Under the watchful eyes of Stingers offensive line coach Ted Karabatsos, Simba learned and excelled at the game.

Despite the guidance and proper coaching, Simba didn’t play much in his first year as a Stinger. This was in part due to his lack of experience, and because he started out with a gentle demeanor. Simba sat down with Karabatsos about why he wasn’t playing as much, and the coach said it was because he was soft, but offered up a great motivator.

“The most disrespectful thing a coach could say is you’re soft,” Simba said. “He told me one thing though: ‘If I walk into your house, you’re there and your mom is there, and I slap your mom. You’re just going to let me go?’ I said no. He said ‘every single play from now, imagine that guy in front of you [that you’re] supposed to block, imagine that guy walks into your house and tries to beat your mom.’”

Simba said that’s why he plays like he’s mad every play, because if someone were to touch his mom, he would make them pay twice.

This past May, both Simba and Halbgewachs were selected to take part in the annual East-West Bowl. The Bowl is a seven-day camp for CFL prospects that includes rigorous training exercises and a game. The camp is also heavily watched by scouts in the CFL and National Football League (NFL).

“It was really fun,” Simba said. “I feel very fortunate to [have been] selected for it.

There were a lot of guys eligible on the team and I feel bad for them, because I felt that at least ten guys from Concordia should have gone. I thank God for that, and my coaches.”

Although a future in football looks bright for Simba, he still aims to complete his schooling. He is currently enrolled in the leisure science program, having transferred from religion last year, and he has some extra incentive to finish his schooling.

“Your football career could end in one second, so I realized being in university with the full scholarship, I’ve got to get my degree,” Simba said.

He added that, even if he ends up playing professionally, he wants to return to school every winter to complete his degree, because he promised his mom. “When I make a promise to her, it’s something I’m going to do.”

Even though Simba will be heavily watched by football scouts this season, he doesn’t believe he needs to prove himself to anyone else.

“It’s not fair to say that I’m proving myself to anyone but me,” Simba said.

“We all work together and it’s not fair to say I work harder than anyone else.

My goal every day when I step into that complex is I want to be better than the guy I was yesterday. Doesn’t matter how good practice was yesterday, I want to do better the next day.”

With an opportunity in the CFL and the potential for a shot in the NFL on the horizon, Simba’s focus remains on the season at hand at Concordia. From his humble beginnings in the Congo, to now being one of the top-20 prospects in Canada, his story of perseverance and heart is one to be admired.

“I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing, keep learning, stay humble and take it all day-by-day.”

COLOUR COMMENTARY WITH NICHOLAS DI GIOVANNI The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League needs a Video Assistant Referee (VAR). The most prestigious soccer club competition in the world is starting to look really ridiculous without the sport’s latest innovation.

On Sept. 19, in a Champions League match between Juventus and Valencia, Juventus’s Cristiano Ronaldo grabbed Valencia’s Jeison Murillo’s head, in a friendly, non-violent manner following a collision between the two. Referee Felix Brych did not see the incident as it was behind the play, but goal line official Marco Fritz called over Brych to tell him about the situation.

He must have suggested a red for Ronaldo because Frych sent the Juventus star off with a straight red.

In simpler terms, Frych gave Ronaldo the red without even seeing anything. He relied purely on Fritz’s word, even though Fritz didn’t even have a good view of the head-grab. If UEFA used VAR, Brych would have been able to watch a replay of what actually happened, and likely wouldn’t have given the straight red card.

Errors like this are unacceptable and embarrassing in a competition with millions of viewers around the world. I understand referees can’t see everything on the pitch, and there is human error in officiating, but VAR aims to reduce these errors.

In this past summer’s World Cup, VAR was used for the first time in the competition, with much success.

Three of Europe’s top soccer leagues— Germany’s Bundesliga, Italy’s Serie A and Spain’s La Liga—all use VAR. I watch the Serie A regularly, so I saw how reluctant management, players and fans were to use it prior to the 2017-18 season, but I also saw how big of an impact it could have.

Italy is notorious for fans disputing referee decisions for months, even years laters. I know A.C. Milan fans who still talk about a blown goal call against Juventus in 2012. But once the Serie A started using VAR, all the post-game “polemiche,” or controversies, in Italy quickly died down. VAR gives referees a second chance to review incidents that they might not have seen well.

Traditional fans say VAR ruins the game; I really don’t understand that. Can you be so traditional that you would really want human error to dictate a game? VAR only does one thing for the sport, and that’s improve it.

The Champions League needs VAR, and until then, it’s just going to keep shooting itself in the foot.

14 theconcordian

SEPTEMBER 25, 2018

VARSITY

Concordia honours historic Stingers teams Two teams and two players inducted into the university's Sports Hall of Fame

NICHOLAS DI GIOVANNI SPORTS EDITOR Pete Regimbald, assistant head coach on the Concordia Stingers football team, was honoured during a weekend celebrating the school’s athletic history.

He has been with the football team since 1968, when they were the Loyola College Warriors, and will retire at the end of this season.

Head coach Brad Collinson played under Regimbald from 2000 to 2002, and was a part-time coach alongside him from 2004 to 2010. Now, in his present role, Collinson gets to work with him for his final season. The head coach said Regimbald brings a lot of experience to the coaching staff.

“He’s a great man and he’s spent a lot of time here,” Collinson said. “It’s an honour to be working with him again.”

Current players, such as fourth-year offensive lineman Maurice Simba, also spoke highly of Regimbald. “That guy is everything,” Simba said. “He’s like a mentor and father for us. He knows this program more than anyone.”

Concordia honoured Regimbald on Saturday night, following their 74-3 loss to the Université de Montréal Carabins during the homecoming game. Despite the blowout loss, Simba said the players gave their best effort for Regimbald.

“People now are going to say, ‘How did you guys give 100 per cent when you lost by 71 points?’ but we gave everything we got,” Simba added.

“I’m really proud of the person he is, and he’s helped a lot of guys on the football team.”

Receiver James Tyrrell also had nothing but positive words about the assistant head coach after the game.

“He’s an intense coach no matter his age, and his heart is really in the game,” Tyrrell said with a laugh. “It’s fun to have him around and he deserves it.”

Football assistant head coach Pete Regimbald was honoured after 50 years with the team. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

TWO PLAYERS, TWO TEAMS INDUCTED INTO HALL OF FAME Part of the homecoming weekend was the annual Concordia Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which was held in the John Molson building on the downtown campus.

The 1998 Stingers football team was one of the inductees, and they were honoured at halftime against the Carabins.

The 1998 team finished first in the old Ontario-Quebec Intercollegiate Football Conference (OQIFC) with a 6-2 record, before beating the Bishop’s Gaiters in the semi-final.

They played the Dunsmore Cup at home against the Université de Laval Rouge et Or. After two overtimes, the game had to be postponed until the next day to due darkness—there were no flood lights at the Concordia Stadium at the time. The Stingers won in the third overtime the

next day, and you can actually watch the full game, or at least the first day of it, on YouTube.

The team eventually beat the Acadia Axemen in the Atlantic Bowl before losing to the Saskatchewan Huskies in the Vanier Cup, the national title game. It’s the only time in school history that the football team made it to the Vanier Cup. Sylvain Girard, Evan Davis and Jeffrey Anderson were all members of the 1998 team that were picked in the 1999 Canadian Football League (CFL) draft.

Head coach Collinson said some former players spoke to the current players last week.

Tyrrell said it was good to be able to spend time with some of the past players.

“We understand what we have right now is because of them, they built it,” the receiver said. “It’s great to connect what was given to us, through them.”

Dwayne Bromfield, a player of the 1999 football team, was also inducted into the Hall of Fame.

HISTORIC WOMEN’S HOCKEY TEAM ALSO HONOURED Can you imagine an undefeated hockey season? Well, the 1997-98 Concordia Stingers women’s hockey team did just that. They had a perfect 13-0 season before winning six-straight games to claim the Quebec Student Sports Federation (QSSF) title and the first-ever national championship. They won two tournaments that year and had only four losses, all in exhibition games, with two of them against the American national team.

To understand just how good they were, in four games against the McGill Martlets that season, they outscored them 34-1.

Delaney Collins, Anne Rodrigue and Corinne Swirsky were named All-Canadians that season. Swirsky also received national MVP honours, playoffs MVP and Stingers female athlete of the year.

Lisa-Marie Breton played as a rookie on that 1997-98 team and was also inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame during its ceremony Sunday morning. She played for the Stingers until 2002, winning another national title in 1999, and helped the team qualify for five-straight nationals.

Breton’s impact on women’s hockey extends past Concordia - she helped co-found the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) in 2007. She played for one of its original teams, the Montreal Stars, for eight years, winning three Clarkson Cups. Breton is still with Concordia, serving as the women’s hockey strength and conditioning coach.

The women’s hockey team played three preseason games this weekend. They beat the University of Toronto Varsity Blues 3-1, and the Waterloo Warriors 3-2, before losing to the professional Les Canadiennes 7-1 on Sunday.

For a full recap of the Concordia Stingers games during homecoming weekend, head to Stingers leading receiver Jarryd Taylor was held to 51 yards against the Carabins. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

THECONCORDIAN.COM/ SECTION/SPORTS

SEPTEMBER 25, 2018

theconcordian

15

PHOTO ESSAY

NEWS

Uniting the past and present

Baseball to become varsity

Former players invited for an alumni hockey game

Extra money will help scouting, cover travel costs

NICHOLAS DI GIOVANNI SPORTS EDITOR Concordia Stingers men’s hockey head coach Marc-André Élement invited former players for a weekend of festivities. Élement united the current men’s hockey team with alumni players in a golf tournament on Sept. 14, and organized an alumni hockey game at the Ed Meagher Arena on Sept. 15. Élement himself is a former player, having been with the Stingers from 2007-11. His assistant coach, Kiefer Orsini, played from 2010-12. He joined CJLO Sports on Sept. 17 to talk about the importance of bringing former players back to Concordia for these events.

“I want [the former players] to be proud of where they come from,” Élement said. “I want them to come back and talk to the players. For me, the team is a big family and I want them to be involved.”

The head coach wants to organize more alumni events with the team. “My philosophy for having success, it’s not just with the players on the ice. It’s all around, like having the alumni engage with our program,” he added.

Photo editor Mackenzie Lad caught some of the happier moments of the game.

The baseball team will be upgraded from a club status to a varsity team.

Archive photo by Ben Fraser.

BEN FRASER STAFF WRITER

Roberto Mormina (left) and Derek Watt (right) before playing in the alumni game on Sept. 15.

Eric Begin gets a shot off on a breakaway. Begin played every single game for the Stingers from 2007 to 2012.

Begin catches his breath on the bench during the alumni game.

The Concordia Stingers baseball team is inching closer to receiving varsity status. Baseball head coach Howie Schwartz said the team, currently listed as a club on their website, will be upgraded to a lower-tier varsity status, similar to McGill’s baseball team.

“We’re in the process of getting things organized right now, a lot of things are getting revamped,” Schwartz said. “It’s on the queue to be done.” It may take time for the team to be officially deemed varsity, but Schwartz assures it is on the way.

“We will achieve varsity status at some point in the near future,” Schwartz added.

“D'Arcy [Ryan] (Concordia’s director of Recreation and Athletics) is 100 per cent behind my project and is ver y much supportive.”

Schwartz, who spent the summer heavily recruiting in both the United States and in western Canada, said that varsity is a huge factor in the team’s ability to recruit. “We need to be considered varsity in order to recruit the way I want to recruit,” the head coach said.

Schwartz had his eyes on four players in particular, however all four decided to go to other schools with better offers, including

a National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) junior college in Kansas.

In addition to gaining interest from recruits, varsity status, regardless of the tier, brings more money into the program, and that is something Schwartz welcomes.

“I’m looking at the program and building it to the level I think it can go,” Schwartz said. “We’re a stronger program because the money’s there.”

In addition to the varsity status, the Stingers baseball program, through various fundraisers, can take in anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 every year.

The team will use the money for various academic financial awards, and to cover travel expenses. Schwartz also said the money will be put to use in order to schedule a series of exhibition games against NCAA opponents in the United States.

In the meantime, Schwartz is focused on the current season and the ultimate goal, as they want to “go deep into [the Canadian University World Series] and win.” The Stingers's cross-town rivals from McGill, who are striving for their fifth-straight Canadian University World Series title, don't concern Schwartz. “I think we have a team that can win it,” he said.

The Stingers finished fifth at nationals last year, and have a chance to build on that result this year.

Nick Sciangula was a teammate of Marc-André Élement’s during his three seasons with the Stingers.

With varsity status, the baseball team can receive up to $10,000 in funding.

Archive photo by Ben Fraser.

Mormina (pictured) played 39 games for the Stingers between 2010 to 2015.

Photos by Mackenzie Lad.

opinions OPINIONS EDITOR /// opinions@theconcordian.com SANIA MALIK

EDITORIAL

Without access to transportation, you’ll be left behind It’s that time of year again—elections are coming. We’re surrounded by empty promises, eager politicians and platforms that try very hard to appeal to specific people. Yet, there’s one facet of a platform that got our attention.

Don’t worry, we won’t be telling you who you should vote for in this editorial (but please do vote). Instead, The Concordian felt the Quebec Liberal Party’s promise to make public transit free for seniors and full-time students is quite compelling—and frankly, it’s about time.

The party’s leader, Philippe Couillard, said, “We want the next generation to develop the habit of using public transit and to turn away, by choice, from driving solo,” according to CBC News. He brought up how some families could save about $2,000 per year, and seniors could save up to $600 annually.

In a utopian world, one where everything was good, public transit would be free.

We wouldn’t be forced to sell our souls in order to afford a $110 monthly pass.

We wouldn’t have to dig deep into our couches and try to find enough change to pay the $3.25 needed to ride the bus for three minutes. Life would be so much simpler, right?

The truth is, we’re living in a time when free public transportation should be seen as a basic human right. We at The Concordian believe public transit

should be free for all—even if you aren’t a senior or a full-time student. There are way more benefits to free public transit than there are disadvantages. For one, we would significantly lessen our carbon footprint. If people used less cars and more public transit, the environment would be less exposed to harsh gasses.

The book Free Public Transit: And Why We Don’t Pay To Ride Elevators tackles this issue in a fundamental way.

It describes how we should be looking at public transportation like a public good, similar to garbage services. Co-edited

by Jason Prince, an urban planner and part-time professor at Concordia, the book emphasizes how free public transit is a vital way to achieve “greenhouse gas targets in industrialized cities within a reasonable timeframe.” According to an interview with Prince by the Montreal Gazette, approximately 60 to 65 per cent of greenhouse gases in the Montreal region come from the transport sector, with 80 per cent of that being from cars.

Our city is comprised of 1.7 million people; one simply has to stand in downtown Montreal to realize how many of us

are constantly moving . From one place to another, we are either on our feet, our bikes, in our cars, on busses or riding the metro. We’re hustling and rushing to get to where we need to be and, at this point, we shouldn’t have to pay for that. The same way Prince’s book questions why we don’t pay to ride elevators—just another way of getting to our destination—we shouldn’t be paying to reach our jobs, homes or daily destinations on time.

Those who can’t afford public transit are often left behind. Not only in terms of being ignored at the bus stop by rude bus drivers, but in life. We’re (unfortunately) living in a capitalistic, dog-eat-dog world, where being on time and showing up to opportunities is often essential to doing well in life.

Job interviews, classes, auditions—whatever it is you’re trying to do—is only more difficult when you don’t have a way of getting there in the first place.

We all know that unequal distribution of wealth leads to unequal opportunities.

That same inequality is mirrored in our public transit system—those who can’t afford those steep monthly passes, or even a $3 bus ticket, can’t reach their full potential.

We should all be pushing for a fairer society. Making public transportation free is just the first pit stop on our long journey toward equality.

Graphic by Ana Bilokin.

ENVIRONMENT

The final straw in ignoring the disabled community The straw ban might help the environment, but it completely disregards one group of people YOUMNA EL HALABI STAFF WRITER The excessive pollution that the Earth has been plagued with in the last few decades is no secret to anyone. One can simply take a stroll down any beach to realize how we have failed to maintain a certain level of purification. Discarding cigarette butts, beer bottles and plastic water bottles in the sand and the ocean, as if the world is our dumpster. Shame on us. What happened to the world being our oyster?

In spite of the blatant disregard some humans have for the planet, one cannot ignore the numerous initiatives taken against excess pollution, urging individuals to take action. Greenpeace, for example, is a world-renowned organization aiming to restore the Earth to its former clean-slate glory and minimize environmental crises as best they can.

Lately, many countries and even some corporations around the world have taken it upon themselves to reduce plastic waste by banning plastic straws, since it is one of the many sources of ocean pollution.

While this may be a step in the right direction for environmental issues, there is one thing

that has not been taken into consideration.

When political, social or environmental solutions are discussed among government officials, I imagine they have a list of people they wish to please. Will this benefit women in general? Do we fear negative repercussions for people of colour? Are we sure the LGBTQ+ community is not badly affected by this? I am by no means critical when using this caricatural image of governmental discussion concerning serious matters. On the contrary, I believe I am being quite utopian when I say governments actually take all these people into consideration when making decisions.

Nonetheless, throughout the years, certain decisions have been made for the benefit of the aforementioned communities. And yet, more often than not, a specific group of people are blatantly disregarded: the disabled community.

Disabled individuals may have their own parking spots, but even those get stolen by disrespectful people. I have even noticed at times, public transport isn’t accomodating to individuals in wheelchairs.

And now, while the ban on plastic straws is helpful to the environment, it is detrimental to a significant portion of the disabled community. It is a wonderful step toward bettering the planet, something even the

disabled community doesn’t fail to applaud cities for. However, people seem to forget that the purpose of straws is not just to make your iced coffee easier to drink; it is vital to many disabled people’s lives.

I am by no means well-equipped to say this nor do I speak on behalf of the community, as an able-bodied woman.

Nonetheless, I do not fail to see that more often than not, they are being ignored.

British YouTuber and TV presenter Jessica Kellgren-Fozard explained her take on the matter in an 11-minute video, stating that as a disabled woman, the ban of plastic straws was “the last straw.” It is another instance where the disabled community has been ignored. Diagnosed at 17 with hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies, she has difficulty gripping objects due to her weak limbs. Therefore, the use of plastic straws in her everyday life is vital.

In the video, Kellgren-Fozard explained that while the ban is helpful for the environment, plastic straw pollution only accounts for 0.025 per cent of oceanic pollution. It kind of makes you wonder why there is a sudden insistence on banning straws when there are far worse things to take care of, right?

I personally believe this governmental initiative (adopted by the US, U.K., and parts

of Montreal, among others) is a step in the right direction. However, it is not perfect, as members of the disabled community have highlighted. It also made me think how we are often quick to take into account gender equality, racial issues and sexuality, but disabled people are oftentimes forgotten.

While taking positive steps like banning plastic in general to help the environment is good, we shouldn’t forget about certain groups of people who might be deeply affected by such a ban. I believe with constant communication and learning, we can all build towards a clean planet suitable for all.

Graphic by @spooky_soda

SEPTEMBER 25, 2018

theconcordian

17

DRIVING

The dangers of driving in Montreal Recent pedestrian fatalities have sparked a conversation about safe driving in the city

Archive graphic by Zeze Le Lin.

BRYANNA FRANKEL CONTRIBUTOR Foot over the brake, eyes in constant motion, and a fear of the unknown. This is my daily state while driving to Concordia’s Loyola campus along Sherbrooke St. where pedestrians, cyclists, buses and other motorists roam freely regardless of traffic rules. A re c i p e fo r a m u c h -to o - co m m o n disaster.

An 87-year-old woman died after being hit by a truck on St-Roch St. last Tuesday according to CTV news. The city is urgently seeking solutions to this ongoing problem.

Between Sept. 7 and 12, five pedestrians

were struck by drivers in Montreal. Police spokesperson André Durocher suggested to CBC that distractions caused by phone screens may be the reason for the accidents. According to CBC, a common denominator found in recent years indicates that trucks turning a corner is the main cause of cyclist and pedestrian accidents.

I find the synchronisation of pedestrian and motorist lights to be inefficient in Montreal. The driver's light often turns green once the red hand and countdown begin for pedestrians. This situation causes the pedestrian and the motorist to both be engaged. The pedestrian does have the priority in this case, yet this allows the driver to turn even if a pedestrian is crossing. When rounding a corner, a distracted driver might

not see an incoming pedestrian. My roommate recalled a time when a driver cut her off while crossing the road; I recall a time I’ve cut off a pedestrian—by accident, of course.

In my experience, a pedestrian will often cross when only a few seconds remain. Those moments are the last seconds a motorist has to turn when the light is yellow before blocking oncoming traffic. As such, drivers will often accelerate as a pedestrian may begin to dash through the intersection, which can cause a collision. Drivers have the responsibility to prioritize pedestrians, yet, pedestrians must still have the common sense to only cross when sufficient time remains.

Traffic is a very important factor in pedestrian accidents, which is mostly caused

by Montreal’s never-ending construction, taking drivers on endless detours. Motorists become impatient, and their driving becomes reckless, especially during rush hour.

In fact, an analysis by the Montreal Gazette showed that from 2006 to 2011, the majority of pedestrian accidents happened at 8 a.m or 5 p.m. This indicates drivers are rushed to get to work on time or are impatient to get home, which impacts their driving.

I believe a motorist has the responsibility to ensure their safety and those of others, regardless of their state of mind. After all, it is not the pedestrian’s fault the motorist didn’t wake up on time. I believe wider roads may also help

with reducing traffic and increasing construction.

I’m from a small town and learned how to drive there. Now, I drive in Montreal and that transition was huge. Statistics Canada recorded a total of 8.4 million registered vehicles in Quebec in 2017, which has a population of 8.1 million. Montreal has a population of 1.7 million. Based on the statistics in Montreal alone, at least one million motorists are on the road daily—a huge change from a small town.

A prevention campaign, Vision Zéro, that was created in 2017, aims to reduce the number of motor accidents by producing awareness videos and implementing security measures.

The measures include installing priority lights for cyclists and a pilot project implementing more four-way traffic stops.

“Education alone is rarely effective in reducing traffic accidents,’’ Marie-Soleil Cloutier, a road security expert with the INRS research university, told CTV news.

She suggested changes in infrastructure, such as speed bumps, curb extensions and adjustments to light timing will have a real impact. Generally improving road conditions would improve driving; having to contour potholes every few metres doesn’t allow for ‘’smooth driving.’’ To reduce accidents, drivers and pedestrians must collaborate to make the streets of Montreal safer—for everyone.

TUITION

International students' tuition hikes are added hurdles One student’s experience with epilepsy, expenses and finding hope at Concordia

HENRY LOVGREN CONTRIBUTOR The debate over raising tuition at Concordia, particularly for international students such as myself, fails to acknowledge the various reasons we chose to study in Canada. When I applied to 12 universities at the end of my high school career, I had no idea Concordia University even existed.

That all changed in 2016, the day before Thanksgiving, when I had my first seizure.

At the time, I had started college in Kalamazoo, Mich. I had chosen to attend that university because of a generous scholarship, but the annual price of $45,000 still took a toll on my parents’s finances. As my seizures grew in intensity, my parents’s budget shrank. They now had to pay for an American education and increasing medical costs. Granted, their insurance handled a portion of the financial burden, but nothing could prepare them for the massive bills to come when I started my second year of college.

Two weeks into the academic year, while walking home from a party, I had two massive seizures, each lasting for a dangerously long few minutes.

In the aftermath, unbeknownst to me, my mind became overwhelmed with paranoia, delusions and confusion (known as the postictal state). These post-seizure symptoms can manifest

in a variety of ways and usually last anywhere from a few seconds to a few weeks. After refusing to be taken to a hospital, aware from previous experiences the ambulance ride would cost $6,000, I became convinced my anticonvulsant drugs were prescribed by a malicious doctor intent on provoking seizures and taking money from the pharmaceutical industry.

A year later, I am aware that delusion is absurd, but in the days following the seizures, my mind deteriorated to the point where my behaviour became noticeably concerning. The college chaplin I worked with took me to the

medical centre. Following a brief evaluation, I was involuntarily committed to a for-profit neuro-psychiatric facility in nearby Indiana. As each day passed, my postictal state subsided and in its place, I developed a tremendous sense of guilt.

Even with my parents insurance, the hospital, ambulance and tuition would cost my parents tens of thousands of dollars.

After a few days, I received a notebook and pen, an incredible privilege at an institution where many mentally impaired individuals have violent tendencies. In the notebook, I wrote down the pros and cons of staying in Michig an, and I ultimately decided Graphic by @spooky_soda that when I got out, I’d apply to Concordia. I knew of the university because, the previous spring, I had visited a friend in Montreal and fell in love with the city.

M y a c ce pt a n ce letter filled me with mixed emot ions; I felt sad to leave my inter nship and friends behind, but was also excited for the adventure ahead.

In Januar y 20 18 , I s t ar te d cla s s e s at Concordia. Meanwhile,

my parents continued paying off the never-ending stream of medical bills.

The annual cost of tuition, housing and living expenses in Canada saved my parents over $20,000 a year. Insurance, as part of the university health plan, reduced my monthly medication cost from $260 to $0.

According to The Concordian , Concordia president Alan Shepard said the recent tuition increase for international engineering and computer science students matches tuition hikes for non-international students. At first glance, this new financial approach makes sense, but fails to acknowledge the complex circumstances that motivate international students to study at Concordia.

Raising international students’ tuition in order to maintain proportionality to what Canadian citizens pay is simplistic, and harms international students with unique circumstances like me.

I love Concordia University, and have made a home here. Canada and Quebec’s principle of the right to affordable education and medical care is something the United States desperately needs.

Many of my American friends view their northern neighbours’s values with awe.

Let’s work to ensure they are preserved so international and domestic students alike can obtain an education and fulfill their dreams.

Note: All costs mentioned have been converted from American to Canadian dollars.

18

theconcordian

SEPTEMBER 25, 2018

ELECTIONS

Vote for this election’s socialist candidate Québec solidaire is the most morally conscious party in the upcoming election TYSON BURGER ASSISTANT OPINIONS EDITOR While the other major parties appeal mostly to the majority—the white, middle class of Quebec—Québec solidaire is dedicated to protecting visible minorities and lower-income people. They have been consistently open about the core of their plan: to increase taxes on corporations and the mega-rich, and increase social services for the lower classes.

They’ve stated that they will raise taxes for citizens earning more than $97,000 per year, and lower taxes for those earning less than $80,000, while those between these income brackets would see no change.

With this new tax system as well as other initiatives—such as lessening our dependance on big pharmaceutical companies by buying drugs in bulk and selling them to individual citizens at a lower rate—Québec solidaire said it will free up $12.9 billion in taxpayer money to invest in public programs.

One party's goals is to make dental insurance free and accessible to all. Their mandate is to offer a 100 per cent rebate for people with low income and citizens under 18 who visit the dentist. Other citizens will get an 80 per cent reimbursement on cleanings and preventive care, and 60 per

cent for curative care.

The party will launch an inquiry into systemic racism in the province, and will implement a strict quota to ensure visible minorities represent 25 percent of new employees in Quebec businesses until an overall representation rate of 13 per cent is achieved. They also plan to gradually change the organization of our educational system, from kindergarten to university, to make it free for everyone in the next five years.

These are only a few of the party’s plans, but I hope it gives a sense of their core values.

Other initiatives that I don’t have the space to list here have demonstrated the party’s unwavering dedication to issues of environmental sustainability, women and LGBTQ+ community, Indigenous peoples, immigrants and Quebec’s homeless population.

They believe that these ambitious goals are incompatible with the values and organization of Canada’s federal

government, and so they are promising a referendum in their first term. While I am personally not sure where I stand on this, I would be very surprised if the overall vote was in favour of separating Quebec to be its own country, so it is not an issue that I am particularly concerned about.

Many of the party’s critics claim their figure of $12.9 billion in savings is an overestimate, but, in my opinion the actual figure is less important than the intention behind it. The bottom line is that Québec solidaire is going to take from the rich and give to the poor. If you are among the higher-income classes, it is not in your self-interest to vote for this party. But self-interest is the very mentality that Québec solidaire attempts to confront. They are more interested in the communal good, and that is what sets them apart from other parties in the race.

Another common critique of the party is that they are going to drive

wealthy people and corporations out of the province. Although, in my opinion, this is probably not true. Assuming it is: What makes that such a bad thing? Why do we insist on protecting the interest of the wealthy over the survival of the poor? To preserve jobs? Are we really so dependant on corporations that we need to keep their profits in the millions or billions so their CEOs can buy yachts, private jets or a Westmount mansion while we work all week to barely make rent?

If many corporations did leave the province under Québec solidaire’s government, wouldn’t smaller businesses step up and take their place? We should be saying good riddance to massive corporate hierarchies rather than begging them to stay.

The biggest problem Québec solidaire faces in this election is that the majority of its support comes from the demographic that is least likely to vote: young people.

Our parents and grandparents will continue to vote Liberal as they always do, therefore it is up to us to go out and make our voices heard.

Quebec residents can vote in the LB building at Concordia on Sept. 25, 26, and 27, but only from their electoral district on Oct. 1.

Graphic by Ana Bilokin.

CONNECTION

If you can’t see me, I can’t see you

Some pe rsona l thou ghts on h um a n de ce ncy, op p ort u n i t y a n d bei n g pres ent CHLOË LALONDE ARTS EDITOR Coming up on my third year in university, everything is an opportunity.

When I see a familiar face in my classes, I like to reach out. If we've had several classes together, at this point I assume we're interested in the same things.

So naturally, let's talk about that.

I see university as a starting point. A place where you set the foundation for the rest of your life. So many opportunities come our way here, and there are so many ways to be involved and do something.

T hat being s aid , I' ve found myself struggling with opportunity recently.

I’m constantly looking for more, even though I am incredibly busy. I like to be busy. There is so much I want to do, and I feel like the time is now. In essence, the time is always "now."

I just need to feel present in my current projects and pursue those to the best of my ability instead of fantasizing about studying in New Zealand or Eastern Europe, volunteering up North or in the Caribbean, taking art classes in Italy. To combat this, I find myself tr ying to make connections with people that, frankly, might

not amount to anything in the long run.

I suppose I can't assume people have the same outlook as I do. While I'm in university, I'm also trying to make lasting friendships or simple connections with my peers, or at least practice common human decency. Nod or smile, grab opportunities when they come my way. In university, everyone's caught up in their own opportunities, their own “now.” I try my best to be mindful about this. I know I am probably not alone in my escapist fantasies, and the solution to this is not forcing friendships.

But maybe you're studying something

that you aren't really set on pursuing, maybe you really just want to do your work and get your degree so you can move on. Maybe you aren't concerned with being a decent person and acknowledging familiar faces. Or maybe you just don’t feel like talking. At this point, I don’t feel like talking either. But I do. I talk a lot.

At this point, we’re all in the same boat, right? Why not stand together?

Solidarity in decency. But I’ve realized, it's harder to be

decent than I thought. It's easier to stay comfortable and not take those steps that could very well change your life, even if it is in the smallest way possible, like smiling at a stranger.

Last week, while walking up Guy St. from the TD Bank on Ste-Catherine St., I saw something I never expected to see in my life. Out of respect for the person, I won't describe what it was I saw, but I'll just say this person obviously needed help. I did notice, but because I was walking quickly, it only really hit me when I was in the metro. I didn't put it together sooner. But what could I have done?

I could have smiled and a ske d t his p er s on if t hey needed assistance, if I could get something for them at the store that would help, call someone for them. All I can do now is hope that someone else did what I failed to do.

I was rushed, concerned with getting home to the comfort of my own bed. I, like those I have criticised, couldn’t bother to reach out; I couldn’t be bothered to even nod or smile. My point is, it's hard to be decent and I need to stop putting pressure on myself and judging people for not aligning with my reality.

After all, we’re all just doing our best.

Graphic by Ana Bilokin.

etc

FEATURED CONCORDIA ARTIST

CAYLA LEUNG Hi, my name is Cayla. I am a fashion, graphic and web designer from Montreal and I am studying Compuation Arts at Concordia. Design is a form of visual communication. It allows people to express themselves and voice their ideas through visual media. My work is inspired by minimalism and modernism. I strive to design unique, simple yet beautiful interfaces.

WHERE TO FIND CAYLA: Instagram: c_ayla Email: cayla.by.leung@gmail.com Youtube: Cayla Leung Website: caylabyleung.com

Etc is a space dedicated to showcasing Concordia artists!

Submissions can be sent to production@theconcordian.com

20 theconcordian

SEPTEMBER 25, 2018

Graphic by @spooky_soda

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CONTRIBUTORS: Alexia Martel-Desjardins, Ben Fraser, Bryanna Frankel, Esteban Eduardo Cuevas González, Henry Lovgren,

Lorenza Mezzapelle, Youmna El Halabi

VOL. 36, ISSUE 5 SEPT. 25, 2018.

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