Vol. 42 Issue 10: November 11th 2024

READ

CUTV’S $360,000 RELATIONSHIP WITH THE BREACH

CUTV’s AGM was cut short as members questioned their years-long funding of independent media organization the Breach.

BY JEREMY COX // NEWS EDITOR

CUTV’s 2024 Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Nov. 4 was cut short as two participants hurried out of the Hive Café just as a vote to reconsider a $50,000 transfer to media organization the Breach was about to begin.

The Community University Television (CUTV) has been funding the Breach since its be-

ginnings in 2021, and the final total of their contribution to the independent media outlet will add up to $360,000. This represents more than a year of fee levy revenue for CUTV, which received almost $235,000 from the student body in 2024. A few days before the AGM, Board Member and Treasurer Mackenzie Smedmor an-

nounced that they will not run for re-election due to the unfavorable financial situation that the station has found itself in and their inability to influence it.

During the AGM, multiple CUTV members expressed their surprise as the group discussed the continued funding of the Breach, an outlet unre-

lated to Concordia that focuses on coverage of national issues. They felt that the money could be better used to provide services to Concordia students and CUTV members.

The Concordia Student Union addresses police presence on campus pg. 3

SPORTS

Why Montreal is falling behind in the world of major league sports pg. 6

LES PAGES FRANCOS

Valorisation du français : où en est Concordia? pg. 8

ARTS & CULTURE

A hearty gathering: International Students Office’s cooking class brings students together over soup pg. 11

MUSIC

The Toronto curse is real pg. 12

OPINIONS

Lest we forget pg. 14

GRAPHIC BY KEVEN VAILLANCOURT // GRAPHICS EDITOR @kindaokev

CUTV and the Breach (Continued from cover)

INCUBATING THE BREACH

CUTV is Canada’s oldest campus-based TV facility and gets most of its funding from a Concordia fee levy. In February 2021, its board of directors signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Breach to help the organization launch its operations.

The MOU entailed that CUTV would financially support or “incubate” the Breach from its creation phase in 2021 until February 2025, with a total contribution of $360,000 over this time frame. The smallest and final sum of $50,000 will be transferred on Feb. 1, 2025.

The three signatures at the bottom of the MOU are those of CUTV Executive Director Dru Oja Jay, the Breach managing editor Martin Lukacs, and then President of the CUTV Board of Directors Marcus Peters.

Peters sat on CUTV’s board from 2020 to 2023, returning to the position after temporarily leaving because of trouble cooperating with other board members, according to current CUTV members.

At the time, interest in CUTV was low. Membership numbers surged just weeks before the 2019 AGM, held in February 2020, and Peters was re-elected onto the board. That summer, a petition by CUTV members accused the newly-elected board of directors of having convinced their friends to become members in order to get elected.

“It was clearly a mandate that almost nobody within leadership positions at the station had an interest in upholding, so I felt like it was a constant uphill battle and I got burned out and declined to rerun the following year,” said Peters.

Peters was also a member of the Breach’s board until a few days ago.

The Breach became active in

2022. According to their presentation at CUTV’s Nov. 4 AGM, around one-fifth of their 2024 revenue came from payments from CUTV.

Jay, still CUTV’s executive director and now a publisher and member of the Breach’s board, explained the large amount of money going to the Breach. According to him, the outlet is still valuable to Concordia students because it covers topics that interest students, such as Pierre Poilievre’s “fake populist playbook,” climate issues, and current international wars.

MEMBERSHIP PUSHBACK

CUTV staff, as well as students and community members, believe there isn’t much of a connection between CUTV and the Breach outside of its financing.

“I have never spoken to anyone affiliated with the Breach other than, of course, Dru, the executive director of CUTV,” said CUTV Board Member Allison O’Reilly.

“No

“It is incubating it, so obviously the support is mostly unidirectional, that’s what one would expect,” he said. “The chair of the board of the Breach [Jay] is giving regular updates at every board meeting of CUTV. What more do you need?”

O’Reilly, like Smedmor, is choosing not to run for re-election due to the continued funding of the Breach.

Musician Vincent Stephen-Ong has been a CUTV community member for almost a decade. Unlike student memberships, which are free of charge, community memberships cost $20 per year. He was disappointed with the recent neglect of service maintenance, a prime reason for his membership renewal.

“The rental system used to be [open] five days [a week]; now it’s down to three days. Why is the staff who’s doing this not able to work all five days? Like, why is there not enough money for the staff?” Stephen-Ong wondered.

fund media that literally is categorically opposed to his own class interests.”

THIS YEAR’S AGM AND SPENDING WITH A DEFICIT

CUTV ran a deficit of almost $93,000 in 2024, which was absorbed by a surplus, though the cash reserve has lowered. CUTV is foreseen to run a $15,000 deficit this coming year at worst, which will be absorbed by the same surplus, further eating into the reserve.

There were three different instances in early 2023 concerning the misallocation of funds to the Breach, including one where the Breach’s expenses were covered by CUTV due to credit card issues. Both CUTV’s and the Breach’s finances are handled by the solidarity cooperative Populus, which is staffed by former CUTV and Breach members.

the financial statement presented at the AGM wasn’t approved by the board, leading to what they saw as an under-informed membership and an undemocratic AGM. The CUTV finance committee had not met since April.

“I got that people were adamant for new equipment. But as a board member, we have responsibilities,” they said. “It seemed a bit chaotic by the way it was brought over.”

one from the Breach

has

ever

come to a board meeting, has never expressed interest in what’s going on at CUTV, has ever given back any support to CUTV that I could see. It’s a complete separation of organizations,” said O’Reilly.

Peters argued that this disconnect was inevitable.

In response to Stephen-Ong’s complaint about lack of investing in equipment, Jay replied in an email that the projected costs of equipment would approximate $25,000 by the end of the year. CUTV’s 2024 financial report states that equipment costs totaled just over $10,000.

Peters defended the choice to continue funding the Breach rather than putting more money towards equipment.

“I can think of three sources off the top of my head, just at Concordia, that would happily fund expanding the fleet of equipment of CUTV,” he said. “What kind of funding exists for developing radical alternative media to the scale of the Breach? There’s nothing out there unless some billionaire wakes up tomorrow and decides that he wants to

After discussing the funding of the Breach at length during the AGM on Nov. 4, members motioned for a vote to ask the board of directors to consider rupturing the MOU and relocating the final sum of money for other internal purposes.

At 9:48 p.m., 12 minutes before the Hive Café’s space booking time expired, Peters shot up from his chair and scanned the room, intently counting heads.

“Quorum?” asked Grassroots Coverage Fund’s Executive Director and CUTV Board Member Nicolas Chevalier.

“I call for quorum,” said Peters to the meeting’s chair.

He promptly gathered his belongings and left, soon followed by Chevalier, ensuring that the meeting would not meet the quorum. Nine members sat in the Hive Café and seven on the Zoom call.

From that moment onwards, the AGM was void, as it failed to meet the 20-member quorum. The other items on the agenda, including the election of a new board of directors, were pushed to a Special General Meeting.

“The democratic process isn’t just about voting,” said Peters.

“It’s about being informed, right? It’s not about blindly casting a vote, especially along polarized lines,” said Peters.

“So 16 out of 20 is like an incredibly low threshold for making decisions that have massive impacts over the course of a year in an organization that has hundreds and hundreds of members.”

Chevalier joined the CUTV board in 2022. They say they haven’t been present enough on the board, and to compensate, they observed the AGM with intent and skepticism.

As members critiqued the Breach MOU, Chevalier argued that rupturing the MOU could invite legal pursuit, sending a collective murmur throughout the cafe.

They agreed with Peters that

A tentative date for the Special General Meeting is set for Dec. 5, at which time the board will revise official data and make a final decision. At the AGM, some members expressed worries that people with strong feelings about the Breach funding might rush to sign on new members who would vote alongside them. Members must join at least 14 days in advance in order to vote to elect board members. Documents obtained by the Concordian show that, since the AGM, almost 30 new members have signed up, foreshadowing a surge of members who may vote to elect partisan board members. Before the AGM, there were a total of 18 new members in the 2024 term.

“You can’t pretend that something is anti-democratic because you disagree with it and forget that democracy is actually literally a popularity contest,” said Peters.

“Instead of having a motion introduced on the floor in a sort of blindsided way in a meeting that didn’t even meet quorum, we’re having an actual conversation about it beforehand,” he added.

Cameron MacIntyre is the program director of CJLO 1690 AM, Concordia’s campus radio station. MacIntyre joined CUTV’s membership this summer and originally put forward the motion to breach the MOU after looking into its situation. He is campaigning to be elected to the board in December.

“If students want to decide how that $50,000 is spent, come to the AGM. I believe student oversight over fee levies is absolutely central to what the levy is, and I think that this memorandum of understanding is a way of getting out of that oversight,” he said. “This is a nightmare scenario for any fee levy, in my mind.”

The student movement to save the CUCCR

Students band together after word got out that the beloved reuse centre on campus may shut down.

BY MAEVE HOLBROOK CONTRIBUTOR

A group of Concordia students have formed a coalition to raise funds and awareness to save the Concordia University Centre for Creative Reuse (CUCCR) from shutting down.

The CUCCR’s current contract with Concordia University, which ensures funding for the centre, is up for renewal in April 2025. There is a possibility that Concordia will not renew the contract next year due to budget cuts.

The CUCCR was founded by Anna Timm-Bottos and Arien Weeks in March 2017, becoming Canada’s first university reuse centre.

“We’ve been able to do incredible metrics,” Timm-Bottos said.

In the past seven years, the

centre has diverted 35 metric tonnes of usable materials from going to landfills. It has also saved Concordia students over $380,000 because students can take anything from the centre for free.

Concordia University’s Sustainability Action Plan has outlined five-year plans for different aspects of sustainability on campus. CUCCR plays an integral role in its zero waste plan, as its purpose is to reroute materials that would otherwise be headed to landfills into the

hands of students who can use them.

This fall, seven Concordia students founded the coalition Students for the Centre for Creative Reuse (SFCUCCR) when they heard rumours that the CUCCR’s two-year contract with Concordia University might not be renewed in the next academic year.

“I heard about the possible closure of the CUCCR because I was volunteering here, and I was like, I have to do something about that,” said Jonah

Doniewski, one of the founding members of SFCUCCR.

CUCCR is a resource used by all students for all kinds of purposes, from finding class materials to decorating their apartments.

“I think it’s a really cool thing that they’re doing,” said Bianca Matei, a sociology and anthropology student at Concordia.

While Matei was at the centre searching for scrapbook supplies, she found an old perfume bottle that was identical to a $40 one she was looking at for her friend’s birthday. She had been worried about the price tag for the gift.

“But then I found this, and I was like, wait, this is free!” she said eagerly.

“This is one of the better sustainability organizations at Concordia, mainly because it’s actionable sustainability,” said Doniewski, referring to the concrete nature of CUCCR’s mission. “To not fund something like that seems really ridiculous to me, so we’re trying to stop that from happening.”

The SFCUCCR has created an appeal form to encourage the university to sign another con-

tract with the centre so that it can stay open.

So far, the group has gathered 1,500 signatures and 600 testimonials from Concordia students demonstrating their support for the centre. However, as Doniewski points out, renewing the contract is only a temporary solution.

“It’s also kind of a band-aid fix because even if they do renew it, that’s still a temporary contract, and they might just not renew it again in two years,” he said.

SFCUCCR is planning to collect funding so that the centre’s fate is not solely held in the hands of the university.

“Essentially, what we are doing is trying to raise enough funding to keep [the CUCCR] alive,” Doniewski explained.

The coalition will host an art market on Nov. 19, where student artists can sell their art made from materials provided by the CUCCR. A portion of the profits will be donated to support the centre. This is one of many events the coalition has in the works to support this beacon of actionable sustainability on campus.

The Concordia Student Union addresses police presence on campus

Student representatives and faculty gathered on Nov. 1 to address the recent arrests and increased police presence on campus.

BY JAYDE LAZIER

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER

On Nov. 1, the Concordia Student Union (CSU) and faculty and student representatives gathered in front of the Hall Building on Concordia’s Sir George Williams campus to address what they called violent misconduct of police on campus.

A few days prior, the CSU and other student groups released a statement “accusing Concordia University of police brutality and racial discrimination.” These announcements follow recent arrests at Concordia’s downtown campus on Sept. 25 and Oct. 31 as well as the increased presence of security and police around campus.

“In the last few weeks our students have been arrested, detained, and even physically brutalized, all while conducting non-violent political demonstrations,” said Danna Ballantyne, the external

affairs & mobilization coordinator for the CSU.

Julie Fortier of Concordia’s media relations team cited recent events and instances of vandalism to justify the increase in security presence on campus.

“Campus Safety and Prevention Services (CSPS) have increased their presence on campus this year because of the tensions on university campuses everywhere and incidents such as the one that occurred on 8 November 2023 in the Hall Building,” wrote Fortier in an email.

Vanessa Massot, the CSU’s academic & advocacy coordinator, said the press conference was a “plea to the Concordia administration to take seriously the issue of police brutality on their campus.”

Massot, along with many other students and faculty, said they are tired of attending an institution where they feel unsafe and outwardly attacked on a daily basis. Norma Rantisi, a professor at Concordia’s department of geography, planning and environment, expanded on this feeling.

“Concordia students have had a long-standing engagement with social movements and organizing for justice. For this, students should be commended, not repressed, their voices lifted, not censored, their activism supported, not criminalized,” she said.

The CSU’s press release claims that the issue of police presence and violence is not just limited to the campus and calls for the CSPS to abolish the practice of “following students off campus.”

“I am not aware of CSPS agents following students off campus,” responded Fortier, denying the CSU’s accusations.

After the CSU communicated with Concordia’s administration regarding the legality of these actions, Ballantyne said the university informed her that “CSPS can follow students off campus if they witness an alleged crime on campus.”

After the press conference, Ballantyne discussed the way the recent rise in police brutality and racial discrimination on campus has been affecting her as a student of the Black, Indigenous and people of colour community.

“It’s been horrific, the kind of discourse and sentiment that is being pushed by CSPS is actively putting me in danger, not only from them and the police but from other students,” said Ballantyne.

The press release calls on Concordia to “abolish five practices: following students off campus, conducting citizen arrests, physical apprehension and detainment, preemptively coordinating response with the police prior to political demonstrations, and facilitating police brutality instead of engaging in de-escalation.”

In answer to these demands and their feasibility, Fortier said that CSPS agents prioritize de-escalation but do not tolerate criminal acts.

“SPVM is only called when necessary and in accordance with Concordia’s policies,” she added, “such as during incidents where the safety and security of community members are threatened or when criminal acts are committed on campus.”

CUCCR’s space in the Grey Nuns Building

PHOTO BY MAEVE HOLBROOK // CONTRIBUTOR

The CSU held a press conference on Nov. 1 to address the recent police presence on campus.

PHOTO BY JAYDE LAZIER // SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER

Misrepresented or mismanaged?

Concordia’s financial stability and recruitment efforts are being tested. What do these changes mean for the future of the university — and its students?

BY SAKIB HOSSAIN STAFF WRITER @SAKIBINC

Money talk is confusing. Tuition hikes, government grants, endowments, and “clawbacks” — but what does it all mean for Concordia University, and why should students care?

Over the last few years, Concordia’s financial situation has led to tough decisions and changes that affect the entire student body. Whether it’s cuts to campus services, adjustments in tuition policies, the university’s increasing debt, or the closure of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS), Concordia’s finances shape everything from classroom resources to student support services.

For students, the stakes are real: a financially strained university could mean fewer services, rising fees, or shifts in academic offerings.

INCREASED INCOME, INCREASED SPENDING

In 2018, Concordia’s finances were stable, and the university was looking to the future with plans for significant infrastructure investments. That year, Quebec’s decision to deregulate tuition for international undergraduate students (except those from France) gave Concordia new autonomy, allowing it to set tuition for these students and keep 100 per cent of the revenue. But with this freedom came the loss of additional government grants.

This policy shift allowed Concordia to raise international tuition fees, boosting revenue to $628.7 million by 2019, with $365 million coming from government grants and $162.2 million from tuition. Flush with increased funds, the university invested heavily in new facilities, including the $62 million Science Hub at Loyola Campus, completed in 2020, and extensive renovations to the Henry F. Hall Building. In total, Concordia invested $91.6 million in capital projects that year.

The university also allocated funds to deferred maintenance and upgrades to its IT systems to support academic and operational efficiency. However, by the end of 2019, long-term debt had grown to over $633 million. While this debt supported growth, reliance on borrowing would soon become a challenge.

AND THEN… THE PANDEMIC

The COVID-19 pandemic hit hard. Concordia’s dependence on auxiliary revenue sources, like residence fees and campus services, quickly became apparent as campuses emptied. Between 2019 and 2021, revenue from these services had fallen from $20.8 million to just $4.4 million. Meanwhile, total expenses climbed, driven by health and safety costs. With revenue dwindling and costs rising, Concordia’s finances became precarious.

“The pandemic worsened Concordia’s cash flow... we faced a significant deficit,” said Denis Cossette, Concordia’s chief financial officer. The deficit in question was $21 million. Debt continued to grow, reaching $694.9 million in 2021, and cash reserves fell to just $5.4 million. To stay afloat, Concordia leaned heavily on borrowing and government support.

THE TUITION HIKES

Just as things were beginning to stabilize, the Quebec government introduced new tuition regulations in 2023. This time, the province re-regulated tuition for out-of-province Canadian and international students, setting minimum fees and reclaiming a large portion of these new fees — a process Cossette describes as a “clawback.”

Concordia’s tuition for Canadian students from outside Quebec increased to $12,000, but the university keeps only $3,000 per student, while the other $9,000 returns to the government.

The impact of these new regulations was immediate. Concordia saw a drop in Canadian students from outside Quebec, with a 30 per cent decrease in new registrations for out-ofprovince students and a 12 per cent decline in new registrations overall, according to Cossette.

For international students, Concordia now faces an even greater financial hit. Cossette said that international enrollment declined by about 10 per cent, adding to the financial strain.

“We’re losing

about $5,000

to $6,000 per international student,” Cossette said, due to the clawback mechanism.

In response to these financial pressures, Concordia has been scaling back certain initiatives in an attempt to balance the budget — moves that have had a visible impact on students and the community. One of the

most contentious examples has been the recent closure of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS).

“MIGS was a small, two-person organization — very lean. I don’t

know what savings they could have anticipated by cutting it,” said Eric Meerkamper, a former fellow at MIGS.

Diego Osorio, a senior policy advisor at Infrastructure Canada and former MIGS fellow, criticized the decision’s approach.

“They decided to close MIGS, focusing narrowly on budget constraints without opening the discussion to Montreal’s

community,” stated Osorio. “For me, that’s both callous and irresponsible.”

The closure has drawn attention to what Osorio and Meerkamper see as a trend toward financial decisions that, while addressing immediate budget concerns, risk eroding Concordia’s community impact and global standing.

Beyond these specific budget-driven decisions, Concordia now faces recruitment challenges due to Quebec’s shifting language policies. English-language universities will need at least 80 per cent of undergraduates to achieve a level 5 proficiency orally in French by graduation for their students starting their bachelor’s degree in Fall 2025 or later.

Level 5 proficiency in French, according to the Quebec government, is the first intermediate level of French proficiency. It is defined as having conversations and making small presentations in French around everyday topics.

Although the policy aims to strengthen language skills, Cossette believes it could deter in-

ternational students, who may view it as an additional hurdle.

“Our programs are still exciting and appealing,” Cossette said. “But perception matters — students want to know they’ll feel comfortable and supported.”

Concordia’s reputation as an inclusive institution is key, particularly when it competes with universities across Canada and globally. Prospective students considering options abroad may decide against Quebec if they see language requirements as an obstacle, regardless of Concordia’s support.

Concordia’s diversity has long been one of its strengths, with students from over 150 countries contributing to a rich cultural environment. As the university navigates these financial and policy shifts, its ability to maintain this unique mix will be key to preserving its identity.

Trump victory leaves Montrealers concerned for what’s next

Americans and Canadians alike are worried about what Trump’s second term could mean for trade, immigration, and domestic politics in the near future.

BY MANOJ SUBRAMANIAM STAFF WRITER

On Nov. 5, a majority of Americans voted for Donald Trump to return to the White House as the 47th president of the United States.

Republicans will take control of the Senate and will more than likely retain their majority in the House of Representatives. Trump’s second presidency

in 2016 when Trump pulled off an unexpected victory over Hillary Clinton.

Esteve shared her worry about a future where the Republican Party controls the Presidency, the Congress, and a majority of the Supreme Court justices are conservative.

“If the two houses in Congress go for Republicans, then it’s a really serious situation [with] no resistance [to Trump’s policies],” she said.

“We’ll just see if his streak of retribution really gets animated. ”

American PhD student at McGill University Carlos Pérez Valle said he was scared and was re-evaluating his plans for the future. Some of his family members in the U.S. are undocumented, including a few who are recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status,

his first pres idency, Trump attempted to end DACA but was blocked by the Supreme Court on pro cedural grounds, leaving the door open for a future revocation.

“I’m fearful because it’s reminding me about what happened in 2016 when me and some of my family members were making plans in case they got deported back to Mexico,” said Pérez Valle.

“It’s reigniting those fears.”

In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other government officials are worried that Trump would follow through on his campaign promise and impose tariffs on Canadian exports without respecting

the Canada-United States-Mexico agreement on free trade.

Moshe Lander, who teaches international trade at Concordia University, explained that such a move could have serious implications.

“If he’s now surrounded by yes-men rather than traditional old-guard Republicans who understand the value of free trade, then it could really turn into a mess for Canada,” said Lander.

Other than the automobile industry, which relies on a vast amount of goods going back and forth across the border, Trump could also target technology and financial services sectors, which could negatively impact Canadians and Canadian corporations, Lander said.

“If he decides that he’s going to be a vengeful president and [that] he’s going to go after [Democrat-led] states, a lot of what the blue states [produce] is technology and finance,” said Lander. “So, could we all of a sudden find that our iPhones are subjected to tariffs as well?”

Canadian banks like Toronto-Dominion Bank have recently expanded into the U.S. market. If Trump goes ahead with his protectionist policies, leading to disputes with Canada, these banks could be caught in the crossfire, Lander continued.

“So it’s not just our manufacturing sector, it’s also potentially our consumer goods sector that could find itself on the wrong side and whatever damage [Trump] inflicts,” Lander said. “There’s not a lot of recourse if the protections around the free trade agreement are not respected.”

While there is a sense of anxviety about the future, Pérez Valle is coping by cleaning up his social media and not engaging with those around whom he does not feel safe.

Esteve said she is happier to be living and working in Canada, given her own “liberal-progressive” political sensibilities.

“I really do like the more relaxed manner with which I can talk about politics,” she said. “So, in terms of my professional daily life, I’m a lot happier to be here.”

SPORTS

Why Montreal is falling behind in the world of major league sports

Montreal focuses on hockey and sees a future in soccer, but how does it compare to other popular North American sports?

BY MATHILDE COLLS ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Montreal has its fair share of sports teams, from hockey to soccer. But, for many North American sports fans, the city fails to live up to the promise of neighbouring sports leagues.

While Montreal has the biggest National Hockey League (NHL) franchise in Canada, a Canadian Football League (CFL) team, and a Major League Soccer (MLS) team, it lags in every other major North American sport. Without a National Basketball Association (NBA) or Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise, Montreal sports fans and athletes are left to cheer for teams outside their home city.

Once the proud home of the Montreal Expos, the first MLB team based in Canada, the city lost the franchise when it moved to Washington in 2004 after financial struggles and ownership issues.

Since then, Montreal has not housed an MLB team, making it the largest North American city without a franchise. Meanwhile, the Toronto Blue Jays are going strong.

Many have advocated for a revival of professional baseball in Montreal, with projects such as Project Baseball Montreal, founded by ex-Expos player Warren Cromartie.

Despite these efforts and a decade-long campaign, Rob Manfred, commissioner of MLB, shut the door on the subject in 2022.

“I have no doubt that this concept could be interesting in the future world of professional sports, but baseball is not ready to take this step currently,” Manfred explained in a press conference back in January 2022.

Gaspard Beaudoin, a Montreal-raised sports fan and Concordia student, said that politics have played a massive role in prohibiting Montreal from being back in the baseball scene.

“Denis Coderre built and revamped many baseball fields in Montreal parks when he was mayor, aiming to bring a baseball team back to Montreal,” said Beaudoin. “The issue is that baseball is definitely a declining sport in the city. We still have a strong base, and a lot of people advocate for baseball

to come back, but the majority of people just don’t care much about the sport.”

As for basketball, Montreal has never had an official NBA franchise, although it got close a few decades ago. In 1995, both Toronto and Vancouver received teams, and the Toronto Raptors still exist today. At the time, the NBA considered giving a team to Montreal as part of its goal to grow basketball in Canada. However, the city never received a team due to a smaller market and insufficient infrastructure.

Jordan Telfort, a second-year Concordia Stingers basketball player, believes infrastructure continues to be a major barrier for basketball in Montreal.

“I feel like [Montreal is] not as developed

as we could be just by the lack of facilities for basketball players,” said Telfort.

According to him, an NBA team could help resolve some issues.

“We produce a lot more NBA prospects and NCAA [National Collegiate Athletes Association] players now than ever,” he said.

“But I don’t know if the fans would match the energy that other teams have, like the Raptors or the Clippers, with their new arena.”

The lack of an NBA franchise in Montreal has not stopped the sport from growing in popularity. The hype around the 2019 NBA champion Toronto Raptors helped fuel interest in

basketball across Canada, especially in Montreal.

The city has produced notable players, like Chris Boucher, who currently plays for the Toronto Raptors. It has also hosted eight pre-season games at the Bell Centre since 2012, which have all seen sellouts of over 20,000 fans.

Today, basketball and baseball must compete with the NHL, the MLS, and the CFL. While Montreal could likely support one additional major sports team, sustaining both an MLB and NBA franchise would require a substantial population and financial base to ensure steady attendance and revenue. Additionally, those franchises would require ongoing economic support from sponsors and high-spending fans, resources that Montreal may not be able to provide consistently.

The economics behind sports contracts

Breaking down what goes into athletes’ deals.

BY ELLIS GEORGALOS CONTRIBUTOR

$70 million.

That’s the average annual salary Shohei Ohtani is set to make after signing a record 10year, $700-million deal less than a year ago.

It’s also roughly how much Amazon is paying the Na -

tional Football League (NFL) to broadcast Thursday Night Football every regular season game week until 2033. These two numbers have a lot more in common than you might think.

Ohtani, the 30-year-old megastar playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB), was awarded the largest contract in sports history in late 2023, surpassing contracts given to soccer players Lionel Messi

GRAPHIC BY CHRISTINA PARASKEVAS // CONTRIBUTOR

The Scoreboard: A week filled with McGill matchups

Basketball is back on the court and, Stingers hockey winning continues.

BY MATT PISCINA SPORTS EDITOR

The Concordia Stingers winter sports teams were in full swing this week. At Concordia’s John Dore Court, both Stingers basketball teams played in their home openers for the 202425 regular season. On the ice, men’s and women’s hockey played big games against the McGill University Redbirds.

Here is what happened this week:

BASKETBALL

Both Stingers basketball teams kicked off their regular season campaigns as they hosted the Bishop’s University Gaiters.

The women’s basketball team had the honours of playing the first official game on the newly renovated John Dore Court. The site underwent major renovations in the off-season that included a new electric scoreboard, expanded seating, and an upgraded ventilation system.

Once the ball tipped off on Nov. 7, the regular season was underway. In a contest that saw the Stingers leading with four minutes remaining in the game, Bishop’s was able to pull off the comeback and win by a score of 61-53.

Concordia eyed revenge as they returned two days later against the McGill Martlets.

Now on the road, the Stingers looked to earn their first victory of the season. After another hard-fought battle, Concordia

and Cristiano Ronaldo. And, while the $700 million headline figure is certainly accurate, the annual salary needs a bit of context.

The contract calls for $68 million per year — or 97 per cent of its value — to be deferred until after 2034. Effectively, Ohtani will receive a $2 million annual salary until that date. It has been speculated that the deferral was structured to help Ohtani avoid California income tax.

Another potential reason for the deferral is that it’s more team-friendly. According to the MLB’s rules, the contract “only” costs $46 million per year towards the luxury tax, a salary comparable to that of other MLB superstars like Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander. By any measure, however, the contract is historic. And it’s

dropped to 0-2 on the season with a 66-55 loss.

They will play next on Nov. 16 when they travel to face the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) Citadins.

The Stingers men’s team also hosted the Gaiters on Nov. 7. It was the first non-pre-season game for Concordia since losing the Réseau du Sport Étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) final to the Citadins on March 2.

For the Stingers, points were hard to come by, and the offense from the Gaiters’ was too much to contain. Concordia dropped its first regular season game of the season by a score of 85-60. Like the women’s team, the Stingers men’s team would have a chance for revenge against McGill.

On Nov. 9, the Stingers came prepared. A full 40-minute effort propelled the Stingers to a 70-60 win against the McGill Redbirds.

Concordia will bring their 1-1 record into their game against the Citadins on Nov. 16.

HOCKEY

Concordia Stingers men’s and women’s hadn’t lost a single game in regulation coming into this week’s action, meaning they had earned a point in every game. The teams hoped to keep their momentum going when they played McGill in three separate games.

The men’s team was the first in action as they faced the Redbirds on the road on Nov. 8.

Concordia had won nine games in a row, owned the top spot in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) East division, and ranked third amongst all Canadian USports teams.

In a tight battle, the Stingers prevailed — winning 3-1 and taking down their rivals on home ice. The two teams were set to face each other a short two days later at Ed Meagher Arena.

Once Nov. 10 rolled around, the teams were ready to face off and fight for the annual Corey Cup. Unlike the previous game, this one was one-sided.

Thanks

merely the most recent example of increasing player salaries across the biggest North American sports leagues.

Of the 10 largest contracts ever given to athletes by their teams, eight were given in the last five years, and seven were given to pro sports players in North America.

A lot of this has to do with a concept unique to American sports — the salary cap. Caps are a set of stipulations that limit teams’ payrolls for athlete salaries below a given number.

So, what drives salary cap growth? That’s where Amazon comes in.

Well, sports broadcasters like Amazon

more generally. Team salary caps and luxury tax thresholds are calculated based on annual league revenues — and no factor affects revenue more than media rights deals.

A Sportico analysis revealed that the NFL is set to receive $12.4 billion in media rights payments from broadcasters this year — and 94 of the top 100 most watched US broadcasts in 2024 were NFL programming. Media rights are a big deal.

to goals from six different players, the Stingers earned a decisive 7-3 victory in front of the home fans.

Now on an 11-game winning streak, the Stingers will face the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees on Nov. 14.

The women’s team also faced McGill on Nov. 10. The Stingers, who have given up the

Case in point: the National Basketball Association (NBA) has been, and is, a more popular league than the National Hockey League (NHL) in the United States, but the two leagues had similar salary caps just a decade ago. Since then, the NBA was awarded larger media rights deals and now has a salary cap that is nearly $60 million higher than the NHL. Why has the value of these media rights deals exploded?

New entrants like Apple, YouTube, and Amazon have shown themselves willing to spend to acquire media rights, effectively introducing a new medium from which to watch sports: streaming platforms. Whereas traditionally, sports were left to legacy broadcasters to be shown on cable TV, these disruptors are willing to out-pay them (or pay them di-

least amount of goals in the RSEQ this season, had another outstanding defensive performance. They shut out the Martlets by a score of 2-0, improving to 5-0-0 on the season.

They will try to extend their unbeaten streak further when they play on Nov. 15 against the Gaiters.

rectly) for a piece of the market.

In practice, this pushes upward the amount for which leagues can and do license their media rights.

While these contracts are paid to the leagues directly, North American sports are distinctive in that they share this media rights revenue with all teams equally. This new kind of competition is therefore welcomed by leagues and teams alike. And athletes, too, as they know that for every dollar a company like YouTube spends, they’re likely to get a bump in salary down the line.

Ohtani’s contract was historic — but it seems like the first billion-dollar contract is just around the corner.

GRAPHIC

En partenariat avec et financé par l’Organe.

Valorisation du français : où en

Les Valorisation du français : où en est Concordia?

est Concordia?

L’Université prépare un plan stratégique de valorisation du français et souhaite consulter les étudiants lors de l’année à venir.

PAR CLÉMENT LECHAT ET FÉLIXANTOINE BEAUCHEMIN

COLLABORATEUR & NEWS EDITOR

@clem_lechat

@fa.beauchemin.journalisme

Ari Allen, originaire des États-Unis, compte bien obtenir sa maîtrise en journalisme d’ici l’été prochain. Mais après plus d’un an à Concordia, iel vient tout juste d’obtenir une place dans deux cours de français, après plusieurs tentatives infructueuses.

Ces cours, offerts par GradProSkills et l’Association étudiante des cycles supérieurs de Concordia (GSA), étaient les seules options pour Allen, qui n’a pas pu s’inscrire à ceux du Département d’études françaises, habituellement réservés aux étudiants au baccalauréat.

Allen a essayé de s’inscrire en études libres pour en bénéficier, ce que lui avait conseillé le Département d’études françaises. Le Bureau des étudiants internationaux (ISO) l’a alors mis·e en attente, l’empêchant de s’inscrire à ses cours de maîtrise.

« Je n’étais pas autorisé·e à m’inscrire comme étudiant·e de premier cycle, car mon permis d’études n’est valable que pour les études de second cycle. L’ISO voulait que je m’y rende en personne », raconte Ari, qui est parent et ne pouvait pas se déplacer lors des heures d’ouverture.

Au moment où le problème était enfin réglé, il ne restait plus de places dans les cours donnés au Département d’études françaises. Bien que ce cauchemar administratif ait pris fin, Allen en garde un souvenir amer.

« Ça m’a dégoûté·e, […] ce n’était pas un processus agréable à vivre », dit-iel.

Le cas d’Allen montre à quel point il peut être difficile pour certains étudiants d’accéder aux cours de français de Concordia. Pour essayer de simplifier les choses, l’université a

fondé le Bureau de la valorisation du français en juin 2023. Il est chargé de l’élaboration d’un plan stratégique pour la valorisation du français, qui devrait être rendu public dans les mois à venir.

Sa directrice, Claudine Trahan, indique ne pas pouvoir entrer dans les détails du plan pour des raisons de confidentialité, mais souligne qu’il aura pour objectif de « positionner Concordia comme destination et un partenaire clé pour l’ensemble de nos communautés » et de démontrer son engagement « depuis le tout début pour apprendre, vivre et travailler en français ».

CONCORDIA SOUS PRESSION

Le développement du plan stratégique intervient alors que le gouvernement du Québec met de la pression sur l’université pour atteindre ses cibles de francisation.

À partir de l’année universitaire 2025-2026, Concordia devra faire en sorte que 80 % des nouveaux étudiants au baccalauréat provenant de l’extérieur du Québec, c’est-à-dire les Canadiens hors-province et les étudiants internationaux, atteignent le niveau 5 de français à l’oral à l’issue de leurs études, ce qui correspond à un niveau intermédiaire.

L’Échelle québécoise des niveaux de compétence en français, allant de 1 à 12, indique qu’une personne atteignant ce niveau « comprend l’essentiel de conversations portant sur des sujets courants […] des propos factuels, explicites et concrets formulés dans des constructions syntaxiques simples ou parfois complexes [et] un vocabulaire varié ».

Si l’université n’atteint pas cette cible, le Ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur du Québec pourrait réduire son financement.

« La cible s’applique à l’université, et non aux étudiants individuels, souligne Vannina

Maestracci, porte-parole de Concordia. Ce qui veut dire, par exemple, qu’un étudiant n’aura pas besoin d’atteindre un certain niveau de français pour obtenir son diplôme, ou encore que des cours de français ne sont pas obligatoires pour étudier à Concordia ».

Les universités anglophones avaient initialement proposé à Pascale Déry, la ministre de l’Enseignement supérieur du Québec, une cible de 40 %. Dans une lettre adressée à McGill, Concordia et Bishop’s, la ministre leur avait répliqué que « pour inverser le déclin du français au Québec, nous pensons qu’il faut impérativement viser des cibles plus ambitieuses ».

En entrevue avec Le Devoir le 14 décembre 2023, Pascale Déry indiquait que l’objectif était de pousser les universités à recruter davantage d’étudiants non-québécois « dans des bassins plus francophones ».

« Nous avons à cœur de promouvoir le français auprès de nos étudiants, dit Maestracci, mais un tel objectif doit tenir compte des investissements et du travail de planification et de conception de programmes sur mesure qu’exige sa réalisation. C’est pour cette raison que nous avons demandé un processus de consultation avant

que ces mesures soient mises en œuvre ».

Un comité de travail composé des universités Concordia, McGill et Bishop’s, ainsi que du Ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur, se réunit depuis près d’un an pour discuter de cette cible et d’autres mesures à mettre en place. La publication des ses conclusions n’a pas encore été annoncée.

ÉCOUTER LES ÉTUDIANTS

Concordia estime que 20 % de sa population étudiante a le français comme langue principale. D’après le recensement des étudiants effectué par la firme de recherche SOM, 71 % des répondants indiquaient avoir un niveau intermédiaire ou avancé en 2023.

« Je ne vois que de l’optimisme de la part de l’ensemble de mes collègues par rapport à la valorisation du français. Il y a un réel engagement, on sent que ce n’est pas quelque chose de futile ou à la mode », estime Trahan.

En 2025, le Bureau de la valorisation du français compte mener des groupes de discussion et des sondages pour identifier les besoins de la population étudiante et « les services qui seront les mieux adaptés à leurs besoins », explique sa directrice.

Allen se dit très satisait·e de ses cours de français, mais pense que l’université devrait réduire le nombre d’étudiants par classe afin de « protéger la qualité de l’enseignement ». Iel aimerait que des cours soient plus facilement accessibles et disponibles au campus Loyola. Une meilleure communication et visibilité lui seraient également très pratiques.

« J’ai trouvé ces ressources en tâtonnant. Je n’ai pas l’impression que ces ressources étaient bien expliquées aux étudiants internationaux nouvellement arrivés », se rappelle-t-iel.

Centraliser les ressources disponibles pour apprendre le français est l’un des objectifs du Bureau, qui a lancé la plateforme Réussir en français sur le site de Concordia, Instagram et Facebook. Le Centre pour étudiant.es francophones peut également rediriger les étudiants vers les ressources adéquates.

Le Centre pour étudiant·es francophones se veut aussi comme un lieu de rassemblement pour les étudiants francophones de l’université et pour y faire des rencontres, comme l’explique sa coordonnatrice, Olivia Tribert.

« [L’objectif], c’est vraiment faciliter la transition pour les les étudiants qui viennent soit admettons de France, d’Afrique, ou même d’un cégep à Trois-Rivières, qui viennent à Concordia, dit-elle. Souvent, c’est peut-être les seuls de leur groupe d’amis qui viennent ici. »

D’après Trahan, participer à des activités extracurriculaires en français est également une bonne façon de s’améliorer, mentionnant les groupes de conversation, ou encore le concours d’éloquence Délie ta langue.

« C’est une valeur ajoutée de devenir un citoyen du monde et d’avoir plusieurs langues dans son sac à dos », dit-elle.

Le Centre pour étudiant·es francophones, situé au sixième étage du pavillon Henry-F.-Hall. PHOTO PAR FÉLIX-ANTOINE BEAUCHEMIN // NEWS EDITOR

Olivia Tribert (gauche) et Servane Le Moelle (droite) du Centre pour étudiant·es francophones veulent qu'il devienne un centre « par les étudiants, pour les étudiants ».

PHOTO PAR FÉLIX-ANTOINE BEAUCHEMIN // NEWS EDITOR

Ils ont fui la répression

Ils ont fui la répression en Russie.

en Russie. Aujourd’hui,

ils sont

Aujourd’hui, ils sont à la recherche d’une

meilleure vie au Québec

à la recherche d’une meilleure vie au Québec

Les frais de scolarité élevés pour les étudiants étrangers et les coupes dans les cours de francisation compliquent leur intégration.

PAR FÉLIX LALIBERTÉ

COLLABORATEUR

Katya Korableva est étudiante au doctorat en sciences humaines à Concordia. Pavel Fadeev est quant à lui technicien de laboratoire à l’université

McGill et détient un

leurs cheminements et ajoutent un niveau de stress et d’incertitude à une situation qui n’est déjà pas simple. Cela vient leur créer des difficultés quant à la planification financière de la suite de leurs études.

Korableva fait remarquer que, bien qu’elle reçoive certaines bourses de l’Université Concordia, celles-ci ne compensent pas l’entièreté des ses frais de scolarité. Pour elle, cela apporte des soucis financiers imprévus et qu’elle aurait préféré éviter.

doctorat en sociologie de l’Académie des Sciences de Russie. Tous deux ont fui la répression des opposants politiques suivant la guerre en Ukraine. Pour ces deux étudiants, les frais de scolarité élevés pour les étudiants internationaux, qui peuvent s’élever à plusieurs dizaines de milliers de dollars, complexifient

« C’est difficile de planifier pour l’avenir. J’ai mon budget pour l’année à venir, mais pour la suite, je ne sais pas », explique Korableva.

Sa thèse de doctorat à Concordia se concentre sur les aspects politiques et d’éthique relationnelle entourant l’émigration causée par les conflits. La recherche de Korableva se situe à l’intersection entre les études urbaines, les études migratoires, l’art et l’activisme. Pavel Fadeev explique que,

lorsqu’il était gestionnaire des opérations pour Wheely, l’équivalent russe d’Uber, son patron, un ancien du cabinet du président Poutine, justifiait la guerre en Ukraine et ne lui a offert aucune aide lorsqu’il a exprimé son envie de partir travailler à l’étranger. Il a aussi vécu cette hostilité lors de son expérience en tant que chargé de cours en Russie après le début de la guerre. Il ressentait l’emprise que la propagande occupe sur les jeunes et il ne pouvait pas s’exprimer librement pour la combattre. C’est pour cela que Fadeev a décidé de fuir la Russie pour Montréal.

« Je trouve l’omniprésence de la désinformation en Russie déplorable et je ne veux pas que les jeunes soient corrompus par celle-ci », explique Fadeev.

Fadeev étudie en ce moment le français avec une tutrice à travers des conversations quotidiennes d’une heure. Il a récemment appliqué au programme

GRAPHIQUE PAR MIA HARUMI DE KOVEN // COLLABORATRICE @HARUMIRART

postdoctoral de l’Université McGill en sociologie. Il s’inquiète pour l’avenir de ses études doctorales et postdoctorales au Québec, faisant face à beaucoup d’incertitudes du point de vue financier, tant au niveau de son travail que de l’obtention de bourse de recherches. Il ne sait pas s’il pourra obtenir le financement nécessaire pour la poursuite de ses études.

Fadeev perçoit les frais de scolarité élevés pour les étudiants étrangers comme une mesure dérangeante qui rapporte somme toute bien peu au gouvernement québécois. De plus, il déplore les coupes budgétaires qu’ont subies les programmes de francisation des nouveaux arrivants.

Il croit en la défense de la culture francophone au Québec. Pour lui, le nationalisme est une chose importante qui permet à un peuple de préserver sa culture et sa langue et, puisque la culture russe lui est précieuse, il compatit avec les préoccupations qu’ont certains citoyens de sa terre d’accueil.

« Je me considère un nationaliste russe, pas dans le sens tordu que le gouvernement met de l’avant ces jours-ci. Pour moi, un membre d’une communauté à un devoir de préserver et de défendre sa culture. C’est pourquoi, ici, j’appuie le mouvement de défense de la langue française », dit Fadeev.

QUICKSPINS : « CHROME » de Damso

QUICKSPINS : « CHROME » de Damso

Le rappeur bruxellois lance un nouveau morceau en anticipation de son avant-dernier album.

PAR YASMINE BOUZAR COLLABORATRICE

Damso, rappeur bruxellois reconnu, revient sur la scène musicale francophone avec une nouvelle promesse musicale.

Le rappeur offre un avantgoût de son album « J’AI MENTI », prévu pour le 15 novembre prochain, avec le premier titre intitulé « CHROME ». Sorti le 1er novembre, le morceau présage un album prometteur et fidèle à l’essence du rappeur.

On reconnaît au titre plus qu’un alliage de métal gris. « CHROME », qui évoque un

armement dangereux, ne laisse pas de place au doute quant à la superposition des thèmes de la force brutale et du pouvoir.

Dès la première seconde, un rythme que l’on ne peut qualifier que de délicieusement macabre et des paroles provocantes s’entremêlent dans une mélodie triomphante. Pas le temps de s’arrêter: dès les premières paroles (un « f*** you » résonnant), les émotions du titre sont transparentes et une ambiance agressive plane sur la tête des auditeurs. La première minute du morceau le propulse vers un univers ténébreux et énergique, propre au style du rappeur bruxellois.

La mélodie se meurt ensuite dans un silence bref, avant de céder à un changement de tempo drastique et à la deuxième partie du morceau.

« C’est pas très éclairé par ici, on dirait que c’est plutôt noir », déclare Damso.

Une lumière se fait sentir dans un accelerando nuancé. Damso conclut avec des paroles brutales et une rythmique saccadée, marquant la fin du morceau.

Une tournure prévisible certes, mais le morceau ne prétend pas le contraire. En réalité, l’album au complet ne promet rien d’exceptionnellement insolite. Damso est reconnu pour la qualité métamorphique de son rap et sa musicalité distinguée qui, ensemble, lui confèrent un caractère intemporel.

Le vidéoclip de « CHROME » consolide avec cinématographie l’énergie de la musique. La fin de la vidéo vient jouer avec l’idée de simulation (notamment présenté dans son album « QALF ») qu’on reconnaît au film à succès Matrix, sorti en 1999. On ne peut que se demander s’il s’agit d’indices qui présagent son futur projet.

Fidèle à lui-même, ce pro-

Pochette de « CHROME » par Damso. SOURCE PHOTO : APPLE MUSIC.

chain album s’annonce donc agréablement en accord avec le cachet téméraire du rappeur. Espérons tout de même que Damso ait aussi menti sur la trajectoire de sa carrière suite à cet album. Ayant été actif depuis 2006 sur la scène du rap, plusieurs espéraient que son parcours s’appar -

ente à celui de RimK, qui doit aussi son immortalité à son adaptabilité.

Bref, « CHROME » semble poser les jalons d’un album authentique qui, on l’espère, satisfera autant les néophytes que les fidèles disciples de son univers.

NOTE: 7/10

Arts & Culture

Cocktails, connections and jazz

The CFBA held its first annual event for fashion lovers.

BY MAYA RUEL ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR

The Concordia Fashion Business Association (CFBA) held its annual Cocktails & Connections (C&C) event at the Emmanuelle Lounge downtown on Nov. 7.

Apart from its end-of-year fashion showcase, this mixer is one of its largest initiatives. It consists of an evening where students from all over Montreal are invited to meet other fashion and marketing lovers, make connections, and speak to spe-

cialists from the industry while having drinks and appetizers.

“We heard about this event through Instagram, and we really wanted to come; it seemed like our vibe,” said Terry Labonté, a fashion and marketing student at Lasalle College.

“We are here to network, make some partnerships and connections for our upcoming fashion show, and get to know people.”

The CFBA’s team is comprised of 17 people from various departments, including event planning, marketing, and business relations. Pierre-Alexandre Roy, CFBA’s director of events, said that 250 people signed up for the C&C event.

“I want to get to know people,” said Chloe Torudag, also

a fashion and marketing student. “I’m here to talk to everybody at the event, have fun, and look pretty!”

Roy explained that his department started by choosing the venue and the theme, “Jazz Night in Montreal.”

“This year, the pillar of the event was the venue,” said Roy.

The Emmanuelle lounge is on the fifth floor of a building on Ste-Catherine St. The dim lighting, the leather couches, and the terrace, which resembles a greenhouse, made for the perfect location to hold a jazzy event, according to him.

“People from all over signed up,” said Roy. “There are students from Concordia, but as it turns out, we have quite a reach!”

Once the event was planned and the venue was secured, the marketing team took over and started promoting the C&C on their social media. Kenzy Ismail, VP of marketing, said her team started by studying the marketing funnels, which go into several levels: awareness, conversion, and loyalty. This technique seemed to work out the way they intended it to, as the first tier of tickets sold out in 20 minutes.

Ismail joined CFBA early in her time at Concordia.

“I came to Montreal three years ago from Egypt. I knew no one in the city and I decided to come to a CFBA mixer,” said Ismail. “It was the scariest thing I ever did in my life, but I got to know a couple of peo-

ple, and from there, I started managing social media clients. I have six right now. It really opened doors for me, so it really is worth it to put yourself out there.”

The keynote speaker at the C&C was Marla Scattolin, cofounder of CFBA, who now works in public relations for L’Oréal. She spoke about her professional journey, gave

pointers to the students while holding a Q&A, and advertised L’Oréal’s internship opportunity.

The CFBA team offered gift bags from their sponsor, Parasuco, to all those attending. A photo booth was also available for those who wanted to take home a little souvenir from the evening.

CBC video journalist and Concordian alumnus Gabriel Guindi is hosting a Broadcast Video and Radio workshop.

Join us Nov. 20 at Reggie’s from 10 a.m. to noon!

THIS IS AN EVENT YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS!

An overview of the bar at the venue.

PHOTO BY MAYA RUEL // ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR

The photobooth set up at the Emmanuelle lounge.

PHOTO BY MAYA RUEL // ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR

People networking at the C&C mixer.

PHOTO BY MAYA RUEL // ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR

One used book at a time

The Concordia EPIC Used Book Fair has returned again this fall, the first time it holds two yearly sales in its 23-year-old history.

BY LILIANE LACHAPELLE STAFF WRITER

The Concordia EPIC Used Book Fair returned this fall with overflowing boxes of books. Students, teachers, and Montrealers alike were invited to browse the accumulated donations at the J.W. McConnell Building Atrium on Nov. 5 and 6, with an entrance fee of two dollars.

Over the last 23 years, the Concordia EPIC Used Book Fair has raised over $325,000 for student bursaries and emergency funds. Their successful sale in March 2024 set their new record for accumulated funds within one event at $43,635. Since the Concordia EPIC Used Book Fair is completely volunteer-driven, all proceeds made during the book sales go to students.

This year was the first time the organization decided to host two sales in a year. They did not have a specific monetary goal or objective for the fall event.

“The more, the better,” said Jeanne Bisson, the co-leader of the organization.

Recently retired after working for 17 years at Concordia, Bisson became co-leader alongside Luke Quin two years ago. She decided to become more involved in the Concordia EPIC Used Book Fair because of her love for books and because she believed in the resources provided by the organization.

Every book collected for the fair was received through donations, mostly made by the school’s staff and students. However, it is not rare for the Concordia EPIC Used Book Fair to receive large donations from other people in the Montreal community.

“People want to donate their books,” said Bisson. “They want to give them another life.”

The organization managed to gather an extensive collection ranging from sci-fi novels to artistic coffee-table books.

Both curation and fundraising were required to plan the event. Volunteers could either participate during the sorting process, during the event itself, or both. While the labour was intensive, the work was shared between the volunteers to make it more flexible.

“The flexibility was really important for me as an undergrad student,” said Juliana Andrea Rueda Castillo, an avid reader who has been volunteering for the organization since 2018. Castillo is now doing her master’s at another school but still volunteers for the Concordia EPIC Used Book Fair. She decided to join the organization because she was looking for volunteering opportunities at Concordia and loved the laid-back atmosphere. While she could not participate in the book sorting this year, she still came to give a hand during the fundraiser.

The majority of volunteers are passionate about the Concordia EPIC Used Book Fair because of their love for literature. New volunteer Sean St-Laurent joined the organization after a friend invited her.

“It’s something that I’m happy to lend my time for,” St-Laurent said. She admitted to having purchased 10 books herself during the event.

The prices were reasonably cheap, enticing many book enthusiasts. Novels cost $3, while textbooks and artbooks began at $10.

A hearty gathering: International Students Office’s cooking class brings students together over soup

Concordia

students bond over a cosy cooking class, learning new recipes and creating community in this inaugural culinary event.

BY SAFA HACHI STAFF WRITER

As temperatures drop and students settle into the fall season, Concordia’s International Students Office (ISO) invited students to warm up with their first cooking class, an event focused on learning cooking skills and creating comforting soups.

The session, held in the newly equipped sixth-floor kitchen of the Hall Building, offered not just a lesson in soup-making but also a unique space for students to connect, learn, and share a meal.

“We’ve always wanted to host a cooking class for students,” explained Delfine Lambert, ISO’s Office and Social Events Coordinator. “This was honestly more of a test run, but

we’re glad we had a group show up. We’ll definitely continue doing this.”

Her excitement for the event was shared by the small but enthusiastic group of five students who attended, allowing for close interactions and hands-on guidance from the organizers.

One participant, Lina Diallo, a third-year psychology major, was thrilled to discover the event.

“I never know about the activities going on at Concordia, but this time, my roommate told me about it since she knows I like to cook,” Diallo said.

Another student, Mia Savage-Moquin, a sociology and anthropology major, had noticed the event on the academic calendar.

“I was really interested [in the event] because I love to cook,” she said, adding that she enjoyed the social aspect of the cooking class. “Cooking in a group setting is great because I enjoy teamwork and meeting new people.”

The session kicked off with an introduction to the event and an announcement of the soups: a classic vegetable barley soup and a vegetarian twist on the classic Québécois

split-pea soup.

The students separated into groups, each tackling a different recipe. Onions, potatoes, carrots, and celery filled the cutting boards, with a fall twist of squash added to the vegetable barley soup.

“Having a group to cut the veggies makes the prep go by so much quicker than when I’m making the soup myself,” Lambert said with a laugh.

To her surprise, most attendees already knew their way around a knife, with one student even showing off his cheflike knife skills.

The preparation was straightforward, allowing participants to relax and enjoy each other’s company.

“Spending my afternoon making soups and getting to know other students was definitely a good way to wind down as finals are slowly creeping on us,” Diallo shared.

The scent of sautéed vegetables wafted through the kitchen, attracting passing staff and students who peeked in, tempted by the delicious aromas.

While the soups simmered, Lambert offered personal cooking tips, suggesting ways to customize the recipes based on

taste and dietary preferences.

“It’s a good way to use up the food you’ve got in the fridge. It reduces food waste and freezes really well for those lazy days,” she shared.

Reflecting on the class, Savage-Moquin said, “This cooking class definitely adds to the university experience. It’s a great way to make new friends and to feel like university can be more than just a place to study.”

As the soups finished cooking, everyone gathered to sample their creations, sharing

bowls of the steaming, flavorful soups they’d made together.

“I think activities like this are super wholesome, and I wish more people knew about them. I’m definitely going to spread the word,” added Diallo.

The meal was more than just nourishing; it symbolized the shared effort and connections made during the class. Students left with leftovers and with a sense of accomplishment and the warmth of new friendships.

Students prepare the ingredients, enjoying the hands-on cooking experience together.

PHOTO BY SAFIA HACHI // STAFF WRITER

A collection of books bought during the Concordia EPIC Book Fair of Fall 2024. PHOTO BY LILIANNE LACHAPELLE // STAFF WRITER

Adam Baldwin and Mariel Buckley, sad

songs, good times

Singers and musicians, but first and foremost Canadian storytellers.

BY HOPE CORNELL CONTRIBUTOR

If you walked into Petit Campus on Nov. 2, you wouldn’t think you were in Montreal. Accents from across the country, primarily the Maritimes, filled the air as concertgoers awaited musician Adam Baldwin and opener Mariel Buckley.

As Buckley walked on stage with her guitar and began adjusting her microphone, she jokingly told the crowd to expect “thirty minutes of me bumming you out before an hour of Adam bumming you out.”

Her voice and alternative folk music were enchanting. Born and raised in Calgary, her music brings attention to the darker sides of living out West.

She played some unreleased songs, including “Vending Machine,” letting the audience into some of the most intimate parts of her life. It felt like listening to

a friend share a story around a campfire.

“If you bum 200 cigarettes from Adam Baldwin, drink only brown beer, and eat gas station food, you too could sound like that,”

said Buckley at the end of her set. “Adam has become a great hero of mine.”

Both artists, although from opposite ends of the country, have a lot in common, not just in their lived experiences but in the way they use the medium of song as storytellers. “Write about what you love and ignore the noise” was the best advice Baldwin gave her, she said. “This was one of the single best touring experiences I’ve had so

far,” said Buckley. By the time Baldwin got on stage, not a single empty seat remained. Wearing his classic bandana, he sat at a piano draped in green fishing nets and a yellow rope with buoys. Kendall Karson joined him on the fiddle and Zach McClain on the guitar.

Baldwin opened with “Causeway Road,” the first song on his album Concertos & Serenades. He shared the story behind the song, which is about a local man from Fall River known as “Crazy Donny.” The singer ex-

The Toronto curse is real

The city’s reputation continues to suffer from lastminute concert postponements and cancellations.

BY STEFANO REBULI MUSIC EDITOR

Fans of singer Clairo recently received the disappointing news that her Toronto tour dates were being postponed, less than two minutes after the doors opened at Massey Hall on Oct. 23, which was meant to be the first of three shows.

“I know this is disappointing to everyone who bought tickets to see me play, but I’m struggling with extreme exhaustion and have been advised to go home until our Boston shows,” Clairo posted to X.

This was simply the latest of numerous examples of artists cancelling or postponing shows in Toronto on short notice. The phenomenon has occurred so frequently that fans have begun calling Toronto “cursed” when it comes to concerts.

Several other incidents have occurred this past year alone.

R&B singer Kehlani’s concert on Sept. 11 was canceled a few hours prior for reasons similar to Clairo’s. Jhené Aiko’s concert in July was postponed due to production issues despite her being “here and ready” at the venue with her team. SZA’s show in Oct. 2023 was ultimately cancelled in December after being indefinitely postponed for two months.

Fans in Montreal have fre-

other Canadian cities.

“It’s really annoying because most of the time, artists have one concert in the entire country and don’t realize that we’re literally the second biggest country in the world,” said Daniela Orrego, a second-year economics major at Concordia. “Going to Toronto is expensive; you have to consider travelling and hotel fees on top of the ticket.”

The Toronto curse comes with negative financial

plained that to get that name in a small town like his, you had to be pretty crazy.

He was sure “Crazy Donny” was dead until he recently found him standing at the bottom of his driveway, wearing a winter coat with no shirt on, asking him, “Are you the one that wrote that song about me?”

Baldwin acknowledged that some of his songs about betrayal and drugs “can get a little dark,” which is why he balances them “with laughter and by gabbing with the audience.”

As a storyteller, he prides him-

self in singing the stories of “the downtrodden and complicated” people he understands.

A few songs in, he asked, “Who’s from Nova Scotia?” About half the audience, mostly the people close to the stage, raised their hands and cheered loudly. It was clear that folks wanted a piece of home, at least for the night.

The crowd may have been drunk and rowdy, but they swayed silently and sat attentively for solemn songs like “The Voice of the Eastern Passage” and “No. 2 Colliery.” For “Gone to the Dogs,” he got up to play guitar as the band left the stage. This set the tone for the last half of the show, with fiddle and guitar solos, stronger backup vocals, and the song “Thirteen with Buckley.”

In Montreal, it can be easy to forget or overlook the hardships of living in more rural areas with fewer opportunities and harsher conditions. By sharing the most intimate parts of their lives with us, Baldwin and Buckey showed us that our country, while praised for its beauty, comes with its fair share of hardships and challenges.

repercussions for concertgoers from Montreal, especially in the case of same-day postponements. First-year Concordia journalism student Dusty Goldberg was supposed to go to Toronto to see Clairo but instead found himself struggling to get his accommodations refunded before his scheduled departure.

“When I contacted VIA Rail about getting a refund for my $200 train tickets, they offered me seven dollars. I’m a full-time student with a

berg explained.

“To top it off, [Ticketmaster] does not offer refunds unless the concert is officially cancelled,” added second-year human relations major Rose Beaubrun, who traveled for Jhené Aiko’s now-postponed concert.

The show’s new date wound up being less convenient for her in terms of both personal schedule and finances.

“It got pushed to Nov. 29, right before finals. What was supposed to be a fun summer outing now just feels like more stress added to my already packed academic schedule. Accommodation prices are higher now than they would’ve been in the summer because of the holidays,” she said.

Between the high travel costs and the untimeliness of artists’ cancellation notices, the risk has essentially outrun the reward for Toronto shows, tainting the city’s reputation for many concertgoers.

“Getting a refund is almost impossible, and they always announce cancellations last minute, right when everyone’s already made the trip. Toronto just can’t be relied on for concerts,” said Beaubrun.

Adam Baldwin playing guitar.

PHOTO COURTSEY OF LINDSAY DUNCAN

QUICKSPINS: EARLY NOVEMBER RELEASES

Concordia students review recent albums from the week of Nov. 1.

SONGS OF A LOST WORLD

The Cure

BY RYAN PYKE

ASSISTANT MUSIC EDITOR

The Cure dropped their latest album, Songs of a Lost World, on Nov. 1, their first since 2008. The record builds on the band’s previous work by exploring existing themes of love, heart-

SIX DESPERATE BALLADS

The Garden

BY JAKE BEACOCK STAFF WRITER

After almost two years without a new release from The Garden, the Shears twins return from their filthy rabbit holes to

Nov. 1 made for one of the busiest release dates for music in 2024 so far.

Philly rapper Lil Uzi Vert released the sequel to his hit 2020 album Eternal Atake. Underground hip-hop heavyweights

STILL PRAYING Westside Gunn

BY AIDAN FLANAGAN CONTRIBUTOR

After 2023’s And Then You Pray For Me was met with less-than-stellar reviews for its bloated tracklist, Westside Gunn’s Still Praying scales back completely and focuses on delivering a tight fourteen-track offering of bars, braggadocio, and the Buffalo MC’s infamous adlibs.

break, and despair in their discography.

The opening song, “Alone,” showcases these themes, with long instrumental breaks characteristic of the band’s style. It is slow and sets a steady tone for the rest of the album.

On “Alone,” lead vocalist Robert Smith sings, “And we close our eyes to sleep/to dream a boy and a girl/who dream the world is nothing but a dream?”

The repetition of “dream” is deliberately confusing in a poetic

ETERNAL ATAKE 2

Lil Uzi Vert BY NAVA CAMLOT CONTRIBUTOR

Lil Uzi Vert’s new album, Eternal Atake 2, released on Nov. 1, lacks the structure and eclectic purposiveness of its predecessor.

In the opener, “We Good,” Uzi attempts to express that the nitrous gas they have been

push a new precedent for contemporary (art-)punk rock.

The Garden has nestled themselves into a “punk” label that continues to push boundaries with creatively playful samples, rambunctious instrumentals, and a sort of suburban catharsis that comes from being free to complain about life out loud, from the heart, as done on this EP.

YOU ONLY DIE 1NCE

Freddie Gibbs

BY MARIAM SY CONTRIBUTOR

Freddie Gibbs’ sixth studio album, You Only Die 1nce, plays out like a film noir, guiding listeners through a dark, vivid narrative of temptation and moral conflict.

In the opening track, “Sta-

Freddie Gibbs and Westside Gunn dropped stellar new albums. The Cure returned from a 14-year hiatus, and punk band The Garden once again highlighted their promising innovation in the genre with a new EP.

On “Beef Bar” he flexes fivestar hotel rooms, expensive coats, and jet-skiing in Athens over a classy and luxurious-sounding boom-bap instrumental. The instrumental on “Dr. Britt Baker” boasts a similarly posh vibe that can make any listener feel like they’re on top of the world, or make a studio apartment feel like the Louvre.

Though Gunn’s previous record received criticism for dipping too far into the trap landscape, “Speedy 40” uses

way, a recurring characteristic of Smith’s writing.

This album is reflective and, at times, hopeful, such as on “And Nothing Is Forever.” The track’s unhurried drums and Smith’s morose delivery create a bittersweet tone that carries the album.

“Warsong” and “Drone:Nodrone” have the same deliberate pace with a faster tempo. The songs explore internal and external battles. “Warsong” speaks of anger and arguments,

inhaling is not impeding their workflow. They repeat, “Alright, alright, alright, I swear everything’s alright,” but as the album progresses, it becomes harder to believe them.

The Philadelphia-born rapper’s flow and lyricism demonstrate a fear of growth. Nevertheless, Uzi includes an endless array of inventive phrases to prove that their pockets are fat (notably “the opposite of ozempic”). Paradoxically, this need to prove

Although this isn’t anything thematically new from the Californian duo, they are opening up new explorative capillaries of their unique style of alternative art-punk without straying too far from their usual musical toolkit.

It’s clear with each track that The Garden leads their production with hardcore fun in mind. With the springy energy of the

tus,” Gibbs confronts the allure of vice or the “devil,” depicted as a force pulling him towards drug dealing, self-destructive behaviour, and a lifestyle fraught with morally compromising choices. These internal struggles form the backbone of the album, lending each track a sense of dramatic tension and reflection.

A lush and atmospheric soundscape blankets the album, crafted with layered percussion, warm basslines, and

Read our reviews for each release below, courtesy of the Concordian’s assistant music editor, staff writers, and contributors.

woozy trap production and vocal distortion reminiscent of fellow New York native A$AP Rocky.

The title track is a classic Griselda posse cut on which Benny the Butcher, Conway the Machine, Boldy James, and Stove God Cooks all provide verses that match the album’s arrogant attitude. Plus, no Gunn record would be complete without the now middleschool-aged Westside Pootie mercilessly calling out her father’s haters.

while “Drone:Nodrone” represents a lost or “misplaced” identity.

After two more high-energy songs, the album tapers off with three classic melancholic pieces, ending with the hyper-literal “Endsong.”

“Left alone with nothing/ nothing/nothing,” the album concludes.

TRIAL TRACK: “A FRAGILE THING” SCORE: 8/10

themselves makes them seem fearful of losing their wealth, even though they once had a reported $24 million diamond embedded in their forehead. Although the album’s production is filled with interesting sounds, such as zipper-like synths on “Light Year (Practice),” their mixes lack intimacy. The overuse of compression on “Chips and Dip” distills the high-frequency excitement of its theatrical beat, muddying the gunshots and

Looney Tunes in a mosh pit, The Garden has bounced off and out of the walls that confine the punk genre to nostalgia. Let’s just hope the next wall isn’t painted to look like a tunnel.

TRIAL TRACK: “MAN OF THE PEOPLE” SCORE: 7.5/10

soulful samples. The intricate, steady drum work forms a solid foundation that supports the album’s introspective journey.

“Origami” is a standout cut that samples a quote from late Libyan revolutionary leader Muammar Gaddafi: “They love me, all my people with me, they love me all. But if they do love you, they will die to protect me, my, my people.”

It adds to Gibbs’ exploration of his identity as the protagonist (or even antagonist) in this

The album cover pays homage to recently deceased wrestler “Sycho” Sid Eudy. Gunn maintains the pro-wrestling spirit on this record with his excessive bragging and showboating, which has kept avid listeners coming back. Gunn’s loyal fanbase is surely hungry for more.

TRIAL TRACK: “LESALLE STATION” SCORE: 9/10

synth sections. Uzi may have moved on from the gemstone accessory, but the rapper has not expanded their lyrics or sound, instead finding safety in recycled topics, unpolished production, and arbitrary collaborations, limiting their creative potential.

TRIAL TRACK: “NOT AN OPTION” SCORE: 5.5/10

story, expanding on the album’s overarching theme of overcoming and conquering.

You Only Die 1nce is a refreshing addition to this year’s hip-hop releases, blending groovy beats with dark, introspective themes. It showcases Gibbs’ continued evolution as an artist and feels like an instant classic.

TRIAL TRACK: “RABBIT ISLAND” SCORE: 9/10

Cover for Songs of the Lost World by The Cure.

Cover for Eternal Atake 2 by Lil Uzi Vert.

Cover for You Only Die 1nce by Freddie Gibbs.

APPLE MUSIC

Cover for Still Praying by Westside Gunn.

Cover for Six Desperate Ballads by The Garden.

Opinions

Lest we forget

May we make them proud.

BY SASKIA WODARCZAK OPINIONS EDITOR

I can still vividly recall Remembrance Day ceremonies from elementary school.

We would have a school assembly in the gymnasium. Every year, we would watch the same video on YouTube and bow our heads in silence at 11 a.m. for one minute.

Remembrance Day has always been a reflective day for me, and I’d like to preface this text by saying that it details the lived experiences of regular people at the time of the Second World War.

Although I don’t have any connections to the First World War, my late paternal grandparents were both born and raised in Germany before and during the Second World War; my Oma, in Bremen, and my Opa, in Oberhausen.

Bremen was a big target during the war, being a major city, and Oberhausen was and still is a primarily industrial and coal mining city.

Both cities experienced bombings, and my late grand-

parents’ daily lives growing up were significantly impacted by the war. I grew up learning and hearing about snippets of their lives in that period.

It’s eerie to hear firsthand experiences about something you learn in history class. It makes it so much more real because while this generation didn’t experience it, many of us have direct ties to those who did.

I never had the chance to ask my Oma about her adolescence during the Second World War, but my dad has told me the stories that she told him. Apparently, one Christmas, my great-grandmother had cooked a goose, and as she was taking it out of the oven to baste a final time, the Bremen air-raid alarms began to sound. Not one to waste a goose at Christmas, she ran with the cooked bird and her children to the safety of the bomb shelter around a mile away.

Frohe Weihnachten, indeed.

It’s strange how something as routine as cooking a meal was turned into a life or death situation — an unanticipated normalcy with no end in sight for that time, and even still today in conflict zones around the world.

Before he passed away last year, I was able to ask my Opa about his experiences first-hand. He was very young, ten years old, when the War started.

One story he told that really stuck with me was about him and his friend. They’d gone for a walk after an all-clear, looked up, and saw some planes overhead. My Opa told his friend that the planes were English, not German. Sure enough, they were, and they began releasing bombs that got closer and closer to the two boys. They began to run, and the last bomb was so close that they both were tossed in the air with dirt and debris flying around them. They kept running until they reached the bunker, then sat and laughed at themselves.

When he told me this, he started chuckling, and I was speechless until he said, “After a while, you really don’t get scared anymore, but if you did, it didn’t last.”

“It was an experience I still think about sometimes,” he added, “all the bombings and everything.”

The fact that, throughout his 94 years of life, my grandfather still frequently reflected

on the Second World War and

The rise of war footage across social media

What are the effects of violent conflict footage on social media on teenagers and people suffering from PTSD?

BY DANYLO PERKOV

ASSISTANT OPINIONS EDITOR

With more than 150 armed conflicts currently happening around the world, it’s easy for Canadians to categorize them as something distant, observing the actions from the comfort of their homes, during their commute to school or work, when the radio is turned on.

However, in today’s world, every person has a cellphone and a way to share their lives with the world. It’s now easier than ever to post graphic content online for the whole world to see.

With the wars in Ukraine, Palestine, Myanmar, and many more, hundreds of videos are uploaded daily. Whether it is an action cam of a soldier clearing a trench, a drone surveilling a battlefield, or a phone recording from a civilian capturing a bombing, there are always

fresh updates for people to repost to spread awareness.

Those videos are gruesome yet true depictions of war and its realities. Constantly seeing action footage from the front lines in Ukraine gruesomely reminds me of the horrors of conflict.

They give us an insight into what the people actually living through them witness on a daily basis. They can also lead to the normalization of violence and armed conflict by presenting them as everyday things.

“There is no denying that the level of violence and crude realities depicted in war footage will contribute to its normalization [on social media],” said David Grondin, a professor at Université de Montréal pursuing research in media technology and surveillance.

After the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram saw a spike in war footage, which was easily accessible to their audience, many of which are between 10 and 19 years old.

These posts can make armed conflict more personal, and following individual squads or people across social media can cause distress and an accumulation of compassion fatigue as more graphic imagery is being shared.

The amount of content

shared can also make us more indifferent to violence. Constantly seeing the imagery of people dying numbs the seriousness of killing and further contributes to the normalization of violence.

However, this doesn’t mean that such content has to be banned entirely, according to Grondin.

”If people share such images through social media, then it is because there is a need for these images to offer testimony of war and for people to see and know about them,” he said.

In this sense, I completely agree with Grondin. There has always been such demand for unregulated war footage that depicts the horrors of the moment. From war correspondents in Vietnam to film footage being snuck out of Bosnia, this imagery serves to help factcheck the violence as seen on official media sources.

In this digital age, constant uncensored war footage has only become more accessible, and it is now a staple factor in shaping international opinions on conflicts thousands of kilometres away.

War footage across social media is here to stay. But that doesn’t mean that we should normalize it. Understanding the implications of what one is viewing is of utmost importance.

GRAPHIC BY SEMIRA KOSCIUK // PODCAST EDITOR @GHOSTYBEES

GRAPHIC BY MARIANNE BOISSEAU // CONTRIBUTOR

What grows in Flanders Fields

The significance of the poppy around Remembrance

Day.

BY KAILEE KRENTZ COPY EDITOR

For as long as I can remem ber, there has been a specific time of year when deep red flowers appeared, pinned on the shirts of friends and family. Whether we were in school or at home, this time would bring mo ments of silence, allowing us to remember those who fought for our country.

The poppy, this flower that we have come to the habit of wearing on our shirts or making into wreaths, has be come a symbol of this honour and the importance of remem brance for Canadian soldiers.

But why a poppy, and where did this tradition begin?

Remembrance Day is meant to honour and show solidar ity with any man or woman who served in the military throughout Canada’s his tory. The flower itself is a na tive plant of Belgium and was found along the Western Front of the First World War, which began in France and made its

way through Belgium, in which Canada lost tens of thousands

Remembrance Day in the poem “In Flanders Fields,” written by

However, the flower and poem remain relevant to reflect on

A moment of silence

Nov. 11 is a challenging day for families who lost their loved ones to war, but it’s an even harder one for those who survived to tell their stories.

BY JAYDE LAZIER SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER

held as a very important value in my household. This value has led me to have the utmost respect for the men and women who risk their lives so that we can live ours.

In a Western society built on many years of conflict, sacrifice, and war, we often find ourselves taking a moment of silence on Remembrance Day to honour those who lost their lives in the battle for our freedom.

But what about all of the peo ple who fought and survived to tell their stories?

These soldiers, medics, pilots,

But as I grew up, I started to notice that when these men and women return to their families from war, they’re often left with nothing. They come back in a condition where they, more often than not, need both physical and mental care but are instead greeted by a bureaucratic mess.

neers, and all of their family members are left with a lifetime of emotional and physical struggles on a scale that the world refuses

As a person who comes

The wait to access Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) benefits from the Canadian government is at least four months. Our veterans sacrifice their mental stability, their limbs, their familial relationships, and precious moments in their lives, only to come home and go without food, housing, or medical care.

Ultimately, for many veterans, this leads to chronic issues such as alcoholism, depression, paralyzation, and an overall strain on their family unit as a whole.

This is a strain my family has seen all too often, as many of my relatives have been serving our country since the First World War.

The two that had the great-

“In Flanders fields the poppies blow/Between the crosses, row on row,” reads

Recently, purple, white,

verse groups who fought during

Purple is meant to honour animals that have been victims of war, black commemorates Black, African, and Caribbean communities who aided to war efforts, and white is our while highlighting

Nov. 11 is an emotional day for many whose friends or families have died for our country.

Wearing a poppy is a simple gesture during this reflective time to show sympathy and loyalty, recognizing individual sacrifices in our country’s history.

Even if we don’t personally know someone affected, we wouldn’t be living in the Canada that we know today if it hadn’t been for the soldiers who sacrificed their lives.

If you want to wear a poppy this Remembrance Day season, you can buy them at different stores or from individual vendors around the city. Donations are the main form of payment directly going to the Legion Poppy Fund, which supports and provides assistance to veterans or families affected.

As this day approaches, wear a poppy on the left side of your shirt, the same side as your heart, to show your remembrance.

est impact on my life were my great-grandfather Nigel Holbeche, who served as a pilot of a heavy bomber squad with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in the Battle of Britain, and my grandfather, Donald Grant Lazier, who served as a private for two years in the Second World War.

I’m sure these names are unrecognizable to everyone reading this, but if I can, I’d like to bring one of them back to life just for a moment.

My great-grandfather Holbeche entered the war as a selfless man with a beautiful, loving

family, but he came back as an entirely different man. The mass devastation he witnessed on the front lines and the lack of aid he received upon his return led to his suffering from mental health issues — which, in the 1940s, definitely were not being addressed by the VAC.

This led to his excessive drinking, nightmares, and uncontrollable behaviour. The accumulation of this lost him his family and ultimately led him to drink himself to death, drowning in the ocean when my grandmother was eight years old.

His death has created a generational pain in my family that is still felt to this day. My great-grandfather Holbeche is just one of so many men and women and, by extension, their families who willingly risk their lives and sanity to return to a nation that does not return the favour.

I hope that by bringing my family’s story back to life just for a minute, you’re able to gain some insight and appreciation for the heroes who aren’t always celebrated and join me in a moment of silence.

GRAPHIC BY GRACE RONDON // CONTRIBUTOR

Pilot Nigel Holbeche pictured at the RCAF airfields in Yorkshire, England in the 1940s. PHOTO FROM JAYDE LAZIER’S FAMILY ARCHIVES

We need a functional student democracy

Because of a series of mistakes by the CSU, the Concordian will be unable to ask the student body for a much-needed fee levy increase this semester.

THE CONCORDIAN

Since the beginning of the semester, the Concordian’s staff has been preparing for a campaigning period in which we would ask students to vote “Yes” to a fee levy increase. This increase would have allowed us to raise wages for our staff and, for the first time, to pay our student writers.

On Sunday, Nov. 3, we were

still waiting to hear back from the Concordia Student Union (CSU) to confirm our presence on the ballot. Campaigning was set to begin less than 24 hours later.

We did not hear from the CSU until the mid-afternoon. When we finally managed to get a hold of an executive, they confirmed that we were not on the ballot.

The reasoning? We apparently failed to meet the deadline for handing in our financial report.

The CSU told us that we had handed in the wrong documents on Tuesday, Oct. 29, weeks after we submitted them. They gave us until the end of the day to get the proper documents, which meant we had hours to coordinate with our business manager and our auditor to produce a financial report.

The report should’ve taken two weeks to write. By some

miracle and a lot of stress from the Concordian’s management team and board of directors, we got it two days later, the day before the CSU’s meeting, during which they were set to approve our presence on the ballot. But, the CSU considered this a missed deadline, as it did not meet their standard of giving councillors two days to consult documents before a meeting.

What we would only learn days later, after the campaigning period was pushed back one week, was that we should have had a week to hand in the correct documents rather than a day. The CSU had miscalculated the timing of the byelections, and this buffer week disappeared, ultimately leaving fee levy groups to scramble to meet impossible deadlines.

We tried to work with the CSU to fix this error, but they

WORD SEARCH WORD SEARCH

TEAM // 20242025

Editor-in-Chief: MARIEKE GLORIEUX-STRYCKMAN editor@theconcordian.com

Creative Director: FINN GROSU creative@theconcordian.com

Managing Editor: EMMA MEGELAS managing@theconcordian.com

News Editors: J EREMY COX, FÉLIXANTOINE BEAUCHEMIN

News Assistant: JIA SCHOFER

Sports Editor: MATTHEW PISCINA

Sports Assistant: MATHILDE COLLS

Music Editor: STEFANO REBULI

were unable to rally three councillors to approve our proposal.

The only two groups whose presence on the ballot was denied were the Concordian and the Link, two newspapers with a history of critical coverage of the CSU and in dire need of additional funding.

Had we been included on the ballot, there is no guarantee that the student body would have voted to increase our fee levy. But the fact that disorganization and miscalculation on the part of our student union should prevent students’ voices from being heard poses a serious concern to student democracy.

One thing is sure: the Concordian will continue to provide crucial and accurate coverage of the CSU and to support student democracy for years to come.

BY TAMARA GALINATO // CONTRIBUTOR @TAMARAGLT

AGATE AMAZONITE AMBER AMETHYST ANGEL AQUA AQUAMARINE AURA BERYL CALCITE CITRINE CORAL EMERALD FLUORITE GARNET JADE

JASPER JET JEWEL KYANITE LAPISLAZULI LARIMAR LAVA LOLITE OPAL PYRITE

QUARTZ ROCK RUBY

SAPPHIRE STONE TOPAZ

Music Assistant: RYAN PYKE

Opinions Editor: SASKIA WODARCZAK

Opinions Assistant: DANYLO PERKOV

Arts & Culture Editor: MAYA RUEL

Copy editors: CHANTAL BELLEFEUILLE, KAILEE KRENTZ

Photo Editor: HANNAH BELL

Graphics Editor: K EVEN VAILLANCOURT

Video Editor: EMILY PASQUARELLI

Video Assistant: DIEGO CERVANTES

Podcast Editor: SEMIRA KOSCIUK

Production Manager: MAC CHAPLIN

Business Manager: LITHUN SARKER

Distribution: GUY LANDRY

Printing: H EBDO-LITHO

Social Media Manager: JAYDE LAZIER

Board of Directors: HADASSAH ALENCAR, AVIVA MAJERCZYK, LILY COWPER, SAKIB HOSSAIN, JAMES FAY, GABRIEL GIUNDI