THE VARSITY
2 News U of T launches Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian Discrimination Working Group
6 Opinion @uoft_pigeons shows us how much we have in common with the urban critter
10 Arts & Culture
The Brutalist and my grandfather: Two tales of migration and the American Dream
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T HE VA RSI T Y
Vol. CXLV, No. 14
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The Varsity acknowledges that our office is built on the traditional territory of several First Nations, including the Huron-Wendat, the Petun First Nations, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit. Journalists have historically harmed Indigenous communities by overlooking their stories, contributing to stereotypes, and telling their stories without their input. Therefore, we make this acknowledgement as a starting point for our responsibility to tell those stories more accurately, critically, and in accordance with the wishes of Indigenous Peoples.
U of T launches Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian Discrimination Working Group
Students raise concerns over U of T’s working group, response to Islamophobic incidents
Selia Sanchez News Editor
Content warning: This article mentions antisemitism and discusses Islamophobia.
On November 29, President Meric Gertler announced that U of T will commission a Presidential, Provostial, and Vice-Presidential Working Group — the Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian Discrimination Working Group (MAP DWG). The group will review the university’s programs, activities, processes, and practices and make recommendations to support the university’s response to anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian discrimination.
The announcement came almost two months after the one-year mark of Hamas’ attack on Israel, which killed approximately 1,139 people and captured more than 200 hostages on October 7, 2023. Since then, Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza have killed over 45,800 Palestinians and displaced approximately 2 million people.
Amid the violence in the Middle East, the administration has expressed concerns over rising levels of antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus. Students and campus groups claimed the university response inadequately addressed these issues.
Prior to the announcement of the working group, the university consulted with students and faculty, including members of the Muslim Students’ Association (MSA) at U of T. In interviews with The Varsity, members of the MSA shared their concerns about the creation of the working group and addressing Islamophobic incidents with the university.
What’s
in a working group?
From 2020 to 2022, the university administration has commissioned working groups to address antisemitism and anti-Asian racism and a task force to address anti-Black racism at U of T. Each working group released a final report outlining a number of recommendations for the university — all of which have been accepted by the administration.
The MAP DWG has a mandate to engage in consultations with students, faculty, staff, and librarians, starting in winter 2025. The group will then deliver its final report with recommendations for senior leadership. Members of the U of T community who are interested in consulting with the working group can submit their selfnominations by January 17 on an online form.
The group intends to consult with the U of T community about their experiences of anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian discrimination; review previous U of T equity reports on “faith and anti-racism inclusive practices”; and develop an inventory of resources, initiatives, departments, and projects that address forms of anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian discrimination for all three campuses.
The working group is chaired by Anver Emon, a professor of law and history, the Canada Research Chair in Islamic Law & History, and the Director at the Institute of Islamic Studies.
According to the MAP DWG website, the university began addressing Islamophobia on campus in 2017 by establishing an Institutional Advisory Table. In 2019, the table evolved into the Anti-Islamophobia Working Group. The MAP DWG builds on these previous efforts by the university.
Delays with the working group
In November 2023, the MSA requested to meet with Vice-Provost, Students Sandy Welsh to address student concerns surrounding the
administration’s response to the ongoing violence in Gaza. Two months later, the MSA requested a meeting with Gertler where they requested monthly meetings with the administration. Since then, the group met with the administration monthly, and every two months in the summer, to discuss creating the working group.
For Mohamad Yassin — a second-year master’s student studying electrical engineering and president of the MSA — launching the working group “took way longer than we expected.”
“Since the summer, it felt like it was always just around the corner,” he explained in an interview with The Varsity. “But it was just never launched. [It] just kept being delayed.”
According to Yassin, the delay was because it became “extremely difficult” for the administration to find co-chairs for the working group “even though we suggested people who could be cochairs.”
“Given the fact that the working group was covering Muslims, Arabs, and Palestinians, the MSA and the administration agreed this necessitated a much larger structure compared to other working groups, hence two co-chairs,” wrote Maria Saqqur — a third-year student studying peace, justice, and conflict and the MSA’s Vice-President (VP) External — in an email to The Varsity.
Another professor was initially considered to be co-chair, but decided to step down from the working group before its launch. In another email, Saqqur confirmed that, in a meeting with the administration, they said Emon would be the chair and the focus of the group would be on institutional Islamophobia.
Safety concerns
Yassin explained that he also raised concerns with the administration about incidents of Islamophobia that took place during a September 6 back-toschool pro-Palestine rally at King’s College Circle.
He noted that during the rally, counterprotesters — including one person named Ron Banarjee — were “[saying] very hateful and very vile content” toward community members, including Islamophobic speech.
In a September 13 joint Instagram post by the MSA and Humans of the Ummah — a U of T community organization within the MSA — they referred to Banarjee as one of the “hostile agitators” present during the rally. In the post, they noted that the university should have taken steps to remove these counterprotesters once they started “spewing hate speech.”
A university spokesperson has confirmed that Banerjee has since been issued a trespass notice from Campus Safety.
Yassin also claimed that the external security group Magen Herut Canada was “there to intimidate and to potentially even harm students in whatever way they can.”
Magen Herut Canada founder Aaron Hadida noted that the group was there “to protect members of the Jewish community,” in an email to The Varsity. He added that he will not address “vague claims” in the absence of specifics of incidents that concerned people.
In another email to The Varsity, Emon wrote, “Their presence poses fundamental questions like ‘Whose security matters?’, and ‘Are there hierarchies of safety based on capacity to pay?’”
“Those communities in Canada who have long been racially profiled by police and national security are aware that differentials in our respective expectations of safety already exist in Canada,” he added.
Technical difficulties
The MSA held a press conference on September 12 to call on the university to ban the presence of external security groups on campus following the incidents at the rally. The group also emailed the university on September 10, requesting a meeting with Gertler and Welsh and a statement from the administration to condemn hate speech and reaffirm U of T’s priority toward student safety.
Before receiving an email response from the administration, the MSA met with the Executive Director, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Jodie GleanMitchell and the Executive Director, Office of the Vice-Provost, Students Robyn Parr for their regularly scheduled monthly meeting to discuss the working group launch.
Saqqur claimed that when the group went into the meeting, the administration didn’t acknowledge the incident at the rally, the MSA’s email or their press conference.
However, she noted that once the MSA told the administration about the incident during the meeting, they apologized and said there was “a technical difficulty” in responding to their email.
In emails obtained by The Varsity, Glean-Mitchell and Parr responded on October 3 to the MSA’s email, attributing their delayed response to an IT issue.
Glean-Mitchell and Parr also wrote that “[members] of the public are generally allowed, like those who were present on September 6, in unrestricted areas of our campuses as long as they abide by the law and University policies,” and noted that Campus Safety was aware of the groups and requested that they leave campus.
“The University has a high threshold for expression, and that can include speech and imagery that are uncomfortable and offensive to many,” they added.
An acknowledgement
In a November 5 email also obtained by The Varsity, VP People Strategy, Equity & Culture Kelly HannahMoffat and VP & Provost Trevor Young thanked the MSA for reaching out to the administration regarding the rally incident.
The email noted that the initial delay in the administration’s response “did not match the seriousness of [the MSA’s] concerns,” and recognized “how unsupported, vulnerable and afraid many members of the community have felt.”
“We additionally acknowledge that some of the behaviours and expressions of individuals involved in the counter-protest on September 6 were Islamophobic and deeply impacted some Muslim students and employees at the University,” they wrote. “We need to do more and do better to support any community member who experiences Islamophobia and racism, including anti-Palestinian discrimination, on our campuses.”
Saqqur claimed that the administration told them to circulate this acknowledgement within their own community, rather than the university publicizing it to the entire U of T community. For Saqqur, this “felt a little belittling to the situation,” noting that Islamophobia is “a threat to everyone.”
Yassin also alleged that in a meeting with Campus Safety’s Ryan Dow — the assistant director, Community Liaison & Support Team — he noted a “failing” in Campus Safety’s response to the incident. According to Yassin, Dow said that Campus Safety would undergo anti-hate training to inform future responses.
Additionally, Yassin said they will continue to meet with the university monthly to discuss other issues students face on campus.
A U of T spokesperson wrote in a statement to The Varsity that “When there are further public updates [to the working group], they will be available on the webpage for the working group.”
“Matters raised by students, student groups and faculty members are addressed with those groups and individuals as appropriate.”
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International students weigh in on cost of living, financial aid
Rising costs of living, tuition, and food insecurity continue to strain international students
Asmi Khanna Associate News Editor
The number of study permit holders in Canada has tripled over the past decade, rising from 300,000 in 2013 to over 900,000 in 2024. International students contribute immensely to Canada’s economy, spending $37.3 billion on school-related expenses and supporting 200,000 jobs.
Yet, many international students at U of T face financial difficulties compounded by tuition fees and the cost of living in Toronto. The Varsity spoke to international students about tuition, housing, and food prices.
Costly concerns in Canada
According to a U of T spokesperson, “U of T receives no government funding for international students, who pay the full cost of their education. The fees are determined in accordance with the provincial government’s tuition fee framework, the university’s tuition fees policy, and the Statement of Commitment Regarding International Students.”
The fee for international students at U of T is approximately three to seven times higher than the fee for domestic students.
Xinran Liang — a third-year biodiversity and conservation biology international student — shared in an email to The Varsity , “The high cost of tuition is a constant worry, and I fear that even after graduation, I won’t earn enough to offset these expenses.”
In order to obtain a study permit, international students must provide proof of financial support to afford tuition and living expenses. As of 2024, the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada required students to prove they have $20,635 per year for living costs, equating to approximately $1,719 per month.
Yet, U of T Student Life lists on their website that students should expect living expenses in the GTA to range from $1,130–$2,700 monthly on housing and groceries to cost above $350 monthly. This does not include miscellaneous costs of hydro, phone, and Internet bills that Student Life estimates to range from $175–$281.
A 2023 rental market report by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation showed that rents in Toronto surged by 29 per cent for vacant units in 2022. In June 2024, the Ontario government responded by setting a rental increase guideline, capping most landlords’ annual rent hikes at 2.5 per cent without requiring approval from the Landlord and Tenant Board.
Matthew Laquis — a fourth-year international student studying mechanical engineering — said the cost of living in downtown Toronto is “absurd.”
“I live on Yonge Street, quite close to campus, so rent is not the best, and the amount of space you’re given with a high cost doesn’t match it. They call bedrooms what is basically just a large closet or storage room,” said Laquis.
According to the 2024 Who’s Hungry Report from Daily Bread and North York Harvest food bank, 31 per cent of 3.49 million food bank visits were students, with four in five new users being newcomers who have been in Canada for less than five years.
In an interview with The Varsity , Joy Xu — a third-year international student studying history, cinema, and English — spoke about her own experiences living in Toronto.
“I just find that access to Asian groceries, [like] when you try to make food that reminds you of home, [it] also becomes expensive.”
While Xu has never been to a food bank,
Ontario government announces legislation to bar international students from medical school
International student, university respond to province’s plan
Naomi Dubash
Varsity Contributor
On October 25, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones revealed a plan to address the province’s family doctor shortage by allocating nearly all available medical school spots to provincial applicants. This legislation would ensure that at least 95 per cent of medical school spots will be reserved for Ontario residents.
The remaining five per cent of spots will be reserved for Canadian students who live outside of the province, barring international students from attending beginning in fall 2026.
The recent legislation has since sparked criticism over the effectiveness of addressing Ontario’s family doctor shortage. In light of this, The Varsity spoke to community members about their concerns.
The policy
A key priority for the legislation is training and retaining doctors in Ontario so the province can address critical healthcare shortages in family care.
As of July 2024, the Ontario Medical Association
revealed that 2.5 million Ontario residents reported not having a family doctor. As part of the legislation, the provincial government will create a grant program to cover tuition for medical school students if they commit to practicing family medicine in Ontario after graduation. With this grant program, Jones anticipates that 1,360 eligible undergraduate students will receive annual funding.
She believes that this program is expected to allow approximately 1.4 million more Ontarians to have access to a family doctor.
U of T’s reaction
Three days after the legislation was announced, Vice-President & Provost Trevor Young released a statement for prospective Doctor of Medicine (MD) students at U of T.
“The University of Toronto reaffirms that only Canadian students are eligible for and enrolled in government-funded MD spaces in our medical academies. Any assertion to the contrary is simply incorrect.” He continued, “We remain committed to providing opportunities first and foremost for medical students from Ontario and, secondarily,
she has gone to events with free food and complementary lunches because of food prices.
“Buying food out is quite absurdly expensive. [Even] cooking food with groceries I thought would be cheaper, but it’s not that much cheaper,” added Laquis. “So it’s quite hard financially in terms of food.”
Financial support from U of T
As a publicly funded institution, U of T advises international students to seek support from their home countries. However, according to its 2005 Statement of Commitment Regarding International Students, if admitted and enrolled students encounter financial emergencies, the university will “provide financial assistance as needed and where possible.”
The university is also committed to developing international admission scholarships to be awarded based on exceptional academic merit and financial need, using its own resources and support from external sources. For 2024–2025, about $90 million in student financial aid
is available.
The University Health Insurance Plan (UHIP) also ensures that international students receive many of the same health services and medical treatment coverage as domestic students. One difference is that UHIP does not provide coverage for prescription drugs to students under age 25, unlike the Ontario Health Insurance Plan Plus. Along with this, all students also receive supplementary health insurance through their student union.
All students are provided the facilities of the Health & Wellness department, as well as student mental health services from the university. In addition, the first-year residence guarantee and the off-campus housing resources can support all students in finding affordable housing options near campus.
International student centres at UTSG, UTM, and UTSC also provide support and a community for international students.
With files from Eleanor Yuneun Park and Olga Fedossenko.
the rest of Canada, and we support driving better health outcomes for all Ontarians.”
According to Young’s statement, U of T’s medical program at Temerty Faculty of Medicine currently has 1,113 students. 88.7 per cent are from Ontario, 11.3 per cent are from the rest of Canada, and only 0.17 per cent are international students.
Student reaction
Ronaish Arshad — a first-year international student from the United Arab Emirates studying life sciences — planned to attend medical school in Ontario.
“When this legislation came out, I was shocked,” she said in an interview with The Varsity. “In my opinion, most students who are in my situation will start reassessing where they want to go to medical school.”
Arshad noted “most of the students who come here as pre-meds come being very well aware of
the uncertainty of getting into medical school.” She said that the recent international student caps introduced by the federal government made prospective students “hyper-aware of the possibility of universities limiting enrolment or barring enrolment for international students.”
“On a large scale, international students were never necessarily taking spots away,” Arshad added. “In fact, most international students who do decide to stay here after their MDs [to do their residencies] here, become [attending physicians] here, so they’re contributing to the workforce.”
“The family doctor shortage can only be adequately addressed by opening up more medical schools and by opening up more seats,” Arshad explained, noting that Canada only has 17 medical schools.
For Arshad, this legislation would not make a big difference.
“I don’t think the lack of qualified applicants was ever an issue. It’s the lack of seats.”
SIMONA AGOSTINO/THE VARSITY
Outside the U of T Medical Sciences Building, where spots will be reserved for domestic students. ASHLEY JEONG/THE VARSITY
UTSU introduces new rideshare program
Students share thoughts on new program, rideshare returns with bimonthly $5 off per ride
James Bullanoff Deputy News Editor
On December 11, the University of Toronto Students’ Union (UTSU) announced the return of their Rideshare Program through an Instagram post.
The program’s return was first mentioned during the union’s November Board of Directors meeting. Previously, a pilot program ran from October 2 to December 3, 2023, and an updated version ran from March 1 to April 30, 2024. The newest iteration will operate for the remainder of the 2024–2025 academic year.
Rideshare program
The UTSU Rideshare Program provides students with a discount on Uber rides to and from campus to make “late-night travel safer and more accessible.” The program operates daily from 12:00–5:00 am and covers travel throughout the GTA. Students can receive five dollars off per ride for up to two rides each month.
In an email to The Varsity, UTSU President Shehab Mansour wrote that the program “was well received by students last year and made a positive impact in our community.”
“Student safety is paramount to our mission at the UTSU and we believe that the Rideshare program is a meaningful step in the right direction,” wrote Mansour. “With this iteration, we made sure to incorporate the feedback we received to adjust [the] location and timing of the discount, as well as
increase the total amount students can save every month.”
The old program operated from 1:00–5:00 am and was limited to 156 rides per week. Last March, students shared mixed opinions about the rideshare program with The Varsity, expressing differing views on its effectiveness. This year, the union introduced an anonymous feedback form to gather input, which will be used to improve the program.
“Feedback from students is important in everything we do, and Rideshare is no different,” wrote Mansour. “In the context of Rideshare, we created this form to streamline the feedback process which will help us align our future decisions with students’ best interests.”
To access the program, students can join the UTSU’s Uber Business account with their U of T email address. When ordering an Uber, they can switch to the UTSU’s business profile under the payment method tab. They then confirm billing the UTSU up to five dollars for the ride, with any remaining balance charged to their card on file.
The Varsity confirmed that any student, regardless of whether they are under the UTSU, can access the business profile through their U of T email.
However, in response, Mansour wrote “To ensure that students under our membership are using Rideshare, we do routine checks with our membership list to make sure that users who have signed up are UTSU members.”
“A couple hundred students have joined the
UTMSU AGM sparks debate over U
program, and we are continuing to see consistent growth as we start the new semester,” wrote Mansour.
Students’ thoughts
In an email to The Varsity, Moka Dawkins, a second-year student studying African studies and critical studies in equity and solidarity, wrote that while she doesn’t currently use Uber, she would consider it if it were financially feasible.
“I think the program is a great[,] safe and protective initiative especially for victimized communities such as the [2SLGBTQ+] community, the Jewish community, the Palestinian community, and the Black community to get to and arrive home safe from community involvement and activities.”
Dawkins commutes to campus using the TTC and suggests that “[l]ower TTC fares on bus passes and one-time transit for students would be a great initiative to help students save.”
In an email to The Varsity, Hania El Sayed, a fourth-year studying international relations and
of T’s existing land acknowledgment Plans to address remaining motions in January Board of Directors meeting
Razia Saleh UTM Bureau Chief
On November 28, 2024, the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) held their Annual General Meeting (AGM) in the Instructional Centre.
Approximately 120 students participated in this year’s AGM, where the agenda focused on motions to create a new land acknowledgement for UTM and change the union’s quorum for future meetings. Not all motions were voted on by the end of the meeting due to time constraints.
Changes to quorum and club funding
At the meeting, members discussed an amendment to Bylaw III, which outlines rules for the UTMSU’s meetings. The union’s Governance Committee proposed reducing the quorum requirements for the AGMs to address recurring challenges in meeting attendance. The quorum originally required 75 members to be present for the AGM, but students at the meeting voted to lower this requirement to 50 members.
Before the AGM, general meetings required a quorum of 100 members. During the meeting, students voted to increase quorum requirements for general meetings to 150 members, of whom at least 75 members must be present in person.
The motion also changed how students access the AGM meeting package. According to Bylaw III, the agenda and the summary of financial position are published with the AGM notice, which is posted 10 days before the meeting.
The new amendment states that, while the notice will still be provided to members 10 days prior to the meeting, the meeting package — including the agenda and financial statements — will be available to UTMSU members three days prior to the meeting through email, website, and other platforms.
After student consideration, the motion was carried.
Vice-President Internal Ronny Chen, reviewed the UTMSU’s and the Blind Duck Pub’s financial reports during the meeting. The union discussed the reports for the Blind Duck Pub in November’s emergency meeting, following a
proposal for the pub’s renovations. Eventually, the audited statements were approved during the AGM for both the union’s and the pub’s financial reports.
Following last year’s motion to enhance club funding, UTMSU’s Campus Groups Coordinator, Latifah Idd, presented the follow-up report. The report showed an increase in total funding from $44,000 to $51,000. The base funding for new clubs rose from $150 to $200. The union gave a $50 increase for each recognized club and an additional $50 if the club won an award from the UTMSU in the previous year.
Student motions
Students submitted four motions for consideration at the AGM. Due to time constraints, the board decided to rearrange the motions in the agenda. By the end of the meeting, the board could only discuss and approve one student motion.
Proposed by Cordelia MacDonald — a third-year theatre and drama student of Haudenosaunee Oneida descent from the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory — the approved motion sought to review and revise the current land acknowledgment policy by establishing a committee to create a new acknowledgment that better represents Indigenous voices and histories.
MacDonald criticized the U of T land acknowledgement’s last line, “we are grateful to have the opportunity to work on this land.”
“I personally see this as… thanking the colonizers for committing… genocide and settling here on this land, whether or not that’s what [the university] intended, that is definitely how it comes across,” Macdonald explained. “Land acknowledgments are supposed to be honouring Indigenous people, not perpetuating colonialism and cultural [insensitivities].”
The motion also called for consultation with the Circle of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Students of the Canadian Federation of Students, a national group of Indigenous
political science, wrote that she uses Uber three to four times a week when studying late on campus, running late to class, or going out for the night. She has yet to try the union’s Rideshare Program.
“I think the program is a great first step. However[,] I know other universities [offer] more to their students such as more discounted rides per month,” wrote El Sayed.
For instance, Western University students can order a free ride through Mustang on Demand by downloading their app. Their service runs during the academic year every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights from 12:00–3:00 am.
While she believes the UTSU’s program is “pretty good,” she also feels there should be more rides available each month.
“I think these programs allow… students to more easily access safe rides home,” wrote El Sayed. “In some cases[,] students may be hesitant to order a ride due to high costs, especially since our campus is located downtown [so] we are very susceptible to increased costs due to high demand at certain hours.”
students representing Indigenous postsecondary students on Turtle Island. After students debated, the motion passed.
To be continued
Students raised concerns that the board could not address several motions on the agenda due to time constraints. The meeting — initially scheduled to start at 6:57 pm — started one hour later as the union waited to reach quorum.
Some student motions that weren’t discussed at the meeting included creating the Committee to Indigenous Justice and Collaboration (CIJIC) as a response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s 94 Calls to Action. Another initiative was the motion to investigate the feasibility and benefits of creating a ‘makerspace’ at UTM. Makerspaces — also known as hackerspaces — are community hubs designed for hands-on learning, sustainability, and invocation.
Among other motions left unaddressed was a proposal that called for establishing a student strike committee advocating for a national strike in solidarity with Palestine; establishing an opposition union to enhance the union’s accountability and representation; lobbying to extend the 199 Brampton Transit bus service during exam periods; and preventing the current office for the student-run Sexual Education Centre in the Student Centre from moving to a smaller space. According to UTM Sexual Education Centre (UTMSEC), the space allocated in Room 150 in the Student Centre will be moved to a “less confidential and less accessible space for students.”
“We are being told that our office will be moved to a smaller space upstairs in December,” wrote the UTMSEC in a November 15 Instagram post. In a later post on December 22, the centre announced that the office would remain until the end of April. Currently, there is an online petition to keep the current office space. As of writing, 563 people have signed the petition.
Several attendees advocated for a follow-up meeting to ensure that unresolved topics receive adequate attention.
Ultimately, the chair motioned to adjourn the meeting. The chair noted that the rest of the motions would be addressed at the union’s upcoming January Board of Directors meeting, for which the date has not been announced as of reporting.
Business & Labour
U of T pushes for $350 million investment to clean up infrastructure
Planning and Budget Committee discusses the university’s maintenance backlog, CAMH occupancy
Jessie Schwalb Governance Correspondent
At the Planning and Budget Committee (PBC) meeting on January 8, the committee unanimously recommended a $350 million project to address U of T’s infrastructure backlog — a measure that one committee member described as “one of the more important things” the board discussed. However, one committee member questioned whether this investment sufficiently addresses the university’s $1.2 billion backlog.
U of T also revealed at the meeting that it struck a $20 million deal to acquire early occupancy of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) buildings at Spadina and College.
Deferred maintenance’s moment in the sun
The university’s deferred maintenance ballooned to $1.2 billion in 2023. At the PBC meeting, members recommended that U of T embark on a three-year, $350 million project to repair and update almost 440 systems across the university.
In the words of Vice-President, Operations and Real Estate Partnerships Scott Mabury, deferred maintenance is “not a sexy problem.” However, putting off infrastructure maintenance updates leaves buildings in disrepair, can pose safety risks, and often leads to higher costs in emergency repairs when systems reach their breaking point.
Most U of T buildings sprung up during two construction booms: one in the 1960s and 1970s — when the university built more than half of the square metres that now make up UTSG — and one in the 2000s. The maintenance update schedules for both construction booms line up, leaving the university scrambling to manage both. Increased construction costs since the pandemic cut into the university’s funds for deferred maintenance funds
and extreme weather events linked to climate change limit progress and raise costs.
Mabury noted that U of T has spent “less than best practice” on deferred maintenance in recent years, spending $49.2 million in 2023. Although the provincial government-funded construction for many campus buildings, U of T receives only nine million dollars from the provinces for UTSG facilities renewal each year. Mabury noted that universities in other provinces tend to receive far more; for instance, McGill University received $112 million from the Québec government from 2019 to 2020 for deferred maintenance.
These factors drive a deferred maintenance backlog that U of T estimates will grow to almost $1.9 billion by 2034. According to Mabury, the growing issue raised “alarm” among U of T’s credit agencies, spurring the university administration to propose a large investment.
To choose which maintenance issues to address, U of T assigns each of its 4,000 systems — such as a specific building’s ventilation or electric system — a five-point score based on its condition, and current and expected future use. U of T’s Chief Operating Officer, Property Services & Sustainability Ron Saporta noted that the university prioritizes teaching and research spaces for maintenance over administrative buildings. Most maintenance would take place on UTSG because it is larger and older than the other two campuses. If approved by the Business Board during its January 29 meeting, U of T will take out $250 million in debt, paying $17 million annually in principal and interest for the next 25 years. The administration has been in talks with academic divisions, some of whom may want to contribute additional funding for deferred maintenance in their buildings. Saporta told the board that this project would also lower utility costs by increasing energy efficiency.
Department of Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology and a PBC member — questioned whether the investment was enough. In response, Mabury noted that the university’s policies constrain the extent to which it can take on debt; if U of T devoted more money to deferred maintenance, it would have to focus less on building new buildings.
“I’m just wondering if we have to rethink what new buildings we want to… build, given what we’re working in,” Kandel said. In 2024, six new buildings at U of T reached the final stages of construction.
Mabury said that U of T hopes its $300 million contribution will prompt the provincial government to provide additional funding. He said that U of T’s need to take out debt to repair Ontario governmentfunded buildings represented an “embarrassment for both the province and the university.”
“We need to do better, but we need the government as a partner to do a lot better,” Mabury told the board.
Getting the keys
In 2017, U of T spent $123 million to purchase four acres of land at the Spadina and College
intersection, which it leased to CAMH. The centre initially planned to occupy the building and land until CAMH’s lease ends in 2038, At the meeting, Mabury revealed that U of T struck a deal with CAMH: in exchange for $20 million, U of T will begin occupying CAMH’s Ursula Franklin site on February 1 and the university will gain full control over the CAMH building by 2030. Mabury suggested that the pandemic shutdown “really moved [CAMH’s] hand,” noting that the building on Ursula Franklin Street was already “completely vacant.”
Staff and administrators currently working in 215 Huron Street will move to the Ursula Franklin buildings, clearing the way for the university to demolish the former and potentially build a new academic space related to data science and quantum.
“We’re taking over downtown Toronto,” joked Chief Financial Officer Trevor Rodgers.
Endowment
The PBC also reviewed faculty and initiatives funded by donors and approved by U of T President Meric Gertler between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024. In total, Gertler approved 18 endowed chairs, 14 limited-term chairs, 12 professorships, one lecture series, and one visiting lecture.
The majority of the endowed positions went to the Temerty Faculty of Medicine. Temerty also received the most money out of any faculty in U of T’s quarterly lists of large donations from May 1, 2023, to January 31, 2024.
Powering net zero: U of T signs multi-year partnership with Siemens Canada
The partnership aims to boost
Canada’s
ability to provide clean energy
Aunkita Roy
Varsity Contributor
In late November last year, U of T announced that it has signed a multi-year agreement with Siemens Canada — a leading provider of energy, industrial, and infrastructure solutions — to support the university’s goal to support Canada reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. The new agreement builds on the existing partnership between Siemens and U of T’s Grid Modernization Centre, which focuses on advancing clean energy technologies and decarbonizing Canada’s power system.
Grid modernization — the focal point of the partnership — refers to the use of advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) to make advances in Canada’s electric grid. Consumer demands are changing, but electricity infrastructure is only aging.
The new partnership aims to incorporate advanced technologies into Canada’s energy grid to advance it toward becoming a ‘smart grid’, an electricity system that uses digital technologies to improve energy supply’s efficiency and reliability, such as by reducing power outages.
The current state of Canada’s energy grid
To achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, Canada’s electricity sector will either have to cut its greenhouse gas emissions completely or offset any remaining emissions through
activities that remove carbon from the atmosphere.
Canadian federal regulations outline a need to cut off nearly 181 megatonnes of carbon emissions from the grid cumulatively between 2024 and 2050. These regulations come after the federal government revised its initial target of achieving an emissions-neutral grid by 2035 through 2050 and faced scrutiny from major oil and gas producing provinces for endangering the reliability of the electricity grid.
CHLOEWESTON/THEVARSITY
communications, these threats grow in complexity and potential impact”.
Her research focuses on addressing these challenges through innovative approaches to cybersecurity in cyber-physical systems.
The transition to a smart grid comes with a unique set of challenges, which Professor Deepa Kundur — U of T’s chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering — is researching. Kundur’s research team focuses on how power utilities can be defended from cyberattacks, which is an important security consideration to make when introducing AI algorithms and other digital technologies to our infrastructure.
In an email to The Varsity, Kundur wrote, “Canada’s energy grid faces mounting cybersecurity challenges from the rise of advanced persistent threats (APTs), ransomware campaigns targeting industrial control systems, and sophisticated cyber-physical attacks that exploit vulnerabilities in interconnected infrastructures. As the grid evolves to incorporate renewable energy, smart devices, and advanced
Early on, Kundur explored vulnerabilities in smart grids caused by coordinated cyberphysical switching attacks — cyberattacks that target both digital systems and physical infrastructure — and cascading failures, which are a series of interconnected breakdowns in a system.
Her more recent projects focused on integrating artificial intelligence — particularly explainable AI (XAI), which aims to make AI processes understandable to humans — into cybersecurity frameworks. “Under the Siemens partnership, [Kundur is] leading a project to integrate explainable AI (XAI) into industrial cybersecurity systems. This initiative aims to enhance decisionmaking transparency,” she continued in the email.
For Kundur, the partnership with Siemens Canada is a transformative step in her research journey as it will “Allow [her] to approach the problem from a new angle, focusing on how manufacturers can design and build secure systems from the ground up.”
Security considerations will also be a key area of focus in the Siemens Canada partnership and remain at the forefront of many research projects Kundur and other professors involved in the process undertake.
The partnership is also expected to expand to sectors beyond energy systems, including AI, automation, and advanced manufacturing. By combining research and practical applications, U of T and Siemens Canada’s contributing efforts are aimed at developing a more sustainable energy system.
Opinion
January 14, 2025
thevarsity.ca/category/opinion opinion@thevarsity.ca
New Year, new UPP — it’s time to divest from fossil fuels
The University Pension Plan must divest from companies destroying the planet in 2025
Avery Murrell, Arjun Arora, and Zahur Ashrafuzzaman Varsity Contributors
Nearly 10 months after Climate Justice U of T (CJUofT) called for the University Pension Plan (UPP) to immediately divest from fossil fuels in a Varsity article, the plan’s investments remain unchanged. Despite the relentless opposition of students and faculty, the University of Toronto has yet to address this issue.
U of T is one of four institutions with pension plans managed by the UPP, along with Queen’s University, University of Guelph, and Trent University. Collectively, the UPP’s 11.7 billion joint pension ensures retirement income for more than 40,000 faculty and staff across various universities.
Universities contribute to their employees’ pension plans by putting a percentage of their earnings into a fund, and approximately 76 per cent of the universities’ respective operating budget is applied toward salaries and benefits. According to a 2023–2024 report from U of T’s Planning and Budget Office, these budgets are composed of government grants (20 per cent), tuition and fees from domestic and international students (68 per cent), and “other” sources (12 per cent).
Alarmingly, our tuition directly supports oil companies that the UPP lends money to — something U of T fails to disclose to its students. Our money contributes to the destructive activities of the fossil fuel and defence companies listed on the UPP’s page on public equity holdings. There are valid reasons for students to be concerned about where their money is going.
Why are we concerned?
According to the UPP’s website, it believes that “environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors, such as climate change, will fundamentally influence the long-term sustainability of financial markets.” It asserts that these factors are considered at every stage of investing to achieve long-term financial performance. However, their current holdings reveal companies like Exxon, Enbridge, Shell, Chevron, and Suncor — fossil fuel conglomerates renowned for their exploitation of people and the planet.
industries.
Canada’s big banks compose another significant portion of the portfolio, including the Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, and the Bank of Montreal, which invested 42 billion USD, 29 billion USD, and 19.3 billion USD respectively into fossil fuels in 2022. Not only have their investments been key in upholding the fossil fuel industry, but these banks have also invested millions into companies arming the Israeli military, which is committing the Amnesty Internationalrecognized genocide in Palestine.
Furthermore, fossil fuel companies profit from suppressing Indigenous peoples around the world, subjecting them to significant environmental and health impacts. Yet, UPP claims on their website that it honours the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action #92, which implores companies to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to affirm the Indigenous rights and sovereignty over their identity, education, and land. In order to separate itself from the oil and gas sector’s constant violations of Indigenous rights, we believe the UPP should adhere to their Climate Action Plan update and annual Responsible Investing report to end their investments in these
The UPP’s refusal to divest stems from the plan manager’s belief that “investors have several mechanisms to catalyze the transition to a resilient, net-zero world,” as stated in their current Climate Action Plan. But to us, the absence of meaningful emission reductions reflects the inefficacy of this approach. Additionally, this line of thinking assumes that companies benefiting from the earth’s destruction would propose climate plans to minimize their emissions, presenting a paradox in itself.
An alternative plan
First and foremost, the UPP must divest from fossil fuel corporations, as well as from those profiting from the ongoing genocide in Gaza. We believe our demands are not just morally justified, but financially too.
The UN-Convened Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance (NZAOA) is composed of institutional investors committed to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 with their portfolios — of which the UPP is a member.
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), a large pension fund, and NZAOA’s other Canadian signatory have already divested from oil and coal. CDPQ reasons that this move will preserve the long-term value of their assets, stating that oil and coal are “not energies of the future.”
We know that divestment does not lead to reduced profits. A 2023 study from the University of Waterloo found that if six major US
@uoft_pigeons shows us how much we have in common with the urban critter Pigeons — they’re just like us!
I have always been a loyal advocate for pigeons — leaping to their defence whenever they are all too often maligned as pests, vermin, or riffraff. The idea that pigeons are annoyances is not only misguided but reflects a misunderstanding of what it means to coexist in a shared urban ecosystem. Pigeons are more than city-dwelling nuisances — they are reflections of our urban lives as well as symbols of resilience and community. In fact, I think they’re just like us.
My question is clear: are pigeons urban pests to be eradicated or are they valuable participants in our shared spaces? One account on Instagram shows us the hidden lives of Toronto’s most populous bird species, and I believe ultimately shows us that pigeons are indeed valuable to us.
From revered companions to reviled intruders
Pigeons were once held in high esteem, playing significant roles in human society for thousands of years. Initially domesticated as a food source, they became messengers and even spiritual symbols. The dove of peace — a white domestic pigeon — represents the Holy Spirit in Christian iconography.
Yet in modern cities, pigeons have fallen from grace. Neglected, people dismiss them as ‘rats with wings’ and see them as encroaching upon our environment rather than being constituents of it.
A few months ago, I stumbled across the Instagram page @uoft_pigeons. The account fosters an underlying sense of community, urging its readers to “Send in your best and silly pigeon photos to be featured.”
How @uoft_pigeons conveys pigeons as symbols of urban identity
The idea of an Instagram account dedicated exclusively to the pigeons of U of T may at first seem odd. @uoft_pigeons’ posts are frequent, numerous, and only feature images of pigeons.
The birds are always caught in moments of action: socializing or waiting for the subway, almost like paparazzi snapshots.
One post from last December features a small flock of pigeons clustered around bread scraps outside the Varsity Stadium, captioned: “Some fine dining to fuel up before pigeon sports practice on the varsity field.” The growing popularity of this account gives us the opportunity to understand how pigeons fit into ideas of urban identities.
I think we can see a lot of ourselves in these pigeons. This account — made up of submitted images from the student body — is a kind of collective autobiography. It inspires us to see that the pigeons of Toronto are living lives just like us: finding love, enjoying a meal, and riding the TTC. Each post captures fleeting moments of urban life that translate to a shared U of T
pension funds divested from fossil fuel companies a decade ago, they would have made a 13 per cent greater return on investment — an extra 20 billion USD — as well as slashed their emissions enough to power 35 million homes per year. Thus, there is no plausible justification for investments in these entities.
UPP’s President Barbara Zvan has been described by the National Observer as one of the most “climate-positive investment managers in the country.” If this is true, she should be actively listening to those who provide the majority of the funds and those who receive them in retirement.
Recently, the University of Toronto Faculty Association and the United Steelworkers Union at the University published an open letter to the senior management at U of T calling for fossil fuel divestment. CJUofT, Fridays for Future U of T, and U of T Environmental Action, among other student groups, continue to organize for fossil fuel divestment from the university, but these voices on campus are strengthened by numbers, so we implore you to get involved and express your concerns for our future under this plan. 2025 presents the opportunity for change — for better or for worse — and the UPP can be part of one or the other. If not now, when? The window for offsetting the climate crisis grows shorter each year, so now is the time that the UPP’s make divestment their resolution for the new year.
Avery Murrell is a fourth-year Woodsworth College student studying human biology and cell and molecular biology, and is involved in CJUofT’s Divest UPP campaign.
Arjun Arora is a third-year Innis College student studying physics and cognitive science, involved in CJUofT’s Divest UPP campaign.
Zahur Ashrafuzzaman is a first-year masters student of linguistics, involved in CJUofT’s Divest UPP and Banks Off Campus campaigns
student experience. The pigeons navigate a dense and often overwhelming cityscape, adapt to the terrain, find community, and carve out their own space amidst the chaos — just like us.
UTSG is tucked into Toronto’s sprawling downtown. As students, we share our city with millions of people, many of whom don’t even register us when passing by our campus. If we want to see our identity reflected in our environment, we have to look a little harder. Pigeons, an animal unique to the urban experience, allow us to do just that.
Why we need pigeons
Innovation has brought society past the need for pigeons. It is much easier to send an email than to catch a pigeon, tie a note to its leg, point it in the right direction, and throw it.
However, I believe that @uoft_pigeons reminds us that social harmony depends on finding a sense of community in shared spaces. I believe pigeons are as integral to the urban landscape as skyscrapers and subways. They cluster around our campus, burrowing into their feathered coats, silently wishing us luck on our way into exams. In pigeons, we see more than just a bird — we see resilience, camaraderie, and a reflection of our own journey through university life.
Pigeons are here just like we are, navigating the same streets, facing the same elements, and building a life amidst the urban sprawl. If we can find value in their existence, perhaps we can find new meaning in our own. They are not pests; they are our urban allies. And at the end of the day, that is really all we have: each other.
So, next time you encounter a pigeon, say hello, take a moment, — maybe even snap a photo.
Ava Reitmaier Stone is a second-year student at Victoria College studying political science and literature & critical theory. She is the Campus Affairs Columnist for the Opinion section.
Ava Reitmaier Stone Campus Affairs Columnist
CHLOE WESTON / THE VARSITY
DOWON KIM/THE VARSITY
Canada must support instead of lose international students
The uncertain future of international students amid policy shifts
Tarushi Sahni Varsity Contributor
Canada has portrayed itself as a beacon of opportunity for international students, offering a world-class education and the promise of a brighter future. For decades, students from India, China, Nigeria, and the Philippines have flocked to the country not just for academic pursuits but also with the hope of becoming part of a nation that is celebrated for its diversity and inclusivity.
Now, this identity is changing as the Canadian government moved to cut international student visas by 10 per cent in 2024 — restricting the total permits to around 485,000. The new allowed number of visas for 2025 and 2026 will be 437,000 permits, with the government citing housing shortages and affordability as key reasons to decrease the number of international student visas granted in recent years.
While the policy may seem pragmatic on the surface, I believe it risks disrupting a delicate balance of opportunity and access, leaving international students and their families in a state of uncertainty. This decision is not merely about statistics or policy decisions, it is also about the lives of young individuals whose futures are at stake.
Exorbitant tuition
Historically, it was no accident that Canada’s identity formed as a place for international education. Beginning in the late 1960s, Canadian universities and colleges actively sought to attract students from abroad to bolster their global reputation and diversify their revenue streams.
In my opinion, the biggest challenge for international students is the high cost of tuition. While average domestic students in Canada typically pay around $7,076 annually, international students often face fees exceeding $35,000 depending on their program and institution — up to five times more than domestic students.
U of T charges international undergraduates nearly $60,000 per year, which increases if they are enrolled in specialized programs such as the computer science program and Rotman Commerce.
These fees — which I argue are exploitative — are a major contribution to the financial strain on families who often invest significant financial contributions in hopes of securing a brighter future for their children.
Scarce housing, scarcer jobs
The financial pressure does not end there. According to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the average price for a one-bedroom apartment in Toronto has risen from $1,421 in 2020 to $1,715 in 2024. In September 2024, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment was $1,916 per month, which increased by 2.1 per cent from 2023. These mounting financial pressures adversely affect students’ mental health and undermine their ability to concentrate on academics — hindering their educational and personal success.
The government’s decision in January 2024 to reduce international student visas hinges on the belief that fewer international students will ease the demand on housing and infrastructure, thereby benefiting Canadian citizens. While I believe that this argument is compelling on the surface, it oversimplifies a complex issue.
The reality is that Canada’s housing crisis stems from decades of underinvestment in affordable housing. Blaming international students — especially amid the rise of racism against South Asian immigrants — for these systemic shortcomings is not only unfair but counterproductive, as it diverts attention from the root causes.
Cost of reducing immigration
The potential advantages of reducing international students can come at a cost. Educational institutions that are heavily reliant on high international tuition fees may face financial shortfalls, leading to budget
cuts that impact the overall quality of education. For instance, Algonquin College is facing a $32 million revenue loss due to a drop in international student enrollment, projecting a shortfall of about 2,400 students compared to previous estimates. Moreover, reducing international student numbers risks exacerbating labour shortages in critical sectors where students often fill part-time positions. International students and immigrants’ economic impact extends beyond tuition fees, as they generate jobs, stimulate local businesses, and fill critical gaps in sectors such as healthcare, technology, and hospitality. International students contribute 37.3 billion to the Canadian economy annually, making them essential to Canada’s growth.
Many international students, despite excelling academically, find themselves struggling with a cycle of precarious employment and uncertain futures. For Canada, I believe this represents a missed opportunity, as these skilled and educated individuals are precisely what the nation needs.
Dreams and disillusionment
I find myself grappling with a mix of hope and disillusionment and I feel apprehensive about the future with every new policy change. Canada, with its diverse culture and world-class education system, still holds immense appeal. On the other hand, the uncertainty surrounding housing, immigration, and job prospects casts a shadow of doubt. Conversations I have with my friends often reveal a shared sense of apprehension.
As an international student from India, these policy changes hit home. My parents, like many
How we talk about immigration matters Addressing South Asian hate in Canada’s immigration debate
Ahmed Hawamdeh Domestic Affairs Columnist
The Environics Institute — an organization that publishes public-opinion survey research — released a poll with the Ted Rogers School of Management tracking Canadians’ opinions on immigration in 2024. 58 per cent of Canadians say that there is “too much immigration” to the country, which the Institute writes is the “first time in a quarter of a century.”
Since 2022, there has been a sharp rise in the number of Canadians who are dissatisfied with current immigration numbers. The same aforementioned study revealed that the rate of dissatisfaction increased by 17 per cent between 2022 and 2023 and by 14 per cent between 2023 and 2024. Alongside this growth in anti-immigrant sentiment, hate crimes targeting the South Asian community rose by 143 per cent between 2019 and 2022 — with some experts suggesting that these trends are interconnected.
Despite the Canadian government consistently positioning itself as a leader in immigration — introducing policies to encourage high rates of immigration to the country — it seems as though Canadians are ready to have different conversations on the number of immigrants accepted each year. How Canadians choose to go about this conversation is critical because failing to reject racist ideologies, combat South Asian hate, and uphold our nation’s commitment to diversity can have grave consequences for newcomers and racialized Canadians.
I believe that we must be able to have robust and rigorous conversations about immigration
in Canada without the inclusion of far-right racist organizations and their ideologies.
Cuts to immigration and racist narratives
In October 2024, the federal government responded to the growing anti-immigrant sentiment by decreasing the number of immigrants being granted permanent residence status by 21 per cent. This came alongside other cuts to temporary resident programmes — notably a September 2024 announcement that reduced 10 per cent of the number of international student study permits approved.
Pro-immigration advocates accuse the government of using immigrants as scapegoats for ongoing economic hardship. Meanwhile, some economists share the government’s position, arguing that cuts to immigration will help alleviate pressures on the economy. They argue that these cuts will help decrease demand in the rental market, allowing for rent price reductions and potential further cuts to interest rates.
However, what I find most concerning is how far-right groups, such as the Canadian white supremacist group Diagolon, have exploited antiSouth Asian racism to fuel anti-immigrant attitudes and vice versa. Peter Smith — a researcher and journalist at the Canadian Anti-Hate Network — explains that these groups are making South Asian communities the “focus of a lot of anti-immigrant narratives” and are exploiting them in hopes of gaining mainstream support.
A 2024 study by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism revealed rising online racism toward South Asians in the past year, with many individuals online often promoting what is deemed “the great
replacement theory.” This racist ‘theory’ is rooted in antisemitism and xenophobia and claims that there is an attempt by Western ‘elites’ to replace white people with people of other racial backgrounds.
These conspiracies are increasingly utilized by far-right groups in Canada to promote racism against South Asian immigrants, and this growing ideology has manifested in recent racist incidents and hate crimes. In October, a woman in Waterloo gave the middle finger to a South Asian man and told him that “Indians are taking over Canada.”
In November, another racist incident occurred in Hamilton where a group of demonstrators held a sign reading “mass deportations now.” In the same month, several racist comments were made on a video on X about Indians who celebrated Diwali in downtown Toronto — one such comment reads, “None of the other immigrants [are] as bad as Indian[s].”
Navigating nuance and championing diversity I believe that multiple truths can exist at once. We should be able to discuss how reduced immigration can circumstantially ease certain economic pressures, like rent and housing costs. At the same time, we should also be able to acknowledge the positive impacts immigration has had on our economy — notably helping the country avoid a recession.
We, however, must unequivocally reject racist conspiracy theories — like the great replacement theory — that posit different races as competing with each other, sowing the ideological seeds of racial hierarchy that have come to divide Canadians. These kinds of theories are what have and will continue to allow racism to proliferate.
others, made significant sacrifices to support my education here, believing that Canada would offer me better opportunities. While we appreciate the education we’re receiving, we cannot ignore the mounting obstacles that make staying here longterm increasingly challenging. This lack of longterm prospects poses a significant challenge for international students who invest years of their lives and substantial financial resources in adapting to Canadian society.
International students’ contributions extend well beyond their economic impact; they bring diversity and innovation that enrich Canadian society. Addressing the housing crisis requires bold, systemic reforms, not scapegoating a group that has become an integral part of the nation’s socioeconomic fabric.
For international students like me, the dream of building a life in Canada once so vivid now feels precarious. As policymakers navigate this critical juncture, they must recognize that the future of international education in Canada is not just about numbers, but about its people.
Whether the federal government chooses to embrace its role as a global leader in education or retreat into insular policies will define its legacy for generations to come.
Tarushi Sahni is a second-year student at Victoria College studying economics and international relations. She is a macroeconomics associate at the Vertige Investment Group at U of T and the events director at the Clinical Psychology Students’ Association and the University of Toronto Policython.
I believe one key way to tackle the rising hate that the South Asian community in Canada is facing is to support projects and organizations working to promote racial equality and inclusion.
One such project enacted by the Vancouver city government introduced an online survey where South Asian-Canadians can share their experiences with racism, ultimately increasing awareness of racism in the city and fostering an inclusive community for South Asians to come together for support. Vancouver also gave a second name to a prominent street on the city’s waterfront — Komagata Maru Place — honouring the Komagata Maru, a ship carrying hundreds of South Asian people who turned away from the city in 1914, to pay homage to the historical struggles of South Asians in Canada.
A commitment to diversity
Although there may be a small minority of Canadians who choose to spread hate and racism, I think that the majority of this country believes in its promise of diversity and inclusion and is ready and willing to have nuanced conversations about immigration that reflect the shared humanity of Canadians.
I have no intention of lecturing Canadians on what they should believe to be the path forward for immigration in this country. Immigration is a sensitive and complex issue on which opinions and perspectives are heavily influenced by the lived experiences from which we approach it. Instead, I argue that no matter where you find yourself in your ideological convictions, we all have a responsibility to each other and this country to prevent both South Asian hate and other forms of racism from infiltrating our country’s social, political, and cultural fabric.
Ahmed Hawamdeh is a third-year student at Trinity College studying public policy, political science, and French. He is the Domestic Affairs Columnist for the Opinion section.
Make
The epidemic financially stifling Gen Z
show’s time slot or buy a separate digital storage system.
Shortly before the final season of entertainment network AMC’s hit show Breaking Bad, the show’s creator, Vince Gilligan, said he believed that Netflix helped generate an audience for the show. “Under the old paradigm — using the old technology of simply having first runs and then reruns on networks — I don’t know that we would’ve reached the critical mass that we reached,” Gilligan told Wired magazine.
Evidently, SaaS services like Netflix gave consumers more for less money compared to
Nipun Rustagi — a fourth-year computer science student at UTM — spoke about his experience using LinkedIn Premium Business, which costs $59.00 per month.
Rustagi admitted that LinkedIn gets users addicted to its premium service. “It becomes a habitual thing to check for updates, to see who’s viewing your profile, to see whether recruiters are going through it, or just to get better job recommendations.” The strategy is simple: companies entice you with attractive features, only to swiftly place those features behind a subscription paywall. Student discounts and free trials are often part of this approach. While these offers may seem harmless, a major red flag arises when free trials require credit card information.
One could argue that it is an ‘identity check’, preventing users from exploiting the system by creating multiple accounts for repeated free trials. However, there are ways to verify identities without immediately charging users after free trials, such as using governmentapproved IDs like driver’s licences. With this system, once their free trial expires, users would then have the option to provide their credit card information and purchase a subscription.
The truth is rather straightforward: companies rely on users forgetting to cancel their free trials, allowing them to sneak in extra charges. I must admit, I’ve fallen victim to this myself. A few months ago, I forgot to cancel my LinkedIn subscription and was unexpectedly charged for it. According to a 2024 survey by media network company CNET, 59 per cent of Gen Z participants admitted to forgetting to cancel a subscription after a free trial at least once, while four per cent of adults over 18 reported forgetting to cancel more than five times a year.
The ultimate price: losing ownership SaaS business models began as a one-stop solution, offering a break from the traditional market structure. Today, most companies have adopted the same model while steadily increasing prices. Deloitte’s 2021 digital media trends survey revealed that more than half of the 2,009 respondents expressed frustration with subscribing to multiple services to access the content they want.
which now dictate the terms of engagement. From determining how many pages your printer can produce to which memories are stored in the cloud — control over basic utilities, creativity, and personal history has shifted away from consumers.
This loss of control profoundly impacts how Gen Z navigates their lives, confining them to systems that prioritize corporate profits over their agency as an individual. Ultimately, this trend is not just about what we pay for — it’s about how our relationship with technology and goods is reshaping societal power dynamics. This erosion of ownership reflects a broader cultural shift toward impermanence, where nothing feels fully ours, and everything depends on monthly payments. The growing reliance on corporations to safeguard essential aspects of life commodifies trust, concentrating immense power in profit-driven companies and leaving individuals vulnerable to exploitation and insecurity. Additionally, the subscription
How often have you wanted to read an article only to see that to fully read it, you need to pay 0.99 a week?
economy exacerbates social inequities, deepening the divide between those who can afford access and those excluded from these conveniences.
All hope is not lost In October 2024, the US Federal Trade Commission introduced a “Click-to-Cancel” rule, mandating that businesses make cancelling a subscription as straightforward as signing up for one. Often, subscribing is far easier than cancelling, which creates frustration for consumers. The new rule requires that the number of clicks to cancel a service must match the number of clicks needed to subscribe.
Gen Z has optimistically decided to fight against the loss of ownership in fascinating ways. For instance, 2022 was the first year vinyl sales surpassed CD sales since 1987. CBC also reports a resurgence in film and early digital photography, particularly among younger generations, which might reflect a yearning to reclaim control over their media.
Gen Z’s desire for control goes beyond owning photos, videos, or notes; it’s a symbolic response to an era where so much of life feels dictated by external, corporate forces. It underscores a generational struggle for security and self-determination in a world increasingly shaped by corporate control. To sum up the current situation, I must echo the famous sentiment spread by Danish politician Ida Auken’s World Economic Forum speech: “You’ll own nothing and be happy.” Industries and corporations lure in consumers with subscriptionbased models that
The ubiquity of subscriptions today reflects a generation struggling with profound economic and social challenges. Canadians under 35 are increasingly priced out of homeownership, a traditional symbol of stability and independence. Yet many allocate significant portions of their income to an expanding array of subscriptions, prioritizing access and convenience over ownership. This shift underscores a deeper issue: the subscription economy flourishes in an era of economic precarity, offering minor and ultimately ineffective solutions to affordability while perpetuating a cycle of dependency. This dynamic extends beyond economic strain; it’s also about control. The shift from ownership to access means a transfer of power from individuals to corporations,
make it easier for them to enjoy entertainment and online media. However, the question is whether or not this ease of access is sufficient when none of the products behind the paywall actually belong to us. It seems as though an element of autonomy is lost alongside our loss of ownership, and this loss of autonomy is causing discontent.
Ironically, the article explaining this quote required me to pay $5 per month.
CHLOE WESTON/THE VARSITY
Arts & Culture
Nosferatu: History as a method of composition
The animation of particulars
In Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu, history isn’t just a matter of costumes; it shapes the character’s experience and serves as the primary method of composition. That said, the costumes are indeed exceptional. The film’s costume designer, Linda Muir, pays close attention to the softest dynamics between fabric and light. The gowns have a lunar quality, while the overcoats are weighted with whale oil. Additionally, she’s outfitted Count Orlok in a perfectly anachronistic, old-fashioned set of midsixteenth-century Transylvanian military regalia, along with pieces selected and recreated from antique costume journals.
This almost anthropological approach serves as the foundation beneath the film’s presentation. Every stylistic commitment emerges from a meticulous engagement with a cultural archive. Eggers skillfully weaves the narrative through a collage of these particulars, borrowing the complex motifs of folklore and demonology to shape the possibilities for the camera’s encounter with its objects.
From a camera perspective, the artifice is immediately impressive. Actors float and spasm beneath gigantically staged shadows, or manoeuvre through strange angles just outside the camera’s orbit. If you liked Werner Herzog’s 1979 remake, you’ll appreciate how Bill Skarsgård’s
January 14, 2025
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Orlok is totally subsumed into the condition of darkness, with his nocturnal, night-flying presence touching every inch of the film.
This Nosferatu doesn’t slink quite like the classics; instead, it unsettles with the boundless scale of the vampire’s dominion — demonic in the pagan Greek sense of being rooted in excess, carnal appetite, and a power that transcends us.
In the great Nosferatu films, Count Orlok might easily be seen as an entire complex of rat holes and plague vectors. Eggers intentionally blurs the line between the deathless body of the nosferatu and its set of parasitic behaviours, so that the mere presence of shadow and distance in a scene suggests his capacity for imposition. Much of the narrative drama revolves around the characters’ inability to distinguish their own agencies from Count Orlok’s external influence.
Lily-Rose Depp delivers an acrobatic performance as Ellen Hutter. In interviews, she cites French actress Isabelle Adjani’s work in Possession as an influential touchstone, evident in the violence
of Depp’s contortions and the sexual overtones of her magic-making. The domestic tensions between Ellen and her husband Thomas (Nicholas Hoult) stretch into a long night of ego dissolution. I suspect Eggers drew on some of the peculiarities of Ellen’s behaviour from the writings of the Golden Dawn, which were contemporary to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The character of Prof. Albin Eberhart Von Franz (Willem Dafoe) also makes overt allusions to Victorian occult practices.
Eggers’ commitment to the authenticity of his artifice is never distracting, but rather constantly rewarding. His recreations of the psychologies specific to a historical period render, for instance, the bite of the nosferatu as a real bodily undertaking for both the vampire and his victims. There is no disruption in the social-historical assemblage connecting Count Orlok to the Gothic architecture or the inner lives of the characters. He feels as naturally integrated and effortlessly factual as a period-accurate table. In Herzog’s 1979 film, the nosferatu feels intrusive and out-of-time, but in
Eggers’ remake, he emerges organically from the dead soil of his century.
How and why does this nosferatu fly? Eggers’ answer: in shadow, without the audience noticing. His presence in the camera frame is distributed through a layering of contradictory actions. It’s his persistence as a cluster of dimly lit dissonance which captivates and forms the core of the film’s exploration of sexual violence. This hinges on an ugly, unsettling sensation — the ventriloquism of the living by the dead.
Nosferatu is most interesting when corpse-flesh moves despite itself, throwing its voice around the room and the script, camouflaged by a swarm of rats. The dramatic performances are solid, but relatively stock. That isn’t a problem, though, because these formulaic performances become spectacles when spontaneously subjected to the restlessness of the non-living nosferatu.
Eggers’ film is as much a remake of Possession as it is of Nosferatu. The decay of a cultural milieu — which Dafoe’s Von Franz attributes to the “gaseous light of science” — is enacted at a domestic level, then confronted by the uncleanliness of an impossibly animate body. This encounter is staged with Eggers’ logistical craftsmanship, much like a collection of dated correspondences.
The nosferatu proves as equally productive in social-historical processes as figures like Napoleon or John F. Kennedy. Eggers develops all of this through his extensive archival study, which stands as his most obvious strength as a director and writer.
I believe there are three Nosferatu movies worth watching: the 1922 original, Herzog’s 1979 remake, and now Eggers’ version. While it may not be as inventive as its predecessors, it is certainly more competent. The figure of the nosferatu carries an immediate historical experience, having accrued a century of filmic significance. At this point, he feels as distant to us as he once did to the nineteenth-century aristocracy whose blood he craved.
The Brutalist and my grandfather: two tales of migration and the American Dream
Brady Corbet’s epic exposes the
hidden
the fractures in his identity and relationships, highlighting the harsh realities of migration.
toll of migration on identity and belonging
The American Dream, a concept popularized in 1931, transcended its cultural roots to become a universal aspiration, symbolizing success for anyone in North America — especially for immigrants, regardless of their cultural or ethnic identity.
For some people, this dream represents achieving greatness in an unfamiliar environment; for others, it’s a patriotic ideal where the pursuit itself becomes a testament to the virtues of freedom and opportunity promised by their new homeland. Yet, beneath its promises lie false assurances — illusions that often mask the dangers of chasing this dream. Brady Corbet’s 2024 historical epic, The Brutalist, delves into these complexities, revealing how migration, with its promises of opportunity and prosperity, can fragment one’s identity.
The film chronicles the life of László Tóth (Adrien Brody), a Hungarian-Jewish architect and Holocaust survivor who emigrated to the US in pursuit of the American Dream. The narrative begins in post-war Philadelphia, spanning over three and a half hours and divided into two parts: The Enigma of Arrival and The Hard Core of Beauty. Tóth struggles to adapt to American society while reconnecting with his wife Erzsébet (Felicity Jones) and niece, Zsófia (Raffey Cassidy). Despite his talent, he faces significant challenges securing architectural commissions, particularly from affluent industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren Sr. (Guy Pearce).
The second half delves into Tóth’s professional and personal struggles, particularly after he accepts a monumental project that Van Buren commissioned. While this opportunity seems like a career breakthrough, it ultimately exposes
Parallels with personal history
Watching The Brutalist evoked memories of my grandfather’s immigration to Canada in the late 1960s. Leaving Amritsar, India after the partition of British India into India and Pakistan—a traumatic event that caused widespread suffering and division among communities—he sought a fresh start in a country that promised “freedom of opportunity.”
aerospace manufacturing corporation. His role involved certifying airplane airfoils, a task critical to aviation safety. While this achievement seemed prestigious, it took a heavy emotional toll.
Identity, integration, and erasure
Both Tóth’s and my grandfather’s journeys underscore how migration often demands assimilation at the cost of one’s identity. Tóth’s obsession with societal norms and perceptions leads to imposter syndrome and a fragmented
However, the realities he faced deviated significantly from the idealized narratives. Despite being a skilled engineer, racial discrimination from whitedominated companies hindered my grandfather’s job search, as they often prioritized race over skill, mirroring the challenges Tóth faced in America.
Tóth’s status as a “foreigner” diminishes his opportunities, forcing him to initially consider more blue-collar work, like construction. Similarly, my grandfather endured rejection before finally securing a position at McDonnell Douglas, a former
sense of self. His pursuit of acceptance within a money-oriented capitalist society, where individualism overrides collective identity, mirrors my grandfather’s experience.
For both men, the process of normalization did not push them toward conformity in any linear progression; instead, it only highlighted the gaps and differences that marked their deviation from the norm. The pressure to conform—often through code-switching — reinforced the erasure of their authentic selves.
Code-switching — altering language or behaviour to align with dominant cultural norms — is a survival mechanism for minorities, yet, it perpetuates the erasure of cultural identity. For my grandfather, this meant suppressing aspects of his South Asian heritage to navigate a predominantly white environment. Similarly, Tóth’s journey highlights how capitalism’s emphasis on individual achievement often undermines and devalues the shared histories and collective struggles of minority communities.
Reflection and legacy
Through Tóth’s story, The Brutalist prompts profound self-reflection. It emphasizes the importance of honouring one’s roots and cultural legacy over societal definitions of success. A friend once wrote that photography captures moments to preserve identity, fearing that time erases our authentic selves. This sentiment resonates deeply, reminding us that every version of ourselves remains within us, regardless of life’s challenges.
My grandfather’s resilience taught me that migration can shield against visible discrimination, but it doesn’t eliminate prejudice. Canada’s reputation as a haven is complicated, revealing how migration adds layers of bias that profoundly affect lives. His courage, strength, and dedication to his craft—much like Tóth—serve as a testament to the enduring struggle for acceptance and selfidentity in a foreign land.
Ultimately, The Brutalist is more than just a film; it’s a reflection on the complexities of migration, identity, and resilience. It urges viewers to appreciate the sacrifices and legacies of those who came before, challenging us to redefine success — not by material achievements, but by the authenticity of the lives we lead and the impact we leave behind.
Patrick Ignasiak Film Columnist
VICKY HUANG/THE VARSITY
Musa Shah
Varsity Contributor
Renée M. Sgroi’s poetry collection In a Tension of Leaves and Binding
Sgroi transcends botanical observation to study the bonds between care and dominance
Divine Angubua Arts & Culture Editor
In an age of macro-analysis and immense emphasis on the effect of human activity on the anthropocene and the environment at large, Renée M. Sgroi — who holds a PhD in Education from U of T — is bringing our attention to the micro-relations between humans and the natural world. Sgroi returns with her new poetry collection, In a Tension of Leaves and Binding, published with Guernica Editions in October 2024.
In this collection, Sgroi explores the complex intersections between the natural and human worlds, particularly where violence in humannature interactions coexists — and even intertwines — with care, compassion, and love. While one might come to this collection expecting the typical anthropomorphism — the attribution of human traits to nature — of nature writing, Sgroi’s nuanced attention to these tensions, conveyed through the voices of a garden, defies categorization by creating an evocative negative space.
As Sgroi tends her garden, she moves beyond mere botanical observation, reflecting on the interplay between care and dominance. She raises profound questions about how cultures rooted in love and compassion can also benefit from and perpetuate violence — and how violence is subtly inherited alongside love.
Sgroi described her collection in an interview with The Varsity as a meditation on the peculiar experience of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. “We were dealing at that time with
that kind of containment,” she explained. “In looking at the garden, I just started to realize that the possibilities were there, […] and for good or bad, COVID-19 forced upon us some degree of observation.” Viewing the garden as a kind of “container,” in the way that one’s home became a human container during the worst of the pandemic, Sgroi reflects on the garden as a space fraught with contradictions.
In the poem “Topiary,” Sgroi wrote, “the way we landscape selves / into globes, fanciful rabbits, / prune ourselves to fit.” While we care for and tend to the garden to escape the real world, this care is undercut by a sense of control — governance, the form of dominance most intimately reflected in the nationwide lockdown. Here, the populace is tended to like an orchard or flowerbed; pruned, weeded, and tilled to meet the arbitrary expectations of a higher authority.
This tension introduces another: while a gardener may weed and prune trees, the natural world inevitably reasserts its autonomy. Beetles arrive again, weeds reappear, and the cycle of dominance and care continues. In the poem “carpenter ants,” Sgroi wrote about them eating into a wooden fence. In “invasion,” she focuses on the grotesque image of an ant’s monstrous head: “its horror / maw menaced by yellow hairs.” In “earth,” the persona complains about the earth exacting a kind of revenge on humanity for contaminating it; “evening brings the rain / of corrosive lakes / … of murderous chemicals.”
In several poems about birds, titled “visitations,” Sgroi performs a “ritual of bearing witness” to the ungraspable mystery of nature’s randomness
and its winged subjects. By recognizing that we are all visitors in the garden — just as the birds are — humanity is reminded of its subjection to “a world that continues its exertions, regardless of our presence” or our notions of ownership and control.
In this, Sgroi creates sequences of randomness using bird names, disrupting their Latin classificatory language — “splitting their binomial names into retroreflective signs, rendering them airborne” — and incorporating English, Italian, Calabrese, and Anishinaabemowin. This evokes a sense of human smallness and insignificance against nature’s vast forces, earthly power, and enduring mystery.
Rather than serving as a moral critique of gardening, it reminds us that the garden is a fragile privilege — a space we must protect by
ensuring we do not destroy the very Earth that sustains us. This raises a deeper philosophical question: do we control the garden, or does the garden, through its quiet resilience and enigmatic power, ultimately exert control over us?
The collection is also compelling in its subversion of the traditional association between femininity and the Earth. Sgroi intentionally avoids traditional essentialist readings of the garden as female topography — a perspective that reduces the subjectivity of both women and the Earth to passive, unclaimed spaces to be dug into, fertilized, and harvested from. Instead, in her exploration of the feminine, Sgroi focuses on the nuanced intersections of womanhood, nature, and culture, offering a richer, more layered perspective.
In the poem “preserving tomatoes,” for example, the act of slicing tomatoes becomes a ritual imbued with cultural memory and familial intimacy, and complicated by violent imagery: slicing, digging out, bleeding, redness, blades, “techniques handed down / like a surgery.”
The poem mirrors the larger duality and tension in the collection, where sacredness and violence coexist. It challenges the conventions of our approach to both the natural world and inherited traditions, while simultaneously celebrating the beauty found within them — beauty made all the more profound and difficult by the active presence of love.
In a Tension of Leaves and Binding is a meditation on attention itself — an exploration of how we observe the world and ourselves, and why we do so. The titular poem plays on the double meaning of the word “attention,” interpreting it as both care and tension, to become the locus of the dualities that run throughout the collection. Sgroi’s words invite readers to pause, observe, and reflect. The collection challenges, unsettles, and ultimately enriches, reminding us that profound truths await us even in the smallest corners of our world.
Hart House’s Lord of the Flies succeeds with a big ensemble A cast of young boys are stranded, and sink into savagery
In Hart House Theatre’s production of Lord of the Flies , British boys stranded on an island descend into depravity, shedding their civility. This fresh adaptation of William Golding’s iconic 1954 novel did not disappoint, with memorable castings, vivid backdrops, and inventive stagecraft.
One of the most striking elements of the play was its backdrop. Set designer Athen Chloe Go created scenic jungle displays that immersed the audience in the untamed wilderness.
Lighting designer Elise Corbin complemented Go’s set beautifully, using lighting to depict various times of day and the ever-present fire that blazed throughout the performance. The creative use of smoke further enhanced the illusion of a burning jungle, adding to the production’s immersive atmosphere.
The cast phenomenally brought the rambunctious and unruly personalities of the British schoolboys to life. Ethan Verderber excelled as Jack, the leader of the spearwielding boys, who led them through unsettling rituals — such as smearing themselves with pig’s blood — and tormented those who refused to conform. Through their intense performances, the cast powerfully embodied the essence of violent colonizers imposing dominance on untouched terrain.
Jules Aukland portrayed the loud-mouthed and hot-headed Ralph, the leader of the boys opposing Jack. She delivered a compelling performance with bold movements across the stage and a loud, boyish tone that captured Ralph’s fiery personality.
Piggy (Noam Citrin) was another standout character. As perhaps the most rationalminded figure in the play, Piggy tried to act as the voice of reason, but other boys repeatedly silenced him, including Ralph and Jack — who mocked him by stealing his glasses and calling him “fatso.”
Costume designer Sean Belavin made excellent choices in crafting the character wardrobes. The simple, school-appropriate outfits effectively conveyed the characters’ identities, enhancing the cast’s boyish appearance and contributing to the visual storytelling.
Director Andrea Perez is a third-year drama major with double minors in classics and creative writing. She shared that she chose to direct Lord of the Flies because she loved the novel in high school and became fascinated by how Golding’s middle school boys resorted to violence to recreate the British society they knew.
Perez introduced new changes to the story by casting the St. Michael’s College Troubadours, a gender-diverse group of U of T students, as the ragtag British schoolboys. “I wanted to focus more on the characters themselves, and less on the genders they’re supposed to be,” she said.
Perez also spoke about how much she enjoyed putting the play together.
“Working with everybody has been so lovely. It’s such a big creative team, and such a big ensemble, and everyone was in the room all the time, and everyone really brought themselves to the work, and there’s such a beautiful level of care in the show that I really loved.”
In aTension of Leaves and Binding is a meditation on attention itself.
DIVINE ANGUBUA/THE VARSITY
Christian Zdravko
Associate Arts & Culture Editor
The cast phenomenally brought the rambunctious and unruly personalities of the British schoolboys to life. COURTSEY OF SOPHIA GABER
Director Andrea Perez’s fresh vision focused on the characters’ dynamics. COURTSEY OF SOPHIA GABER
January 14, 2025
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Journey to the centre of Mars
Discovery of a large reservoir of water on Mars capable of covering the planet’s surface
Arunveer Sidhu Varsity Contributor
For years, we have been taught that Earth is unique for its abundance of water and that no other planet in our solar system contains liquid water — especially not Mars, due to its low atmospheric and temperature conditions, which make it unsuitable for harbouring liquid water.
Recently, this belief has been disproved, as evidence shows that water is indeed present on Mars. Earth is no longer the only planet in our solar system with liquid water.
This discovery paves the way for many sci-fi enthusiasts to develop extravagant theories and possibilities for what may concur, ranging from deadly viruses to frightening humanoid creatures lurking at the depths of Mars.
Did life exist on Mars?
Ever since the discovery of the ever-expanding dark void we call “space,” humans have pondered the question; ‘Does life exist beyond Earth?’ Although we cannot yet physically travel to other planets to answer this question directly, we’ve recently developed technologies that can help, such as the James Webb telescope, which orbits the sun. This telescope can assist in identifying chemical signs of life on a planetary scale. Even with such technology, however, we cannot obtain a clear and conclusive answer to our question.
Scientists have hypothesized that life may have once existed on Mars. Billions of years ago, Mars was more Earth-like and even hospitable, with warm temperatures and lakes. It’s a common misconception that the temperature on Mars is very hot due to its red colour, but in reality, it’s quite the opposite. Mars is an extremely cold desert, with temperatures reaching as low as -153 degrees Celsius. Since water is essential for life to exist,
scientists are currently searching for fossilized signs of ancient life in rocks from the Jezero Crater on Mars, which was once a lake billions of years ago.
Water on Mars: Liquid gold
Although life has yet to be discovered on Mars, scientists have known about water on the planet for some time, primarily in the form of ice at polar caps or permafrost, permanently frozen ground, beneath its surface.
For years, scientists presumed that all liquid water on Mars had been lost to space due to its extremely thin atmosphere. However, a 2024 publication in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests otherwise. This discovery involved NASA’s Mars InSight Lander, which used its seismometer to detect underground movements. It measured seismic velocities that indicated the movement of groundwater through igneous rocks deep beneath the surface of Mars.
The data obtained from the seismometer estimates that the water exists approximately 11.5 to 20 kilometres deep beneath Mars’ surface, in an area referred to as the mid-crust. The amount of water is not to be taken lightly either. In most studies like this, the results may be underwhelming, and one might rightfully be pessimistic, assuming the scientists only discovered a small amount of water. In this case, however, it’s estimated that there is enough water to cover the entire surface of Mars with an ocean one to two kilometres deep.
The only issue that these results presented is accessibility. The water is located too deep in Mars’ crust to be accessed by astronauts. The deepest man-made hole ever dug on Earth is only 12.2 kilometres deep, and it took 20 years to reach that depth. Digging past this point was not possible because the temperature increased too much. While we may not be able to reach this water reservoir anytime soon, Michael Manga —
Neuralink’s first Canadian trials approved at UHN
Musk’s brain-computer interface technology enters Canada
Charlie Bendell Neuroscience Correspondent
Would you put wires in your brain? The Elon Musk-founded Neuralink is a neurotechnology company and its product is an implantable brain-computer interface (BCI) designed to turn thoughts into actions. In late November 2024, University Health Network (UHN) was selected as the first — and only — hospital in Canada to begin testing Neuralink in a study called Canadian Precise Robotically Implanted BrainComputer Interface (CAN-PRIME).
Six patients with partial or complete paralysis in both hands due to spinal cord injury or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — a neurological disease that affects motor functions — are currently being selected for surgery to implant a network of electrodes into their brains. Electrodes are conductors of electricity, and in this case, they will carry brain signals. These electrodes will wirelessly connect to each patient’s personal computer, allowing them to control the device with just their thoughts.
In 2023, Neuralink reached out to Andres Lozano, the Alan and Susan Hudson Cornerstone Chair in Neurosurgery at UHN, with the idea. He is a key figure in the field of deep brain stimulation, a therapeutic technology in which electrodes are implanted in the brain to stimulate specific areas.
Lozano told Reuters that he and his team “jumped at the possibility” of working with Neuralink. “This landmark surgery has the
potential to transform and improve outcomes for patients who previously had limited options,” he explained.
The surgery: R1 implants N1
While UHN reassures the public that the trials will be properly safeguarded, some concerns remain. The device — known as the N1 implant — is roughly the size of a coin, but it remains foreign material to the body. As with any invasive procedure, the insertion of Neuralink electrodes carries the risk of complications, such as infection, bleeding, and damage to brain tissue near the implant.
The N1 implant in CAN-PRIME contains 64 tiny electrodes connected to the brain with thin wires. These wires are inserted into the brain to measure and transmit brain activity from the area that controls hand movement. Thinner than human hairs, the wires are precisely inserted by R1, Neuralink’s two-ton surgical robot.
The current number of electrodes in state-of-theart BCIs is around 1,000, each detecting only a few neurons. Given that the adult human brain contains around 16 billion neurons, these electrodes detect only a small percentage of the total neural activity; however, they still provide significant insights. The information these electrodes detect is then processed by a computer, enabling further analysis and conversion into movement.
BCIs have already been shown to successfully collect data about neurons stimulated during various activities on animals; such as Gertrude the pig, one of Neuralink’s early animal test runs. The brain is incredibly complex, and some of its
a professor of planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley and one of the researchers conducting the study — suggests that this area on Mars “should, in principle, be able to sustain life.”
More recently, astrobiologist Dirk SchulzeMakuch of the Technical University of Berlin in Germany suggested that NASA may have accidentally killed life on Mars in an attempt to study and discover it. This may sound absurd, but the theory’s premise is that, due to the differing environments and ecologies of Mars and Earth, there may have been life on Mars that adapted to thrive in dry conditions.
However, this life could have been killed by experiments that involved taking samples and pouring water on them to test for Earth-like life conditions. If the conditions on Mars are extremely dry and cold, testing for life by adding water might not be the best approach, as potential microorganisms may not survive being flooded.
A sci-fi lover’s dream
Knowing that water is essential for life to exist, the sci-fi lover in me imagines all sorts of possibilities, ranging from an entire ecosystem beneath the surface of Mars — think Journey to the Center of the Earth or Godzilla’s Hollow Earth — to humanlike aliens living below the surface. They don’t
necessarily have to resemble the “little green men” that have become the stereotypical image of aliens, but can you imagine drones being sent to the depths of Mars only to capture eerie footage of terrifying, 10-foot-tall humanoid creatures?
The scientist in me, however, realizes that the most probable life forms that could exist beneath Mars’ surface are microbes — such as bacteria — or at most, cockroach-like bugs. This could also be equally terrifying if we consider the implications of potentially pathogenic microbes that humans have never been exposed to. As for bugs, it would be frightening if we encountered a situation similar to the one depicted in Life where a tiny but extremely intelligent organism, dubbed “Calvin,” can easily siphon the blood from humans to use as a nutrient to grow stronger.
Overall, it’s not certain that no life exists on Mars. While intelligent life may not be present, microbial life is quite possible. If we consider this through the lens of evolution, it makes sense that, if Mars was once habitable and hosted life, some forms of that life may have adapted to the current conditions, which we perceive as uninhabitable. We once believed that no liquid water existed on Mars, but we have since found evidence to the contrary. Who’s to say we won’t discover signs of life on Mars a few short decades from now?
functions are still largely a mystery. Understanding the patterns of neurons activated during different activities provides valuable insights into brain functionality. Once processed, a computer can use this information to send signals to the implanted electrodes, activating the same patterns of neurons to elicit specific responses.
Restore autonomy today, unlock human potential tomorrow
Every step Neuralink takes toward enhancing the lives of those impacted by neurological disorders brings the technology closer to its ultimate goal: human-AI integration. However, this goal is not universally shared. Ethicists have long been concerned about technology surpassing the human brain, but if that technology were embedded within the brain, would the advancement still be more impressive than frightening?
Could a paid surgery to insert a BCI give those who can afford such a luxury a cognitive advantage over others? How would we know if a person is truly themselves?
With the rise of BCIs come complicated questions about how we measure autonomy. Under a BCI’s influence, is a person entirely responsible for their own actions?
What does this mean for now?
Despite promises of a world where disability no longer defines capability, the Neuralink trials have sparked widespread concern among the public. These concerns focus on the safety and privacy of Neuralink, as well as the rapid pace at which some of Musk’s previous inventions have gained traction. In a world where warfare and espionage are entirely digital, what are the implications of someone gaining access to how a Neuralink user actually thinks?
JAYLIN KIM/THE VARSITY
Neuralink trials in CAN-PRIME study approved at Toronto Western Hospital. VIRAG TAKACS/THE VARSITY
Where are all the
available domestic resources, such as water electrolysis and biomass. Electrolysis is the process of using an electric current to break down chemical compounds and isolate individual elements. Biomass is any recently living material used for energy production. Hydrogen has a higher energy density per unit weight than any other natural element.
These qualities — combined with its ability to store energy for extended periods — make hydrogen a promising candidate as a future fuel for passenger cars. Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) use compressed hydrogen gas as fuel and produce zero carbon emissions from their exhaust.
In essence, hydrogen-fueled vehicles are classified as zero-emission vehicles because the conversion of hydrogen to electricity in fuel cells produces only water as a byproduct. This makes them a promising solution for lowering carbon use in the transportation sector, which currently relies on fossil fuels for 90 per cent of its energy needs worldwide. However, despite these advantages, hydrogen-fueled cars remain a rarity in today’s automotive market.
A 2021 population census revealed that over 80 per cent of Canadians relied on their personal vehicles for their daily commute, while only 14 per cent used sustainable transportation. By the end of 2019, just 7,500 hydrogen cars had been sold globally, compared to over five million battery electric vehicles (BEVs) sold by the end of 2018. This highlights that the shift toward greener transportation has been largely dominated by electric vehicles, with hydrogen-powered vehicles struggling to gain widespread adoption.
Exploring the drawbacks of hydrogen as a fuel source
While both BEVs and FCEVs are considered zero-emission vehicles and are powered by
operate fundamentally differently. BEVs use rechargeable batteries to store and supply energy, whereas FCEVs generate electricity by combining hydrogen fuel with oxygen in a fuel cell.
Although hydrogen, as a molecule, has the potential to leak into the atmosphere and pose flammability concerns, safety is not the primary reason for the limited presence of hydrogen-powered vehicles on the roads. FCEVs are generally considered safe, equipped with advanced leak detection systems and subjected to rigorous testing to prevent mishaps. The main challenge lies in efficiency, as FCEVs are significantly less efficient than BEVs, from power generation to pushing a car forward.
In a BEV, charging and discharging the lithium-ion battery consumes 10 per cent of the battery energy. An additional five per cent is lost in powering the motor, and another five per cent is lost during the transmission of electricity from the source to the recharging station. This results in an overall efficiency of 80 per cent for the BEV.
However, with a hydrogen fuel cell, the overall efficiency drops to 38 per cent. About 25 per cent of the energy is lost to electrolysis. Another 10 per cent is lost during the transporting of compressed and chilled hydrogen, and an additional five per cent is lost while running the electric motor, similar to BEVs. Finally, the process of converting hydrogen back into electricity is only 60 per cent efficient. For a kilowatt of energy, BEVs can use up to 800 watts, whereas FCEVs can only utilize 380 watts — significantly less than BEVs.
Moreover, the production of 95 per cent of hydrogen currently relies on fossil fuels, making FCEVs an inferior environmental choice. While hydrogen is abundant, it is typically found bound to other elements, such
as oxygen to form water. Extracting hydrogen gas for fuel is an energy-intensive process that depends on fossil fuels.
In the US, most hydrogen is obtained from methane and water in natural gas through steam methane reforming, a process that catalyzes the formation of hydrogen gas from methane. This method can result in significant carbon emissions unless the carbon is captured or if methane leaks into the environment.
The efficiency of the FCEV energy supply chain will likely improve with ongoing research and the increasing shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources for hydrogen fuel production. However, given the limited existing infrastructure for generating hydrogen fuel compared to the rapidly expanding infrastructure for BEVs, it remains challenging for FCEVs to catch up to the popularity of their battery-powered counterparts.
The potential of hydrogen as a fuel source
Nevertheless, hydrogen-powered vehicles still have their advantages. While BEVs are more efficient, they face limitations in battery life and longer recharging times. These issues can be mitigated with larger batteries, but for vehicles requiring continuous use and long-distance travel, such as trains or commercial trucks, the batteries’ weight becomes impractical.
For example, with the rise of online shopping, home deliveries, and freight transportation — especially commercial trucks travelling long distances, which account for a 53 per cent increase in energy use in Canada — hydrogen-fueled trucks offer an advantage over BEV trucks, which are less practical.
Hydrogen fuel can be refilled much faster than BEVs, often requiring long charging periods. Additionally, FCEVs offer a range of 560 to 640 kilometres on a single tank of fuel and can refuel in just three to five minutes,
similar to conventional diesel vehicles. In comparison, electric buses typically range from 190 to 210 kilometres. As a result, interest in hydrogen-fueled buses is growing, with companies like Nikola Motor, a zeroemission truck manufacturer, developing hydrogen semi-trailer trucks, and hydrogen double-decker buses now in service in London, UK.
The future of sustainable transportation
While hydrogen-fueled vehicles show promise in certain applications, they have yet to gain widespread popularity compared to their battery-powered counterparts. Efficiency, infrastructure support, and sourcing hydrogen from renewable resources are key factors that will determine the future success of hydrogen in the transportation sector.
Nonetheless, efforts to improve the sustainability of hydrogen fuel, such as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 in the US, which allocates $1.55 billion USD to fund methane reduction programs like the Waste Reduction Incentive Program, demonstrate that hydrogen still holds promise for the future of sustainable transportation. The goal is that if the electricity used in hydrogen production comes from renewable sources or carbon capture and storage technologies are more effectively applied, hydrogen can be produced with minimal to no carbon emissions.
As technology advances and the world moves toward decarbonization, further research into green hydrogen fuel may help hydrogen-fueled vehicles find their place alongside battery electric vehicles, contributing to a more sustainable future for the automotive industry.
Sports
January 14, 2025
Blueprint for balance: The resilience and vision of Quarry Whyne
The duality of athlete and individual
Arianna George Varsity Contributor
For fans in the stands, Varsity Blue Quarry Whyne’s gameplay might seem seamless, almost automatic. But beneath the surface lies a career built on resilience, adaptation, and an unwavering commitment to balance. His journey is less a highlight reel and more a masterclass in navigating the intersections of sport, life, and ambition.
Early days: from mimicry to mastery In the world of basketball, greatness isn’t just measured in points or rebounds. It’s a fusion of grit, intelligence, and the ability to elevate those around you. For Whyne, this balance isn’t just a skill; it’s a philosophy, a blueprint he’s mastered through years of navigating triumphs, setbacks, and an art of reinvention.
Born into the game under the watchful eye of his older brother, basketball wasn’t just a sport — it was a shared language. At Tyndale St-Georges Community Centre, where Saturday mornings meant endless dribbles and jump shots, Whyne began crafting the fundamentals of his game. “I looked up to him… I want[ed] to be just like him. Whatever he did, I did,” Whyne recalled in an interview with The Varsity What started as mimicry quickly was made into his own. By high school, Whyne had already developed an intuitive understanding of the game’s rhythm and its unspoken language. But it wasn’t just talent that propelled him forward; it was discipline.
Growing up in Québec’s pre-university Collège d’enseignement general et professionnel (CEGEP) system, Whyne learned to treat basketball as both an art and a science. His game is defined by balance, both on and off the court. A consistent scorer and a strategic playmaker, he knows how to read the flow of the game and adapt accordingly. “[I feel] well balanced, well rounded. More composed,” he said.
The catalyst for a comeback
But balance hasn’t always come easy. In 2022, a hip injury sidelined him for over two years, forcing him to confront life outside of basketball. For someone whose life had been defined by the rhythm of practices and games, the pause was jarring.
“Surgery was my biggest fear,” Whyne admitted. “You never know when it could be your last time playing.” But the hiatus wasn’t just about physical recovery — it forced Whyne to grapple with his life beyond basketball. “That time was really just about… finding my identity,” he reflected.
During his hiatus, Whyne turned to entrepreneurship, founding a company called “Frontal,” which transformed vacant storefronts into advertising spaces. The venture not only kept him occupied but also sharpened his analytical, off-theball skills — skills he’s brought back to basketball.
This period of exploration reshaped Whyne’s relationship with the sport. “I don’t identify myself as a basketball player. I’m… my own person. I just play basketball.” he explained. “When you’re off the court, you see things differently,” he said. “You
don’t take anything for granted.” This perspective has made Whyne an advocate for resilience, not just in basketball but in life.
When Whyne decided to return to basketball, one guiding presence stood out: Coach Madhav “Muddy” Trivedi. “He’s one of the few coaches that kept in touch with me… how I was doing, my life, if I got an operation yet,” Whyne said. “I had doubts, but I don’t think he had [any].”
His coach’s belief proved prophetic: in the Blue’s season opener against Laurentian, Whyne delivered a commanding performance, posting 22 points and seven rebounds, proving that his time away hadn’t dulled his edge.
“That’s all I needed to know… I still got it,” he said.
Beyond the paint
Whyne’s impact extends beyond the box score. As a veteran, he has embraced a leadership role, mentoring younger players and fostering a team culture built on trust and accountability. “I know how good my vets were when I was a rookie. Being a leader, showing the ropes, answering all the questions…
“Leadership should always come from the veterans.”
His teammates see him as a stabilizing force: a player who can calm the storm in high-pressure moments. Whyne believes basketball is about rhythm. He thinks that if you can find yours, you can help others find theirs too. As Whyne looks to the future, he’s focused on creating a legacy that goes beyond wins and statistics; “I just want to be able to help the young guys as much as possible,” he said.
Off the court, Whyne’s entrepreneurial spirit continues to thrive. Whether it’s launching a new venture or mentoring the next generation of athletes, he sees basketball as a stepping stone to a broader impact. “Enjoy the years, because it’ll go by fast,” he said.
“Don’t let the game use you. You use the game.”
A blueprint for greatness
Whyne’s story isn’t just one of resilience; it’s a blueprint for thriving in the face of adversity. From his early days to his standout performances with the Blues, he’s demonstrated that balance between strategy and intuition, discipline and creativity is the key to lasting success.
As the Blues chase another championship, Whyne remains their cornerstone — a player who embodies the precision of a seasoned architect and the passion of a lifelong competitor. And as the team takes the court this season, one thing is clear: Whyne isn’t just back — he’s better than ever.
Blues fall flat while Ravens rain threes
Alvarez’s, Weber’s, and Dumbu’s strong performances not enough for Ravens’ hot shooting night
Taimoore Yousaf
Varsity Contributor
The Varsity Blues and Carleton Ravens faced off in an exciting match to open 2025 at the Goldring Centre for High Performance Sport on January 10. The Blues entered the showdown on a five-game losing streak, their most recent defeat a 77–96 loss to Ottawa Gee-Gees. Toronto aimed to bounce back and start the new year with a statement win against the 9–2 Ravens, but ultimately fell short, losing 59–86.
What happened?
The first quarter began slowly, with senior centre Lennart Weber sinking a pair of free throws and veteran guard Iñaki Alvarez slipping by the defence for a reverse layup to kick off Toronto’s scoring. However, midway through the period, the game’s tone was set.
Carleton had a stellar night from the three-point line, shooting four for six in the quarter en route to an impressive 43 per cent team clip from beyond the three-point arc. Guards Aubrey Dorey-Havens and Jacob Knight combined to lead the Ravens’ offence early, with three three-pointers in the opening period. Toronto’s strong interior defence
was rendered ineffective as the Ravens consistently found open shooters on the perimeter.
Alvarez scored seven of his game-high 19 points in the first quarter, but they didn’t come easily — he faced double-teams all night and saw minimal space to operate. Unfortunately, the Blues couldn’t keep up with the Ravens’ hot shooting and aggressive defence, ending the quarter trailing 16–30.
At the beginning of the second quarter, another rout seemed imminent when Carleton guard Daniel Smith knocked down an open three-pointer. He finished the game with 12 points and 11 rebounds. However, the Blues responded with an inspired period, outscoring Carleton 18–15 to enter halftime trailing 34–45.
This turnaround was largely fuelled by the emergence of first-year forward Panashe Dumbu. Dumbu was dominant defensively, providing a much-needed spark as a reliable paint presence on offence. He displayed excellent chemistry with Weber, with the duo combining for an impressive five blocks apiece in the match. Dumbu also contributed four of his six total points in the quarter, including a strong putback layup with just over two minutes left in the half.
“Panashe’s obviously a super athletic guy…
defensively, he’s a huge force in the paint, and offensively, he’s an unstoppable guy,” Weber told The Varsity in a postgame interview. “Coaches and staff were considering having him start the game, and I think after today, it shows he can.”
Dumbu’s breakout performance is a huge boon for the Blues entering the new year. If he can build on his strong showing against the Ravens, he could be key to Toronto turning their season around. While Alvarez and Weber are having stellar campaigns, the Blues cannot rely solely on them. Balanced scoring is essential, as evidenced by the Ravens’ finishing the night with five players scoring in double figures. The rookie’s potential emergence as a consistent scoring option, alongside players like Quarry Whyne and Simeon Jeffers, will undoubtedly help the Blues to move the ball well and improve offensively — “Euroleague style,” as Weber puts it. Euroleague basketball includes more passing, more team play, and more player movement off the ball.
The second half continued the Ravens’ onslaught from three-point range, with seemingly every Blues scoring run being answered by a timely three. Notable moments included Whyne’s
impressive hustle to force a turnover, which led to a Weber three-pointer that trimmed the deficit to 45–55. Shortly after, Alvarez drilled a deep three to bring the Blues within eight at 50–58. Overall, though, it was a night to forget for the Blues, as the Ravens’ high-octane offence proved too much to handle. The game ended with a final score of 59–86 in favour of the Ravens.
What’s next?
“There’s a lot of stuff we did today that we’re happy about… we’ve just got to tweak some things for tomorrow, get better, fix those things, and get the win tomorrow [at York],” said Weber. Despite the lopsided loss, Friday night’s game showed flashes of promise and could spark a good run of form.
The Blues narrowly fell 82–77 on January 11 against the York Lions.
The Blues will look to bounce back on Sunday, January 19 when they travel to St. Catherines,
Ontario to play the
Iñaki Alvarez prepares to take on a Raven defender. ABBY RUSSCHEN/THEVARSITY
Quarry Whyne prepares for the game under the lights. COURTESY OF BARRY MCCLUSKEY/VARSITY BLUES MEDIA
The man behind the Maple Leafs: Conn Smythe’s Canadian dream
How the indomitable U of T alumni became a cornerstone of Toronto history
Kaitlyn Harris Varsity Contributor
Among sports fans, Toronto is known as the centre of the hockey universe. If that’s true, then its gravitational pull started with University of Toronto alumni Conn Smythe.
Constantine Falkland Cary Smythe was born on February 1, 1895. He would call Toronto home for his entire life — his influence stretching from the Varsity Blues to the Hockey Hall of Fame. A patriotic Canadian, successful businessman, and architect of the Maple Leafs franchise, Conn Smythe moulded the identity of Toronto during its most pivotal moments.
University life and military service
At age 17, Smythe enrolled in U of T’s engineering program and immersed himself in varsity athletics. He began on the intramural football team, but soon found a more permanent home with the Blues hockey team.
On the ice, Smythe played with an iron will and fighting spirit. During the 1914–1915 season, he was elected captain of the Junior Blues hockey team. His leadership brought the team to an Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) championship — his first of many triumphs in the sport.
However, World War I was raging in Europe, and Smythe was never one to ignore the call of duty. Mere days after their championship victory, he and the entire Blues team put their studies on hold to enlist in the Canadian Expeditionary Force.
Smythe was shipped to Europe as part of the 40th “Sportsman’s” Battery of the Royal Canadian Artillery. He participated in four major battles, including the Battle of Arras. It was here that his daring raid on a German trench earned
The Northern
him a Military Cross “for [his] conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty.”
Smythe then took to the air as an artillery observer. In October 1917, enemy fire shot down his plane into the bloody and muddy fields of Passchendaele. Smythe was captured by German forces and spent over a year as a prisoner of war. He would not return to Toronto until nearly three months after the armistice.
Returning home
Upon his homecoming, Smythe returned to U of T and graduated with a degree in civil engineering. He put his degree to work operating a gravel business in the West End of Toronto. But he wasn’t done with hockey yet.
With his playing days over, Smythe signed on to coach the Varsity Blues hockey team. He led the team through an era of total dominance, claiming the OHA title every year he was at the helm from 1923 to 1926. From 1926 until 1927, he coached the Varsity Grads, a team made up of Varsity Blues alumni, to an Allan Cup — the country’s highest amateur hockey championship. U of T had become a veritable hockey powerhouse, and Smythe had made a name for himself in the elite circles of the sport.
Smythe’s introduction to the NHL came shortly after when he became general manager of the New York Rangers. Despite building a successful team, he was fired within the year and returned to Toronto. If Smythe was going to make it in professional hockey, he was going to do it at home.
Unfortunately, the city’s team, the Toronto St. Patricks, were a failing franchise. Losses accumulated, support dwindled, and the owners threatened to sell the team south of the border. The Toronto market was on the brink.
Super
League
is set for kickoff in 2025
Canada’s first-ever professional women’s soccer league is finally here
Jake Takeuchi Sports Editor
On April 16, the Northern Super League (NSL) will kick off its inaugural match, marking the launch of Canada’s first professional women’s soccer league. The inaugural season will feature six clubs: AFC Toronto, Montreal Roses FC, Vancouver Rise FC, Calgary Wild FC, Halifax Tides FC, and Ottawa Rapids FC. The full schedule of fixtures will be announced in February.
The league was co-founded by former Canadian Women’s National Team (CWNT) midfielder and Oakville native Diana Matheson. According to Matheson on the NSL website, the NSL aims to “build a women’s pro soccer league that would not only change the pathways and futures of Canadian players but reshape the Canadian sports industry and its fans.”
Until the league’s debut, the highest level of domestic women’s soccer in Canada was the pro-amateur league, League1 Canada. Historically, top Canadian players have pursued careers in the US or Europe. For example, Canadian legend Christine Sinclair played 12 seasons in America’s National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) with the Portland Thorns
while CWNT star Ashley Lawrence currently represents Chelsea in England’s Women’s Super League.
NSL promises a minimum salary of $50,000 and full trade protection for its players. By comparison, the Canadian Premier League (CPL) — Canada’s domestic men’s professional soccer league — offers a minimum salary of $30,000. Heading into its 13th year, the NWSL will offer a minimum salary of $48,500 USD for the upcoming season. In Major League Soccer — North America’s premier men’s soccer league and home to Toronto FC, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, and Montréal Impact FC — primary roster players earn a minimum salary of $89,716 USD.
CWNT has been one of the best national teams in the world: since 2003, the team has averaged eighth place in the FIFA World Rankings and is currently ranked sixth. In contrast, the men’s national team (CMNT) is currently ranked 31st, their highest-ever position. Both teams have made significant strides in recent years, with the CWNT winning gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the CMNT finishing fourth in their Copa América debut last summer. Despite the CWNT’s continued success on the pitch, their achievements have been often overshadowed by the mismanagement of their
Determined to keep an NHL team in the city, Smythe gathered a group of local investors to purchase and rebrand the Toronto St. Patricks. For their new crest, Smythe — now the principal owner of the club — selected the maple leaf emblem worn with “honour, pride and courage” by Canadian soldiers. The team colours became navy and white — reminiscent of Smythe’s time with the Varsity Blues.
The Toronto Maple Leafs were officially born Before long, Smythe decided his new team needed a new home. In 1931, amidst the turmoil of the Great Depression, he financed and oversaw the construction of a state-of-the-art arena. When the money ran out, Smythe paid the workers in company shares. Maple Leaf Gardens was completed in less than six months, providing some much-needed hope to a despairing city.
By World War II, Smythe was now in his mid40s but quickly reenlisted. As captain of the Canadian Officer Training Corps, he convinced many of his players to enlist and train with him. Once in Europe, Smythe’s battery was assigned to support Canadian forces in Normandy. A 1944 German air raid left Smythe with a shrapnel injury that ended his second tour of duty. Back in Toronto, he became an outspoken advocate for conscription and a steadfast supporter of
governing body, Canada Soccer. Both the men’s and women’s teams have been embroiled in wage disputes with Canada Soccer leading to strikes in 2022 and 2023. Additionally, the CWNT faced allegations of illegally spying on opponents during the Paris Olympics in the widely reported drone scandal.
The potential of a domestic league
The potential impact of a domestic soccer league on the national level is immense. In the men’s game, the CPL has created pathways for Canadian players to higher leagues, with seven former CPL players being named to the 2024 Copa América preliminary squad. This positive influence extends to coaching as well.
Last September, York United FC Head Coach Mauro Eustáquio — brother of CMNT star Stephan Eustáquio — was invited to assist at CMNT’s national training camp as a coach. It’s reasonable to expect a similar ripple effect in the women’s game, fostering further success for the national team. Ultimately, the increase in teams and professional opportunities for Canadian soccer players can only be seen as a positive development.
The league could also potentially provide a pathway for Canadian collegiate athletes post-U Sports — the national league in which the Varsity Blues compete. Currently, women’s soccer players in U Sports face limited options: retiring from the sport or pursuing professional opportunities overseas.
In contrast, the CPL has established a dedicated U Sports Draft, allowing teams to select promising university players for their league. This year, Blues rookie standout
disabled children, serving as a Director at the Ontario Society for Crippled Children.
Cementing a legacy
Smythe continued to become a legendary figure with the Maple Leafs. The team won the Stanley Cup seven times under his reign, including three consecutive titles from 1947 to 1949. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1959 and, after his retirement in 1961, oversaw the construction of its first building in Toronto at Exhibition Place, a public mixed-use district in Toronto.
In 1980, Smythe was appointed to the Order of Canada. He died on November 18 of the same year, in his home city of Toronto. Today, the NHL awards the Conn Smythe trophy to the most valuable player of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Thanks to Smythe, hockey is a way of life in Toronto. With the Maple Leafs fighting to end their 57-year championship drought, the Toronto Sceptres of the Professional Women’s Hockey League chasing their inaugural championship, and the Varsity Blues men’s ice hockey team seeking their first provincial title since 1993, some might say there isn’t much to celebrate. But the fans’ belief hasn’t wavered.
Conn Smythe showed us that the next dynasty is always worth fighting for.
Nicholas Hallam was selected fourth overall by Pacific FC while captain Mehdi Essoussi was chosen 10th overall by Vancouver FC. Lukas MacNaughton — the first Blue to sign an MLS contract — developed his professional career in the CPL at Pacific FC before signing for Nashville SC.
While no agreements currently exist between the NSL and U Sports, it seems likely that the NSL will introduce a draft or a similar mechanism to integrate university players into the league.
AFC Toronto and beyond
AFC Toronto will play their inaugural season at York Lions Stadium. The team is headlined by CWNT midfielder Emma Regan and will be coached by former Toronto Metropolitan University assistant coach Marko Milanovic. Other notable figures in the league include longtime Canada goalkeeper Erin McLeod (Halifax), Denmark legend and head coach Katrine Pedersen (Ottawa), and former CWNT defender Shannon Woeller (Vancouver). Team rosters will continue to be revealed in the lead-up to the league’s launch.
The league’s debut marks a continuation of the immense momentum behind women’s sports in Canada. The Professional Women’s Hockey League is currently in its second season after breaking records in its inaugural season. Additionally, the Women’s National Basketball Association has announced a new expansion team to Toronto, set to begin play in 2026. With Canada’s second-ever Women’s World Cup and first-ever Men’s World Cup on the 2026 horizon, the NSL is poised to further elevate soccer in Canada.
Kaiyo Freyder Varsity Contributor
Milena Pappalardo