In Montreal, construction has long since become the rule, rather than the exception. As such, it is fitting that Montreal’s 375th birthday next year is being brought to us by more orange cones, roadblocks, and detours for the construction of the Promenade Urbaine Fleuve-Montagne project. Perhaps it really is time[Read More…]
Off the Board
Shutting down campus speakers at McGill won’t help divestment
With this spring’s campaign for divestment behind us and more activism likely to come in the fall, a brief window for critical reflection on the movement is upon us. This past semester’s sit-ins and rallies, spearheaded by groups such as Divest McGill, have largely been respectful and positive displays of[Read More…]
Off the board: Still trapped in the ‘comfort women’ issue
Last November, I wrote a feature about the “Comfort Women”—the euphemistic term for women captured during the Second World War by the Japanese Imperial Army as sex slaves. A month later, Japan and South Korea reached a settlement to their longstanding dispute over the comfort women. The settlement includes an[Read More…]
Greek life at McGill: More than just a toga
Popular perceptions of Greek life will forever be caught under the shadow of the 1978 comedy Animal House, in which a youthful John Belushi and his gang of misfit fraternity brothers engage in debauchery and hilarity as they struggle to keep their organization legitimate at the fictional Faber College. These[Read More…]
Beyond the red cup: On McGill’s drinking culture
In a weird, grown-up way, getting drunk can make us feel like little kids again, with not a care in the world and a lower capacity of physical functioning. The term ‘binge drinking culture’ is thrown around a lot at in a university setting. The definition of binge drinking is[Read More…]
State of the SSMUnion: The fate of the General Assembly
The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) held its annual Winter General Assembly (GA) on Feb. 22, hosting roughly 900 students within the SSMU Building for a six-hour debate over multiple different issues. The GA was a dramatically different showing than the Fall 2015 GA, which, due to a lack[Read More…]
Women’s opportunities hindered by lack of national childcare policy
During his 2015 campaign, Justin Trudeau made hundreds of promises to Canadian voters—one was the creation of a framework for a national childcare policy within the first 100 days of a Liberal government; however, more than four months after assuming office, Trudeau has not delivered on this promise. Alleviating the[Read More…]
Off the board: Uber drivers require more protections
The ride-sharing service Uber has exploded in popularity since it first launched internationally in 2014. Almost immediately, Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre said ‘UberX’—the app’s flagship service that summons an ordinary vehicle, rather than a cab—would operate illegally in Montreal. Despite this, Uber exists in Montreal. But contention is brewing amongst[Read More…]
Social activism not enough to break down structures of success
According to philosopher-writer Albert Camus, “the only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” It is harder for a woman of colour to achieve the same metrics of success as a white man. The very[Read More…]
Social media normalizes misinformation in US presidential primaries
“This is a rigged economy, designed by the wealthiest people in this country at the expense of everyone else.” A picture of US Senator Bernie Sanders with these words emblazoned above his head currently has over 14,000 shares on Facebook. The continual stream of such photos from Sanders’ official page[Read More…]
