In the past week, there has been considerable debate on campus about the role that Remembrance Day should play in Canadian life. Some have questioned whether the annual event transcends remembrance, and instead, glorifies war and idolizes a willingness to die for one’s country. Here, a key question emerges: is[Read More…]
Opinion
Opinions from our editorial board and contributors.
Demanding student voices at the top
There has been some recent discussion on campus and in some of the student press about the process to appoint a new Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning). I would like to correct some misconceptions that have been circulated about this process. The Advisory Committee for the Appointment of a[Read More…]
Hope and Change
Since leaving Canadian politics, Michael Ignatieff has been forceful, intelligent, charismatic, and well-spoken. In other words, he has become the diametric opposite of the Michael Ignatieff who led the Liberal party to its worst parliamentary showing in recent memory. Speaking at the BBC’s annual Free Thinking Festival, Ignatieff decried the[Read More…]
When, if ever, can speech be sanctioned?
Is there free speech on our campus? That depends on who’s talking. According to the libertarian Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), when it comes to protecting controversial speech, McGill University—like most Canadian universities—fails miserably. In the wake of these accusations, we must rethink the boundaries we set between offensive[Read More…]
Time for academia to embrace Wikipedia
As the years go by and Wikipedia continues to grow in scope and size, it has emerged as a great paradox of the digital age. Although the site, which turns 12 years old in January, is far and away the most expansive reference work in the world and is available[Read More…]
Safe Spaces on campus do not repress free speech
Last week, the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) issued a report on the state of campus free speech in 2012, in which the Calgary-based libertarian think-tank examined the degree and limits to free speech at Canadian universities. The overwhelming majority of schools in the report received failing grades. McGill’s[Read More…]
The Tribune’s stance on the November referenda
Question regarding the CKUT Fee Increase — YES This question proposes a $1 increase in the opt-outable student fee of McGill’s campus-community radio station, CKUT. CKUT’s $4 fee has not increased since 1988. An increase indexed to inflation would bring their fee to $7. As a student-run media outlet that[Read More…]
In defence of American Apparel’s “Sandysale”
Last week, while tired U.S. election news finally began to wane on the side of repugnance and Halloween festivities were dampened by the last leg of midterms, the heavens concocted something exciting for media circuits and laypeople alike to discuss. Her name was Hurricane Sandy, and as of early last[Read More…]
What is this “See Kay You Tea” I keep hearing about?
It’s easy enough to convince someone that having an award-winning radio station on campus is a pretty rad thing. Flyering for the CKUT referendum the other day, I spoke to a first-year student whose eyes lit up when I told him how the radio station was trying to raise their[Read More…]
Is multiculturalism killing the core Canadian identity?
Two weeks ago, Statistics Canada released a report on Canadians’ linguistic characteristics. The report’s results suggest that while bilingualism is on the rise, about 20 per cent of Canadians reported speaking a language that wasn’t French or English at home. Following the publication of the report, the question of whether[Read More…]
