I often wake up and wholeheartedly believe I am still dreaming. The scenes in my slumber world and my reality meet and intertwine, carrying the affect of my dream into the start of my day. Sometimes, I am 50 feet tall and walking for miles down unrecognizable roads; other times,[Read More…]
Opinion
Opinions from our editorial board and contributors.
When being deemed ‘non-essential’ threatens cultural existence
On Sept. 16, Grévin Montréal, the famous Montreal wax museum, permanently closed its doors. It had been temporarily closed since March 2020 as public health protocols forbade non-essential activities like cultural exhibitions from fully opening. Numerous Black-owned businesses faced similar circumstances after being deemed “non-essential,” exposing how such arbitrary labelling[Read More…]
Quebec must answer for non-consensual sterilizations
Content warning: This article discusses forced sterilization, racism Radio-Canada recently aired an interview with a 44-year-old Haitian woman, Maria*, who claimed she was sterilized without consent at a Montreal hospital in 2018. She was asked if she wanted to undergo tubal ligation to prevent further pregnancies during her emergency C-section.[Read More…]
Finding new words for my identity
It took me until I was 12 to realize that my father’s English was accented. Before that, it was just my father’s voice: Familiar and melodic, a vestige of his first, tonal language. Like many mixed kids, I was hyper-aware of the racial categories I fit into from a young[Read More…]
Embracing the uncertainties of hybrid learning
After the August heatwave, September promised to bring fall weather, pumpkin spice lattes, and the ability to wear full-length pants outside of the house. And for a while, it did: Jeans walked the campus roads; cardigans thrived. But then, the average temperature rose to around 20 degrees Celsius, bringing with[Read More…]
McGill’s library vaccine mandate is indicative of its patchwork approach to COVID-19
On Sept. 17, McGill sent an email announcing that students will need to present their Quebec COVID-19 vaccine passport to enter any on-campus library—beginning in mid-October. The announcement came three weeks into the Fall semester, amidst demands from McGill students and faculty to implement stricter COVID-19 protections. The Students’ Society[Read More…]
McGill should stop playing games with sports
Along with the return to classes, September brought with it the return of in-person athletic events. After more than a year and a half of isolation, students can finally unite behind the university’s talented varsity sports teams. Although the McGill community has welcomed the resumption of athletics on campus, many[Read More…]
The social politics of municipal retrenchment
Montreal’s bustle is returning after months of rigid COVID-19 restrictions, yet the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) ridership remains remarkably low. As a result, in August, the regional transit board asked the STM to cut $276-million from its budget over the next three years. Recently, the STM proposed cutting[Read More…]
‘Where We Were’: From reality to memory
This summer, McGill’s Tuesday Night Cafe Theatre, a student-run, anglophone theatre company affiliated with McGill’s English department, screened the short film Where We Were. The film feels reminiscent of the COVID-19 outbreak as the story makes connections between how people process memories of large-scale catastrophes and our current reality. This[Read More…]
Bill 96 is not the solution to the Anglo-Franco divide
Starting Sept. 21, Quebec’s National Assembly will debate Bill 96––a proposed amendment to the Canadian constitution that would declare Quebec a “nation” and make French its only official language. The bill has unsurprisingly sparked controversy in a province known for its biculturalism and history of intraregional tension. The English Montreal[Read More…]
