The beginning of Wednesday’s Senate meeting focused heavily on the events of Nov. 10. In a departure from Senate’s tradition of a closed-door assembly, the first hour was streamed live over the Internet to the McGill community.

In her opening remarks, Senate Chair and Principal Heather Munroe-Blum apologized for the events that took place on Nov. 10. It was one of the first public apologies from the administration on the way that night’s events unfolded.

“We’re all dismayed by what happened on our campus,” Munroe-Blum said. “People across the board were hurt, intimidated, and threatened. As principal of McGill, I’m deeply sorry that events so at odds with the culture and values of our university, and so hurtful to so many, have happened here at McGill.”

She went on to express her thanks for student groups who mobilized quickly in response to those who were physically and emotionally hurt.

Dean of Law, Daniel Jutras, who will be heading an independent investigation into the events, reminded senators that his inquiry will purely engage in fact finding, and that he could not assign blame or compel testimony.

As Jutras spoke, a number of spectators turned their backs to the committee, expressing their reservations with having a faculty and administration member carry out an investigation that deals with his own administration.

In an interview with the Tribune, the McGill Daily, and Le Délit last week, Munroe-Blum emphasized that Jutras would act independently.

“I wanted someone who has deep loyalty and concern for the university and the wellbeing of everyone in it, and yet who is known for impartiality [and] independence,” she said of her decision to appoint Jutras. “He’s got complete autonomy, he doesn’t report to me in the course of doing this investigation … and I have confidence that he will serve the university, not any one individual.”

A number of senators, including Senator and Professor of Communication Studies, Darin Barney, noted their own concerns with having a dean and faculty member carry out the investigation. Barney suggested that Jutras be accompanied by one student and one faculty member in his investigation. The terms of the investigation, however, had already  been set.

As part of the discussion, Management Senator Tom Acker recounted his experience on the evening of Nov. 10.

“I watched close friends in pain as they tried to wash pepper spray out of their eyes. I’ve seen students on the verge of tears when describing what has happened to them,” he said. “I know that for many students, Thursday marks the day that they stopped seeing their campus as a safe space for self-expression and support. For me, that transition has happened much earlier.”

SSMU President Maggie Knight raised concerns as to why the administration had not responded with more urgency to support students, and took a number of days to inform students of where they could seek help.  She noted that, following the earthquake in Japan last spring, a notice of where students could seek help was distributed within hours.

Towards the end of the committee discussion, Provost Anthony Masi presented what he had witnessed that night. Referring to the occupiers’ entry as an ‘attack,’ he described the occupation of the fifth floor as one marked by violence and intimidation.

“You may turn your backs on the truth, but the truth is important,” he said to the spectators who had turned away from him.

“The women who were in the offices [at] the time, and there only were several women in at the time, were pushed and shoved,” he continued. “They were frightened and they were crying. Social media [was] being used to portray events inside that do not correspond to what most of those women were living through at the moment.”

During Masi’s account, spectators, some of whom were identified as occupiers, jeered and yelled “lies.” Matt Crawford, Arts Senator, who had earlier revealed himself to senate as a fifth floor occupier, walked out in response to Masi’s statement. Other spectators followed.

Dean Jutras’ investigation will be released on Dec. 15. In the weeks to come, he will be consulting with students, faculty, and community members to hear their experiences.

Sam Reynolds

Over 1,000 people gathered yesterday in James Square to discuss the riot police presence of Nov. 10 and its impact on the community.  In an open-mic session, students, faculty, and community members offered their own experiences with the riot police and made suggestions on how to move forward and learn from the incident.

The event began at noon, when over a hundred students gathered at the Roddick Gates and peacefully protested the police violence witnessed Thursday evening. Half an hour later, the group marched to James Square and gathered in the area. At 12:45 p.m., the assembly commenced with an opening speech by U2 arts student Taylor Lawson, recounting the events of Nov. 10.

“The intention of this afternoon is to create time and space for people to express and articulate what they experienced, because this is a community issue and we need to work through it as a whole,” he said.

Present at the forum were students, faculty, and senior administrators Deputy Provost of Student Life and Learning Morton Mendelson and Principal Heather Munroe-Blum. 

Following Lawson’s speech, organizers played a recording of the sounds of police on campus, recalling the violence and subsequent student confusion that night. The audio clips were taken from videos on TVM and YouTube, and from a broadcast by CKUT radio. There was a minute of silence at the end of the recording, allowing the crowd to reflect and “collectively move on,” as described by TVM’s Molly Bower. 

The assembly organizers then proposed to change the name of James Square to “Community Square,” in order to reclaim the area of the disturbances. Those gathered voted in favour of the new name.

Students and faculty expressed their experiences and suggestions for the future in an open-mic style forum. Although some of the rhetoric was heated, most speakers encouraged communication with the administration and called for dialogue between on-campus groups to foster community engagement.

“An academic community is an environment in which there is a diversity of views, whether it be about tuition increases, MUNACA’s demands, the nature of limitations on speech in various parts of the university, [or] about student tactics in bringing about change in university,” Arash Abizadeh, professor of political science, said. “But it is important that those diverse views find ways to be able to express themselves.”

Matthew Crawford, undergraduate representative to the McGill Senate and one of the 14 demonstrators who occupied the fifth floor of the James Administration Building, also addressed the crowd. 

“The occupation of James Admin is thought to be as controversial as the presence of police on campus—a point of view I find disappointing and shocking in a university,” he said.

Many used the forum to promote free post-secondary education for all. Another recurring theme among the speakers was increased student representation in the administration’s decision-making process.

“While the students are represented in the university’s framework, our presence is insufficient to allow a serious treatment of student concerns,” Crawford said. “Forms of discussion are only open only for the student voice to be subsumed to the ready-made decisions of the administration. What we have is the ghost of a discourse … designed to placate rather than to include.”

Joël Pedneault, SSMU VP External, tied the events of Nov. 10 to broader social struggles.

“I feel like it’s important for us to not forget that Thursday’s protests were not only something that is historic for campus and for McGill, but also something that’s part of a global movement,” he said. “They’re part of a broader movement that has been growing for decades.”

Brian Cowan, an associate professor in the department of history, called the gathering a “moment of learning” and discussed the importance of student and faculty presence with the Tribune.

“This is an experiment in watching a revolution happen right here and now,” Cowan said. 

Last Thursday, Nov. 10, NDP McGill presented “What’s Up on the Hill?”, an evening with the four McGill undergraduates elected to parliament during the May 2011 federal election. Held at Concordia, the event featured NDP MPs Charmaine Borg, Matthew Dubé, Mylène Freeman, and Laurin Liu, who spoke about their recent transition from student life to Parliament Hill. 

“You can’t be afraid of looking for help,” Dubé said. “The day where you feel you have all the answers is the day you don’t deserve to do this job anymore, because no one ever knows all the answers.”

The four expressed disappointment with the different treatment they have received because of their youth. The three female MPs also described challenges related to gender in the male-dominated parliament.  

“Sometimes I do encounter a lot of sexism, and that really frustrates me,” Freeman said. “It’s funny, but at the same time it’s really awful.”

Nevertheless, Freeman was enthusiastic about the increase in female representatives elected this year.   

“It’s really exciting for me to have so many women in our caucus. In the NDP caucus, we’re 40 per cent women,” Freeman said. “But [that portion is] only 25 per cent in the House.”

Despite large changes to Canada’s political landscape—reflected in parliament—the four said that they largely feel supported by their colleagues.  

“Most—I say most—people understand that we’re all there to do the same job, regardless of colour, political colour, or age,” Dubé said.  

However, media portrayal of the four new MPs has focused largely on their youth, something the four find disappointing. Freeman specifically commented on the media’s tendency to question the group’s French communication skills despite the fluency of all four candidates.  

“It was really frustrating, and we have been working to combat that stuff. I hope that people realize that we are competent and we’re working as hard as we can,” she said.  

When not defending their own capabilities, the MPs are working hard to emphasize that there many political issues beyond just tuition fees and unemployment that are pertinent to young Canadians. 

“Usually people say ‘Pensions? That’s not a youth issue,'” Borg said. “But it is, because they’re slowly cutting [young voters] out of collective agreements and they’re slowly cutting them out of benefit packages for jobs, so for the first time we’ve heard people stand up and say, ‘No, my generation needs to hang on to these things.'”

While the MPs each discussed their recent experiences in Parliament, Dubé also drew attention to McGill’s role in their collective political experience. 

“It’s really fun for us to get to come back to where we came from. It has a lot to do with what’s shaped us as parliamentarians,” he said.  

Student engagement was a major theme at the event. The evening was intended to directly connect youth to political events in Ottawa, NDP McGill Co-President Samuel Harris, said.  

“They’re regular people, they’re not just some far-off distant group,” Harris said. “They’re our age, they’re former McGill students, they had to work through university, they had all sorts of the same experiences we have [had].” 

Other students in the audience appreciated the insight the group offered.  

“It was nice to get the perspective [of] people who are just like me,” Sauran Shah, U0 arts and science, said. “Politics often seems like it’s limited to older, experienced people.”

All four MPs are hoping to change this image of parliament, and emphasized increasing youth involvement in Canadian politics as an important goal. 

“Young people aren’t just leaders of tomorrow,” said Liu. “They’re also leaders of today.”