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Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

‘Firebird’ is a stunning, emotionally vulnerable portrait of the cold war

by Charlotte Hayes on

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Warning: Spoilers ahead

For over three decades, the ​​image+nation Film Festival has worked to promote local and international queer filmmakers, and this year is no exception. From Nov. 18-28, the festival played a variety of international 2SLGBTQIA+ films at the Centre PHI, including Firebird//, an Estonian film based on Sergey Fetisov’s memoir The Story of Roman, which featured on Nov. 24. This timeless adaptation is a tragic love story with gorgeous cinematography and compelling lead performances.

Set on an air force base in Soviet-occupied Estonia, Firebird tells the story of troubled soldier Sergey (Tom Prior), who falls in love with his superior, Roman (Oleg Zagorodnii), while fending off the romantic advances of his friend Luisa (Diana Pozharskaya). The film follows the young couple as they face a multitude of challenges, including the KGB, lofty career goals, and a plane crash. Tested by time, Roman and Sergey’s five-year love story takes them across the Soviet Union, where they fight for their love without being discovered.

The film’s highlights are grounded in Prior’s performance. Effortlessly conveying a newfound sense of confidence as Sergey distances himself from his military life, Prior delivers a dynamic performance that matures as time passes in the film. His performance is magnificently complemented by Zagorodnii’s; the two have an electric chemistry that pulls the audience in and leaves them emotionally torn by the end. The instantaneous connection between Sergey and Roman is exhilarating to watch and is never diminished—both actors play their characters with the same love and passion from the moment they meet through to the end of the film. 

The film’s cinematography especially stands out. Director of photography Mait Mäekivi takes time to show the beauty of the wartorn Estonian forests throughout the film. Shots linger on subjects and scenery, slowing the film down to allow for a break in dialogue and action. Diverse, changing colour palettes reflect the emotional states of different characters. For example, the lighting grows warmer as Sergey distances himself from his life in the military but darkens when he is pulled back into it during an encounter with an old colleague. The cinematography works in conjunction with Prior’s phenomenal acting to merge character, setting, and time into a visually stunning experience.

The beautiful camera work is complemented by the score and soundtrack. Composer Krzysztof A. Janczak seamlessly integrates the soundtrack into the film to express the intense emotionality of the film. It feels as if the landscapes and score are in perfect harmony, the music corresponding with the changing colour palette and typography. The score is not only emotionally moving but auditorily diverse, making use of a variety of orchestral instruments throughout the film. The constant rotation of instruments perfectly reflects the emotional growth of the characters. The soundtrack adds gags and references that work to alleviate tension and bring a sense of calm or joy to the screen. Firebird may have the best needle-drop of 2021, using “Rasputin” by Boney M. during a scene in the fourth act.

Firebird was an exceptional choice on behalf of the festival—the captivating lead performance and eye-catching cinematography will move audiences. Once again, the image+nation Film Festival has delivered an excellent precedent for international queer cinema.

Arts & Entertainment, Poetry

A modern approach to long-form poetry readings

by Louis Lussier-Piette on

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Content Warning: Mention of suicide

On Nov. 26, Concordia professors Jason Camlot and John Emil Vincent held a reading of their new poetry books, Vlarf and Bitter in the Belly, respectively. Hosted by English literature professor Katherine McLoed at Concordia’s 4th Space, the long-form reading was inspired by literary events held in the 1960s at Concordia—then called Sir George Williams University. At the time, authors would read their entire book in front of an audience, often starting in the late evening and going on into the night. Although not quite as ambitious in duration, the event offered its attendees two hours of poetry without pause. To accommodate a wider audience, the university also broadcasted the readings on Zoom and YouTube. 

John Emil Vincent is a poet and a professor of creative writing at Concordia University. Bitter in the Belly is his most personal poetry book to date, navigating one of his best friends’ suicide in a way that mixes tragedy with absurdity. The many laughs and gasps of the audience throughout his readings attested to Vincent’s skills as an orator and as a writer. 

When he approached the subject of his best friend’s premature death, the audience’s gaze remained fixed on the stage, captivated by the candour of his words. His poem “Your Essay on Black Box,” titled after an essay written by his friend before his death, is an homage to their friendship.

“There are no expressions the world takes in change until change has passed until the moment relaxes,” Vincent read. “And the world touches its face gingerly.”

Jason Camlot took a different approach than his fellow professor. Poet, English professor, and research chair in literature and sound studies at Concordia, Camlot brought his scholarly research on 19th-century literature into his book Vlarf, a modern approach to the Victorian poetry canon.

Before he started his reading, Camlot asked the audience a question that was on everyone’s mind: What exactly is vlarf?

“Wikipedia explains that vlarf poetry was an avant-garde poetry movement of the early 21st century,” Camlot said. “One of their central methods was to mine the internet with odd search terms, then distill the results into often hilarious and sometimes disturbing poems, plays, and other tasks.”

Inspired by this modernist trend, Camlot uses techniques such as erasure, bout-rimé, and mimesis to reimagine the works of John Stuart Mill, John Ruskin, and other Victorian thinkers.

The work that inspired the cover of Vlarf, and one of the longest poems in the book, is titled “Fudge in Entropy,” a meditative monologue spoken from the voice of a guinea pig, inspired by the works of Robert Browning. The audience laughed as Camlot took on the role of the guinea pig, which narrates its life under the care of its poet-owner. With an absurd tone, the piece explores poetry’s current role in the artistic community. Camlot kept this light-hearted poem for the very end of the event, a perfect conclusion of the two-hour long celebration of poetry. 

“His poems once were too crowded, now that had to stop,” Camlot read in the guinea pig’s voice, followed by chuckles from the audience. “The painter would make it stop. The overcrowding in his poems was not fatal to people, or to other creatures.”

The next poetry event at Concordia’s 4th space will be held on Dec. 1, with readings from poets Caroline Bergvall, Kaie Kellough, and Oana Avasilichioaei.

News, SSMU

Queer McGill, SSMU, and UGE form coalition against proposed Bill 2

by Ghazal Azizi on

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Content warning: transphobia

On Jan. 29 of this year, a Quebec Superior Court ruling declared six provisions of the province’s Civil Code unconstitutional and discriminatory against the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. In response to an order by Quebec Superior Court judge Gregory Moore, Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette proposed Bill 2 at the Quebec National Assembly on Oct. 21. Though the bill was intended to revise the Civil Code’s sections on 2SLGBTQIA+ issues in accordance with the Superior Court ruling, Bill 2 has been widely criticized for being regressive and has thus been tabled while awaiting public consultation.

Three McGill groups—the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), Queer McGill, and the Union for Gender Empowerment (UGE)—have formed a coalition under the leadership of Queer McGill’s Trans Working Group to advocate against the bill.

The McGill Coalition Against Bill 2 opposes the distinction between sex and gender on legal documents that Bill 2 would implement, as it will automatically “out” individuals whose gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth. The coalition also objects to the bill’s proposal to require surgery to change their sex on their birth certificate, because it creates pressures to undergo a sterilizing procedure and assumes that sex defines gender identity. The coalition also protests a section of the bill that would designate a male or female sex to intersex newborns, heightening the risk of surgical intervention on infants.

Arwyn Regimbal, U1 Social Work and a member of the coalition, feels that Bill 2 is a misguided response to the Superior Court ruling that provoked it. 

“Reading the judgement and comparing it to the bill, you can see that there was some intention to negate rights,” Regimbal said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “[Bill 2] interprets the judgement in such a narrow way that on the surface it technically complies with it but when it comes to the spirit of what is being done, it’s quite regressive and actively harmful.”

Cal Pease, U3 Science and resource coordinator for Queer McGill, explained that the coalition intends to fight Bill 2 through a three-pronged program that raises awareness, provides resources to those affected by it, and demands changes be made. The coalition has also been advocating for a wider condemnation of sections 23, 24, 26, 30, 33, 41, 42, 43, and 247 of the bill, including putting pressure on the McGill administration to issue a statement. 

“We call on McGill to publicly denounce these sections of the bill and [to] take a more active stance against transphobia,” said Pease in an interview with the Tribune. “I think a lot of the advocacy on campus is coming from a grassroot perspective, which is wonderful, but it would be good to have that reflected in the administration as well and [to] have [their] support.”

Yara Coussa, U3 Arts and arts representative to SSMU, echoed Pease’s frustration with McGill’s silence. Coussa believes that McGill’s inaction demonstrates compliance with transphobia.

“No statement, no message of support,” Coussa said in an interview with the Tribune. “Even if [McGill] did not want to be overtly political, they could have sent out a message of support for trans people. That has not been done.”

Despite the absence of a comment on the bill or statement of support from McGill, the coalition is committed to providing resources for the transgender, intersex, non-binary, and other gender-diverse communities on campus. 

“We have been coming up with various resources and putting them together on a website,” Pease said. “Arwyn made a flow chart about changing your name and sex in Quebec for people who are interested in doing that now, in case the bill takes effect. We are also trying to direct people to the resources that already exist on campus like Queer McGill and UGE.”

If you would benefit from support at this challenging time, please note that the following resources are available to assist you:

Trans Lifeline: 877-330-6366

Keep.meSafe (24/7 access to licensed counsellors available to all McGill students.)

Peer Support Centre at McGill

More at McGill Students Against Bill2

Off the Board, Opinion

The price of popularity

by Jinny Moon on

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In late September, my mom and I were chatting during one of our routine Facetime calls. An avid TV-watcher, she excitedly asked me if I had heard of Squid Game. The show had just come out, and my mom binged the series in a matter of days. As the semester was soon heading into full swing, I brushed off her rave reviews and told myself that I would get to the show eventually. To my surprise, the Netflix Original quickly became a household name. Companies scrambled to photoshop their logos onto screencaps of dalgona as folks on the internet recreated the candy themselves, the same treat that my parents and their classmates would buy from street vendors outside of their elementary schools. If they successfully popped out the shape in the centre of the candy, vendors would reward them with another one for free. My parents shared these stories as my mom made dalgona for us at home. We’d gather around to watch her stir up sugar and a flick of baking soda with a wooden chopstick. The mixture puffed up in our beaten-up dalgona ladle, one of few things we brought over from Korea when my family immigrated. 

Growing up in Canada in the mid-late 2000s, many of my peers didn’t know where South Korea was, or that the country even existed at all. Mentions of East Asia in popular media were few and far between, and what little did exist usually glossed over Korea entirely. As kids got older and their senses of humour more “edgy,” talking about being from Korea did eventually garner some recognition—albeit, often in the form of tired, unfunny comments about North Korean dictators. Nevertheless, I was always proud of my heritage, and I longed for the people around me to see what made my home country so special.

In the last decade, I seem to have gotten what I so badly wished for as a kid—and then some. Korean music, film, and television have recently exploded in popularity, their presence becoming unignorable to unsuspecting Western audiences. Squid Game broke viewership records for Netflix. Although I think the Oscars are an elitist, white-male-infested Hollywood echo chamber, I couldn’t help but hold back tears when Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite became the first foreign-language film to win Best Picture. Of course, I can’t go without mentioning Korean boy band BTS, who became the first Asian act to win Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards. 

Korean pop music is a gateway to Korean culture for many, and I can see why the genre is booming outside of Korea. For starters, the K-pop industry knows how to make a catchy song. Artistically, K-pop visuals and choreography never fail to be fun and masterfully produced. The rise of K-pop has also brought insufferable “stans” and “Koreaboos,” whose fancam Twitter replies are at best cringe-inducing, and at worst outright disrespectful. 

The fetishization of Korean idols and culture is also a huge issue in fan communities. Extreme examples include British influencer Oli London, who has undergone 18 surgical procedures to look “more Korean.” London attributes their cosmetic alterations to “loving Korean culture.” They call Jimin of BTS their ultimate idol, and hope that “having his eyes” will “make Jimin proud”—the statement makes me want to gouge my own eyes out. Oli London’s use of the neopronouns “Kor/Ean” may just be a poor excuse for a publicity stunt, but their words still negatively impact Korean people and invalidate trans communities everywhere. 

Cultural appropriation also lies in the little things. I’ve seen far too many fans of Korean dramas and K-pop call their favourite male celebrities “oppa.” The Korean honorific is used by female-identifying people to refer to older male family members and significant others. It’s a given that both parties should have a close enough relationship with each other and mutually agree on the term’s usage. I can’t imagine that these unspoken rules are fulfilled when referring to performers on a computer screen.

Am I glad that Korean artists, filmmakers, and creatives are getting the international recognition they deserve? Of course. Am I glad that culture vultures and overzealous stans cherry-pick from the Korean experience and act like authorities on a culture they can choose to wear as an accessory? Of course not. Sometimes I wish Korean media never made its way to the spotlight, no matter how deserving it may be. 

Commentary, Opinion

Three verdicts, one unjust reality

by Matthew Molinaro on

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Content warning: racism, police violence

In the past several days, three high-profile cases have come to deeply unsatisfying conclusions. Two are American—Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse was cleared of all charges after he killed two men during a night of unrest following the shooting of Jacob Blake, and the three white men who murdered Ahmaud Arbery, much like a modern-day lynching, were convicted. The other is Canadian, the least known and covered of the three: Pradel Content, a Black man living in Laval won an ethics case against a police officer who shoved him, made racist comments toward him, and then deleted Content’s phone recording of the 2017 incident. Many have raised concerns about Rittenhouse’s proceedings, questioning whether he would have still been found innocent, or even alive, had he been Black. And though Arbery’s mother expressed her relief at the guilty sentence, it, of course, remains unjust that a Black person still cannot move freely through society without fear. The just application of the law cannot save a Black life taken too early. Content’s case reveals an insidious aspect of Canadian anti-Black racism; that is, the constant and unhelpful positive comparison to the United States and the “moderate” bureaucracy that holds onto these cases for years.

The report did not contain a valid reason for why Michael Boutin, the officer who stopped him, would need to check Content’s licence plate. In a statement by the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations, Content shared that he started recording once he exited his car at a gas station. Noticing that Content was filming him, Boutin proceeded to slap the phone out of his hand, throw him against his car, and handcuff him without informing him of the reason for the arrest. Later reports, including ones that led to the ethics violations, found that Boutin filed a false police report and wrote a ticket that suggested Content was using his phone while driving. During their encounter, Content mentioned he was from Florida, to which Boutin replied that he must be lucky to live in Quebec because in the United States they shoot people “like you.” Since this comment targeted his race, the ethics committee found this to violate their ethics code, amongst five other ethics violations. This comment stings even more considering that George Zimmerman, the man who shot and murdered Trayvon Martin, was acquitted of all charges in Florida. Boutin’s lack of ethical standards reveals the lack of oversight in police systems. It is important to remember that Boutin was not alone at the time—his fellow officer could have easily stopped him. Their choice to stand silent and even erase their actions is in line with Canadian ideals, wherein the propagated culture of politeness and respectability comes at the expense of racialized people and substantive changes to policing. 

It is concerning that Content’s case not only took four years to conclude, but remained relatively unacknowledged beyond local news articles. The ticket Content received was immediately overturned, but this cannot overturn the immense and mostly unchecked power the police wield. Without the gas station footage, these police officers might have continued to roam unaffected; the chances of an ethics board believing a Black man’s word against a police officer’s remains, unfortunately, minimal.. Surely, given the officers’ immediately violent response, far more cases are unreported. At the same time, this should not open up the possibility for cameras to be placed everywhere in public. People should not be surveilled at all times, and the police, who already provide plenty of surveillance in Montreal, must be, at the very least, reformed.

Hearings on Boutin’s possible sanctions are expected to begin next month, meaning now more than ever is the time to speak out and rally against racial profiling and excessive policing. On the municipal level, Canadians should treat politicians, including recently re-elected Mayor Plante, who pander to police with suspicion. If not defunding, ethics, bias, and social responsibility should be considered as important as physical, medical, and shooting certifications at the policing level. Much like Arbery’s case, bare minimum successes of the justice system should not be celebrated as victories.

McGill, News

Suzanne Fortier reflects on McGill’s future and lessons learned from COVID-19

by Madison Edward-Wright & Juliet Morrison on

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As the Fall 2021 semester and McGill’s bicentennial year comes to a close, the McGill administration has started envisioning plans for the university’s academic, ecological, and structural future. From opening a new Office for Mediation and Reporting, to assessing McGill’s Strategic Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Plan and the Anti-Black Racism Action Plan, to adapting to a world changed by COVID-19, the administration is beginning to implement several changes. 

McGill principal and vice-chancellor Suzanne Fortier reflected on these changes in a round table interview with campus media on Nov. 24. Fortier feels that updating plans and creating new offices are the first steps toward a more equitable and globally in-tuned university.

“Next calendar year, we are [entering] a third century of our institution, so it is a great time for us to think about the future,” Fortier said. “We celebrate with the full knowledge that not all of our 200 [years of] history were great [….] As we think about our third century, it is also [about] how do we learn from our past.”

Fortier listed reducing the university’s environmental impact and carbon footprint as a key objective in the coming decades, citing McGill’s commitments to reach net-zero by 2040,  switch energy systems from gas and oil to electric, and adopt a decarbonization policy.

“We have a huge problem right now, which is climate change and the planet,” Fortier said. “We need to evolve to be terra sapiens.”

The term “terra sapiens” refers to the evolution of human action toward a more environmentally aware collective consciousness. Some students, however, like Samuel Helguero, 3L and Divest McGill organizer, feel Fortier’s words do not mark a transition to a greener and cleaner campus.

“Suzanne Fortier remains perhaps the most ardent opponent to divestment across all of Canadian universities,” Helguero wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune. “To see her attempt to brand the school as ecological is only ironic.”

Another topic Fortier touched on was the recent letter sent by Christopher Manfredi, McGill provost and vice-principal (Academic), to the Office de consultation publique de Montréal (OCPM), which subsequently published it on their website. In the letter, Manfredi explained that McGill would be open to participating in the investigation of unmarked Indigenous graves at the Royal Vic site. Fortier cautioned that McGill cannot embark on the investigation alone. 

“[McGill] cannot do anything by itself,” Fortier said. “The site does not belong to us, it belongs to the government of Quebec and to the McGill University Health Centre, what people call the Glen [….] It is unlikely that we would find [graves], but we are not totally discrediting the suspicion […], and we will do our work with the technologies that allow you to see if there are unmarked graves.” 

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has forced many institutions, such as McGill and large corporations, to reevaluate the way day-to-day affairs are run. A takeaway for McGill’s governing bodies—the Board of Governors and Senate—as Fortier explained, has been to trust in those who have been educated and trained to handle unforeseen situations and events like a global pandemic. 

In an interview with the Tribune, U2 Arts student Mata Bocoum described a lack of engagement with key issues such as climate change and technological advancement on McGill’s campus, and felt that the administration could do more to acknowledge campus organizations that focus on those topics. 

“I am not someone who is very engaged in extracurricular activities […] so maybe that is why I do not see any promotion for making changes with the climate […] or technological innovation,” Bocoum said in an interview with the Tribune. “But, I feel like [clubs] are not promoted enough. [Activist groups] should be a focus for promotion because they are very important in the new era, but they are not talked about enough.”

Editorial, Opinion

Valuing equality over equity stunts science

by The McGill Tribune Editorial Board on

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On Nov. 24, The //National Post//’s Michael Higgins wrote an exclusive article titled “Minority professor denied grants because he hires on merit: ‘People are afraid to think.’” The article documents McGill chemistry professor Patanjali Kambhampati’s refusal to take part in equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) hiring practices. Instead, Kambhampati wrote that he would hire the “most qualified people” in the EDI section of his application for a $450,000 grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). In the //Post//’s article, he also decried that EDI and “woke culture” kill innovation, harm science, and disrupt society. Though Kambhampati’s stance on meritocracy is understandable, his choice to tank his own application for media attention speaks volumes about his commitment to science’s progress. While EDI hiring and practices alone are insufficient to dismantle systemic racism in scientific research, they are nonetheless essential; scientific innovation only improves when those at its forefront reflect the diversity of society. 

EDI hiring exists because institutions often filter out those who do not fit the old mould of the scientist archetype, such as women, people of colour, and lower-income individuals. Kambhampati’s racial colour-blindness shows the problem of individuals thinking that they alone can transcend systems of oppression. Institutions, for instance, can still perpetuate systemic racism even without overt racists within them. Valuing merit and skills is not mutually exclusive to EDI: Equitable hiring and practices allow everyone to have a fair shot in academia, not just those who fit individual professors’ subjective and flawed opinions.

Kambhampati spoke up to critique governmental agencies’ increasing implementation of EDI principles. EDI, though, is not some new dangerous revolution––it is about accessibility, which is far more compatible with enhancing current research methods. Kambhampati’s choice shows that he is willing to sacrifice scientific progress in favour of maintaining the status quo. His equality-over-equity approach continues to ostracize historically excluded groups from science. NSERC and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada’s EDI sections ask to proactively, intentionally, and carefully consider science’s blindspots when composing a team. Though Kambhampati commits himself to helping students of all backgrounds, his overwhelming desire to avoid discriminating against white men is suspect when EDI neither attacks them nor stops them from otherwise having myriad societal benefits. As Kambhampati suggests, EDI is not without its problems, like virtue-signalling. But these problems are not enough to dismiss it entirely—and so publicly.

Science does not and cannot exist in a social vacuum: Social issues affect science, and science affects social issues. Consider how science was, on one hand, manipulated to justify racial distinctions, colonialism, and the rigid gender binary, and on the other, the method used to disprove these myths. Consider also the eurocentric grounds for measuring systems like the body mass index (BMI), which has led to inadequate treatment toward people from other parts of the world. Clearly, science research has a cultural problem, one that prioritizes the interests of white, cisgender, straight, non-disabled men. 

It is researchers like Kambhampati who weaponize their “minority professor” identity and their own experiences of racism to rationalize their ideologies at the expense of minorities. Newspapers like the //National Post// and white commentators harp on exceptional cases like Kambhampati to dismiss equity initiatives, foregrounding a single racialized person’s experience to justify anti-woke rhetoric. Though Kambhampati fears self-censorship and “wokeism,” the more salient question is whether untenured faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students of colour could speak out to the same degree as a tenured professor who can arbitrarily sink potential funding.


Science principles itself on objectivity, but subjectively excluding people undermines the scientific method. Without fear, McGill’s Faculty of Science must follow McGill’s equitable hiring practices and stop their professors from stifling equitable science for cultural and academic capital.

McGill, Montreal, News

Montrealers, McGill students march in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en land defenders

by Anoushka Oke on

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The Montreal chapter of the activist group Convergence des luttes anticapitalistes (CLAC) hosted a protest in support of Indigenous sovereignty on Nov. 27, marching in front of and around the Montreal office of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). McGill students and Divest McGill members participated in the demonstration alongside other environmental, Indigenous, and other activist groups.

The primary focus of the protest was a recent escalation of the construction of TransCanada Energy’s Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline’s through the unceded territory of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation in British Columbia, which has been ongoing since 2019. The project has garnered much criticism, as it began without the proper consent of Wet’suwet’en, and police have been quick to use force to suppress dissenters, using police dogs, destroying property, and threatening people with rifles. This November, the RCMP invaded resistance camps—like the Coyote Camp—violently arresting activists and journalists. 

Marlene Hale, a land defender from the Small Frog Clan of the Wet’suwet’en nation, spoke at the protest and expressed her frustration with the Canadian government’s seizure and occupation of their land. Hale described how government officials avoided going through the proper channels of Wet’suwet’en leadership for their consent, instead seeking approval from the twenty band councils, who all signed on to the project. Hale brought this up to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a town hall in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec back in 2019.

“[I asked him,] ‘how do you not know that [for] consent in our nation, you’re supposed to go to the hereditary chiefs?’” Hale said. “They know who’s going to sign, who is the weak link, and who they can get [consent from] to do the work they want for as little as they can [….] The consent was not given by the right land title holder, which is the hereditary chief, Woos. Right now, he is on his own territory fighting [the RCMP] to gain access to his own home.”

The RCMP has confronted Wet’suwet’en land defenders several times over the last couple of years in an attempt to quell resistance to the pipeline. From Nov. 19 to Nov. 20, they had arrested 29 people, including two journalists, in British Columbia; protestors were trying to interfere with the pipeline’s construction in order to protect the land. The latest wave of arrests spurred protests across the country, including the one in Montreal this past Saturday. Eve Saint, the daughter of Wet’suwet’en hereditary Chief Woos, described the RCMP’s treatment of the protesters and journalists who were arrested, including Wet’suwet’en land defender Sleydo’.

“I just gotta give a lot of love to Sleydo’ because she is a mother, she is an Indigenous Wet’suwet’en mother, [and] she is raising her babies on the Yintah, on the land,” Saint said. “And now, these courts have […] criminalized her and [are] trying to keep her from moving freely on her own land, on her own territory.”

Saint herself has been on the frontlines of the fight; she was arrested alongside three others at Gidimt’en Checkpoint on Feb. 7, 2020 while defending Wet’suwet’en land. Saint condemned the violence the RCMP has inflicted on her people over the past week.

“We have elders that are being dragged off the Yintah, that are being denied their medication, and that had to go to the hospital,” Saint said. “This is at the hands of the RCMP. This is how they look at Wet’suwet’en people, this is how they look at Wet’suwet’en women, mothers, matriarchs, hereditary chiefs. They point their guns at us when they want us off that land so they can steal it. It is stolen land. They want us dead.”

After Saint finished speaking, the group marched toward downtown Montreal, followed by police officers who maintained a heavy presence throughout the demonstration.

In a subsequent webinar on Nov. 28, Ellen Gabriel, who is part of the Turtle Clan within the Mohawk nation of Kanehsatà:ke, compared the situation to the Oka crisis that occurred in 1990. At the time, the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) provincial police force violently invaded Kanehsatà:ke land that developers wanted to turn into a golf course. Following SQ raids of Mohawk territory, there was a 78-day standoff as the police faced down Mohawk warriors defending their land. Then-Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa eventually brought in the Canadian military to replace the SQ, and the standoff ended whenMohawk warriors had to surrender.

“The fact that the RCMP are being the root squad for Coastal GasLink as the SQ were for the municipality of Oka and the rich developers means that we haven’t gotten very far in the reconciliation process that Trudeau and others keep talking about,” Gabriel said. “This is not reconciliation. [Indigenous peoples] were here long before Europeans arrived, and we are still being treated, 500-plus years later, as if we are disposable, as if our rights don’t matter.”

McGill, News, SSMU

SSMU Legislative Council approves motion calling for resignation of President Daryanani

by Juliet Morrison on

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The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Legislative Council convened on Nov. 25 for their last meeting of Fall 2021. During the meeting, councillors approved a motion to urge SSMU President Darshan Daryanani to submit a letter of resignation within 48 hours of the motion being ratified by the Board of Directors (BoD). 

The motion, brought forth by management representative Nathaniel Saad, pushed for Daryanani to be held accountable for failing to fulfill his presidential responsibilities as chief officer and spokesperson of the Society. While presenting the motion, Saad cited the president’s absence from Legislative Council sessions and Executive Committee meetings—which Daryanani is required to attend as president—since the start of the term. 

“I feel that the Legislative Council has been left in the dark,” Saad said. “The president needs to represent members of the student body which he is not doing, [and] we are currently unaware of whether he is being paid [….] This is an unsustainable situation and allows the situation to potentially replicate in the future. It is a dangerous precedent to set.”

Should the president fail to issue a letter of resignation, the motion dictates that the Legislative Council, pursuant to consultations from students and faculties, will call for a special SSMU General Assembly within the first week of the winter semester to vote on whether the president should be impeached. 

The session’s question period revolved around the president’s absence. SSMU executives reaffirmed that the matter is confidential. 

“When individuals go on leave it is an HR matter,” vice-president (VP) Finance Éric Sader said. “As such it is not relevant to the Legislative Council or the student body to know the precise details. All that is important is that the president is on leave and the Society is functioning quite well.”

When asked why the absence of the president and the general manager has not been communicated to the student body, specifically through SSMU’s most-used student communication channel—the SSMU listserv—vice-president (VP) Internal Sarah Paulin replied  “no comment.” 

The motion passed with 19 council representatives in favour and nine abstaining. During the roll-call vote, all five executive members present abstained.  

In other matters, arts representative Yara Coussa brought forth a motion, seconded by arts representative Ghania Javed, concerning amendments to the internal regulation of student groups. After a debate period, during which SSMU executives disclosed concern about a lack of consultation, the motion was postponed. 

Executives argued that approval of the motion contradicts the duties of the executives. For example, the motion proposes to limit the VP External’s discretionary ability to provide funding, which is granted by the Society’s constitution. 

Coussa apologized to the executives for the lack of consultation, and stated that the personal refutes were unnecessary.  

“I understand that we have not completed the necessary consultations for this motion and for that I apologize,” said Coussa. “However, there is no need to be rude and impolite to the mover and seconder who wanted to emphasize the voices of advocacy groups on campus [….] Being a councillor is a learning curve, and we are not perfect here.”

Moment of the Meeting: 

Councillor Saad called for the vote on the “motion regarding the absence of the SSMU president” to be conducted through a roll-call rather than through normal procedure. 

Soundbite: 

“You have all been councillors for a semester. You have all had a chance to speak to each other and debate on contentious topics. I ask that you have compassion for your fellow councillors and some amount of respect for the members of the gallery [….] I require that you please respect these people [….] It is not okay to use the type of personal and direct attacks that we have seen.”

—Speaker of Council Alexandre Ashkir responding to comments that were made concerning the motion on amending the internal regulations of student groups. 

A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the normal SSMU voting procedure keeps the voters anonymous. In fact, a voting record is posted on the SSMU website after every meeting. The Tribune regrets this error.

McGill, News

McGill changes masking policies amid rise in COVID-19 cases on campus

by Diksha Srishyla on

More in McGill:

McGill announced a new masking guideline on Nov. 19 in a university-wide email from the co-chairs of the new Recovery and Operations Resumption Committee (ROR), associate provost (Teaching and Academic Programs) Chris Buddle and deputy provost (Student Life and Learning) Fabrice Labeau. The update stipulates that community members should replace their procedural masks after every four hours of use. The email also included other updates on McGill’s COVID-19 management, such as details on its rapid testing pilot project. 

The masking directive comes in the wake of rising cases on campus—there were 28 confirmed cases between Nov. 7 and Nov. 20—and is in line with the Quebec government’s contact tracing protocols. These protocols dictate that those wearing a fresh mask—i.e., one that has been worn for less than four hours—are considered “low-risk” if exposed to COVID-19 in a classroom. Those wearing a mask for more than four hours when they are exposed in a classroom will be deemed “medium or high risk” and will be required to get a COVID-19 test. 

In an email to The McGill Tribune, Frédérique Mazerolle, a McGill media relations officer, stated that the university is aiming to make this mandate as easy as possible to adhere to.

“Masks are available at the entrance to most buildings on our three campuses,” Mazerolle wrote. “It is important to stress that a number of preventive measures will continue to be in effect for the [Winter 2022] semester. The health and safety of our students and staff is the guiding principle of all of our planning. Our mission is to provide students the safest and best experience possible despite the current global pandemic.”

Despite Mazerolle’s insistence that masks are readily available to all, some, like Nagashree Thovinakere, a graduate student in the Integrated Program in Neuroscience, feel they have to stockpile masks to comply with the new directive. 

“I have access to masks in the lab where I work, but that is not the case elsewhere on campus,” Thovinakere said in an interview with the Tribune. “So what I have been doing is carrying extra masks with me.”

Bridget Griffith, a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, stated that the expense of buying masks—when not readily available on campus—adds to the challenge of compliance. Griffith also thought that the policy might be more effective if it drew attention to better mask hygiene and more consistency in wearing masks correctly. 

“Often, I see people not wearing the mask properly, wearing the masks multiple days in a row or storing the mask in their pocket,” Griffith said. “This puts people in situations more risky than they think they are.”

Ashika Jain, a pharmacology graduate student, on the other hand, feels that McGill has done an adequate job in making masks available to the student body. However, Jain mentioned the new requirement is still somewhat challenging to comply with because of the nature of lab work.

“It can be difficult for me [to change my mask every four hours] when I am doing an experiment in particular,” Jain said. “But, since the accessibility for masks has increased, it is feasible.”

Mazerolle explained that McGill’s new masking guideline is just one of many initiatives currently in place at the university—McGill has also begun a rapid COVID-19 testing project in the Trottier Engineering Building Cafeteria.

“The voluntary rapid COVID-19 testing pilot project for asymptomatic people has been used by more than 500 students, faculty, and staff since its launch on November 8th,” Mazerolle wrote. “The initiative is open to any student, faculty or staff member who wishes to be tested. Individuals that have tested positive are directed to get a confirmatory (PCR) test from an authorized testing site and to self-isolate.”

The results of the rapid test arrive within 15-20 minutes. The testing project is set to continue for the rest of the Fall 2021 term.

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