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Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

A spooky sitcom season

by Sarah McDonald on

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Do you fundamentally refuse to be scared out of your skin for so-called ‘entertainment’ this Halloween season? Have you seen The Nightmare Before Christmas one too many times? Yes and yes again? That’s what I thought. But don’t worry; the Halloween season has more to offer than inspiration for your very own sleep-paralysis demon and overdone, over-hyped, over-Halloweened content. It’s the end of October, and I am pleased to welcome you to the season of spiders, skeletons, and sitcoms.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

These Halloween episodes are famous, and for good reason. With a ‘Halloween Heist’ in every season, the squad competes to be in possession of a selected object by midnight, with the winner being crowned ‘an amazing detective/genius.’ These episodes contain some of the most elaborately ridiculous heist plans of all time—from stuffing pigeons into air vents and filling the precinct with characters from The Handmaid’s Tale to hiring previously-arrested criminals as co-conspirators—and the most intense rivalries. Watch a Brooklyn Nine-Nine Halloween Heist episode for Charles Boyle’s (Joe Lo Truglio) terrible and forever un-guessable costumes, outrageous thievery, and to watch friendships be temporarily put aside in the name of glory.

The Office
Season 2, episode 5 of The Office brings the reality of a scary Halloween into the workplace. Michael faces the terrifying task of having to fire someone while everyone else prepares for a Halloween party. Michael Scott (Steve Carell) acts as the Halloween Scrooge, and the real scare comes from the decision he must make. This episode reminds us that navigating adulthood is actually the spookiest part of any season.

Friends

Friends is a staple sitcom for a reason, and its Halloween episode is no exception. Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston) may or may not start writing children’s cheques after she runs out of candy, Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow) may or may not end an engagement, and the costumes—well, I guarantee they’re worse than yours. I don’t want to spoil too much for those of you who are planning a Friends marathon this sitcom season, so all I’ll say is: Pink. Fluffy. Bunny. Oh, and potato. If you want to be able to treat Halloween as a more-or-less regular day, this is the show for you. It’s lighthearted and fun—the only spooky part is the notion of marrying someone you’ve known for two weeks—making it a great choice for those who are ready for Halloween to be over already.

Superstore

Superstore is a lesser-known sitcom, or so I’ve been led to believe. But whether you’ve heard of it or not, its Halloween episode is worth a watch. Everyone shows up in costume, except for the company’s resident rule-follower, Dina Fox (Lauren Ash). Dina gets, as you might expect, peer-pressured into dressing up. But she changes into a particularly revealing cop costume. Cue the chaos. Suddenly, everyone’s workplace archnemesis is alluring? If you ever reminisce over middle-school friendship dynamics—or just revel in watching middle-school-esque situations play out—then I promise you will be entertained. Her outfit, combined with rumours that someone may or may not have a crush on someone else, makes the perfect storm for those of you who love to revel in the knowledge that you left high school behind years ago.
If you enjoy any singular aspect of the horror movie experience, you and I are clearly two entirely separate types of people. But you’d best believe that if I’m watching anything on Halloween, it’ll be a sitcom. I’ll laugh and sigh and be unspeakably grateful that Monica Geller (Courteney Cox) won’t ever buy me a Halloween costume.

Behind the Bench, Soccer, Sports

Losing the world’s game: FIFA’s ongoing ticket crisis

by Merce Kellner on

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In anticipation of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association’s (FIFA) 2026 World Cup, excitement for soccer’s biggest competition turned into anger from fans unable to afford tickets, highlighting public dissatisfaction with FIFA’s current ticketing model. 

Beginning on June 11, the 2026 World Cup will take place in 16 cities across Canada, the United States, and Mexico. On Sept. 10, 2025, FIFA—soccer’s official governing body—released the first phase of tickets via a lottery system. It was no surprise that the tickets were a hot commodity, with over 4.5 million applicants lined up for the initial ticket release. But FIFA’s phased and dynamic ticketing system has faced significant criticism for excluding true fans, from the public and local politicians alike. With a growing demand and no price cap on tickets, the dynamic system has the potential to raise the costs of attending to an astonishing price unaffordable for many. 

The current ticket process FIFA is using for the upcoming World Cup involves multiple phases. The initial pre-sale draw on Sept. 10 has been followed by a four-phase release that will conclude in 2026. FIFA has launched tickets for tournament games priced in four different categories, with Category 4 comprising the cheapest seats in the upper levels of stadiums, and Category 1 including the most expensive, located closest to the field. Additionally, fans can purchase venue-specific and team-specific packages for the group stage, or the first round of the tournament matches. 

Due to the demand for certain high-profile games, dynamic pricing will continue to raise the cost of these tickets closer to gameday. The cheapest ticket to the opening match is $784 CAD, and for the World Cup Final, the cheapest ‘get-in’ price runs at an exorbitant $2,842 CAD. Furthermore, no tickets are exclusively allocated for local fans. Once the official group stage draw happens on Dec. 5 in Washington DC, the World Cup’s schedule will be finalized. This means that once the matches are confirmed in each host city, the dynamic model will fluctuate prices further. 

Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s Democratic mayoral nominee, has been a leading voice in criticizing FIFA’s ticket pricing policy. Launching the Game Over Greed petition in September, he has actively called for FIFA to end its current dynamic pricing model. His petition demands a price cap on resale tickets and a 15 per cent discount for local fans, which would counteract the 15 per cent charge FIFA has imposed on sellers and buyers using its official ticket resale website.

The current World Cup ticket prices limit the opportunity for lower-income communities to attend the now-unaffordable games. This concern extends beyond fans in host nations: For global supporters, the price of a match ticket, in addition to travel costs, has left many unable to cheer on their country in person. Members of the England Fans’ Embassy have criticized ticket prices, advocating for ticket allocations for fans not affected by dynamic pricing.   

FIFA has a history of prioritizing financial gain over the love of the game in its decision-making. In December 2010, Russia was selected to host the 2018 World Cup, and Qatar was chosen to host the 2022 World Cup, despite claims that senior FIFA officials had received bribes in exchange for host nominations. No further investigation was conducted into the Russia and Qatar bids. In May 2015, seven FIFA officials were arrested on racketeering, fraud, and money laundering charges spanning over 24 years. The 2026 World Cup ticket debacle reflects this extensive history of FIFA valuing money to a criminal extent, even over the voices of soccer fans. 

With the tournament on the horizon, there is still plenty to be done. FIFA’s current ticket model misses what makes the Cup so special. From New York City to Mexico City, to the world’s most multicultural city, Toronto, FIFA must ensure a fan base from each of these urban hubs can attend games. By valuing profit over pride, FIFA blocks the excitement and joy that these thousands of fans could bring to the tournament’s atmosphere, which is what truly makes tickets worth paying for. 

Montreal, News

Culture Shock 2025: QPIRG hosts workshop exploring Milton-Parc’s hostile urbanism

by Asher Kui on

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On Oct. 23, the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) McGill hosted the “Walking as method: Exploring hostile design in Milton-Parc” workshop as part of its annual Culture Shock event series. This exploration was led by Cara Chellew, PhD candidate in McGill’s School of Urban Planning, as well as Jonathan Lebire, co-founder of coaching organization Agence Dragonfly.

The event kickstarted at QPIRG’s office on av. du Parc, with a group of around 15 people making their way to the street’s intersection with rue Prince-Arthur Ouest. Chellew pointed out bright white light bulbs placed above benches at the intersection. 

“Across the street, there’s another light, and you’ll see […] it’s actually blinking,” she observed. “For the longest time, I thought it was malfunctioning. [….] [But] it’s blinking very steadily. It’s been happening for a couple months now. [….] These interventions are meant to really target certain behaviours like trying to sit too long or sleep in public.”

Chellew continued to explain why these acts of hostile urbanism—architectural attempts to restrict certain social groups from enjoying public spaces—are meant to be kept subtle and unnoticeable. 

“Often when [hostile urbanism is] really noticeable, […] there’s outrage, rightfully so, and then sometimes, things get removed,” she said. “[Hostile urbanism] is meant to target these kinds of behaviours, but also not be very noticeable to everyday people.”

The group then ventured inside Les Galéries du Parc, where Lebire highlighted the neighbourhood’s lack of third places.

“You want to cry, you want to yell, […] something bad happened in your life, you don’t want to be seen crying. You’re going to transit to your house as soon as you can. But normally there should be what you call ‘third spaces,’ […] to kind of temper having a bad day at the job,” Lebire said. “There should be a way to use this architecture to make sure people have places to take a minute.”

Chellew then added that spaces where people cluster and socialize are crucial to a neighbourhood’s quality of living. She then talked about the intersection of av. du Parc and rue Milton, where an abandoned lot has been heavily restricted to keep Milton-Parc’s unhoused population out, effectively depriving them of third places.

“We’re purposely not going down [av. du Parc] because I want to give our friends a little bit of privacy,” she said. “There’s this lot that folks used to hang out [at]. [….] I call it ‘ground zero’ because it’s really the most heavily fortified spot in the neighbourhood. It just shows every little space here […] is restricted from people accessing [it].”

Chellew and Lebire continued the tour, pointing out benches that were designed to be uncomfortable, with unnecessary armrests meant to keep sleepers away. Such benches could be found at intersections of rue Sherbrooke and rue Jeanne-Mance, and rue Sherbrooke and rue St.-Urbain.

The tour ended at Jardins du Monde et des Premières Nations at the corner of rue St.-Urbain and rue Milton, as Chellew encouraged McGill students to look out for signs of hostile urban planning.

“There are certain things that you can kind of look out for. When you’re checking out a space, are there places to sit? Does the space feel comfortable? Does it feel uncomfortable for some reason? Why is it uncomfortable? Is it too bright or too loud?” she emphasized.

In an interview with The Tribune, Joseph Liang, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Popular Education Events Coordinator, explained that this year’s Culture Shock aims to examine the McGill and Montreal community’s relations to the land through various anti-oppressive perspectives.

“For example [.…] with the Migrant Justice Panel [Culture Shock event], we look at land in terms of […] border regimes that are imposed on land,” they said. “I think [this land theme] is particularly relevant in the context that we’re living in. The settler-colonial occupation that we see happening in Palestine, that is fundamentally an issue of land, an issue of occupation of land. Here in Quebec, the PL 97 was a law that granted a lot of [Indigenous] land in northern Quebec to forestry companies. [….] I think land is sort of at the center of a lot of struggles that we are seeing right now.”

Commentary, Opinion

Canada must criminalize coerced sterilization and confront its propagation of colonial violence

by Ellen Lurie on

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In 2005, Montreal practitioners performed a nonconsensual hysterectomy on Quebec Senator Amina Gerba, resulting in irreversible infertility. Gerba would not learn she had undergone this procedure—a clear violation of her medical rights and autonomy—until over a decade later, when, during an unrelated procedure, her gynecologist discovered she lacked a uterus. This phenomenon, known as coerced or forced sterilization, constitutes an international human rights violation and has been perpetrated against women—particularly of marginalized backgrounds—throughout Canada since the 1800s. 

Despite centuries of evidence of nonconsensual hysterectomies, Canada has failed to criminalize this violating, dangerous practice. The persistence of forced sterilization testifies to how systemic anti-Blackness and colonial violence continue to shape Canadian healthcare systems, propagating the denial of Black and Indigenous women’s reproductive autonomy. 

Senator Gerba shared her story when testifying in support of Bill S-228, an act to amend the Criminal Code that would criminalize coerced sterilization in Canada. An equivalent bill—Bill S-250—was introduced to and passed by the Senate in 2024. However, the proroguing of Parliament in advance of the 2025 Federal Election forced the termination of the bill before it reached House debate. 

Bill S-228 brings forced sterilization to the forefront of the legislative agenda, opening a window for overdue systemic change: Affording //legal// reproductive rights to women across Canada. In her testimony, Senator Gerba noted the intersectional nature of prejudices against Black and Indigenous women in the Canadian healthcare system, particularly in regard to gynecological interventions. In healthcare settings, medical students and practitioners alike frequently dismiss the pain of Black women patients due to the harmful and racist misconception that Black women have a higher pain tolerance. Such misinformation amounts to an undeniable truth: North American healthcare institutions are failing Black women. 

Indigenous women have also been the historic and current targets of this procedure. In the 1970s, Canadian practitioners facilitated approximately 1,200 cases of coerced sterilization of Indigenous women as part of a broader eugenic, colonial effort to eliminate Indigenous persons. By systematically sterilizing Indigenous women without their consent, these practitioners—acting on behalf of the colonial state—sought not only to control individual bodies but to exterminate future generations of Indigenous peoples. This practice amounts to one of the five acts encompassed within legal definitions of genocide: The deliberate imposition of measures intended to prevent births within a group. 

The UN Committee Against Torture issued a statement in 2018 calling on Canada to end this abhorrent practice. Yet Bill S-228 remains under debate, and organizations like Amnesty International Canada continue to observe extensive evidence that the practice persists today. 

In Quebec, 35 Atikamekw women have brought forward a class action lawsuit against the Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de Lanaudière (CISSS) for forced sterilization, citing at least 22 cases of the procedure between 1980 and 2019. Some of these women were misinformed, told sterilization was reversible. Others were falsely told that the health of their future children could be at risk should they fail to undergo the procedure. Still more were told the procedure was unavoidable in the maintenance of their long-term health. 

An estimated 20 other women are pending approval to join the class action lawsuit; the youngest survivor was merely 17 years old at the time of her nonconsensual gynecological intervention. Clearly, Canada has subjected the reproductive rights of women—disproportionately Black and Indigenous women—to systemic disregard through its ongoing failure to implement policy prohibiting this medical practice.

In a report published by the Canadian Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights in 2022, representatives offered clear steps that the federal government must take to achieve the end of this abhorrent and violent practice. Foremost among these recommendations were three key obligations: To criminalize forced and coerced sterilization; to implement measures heightening standards of informed consent and cultural competency in medical training; to collect data on sterilization to inform future policy and reconciliation efforts. 

As Bill S-228 now awaits approval by the House of Commons, lawmakers, healthcare institutions, and the general public must call for the swift passage of this bill and for effective, comprehensive implementation. Evidence of forced sterilization is extensive and undeniable; its consequences for future generations of Black and Indigenous women are grave. Canada’s government must wait no longer to enshrine humane reproductive healthcare standards in the legislature.

Commentary, Opinion

Nobody is running for mayor! The death of municipal democracy in Quebec

by Noah Bornstein on

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On Nov. 2, Quebec will hold municipal elections—though in 87 cities throughout the province, the results of these elections are already decided. In the 2025 Quebec municipal election cycle, over 4,500 municipal candidates ran unopposed. In a process known as acclamation, candidates who are running unopposed bypass the election cycle and are automatically awarded the title. One of these constituencies is Terrebonne, a city of more than 120,000 residents. If Canada wants to maintain its democratic capacity at all three levels of government, then federal leaders need to treat municipal government with equal importance as they do provincial and federal governments

If nobody is running against incumbents, maybe constituents are simply happy with their current municipal leaders. That is what Terrebonne mayor Mathieu Traversy believes, and in his case, it might even be true. Traversy is a well-liked mayor and has a diversity of political viewpoints in his government. Nonetheless, he still ought to have an opponent for the sake of democracy. 

It is abnormal for a city the size of Terrebonne to have zero competition in a mayoral race. In 2021, three candidates ran for mayor, and four candidates ran in 2017. The lack of competition for Mayor Traversy is a sign of political apathy and a weakening of local democracy. In a representative democracy, the primary way for citizens to influence policy is through elections. Without elections, representative democracy fails to give its citizens a voice. Without a civic voice, democracy does not exist. In Terrebonne, there is no election, and consequently, no democracy.

While uncontested elections are concerning in cities like Terrebonne, they become even more troubling in small towns where municipal government roles are often thankless jobs. Faced with mounting tasks, these mayors often get lambasted on social media for minor problems that they have little power to fix. Yet, election by acclamation is most common in these districts. Of smaller municipalities in Quebec, almost a quarter of districts with less than 2,000 people elected an all-incumbent council this cycle. Normand Marin, former mayor of Pointe-Lebel in the Côte-Nord region, describes rural mayoralty as an impossible task because mayors of small towns tend to be overworked and criticized heavily on social media. The meagre salary makes the job even less desirable.

With immense censure and low salaries, it is no mystery why there are so few candidates for municipal politics. In the Chaudières-Appalaches region, four municipalities—Sainte-Cyrille-de-Lessard, Saint-Benjamin, Lac-Frontière, and Saint-Phillibert—currently have no mayoral candidates. Yet a robust democracy, especially at the municipal level where every vote counts, is reliant upon competition. The question, then, is how to make small-town leadership sustainable and appealing to would-be political candidates.

One potential solution for some of these smaller municipalities could be to merge with neighbouring towns. A municipality such as Saint-Phillibert, which is closer to larger towns, could easily be added to the municipality of either Saint-Prosper or Saint-Georges. Declining local autonomy would be a necessary trade-off, as Saint-Georges has almost 33,000 people and a budget to match. Many of the administrative duties of a mayor could be absorbed by a larger, better-resourced municipal administration.

However, municipal mergers are not viable for every community. If Lac-Frontière merged with its neighbouring municipality, Sainte-Lucie-de-Beauregard, the new territory would span over 130 square kilometres with a combined population of just 450 constituents. Merging such remote, sparsely populated areas would only intensify logistical challenges, as servicing a large, spread-out region is far more difficult than managing a compact community. Combining two municipalities of such a small size would only exacerbate the problems that sparsely populated municipalities already face.

Although merging municipalities represents a compelling potential solution to the crisis of Quebec’s uncompetitive municipal elections, the deeper issue is that local governments are chronically underfunded and understaffed. Government programs to mobilize capable university graduates into voting in municipal elections could offer a means to improve the province’s democratic capacity. 

The provincial government cannot force people to run for office, but it can make running for office more appealing. A first step would be to properly fund and staff rural communities by bringing municipal government to parity with the provincial and federal levels.

Features

Opening the Black Box

by Lulu Calame, Sahel Delafoulhouse on

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Shining light on McGill’s Palestinian students stuck in Gaza, and the bureaucratic blockades that keep them there

Part 1: Introducing the Black Box of bureaucratic violence and immigration restriction  

“Our academic aspirations are within sight, and we wish to contribute to the world through our studies. With the goodwill and empathy of Canada, our future will not slip away needlessly due to factors beyond our control.”

This sentiment from Majd, a Palestinian student in Gaza who was accepted to a master’s program in Computer Science at McGill, is not an isolated one; it reflects the circumstances of 68 Palestinian students who are admitted to graduate programs at Canada’s top universities—including McGill University, University of Toronto, and University of Calgary—but are barred from travelling to Canada to study. Their obstacles are not academic; rather, these students’ hands have been tied by a web of targeted and restrictive immigration barriers. 

Most of these students, like Majd, are stuck in Gaza, where daily life is marked by instability, restricted mobility, and unreliable internet and electricity due to Israel’s continued genocide. Even those who have managed to evacuate the Gaza Strip are still trapped by the selective negligence of immigration bureaucracies.  

Despite their unconscionable circumstances, many of the graduate students in Gaza continue their academic programs remotely while awaiting study permit approvals from the Canadian government. Tragically, some never received that chance. Sally and Dalia Ghazi Ibaid, twin sisters accepted into a PhD program at the University of Waterloo, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Dec. 5, 2024, while preparing to cross the Rafah border into Egypt. 

Their deaths serve as a devastating reminder of the lives lost when bureaucratic systems tailor their efficiency to a colonial valuation of human life. Such valuation justifies the abandonment of Palestinian students while alleviating accountability from the Canadian institutions and governments perpetrating it.     

This feature examines how Canadian immigration bureaucracies block Palestinian students’ passage to Canada through selective application processing, indeterminate timelines, and impossible requirements, trapping students from Gaza in a ‘Black Box’ of restriction, uncertainty, and life-threatening physical danger.

A study permit and its impossibilities

Requirements for obtaining an international study permit to Canada are the same whether an individual is from France, the United States, or Gaza. Palestinian students, like any others hoping to study abroad, must provide proof of acceptance into a Canadian institution, evidence of financial support, valid travel documents, and biometric data. After submission, applications undergo security screening and background checks before receiving official approval. 

While standardized requirements for a study permit make sense in theory, those applying from within Gaza face unparalleled obstacles from Israel’s ongoing violence, forced displacements, border closures, and demolition of infrastructure in the Strip. As a result, many are unable to even complete their applications, while those who can are kept in limbo by long delays—often without explanation.

In August 2025, the Canadian government introduced Special Immigration Measures for Palestinians, effective until July 31, 2026. These measures are intended to support Palestinians already in Canada through fee-exempt study and work permits, extensions of temporary resident status, and expedited processing in some cases. //But these measures do not extend to Palestinians currently inside Gaza//. Biometric requirements, exit procedures from Gaza, and security screenings still apply to these students, with no adjustments tailored to the context of the ongoing genocide, famine, and destruction in the Strip.

A biometrics issue? 

The impossible procedural barrier for Palestinian students from Gaza is the biometric requirement. Applicants must provide fingerprints and photos obtained at a Visa Application Centre (VAC). However, no such facilities exist in Gaza.

In May 2024, Israel closed the Rafah border crossing—which is Gaza’s only connection to Egypt—and is not likely to reopen it. Even before the closure, reaching Rafah was risky and time-consuming. Now, with the crossing shut and the surrounding areas frequently under fire, it is effectively impossible for most students to leave.

While applicants and advocates have demanded waivers or deferrals for Gazan students’ biometrics given the exceptional circumstances, Canada has ignored these requests.

More than biometrics: The Black Box 

But biometrics are not the whole story. Even those students who successfully left Gaza and completed all application requirements, including biometrics, have now waited more than a year in the background check phase. This stage, managed by unnamed ‘third-party organizations,’ adheres to no official timeline or any precedent of direct communication with applicants. Through interviews we learned that others were barred from paying for various stages of the process because Palestinian visa cards were not accepted. Some were even prevented from //starting// the application process after submitting their ‘interest forms’ and never receiving the reference code needed to complete the application. 

Students and advocates describe this obscure knot of bureaucratic obstacles as a ‘Black Box’—a term reflecting the lack of transparency and accountability surrounding study permit applications for Palestinians. 

“It’s a Black Box. It’s unknown what is causing the block to their study permits,” said Nadia Abu-Zahra in an interview with //The Tribune//. 

Abu-Zahra is a professor at the University of Ottawa and an active collaborator with the Palestinian Students and Scholars at Risk (PSSAR) network. PSSAR supports students through the university, student visa, and CAQ application processes, helps them access social services, and pairs accepted students with professors to supervise research.

“These innocent students are waiting, and the only thing they want to do is to be able to study,” Abu-Zahra said. “It’s unfair to block them now [for] no reason. No one knows why they’re being blocked. No one has given a reason as to why they are being blocked.” 

Nada El-Fassou, the Director of Student Services at PSSAR, echoed this frustration in an interview with //The Tribune//. 

“Whenever we ask questions about [the processing delays], IRCC [Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada] just says it’s done by third-party organizations,” El-Fassou said. “We don’t know what they do. They refuse to tell us what they do. They refuse to tell us who the third-party organizations are. And every time we ask for help—even from MPs [Members of Parliament]—they say the same thing: ‘There’s no processing time.’”

So, who is responsible?

While IRCC is a major cog in the immigration restriction machine, it does not act alone. The Black Box is held together not by isolated bureaucratic inefficiencies, but by broader political apathy. 

“If the Prime Minister’s Office decided to create a new process that works for these students, they could have done that a long time ago,” said El-Fassou. “So I believe it’s a shared responsibility between many different parts of the government.” 

The discrepancy between Canada’s alleged commitment to high-quality international education and humanitarian support on one hand, and its neglect of Palestinian scholars on the other, puts in sharp relief the discrimination built into its apparently egalitarian path to international education. It is a path that systematically excludes those facing the harshest persecution, enabling the Canadian government to frame education as a right for most, but for Palestinians, a hard-won privilege.

Part 2: Students’ stories from Gaza

This Black Box is neither abstract nor remote. It is a web of concerted restrictions within which McGill students are stuck //as we speak//, slashing through layer after layer of impossible hurdles and indeterminate delays with their McGill acceptance letter in one hand and a pencil in the other. 

Sherin Jadallah and Majd are two such students. In addition to pursuing her master’s degree, Majd is an alumna of the MIT Emerging Talent program in Computer and Data Science, and a student at the Artificial Intelligence Agents and Large Language Models (LLM) bootcamp based in Gaza. Sherin, a Palestinian physician also from Gaza, will start a master’s specialization in neuroscience at McGill in Winter 2026. Currently, she serves as a medical evacuation officer with the World Health Organization (WHO) in the Strip. 

At the time of publication, both Majd and Sherin have been accepted to McGill but remain trapped in Gaza, as they are unable to provide their biometrics. Majd is also currently relying on solar power, which leaves her without internet connection for her studies during the winter.

“We are trying to build our futures in a vacuum,” Majd said. “There are no safe places to study, no functioning labs, and limited ways to connect with professors for guidance.” 

The value of education for Palestinians

Sherin has never been outside Gaza, and has lived her entire life under Israeli siege. For her, McGill is a key to personal mobility and cultural fluency. But it is also the place that can best provide her with the training in pediatric neuroscience necessary to address the psychological scarring and developmental trauma inflicted upon Palestinian children by Israel’s genocide and it man-made famine back in Gaza. 

“The need for education is greater than ever,” Sherin said. “This isn’t just about knowledge gained during a single academic year or our three academic years, it’s about transferring the experience of a great nation like Canada back home.”

Sherin’s education is a medical resource. By denying it, Canada inflicts egregious violence against the hundreds of Palestinians still stuck in Gaza for whom Sherin’s degree could be the difference between life and death. 

“A breath of life in this crisis”

Just a few years ago, the Gaza Strip bustled with life: Gazans ate in restaurants, worked in offices, and attended university. But this vitality has been erased from dominant visual discourse—physically by Israel, symbolically by Western media, and legally by immigration bureaucracies. Pursuing education preserves a semblance of this denied normalcy. 

“When you look at the current status of Gaza in the news, most are naturally astonished if such a place is fit to human life,” Sherin said. “They might view anyone arriving from Gaza as a form of permanent immigration, assuming they will never return [….] However, Gaza is fit for life, and our primary desire is to acquire Canadian expert[ise] and knowledge so we can return.”

She also described education as a form of resistance and reclamation in the face of the damage-centred colonial rendering of her home.

“For me, education currently is not just a resilience of resistance. It’s a breath of life in this crisis,” Sherin said. “Many of my students have been killed just trying to reach the hospital for a lecture. But also studying makes them feel like they are now live [sic] normal life before the war.” 

Functioning in this way as a token of memory, education is both a form of preservation and a tool of psychological reconstruction of the once-flourishing Gaza. 

“Education stability is the cornerstone of stability,” Sherin told us. “It’s the memory of stability. It’s escape from death, and is sensed.”

The stability of education also comes from its indestructibility. As the Israeli state razes Palestinian homes, schools, aid sites, hospitals, libraries, museums, businesses, and houses of worship to the ground, education prevails as one of the few things of which Palestinians cannot be deprived. 

One Palestinian doctoral student told Abu-Zahra that a doctorate is something no one can take away. 

“He was comparing the doctorate and academic accomplishments to land, to homes, to agriculture, to the place [he] grew up, to [his] ancestors—everything that they’re attached to,” Abu-Zahra recalled. “Palestinians, as a people dispossessed, seek academic qualifications because they recognize that that cannot be dispossessed, that cannot be expropriated.”

Canada has everything to gain from Palestinian students. They have been accepted to the most competitive programs around the country in medicinal chemistry, mathematical cryptography, biotechnology, and civil engineering, to name only a few. Their merit shines irrefutably even after every university that once fostered it has long been reduced to rubble. 

“These students are very high-achieving,” El-Fassou said. “They would be amazing. They would contribute greatly to the Canadian academic community. And we’re really missing out on that.”

Part 3: What can be done; what //must// be done:

“What gives me hope is knowing that this is not an impossible problem to solve,” Majd told us—and it’s true. 

Universities hold the power of advocacy, and a collective influence greater than the sum of their parts. “Universities are like individuals,” Abu-Zahra said. “When they act individually, they have individual power. When they act collectively, they have collective power.” Support from organizations like PSSAR, testimony before Parliament, and acts of solidarity like the McGill Association of University Teachers (MAUT)’s historic resolution to boycott Israel, economize on this influence—and must continue to do so.

But the academy’s power is limited. It is the IRCC and the Canadian government that have the direct power to facilitate Palestinian students’ evacuation to third countries to obtain biometrics—as many other countries have already done. This year, the United Kingdom evacuated 34 Palestinian students, Ireland evacuated more than 60, and France evacuated over 100. “Their actions prove that with political will, a pathway can be created,” Majd said.

“I am very hopeful that the government will change,” El-Fassou told us, “because if they don’t, we will be on the wrong side of history.”

The Canadian government has not been straight-jacketed into quiescence. Today, it could choose to welcome to its universities some of the finest scholars in the world, to foster expertise capable of saving lives, and to be part of the psychological reconstruction and infrastructure of hope for a place razed to the ground by an apartheid state. And if not today, it could choose again tomorrow. 

“Without this kind of intervention,” Majd explained, “my application and my future at McGill remain in limbo, despite everything else I have done to make this happen.” 

“Once [Palestinian students] get here, they can flourish and they can thrive,” Abu-Zahra said. “But they’re starving at the moment. Two of the 70 people accepted into universities have been killed. I don’t know if Canada’s waiting for the other 68 to die or be killed.”

“We are not asking for the impossible,” Majd said. “We are asking for what has been shown to be possible.”

Martlets, Sports

A long-awaited return: McGill Field Hockey hosts second home weekend in over six years

by Lialah Mavani on

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For the second consecutive year, the McGill Women’s Field Hockey team made their home debut, marking a major step in the team’s efforts to re-establish their presence on campus. On Oct. 11 and 12, the Martlets played their only home games of the season, facing off against the University of Toronto’s Varsity Blues. While the Martlets were unable to secure wins in either match against the second-ranked team—losing 4-0 and 7-0—the games were a reminder of the team’s ongoing improvement and determination. 

The team’s opening match at Forbes Field on Oct. 11 set the tone for the weekend, showcasing their defensive skills and growing their on-field chemistry.

Goalie Gabriella Fourkas, U2 Arts, and midfielder Sara Prins, U2 Arts, spoke to The Tribune about the importance of maintaining focus and composure on the pitch, which the team has majorly improved upon this year.

“We were all able to stay calm the whole time,” Fourkas reflected. “We didn’t let the excitement or the stress of it being a home game get to us too much.” 

Prins echoed that sentiment. 

“The first half definitely started off with extreme jitters,” she said. “But after the second whistle blew, every girl was in it.”

As Prins noted, the Martlets had a slow start in the first half, with the opening quarter ending in a scoreless 0-0 tie. The Varsity Blues ramped up their offensive pressure in the second quarter, pulling ahead 3-0, though Fourkas ended the half with a crucial save to deny another goal.

McGill began to settle into the ebb and flow of the game in the second half, using their strong defensive pressure and working to find open spaces to pass up the field. While the Martlets were unable to score, they stayed composed, hustling to every ball and supporting their goalkeeper. Fourkas’ relentless performance and spectacular saves earned her ‘Player of the Game,’ with special mentions by the team’s assistant and head coaches to defenders such as captain Clara Smyrski, U3 Arts and Science, and Jenna Payette, U3 Science, for greatly strengthening the defensive line.

Head Coach Sharan Gill praised the team’s determination in an interview with The Tribune. 

“The girls are really good. They are one of the hardest-working groups I’ve ever coached,” Gill said.

The game also sparked a broader conversation around the future of McGill’s Field Hockey program. The Martlets currently face the threat of being cut in the upcoming varsity review. Midfielder, assistant captain, and U3 Arts student Grace Hodges emphasized the necessity of hosting home games in building awareness and visibility for the team.

“Having home games builds the sport in the province,” she reflected, in an interview with The Tribune. “[If the program gets cut], it’s a shame not only for women’s sports, […] but also for the future of this sport within the province, growing different types of games, and not just the ones that have had support from McGill.”

Hodges’ sentiment that the sport is growing was echoed by the stands, where the crowd’s presence and cheers created a buzzing atmosphere. 

The Martlets carried the momentum of their home play into their Oct. 19 matches against the Queen’s University Gaels in Kingston. Though the Martlets lost their first game 2-1, Smyrski scored the first goal of the season; in their second match, the Martlets won 1-0, with a goal from U1 Arts and Science student and forward Avery Berry. Prins assisted both goals.

Quotable: “It makes a big difference for the girls to have the chance to play with their families [watching]. A lot of us are from out of province, and our families have flown in and have driven hours to be here. There’s the field hockey community in Montreal that shows up for it. So, it’s not only meaningful for us to be able to play on a home field, but it’s meaningful for the sport at large in Quebec.”—Hodges, on the importance of celebrating Women’s Field Hockey at McGill.

Stat corner: There were 112 fans in attendance, marking a major increase from the previous year’s home game attendance of 75.

Sports Editor Clara Smyrski and Sports Staff Writer Jenna Payette are members of the McGill Women’s Field Hockey team. Neither were involved in the writing, editing, or publication of this article.

McGill, Montreal, News

Thousands fight for Palestine during Oct. 7 student rally and strikes for divestment

by Mairin Burke on

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A sea of demonstrators in red, white, black, and green chanted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” at the Montreal student rally for Palestine on Oct. 7. Commencing outside of Concordia University’s Henry F. Hall Building at 1:00 p.m., thousands of university and CEGEP students and faculty, as well as broader Montreal community members, gathered to protest two years of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Despite the pouring rain, attendees also showed up to support the day’s Montreal-wide student strikes for academic divestment from the genocide, which applied to over 80,000 students. Chapters of Students for Palestine’s Honour and Resistance across Montreal’s post-secondary institutions organized both the strikes and rally. 

Surrounded by Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) officers in riot gear—approximately 40 of whom were stationed in lines barricading access to the temporarily-closed Hall Building—attendees cried out chants for Palestine and for divestment. Contingents of students from different universities and CEGEPs, including McGill, Concordia, Cégep de Saint-Laurent, Université de Montréal, and Université du Québec à Montréal, continued arriving to the intersection of rue Mackay and boul. De Maisonneuve Ouest. 

Associate Professor of McGill’s Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Daniel Schwartz addressed the growing crowd, affirming that the movement for Palestinian liberation is an ongoing, universal fight.

“A lot of people ask me how I, as a Jew, can make this sort of speech on October 7,” he stated. “And I say to them, as so many of you have said, that this genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians did not start on October 7. I say to them that any day of the year is a good day to commemorate the Palestinian struggle.”

Schwartz continued his speech by applauding the Montreal student collective’s solidarity with Palestine.

“I am proud to stand here with students representing all the universities and CEGEPS in Montreal, [and] to be joined by a growing number of professors […] who refuse to sit on the fence,” Schwartz said. “I’m proud of the moral conscience of our students, of their patience and their steadfastness, despite all the opposition and threats they’ve received from administrators, politicians and the police.”

In an interview with The Tribune, Irene, a member of the Revolutionary Communist Party in Canada, commented on the importance of solidarity between worker and student movements.

“We’re [hoping people] see the connection between what’s happening in Gaza and the broader crisis of capitalism […] to [realize that] oppression in Gaza is tied to oppression here. [….] So we all are vested in freeing Palestine, because it means our freedom too,” they stated. “What’s needed is these students, with their palpable energy, to combine with the workers’ movement, [and] unite together. And this unity [means] we’re unbeatable.”

Around 2:00 p.m., the protest began to travel from rue Mackay onto rue St.-Catherine Ouest. It threaded through nearby streets lined with SPVM officers before moving north on rue Peel. The demonstrators then entered McGill’s campus via a service driveway behind the Bronfman Building, despite the main entrances to campus being closed. At the driveway’s entrance, faculty members held a sign that read, “Profs pour la Palestine.”

At 2:00 p.m., student protestors from all Montreal universities gather at McGill’s Y-intersection, where youth speak out against their universities’ complicity in the genocide in Palestine.

On McGill campus, Associate Professor of the university’s Department of Sociology Barry Eidlin discussed the importance of professors supporting the student movement for divestment in an interview with The Tribune.

“It’s particularly important because the university has taken a really hard line on trying to […] stifle student protest and just campus protests in general,” he stated. “[Professors] get pressure from our administration to just conduct business as usual. [But] the students are here because this is something that they’ve been fighting for, for years now, and it’s fallen on deaf ears.”

The demonstrators moved past the McLennan-Redpath library complex to reach McGill’s Y-intersection, where another protest contingent joined the larger group using the campus road alongside the Macdonald-Harrington Building. As the demonstration unfolded on campus, an individual smashed a window at McLennan-Redpath.

Once the marchers assembled, organizers began releasing smoke bombs and small fireworks in the colours of the Palestinian flag as they unfurled banners to form a protected circle in the centre of the Y. A student speaker in the circle began to detail how academic institutions in Montreal have recently “revealed the lengths that they will go to [to] maintain their genocidal complicity.”

“We have demanded arms embargoes, we have demanded sanctions, and we have demanded divestment, only to be redirected to the so-called diplomatic and civilized channels,” the speaker stated. “And after two years of genocide, we have learned that these channels are anything but diplomatic or civilized.”

Eidlin echoed these sentiments.

“The type of protest often matches the response that protesters received from the powerful, and we have been in a context now where the administration has basically been burying its head in the sand […] [and] the only response [to student demands has been] to lock down campus and try to stifle the ability to engage in free speech and association on campus,” he said.

Amidst chants of “shame” from the assembled crowd, the speaker continued to decry universities’ attempts to “divide [students’] collective might” in pro-Palestinian activist movements.

“Our administrations are motivated by greed and profit amid donor pressure, but do not mistake this self interest for ignorance,” they said. “In their hearts, they know that they’re standing against the tides of history, and history will not wash Deep Saini [and] our [Board of Governors] of their blood-soaked hands.”

In a written statement to The Tribune, McGill’s Media Relations Office (MRO) maintained that the university will not divest.

“McGill remains firmly committed to freedom of expression and peaceful protest,” the MRO wrote.

Organizers at the rally then burned an Israeli flag covered in red handprints, before traveling past the Leacock Building beside the Redpath Museum. “We keep us safe!” the demonstrators chanted, as they approached approximately 20 riot officers preventing access to Leacock. Diverted by the police presence, the collective moved onto rue McTavish, before re-entering the streets of the Golden Square Mile around 3:00 p.m., once more accompanied by police. Onlookers showed support, raising peace signs and honking car horns during stretches of the demonstration that occurred on roads. One attendee was shoved by an SPVM officer as they walked near a Société de transport de Montréal bus.

When the protestors returned to the Hall Building, they were once more met by police officers guarding the doors. Though the group of demonstrators edged close to the doors, there was no escalation, and the protest eventually travelled south from the building to reach Square Victoria, where it joined another demonstration for Palestine at around 4:00 p.m.

Thousands of students and Montreal community members gather at Place des Arts for a final march down René-Lévesque Street.

Upon joining the second protest at Square Victoria, demonstrators listened to speeches, including by Mohawk activist and artist Ellen Gabriel, and shared free refreshments provided by organizers. Participants also displayed a mock MK-84 guided bomb, which has been deployed by Israel amidst safe zones in Gaza designated for displaced Palestinians. The demonstration concluded at around 6:30 p.m., with the SPVM reporting no protest-related arrests. Many attendees then moved to Place des Arts to attend a second event for Palestine.

Outside of the Hall Building, Professor at McGill’s Institute of Islamic Studies Michelle Hartman expressed how meaningful inter-university solidarity is in the fight for Palestine in an interview with The Tribune.

“I didn’t recognize one student,” she commented. “Often, when I’m at a protest, I recognize students I’ve taught, and I realized everyone around me [today] was a student from a French university, and that’s the kind of solidarity I think that we need in order to make a difference, and that’s what we’re seeing being created right here, right now.”

Hartman also specifically discussed what the Oct. 7 Montreal student strikes represent, and the importance of faculty support for these student movements.

“We are the majority of the world. We’re the people who are on the right side, and we’re the people who are all over the streets,” Hartman stated. “The students voted for the strike, so professors should respect that, if not stand in total solidarity with the students. [….] I feel like increasing numbers of professors at McGill agree with me. As professors are unionizing across all the faculties now, people are becoming more and more aware of the importance of that kind of solidarity.”

Editorial, Opinion

SSMU must remember whose team it is on

by The Tribune Editorial Board on

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On Oct. 1, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU)’s Board of Directors (BoD) abruptly dismantled the student-run food accessibility collective known as Midnight Kitchen (MK), firing its staff and locking the doors to its kitchen space without any prior warning. 

SSMU’s executive termination of Midnight Kitchen betrays the fundamental duty of a student union to serve and uplift its student body. SSMU’s decision to close MK—without proper consultation with the kitchen collective beforehand—demonstrates an ignorance of the practical specificity of MK’s work, and an exploitation of inconsistent and selective information to sensationalize the circumstances surrounding MK’s dismantlement. 

MK is a non-profit, worker- and volunteer-run collective with the core mission of providing affordable, healthy, nut-free and vegan food to McGill students and the surrounding community. MK’s programs include educational workshops on food prep and food politics, free lunches, and solidarity servings.

The discrepancies between the BoD’s rationale for shutting down MK and the nuanced realities underlying these accusations lay bare SSMU’s disregard for clear and respectful communication with its student organizations. In an email sent to the study body, the BoD claimed that MK had failed to meet its fee mandate, providing only two weekly meals instead of five. In a statement regarding the restructuring of MK, the Quebec Public Interest Research Group at McGill (QPIRG-McGill) clarified this reported shortcoming, explaining that in addition to its two weekly meal servings, MK also provides two to three solidarity meals for students and local communities, totalling four to five meals per week. 

SSMU also claimed that MK did not spend enough of its budget directly on food. The email outlined that in 2023, MK spent 5.1 per cent of its $350,360 CAD budget on food, an amount that increased to 7.41 per cent in 2024, but, according to the BoD, remained insufficient. QPIRG contextualised this claim by outlining that the amount MK spent on food does not represent the true amount of food the kitchen acquires, as it sources a large portion of its ingredients free of cost from Moisson Montréal and local student farms, such as Les greniers agricoles and Élèves des Champs. The way in which SSMU offered data without providing context critical to its meaning is misleading and incomplete, demonstrating a failure to work in good faith with the collective to reach a compromise on financial and operational changes.

As a student society, SSMU’s most fundamental responsibility is to support its students and their organizations, not to antagonize and pit them against one another—as SSMU’s framing has done.  

Instead, SSMU imposed a black-and-white business-centred conception of proper management onto MK’s operations—of which SSMU has little to no expertise. The Students’ Society neglected the practical obstacles inherent to running a kitchen and serving food. MK’s kitchen, for example, can only accommodate eight people; additionally, it has no dishwasher, meaning staff must clean everything by hand. These challenges are much more likely to be at the root of organizational shortfalls than the budgetary discrepancies it problematized. 

SSMU’s unapologetic prioritization of austerity over MK’s critical social and political mandates undermines the collective’s capacity to provide food and education to students and local communities in need, and delegitimizes SSMU allyship with the student body. A student union that uses its bureaucratic power to confuse and mislead its members fails its most basic duty to serve its students—a failure that no amount of increased ‘efficiency’ can make up for. 

Regardless of the details of MK’s funding or operational strategy, the manner with which SSMU addressed its grievances with the collective was deeply damaging, disrespectful, and dismissive. SSMU must commit to transparency, not use numbers and incomplete information to sensationalize its negotiations with the student organizations with whom it is supposed to be allied. As students, it is our responsibility to remain critical of the apparent legitimacy of numbers, to seek relevant context when assessing the efficacy of clubs and collectives, and to avoid passive acceptance of information shaped by SSMU’s bureaucratic power. 

SSMU and its students are all on the same team, and we must treat each other as such.

//A previous version of this article stated that Midnight Kitchen is a non-profit, volunteer-run organization. In fact, it is a worker- and volunteer-run organization. This article has been modified to reflect this information. The Tribune regrets this error.//

Science & Technology

Could personalized interventions transform eating disorder care?

by Michelle Yankovsky on

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Eating disorders (EDs) are serious and prevalent conditions that can impact all aspects of one’s life. However, treatment remains difficult to access as a result of high costs, long waitlists, and geographic limitations. But what if just one encounter could significantly improve cost-effectiveness and long-term outcomes for individuals living with EDs?

Single-session interventions (SSIs)—programs designed to involve only one visit with a clinic, provider, or program—are emerging as a promising approach to better support individuals with EDs who may otherwise be unable to access care.

In a recent publication in the Journal of Eating Disorders, Laura Lapadat, a fourth-year PhD student in McGill’s Clinical Psychology program, investigated the effectiveness of a personalized feedback SSI for individuals with EDs. Lapadat explained that her motivation stems from a desire to make research more collaborative and patient-involved, ensuring that the voices of those directly affected are heard in the development of new interventions.

“When it comes to creating interventions, it’s great to talk to the people who live with the condition and know what it would be like to have to use this [intervention] day to day,” Lapadat said in an interview with The Tribune. 

She emphasized the need to move past a “one size fits all” approach to treating EDs, since there are many subtypes; the most well-known include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorders.

“There’s a movement in the field right now towards more personalized approaches to EDs, as there is a lot of variation in how an ED can present and persist,” Lapadat said. “[Personalized interventions] capture different elements of eating disorders, such as levels of symptoms like restrictive eating or emotion regulation problems.”

Using a qualitative approach, the study interviewed 16 individuals with EDs to explore whether they would be interested in a personalized SSI. Lapadat hoped to incorporate their feedback regarding their ED symptoms and behaviours to better understand their experience during recovery.

Participants indicated that they valued the detailed personal information, appreciated actionable recommendations for their health, and hoped for feedback which could be shared with their extended healthcare team to allow for better support.

“People with EDs are interested in seeing their own data and appreciate the personalized element of it as compared to a one size fits all approach,” Lapadat said.

However, some participants reported concerns that personalized feedback may bring up feelings of shame. Lapadat highlighted the emotional complexity patients face when receiving such feedback, describing a participant who experienced strain between their ED and recovery goals. The participant explained that if the feedback indicated she was “doing well,” it could reinforce and trigger her ED habits. This finding illustrates the need for sensitive delivery in making SSIs safe and effective for people who may be at different stages of ED recovery.

“In terms of how it’s delivered, we wanted it to be engaging, to not have too much long text, and to be formatted in ways that respect the autonomy of people with EDs, ideally giving them options about how they view and receive their feedback,” Lapadat said.

Lapadat also acknowledged the study’s limitations caused by its narrow demographic representation. Most participants were white, educated, cisgender women, with many individuals in stable states of their illness.

“Interviewing individuals in more severe states of their illness may have yielded different findings,” Lapadat said.

Looking ahead, the lab’s next step involves recruiting ten individuals with EDs to conduct a pilot study, where participants receive two weeks of five daily phone surveys, to better capture the interventions’ efficacy in real-world settings. Because EDs have the highest mortality rate of any other mental illness, implementing effective interventions to overcome barriers to treatment is urgent. Personalized SSIs show an encouraging new avenue for ED care by offering treatment tailored to a patients’ unique needs, cutting costs, and reaching individuals who may otherwise not have access to traditional care.

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