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Science & Technology

Rogers Place and the overlooked costs of urban development projects

by Malika Logossou on

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The creation of public sports infrastructure often sparks excitement, as many view these projects as symbols of progress and cultural pride. Yet few consider how such developments impact marginalized populations, notably Indigenous communities. A study in the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research examining Rogers Place—Edmonton’s $613.7 million CAD publicly financed hockey arena—challenges the belief that sport-related urban development projects offer community-wide benefits.

Before opening in 2016 on Treaty 6 territory, the site was home to a significant Indigenous urban street community and several non-profit social service agencies. Following the arena’s creation, residents were evicted as subsidized apartment complexes and community hubs were replaced with upmarket housing. Thus, between 2016 and 2018, Jordan Koch—associate professor in McGill’s Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education—worked alongside researchers Jay Scherer and Rylan Kafara from the University of Alberta to conduct community-based research documenting the arena’s impact on Indigenous and unhoused residents.

Koch told The Tribune in an interview that the project began after he and his colleagues witnessed residents being displaced and losing access to local social services, including the harm reduction facility known as The Hub. 

“The three of us had this longstanding relationship in this community, and we just witnessed firsthand what was happening,” he said. “This sort of thriving community being displaced, […] often aggressively, violently, and we were kind of at a loss for what to do, so we started doing what researchers do, research it […], [and] trumpet stories that we thought were underrepresented.”

The researchers interviewed 34 city centre residents, 20 frontline staff at The Hub, and 8 managers from several non-profit agencies. They also spoke with 30 city centre residents via Homeless Connect events and unhoused individuals at three facilities outside the urban core, and conducted ethnographic observations during 40 National Hockey League (NHL) game nights.

Throughout their interviews, the researchers identified three recurring themes. The first is that the increase of racialized policing and carceral redlining—systemic social control through discriminatory policing and incarceration practices specifically targeting racialized communities—increased stress and anxiety among participants. Police and private security increased surveillance, issued fines, and used other aggressive policing measures to displace Indigenous and unhoused residents to create a “comfortable” environment for hockey fans on event nights. 

Koch recalls witnessing this directly during his ethnographic observations.

“An hour before the game, […] police were sort of clearing the corridors [and] that would lead the traffic to and from the arena. [There was] this physical cleansing of the space to kind of make it a more enjoyable experience for the fans.”

Koch also shared that a South Edmonton police officer explained to him how individuals displaced from downtown relocated south. However, limited services forced police to return them downtown and then bring them back to the south on game nights, adding to this nauseating feeling of continuous displacement.

The second common theme among residents was anger and sadness over the loss of safe community spaces. Developers destroyed dead zones in the city, such as parking lots, which often served as shared homeplaces. 

The last theme the study found was that city centre residents desired to remain on Indigenous land and retain access to The Hub, viewing it as a sacred space amid ongoing colonial violence against Indigenous Peoples.

“The community has been widely displaced. Yet there was still this hope and sense of home that I thought was really important. So that, to me, was what was kind of the most surprising,” Koch said. “People’s connectedness to that space, to that land, and to each other.”

The study notes that in 2021, the Katz Group purchased The Hub, and the Edmonton Oilers Community Foundation allocated $10 million CAD to relocate it two blocks away from Rogers Place. On Sept. 30, 2023, The Hub closed, and at least 120 city centre residents have since died amid ongoing housing and drug crises.

Ultimately, this study shows that sport-driven development often fails to provide community-wide benefits and instead reflects settler colonialism in its displacement of racialized communities for the benefit of urban elites. Indigenous resilience and connection to land emphasize that urban spaces are home to many communities, which is why ethical and inclusive planning is vital when constructing sport arenas in Edmonton, Montreal, and beyond.

Art, Arts & Entertainment, Books, Film and TV

A love letter from art to autumn 

by Bianca Sugunasiri on

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Dearest autumn,

You’ve arrived once again, although you’ve made me wait an awfully long time this year. You seem content to torture me with thirty-degree weather in October. But the leaves have finally turned a crisp ochre, and with this comes the breaths of cozy inspiration. All around, artists and audiences alike snuggle up with their blankets to descend into the crackling fireplace of imagination and creativity. 

A classic fall pastime for coffee lovers involves sipping from warm mugs while rewatching their favourite 2000s sitcoms. The familiar bond between those in their twenties and their 40-minute episode, seven-season TV show is unmistakable. Gilmore Girls is my personal favourite, combining slice-of-life realness with a tinge of whimsy and the wittiest dialogue. Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) is a sparkling character who epitomizes fall vibes. Watching Rory Gilmore (Alexis Bledel) consistently make poor decisions throughout her early life crisis makes me want to rip out my hair—or hers. But there’s a certain comfort in knowing that no matter how off-kilter my day is going, Rory’s is going worse. This frustration and endearment alongside a steaming teacup is quintessentially autumn.

You, autumn, encourage everyone to slow down. Books are suddenly magical again, and a windy bite at one’s nose incites a desire to hide under the covers with a silly little fantasy novel. My personal recommendation this season is Rebecca Ross’s Divine Rivals. It is not often that I find a story with a plot that feels entirely new, but Ross achieves this, weaving together a perplexing and animated world that I couldn’t escape from. She charts the story of two young journalists competing for the role of columnist. Both share a fiery determination and darkened pasts, kept close and secret. As war rages on, the question emerges: What should we really be commenting on? Connected through magic typewriters, the two form an unlikely bond under precious aliases, becoming each others’ dearest confidants. Ross creates a whirl of warm love, sweet misgivings, and moral conundrum all in one. It’s perfectly paired with the pumpkin spice treat of choice, and the soft patter of rain. 

Autumn, despite the wonderful inspiration you are for writers, artists, creators, in addition to the atmosphere you create for art-lovers to immerse themselves in their passions, you are art in and of yourself. Stepping outside on an autumn day holds nearly inexplicable magic, but I shall do my best. It is a sensory exhibit of wonder: The crunch of bright leaves under my soles, the symphony of rustling above me, the slightly sweet, nutty smell in the air. It is art created by no one at all, but shared by everyone. Every leaf is a painting that changes from moment to moment: Sage, to copper, to bursts of sunset and teddy brown. Innocent kids, barely two feet tall, collect them, press them into books; they notice the art, even if growing up will make them forget. The clouds dance with the sun in autumn, light rays slanting through the cottony fluff and painting the world in vivid colours. 

Spring and summer may always hold the popular vote. But I will always love the slight inconvenience of a chill seeping through the knit of sweaters, of the wind tousling perfectly placed hair. There is dramatic art in the playful flair of autumn. Autumn flirts with everyone, like they’re the audience of an interactive play. You demand their attention, grasping them out of whatever self-centred haze they may be trapped in. We become a shared audience for autumn, united in the common experience of red-tipped ears and runny noses. 

Art and autumn go hand in hand. These months will pass by so quickly with the blur of midterms and travels home. But for a moment, even just a breath, try to find a piece of art this fall, in the blur of your train ride window or the stray leaf dancing across your textbook. 

Take a moment and notice it. We’ve worked very hard. 

Love, 
Art

Science & Technology

Breast cancer clarified: Addressing medical advances and common misconceptions

by Sarah McDonald on

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Breast cancer is far more common than many people realize; in 2024, breast cancer accounted for 25 per cent of the new cancer cases in Canadian women. While breast cancer survival rates have improved drastically over time, researchers continue to study the disease to improve patient outcomes. 

One such researcher is Dr. Sarkis H. Meterissian, a McGill professor of surgery and oncology. As director of the Breast Centre at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), Meterissian’s research is centred on breast cancer management.

“We do a combination of clinical research, meaning looking at patient outcomes and trying to determine from our databases what the optimal [treatment] approach would be [….] We also do translational research […] and then finally, we have a lot of very interesting collaborations and projects with industry,” Meterissian explained in an interview with The Tribune.

These industry collaborations help pilot new and developing technologies in clinical settings—a crucial step in tailoring medical technology to patients’ needs. One partnership is with the Montreal company Noze which is working to develop an AI model that can ‘smell’ cancer and other diseases on exhaled breath. 

“[Noze] did a pilot study already, with us at the breast center, with over 140 patients, showing very promising data on sensitivity and specificity,” Meterissian said. “And now I’m leading a study which will hopefully start soon, and will include over 3000 patients.” 

Another collaboration with Polytechnique Montréal involves engineers developing a medical wand to detect cancer on the margins of surgical wounds. According to Meterissian, between 20 and 25 per cent of surgically-treated breast cancer patients have cancer recurrences and require a second operation. Should this project be successful, this technology could significantly reduce reoperation rates—a huge advance in breast cancer treatment.

As diagnostic and treatment technologies evolve, breast cancer treatment results and the overall patient experience are expected to improve.

However, despite doctors’ and researchers’ continued efforts to improve patient outcomes, there are still many misconceptions about breast cancer, which Meterissian hopes to address.

First, he wanted to clarify the most at-risk populations. He explained that while breast cancer is most common among older women, cancer cases are becoming more and more common in younger patients in general. He also emphasized that breast cancer is not influenced by genetics nearly as much as many people believe.

“Only in five to ten per cent of cases is [it] genetic, so you have the other 90 to 95 per cent that are sporadic,” Meterissian said. “In other words, a woman who has no family history can get breast cancer.”

He also described how lifestyle can influence breast cancer susceptibility. Most types of breast cancer are linked to hormone levels—the higher the levels of circulating hormones one has, the higher their risk of developing breast cancer.

“A woman who is of average weight has less circulating hormones than a woman who is 50 pounds overweight, because [the latter] will make hormones from the fat as well as from her ovaries,” Meterissian explained. 

Alcohol also has a definitive influence on breast cancer development.

“If you drink every weekend, every weekend your liver is taking a hit and your hormones are going up,” Meterissian said. “So the chances of you [getting] breast cancer will be higher if you are drinking on a regular basis than a woman who doesn’t drink.”

Another key misconception about breast cancer is that it is limited to one sex. While breast cancer is, expectedly, most common in women, it is important to remember that men can get breast cancer too—something that is forgotten all too often.

Ultimately, Meterissian shares that it comes down to noticing changes in your body. 

“The number one [piece of] advice I have for women is to be aware of their bodies,” Meterissian said. “We see so many times there’s a lump, there’s redness, and women haven’t noticed. So take the time to check.” 

McGill, News

Independent Jewish Voices celebrates Sukkot while standing in solidarity with Palestine

by Armen Erzingatzian on

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The McGill chapter of Independent Jewish Voices (IJV), a grassroots, anti-Zionist, Jewish organization, held an event on Oct. 6 on McGill’s Lower Field to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Sukkot and show their solidarity with Palestinians enduring Israel’s ongoing genocide. Sukkot is a seven-day festival of thanksgiving for the fall harvest, where observers build makeshift huts, known as ‘sukkah.’ The holiday also commemorates the 40 years that the Jewish people spent wandering after their Exodus from Egypt, during which they lived in huts. The IJV event was quickly met with heavy presence from the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM). 

At 4:00 p.m., members of McGill’s and Montreal’s Jewish communities began building the sukkah on the Lower Field using a pop-up tent. Nearly 50 individuals gathered and made speeches, said prayers, sang, and waved four species of plants—citron, myrtle, palm, and willow—as well as banners reading, “Jews against Genocide/Free Palestine,” “Liberate Judaism from Zionism,” and “L’chaim Intifada”.

In an interview with The Tribune, an attendee who wished to remain anonymous described the significance of the sukkah-building as a demonstration of support for Palestine.

“[A sukkah is] a temporary structure […] [that] you share […] community experiences in,” they said. “We wanted to bring that here today, to be in solidarity with Palestine, [and] to show that we can make the choice to build a temporary structure like this. [….] The people of Gaza, whose homes have been destroyed, they have to live in structures like this. [….] They don’t have the choice.”

Another attendee who wished to remain unnamed explained why they felt it was important to differentiate Judaism from Zionism in times of Palestinian oppression.

“It’s very clear to me that if there is this injustice, it must be addressed, not just because it is a Jewish thing to do, but because it is the human thing,” they stated in an interview with The Tribune. “And […] in that process, we are actually addressing antisemitism, because we are showing a positive version of what Judaism can look like when people have only been exposed to Zionism.”

IJV McGill was one of the bodies who supported the Students’ Society of McGill University’s Legislative Council’s decision to adopt the Policy against Antisemitism in April 2025, which distinguishes between anti-Zionism and antisemitism. Many pro-Israel groups on campus were opposed to its adoption. The attendee spoke to this disagreement. 

“[The policy] cites […] historical precedent, […] [and] legal summaries endorsed by a lot of law professors [internationally],” the attendee explained. “I really think that this narrative of the Jewish community [being] so divided, [is] disingenuous and […] misleading. Partially because they’re like every community, […] in a state of trying to figure itself out. We’re doing everything we can to engage in this conversation.”

 “I [grew up in] a Zionist perspective,” the attendee continued. “Change is possible. [….] I do think that it is also kind of a mitzvah, a kind of important obligation to try to help people on their journey to having a more open mind.”

Meanwhile, between 4:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m., approximately 25 SPVM officers arrived at the sukkah. Around ten SPVM Specialized Support and Intervention Section police, or riot police, stood 20 meters away from the gathering. 

In an interview with The Tribune, a community member who interacted with the SPVM described how one of the police officers was “mocking” the religious ceremony.

“One police officer explicitly said that he didn’t think this was a religious tent. He was like, ‘It’s just a gazebo,’” the attendee, who wished to remain unnamed, recounted. “[His comments were] pretty demeaning, derogatory, […] borderline antisemitic. [….] [He was] insisting that we don’t have a right to mark this religious service in the way that our faith requires that we do.”

According to the community member, around 5:30 p.m., the SPVM officers threatened to physically intervene in the gathering, claiming the structure had been illegally erected on McGill’s private property.

Though attendees took down the pop-up tent, they gathered to form the sukkah once more using their banners as walls, their bodies as pillars, and the branches in their stretched-out arms as the roof.

Campus Spotlight, Student Life

At Queer McGill, trans and nonbinary community-building is stronger than ever

by Gregor McCall on

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On the chilly night of Oct. 8, students, activists, organizers, and vendors gathered on the fourth floor of the University Centre in celebration of Queer History Month. Queer McGill’s Market and Panel Discussion featured a variety of organizations and speakers focused on issues surrounding transgender and nonbinary communities. 

The heart of the conversation highlighted the importance of creating spaces where trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming individuals not only feel accepted but also see their identities reflected in queer-centric spaces. Even within queer organizations and communities, as the panellists discussed, trans and nonbinary people often have to advocate for themselves—whether seeking access to gender-affirming care or fighting to see themselves represented and reflected—in ways cisgender queer people do not. At the same time, the cultural and political rise of transphobia in Canada threatens the very fabric of these communities. 

Val Munoz, a master’s student in McGill’s Department of Integrated Studies in Education, emphasized that in the wake of hateful sentiment, community-building is more important than ever. 

“[In] Quebec, there’s a recent bill that was passed [restricting] gender-neutral language or pronoun-usage anymore in official documentation. It’s still a fight to be acknowledged in the first place. So, it’s super important for us to feature trans and nonbinary specific vendors and panellists for today’s event.” 

Munoz refers to the recent decision of Jean-François Roberge, Minister of French for Quebec under the Coalition Avenir Québec government, to ban the use of gender-inclusive language in all official communications. This prohibits government officials from using the pronoun ‘iel’ or adding inclusive suffixes to gendered words, as in ‘étudiant.e.’

Institutional barriers to gender inclusivity exist beyond the governmental level and manifest in all corners of society, including at universities like McGill. Juno Cinq-Mars, U2 Education, and one of the organizers of the event, stressed that even though McGill has made progress in offering services to queer students, there is still a long way to go. 

“Overall, right now, there’s been an increase in gender-neutral washrooms, but we need to expand on that project and make sure that’s accessible in every single building. There’s no reason that I need to be running around multiple kilometres while being disabled, just because I’m trans, to find a washroom.”

Other panellists and vendors spoke of the importance of safety in community organizing. Katya Tyutyunyk, a master’s student at McGill’s School of Architecture and member of the featured organization lowkiki, highlighted that creating queer spaces apart from party culture is one of the missions of the group.

“Our purpose, initially, was to create an alternative to nightlife and give queer [folks] a space where they can build community and meet each other without having to party and drink.” 

“We mainly do a ‘third-space’ type of event where you come and hang out. We have collaging, […] we’ve done trans-centric events, we’ve done an event that was centred around braiding for Black and Indigenous People of Colour. And these are all kinds of things we want to centre with our events in terms of creating a space where people can come and become friends in the city without pressure,” Tyutyunyk added in an interview with The Tribune.

The event underscored the responsibility of allies to support queer voices and work collaboratively to ensure the proliferation of inclusive spaces. Queer History Month reminds everyone to acknowledge and celebrate the countless queer individuals and organizations who have fought against oppression and for civil rights throughout history. 

Cinq-Mars continued, “Queer issues affect everyone, not just queer people. Issues with forced gender conformity affect cis people, they affect straight people, and overall, we have to break free from the binaries of gender, and the heteropatriarchy, in order to increase the quality of everyone’s lives, not just queer people’s lives.”

Interested students can follow Queer McGill on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date on the wide range of events, services, and programs they offer to the McGill community.

Montreal, News

Jean-François Roberge bans gender-neutral pronouns in all official Quebec communications

by Amelia H. Clark on

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On Sept. 24, Quebec’s French Language Minister Jean-François Roberge introduced a bill banning the use of gender neutral pronouns such as ‘iel,’ ‘celleux,’ and ‘Mx.’ in all official communications from the Quebec government. Roberge plans on extending the bill to public education in the province, ranging from kindergarten to post-secondary institutions. It further applies to both patients and employees in the province’s healthcare system. 

Roberge states that the pronoun ban is necessary to protect the clarity of the French language. He claims neologisms, or newly coined words, such as ‘froeur’ cannot be conjugated properly due to the pre-existing language structure in French, causing confusion. The bill only applies to written documents, meaning a teacher can be referred to as ‘Mx.’ by students during class, but cannot be identified as such on the record. 

Although Roberge claims that the bill is not intended to alienate gender expansive communities who use the now-banned pronouns, some queer advocacy groups at McGill have expressed concerns that the ban will reduce 2SLGBTQIA+ access to government institutions and resources, while also harming the public perception of transgender and genderfluid individuals. 

The Trans Patient Union (TPU) at McGill wrote to The Tribune that this bill creates further blocks to accessing gender-affirming care in Quebec, and stated that many doctors continuously misgender patients, despite corrections from the patient or an ‘X’ marker written on their file. 

The TPU also wrote that the inclusion of neologisms in French would actually incentivize more people to communicate in the language, as gender expansive people would know that French recognizes their identity. 

“It is at times the case that bilingual nonbinary people will avoid speaking French specifically because of how challenging it can be to speak French while being correctly gendered,” the TPU wrote. “Changes which aim to make the language better include trans and nonbinary francophones can only help encourage its use.” 

A representative of The Union for Gender Empowerment (UGE) at McGill noted in an interview with The Tribune that Roberge’s decision to ban the use of gender-neutral pronouns in official communications was confusing, considering that there are no previous laws mandating the inclusion of these pronouns in government announcements. 

“The fact that this [bill] covers the government and municipalities kind of strikes me as banning a problem that doesn’t exist,” the UGE representative said. “When it comes to widening this legislation to other publicly-funded institutions, my first thought is that this undermines the autonomy of different publicly-funded institutions to decide how they want to structure and address some of their publications.”

The bill also mandates that official communications must be written in the masculine form, going against the government’s past inclusion of also the feminine form within brackets in government documentation. 

“The greatest effect of this decree will be to re-emphasize this type of convention as more expedient, and consistently remove the presence of women, which are, frankly, the majority of the population in Quebec, from references to the population as a whole, whether as workers, as citizens, or as patients,” the UGE representative said.

McGill’s Media Relations Office (MRO) stated in a written response to The Tribune that McGill plans on continuing to denounce the systematic use of the masculine pronoun, and continuing to avoid using gendered language in its announcements.

“You will see that our style guide already favours inclusivity in writing [and] that we don’t normally use the terminology targeted by the government,” the MRO wrote.

The UGE representative further questioned the purpose of the government language ban, noting that no empirical research was conducted prior to its proposal supporting its alleged benefits.

“When it comes to clarity in terms of graphic conventions, I would love to see data on the science of reading that tells me that using a parenthesis is clearer and easier to read for, say, people with dyslexia or learners of the French language,” the UGE representative said. “I don’t think it exists right now. This is merely a question of tradition, not clarity.” 

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

‘One Battle After Another’ and the never-ending need for resistance

by Loriane Chagnon on

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Holding on tightly to its place at the top of the box office since its release on Sept. 26, Paul Thomas Anderson’s new action thriller One Battle After Another continues to captivate and delight viewers. With it, Anderson maintains his standing as one of cinema’s best and brightest filmmakers. Inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland, he transforms the story through wide shots of winding midwestern roads, action-packed scenes, and a haunting score composed by Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood. It features career-topping performances from Leonardo DiCaprio and Benicio del Toro, and breakout performances by Teyana Taylor and newcomer Chase Infiniti. 

One Battle After Another entraps the viewer right from the start. It opens with the rescue mission of detained immigrants conducted by the far-left revolutionary group, the French 75, whose members include ‘Ghetto’ Pat Calhoun (DiCaprio) and Perfidia Beverly Hills (Taylor). After an encounter with commanding officer Steven J. Lockjaw, (Sean Penn), whose performance is as wickedly haunting as Hans Landa’s (Christopher Waltz) in Inglorious Basterds, Perfidia and Pat’s daughter is born. Perfidia then enters witness protection, leaving her family behind. Forced into hiding, Pat and his newborn daughter—now assuming the identity of Bob and Willa Ferguson—abandon their revolutionary ways in favour of a simple life in exile.

16 years later, Lockjaw resurfaces to hunt Willa down. To protect herself, she runs away, forcing Bob to rejoin the revolution. Anderson depicts the struggles of a father and retired revolutionary with both humour and purpose, as he switches between Bob’s failed attempts to rescue his daughter and Willa’s determination to carry on the fight her parents abandoned to save her life.

By shooting in VistaVision—a high-resolution widescreen process created in the 1950s—Anderson gives his film a timeless feel, while designing the most enjoyable viewing experience for the big screen. He masterfully captures his characters’ undying determination to make the world a better place, and to escape those who threaten to end these aspirations for their own gain. 

One Battle After Another does not shy away from topics such as postpartum depression, intergenerational trauma, and the never-ending need for resistance, depicted through the father-daughter relationship of Bob and Willa, who both love and despise each other, as parents and adolescents often do.

With a run-time of 162 minutes, the film succeeds in retaining its viewers’ attention, never losing focus on the desire of Bob and Willa to reunite. Penn’s physical acting encapsulates the haunting absurdity of Lockjaw, who is portrayed as both a frightening antagonist and an irrational, law-bending, manic character. His caricatured walk, flexing of muscles, and growling mouth make for a character that is both sinister and ridiculous. Anderson is unafraid to denounce the cognitive dissonance that arises when faced with an authority that works, not for the good of the people, but for its own selfish desires. 

Strong acting, meticulous cinematography, warm colour grading, and the exploration of family, resistance, and revolution make One Battle After Another a movie that leaves no one indifferent. Anderson is at his best, as he reminds viewers that movies are meant to be digested and reflected on rather than consumed rapidly and in greater numbers. One Battle After Another will make you gasp, dance, scream, hope, and most importantly, think. 

Art, Arts & Entertainment, Fashion

The ‘Africa Fashion’ exhibit stitches together stories of agency and innovation

by Nell Pollak on

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The Africa Fashion exhibition at the McCord Stewart Museum tells a story that spans six decades, 20 countries, and boundless artistry. On display from Sept. 25 to Feb. 1, 2026, the show marks the only Canadian stop on an international tour organized by London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. It presents 100 garments and accessories, as well as textiles, photographs, and videos from 45 designers that foreground individual perspectives on the vitality of African fashion. Rather than attempting to showcase every textile tradition across the continent, Africa Fashion spotlights selected designers whose work captures the eclectic nature of the continent’s fashion as a self-defining art form.

At its core, the exhibition explores the concept of agency—the ability of African designers and wearers to define themselves in their own terms. The narrative begins in 1960, when 17 African nations gained independence, turning fashion into a language of liberation. It became a strategic political act as nations asserted their cultural identities, using art as a powerful force of post-colonial self-expression and global innovation.

This generation of pioneers bridged tradition and modernity with ingenuity. Nigerian designer Shade Thomas-Fahm revolutionized everyday wear for the modern woman by opening Maison Shade in 1960, the year of Nigeria’s independence. She added zippers to traditionally wrapped ìró skirts and created pre-tied gèlè headwraps that allowed busy, cosmopolitan women to embrace Nigerian fabrics without sacrificing convenience. Malian designer Chris Seydou reimagined traditional textiles through a contemporary lens, while Ghanaian artist Kofi Ansah combined indigo-dyed Adire cloth with Japanese denim jacquard fabric. Their work embodied how fashion became a tool for decolonizing minds—expressing freedom through reimagined tradition. 

Authentic representation and celebration of African beauty is woven into every element of Africa Fashion, embodied even by the mannequins themselves. Rejecting the Eurocentric figures that dominate the fashion industry, the Victoria and Albert Museum collaborated with South Sudanese model Adhel Bol to create mannequins that emulated the beauty of African models, spanning four different skin tones and three hairstyles, including Irun Didi braids and Bantu knots. The result is an exhibition where the presentation method serves as an extension of the curatorial narrative, centring African beauty and the visual culture of its fashion creatives.

The Politics and Poetics of Cloth section examines how textiles themselves became strategic political declarations during independence movements. Indigenous clothes that had been devalued under colonialism were reclaimed as symbols of pride and resistance. The exhibition features commemorative cloth made in the early 1990s celebrating Nelson Mandela’s release from prison, traditional kente fabric from Ghana, Nigerian àdìrẹ, and Malian bògòlanfini—pieces that gesture toward the continent’s thousands of textile techniques and traditions.

The contemporary section of the exhibition demonstrates how today’s generation of designers continue to push boundaries while honouring heritage. South African designer Thebe Magugu’s Alchemy collection, created in collaboration with traditional healer Noentla Khumalo, centres on African spirituality and ancestral relationships. Kenyan brand IAMISIGO, founded by Bubu Ogisi, references ancient West African masquerade costumes and performance art traditions. Rwandan fashion house Moshions reimagines traditional Rwandan forms and cultural motifs into contemporary pieces that reference ceremonial attire historically worn by royalty. Djiboutian costume designer and photographer Gouled Ahmed creates self portraits that combine textured garments with contemporary materials to represent multifaceted identities. Nigerian company DAKALA CLOTH by NKWO explores ways of using waste denim to create new textiles while preserving traditional craft skills, exemplifying how innovation can honour ancestral techniques.

Africa Fashion ultimately demonstrates that fashion is never just about clothing; it is storytelling, cultural preservation, and resistance encoded in fabric and form. What visitors witness is not the emergence of African fashion onto the global stage, but rather a long-overdue reframing of who gets to tell these stories. As the exhibition affirms, African designers have been charting their own course for decades: Revolutionizing adornment into an assertion of identity, a reclamation of heritage, and an uncompromising vision of the future.

Science & Technology

When cells collide: Understanding the effects of red blood cell collisions

by Guillaume Delgado on

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The field of biomedical engineering is complex, to say the least. Out of all the sciences, it is one of the hardest to understand, as it centres around understanding and altering the millions of interactions occurring in our bodies everyday.

In a recent study published in Scientific Reports, McGill Alumni Hristo Valtchanov and his colleagues analyzed the intricacies of the human body, specifically blood flow, to determine if red blood cells (RBC) are negatively affected by intercellular collisions, where two or more cells come into direct contact with each other. Because of the density of our red blood cells and how small our blood vessels are in width, red blood cells frequently collide with each other when being pumped through our bodies.

Valtchanov believes that researchers have overlooked RBC collisions in the modeling of blood rheology—the science of blood flow—despite overall advances in said technology. 

“In the biosciences, model representation is extremely important,” Valtchanov said in an interview with The Tribune. “It’s also important to challenge the assumptions people have on said models.” 

He also argues that previous studies downplayed the importance of RBC collisions, suggesting they had a minimal impact on hemolysis—the destruction of RBCs. High levels of hemolysis is dangerous for the human body and can eventually lead to organ failure. 

“It’s actually quite difficult to incorporate the effect of intercellular collisions, but no one had actually tried to quantify the effect, so we did a study doing just that,” Valtchanov said. 

Thus, the researchers used viscoelastic simulations, measuring the RBC membranes’ responses to constant force or deformation to analyze how much strain intercellular collisions put on these membranes. They specifically analyzed this strain at different shear rates, which measure how fast layers of liquid move past one another.

“Basically, we made a simulation, and smashed the red blood cells together so that we could directly measure the effect of collisions on the strain experienced by the red blood cell membrane, and thus on hemolysis,” Valtchanov said. “We did this in simulation because the distribution of strain on the RBC membrane is exceedingly difficult to examine, particularly during a dynamic event like a collision.”

Their results showcased that overall, intercellular collision increased RBC membrane strain. In fact, they found that intercellular collisions were the main cause for membrane strain in RBC.

The importance of RBC collisions is made abundantly clear when considering what Valtchanov and colleagues had been examining beforehand. 

“We began this study while we were trying to develop constitutive models for hemolysis. We use hemolysis modeling to try to predict the amount of damage to red blood cells when a medical device is implanted into a patient,” Vatlchanov explained.

These findings could help create new and improved biomedical devices, such as blood pumps, that are less likely to cause hemolysis, which could save lives as a result. 

“A high degree of hemolysis is called ‘lethal hemolysis’ because it causes kidney failure and death. Lower doses have all sorts of other complications. It will slowly damage all of your other organs, and your kidneys will eventually give out.” Valtchanov said.

Ultimately, this study could help broaden current knowledge in modelling blood damage and creating biomedical devices.

 “As engineers, our main challenge is to predict things,” Valtchanov added. “If you can predict something, you can control it, and design solutions to stop it from happening.” 

Despite the progress that the researchers have made in this field, the work is far from over.

“The amount of knowledge you need to advance any science is a lot, to be frank,” Valtchanov said. “In general, there is so much work that needs to be done to improve our understanding of how the body works, to model the biomechanical processes that lead to diseases. The future of medicine is preventative, and harnesses data to take into account each individual person’s unique physiology.”

Commentary, Opinion

Canadian gun advocates make a fair point—and it doesn’t matter

by Joshua Karmiol on

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Earlier this month, demonstrators gathered on the lawn of the Myles F. Burke Police Headquarters in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, to protest the federal government’s new gun buyback program. 250 strong and adorned in an assortment of flannel, sunglasses, and baseball caps, the rally-goers held bold text protest signs with references to the Bible and “wasted tax dollars.” Guest speakers, including local Conservative MPs, bemoaned government overreach and encroachment on “good gun-abiding people.” And they made a fair point.

If one considers the merits of the Government of Canada’s gun buyback, broad design flaws quickly become apparent, namely its cost and failure to target illegal firearm owners, the main perpetrators of gun violence in Canada. Although it is easy to criticize the ill-targeted excesses of Liberal gun policy, backlash from gun-owning communities and Conservative politicians ultimately fails to address the merits of the gun buyback program itself in the context of the country’s relatively low rates of gun ownership. 

In May 2020, weeks after a mass shooting in Nova Scotia that killed 22 people, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a ban on over 1,500 models of ‘assault-style’ fire-arms, and instated a transition period during which the government would undertake a national gun-buyback program and shield owners of prohibited firearms from criminal liability. 

Most available statistics indicate that gun crimes in Canada primarily occur through black market weapons smuggled into the country from the United States. No clear correlation between legal gun purchases and crime has been established; in fact, firearms licence-holders have a 10 per cent lower murder rate compared to the Canadian average. Even the Nova Scotia mass shooter who prompted the gun ban used smuggled American guns. 

The program’s compensation of gun owners alone will cost an estimated total of $756 million CAD, leaving some critics to wonder if those funds could be allocated towards something more useful. Others claim the specific gun models listed within the ban itself are somewhat arbitrary, with similar guns to those banned still available for purchase.

Essentially, the government is targeting law-abiding Canadians who purchased their weapons legally at great expense to the Canadian tax payer, for virtually zero benefit. 

Any Conservative politician worth their salt will bang their chest in solidarity with gun-owners. It is easy to see why. Reckless spending in order to create a pointless bureaucracy designed to oppress individual rights, plagued by administrative incompetence and arbitrary decision making? It’s practically a slam-dunk. The Liberal gun buyback regime is, as much as it may hurt for some to admit, stupid.

But who cares? If one told the average Canadian that the federal government was spending a miniscule fraction of our federal budget to remove about 100,000 ‘assault-style’ weapons from the hands of the public, would they be upset? The vast majority of Canadians—92.9 per cent—do not possess firearms, and the cultural inertia that underpins firearm rights in the US does not exist here. On the contrary, most Canadians, while they may not grasp the minutia of the issue, support increased firearm restrictions. 

Self-defense law in Canada does not allow for the use of firearms in the protection of one’s property, rendering guns almost exclusively used for target-shooting and hunting. In other words, gun ownership in Canada is just another equipment-centric outdoor hobby, like kayaking or dirt-biking. What is the difference between guns and hypothetical onerous over-regulation of, say, jet-skis? If certain models of jet-skis suddenly faced sweeping government bans—with proportionate compensation for jet-ski owners, mind you, would anybody shed a tear? The major difference being, of course, that jet-skis cannot be used to conduct a mass shooting. 

Gun advocates have a point in criticizing this specific program, but this argument is senseless in the context of Canada’s political and cultural understanding of gun ownership. There was no counterprotest to the gathering outside the police station in Cape Breton. Besides gun-owners and those that stood to gain politically from their outrage, nobody showed up. I’m not even sure if the police looked out the window.

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