Latest News

Baseball, Men's Varsity, Sports

McGill baseball wins division championship

by Alden Tabac on

More in Baseball:

The McGill Redmen (13-3) and the visiting Carleton Ravens (12-4) each won a game in their conference-championship-opening doubleheader on Oct. 13. McGill lost the first game 7-3 after holding the lead for the first six innings, while fifth-year pitcher Rocky Hroch’s five-inning no-hitter led the Redmen to an 11-0 mercy rule victory in game two.

McGill got on the board in the first inning of game one thanks to an errant throw from the Carleton catcher that sailed over the second baseman’s head. In the following inning, third-year outfielder Sasha Lagarde delivered a timely double that brought home two runs to make it 3-0.

A controversial call highlighted the top of the third: Outfielder Jonathan Duforest made a spectacular catch running backwards and then falling over, but the umpire ruled that Duforest had dropped the ball when he fell. McGill’s home crowd did not seem to agree with the umpire, but the call stood, leading to two Carleton runs.

Redmen starting pitcher Sam Greene threw a solid six-inning outing, allowing those two runs and striking out six Ravens. In the seventh inning, fourth-year relief pitcher Henry Dennis replaced Greene and subsequently gave up a three-run homerun that put Carleton up 5-3. The Ravens tacked on two more runs and then shut down the Redmen in the bottom of the seventh.

McGill’s frustration was summed up by Sasha Lagarde’s seventh inning at-bat, from which he was ejected after arguing balls and strikes with the umpire. General Manager Jason Starr, too, was ejected after he came out to defend his player.

Following their initial loss, the Redmen shifted their focus to the importance of the next two games in the series, both of which they must win in order to claim the conference title.

“We’ve got to take the next two games one at a time,” Redmen Head Coach Casey Auerbach said after the first game. “We have to worry about winning the next game first [before worrying about the deciding game three].”

Despite the loss, the team remained optimistic heading into the second game.

“A lot of things didn’t go the way we wanted them to go,” relief pitcher Bobby Finnie said. “But, we are resilient. We’ll fight back. Same thing happened last weekend, and we came out and killed [Universite de Montreal] the second game.”

The Redmen subsequently turned those words into action: They clobbered Carleton with an 11-0 mercy-rule victory.

After Jared Kersh walked with the bases loaded to score a run, Duforest collected two runs batted in with a single to centrefield in the second inning to make it 3-0. Emerson Dohm and Michael O’Toole took back-to-back walks to bring in a run for the Redmen, and Dominic DeFelice singled to score yet another run. McGill put up seven runs in that second inning, giving starter Rocky Hroch a comfortable lead going into the third.

With an 11-0 lead heading into the top of the fifth, Hroch could allow only one run in order to secure the mercy rule victory for the Redmen. The starter went above and beyond, inducing three consecutive groundouts to claim the victory and his second career no-hitter.

The Redmen beat the Ravens 7-4 in Ottawa on Oct. 14 to take the series and claim their fifth consecutive divisional title. Both the Redmen and the Ravens have an automatic berth into the national championship playoffs which begin on Oct. 19.

Moment of the games

Redmen game-two-starter Rocky Hroch forced a groundout to end game two and complete five innings without allowing a hit.

Quotable

“It’s very possible that we play [Carleton] in the national championships. It happened last year. We played them in the conference final, and then in the national championship. They’re a good ball team. I wouldn’t be surprised if that happens again.” – Redmen game one starting pitcher Sam Greene

Stat Corner

The Redmen walked nine times and collected 16 hits in the two games, contributing to a combined 14 runs scored for the day.

Science & Technology

Canada bans artificial trans fats from all foods

by Angelina Giordano on

More in Science & Technology:

On Sept. 17, Canada made a leap in ameliorating the health of Canadians across the country by officially adding artificial trans fats to the List of Contaminants and other Adulterating Substances in Foods.

Trans fats are usually created by adding hydrogen molecules to liquid vegetable oils, turning them into a semi-solid state. This process is known as partial hydrogenation. The resulting trans fats can increase the shelf life of many foods while adding taste and texture.

Although they are commercially-viable for use in the food industry—particularly in the production of baked goods, margarine, and shortening—trans fats have been linked to chronic conditions like heart disease and diabetes.  According to Adriana de la Parra Sólomon, a MSc candidate in Human Nutrition at McGill, although trans fats should only make up a small percentage of our diets, their commercial production has greatly increased our intake past its natural limit.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that, annually, trans-fats lead to 500,000 deaths globally due to their role in cardiovascular disease.  

“The problem with trans fats is that they make food more palatable, sometimes a little too [palatable], which may drive over-consumption,” André Portella, a postdoctoral fellow in Nutrition and Neuroscience said. “In this particular situation, we have a deadly combination [of] overconsumption of an unhealthy component [in the over-consumed food].”

While prohibiting artificial trans fats in Canadian products is a positive improvement for the health sector, enacting the ban is not a novel idea. The Task Force on Trans Fat recommended that the Government of Canada enact laws to protect Canadians from trans fat health risks back in 2006. Meanwhile, Denmark became the first state to ban trans fats in 2003, with the list growing steadily to include countries such as Switzerland, the United States, and Thailand.

Portella believes a complex array of factors may have influenced the slow acceptance of the ban in Canada.

“[There was likely] a fear of imposing such a strong restriction,” Portella said. “Science is not something [that is] easy to digest. There is a lot of contradictory evidence […] even for the most certain knowledge [….] Another possibility is [… that] pressure from economic sectors that have something to lose with the ban.”

Nonetheless, although there is a two-year grace period and naturally occuring trans fats, such as those found in meat and dairy products in small traces, are still permitted, Canada is ahead of most countries in trans fat regulations, joining fewer than a dozen others.

Industries will keep looking elsewhere to find a replacement for trans fats, but that does not necessarily mean that the ban was a bad idea.

“There is no downside to eliminating trans fats,” Joe Schwarcz, director of the McGill Office for Science and Society states and author of ‘Stoned on Food,’ said. “Although replacements like coconut oil may not exactly be ‘healthy’, they are certainly not worse than the partially-hydrogenated fats.”

The increase in trans fat bans is due in part due to the release of a step-by-step guide by the World Health Organization (WHO), which explains how to eliminate them from the global food supply. This action has motivated Canada to take on the pressing issue of trans fat regulation and show the world that they are ready to move forward with protecting their citizens’ health.

Student Life

An open letter to Café Campus Tuesdays

by Sanchi Bhalla on

More in Student Life:

Bonjour-hi mardi rétro,

How’ve you been? I feel like I haven’t seen you in a while—probably since the night before my last midterm.

On behalf of Montreal’s student community, I would like to thank you. I am grateful for six-dollar pitchers and the ensuing nights that I don’t remember. Swinging and dancing to Footloose and Grease with all of my friends while subtly avoiding creepy CEGEP boys was a huge part of my first-year experience and taught me a valuable real-world lesson: If someone makes you uncomfortable, go hug your friend at the other side of the circle. I will definitely try this out the next time my boss screams at me.

While I know that none of your patrons were alive when the majority of the playlist came out, it still fills us with nostalgia. “Remember Flower Power?” I would yell at a fellow member of Generation Z over the deafening sounds of Good Vibrations. Ah, the ‘60s. As a left-leaning woman of colour, I’m sad that I wasn’t around to see North America in that period; I was truly born in the wrong time. Like most of the girls on your dance floor, I’m not like other girls–I’d much rather get down to John Travolta than Post Malone. You allowed me to express my quirkiness and individuality with all of my fellow Martlets, who also wear black sneakers and a cool crop top.

What truly makes my Café Campus experiences memorable is the crowd: A flock of dirty younguns vying for the “Sloppiest Kiss of the Year” award. Nonconsensual grinding, having a crossfaded New Rezian spill beer all over you, and being surprised, every single week, by the appearance of the ancient Café Campus man are what make you an intriguing rite of passage.

Naysayers will say that the playlist—even its order—hasn’t changed since your birth. I say, why ruin a good thing? Personally, I like knowing that I will rage to Madonna’s “Like A Prayer” at exactly midnight and that “Y.M.C.A.” means that it’s almost time to leave.

You’re no less Insta-worthy than any mosh pit at some ‘cooler’ venue. I don’t need live performances by screaming artists; instead, I can listen to Jacques St. Claire’s cover of “Bohemian Rhapsody” while slipping around on the suspiciously-sticky floor.

When I think back on my time at McGill, I won’t be nostalgic for my classes, my friends, or Montreal. I’ll be nostalgic for twisting and shouting at my true home: Café Campus.

Love,

A fan who wants to dance with somebody.

Science & Technology

ImplementAI hackathon back for its second year

by Caroline Lou on

More in Science & Technology:

Imagine an app that can guide the visually-impaired, a program that can analyze the nutritional content of the food on your dinner plate, or software that can detect violent encounters as they’re captured on security cameras. These ideas were all implemented during ImplementAI, a 24-hour hackathon which took place from Sept. 29-30 at the Catallaxy office in Montreal.

ImplementAI was held by the McGill Artificial Intelligence (AI) Society, a student-run organization that strives to make space for students to discuss and learn about the AI industry. This was the programming competition’s second year, following its successful inaugural event in 2017. The hackathon was open to students of all education levels and drew a diverse group of competitors from CEGEP, undergraduate, masters, and PhD programs.

“We’re really focused on diversity and inclusivity, both in terms of our participants as well as the different areas of AI,” Jenny Long, vice-president events of the McGill AI Society said. “This is an opportunity to give participants more resources to realize their ideas. We also want everyone to have a really fun weekend.”

The McGill AI executive team fostered a collaborative atmosphere at the hackathon and lauded the benefits of examining problems from multiple perspectives.

“We’re trying to build a community where anyone from any background […] can come together and demystify AI,” John Wu, co-president of the McGill Artificial Intelligence Society said. “The buzz is there for a reason. It’s because it’s technology that’s up and coming and can solve a lot of problems. But you also have to be careful, because right now there’s a lot of backlash toward the AI industry. By bringing people together, you can avoid some mistakes because you’re working together.”

The event began with opening remarks followed by a brainstorming session that gave teams the opportunity to share project ideas. Teams began their projects at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday and continued for the next 24 hours, with many participants working through the night. The first day also featured workshops by Automat and Coveo, two technology companies that sponsored the event.

The open-concept office where the hackathon took place evoked a modern tech start-up, with an abundance of free food, tea, and coffee readily available. The programmers huddled around tables and in conference rooms; flurries of typing and troubleshooting peaked in the moments leading up to the deadline for project submissions. 

While each team dedicated an impressive amount of time and energy to their projects, one project stood out to the judges. The winning team ‘@ention’ (pronounced ‘attention’) developed a program able to detect violent encounters from video footage by analyzing the movements of each individual.

The team members, Meko Deng, Tharsan Ponnampalam, Edward Tran, and Tristan Toupin, attributed their success to their complementary areas of knowledge and their drive to see the project through to the end.

“Before we came, we all had our own ideas,” Deng said. “So we agreed to present our ideas once we got to the hackathon so we’d be fast. I think that really sped up our time, so we were able to get down to business relatively quickly.”

Even with the first place under their belts, the team was humble in their responses and focused on the reward of the process itself.

“There is definitely potential in what we built, but, on my part, what I’m going to take away is really what I learned,” Toupin said. “We were able to apply some of the things we already knew, but we spent a lot of time learning new things. And the point of these events is to complement your skills.”

The McGill AI Society emphasized the importance of having fun throughout the competition and expressed hopes to expand the hackathon in the future.

Arts & Entertainment, Music, Theatre

‘Once’ is the ideal 21st century musical

by Matthew Hawkins on

More in Arts & Entertainment:

The transition between theatre and film can be arduous, and at worst, painful (sorry, Rent). Once, based on John Carney’s acclaimed 2007 film of the same name, successfully manages the transition in reverse.  The story tracks five days in the lives of two Dublin residents, one, a struggling vacuum-fixer who moonlights as a busker and the other, a young Czech immigrant. Both remain nameless, referred to only as ‘Guy’ and ‘Girl’ throughout the play. As Guy and Girl fall in and out of love, the emotions onstage fill the room, manifesting in a series of songs that are, at once, uplifting and heartbreaking, and, with each note, pull the audience further into the story.

Guy (Greg Halpin) is a self-proclaimed ‘sucker.’ He’s all but ready to give up music after a breakup with an unfaithful girlfriend shakes his confidence in both himself and the rest of the world. Enter: Girl (Eva Foote). Their epic begins when she convinces him to fix her vacuum, and after the two play a song together, they record an album for him to play for his ex-girlfriend to win her back. The two spend time together writing and recording, and, before long, they fall in love. But Girl has a husband in the Czech Republic and a young daughter to care for, and Guy, while falling for Girl, is still pining for his ex-girlfriend.

Once feels as much like a live concert as it does a musical. The orchestra is made up of members of the cast, creating a folksy atmosphere—performances feel spontaneous and genuine. The preshow cements the bond between actor and audience, as the cast plays a short set of traditional Irish songs in the lobby before moving inside the theatre, inviting the audience to take their seats and enjoy what feels like a spontaneous jam session that one might stumble across in a lively Dublin pub. The original music was composed by folk-rock duo Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, known as The Swell Season. Their songs carry this conceit, relying on the ensemble band to create a full sound that heightens the vast breadth of emotion portrayed through dialogue.

Once is a tale of missed connections, only the connection isn’t missed, it’s just not right, which makes it all the more heartbreaking to watch. Hearing the subject of Guy’s emotionally-wrought songs turn from an off-stage lover to Girl, who stands before him, evokes both hopefulness and heartbreak. Every song seems to tap into the root of those emotions. Though the reprise of the track that played when Guy first recognized his feelings for Girl strikes an emotional chord, the moment when  Girl whispers ‘go,’ urging him to leave her as the ensemble swells around them truly cuts the deepest.

Once is the kind of show to see for a profound emotional experience. The feelings spill off the stage, out of the theatre, and stay with the audience long after they leave. The story harnesses the power of music to unite and quickly overwhelms the audience with its bittersweet sentiment. Once is exactly what a 21st century musical should be: A story told through song without the frills or cloudiness of complicated choreography that so often muddles musicals.

 

Once is playing until Oct. 28th at the Segal Centre.

 

Commentary, Opinion

Irresponsible representation: How unsanctioned posts damage SSMU’s credibility

by Bryan Buraga on

More in Commentary:

On Oct. 2, Quebecers woke up to the results of the previous night’s election: The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) had won a majority of seats in Quebec’s National Assembly. On the same day, then Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Vice President (VP) External Marina Cupido wrote a—now deleted—post on the official SSMU External Affairs Facebook page decrying the new government.

“Yesterday, Quebec elected a racist, xenophobic, far-right government with documented ties to white supremacists,” Cupido wrote.

Taking such an inflammatory, divisive, and polarizing position on an official SSMU social media account, without citing any sources or providing any proof to substantiate its claims, is irresponsible and compromises SSMU’s ability to advocate for its students. By typecasting all CAQ voters as having racist, xenophobic, or far-right intentions, Cupido alienated the portion of our student population that politically aligns with the CAQ. Because of their actions, SSMU risks losing its social license to fight legitimately racist, xenophobic, and far-right groups targeting students on campus.

As soon as I saw this post, I was concerned that a SSMU Executive was able to unilaterally voice their controversial opinion on a social media account with the SSMU name in it.

“[S]pecific [Facebook] pages (e.g. SSMU University Affairs, SSMU Student Life, SSMU External Affairs) are each run by individual Executive members whose views don’t necessarily reflect those of SSMU,” VP Internal Matthew McLaughlin wrote in a comment on a SSMU member’s Facebook post.

I completely disagree: Individual Executive members should reflect SSMU’s views on their social media pages. As elected student representatives, SSMU Executives wield a lot of power in determining how the student body presents itself to the world. One Executive should not take official stances on a SSMU account without having a mandate from the Legislative Council or the Executive Committee to do so. They represent the entirety of the undergraduate student body at McGill, and, as such, should only present the student body’s opinions. For this reason, my colleagues and I introduced the Motion Regarding Responsible Representation at the Legislative Council on Oct. 11. This motion aims to provide a framework to preempt unauthorized opinions made on SSMU’s behalf.

Article 10.14 of the SSMU Constitution mandates the VP External to work with the provincial government to lobby and advance our society’s objectives, goals, and policies. By preemptively damaging our society’s relationship with the new government through unsubstantiated allegations, Cupido has impeded SSMU’s ability to work with the Quebec government not just today, but for years to come. SSMU should continue to provide leadership on issues of social justice, as its constitutional mandate requires, and it should continue to speak out against policies proposed by the CAQ that would harm our members. However, it must do so in a factual, responsible, and accountable fashion.

It took the SSMU Executive Committee nine days to release a corrective statement regarding the CAQ’s election. They had the prerogative to hold an emergency meeting, mandate a retraction of the Facebook post, and release a new statement similar to the one they did on Oct. 11. However, they failed to do so, allowing the fallout from the post to continue rather than curtailing the damage to the society. Students trust the SSMU Executives to use their best judgement to avoid making mistakes, and, when they do, to correct them in a timely manner. The corrected post came later than it should have, and, by then, the damage was done.

I believe that the former VP External was well-intentioned in their desire to protect some of the most vulnerable members of our student body. When they released their post, the former VP External could have posted a statement of solidarity and a commitment to protect our students that was grounded in SSMU policies and values. Instead, Cupido’s divisive rhetoric and the SSMU Executive’s inaction ended up hurting the very people they are supposed to be fighting for.

Campus Spotlight, Student Life

A voice for student parents

by Gabriela McGuinty on

More in Campus Spotlight:

Navigating student life at McGill can be challenging for anyone. Academic and social pressures can be taxing and dominate many of the decisions students make. For those who are also parents, the lack of services McGill offers to support them magnifies the specific dificulties they face navigating university.

“It is very isolating to be a student parent,” Olivia Kurajian, U3 Arts and mother to a two year old daughter, said. “I believe we have a huge shortage of childcare on campus, [and] it’s really hazy [as to] how student parents should navigate their personal and academic responsibilities.”

In an attempt to address these issues, the Social Equity and Diversity Education Office (SEDE) launched the Family Care program in 2015. The program, which was funded by both the Sustainability Projects Fund and the Senate Subcommittee on Women, works towards tackling the challenges caregivers face on campus. According to Ananya Nair, U1 Arts and an executive member of the club, the club aims to alleviate parents’ stress by expanding access to daycare and advocating for family-friendly residence options.

“We want to expand into other aspects [and] include not only babysitting, but other childcare services too,” Nair said.

The SSMU Babysitting Club, soon to be renamed SSMU Childcare Collective in order to advocate for a broader range of services, was originally created by SSMU to provide free babysitting to students who are in need of child care. The organization is looking for new ways to expand both in size and scope to meet more of the pressing needs student parents face.

“In the past, we’ve had to cancel events because there were not enough volunteers,” Nair said.

Among its initiatives, the SSMU Babysitting Club provides on-campus childcare services to student parents and collaborates with the Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) on Study Sundays, a weekly program where student parents can complete their academic work on campus while volunteers take care of their children. The club also wants to launch a program that pairs volunteers with student parents to provide one-on-one domestic support.

“This club gives agency to student parents who are left on the sidelines,” Kurajian said. “We are not a ton [of students] and are spread out in undergrad and postgrad, so, it’s hard to address [all of our needs], especially when the communication doesn’t expand throughout the different faculties and associations.”  

Although it provides a necessary service to guardians, the SSMU Babysitting Club is restricted by its status on many accounts. As such, it is looking to be converted into a service.

“This would make McGill more inclusive and child accessible,” Nair said. “[The organization could] get actual funding from SSMU [and] apply for space, [as] there is currently no space provided for childcare. With more funding, we can actively get more students to be a part of this [and work towards] solving this [break] between student parents and McGill services.”

Additionally, although SEDE’s services provide a necessary mechanism of support, many student parents believe the administration still needs to make progress. Many members of the student parent community hope that the university will address its lack of policies concerning pregnancy, breastfeeding, and missing exams because of complications with child-care.

“On a personal level, I have been very lucky, and my professors have been accommodating [with my child and I],” Kurajian said. “But, anytime I have a time-conflict issue, I was referred to the Office of Disabilities. This is disheartening because I don’t think [having a] daughter classifies as any type of disability. In fact, I have earned better grades in the past two years and wake up with ambition to go to school. She has really enhanced my commitment [… to] school.”

In addition to the services offered by SEDE, student parents believe there should be more spaces, both physical—such as breastfeeding stations—and psychological, listen to the voices of student guardians.

While progress has been made, student parents still require more assistance in order to get the most out of their times at McGill.

“I don’t understand why being a research university has to contradict or be at odds with [students] having families because a lot of times, […] we [are] more focused and better students after we [have] our kids,” Kurajian said. “We are setting an example for our kids. McGill is missing out on unique perspectives and a lot of talent by not catering to student parents.”

Arts & Entertainment, Music

A different kind of music festival

by Leo Stillinger on

More in Arts & Entertainment:

A stock photo of a sleek white basin was projected on the wall behind the punk band. A song had just finished, and the guitar was still reverberating.

“Let’s hear it for basins,” said Conor Antenucci, the bassist and singer of The Costanzas. “They hold so much goddamn water!”

This is a typical remark at Basin Fest, the independent music festival that ran Oct. 11-13 at L’Escogriffe Bar Spectacle. According to founder Philip Shearing, Basin Fest is about much more than water containers: It’s a grassroots festival with a worthy cause.

A guitarist and vocalist in the band Paddle to the Sea, Shearing created the festival three years ago in an attempt to counter artistic exploitation in the Montreal festival circuit. In order to apply to festivals, artists are required to pay an application fee, but they are rarely given fair remuneration in exchange.

“You pay to apply,” Shearing said. “They take that money from 10 thousand people and then they only give it to five hundred people. They’re always making a profit off the artists.”

In an effort to funnel his frustration into a positive outlet, Shearing created a festival with an alternative business model: Free applications, and the artist always gets paid. Tickets are $10 per night, enough to generate a profit for artists while still affordable given that five bands perform each night.

“I’m not getting corporate money,” Shearing said. “We’re doing this to help the artists and to support the local scene. We don’t charge you to apply, so anyone from Montreal and even other cities can apply.”

Now in its third year, Basin Fest has grown significantly. For the first iteration, the festival ran a single night at Piranha Bar, featuring seven bands.

“It was almost like a glorified show calling itself a festival,” Shearing said, recalling Basin Fest’s modest early years.

The following year, Shearing expanded to three nights hosted at Crobar. Moving Basin Fest from downtown to the Plateau was Shearing’s most significant step yet.

“I’ve seen so many good bands [at l’Escogriffe, so] I always dreamed of putting my festival here,” Shearing said. “This is kind of a step up for us because of the capacity and the location.”

On Friday night, the thundering chords of The Costanzas and other enthusiastic hardcore groups filled L’Escogriffe’s intimate space. The festival was divided by genre, with indie rock on Thursday, hardcore and punk on Friday, and psychedelic music on Saturday.

“I try to make it almost like a Spotify playlist,” Shearing said. “It’s not always the exact [same] style but it fits together.”

The name Basin Fest comes from a Griffintown practice space shared by many artists on Basin Street. Although property developers have since purchased the building with the intention of converting it into condos, fans will remember the space as a beacon of the thriving local music scene.

“[Basin Fest] symbolizes that garage, that place where you jam, you practice 20 or 30 times to play the one show,” Shearing said. “I want them to get paid.”

When considering the future of Basin Fest, Shearing always comes back to the idea of a a communal space, and wants to see the success of his ideology transcend that of his festival.

“I would love if promoters would [support] bands, stop trying to be all profit-driven,” Shearing said. “I’d love to go out of business for that.”

 

Arts & Entertainment, Books

Survival and solidarity: Roxane Gay reflects on a decade of activism

by Emma Carr on

More in Arts & Entertainment:

Cultural critic and best-selling author Dr. Roxane Gay delivered the 64th annual Beatty Memorial Lecture on Oct. 11 to a rapt audience in Pollack Hall. The sold-out lecture drew attendees of various backgrounds, from students to alumni and faculty, all eager to hear Gay’s thoughts on the  #MeToo movement, contemporary feminism, and representation. Since its inauguration by chancellor Sir Edward Beatty in 1954, the lecture series has hosted revolutionary thinkers, including Jane Goodall, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Oliver Sacks. Speaking to a crowd of nearly 600, Gay led what managed to feel like an intimate discussion on feminism and current events with her characteristic humour, authenticity, and candour.

At this year’s lecture, “Difficult Women, Bad Feminists, and Unruly Bodies,” moderated by  Nantali Indongo, host of CBC Montreal’s radio program The Bridge, Gay offered reflections on the progress of the #MeToo movement. Situating contemporary debates within historical contexts, Gay described the initial optimism that the campaign inspired.

“For once, it seemed that women may not only be heard, but believed,” Gaysaid. “Justice felt like a real tangible thing, rather than a vague illusory ideal.”

However, despite the apparent cultural shift instigated by #MeToo, Gay remains skeptical of the movement’s concrete implications.

“This past year, as #MeToo has risen to cultural prominence, we have seen that necessary change can be excruciatingly slow, and that can be infuriating,” Gay said.

Gay articulately acknowledged the continued difficulties survivors face, particularly those who are femme-identifying, when coming forward with accusations of sexual violence. Citing the momentum of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the United States Supreme Court, she couched hope with provocation that more work is required.

“We talk about resistance, when what we actually need is a revolution,” Gay said. “It has been a year of #MeToo, a year of reckoning. I feel like I am supposed to offer up an uplifting message about how far we have come when really we have not come far at all [….] It has been a year of #MeToo, but it has also been more than a decade.”

The work Gay described has already begun on campus at McGill. In Spring 2018, students, encouraged by the #MeToo movement, signed an open letter to the administration demanding an external investigator assigned to cases of sexual violence. When asked by The McGill Tribune how universities can better protect these survivors of sexual violence, Gay responded that more institutions should put support structures in place to protect those who have experienced abuse, validating the work of these student activists.

“I think that [universities] can do more in terms of expelling rapists, because you shouldn’t have to go to school with the person who raped you,” Gay said.

While Gay says that further action is necessary for cultural revolution, there is cause for survivors and their allies to feel optimistic. In her concluding remarks, Gay underscored that, over the past year, #MeToo has amplified survivors’ voices and activists’ demands for change.

“As we move forward, we need to figure out how to hold this space that #MeToo has made for solidarity and empathy while working to create a culture where someday, this space will not be needed,” Gay said. “That, if anything, is what I hope for.”

 

McGill, News

Abortion Beyond Bounds conference combines academia and activism

by Elizabeth Kearney on

More in McGill:

On the 30th anniversary of the decriminalization of abortion in Canada, the McGill Institute for Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies (IGSF) organized a two-day bilingual conference, Abortion Beyond Bounds 2018, to discuss the continuously-changing global landscape of access to abortion. The conference, which featured a series of student and expert panels, revolved around the importance of having control over abortion decisions. The speakers considered how persistent barriers to global access contrast the increased availability  of information and resources thanks to new technologies.

The first day of the conference consisted of student panels, providing graduate student researchers from across Canada the opportunity to present their work. The panel “Voice and Choice: First-Person Narratives of Abortion Experiences in Canada” focused on people’s experiences with self-managed abortion, meaning when a woman chooses to perform her own abortion outside of a medical setting. Contrasting with the independent notion of self-managed abortions, Sarah McLeod, a graduate student at Acadia University, presented a case study on Acadia Pregnancy Support (APS), an anti-choice organization on her campus. Despite advertising themselves as a non-judgmental counselling service with peer support and access to resources, this Christian organization circulated misleading and biased information in addition to resorting to shame and scare tactics to discourage abortion. APS eventually lost its club status and was expelled from the Acadia Students’ Union building for failing to have enough members. McLeod concluded her presentation with her opinion on the organization’s activities.

“Should anti-choice organizations be allowed to operate as ‘pregnancy support’ on university campuses?” McLeod asked. “I would say no.”

With regard to Canada legalizing the self-administered abortion pill mifepristone in 2016, the panel “Trust Women: Current Perspectives on the Safety of Medication Abortion” sought to assess the current clinical scene. Student research focused on expanding the possibilities of existing reproductive health methods to provide women with more autonomy in the process of abortion. Daniela Spagnuolo, a policy intern at Association of Municipalities of Ontario, conveyed the importance of her group’s research in promoting self-managed abortions.

“There needs to be change in the way people across Canada access Mifegymiso [the brand name for mifepristone],” Spagnuolo said. “That it is available in this country is not enough. We need to actively remove barriers to access, provide evidence-based information, and trust users to know their bodies and make their own decisions about abortion options.”

Parisa Sharifi, a research assistant at the University of Toronto, stressed the importance of presenting research findings in the field to a public audience.

“It’s been really important for us to present to the public to hear questions and see what we missed,” Sharifi said. “Especially with this conference where everyone works on or is affected by this research, it is important to hear from the audience.”

The second day of the conference brought together academics, activists, and artists to participate in a series of expert panels on self-managed abortion. Jennifer Fishman, associate professor at McGill and co-organizer of the conference, expressed the importance of discussing abortion through the lens of various institutions.  

“Institutions’ primary motivation is carving out a space to consider how networks, such as clinical and legal networks, are finding ways to expand access,” Fishman said.  

Joanna Erdman, associate professor in Health Law and Policy at the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University, outlined the common goal of the experts present at the conference.

“The real challenge is to think about whether we can capture the concept [of expanding the availability of abortion] without killing it, to recognize ideas of love, compassion and self-care, and to think about whether our institutions are even capable of honouring that,” Erdman said.

1 … 538 539 540 541 542 … 1,363

Read the latest issue

Read the latest issue