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PGSS Self Defence Course combats violence on and off campus

by Caitlin Kindig on

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On Sept. 24 and Oct. 1, McGill students participated in a self-defence course at Gotac, a Montreal-based martial arts company, offered through the Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS). The course aimed to teach effective methods to detect and eliminate threats and to identify, assert, and defend one’s space. The class was open to the public, and moved at the pace of each individual student to accommodate various fitness and comfort levels.

Alexandrina Delage, the course’s instructor, has a brown belt first kyu—the rank just prior to black belt—in Modern Kempo Jujitsu, and is certified in various defensive maneuvers. Delage connected with PGSS in 2014, and has helped them organize this course every year since. For PGSS Member Services Officer Jenny Ann Pura the annual course plays a vital role in equipping students with the tools to remain safe on and off-campus.

“Like our first aid classes, we hope that [students] never have to deal with those situations, but in any of those worst case scenarios, it’s best to be prepared,” Pura said. “This [course] isn’t solely about defending yourself, but to also understand how to be aware of your surroundings in order to better assess your safety as well as someone else’s anywhere you go.”

The class was split into two parts. The first section of the course, titled  “Preventive to Combative Measures,” focused on using combative tactics to assess risk and ensure preparedness in the event of a threat. The second section of the course, “Escape from Holds,” included lessons on escaping both standing and ground grapples, with an aim to prepare students to confidently defend themselves.

Because martial arts training is largely dominated by male students and instructors, the PGSS course strove to create an environment in which women would feel comfortable training in the field. Delage explained that after her first year of martial arts training, she knew that she wanted to teach women self-defence.

“It became clear to me that having a space where women could train these skills and feel safe in living their fears and emotions was imperative,” Delage said.

Delage provides one-on-one coaching to each of her students, with a goal to teach efficiently and make her lessons accessible to all. She believes that being aware of the reality of violence— and having the tools to face it— is a requisite for physical and mental confidence. With regard to campus violence, Delage feels that rape culture is shockingly prevalent and too often goes unpunished. And while she acknowledges that self-defence does not tackle the root causes of this, until they are addressed, equipping students with self-defence skills is extremely important.

“We are dealing with a culture […] where abusive and violent behaviours go on throughout the years, [and] where survivors are often forced to either see their attacker on campus or leave altogether,” Delage said. “Although mandatory courses on consent have been implemented in some universities, there is a need to create more awareness as to the reality of violence [….] Violence should never be tolerated, and perpetrators need to be made accountable for their actions.”

Natalia Osorio, one of Delage’s students present at the course, started taking classes with her three years ago when she was looking for a women's martial arts class. Osorio believes that there is a long way to go before Canadian society is not disproportionately violent toward women.

“In the world we live in, basic self-defence skills are essential, especially for women,” Osorio said. “As [Delage] always says, you can only rely on yourself.”

Hockey, Men's Varsity, Sports

McGill Redmen hockey wins home opener against UQTR Patriotes

by Jordan Foy on

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McGill Redmen
3

UQTR Patriotes
0

On Oct. 7, the McGill Redmen hockey team (2-0) beat the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) Patriotes (0-1) with a final score of 3-0. The first two periods were a close affair, with chances at both ends. The Redmen maintained a high tempo—employing an effective forecheck that clogged the neutral zone and caused many Patriotes turnovers—but were unable to find the back of the net until the third.

After being outshot 15-7 in the first period, Trois-Rivières managed to show more life in the second. The game remained scoreless heading into the third, with the shot count narrowed to 25-21 for the Redmen.

During the third period, the Redmen finally managed to capitalize on offence, despite encountering some penalty troubles and a shot deficit. Early in the third, junior forward Samuel Hodhod forced a Trois-Rivières turnover in the offensive zone. The puck found its way right to the stick of sophomore forward Samuel Tremblay who scored on the unsuspecting UQTR goaltender. Later in the frame, junior forward Frederic Gamelin managed to jam the puck in to take a 2-0 lead, assisted by Hodhod and junior forward Jerome Verrier. Gamelin also managed a second tally to seal the deal for the Redmen.

Despite the contest’s close nature, McGill remained focused on its play and maintained its level of energy throughout the game.

“It [was] obviously a close game all the way until the end,” freshman forward Keanu Yamamoto said. “[But] we just stuck with our game plan until the end.”

The Redmen were buoyed by the play of sophomore goalie Louis-Philip (LP) Guindon, who made some spectacular saves to keep the Patriotes off the board, especially on the penalty kill.

“Obviously, you’ve got to tip your hat to LP tonight,” Head Coach Kelly Nobes said. “He was very good, very solid, [and had] good rebound control.”

Guindon was awarded the first star of the game, while Gamelin and Tremblay received the second and third stars respectively.

Despite it being early in the season, there is a sense of optimism looking forward. Nathan Chiarlitti, Redmen defender and team captain, shared that sentiment.

“I think the young guys we brought in are really energetic,” Chiarlitti said. “It’s always kind of cool to get young blood on the team. I know it’s early, but it feels like there’s something special here.”

After putting up a 7-0 road win against Royal Military College (RMC) on Oct. 5, Saturday night's game proved that the Redmen have the discipline to manage tougher opponents as well. The Redmen play their next home game at 7 p.m. on Oct. 13 against the Concordia Stingers, as part of McGill’s Homecoming weekend.

Following the first week of the regular season, Nobes expressed his satisfaction with his team’s status.

“We’re a work in progress. We got a young team still, and we [have] a lot of growing to do,”  Nobes said. “[…] but that’s a good start for us, [in] the first week of the season to win both games.”


Moment of the Game

On a late penalty kill in the third period, goalie Louis-Philip Guindon made an exceptional blocker save to keep the Patriotes off the board.

 

Quotable

“I think you can always improve on everything, right? Just getting better every day, that’s what the goal is.”

-McGill forward Keanu Yamamoto.

 

Stat corner

Goalie Louis-Philip Guindon made 35 saves for the shutout.

Hockey, Martlets, Sports

McGill Martlets hockey faces off against Les Canadiennes de Montréal

by Lisa Perrett on

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McGill Martlets
0

 

 

Les Canadiennes
6

 

On Oct. 6 at McConnell Arena, McGill Martlet hockey (3-4) played their seventh preseason game against a special opponent: Les Canadiennes de Montréal of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL). The event was part of the World Girls’ Ice Hockey Weekend, an annual venture co-hosted by the International Ice Hockey Federation and Hockey Canada to celebrate women in hockey and provide girls of all ages a chance to try the sport.

Puck drop was followed by a tough start for McGill, who conceded a penalty in the first 12 seconds and a goal 30 seconds later. Under pressure in their own zone, the Martlets defended with grit and challenged the Canadiennes’ goalie with some dangerous offensive opportunities. However, Les Canadiennes capitalized on Martlet mistakes and scored three more goals in the first period.  

The first intermission gave the Martlets a chance to regroup and come out strong in the second. Six minutes of power play allowed McGill to control the game and turn up the pressure. Les Canadiennes managed a fifth goal when Kim Deschenes broke through the wall of Martlets defending to score in the 10th minute. Though unable to find the back of the net during their power plays, McGill outshot their opponents with 10 chances on frame in the second period.

Despite an onslaught, Martlets sophomore goalie Tricia Deguire stayed strong in net, frustrating Les Canadiennes in the final segment with 11 saves. Only one shot found the netting, as the final result came to 6-0 in favour of the Canadiennes. Despite the score, spirits were high after the buzzer. A friendly shootout followed the game and the goalies of both teams shone. Only ex-McGill-captain and current Canadienne Katia Clement-Heydra found the net during the shootout, narrowly slipping it past Deguire.

Playing against a high calibre team like Les Canadiennes was a challenge for the Martlets, but that was the purpose of the game according to Head Coach Peter Smith.

“Our theme was to not really worry about the scoreboard,” Smith said. “We want to win our games, but in order to do that, we have to focus on the process we have.”

Smith attributed the strong second and third periods to the Martlets sticking to the game plan. However, there was a deeper importance to this game beyond the opportunity for the Martlets to face off against a professional team.

Five Canadiennes players who hit the ice on Friday are McGill alumnae—a testament to the quality of the Martlets program. For Clement-Heydra, McGill alumna and current Martlets skills coach, the game provided an opportunity to return to her roots.

“I’ve always loved playing here,” Clement-Heydra said. “To be here and to see the players and play against them, it’s fun.”

Jade Downie-Landry, a sophomore psychology student and Martlet forward, also recognized the importance of this game for elite women’s hockey.

“It’s just encouraging to know that there’s something after McGill, and that it’s that high-calibre,” Downie-Landry said. “Just the fact that there are McGill athletes playing [in a women’s professional league], it encourages us to push harder and work harder.”

CWHL players recently started getting paid, and the newly professional league is starting to attract more attention. Women’s hockey in Canada certainly seems to be on an upward trajectory: Its promising future was symbolized most prominently by the dozens of young girls who enthusiastically supported both teams at McConnell Arena and were treated to an exciting show of where the sport could take them one day.

The Martlets play their first regular season game at Concordia on Oct. 21, and Les Canadiennes open their season against the Boston Blades on home ice at the Complexe Sportif Bell on Oct. 14.

Moment of the game:

McGill’s goalie Tricia Deguire’s huge save in the second period shut down a two-on-one created by Les Canadiennes after they broke out of a McGill powerplay.

Stat corner:

Counting the tough two-on-one stop, Deguire managed to save 33 of Les Canadiennes’ 39 shots on the night.

Quotable:

“I think we’re feeling pretty confident. We’re a young team, but so far we’ve been doing well. I think it’s going to be good. We’re young, a lot of energy, hard working.”

-Martlets forward Jade Downie-Landry on the team vibe, preseason training, and the start of the season ahead.

 

A previous version of this article stated that the Martlets hockey season starts on Oct. 14. In fact, the season starts on Oct. 21. The Tribune regrets this error.

Science & Technology

The Montreal Space Symposium explores the future of aerospace research in Canada

by Jovi Sidhu, Julia Briand, River Ludwick, Kimberly Johnston on

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From Oct. 5 to 6, the Montreal Space Symposium welcomed a variety of speakers to showcase recent advancements in Canadian Space research. 

Sylvan Laporte discusses why space engineering matters

In an exciting talk at the Montreal Space Symposium, Canadian Space Agency (CSA) President Sylvan Laporte discussed current and past achievements of Canadian aerospace engineering and explained how students can be a part of its future. He addressed the importance of not only pursuing involvement with the CSA, but with all space engineering fields; the multibillion dollar-industry is thriving again for the first time in decades due to immense investment from the private sector. Rising leaders in commercial aerospace such as SpaceX and Blue Origin continue to innovate beyond the limitations of the CSA with technologies such as refuelable, self-landing rockets.

Laporte also mentioned two new Canadian astronauts, Joshua Kutryk and Jenni Sidey, and the process they had to undergo to qualify and train for their brief mission to the International Space Station (ISS) next fall. Their training took place over two years at NASA's Johnson Space Center, and involved special survival, psychological, mechanical, and life science study. Kutryk is a test and fighter pilot from Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Sidey is a McGill Engineering graduate and lecturer in the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge—where she received her PhD in engineering.

Laporte reviewed the training and testing necessary to prepare the astronauts for the unpredictable and dangerous technical difficulties that can occur on the ISS. They had to undergo creative thinking tests after being exposed to situations of intense physical and mental strain. This experience, he said, proves vital: Especially during tasks such as those performed recently on a space walk by two American astronauts who replaced the Latching End Effector of the Canadarm2, which is the part at the end of the arm which serves as its “hand.” Their training included submerged space walks and a helicopter crash simulation at NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, as well as several days of Land Survival Training at the Naval Air Station in Brunswick, Maine.

-Jovi Sidhu

 

The truth about black holes: Daryl Haggard separates fact from fiction

Daryl Haggard, assistant professor of Physics at the McGill Space Institute studies the gradual growth of  supermassive black holes and their host galaxies. She is a newly appointed member of Joint Committee on Space Astronomy (JCSA), the Canadian astronomy community's representation in liaison with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).  

“A black hole is simply an object for which the escape velocity exceeds the speed of light,” Haggard said. “The black hole is not sucking material in, it’s just not letting anything back out.”

Haggard emphasized that, contrary to popular belief, black holes are not vacuums in space, but rather entities that trap photons. Since black holes do not emit light, they are essentially invisible.

“They are a mathematical infinity […] or a perturbation in the fabric of space-time,” Haggard explained.

She illustrated this phenomenon using an enlightening analogy: If we took the Earth’s mass and compressed it into something the size of a sugar cube, our planet would become a black hole.

Black holes do grow—despite not “sucking” anything in—by merging with other black holes.

“[When merging] some of their mass gets converted to energy, sending out ripples through space-time called gravitation waves,” Haggard said.

Einstein predicted this phenomenon over 100 years ago, but modern scientists detected it only two years ago. Haggard hopes to study the same phenomenon, but with supermassive black holes.

Black holes remain one of the most mysterious and intriguing features of our universe. Haggard’s concluding message, however, was quite clear.

“Black holes are awesome and they really don’t suck!” she said.

-Julia Briand

 

Engineers Michael Khor and Michel Lortie bring software from rovers to cars

Despite their everyday applications, Insulin pumps, GPS, and UV-light-blocking sunglasses, are all products of space science; each tool was designed for use in space before being used on Earth. Both presenters, Michael Khor and Michel Lortie, work for Neptec.

According to their website, Neptec “produces electro-optical and electro mechanical systems for mission critical space applications.”

Among other things, the company makes Light, Imaging, Detection, and Ranging (LiDAR) systems. LiDAR  is a laser-based optical system that allows for the detection of an object’s proximity and shape. While scientists initially designed LiDAR for use by NASA to accurately pilot vehicles like rovers and shuttles, the software has landed on Earth. Currently, the Mars rover and Tesla’s self-driving cars use a combination of optical cameras and radar to process the 3-D world. According to Khor, however, these systems present problems.

“The issue with cameras is that they are affected by lighting,” Khor said. “[They’re] not good for night-time, and can be affected by oncoming headlights. [Radar], on the other hand, is really good at detecting objects and their [relative] distances, but does not offer any information about their shapes and size.”

While these traditional optical-radar systems work fine during the day, they falter in dark or foggy conditions—motivating Neptec to replace these limited systems with LiDAR. Unfortunately, LiDAR systems are still far too expensive to be applied widely to commercial vehicles. Khor and his team hope to bring these costs down, and employ the technology in our everyday lives.

-River Ludwick

 

Bayar Goswami on conscientious space development

Science fiction creates an avenue through which everything from human space travel to extraterrestrial mining can exist.

Bayar Goswami, Masters of Law graduate at the Institute of Air and Space Law at McGill, raised these crucial considerations during his talk at the Montreal Space Symposium.

According to Goswami, the constant race for development on Earth will now begin to move into outer space.

“The blind chase for resources has led us from colonization to industrial revolution, to globalization, and now to the epoch of the Anthropocene,” Goswami explained. “[We] are extending this race for resources to outer space now.”

Only a loose set of ‘soft’ laws—or non-legally binding principles—regulates the development of outer space, such as the Outer Space Treaty.

Goswami illustrated a science fiction-based future scenario for the human race.

“Imagine a doomsday with habitation in space as the safest […] bet against extinction.” Goswami said. “Only the richest of human beings, from the most developed countries, and privileged with friends in high positions will survive.”

Answering questions about which demographics would benefit from development in space and what such a development would look like won’t be easy.

“I’m confident we need to completely reimagine the whole development and value system for human global society where we actually learn from the mistakes,” Goswami said.

If current society must eventually be replicated in outer space, Goswami believes the human race is designed for doom. However, he hopes to combine natural and social experts into the conversation about cosmic development.

“But before we dream big,” Goswami said, “let us glance through our history [and learn from our mistakes].”

-Kimberly Johnston

Men's Varsity, Sports

Redmen lacrosse crushes Gee-Gees again in rematch

by Patrick Beacham on

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McGill Redmen
14

 

 

 

 

 

 

uOttawa Gee-Gees
5

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Oct. 5 rematch between the McGill Redmen (8-1) and the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees (3-6) at Molson Stadium was only close for a brief spell in the first half. As Redmen midfielder Emile Sassone-Lawless put the finishing touches on his hat trick in the second half, McGill took control of the field and rounded out the game with a 14-5 victory.

Last year, Ottawa knocked McGill out of the postseason in the Baggataway Cup quarterfinals. However, after beating the Gee-Gees for the second time this year, the Redmen are optimistic as the playoffs approach once again.

“They ruined our season last year, so it was really nice to beat them down today,” Senior Redmen attack Cyrus Wickersham said.

McGill came out with strong momentum in the first half: The team quickly established itself on offence and won the first quarter 2-1. The game slowed in the second quarter as the Gee-Gees struggled to out-maneuver the Redmen’s strong defence.

“We have the best defence in the league,” Redmen assistant coach Nicholas Soubry said. “We just make minor mistakes sometimes, and I think we need to improve on that. I think today we did improve on a lot of things that I’ve been talking about.”

The last competitive clash occurred at the end of the second quarter, when some on-field fouls and a penalty on the Redmen opened up an opportunity for the Gee-Gees. After a brief back-and-forth, McGill came out on top with a 6-4 lead at the end of the half and went on to score another eight goals in the second half to Ottawa’s one.

“Defensively, I think we played really well,” Freshman Redmen long-stick midfielder Matt Keresteci said. “We were tight on our slides [and] tight on our recovery [….] Offensively, we stuck to our basics and played a great game.”

The Redmen have three games left in the regular season, with their last home game on Oct. 18 against the Bishop’s University Gaiters. Bishop’s took a narrow victory against McGill earlier in the season, but the Redmen are confident that they can hold onto the top seat in their conference.

“What’s boding well is that we’re 8-1, we’re first in the [CUFLA] East,” Redmen Head Coach Tim Murdoch said. “We’re playing Queen’s University next weekend, they’re a really athletic team. That should be a big test, but as long as we keep winning we’ll stay atop the East, [so] it looks pretty good right now. ”

 

Moment of the Game

In the second minute of play, the ball ricocheted off the Ottawa goal post and into the stick of McGill midfielder Emile Sassone-Lawless, who took a swift behind-the-back shot for the first goal of the game.

 

Quotable

"We forgot about [the 2016 Baggataway Cup] quarterfinals.That was last year’s team. This is this year’s team." – Redmen Head Coach Tim Murdoch on moving on from last year’s defeat against Ottawa.

 

Stat Corner

The Redmen scored four unanswered goals in the third quarter in a surge that marked the end of the game for the Gee-Gees.

 

 

 

Commentary, Opinion

To the cocky cyclist: Traffic laws apply to bikers, too

by Jordan Gowling on

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My roommate recently had a near collision with a cyclist at the intersection of Mont-Royal and Saint-Urbain. She, as a pedestrian, had the right of way; the cyclist did not. As a morning bike commuter myself, I have seen firsthand some of the liberties cyclists take with traffic laws. This is dangerous. While some cyclists may be occupied with getting to class on time or thinking about work commitments, it only takes a few seconds for a collision and fatal injury to occur. In recent years, Montreal has made efforts to provide the proper infrastructure and safety measures to ensure cyclists can share the road. Cyclists must do their part, too, by abiding by the rules of the road.

In 2013, the Montreal municipal government allocated a $10 million annual budget to invest in new bike paths and make certain sections of the city safer for cyclists. In recent years, there has been significant growth in the number of cyclists in the city, with cyclists now representing 2.9 per cent of morning commuters in Montreal compared to 2.5 percent in Ottawa and 2.2 percent in Toronto in 2015. Many McGill students are part of this demographic. This is progress, and as Montreal makes room for cyclists to share the road, positive benefits flow to all types of commuters.

There is a double standard between vehicles and cyclists, however: The former must follow the rules and largely does so, while the latter often behave as though the rules do not apply to them. I see this type of behaviour on a regular basis; for example, bikers often fail to stop at a red light or refuse to slow down for a pedestrian who has the right of way. 

This is concerning. Cyclists operating on the road must abide by traffic laws, because lives are at stake. In a recent opinion piece for the New York Times, Lucy Madison recounts the devastating cycling collision that took her mother’s life on a busy street in downtown Washington, DC. Similarly, here in Montreal, CBC reported a sharp 50 per cent increase in cycling deaths and a 43 percent increase in serious injuries last year. Moreover, a reckless cyclist not only runs the significant risk of injuring themselves, but also of fatally injuring a pedestrian or another cyclist.

 

 

There is a double standard between vehicles and cyclists, however: The former must follow the rules and largely does so, while the latter often behave as though the rules do not apply to them.

The reward of running a red light to save 30 seconds is not worth the increased risk of collision with a vehicle or a pedestrian. One issue is that there is less of an incentive as a cyclist to follow the rules, because the punishments facing cyclists for breaking traffic laws are much less severe compared to those that apply to drivers. For example, a fine for a cyclist that runs a red light is $15 and three demerit points, whereas a fine for running a red light in a vehicle is $100 and three demerit points. This disparity in penalties sends the message to cyclists that their actions are less severe than and cannot do as much damage as those of drivers, but this should not be the case.

Regardless of penalties, there must be a higher incentive for a cyclist to avoid a collision with a vehicle, because logic dictates that the driver of the car will probably be fine, but the cyclist most likely will not. Whether they like it or not, cyclists are operating as vehicles on the road. Road signs and safety precautions are not merely suggestions, but laws that need to be followed in order to ensure the safety of all those within the Montreal community and, correspondingly, McGill. Cyclists can no longer decide the rules don’t apply to them.

 

 

 

 

Jordan Gowling is a History major from Gatineau, Quebec. She enjoys reading, soccer, and drinking overpriced lattes.

 

 

@mcgilltribop | [email protected]

 

 

 
Commentary, Opinion

There’s no such thing as free public transit

by Gabriel Rincon on

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A Quebec think tank recently proposed the idea that Montreal should make public transportation free. The primary goals of the proposal, released by the Instititut de recherche et d’informations socio-economiques (IRIS), are to alleviate traffic and carbon emissions. However, despite its findings, it’s not immediately obvious that making transit free would be the best way to produce the desired results, nor the most cost effective.

One of the issues with the proposal is that its author, Bertrand Schepper, drastically underestimated how much free public transportation would cost. According to Schepper, the estimated cost the government would take on was said to be about $620 million—STM’s current revenue from riders—which completely disregards basic economics. When the price of something goes down, the quantity demanded subsequently rises. Consequently, assuming today’s ridership numbers would remain constant completely ignores the additional costs of the increased ridership that would result if public transport were free. Not to mention the added costs of maintaining the capital stock due to increased wear-and-tear. Since there would then be no revenue to cover these extra expenses, the funds would have to come from increased taxation. This would be a burden on all, regardless of how much one uses public transport.

It is important not to underestimate the significance of the revenue generated by public transport. Without the instrument of being able to raise prices or issue a consumption tax on fares, raising funds for improving the transit system would require an increase in general taxes. Thus, the costs of free transit are not as straightforward as the study would make them out to be. For such a cost to be justified, the benefit would have to be massive.

Free services aren’t actually free—their funding comes from taxpayers, even if they don’t benefit from the services provided.

The author argues that making public transportation free would help reduce traffic and carbon emissions from cars. Indeed these are goals that should be promoted, given that Montreal has committed to reducing its carbon gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. It would be a shame if this noble goal were to turn into an empty promise. Still, it is not obvious that making public transport free would accomplish this. One would have to assume that if transit becomes free, people who were previously driving will switch to using public transport. Certainly ridership will increase, but a substantial amount of this increase may be from people who were previously biking or walking. While making public transport free increases the relative price of driving, it also does the same for every other mode of transportation. Those who can afford to drive may continue paying a premium for the convenience and privacy of a car and to avoid the increased traffic on an already heavily worked public transport system. In other words, to get people out of cars, the city should try directly increasing the price of driving to disincentivize it.

According to the study, Montreal grants more subsidies to drivers than it does public transport. Eliminating these give-aways should be the starting point to reduce emissions; there is no obvious reason for the subsidy to exist and it lowers the private cost of driving, which increases demand for cars and, correspondingly, pollution. In fact, drivers should be made to bear the social cost of their activity, and pay a tax for the pollution they're creating. The best way to do so would be an additional gasoline tax since the cost of the tax would be directly proportional to how much pollution the person produces. Additionally, it would make biking, walking, and public transport relatively cheaper than driving.

Free services aren’t actually free—their funding comes from taxpayers, even if they don’t benefit from the services provided. Instead of making public transit free to reduce the number of cars on the road, the government should target the activity that it wants to disincentivize: It should tax the car drivers directly if it is concerned by pollution and congestion. Fundamentally, there’s no sense in forcing a person who walks or bikes to subsidize someone else’s metro trip.

Gabriel is a U2 Economics student at McGill. He loves cooking and sharing his food with his friends and family.

 

@mcgilltribop | [email protected]

 
Commentary, Opinion

The VP External should support student initiatives, not direct them

by Gabriel Rincon on

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On Sept. 15, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited McGill to inaugurate a new Facebook Artificial Intelligence lab. However important the initiative, Trudeau’s welcome was lukewarm. A group of students, including Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Vice-President (VP) External Connor Spencer, protested the Prime Minister’s visit. The protesters accused Trudeau of breaking his promises to Indigenous communities, citing his failure to acknowledge the McGill Pow Wow being held at the same time on Lower Field. Regardless of whether the charge is fair or not, it raises the question of the scope of the VP External’s role when engaging in political protest.

Among the SSMU internal documents that govern the VP External’s participation in the Trudeau protest are the VP External job contract and the Indigenous Solidarity Policy (ISP). A plain reading of either of these texts does not call for participating in student demonstrations, only for supporting student political activities. Moreover, the ISP is narrowly written to ensure SSMU’s involvement in Indigenous communities is focused on consultation, support, and advocacy in McGill policy areas.

However, more important than what the institution defines for the VP External, is what students should expect from the portfolio. As soon as SSMU begins to appear to students as an institution that’s there to serve itself or to disseminate its executives’ preferred ideologies, then SSMU is no longer seen to serve the entire student body.

In recent years, it has become a norm for the VP External to direct student protest. But this should not be the case. A very concrete example of the consequences that can arise from this approach was former VP External David Aird’s participation in an anti-Trump rally—#MakeRacistsAfraidAgain—that became hostile towards an apolitical protest advocating “no hate” in response to Trump’s vitriol. As a result, Aird was heavily criticized for not respecting students’ right to react to Trump’s election in their own way. Instead of allowing students to demonstrate in the way they saw fit, Aird picked a side and supported the vocally anti-Trump reaction which he saw as more appropriate, with poor results. Consequently, SSMU executives—and the VP External in particular, due to their portfolio—must ensure that they don't let their political views distract from their focus on serving the student body.

 

SSMU executives should represent the interests of all students, independent of politics.

The VP External should be there to support student organization initiatives as they relate to interests external to McGill. But, even acting in this capacity, the VP External should remain removed from participating in student ideological demonstrations or campaigns, such as protesting the visit of a prime minister. For the VP External to be able to represent and support diverse student interests, they should try to be politically neutral. The benefit in being apolitical is that it prevents segments of the electorate from becoming disengaged. If the VP External, or indeed any SSMU representative, makes their political leanings public, it risks alienating voters who disagree with their views. More worryingly, it could lead students to believe that SSMU executives won’t support their initiatives if they are ideologically opposed. Students risk becoming even more disengaged if the VP External crosses the line from supporting initiatives to directing student activism.

If the VP External were to lead or begin student organization efforts instead of supporting existing movements, they would effectively be using their position to advance their own ideology. No one would organize students in a direction that’s inconsistent with their political ideology; therefore, a VP cannot actively direct student activism without simultaneously advancing their own personal politics.

SSMU executives should represent the interests of all students, independent of politics. Even if their motives are noble, a VP External should not participate in student protests. To fulfill the spirit of the position, the executive has to remain apolitical, so as not to risk alienating the constituents they represent.

 

 

Gabriel is a U2 Economics student at McGill. He loves cooking and sharing his food with his friends and family.

 

@mcgilltribop | [email protected]

 

 
Commentary, Opinion

Rape culture exists: McGill Rez Project must do more to change attitudes

by Caitlyn Atkinson on

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Over the past two weeks, McGill’s first year residents have been participating in mandatory Rez Project workshops tackling topics such as gender, sexuality, and sexual violence. I attended one of these workshops, and what I found was an audience that completely disregarded the importance of the session. A number of students did not wish to participate, and shockingly, many who attended the workshop joked throughout it, encouraging others to do the same. These types of responses are unacceptable, and ultimately reinforce the passive and misinformed attitudes that allow sexual assault to occur.

McGill’s effort to implement a preventative sexual assault program is a good start, but it still fails potential survivors. If McGill wants to take a truly preventative approach, it should organize sexual assault workshops before Frosh week. In recent years, the annual weekend of partying has led to a number of sexual assault scandals across Canadian universities, which ultimately ended in the government requiring schools to update sexual their assault policies. Such measures are necessary, but they are primarily reactive. McGill must recognize that the negative attitude surrounding Rez Project workshops highlights a greater underlying issue: Consent is still a joke to some students, and there are still people in this community who are unwilling to educate themselves on sexual violence prevention. Although the university has little control over the incoming attitudes of students, enhancing preventative measures will result in small and slow changes in these attitudes. McGill’s Rez Project would benefit from a number of changes, such as including an online prevention module or encouraging more audience participation in order to better protect potential victims.

According to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, the most effective way to reduce sexual violence is by conducting all-female workshops that include a self-defence component. Yet, while these skills may be useful, placing the emphasis on such methods of sexual assault prevention still perpetuates “rape culture” by upholding the expectation that victims should prevent themselves from being raped, rather than putting the onus on assailants to not rape or assault others. Moreover, these types of workshops fail to acknowledge that women are not the only ones who are sexually assaulted.

One simple but effective way to increase the impact of Rez Project would be to make the workshops more interactive.The InterACT Sexual Assault Prevention Program had leaders act out potentially dangerous situations and encourage participants to physically intervene or call out suggestions. The 509 university students who participated were surveyed pre-test, post-test, and three months after the session. While the self-reports allow for some personal bias, the results showed significant changes in beliefs and behaviours regarding sexual assault. Most students who participated in the study reported that they were able to better identify actions falling under the umbrella of sexual assault. As a result, they felt a stronger sense of responsibility to intervene. By taking a page from this study and implementing a more participatory portion to their own programming, Rez Project coordinators could have greater success in educating McGill students and protecting them from future harm.

An example to follow is that of Penn State, which has one of the most celebrated sexual assault prevention programs in the US and has introduced mandatory online modules for students to better protect them and their peers. The university has instituted two modules, one focusing on safe alcohol consumption and the other on educating students on sexual violence and domestic abuse. Both must be completed before students can register for classes. The 15-minute, ungraded, pre-frosh registration consent video quiz that McGill currently uses pales in comparison. Requiring students to devote significant time and concentration to sexual violence education before participating in Frosh may not spark a revolutionary change in attitudes among past assailants, but it is one step toward it.

That said, waiting until university to start providing sexual assault and consent education is insufficient. Eliminating the rape culture that perpetuates this violence is undoubtedly a long-term process, and it is one that post-secondary institutions cannot tackle on their own. Rez Project attempts to educate and encourage bystander intervention, but it currently lacks in execution. McGill cannot force every student to care about consent and sexual assault prevention—that is an issue that is deeply rooted in societal upbringing. Despite that, if a more effective Rez Project causes even a portion of the student body to take sexual assault more seriously, it would make for a positive change in campus culture. Until society shifts, it would serve McGill well to take notes from other universities to better protect its potential survivors.

Student Life

How students can better support survivors of sexual violence

by Emma Carr on

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Sexual violence is pervasive on McGill’s campus—according to the Annual Report on the Policy on Harassment, Sexual Harassment, and Discrimination Prohibited by Law, reports of sexual harassment increased significantly during the 2016-2017 academic year. Worse, many students feel ill-prepared to support a survivor when they disclose their experience of a violent or non-consensual sexual act. Consent McGill, an annual campaign running from Sept. 25 to Oct. 5, aims to address this problem.  

Coordinated by the Office for Sexual Violence Response, Support and Education (O-SVRSE), the campus-wide campaign seeks to facilitate a dialogue about how the student population can make the McGill campus safer and more supportive for sexual assault survivors, while preventing future incidents from occurring. Among the activities at the fourth annual Consent McGill was the ‘How to Respond to Disclosures of Sexual Violence’ workshop, designed to equip students with the skills to “respond to and support people affected by sexual violence by using appropriate tools and approaches.”

To learn more about this workshop—which is also offered throughout the academic year for co-curricular credit—and about how students should respond when trusted with a disclosure of sexual violence, The McGill Tribune spoke with Bianca Tétrault, Sexual Violence Education Advisor at O-SVRSE, and the founder of Consent McGill.

The McGill Tribune (MT): Why is learning how to respond to disclosures of sexual violence an important skill for students to learn?

Bianca Tétrault (BT): The way one responds to a disclosure can severely impact the way that [a survivor] processes their experiences. [It] can perpetuate further harm if they are not met with supportive, validating responses. There are so many barriers to even just coming forward, and if [the person listening] holds misconceptions or judgements, or doesn’t use appropriate language, it just further perpetuates the difficulties and barriers for people that are struggling to come forward.

MT: It’s probably hard for survivors to talk about their experiences with non-survivors. If I haven’t experienced sexual harassment or assault, how can I possibly offer this person my support?

BT: I think the first point of reflection as the responder is that this is never about you, so regardless [of whether] you have experienced sexual violence in some way, your experience will always be different from the person disclosing. No one person’s experience is the same, and so it’s not about you or your lived experience, or how you can understand what someone went through. It’s about how you can best support the person talking to you in this moment.

MT: What are the most important things to keep in mind when survivors of sexual assault disclose information to you?

BT: There are four key steps. The first one is [to] listen and believe [….] If you make the conversation about you, or you continue to cut somebody off, they are not going to feel that they can trust you or want to continue talking, so listen. [The] second [step] is [to] believe and validate. You don’t need to know the details of any case or situation, all you need to know is that it has negatively impacted somebody and that you are there to support them. The third [step] is [to] support non-judgmentally, […which includes] checking your misconceptions [and] checking your privileges or your biases. Often we hear the first response being ‘you need to report this,’ or ‘you should tell somebody,’ but that [choice] may not be right for the person disclosing. Ask them how you can best support them. What do they want or need from you? And lastly, [understand] that all feelings are valid [….] I think there are a lot of misconceptions around how someone should act after a sexual assault, and we need to deconstruct [these]. 

MT: What do you do if you feel like you are unable to help the survivor?

BT: Ultimately, we are telling our participants in the workshop that we are not training you to be counsellors or therapists, we are training you to be first-responders. And first-responders are going through the key points that I just mentioned, letting this person know that they are not alone, and that you will support them to get the services […] and trained [professionals] to support survivors of sexual assault.

If you are a survivor of sexual violence or a friend responding to a disclosure, there are a number of campus services available to support you, including The Office for Sexual Violence Response, Support and Education, Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS), and the Peer Support Centre , among others. A complete list of services can be found on The Office for Sexual Violence Response, Support and Education’s website.

 
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