In anticipation of heightened tensions on Oct. 7, the McGill administration preemptively closed campus, silencing student protest and increasing policing. The university moved classes online and required students to show identification at security checkpoints, with some students reporting that they were denied entry into academic buildings despite valid credentials. Fences[Read More…]
Tag: police
McGill student contingent joins Montreal-wide protest demanding justice for Palestine
A crowd of approximately 150 McGill community members chanted, “McGill, McGill, you can’t hide! We charge you with genocide!” outside the university’s Roddick Gates on Oct. 5. The demonstrators formed the McGill student contingent attending the International Day of Action march and rally organized by the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM)’s[Read More…]
STM safety ambassadors are customers in uniform, not adequate emergency responders
If you saw an emergency on the metro, what would be your first instinct? Would you intervene yourself? Would you call the police? Ask another bystander for help? Google what to do? Odds are you didn’t say, “Find one of six safety ambassadors scattered around the metro station who cannot[Read More…]
Montreal’s 2024 budget inflates a ballooning SPVM, while crucial accessibility issues go unaddressed
Announced on Nov. 15, Montreal’s 2024 budget raises serious concerns regarding the skewed allocation of funds accompanying the 3.5 per cent spending increase. The municipal government allocated the majority of the budget to investments in public transit––which is receiving a budget increase of $48.4 million, bringing it up to $715.6[Read More…]
Evictions of encampments encroach on equitable housing solutions
As the housing crisis in Montreal persists, neither the city government nor its citizens are addressing the unhoused population with the empathy and urgency they deserve. A coalition of residents from Saint-Henri recently expressed anger over a decision to build a four-storey housing complex for unhoused individuals and a supervised[Read More…]
Abolish the SPVM
Content warning: Police violence, racism On Nov. 26, bystander video footage surfaced documenting two cases of police brutality against Black youth in Quebec. Pacifique Niyokwizera, an 18-year-old Black man, was waiting outside of a nightclub when five police officers brutalized him. In the same video, the same officers are seen[Read More…]
Three verdicts, one unjust reality
Content warning: racism, police violence In the past several days, three high-profile cases have come to deeply unsatisfying conclusions. Two are American—Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse was cleared of all charges after he killed two men during a night of unrest following the shooting of Jacob Blake, and the three white[Read More…]
Law enforcement and community experts call for dialogue on systemic discrimination
To promote a better understanding of systemic discrimination and how to combat it, the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR) and the Criminal Law Group of McGill co-hosted a panel discussion on Feb. 11 titled “Systemic Discrimination: Challenges for Policing in An Age of Diversity and Heightened Public Scrutiny.”[Read More…]
McGill Social work student alleges racial profiling by police
As Jean Kagame, U3 Social Work, drove to Toronto with two friends on Nov. 21, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) pulled him over and charged him with stunt driving at over 170 km/hour. Kagame maintains that he did not exceed 120 km/hour and alleges that he was racially profiled by the[Read More…]
Black Students’ Network holds panel on racial profiling and how to combat it
Writers and activists Desmond Cole, Robyn Maynard, and Andrea Ritchie visited McGill on Nov. 8 for a panel discussion on the nature of racial profiling and police violence, hosted by the Black Students’ Network (BSN). In conversation with McGill Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies Professor Rachel Zellars, they discussed the history of[Read More…]
