Legal marijuana is set to hit stores and online markets country-wide in less than a month, and many Canadians are eagerly awaiting this change. Amidst the excitement, Quebec is taking a sideways attitude toward legalization. Quebec’s hesitance to embrace the benefits of legal cannabis has resulted in half-baked rules and[Read More…]
Tag: quebec
Toward a more democratically engaged student body
In six days, universities across the province—McGill included—will be cancelling classes for Quebec’s provincial election day. Many students may already be making plans to enjoy the cool fall weather or catch up on the classes they missed during add/drop. Considerably fewer may be actively planning to vote. But, enjoying the[Read More…]
Quebec’s quest for monolingual domination makes healthcare less accessible
This past summer, I decided to stay in Montreal instead of returning home to the States. In June, I walked around the McGill Ghetto and the Plateau, delivering my CV and asking for interviews. Working in the service industry means that you work with people, so, without fail, each time[Read More…]
A foot on either side
In March 2017, Andrew Potter, former director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC), resigned after publishing a column titled “How a snowstorm exposed Quebec’s real problem: social malaise” in Maclean’s magazine. In addition to causing a rare McGill snow day, the blizzard also sparked a decidedly less rare debate over[Read More…]
Testing Quebec’s patients: Students should care about the nursing crisis
On Jan. 29, Sherbrooke nurse Émilie Ricard posted a photo of herself in tears on her Facebook page, giving a sarcastic thumbs up and smile to the camera. She captioned the photo with a diatribe, mocking Quebec’s Minister of Health Gaétan Barrette’s tweet that his government’s 2015 health care reform[Read More…]
Quebec safe injection sites need to catch up to fentanyl crisis
Since 2015, the fentanyl crisis has taken Canada by storm: The Public Health Agency of Canada estimated that over 4,000 Canadians lost their lives to opioid-related overdose in 2017. On Jan. 12, Dr. Carole Morissette, Montreal Public Health medical chief, delivered a public health warning to recreational drug users, signalling[Read More…]
SSMU executives accused of mismanaging funds at council
At the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Legislative Council meeting on Feb. 8, councillors discussed funding issues and a potential conflict of interest between SSMU executive members and the Association for the Voice of Education in Quebec (AVEQ). In addition, Council passed motions to renew the ECOLE project fee,[Read More…]
Ceremony commemorates held on the anniversary of Quebec City mosque attack
On Jan. 29, several campus groups held a ceremony of remembrance to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the 2017 attack on the Centre Culturel Islamique du Québec, one of the largest mosques in Quebec City. Members of the McGill community and the public gathered in the atrium of the Lorne[Read More…]
Life After Four Loko: Students share mixed feelings over the new provincial drink recall
It was late August. The time was 7 a.m. The occasion was Beach Day. As I entered a quaint dépanneur in the Milton-Parc neighbourhood to stock up on alcohol before heading to the bus, I was immediately struck by the brightly coloured cans neatly aligned in a fridge in the[Read More…]
Students have the power to effect change in Quebec through political volunteerism
The importance of youth involvement in politics was evident to me well before I started my studies at McGill. The mayor of my hometown–Moncton, New Brunswick–once told me, “I hear from a lot of older people, every day. Unfortunately, I don’t hear from many young people […] and yet every[Read More…]