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NEWS

McGill participates in Northern Quebec research institute #ConsentMcGill panel engages students to promote consent

October 27, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Plan Nord: McGill to participate in Northern Quebec research project Failure to include Indigenous voices a concern

International health insurance rates lowered SSMU General Assembly Cycling working group’s recommendations dismissed Grad supervision regulations updated

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COMMENTARY

SPHR: the lack of debate at the SSMU GA silences dissent Muslims don’t have a proper prayer space at McGill Harper is refusing treatment for Gazan children

12

FEATURES

There will be blood: real stories about periods.

15

SCI+TECH

16

PHOTO ESSAY

18

SPORTS

Neuroscientists are using a new technique to control neurons with light

The ugly side of sports culture Is there still room in the NHL for enforcers?

20 CULTURE Everything you need to know about the upcoming AmerAsia festival Imprisonment and turtles with Andréane Leclerc Maori traditions and lifestyles as art Reviewing Tuesday Night Cafe’s Monster

23 EDITORIAL The politics of neutrality leads nowhere

24 COMPENDIUM! McGall motions to adjourn on campus totalitarianism

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Jasreet Kaur The McGill Daily

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t a press conference on October 15, the minister responsible for Plan Nord, Pierre Arcand, announced that Quebec will soon be creating a research centre called l’Institut nordique du Quebec (INQ), or the Northern Institute of Quebec. Surrounded by representatives from McGill, Université Laval, and the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS), Arcand stated that the institute will be performing research on areas in Northern Quebec.

The institute will gather information on these areas in conjunction with the controversial Plan Nord, a proposed project to extract resources from the lands of First Nations and the Inuit, such as the Kuujjuaq Inuit land. The lands contain many natural resources, including gold, iron ore, rare earth metals, and diamonds.

The provincial government of Quebec will provide the project with $3 million from the Fonds du Plan Nord, or the Northern Plan Fund, for the creation of the institute, which will not have a central location between the three universities involved.

Research for development and resource extraction in Northern Quebec “The plan is for INQ to become a hub for research, innovation, and community development related to the North across disciplines, including in areas like the responsible use of natural resources, nutrition and health of Indigenous people, civic security in the Arctic, access to education, and renewable energy,” McGill’s Vice-Principal (Research and International Relations) Rose Goldstein told The Daily in an email.

The areas of Northern Quebec being targeted by this research are sparsely inhabited, and little research is currently available on the area.

Therefore, according to INRS Vice-President of Research and Academic Affairs Yves Bégin, current research methods will have to be revised and replaced with other methods that can more accurately represent the current situation of the areas to be studied.

“The key point is to see the north from the north. Anyone who has experience will say that the north is so particular that ev-

erything has to be reinvented,” Bégin told The Daily in an email, though he did not go into specifics of the research methods that will be used.

He said their research will cover a variety of topics, including, “biodiversity, population health, economy, mining, [and] permafrost.”

“This initiative is aligned with the Quebec government’s focus. […] INQ is not, however, part of the Plan Nord,” said Goldstein.

Both Bégin and Goldstein claimed that the research aspect of the INQ would attempt to incorporate the perspectives and insights of Indigenous people already living in those regions.

“Consultations with internal and external communities will certainly be part of our work as we create a world-class research program to take place at this future institute,” said Goldstein.

Speaking about the INQ project specifically, Bégin mentioned that one of the goals of the INQ is to include Indigenous perspectives in the research conducted, and that, in his experience, the Northern communities have been involved since the inception of the program.

With regard to McGill’s efforts to include Indigenous peoples, Goldstein stated, “We will collaborate with the partner institutions to develop a governance plan, extend the partnership to encompass Northern communities, establish a budget, and initiate program development.”

Lack of inclusion of Indigenous peoples in Plan Nord Tunu Napartuk, the mayor of the village of Kuujjuaq in Northern Quebec, told The Daily that the consultation process for Plan Nord has been extremely limited, and that no one in the Kuujjuaq community was told specific details of the plan.

“When it first came out a number of years ago, we were informed at the same time as the general public. [...] Afterward, we were taken by surprise and we’re now trying to adjust and see how the plan now is going to work for the north,” said Napartuk.

Napartuk explained why the proposed projects are worrying and that he wished that he and his community had been consulted more.

“We live off the land. [...] Inuit groups on the land learned how to work with the land and survive off it

Alice Shen | The McGill Daily for many centuries, so the land and the environment are extremely important to us,” he explained.

“So when there’s another group of people that show interest in our land – we call it our land because we’ve been on this land for many thousands of years – when there’s other groups of people who show interest in our land, we’re always concerned, and we always want to take part in the process, to be informed, to have the right to ask questions on what the plans are,” he added.

Napartuk explained that regional leaders, elected from within the people in Kuujjuaq, are the ones who voice their concerns about projects happening within their territory to the government.

“We do have leaders, regional leaders, elected leaders, that we elect within our people, and they’re the ones who have been spending a lot of energy, and pass on their concerns about any projects that may happen within our territory.” “[Regional leaders] regularly meet and inform the provincial leaders, and the [provincial] government – I hope by this time – clearly understands what our concerns are,” said Napartuk.

Napartuk said that although the government listens to the concerns voiced by regional leaders, they are not necessarily prioritized over the general goals of the province.

“In the north, especially North[ern] Quebec, we have the tendency of finding out things after projects or programs have started, and the whole process of consultation has always been challenged.

So, to be consulted, and to be made aware of how things are going to work, especially if the projects are very important, that needs to happen here,” explained Napartuk.

Revival of Plan Nord The Plan Nord project was first proposed in 2011 by the Liberal party, but was put on hold for 19 months after the Parti Québécois came into power in 2012. After the Liberals won the elections in April under Philippe Couillard, the project was revived with a few changes.

Major changes from the 2011 version include a new revenuesharing scheme between regions, whereby tax revenue used to fund the project will be used for both extracting natural resources and youth development programs. Additionally, a stronger focus will be placed on the development of the mining industry with a $1 billion investment by the Quebec government in Quebec contractors building mining equipment.

Plan Nord’s overall focus on the exploitation of the natural resources on lands belonging to Indigenous peoples has already earned criticism from many environmental and social justice groups, including Divest McGill.

When the plan was first introduced in 2011, Divest McGill issued a statement saying, “Quebec’s Plan Nord involves some of the largest, dirtiest companies on the planet and provides for extraordinary environmental destruction across huge swaths of Northern Quebec. Much of this will occur on Native land, as the voices of Indigenous peoples fall on the deaf ears of politicians.”

Both the original and current plan involve heavy investments in research on the resource-rich lands of Northern Quebec and infrastructure development, the latter of which aims to increase the accessibility of natural resources in Northern Quebec.

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October 27, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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An uphill battle for consent culture Panelists discuss consent education, sexual assault policy Saima Desai News Writer

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n Thursday, four panelists participated in a discussion hosted by the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU)’s Equity Committee to address how best to foster a culture of consent on and off the McGill campus. The event was a part of the #ConsentMcGill campaign, held from October 20 to 24, which aimed to educate students, faculty, and staff about consent in sexual situations and daily life.

The panel was composed of three students: Alice Gauntley, a Healthy McGill Peer Educator specializing in sexuality education; Roma Nadeem, a member of the SSMU Equity Committee and former Rez Life coordinator; and Jean Murray, External Coordinator at the Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS). The panel also included Carrie Rentschler, an associate professor in the Department of Art History & Communications who focuses on feminism and media.

Panelists discussed what a culture of consent would look like on the Mc-

Gill campus, as well as the obstacles facing its establishment.

Gauntley said that a community that fosters consent is one “where the principles of asking for consent and listening to and respecting that answer [are] woven into all areas of our lives, not just in terms of sexual activity.” The panelists agreed that ideally, consent should be normalized among all peers to eradicate the idea that asking for consent is redundant or inconvenient. Murray added that “it’s teaching people to be prepared to have ‘no’ as an answer and be okay with that.”

“A culture of consent looks and sounds very different than what we have on campus right now,” said Rentschler. She called into question whether a true culture of consent was possible within a university setting where the hierarchy between students, faculty, and the administration can undermine students’ efforts to eradicate non-consensual power dynamics between individuals.

“It’s really hard, because this is a deeply hierarchical place [...] and a lot of us are invested in those hierarchies,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve

ever seen consent being performed at a university,” she continued.

Murray spoke about how another obstacle facing consent education on campus involves addressing the preconceptions of a diverse student body. “Everybody who comes here was almost certainly raised in a culture of normalized gender- and sexual-based violence,” she said. “[Consent education] involves complete paradigm shifts,” she said.

A topic that pervaded the discussion of eradicating sexual violence through consent was the current student-driven drafting of the university’s new sexual assault policy.

“Often we talk about consent on an individual level, but it’s also really important at an institutional level,” said Murray.

“That means proactive policies to make students feel safe and supported on campus,” Gauntley agreed.

“We have the possibility right now to make potentially a pretty radical sexual assault policy that doesn’t really have a precedent,” added Murray.

“The only way to deal with assault on campus is to go to the police, is to go to the criminal justice system.” Pan-

Talking consent at McGill. Tamim Sujat | The McGill Daily elists and audience members alike were optimistic about the potential for the new sexual assault policy to transform how universities across the country approach situations of nonconsent, with some audience members expressing interest in methods of “alternative accountability.”

The response to the panel was largely positive, with many participants offering opinions and suggestions on fostering a culture

of consent. “This conversation is something really palpable on campus,” said Lily Schwarzbaum, Student Engagement Facilitator at the McGill Office of Sustainability.

The panelists were pleased with the outcome and level of participation during the panel. “When it comes down to it, a culture of consent is one where students are all engaged in continuing to build and grow that culture,” said Murray.

International student health insurance premiums drop Post-grads to push for integration with Quebec’s public healthcare system Cem Ertekin The McGill Daily

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s of this September, the premium for McGill’s health insurance plan for international students has dropped by $101 per year for individuals, $312 per year for individuals with dependents, and $594 per year for individuals with families, to $849, $2604, and $4953 respectively.

This decrease follows almost three years of lobbying from past executives of the Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) via the Advisory Committee on International Students (ACIS). This lobbying was done in order to push the University to engage in a competitive bidding process (called a request for proposals (RFP)) for the international students’ health insurance plan.

However, the premium rates for private insurance plans for international students are still high, mostly due to the fact that international students are charged three times the rate of the Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec (RAMQ), the Quebec government health insurance board, for the medical services they receive in a hospital.

Following the RFP process this

spring, the University successfully negotiated a deal with the current insurance provider, Blue Cross, which had already been providing a health plan for international students for the past twenty years.

Director of International Student Services Pauline L’Ecuyer told The Daily, “It’s a two-year contract [with Blue Cross], and we’ll have to decide if we want to do another RFP in two years.”

The lobbying process for a more affordable healthcare plan for international students began in 2011.

According to former PGSS Secretary-General Jonathan Mooney, the process required a great deal of effort on the part of the students to persuade the administration to take action.

“We brought up the issue in 2011. And then when we came back in 2012, we had even more arguments, because we listened to what [the University’s] concerns were, and why they thought maybe [doing an RFP] is not a good idea. We planned ahead, we talked to each other, and went in with strong arguments,” Mooney told The Daily.

Mooney admitted, however, that the lobbying process was long-winded. According to PGSS Health Com-

Student Health insurance premiums for:

2013-14

2014-15

$951

$849

individuals with dependents

$2916

$2604

individuals with families

$5547

$4953

Individuals

missioner Elizabeth Cawley, this is because ACIS meets only three or four times a year.

“At the first meeting you are told what international students pay versus Canadian residents. You go back, you think about it. Then, another meeting, you ask some questions about it. By the time you go, ‘Oh maybe we should do something about this,’ it’s the last meeting of the year,” Cawley explained.

“It requires students staying on these positions, asking the right questions, doing their research, talking to people. It does take time. I certainly wouldn’t say that the three years is a reflection of [the University’s] bad will. Not at all. When it came to the

point when we had really decided this had to happen, they actually acted on their own,” she added.

According to PGSS External Affairs Officer Julien Ouellet, PGSS will now try to push further in order to have the provincial government allow international students to be covered under the RAMQ. “We’ve been taking a few steps at the FEUQ [Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec] to have a research project on the administrative obstacles faced by international students. [...] And what we want [the provincial government] to do is basically provide a public option that [international students] would have to pay into, but, at the same time, since

it’s the government [...] it would be revenue-neutral,” said Ouellet in an interview with The Daily.

Mooney later emphasized the importance of students’ perseverance in pushing the administration to finally ensure accessible health insurance at McGill for international students.

“If student [representatives] didn’t bring this up over three years, it wouldn’t have happened.

It required the consistent message from student representatives on the ACIS for this to happen. That being said, once the University got the message, they ran with it, and they delivered a great result to students,” Mooney said.

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News

October 27, 2014 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

Lengthy General Assembly site of tense debates, unusual procedures Undergrads pass motions on climate change, military research, austerity Jill Bachelder, Janna Bryson, and Igor Sadikov The McGill Daily

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early 800 people filled the Shatner building on October 22 to participate in the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU)’s Fall 2014 General Assembly (GA). A motion calling on SSMU to condemn the recent violence in Gaza and the occupation of Palestinian territories was postponed indefinitely, while a motion against harmful military technology development on campus, a motion regarding action on climate change, and a motion against austerity measures were passed, pending online ratification. A motion to stand in solidarity with the pro-democracy student protests in Hong Kong was tabled to the Winter 2015 GA. The GA began around 6 p.m., an hour and a half later than it was scheduled to start, and ended at 12:30 a.m.. Quorum was maintained throughout, with attendees spread across three rooms during the busiest hours. Despite logistical issues that resulted in some students being temporarily kept out of the building, the GA proceeded relatively

Students vote at the GA.

smoothly, as SSMU had prepared for a high turnout.

Motion on solidarity with Palestine postponed indefinitely By far the most contentious motion of the meeting, the Motion Calling on SSMU to Stand in Solidarity with the People of the Occupied Palestinian Territories was the first to see extensive debate. As soon as the debate period began, Political Science student and International Relations Students’ Association of McGill (IRSAM) President Ameya Pendse moved to postpone the motion indefinitely.

The debate over Pendse’s motion lasted about an hour and a half. Pendse argued that debating the original motion would create “a winner and a loser,” and thereby divide the student body. “Please vote to postpone this forever,” he said.

Dina El-baradie, coordinator at McGill Students in Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) and one of the “yes” campaign coordinators for the original motion, said that the fact that the issue was brought up indicated that “there already is a divide on campus.”

Some supporters of the motion to postpone indefinitely invoked

free speech, which Arts student Ryan Tepper called “ironic” since no discussion on the motion would be heard. Others said that it was not SSMU’s place to take a stance on this issue, since it would not represent its constituents, who have diverse opinions on the matter.

“I didn’t come to this university [...] for a student union to speak on my behalf,” said U3 Arts student McKenzie Kibler.

sought to address by providing for “a safe platform for students to voice their views and experiences.”

“Not being able to discuss this motion is taking the voice from people who do not agree with the status quo on campus,” said Dahm.

Students on both sides of the original motion spoke to the intrinsic value of debate and hearing the other side, seeing the GA as the right forum for this discussion.

“Would it have gotten ugly? Probably.

But the point of a democratic society is that we can get together and talk, and if not find common ground, at least be exposed to other opinions.”

David Benrimoh, Medicine Senator However, multiple students also noted that SSMU’s constitution mandates it to demonstrate leadership in issues of human rights and social justice.

U3 Environment student and former Daily editor Joelle Dahm noted that she felt unsafe discussing her views on the conflict on campus, a situation that the original motion

“I just want a constructive debate,” said Management Senator Nabeel Godil. “If you can’t have analytical skills at the academic level, how will you progress to the corporate level?”

The motion to postpone indefinitely passed, with 402 votes for and 337 against. The original motion was not debated, and cannot

Andy Wei | The McGill Daily

be presented to a GA in its current form until Fall 2015.

“I feel that it’s actually quite hypocritical,” said El-baradie, commenting on the motion to postpone in an interview with The Daily. “A lot of other students who are proPalestinian and who are for human rights and social justice are now completely silenced. [...] SSMU is the only channel where we can actually do something that’s tangible and actually take action.”

“I am happy that it didn’t go to debate,” “no” campaign organizer Jordan Devon told The Daily in an interview. “If we can be honest here, the vast majority of people here came in already [...] with their minds made up.”

“This would have been a great opportunity to have multiple viewpoints heard,” Medecine Senator David Benrimoh told The Daily. “Would it have gotten ugly?

Probably. But the point of a democratic society is that we can get together and talk, and if not find common ground, at least be exposed to other opinions.”

Motion on harmful military research amended The Motion Regarding Support of a Campus Free from Harmful Military Technology Development, which called on SSMU to strengthen its stance of opposition to the development of harmful military technology on campus, saw heated debate.

“I am from the Middle East,” said one student. “I don’t want even the possibility that the money given to McGill to do research will be used to bomb people in my own country.”

Proponents cited ongoing research projects at McGill that have little to no practical usage outside of killing, such as thermobaric explosives developed by the Shock Wave Physics Group and systems developed for drones made by the Computational Fluid Dynamics lab.

“Military research has already harmed and affected the economic and educational possibilities of millions of people around the world,” said U2 Arts student Grace.

Critics of the motion argued that military funding can be an important part of research budgets in science and engineering. Law

News student and former Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) Secretary-General Jonathan Mooney also questioned how harmful military research would be defined, and who would be in charge of distinguishing between harmful and non-harmful research. Engineering student Abdullah argued that exact definitions of what is “harmful” should take place at a later date.

Cadence O’Neal, an organizer with Demilitarize McGill, proposed an amendment to the motion that would add resolved clauses mandating SSMU to publicly condemn states that apply military research and to publicly condemn recent violence in Gaza. Prompting several rounds of changes to the amendment, students debated whether or not to include specific countries or list specific technologies that are known to be harmful.

Most of those who spoke in the ensuing debate were not directly hostile toward the amended clause, but remained wary of the perceived relationship between the amendment and the Palestinian solidarity motion that had been indefinitely postponed earlier, and the implications this could have for the entire motion’s ability to pass online ratification.

“This motion, in its earlier form, would have been an effective way to oppose military research on campus,” said U2 Arts student Alex.

“I believe that [if amended] this [motion] would fail in an online referendum, thereby taking away an opportunity that we have to do something meaningful.”

SSMU VP University Affairs Claire Stewart-Kanigan stated that while she had supported the motion in its original form, she could not support the amendment because she thought the change would undermine the original motion and might threaten SSMU’s democratic credibility.

O’Neal eventually decided to remove the portion of the amendment that condemned McGill’s relationship with governments entirely. The amendment was approved.

“I respect and I really am thankful for the work that went into the writing of this original motion, and that’s why I am choosing to remove [a portion of the amendment] in an attempt to make [the motion] more likely to pass through online ratification,” O’Neal explained.

As the motion was about to enter voting procedure, Speaker Rachel Simmons paused the meeting to allow a few dozen people who had lined up at the doors to sign in, but her decision was appealed.

Debate on the appeal began, but most of the students who had lined up entered the room before a vote could be taken, and the appeal was rescinded. Many of them later voted to abstain on the motion.

October 27, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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The amended motion passed with 146 votes for, 11 votes against, and 64 abstentions.

Motion regarding action on climate change passes The Motion Regarding Action on Climate Change sought to mandate SSMU to join Étudiant(e)s Contre les Oléoducs (ECO) and to have VP External Amina Moustaqim-Barrette draft a policy on climate change action to be presented to SSMU Council in Winter 2015.

Many people spoke in favour of the motion. Moustaqim-Barrette, one of the movers, talked about the importance of taking a stance on climate change. “We cannot allow the government to keep doing this, we cannot be complicit.”

Beyond environmental motivations, people also spoke in favour of the motion for economic reasons.

Arts student Sami Fuller contested the idea that continuing to investment in pipelines and tar sands are economically profitable, and argued that this was a short-term view. “The cost we’re going to face with climate change [...] is expediting,” said Fuller.

“Military research has already harmed and affected the economic and educational possibilities of millions of people around the world.”

Grace, U2 Arts student A U4 Arts student argued that the motion could have a negative effect on McGill’s reputation and make the university seem antibusiness. “People need to understand what they’re voting for.”

Benrimoh countered that economic consequences do not outweigh other considerations. “Yes, we do understand what we’re voting for. Yes, we do understand that this makes SSMU, not McGill, look anti-business. [...] I am not willing to sell my soul (not that I have one) for the short-term economic gain from getting money from these companies.”

The motion passed with 111 votes for, 17 against, and 6 abstentions.

Hong Kong solidarity motion postponed to Winter A motion brought from the floor

by Benrimoh called on SSMU to take a stance in solidarity with the ongoing Occupy Central pro-de-

Students wait in line for the GA. mocracy student protests in Hong Kong. Benrimoh argued that a lack of democracy was “tantamount to a human rights violation,” and noted the brutality that protesters in Hong Kong have been subjected to on the part of police.

Several students raised concerns about the fact that there had not been a campaigning period for the motion, and that few students from the region were present at the GA, not having known that the issue would be discussed. One student moved to postpone discussion of the motion until the Winter 2015 GA. U2 Political Science student Ava Liu argued against postponing the motion, urging students to vote “no” on the motion instead.

She said that the motion was poorly researched, and lacked context and input from concerned students.

The motion was postponed by a vote of 105 to 77, and will be discussed at the Winter 2015 GA, to be held on February 11, 2015.

Austerity and budget cuts The Motion Regarding Solidarity Against Austerity called on SSMU to denounce recent provincial budget cuts to education, to motivate members to work with other student unions and federations to combat austerity, and to encourage students to attend information sessions regarding McGill’s financial situation, to be held by Provost Anthony Masi on October 27.

Kibler worried that the motion sounded like a precursor to a strike action, which he was strongly opposed to.

However, Moustaqim-Barrette noted that a strike motion requires quorum of 500 members, and that the motion was meant only

Tamim Sujat | The McGill Daily to inform students and condemn the austerity measures. Mooney agreed that it was possible to take a stance on such an issue without going to strike.

In an interview with The Daily, Moustaqim-Barrette commented on the strike concerns. “People have been mobilizing around a strike against austerity measures, so maybe people had gotten wind of that and were concerned that that’s what this [motion] was,” she said “[A strike] wasn’t at all what I was bringing forward.”

The motion passed with 142 votes for, 14 against, and 20 abstentions.

proved as the first motion of the meeting. The BoD is vital to SSMU’s legal ability to function as a decision-making organization.

As the last item of the GA, Elections SSMU Chief Electoral Officer Ben Fung gave a brief presentation on a preferential ballot system being considered for SSMU elections.

SSMU election bylaws are being reworked after controversy over the overturning of Tariq Khan’s presidential election in the spring.

The ballot system will be brought forward as a plebiscite question in the next referendum and discussed further at Council.

Board of Directors nominations, preferential ballot Nominations to the SSMU Board of Directors (BoD) were ap-

—With files from Lauria Galbraith An earlier version of this article appeared online on October 23.

SSMU Fall 2014 GA vote results Board of Directors Nominations

494

43

239

776

Motion Calling on SSMU to Stand in Solidarity with the People of the Occupied Palestinian Territories Postpone indefinitely

402

337

739

Motion Regarding Action on Climate Change

111

17

16

144

Motion in Support of a Campus Free of Harmful Military Technology Development

146

11

64

221

Motion to Stand in Solidarity With Students and Protesters Demanding Democratic Government in Hong Kong Postpone definitely to Winter 2015 GA

105

77

182

Motion Regarding Solidarity Against Austerity

142

14 20

Yes No

176

Abstain

8

News

October 27, 2014 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

Cycling working group recommends shared space policy Administrator scorned project findings, internal document shows Emily Saul The McGill Daily

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he McGill Cycling Working Group has released a report recommending that a “shared space” policy between cyclists and pedestrians on campus be implemented, beginning with a “carefully monitored” pilot project. However, the McGill administration believes that more research needs to be done before the implementation can begin.

“This is a complex subject that has generated strong feelings on campus,” Associate Vice-Principal (University Services) Robert Couvrette, told The Daily in an email.

“We have accepted the group’s recommendation for more study before the pilot project is implemented.”

However, Harald Kliems, a member of the working group and former member of the Flat Bike Collective, told The Daily that more research was not the conclusion the

group came to.

“The administration claims to say that further research with no implementation is what the working group recommended, [but] if you bother to look at the recommendations of the group, you see that that’s not exactly what we recommended.” In fact, the report recommends the implementation of the shared space policy in the “short term.”

“I disagree with the opinion that more research needs to be done instead of [...] actually implementing shared space and researching that,” Kliems told the Daily.

Couvrette created the working group following negative reactions to the installation of the Milton bicycle gates in the Fall 2013 semester with the goal of discussing and researching whether McGill should allow cycling on the lower campus. Members of the group were selected among students, staff, and faculty; experts and representatives

of groups likely to be affected by a shared space policy were consulted during deliberations.

The group’s 43-page report finds that the “dismount policy,” in place since 2010, is an ineffective means of ensuring the safety of pedestrians and cyclists – since it is poorly enforced – and that a change of policy is required.

“I do get the impression that the administration, or parts of it, are pretty strongly opposed to having any cycling on campus, [and] that the call for further research is meant to be a stalling tactic,” Kliems said.

In fact, according to an internal document from the working group obtained by The Daily, Provost Anthony Masi criticized the project during a review period, calling the group’s report “biased” and stating that “the quality of the data is low [and] the risk to pedestrians is underestimated.” He also called cyclists “scofflaws,” according to the document, adding that “changing

Tamim Sujat | The McGill Daily the policy would legitimize the perspective of scofflaws.”

Couvrette stated that “[a] decision on a shared space model will only be made once this next level of research has been completed. It’s [too] early to say whether it will be

a yes or a no.”

“Hopefully something will come out of that, but I suspect it will take a serious amount of time,” said Kliems. “I’m somewhat pessimistic – I mean, eventually it will probably happen, but who knows when?”

Senate approves changes to graduate supervision Off-Campus Fellow Program to be extended, Senate composition reviewed Igor Sadikov The McGill Daily

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n October 22, Senate met for the second time this year and approved changes to regulations on graduate student supervision and to the composition of Senate. Questions from senators addressed McGill’s policy toward athletes with a criminal record, the promotion of a safer campus, and support for the Off-Campus Fellow Program.

Graduate student supervision A set of changes to the regulations on graduate student advising and supervision, presented by Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and Associate Provost (Graduate Education) Martin Kreiswirth, sought to create mandatory supervisory committees and orientations for supervising professors, as well as to clarify existing guidelines. The changes have been in the works for the past few years, following ongoing complaints about supervision from graduate students that began in at least 2012.

Both Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Medicine Senator David Benrimoh and Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) President Juan Camilo Pinto were pleased with the proposed clarification of the studentsupervisor relationship.

“From a student’s point of view, it gives me a clear idea of what I can expect and how the [supervisor-student] relation is going to be,” said Pinto. “This is critical for graduate students.”

Arts Faculty Senator Catherine Lu expressed concern that the document was unclear, arguing that it was poorly structured and that it did not make the distinction between supervision and advising evident. “I found it confusing,” said Lu. “There’s no rational ordering to the whole document.”

Kreiswirth urged Senate to approve the document, given that the changes had been in the works for a long time, and that it had already been approved in principle by Senate in May. “It’s time to vote on this as it stands,” said Kreiswirth, adding that he didn’t want to feed into

the common sentiment that “it’s very difficult to make changes at McGill, we just stall and stall.”

After some debate, Kreiswirth accepted an amendment to bring the policy to Senate for review after three years, having monitored its implementation. The changes to the regulations were approved, with five senators voting against.

Athletics and consent, and offcampus fellows Addressing a question from SSMU Law Senator Dan Snyder and VP University Affairs Claire Stewart-Kanigan on cultivating a culture of consent and gender equity in Athletics, Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Ollivier Dyens reiterated his position that McGill would make no special provisions in that regard. “I will not target one group of students and divert resources,” Dyens stated in his written response.

Medicine Faculty Senator Gordon Crelinsten disagreed, arguing that student athletes could in fact benefit from a “concentrated, targeted program,” because they are

“at risk [and] more vulnerable than other ambassadors of the university.”

Addressing a separate question from Science Faculty Senator Tim Moore, Dyens also clarified McGill’s position on inviting someone with a criminal record to join an athletics team, explaining that the decision would be taken on a case-by-case basis, with himself and Provost Anthony Masi having the final say.

In response to Lu who noted that disciplinary action is usually not entirely discretionary, but rather is a ruling that requires a formal procedure, Dyens said that the University was “looking into that process” to see if improvements could be made.

Responding to a third question from SSMU Arts Senator Jacob Greenspon, Dyens noted that he has asked residences and Campus Life & Engagement to submit a joint plan by the end of the year to extend the Off-Campus Fellow Program, a service aimed at integrating students living off campus into the McGill and Montreal communities. The program’s funding has recently been cut, and its future was uncertain.

Senate composition, building construction lawsuit Senate also approved revisions to the University Statutes modifying the composition of Senate itself, bringing the size of the body from 107 to 113 members. Masi explained that the changes sought better proportionality in representation of the faculties.

Pointing out that students represent 29 per cent of Concordia’s senate, Stewart-Kanigan expressed concern that the review did not increase the proportion of student representation, keeping it at around 18 per cent.

Robert Couvrette, Associate Vice-Principal (University Services) presented the report of the Senate Committee on Physical Development for 2013-14, which details the construction work undertaken during the year. Couvrette explained that the Wong building’s masonry is being completely replaced, even though the building was built only in 1996, because “the stone was installed with bad design. We have a lawsuit for the contractor and the architect on that.”

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Commentary

October 27, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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Silencing dissent on campus On the aftermath of the SSMU General Assembly SPHR McGill Commentary Writers

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he motion brought to the Student’s Society of McGill University (SSMU) General Assembly (GA) on October 23 by petition calling on the society to “stand in solidarity with the people of the Occupied Palestinian Territories” was, and will continue to be, entirely endorsed by McGill Students in Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR). In calling on SSMU to condemn the atrocities committed against Palestinians, the motion did not condemn any single actor. Rather, what the motion emphasized was the responsibility of students to collectively recognize the fact that violations of human rights and international law continue to take place in Palestine.

Further, a second “be it resolved” asked that SSMU not only institutionalize a safe platform for open discussion, but also support student efforts to combat the marginalization of all groups on campus and elsewhere. However, instead of engaging in debate on the issues, the student body chose to postpone debate indefinitely.

SPHR would like to reaffirm that, regardless of opinion, the necessity of discussing socio-political issues within SSMU is indeed within its mandate. Citing Article VII of SSMU’s Equity Policy, SSMU VP External Affairs Amina Moustaqim-Barrette clarified: “SSMU’s constitution states that we should [take a stance on political affairs].

If you think that an issue is divisive or polarizing, that’s okay. The civil rights movement, same-sex marriage, South African apartheid – they were all divisive and polarizing at some point, too.” MoustaqimBarrette’s support was clearly endorsed by countless attendees of the GA who, regardless of their stance on the motion itself, vocalized the complete unacceptability of suppressing its discussion.

Even in light of cyber-intimidation tactics such as the deactivation

Students sit on the floor of the SSMU ballroom at the GA. of a “yes” campaigner’s Facebook page and the same-day disappearance of the “yes” campaign’s event page, many supporters continued to passionately voice their opinions and, importantly, hear the voices of those who disagreed with them.

SPHR, along with other students who waited for over four hours to speak to the motion, finds it disgraceful that the student body chose to silence debate. Both sides were forced to continue along the path of mutual ignorance rather than expand horizons and share their own knowledge and experiences.

Let it be remembered that Wednesday’s GA was one of the largest in SSMU’s history. What could have been an opportunity for students to learn about and debate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ended in censorship and a reinforced marginalization of voices already on the peripheries of the student body. This was due to a motion to postpone debate indefinitely, so that the substance of the main motion itself would not be discussed.

On Wednesday, the GA, a space that gains its value from all students, regardless of political sympathies, was transformed into an arena that privileged just a few.

While an indefinite postponement of the motion is a loss for the Palestinian voices that are continually silenced in the public arena, SPHR refuses to consider this experience a defeat. We praise the exciting effect the mobilizing has had and will continue to have on our campus. It shows that students will not be silenced. Even the reaction to the very existence of the motion at the GA has left many who were previously ignorant of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict curious. In this sense, the intended purpose of the motion to spread awareness, even just to have the word “Palestine” on the lips of students, was fulfilled – with or without a Facebook page or a debate.

Not only do we see people having conversations about Palestinian human rights, a rare thing at McGill, but we see a clear expression of anger and frustration from nearly all

What do you think of the SSMU GA? Any reactions to our paper?

Send your letters, 300 words or fewer, to letters@mcgilldaily.com.

Andy Wei | The McGill Daily students after the motion was postponed. We see a growing awareness that the campus has always been divided. There are those who wait, fight, raise their hands, then their voices to fight, and there are those who have the power to repress the efforts they do not agree with. This clear display of censorship is targeted only at a minority – at those who choose to raise awareness about how narratives are driven in a university that does little to shy away from Israeli institutions. Let it also be said, on this note, that we remain extremely supportive and proud of our friends at Demilitarize McGill whose work formed the backbone of the approved motion to expose and condemn military research at McGill and stand in solidarity with those negatively affected by it.

If undergraduate students do not want SSMU to provide a platform for voicing their opinions and learning from others in order to represent the student body as it was designed to do, it is our job as a unified campus collective that

stands in solidarity with Palestinian human rights, along with other political solidarity collectives at McGill, to provide an alternative venue that allows our voices to be heard. We believe it is our duty as critical and passionate students not to dictate opinions to others on this issue, but to allow the student body to learn from each of its members, as opposed to sweeping important issues under the rug out of fear of discomfort or intimidation. Education, particularly alternative and critical education, is the main vehicle for combatting the ignorance and denial that continues to create injustices across the world. It is our job as students to not only seek out this knowledge, but to break the silence that has hidden it for so long.

SPHR McGill is a non-profit, student-based organization that advocates a strong social justice message to uphold the rights of the Palestinian people. To contact them, please email sphr.mcgill@ gmail.com.

Commentary

October 27, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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Dignity in prayer Muslims students at McGill still need a proper prayer space Omar Eidabat Commentary Writer

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s a leading Canadian university, McGill boasts a diverse and multicultural student body. Muslim students are a sizeable portion of this mosaic and actively contribute to all aspects of student life, with the Muslim Students’ Association (MSA) as one of the most active and largest student clubs on campus.

Despite the presence of a sizeable number of Muslims on campus, the issue of prayer spaces has had a long and tortured history at McGill dating back to June 2005. Prior to that date, Muslim students used various premises temporarily; first the Birks and then Peterson Hall, both of which were more accommodating in terms of size. However, in 2005, McGill informed the MSA that it had to vacate the room it was using for prayer, as it was ostensibly required for academic purposes. Muslim students were thereafter advised by the administration of the possibility of worshipping in any appropriate space on campus, as long as it did not interfere in the university’s functioning as an academic institution or pose any safety concerns. This led to a long and unnecessary confrontation between the MSA and McGill’s administration at the time, with sitins and letter-writing campaigns organized. Muslim students were marginalized, feeling that their right to practice their faith in a dignified

environment was being largely ignored. After a breakdown in negotiations between the MSA and McGill, the dispute over adequate prayer space on campus culminated in a case being brought before the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse (CDPDJ), a Quebec agency responsible for upholding human rights.

McGill denied that it needed to provide a dedicated prayer space for Muslims, arguing that as a secular school, it was under no obligation to offer prayer spaces to religious groups.

In the immediate aftermath, Muslim students had to face some serious disturbances to their daily routines, enduring the humiliation of having to pray in the odd corner or hallway, on the grass before the eyes of onlookers, in staircases, or in empty classrooms that could be visited by outsiders at any given moment. Given the serious rupture to Muslim students’ daily communal and spiritual life, and to their sense of dignity as a religious community, SSMU graciously stepped in to accommodate the MSA by offering it the space it currently occupies. Though the MSA was at the time very grateful for the offer, it nonetheless remains a temporary and inadequate solution.

The reality is that the nature of the Muslim prayer ritual requires Muslims to have a spiritual home of their own, just as any religious community would require. While the Catholic community has the Newman Cen-

tre and the Jewish community has Chabad House, the sizeable Muslim community has no permanent space good enough to call home. And while the McGill Office of Religious and Spiritual Life is always a welcoming place, its limited space is far from ideal for accommodating the dozens of Muslims who need access to a regular and easily accessible space for their prayers throughout the day.

A significant percentage of students (and staff too) are practicing Muslims who require a quiet space to perform their daily prayers as individuals or as congregrations. Prayer space goes a long way toward fostering a spiritual home for Muslim students and functions as an organic hub of communal gathering and spiritual well-being.

Despite their number and the fundamental need for a space to guarantee their basic freedom of religion, Muslim students still lack proper prayer facilities. Currently, there is a single prayer room, located in the basement of the SSMU building, that serves both as an MSA office and a prayer space, with a mere 13.7 square metres dedicated to prayer. This space is far from ideal for a number of reasons. First, it is simply too small to accommodate its Muslim congregants, particularly at certain times of the day, such as during the midday Zuhr prayer, when congestion requires that the prayer be performed in two shifts, delaying students who have to wait outside until the first round of prayers is completed.

Prayer space at McGill.

Tamim Sujat | The McGill Daily

Another major issue is the absence of any dignified space for the pre-prayer ablution (wudu) ritual, which consists of washing the hands, face, and feet.

This continues to be an issue of unnecessary embarrassment and misunderstanding, as Muslim students have to wash their feet in public washrooms, occasionally having to explain their actions to curious onlookers. It surely must also inconvenience other students, who must endure heavier-than-normal traffic at the sinks throughout the day. Finally, the location of this space, which is supposed to be a peaceful and safe space for prayer and meditation, is right across from the busy and often noisy Gerts bar – hardly an ideal setting.

This is a sad state of affairs for McGill, a university that supposedly prides itself on the diversity of its stu-

dent body. The current arrangement falls far short of the practices adopted by other academic institutions across Canada. Other universities such as Carleton, the University of Toronto, or Concordia, all offer permanent prayer spaces with proper ablution facilities for their practicing Muslim students and staff. Such a gesture goes a long way in making Muslims feel welcome at their institutions as vital members of their respective academic communities. Given McGill’s past history on the issue, the administration should follow the examples of goodwill shown by other universities and step up to the plate.

Omar Eidabat is a PhD candidate in Islamic Studies. To contact him, please email omar.edaibat@ mail.mcgill.ca.

War wounds and Canada Canada is refusing to treat injured Gazan children Ayman Oweida Commentary Writer

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n October 3, Sweden’s newly elected prime minister, Kjell Stefan Löfven, declared his country would recognize the state of Palestine, joining over 130 other countries that have made this move on October 14. British legislators voted 274-12 in support of a motion that would call on the British government to symbolically recognize the state of Palestine, while France considered putting a similar vote to its National Assembly around the same time.

These milestones should be celebrated by human rights activists across the world. However, back on home soil, I couldn’t feel more ashamed of the Canadian government’s stance on Palestine. More striking is Canada’s indifference to human rights violations in the Pal-

estinian Territories, and its unjustifiable refusal to provide humanitarian and medical aid to recent war victims from Gaza.

A recent editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to stop preventing the Heal100Kids campaign, an effort by Canadian doctors, nurses, and the Ontario government to bring 100 injured Gazan children requiring specialized care to Canada for treatment.

The Heal100kids campaign was initially lead by Toronto-based physician, Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish, whose three young daughters were killed in Israel’s 2009 Gaza offensive, Abuelaish served for many years in an Israeli hospital and yet, with the devastating loss of his daughters to the Israeli army, Abuelaish held true to the principle of forgiveness and reconciliation, refusing to seek re-

venge. Having done much of the legwork required to bring the injured Gazan children to Canada, including gaining support from the Ontario government, Abuelaish’s humanitarian effort hit a wall. Harper’s government refused to let Gazan children be treated in Canada.

Recent remarks made by the Minister of International Development Christian Paradis echoed Harper’s indifference and repeatedly referred to the wounded as victims of Hamas. Paradis’ claim couldn’t be further from the truth.

UNICEF released several statements indicating that Israel has deliberately targeted children in its offensive against Gaza. UNICEF also reported that 264 children were deliberately killed and over 2,000 injured by Israeli ammunition. While there are calls from around world to bring the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) to justice for

committing crimes against humanity, Paradis insists on poisoning perceptions of a humanitarian crisis with incorrect information.

For decades, Canada has provided travel documents for children requiring specialized healthcare from over 102 countries. It would be unforgivable to deny the treatment of children from one of the most war-torn and impoverished areas in the world today. Austria, Germany, Turkey, and many neighbouring countries have already received hundreds of Gazan children for treatment.

I continue to be appalled by Canada’s unilateral approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While many Western countries play a pivotal role in promoting human rights and providing medical aid to disaster areas, Canada continues to disregard Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land, eviction of homeowners,

imprisonment of innocent civilians (including children), and targeting of civilians – all illegal actions under international law.

The Heal100kids petition has already garnered over 50,000 signatures. The hospitals are ready to care for the children, many with complicated injuries, and all that remains is the bureaucratic task of granting visas to those children.

Doesn’t Harper realize that by denying Gazan children treatment in Canada, he is demonstrating that Canada is not an agents of peace?

It’s both morally appalling and unforgivable that innocent children are not receiving treatment because of Canada’s one-sided support for the Israeli government.

Ayman Oweida is a PhD candidate in the Division of Experimental Medicine. To contact him, please email commentary@mcgill-

Features

October 27, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

A BLOODY SHAME WHY DON’T WE TALK MORE ABOUT PERIODS? WRITTEN BY DANA WRAY PHOTO BY TAMIM SUJAT ILLUSTRATION BY NADIA BOACHIE When I first sat down to contemplate writing a piece on all the messy, funny, wonderful parts of menstruation – a topic usually giggled about between friends or whispered in bathrooms stalls over the crinkling of pads – my first thought was of pain. For as long as I have had my period, that ‘time of the month’ has been associated with extreme pain and a lot of awkward situations.

I began to sit down with women – some who I knew, and some who I didn’t – to talk about their periods. I intended to ask them how hiding the pain and discomfort made their lives harder. It didn’t take long before I realized that pain is not the defining narrative for everyone, as it was for myself. Everyone’s experiences were so varied, and yet they were all the same in one way: when we spoke, sometimes for half an hour, sometimes as total strangers, everyone felt relieved and happy (if still nervous) to talk about their periods. The gore, the discomfort, and even the banality of menstruation is often silenced in broader society. Although not all women get periods, and not all people who get periods identify as women, menstruation is associated with bodies that society doesn’t like to talk about. It’s seen as gross, as private, and ultimately as an ‘unnecessary’ topic of discussion. From the beginning, people are made to feel ashamed of their periods, to hide their tampons in their backpack where no one can see them, and to tell their partners they “don’t feel like sex” when they’re on their period. They are told that they are alone in a crowd.

So in light of all that, this is a space where people can talk about their periods, and how they make them feel, on their own terms.

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Features

W

hen I was 11 years old, I got my period for the very first time.

Before the momentous event – which basically consisted of me in the bathroom suddenly realizing there was blood on my underwear – periods had been mythologized both as something that made you a ‘grown woman’ (often smugly asserted by girls who were ‘early bloomers’ themselves) and as something that was gross or nasty – because who wants to bleed from down there. We didn’t learn about menstruation except for a special health class, or if we were lucky enough to have loving but awkwardly direct parents or mentors, we’d learn about it from pink books on our changing bodies. That’s the thing: even from a young age, we were taught that our bodies were private and shameful. And more than that, periods were not only seen as ‘yucky’ but were also connected to sex. When you got your period, everyone knew you were ready to have babies. What’s more, you started to get those ‘womanly’ hips your mom talked about, and you got breasts that young boys were already talking about, and you got hair on your legs that you longed for because you stared at your older sister’s daisy pink razor on the bathroom shelf. No matter how little we knew about menstruation, it was inextricably linked to a new life, a grown-up life, one where you were no longer a little kid.

Despite whatever fear or disgust I felt that day when I got my period, I was happy to get it, and I felt like I had been initiated into a secret group. My mom enveloped me in a big hug and told me how proud she was and happy she was to see her oldest little girl growing up. She bought me junk food and we went to La Senza Girl to buy pretty training bras (another rite of passage despite my complete lack of breasts).

Later that night, though, I found myself lying beside my mother’s comforting body in her bed for the first time in years, crying and sobbing and hiccupping hysterically as I clenched a pillow and moaned, “It hurts, it hurts,” over and over again. My mom tried her best: hot water bottles, soothing words, trying to get me to picture the beach and the sun and peace. But that comfort, before I passed out from the sheer exhaustion of fighting the pain, came with an ominous piece of advice: remember, Dana, this is something women deal with every month for the rest of their life. At that sleepy, hazy moment, I decided that I hated becoming a woman.

Ten years after that first night, my hate has mostly faded.

I’m okay with my period now. When I asked my friend Katie to talk to me for this piece, I wanted to know if she felt the same when she got it. Sitting on her bed, she told me all about her gleeful anticipation of her period. “It was something that I wanted a lot, because I was 13 and a half, and I had never had my period. And then I got it, and I was like, oh no, no thank you, this is not actually something I really want to be dealing with.”

Josika echoed Katie’s sentiments, speaking in bare, honest terms, even though we had just met a few minutes before our interview. “I was like, this is the worst part about being a girl,” Josika reminisced to me. “Every time I got my period I really truly just hated it, I was like this is almost punishment.”

These experiences made me wonder: what is it about periods that can inspire such revulsion in young girls, in some grown woman, and certainly in a lot of men?

“I think part of the reason I hated it was because I was disgusted by it, because it was blood and tissue, where you usually don’t think there should be blood and tissue,” Josika explained.

A fear of blood is nothing to sniff at, as Rosie pointed out when we chatted. Blood, she explained, was associated with pain, and so we avoided talking about this because it made us uncomfortable. For Rosie instead, her period frightened her because of that mythologized link to ‘grown womanhood.’

The first time Rosie got her period, she told me, “I slept in my mom’s bed because I was just like feeling the weight of it, like oh this changes everything. […] I think you feel this pressure to grow up and be a sexual person when you get your period.”

Another friend of mine, Faye, expanded on that sentiment, pointing out that it isn’t just the idea of growing up but the idea that you were inducted into a very specific identity.

“I was really resistant to becoming a ‘feminine woman,’” she told me. “I knew that I would start to lose my super sporty child body and that I would probably need to start wearing bras soon and stuff like that. And the idea of that to me was pretty terrible. So it probably took me – what, I was probably

October 27, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

13 when I got my period? – and to be honest, it was probably three years, until I was 16, that I was like, ‘okay, I’m alright with this now. I can be a girl.’ Or that type of girl, I guess.”

ON TALKING ABOUT IT Even now, coming to terms with your period happening and your body changing doesn’t mean you feel like you can talk about it. To me, that has always seemed ridiculous: it happens, on average, once a month, to a large number of people, and yet we still cringe when we open a loud, crinkling pad in a bathroom stall.

When I was doing research for my feature, the first person who came to my mind was my little sister Galen. Even though we lived together in the same room for nearly a decade and a half, we never used to talk much about periods. We both had it ingrained in our heads that periods were something private and dirty. Now that we’re older, that’s changed a bit more.

We’re less uncomfortable with it – a fact attested to by our Skype call during her lunch break.

At first, my sister Galen said she didn’t mind not talking about her period to others. But when I brought up the awkward situations it creates when your symptoms are severe (imagine being hunched over with cramps, ready to vomit, and instead calmly saying, ‘Yeah, maybe there’s a stomach flu going around!’ to an unsuspecting friend), she brought up a recent problem that it had caused her.

“When I was feeling very sick this past month, two of [my roommates] are guys […] I told them, ‘I’m not contagious,’ but they did not clue in as to what I was saying. They were like, what, does that mean it’s like a bacterial infection? But no, I just didn’t want to bring up the fact that I was on my period.”

Josika told me how, even though she thought it was weird, she tries to hide evidence that she has periods. “It frustrates me because I see how it affects my behaviour. Like whenever I have people over, and I have my period I take out trash in the bathroom before people come over.”

Katie echoed experiences of mine that are still vivid: trying to convince my mom to buy me pads, blushing with the thought of people knowing I was on my period, while my bemused mother tried to insist it was no big deal. “When I was younger I wouldn’t want to talk about it or wouldn’t feel comfortable going to that aisle of the grocery store,” Katie agreed.

“I wish I could just be like, ‘Oh man this period,’ and yell it out loud. You can yell out, ‘I’ve got the flu,’ and no one really cares, but if you yell out, ‘Oh these period cramps,’ then

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ity in a very contradictory way. While women are expected to be pure and clean, menstruation is the exact opposite: it is dirty, it is messy, and it is certainly uncomfortable. Women are supposed to hide all this evidence that they are really just human beings, with bodily needs and fluids.

ON PAIN Most of my own memories about menstruation and shame centre on pain: the first time I got it, and how scared I was that this would be the rest of my adult life. The ensuing months after that were spent crying over a hot water bottle, a warm and comforting hand on my forehead. Doctor’s appointments, where my family doctor slowly but surely increased the strength of the painkillers she prescribed me.

My boyfriend in vain to comfort me while not touching my sweating, irritable, hostile body. All of the ridiculous excuses given to teachers, friends, bosses, and anyone really, of why I had to miss a day or two of school each month, or why I had to suddenly cancel plans.

Not everyone has pain when they menstruate, and for people who do, the level of pain varies substantially. Being in a lot of pain every month can be an isolating and shameful experience. The only person I know who knows a bit about what I have gone through is Galen. Both of us have had unimaginable pain associated with our periods for almost as long as we’ve menstruated, but we’ve both dealt with it fairly distinctly.

I asked my sister to describe to me a typical day on her cycle. “On a bad day, it comes to a point where I can’t even focus on watching TV because I can’t focus on the show because I’m in so much pain,” Galen said. “So I try to rip things, and I will pinch myself to have pain in other areas to avoid the pain. If I stand up, the pain is so strong that I will pass out, or throw up, or both.”

Because everyone has different symptoms and a different tolerance for pain, cramps are often dismissed as nothing, or as something that girls should suck up. I’ve seen friends internalize this notion, people who think they’re weak if they bring up the fact that they’re in pain. So, like so many other things women are forced to suck up, they simply take a deep breath, smile through gritted teeth, and insist that they’re fine.

Josika admitted to being skeptical when she was younger.

“I thought people lied about cramps and stuff just because when I was younger I did not get very bad cramps. So whenever people were like, ‘Ugh it hurts so much, like I really can’t

“I slept in my mom’s bed because I was just like feeling the weight of it, like oh this changes everything. […] I think you feel this pressure to grow up and be a sexual person when you get your period.”

Rosie everyone gives you weird looks. Or so I imagine, I’ve never really done it,” Galen added, laughing.

“I guess because it’s perceived as dirty,” Sam* said, “like you’re talking about something really gross.” She added, “I wish it was more open. It seems kind of medieval for it not to be.”

“It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me,” Rosie said, adding, “although understanding years of oppression and patriarchy it makes sense.” She paused, then continued: “I think it’s more a fear of going into the bodies of women and recognizing the bodies of women.”

For me, Rosie hits the nail on the head. Femininity, or what is constructed as a woman’s body, is what truly freaks people out. The sexual activity and reproductive functions of women have always been considered private, shameful, and dirty – just look at the (not so) historical construction of women as pure, or the expectations for women to remain virgins until marriage. You could even turn to the fact that women who sleep with a lot of people are labelled sluts, while guys who do it are players. Menstruation, because of its biological function, is connected to sexuality, and sexuality is considered shameful.

On the flip side, menstruation is associated with feminin-

do anything,’ I was like, ‘What are you talking about? That’s such a lie.’”

Then, in her senior year of high school, Josika began to get cramps, although they didn’t change her life too much. “[The cramps are almost] just a reminder. I don’t feel them very much, but just once in a while, I’ll have a twinge and I’ll have to bend over for a second and breath then move on.”

The response ‘It’s something everyone has to deal with’ is one response I’ve heard too many times, often accompanied by a disappointed look that immediately makes me feel like a drama queen. Galen got the same response from a gym teacher in high school when she tried to sit out. “She said, ‘we all have periods, this is a girl’s gym class, so you have to participate.’”

Almost the exact same thing happened to a friend of Sam’s, but she said that she herself had never “been brave enough to use [my period pains], like directly say this is an excuse for why I’m not doing this.”

Now that I’m older and on the pill, the pain every month has nearly disappeared, something I am thankful for every day. Sam echoed my thoughts, having gone through a similar situation, although she didn’t even have to go on the pill. “I just felt like my body loved me again,” she confessed.

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Features

October 27, 2014 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

But the response to periods from doctors and other authority figures is often limited, whether they’re painful, irregular, or otherwise. For Rosie, the pill – which is often prescribed by doctors to reduce painful cramps, premenstrual symptoms (PMS), or other uncomfortable parts of menstruation – actually did the opposite. “I would never notice myself PMSing or getting cramps until I went on birth control,” she said. “I now get cramps every time.”

Jessica* had a similar experience, although hers was even more extreme. “I went on Yaz […] that first month was the worst month of my life. It was like 26 days straight [of my period]. Before that point, I had never gotten cramps, and during that 26 days, it was cramps every day.”

EMBARRASSING SITUATIONS

One thing periods have done for me is make me utterly unconcerned with vomiting in public places. I’ve always been comfortable with talking about vomiting (much to the displeasure of anyone within earshot), but it’s unusual how after ten years of puking every month, you get so comfortable with the familiar retching feeling and the blissful few minutes of emptiness that come afterward, until the cramps start up again.

For me, even the embarrassment pushes through the pain, and I’m left now at age 21 sifting through memories to determine which one was the worst. Was it the time I threw up in the garbage can in the hallway of my high school in front of my new boyfriend, fearful that he would think I was gross? Or when I was lying on the grass across the road from a fancy restaurant, and promptly proceeded to vomit weakly in front of all the ladies who lunch in my swanky suburb? What about in front of my caring but still incredulous father when we went on a trip to Centre Island and I cut it short with my shaking and retching? Or one of the worst: when I threw up on the floor of the East Side Mario’s bathroom, and had to tell the unfortunate wait staff through tears that it wasn’t a pukeand-run from a drunk, it was actually just me, and then was escorted back to my table by the caring manager who proceeded to pay for my meal, now on the bathroom floor?

Galen has the best story out of the two of us, though.

Every year, as a family tradition with my mother and grandmother around Christmastime, we dress up and go to see The Nutcracker. This year, Galen’s period got in the way of any enjoyment. “I got my cramps and I didn’t have my medication with me. So I left the show and went to the washroom, and I was just lying on the ground just feeling so weak and so sick, so I was lying by the toilet, just sprawled out,” Galen said.

When I asked her to clarify, she admitted that yes, she was lying on the bathroom floor in the public part of the washroom.

“Not too long after a couple of people had walked in and left right away, security came, because apparently there had been complaints that a drunk girl was lying on the floor.”

Luckily, the story has a somewhat happy ending: the security guard sent to escort my apparently drunk sister off the floor was very kind, and once she heard Galen’s story, propped her up and carried her to the emergency medical room, where Galen slept for the rest of the performance.

I was positive that no one had had that kind of experience, but I was proven wrong when Faye helpfully stepped in with one story that gave her quite the scare.

“I had really bad cramps, and instead of taking Advil I

seem able to bleed every month without losing their lunch or their consciousness.

Then there is the extra twinge of fear: what if there’s something seriously wrong with me? What if I have polycystic ovary syndrome, or endometriosis? What if there’s a tumour? What if I can never have children? Galen told me that she trusts our family doctor, who told her nothing was wrong, and Faye had herself checked out. But for myself, there is always a lingering fear that something is

“I was really resistant to becoming a ‘feminine woman,’I knew that I would start to lose my super sporty child body and that I would probably need to start wearing bras soon Faye decided I [was] just going to take a hot shower, because I’m generally a little bit resistant to medication. The drastic temperature change from my own body to the shower made me black out and basically faint in the shower. I crawled, looking like the girl from The Ring, half naked, to my neighbour in rez,” Faye recounted. “It just hurt so much! A pain that I didn’t know I could feel.”

It’s all good and fine to laugh about it now over Skype, or while doing interviews together cross-legged on a futon, but at the time, it is an utterly terrifying experience. You feel like your body has betrayed you, especially since so many others

going undetected, especially in my doctor’s rush to thrust different kind of painkillers on me instead of actually finding the problem.

ON DEALING WITH IT

At the end of the day, most of the people I spoke to said that they just dealt with it. It wasn’t a huge deal, it was a biological process, and for the most part, with proper sleep, proper selfcare, and a bit of Advil, it was something that could be managed as discreetly as they wanted (or as they felt pressured to).

“I approach it from a clinical perspective for whatever

reason,” Katie told me. “I sort of just deal with it as it is, it’s kind of like having a cold or something. I don’t experience any transcendental feelings.”

Even Galen, with all of her pain and symptoms, remains as fiercely independent as I’ve always known her to be. “I generally feel like I deal with it alone, because not many other people that I know feel the same way, so when I talk to them about it they get confused. For me it’s a big struggle, [but I still just] handle it by myself.”

For myself, I will use any opportunity to beg my kind and caring roommates to bring me water or food. Mostly, though, I just like to complain usually with a heating pad wrapped around me under sweatpants. Now that the pain has largely gone away, having my period no longer takes up so much time and energy.

Rosie pointed out that there are silver linings to all the time, money, and blood put out every month on periods. “It’s kind of a bonding experience for [people who have periods],” she said. “It’s a nice thing to be able to share with someone.

It’s interesting because in the way it’s frustrating to not be able to talk about it [openly], at the same time because it is this secretive thing, it almost makes it more of an important shared experience [for those who have periods.]”

While having a ‘shared secret’ offers the comfort of bonding with other people who menstruate, I know it would make my life, and the lives of other people I know, a lot easier if we could talk about periods. Maybe then young girls finding that first spot of blood won’t recoil in horror anymore. *Certain names have been changed at the request of the interviewees.

Sci+Tech

October 27, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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Shining a light on brain research Optogenetics and the future of mental health research Fernanda Pérez Gay and Victor Mihai Mocanu Sci+Tech Writers

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euroscience has advanced significantly thanks to the latest technological advances in the field. Scientists are now able to use light to selectively activate or deactivate neurons, independent of type or location, using a technique called optogenetics. Although intricate to implement, optogenetics offers an unprecedented degree of freedom to selectively manipulate specific parts of the brain while entirely avoiding others. This technique has enabled researchers to look at the brain less invasively and could offer valuable insight on its functions and the mechanisms behind mental health conditions such as anxiety disorders.

This year’s annual Beatty Memorial Lecture was held on October 16 at the Centre Mont-Royal, and featured Karl Deisseroth, a professor of bioengineering, psychiatry, and behavioural sciences at Stanford, as the speaker. Aside from his clinical work as a psychiatrist, he is an active researcher and a pioneer of optogenetics. This technique first took form in his lab just over a decade ago, and ever since, Deisseroth has continuously sought to improve neuroscience research by engineering better optogenetic methods and addressing classic questions in neuropsychiatry in new ways.

Optogenetics is a combination of genetics and optics to control the behaviour of certain cells. In neuroscience, optogenetics is used to control neurons by turning them on and off by exposing them to a certain colour of light. The opsins are inserted into the neurons using either microinjections or transgenic techniques. These opsins are light-sensitive pores, also referred to as light-sensitive ion channels, that form on the membrane and are sensitive to varying wavelengths of light. When the affected neurons are exposed to light, the pores either open, allowing ions to cross the membrane (exciting the neuron), or

Karen Chiang | Illustrator close, stopping ions from passing (inhibiting the neuron). This mimics the natural behaviour of these neurons and the way they connect with other neurons in the brain.

As a psychiatrist and a clinician, Deisseroth understands the importance of studying mental disease.

During the lecture, he told the audience that “psychiatric disorders are not only chronic and fatal, but also still poorly understood.” Through his clinical work, he has learned that though there are distinct patterns in psychiatric disease that can be studied through patients’ subjective reports, measuring biological changes is a much more difficult task.

Is it possible then for optogenetics to help us understand neurological and psychiatric problems?

The answer is yes. By exclusively activating a particular group of cells and thus the brain circuit

they belong to, we can look at how they influence changes in behaviour patterns. By mapping these circuits and seeing what happens when they’re on and off, we can get closer to understanding how brain activity becomes affected by certain pathological conditions.

Deisseroth provided some examples of how this technique can give us insight into disorders like depression, Parkinson’s, and anxiety, by opening and closing circuits that researchers believe may be impaired. Previous research pointed toward a pattern of neural activity that may be altered in anxiety disorders. In a study published in Neuron, researchers were able to reduce anxiety in mice using optogenetics. They were able to insert the opsins into a specific subset of neurons, and when light was shone directly onto the brain to activate

these opsins, animal tests showed reduced anxiety. Once the light was turned off, the animal went back to normal. These results show us how we can activate very specific cells and circuits in an animal’s brain and study what happens when they are turned on and off.

Deisseroth also went on to describe a second visualization technique called CLARITY that can make the brain transparent by taking away its fats, which block light from passing. Its novelty comes from the fact it does not require the brain or a sample block of tissue to be sliced into several thin slices to be imaged, and because antibody labels can also be viewed in the images. Additionally, the threedimensional images produced are more detailed. However, this imaging technique requires either brain tissue to be extracted or has to be

conducted post-mortem.

Neurons activated by mere flashes of light, entire brains made perfectly transparent — one can only be amazed at the innovative ideas springing up this millennium. In fact, the technique of optogenetics fits perfectly with the name of the talk: Illuminating the Brain, we illuminate the brain with different wavelengths of lights, but we also shine light on what may be actually happening inside of it. These techniques and the work of these researchers is definitely bringing us one step closer to understanding what’s happening inside the brain of the people that suffer poorly understood diseases. The hope is that this will one day allow us to create new treatments that target the specific circuits responsible for the brain abnormalities, instead of using chemical cocktails that affect the entire brain.

Write for Sci+Tech!

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Photo Essay World Day for Decent Work

October 27, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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Photo Essay

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n October 7, World Day for Decent Work, the Coalition Against Precarious Work organized a rally in Square Victoria, just outside the office of the Ministry of Employment and Social Solidarity. Representatives from different community organizations testified to the growth of precarious labour in Quebec and their demand for decent work. Daily photographer Mert Kimyaci photographed some beautiful images on a vintage black & white film camera.

October 27, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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Submit a photo essay to photos@mcgilldaily.com

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Sports

October 27, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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Competition, capitalism, and colonialism The negative roots of sports Cem Ertekin The McGill Daily

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remember when I was a little kid back in Turkey, soccer (or football as the rest of the world likes to call it) was a pretty big deal.

It still is, but the early 2000s were the golden age of soccer for Turkey.

More so than the matches themselves, however, I remember the EA Sports games, sticker collection books, bedsheets in the colours of my (father’s) favourite team, and soccer balls with FIFA’s logo. Sports culture has reached a new level of consumerism and conformism that is symptomatic of a broader historical narrative whose roots lie in both colonialism and capitalism.

Today, you can find your favourite team’s merchandise stores literally everywhere. You see babies wearing jerseys. Crazier than that, however, is the fact that there is an entire genre of news and politics dedicated to sports. People can be more dedicated to the internal politics of their favourite team than they are to the politics of their country.

Call it escapism, if you will. But, that is too simplistic an answer, and it ignores that sports culture has been exploited to benefit a small number of powerful people.

Think of how sports have been used by colonial powers in the past in order to distance colonized peoples from being involved in politics, paving the way for Western moral norms to be imposed on their lands. In our contemporary world, sports play a similar role, but this time to impose capitalist norms on a global scale.

For instance, the British empire exerted its influence over many colonies and sports were one of its many tools of exerting dominance. According to Brian Stoddart from Canberra College of Advanced Education, not only did sports serve as a distraction from the completely unequal, colonial societies by providing a facade of egalitarianism and apolitical agency, it also allowed the colonizers to bring their “superior” moral codes into the colonized lands.

Cricket, for instance, was a ritual demonstration of British moral codes, namely adherence to laws and a strong sense of discipline.

Someone who played cricket had to be honest, upright, and generally conform to whatever the society demanded. Similarly, polo was initially a game played in the Himalayan hill states, and emphasized the display of personal skill. It was the British military establishment that took it and transformed it into a game with rigorous rules, clearly designed to

Joanathn Reid | The McGill Daily institute discipline.

Conformism in the colonial sense made values such as discipline, hard work, and pride for one’s nation integral parts of sports as a whole. Back then, these values were imposed upon colonized peoples to dominate them, and make them part of the empire. Today, you could argue that sports can no longer be associated with this; however, this is because it has been replaced by another form of oppression, namely Western capitalism.

Sports in North America, or the world in general, are no longer simply fun pastimes. They are a

multi-million dollar industry bent on making more money at any possible opportunity. It has become fetishized. Just think of all the merchandise that is out there waiting to be purchased by some fan. You need to buy that jersey, and the new one that is designed each year. Support, if it is simply saying “I love the Habs!”, is understandable, but the contemporary culture surrounding sports is compelling people into consuming more and more.

The more demand there is for merchandise, the more supply will be needed. That is how capitalism

works, and you can easily see why this could be problematic. Usually, the merchandise will be produced in factories abroad, in countries like China or Vietnam where labourers are exploited by major corporations. Your purchase of that new jersey each year is tacitly supporting sweatshop labour. Furthermore, gigantic international events such as the FIFA World Cup bring ‘prestige’ to whatever country they are held in, which is why countries will try to outbid each other without considering whether or not they can afford to do so. This year’s

World Cup is a perfect example of this, where some of the workers who constructed the stadiums were found to have been working in “near-slave conditions.”

Contemporary sports culture exploits the rivalries between competing themes and athletes, and serves to perpetuate the dominance of consumerism, which is just another form of conformism. It is important to recognize that sports has been used and continues to be used as a tool of exploitation. To ignore this side of sport ignores the negative effects of sports culture.

Sports

October 27, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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The demise of the enforcer NHL teams reluctant to dress single-dimension fighters Sason Ross The McGill Daily

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s comedian Rodney Dangerfield once said, “I went to a fight the other night and a hockey game broke out.” Hockey is a high-flying, combative, skillbased sport. Fighting has always been a part of the game. It has given fans the excitement of seeing two players knocking each other’s teeth out. This makes for some unbelievable story lines. However, today we are seeing a paradigm shift in terms of how this type of behaviour is used by the teams.

Throughout the years, there have been players that have been designated as enforcers. Their overall job was to be a deterrence to the other teams’ players, so that they would not take any liberties with the star players of their team: essentially the policeman. If another team’s player took a cheap shot on their star player, the enforcer would go after that player.

For example, Wayne Gretzky (“The Great One”), was said to be so smart that no one could hit him.

However, over the years, linemates such as Dave Semenko and later Marty McSorley were there to be his bodyguard to deter anyone who might try. No one would dare touch him with these two hockey mercenaries at his side.

This has been the argument for having such a player in the lineup for decades. However, in today’s game we are seeing that this may not be entirely true anymore.

A prime example of this is the Toronto Maple Leafs. For years, the Leafs would employ an enforcer in the lineup to either bully or act as deterrence for the opposition’s players. Brian Burke, the former general manager (GM) of the Toronto-based team, once bluntly proclaimed, “Reduced to its simplest truth, fighting is one of the mechanisms that regulates the level of violence in our game [...] Players who break the rules are held accountable by other players.” Players such as Colton Orr (119 career NHL fights) and Frazer McLaren (37 career NHL

Alice Shen | The McGill Daily fights) were regularly employed in the Leafs lineup to serve such a role under the realm of belligerent advocates like Brian Burke, Dave Nonis, and Randy Carlyle.

They came from an older school of thought that believed that this role was necessary to have in a lineup on a nightly basis. The Leafs underwent a major philosophical change right before this season, hiring managers like Kyle Dubas who took a more analytical and statistical approach. Tellingly, Orr and McLaren are no longer on the Leafs roster, echoing a league-wide sentiment that the role of the enforcer is dying.

Important to this shift from

traditional hockey to analytic, stats-based hockey is the Corsi Number. In short, a Corsi Number measures the shot attempt differential of a player while on the ice, including shots on goal, missed shots, and blocked shots for and against. Players are now being analyzed in terms of their effectiveness on the ice, and how they help their team, while not just looking at point totals. With this philosophy, cap space is of utter importance. Teams are now trying to fill a roster of 24 players under a salary cap, and so will be looking closely at which players will be most efficient and effective in terms of economic considerations

and their production of play on the ice.

This is the intrinsic reason as to why the role of the enforcer is dying. Teams are deciding with this new information that it actually has adverse effects to use the limited cap space on a full- time player who is only capable of fighting. Teams have referred to the four-line scoring models of the LA Kings and Boston Bruins, who have both won Stanley Cups in recent years.

Fighting will always be a part of the NHL brand of hockey. Fans love it, the players respect it, and simply put, it helps sell tickets.

However, teams are now shifting away from having a guy whose only

job is to fight. They are starting to realize that it is inefficient and uneconomical in terms of fitting a roster under the salary cap. Teams will start resorting to ‘team toughness,’ where the whole roster will need to take on the responsibilities of protecting themselves and one another. This will entail that even the great players, like Wayne Gretzky was in the past, are going to need to be able to respond to a potential or evident threat from an opposing player. A team’s overall toughness module might lead for the catalyst of the demise of the disciplinarian. Generally speaking, the days of the bodyguard or enforcer are coming to a slow close.

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Culture

October 27, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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Into the darkness TNC’s Monster is an enthralling and chilling look at the demons of human nature Rosie Long Decter The McGill Daily

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Asshole.”

This frequent refrain of the narrator in Tuesday Night Cafe Theatre’s Monster is not directed at himself or at any other character, but at the audience before him. Monster, co-written by Daniel MacIvor and Daniel Brooks, is a play about discomfort – its goal is to make all audience members writhe in their seats, forcing them to face characters far more sinister than just “assholes.”

Co-directed by Laura Orozco and Dilan Nebioglu, Monster is a one-woman show that sees Orozco embody a wide range of characters, from a drug-addicted aspiring filmmaker to a peppy aspiring mother, as well as the narrator, Adam, who tells each character’s story.

The characters all have their own demons to confront – alcohol, abuse, trauma. This show is not, however, a character study. Instead, Orozco’s narration and characters explore the

hidden truths of the human spirit that push people to the edge. When the recovering addict relapses, he discovers he is the most himself that he can be. When a teenage boy recounts the story of a murwwder that occurred next door, he becomes obsessed, disappearing into the story. The stories all feature a recurring image: a young boy chops up his father with a saw, while the sixties classic “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” plays in the background. Monster unveils the darkest elements of the human character as told by the narrator, who is the angriest of all.

Orozco’s portrayal of these tortured characters is powerful and playful. She easily steps in and out of their various disturbed psyches, never breaking character. Her acting truly shines when the play allows her to portray one character at length, as she does when telling the stories of Joe the addict and the unnamed teenage boy. These two characters become multi dimensional – the audience gets to see their quirks,

Srijan Shukla | The McGill Daily

Srijan Shukla | The McGill Daily their excitement, their pain, and can therefore better understand what plagues them.

The other characters, such as the unhappy couple Al and Janine, are ironically more central to the plot but less strongly portrayed, coming off as caricatures or tropes.

In particular, Orozco’s portrayal of Adam, the narrator, lacks nuance.

Perhaps Orozco intentionally seeks to present Adam as a figure of pure anger, but this nonetheless makes him less captivating.

The intensity of each of these characters is reflected by the set choices: five identical black chairs form a semicircle, with a microphone in the middle of the stage. The microphone is used by Adam when he breaks the fourth wall and addresses the audience, while the other characters use the chairs to tell their own stories. Behind the chairs, a projector screen displays slides of background images throughout the show. The effect of switching from slide to slide serves as a clear distinction between characters and stories, while still linking them together in one large slideshow.

The only time that the show

deviates from this simplistic set is when Orozco takes on the only role in the show that is not battling some inner demon: that of a former filmmaker who denounces the senseless violence of the boy who cuts up his father. For this character, Orozco sits in a rocking chair off to the side of the stage and dons glasses for the sole costume change of the show, making it clear that this character does not belong. This contrast is a brief reprieve from the darkness of Monster, emphasizing the utter grittiness of the rest of the show.

Monster suggests that we are all addicts, and we are all, somewhere inside, craving revenge.

As the stories of Monster unwind, audience members may find themselves wondering what the point is. For some time it seems that the story isn’t going anywhere, that it’s simply a series of unfortunate

Do you like art? Film? Music? Puppies? Life?

events and people, punctuated by an angry narrator.

The ending, however, brings it all into perspective. It becomes apparent that the stories are not only unfolding but intertwining, and Adam the narrator becomes more than just pure anger – or rather, Adam’s pure anger becomes the product of these stories. The conclusion is a revelation that will leave the audience deeply unsettled.

In an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, Joe the addict tells the story of a film he would like to make.

When describing his film, he explains that it’s a love story where the female lead is played by both Uma Thurman and Yasmine Bleeth because, hey, “everyone is two people – at least two people.” This simple line, casually thrown in, reveals the genius of Monster. In representing the traumas of many people, the story also represents the many traumas that one person can have, suggesting that we are all addicts, and we are all, somewhere inside, craving revenge.

TNC’s Monster leaves you with chills down your spine and a lot to think over; audience members may never be able to listen to “Raindrops Keep Fallin’” the same way again.

Come write for culture culture@mcgilldaily.com

Culture

October 27, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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Contortion as expression Andréane Leclerc’s movement pieces depict personal and social struggles

Sabrina Mach Culture Writer

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ndréane Leclerc first joined Montreal’s National Circus School at the age of nine, and has been practicing the art of contortion ever since. This past week, she brought her skills to Montreal’s Festival Phénomena, a multidisciplinary festival that seeks to promote the avant-garde. In partnership with contemporary dance space Tangente and her company Nadère Arts Vivants, Leclerc directed the movement pieces Bath House and Cherepaka, two powerful explorations of female bodies and their confinement in society. Performed at the relatively small Théâtre Espace Go, the works take place in the space between the seating area and the theatre’s stage, blurring the line between spectator and performer.

Bath House, the first segment of the show, is a ten-minute piece that showcases three performers’ representations of imprisonment. Laurence Racine, Genevieve

Gauthier, and Maude Parent flex and bend their bodies within a rectangular area delineated by white tape on the ground, sometimes trying to close the gap between each other and sometimes widening that space. Audience members are asked to stand around this boxed area to create a closed, almost claustrophobic experience for both performers and onlookers. The performers use this rectangle, a physical representation of their prison, to illustrate confinement, alluding to how female bodies are controlled by our patriarchal system.

One of the girls contorts around the closed-off area, trying to get out of her ‘prison,’ while another lies on the floor helplessly with ‘chains’ (red ribbons) around her hands and feet. The expressions on their faces combined with their contorted motions give the impression that they are actually imprisoned and trying to break free. The authenticity of this scene sparks uneasiness in the crowd, all too aware that they are the ones creating this prison.

The second segment of the show, Cherepaka, is a 55-minute performance that similarly uses movement to explore personal and social struggles. Inspired by Gilles Deleuze’s Logique de la sensation and Francis Bacon’s paintings, the piece is choreographed and performed by Leclerc. Cherepaka illustrates the dichotomy between the shell and skin of a turtle. Leclerc uses turtle imagery to represent the symbolic shell that surrounds the self, exploring the universal struggle of being in touch with oneself.

The contortionist confines herself to a small circular platform upon which she displays her skill by doing backbends in every possible position. She uses the turtle as a symbol for the dichotomy of inside and outside the self: her clothes and body language are animal-like, a leather bra and light green pants representing the shell, and her bare skin indicating the inner self. Her hands and feet are also covered by brown fabric to hint at the turtle’s feet. Interestingly, her back – the

actual location of a turtle’s shell – is left bare.

Leclerc effectively uses her body to represent the struggle of breaking your shell to find what is inside, spending most of the performance with her chest to the ground, moving her legs. Every time she sluggishly tries to pull herself upright, her body gives way and she falls back onto the ground. Her performance explores the limits of bodies, and how bodies are limited by the world we live in, demonstrating a struggle that is not just internal but also deals with universal questions of life and death. Accompanying her contortions is Leclerc’s loud, haggard panting and the looks of defeat she gives the audience, indicating that this struggle is an eternal one.

Beyond Leclerc’s individual vocals, the use of sound for atmosphere is key to the audience’s experience of both shows. In Bath House, there is no sound at all, which establishes the mood of the performance. While the audience surrounds the contortionists on the

ground, all that can be heard is their breathing, creating a nearly intolerable tension between the contortionists and the silent spectators.

As for Cherepaka, the sounds range from birds chirping to eerie, ambient music, allowing the audience to truly believe Leclerc’s depiction of the turtle and its struggle. While it does make the performance more immersive, however, the music is rather stagnant, emphasizing the piece’s already unnecessary length.

The contortion of Bath House and Cherepaka, while somewhat experimental as a form of dance, is expert and precise – every performer seems in control of the slightest tremble in their body. The nearly naked women convey powerful human emotions and experiences, depicting serious struggles but also empowered by the control of their bodies. This show proves that contortion is an art that goes beyond the circus ring, and that some struggles cannot be articulated in speech – sometimes, actions really do speak louder than words.

Re-presenting representation Multimedia exhibit from Lisa Reihana showcases Maori self-determination Kateryna Gordiychuk The McGill Daily

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TMlles, Montreal’s feminist festival of media arts and digital culture, doesn’t officially begin for another two weeks, but Lisa Reihana’s recently opened Mareikura is a taste of what’s to come. Hosted at the artist-run centre articule, Mareikura is a multimedia exhibit addressing Indigenous representation in a colonial context. It is the first Montreal exhibit from Maori artist Reihana, and presents her reflections on the sovereignty of New Zealand’s Indigenous Maori population.

Reihana’s depiction of Maori people blends historical communities, traditional rituals, and mythology throughout the exhibit. Upon entering the exhibit, a photograph catches the eye: a Maori mythical figure sits in a black throne, holding a cane. The man has disheveled white hair and a black cloth covering his body, the sparsity contrasted by a look of intense concentration on his face. His image and posture exude a self-assertiveness that challenges our perception of mythological figures –

his presence is tangibly real and in no way imaginary.

In the dark room that follows, a multimedia video clip grabs and plunges the viewer into a New Zealand landscape – mountains, water, and blue sky. The clip presents a panoramic view, slowly rotating 360 degrees. Here, Reihana’s work is an attempt at encompassing every degree of daily life in a historic Maori community. Young women dance with flowers in their hair. A small group of people dressed in colourful long coats and feathered hats sit on the grass, occupied with talk, while in another scene large muscular men fight nearby, pressing their heads against each other. A woman with her back turned to the viewer addresses her song to the ocean, as if waiting for a reply. Finally, the slices of life turn sinister, as a sound from the water prompts a group of Maori men to start attacking intruders, invisible to the viewer. They shout and soon gather to protect their land.

In this video, Reihana subtly exposes a plethora of the quotidian details of Maori life, paying close attention to body language and expressions. Every individual has a distinct

ta moko (body tattoo), and distinct clothing, headgear, and demeanour.

The men fighting each other tend to wear little clothing, whereas the people who engage in meditating activities, like singing and sitting in a circle, are dressed in cloaks made of animal skin. The lack of narration in the video prevents a reductive understanding of the people’s identities and their world of traditions – what you see is what you get.

In another wordless clip, a woman sings in a long black dress against a black backdrop. The movement of her lips indicates the act of singing, but her song cannot be heard. Only her sentiment can be read in the way she moves to her song – she smiles, but there is sadness in her face. Her performance then intertwines with a clip of a golden-blue bird slowly flapping its wings, and the woman begins to echo the bird’s movements, as if hoping that her song can fly across horizons to be heard by all. Her movements mimic mythical figures, but her expressions ground her in reality. In this representation, Reihana shows what Maori traditions mean to Maori people. The sadness in this woman’s

Tamim Sujat | The McGill Daily presentation indicates a desire that these traditions not be lost or misrepresented. Reihana demonstrates the need for colonized voices to be heard.

In her representations of Maori life and traditions, Reihana reclaims self-determination throughout the exhibit, turning to the historical roots of Maori self-expression. The oppression of Indigenous cultures and voices that has occurred for hundreds of

years has resulted in widespread, reductive standardizations of these cultural identities today. Lisa Reihana’s multifaceted, multi-layered representation successfully challenges flat portrayals and complicates the often simple, one-dimensional depictions of Indigenous voices.

Mareikura runs until November 16 at articule (262 Fairmount Ouest).

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Culture

October 27, 2014 The McGill Daily | www.mcgilldaily.com

AmérAsia goes avant-garde Montreal’s Asian-American film festival expands Zoe Goldstein Culture Writer

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rt has always been a means of exploring cultural identity and asking tough questions about home and community. Montreal’s AmérAsia Film Festival not only poses pressing questions of identity, but also boldly reconfigures the boundaries of the medium through its series of avant-garde films. Presented

by CinéAsie, this immense cultural and artistic endeavour features short films from the Philippines, Cambodia, India, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Quebec, and the rest of Canada, as well as various interactive projects such as masterclasses, workshops, and multimedia ventures.

About to embark on its fourth edition, the festival presents the work of many young Montreal artists, as well as internationally acclaimed filmmakers, creating an open forum for artists who would not normally have the opportunity to be showcased.

The vision This fall, the festival intends to reach out to the diverse Asian communities in Montreal and “promote the relationship between Asia and Quebec.” MiJeong Lee, the festival’s co-founder, spoke with The Daily about the need she originally saw for a platform for Asian art in Montreal.

“When I came here as a foreign student to do my Masters program, I thought it would be interesting for Montreal to have a much stronger Asian voice that comes from Asian descent,” she said. “Since my background has been always in cinema, I started to have a small size of film festivals and retrospectives. Slowly we built up the festival, AmérAsia, but Montreal wasn’t ready to

welcome all aspects of Asian films back then. Although the festival started in 1999, this year is only the fourth edition.”

The festival has since evolved from its original goal of promoting Asian films. “For the fourth edition of the AmérAsia there are more avantgarde and experimentally driven films.”

Amanda Nguyen For Lee, the purpose of the festival is “to give a different voice to Asian people in various contexts” and “support and promote AsianCanadian filmmakers.” Amanda Nguyen, the General Coordinator, describes the festival as “a celebration of being Asian in Quebec and Canada.”

The festival has since evolved from its original goal of promoting Asian films. Nguyen stated that “for the fourth edition of AmérAsia, there are more avant-garde and experimentally driven films,” pointing to the festival’s role in innovating film techniques and expanding film as an artform.

The festival also goes beyond specifically Asian-American films to engage with broader questions of identities in Montreal and Canada.

Nguyen explained that this year the film festival’s team has created a spe-

cial program called Initiation where “films that deal with non-Asian content or a blend of Asian and nonAsian content” are also featured.

The intention of this program is for “AmérAsia to reach out to communities other than just our Asian-Canadian communities in Montreal.”

Nguyen cited director Kavich Neang’s Where I Go as an example of this part of the festival. The documentary “deals with someone from both Cambodian and Cameroonian descent,” she said. “It explores how a person of different ethnicities lives in an Asian context.”

The centrepiece The main focus of this year’s festival is a phenomenon called the Philippine New Wave – a movement that began in the late 1970s, but is rapidly gaining momentum due to the accessibility of today’s technology. The Philippine New Wave is fascinating because of how it deconstructs typical Western understandings of what filmmaking is and should be; Lee calls the movement the “Asian style of avant-garde in the Philippines.”

Instead of relying on costly professional equipment – something that is, by nature, exclusive – films that emerge from this movement are created using any equipment available to the artist, such as nonprofessional cameras and smartphones. This new wave is the opposite of commercial Hollywood, which produces films that fit neatly into narratives that audiences have learned to expect and are comfortable viewing. Philippine New Wave films focus more on social and political issues, especially those present in the Philippines. They are brave and daring in the sense that that they have no specific form.

The father of this movement,

Kidlat Tahimik, is a Filipino director making “his first appearance on Canadian soil” at the AmérAsia film festival. Presently touring the Netherlands, Germany, and Vietnam, Tahimik is a forerunner in noncommercial, experimental films that provide an arena for accessible filmmaking. As an artist who actively supports the perspectives of “undiploma-ed” filmmakers (those without formal higher education), Tahimik represents much of what the producers of AmérAsia love about the possibilities of film.

Tahimik will be teaching a free masterclass at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts on his extensive project Memories of Overdevelopment, a film that began in the early 1980s and “will take more than 35 years for the director to complete.”

The festival will also feature three Philippine New Wave films: Turumba, a “satirical takedown of the global economy,”; Perfumed Nightmare, a film that challenges the illusions of the American dream; and Philippine New Wave: This Is Not A Film Movement, a documentary exploring both the actual movement and “what the power of film means and what the future holds for cinema, locally and worldwide.”

The challenge In the spirit of the Philippine New Wave movement, AmérAsia is launching a project this year titled the “One Piece Film Challenge,” a “distribution of independent films [...] to promote new works by emerging and established Asian-Canadian and Asian media artists.” The challenge is to create a five-minute-or-less one-take film using any nonprofessional filming device, such as a smartphone, iPad, or camera, within a period of 72 hours.

Nguyen described this project as a way “to relive traditional filmmaking” – because it is done in just one take – while integrating today’s technology. Pre-selected works will be presented at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts on the opening day of the festival.

The must-sees Lee and Nguyen were excited to recommend the productions La Salada, Luk’Luk’I: Mother, and Where I Go – the three films that attempt to reach out to diverse ethnic communities and raise questions of Asian identities in non-Asian contexts. Tahimik’s documentary Philippine New Wave is also highly recommended for its in-depth exploration of the revolutionary movement that underlies the film festival. In terms of cultural selfinvestigation, Cabinet, a film dealing with “the very idea of Chineseness that individuals possess,” and Radicalizing Intimacy, a documentary that questions how “multiple identities (Canadian, youth, Asian, queer) intersect and shape the way we navigate our world,” are likely to be powerful and evocative pieces. For local content, An Minh Truong’s amnesia mystery Apres la peine (A New Mourning) and Masoud Raouf’s docu-animation There is a Garden are not to be missed. The fourth edition of AmérAsia offers a diverse array of films and perspectives, and invites Montrealers along to question, challenge, and explore the intersection of identity and art.

The AmérAsia Film Festival will take place from Thursday, October 30 to Sunday, November 2 at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Phi Centre. Head to amerasiafestival.com for more details.

Haunted Downtown Montreal and Howl! Activist Art Fair Rosie’s Pick: Haunted Downtown Montreal Haunted Downtown Montreal is a tour led by actor-storyteller (and McGill alumnus) Donovan King that takes participants on a walk through Montreal’s busiest – and scariest – streets. The tour stops at haunted hotels,

creepy churches, and Club 1234, a hotspot for partiers and ghosts alike. King will tell tales of crypts at Concordia, Montreal’s “Cholera Cemetery,” and King’s “sickening Legend of the Cross.” Haunted Downtown Montreal will help you get to know Montreal better – maybe too well – and get you in the spooky spirit.

Niyousha’s Pick: Howl! Activist Art Fair Howl! and Popolo Press present an activist art fair this weekend, showcasing art inspired by social justice struggles and radical movements. If you can’t fathom waiting another month for Expozine, this fair might satisfy your small

press cravings. The fair will feature groups such as the Cinema Politica Network and CKUT, as well as the launch of Intimate Distance, Howl! collective member Vo Thien Viet’s new zine. Intimate gives a glimpse of the less glorious moments of activism.

Take a study break (or Facebook break) and nurse your Halloween

hangover with prints, zines, posters, and music.

Haunted Downtown Montreal runs October 30 and 31 at 8 p.m., starting at Andrew’s Pub (1241 Guy) and finishing at Place du Canada.

The Howl! Activist Art Fair is Saturday, November 1 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Casa del Popolo.

Editorial

volume 104 number 9

editorial board 3480 McTavish St., Rm. B-24 Montreal, QC H3A 1X9

October 27, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

No to neutrality

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Dana Wray

coordinating@mcgilldaily.com coordinating news editor

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sports editor

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rec@delitfrancais.com cover design Jill Bachelder, Molly Korab, Tamim Sujat contributors Nadia Boachie, Karen Chiang, Saima Desai, Omar Eidabat, Cem Ertekin, Fernanda Pérez Gay, Zoë Goldstein, Kateryna Gordiychuk, Jasreet Kaur, Mert Kimyaci, Sabrina Mach, SPHR McGill, Victor Mihai Mocanu, Ayman Oweida, Jonathan Reid, Sason Ross, Emily Saul, Srijan Shukla, Andy Wei

Alice Shen | The McGill Daily

F

or the first time in years, hundreds of students turned out to SSMU’s General Assembly (GA) to debate a range of uncharacteristically political issues. While most of the motions were debated on and passed, a motion in solidarity with the Palestinian people was postponed indefinitely, depriving the assembly of the possibility to discuss it and vote on it. This was very much in the spirit of the prevailing discourse against the political motions: masquerading as ‘neutral,’ opponents argued that taking a stance would be divisive, and that the issues were best left ignored. This dangerous rhetoric of neutrality shuts down meaningful political discourse, and masks the very political motives behind the rhetoric itself.

Instead of using an effective, well-conceived argument to challenge the motion, opponents used the rhetoric of neutrality to claim that even mere discussion of the issue would ‘divide the campus,’ and that silence on the issue was the best option for a student body that includes both Israelis and Palestinians.

The “no” campaign’s Facebook page was rife with this rhetoric: organizers prohibited any discussion of the motion and threatened to delete comments challenging their claim to neutrality. In contrast, the “yes” committee allowed free discussion on its page.

What is even more egregious is that the “no” campaign insisted that the GA was not an appropriate venue to discuss these issues, and that SSMU could not take

political stances as it had to represent each and every student’s views equally. However, remaining neutral does represent a specific political viewpoint – that of the status quo – that is not held by all students. Avoiding discussion does not make the issue any less political. In fact, not taking a side on that particular motion is accepting that McGill, an institution that develops weapons for the Israeli military, speaks on our behalf.

As it stands, students remain complicit in McGill’s ties to Israel, a fact that directly harms the portion of the student body that is negatively affected by the Israeli state’s actions.

But this is not just the case for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the rhetoric of neutrality has always been present in forums such as these, and SSMU’s ‘controversial’ stances have been few and far between. Even on issues that unequivocally concern us as students, such as the 2012 CKUT fee referendum, students and student politicians have insisted that SSMU remain ‘neutral.’ But shying away from discussion will never make an issue disappear – this is the rationale for SSMU’s constitutional mandate for “leadership in matters of human rights [and] social justice.” The GA is a crucial forum for the undergraduate student body to be involved in the implementation of this mandate. Sticking our heads in the sand in the name of neutrality leads us nowhere.

—The McGill Daily Editorial Board

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dps board of directors Joseph Boju, Juan Camilo Velásquez Buriticá, Joelle Dahm, Alyssa Favreau, Ralph Haddad, Rachel Nam, Hillary Pasternak, Thomas Simmoneau, Dana Wray All contents © 2014 Daily Publications Society. All rights reserved. The content of this newspaper is the responsibility of The McGill Daily and does not necessarily represent the views of McGill University. Products or companies advertised in this newspaper are not necessarily endorsed by Daily staff.

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23

Compendium!

October 27, 2014 www.mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

24

Lies, half-truths, and motion to adjourn.

Free speech on campus upheld!

Campus saved by a student’s communion with Robert

Lucy Peaseblossom The McGall Daily

T

he Students’ Headquarters of McGall University (SHMU) held its semesterly General Assembly (GA), known colloquially as the “quorum love-in,” last Wednesday. The GA offered a chance to discuss the pressing political issues on campus, but students were spared a lengthy debate in the name of free speech; organizers were reportedly disappointed to discover that human nature is fundamentally petty.

After hours of waiting, hundreds of students crowded the Shtaneer building, frothing at the bit to debate minor points of policy. Paramedics were called to attend to several undergraduate students overcome with overpowering waves of emotion upon hearing the good word of Robert’s Rules or Order.

“Have you read the Robert’s

Rules book?” demanded Jonatello Gloomy, a first-year Fat-cat Law student and recent SHMU enthusiast. “Gospel truth is contained herein,” he continued, googly-eyed.

Motion to be a little kind sometimes, maybe The lion’s share of students were motivated to attend the “quorum love-in” because of one single motion – one proposing that SHMU timidly condemn a combination of open-air prisons, targeted deathfrom-the-sky attacks, and grinding daily humiliation and poverty for a certain national group.

However, opinion among McGall’s undergraduate student body toward the motion was mixed.

“This motion is completely inappropriate,” explained Major Rand Trilby, a U2 Objective History student. “I’ve read a fair bit of history in my time, much of it objective, and I’ve learned that history belongs to the strong. How dare SHMU try to

buck the trend. Crush the weak!” he exclaimed.

Many apparently failed to grasp that McGall manufactures weaponry is used to oppress the group mentioned in the motion in the university’s “Murder Innocent People” laboratory.

“I can understand one fact,” garbled Luke Reject, an undergraduate researcher at the Department of Brain Thinky Science. “But two facts! And make a causal connection?” he asked, shocked. “This is McGall, not Harvard.”

Rumours that SHMU had been strong-armed into proposing the motion by campus totalitarians also ran rampant in the days leading up to the GA – to the extent that liberty and free speech activists quickly organized to prevent a campus dictatorship.

“The idea that SHMU, which must represent me, would force us all to say that murder is wrong beggars belief,” said a disgruntled

McGall student who asked to remain anonymous. “How can we hold a debate on an issue in which I’m clearly in the global minority?” the student continued. “It’s outrageous. Freedom of speech for everyone means freedom of speech for me, which logically entails freedom of speech for only me.”

One student was so struck by the prospect of left-wing totalitarian rule that he became a dedicated disciple of Robert’s Rules in the hope of communing directly with Robert himself. To the good luck of free speech activists, the student was eventually graced with Robert’s presence.

“It was tough,” the Anointed One told The Weekly, “To become a true disciple requires total dedication. It is a multifaceted task: for example, I had to train myself to speak in such a way as to make everyone before me fall asleep in stultifying boredom.”

“After a week of mental and

physical trials, I communed with the Great Robert,” the Anointed One continued. “He taught me his ways – and they were good.”

When it came to debate the motion, the Anointed One stepped up to the podium and stunned the audience with the gift of his learning, the “subsidiary motion to postpone indefinitely.”

“That was Robert’s Rules: Boss Level,” Trilby told The Weekly in an email.

Such was the brilliance of the Anointed One, that all antagonists relented, admitting that free speech did indeed trump morals.

Afterward, the debate attendees fell into a trance of adoring reverie, giving real meaning to the “quorum love-in.”

Students and SHMU executives were so ecstatic to be touched from on high that they missed a Skype call from Raul Castro and Kim Jong-Un congratulating them on their democratic practices.

The umbrella revolution

Chewie Gummy Bear | The McGill Daily

Crossword solutions October 6

Across: 3. New Rez 6. Paragraphe 8. Brown 9. McLennan 15. CKUT 17. James Administration 19. Shatner 20. Peterson 21. Birks

Photo credit: Samim Tujat McGill bros go on rampage, retreat to trees.

Down: 1. Second Cup 2. Bookstore 4. Redpath 5. Strathcona Music 7. Leacock 8. Desautels 10. Lower Field 11. McConnell 12. Stewart Bio 13. Rutherford 14. Burnside 16. Maas 17. McTavish

October 16

Across: 4. Times 6. Adbusters 8. Maissonneuve 9. CBC 10. Bitch 13. Montreal Gazette 16. Jacobin 17. BBC 18. Guardian 19. New York Times 21. New Statesman 22. Telegraph 23. McGill Daily 24. Independent 25. Atlantic

Down: 1. Walrus 2. Internship 3. Financial Times 5. Washington post 7. Daily Mail 8. McGill Tribune 11. Bull and Bear 12. Sun News 14. Globe and Mail 15. The New Yorker 20. Toronto Star