Volume 43, Issue 5

Volume 43, Issue 5 • October 25, 2022 • thelinknewspaper.ca "I Have Editing Brain" Since 1890

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News The Ghosts of Grey Nuns P. 6-7

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Solutions for Issue 4 Sudoku

So

NEWS

3

Abortion Access in Montreal: An Uphill Battle The Life-Risking Consequences of Insufficient Reproductive Care Maria Cholakova n June 24, the United States O Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a case that made

access to abortion services a federal right in the country. It allowed each state to make its own law on the legality of abortion and its accessibility. The decision sparked major outrage from both the U.S. and people around the world alike. It also led to conversations about the importance of abortion access, leaving many in the dark about their rights.

Abortion in Canada is legal in all provinces and is publicly funded, but the cost varies from province to province. In Quebec, abortion is free for anyone with a Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec card.

For out-of-province or international students at Concordia, Blue Cross insurance covers fees.

Refugees covered under the Interim Federal Health Program will be able to get the service at no cost. Otherwise, clinics might charge differently for their services. For instance, Clinic Medicale Femina would charge a non-insured patient $875.

So, where can you get an abortion?

Quebec has a total of 70 regulated centres that provide abortion services. Some of them are private, others are local community service centres and a few are integrated health and social services centres. All that is required is to call an abortion clinic to schedule an appointment.

It is important to note that Quebec offers two types of abortion services: surgical and medical abortions. The choice is made by the patient after a consultation with a health professional.

Medical abortion is done at home by taking an abortion pill and is usually recommended if the pregnancy is under nine weeks. It consists of two medications: mifepristone and misoprostol. Mifepristone blocks the hormone progesterone needed for a pregnancy to progress, and misoprostol helps the cervix to relax and the uterus to contract to expel the embryo.

Surgical abortion involves surgery and is performed at a clinic. It is usually for patients up to 24 weeks pregnant.

“Luckily, in Montreal, we have access to many clinics,” said Maude Côté-Leduc, a family doctor at the Clinic Medicale Femina. “However, abortion services vary in some other cities and provinces and may not be able to admit you immediately.”

Côté-Leduc added that we should not overlook society's pressure on patients. “We often hear people say that abortion is used as a birth control method,” she said. “However, I can tell you for certain, coming here as a patient is never an easy decision.”

Society puts a lot of pressure on birth control intake, explained Côté-Leduc. The public blames people who get the service, she explained, yet birth control is seen as something everyone who could

“I don’t think that necessarily we should worry that abortion will become illegal, but what we do need to worry about is abortion [being] so inaccessible to so many people,” said Bravo.

“There is still so much stigma around abortion, there is still such a profound misunderstanding about the changes the body goes through,” Bravo explained. This is why Bravo encourages the use of abortion doulas, a provider of emotional and physical support before,

for the cause within the community. Having vocal medical activists would bypass the need for politicians to speak on the topic.

Mostly clinics—and not hospitals—are the main provider of abortions. This results in civilian donations keeping the clinic up and running, for it to be accessible to everyone.

“I would say my procedure in Montreal was pretty straightforward,” Yeung said. Protesters and doctor intimidation were not a

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get pregnant should take, regardless of its many side effects.

Galya Bravo, vice president of Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, said there is much to be worked on in the country. In her opinion, the overturning of Roe v. Wade made abortion more salient—instead, Canada needs to broaden the conversation about accessibility.

Diane Yeung, a journalism student at Concordia, believes that Montreal and Canada aren’t socially better than the U.S. “Just because it’s accessible here, doesn’t mean it is [accepted] or normalized,” she added.

Although the U.S. and Canada differ in their abortion rights, there is still much to be worked on.

during, and after the abortion. This service aims to help people like Yeung, who had been in Montreal for a year and a half on a work visa at the time of her abortion and felt isolated due to her family not being in the same country.

In May 2022, the Canadian government announced $3.5 million in funding for abortion care. As encouraging as that is, governmental funding isn’t the only thing needed.

More information from the medical community and governmental transparency would benefit those in need of the procedure.

According to Bravo, there is a lack of doctors, physicians, and administrators of abortions acting as strong and clear advocates

part of her experience, she clarified. “[The doctors] didn’t ask me questions,” specified Yeung. “Even with a foreign passport, I wasn’t asked about my status. There wasn’t a sense of pressure around the experience.”

In Bravo’s opinion, this is why education and advocacy for the abortion pill are so needed. “[The abortion pill] is something that you can get in the mail, something that you can do at home, at little to no cost with safety to access and discreet at the same time”, she added.

ARCC advocates for the abortion pill's accessibility, aiming to make it available in pharmacies.

For now, the abortion pill can only be taken if you get an appointment with an abortion clinic.

“It is always portrayed as something traumatic,” Bravo said about the representation of abortions in the media. “But it is never portrayed as just taking a pill in the safety of your own home, experiencing some cramping, and not having to go through with a pregnancy you don’t want or can’t support.”

“I think it all comes to education, clarity, and the stigma of persistently being told that it is such an intense and serious procedure,” Yeung pointed out. “For me, it was an easy decision. This demand for a tragic story is a problem.” For her, abortion is healthcare.

Bravo also talked about the harmfulness of Crisis Pregnancy Centres. She stated these centres are often affiliated with the church and hide behind a pretense of helping people who seek an abortion but steer them in another direction—such as adoption or keeping the child and continuing with the pregnancy. Many of the centres practices were recently criticized due to their pro-life stance.

According to ARCC statistics, almost 22,000 abortions are performed in Quebec per year.

When Yeung was 24, she had to book an appointment with an abortion clinic. “I got scared because, after a failed Plan B, it is possible that the fetus is attached outside of the uterus,” said Yeung. “It could be an ectopic pregnancy, where it could kill you or the baby.” She went in to get a surgical abortion under the impression that she would be fully sedated, but that wasn’t the case. “It was really painful and I was jolted awake,” she added.

Women are not the only ones that are struggling with access to abortion. Many people with a uterus—such as transgender men, non-binary individual, and other members of the LGBTQIA+ community—don’t find medical spaces accepting of them. Countless clinics are only equipped with cisgender women doctors and may not be as comfortable for some members of the community, making it even harder to seek the help they need.

An ARCC report states that 45 per cent of LGBTQIA+ patients have declared having one or more unmet healthcare needs in the past year. An already marginalized community should not be even more marginalized in healthcare.

thelinknewspaper.ca • October 25, 2022

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NEWS

Concordia University: Champion of Greenwashing

University’s Partnership With RBC Criticized by Student Climate Protesters Olivia Integlia n Oct. 21, over a dozen proO testers gathered outside the Guy-Concordia metro station, in

front of a Royal Bank of Canada branch. Climate Justice Action Concordia organized a peaceful event, denouncing their university’s role in the climate crisis.

Protesters held anti-RBC signs, handed out flyers to passersby and discussed the bank’s involvement in the fossil fuel industry.

“Today, we are here as students of Concordia as part of RBC Off Campus Week, which is happening all across Canada,” said protest organizer Mac Findlay.

“Students are calling for RBC to leave campuses because they are the biggest fossil fuel funders of all banks in Canada and they are jeopardizing our future.”

RBC On Campus is an initiative to teach students about financing.

Various universities across Canada are affiliated with the bank and offer students access to “student-focused financial advisors.” This initiative is a part of its RBC Future Launch project, which is committed to donating $500 million over ten years

to help youth enter the workforce.

While the project’s initiatives in 2021 included donating three scholarships to "Indigenous, Black and all youth", its actions demonstrate an ironic lack of consideration for youth and minorities.

In the last fiscal year alone, RBC invested $208 billion in the fossil fuel industry, including financing part of the Coastal GasLink pipeline. “We are looking to engage with students on the role [of] the top five big banks in Canada— TD, BMO, CIBC, Scotiabank and RBC—are playing in the fossil fuel divestments,” Findlay explained.

Since its early stages, the pipeline project has been heavily criticized.

Despite its proponents claiming that Coastal GasLink gave significant consideration to the surrounding Indigenous communities whose lands the pipeline would cross, as well as the project’s environmental impacts, activists have consistently opposed its construction.

The 670-kilometre pipeline will run through a number of environmental habitats, severely affecting ecosystems and poten-

tially polluting waterways.

Moreover, the project runs through Wet’suwet’en territory.

RBC is “jeopardizing the future of Indigenous peoples by supporting fossil fuels and […] disrespecting Indigenous sovereignty,” Findlay said.

Findlay also stressed the urgency of spreading awareness now more than ever. “They are beginning to drill on [Indigenous] land, which is something that [the community has] actively been resisting for years now,” he said. Drilling officially began in September 2022 and is expected to finish by the end of the year.

During the protest, CJAC members forced RBC employees and clients to face their banners upon walking in the bank. “All we are trying to do is raise awareness and there’s not really much we can do until we are on the inside, and until many people start having a problem with how RBC is investing its money and what they are funding,” said Allegra, who

PHOTO SOPHIE DUFRESNE

did not want to disclose their last name, another protest organizer.

Allegra discussed how notorious RBC is for greenwashing.

In its 2020-2021 annual report, the big bank made several commitments to sustainability and Indigenous rights, including decreasing its emissions, becoming a leader in sustainability and consulting “technology experts and Indigenous leadership.”

“It is really easy to say one thing and do another […], you can kind of get away with it […] if people aren’t informed about it,” Allegra explained.

CJAC is also urging Concordia to act by cutting ties with RBC in solidarity with climate justice and

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Indigenous communities. “We are studying under an institution that is funding all these terrible things […] like climate chaos and violence against Indigenous peoples,” said protester Mia Kennedy.

Concordia’s Climate Action Plan, drafted in 2018-2019, pledged to go carbon-neutral by 2024. This pledge included reducing the CO2 “emissions from indirect sources.”

And yet, the funding for RBC continues, Kennedy said. “[Concordia’s] branding is being clashed with the truth behind the institutions with the money that we are paying them,” Kennedy said.

“This is our money.”

NEWS

5

Did You Hear That? or Am I Going Crazy?

Students Tell Their Tales of the Evil Energies Haunting the Grey Nuns Building Dallas Calvert

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or the hundreds of first-year F students living in Concordia’s infamous Grey Nuns building,

midterms are far from the only force contributing to uneasy, sleepless nights.

The expansiveness of the desolate, whitewashed hallways alone bring a sinister sense of liminality to the residence.

“Everybody here is on the same wavelength…especially in the last week,” said Griffy, a first-year aerospace engineering student. “I've had more than a few people go, ‘have you guys been feeling off recently?’”

A final, paranormal piece may complete the puzzle of students’ anxious energies that seem to arise, especially around Halloween season: inexplicable and uncanny encounters with ghosts in the Grey Nuns building.

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Though they may be frightening, students say these occurrences are not surprising, due to the peculiar past of one of the university’s main residence buildings.

The Motherhouse of the Grey Nuns, a Canadian religious order of Roman Catholic sisters, was built in 1871 and used for more than 130 years as the headquarters for their operations.

Besides housing over 1,000 nuns, the Motherhouse also served as a hospital and orphanage. The bodies of 232 nuns remain buried in the building’s crypt, located in its basement. Because of the infectious diseases that caused many of their deaths, the bodies cannot be exhumed and moved.

Sharing space in the basement alongside the nuns’ corpses is first-year studio arts student Ruby Cluclow. They had a few things to say about their crypt companions: “I was so worried when I was reading up on all the stuff that happened here […] there has to be so much negative shit attached to these nuns who have been complacent in all of that shit.”

Cluclow was not wrong: on Valentine’s Day in 1918, a blazing fire broke out in the orphanage above the hospital, sparked by a nursery worker suffering from what was referred to as an arsonist delirium.

Firemen and recovering soldiers left their sickbeds to try and save the burning babies, but they were beaten back by the flames. Sixty children were confirmed to have died that day, but there are theories that there were additional casualties who were cremated in the fire.

This building's hair-raising history makes it the perfect setting for an escape room or a haunted house—if only Concordia allowed candles, matches, or lighters in the building. Perhaps the spirits could

be reasoned through spiritual cleansing or holding a seance. The university purchased the building in 2007 for a hefty sum of $18 million, spending an additional $15 million on renovations.

Alas, the refurbishing efforts did not cleanse the building of its paranormal character, as students are still subject to spooky situations.

“The bricks of this place are stained with disease and the blood of nuns,” reasoned Griffy. “Nothing can wipe away that, not even a new fresh coat of paint or a couple new electrical outlets here and there.”

Another Grey Nuns resident couldn’t seem to wipe away the weird energies: first-year mechanical engineering student Pascale Bonn, also lives in the building’s most haunted hotspot, the basement.

Bonn recounted eerie events reminiscent of scare-tactic stories, like how saying Bloody Mary three times in the bathroom mirror might make her appear. “I would wash my face and look into the mirror and then I would see the shape of a nun,” she said. “It was on the blank wall behind me […] but it was just a projection of a shadow or something.”

This frightening sight triggered Bonn’s sense of fight or flight: “I would immediately close my eyes and be like ‘No, no, no, not happening.’”

These unnatural energies at work seemed to be especially attracted to people who have already had experience dealing with supernatural situations.

Bonn pointed to the direction of her neighbour down the hall, Tatiana Elliot. “They are a ghost magnet, they’re from Edinburgh […] a notoriously haunted place,” Bonn said. “And they’ve been getting cheerios placed in random spots in their room.”

Bonn and Elliot’s fellow basement dweller, Zach Johnson, a studio arts and art history major, has also been subject to relatively harmless hauntings, which they think are “kinda cool [as they’re] not afraid of the paranormal.”

They told their TMI tale of weird washroom visits, where they would hear “loud thuds and the voices of children […] like playful screams.” There is a daycare at Grey Nuns, but the noises were coming directly from the burial site, only 15 to 20 feet away from that bathroom. Even in their fearless frame of mind, Johnson said it freaked them out. What a paranormal way to poop!

The basement isn’t the only setting that students report getting spooked. First-year psychology major Emma Clark lives on the second floor and was “in denial, not wanting to admit that this place has the weirdest feeling.” She attested to seeing “black floating orbs […] like a shadow and then it would be dark in the center [...] it would move […] If I looked at them too quickly they would disappear.”

Clark was raised Pagan and practices witchcraft. She said her encounters with the paranormal help ease some of her anxiety. “It is a little off-putting at times, but at the end of the day they don’t really hurt you,” she said. “You can’t get physically harmed from it, as long as you know what’s happening.”

“A little off-putting” may be an understatement, as a majority of residents would agree that they feel an underlying tension of unsettling physical anxiety, unrelated to normal mental triggers. Some students told The Link they are at times afraid of dying in the Motherhouse.

That is no way to feel in a place called home, students said.

Many students have pointed fingers towards the repeated hauntings, blaming them as contributing to their building case of dissatisfaction towards their student housing conditions.

“I hate living here. But not just the ghosts, everything,” Bonn said.

Beyond the building’s unusually usual occult activities, students are far from pleased with their standards of living in the Motherhouse.

“I would wash my face and look into the mirror and then I would see the shape of a nun” — Pascale Bonn

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thelinknewspaper.ca • October 25, 2022

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NEWS

The Ghosts of Grey Nuns A Haunting History of the Grey Nuns and Their Motherhouse Autumn Darey 1752, a farmer named IofnJean-Baptiste Goyer owned a plot land near the heart of Montreal.

Goyer was quite the negligent farm owner, according to Mark Leslie and Shayna Krishnasamy, authors of Macabre Montreal. He was more interested in spending time at the tavern than tending to his farm.

In May 1752, Goyer announced to those around him he would be taking a trip to Quebec City. At the time, such a trip would have taken a week. While he was supposedly on his voyage, his neighbours, Mr. and Mme. Favre, were brutally murdered.

Their bodies were hacked to bits, and their money stolen.

Once word got out of the murders, Goyer began blaming illegal fur traders for the crime. He went as far as buying people rounds of alcohol if they would listen to his theories about the killings. His money never seemed to run out, despite his farm doing so poorly.

Eventually, Goyer confessed to the murders, and sentenced to death. The method of his execution is disputed: some said his body was tied to the back of a carriage and dragged through the streets, others said he was bound to a wheel, beaten until his bones broke and left to die. No matter the method, he was buried with a blood-red cross to mark his grave.

In 1969, when Dorchester Blvd., now known as René-Lévesque Blvd., was widened, the cross was moved. Goyer’s body, however, was not. The homicidal farmer’s final resting place likely rests somewhere under the road.

Goyer’s plot of land would eventually be transformed into the Motherhouse of the Grey Nuns, now Concordia’s GN building.

For those educated in Quebec, the story of Marie-Marguerite Dufrost de Lajemmerais may conjure memories of high school history class. Born in Varennes in 1701, about half an hour from Montreal, she would go on to be taught by the Ursuline Order in Quebec City between the ages of 11 and 13; she later used her knowledge to educate her siblings.

Around the age of 21, in 1722, Marie-Marguerite married François d’Youville. The marriage led to her involvement in various religious and charitable organizations in the colony.

The d’Youville family enslaved people. Marcel Trudel, Quebec historian and author of Canada's Forgotten Slaves: Two Hundred Years of Bondage, explained that

these people were the d’Youvilles’ “personal property,” the same way livestock were. Trudel recounted how various individuals from the d’Youville family, including her brother Philippe and her father Pierre, owned, bought and sold human beings.

Trudel recounted how a 1731 notary document noted d’Youville inheriting two slaves from her husband when he died, as well as a Sioux woman and an additional Indigenous woman. Trudel also noted how various hospitals and religious officials owned enslaved people.

On December 31, 1737, d’Youville secretly founded an association, the Sisters of Charity. The women would take on projects helping the sick and dying, most notably during the smallpox epidemic of 1755 and the Seven Years’ War, which rocked New France.

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At one point, d’Youville was accused of stealing an enslaved Indigenous person from her step-father, Doctor Timothée Sylvain. She also accepted enslaved people as “gifts” in addition to those she owned.

thelinknewspaper.ca • October 25, 2022

During her marriage, d’Youville would have six children, four of whom died in infancy. Her husband, François died in 1730. The two children who survived went on to become priests.

The sisters would come to be known as the Grey Nuns, in large part because of their grey frocks.

The hospital the nuns worked in, the Hôpital Général in the Old Port, utilised the labour of enslaved people and prisoners. “The Hôpital-

Général de Montréal had more slaves than any other women's religious community,” wrote Trudel.

According to William Henry Foster, author of The Captors' Narrative: Catholic Women and Their Puritan Men on the Early American Frontier, “[i]n addition to being confined in cells, the prisoners were subjected to an exhausting schedule of domestic work in other areas of the hospital.”

In 1765, a massive fire consumed the Hôpital Général, spreading over five blocks from Rue du Saint-Sacrement to the hospital.

Three people died in the fire, which left 215 families without homes and the Grey Nuns without a hospital.

Following d’Youville’s death in 1771, the Grey Nuns continued their mission in Montreal, as well as out west, giving the godly green light to the expansion of the genocidal, colonial project of Canada.

While the British expanded westward, the Grey Nuns were one of multiple orders working as nurses and teachers in residential schools across so-called Canada.

The nuns were active participants in cultural genocide, tasked with what was called “civilizing” Indigenous children. Indigenous children were ripped from their families and forbidden from speaking their languages or participating in their cultural practices.

The Grey Nuns were involved in over a dozen schools. Many survivors have said they had insufficient or rotten food, frequent breakouts of illness and sparse medical care.

Other survivors recounted physical and sexual abuse during their confinement in the schools.

In one particularly horrific location, St. Anne’s Indian Residential School in northeastern Ontario, administered by the Grey Nuns, students recounted how an electric chair was used on them throughout the 1950s and 60s.

Some were as young as six; the reason the chair was used is disputed. The nuns also used a cat of nine tails, a whip with nine flails, on the children. One survivor, Chris Metatawabin, described the whip as having “the steel things in it that can rip you apart.”

According to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation in Winnipeg, at least 89 children died at the Holy Angels Indian Residential School in Fort Chipewyan, Alta., another institution where the Grey Nuns worked.

In Montreal, the nuns continued to work in hospitals, caring for the sick and dying. Their commitment to the cause would be tested in the 1840s, as a new wave of immigrants arrived.

As hundreds of Irish immigrants arrived on the shores of Montreal, fleeing the second consecutive year of crop failures during the Great Famine, a typhus

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as a hospital and orphanage. One floor was occupied by recovering soldiers, and the floor above was occupied by orphaned children.

On Feb. 14, 1918, fire struck the Motherhouse.

By daybreak, over 60 children under the age of four were dead.

Soldiers and nuns made it out of the flames, saving dozens of children as firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze.

It was later discovered that the fire was intentionally set by Berthe Courtemanche, who was hired as a nursery worker only six weeks prior. She was tried for the crime, but was deemed unfit

to stand trial at the end of 1918.

Courtemanche was then transferred to Hôpital Saint-Jean-deDieu, a psychiatric asylum where she would die ten years later of pulmonary tuberculosis and cachexia, a wasting syndrome that causes muscle and fat loss.

Following the end of World War II, the Grey Nuns set up various missions in Africa and South America as their numbers started to drop. In 1959, Marguerite d’Youville was beatified, one of the steps in her canonization process, which took place in 1990.

As the nuns’ numbers continued to dwindle, they decid-

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outbreak ravaged the community in 1847. That year, 90,000 Irish emigrants sailed for Quebec.

The nuns worked in the fever sheds in Pointe-Saint-Charles, caring for their patients over the course of nearly two years. They also cared for some of the roughly 3,000 orphaned Irish children whose parents died in the journey to Quebec; the Church helped place—not adopt—many of the orphans into settled families. An estimated 6,000 famine refugees would die in the Pointe.

The Grey Nuns lost 13 of their members to typhus as they tended to the sick in the fever sheds.

Those nuns, along with hundreds of convent members and others, are buried in the basement of the Motherhouse, adjacent to where students now live.

The only nun whose body was able to leave the Motherhouse’s crypt was d’Youville’s. Her body was disinterred and reburied in Varennes, where she was born.

The other nuns’ bodies remain in the crypt for concern of spreading the illnesses they were buried with if they were to be exhumed.

The building’s construction began in December 1868.

Its primary undertaker, Victor Bourgeau, became known as the architect of the Grey Nuns. He had worked on three previous projects for them, the chapel for the Hospice St-Joseph, the Refuge Sainte-Brigide and the renovation of a building in Chateauguay.

Bourgeau’s vision for the Motherhouse, an H-shaped complex with a chapel at its centre, was never fully realized—the western portion of the structure was never constructed. Bourgeau died in an accident on his way to a meeting with the Grey Nuns in 1888.

Tragedy would be a running theme plaguing the Motherhouse. In the early 1900s, parts of the building were being used

ed to sell the historic building.

In 2004, Concordia University would purchase the Motherhouse. Once the purchase was finalized in 2007, the plan for the takeover was supposed to take place in 2022. It is likely that Concordia University knew about the investigation from the 90s and the crimes perpetrated by the Grey Nuns when they bought the building.

However, once the last of the occupants left in 2012, Concordia started renovating early. From 2013 to 2014, the space we know today was created. Initially, the Motherhouse was slated to house the Fine Arts department, but plans were changed. Today, the GN building serves as a student residence, containing beds for 600 students, a reading room, a nursery, a garden and various classrooms.

While the legacy of Marguerite d’Youville and the Grey Nuns is of benevolence and charity, their role in slavery, colonialism and residential schools over the course of centuries proves otherwise.

There has been no recognition by the Grey Nuns on their website of their involvement, and they do not seem intent on paying settlements.

The nuns were part of the 2006 Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, in which they promised to raise $25 million out of $79 million for survivors.

However, the Canadian government quietly discharged Catholic entities from the $25 million and legal fees in 2015, meaning survivors may never receive that money. The Grey Nuns sold the Motherhouse to Concordia for $18 million two years before the settlement agreement.

The Ontario Provincial Police interviewed 700 victims and witnesses involved in the tragedies at St. Anne’s Residential School between 1992 and 1998, one of the schools run by the Grey Nuns.

Of the 74 suspects identified, only seven were charged, and five were convicted for their crimes.

On October 20, 2022, The Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear an appeal from a group of Residential School survivors from St. Anne’s to hand over thousands of unreleased documents from the investigation by the OPP. Based on its current website, Concordia has yet to acknowledge the harm done by the Grey Nuns or their role in residential schools.

When reached for comment, Concordia Spokesperson Vannina Maestracci said the university will “be looking at these pages soon in order to revise them.”

As of publication, the university’s website has not been updated.

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thelinknewspaper.ca • October 25, 2022

8

NEWS

The Cap’s Been Popped Federal Government Lifts 20-Hour Work Week Limit for International Students Ivan de Jacquelin

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ttawa announced that from O Nov. 15 until the end of 2023, the 20-hour work week limit for international students eligible to work off-campus while studying will be lifted.

The goal of this measure is allegedly to “help Canada’s post-pandemic growth and provide a boost to thousands of employers looking to add to their staff for the upcoming holiday season,” Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said in a press conference on Oct. 7.

The federal government hopes this trial period will fight Canada’s widespread labour shortage hitting every province. While this change was presented as good news for both students and employers, some question that increasing the workforce might not be the appropriate response to the

depreciation of the value of wages.

“It changes how you’re protected,” said Naomi Levy, an assistant at the Concordia Student Union’s Housing and Job Resource Centre.

“If people are in situations that are dangerous or where their rights aren’t being respected, [...] (that measure) protects them more than if someone works off the books getting paid under the table.”

It’s hard to predict the impacts of this policy, the reality being that many students did not wait for the government’s green light.

“Officially, on my paycheck, [my employers] pay me 20 hours, but they’ll increase the hourly rate to make it match the number of extra hours I did,” said Vlad, a Concordia international student from Iran who works about 30 hours a week, and wished to remain anonymous.

Peter, an international student from France who also wished to remain anonymous, recently started a new job in a restaurant. The student reports missing hours on his paycheck and says he doesn't know when or how he’ll be paid his extra hours.

“I work around 25 hours a week,” Peter said. “My manager wants everyone to work more, and doesn’t pay us for it.”

Swane Lebrun, an international student from France, works 20 hours per week at a medical clinic, but works an extra five to 10 hours babysitting, which is typically off the books.

“I’m fine with the 20-hour limit,” Lebrun said. “Babysitting gives me extra pocket money and I can still use that time to study, but I couldn’t handle more hours at the clinic with the course-load I have,” she added.

Val, who is from Switzerland, works at a pizzeria on Place des Arts. He said that his bosses rely so much on international students that whenever a study permit-holder exceeds the cap, they get paid in cash. He is scared, however, that without the 20hour limit, some students might neglect their studies to start working full-time. “I have friends who wanted to drop courses to make more money, but the limit kept them in school,” Val said.

Levy, along with other labour advocates, believe that incentivizing students to work more is not an adequate solution. “If [the government’s] goal was ultimately to ensure that international students are not working over 20 hours and if they didn’t need to, then the answer would be to increase the wages,” Levy added.

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The minimum wage, in Levy’s opinion, is by no means a living wage, especially for people juggling work life and their studies.

“If you raise the cap, then people might feel more pressure (to work more), but people who need the money are going to work those jobs,” they said.

As the unemployment-to-job-vacancy ratio reached a historical low of one in the first quarter of 2022, compared to 2.3 before the pandemic, the reality of the labour shortage is undeniable.

The change brought about by the federal government will allow students to legally work more hours and get appropriately paid. However, as long as minimum wage doesn’t keep up with Canada’s rising cost of living, advocates say the problem will only rage on.

FRINGE ARTS

9

The Rocky Horror Show’s Triumphant Return MainLine Theatre Hosts Cult Classic Following COVID-Induced Time Warp Naomi Waters he Rocky Horror Show returned T to the MainLine Theatre on Oct. 20. Running until Oct. 31,

this is the first time the production is being held following a two year hiatus due to COVID-19.

The Rocky Horror Show is a musical theater production that debuted in 1973. Since then, it has been taken on by various different directors over the years. It follows newly-wed couple Brad Majors and Janet Weiss, as on one dark and stormy night they stumble upon Frank N. Furter’s mysterious mansion. From that point on they are greeted by a colourful cast of odd characters, sexually explicit encounters and Rock and Roll Music. The play is known for its queer characters and disregard for puritanical values. It is considered a queer cult classic, and is traditionally screened each Halloween.

The setting was quaint, intimate, and the house was completely packed. Everyone involved—both cast and audience members— seemed completely enthralled by the show. It was a wonderful kick off to this year’s long awaited edition of the Rocky Horror Show.

In the spring of 2022, it was announced the production would be staged once again, with rehearsals commencing in August. Many cast members expressed their enthusiasm about the production and eagerness to get back into the scene.

Amy Blackmore, director of this edition, said she was confident to take on this project once again and that it was “a grand return.” She added she was happy to see that Rocky Horror was expanding into the mainstream, since it “promotes the idea of being yourself, also being allowed to play with your sense of self.”

This is exactly what was so spectacular about this production: the absolute gender-fuckery, lack of respect for puritanical values and cis-het-normative art. The show disregards protestant values of sex before marriage, repression and heterosexuality, blurring the defined binaries of audience and performance. There were many callbacks between cast members, the audience, and the director.

Throughout the show, the director and audience would often interrupt the cast members and they would give improvised responses.

The fourth wall did not exist, and the crowd was living for it.

Many characters who have traditionally been played by cismen were played by non-men in

this edition. Frank N. Furter and Riff Raff, for instance, were both played by women. By experimenting with the gender roles of characters, the production in turn makes mockery of gender roles in their entirety, as well as play with audiences expectations.

Stephanie Mckenna, who played Frank N. Furter, said she felt confident in her ability to take on the iconic role. For her first time taking on the role of Frank N. Furter, she described that, “there was pressure initially as a lesbian women playing Frank N. Furter.” Since then, she has felt more than confident to take on the role despite the misogyny.

Mckenna pulled off the character with amazing charm. A graduate of John Abbott’s with a degree in professional theater acting, this was her sixth time playing Frank N. Furter. She combined the essence of the character while at the same time bringing in her own style to create a performance that was genuinely engaging and entertaining.

Megan Vera Starling, who played Riff Raff, said that she “fell in love with the Montreal show, and jumped on the opportunity to join the production.” Starling said “that there was a type of gender expression within the role.” This comes as no surprises as she is a drag king, this casting choices goes along well with gender and sexual liberation that is woven into the show.

Starling’s performance was a highlight of the production, with their background in opera and rock theater serving the character well.

The overall show was fantastic, every single performance stood out, and there was no better cast and crew to take on this production. With a cast of 25, including five band members, and twenty actors the production was close knit. Every member played off each other well, because of their long time familiarity with each other, and eagerness to return. The band played the classic Rocky Horror show tunes with energy and the drummer even did some rim shots off bad jokes from the audience.

The Rocky Horror Show is running every night from Oct. 27. to Oct. 31. Tickets are priced at around $25 for students, seniors, Quebec Drama Federaton members, and accessible price, $30 for regular, and $50 for VIP.

Stephanie McKenna as Frank N. Furter.

COURTESY MATHIEU SAMSON

Mian le linn Oíche Shamhna Abdallah Hamade again, it’s that time of year, OnceWhen all humans succumb to fear,

Humanity’s joys and sorrow, Are sadly mine to borrow, As I continue to mourn the flowers in my garden.

My Moon Flower, tainted black with my rage, In the end she had helped me turn a page.

Unlocked the doors of my mind, The ones which for so long I hid behind.

The death of my shell, The rebirth of what once fell, I thank you my Moon Flower for breaking this spell.

Resplendent lotus, black as night, You were the one who drove me to fight.

Many years now have you been gone, Long has it been since I enjoyed the dawn.

Powerful as you were, you could not subdue me, Powerful as I am, I taught you how to see.

Our souls remain, eternally bound, As per your wishes, a new happiness I’ve found,

I long for our banter and miss you so dearly, For you are the one who revealed my needs clearly.

Every year on these three days, I vow to continue and help those part ways,

Rose, Rose, I could not forget, Please forgive me, my dearest rosette.

In this garden you are my Queen, How I miss those eyes of emerald, green.

You have taught me to pay respects to the dead, These three days I no longer dread, Samhain is a time to mourn and guide, Those lingering spirits on life’s final ride.

Of all our promises, I have kept but one, And with this, hopefully that deed be done.

Guiding spirits from the mortal plain, From their anguish they can refrain, As the child of Life and Death, I will eternally honour that request.

One day I shall join you three in my garden, And accept punishment for my sins, As my heart gets warm from your lovely grins.

May my three flowers bloom again this year for Samhain.

The Fox, Snake and Owl.

thelinknewspaper.ca • October 25, 2022

10

FRINGE ARTS

Mundanity, Mystery, and Magic in Japanese Literature Argo Bookshop’s Literary Workshop Offers Taste of Japanese Culture Aminah Hannan loating cherry blossom petals.

F Snow-peaked mountains. Glitzy, futuristic cities, Samurai.

These are a few of the images often invoked by people talking about Japan, that faraway land that exists somewhere between mystery and myth in the Western imagination. Keen Japanophiles might attribute the popularity of some of these representations to manga, the Japanese graphic novel and one of the nation’s biggest cultural exports. In other literary circles, Murasaki Shikibu, Kazuo Ishiguro and Haruki Murakami may be some of the names that resound with more familiarity.

Yet, even as Japanese aesthetics are recognizably trendy in Hollywood, much of the country’s literature remains locked away, unknown and inaccessible to Western hobbyists and academics alike.

Cultural initiatives such as the Argo Bookshop’s annual Japanese literature event may help demysti-

fy some of this experience. Held on Oct. 20, the workshop curriculum spanned from the dawn of imperial court poetry, haikus, prose and theatre trends across centuries, all the way to beloved mainstream Japanese authors, offering a promising glimpse into a literary tradition that is historically rich but often overlooked by Western audiences for its linguistic and thematic complexities.

Moti Lieberman, the event’s host and passionate Japanese literature expert, pointed to the distinct narrative structure of Japanese stories as a possible reason for this divide.

“We have a Japan book club, and people are often dissatisfied with the endings because they don’t wrap up the way they expect,” he said. A returned expat who is fluent in the language, he believes many readers are used to a Western-Christian storytelling tradition, which ordinarily favours resolute conclusions.

“Western books will have somebody have an epiphany, and then maybe the good guys are saved.

Japanese storytelling doesn’t have that. Stories can end in an abrupt way and are more open-ended.”

Unusual structure and an emphasis on aesthetics, minute details and play-by-play pacing in some novels frustrates new readers, said Lieberman. “It’s something you have to develop a taste for.”

A lack of available translators also means that Western audiences only get a small selection of texts published in a language they can read, he explained. And it is typically only those that have won literary prizes or sold well. According to him, this skews the perception of Japanese literature for many people, who will conceive it as being exclusively high-minded and focused on abstracts.

Although abstract ideals are indeed present in classical books, "there is also a lot of science fiction,

mysteries and romances. All of that stuff exists in Japanese literature too," he said. Manga and light novels are widespread across genres, and can be a first gateway into learning about Japanese customs.

Lieberman added that the simple kanji characters and annotations in those works are a valuable resource for language learners. “The media is just different [from literary pieces].

Giving the people that opportunity to engage is important if they are curious.” And hopefully that curiosity, once piqued, will lead them to the book aisle down the line.

Aidan Olley, a recent Asian Studies and History graduate from the University of British Columbia, counts himself as one such person. Attending the workshop at Argo was an opportunity to learn something new about a country he hopes to work in, he said.

“Literature has been a blind spot in my studies about Japan,” said Olley. “I’ve read a few authors for class—we did The Tale of Genji and some poetry from Matsuo Basho, but I want to see what [else] I’ve been missing.”

Olley credits the discovery of manga in his adolescence in part for his growing curiosity about Japan. One of his favourite works, Mushishi, is a supernatural medieval adventure set across a range of locations across the country, he said. The vivid locales, complex imagery and art style from

the critically acclaimed work left a deep impression on him.

Speakers from the Japan Exchange and Teaching programme in Canada participated in the workshop, encouraging audacious attendees to embark on an adventure working abroad. The JET initiative, funded by the Japanese government to promote cultural ties between the country and other nations, offers college graduates the opportunity to teach English in Japan while immersing themselves in the language and culture.

Steve Busby, a former participant and ambassador of JET, says his experience living in Japan enriched his perspective of the world.

“It's fascinating in every way, and yet there are so many things I cannot relate to, as someone who's male and from Canada,” he said.

He added that the country and its cultural heritage offers much to those willing to scrape past the surface. “It [feels] cliché, but I think Japan is like an iceberg.

From our limited perspective here, we can only experience the very tip of something that is so deep and vast and beautiful.”

For those looking for a taste of something sublime, the Argo recommends Makioka Sisters, Snow Country or Sputnik Sweetheart as excellent introductions to the world of Japanese wordcraft.

The Ember Glows: “Music that will Remain Timeless” Montreal Rockers Celebrate New EP, Secret Concerts, and Each Other’s Company Sophie Dufresne he Ember Glows, a MontT real-based quartet influenced by new wave and post-punk

music, released their EP Where Spirits Play on Sept. 23. Initially created as a side-project in 2019, the band became each member’s main music priority thanks to the chemistry the four had. Martin Saint, lead singer and one of two guitar players, noted that an important reason for this chemistry was that they are all friends.

“We’re not just four mercenaries who hooked up to do music.

We genuinely enjoy each other’s company; hanging out socially such as tonight, even without instruments in our hands,” said Saint. “I think this [chemistry] is something—I hope, at least, that people can feel in the music: in the chemistry, in the silences, the ebb and flow.”

According to Richard Bunze, lead guitar, Where Spirits Play has

received lots of positive feedback from Europe and North America, though Saint acknowledged that they seem to be more popular among European listeners.

Andrew Wieler, the Metal Director for CJLO, Concordia University’s radio station, said The Ember Glows are unique for a Montreal band, since the city doesn’t have many post-punk or new-wave artists.

“The Ember Glows [have] a specifically ‘British new wave feel’ to [them] that I don't really think has been tapped into in any other band from here,” Wieler said in a written statement to The Link. “This is a rare instance where a band is so spot on with their own description that writing anything about their sound feels like plagiarism.”

The Ember Glows used to be on Spotify, but have since removed themselves from the platform. Among the many reasons for this decision was the stream-

thelinknewspaper.ca • October 25, 2022

COURTESY BRYAN GAGNON

ing service’s affiliation with military investments. Saint said that he is still on Spotify as a solo artist and he is very cautious about not being a hypocrite. “[This news] came out last year and we opted out, we were just like ‘why are we on it if we don’t even like the platform,’ and

it gives the least amount of money to the artists than any of the platforms,” Bunze said.

Saint doesn’t believe that the band is hindered by not being on Spotify.

“It’s not easy, but it shouldn’t be. You have to earn [the respect of your audience],” he said. “People can

smell phoniness from a mile [away], so if the four of us are genuine […], then we hope that this is music that will remain timeless,” he added.

On Nov. 12, the band will be playing at The Fungeon, which Bunze described as being an underground DIY venue that just opened a few months ago.

“It brings us back to the days of just doing it yourself,” he said about the site, which is at an undisclosed location. Those looking to attend the concert either have to be invited by the band or ask around until someone coughs up an address.

“We don’t necessarily want to be rockstars,” Bunze said. “The dream is to sustain yourself on music […] music is a massive part of our lives and we have to play it; we love it.”

Saint agreed and added they want to play for the right reasons, not to simply be on a billboard.

SPORTS

SCOREBOARD

SCHEDULE WOMEN’S HOCKEY Sunday, Oct. 30 vs. Bishop’s at 3 p.m.

MEN’S HOCKEY Friday, Oct. 28 vs. Queen’s at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 29 vs. Nipissing at 7 p.m.

FOOTBALL Saturday, Oct. 29 vs. Laval at 2 p.m.

11

WOMEN’S RUGBY (Consolation Semi-Final)

FOOTBALL

W 23-15 vs. UdeM Oct. 22

BASEBALL (Quebec Finals)

MEN’S RUGBY

(Game 1) L 4-0 vs. McGill Oct. 22 (Game 2) L 8-1 vs. McGill Oct. 22

W 37-30 vs. McGill Oct. 21

L 36-29 vs. Ottawa Oct. 22

WOMEN’S SOCCER

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL (Preseason)

L 3-2 vs. UdeM Oct. 23

W 72-65 vs. Trinity Western Oct. 22

MEN’S SOCCER

MEN’S BASKETBALL (Queen’s Tournament)

L 4-2 vs. UdeM Oct. 23

MEN’S HOCKEY L 5-4 vs. Ontario Tech Oct. 23

L 75-71 vs. Waterloo Oct. 21 W 74-71 vs. UNB Oct. 22 L 81-80 vs. Queen’s Oct. 23

WOMEN’S HOCKEY L 4-2 vs. UdeM Oct. 21 W 3-1 vs. McGill Oct. 23

Game of the Week: Women’s Rugby vs. Carleton Ravens Bronze Game Set as Conclusion to Chaotic Campaign Conor Tomalty

GRAPHIC NADINE ABDELLATIF

he Stingers women’s rugby T team gets set for the final game of the season, wrapped up

in the Bronze consolation game versus the Carleton Ravens on Saturday, Oct. 29.

After beating Université de Montreal on Saturday Oct 22, the Concordia Stingers have proven to be the best university team on the island of Montreal. The win was also significant because it punched their ticket to the Bronze game where they get set to face off against Carleton.

The Stingers experienced as many highs as they did lows this year. When they opened their season with a 59-6 defeat to University of Ottawa they responded the following week with a win against Bishop’s University. When the majority of their starters became injured, the inexperienced players stepped up. The most recent example was the 69-0 win over McGill University on Oct. 15.

All this to say, Concordia has dealt with adversity well. The team barely missed the fourth placement in the standings due to UdeM scoring more points throughout the year. Concordia scratched and clawed their way into the Bronze

game by fighting through each round of the postseason.

Carleton had a slightly better situation in 2022. At 4-2, the Ravens claimed third place in the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec standings. The two top performers came from fly-half Vanessa Chiappetta and versatile back Maya Addai. The two rank sixth and seventh respectively in the U Sports scoring leaders. They have combined for 142 of the Ravens’ 230 points scored.

Concordia and Carleton played earlier in the year, resulting in a decisive Carleton victory of 48-13. This time around, the Stingers have grown into a squad with good chemistry. This aspect will not guarantee a win, as only time will tell in the results of the Bronze game.

Carleton has a home-field advantage, therefore Concordia fans will not be able to rely on the Stingers cast. Nevertheless, the Ravens will be streaming the event on their YouTube page, CU Ravens, viewers can also search youtube.com/officialravens.

Kick-off has yet to be determined.

thelinknewspaper.ca • October 25, 2022

12

SPORTS

Stingers’ Weekend Wrap-Up: Oct. 21 to 23 Postseason for Some, End of Season for Others Conor Tomalty

Let’s talk Stingers…

Football: Shaughnessy Cup The football team came out victorious on October 21st in an overtime thriller against rivals the McGill University Redbirds.

A back-and-forth shootout affair that came down to a Jaylan Greaves touchdown reception and an Isaac Fulham sack sealed the deal for Concordia. Quarterback Olivier Roy had 387 yards passing, the bulk of which was amassed by receiver Jacob Salvail.

Salvail had 141 yards receiving on 12 catches and one touchdown.

With this loss, McGill was eliminated from playoff contention.

Next game is against the Université de Laval Rouge et Or on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 2 p.m..

Women’s Rugby: Won Consolation Semi-Final Continuing with positive news, the women’s team punched their ticket to the consolation final

game on Oct. 29. Coach Jocelyn Barrieau’s team nudged out a 2315 win against the Université de Montreal Carabins on Oct. 22.

The end of the year for them has been a battle to claim the final spot in the bronze game. Captain Mahalia Robinson had 13 of the Stingers' points, with try contributions from full-back Madeleine Mactavish and forward Kendra Harrison.

Next game is the consolation final against Carleton University on Saturday, Oct. 29. The time is still to be determined. More on this on page 12.

Men’s Rugby: Finished fifth in the RSEQ The men’s team’s story is less fortunate. A loss against University of Ottawa on Oct. 22 cemented a fifth-place finish for 2022, a shocking finale for the defending provincial champions. It is one thing for the prominent juggernauts of the Quebec division to not win the trophy, but not even qualifying is

remarkable. Nonetheless, coach John Lavery will recoup for next season, as this early exit provides newfound motivation.

Women’s Soccer: Finished fifth in the RSEQ With a loss to UdeM on Oct. 23, Concordia does not qualify for the playoffs. Ending the year with a record of 5-6-3, they improved upon their results from the 2021 season. As much as the women’s program had hopes for postseason play, they will have to turn their attention to 2023.

Men’s Soccer: Finished fifth in the RSEQ Much like their counterparts, the men’s team was booted out of the bracket after their 4-2 loss to UdeM on Oct. 22 4-2. Many of the now senior players will not be returning next year, marking 2022 as an underwhelming last hurrah.

Despite this, the young talent will now take control, so it will not be a complete program restart just yet.

Baseball: Lost Quebec Finals McGill’s solid pitching is what spelled Concordia’s downfall last weekend. The Stingers lost both games 4-0 and 8-1 respectively.

Redbirds starting pitcher Cinch Smith threw seven innings of one-run ball with five strikeouts and five hits allowed in game two, while Stingers pitcher Nathan Lavoie was dealt the loss as he was tagged with six earned runs in the affair.

Women’s Hockey: Coach Julie Chu’s team has opened their season at 1-1. A loss in the opener against UdeM 4-2 on Oct. 21 and a victory in the RSEQ championship rematch against McGill 3-1 on Oct. 23. Emmy Fecteau had two points over the weekend with one goal and one assist, and goalie Jordyn Verbeek made 18 saves on 19 shots.

Next game against Bishop’s University on Sunday, Oct. 30 at 3 p.m..

Men’s Hockey: The men’s team lost against Ontario Tech University 5-4 on Oct. 23 despite outshooting the Ridgebacks 37-28. Stingers’ winger Charles Tremblay led the team by two points during the match. At 1-1 on the year, Concordia rests in

seventh place in the Ontario University Athletics eastern division standings. The season is still young, with more exciting play to come.

Next game against Queen’s University on Friday, Oct. 28 at 7:30 p.m..

Women’s Basketball: Non-Conference The women’s team experienced a lacklustre preseason, yet things turned around for the young squad when they beat Trinity Western University 72-65 on Oct. 22. Areej Burgonio and Serena Tchida were exceptional on both ends of the court, combining for 45 points and nine steals. The two vets have their hands full with providing the experience many of the freshman players are lacking. It will be interesting to see how the year unfolds.

Next game against Université du Quebec à Montreal on Nov. 3 at 6 p.m..

Men’s Basketball: Queen’s Tournament The men’s team concluded the tournament with one win and two losses. All three games were close in scoring, as the point differential for the Stingers was - 2.

The provincial runner-ups have faced tough competition this preseason, with anticipation high to see how the group performs during the 2022-23 season.

Next game against UQAM on Nov. 3 at 8 p.m..

Shut Up and Dribble: The IFSC Has Failed Elnaz Rekabi The International Federation of Sport Climbing Provided No Protection for Iranian Athlete Amidst the Country Crisis GRAPHIC BREEA KOBERNICK

August Fallone he International Federation T of Sport Climbing’s spineless statements fail to live up to

the courage shown by this boulder and lead finalist in the 2022 Asian Championships in Seoul.

On Oct.15, Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi competed in the women’s boulder and lead climbing finals at the 2022 Asian Championships in Seoul. She competed without a hijab amid protests in Iran surrounding the death of Mahsa Amini. In the days that followed, conflicting answers about her whereabouts and wellbeing left the public rightfully concerned.

After radio silence from Rekabi on Monday, the IFSC released one vague official statement on Oct. 18. This six-sentence long announcement is void of emotion, humanity and comfort, saying only that they are “fully aware of the news,” and that they will “continue to monitor the situation” as Rekabi returns to Iran. They also “support any efforts to keep a valued member of our community safe in this situation.” The lack of effort in this statement feels outright disrespectful to the seriousness of the situation. The federation has made no clear action to back up these claims of support

thelinknewspaper.ca • October 25, 2022

Another statement—only five sentences this time—was released Oct. 19, confidently announcing that Rekabi has “safely arrived in Tehran, Iran,” while news outlets like The Guardian questioned how safe she really was. The same morning, a now unavailable Instagram story on Rekabi’s account written in the first-person offered an apology for the trouble she caused, stating that her lack of hijab was an accident due to being called to climb earlier than expected.

I’m not here to speculate on whether or not Rekabi’s lack of head covering was an accident, although she did not compete in one, and had plenty of time in be-

tween the two finals to retrieve it, but even if her statement is true, it does not mean she's safe. Whether she intended it or not, Rekabi is now a symbol of the protests.

It seems clear that her statements, as well as the statements of the Iranian government and the IFSC, cannot be taken at face value. The IFSC, however, seems to have done just that.

It released no follow up statements since Rekabi’s arrival in Iran, making me question just how much they are “monitoring the situation.” Their Oct. 19 statement said they “will wait for her to return to the IFSC circuit of events at the beginning of the

2023 season.” That sounds like a nice way of saying they plan on doing nothing more to protect and support the athlete.

Other professional climbers, as well as the international climbing community, have voiced their concern and support for Rekabi, showing a care for one of their own that isn't matched by the organization. The IFSC has no excuse for their neutrality backed by meager well-wishes when a member of the community is clearly in danger. The climbing world is holding its breath hoping that Rekabi finds some form of protection, but it seems she won’t be getting any from the IFSC.

OPINIONS

13

Allyship or Islamophobia?

Selective Activism Exposes Your Prejudice Menna Nayel bout four months ago, before A moving here from Ottawa, my mother and I visited Montreal. As

we took long walks from one destination to another, she rolled her eyes and called me lazy every time I suggested we get an Uber. “It’s only a 15-minute walk,” she argued.

I had a protective gait as I walked by my hijabi mother.

Scanning everyone around us, analyzing every look we got. After all, Montreal is home to Bill 21.

At some point during our many walks around the city, I wanted to pop into our hotel room to pick something up. We were only about a five minute walk away from it. I pleaded with my mother to come with me, but she refused.

“I don’t want to go back, I want to keep walking,” she said.

Finally, I gave up and rushed to the hotel without her. Later that night my mother confessed that after wandering into a Pharmaprix, a man shouted at her to “go back to her country!”—I was infuriated, kicking myself for letting her walk around alone.

During the height of the Iran protests, as I sat in the metro, I saw a man opposite from me holding a sign that advocated for Iranian women. I couldn’t help but think of my mother’s experience just a few months ago. I couldn’t help but wonder if that man sitting in front of me would have created a sign, taken a metro and stood alongside Muslim women to show his support. Maybe I’m being pessimistic, but I don’t think he would’ve.

As a woman and a human being, I feel touched that the world is taking notice of the battles women of color face. I feel relieved that people with influence are finally shedding light on the oppression.

As a Muslim, however, I feel fearful. Not because powerful women are standing up for their rights, but because I know the world will use this cause as an excuse to further justify their Islamophobic acts.

“If you defend Iranian women taking off their hijabs and you don’t defend French women who want to wear them then you aren’t the ally you think you are,” was a reposted tweet I came across by a man I had never heard of, Shahed Amanullah, managing director of Frost Capital.

I wholeheartedly agree. If you act like that, you’re not pro-women: you’re an Islamophobe seizing an opportunity to criticize the religion.

A plethora of questions invaded my brain. Why is no one protesting the fact that Bill 21 forces Muslim women to choose between their religious choices and making a living? Why did the entire world disregard France's decree prohibiting hijabi mothers from participating in their children's school activities? What about the life-threatening Islamophobia in India? Why did everyone ignore the Middle East when it united to boycott French products? Where were the protests then?

I came to the conclusion that one of the major reasons Iranian women are receiving global support is because their cause aligns

with western ideals—women taking their hijabs off. In France and Quebec, however, the struggles of Muslim women are consistantly ignored because they do not represent western ideals—women keeping their hijabs on.

Along with questions about the public’s reaction, I also contemplated my future in this city, this province, and this country. What if I choose to wear one? Will I also be harassed like my mother? How will a hijab affect my career as a journalist?

My mind immediately rushes to a tweet I had stumbled upon where CBC News anchor Ginella Massa had to clarify: “I can be in solidarity with a woman’s right to choose what she does with her body, without changing what I have personally chosen to do with mine.”

As I aimlessly scrolled through TikTok, a certain video jolted me into fury. Tiktok user @Planetbthebook posted a video criticizing Muslim women for their hijabs.

“If you are refusing to take it off even for a day, especially at your workplace…to show solidarity with what’s happening in Iran…

You are guilty of bowing down to this sex obsessed body worshiping…You have a dirty disgusting mind; the rest of us do not.”

The hatred and rage pouring out of that video made it difficult to watch, especially knowing it was directed towards fellow Muslim women. I couldn’t understand how a grown woman could spout the most senseless, brainless and ignorant collection of words in the span of a single minute.

GRAPHIC NADINE ABDELLATIF

Later that night while taking a walk along Old Port with my hijabi friend, an intoxicated man leaned forward at her, and shouted, “SCUM!” He did not direct his words at me or our other friend walking with us. He spoke to her, and only her. I protectively wrapped an arm around her shoulders and steered her away.

With a sick feeling in my stomach, I thought to myself, “I’m looking straight into my future.”

The next morning I picked a random podcast to listen to as I do everyday. This time, it was Canadaland’s Shortcuts #823 A Star is Torn, which discusses a Toronto Star article by Vinay Menon.

Titled “With the death of Mahsa Amini, it’s time for Hollywood to fight for Iranian women,” Menon referred to niqabs as “halloween costumes,” before the line was edited out. He predicted Hollywood would stay silent regarding Iranian women for fear of being called Islamophobic.

I Am Italian and I Am Unsurprised

by Current Italian Politics Right-wing Views Have Always Existed Among Italians Olivia Integlia

W

hen I told my traditional Italian mother that I no longer identified with my culture, she immediately began to cry. She couldn’t understand why I was turning my back on my community.

As a second-generation Italian, I was deeply immersed in the culture’s beliefs and practices. I grew up in the East End of Montreal, an area composed of mainly Italians. I went to school with Italians, I did activities with Italians and I only became friends with

Italians. Stuck in an echo chamber, I was comfortable and saw none of the problems that existed in the community—or maybe I just chose to ignore them.

It wasn’t until I started studying at Concordia that I had a culture shock and was immersed in a variety of different beliefs. Suddenly, I detached myself from my friends, I forced myself to abandon my strong accent and opened my eyes to the different cultures around me.

This story isn’t one of abandoning culture and finding fulfillment elsewhere, however. It’s not as easy as I hoped. While a part of me felt disgusted by Italian culture, another part felt mad at myself for turning my back on the community that raised me.

I spent years trying to understand why I felt so detached. And suddenly, with the election of far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Italy, it all made sense.

While Italy can be praised for its delicious food and architec-

ture, its political climate is one that has not aged well and has generations of Italians stuck in a deep-rooted far-right mindset.

Media outlets mischaracterize Meloni’s party as the “first farright-led government since the end of the Second World War.” In reality, far-right ideologies have been ingrained within Italian political thought for decades. From Mussolini to Berlusconi to now the rise of the Brothers of Italy under Meloni, the lean towards the right is only growing.

I know Menon’s statement to be completely false because Hollywood never shies away from an opportunity to be Islamophobic. How can he say that when the movie American Sniper exists and has been endlessly praised?

As each of those occurrences transpired over the course of two days, it felt as though my fears were materializing in front of my eyes.

I often find waves of feminism seem to exclude hijabi Muslim women. The greater public tends to forget Muslim women when they chant the phrase “My body, my choice.” I feel the urge to remind everyone that wearing a hijab can often be a choice and must be respected. A hijab is part of my religion, but oppression and abuse are not. If you call yourself a feminist, or even an ally, you cannot be selective about what type of women are worthy of your support.

Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, in coalition with Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, work side-by-side, each using their independent platforms to push far-right views. Their parties succeeded in the 2022 snap elections with a total vote of 44 per cent of the public’s support. In Meloni’s campaign, she advocated preserving traditional family values and proposed several anti-immigrant, anti-women and anti-LGBTQIA+ policies.

Unfortunately, Meloni’s beliefs echo the views of Italians around me. I had been told my whole life by elderly Italians about the importance of the role of a housewife. “Olivia, you need to find yourself a man who will provide for you as you stay home and cook and clean for the kids,” I was told time and time again.

Continued on p. 14

thelinknewspaper.ca • October 25, 2022

14

OPINIONS

Contiued from p. 13 And yet, this kind of thinking is not limited to the older generations. My high school classmates thought this way too. I was told by multiple Italian boys that I had no right to be in school, or even pursue higher education, as I was only good for bearing children.

Thinking back to my years in high school, I’m ashamed of how normalized these conservative beliefs were to those around me. I walked through the hallways of a predominantly Italian school and heard sexist, racist and homophobic slurs on the daily. No one ever spoke out against it because no one ever saw anything wrong with it.

I was numb to these comments.

I knew they were wrong, but I too had fallen into groupthink. I gave up on speaking out against it because every time I did, I was shut down, ignored or laughed at—as if it was so foolish to think that all human beings deserve equal rights.

Recently, I thought back to my former classmates. Not all of them were raging bigots, most of them probably weren’t. So why then, did we all sit idly?

My conversation with my mother, a few months ago, offered clarity to this question for me. “I hate being Italian and I am embarrassed of my people,” I told her. She disappointedly leaned her head down and couldn’t look at me as I muttered those words. It was the first time I had ever made such a bold claim against my community and I was reproached with shame.

Italians are not supposed to question those older than us. It’s considered a sign of disrespect.

Therefore when a family member makes a sexist claim at the dinner table, I was always taught that I should just keep quiet, as responding would be rude.

More importantly, we aren’t supposed to criticize our community. I was surrounded by strong Italian nationalists. “Italians are amazing. Italy is the best. Our culture is perfect,” I was told repeatedly. Questioning would appear as nonsense.

I think this is a large part of why Italy’s government is reflective of right-leaning views. Strong Italian nationalism and the traditional practice of not questioning authority allow such views to be passed down through generations with little criticism.

GRAPHIC NADINE ABDELLATIF

My classmates, as well as myself, accepted these beliefs because we’d heard them from relatives, whom we were taught to never question.

Some people, unfortunately, are so indoctrinated that they see nothing wrong with it, and they perhaps even agree with the bigoted remarks that fill the community.

But that doesn’t make it right. I can still appreciate parts of my culture without being submissive to outdated views which were problematic then and are problematic now.

Meloni’s platform is harmful and will bring Italy steps back from the progress the world has made.

Healthcare Struggles

Reaching My Neurosurgeon Is Impossible Sophie Dufresne

PHOTO IVAN DE JACQUELIN

was born in Quebec and have I2009, been living in the province since but I’ve been on the waiting

list for a family doctor since 2018.

If it’s this hard for Quebec citizens to navigate our healthcare system, I can’t imagine how difficult it must be for immigrants and permanent residents.

If I had a family doctor, I would ask them what I can do to get rid of my daily crippling headaches. I have a neurosurgeon at the Montreal Neurological Institute, colloquially known as The Neuro, who has been following me ever since I was transferred from the Montreal Children’s Hospital in 2018, but he is extremely inaccessible.

In June, I emailed his office saying I urgently needed to speak to my

neurosurgeon and they responded saying I should go to the nearest emergency room if my condition was deteriorating because reaching him would be difficult. It's now almost November and I have still not been able to contact my doctor despite following up several times.

In one of my emails to The Neuro, I even requested to be referred to a neurologist since my questions might be better answered by someone whose job is to deal with non-surgical neurological problems.

My request was completely ignored.

I only see my neurosurgeon once every few years following a magnetic resonance imaging scan to ensure my neurological condition isn’t getting worse. I quickly learned that his job is only to ensure

thelinknewspaper.ca • October 25, 2022

my MRI scans don’t get worse, not to evaluate my symptoms, which can’t be measured objectively.

When I last saw him in May, I tried telling him that my headaches were worsening, but he just pointed to my most recent MRI scan and said, “this looks the same as your 2018 scan, so you’re fine.”

He then proceeded to tell me that if I ever get “a really bad headache,” I should go to the nearest hospital because it could be a sign that my condition is becoming critical. This answer would be echoed by his entire office every time I would ask them to relay a message to him.

I told the neurosurgeon that I get headaches every day and he proceeded to change the subject to ask me what I was studying in uni-

versity. I couldn’t believe I had wasted an hour of my time in the waiting room just to have a ten-minute appointment consisting of my doctor gaslighting me and refusing to address any of my concerns.

Although my doctor’s behaviour is wrong, I know he isn’t entirely to blame for not having the time to give proper follow-up care to his patients. Quebec’s medical system overworks doctors of every specialty, giving them way too many patients to keep track of. They inevitably end up prioritizing people with serious, urgent needs over those with seemingly stable conditions. My neurosurgeon must believe headaches can be treated by any doctor or even pharmacist, but Concordia Health Services has turned me away on

While my fellow Italians continue to endorse a party that advocates against the rights of minorities, I will not stand by and defend my people. It’s time to swallow our strong pride and acknowledge the problems of far-right views.

one occasion under the pretense that I should speak to him.

In August, I went back to Concordia Health Services for an unrelated reason, but when I hesitantly mentioned my headaches, hoping I wouldn’t be sent to The Neuro again, the general practitioner told me about a rehabilitation centre that specializes in chronic headaches. Located on de Maisonneuve Blvd. W., it is a mere 700 metres away from Loyola campus. He was surprised that my doctor hadn’t told me about it, and I joked about neurosurgeons not caring about patients with inoperable conditions.

Jokes aside, I consider myself very privileged for never having needed surgery. That said, I don’t understand why I don’t have access to a neurologist if neurosurgeons will take years to see patients who don’t need surgery.

Of course, even though Concordia’s doctor gave me a referral, I still haven’t heard back from the rehabilitation centre concerning the application I filed the day I saw him. It’s barely been three months, afterall. I’ll be lucky if I hear back before 2024.

When I think about the hoops I have to jump through every time I need to speak to a doctor, I can’t help but wonder how people with worse conditions than me get the help they need. If the health system works at a snail’s pace for everyone, people who urgently need medical attention might not get it in time, and that’s a terrifying thought.

EDITORIAL

15

Concordia Doesn't Care About Your Mental Health hen Alex, a Concordia underW graduate student who didn’t wish to disclose their real name, started ex-

periencing worrying symptoms related to Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, they reached out to Concordia’s Counselling and Psychological Services.

Upon emailing CPS to seek an appointment with a psychologist, however, they were met with silence. Only after three emails did they receive a response. By this point, Alex said they were suffering from extreme dissociation and lapses in memory, and that they feared for their life. The representative Alex spoke to was unaware that they had attempted to contact CPS twice before.

Alex’s experience is one that countless Concordia students can relate to, and it cannot be chalked up to a single communication error. Students at this university face systemic barriers when accessing mental health services, precisely because the administration doesn’t take our health seriously.

For one, there is no university-run crisis line or drop-in space for those seeking immediate relief to mental health crises. Instead, Concordia’s webpage on mental health redirects students in these situations to external resources—such as Suicide Action Montreal.

Concordia does offer immediate aid to those experiencing crises related to sexual assault through the Sexual Assault Resource Centre’s drop-in clinic which is also riddled with its own problems. If the university has the funds to establish a drop-in centre like this one, why can’t the administration establish more resources to address other mental health crises?

The lack of emergency mental health options for students demonstrates Concordia’s failure to recognize that mental health crises can affect students as suddenly and unexpectedly as any other medical emergency. Students functioning normally

Volume 43, Issue 5 Wednesday, October 25, 2022 Concordia University Hall Building, Room H-645 1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. W. Montreal, Quebec H3G 1M8 editor: 514-848-2424 x. 7407 arts: 514-848-2424 x. 5813 news: 514-848-2424 x. 8682 business: 514-848-7406 advertising: 514-848-7406

one day may need medication, prescriptions, counselling and other crucial resources the next—especially when impacted by the stressors of midterm season and the ongoing pandemic.

Please Wait for an Available Therapist Those seeking sessions with a psychologist must undergo a laborious process set by CPS. Students Estimated waiting time: 2 years.... first need to secure their spot for a fixed amount of triage appointments offered each week on a firstcome-first-serve basis, regardless of the severity of their problems. Once triaged, students are warned that the wait for an initial appointment with their assigned counsellor may be lengthy, and that intervals between sessions may also be long.

KERT Even students who are able to access imBRIC U O L I AR mediate aid through SARC have reported HIC M GRAP that seeking long-term counselling through this service is as difficult as through CPS. What’s more, Concordia’s BIPOC students are left without internal, culturally relevant resources to access mental health support. Students dealing with cordia instead points students in the direction The only way for students to not conspecialized issues such as eating disor- of external resources such as self-help tools stantly be left waiting in triage lines, sendders, substance abuse and body dysmor- and external phone lines. In other words, the ing ignored emails or waiting weeks to see phia are similarly left out in the cold. administration prefers that we don’t bother it counsellors is for Concordia to step up and Ultimately, this boils down to a matter with our mental health concerns. provide the necessary resources. The adof funds Concordia's administration has Students can access some psychological ministration needs to establish adequatestaffed CPS with only 12 registered psych- services through the CSU as part of its Stu- ly staffed crisis centres and hotlines, hire ologists for all 52,000 of its students. Why dent Care Health and Dental Plan—nota- more psychologists to service its student won’t the university provide more funding bly the 24/7 counselling hotline Empower body and understand that not doing so for mental health services to lower their Me. There are also student-run initiatives jeopardizes the student body in the same psychologist-to-student ratio? such as the Concordia Students’ Nightline way any physical emergency would.

The fact of the matter is that Con- that seek to provide emergency responses An institution that places extreme cordia doesn’t care about the mental to mental health crises. Though admirable pressure on its students should at the very wellbeing of its students. efforts, these simply aren’t enough to ad- least provide adequate outlets for them to Rather than providing students with dir- equately care for 52,000 students. deal with these stressors. ect support, which many in crisis need, Con-

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Corrections for Vol. 43, Issue 4: In “Disabled Student Unable to Evacuate During Fire Drill” p.6, the quote “It felt like they were given very cursory instructions and were not prepared to deal with anyone with mobility issues” was wrongly attributed to Jess Marshall rather than Ace Côté, The Link regrets this error.

DEPUIS 1967