McGill Tribune Vol. 38 Issue 13

POWER

The McGill Tribune

Vo l 3 8 I s s u e 1 3 I D e c e m b e r 5 , 2 0 1 8 Published by the SPT, a student society of McGill University mcgilltribune.com I @mcgilltribune

T Editor-in-Chief Marie Labrosse editor@mcgilltribune.com Creative Director Elli Slavitch eslavitch@mcgilltribune.com Managing Editors Ariella Garmaise agarmaise@mcgilltribune.com Stephen Gill sgill@mcgilltribune.com Calvin Trottier-Chi ctrottier-chi@mcgilltribune.com News Editors Andras Nemeth, Caitlin Kindig & Laura Oprescu news@mcgilltribune.com Opinion Editors Keating K. Reid & Abeer Almahdi opinion@mcgilltribune.com

news 3-5, 8

ssmu exec midterm reviews 6-7

Science & Technology Editor Katherine Lord scitech@mcgilltribune.com Student Living Editor Emma Carr studentliving@mcgilltribune.com Features Editor Dylan Adamson features@mcgilltribune.com Arts & Entertainment Editors Katia Innes & Sophie Brzozowski arts@mcgilltribune.com Sports Editors Gabe Nisker & Miya Keilin sports@mcgilltribune.com Design Editors Arshaaq Jiffry & Erica Stefano design@mcgilltribune.com

opinion 9-11

feature 12-13 photo 14

Photo Editor Gabriel Helfant photo@mcgilltribune.com Multimedia Editor Tristan Surman multimedia@mcgilltribune.com Web Developers Luya Ding webdev@mcgilltribune.com Tristan Sparks online@mcgilltribune.com Copy Editor Melissa Langley copy@mcgilltribune.com Business Manager Falah Rajput business@mcgilltribune.com Advertising Executives Declan Embury, Maharshee Karia, Sara Al Sharif ads@mcgilltribune.com Publisher Chad Ronalds

TPS Board of Directors

cartoons 15 student living 16 arts & entertainment 17-19 science & technology 20-21 sports 22-23

Abeer Almahdi, Becca Hoff, Jeeventh Kaur, Marie Labrosse, Katherine Milazzo, Daniel Minuk, Falah Rajput. Nina Russel, Kevin Vogel

Staff Writers

Hannibal de Pencier, Taja De Silva, Kyle Dewsnap, Owen Gibbs, Emma Gillies, Sabrina Girard-Lamas, Mary Keith, Sunny Kim, Sydney King, Winne Lin, Ronny, Litvack-Katzman, Ender McDuff, Gabriela McGuinty, Sofia Mikton, Nicholas Raffoul,, Nina Russell, Julia Spicer, Leo Stillinger, Bilal Virji, Kevin Vogel,Tony Wang, Helen Wu, Jacqueline Yao, Leanne Young

Contributors

Benson Armer, Lucas Bird, Adam Burton, Audrey Carleton, Sean Carney, Cordelia Cho, Nathan Collette,Thyaga Dahanayake,Taja De Silva,Théo Farineau, Amanda Fiore, Solomon Friedman, Leina Ghabra, Daria Kiselva, Alaana Kumar, Winnie Lin, Remi Lu, Leyla Moy, Farida Rahman, Keira Seidenberg, Kaja Surborg, Morgan Sweeney, Alden Tabac, McEan Taylor

Tribune Office 2075 Boulevard Robert Bourassa, Suite 505 Montreal, QC H3A 2L1 - T: 514.999.8953 The McGill Tribune is an editorially autonomous newspaper published by the Société de Publication de la Tribune, a student society of McGill University.The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of The McGill Tribune and the Société de Publication de la Tribune, and does not necessarily represent the views of McGill University. Letters to the editor may be sent to editor@ mcgilltribune.com and must include the contributor’s name, program and year and contact information. Letters should be kept under 300 words and submitted only to the Tribune. Submissions judged by the Tribune Publication Society to be libellous, sexist, racist, homophobic or solely promotional in nature will not be published.The Tribune reserves the right to edit all contributions.

Editorials are decided upon and written by the editorial board. All other opinions are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the McGill Tribune, its editors or its staff. Please recycle this newspaper.

NEWS

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

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McGill Social work student alleges racial profiling by police Six months of jail and a $10,000 fine threatened for ‘stunt driving’ Laura Oprescu News Editor As Jean Kagame, U3 Social Work, drove to Toronto with two friends on Nov. 21, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) pulled him over and charged him with stunt driving at over 170 km/hour. Kagame maintains that he did not exceed 120 km/hour and alleges that he was racially profiled by the member of the OPP who pulled him over.

According to Kagame, the officer stopped him and took his license without introducing himself. Only after calling a truck to tow Kagame’s car did the arresting officer explain that Kagame was being charged with stunt driving and that, in line with Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act, his vehicle was being impounded. Upon asking for clarification, Kagame alleges that the officer swore at him and acted aggressively.

“It was disappointing in so many ways,” Kagame said. “I have been driving for a while, [and] I have never had any interaction with any police officers. They don’t get paid to terrorize us. I only had this positive image of what Canada is branded to be [....] I should feel safe, but it’s exactly the opposite.”

Kagame said that the arresting officer’s partner apologized for his coworker’s behaviour, confiding that he would have handled the arrest differently and offering to drive the group to a train station.

“I don’t know where I would be if it wasn’t for the [other officer],” Kagame said.

“He did what I felt was right, and he acted professionally. Me and my friends are really thankful for him.”

In addition to having his rental car impounded for a week, Kagame faces a fine of up to $10,000 and up to six months of jail time if found guilty. McGill’s Black Students’ Network (BSN) and the Social Work Students’ Association (SWSA) have started a GoFundMe campaign to help cover Kagame’s legal and car rental fees, raising over $1,400 since Nov. 30.

Further, Kagame’s account of the incident received almost 400 shares on Facebook.

“I want to thank people,” Kagame said.

“When such a thing happens, you can feel so alone and so isolated [....] Seeing people’s responses and people sending me messages of support, people telling me their stories [...]

I think the issue is way bigger than everyone thinks [....] All I can hope is to get justice and to make sure that the officer is held accountable for what he did to me and my friends.”

Following the arrest, Kagame was unable to file a complaint with the OPP. “I said, ‘could you tell me the full names of the officers, because they didn’t introduce themselves to us,’ ” Kagame said. “[The officer taking the complaint] said, ‘we introduce ourselves by driving the cars with the lights on top.’ ” Disappointed, Kagame is filing a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission and the Office of the Independent Police Review Director.

“I felt so attacked,” Kagame said. “There was some extra motivation behind [the arrest....] I’m going to do anything I can to defend my name. I can only hope that the Human Rights Commission and the Office of the Independent Police Review Director takes a closer

Kagame denies that he drove at 170 km/hr and alleges that he was racially profiled by an OPP officer.

(Gabriel Helfant / The McGill Tribune) look at this and makes sure that [the officer] ing situations,” Niemi said. “The reaction onis held accountable for treating us the way we line will be spontaneous, [and] certain groups will come forward stating their support [.... were treated.”

Fo Niemi, co-founder and executive di- But], after Christmas, no one will remember rector of the Centre for Research-Action on the case [....] They are left alone to bear the Race Relations (CRARR), argues that Cana- burden of the legal consequences and other dian police departments need to acknowledge emotional and psychological effects.”

Christelle Tessono, President of McGill’s their own diversity problems to tackle profiling.

“First, [police departments] should admit BSN, believes that eradicating racial profilthat [racial profiling] exists,” Niemi said. “Sec- ing starts with increasing the average citizen’s ondly, they have to recognize that they are awareness of its prevalence.

“Open your eyes to the realities of there to serve and protect the community, and, to do that, they have to reflect the com- profiling and harassment,” Tessono wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune. “Learn about munity.”

Niemi is concerned that Kagame’s case how people are being racially profiled both on will disappear from the public’s attention, leav- campus and outside of campus. Allyship begins when you understand your environment ing him without adequate support.

“This is something we see very often [...and] when you unpack your thoughts and with young people caught up in racial profil- assumptions.”

SSMU supports motion for gun control in Canada Accountability Committee criticizes delays in SSMU executives’ work Helen Wu Staff Writer The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Legislative Council convened on Nov. 29 for their last meeting of 2018. They debated a new motion to support Bill C-71, which was introduced by Canada’s Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale to reduce gun violence across Canada. Chip Smith, a member of the Accountability Committee, also presented evaluations of the SSMU Executives and Councillors’ performances for the Fall 2018 semester.

Motion Regarding SSMU’s Position on Gun Control in Canada The Liberal party of Canada is poised to pass Bill C-71, which is currently under review at the Canadian Senate. The bill will tighten laws on firearms by improving background checks and implementing mandatory record-keeping by firearms retailers.

SSMU Vice-President (VP) Student Life Sophia Esterle had drafted a motion to lobby Canadian Senators, Members of Parliament, and the Minister of Public Safety of Canada for better gun control.

As Esterle was not present, however, Arts Representative Ana Paula Sánchez explained the motion to council.

“Essentially, what the motion is trying to do is have SSMU endorse [Bill C-71] and help in a letter-writing campaign to advocate for a national ban on civilian ownership of handguns,”

Sánchez said.

Arts Representative Andrew Figueiredo argued during the debate period that banning handguns will not be the solution to gun violence.

“First of all, hand guns can be used for hunting [...and], moreover, for self-protection,” Figueiredo said. “In rural areas, it takes up to 45 minutes for RCMP to actually get to your door [....] In the city of Toronto, 50 per cent of guns used illegally [...] are imported from the United States. Maybe invest in border security, because, clearly, banning guns is not the solution in this case.”

Management Representative Brooke Callaghan was critical of Figueiredo’s argument.

“Any measures should [...] be taken to prevent the use of guns in in any way, shape, or form in this country and in all countries,” Callaghan said. “Guns are used for violence, period.

They are a killing machine [...] Whether you are killing an animal or person, [guns are] meant to cause harm [to] another being.”

The motion was passed with 26 in favour, 2 opposed, and no abstentions.

Fall 2018 Accountability Committee Report The Accountability Committee is mandated to ensure that Officers, Senators, Directors, and Councillors fulfill their obligations and responsibilities. In this semester’s assessment, the SSMU Executives collectively received a grade of ‘A’ or ‘A-’ on each criteria. Each executive also received a specific evaluation to

which they had the opportunity to respond. Among the most heavily criticized for delays in their work were VP Finance Jun Wang and VP Internal Matthew McLaughlin.

Wang admitted that the effort of transitioning club banking has taken a toll on his mental health.

“My predecessors never had to deal with this many constituents at once,” Wang said. “And it [becomes] a mental pressure point when I have to deal with not just departmental executives [...] but also SSMU club members as well [....The club bank transition is] probably [my] biggest project, and it [has] been very difficult to keep [under control] without impacting the other executives.”

McLaughlin explained that the two-and-a-half-month delay in hiring a Francophone Affairs Commissioner was due to its impromptu addition to his portfolio as a result of VP External Marina Cupido’s resignation. He reported to council that a commissioner was found on Nov. 29.

“This was under the External portfolio until Marina’s resignation, and then it was under my portfolio,” McLaughlin said.

“As soon as I got this part of my portfolio [assigned], I launched the job application for the Francophone Affairs Commissioner and the application for the Francophone Affairs Committee. We [have found a commissioner but] only received one application to the committee so far, so I reopened that today to get more applicants.”

Legislative Council will reconvene on Jan. 10.

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NEWS

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Swim team members allege an unhealthy athletic atmosphere Athletes lack access to sufficient psychological support

Audrey CArleton Contributor Four former swimmers on McGill’s Varsity Swim Team have come forward with reports of allegedly experiencing a ‘toxic’ environment on the team.The former athletes, who departed from the team between 2014 and 2018, claimed that they were treated unethically by one of their coaches, who they claim divulged their confidential personal information to other teammates and encouraged unsafe weight loss.They found McGill’s frameworks and policies for resolving complainants to be unwieldy.

Disclosures on athletics staff The athletes claim that their coach created an unwelcoming environment that fostered unethical treatment and animosity among the swimmers. Jane*, who left the team after two years, alleges that she was specifically singled out for her performance in the pool and for her social life.

Jane says that her relationship with her coach became unhealthy. At one point, he instructed her to lose 25 pounds, put her on a regulated diet, and told her to record her food intake and provide him with a diary of it.Their interactions fostered unhealthy eating habits and poor self-esteem.

“He had me weighed once a week,” Jane said.“I lost a whole bunch of weight, but it wasn’t healthy, like I just stopped eating [....]

He commented, ‘good job losing nine pounds this week,’ and it doesn’t take a medical doctor to realize that no one at my weight should lose nine pounds in a week.”

To Jane’s knowledge, at least three other swimmers she competed with developed eating disorders while swimming for McGill.This is reflective of research indicating that young adult athletes, especially female athletes, are at greater risk for developing eating disorders than non-athletes in the same age group.

According to Kate*, a former swimmer who quit the team after her second year, eating disorders have been a pervasive issue across all the teams she has been a part of, including McGill. She says that the coaches lacked sensitivity to the issue. “[Eating disorders are] a sensitive subject, now more than ever, and people really need to be careful with what they say to young women,” Kate said.

Kate explained that simply putting players on diet plans is an inadequate way to improve their swimming. “[When professional swimmers are put on diets], it’s not like [they] just [need] to lose weight, it was like you need more muscle in these areas,” Kate said.“But, like, if you look at someone and tell them, ‘you need to lose 20 pounds,’ that’s not going to make you a better swimmer.”

Coaching guides published by the Coaching Association of Canada (CAC) recommend that coaches handle eating disorders

by helping them find professional help, assuring them that their role on the team is not in jeopardy, and doing so in a confidential manner. According to Jane, the coach did not respect the confidentiality of two of the three athletes with eating disorders.

“Swimming is a performance sport that requires significant fitness to be performed at the highest level,” the coach facing the allegations wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune. “To this end, I preach the value of fitness, not weight control. I have, on several occasions, had discussions with both men and women about making changes in lifestyle habits, [which] go well beyond eating, to help them achieve their goals in the pool.These conversations are always handled with great care and support and are always in private.”

But both Jane and Adrian* claim that, on other occasions, the coach divulged information about their personal and academic lives to the team.

“He told a first year that she shouldn’t associate herself with me because my GPA is really low and I failed a course,” Jane said.

“His access to my transcript isn’t meant to be shared, especially when it’s used to attack my character.”

Disseminating private information about athletes to their teammates violates the CAC’s Code of Conduct, which asserts that coaches must “maintain confidentiality and privacy of personal information and use it appropriately.” The Code also states that the authority of coaches is derived, in part, from upholding their responsibility to maintain confidentiality.

However, the coach claims to have never shared personal information about swimmers with their teammates.

“I have never shared personal or confidential information without an athlete’s prior consent,” the coach wrote. “When swimmers report that they can’t attend practice because of an illness, the team is informed, though no details regarding the illness are provided—except when the illness could be contagious and thus could put teammates at risk of contracting it.”

Inadequate resolution channels While grappling with these issues, the former swimmers lacked adequate channels for disclosing or reporting them. The only McGill staff member who oversees varsity coaches is Varsity Sports Manager, Lisen Moore. When athletes have issues that they feel they cannot take to their captains or coaches, she is the designated person to handles their concerns. However, the responsibility of oversight for every varsity sport leaves this position overburdened. Moreover, the process for reporting is opaque to both athletes and the public.

Both Jane and Abigail* say they attempted to bring complaints about the coach to Moore but were placed at the bottom of a priority list and were unsure about how to properly file a

complaint. “[Moore…] didn’t ask any questions, didn’t follow up, didn’t validate feelings,” Abigail said. “She just did nothing, and [coaches are] not going to be punished.”

The Tribune reached out to Moore for comment on multiple occasions but did not hear back over the course of four months.

In comparison to McGill, University of Toronto (U of T) has a clear four-step appeals process for appealing any matter relating to a varsity sport, including a coach’s decisions about players and their disciplinary procedures, whereas McGill has none. U of T also has external confidential support and referral services for players for when the team cannot find solutions. Moreover, McGill lacks any sort of oversight body or board akin to what high-schoolaged swim teams have, leaving athletes to suffer in silence. Many current and past swimmers who spoke with the Tribune asserted that it would be helpful to have an unbiased third-party to hear problems.

“At university, there’s no board,” Jane said.“The coach doesn’t have a boss, so it’s really, really hard to have [them] face consequences when there’s no one to talk to and there’s no one to go to about it.”

McGill lacks adequate mental health resources set aside specifically for student athletes. In comparison, the University of British Columbia (UBC) has an online mental health hub for varsity athletes, while U of T has one counsellor tasked with meeting with varsity student-athletes once per week.

“When I’ve talked with [other] sports psychologists [we talk about] how to [holistically] improve your performance,” Jane said.

“The sports psychologist I saw at McGill never asked about any part of my life outside of how I could perform better in the pool.”

The McGill’s Guide to Varsity Sports for Student Athletes reflects a similar results-oriented rhetoric, stating that the varsity program is based on the “pursuit of academic and athletic excellence” and “establishing practices that foster positive learning and competitive environments for student-athletes.” Meanwhile, U of T’s guide to student-athlete services states that the university’s varsity program is devoted to “whole person development” and acknowledges that “students are at a crucial stage of their intellectual, physical and social development.”

For Kate, it wasn’t until she quit the team that she truly felt healthy and balanced in all areas of her life.

“The sad thing is that [the coach] will tell you time and time again [that] school comes first, family comes second, swimming comes third, but, in reality, that’s not the way it is,” Kate said. “I had no idea how bad it really was until I was like, ‘wow I’m getting As in school; I’m living my life; I’m going to bed on time; I’m seeing my friends; I’m a healthy person; I might not be working out every day of my life, but I feel healthy.’ ”

NEWS

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

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Clintons praise Canada’s diversity and economy at Bell Centre The couple hopes for a future led by diversity Caitlin Kindig News Editor 42nd US President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke at the Bell Centre on Nov. 28 as part of their “An Evening with the Clintons” tour, casually discussing topics such as their upbringings, role models, and the future of global politics. They also commented on Canadian affairs, recommending that Americans look to Canada as a model for inclusion. Before the talk began, Tanya Taylor, a McGill alumnus and event moderator, presented the couple with customized Montreal Canadiens jerseys, proclaiming that they were sitting on centre ice of the team’s home rink.

The duo commended Canada’s ability to celebrate cultural diversity, embrace immigrants, and elevate the middle class.

Hillary Clinton reflected on how, in her various government positions, she has often cited Canada for its dynamic economy.

“In addition to really admiring the culture [of Canada], I also really applaud the economic model,” Clinton said. “We’re looking at how we can get some of that dynamism back into [the U.S.] economy as well as more opportunity for more people. Canada was always a good example because of the way that the economy has lifted people up here, especially in your healthcare system [as a] a basic level of support that everybody should have [....Healthcare] should be a right, not a privilege.”

Although never mentioning the incumbent U.S. President by name, Hillary Clinton expressed resentment for the ‘authoritarian model’ overwhelming the U.S. government and praised Canada for its leadership in these divisive times.

“There are the same tendencies [in Canada] toward partisanship and ‘resentment politics’ that you get in many other places, but to continue to fight against that and keep trying to bring the country together around common goals while maintaining your separate identities [...] within an integrated

The duo spoke about a range of topics. (Gabriel Helfant / The McGill Tribune) whole seems to be the model that people will wake up and When you’re not out in a community and not trying to be part look for again,” Hillary Clinton said. “So, I’m looking to you, of that, trying to make it better, then you lose track of people Canada, to bring us back to our senses.” who are not like you.”

Bill Clinton echoed Hillary’s sentiments, sharing memorable Bill Clinton also cited the importance of diversity when experiences from his diplomatic work with Canada as president solving problems, specifically when trying to fight climate change. and praising the country’s optimism.

“Complex problems are best solved by diverse groups “I will always love this place, and I think you really [have [...with] different experiences and different knowledge,” Bill to] think about how you can be Canada and still embrace Clinton said. “If you want humanity to be around for another the winds that are blowing in this world in a positive way,” Bill two or three hundred thousand years, we have to work Clinton said. “The United States must return to that if it expects together to moderate climate change [and] we have to adapt to play a positive role in the future. We should do more of what to that which we cannot prevent.” you’ve been doing.”

Taylor directed the discussion toward personal anecdotes The Clintons, now grandparents, spoke about future and lighter topics. The couple talked about their first date at generations, how their family has expanded, and the importance Yale, how Bill proposed to Hillary, and the best gifts they have of helping those in need. given each other.

“I don’t know if we give enough kids today the chance “The part that stood out the most [to me was] when to [volunteer],” Hillary Clinton said. “Kids are highly scheduled, Bill and Hillary talked about their mothers,” Carleton University [and] they spend a lot of time staring at a screen, so where’s student Hannah Vatour said. “I think they captured the that time to actually go out and interact with other people? audience’s attention the most with those stories.”

AUS votes for new VP Internal following resignation Classics Student Association attempts to back away from online voting McEan Taylor Contributor

Thomas said. “While this doesn’t account for all the hours we put into the AUS, it still means a lot in terms of compensation.

What the student body won’t be able to recognize is that it is not just about the hours put in; it’s about the emotional labour invested in wanting to see a positive change in our faculty.”

With two candidates running—Billy Kawasaki and Ashton Mathias—Kawasaki was elected the new VP Internal. Kawasaki was previously student executive assistant for AUS for three years as well as human resources coordinator at SSMU. Kawasaki clarified his goals in a brief statement for the Council.

“I want to sort out the room bookings, start [First-year Events, Academic, and Representative Council] FEARC as soon as possible, [...] revamp the office and the lounge, and change the Jack Daniels Room [in the Arts Lounge] into a study room,” Kawasaki said.

At their meeting on Nov. 28, the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) chose to fill the Vice-President (VP) Internal position through re-appointment by Legislative Council instead of conducting a by-election in January. The decision is a result of previous VP Internal Kevin Zhou’s resignation from office on Nov. 16 due to mental health and academic concerns.

According to AUS President Maria Thomas, the VP Internal’s responsibilities are too important for the position to remain empty until January.

“We consulted with the AUS Legislative Council to decide what was best for the society,” Thomas said. “The Internal position interacts with departments directly, and many departments are dependent on them in order to hold events.

It is [a] very difficult position to transition [into], so it is best to find someone as soon as possible.”

Zhou’s resignation follows the resignation of Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) VP External Marina Cupido on Oct. 10. As Cupido asserted, members of student government have notoriously-intense workloads, which, along with academics, can prove stressful.

“Overall, every [AUS executive] position is 10 to 15 hours per week, but some can spill over to 25 hours depending on the time of year and [current] events,” Thomas said.

The duty of public service may be enough to justify the workload for some executives, but monetary compensation is also a valued relief for some of the pressure they face.

“This year at AUS Legislative Council, all executives can get The motion to hold elections in-person only was voted down. paid minimum wage for a maximum of 10 hours [per] week,” (Lauren Benson-wArmer / The McGill Tribune)

Elections were also discussed more generally. While most department societies use online voting for council elections, Classics Student Association (CSA) VP External Sara Merker proposed a motion to allow CSA to hold elections internally.

The change would mean that anyone running for a position would be required to attend a meeting in-person where the attendees would vote on behalf of the entire CSA. According to Merker, internal voting has been in CSA’s constitution for years and simply needed the AUS Council’s approval.

However, members debated the accessibility of in-person elections. Arts Representative Ana Paula Sanchez voiced her concern for students who may want to run but could not attend the meeting.

“There may be students [who] cannot come to a meeting,” Sánchéz said. “There’s a reason [that] most departments have switched to online voting [as] it’s really accessible to all students.”

AUS VP Equity Evan Sezgin also opposed the motion and questioned CSA’s motives for wanting internal elections.

“Having an online platform may accommodate the most amount of people,” Sezgin said. “If bureaucracy in AUS is the only reason [to have closed elections] I think it would be worth it to go through [with online voting].”

Philosophy Student Association VP External Affairs Coordinator Brytan Mendes proposed that attendees be able to vote on behalf of absentees. While Merker agreed to Mendes’ proposition, her motion was still denied in a majority vote by the Council.

Nov. 28 was AUS Legislative Council’s last meeting of 2018; the Council will reconvene Jan. 16.

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MEET THE EXECS

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Students’ Society

of McGill University (SSMU)

Executive

Midterm Reviews Illustrations by Sabrina Girard-Lamas

Tre Mansdoerfer President Though the executive team faced a significant obstacle this year with the closure of the SSMU building, under Mansdoerfer’s leadership, they have addressed the problem effectively by relocating clubs and securing a lease on 680 Sherbrooke for student use. His continued work on governance reform, a fall reading week, and the expansion of the Health and Dental plan show that Mansdoerfer has kept an eye to his major campaign promises. SSMU’s new partnership with Nimbus Tutoring and work on a new food security program demonstrate a willingness to engage in new projects on top of addressing pertinent issues. During the Fall, Mansdoerfer has proven his ability to problem-solve, facilitate projects across the society, and build an effective executive team.

Matthew McLaughlin VP Internal Affairs Matthew McLaughlin ran on an ambitious platform, which remains largely unfulfilled.

The launch of a centralized calendar for McGill events, the first SSMU town hall, and bi-weekly video updates have all been scheduled for Winter 2019, suggesting that McLaughlin may have underestimated the complexity of these projects. Furthermore, addressing the fallout of the $10,000 transit mishap at SSMU’s Children of the Corn Halloween party has consumed time and money that could have been spent implementing campaign promises. However, McLaughlin has been successful in working with other SSMU representatives to create new event planning policies and oversight. He has also made his position’s programming more inclusive and accessible, coordinating activities such as the dry laser-tag event during Frosh Week, which drew 150 students. McLaughlin has also doubled the number of First-Year Council representatives, allowing them to host events more regularly.

MEET THE N EX EE WCSS

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Jun Wang VP Finance Jun Wang has focused on overseeing the bank transition from Scotiabank to RBC and increasing the financial literacy of club executives and students in the first half of his term. The bank transfer has consumed most of his time, forcing him to neglect other campaign promises such as socially-responsible and green investing, which Wang missed the opportunity to address following Senate’s motion to support divestment from fossil fuels.The bank transition means that all transactions will occur online, streamlining the process of distributing funds to clubs and allowing them easy access to their finances. Wang and club executives cited poor communication as the biggest challenge during the bank transition. Additionally, clubs were unable to access their accounts during the ‘blackout’ period of the transition, leaving some without funds to hold events. The transition will be complete during the next VP Finance’s term. Wang is delivering on his campaign promise to increase students’ financial literacy by preparing a comprehensive document on SSMU’s finances that is accessible to all students. Wang expects this project to be ready next semester.

Jacob Shapiro VP University Affairs Jacob Shapiro campaigned on a platform of continuity, creativity, and community.

Most notably, Shapiro has followed through on his promise to advocate for a revision of the S/U grading system, allowing students to switch their pass or fail mark to a letter grade later in the semester. Less successful was Shapiro’s overhaul of existing SSMU mechanisms such as abolishing the academic roundtable of faculty VP Academics which he replaced with one-onone meetings. These changes have severely limited his bureaucratic capability and accessibility.

In positioning himself as the centre of all academic affairs, he has hindered his own ability to act effectively. Despite Shapiro’s promises to prioritize existing UA projects, there has been little continuation of the previous VP UA Isabella Oke’s projects such as the Know Your Rights campaign. Next term, Shapiro should focus on advocating for students’ academic rights with initiatives like his efforts concerning the S/U mandate.

Sophia Esterle VP Student Life As VP Student Life, Esterle’s portfolio includes coordinating student clubs and services, arranging family care programs, and promoting mental health outreach. Esterle remains committed to her campaign promise of promoting mental wellness on campus: In collaboration with SSMU Mental Health, Esterle organized SSMU’s second annual Mental Illness Awareness Week and has attempted to extend additional support to students living in residence through initiatives such as Draw & Discuss, which she hosted in collaboration with Rez Life. Additionally, she organized a successful Fall Activities Night, at the Tomlinson Fieldhouse and drew record attendance. Esterle’s most significant accomplishment has been handling the additional responsibility of overseeing club relocation during the SSMU building closure. Under her leadership, university groups have been relocated to spaces near the Downtown campus and in academic buildings.

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NEWS

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

McGill’s history of labour conflict

Social work strike latest in a series of on-campus workers’ movements

Sydney King Staff Writer The McGill Social Work Student Association (SWSA) went on strike Nov. 19-23 to protest mandatory unpaid internships in social work degrees. They joined over 50,000 CEGEP and university students demonstrating across the province. Currently, the degree at McGill requires two field placements, usually unpaid, in years U3 and U4, each consisting of 400 hours of labour in the social work field.

In comparison, similar internships in engineering or management are often compensated, as private sector organizations often operate for profit and receive Quebec government subsidies to fund interns and trainees. However, social work students’ placements typically take place in the public sector and remain uncompensated. For example, at the Université de Sherbrooke, 20 per cent of womenworked internships are paid while 47 per cent of menworked internships are paid, pointing toward a trend of maledominated professions being more likely to receive payment for internship requirements.

“The major issue we face with the McGill administration is the conflict that exists between their desire to preserve the status quo and ours to dismantle it,” Yasmin Weiss, the SWSA communications coordinator, said. “Recognizing and acting upon the overt injustice of unpaid internships has been met with bureaucratic opposition at a time when we require all the support we can get.”

Weiss criticized the administration’s refusal to allow social work professors to cancel classes during strike week.

Professors had voted in favour of cancelling class in solidarity with the student protest, but the administration cautioned them of their legal obligation to teach.

“Teaching faculty support the concerns of the students, but we do have a requirement to teach classes, both as part of our legal requirements and with respect to the requirement [to provide instruction],” Nico Trocmé, director of the School of Social Work, said. “Any student who requests class is entitled to have class.”

This is not the first time that McGill students have organized around labour issues on campus. The Association of McGill University Support Employees (AMUSE) has previously

gone on strike to protect its non-academic staff and floor fellows.

AMUSE is a McGill labour union that represents casual and temporary employees at the university, including both students and non-students in part-time and full-time positions.

Its 1,500 members compose 55 per cent of McGill’s nonacademic employees. AMUSE began collectivizing in Fall 2008, focusing on students participating in the work-study program.

Non-student workers were eventually included, and, when the group voted in Fall 2009, 85 per cent favoured unionization.

The Quebec Labour Board accredited AMUSE in Jan. 2010.

When the collective agreement between AMUSE and the university expired in Apr. 2015, the two parties began renegotiating the terms of employment as well as the rights and obligations of employers and employees, including wages, benefits, and non-monetary privileges. Among other requests, AMUSE pushed for a $15 minimum wage and for work-study positions to be posted publicly. However, McGill failed to implement their demands.

“The university has made it clear that they won’t include the changes that we feel are necessary for our members in the collective agreement,” Claire Michela, former president of AMUSE in 2016, said. “We tried all day to make a change that would suit our needs and be acceptable to the university, and we couldn’t do that, so we had to exercise our strike mandate at the end of the day, unfortunately.”

AMUSE voted to go on strike in Oct. 2016 to pressure McGill into reconsidering their demands. The five-day strike was instrumental in securing the wage increase for casual employees in their second collective agreement, ratified on Jan 30, 2017, although demands for a $15 minimum wage were not met.

Ella Hartsoe, current AMUSE President, blames society’s casualization of labour, the practice of making unionized, higherpaying jobs less protected and less benefitted. At McGill, she is also concerned about previously-unionized positions becoming non-union managerial positions.

“Casual workers who happen to be students are not ‘lucky’ for getting experience through working,” Hartsoe said.

“They are working and being paid because it’s their right.

Sometimes, jobs aren’t for resumes. Often times, for many

working students on campus, jobs are for money, stability, and the autonomy that working brings for individuals who may not come from middle or upper-class backgrounds.”

Although they exist in a separate bargaining unit, floor fellows make up part of AMUSE as a result of a history of conflict with McGill. In 2008, then director of residences Michael Porritt was unwilling to consider the floor fellows’ judgment and opinions when they voiced their concerns over his notolerance drugs and alcohol policies. In 2012, two floor fellows were dismissed and then evicted for participating in #6party, a five-day protest occupation of the James Administration Building’s sixth floor in response to the university’s refusal to acknowledge the existence of CKUT Radio.

These events prompted McGill floor fellows to join AMUSE in May 2014, enabling them to negotiate with the administration for wage and job security as a part of their collective agreement. The negotiation process took over three years and the administration refused to pay the 75 floor fellows working in residences until July 3, 2017, when the floor fellows signed their first collective agreement with the university. Before then, floor fellows received only room and board. This resulted in increased job insecurity, as their living accomodations directly depend on their employment status.

Floor fellows continue to only be compensated for an average work week of 13 hours, although they typically work for longer.

“I don’t want to say that it disincentivizes us to do work, but it’s just frustrating that our work isn’t appreciated by administration,” Stephanie Li, U2 Science, a Douglas Hall floor fellow, said. “They know that even if we’re not paid, we’re still going to be doing check-ins [and] we’re still going to be doing events.”

The McGill community itself relies on unpaid and underpaid workers. Tutoring services, the Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS), the Peer Support Center, Walksafe, Drivesafe, and Nightline are all student-run services that do not offer even minimum-wage compensation for labour.

“Too much labour on campus is unpaid under the guise of ‘experience,’ but, as the Social Work students have pointed out, you can’t pay your groceries, rent, or tuition with ‘experience,’” Hartsoe said.

McGill floor fellows only began receiving compensation for their work in 2017. (Abeer Almahdi / The McGill Tribune)

OPINION

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

EDITORIAL

9

Standing with Kagame against police brutality Social work student and former president of the McGill African Students’ Society (MASS) Jean Kagame is facing charges of stunt driving after the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) stopped him on his way to Toronto on Nov. 21.

During the interaction, one of the officers repeatedly yelled and swore at the group, and Kagame’s car began to be towed while he and his friend were still inside it. According to Kagame, another police officer came over to apologize for his colleague’s behaviour. The incident, which has circulated widely on Facebook, illustrates the reality that many McGill students are vulnerable to racialized police harassment.

For many people of colour in Montreal and beyond, racial profiling in inevitable, and McGill must stand in solidarity with Kagame and other marginalized students on and off-campus.

The harassment that Kagame faced follows countless reports of racial profiling and police brutality in Montreal.

Joel Debellefeuille, a black resident of Longueuil, is a repeated victim of police racial profiling while driving his BMW: He has been pulled over by Montreal police three times since 2009, and Quebec’s Human Rights Commission found each event unjustified. In 2017, after responding to a report that Pierre Coriolan was shouting and breaking things

in his apartment, a Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) officer shot and killed him. In Aug. 2018, Nicholas Gibbs was shot by police responding to a call about a fight in Montreal’s Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood (NDG).

Cellphone footage of the situation shows no visible attempts by police to de-escalate the situation. Even Montreal’s annual march against police brutality led to injuries and at least three arrests this year.

The McGill community has rallied in support of Kagame; his initial Facebook post has almost 400 shares as of press time, and the Student’s Society of McGill University (SSMU), the Black Students’ Network (BSN), and the McGill Social Work Students Association (SWSA) have all released statements in support of Kagame. Kagame is currently set to appear in court on Dec. 13, and is working with the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR) to file a complaint against the officer. These groups are also supporting his legal efforts by running a GoFundMe campaign to help Kagame finance his defence. Most incidents of racial profiling go unnoticed or without institutional support, and it is commendable that the McGill community mobilized so quickly.

Students, associations, and other campus groups should sustain this momentum and support for Kagame. SSMU’s Know Your Rights campaign and other legal information services on campus should consider increasing their focus on educating students of colour about their rights when interacting with police—The McGill Daily published a “What To Do if You’re Arrested” guide in their joint issue on police brutality with Le Délit. Moreover, student organizations should avoid having police presence at their events; if police presence is for whatever reason unavoidable, such as at a protest, organizations have a responsibility to notify potential attendees in advance to make events as accessible as possible to people of colour.

Students, especially white students, have a responsibility to acknowledge their own privilege and use it for positive change. There is immense power in being an active bystander: Students should call out police when they witness violence against a person of colour. Police brutality is a community problem, and allies have a responsibility to create safe spaces for people of colour to speak about their experiences.

Working toward a better future for people of colour is a responsibility that all of us share, no matter our identity.

One-tweet wonder Arshaaq Jiffry Design Editor The thought of achieving any form of popularity had always seemed light-years away for someone like myself who is accustomed to mediocrity. I had never found the prospect of being widespread admiration particularly attractive to begin with. As cliché as it sounds, external validation has always seemed a little shallow to me.

However, I would be lying if I said that I had never stargazed at an empty ceiling wondering how sweet internet stardom might taste. Who would have guessed that 41 characters and 125,000 likes later, I would encounter Twitter fame. An immediate surge of electronic ecstasy followed the rapid attention, but the aftermath showed me that social media ‘fame’ only attracts empty connections.

The tweet was not the child of my self-proclaimed quick wit or any spur-of-themoment genius. Rather, it was a planned endeavour: I sat down and analyzed the most popular topics on Twitter that week and thought about what people my age would relate to.

At the time, the kids from the Netflix original series Stranger Things were trending—a cast who, I happened to notice, bore a striking resemblance to that of the 2004 hit series Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide.

Millennials like myself feel most special when we’re indulging in nostalgia, and my carefullycrafted tweet embodied the perfect mix of relevance and reminiscence.

The likes and retweets brought my phone to life: Strangers were mentioning their friends and relating to shows that aired generations apart. It was a surreal experience at first, but the more my phone danced in my pocket, the faster my initial social media high dissipated into a need to dissociate myself from the tweet entirely. Turning notifications off required a valiant effort, and it still didn’t stop countless high school peers, whom I had been purposefully avoiding for the past two years, from popping into my private messages, commenting on my newfound fame.

They welcomed themselves back into my life as if I were their comedic benefactor, bringing

with them memories I had long forgotten, to bask with me in the success of my Coconut Head– Will Byers mashup. I wanted to say, “Please, Sally—I’d rather you go back to tweeting about how your ex-wife left you for a jar of mayonnaise.” Luckily, they all eventually got the message, but it left me dumbfounded as to how these aliens from my past invaded my current world, only to move on after my 15 minutes were up. I had become a onetweet wonder.

During this tumultuous Twitter experience, I found the tweet seeping into all of my daily conversations. It’s not everyday that you hit the big time with 125,000 likes. The conversations sent a shot of dopamine mixed with unreasonable confidence pulsing through my veins.

However, this high was quickly followed by a crash when the faves stopped rolling in, leaving me with nothing more than a bitter aftertaste. I realized when my retweet record became my go-to pick-up line at bars that I had a problem.

It’s been a year or so since my moment of Twitter fame, and I can honestly say I don’t miss the

The tweet that started it all. (Arshaaq Jiffry / The McGill Tribune) star treatment. Nowadays, I get the odd retweet here and there, and I will periodically explain to my international peers why the gang from Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide was ever relevant on the twittersphere.

In fact, right this moment, I could probably feel the rush of thousands of likes and retweets

once again by tweeting some nonsense about how, if you haven’t seen the movie Coraline, you need to seriously reevaluate your life. Instead, I’m just excited for the day that I am old and telling my grandchildren about the time their old Grandpapa Shaaq based his self-worth on a tweet.

10

OPINION US CAMP ATION S R E V CON

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Finding power in representation For many students on campus, university can be an isolating place. The McGill Tribune’s Opinion section asked marginalized students to write about their personal experiences with representation (or a lack thereof) to answer the question, “Where do students find representation, and how do they create spaces for themselves?”

Leina Gabra, Contributor

Thyaga Dahanayake, Contributor

Abeer Almahdi, Opinion Editor

My search for representation at McGill was disappointing and short-lived, but not at all surprising.

This isn’t necessarily McGill’s fault; as a half-Japanese, half-Ethiopian woman from Washington, D.C. who also spent seven years living in Tanzania and the Philippines, there is no community toward which I feel a strong sense of belonging. Racial identity crises are an experience that I’m sure many other mixed-race people are familiar with.

It’s lonely to feel as though one cannot ever perfectly fit into an ethnic community; further, while mixedrace representation does exist, it’s harder to find when neither of your halves is white. Speaking from a lifetime of experience, half-white has always seemed to be the more ‘acceptable’ form of mixed-race, making me feel even more rejected from my supposed communities. I have made peace with the uniqueness of my experience; however, not being included in the groups that make up my heritage and the lack of representation for non-white mixed students at McGill––and around the world–– can still be isolating and, sometimes, even painful. It is a condition that needs to be included in the discourse about race and representation.

Being a student at McGill feels like a mindless blur because there isn’t a single moment in which I feel like a unique individual. I constantly feel the need to conform to my peers’ expectations and my environment. I follow a mundane, monotonous cycle of going to class, listening to lectures, packing my things, and then leaving. I blend into the large sea of first-year students at McGill. Although I’m a person of colour, I haven’t faced drastic moments of isolation. If anything, I feel safe on campus due to the prevalence of groups, spaces, and solidarity movements like #ChangeTheName. If I want to find representation, I look to groups of like-minded people. Joining clubs and organizations like the Tribune or The Plumber’s Station helped me find groups of people with similar interests. For me, joining clubs is more than just a hobby. It’s connecting with people who face similar struggles and who want to work toward similar significant goals. Joining groups makes me feel like I have a platform where I can voice my thoughts and opinions, and, in turn, reach other people who may be struggling.

As an Afro-Arab woman, I’ve struggled to find a place on campus where I feel fully represented. Two of the hardest parts of my identity to reconcile is my parents’ conflicting religious identities. My mother is a Catholic and my father a Muslim, while I am essentially neither. However, I engage with both cultures. I celebrate Christmas, Easter, Ramadan, both Eids, and even some local folk holidays like Saint Barbara’s Feast, and other festivals. Still, I’ve struggled to find a place in which I can practice the atypical blend of Christian Islam in which I was raised.

Growing up in the Middle East with two religions meant that I was on both sides of local conflict. I face Islamophobia, but I also face discrimination from my own communities for being mixed. So, instead of looking to spaces like religious associations, I have decided to look outward and explore other ways of expressing my religious identity. I’ve written and performed poetry; I’ve painted; and, now, I’ve written an article about it. I may never find a place to be holistically me, but I’ve chosen to create my own representation.

Why I left the Arab Student Network Nicholas Raffoul Staff Writer As an international student who came to McGill from a high school in Kuwait, I have experienced my fair share of culture shock. However, the hardest part about coming to McGill wasn’t moving into residence, leaving my family, or even the academic stress: It was the racism. As a queer Arab man, I’ve dealt with microaggressions, fetishization, and other forms of blatant racism since the first day of Frosh, from weird Tinder messages about being Middle Eastern to being yelled at on Ste. Catherine to go back to where I came from. When I started at McGill I told myself that I wouldn’t join an Arab or cultural students’ association because it was too predictable. I wanted to be more than my Arab identity.

After two semesters of constant othering, I learned to appreciate my Arab identity and felt the need to support other people of colour who were in similar situations. I was ecstatic when I found out that the Arab Students’ Association at McGill had been elevated to the status of a full-fledged network.

Although my role as a committee member was short-lived, I was excited to finally find a space where I thought I could be unapologetically Arab. But, my joy was brief, and the image of the Arab Student Network (ASN) that I loved was one that I quickly began to question.

Although I believe that the ASN is a necessary service, its current management does not offer Arab students the support they need. In an interview with The McGill Daily the president of the ASN, Karim Atassi, said that the purpose of the network is to direct Arab resources to all students on campus, and to broadcast ‘secular’ and ‘fun’ aspects of Arab culture for all students to enjoy.

This mandate aims to create a more ‘palatable’ Arab identity, encouraging the appropriation and whitewashing of Arab culture to conform to superficial desires of popular culture like music, partying, and food. Instead of hosting parties and offering discounts to restaurants, the ASN should facilitate

resources for Arab students who, like myself, experience intense marginalization on and off campus. The ASN should adopt a similar mandate as that of the Black Student Network at McGill, which encompasses sensitizing the McGill community to issues concerning black people and working toward making campus safe for the well-being and mental health of black students.

The ASN is explicitly apolitical. Remaining neutral, however, is a stance in itself. In my experiences as an Arab in Canada, day-to-day life and politics are inextricable from one another.

Being Lebanese, at any point in my life I know someone affected by conflict. My siblings fled Lebanon as refugees during the 2006 war; and my aunt struggles to return to her hometown of Damascus because of the ongoing civil war. It is extremely discomfitting to know that the main Arab student group on campus makes it difficult to express the political aspects of my identity and how they inevitably affect my life on campus.

Many of ASN’s services, such as a SSMU mini-course, in olloquial Levantine Arabic which teaches students the seemingly ‘most widely used Arabic dialect on campus,’ and encompasses dialects used mainly in Lebanon and Syria, are exclusive and geared toward non-Arab students. As a Lebanese-dialectspeaking Arab, I can acknowledge that I have elements of Levantine privilege. Within the national hierarchies of the Middle East, people from the Levant are considered to be closest to white-passing, and our dialects are perceived to be the easiest and softest to the ear. ‘Rougher’ dialects are usually not considered to be as beautiful or poetic, making the ASN’s intentional choice to teach a softer and romanticized Arabic dialect an exclusionary one to most of the Arab world.

Last year, hate crimes reached an all time high in Canada.

The Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) and Premier Francois Legault’s harsh anti-immigration stance only contribute to an already hostile environment. The ASN’s whitewashed mandate lacks discussion circles and safe spaces targeted to my experience. I need a place on campus in which I am able to freely express my identity without that fear, and, sadly, ASN is currently not that place.

(Abeer Almahdi / The McGill Tribune)

OPINION

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

11

Grassroots, lawsuits, and the future of climate activism

Lucas Bird Contributor A group of Quebec youth are stoking a freshly-lit fire in the fight against global climate change. Montreal climate justice organization ENvironment JEUnesse (ENJEU) is pursuing a class-action lawsuit against the federal government for climate negligence on behalf of all Quebec youth under the age of 35. They argue that young people will disproportionately suffer the harsh consequences of climate change over the century to come. While Canada is a signatory to the Paris Agreement and has set reduction targets for greenhouse gas emissions, ENJEU argues that, not only are these targets not ambitious enough, but that the government is failing to meet even these meagre standards. Their lawsuit takes concerns about the climate that seem too big to tackle, and finds specific and substantive measures to effect meaningful progress toward sustainability.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report in October warning that only 12 years remain to prevent catastrophic climate change. If we fail to make substantial reductions in emissions and consumption,

hundreds of millions of people will face dire consequences, including extreme heat, drought, flooding, and poverty.

Despite increasingly-urgent scholarly literature on climate change, global superpowers have remained stagnant in their environmental policies. With the exception of the Paris Agreement, many major countries’ legislative repertoires are void of the determined, large-scale efforts necessary for addressing climate change.

Their inaction means that the only path to adequate solutions is through grassroots activism as opposed to self-motivating federal policy.

The lawsuit is the first of its kind in Canada, but not in the world: In 2015, the Urgenda foundation won a landmark climate justice case against the Dutch government. Since then, Juliana v. US, a case awaiting a hearing at the Supreme Court, has argued that the U.S. government is depriving children of a climate capable of sustaining human life.

Earlier this year, 12 citizens in the UK brought a similar lawsuit to their country’s high court. Several cities in California have sued monolith oil companies like Shell and BP. In January, New York City revealed a plan to do the same, as well as to divest $5 billion from fossil fuels.

Even McGill has modelled citizen-driven divestment policy: Earlier this year, the Senate showed support for divestment from fossil fuels. Their endorsement was driven in large part by public pressure and deliberation from Divest McGill, a campus environmentalist group.

Grassroots climate litigation is precisely the sort of activism that can save our planet. In many ways, this ground level advocacy succeeds where federal and local governments fail. Climate change policy is still extremely difficult to introduce, let alone adhere to. It requires that countries divert from global capitalism, which has spent decades entrenching itself on the false promise of unlimited resources. Environmental policy also lacks immediacy, which is problematic for federal governments. Enacting legislation that may hinder a country’s industrial and economic development in the short-term, and whose benefits might not be seen for a generation, is unappealing to even the most progressive administrations. Finally, the private sector, which ravenously profits from fossil fuels, has extensive influence over powerful governments. Renewable energy is predicted to become cheaper than fossil fuels by 2020; however, its long-term investment is not a reality so long as ExxonMobil, Chevron, and others have their say. It is reasonable to wonder why the Canadian government has exhibited the sort of negligence ENJEU is alleging in light of their pledge to sustainability and its

(Cordelia Cho / The McGill Tribune)

economic incentives.

Not surprisingly, the government’s persistentlygrowing interests in the global oil market and the influence of oilcompany lobbyists have something to do with it.

With so many obstacles to legislative movement toward sustainability, young people must take climate justice into their own hands. Lawsuits like ENJEU’s should be a prototype for communal efforts at environmental activism. They allow rational individuals who recognize the realities and magnitude of climate change to hold both the public and the private sector accountable. We are facing a massive anthropogenic issue which begs an equally large, cohesive, and consistent solution.

On activism and Jewish identity

Nathan Collett Contributor On Dec. 3, I participated in a demonstration as part of IfNotNow Montreal (INN). The rally consisted of a small group of Jewish activists, most of them McGill students, who held posters displaying statistics about the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. INN is a Jewish organization that advocates to end North American Jewish support for the occupation. I grew up in a community where I was encouraged to think critically about Israel and my relation to it as a well-assimilated North

American Jew, and I have continued to do so upon entering university. However, when I first expressed an opinion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in public, I realized that my Jewish identity is far more intertwined with the existence of the State of Israel than I had previously believed.

Educational institutions have immense power over our political beliefs.

From a young age, people absorb implicit values that influence their thought process for life. My education was mostly secular, aside from Jewish preschool, a socially-progressive Jewish summer camp, and rather benign Sunday morning classes at my synagogue. Somewhere along the road, I acquired an allegiance with Israel that I did not realize was intrinsic to my identity until I took a public stance against the occupation.

For some Jewish students, education promotes a specific viewpoint on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The legitimate message that Israel provides support for the Jewish people when they are targets of discrimination is coupled with an expectation that one must reciprocate

this support to truly be Jewish. In private Jewish high schools especially, many educators politicize the pre-existing affinity for Israel among the student body. Peers link social belonging with unconditional support for Israel. This is the case to varying degrees in many Jewish institutions.

University upends Jewish students’ preconceived beliefs and exposes them to a complicated discourse rife with one-sided, divisive rhetoric. Groups like Chabad at McGill, StandWithUs, and Israel on Campus assert that university discourages Jewish pride and support for Israel. I have not been at McGill long enough to take a position on campus anti-Semitism. I have noticed, however, that most Jewish organizations at McGill are supportive of Israel, and quiet about the complexities of its political reality.

Organizations such as Jewish Voice for Peace, Independent Jewish Voices, and, more recently, IfNotNow, provide the primary outlets for Jewish students’ criticism of Israel on university campuses.

However, many of these organizations require that students totally support the

principles of the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction movement (BDS) movement.

This absolutist position equates support for Israel on any level with tolerance for the occupation. Conflicted students should be open to challenging their perceptions about the occupation while also reflecting on their philosophy about the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Every aspect of the issue is rooted in an identity that associates Israel with Jewish belonging and vice versa.

On campus, Jewish organizations and left-wing activist groups place progressive, Jewish students at a crossroads. Ingrained identity forged through childhood is confronted with idealist activism that demands a firmly-planted position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There is no such thing as a non-controversial statement about Israel. With Jewish identity on the line, one feels a need to be confident, supported by facts, and willing to face criticism to make a statement about Israel. Ultimately, leftist Jewish students must strive to communicate their opinions despite the complexities of their situation.

Stephen Gill Managing Editor

Days prior to returning to Montreal this August, I visited my father’s grave for the first time in nearly a decade, 17 years after he died. As a child in visits past, I had trudged along with my mother and sister, longing to return to the car. This time, though, I looked forward to going on my own. I had reached my third year of flying back and forth from Kansas to Quebec—back and forth from two starkly different lifestyles and friend groups—in fourmonth intervals. With graduation quietly approaching, my life was moving more quickly than ever. Crossing into Missouri on my way to Mount Moriah Cemetery, I was looking to take a step back and reset.

W h a t e v e r expectations I had about the visit quickly dissipated once I actually got there. For nearly half an hour, I sat on the grass next to my dad’s grave. I’d made a point to go on a weekday afternoon, so the only human I encountered was a straw hatted-man who rolled by on a Gator tractor from time to time. Birds chattered distractingly in the distance. I stared at the undisturbed ponds skirting the corner of the grounds and wondered what I was supposed to do. Nearly 10 years removed from my last visit, I realized I had a very limited concept of how other people behaved in cemeteries.

In search of answers, I spoke with other students who have spent their young lives visiting cemeteries. Melissa Langley and Marlee Nisenboim, both U3 Arts, lost their mothers in their pre-teen years; Nicholas Raffoul, U2 Arts, lost his grandmother at a young age and has taken trips to see her grave accompanied by his mother and aunts for most of his life. Certain students have taken it upon themselves to better integrate the topic of death into campus consciousness. Amanda Brown, MSc Human Genetics, and Daniel Almeida, PhD Neuroscience, work in the McGill Group for Suicide Studies at the Douglas Hospital Research Centre. They are also the co-creators of Death Cafe at McGill. True to its name, the group organizes ‘death cafes’: coffeehouse discussions that allow participants to discuss and become comfortable with mortality.

Sitting on the freshly-mowed grass beside my father’s grave, I eventually began to silently reflect on all that had happened to me in my 17-and-a-half years since last seeing him—catching him up on my life, as best I could. Based on my upbringing, watching shows and movies like How I Met Your Mother and Beetlejuice, I figured that most people only visited cemeteries to either be aggressively sad, overtly lame, or scared out of their pants. In a surprise twist, pop culture had led me astray.

Cemetery visits span a much broader, multi-dimensional spectrum. When they have an occasion to see their family members’ plots, Langley and Raffoul prefer to silently consider their loved ones’ relationships with other people in their lives in addition to their own.

Similarly, Nisenboim will meditate, but will also express herself more outwardly depending on her mood.

“Sometimes, I sit in silence with my thoughts and feelings, [and] other times, I talk to my mom and [imagine] her response to me,” Nisenboim wrote in a message to The McGill Tribune. “Sometimes, I bring my guitar and play her a song [...], and sometimes I just sit and cry,” .

As I recounted the twisting path that took me from suburban middle America to French Canada, a stream of emotions began to collect into a pool of confusion. I felt contemplative, disappointed, and begrudgingly content, and I could not help but hypothesize about what my relationship with my dad would have been had it not been interrupted.

I wanted to know if these feelings resonated with others still coping with family tragedy.

The response was varied: Almeida, who has been to countless funerals for his tight-knit extended family, and Raffoul find themselves more thoughtful and less emotional. Meanwhile, Nisenboim typically feels overwhelmingly sad, followed by a relative calmness during and after her visits. Langley, on the contrary, mostly feels pain in the cemetery.

“Usually, it’s mostly just like, go be upset for 20 minutes, and then be like ‘Alright, why am I doing this to myself?’ and then I’ll leave,” Langley

said.

Beyond sobs

There is no list of emotions you’re supposed to feel at the foot of a loved one’s grave. Stewart Leibovitch has been the cemetery manager for the Shaar Hashomayim congregation cemetery in Westmount for 14 years. Nearly every day, he speaks with visitors, sightseers, and Leonard Cohen fans alike in the century-and-a-half-old cemetery. Leibovitch, whose father passed away just as he finished his master’s degree nearly 30 years ago, no longer feels much at all.

Instead, he points to a ‘balanced’ state of mind in which his emotions are at ease, and he focuses entirely on conjuring memories of and related to his father.

Brown, prior to her involvement with Death Cafe at McGill, volunteered at a hospital for World War II veterans.

Following shifts at the hospital, she would frequent its neighbouring cemetery. Brown enjoys the cemetery experience and feels a sense of serenity and connectedness to those buried underground.

“Sometimes, I just like the ambiance of being in a cemetery,” Brown said. “I find it peaceful. I have good thoughts there, and it’s for the point of feeling connected to the idea of our shared humanity and just reckoning with it and being at peace with it.”

An hour or two after I had arrived, I stood up and continued my Thursday. As I drove home, it was harder to identify individual emotions. As an emotionally-muted individual, I had never gone from a smile, to tears, and back to a smile so quickly. I was glad to have gone.

Nothing had tangibly changed, but at a time when I was so obsessively caught up in the tumultuous present, going to the cemetery put things into perspective. It reminded me to appreciate all that I had growing up, and, particularly, the superhuman effort my mother made to provide that gratifying childhood to me.

Leaving the cemetery, this sensation of raised

Students tak paths to visit one

s and scares

ke winding t lost loved es

spirits—no matter how high—was consistent across each of my interviews, underscoring the emotional power of these stays. Langley, not the most vocal proponent of graveside visits, still feels some level of emotional release, even if it’s not to an entirely-satisfying degree.

After Almeida gets past his nostalgia, he observes that he is generally positive about the experience. Raffoul finds himself feeling better connected to his family upon exiting the cemetery gates, and notices an urge to seek more more fulfillment from his familial relationships. “[After visiting the cemetery], I feel the need to get more connected to my mom and other people in my life and my family because I do feel like I take them for granted,” Raffoul said.

While seeing her mother’s grave doesn’t oust her negative feelings, Nisenboim gains a sense of clarity after her trips.

“Although visiting her doesn’t take away my painful [...] emotions, it often helps me identify exactly what I’m feeling and why, and this awareness helps me respond appropriately and eventually let go,” Nisenboim wrote.

Like Nisenboim, Brown enjoys a similar clarity, coupled with an understated calm and joy. Having spent years cultivating a relationship to death and, more specifically, to cemeteries, Leibovitch’s takeaways are almost philosophical. Among the tombstones, he feels an attachment to history and an affirmation of his present.

“I’ve done something to try and reconnect with my past,” Leibovitch said.

“It’s a feeling of recognition of your past [....] It’s sort of a justification of your existence.”

The night before I visited my dad, I told my mom about my plans. She insisted that, at the very least, I would let her take me to Mount Moriah and show me where to find Joseph P. Gill’s grave. I wasn’t sure why I felt so strongly about it, but I refused to get out of the car when we got there; I wanted this trip to be mine. I hadn’t thought about that much until I noticed a trend midway through my discussions: The distinction between individual and group visits.

Langley and I strongly prefer to go by ourselves, now that we have the choice. Nisenboim will go either by herself or with her brother and father, but

only because they can understand her feelings. She finds it more of a burden to go with anyone else. But individual visits aren’t preferable to the group experience for everyone.

Raffoul has only ever been as part of a group and strongly values the bonding opportunity that comes from these communal visits. Almeida also sees the merits of group visits. He stressed that the difference between group and individual trips can simply be a matter of personal preference.

“The memories you share with the person are often more collective as opposed to [singular], so [there are] more inter-group memories [remembered] as opposed to interpersonal memories,” Almeida said. “That doesn’t reduce the quality of going to the cemetery [one way or the other]. It’s just a different type of interaction.”

That some people strongly prefer individual trips and others gravitate toward group visits speaks to the greater idea that people choose to commemorate their loved ones in fundamentally different ways. After all, one’s memorial process is, necessarily, a deeplyindividual experience.

“Cemeteries offer people a place to remember their loved ones in whatever way people want to [or] need to,” Nisenboim wrote. “I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way to feel or think about death [...], nor is there a right [or] wrong thing to do in [a] cemetery. Grief is an extremely personal experience, and I think everyone has to go through it at their own pace [and] in their own ways.”

Leibovitch, who manages the cemetery for a Jewish congregation, notes that, even in the presence of tradition and religion, individual experiences of grief are unique for everyone.

“You’re going to do what you feel is right for you, ultimately, even if tradition says ‘you do this,’” Leibovitch said. “If you’re going and visiting, I think that [...] you have to do it for whatever is driving you or encouraging you to go there and visit [....] It has to be your way.”

That Thursday, no one—not even the man wearing the hat that disappointingly resembled, but was not, a cowboy hat—was there to show or tell me how to behave.

Nobody could tell me how to pay respects to a man from whom I inherited so much—personality, appearance, family—with a single fuzzy mental image to remember him by. Nobody could tell me how to consider hypotheticals when I had already enjoyed such a fortunate childhood. Like everyone else, I had to find my own way, and I did.

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PHOTO

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

POWERFUL STUDENTS OF McGILL

DIVEST McGILL

“WE STILL CARE, AND WE ARE NOT GOING AWAY.”

JACQUELINE OHAYON

TOMAS JIROUSEK

“UNLESS YOU ARE AN INDIGENOUS STUDENT, YOU CAN’T REALLY UNDERSTAND THE PAIN AND HOW ISOLATED YOU FEEL BECAUSE OF THE “THE FIELDS THAT HAVE UNPAID INTERNSHIPS ARE REDMEN NAME.” NOT ONLY WOMEN-DOMINATED BUT ARE [ALSO] CARE-CENTERED.”

RICHARD DAVY

CAITLIN KINDIG

“THERE WAS NO SPACE FOR TALKING ABOUT THE PROCESS OF ABORTION, ITS LASTING EFFECTS, OR THE SIMPLE FACT THAT MY BODY, WHICH I HAD NOT YET

“THIS IMPACTS EVERYBODY, WE ALL NEED GROWN INTO, WAS SOMEHOW CAPABLE TO KNOW HOW TO USE NALOXONE.” OF CREATING ANOTHER ONE.”

Photography by Gabriel Helfant

CAR T O O N

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

The power of the bean Erica Stefano Design Editor

The power of friendship Elli Slavitch Creative Director

End-of-semester power yoga Daria kiseleva Contributor

Exam mood Winnie lin Staff Designer

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S T U DEN T L I V I N G

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Montreal tour guide highlights indigenous history Donovan King on the power of historical narratives Leyla Moy Contributor Donovan King (BEd ‘10) is attempting to inject diversity into the tourism business. The Montrealbased guide feels that Eurocentric historical narratives monopolize the tour industry. In response, he decided to dedicate his career to counteracting those patterns of unequal representation by publicizing indigenous narratives on his tours.

As a history and English teacher in Montreal, King often took his students to see the city’s monuments, and, after receiving reprimand for giving tours without a permit, King did some research online and decided to apply for a permit of his own. Throughout the application process, King noticed significant barriers to participation for indigenous peoples and omissions of indigenous history. By law, local guides must complete a 240-hour program at the Institut de tourisme et d’hôtellerie du Quebec, which King feels is incomprehensive.

“It cost [approximately] $2,000 and [lasts] eight weeks, and I had to pass two gatekeepers, both [of whom were] white francophone gentlemen,” King said. “The program had major problems in terms of history content.

[It lacked] any sort of indigenous acknowledgement or

even basic Mohawk vocabulary.”

King’s background in history helped raise his sensibility to the gaps in knowledge that influence the views of tour guides and consequently spread to visitors’ collective understanding of the city’s history. While working on his master’s in theatre at the University of Calgary, King met an indigenous colleague who made him aware of the oversights in indigenous issues. His sensitivity to the omissions of indigenous history in traditional theatre and history then informed King’s forays into tourism. “[We spent] many a long night over a pot of coffee reading critical theories,” King said. “[We] talked about discrimination against First Nations, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms [and Canada’s transgressions from it] and started up the Optative Theatrical Laboratories.”

King, describes his tour companies as a theatrical, authentic, and representative upgrade to the simplified colonial stories that saturate the tourism industry.

Now the co-owner of Haunted Montreal and Irish Montreal Excursions, King strives to create an immersive educational experience. Haunted Montreal combines macabre history with storytelling, and King experiments with different narrative methods to highlight contemporary topics of feminism, labour, and LGBT rights. Meanwhile, King’s joint company Secret

Montreal offers guided tours of Montreal’s famous Red Light District headed by a burlesque queen rather than a detached guide. In King’s eyes, tourists are looking for an engaging alternative to the traditional tour. He finds that Montreal’s visitors want to dive into the complexities of the city’s history.

“Tourists want [more than] just white people spouting out history books,” King said. “[They] want people who [they] can empathize [with].”

Based on his experience in Montreal, King identifies many gaps in representation among guides themselves. In the industry, First Nations people rarely give tours of their own land, and the proportionally-low numbers of guides from marginalized communities greatly limits the diversity of represented perspectives. Consequently, according to King, one-sided representations of Montreal’s history often become the only ones available to the public.

Ultimately, King believes that diversifying the tourism industry will help recover Montreal’s multicultural histories.

“A lot of these guides are still misrepresenting First Nations people, and, since they have a monopoly, tourists are learning this when they come to the city,” said King. “This power imbalance will result in more power imbalances.”

S.T.A.N.D. for prison justice

Students take a stance against the criminal justice system

Alaana Kumar Contributor Individuals passionate about criminal justice and prison reform now have a platform to effect change. Founded in 2017, Students Taking a New Direction (S.T.A.N.D.) for Prison Justice is a newly-developed McGill organization, founded and run entirely by members of the student body.

The first McGill group to focus specifically on criminal justice, S.T.A.N.D. hopes to encourage productive criticism of the North American prison systems on campus.

Since its founding, S.T.A.N.D. has attempted to facilitate campus conversations about the hardships faced

by Canadian and American prisoners. In Fall 2018, the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) granted S.T.A.N.D. seed money, which allowed the group to recruit members and plan events. Sarah Petrick (U1 Arts) and current leader of the McGill chapter of S.T.A.N.D., wants to see the organization grow outside of the McGill bubble and spark or contribute to a national conversation about how the Canadian criminal justice system can be improved.

“It would be amazing to get involved in the Montreal community or pair with different NGOs,” Petrick said.

Students at S.T.A.N.D. McGill are fighting for a fair criminal justice system. (S.T.A.N.D. McGill)

“Ultimately, we really just want to provide a safe space to facilitate discussions.”

In North America, mass incarceration rates, overcrowding in penitentiaries, overrepresentation of minority groups, lack of rehabilitation, vast expenses, and unjust processes are often ignored due to a lack of public knowledge. Canada spends over $2 billion a year on its 53 penitentiaries, which board more than 1 out of every 1,000 Canadian adults. Grace Sarabia (U1 Arts), communications director for S.T.A.N.D., hopes that the organization will become help to expose the cracks in the current judicial system.

“Now is when we need to question everything and really look at how our system is failing us,” Sarabia said.

S.T.A.N.D. executives are passionate about educating society on the overrepresentation of minority communities in prison. Currently, black and indigenous communities make up a high percentage of incarcerated individuals in the Canadian prison systems; indigenous women are the fastest growing demographic in Canadian prisons, making up 36 per cent of the population of females in federal prison in 2011. Similarly, there is a disproportionate number of LGBTQ+ individuals incarcerated in American prisons: Members of the community make up seven per cent of the general population, but 20 per cent of the prison population.

Advocates for reform argue that prisons should be rehabilitative, and they seek to replace the traditional prison model with alternative forms of justice, which they believe will be more effective and cost-efficient. For example, indigenous healing lodges use a holistic and spiritual approach to provide guidance and support while preparing individuals for reintegration into the community. S.T.A.N.D. founders believe their organization provides the perfect forum to brainstorm these new approaches.

“We could consider different forms of justice, like healing [lodges] which are growing in popularity within indigenous communities.” Sarabia said.

S.T.A.N.D. members hope that, by the end of their university careers, they will have gained experience in contributing to legal reform. Julia Volpe, U2 Arts, and

member of S.T.A.N.D., joined to get involved in a unique organization that provides insight into Canada’s justice system.

“There are so few courses offered at McGill related to prison reform,” Volpe said. “I’m thankful for the opportunity [S.T.A.N.D. has] given me to learn more about the issue.”

Moving forward, S.T.A.N.D. is working to hold events, such as film screenings and panel discussions, that will raise their public profile on campus.

For members of S.T.A.N.D., the organization serves as a great way to take back the power stripped for incarcerated individuals and a step towards reforming a system that needs adjustment.

A&E

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Yvette Nolan’s ‘The Birds’ places indigeneity in the spotlight

COULD BE GOOD

McGill’s Mordechai Richler writer-in-residence retells the Greek classic Kevin Vogel Staff Writer Yvette Nolan’s adaptation of Aristophanes’s classic Greek comedy The Birds, which ran Nov. 21-23 and 28-30 at Moyse Hall Theatre, focuses on the history of colonization, and the future of truth and reconciliation for indigenous peoples in Canada. Produced as a part of the English department’s Drama & Theatre Program, The Birds features student actors and crew members who tell the story of Jack (Luke Horton, U3 Arts) and Gulliver (Arielle Shiri, U3 Arts) as they leave their city lives behind to seek a new life in a land inhabited by talking birds.

While the pair originally sought to flee the hustle and bustle of city life, Jack quickly proves unwilling to leave his old profiteering ways behind. Working with man-turnedbird Hoopoe (Alexander Czedledy-Nagy,

‘The Birds’ tells a story long over due on the Moyse Hall stage. (Sean Carney)

U3 Management), he pays off a leader in the bird community, Raven (Caroline Portante, U3 Arts), to profit off the land and build a new city modelled after the one he left behind. His plans inadvertently bring a host of other invaders from the city— bureaucrats, missionaries, and the like—who give no credence to the birds’ concerns and work to exploit their society.

Nolan artfully weaves the plot together by making each character’s personality traits and actions double as a commentary on contemporary indigenous-settler relations.

Jack serves as a prototypical colonizer, only showing surface-level concern for the birds when he loses control of his dream city’s development or when his own life is at stake.

Nightingale (Grace Bokenfohr, U2 Music) Hoopoe’s wife, acts as a storyteller who sings of the creation of Turtle Island. She integrates the Greek tragedy of Philomela, a story of a princess who transforms into a nightingale after her brother-in-law mutilates her, to construct a broader narrative about colonial violence.

Recently invited to join the Mordechai Richler Writer-in-Residence program, Nolan has been writing since 1990. Her first production Blade premiered at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival. Born in Saskatchewan and raised in Winnipeg, Nolan was the managing artistic director of the Toronto based company Native Earth Performing Arts. The

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Mordechai Richler program aims to offer emerging artists valuable experience and guidance writing for different media, such as television, film and radio.

Where dialogue is sparse, the actors’ body language fills in the gaps to further flesh out the relationships that unfold onstage. Inès Vieux Francoeur (U2 Arts) is particularly notable in her portrayal of Hoopoe’s assistant, Sandpiper –she aggressively pokes her beak out at Jack and Gulliver during their tense first encounter, and gracefully fluffs her feathers during calmer moments. The birds’ chief authority figure, Eagle (Yves Abanda, U3 Science) projects a similarly-strong stage presence by extending his enormous wings to silence the crowd in various scenes. His posture throughout the performance solidifies his role as a powerful and decisive leader in the decolonization process.

The Birds is an entertaining and intellectually-engaging adaptation of the classical Greek comedy. Vibrant and colourful costumes, coupled with welldesigned forest props, add a sense of realism in what would otherwise be a purely fantastical world. Each performer and crew member played their roles exceptionally, showcasing the dedication that went into the work. At the end of the performance, the audience left the theatre pondering the nature of reconciliation in the present day.

Nouveau cinéma bulgare

Film cycle for all you closeted aficionados of Bulgarian filmmaking - your time has come.

Until Dec. 6, Cinematheque québécoise.

Yo-Yo Ma live

The closing act of the 2018 Montreal Bach Festival brings Yo-Yo Ma to the Maison symphonique. The concert will also be broadcast live at St. James United Church on St. Catherine.

Dec. 7, 6:30pm, St. James United Church. $20

Luminotherapie - domino effect Heal your finals-weary soul at this participative multimedia installation, bringing calming sounds and tropical colours to the Place des Arts.

Dec. 11 2018 - Jan. 27, 2019, Place des Arts, Free.

Noname

Fresh off her new album Room 25, Noname will you take you on a spiritual hip-hop journey.

January 4, 8:00pm, Théâtre Corona, $38.

Aladdin remake returns to disappointing tropes Disney misconstrues the Arab experience once again Nicholas Raffoul Staff Writer In the wake of widespread excitement for a liveaction version of Lion King, Disney has been teasing the release of Guy Ritchie’s remake of Aladdin throughout the fall. Set to be released in May 2019, the film will bring to life the world of Agrabah, a faraway land of childhood dreams. As a child, the animated version of Aladdin (1992) was my first glimpse at cartoon characters who looked something like me and my family. At the time, I was overwhelmed to see a movie that depicted an Arab story, not yet aware of the movie’s many historical and cultural inaccuracies.

Aladdin constructed images of what my culture should have looked like. I wished more of my life as an Arab was filled with the mysticism of Agrabah and that my mother’s Arabic music on the radio sounded more like “A Whole New World.” I constantly questioned why I looked more like Jafar, the evil sorcerer, than any other character in the movie. I was more enchanted by the orientalized, European conception of Arab culture that a few white producers had crafted.

Today, the excitement for the live-action movie bears a sinister reality: The Arab experience can’t escape the stereotype that the film perpetuates. As of 2014, the animated movie was still the third highestgrossing traditionally-animated feature worldwide.

The film is full of ethnic stereotypes of Arabs and

their physical features, showing exaggerated hooked noses, thick eyebrows, and outrageous facial hair, predominantly evident among the movie’s villains.

In contrast to the movie’s protagonists, Aladdin and Jasmine, both of whom bear the Eurocentric markings of lighter skin, thinner lips, and cute button noses, Jafar’s explicitly Arab features are central to his malevolence.

Over 25 years later, it appears as though the liveaction movie will perpetuate the trope of a villainous Arab man battling against the whiter, morally-superior couple. In the upcoming remake, Naomi Scott, a lightskinned British-Indian actress with no connection to the Middle East, is cast as Princess Jasmine. The producers made an intentional decision to veer away from the everyday Arab woman, alienating a new generation of girls. This is made especially dangerous when ‘whiteness’ is the ideal standard of beauty among women in the Arab world: The skin whitening industry brought in almost $18 billion in Asia and the Middle East in 2017. Once again, darker-skinned and hookednosed men are cast to play more sinister characters including Jafar (Marwan Kenzari) and Hakim (Numan Acar), perpetuating conceptions of Arab men as menacing and untrustworthy.

Retrospectively, Aladdin is a portal to my culture that was more mystical than real. The movie carefully deconstructed and reconstructed aspects of my culture including dress, history, and language as a form of ethnic dominance, making me doubt my own rich

culture and ancestry.

Popular culture uses my home as a trope for barbarism and as an object of fascination, which translates from the movie screen to my everyday interactions: I have been ‘randomly’ checked at airports and have had dates ask me to speak Arabic to them because of how ‘exotic’ it is. As an Arab man, I embody Aladdin’s palatable and exotic oriental flavour, but simultaneously, the ugly threat that the Middle East so often represents. While Aladdin is sure to bring back childhood nostalgia to its older audience, it is imperative that we recognize the falsehood of the image perpetuated by the film and its impending remake.

Arab representations in the media are often far from the truth. (Arshaaq Jiffry / The McGill Tribune)

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A&E

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Grimes said “We Appreciate Power,” so now we appreciate power

Following a tumultuous year, Grimes releases her highly-anticipated single Solomon Friedman Contributor The rise of artificial Intelligence (AI) has been decried by the likes of many—after all, there are few things more terrifying. Not exactly so: According to Grimes newest track, “We Appreciate Power,” this dystopia could actually be pretty cool. The Canadian pop princess declared the AI invasion to be good, therefore, it is gospel.

Grimes is the electro-pop outfit of former McGill student Claire Boucher. On “We Appreciate Power,” the singer-songwriter’s first single in over two years, Grimes and frequent collaborator, HANA, sing from the perspective of a pro-AI Girl Group Propaganda machine.

Though bizarre in concept, the song is an effective and danceable robot-bop that, with its crisp and glittering production, refrains from sounding too campy. In 2018, artists like Janelle Monáe and Robyn ditch their cyborg personas for more something more human. Grimes’ new robotic identity feels strangely refreshing. There is something endearing about being told by someone with a voice as sweet as Grimes’ to submit to our A.I. overlords.

The track opens with a scream: A tasteful and subtle way to introduce listeners to Grimes’ latest work.

She scatters shrieks and scratches throughout the song, creating a sense of total chaos, juxtaposed with her and HANA’s calm voices. The track ends with the word ‘submit’ repeated over and over as if to brainwash listeners into actually giving into A.I. supremacy. With lyrics about succumbing to computer rulers and an obvious influence from the Nine Inch Nails and K-Pop on the production, “We Appreciate Power,” is the dystopian banger we

Grimes and HANA have previously toured together and collaborated on a cover of Tegan and Sara’s “Dark Soon Come.” (conseqquenceofsound.net) have all been craving.

Internet-savvy fans will, no doubt, try to draw connections between the song’s lyrics and Grimes’ multibillionaire boyfriend Elon Musk, founder of Tesla. The song could very well function as propaganda for Musk’s

takeover of the planet, which, in all honesty, wouldn’t be awful if the national anthem were as catchy as “We Appreciate Power.” When the couple made their debut at the 2018 Met Gala, Twitter was abound with jokes that their relationship was proof that the simulation we live in is glitching. Lyrics like “simulation, give me something good,” or “simulation: it’s the future” reference public suspicion. Perhaps, this year’s most surprising reveal about Grimes is not that she’s a fake socialist, but rather that she’s self-aware.

While 2018 has proven successful for Grimes artistically—she was featured on new albums by Janelle Monáe, Jimmy Urine, and Poppy, and composed the theme for the Netflix series Hilda—Grimes has also transitioned from Pitchfork-famous to tabloid fodder.

Aside from her bizarre relationship with Musk, Grimes engaged in a feud with Azealia Banks, who accused her tech mogul boyfriend of tweeting on acid and holding her hostage. It’s no wonder that it took the artist nine months to release the track.

Despite a year of turmoil, Grimes’ production has never sounded as clean as it does on “We Appreciate Power.” The nu-metal guitars that pulse throughout build on the harder sounds previously explored on tracks like “Kill V. Maim” from 2015’s Art Angels. Shifting away from the soft sounds of her early work, Grimes is breaking out of the cloying bedroom-pop genre that made her famous. The glittery aspects of her work are still present on this track, and they can be found in the synthy coos of the bridge, paired with new, aggressive tones.

“We Appreciate Power” offers a more polished and confident Grimes. The song proves that, if anything, Grimes has come out of this nightmare of a year with a clearer sense of self and direction.

‘Hyper Real’ thoughtfully reflects race relations Multi-media blend of artwork provokes and inspires

Keira Seidenberg Contributor Hyper Real, which showed at Concordia University’s student art gallery VAV (Visual Arts Visuels) until Nov. 30, showcased the work of nine black artists, juxtaposing themes like masculinity and femininity, isolation and connection, in a series of video art works, graphic prints, and eerily arranged baby-doll sculptures. The exhibition functioned as a mirror, reflecting the identities and personal narratives of the artists, but also provided viewers with a space to examine their own perceptions of black identity and race relations. While the works varied in form, each deconstructed stereotypical beliefs in an exhibition that was at once introspective and expressive.

One of the works in Hyper Real by Karl Obakeng Ndebele, a multidisciplinary South African artist based in Montreal, is entitled “Siyalima,” which translates roughly to “the cultivation stage of farming” in Ndebele. The work portrays South African history through video art, juxtaposing the past and present in a way that re-envisions storytelling methods through technology. The two-minute clip recounts a moment in colonial history in

which early European settlers in South Africa often gave mirrors to local leaders as payment for their lands after convincing them that the mirrors could grant longevity or a second life.

The film depicts two individuals dressed in contemporary streetwear in a nondescript forest setting, holding mirrors that reflect their persons and their environment to the sound of hip-hop beats. “Siyalima” functions as a commentary on colonialist discourse, shedding light on historical racism and systems of oppression that continue to influence the lives of black South Africans today. While the mirrors bear literal meaning given their role in local and colonial relations, they also demand symbolic reflection from viewers. Ndebele’s work prompts consideration of current race relations in South Africa and allows the audience to question their own privilege.

Daniel Itiose, another artist included in the exhibition, works with oil paint, rendering large-scale, hyper-realistic paintings of human subjects. Itiose’s portraiture dissects perceptions of traditional masculinity and gendered norms by showing male subjects experiencing emotions that are otherwise perceived as ‘feminine’. From afar, Itiose’s paintings look like photographs, capturing

vulnerability and personal strife in closeup shots of male subjects. Upon closer examination, the works are composed of delicate brushstrokes, lending the work detail which could not be created with the click of a shutter.

Student artist nafleri also uses video art portraying a black individual slowly undressing as their body becomes a virtual canvas for ‘bootleg resources’, including radicalized comics, news segments, and a looped soundbite of Eric Garner. Garner, a black man murdered by the New York Police for selling bootleg cigarettes, repeats “I can’t breathe” as the police choke him. Artist Theran Sativa, works with dolls found in Salvation Army donation centres. The dolls comment on identity construction through materiality and the appropriation of the black body.

Hyper Real dissects tensions surrounding acceptance and personal narratives. The exhibition encourages viewers to reflect on their physical presence within the gallery, where acceptance is contingent upon the artists’ invitation. There is a confessional quality to the work in which oil paint and commercialized plastic toys convey the artist’s relationship to the past and present,

From baby-dolls to graphic prints, “Hyper Real’ encouraged introspection through eclectic mediums. (VAV Gallery) their cultural histories, and racial discourse.

While patrons experiences in the gallery may only be temporary, the artists and their works encourage lasting reflection on racial identity

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A&E

THE BEST AND WORST OF 2018 Katia Innes, Sophie Brzozowski, Ariella Garmaise, Stephen Gill, Nicholas Raffoul, Leo Stillinger, Kevin Vogel, Emma Carr Staff Writers, Editors, and Managing Editors

BEST ALBUMS

1 2 3 4 5

Be the Cowboy, Mitski

Sad indie kids have traded their beanies for cowboy hats, wallowing in perhaps the most beautiful auditory manifestation of sadness to ever have graced the radio waves.

Hive Mind, The Internet

The exhausting media frenzy surrounding Ariana Grande’s fleeting relationship with Urban Outfitters sale section model Pete Davidson was all worth it if just for this album. Or even just the 1:14 interlude “pete davidson.”

Keyboard and reggaeton riffs complement razor-sharp vocals as Uchis sings about personal growth and heartbreak. “Dead to Me” perfectly represents her audacious confidence and hypnotizing charm.

Lush, Snail Mail

Fronted by 19-year-old Lindsey Jordan, Snail Mail has established itself as a force to be reckoned with. Their first full-length album Lush, is cathartic but poignant and delicate all at once.

Sting’s first foray into reggae resulted in an atrocity. Shaggy deserved better. We all deserved better.

2 3 4

On top of endless exposition, corny recording sessions, and way too many bad inside jokes between the other three members of Queen, this eight-year trainwreck in the making seems to imply that Freddie Mercury’s coming out is synonymous with selling out.

Sweetener, Ariana Grande

Isolation, Kali Uchis

BEST SONGS

1 2 3

BEST MOVIES Eighth Grade

Writer-director Bo Burnham’s film debut is cringe-worthy in the best possible way. Funny and uncomfortable at the same time, Eighth Grade stands out against formidable competitors in the coming-ofage genre.

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Crazy Rich Asians

Awkwafina was there. So was Constance Wu. Everyone was hot. There were Asians, and boy, were they crazy and rich. Katherine Ho’s cover of Coldplay’s “Yellow” was beautiful and tear-inducing.

Black Panther

This movie has everything: A soundtrack featuring Kendrick Lamar, explosions, superheroes spaceships, and political intrigue—what more could you want from a Marvel movie?

Incredibles 2

After 14 years of waiting, the much-beloved animated, unnamed superhero family has returned.

This charming tale of everyday family life and supernatural prowess is sure to leave you hooked.

Tom Cruise skydives into a Parisian disco, disarms nuclear bombs, and tackles a helicopter with another helicopter. Most amazing of all, he makes this 148-minute film fly by. He’ll never grow too old for this shit.

Worst Movie: Bohemian Rhapsody

This summer, the Internet brought the world an R&B collection of soft blues, rap, funk, and jazz. Crush-worthy lead singer Syd is effortlessly cool, and delivers easy, groovy, and flirty vocals.

Worst Album: 44/876, Sting & Shaggy

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5

Mission Impossible: Fallout

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“This Is America”, Childish Gambino

The song which made us dance hard and think harder. The now-iconic music video sent Youtube commenters into a frenzy of interpretations. Fun and disturbing in equal measure, “This is America” took the pulse of its time like few songs have in recent years.

“Nobody’, Mitski

With the first single off Be the Cowboy, Mitski parlays her trademark emo lyrics into a feel-good pop hit. Finally, an anthem lonely girls and gays can dance to together.

“Pristine”, Snail Mail

The embodiment of adolescent melancholy wrapped up in a crisp package, perfect for walking to your local suburban gas station to buy $2 slushies and cigarettes.

Unrequited love has never sounded so sweet.

“Moo!”, Doja Cat

TV SHOWS

1 2 3 4 5

Black Mirror

Everyone’s favourite dystopian drama aired its fourth season, once again evoking paranoia and ennui in audiences from around the world.

Big Mouth

Big Mouth’s second season added new layers to the hilarious struggles of puberty, introducing more hormone monsters and even a Shame Wizard. The show has captured the hearts of all of those who, for whatever reason, want to relive their early tweens.

The Good Place

Michael Schur’s descent into hell somehow managed to get better, adding more philosophy, more demons, and, most importantly, more tension between Chidi and Eleanor.

Queer Eye

In Season 2 of their hit show, Jonathan, Karamo, Bobby, Tan, and Antoni return to rural Georgia to teach struggling bachelors how to make avocado toast. Equal parts entertaining and uplifting, Queer Eye is a rare example of a reality show with substance.

BoJack Horseman

The depressing, yet hilarious show about a talking horse returned this year— and it was more depressing yet hilarious than ever. Season 5 goes meta: BoJack takes on the lead role in Philbert, a show-within-ashow about a troubled male anti-hero.

Worst TV Show: 13 Reasons Why

When a first season wasn’t necessary,13 Reasons Why came back with another, this time with excessive and gratuitous monologues, polaroids, and sexual violence.

This viral sensation turns memes, cheesy cow puns, and cute onesies into a surprisingly catchy hit. Doja Cat milks every second of song time to turn an otherwise tongue-incheek track into a true masterpiece.

“thank u, next”, Ariana Grande

Put on your lipgloss and grab your glitter gel pens, Ariana Grande has reinvented pop music—again! Say goodbye to toxic exes, petty rivalries, and, most of all, haters.

Worst Song: “I’m Upset”, Drake

In 2018’s most boring 200-millionstream single, Drake complains about hypothetical alimony payments and Pusha T being mean to him. Fittingly, this dud became an afterthought when King Push released an even crueler diss track days later.

13 Reasons Why recycles harmful sexual violence imagery. (IMdB.com)

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Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Nuclear power: The lesser evil Nuclear power preferable over fossil fuels Farida Rahman Contributor Environmentalists and politicians alike hotly debate the usage of nuclear power.

While it may be a source of relatively clean energy, it has also gained a reputation for being a catalyst for catastrophic accidents.

Nuclear power plants create energy by breaking uranium atoms into smaller parts.

This process, known as nuclear fission, heats up the water surrounding a reactor core and turns it into steam. The rising steam then turns turbines attached to generators, producing electricity.

Despite nuclear fission being relatively more efficient at converting raw materials into energy than burning fossil fuels, it also presents unique operational and practical challenges. Nuclear waste, the leftover material from a used-up reactor core, is radioactive and can cause serious diseases, particularly increasing the risk of developing cancer. In Canada, the popular treatment method is to dispose waste by dunking it in water to reduce the levels of radioactivity and then storing it in facilities around the power plant itself. There is, however, little consensus on what to do with nuclear waste in the long term. While nuclear waste can be repurposed by extracting and reusing its uranium and plutonium, this technique is extremely costly, and both uranium and plutonium are still dangerous materials on

their own. The most popular suggestion, and likely the future course of action in Canada, is to bury the radioactive material in geological repositories deep underground; however the long-term effects of this are still under research.

Beyond disposal issues, mining, purifying, and transporting uranium and nuclear fuel can emit pollution. However, nuclear pollution is practically insignificant when compared to the pollution from fossil fuels like coal and natural gas. A 2013 paper from NASA claimed that using nuclear power instead of burning fossil fuels has saved, on average, 64 gigatons of carbon dioxide globally.

Despite the benefits of reduced pollution, accidents in the news have given nuclear power a bad reputation. Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and Fukushima Daiichi are well-known nuclear power plant disasters, each of which had a different cause. In Chernobyl, inadequately-trained personnel operated a factory with a flawed design.

On Three Mile Island, the coolant to stop the reactor core from overheating escaped.

In Fukushima Daiichi, a tsunami caused the coolant to malfunction in three different reactors. In response to these tragedies, nuclear power plant safety today has been improved through increased training for employees, better construction materials, and backup coolant systems. “[Nuclear power is] not that dangerous if you normalize it to the rest of the

world,” Jean Barette, a professor in McGill’s Department of Physics, said. “If you normalize the number of car accidents every day, there is no comparison [....The difference is that nuclear] accidents are a mess and it’s expensive [….] A lot more people die from radioactive poisoning from smoke on coal plants than from nuclear reactors.”

The future of nuclear power remains unclear. Researchers are currently looking into how nuclear power can produce hydrogen through electrolysis, the process of splitting water molecules using an electric current to make hydrogen. Hydrogen

presents an environmentally-efficient source of fuel for the future because it emits water vapour, rather than carbon dioxide, during combustion. Presently, natural gas and coal are used to produce hydrogen, but nuclear power plants are the ideal candidate for this job since they create both steam and electricity with little pollution. Sustainable hydrogen production could improve a wealth of other technologies, such as reliable hydrogen-fuel cars. Ultimately, nuclear power might be a better investment than fossil fuels, even if it feels like picking a mild environmental harm over a greater one.

Nuclear power plants create energy through the breakdown of uranium atoms into smaller parts. (ipa.org.au)

Protecting the powerless

House of Commons to decide the fate of whales and dolphins in captivity Ronny Litvack-Katzman Staff Writer Whales, dolphins, and other members of the cetacean family are now one fin-stroke closer to freedom thanks to the new Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act, Bill S-203. The act, which passed in the Senate on Oct. 23 and is currently undergoing its second reading in the House of Commons, looks to amend Canada’s Criminal Code to ban the capture of cetaceans and enable protections for marine mammals. It further stipulates an end to the breeding of cetaceans in captivity and prohibits the movement of live whales or dolphins across Canadian borders.

Many politicians and animal rights activists vehemently condemn the captivity of cetaceans and continue to fight for their release. In an interview with iPolitics, Senator Mary Jane MacCallum of Manitoba stated that housing animals outside of their natural habitat is amoral.

“This concern is compounded by my personal belief, shared by many, that having these majestic and intelligent animals in captivity is simply unnatural,” MacCallum said. “It is against the very nature, biology and physiology of these animals to be swimming around in tanks when they are wired and built for the vastness of an ocean.”

In 2014, prominent anthropologist Jane Goodall wrote an open letter to the Vancouver Aquarium demanding that the aquarium put an end to their beluga breeding program.

Goodall cited high mortality rates and the complex social and sensory lives of the animals as reasons to end the program.

While the bill has been widely praised as a humane initiative, Andrew Trites of the University of British

Columbia’s Institute for Oceans and Fisheries questions some aspects of Bill S-203, such as the ban on importing and exporting reproductive materials from Canada.

“Imagine we had an endangered species where the only female left is in Canada and the only male left is in the United States,” Trites said. “We might want to allow them to artificially inseminate.”

Having access to domesticated cetaceans is highly advantageous for research studies. As of 2018, Marineland of Canada in Ontario is the only facility in the country that

As of 2018, Marineland of Canada is the only facility in the country to still house cetaceans for research and entertainment purposes. (Sunny Kim/ The McGill Tribune)

still houses live cetaceans.

“There are lots of questions [that] we, as scientists, ask, such as ‘does the noise ships make affect killer whales?,’” Trites said. “To answer these sorts of questions a hearing test needs to be completed on the whales and you’re not going to do that on a wild animal.”

The majority of the research done on cetaceans is done in aquariums. Behavioural questions related to topics like food intake, physiology of sight, and cognitive abilities all require close observation and extended periods of data collection, which is only possible in controlled settings.

The ongoing debate now centres around whether or not research practices can take precedent over animal welfare. Trites argues that they aren’t necessarily contradictory.

“There is a lot more focus on providing the animals with stimulus and challenges so [that] they do not develop psychological problems.” Trites said.

According to Trites, a popular way to assess the stress levels of whales in captivity is by analyzing their ability to breed. Whales with reduced levels of stress are more likely to get pregnant and carry offspring full term. Marineland’s success in mating beluga whales may therefore be an indication of their low stress levels.

In the meantime, the language of Bill S-203 remains unclear with regard to the many exceptions it allows at the discretion of provincial legislatures. The act will only prevent the capture of future marine mammals; it exempts facilities which currently hold cetaceans. This fact leaves marine biologists and animal rights activists alike wondering how Bill S-203 will affect the wellbeing of cetaceans still in captivity.

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The microscopic powers in food

The good, the bad, and the ugly microorganisms that shape our food

Morgan Sweeney Contributor Locally-brewed kombucha is all the rage in Montreal; a new brand seems to line the shelves of hipster cafés every week. Kombucha, along with blue cheese, aged meats, and alcohol, are just a fraction of the foods dependent on fermentation.

Fermentation occurs when microorganisms break down glucose to make energy without the presence of oxygen. The process produces a number of by-products that change the flavour and consistency of food.

‘Probiotic’ is the umbrella term used to refer to beneficial bacteria that contributes to gut health. According to Lawrence Goodridge, director of the Food Safety and Quality Program, lactic acid bacteria are responsible for the probiotic benefits of substances such as yogurt.

“Lactic acid bacteria [...] are useful because they produce a lot of compounds that make our gastrointestinal tract healthy,” Goodridge said.

While these microorganisms are essential for creating certain delicious products, there also exists a variety of miniscule life forms that infiltrate the body through food to wreak havoc. Goodridge explained that these microorganisms are the major culprits for food poisoning. Parasites, like cryptosporidium, cause miserable living conditions for the host. Viruses like

norovirus can be so prolific that they actually force cruise ships back to shore. Bacterial infections such as E.coli and salmonella are also responsible for a significant proportion of foodborne illnesses. They are often found in the intestinal tract of animals and can contaminate any produce that comes in contact with animal excrement.

“It’s a common myth that [salmonella] can only be found in chicken and eggs,” Goodridge said. “Certainly, it is found in chicken and eggs a lot, but salmonella can cause outbreaks in virtually every food.

There have been outbreaks in chocolate.”’

Recently, the Government of Canada issued a warning against washing poultry prior to cooking it because the splashing water may spread salmonella onto other surfaces. Even more pressingly, on Nov. 26, the Center for Disease Control released a food safety alert linked to E.colicontaminated romaine lettuce grown on the central coast of California, which produces 75 per cent of the U.S.’s leafy greens. The same strain of E.coli has also been found in romaine lettuce grown in Ontario and Quebec.

When left unchecked, these pathogenic microorganisms can grow inside of people and make them sick for varying periods of time. However, low levels of heat are usually sufficient in killing the more common bacteria, which is why it is so critical to fully cook food before eating

When left unchecked, pathogenic microorganisms can make consumers sick.

(Cordelia Cho / The McGill Tribune) it. This is especially true when visiting new places; new bacteria can be dangerous when one is exposed for the first time without prior immunity.

Exotic microbes aside, the majority of people encounter the byproducts of bacterial metabolism in the form of food that has been left in the fridge for too long.

Any change in colour or odour indicates that the pseudomonas bacteria has started to digest the food. While a healthy person will not necessarily become ill by eating spoiled food, bacteria will cause food to lose its nutritional value. In addition, its digestive by-products often make the food look and smell unappealing, which is usually reason enough to deter someone from eating it.

Despite their size, microorganisms have a huge impact on human beings, influencing everyday life to a degree most people are never aware of.

While it may seem logical that cutting off the mould on bread would leave the rest of the product salvageable, new research reveals that moulds release spores which burrow into the product. Once there are visible signs of growth, then, the entire loaf of bread is probably compromised.

However, harder foods such as meats and cheeses with a little bit of mould can still be eaten so long as all the visible mould is removed, as the denser makeup of the food prevents mould from growing too far.

The power of effective studying Expert tips to study smarter, not harder Morgan Sweeney Contributor Productivity and procrastination: The notorious p-words of finals season. As students pack into libraries like sardines to cram a semester’s worth of information into a few days, final exams seem like the only thing on anyone’s mind. Fortunately, there are ways to make the studying process more effective and less strenuous.

In an email to The McGill Tribune, Signy Sheldon, assistant professor in McGill’s Department of Psychology and Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory, explained that, perhaps counterintuitively, taking some time away from the books can actually help to maximize time spent studying.

“One theory [about] memory is that information is remembered better when it is repeated at certain intervals,” Sheldon wrote. “So, when studying for an exam, take breaks before coming back to review information. This will help information become less resistant to forgetting.”

While the research is inconclusive as to exactly how long the ideal studying interval is, anywhere between 25 and 52 minutes seems commonplace, with breaks ranging from three to 15 minutes. Timing aside, there is also research on the best strategies to use when learning material. The levels of processing theory posits that one can learn at a surface level by focusing on simple details, like the words or diagrams from lectures, or at

the deeper level by considering the underlying meaning of the material.

“Deep processing leads to memories that are stronger and last longer,” Sheldon wrote. “For something to be learned deeply, you can try linking new information to familiar and meaningful information. One tool would be to link what you’re learning to what you already know.”

Thomas Shultz, professor of computational psychology at McGill, also supports this approach to learning. Shultz is a firm believer in the crib sheet, a double-sided piece of A4 paper on which students can fit a semester’s worth of information to bring into the exam. “[Students] universally say they like it because they are relearning the course material by organizing it at increasingly-higher levels of abstraction,” Shultz wrote in an email to the Tribune. “They also like it because they are no longer anxious about memorizing.”

This re-organization and summarization of course material fosters deep learning. Further research suggests that writing notes by hand leads to greater retention of information than typing them; thus, a handwritten crib sheet would be the most useful tool for learning.

While studying is crucial, the all-important ‘hygiène de vie’ is just as necessary for good grades as mental health.

“I think the most toxic habit students engage in is not sleeping,” Sheldon said. “Sleep really is essential to creating memories, which is essentially what you are doing when you are studying.”

Fitting a semester’s worth of information onto a crib sheet could help students prepare for finals. (youthvillage.co.za) While people sleep, their short-term memories are consolidated into long-term memories, which allows for better recollection of information. This process is critical for forming new memories, making it ideal for retaining information.

Ultimately, what most students struggle with during finals is staying motivated despite a workload that feels overwhelming at times. One way to overcome negative inertia is to reconfigure the looming pile of work in original ways by planning a study date in a new place or holding a game show-style review session for example.

By framing studying as something exciting, it becomes something to look forward to, which makes it all the more likely that the memorization will be productive.

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Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Know Your Athlete: Tricia Deguire

The Martlets goalie could be McGill’s next Olympian Owen Gibbs Staff Writer Goaltenders have one of the most important roles in hockey: They are the last line of defence against the opposing onslaught. They need a level head and quick feet—two traits which McGill Martlets goalie Tricia Deguire has in spades.

Deguire, a native of Sherbrooke, Quebec, is in her third season backstopping the McGill Martlets. Growing up in the seemingly-eternal Quebec winter, Deguire started playing hockey at a young age and found success after putting in persistent work.

“I started skating when I was about three or four years old,” Deguire said. “I was really bad at skating at first [...], but I was still getting back up and trying hard, so, as I grew up, my skating improved way faster than we thought [....] They put me into hockey with boys, and I just wanted to be one of the best and have fun.”

Deguire’s hockey career did not start in front of the net.

As a child, she played forward, putting the puck on net in hopes of scoring as many goals as possible. However, her ambitions changed, and she shifted her game from offence to defence.

“At one point, I thought the goalie was the coolest with the pads, so I decided to cry to my mom every night, and they started to give me my chance,” Deguire said.

Deguire’s love for the position has translated into success.

In her rookie season at McGill, she was named both the USports and RSEQ rookie of the year. In May of her sophomore year, Deguire was invited to attend a strength and conditioning camp with the Canadian women’s national development program, followed by an invitation to Hockey Canada’s Summer Showcase in August. Ultimately, she was selected for the national women’s development team for the 2018 Nations Cup in Germany, making her the third McGill player to ever attend.

“I never thought I would be invited by Team Canada before coming to McGill,” Deguire said. “Hockey Canada is a big thing for a lot of hockey players. We all want to be there; we all dream of it. I just think that being invited by them and having the chance to try out [...] was a dream come true.”

Despite the success, Deguire isn’t counting on playing in the next Olympics.

“There’s a lot of good goalies and a lot [of time] to go before 2022,” she said. “I can’t say if I’ll play there. It’s a dream for sure, and, if it happens in 2022, I would be one of the happiest for sure.”

Unlike many players, Deguire does not wear her number 33 because of any sort of superstition.

“When I got to McGill, the only options for numbers were 1 and 33, and I knew that I didn’t want to be the first one on the ice,” Deguire said. “It’s not superstition, I think. It’s about stress when you get on the ice. I didn’t want to take all the attention, just to be there and be that player.”

Superstitious or not, Deguire is one of the best goalies that Canada has to offer, and, at this rate, she should have a long and illustrious career ahead of her.

Thirdyear goalie Tricia Deguire hopes to join Team Canada for the 2022 Winter Olympics. (Remi Lu / McGill Athletics)

10 things: Powerful sports moments of 2018 Adam burton, théo farineau, kaja surborg, alden tabac, owen gibbs, ender mcduff, miya keilin, gabe nisker Contributors, Staff Writers, and Sports Editors assault survivors received the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage.

They received the honour, presented to athletes whose contributions transcend sports, for courageously sharing their stories in court to put the abuser behind bars. The court ruling was a momentous occasion for all survivors of sexual assault, and the image of the gymnasts standing in solidarity on national TV was one of the most powerful moments in sports this year.

North and South Korea enter Pyeongchang under a united flag

For the first time since the Korean War, athletes from North and South Korea entered the Opening Ceremony of the 2018 Games together under the Korean Unification flag.

Despite its purely symbolic value, the act was a strong gesture of peace—providing the world with a vision of harmony.

Chloe Kim entertains and inspires in Olympic debut

Chloe Kim made history at this year’s Olympic Games when she became the youngest woman to win Olympic snowboarding gold. The daughter of South Korean immigrants, the now 18-year-old Kim is fun and relatable, and has an awesome dad; throughout the competition, he provided some of the most emotional moments from this year’s games with signs, beers, and tears.

Virtue and Moir still golden on ice

With their Olympic victory back in February, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir became the most decorated Olympic ice dancers of all time. Their free skate, set to the music of Moulin Rouge, was so much more than a medal-winning routine, though; it brought together figure skating fans from across Canada and the rest of the world to celebrate a partnership that has revolutionised ice dance.

Humboldt Broncos Jersey Day

On Apr. 6, a bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League crashed, claiming the lives of 16 young players and team staff. Donations poured in for the families who’d lost loved ones. Vigils were held across the country, including on Jersey Day, when people wore their jerseys and green ribbons to show their support.

LeBron James founds I Promise school

141 survivors went on stage together to accept the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage at this year’s ESPYs. (Image Group LA)

Before leaving Cleveland this summer, LeBron James gifted his hometown of Akron, Ohio with the I Promise School.

The public school is specially designed to meet the needs of atrisk youth, like James was. This bigger-than-basketball moment came toward the end of a year in which Fox News’ Laura Ingraham told James to “shut up and dribble.”

#VegasStrong

This story started in 2017 with the Oct. 1 shooting in Las Vegas, but the aftermath is what made this season truly powerful. The Vegas Golden Knights’ inaugural season was a special one—the best in NHL history. The Golden Knights gave the area, which proudly declared themselves #VegasStrong, a team to rally behind all the way to the Stanley Cup final.

Luka Modrić leads Croatia to World Cup Final

Before Luka Modrić became one of the best professional soccer players in the world, he was a war refugee, forced to flee his hometown due to the Croatian War of Independence in the 1990s. Nevertheless, he has had a fantastic career, including an amazing performance this summer which led his nation to its first ever World Cup final. In December, he went on to win the Ballon d’Or, awarded annually to the world’s best soccer player.

U.S. gymnasts awarded at ESPYS

At this July’s ESPYs, over 140 of Larry Nassar’s sexual

Colin Kaepernick teams up with Nike

On Sept. 5, Nike released an advertising campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick, the free-agent NFL quarterback who became the face of a protest against police brutality in the United States by kneeling during pre-game national anthem performances. Unsurprisingly, the ad received backlash, but, ultimately, Kaepernick’s activism continues to affect and inspire people all around the world.

Naomi Osaka’s triumph at the US Open

On Sept. 8, then-20-year-old Japanese-Haitian tennis star Naomi Osaka shook up the tennis world when she defeated 23-time Grand-Slam Champion Serena Williams at the US Open. A controversial confrontation between Williams and the USTA official largely defined the two-set match, souring Osaka’s victory. Still, Osaka and Williams showed great sportsmanship following the match, as Williams congratulated Osaka, and Osaka thanked Williams for inspiring her career and ultimate triumph.

SPORTS

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

23

Right shoe, left shoe:

Supe rst itio n in How superstition affects

spo rt athletes, fans, and the sports we love Ender McDuff Staff Writer

I

n 1982, only one game stood between the Cameroonian national soccer team and its firstever trip to the FIFA World Cup. The night before the big game, Head Coach Jean Vincent decided to visit the team captain in his hotel room. He walked down the hall and knocked on the captain’s door. No one answered.

Jean went from room to room until he finally reached the last door. The door was ajar and Jean peered in to find his entire team asleep together on the hotel floor.

Cameroon qualified for the World Cup the next day.

Team Cameroon employed a superstition.

Superstitious beliefs date back to ancient religious rites and tribal customs, arising in the face of stressful situations and uncertainty in order to create a semblance of control. Psychologists believe superstition to be the incorrect assignment of cause to effect, as these beliefs are retroactively linked with an event’s outcome. Sports, by design, cause stress and uncertainty for which superstition serves as a coping mechanism.

It is unsurprising, then, that superstition has become such a prevalent force among athletes across disciplines.

Despite its ubiquity, however, the phenomenon of superstition in sports remains largely understudied.

McGill men’s soccer Head Coach Marc Mounicot holds a master’s degree in sports psychology and wrote his thesis about the effects of superstition on soccer players’ pre-game anxiety levels. He spoke to the difficulties of researching superstition’s effects on athletes’ performance.

“One of the problems with superstition is that everyone is reluctant to speak about it,” Mounicot said.

“It’s something very sacred to the individual.”

Mounicot noted that, while it is hard to discuss, superstition does hold a certain appeal to outsiders as a sensationalized storyline.

“People [are] very interested [in hearing about] the subject because it’s very connected to some unknown,” Mounicot said. “When we tried to build the questions [and talk to people...], we couldn’t go too deeply into personal beliefs or personal things because we knew we could reach a wall.”

As a result, Mounicot’s research was unable to conclude that any real correlation exists between superstitious beliefs and decreased pre-game anxiety. Other research, however, has indicated that superstitious practices in sports may actually have a direct impact on an athlete’s accomplishments. Research found that invoking a good-luck charm, such as an article of clothing, leads to superior performance in golf, as well as improved motor dexterity and memory. Further, research suggests that an increase in perceived ability boosts an athlete’s confidence which, in turn, improves performance.

For many McGill athletes, superstitions are commonplace yet consciously unrecognized or unexplored.

“First off, I put [on] my […] right sock, right shin pad, and right shoe, but I put my left glove on first,” McGill second-year goalkeeper Théo Farineau said. “I have no idea why I do it, but I feel like I’ve

Some athletes’ pre-game routines include putting on their equipment in a specific order.

(Taja de Silva / The McGill Tribune) always been doing it, and, if I change it, it’s really going to mess up my focus.”

Farineau’s superstitions do not end there: He never steps on the opponent’s side of the pitch; he walks around the field at halftime; he touches his crossbar before each half.

“When I think about it now, I know it’s completely dumb, but I wouldn’t change it,” Farineau said.

Griffin Callahan-Auger, U1 Arts, plays intramural hockey and shares similar feelings. His primary superstition is that he plays best in his second games after sharpening his skates, so he plans accordingly.

“It’s a peace of mind thing,” Callahan-Auger wrote in a message to The McGill Tribune. “There is just no point risking stopping because it isn’t causing any harm right now.”

Superstition is unique to every individual, which Mounicot acknowledges. He makes a point not to observe any superstitious practices that his players may employ out of respect for their privacy.

“I see the game preparation and game routine as very personal, so [I] try not to interfere with this,” Mounicot said.

Further research has shown that an individual’s commitment to a ritual is generally higher as a given game’s uncertainty and importance increases.

Additionally, researchers found that personality affects the likelihood that an individual will hold and be committed to superstitious beliefs.

Despite researchers’ limited understanding, superstition has a monumental impact on the professional sports world in which players and fans alike display some of the most unconventional practices.

Michael Jordan’s rituals have had a lasting impact on basketball culture. After winning the NCAA championship with the University of North Carolina, he wore his alma mater’s blue shorts as a good-luck charm

underneath his Chicago Bulls jersey for every game.

Jordan went far out of his way to uphold this tradition; in addition to incurring several fines, he was also forced to wear longer shorts throughout his career. The latter trend quickly caught on in the basketball world. Longer shorts went on to become integral to the modern era of basketball.

There are plenty of other superstitious athletes.

Baseball Hall of Famer Wade Boggs started his batting practices at exactly 5:17 and his running sprints at 7:17.

He devoured chicken before every game, earning him the nickname of the ‘Chicken Man.’ Serena Williams bounces the ball five times before her first serve, twice before her second, and wears the same socks from the beginning to the end of each tournament. Montreal Canadiens goalie Patrick Roy skated backwards, from centre ice toward the net, turning around at the last second in order to shrink the goal during his career.

He believed this practice made it more difficult for opponents to score on his net.

Superstition has also shaped fans’ experiences.

In baseball, there are certain unwritten rules: While a pitcher is throwing a no-hitter; teammates will not talk to their pitcher, opposing teams will not bunt, and fans and broadcasters will refrain from talking about the pitcher’s potential achievement. Male hockey players and fans share the tradition of growing playoff beards.

A few unfortunate fans even believe that it is bad luck for them to watch their teams play. Fans seek certainty just as much as athletes and can find enjoyment and entertainment in the futile pursuit of victory.

While superstition remains poorly understood on the scientific front, it has, nonetheless, become ingrained in sporting culture. Superstition invokes an unorthodox sense of control for individual players and community for teams and fans, allowing everyone to feel like they are an important part of the action.

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