The McGill Daily Vol. 107 Issue 20

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Contents 4 EDITORIAL Canada’s healthcare system fails racialised people

5 NEWS Homa Hoodfar speaks on feminism Interview on Sierra Leone’s election Walkout for Indigenous justice Documentary screening on Yemen

9 Commentary ‘Proving’ queerness Indigenous poetry feature

11 Art Essay

March 19, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

SSMU elections endorsements 11 Features Interview with Lucas Charlie Rose

15 Culture Chelsea Vowel talks ‘Indigenous Writes’

16 Compendium!

A simpler time...

3

EDITORIAL

Volume 108 Issue 19

March 19, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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editorial board

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Canadian healthcare fails racialized people once again

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Content warning: Racism, violence

O

n March 8, 2018, Wessen Vandenhoek, a Black man living in northeast Calgary, sought care at the East Calgary Health Centre. He was visibly in pain, so the medical staff recommended that he call an ambulance. Upon the ambulance’s arrival, Vandenhoek was greeted with verbal hostilities, threatened, and refused care. “You don’t look like you need a fucking ambulance!” the paramedics said. “This is for real people, not people like you who use us as a goddamn taxi!”

Vandenhoek is certain his appearance and race factored into how the paramedics treated him, something bolstered by the change in the paramedics’ tone when they eventually took him to Peter Lougheed hospital.

They then quickly adopted a friendlier attitude and helped him into a wheelchair. But when Vandenhoek tried to speak with staff about why he had been treated in the manner he had, he says he was refused the names of the paramedics and threatened with a psychiatric hold, an involuntary stay in psychiatric care that would serve to discredit Vandenhoek if he were to pursue the paramedics’ harassment in court. Since his experience with Calgary Emergency Medical Services Vandenhoek says he’s missed at least one doctor’s appointment because he “doesn’t feel comfortable going to a medical place right now.”

The paramedics’ denial of Vandenhoek’s medical needs is part of a larger issue of systemic racism in the Canadian healthcare system. The needs of racialized and marginalized people are often minimized, resulting in disproportionately poor health outcomes for those communities. One study linked perceived racism and discrimination experienced by Black women to negative birth outcomes, such as high rates of premature

birth and illness incidence. There have also been a number of complaints made across the country about anti-Indigenous racism in health care, in which racist stereotypes and myths have led to neglect, misdiagnoses, and even death. For example, Brian Sinclair, an Indigenous man, was found dead in a wheelchair in a hospital waiting room after going untreated for 34 hours because the nurses thought he was drunk — a pervasive stereotype projected on Indigenous people.

Power dynamics between healthcare providers and their patients enforce racist, bureaucratic systems of oppression that threaten the quality of care provided to racialized people seeking medical aid. Medical officials act on systemic racial prejudices, which end up privileging the health, safety, and well-being of white patients.

Further, there is an ongoing under-representation of Black, Indigenous, and Latinx doctors across medical disciplines. Therefore, we must seek representation through the education and inclusion of marginalized and racialized medical professionals into doctoral programs, residencies, and care facilities like surgery rooms throughout Canada’s healthcare system. Moreover, we must expose the extensive reach of state violence and colonial racism through the acknowledgement of people like Wessen Vandenhoek and Brian Sinclair to dismantle the racism that threatens the quality of healthcare.

This can be actively combated by giving specialized training to healthcare professionals. As a first step, McGill should also seek to implement a program similar to the University of Toronto’s Black Student Education program to diversify the student body of our medical school and take part in the dismantling of racism in the Canadian healthcare system.

—The McGill Daily Editorial Board

contributors

Omar Arafeh, Arvaa Balsara, Ariane Beck, Talia Raven May Bellerose, Yasna Khademian, Quinn Lazenby

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Hoodfar addresses feminism in Iran McGill Iranian Student Association hosts talk

Yasna Khademian News Writer

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n Wednesday March 14, the McGill Iranian Student Association (MISA) hosted a talk featuring Homa Hoodfar, the author of The Women’s Movement in Iran: Women at the Crossroads of Secularization and Islamization and professor of socio-anthropology at Concordia University. The event, titled “For the Women’s Day,” was aimed to address the origins and development of feminist movements, following International Women’s Day on March 8. Hoodfar discussed the widespread concept of feminism as a western idea and the discussion of its applicability to women’s struggles in the Middle East, as well as the lesser-known history of women’s movements in the Middle East prior to World War I. The origins of Feminism Homa Hoodfar discussed whether feminism coming from the West is something that is needed in Muslim societies. “I became quite interested because feminism [...] was a movement, something that developed because women were claiming their rights.”

In 1982 she founded an organization called Women Living Under Muslim Laws, a feminist international network, along with eight other women from Pakistan, Iran, Egypt, Malaysia, and Turkey. The organization supports women’s research of feminist movements, and provides aid to women in activism.

Prior to the formation of WLUML, Hoodfar explained that little was publicized on feminist movements in the Muslim world.

“We knew nothing of each other’s history; we didn’t know

anything about Turkey or Iran or Egypt [...] the only model we knew was the British or American or the French or the German model,” noted Hoodfar. She said that “Iranian women had a long history of struggling for women’s rights,” with many other feminist movements encompassing various backgrounds. For example, the Women’s Organization of Iran (WOI), founded in 1966, represents decades of Iranian women’s activism, both before and after the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

Hoodfar discussed the unknown early history of women’s activism in the Middle East, consisting of women from many parts of the world with the common background of living in a society governed by laws derived from interpretations of Islam.“Their demand was education, possibility of training for jobs, especially for low-income women, so they could contribute to development; training for health was a very important issue, the age of marriage, and marriage reform,” said Hoodfar. She noted that the meetings were unable to continue throughout World War I, and fell by the wayside. Hoodfar emphasized that women in these circumstances continued to participate in political activism throughout the 20th century and continue to pursue research of women’s movements and status in Muslim societies.

The Question of Women In June 2016, Hoodfar was indicted and detained in Tehran for feminist research, and was interrogated by Iranian intelligence services. Her release was secured under “humanitarian grounds” after 112 days of the detainment in Evin, a notorious prison in Iran.

During her imprisonment, she noted that the interrogators were unable to agree upon a single definition of feminism other than it being a western concept. Hoodfar responded to the prison authorities by noting that it was inaccurate to confine women’s

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struggles for rights and opportunities to the west. “Did you know that Naser al-Din Shah’s daughter was a feminist, and we have her [...] memoirs?” continued Hoofar, “we know in 1907 [...] we had women’s organizations for women’s rights [in Iran].” Thanks to their efforts, phrases including “women’s rights are human rights,” “rape as a weapon of war,” and “violence against women” became a part of the UN Human Rights Mandates.

The Fight Today Sue*, a participant and member of MISA, pointed out that the discussions pertain to “the issues that we don’t usually talk about in our own friendly gatherings.” Hoodfar referenced modern movements against sexual violence such as the #MeToo movement, which supports survivors, noting the importance of having a mechanism outside of and independent from specific regions.

“At most, they want to keep everything quiet, so they don’t want people to socialize for mobile change if it doesn’t give them any benefit. But, in the world community using naming and shaming as a weapon, can push the government [...] no government can say we don’t have violence against women because women have documented it.”

Hoodfar concluded by encouraging participants to call out injustice and oppression perpetrated against women, and bringing awareness of many women’s situations to the larger public eye, as demonstrated in the case of the UN Human Rights mandate.

“Activism was developed because women were claiming their rights,” said Hoodfar.“Women have and will continue to fight to claim their rights around the globe.” *Name has been changed to preserve anonymity

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March 19, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

News

Presidential elections in Sierra Leone goes to second round

Leading candidates to stand in a run off after first round of elections Victor Depois The McGill Daily

S

ierra Leone is currently in the middle of two rounds of presidential elections. So far, no candidates have reached the 55 per cent threshold necessary to get elected directly in the first round. Consequently, the two leading candidates, Samura Kamara from the incumbent All People’s Congress (APC) party with 42.7 per cent of the votes, and Julius Maada Bio from the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) with 43.3 per cent of the votes, will stand in a runoff. Voting will start on March 27. The Daily spoke to Mohamed Sesay, a Postdoctoral Fellow from McGill currently conducting fieldwork in Freetown, the country’s capital city, about the current situation in Sierra Leone following the first-round of the elections.

Mohamed Sesay, a graduate of the University of Sierra Leone, is part of the Yan Lin Centre’s Research Group on Global Justice. Sesay holds a PhD in political science from McGill University, which he received in 2016. His current research engages with the institution of chieftaincy in post-war Sierra Leone, and how this traditional authority can be restructured to conform to rules of modern governance without undermining its contemporary social relevance. On top of that, Sesay is also contributing to a global project examining the nexus between conflict, justice, and development.

The McGill Daily (MD): How would you describe the current atmosphere in Freetown, and Sierra Leone in general? What has been the public’s response to results of the first round?

Mohamed Sesay (MS): The current situation in Sierra Leone is peaceful. It is getting back to normal as public offices are reopening and kids are going back to school after they were shut down a week or two ago. A few weeks before the elections, there were expectations that there would be violent outbreaks. There are several reasons for that. First, these elections are contested, as the incumbent government has been in power for two terms, and the current president cannot run for re-election. The current minister of finance is the presidential candidate of the party in power, the All People’s Congress (APC), which seeks to maintain power. Second, new opposition parties, other than the traditional Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), have been created. These include the New Grand Coalition (NGD), and Coalition For Change (C4C), which have contested the elections and made opposition very serious. Potential violence led the Office of National Security to raise the level of security threat to the second level. The international community worried.

Yet it turned out to be largely peaceful, even though there was some violence, which nevertheless remained very localized.

The general public accepted the results as representative of their will. Several factors have acted in favour of this positive response. First, the National Electoral Commission (NEC), which announced the results, has become a largely credible

commission to the people. Before results were announced, a coalition of civil society organizations, the National Election Watch (NEW) projected that there would be a runoff. Results confirmed this prediction, lending the group credibility and respect.

Second, an important factor to the democratic process in the country is the provision that a candidate needs at least 55 per cent of votes to get elected directly in the first round. If this number is not reached, candidates need to build alliances with other parties. That provision has made it possible for smaller parties to see themselves as a stake in the electoral contest, as alliances have become an inevitable part of the electoral contest.

Third, international observers wrote statements about the elections that were largely positive, and concluded that the elections were fair. On top of that, local observers unanimously concluded that they were fair. One last factor I wish to put forward is the progressive announcement of results, in a 25 per cent increment, which prepared the minds of Sierra Leoneans to what the results would be.

MD: Have outbreaks of violence happened during the current elections? How are politics changing in the country?

MS: There was never, in fact, widespread violence following elections in Sierra Leone.

Some level of trust is building nationally in the institutions responsible for conducting elections. The NEC has been able to establish itself as the credible institution to monitor elections, and a majority of Sierra Leoneans accept results they announce as reflective of the people’s will.

There have been shifts in the political culture of politicians. They too put more trust in institutions. For example, in 2012, when the opposition party was not satisfied with the results, it went to the Supreme Court.

This very fact shows change in the country’s political culture. The media is changing too.

I was impressed by the role of the national broadcaster. Ten years back, the incumbent party dominated it clearly, and it served as a tool for propaganda. Now, it creates greater space for opposition parties, and even allows some criticism of the incumbent party.

There has also been some shift in the political culture of the general public. Before and after the war there existed a high degree of political intolerance. People were very attached to their ethnic group, and to their region, and political elites emphasized differences to gain votes. Each political party depended on one particular region. Now we see that a sizeable portion of Sierra Leoneans are voting across regional and ethnic lines. For example, the APC (whose historical electoral base is located in the North of the country) won the elections in 2007 because it got votes from people living in South. I recently heard people say that they were voting because the government did not perform, which is something that was not common practice in the past, and shows an evolution in the political culture of the people.

Victor Depois | The McGill Daily MD: There have been lots of discussions about the use of blockchain technology in the elections (originally used to keep track of cryptocurrency transactions, this technology consists of a digital ledger, a book, in which all transactions are recorded and which is widely accessible thus permitting accountability).

What is your opinion on the question?

for actors in Sierra Leone to be committed to institutionalizing the democratic process.

As democratic norms develop and expand, it will become increasingly difficult for politicians to stand against them. It is however important not to give too much weight to these external forces, but I would not rule them out either.

MS: I would expect technology to be a trend in Africa, and not just Sierra Leone.

One reason for this would be an increasing interest to use technology to run elections, in order to reduce the ability of politicians and voters to engage in fraudulent practices. However, for Sierra Leone to be the first country to use it shows that the level of trust for the voters and institutions is still quite low, and I am no sure whether we should be happy about that.

MD: Where do you see Sierra Leone going from these elections?

Also, there has been a lot of reporting about this new technology, but I don’t think we know for sure that it has created any impact in the credibility of the election.

When the NEC announced the results, 154 polling had to go through a recount stations because of irregularities, following requests made by parties. That’s the reason why there was a two-day delay in the announcement of results.

Furthermore, after the final results were announced, votes were annulled in 221 polling stations due to overvoting (when the number of ballots cast is superior to the number of people registered to vote). In total, there were 139,427 invalid votes, which is a huge number, and we are yet to know why we had so many. Consequently, I am not sure of the extent to which the blockchain technology was able to prevent malpractices.

MD: Is the peaceful transition of power that occurred in Liberia influencing Sierra Leone? How so?

MS: Yes, in some ways. The building of a democratic process needs to have a regional perspective. Twenty or thirty years ago in West Africa, there were a lot of military coups. Even though countries have internal dynamics, there are regional factors and norms, and there has been progress in consolidating democratic governance.

If democratic overturns in West African countries become common, it will create a trend. Liberia and Sierra Leone come from the same past of bad governance and conflict. The conduct of elections in Liberia could become a sort of inspiration

MS: I am not sure, but I think elections are here to stay. Nonetheless, I am not too sure what they mean for the broader democratic process, as the political elite may be using elections to provide a facade that we have democracy in Sierra Leone. What I mean is that we are yet to see democratic norms being played out in the daily lives of the people with improvements in the socioeconomic situation of the country.

On top of that, the number of women that voted in the elections is very low, and even lower than in past elections. Elections have not translated into an inclusive space that would allow women to fully take part in the democratic process. I believe that this can be explained by the fact that structures of exclusion and injustices are still intact even though we have elections. Politicians will present that to the international community to get investors in the country. We have democracy, but not fully yet.

Also, the peace building process will continue. I don’t see the country relapsing into violence anytime soon. Given what the country has gone through, many Sierra Leoneans would not want to go back to those days of violence. In terms of reconciliation we have made progress, as people just want to move on.

Overall, I would say that I am cautiously optimistic about the future of the country.

I am looking forward to the second round of the elections. If the incumbent wins we will have a continuation in the governance of the country, which has not been able to transform the lives of Sierra Leoneans. But when you look at the opposition party’s manifesto, it is not that different. If we don’t have alternative way of promoting socio economic development, it will also impact in the rate at which the peace building process will be continued.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

March 19, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

News

First Nation speakers demand solidarity at walkout

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McGill’s Indigenous Student Alliance holds demonstration and walkout

Victor Depois The McGill Daily

O

n March 14, the Indigenous Student Alliance (ISA) held a demonstration at the Y-intersection on the downtown campus to protest the ongoing injustices against Indigenous peoples in Canada.

The demonstration was organized in the wake of the acquittals of Gerald Stanley and Raymond Cormier, who murdered Colten Boushie, 22, and Tina Fontaine, 15, respectively. Brady Francis, 22, was also recently killed in a hitand-run. The event was inspired by similar walkouts which took place at the University of Victoria and the University of Toronto.

Indigenous speakers were invited to share their perspectives on the Canadian government’s failures against Indigenous people.

The speakers also encouraged Indigenous students and allies to take action. Speeches were followed by drum performances by the Buffalo Hat Singers, a group based in Montreal, and the Medicine Bear Singers, an Indigenous group from McGill.

Continued Injustices Carlee Kawinehta Loft, the Indigenous Affairs Commissioner at SSMU, spoke first. She started off by reading the land acknowledgment, then pointed to the fact that recent cases are not unique, and that injustices against Indigenous people are a nationwide problem.

“The injustices they faced happened far from here, in territories you maybe haven’t even been to, but remember that injustices and colonial violence happen here too, in this territory, here on the unceded, stolen land of the Kanien’kehá:ka.”

Loft explained how Canadian institutions are responsible for perpetuating these injustices on a national and local scale.

“These injustices occur due to the nation-wide implementation of various Canadian systems which systematically devalue Indigenous lives,” she explained.

“These [systems] include the child welfare system, the so-called justice system, the educational system, and many others.”

At the end of her introductory speech, Loft expanded on the responsibility of university students to use their educational privilege to learn and care about Indigenous issues, in

Victor Depois | The McGill Daily order to enact change. More than just a commemorative event, the demonstration aimed to encourage allies (i.e. nonIndigenous folks who wish to support) to take action.

“I’m happy you came today but remember that your action doesn’t stop here. It doesn’t stop today and there are many ways that you can reach out. You go and become involved with different activist organizations, you can look into where to to donate.”

This point was emphasized by the next speaker, Nakuset, who is the executive director of the Native Women’s Shelter in Montreal. “Look into the organizations that are doing the work, either join them, model them, use them as role models and help us, because when you all came to this land, we helped you, and we would like it if you returned the favor.”

She highlighted the resilience of Indigenous people, who, against all odds, are still alive today, and are pushing for their rights to be respected. “After all the things that the government has done to us we should all be dead, but we’re still here, and we are just trying to have a fighting chance.”

Nakuset is a survivor of the Sixties Scoop, a state-sanctioned assimilation process which took place during the 1960s, and which saw Indigenous children being taken from their families to be

placed in foster homes or put up for adoption.

“Most of us were brought up to be ashamed of our cultures,” she explained. “I ended up getting my education right. By working at the Native Women’s Shelter, I create projects to help Indigenous women, because we see here in Montreal that there is a lack of services for Indigenous people, and there is injustice on so many levels.”

“Look into the organizations that are doing the work [...] because when you all came to this land, we helped you, and we would like it if you returned the favor.”

— Carlee Kawinehta Loft SSMU Indigenous Affairs Comissioner

Referring to the Brady Francis’s case, for which no one has been arrested yet, and which further exemplifies injustices in

the Canadian legal system, she stated: “Our people keep dying and [...] no one is held accountable.

And this is today so what is going to happen tomorrow? What are we going to do as a community to make sure that things change?”

Devastating consequences Talia, a student at Concordia University, spoke next, sharing her lived experience and personal history. She recited a poem, which can be found in The Daily’s commentary section this week.

“I grew up exactly like Colten, Tina, and Brady, in poverty, in foster care with drunk, young parents who constantly fought in front of us. I have a lot of those memories, that I am not trying to forget, but that I’m trying to let go, as I try not to let them direct my path.”

Originally from Saskatchewan, she highlighted the importance of being aware that even if Indigenous racism and prejudice may not be as visible in Montreal, “they’re very fucking real out in the prairies. I remember being in grade [school] and realizing that no matter what I did with my life, they would see nothing more than my brown skin, and not even consider me human.”

The Fight is Happening Ben Geboe, the executive director of the American Indian Community House in New York City, put forth some numbers, and

further highlighted the resilience of the Indigenous community and the necessity of taking action.

“Right now there are 95 cases against the Canadian crown for the rivers, the mountains, the lakes. It’s not an ideological or passive battle, it is actually happening. We are languishing, but yet we are surviving with the help of great activism.”

Denzel, one of the drummers, expressed his thoughts on the event and on allyship. “I am happy with the turnout, happy to see how many people came out to support us. It’s important to have appeal from all and to have them join us because we all need to call for justice for Indigenous people, not just [from] Indigenous people.”

Similarly, Talia claimed that “non-Indigenous and every minority in Canada needs to learn the history, and fight with us.” She finished her speech by recounting a prophecy an elder told her.

“It’s a prophecy that we had seven generations ago that we were going to lose and suffer for seven generations. Then for another seven generations we are going to start to heal, and reclaim our language, our names, and our clans. I am that eighth generation that will help spark the fire. If I had known my culture when I was a weak kid, I’d probably be a lot further in life, and would probably love myself a lot more.”

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March 19, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

NEws

McGill Syrian Students’ Association hold Yemen talk

Documentary screening and Yemenite student shed light on ignored crisis Omar Arafeh The McGill Daily

O

n March 13, the McGill Syrian Students’ Association, Amnesty International, and the World Islamic and Middle Eastern Students’ Association hosted speaker Ala’a Ahmed and screened the FRONTLINE PBS documentary “Inside Yemen” to raise awareness on the humanitarian crisis in Yemen. Ahmed was one of the organizers during Yemen’s uprising in 2011. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Political Science at Concordia University, after coming to Canada as a refugee. He also co-founded a media advocacy organization called SupportYemen.

The documentary, released in July 2017, focuses on the complete lack of compensation for workers in Yemen due to the conflict and its effects on their daily lives: “[It was] the first time all employees in the country receive [...] coupons because we have not received a salary,” says one man interviewed in a grocery store. Garbage workers were not paid, leaving the streets filled with garbage that has caused bacteria to collect and infiltrate the water.

This has effectively led to a cholera epidemic, leaving many hospitalized for extreme dehydration. According to the World Health Organization, there are over 300,000 cases of cholera and 1,600 accounts of death by cholera as of mid-2017.

According to a nurse interviewed in the documentary, the number of malnutrition cases has doubled since the war began.

“[It was] the first time all employees in the country receive [...] coupons because we have not received a salary.”

- Anonymous

Miryama Abdulaziz, one of the hosts, explained that the event’s goal was to shed light on what is happening in Yemen, and raise funds for Mona Relief.” This organization focuses on relief, giving people

food, medicine, blankets, and other basic supplies.

Abdulaziz further described that, “each family receives a basket for the price of $30-35 USD, [which] contains wheat, sugar, rice, oil, and powdered milk — enough for a family of six to eight people for one month.” Since 2015, the organization itself has been “able to support more than 40,000 people as of July 2017.”

After Abdulaziz’s intervention, Ahmed described his experience in Yemen during the 2011 uprising.

“The perfect places for us to go [for protests] were the universities where more active young people were. [...] Everything we did was voluntary, we worked hard together to build tents and to have sit-ins, but the government cracked down, and with more people being hurt or killed, the more international attention there was to our cause.”

In March 2015, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates launched a military intervention to restore Hadi to power. But the war settled into a stalemate. “Officially the Houthis remain in control of Sanaa, the capital, and much of the North, while the Saudi-UAE coalition controls much of the South,” Ahmed added, “A comprehensive SaudiUAE blockade and air campaign has caused famine conditions, the spread of communicable diseases such as cholera, and a wave of internal displacement.”

He then expanded on the flow of information in and out of Yemen: “both the Houthis and Saudi-UAE coalition tightly control access for journalists, with the media centering its attention on an Iranian-Saudi proxy war.” Saudi-backed media claims that Iran supports Houthis fighters, while the opposing side offers a vision of Saudi adventurism.

“The perfect places for us to go [for protests] were the universities where more active young people were. [...] Everything we did was voluntary, we worked hard

“Both the Houthis and Saudi-UAE coalition tightly control access for journalists, with the media centering its attention on an Iranian-Saudi proxy war.”

- Ala’a Ahmed, speaker and organizer of the 2011 Yemen revolt Ahmed then recounted the political events that led to the humanitarian disaster that plagues Yemen today. Saudi Arabia and the US campaigned an initiative to propose that the former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, step down.

They offered Saleh immunity according to the agreement, and proposed that his vice president Abdul Mansour Hadi lead the transitional period as president, from 2012 to 2014. Saleh, unwilling to lose power, formed an alliance with the Houthis, a political religious group from Northern Yemen in 2015. He managed to take over Sana’a, the country’s capital city. Hadi took refuge in the port city of Aden causing the outbreak of the war.

- Ala’a Ahmed, speaker and organizer of the 2011 Yemen revolt The war has four main axes of motion. Ahmed expanded on each of them: “the first and most familiar [axis] is essentially a northern conflict with forces aligned with former president Saleh and his former allies the Houthis, against the Saudi backed coalition forces loyal to the displaced transitional president Hadi. [Second, is the] strong separatist movement in the South of Yemen [...] and a developing conflict between the secessionist southern transitional council and president Hadi’s government.The third axis is an increasingly active jihadist movement.”

The fourth axis revolves around regional politics. “Saudi Arabia and the UAE have different interests in [Yemen]

[...] with Saudi Arabia being more focused on airstrikes and targeting the Houthis, while the UAE is more focused on the South and supporting the separatist movement,” explained Ahmed.

Saudi airstrikes often target schools. “Youth in Yemen who comprise 75 per cent of the population are denied an education and meaningful action to political processes,” stated Ahmed, adding that the disappointed youth were left with few options but to join either side of the conflict.

addressing this issue.”

Ahmed was “happy to share [his] own personal experience as an activist who is involved and who is living in Canada.” He explains that “the war is never talked about in the media and [he] wanted to bring some attention to it. However, he concludes “the most outstanding challenge is that Yemen has fractured in ways that will make any negotiated settlement extremely challenging and fragile. [...] Reaching an end to the war will be difficult, and doing so will only be the first step in a very difficult reconstruction process.”

“Youth in Yemen who “Many of comprise 75 us at the SSA per cent of were passionate the population about this are denied an initiative is education and because we meaningful empathize and action to political understand the processes.” struggles with - Ala’a Ahmed, speaker our brothers and organizer of the 2011 Yemen revolt and sisters in Ahmed then put the conflict into geographic context, Yemen. We can explaining that Saudi Arabia controls almost all land and sea only imagine the borders surrounding Yemen. This means it controls everything that suffering they’re goes inside the country, sometimes taking medical equipment going through away in meticulous searches of humanitarian aid packages. and it’s very “One of the reasons [they do this] is to frustrate the people. familiar to us The Houthis are not the actual government in the country, and with everything the less services provided and the more frustrated the people happening in are, [...] [the] easier [it is] to get some kind of uprising against the Syria. There’s Houthis from [the] inside.”

Jeeda Ismail, the president limited media of the Syrian Students’ Association, explained the group’s coverage on it involvement in the event. “The reason [why] many of us at the and no clubs SSA were passionate about this initiative is because we empathize in McGill are and understand the struggles with our brothers and sisters in addressing Yemen. We can only imagine the suffering they’re going through this issue.” and it’s very familiar to us with everything happening in Syria.

There’s limited media coverage on it and no clubs in McGill are

- Jeeda Ismail, president of the SSA

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March 19, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Commentary

Prove your queerness The Obstacles that Face LGBTQ+ Refugees

Quinn lazenby Commentary Writer

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hen LGBTQ+ refugees arrive on Canadian soil, they must prove what they have been trying to erase their entire lives. Their queerness.

These refugees are interrogated by refugee boards, which cross-examine a claimant’s sexual history, erotic texts messages, intimate journals, and other artifacts to authenticate their sexuality. For many refugees fleeing homophobic violence, the burden of proof is crushing.

Individuals escaping the threat of incarceration, torture, or in extreme cases, execution, have most likely destroyed any evidence of their queer identity in order to survive. But to secure their sanctuary in Canada, they must pass a sort of queer litmus test to verify that they are indeed a “genuine gay.” All too often, however, migrant justice is defined through heterosexual experiences, and homosexuality through a white lens.

This leaves LGBTQ+ refugees at an abyss, as the simultaneity of their oppressions are unrepresented. If an immigration board determines that a refugee doesn’t fit the western mold of queerness, their application is often dismissed. In a case from the British court, an Iranian gay man was initially denied refugee status because “he did not look like a homosexual.” In this way, gay stereotypes influence how immigration courts view “authentic sexualities.” In a similarly disturbing case, a Romanian man was subjected to anal examinations by British immigration officers to “authenticate his alleged homosexuality.” This invasive pseudo-scientific method of screening reduces queerness to a sexual practice, and not an identity.

Moreover, the life-or-death urgency of a refugee’s case is undermined if a court views homosexuality as a “voluntary practice,” and not an integral part of their identity. One can’t help but wonder whether these immigration judges view their own heterosexuality as ‘voluntary.’

Of course, if a refugee hails from one of the 73 countries where homosexuality is still criminalized, they are all too familiar with the lack of choice in being gay.

Still, immigration courts have recommended that queer folks simply restrain from “flaunt[ing] their homosexual activities” to avoid violent persecution. The argument that queer people should self-censor ultimately erases the value of public expression, and relegates queer bodies and voices to the dangerous isolation of invisibility. While it

nelly wat | The McGill Daily would be preposterous for courts to suggest that political or religious minorities simply cease practicing their respective beliefs, pervasive myths around homosexuality allow judges to suggest that one turn their ‘queerness off’ — or at the very least, conceal it. Perhaps a more equitable ruling would advise these judges to stop being so damn straight!

In Canada’s immigration system,

This invasive pseudoscientific method of screening reduces queerness to a sexual practice, and not an identity. where there is a 70.5 per cent success rate for refugees seeking asylum based on sexual orientation, the issue is not blatant homophobia, but rather a western framing of queerness.

Professor Sharalyn Jordan, who advocates for queer refugees at the Rainbow Railroad organization, contends, “it is not a case of board members being overtly homophobic or transphobic but […] of ethnocentric criteria being applied.” For instance, the lifestyle of a hijra person from South Asia might not perfectly translate into a Canadian framework of being queer (that is: they can’t be specifically categorized under L, G, B or T),

and will subsequently be dismissed.

Desperate to secure their sanctuary in Canada, LGBTQ+ refugees may then feel pressured to conform to western standards of gayness.

Indeed, white gay norms influence how immigration officers adjudicate legitimate LGBTQ+ people. Refugees who do not fit western conceptions of being gay or trans may be considered imposters.

In reality, only 2.2 per cent of queer refugee claimants have no credible basis. Critics assert that “bogus refugees” will “act gay” if it provides an easy route to citizenship without considering that pretending to be queer and failing comes with the risk of horrendous marginalization and violence in one’s country of origin.

Furthermore, refugee boards often lack basic discretion, which makes the decision to disclose one’s queerness a precarious gamble. In a tragic case from the American immigration system, a family of asylum applicants learned of their brother’s closeted homosexuality after a refugee officer nonchalantly divulged this private information.

Subsequently, relatives harassed and completely severed ties with their queer family member. This meant that the very officers who were responsible for providing asylum for the family ended up endangering the safety of the family’s most vulnerable applicant. If the purpose of refugee programs is to provide sanctuary for those who have endured unimaginable horrors, then we must restructure our systems to avoid further traumatizing these already oppressed communities.

Ironically, homophobia’s colonial history is often erased from debates concerning queer refugees. In reality, the violence that many LGBTQ+

individuals flee in the Global South is the legacy of anti-sodomy laws imposed by European colonialism.

There is a risk in mythologizing the west as a progressive haven for LGBTQ+ people: the colonial roots of homophobia are obscured. For example, in much of pre-colonial South Asia, hijras were actually culturally celebrated. Indeed, the problematic narrative of white countries emancipating gender non-conforming people of colour from their ‘barbaric cultures’ only further entrenches imperial power dynamics. While Canadians can celebrate programs such as the mission to bring gay Syrian men to Canada, we must avoid a selfcongratulatory depiction of the West. We must recognize that both the homophobia from which these refugees are fleeing, and the conceptions of queerness to which they must conform, are products of western domination.

Despite the system’s failures, organizations like the Rainbow Railroad have been successful in assisting LGBTQ+ refugees throughout their arduous screening processes. In the spring of 2017, when the government of Chechnya began its anti-gay purge, the Rainbow Railroad partnered with the Liberal government of Canada to provide sanctuary to more than thirty queer refugees.

The Canadian asylum operation, which breached international law and threatened Moscow-Ottawa relations, demonstrated Canada’s capacity to be a global leader.

Remarkably, Justin Trudeau, (the ultimate saviour-daddy) who seizes every photo opportunity to hug a refugee or snap a selfie at Pride, somehow avoided tokenizing the

Chechen mission. Operating with discretion and minimal media coverage, real lives were saved.

These persecuted queer Chechens, some of whom had escaped gay concentration camps and electricshock torture, were given a second chance at a better life.

Desperate to secure their sanctuary in Canada, LGBTQ+ refugees may then feel pressured to conform to western standards of gayness.

Although it’s simple to condemn the western gatekeeping of queer refugees, proposing constructive solutions is far more demanding. A more equitable and intersectional method of screening would recognize the cultural diversity of queerness and ultimately prioritize the needs of asylum applicants.

In fact, rather than forcing refugees to traverse the bureaucratic tightrope towards citizenship and prove their queerness based on western norms, perhaps the tables should turn. Perhaps the time has come instead for immigration boards to prove their straightness.

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March 19, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

commentary untitled Talia Raven May Bellrose A yellow house, Nothing big, nothing fancy, it was more than I could ask for, and it was more than I needed, And please believe that I did appreciate it, Stuck between a boring life, and a country life, Life should have been so apathetic, so deserted, And it killed me knowing I might never leave and see the world, I despised, that fucking honkey ass white class town,

And I tried to run away, I tried to give you reasons to kick me out, to throw me out like trash to put me where I belonged, But to end life, was out of the question, like father like daughter, so bare with me for the moment to say goodbye, Goodbye to my father’s remains, no more crawling to your grave in the middle of the night seeking comfort and salvation There’s so many lows in this life of mine, dad Defeated at that times, tempted to cuddle up with the wine bottle, But you weren’t suppose to leave me at ten years of age and every once in a while I hear you whisper “there, there my girl be strong” So goodbye small town, goodbye humble beginnings, And what the fuck was I thinking?

I left home in such a rush that I forgot that I was too naive and foolish to be free at only sixteen Lost in sorrow can’t let go of the pain feeding the addiction, this wasn’t who I was meant to be, another low life Indian So I pushed friends away and I went back to the basics, and I found myself amongst the trees and along the river beds This is peace, this is contentment, And this is new, Mother Nature, Creator, I believe I finally found you So goodbye to my friends at the house of whites, God, Jesus Christ!

It’s nothing personal you see but it hurts to be brown and not feel a connection Too many questions to have faith, to be faithful, no more communion, no more wise tales, no more horror, cause if you’re scared, you go to Church, I’ll proudly wear my sins on my skin forever tagged and forever true But this much I do know, ignorance is bliss and the more I learn about humans the more I need to distance myself from large groups, Silly folks this isn’t America, false dreams have you thinking that life is about having it all, well I’m a broke ass Indian that’s probably richer than them all And before I say I know it all, I had to say miigwech (thank you) to my friends, to my family to my teachers and to my elders for showing me the how and why for installing the tools of what were taught and putting more action into thought And like a sparrow, I’ll always come back home but right now I still need to learn how to fly...

My name is Miigiizikwe, it means Eagle Woman but i still feel like a girl

Krysten Krulik | The McGill Daily

The SSMU President is the leader of the SSMU executive team, in addition to being a key player in interactions with the administration. The President is the only undergraduate representative on the Board of Governors, and sits on Senate. The President is also responsible for the maintenance of SSMU’s governing documents and the enforcement of its Constitution and Internal Regulations. Furthermore, the President is tasked with supporting the rest of the executive team as need arises.

Corinne Bulger

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ulger is a U2 Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies major with a minor in Indigenous Studies at McGill. She is currently an Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) Representative and Floor Fellow at New Residence Hall, as well as a former Rez Life Coordinator. As an AUS Representative she has had to sit in on the AUS and SSMU Council meetings, which have contributed to her experience in governance. Her involvement with residence life has both trained her in event planning and established an understanding of the supportive environment necessary for the interpersonal relations within the SSMU Executive Council.

Her platform revolves around three aspects: creating a community space in the aftermath of the SSMU building closure, evaluating the progress of certain projects such as the Our Turn Sexual Violence Policy and the Milton-Parc Relations, and lastly, increasing the accessibility of governance practices such as voting, referendums, and the General Assembly. Bulger stated that the transparency of governing documents and the translation of some of these documents, such as the SSMU Constitution into French, are also aspects which she wants to focus on.

Bulger conveyed a concern towards the amount of privileged candidates running for executive roles and expresses her desire to make “our governing bodies more inclusive.” In terms of governance reform, she cited the mandate to the AUS reformation on their hiring practices as a source of inspiration to base this desire off of. The mandate strongly encourages marginalized groups to apply for executive positions.

Bulger states that her long-term goals as President include creating a positive environment and focusing on teamwork and empathy between different executives on SSMU. She emphasizes the necessity for strong and close relationships between the executives of SSMU in order to increase the overall empathy of the SSMU Executive Board.

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Tre Mansdoerfer

SSMU Elections | The McGill Daily

ansdoerfer is a U3 student majoring in Electrical Engineering. He is an Engineering University Society (EUS) Senator as well as a former EUS SSMU Representative.

Mansdoerfer’s platform focuses on three aspects: rebuilding faculty relationships, engaging current student concerns, and focusing advocacy on student needs.

As Senator he sat on the Legislative Council for the past two years, and he explains how he has witnessed apathy from most faculties on the council. He cites the impeachment of the Management President over the past two years as well as the lack of involvement of EUS within SSMU. He emphasises his hopes to strengthen inter-faculty relationships. He also describes the lack of involvement in the Round Tables, saying that only four out of the five presidents attended. In order to increase attendance, he expresses a wish to reach out to faculty presidents and establish a more personal relationship with them.

In regards to engaging current student concerns, Mansdoerfer wants to reform the structure of the General Assembly (GA) as well as the Board of Directors. He proposes a lowering of quorum in the GA because he does not believe that high turnout should only occur for assemblies addressing issues students are most passionate about such as the Boycott, Divest, Sanction (BDS) campaign. In the past, Mansdoerfer has expressed his belief that SSMU should remain relatively apolitical about “external” issues. He would also like to make the Chair of the Board of Directors a non-voting member as it is undemocratic and he would like to invite two alumni representatives on the Board in order to strengthen its structure.

Overall, Mansdoerfer’s platform stresses a dedication towards involvement and representation of all faculties in SSMU as well as a campaign revolving around “restor[ing] faith in the student society.”

Endorsement: Corinne Bulger, with reservations Both candidates, Bulger and Mansdoerfer, demonstrate extensive involvement in respective Faculty representation at SSMU and an understanding of student politics. However, Bulger demonstrates a more streamlined plan as a President, as she draws on her experience with student engagement and administrative work, both through her intensive involvement in Residence Life and as an Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) representative to SSMU. While Mansdoerfer’s experience also speaks to his work, his platform only focuses on issues that pertain to student involvement and fails to provide a consistent framework that is aligned with the President portfolio.

Bulger’s platform highlights her dedication to advocacy for increased student participation in government, but fails to propose a concrete solution to SSMU’s inaccessibility. Bulger expresses her intention to follow through on SSMU’s more positive initiatives, including work with the Milton Parc community and Gender Neutral language in SSMU legislation. However, Bulger only commits herself to addressing the inadequacy of SSMU governance and its relation to student body representation, and thus fails to take a stand on significant political debates, like the SSMU-AVEQ affiliation question. Her goals regarding governance reform, while admirable, are not concretely outlined at this time.

As she presents a hopeful candidate, the Daily endorses Bulger, with reservations.

The McGill Daily | SSMU Elections

President

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VP Internal The VP Internal is responsible for communication between SSMU and students and sends out the SSMU listserv. Responsibilities also include the Old McGill Yearbook and various events, including the 4Floors Halloween party, Frosh events, and Faculty Olympics.

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Matthew McLaughlin

he VP Internal position at SSMU is responsible for planning events like Frosh, publishing the yearbook, and running the weekly listserv. Matthew McLaughlin, a U0 Management student studying Strategic Management and Urban Systems, is running unopposed. He is currently the SSMU Secretary General and the Douglas Hall President, and has also served on a number of other SSMU committees, including the Accountability Committee and the Community Affairs Committee.

McLaughlin’s platform focuses on the accessibility of SSMU, emphasising the need for more communication. He proposes expanding the weekly listserv to additional platforms like Facebook, Twitter, WeChat, and WhatsApp. He also aims to make it easier for students and clubs to submit content to be included in the listserv, along with biweekly Facebook Live broadcasts in which he’ll explain what the SSMU execs have been doing. Furthermore, he wants to create town hall sessions in which students will be able to speak to the SSMU execs face to face, to ask questions and voice concerns. Addressing the SSMU building closure, McLaughlin says he will send out periodic listservs including updates on the construction, and important information regarding the relocation of clubs and services. Matthew’s platform also proposes a centralized calendar in which students would be able to find all events taking place around McGill at one location.

Endorsement: Yes, with reservations

Matthew McLaughlin shows extensive experience in student governance, team working and group governance in general. His proposition regarding the creation of a campus calendar, and concrete propositions regarding student instances and organisations traduce a knowledge of the functionings of parts of the student organisations, that make him mostly fit for the position of VP Internal. The Daily nevertheless maintains reservations based on McLaughlin’s lack of experience regarding the functionings of SSMU’s legislative parts. The Daily also maintains reservations on McLaughlin’s silence on contentious student issues. We worry this silence translates a disregard of the fundamentally political role of a SSMU executive position, and a buy into the idea that SSMU can be apolitical, an idea we believe simply is erroneous given the inherently political nature of governing. The Daily endorses a Yes, with reservations.

VP Student life The VP Student Life’s portfolio deals with clubs and services, student services, mental health initiatives, and independent student groups.

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Sophia Esterle

he VP student life is responsible for overseeing SSMU’s liaisons with the Board of Directors (BoD), student clubs and services, as well as managing McGill’s mental health initiatives.

Esterle previously served as the SSMU equity committee, and the Douglas Hall Spirit Representative. Esterle emphasized the need to advocate for marginalized voices through prioritizing mental health on campus, which has consistently been a prominent election issue in recent years.

During the debate, Esterle emphasized the need for reforms on the McGill Counselling Services, noting the month long wait for the first appointment. Esterle criticized McGill Counselling ‘s binary designation of gender in their sign up sheets, which they feel is “purely wrong and discriminatory.”

When asked about the cutbacks on the Eating Disorder Program (EDP) at McGill, Esterle responded that they will advocate for the right to a treatment program, and regain the resources firstly through communication with Mental Health services, then by pressuring the BoD. If elected, Esterle will attempt to create an in residence support system, and a search engine cataloguing clubs and services.

Esterle also stressed the importance of individual contact with students, despite the building closure, which may limit accessibility. Esterle plans on increasing office hours as needed, in order to maintain direct communication with individual students, and to represent their needs better on the BoD.

Endorsement: No

Esterle is running for VP Student Life on a platform largely based around mental health services at McGill. Her platform is divided into administrative changes, individual changes, and creation of committees. Main points of her platform include: a research engine for McGill clubs and services, and making McGill counseling services more efficient and easier for students to navigate. Esterle’s platform, while hopeful, is relatively limited in scope, and may at times forget to take institutional memory into account. While her commitment to the improvement of mental health services at McGill is valuable, The McGill Daily is not confident that her previous experience as Douglas Hall Spirit Representative and serving on the SSMU Equity Committee has adequately prepared her for the role. As a result, The Daily endorses a No vote.

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VP Finance The VP Finance portfolio includes ensuring the long-term financial stability of SSMU in cooperation with the General Manager, overseeing funding and operations management committees, providing the Executive Committee and Board of Directors with regular reports on the financial status of SSMU, and developing the annual budget of SSMU. among other tasks.

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Jun Wang

ang is a third year finance student, who previously served as VP finance of the student resident council, as well as the Desautels Management Competition Committee (DMCC).

He hopes to rebuild trust in SSMU by implementing reforms to the funding system. Wang’s platform is centered around three pillars; accessibility of SSMU funds, accountability of SSMU’s processes, and the transparency in financial structure.

During the debate, Wang expressed concerns over SSMU’s dense network, which he believes can be inaccessible for individual clubs and student services. Wang’s campaign prioritizes reforms in the application of for funds, as well as a service pooled fund, aimed to allow services to donate their surplus to others in need without a referendum. Wang believes that the reimbursement process and reformed templates should be communicated through a mandatory, collective meeting between the presidents and VP finances of SSMU services. Wang emphasized that many services lacking a business background, may face barriers in understanding their financial position.

When questioned about the role of VP finance in advocating for social responsibility, Wang emphasized the need to maintain financial stability, while representing the interests of students.

If elected, Wang plans to build on the social goals of the green funds, and to strengthen SSMU’s social responsibility mandate on its investment portfolio.

Endorsement: No

Wang’s platform for the VP Finance position is based on accessibility, accountability, and a minor restructuring of SSMU finances and communication. He proposes changes to the funding application procedures for clubs in order to make it more accessible and simple, and an advisory committee to review club spending. Wang has served as VP Finance of student residence hall council, and the DMCC marketing committee, but has no SSMU experience. When asked about how he would implement social responsibility in his role as VP Finance, Wang only briefly discussed past initiatives, but did not seem to present any concrete new goals. He did, however, mention that he would try to keep his personal beliefs out of his job. Due to his lack of prior experience with SSMU, along with the limited nature of his platform and relative lack of engagement with social responsibility, the Daily endorses a No vote.

VP University Affairs The VP University Affairs plays a pivotal role in student advocacy, sitting on Senate and representing SSMU and its constituents to the McGill administration.

The VP University Affairs also oversees the SSMU Library Improvement Fund, works with student senators on advocacy projects, oversees student research initiatives, and implements equity initiatives.

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Jacob Shapiro

Endorsement: No

While Shapiro’s platform does include some smaller straightforward goals and focuses on student consultation, it contains few concrete proposals. Plans for “support systems for students needing to engage in personal advocacy” and “equity events co-sponsored by student groups” are vague and offer little insight into how to implement them. Shapiro also fails to mention the Library Improvement Fund, which the VP UA manages. Finally, Shapiro also has too little experience working in and navigating SSMU to convince students that bigger goals like a “university advocacy conference” are feasible. The Daily thus endorses a “No” vote for Jacob Shapiro.

SSMU Elections | The McGill Daily

ne of the two candidates to get on the ballot during Elections SSMU’s extended nomination period, Shapiro has no previous experience in student governance at McGill: in an interview with The Daily, Shapiro admitted to being “relatively new” to SSMU politics, but felt that as a self-described future teacher, he was attracted to the VP University Affairs (UA) position as it exists “to remind the university that it’s here for us to learn.”

Shapiro’s three-pronged platform stresses “continuity, creativity, and community,” which highlights the VP UA portfolio’s research mandate, commitment to supporting student advocacy, and student consultation. Shapiro’s platform also includes a few more clear-cut promises to build on the work of the current VP UA, including but not limited to, adjusting the Academic Roundtable to allow for greater collaboration, broadening the bi-weekly Senate Caucus meeting to include additional representatives, and creating first-year senate support positions.

While not part of the VP UA portfolio, among Shapiro’s biggest concerns regarding SSMU is governance reform, be it at the level of McGill’s Board of Governors, or within SSMU. He feels it’s intrinsically linked to the VP UA portfolio because “it’s hard to advocate well for students if you can’t prove to the administration, [one] that doesn’t want to listen, that you’re speaking on behalf of students.” He points to “contradictions” in the SSMU system as being proof of this, i.e.

SSMU having both elements of direct democracy, such as General Assemblies, but also a Board of Directors more akin to that of a corporation. When asked which reforms could thus be put forward, Shapiro admitted he has “conflicting ideas because [he didn’t] know what the best model is,” but felt greater consultation needed to take place, and that an “elected Board of Directors should be up for debate.” The ultimate goal should be making increasing student engagement, and making SSMU “as democratic as possible,” he says.

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VP External The VP External is responsible for connecting SSMU’s constituents to the wider Montreal and Quebec community. The portfolio includes communication with other post-secondary institutions and McGill’s labour unions, and lobbying the government on behalf of SSMU. The VP External is also mandated to provide support for student-run social and environmental justice campaigns.

S

Marina Cupido

erving as the primary liaison between SSMU members and the wider Montreal and Quebec community, the existence of the VP External position has been questioned by many who don’t understand why the position also mandates that support be provided for student-run social and environmental justice campaigns endorsed by SSMU. However, Cupido has defended the need for the position, and says McGill undergraduates should not shy away from SSMU’s “inherently political” nature: her platform emphasizes issues of social accessibility, be it greater Indigenization efforts on campus, the need for better outreach to the Society’s francophone members, or greater transparency between the Society’s members and its student government.

Cupido has highlighted the need for greater communication between SSMU and other Quebec universities, in campaigns like CUTE (“Campagne sur le travail étudiant”), organized around fighting unpaid internships in the promises, or in regards to joining a student federation.

Amongst Cupido’s biggest campaign promises is her wanting to affiliate the Society with either the Union Étudiante du Québec (UEQ) or the Association for a Voice in Education in Quebec (AVEQ).

In the Winter 2016 referendum period, SSMU members voted against a SSMU-initiated proposal to join AVEQ, but Cupido feels SSMU members have not adequately been made aware of the the merits of joining a student federation, notably the increased level of provincial representation for SSMU. As VP External, she’s promised to continue to fulfill SSMU’s observational status with AVEQ, but also attend UEQ’s meetings and congresses, and initiate a “thorough communications strategy” informing students of the benefits of joining either UEQ or AVEQ, prior to bringing a new motion to referendum next year.

Like a number of this year’s candidates, Cupido has little experience serving in student government, but cites her time working with The Daily as a News Editor and as the paper’s Managing Editor as proof of a deep understanding of SSMU’s inner workings, having covered student politics on campus for nearly four years.

Statement of Recusal Cupido has been a contributor at The Daily since her first semester at McGill. She’s worked as both a News Editor and as the paper’s Managing Editor in the last two years alone, and as such, The Daily’s Editorial Board has chosen to recuse itself from an endorsement, as any endorsement could reasonably be questioned

by SSMU’s membership.

Endorsements: Winter 2018 Referendum Period

The McGill Daily | SSMU Elections

Policy on Implementation of a Fall Reading Week – YES While a majority of Canadian universities have already implemented a minimum of four or more study days in the Fall semester, McGill belongs to a growing few that have not. According to a 2015 survey by McGill Enrollment Services, 71.5% of respondents were in favour of a Fall Reading Week, and research has suggested that such a break would offer some much-needed respite to new students who might be over-burdened with a transition to life at McGill. The adoption of such a policy would mandate SSMU to support campaigns for the implementation of a Fall Reading Week at McGill through the offices of the VP External and the VP University Affairs, giving students added legitimacy to pursue this goal. As such, The Daily endorses a Yes vote regarding the implementation of such a policy.

ECOLE Fee Levy – YES Created in 2011, the Educational Community Living Environment (ECOLE) at McGill, a collective living house and community space on the university’s downtown campus, has strived to exemplify a model of urban sustainable living through applied student research, alternative education and community building. Without the organization’s $2.00 opt-outable student fee levy, ECOLE would be incapable of supporting its own open study lounge hours, free space booking services, and putting on events and programming around environmental and societal sustainability. As such, The Daily endorses a Yes vote for this fee.

BSN Fee Renewal and Fee increase – YES The Black Students’ Network (BSN) at McGill works everyday towards making our university campus safer and more accessible for Black students, and is committed to educating the McGill undergraduate community by hosting panels and events to discuss racial issues. In recent years, the BSN has become the main financial contributor to Black History Month at McGill, and has came forward and made it clear that without a fee levy, continuing to put on BHM at McGill will not be possible. As such, The Daily endorses both a renewal of the BSN’s opt-outable fee and a levy to increase the fee to $1.00 per student for full-time students and $0.50 per student for part time students per semester, from $0.40 per full-time student and $0.20 for part-time students.

Amendments to the University Centre Fee, the SSMU Clubs Fee, and the SSMU Campus Life Fee – YES With the SSMU Building closure comes a new set of problems for SSMU, mainly concerning its ability to house the numerous clubs and services integral to McGill student life. Many of the fees that have helped SSMU keep said clubs and services going have strict definitions of how they can be spent, which could potentially constrain SSMU’s abilities to secure spaces for them with the building closure. These three motions would allow SSMU some more leeway in managing obstacles in the coming months, obstacles that include paying third-parties other than McGill University for expenses related to SSMU Building closure, allowing SSMU to use significant rollovers in the Club Fund and the Campus Life Fund from previous years, and amending SSMU’s Internal Regulations to allow SSMU to grant money to clubs that are not currently running a deficit. The Daily endorses a Yes vote in these three referendum questions.

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March 19, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

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12

Changing the Narrative An Interview with Lucas Charlie Rose

Arvaa Balsara The McGill Daily

space for marginalized identities in the music industry.

T

AB: When did you start making music?

here’s no shortage of twentysomethings who wonder whether or not they’ll make it in the real world, but 26-year-old singersongwriter and activist Lucas Charlie Rose ignores those nagging thoughts. Instead, the artist has been steadily working on his music from his elementary school days back in France. For the past eight years, Rose has been rapping and making hip hop music in Montreal, and has recently started a non-profit record label called Trans Trenderz to provide a platform for trans artists to promote their music. In addition to his musical pursuits, Rose participates in panels and conference about decolonization, mental health in Black communities, and trans issues. I had the opportunity to sit down with Rose in February and discuss his music, activism, and his efforts to make

LCR: I was in elementary school, and I had this one teacher who would bring his guitar to class and teach us poems through music. He put them into song because it was easier for us to remember. At the time I was already writing poems, but this was huge for me because I realized I could make my own songs.

AB: So where did you grow up?

LCR: I was born in France. When I was nine years old I moved to Niger for three years and then back to France for three years. Then I did my last three years of high school in Washington.

AB: What’s it like moving around that much?

LCR: It’s weird. Like I’m in Canada, but I’m not Canadian, but I don’t feel French either. I don’t feel like I belong anywhere. Because I’ve lived in so many countries, I always wonder why countries exist, it just doesn’t seem to make too much sense.

Making music that makes sense AB: How did you get started making hip hop music?

LCR: I don’t really know. That was the type of music that I was into at the time and I could relate to. Hip hop is for people who look like me and who don’t really have a voice.

I just connected with the music. I was in a rock band at one point, but that’s expensive. You have to pay for the instruments, rehearsal space, and at some point I didn’t have resources to keep going. But with hip hop, you really only need a computer and you’re good.

AB: Can you tell me a little about your music? And about Gender F*ckboi?

LCR: I like to describe it as trapinfused soul music. I love mixing the sounds. Gender F*ckboi is an album about me, really. 2017 was a rough year for me and Gender F*ckboi were the songs I wrote that year. For me, it’s almost like a journal. When I’m writing music like that, most of the time I’m not really thinking about the lyrics that are coming out. It’s just coming out. I’m learning about myself in the process. That’s why I called it Gender F*ckboi. First of all, being a Black masculine person, you’re seen as misogynistic, as oppressive. You don’t have to do anything; you’re just automatically seen like that. And I’m trying to redefine Black masculinity as well with this album.

“It’s fine to have trans people on TV and all but then if you’re not showing anything beyond the fact that this character or person needs surgery, then you’re just objectifying their bodies. Visibility then also relates to who is in power and in control of the narrative.”

— Lucas Charlie Rose

Its a political life AB: What does your work aim to say and how does it comment on social and political issues?

LCR: I’m just trying to be heard.

People don’t really listen to us trans people. But at the same time, I don’t want people to see me exclusively as a trans artist. I’m an artist who happens to be trans. So my music is just about the things that I’m experiencing and people call it political because my life is political. It’s a political opinion to decide whether or not I should be allowed to live. I’m just trying to survive in this world.

AB: Your work also brings attention to the Black community, the trans community, and the Black trans community. So in that context what does visibility mean to you? Are there any negative consequences to that visibility?

LCR: Yeah, of course. If people see you, but don’t see you the way you want to be seen, then that visibility isn’t helpful. It’s fine to have trans people on TV and all but then if you’re not showing anything beyond the fact that this character or person needs surgery, then you’re just objectifying their bodies. Visibility then also relates to who is in power and in control of the narrative. If trans people are in control of their own narrative, then that’s the only visibility that is actually helpful. But that also comes at a price, because the more visible you are when you’re different, the more haters and death threats you get, which unfortunately, is really common.

AB: You helped to establish Trans Trenderz–what is it? What do you hope to do through it?

LCR: It’s a non-profit record label for trans artists. We want to release music that’s available for free. So if you don’t have enough money to buy the CD, you can download the music online for free. We alswo help other artists release their own music.

We’re not like other labels where we tell the artists to pay us back the money it took to produce their music. I wanted to create a system that protects the artist and where there isn’t the pressure to be making money afterwards. I’m also working on developing the website so that there is a forum for trans people who make music and people who want to work with them to connect and learn more about each other. I’m trying to build a community because I really believe that music can change the world, especially when I see people like Rihanna, who [attended a conference on education with the French President Emmanuel Macron]. People who make music have so much potential to change the world. Trans people, we haven’t really used that avenue yet. My goal is to build up this community and empower each other.

AB: It makes sense that the artists are protected, but why the focus on making the music free?

LCR: Because being a trans person costs a lot of money, we can’t always afford CDs and music and going to shows. I also wanted to be able to have a platform where trans people can go and listen to music that’s

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March 19, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

made by people that have the same experiences.

AB: What do you think the artist’s responsibility is to their audience?

LCR: When you’re an artist, you have to keep in mind that without your audience you’re nothing. For me, the responsibility is being true to yourself.

You don’t want to become a crook, or advertise violence or things that could hurt your audience. You have to be respectful to the people who listen to you. But you also have to be genuine in what you do. It’s a professional relationship between the artist and the audience; at a show the audience is essentially hiring you, so you need to respect that. At the same time, the audience needs to respect the artist’s private life, and too often people just don’t. Just because I make music and I talk about falling in love, that doesn’t mean you can come into my private life and sneak around. Respecting those boundaries is just so important.

“So my music is just about the things that I’m experiencing and people call it political because my life is political.

It’s a political opinion to decide whether or not I should be allowed to live.

I’m just trying to survive in this world.”

— Lucas Charlie Rose

This moment in music AB: Okay, so let’s move on to music more broadly. What does this moment in music mean for artists of colour?

LCR: Hip-hop is the most salient music genre right now. As a result, it feels like a matter of time before it becomes a white dominated genre. When you see people like Post Malone it feels more that way.

Even back when Eminem was starting off, it wasn’t like everyone said ‘you’re white, you don’t belong here.’ Everyone was praising him, even though he is lowkey mediocre.

He doesn’t challenge anything, but he’s still making so much money.

It’s great that hip hop has this huge visibility, but it’s so mainstream now.

It’s become a matter of keeping hip hop in its rawest form — using it to give voice to marginalized people.

When I say marginalized I mean people who aren’t represented in the music industry. People who you don’t see when you watch music videos or t.v. shows. Black people are still marginalized. We’re still marginalized within the music industry. It’s not like Nicki Minaj doesn’t experience racism just because she’s making money. It’s just a matter of different privileges.

AB: What is your response to the claim that mainstream hip hop is filled with misogyny and homophobia?

LCR: I think it’s racist. Black people aren’t more misogynistic or homophobic than other people. If you listen to pop music right now it’s actually a lot worse. If a Black artist is singing about going to a strip club, everybody thinks it’s misogynistic.

But how is it misogynistic? Is it misogynistic to give money to a stripper? Of course it’s not. You’re supporting local businesses and hip hop is a genre that embraces sex work in a way that others just don’t. There are a lot of songs that are categorized as being misogynistic because it’s just Black people talking about sex. For example, there is a song by YG, about going to a strip club and bringing a girl home. But he says that he still calls her the next day and respects her. So you have to think about how white people see us. There is work to be done sure, but one of the biggest problems in hip hop right now is that it’s white people who own the majority of the labels. So the narrative is not one of liberation. When you’re a white person and you own a record label, Black people are your puppets. You decide what comes out of that label.

For me, when somebody says that hip hop is misogynistic or transphobic or discriminatory, I want them to criticize what they’re listening to first. Especially when it comes to the actual language being used. You have to be aware of the context in which the words are being used.

AB: How do you go about trying to challenge this narrative that Black masculinity is fundamentally oppressive?

LCR: I talk a lot about Black trans men. Sometimes people will look at me and think, well, now you have male privilege, but that’s not really how privilege works. Cis men, when they look at me, don’t see someone who looks like them.

They’re still violent towards my body. Trans people are often seen to be transitioning to please cis-male sexuality. The trans male privilege is conditional. I have it if I’m walking down the street, but as soon as I pull out my papers it disappears. As soon as people recognize me on the street, I’m outed. And it’s important to remember that when we’re talking

about male privilege, we’re talking about white male privilege. Because does Black male privilege really exist? Is it really a privilege in most situations? That’s what’s going to get you shot. So I’m hoping that the way that I express my masculinity can help cis men as well.

“It’s great that hip hop has this huge visibility, but it’s so mainstream now.

It’s become a matter of keeping hip hop in its rawest form — using it to give voice to marginalized people.”

— Lucas Charlie Rose

Tuning in to different narratives AB: What does being an ally look like to you?

LCR: Imagine that you’re at Madison Square Garden, and it’s completely sold out and people are there to watch you perform.

But you don’t have a microphone.

You’re try to sing louder and louder until eventually your voice breaks.

You keep singing, but after a while you’re tired and it doesn’t even matter that people are leaving and you’re singing only to one person now. You can’t even do that now because your voice is just gone. Your message doesn’t get across. All you needed was a microphone. That’s what an ally is. An ally is there to amplify your voice. To make your life easier when you’re trying to get your message out there. But when you’re not performing, it’s turned off. It doesn’t have a role.

AB: If you could pick one accomplishment that you’re most proud of, what would it be?

LCR: I think just the fact that I’m still making music. Because it’s really not easy. I’m really proud of the fact that I’ve had failures but I’m still going.

Others only really see the success, but successful people are the ones who have failed the most.

AB: We’ve talked about a variety of things, but do you have any final thoughts?

LCR: Just that people need to stop focusing on differences and focus more on what makes us alike. What I always tell people is, it’s okay if you don’t understand my life because I don’t understand yours either. I don’t understand what it’s like to not be me. Anything outside my experience, I don’t really understand. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t respect it, or that I can’t relate. And it doesn’t mean that I can’t support it. I have different sets of obstacles sure, but nothing about me is so different that you can’t listen to my music and enjoy and support it. Everybody can benefit from hearing different narratives.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

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March 19, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Art essay

Lydia Bhattacharya

March 19, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

Culture

15

Vowel against cybercolonialism Chelsea Vowel talks about her new book Indigenous Writes

Geneva Gleason Culture Writer

I

t’s 2:05 p.m., and the room is buzzing —­ Chelsea Vowel’s fame precedes her: a Métis public intellectual, writer, and educator, Vowel is known for writings ranging from political tweets and drags (often retweeted by the McGill Daily Twitter) to her latest book, Indigenous Writes.

Around me, audience members chatter about the full room, how they reserved their tickets online, and what they thought of Indigenous Writes, the bestselling subject of the talk.

Hosted by the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, in collaboration with the McGill Indigenous Studies Program, Vowel’s talk is part of a series called “Books That Matter”.

And matter they do — Vowel’s Indigenous Writes is considered essential reading by many within academic circles and beyond. One reviewer, Shelagh Rogers, a broadcast-journalist based in British Columbia, was particularly touched by the book, calling it “medicine.”

Following an introduction and land acknowledgment by Professor Gabrielle Doreen, speaking first in Cree and then in English, Vowel begins by reading a series of tweets she received that morning. The tweets, unabashedly anti-Indigenous, reveal brazen cyberbullying: a digitised form of white supremacy and colonialism.

The tweets [Chelsea Vowel receives], unabashedly anti-Indigenous, reveal brazen cyberbullying: a digitised form of white supremacy and colonialism.

After denouncing the acquittal of Colten Boushie’s murderer, Vowel shifts gears to discuss the portrayal of a shaking tent at the Musée des Beaux-Arts. Vowel liked that the exhibition gave no explanation or translation for the sacred ceremony or its cultural context. She notes that it is not a place or experience that is shared openly; but that the artists were able to give the viewer a sense of its feeling, its intensity, without telling them what it was. “I felt like

Nelly Wat | The McGill Daily you weren’t going to understand it unless you already knew something about it, and it felt like something for me,” Vowel explained.

In her trademark tongue-incheek style, Vowel discredits her own book as a bestseller. “It is ridiculous, in 2018, that anything in that book comes as a surprise to anyone,” she declares, calling it an introduction to the issues facing Indigenous peoples in Canada — stuff we should already know. “The fact that people can still open that up and go ‘woah, I didn’t know that,’ means that we have a really, really long way to go.”

Vowel explained that the Colten Boushie verdict confirmed that reconciliation is dead. “I don’t want reconciliation, I want a reckoning,” she clarifies, insisting that the “truth” in “Truth and Reconciliation” is still missing.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was established

by Canada to address and expose the horrors of residential schools.

Vowel explained that the Colten Boushie verdict confirmed that reconciliation is dead.

The book was born, according to Vowel, out of arguments with people in the comments sections of Indigenous-related news articles, starting with news coverage of the federal government’s audit of the Attawapiskat First Nation in Ontario. Vowel looked up the numbers — which, she noted, are publicly available to anybody — and proved that the actual funds

that landed in the community were insufficient to begin with.

Yet fellow commenters would shift the conversation from fact to fiction quickly, veering away from the content of the article or Vowel’s research to spout antiindigenous comments.

The book was born, according to Vowel, out of arguments with people in the comments sections of Indigenousrelated news articles.

The battles in these comments sections, Vowel says, are indicative of the everyday experience of many Indigenous people: “You have to answer to all of these assumptions and stereotypes that people have[...] you don’t get to just talk about a shaking tent installation that is so cool.” She adds that in these conversations, Indigenous peoples have to prove every claim they make, whereas non-Indigenous people’s generalisations are more quickly taken as facts.

Vowel, who is now the mother of six daughters, wrote the book for two hours a day during her three-month maternity leave for her fifth baby. She shares the ideas she had for covers and titles, which were ultimately rejected by the publishers. The final title, Indigenous Writes, was actually a snarky suggestion by Vowel, which the publishers loved and is now revered by audiences for its wit.

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March 19, 2018 mcgilldaily.com | The McGill Daily

COMPENDIUM!

Simpler Times

Arno Pedram | The McGall Weekly

On

Tuesday, April 10

the staff of

The McGill Daily

the 2018-19 editorial board.

will elect the

We hope you’ll consider running for one of our open positions. If you are interested in joining our non-hierarchical team, here’s a quick guide on the election process for becoming a Daily editor.

becoming staff:

the basics: Our editors are elected by Daily staffers rather than hired by a committee.

To run for an editorial position or to vote in the election, you must be Daily staff.

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For more information on individual positions, contact specific section editors (emails can be found on page 4 of this issue). You can also stop by The Daily’s office in 2075 Robert-Bourassa Blvd. Suite 500.

the positions: Coordinating Managing Coordinating News News (x2) Commentary (x2) Features (x2) Sci+Tech

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