The scariest thing about applying for something is the chance that you will fail I almost didn’t apply to law school because of it But think about it again; the worst thing that can happen is that you fail. Is failure really that scary when you put it into perspective? Failure is not the end of the world; rather, it is a normal, human part of life I can guarantee you that everyone experiences failure, myself included. The person you think has it all together, the one who always seems to have it go their way, I promise you they’ve failed at something, no matter how big or small It’s just that no one ever talks about it
We need to speak about failure more openly. We only ever hear about when people succeed, not when they fail, and I believe we are at a loss for it Speaking openly about failure will help combat the loneliness that often accompanies it, while also just normalizing it. Failure is normal. It is not uncommon Everyone goes through it I understand that it is daunting to share your failures, so I urge you to start small Talk to your friends.These are the same people who celebrate your wins, they absolutely will empathize with your losses. Maybe one of them will be inspired to share about a time they failed too
Failure means you still tried, you did the thing, and just because it didn’t work out does not mean you should discount that. It is incredibly brave to simply just try, and something to be very proud of To try and fail, and then try again, is a sign of strength, not weakness In the words of Kelly Clarkson,“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” While this saying may seem silly at first glance, there is wisdom behind it. It’s difficult to see rejection as redirection in the moment, especially when you wanted something so badly, but somehow time always helps me appreciate the alternative path I was put on
Speaking of want, we should stop being afraid to want things out loud, just because it might not work out I get it, it can feel incredibly vulnerable to admit that you really want something, because it makes it real and tangible, and along with it the possibility that you might not get it. But isn’t that the beauty of the human condition? We want, we care, we yearn, we aspire, despite not knowing if we will succeed
I hope you will read this letter and feel inspired to continue to try. Do not count yourself out and close the door, just because you may not succeed. I’ll say it once again, the worst thing that can happen is that you fail What a privilege it is to fail, to want something enough to feel disappointment when you don’t get it I promise you, eventually it will work out the way it’s meant to be and in the meantime, I am so proud of you.
Why does the law loom so large in vampire fiction?
Count Orlok with Contract
From Nosferatu, directed by FW Murnau (Germany: Prana Film, 1922).
In honour of Halloweekend’s passing, I wanted to write on a topic that has been haunting me since Halloweekend of 1L: vampire law As an enjoyer of vampire media and a law student (obviously or I wouldn’t be writing for the Quid), I couldn’t help but notice that so many of our popular stories of vampires, from Dracula to Twilight, revolve around some sort of legal drama
As of late, we have been spoiled with a resurgence of vampire media which has left me wondering: are vampires a sign of recession?The 70s hadAnne Rice, 2008 had Twilight, and 2024-2025 have seen us spoiled with vampire media galore from Sinners to Nosferatu. The influx of new vampire stories have also left me wondering why law is essential to what makes vampires, well, vampires
Vampires have become mainstays of the popular imagination we are all familiar with the tales of monsters prowling the night, sparkling in the sun, or even teaching us how to count. As authors return to vampire stories, tropes have become embedded, and in some cases, genre-altering. After all, what would teen vampire fiction be without the flawed and tragic vampires of Anne Rice’s TheVampire Chronicles
Law and vampires seem inextricably linked. Nearly every piece of vampire media includes some sort of legal question solicitor Johnathan Harker goes to Dracula's castle to help him purchase a home in London, the Volturi hold a hearing for the Cullens in Twilight, and Angel (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame) battles villainous lawyers in Angel Across franchises, vampires often live in highly ruledominated regimes that dictate how they govern themselves, how they may feed, and who they can turn. So, what is it about the figure of the vampire that we associate so strongly with the law?
Certainly, it didn’t start out this way Most ancient stories about vampires paint them as unmistakably monstrous; corpses that rise to drain the living to sustain their immortality. But vampires as we know them are a relatively modern creation, and their vampiric legal regime has become a trope of the genre While I am not sure I have any answers for why exactly vampires love the law perhaps it is something about how the monsters we imagine embodying our fear of change would also love stiff, normative rules for how to live I want to explore more about how the law manifests in our favourite vampire stories.
So, let’s dive into the story that started it all: Dracula Here, there is a contract that starts it all off Johnathan Harker, a new solicitor, is tasked with travelling to Dracula’s castle in the Carpathian Mountains to assist with the sale of a home for the Count in London After all, what junior lawyer would turn down an all-expenses-paid Euro summer?
When Harker arrives at Dracula’s castle, the Count is very interested in Harker’s expertise in the law In fact, Harker observes that Dracula keeps common law texts in his own library. He spends the first two nights with Harker drilling him about estates, land transfers, and what the duties of a solicitor are It is, perhaps, somewhat peculiar for Dracula to be so interested in the law afterall, he is a Count, and certainly could delegate sorting the particulars of purchasing this estate and arranging for travel to his own counsel Nevertheless, the law becomes central to the relationship of Harker and Dracula, and is cemented as a central interest of the vampire. Harker even quips at one point that Dracula would have made a great solicitor Because what do lawyers do, if not drain you (and your pockets)?
Robert Egger’s 2024 Nosferatu takes the contract even further The original 1922 Nosferatu by F W Murnau is a nearly-identical adaptation of Dracula, with changes to the characters' names.
In this version, Thomas Hutter (our Johnathan Harker) appears in Count Orlok’s (our Dracula) dining room, and is commanded to sign the Count’s contract. Talk about a nightmare client Hutter does this, even though the contract is in Romanian, and rather than transferring a crumbling German manor to the Count, he is signing the soul of his beloved away. If contracts taught me anything, this is probably not valid Although, Thomas, signing a contract in a language he doesn't understand doesn’t make it fraud (at least, in Quebec thanks to Rawleigh v Duomolin).
While we don’t get a glimpse into the laws and procedures governing vampire society in Dracula, powerful rules still influence the vampire’s behaviour. Dracula cannot enter another’s home without invitation. Is this to give him a defence against constructive murder? Although the doctrine is defunct in Canada, in 19th century England it was very much alive if a person dies unintentionally in the
commission of another crime, the accused must only possess the intent to commit the original crime, not murder Meaning, if a vampire were to be held liable for draining their victims, they would have to possess the mens rea for murder, rather than trespass
Bram Stoker, which should not surprise us, was a barrister in life. He had sixteen years of legal training, and I think that this influenced how the law perfused Dracula Beyond the solicitor/client relationship, the role of the contract, and the customs that Dracula follows, the book integrates key legal questions and anxieties of the era.
Dracula’s time on the ship to England, feeding off the other passengers, closely resembles cases of cannibalism on ships that were widely reported on in Victorian popular media. The 1884 case R v Dudley and Stephens concerned two sailors who, after their ship foundered in the South Atlantic, were forced to kill and cannibalise a crewmate while awaiting rescue Typically, those who participated would have access to the defence of necessity, which justified the act because it was necessary to survive However, the court turned away from accepting this defence. Instead of having the intended effect, however, it sparked massive popular debate about the purpose of this defence and saw renewed use in the court room
The nature of the vampire’s transgressions itself may have been a response to these anxieties After all, it could be argued that the vampire must drain their victims of blood and ultimately their lives in order to survive. Perhaps the fever pitch surrounding the defence of necessity manifested itself in Stoker’s portrayal of Dracula, hinting at the truly monstrous acts that could be justified by the right legal argument.
It is clear that Stoker brought his legal thinking cap to Dracula The book deals a lot with questions of law, its power to create relationships, and its importance in governing how we conduct ourselves Certainly, his legal background has impacted subsequent works in the genre, giving us vampire constitutions and dramatic vampire trials galore.
Vampires, like the law, seem to have such attractive staying power because of their ability to carry metaphor: vampires are often a conduit for stories about unfeeling parasitic forces, forbidden desire, or the eternal outsider who longs to be included Perhaps because they are such a great expression of our anxieties since we want to see that even something as inhuman as a vampire can be bound by law. Or, perhaps lawyers and vampires have a lot in common blood-suckers and life-drainers dressed in black robes
Further reading/watching:
Hale, Terry, “Bram Stoker, Dracula, and the English Common Law”in Matthew Gibson & Sabine Lenore Müller, eds, Bram Stoker and the Late Victorian World (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2019) at 9-32
R v Dudley & Stephens (1884) 14 QBD 273, [1884] UKLawRpKQB 233 (CommonLII) (QBD)
Depuis les années 1970, la joyeuse mélodie de Fanfare pour l’homme ordinaire d'Aaron Copland accueillait les chanceux passagers à bord du métro Montréalais Quel contraste avec notre quotidien actuel, alors que le transport en commun à Montréal est sur le point de décoller sans escale, en sens unique. Une grève s ’ annonce pour les travailleurs de la Société de Transport de Montréal (STM), et cela perturbera le service durant le mois gris et pluvieux de novembre
Pourquoi le monde utilise-t-il le transport en commun ? Réponses : parce que c ’est plus rapide, que l’auto est trop dispendieuse, que les gens ont peur de prendre leur bicyclette, ou parce que c ’est l’option la plus écologique et relaxante. Quelqu’un vous conduit. Il y a un chauffeur, donc vous pouvez vous concentrer sur un roman, écouter de la musique, étudier le paysage, faire des devoirs scolaires ou travailler sur un article pour le Quid Novi ou le Pigeon Dissident. Ça peut-être, en somme, un moment de détente.
Autant que le peuple de Montréal dépend de la STM, la STM dépend de ses employé·e·s Pour leur part, les employé·e·s dépendent de leur syndicat pour les protéger. Les employé·e·s gagnent un salaire décent avec de bons avantages sociaux On devrait la considérer comme une société qui traite ses travailleur·euse·s avec dignité
Propre, rapide, efficace, le système de transport est conçu pour affronter la réalité dure et froide du climat nordique de Montréal, alors que les routes craquent avec le cycle de gel et de dégel saisonnier. Dans ce pays d’hiver interminable, le métro est un havre de chaleur En plus, le service est adapté Nous avons le transport pour les personnes handicapées Nous avons des titres gratuits pour les personnes âgées, et il y a des navettes scolaires. Il y a des raisons de l’emprunter pour les jeunes, pour les moins jeunes, pour les étudiant e s et pour les travailleur euse s L’idée de punir des usager ère s innocent·e·s semble courir à contresens de l'accessibilité vers
laquelle on tend Ce n ’est pas tout le monde qui peut se permettre d’acheter ou de louer une automobile Nous devons fournir des options de transport pour tou·te·s afin de voyager du pointA au point B et encore plus loin.
Donc, qu ’est-ce qui se passe pour tous les usagers de la STM pendant la grève? Qu’est-ce qu ’ on fait avec tout ce monde qui en dépendent ? Les alternatives durant la grève de transport sont : le vélo, le covoiturage, le taxi, Uber, le Bixi, ou la marche On peut choisir de ne pas se déplacer du tout, et de faire une vidéoconférence ou l’on peut opter pour de remettre l’heure du rendez-vous afin d'arriver à temps. Bref, s’il y a grève, empruntez le REV (Réseau ExpressVélo)
Même pour ceux qui n ’utilisent pas les services de la STM, une grève entraîne énormément de problèmes. D’un coup, tous les trajets qui auraient été faits en transport, vont être faits en auto Donc, nous pourrions voir une augmentation de l'achalandage sur nos routes, plus de circulation, et beaucoup plus de temps perdu dans la congestion S’il n ’ y avait pas de bus et de métro, nos artères seraient complètement bouchées par la circulation Il y aurait également plus de gaz d’échappement, nocifs à l’environnement, surtout à cause de l’extraction des carburants et autres produits pétrochimiques qui alimentent les automobiles Ces dernières coûtent cher et nourrissent une industrie d’assurances prédatrices.
Considérons l'équation mathématique simple, tout à fait pertinente pour le transport en commun : £ < 0
Si zéro est plus important que le symbole de l’argent pour la valeur du transport en commun, il ne devrait pas être simplement gratuit, mais les usagers devraient être compensé·e·s de l’utiliser. Surtout, lorsque nous parlons des coûts du transport en commun, il ne faut jamais oublier que c ’est un service public, au même titre que le service d'incendie, les hôpitaux, la police, les écoles et même nos routes. Nos politicien·ne·s demandent souvent que le service de transport en commun soit rentable; ils ne veulent pas faire perdre de l’argent à la ville Mais demande-t-on que les pompiers soient rentables ? Quel est le profit annuel de la police ? Lorsque nous parlons d’un service public, il faut regarder au-delà des coûts des retours du service, mais considérer le bien que ce service apporte à nos villes Il faut considérer que la STM est un moteur économique de la ville, qui nous fournit l’argent, en accélérant les déplacements, le commerce, en facilitant le travail, et rendant la ville accessible à tou te s
Le métro est pour le monde. Les gens en ont besoin pour se rendre à leurs rendez-vous médicaux, aller à l’école ou accéder au quartier des affaires où le stationnement n ’est pas toujours facile. Le métro rassemble le monde. Si on assiste à un match de hockey ou de soccer, on peut se réjouir collectivement après la victoire Si on assiste à un spectacle, la foule peut chanter en chœur les refrains de l’artiste
Cependant, le monde ne chantera pas la Fanfare pour l’homme ordinaire pendant un petit bout de temps, les wagons du métro deviendront plutôt silencieux jusqu’à nouvel ordre. Et ce, en espérant que la STM fasse demi-tour sur ses positions trop campées pour qu'elle puisse, dans un futur proche, continuer ses allers-retours pour nous amener à bon port.
A Day to Remember
I still remember the first time I truly felt the toll war seems to always claim
I had not been familiar with it I was born in Canada, where the horrific realities of armed conflicts were something seen from the distance of screens and history books I came from a non-military family, and I joined the CanadianArmed Forces (CAF) with plenty of good intentions and naivety
It was a beautiful morning in the summer of 2010, on the CAF base in Borden, Ontario. We were walking in ranks to the Health Services training center when suddenly, a heavy tension ramped up in our group: at the school entrance, the national flag flew at half-staff Something bad had happened, and while we didn’t know what, we could feel dread chilling our bones
Upon our arrival, we were shushed toward the auditorium, where dozens of people in uniform were crying and embracing one another Once we were all sitting down, and the buzz quieted, our Commanding Officer, choking on his words, announced to the whole unit that two members of the CAF Health Services had died during their mission in Afghanistan, hit by an improvised explosive device 1
1
CBC, News Release,“Canadian Medics’ Bodies Return from Afghanistan”(29 June 2010), online: <cbc ca/news/canada/canadian-medics-bodies-return-fromafghanistan-1 970411>
Image par Simon Kelahear
4
Master Corporal
Kristal Giesebrecht
PrivateAndrew Miller
Two Medical Technicians, well-known and appreciated at the training center
I was still a private at the time, and didn’t fully understand the intricacies of war, but I still remember the overwhelming feeling of grief and pain in my community While military personnel typically join to serve their country, medical personnel usually also join because they feel a calling to save lives. The Health Services were now mourning their fallen members, who the Geneva Conventions had failed to protect I have since had much more experience with grief and witnessed many people come back from missions. Nobody comes back quite the same, though. Some in their bodies, some in their minds, and some never come back
Their memory is one of the many reasons I make a point to wear my poppy during the Remembrance campaign On the last Friday of October, they start to appear, like drops of colour in the overall gloominess of November To me, there is also a certain comfort in knowing that the symbolism of the poppy, while international, comes from a Canadian, and a member of the medical personnel no less John McRae, a Medical Officer, wrote In Flanders Fields during his World War I deployment, after the loss of a friend, and refers to poppies as covering the graves of his comrades:
In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below
We are the Dead Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved, and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders Fields.3
2
more heartbreaking considering that almost 100,000 of the serving soldiers were not volunteers, but conscripts For modern reference, the 2021 count for the CAF serving members was 97,625 members, including the Primary Reserve 5 6
Particularly in this time of year, I think of the horrors and losses of combat. What they mean for military forces, civilians, and nations Unfortunately, there were many more after World War I, as if the collective memory wasn’t vivid enough, and history needed to repeat itself. Many people, like me, use Remembrance Day as a commemoration A promise to never forget the heavy price paid in the past and a cautionary tale for the present and future. Everybody loses when powers can’t work together.
There is no politics in grief Hopefully, we can learn from painful memories and make better choices for the future When I think of it, I try to stay courageous. There is no way to be truly ready for war, and we never know the choices we might have to make when put in those situations But I hope my friends and family are never called to the battlefield, as others have been in the past. I hope we find better ways to manage our conflicts And finally, I hope we always remember the sacrifices made on our behalf
Lest we forget
The First World War, while overseas, marked the collective narrative of combat for Canada: the horrifying 61,122 death toll of Canadian soldiers and nursing sisters, and 1,305 Newfoundlanders (which wasn’t part of Canada at the time) Countless more were wounded This sad story is even 4
Tim Cook & William Steward, “War Losses: Canada’’ in Ute Daniel et al, ed, International Encyclopedia of the First World War
I have a confession. Wh kid, I didn’t like butternu tasted just slightly too my aunt the chef to m had a recipe for butte soup she called ‘Best Soup funny thing is, though, e the soup tasted better th until finally, it was also cr Soup Ever’ in my heart apple cheddar soup came that’s a recipe for another
Like all the best family r Soup Ever is one that written down or got lost renovation, but it has st minds and warmed our time the air crisps and bu on sale at the grocery sto Soup Ever isn’t as muc ingredients as it is a sta So, when my aunt sent groupchat her updated v leeks, I knew I had to because time is limited a multiply and the assignments loom ever soup needed to be a full of itself I don’t have th energy to cook soup AND the same evening.
This is the Best Soup Ever
We begin with a clas butternut squash.
Roasting the squash is my aunt’s pro tip to avoid peeling and chopping it when the squash is raw and tough Then, we dig deeper into the seasonal veg repertoire by calling upon leeks. I know, unexpected, but you will find the most humungous leeks at the grocery store this time of year, and odds are that they will be on sale We keep it fresh with a knob of ginger
and mouth-watering with a whole head of roasted garlic Lastly, we get funky with fusion Lentil soup has been a staple of Middle Eastern cuisine for thousands of years. There are so many amazing Palestinian,
1 butternut squash
1 small onion
1 head of garlic, with the top chopped off to expose the cloves
2 large leeks, cut in half
A knob of ginger
1 ½ cups of red lentils
6 cups of vegetable broth
Cut the squash in half lengthwise and remove the seeds * Add all of the veggies and ginger onto a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil Roast at 400°F for 45 minutes, or until the veggies begin to brown I had to remove the leeks after about 30 minutes because they were burning While the vegetables are roasting, heat the broth and cook the red lentils in the veggie broth If you want to retain their maximum colour, I would recommend adding the lentils into the simmering broth 15 minutes before the veggies are done
When the veggies are roasted and have cooled enough to be handled, scoop out the squash flesh and squeeze the garlic out of the head Add everything to the broth and lentils and blend until smooth Serve with a thick slice of crusty bread and fuel your brain!
*If you ' re feeling fancy, you can keep the seeds, roast them, and use as garnish I wasn't, so they went into my veggie scraps bag in the freezer for broth
Thus, these recipes are all the inspiration for not sneaking in but rather putting lentils front and centre in my Best Soup Ever 2 0 What’s coolest is that red lentils match butternut squash in colour So, I guess in the end you won’t even know they’re there until you can barely finish your bowl.
Ad nauseum Making You Nauseous?
Dear Not a Latin Lover,
It’s true Law school sometimes feels more like a linguistics lesson in disguise. And, you ’ re right, the discipline’s Latin love affair is one of the long list of ways making our legal system near impossible for the public (and most law students) to understand Is clinging onto Latin phrases just a way for jurists to inflate their egos, boasting their linguistic dexterity in winding doctrine to confuse us mere laypeople? Perhaps. But I will concede that the beauty of the legal tradition is just that its tradition. Latin not only offers a shorthand for certain precise notions, but it connects us to centuries of legal thought and history
LLM (GA):“Are you all familiar with the concept of a future?”
Prof: “Your argument has left me cold”
Prof:“My first experience with this field was a decade more than two decades ago dang it, I’m old!”
Does this make it any less irritating for us nonetymologically apt folk? No. However, you may be pleased to know that, allegedly, the use of Latin dissipates once you start practicing So, unless you choose to be a torts professor with a soft spot for the Corpus Juris Civilis, your Googling of sui generis will likely suffice.
Overall, it seems when it comes to Latin and the law, est quod id est
Archaically, Quid
My Best Soup Ever | Photo by Caroline Homet
Le droit de prévenir
Les angles morts du droit à la santé des femmes
Le droit de prévenir : les angles morts du droit à la santé des femmes
Un simple bilan hormonal : voilà ce qu ’ on m ’ a refusé. Le motif : absence de « problème déclaré » Autrement dit, il faudrait attendre d’être malade pour avoir le droit de savoir Mais n ’est-ce pas précisément le rôle d’un test : détecter avant que ce soit trop tard ?
Cette situation n ’ a rien d’un cas isolé Au Québec, elle révèle un système de santé qui valorise la guérison, mais se méfie de la prévention surtout lorsqu’elle concerne la santé des femmes.
La santé hormonale féminine n ’ a pourtant rien d’un luxe Nos hormones influencent l’énergie, le sommeil, l’humeur, la concentration, la fertilité : autant de dimensions fondamentales du bien-être et du fonctionnement du corps S’informer sur son équilibre hormonal, c ’est faire preuve de lucidité, et non d’anxiété.
Comme le réseau public refuse de reconnaître ces analyses comme des actes de prévention, leur accès dépend désormais du portefeuille, plutôt que du besoin médical.
Quand j’ai demandé pourquoi, on m ’ a simplement répondu : « Si toutes les femmes de 25 ans demandaient la même chose, on engorgerait le système. »
Le vrai coût du“trop tard”
Cette phrase, je l’ai entendue souvent. Et elle mérite d’être retournée : est-ce vraiment la prévention qui engorge le système ou son absence ?
Pendant deux ans, j’ai décrit des douleurs lombaires. On m ’ a répondu qu ’ une IRM n’était « pas nécessaire ». Deux ans plus tard, diagnostic : hernie discale confirmée Et là, tout s ’est accéléré : injections de cortisone, médicaments, physiothérapie En deux ans, un problème simple était devenu chronique et coûteux, autant pour moi que pour le public.
Ce paradoxe se répète à l’échelle du réseau En refusant d’agir en amont, le réseau contredit sa propre logique : il prétend éviter l’engorgement, mais fabrique les urgences qu’il dénonce Le gouvernement du Québec reconnaît d’ailleurs que chaque dollar investi en prévention en épargne quatorze en soins curatifs.1
Refuser un test aujourd’hui, c ’est financer une crise demain La prévention féminine, un enjeu collectif
Un bilan hormonal, c ’est une photographie du corps Il permet de dépister des déséquilibres thyroïdiens, métaboliques ou hormonaux, et d’expliquer des symptômes souvent banalisés. Il éclaire aussi la fertilité : un enjeu de société, alors qu ’ une personne sur six connaît des difficultés à concevoir et que le taux de fécondité québécois est tombé à 1,33 enfant par femme, et l’un des plus bas au pays 2
Découvrir à 25 ans qu ’ on a une réserve ovarienne plus faible, c ’est avoir une décennie pour agir si on le souhaite : consulter, ajuster son hygiène de vie, envisager la préservation d’ovocytes. L’apprendre à 33 ans, c ’est souvent trop tard plus coûteux, plus complexe, et beaucoup moins certain Selon le modèle de Wallace & Kelsey, une femme ne disposerait déjà plus que d’environ 12 % de sa réserve ovarienne initiale à 30 ans. Un cycle de fécondation in vitro coûte entre 10 000 $ et 20 000 $, avec des taux de réussite qui diminuent chaque année 3 4
Ce refus ne touche pas seulement la fertilité : il prive les femmes d’une marge de décision et d’un accès à une information essentielle à leur autonomie
Le droit de savoir, le droit de prévenir
Sur le plan juridique, cette logique du « trop tôt » est intenable. Le droit à la santé ne se limite pas à l’accès aux soins : il comprend le droit à l’information et à la prévention.
C’est ce qu ’affirment à la fois la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés («Charte»), la Loi sur les services de santé et les services sociaux (LSSSS) et les engagements internationaux du Canada
L’article 7 de la Charte garantit le droit à la vie, à la liberté et à la sécurité de la personne et, tel que reconnu dans la jurisprudence (p ex Carter c Canada, 2015 CSC 5), ce droit inclut la protection de l’intégrité physique et la capacité de prendre des décisions éclairées quant à sa santé.5
Zachary Cheung, « Quebec Unveils Health Prevention Strategy Aiming to Reduce Deaths Related to Inequality by 10% », CityNews (Montréal) (21 août 2025) en ligne : <montreal citynews ca/2025/08/21/quebec-health-preventionstrategy/> . 1 Fertility Matters Canada, Brief to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health, Ottawa, Chambre des communes Canada, 2012 à la p 1; Société des obstétriciens et gynécologues du Canada, La fertilité–Avant la conception (2017), en ligne : <pregnancyinfo.ca/before-you-conceive/fertility/>; Institut de la statistique du Québec, communiqué de presse, « Le bilan démographique du Québec en 2023 : baisse marquée de la fécondité et maintien de l’espérance de vie à son niveau prépandémique » (17 novembre 2023), en ligne : <statistique quebec ca/fr/communique/bilan-demographique-duquebec-2023-baisse-marquee-fecondite-maintien-esperance-de-vie>; 2
6
L’article 8 de la LSSSS reconnaît à toute personne le droit d’être informée de son état de santé et des options disponibles. Le réseau peut certes limiter l’accès à certains tests au nom de la bonne utilisation des ressources (critères de pertinence ou de nécessité clinique) Mais dans une société où le principe de l’atteinte minimale doit guider toute restriction, un refus pur et simple est disproportionné. 6
Un biais institutionnalisé
Cette inertie institutionnelle n ’ a rien d’un hasard Elle découle d’un biais historique : pendant des décennies, la recherche biomédicale a longtemps exclu les femmes, en violation de l’article 12 de la Convention sur l’élimination de toutes les formes de discrimination à l’égard des femmes (CEDAW), qui impose aux États de garantir l’égalité d’accès aux services de santé, y compris ceux relatifs à la planification familiale 7
Le magazine Time montre qu ’ en 2024, les femmes restent moins représentées dans les essais et moins bien mesurées dans les analyses de résultats. L’étude de l’Université de Leeds indique ainsi que les femmes sont jusqu’à 50 % plus souvent mal diagnostiquées lors d’un infarctus, et que leurs douleurs chroniques sont banalisées, que leurs cycles hormonaux sont ignorés. 8 9
Le déséquilibre scientifique est devenu un déséquilibre juridique : un système de santé qui se veut universel, mais qui demeure construit sur un modèle inégal. Cette même logique explique qu’il faille en moyenne cinq ans pour diagnostiquer l’endométriose au Canada Endométriose, SOPK, infarctus féminins : trois maladies, un même réflexe : douter de la parole des femmes. 10 11
Quand une femme s’informe, on la croit anxieuse Quand elle souhaite anticiper, on la trouve capricieuse Pourtant, la demande est simple : le même droit à la rigueur médicale que tout autre patient.
Nathan Battams et Sophie Mathieu, Families Count 2024: Fertility Rates Hit a Record Low (Again) dans Margo Hilbrecht, dir, Families Count 2024, Ottawa, L’institut Vanier de la famille, 2024 au ch 10
Un système malade de sa lenteur Le réseau québécois dit vouloir « désengorger » ses urgences, mais refuse encore d’intégrer la prévention dans sa structure. Chaque demande ignorée devient un cas plus lourd Chaque refus crée sa propre urgence Et chaque urgence coûte plus cher qu ’ une mesure anticipée.
La prévention n ’est pas un fardeau pour le système : c ’est son antidote Et si le réseau public ne comprend toujours pas la valeur de savoir avant de souffrir, c ’est peut-être lui le vrai patient celui qui a oublié que guérir commence par prévenir
7 Stacey Colino, «WomenAre Still Under-Represented in Medical Research Here’sWhere the Gender Gap Is Most Pronounced », TIME (1 novembre 2024), en ligne : <time.com/7171341/gendergap-medical-research/>
Convention sur l'élimination de toutes les formes de discrimination à l'égard des femmes, 18 décembre 1979, 39 RNTU 13, art 12.
8 University of Leeds, « Heart attacks in women more likely to be missed », University of Leeds (2 août 2016), en ligne : <leeds ac uk/news-health/news/article/3905/heart-attacks-inwomen-more-likely-to-be-missed> .
9 Pauline De Corte et al, «Time to Diagnose Endometriosis: Current Status, Challenges and Regional Characteristics A Systematic Literature Review » (2025) 132:2 BJOG:An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology 118 aux pp 118–130, en ligne : <pubmed ncbi nlm nih gov/39373298/> 10 Ella Macdonald, « Unheard. Unserved.AWoman’s Battle for a Pcos Diagnosis, and How No OneWas Listening », Global News (25 janvier 2024), en ligne : <globalnews ca/news/11446022/unheard-unserved-womanshealth-pcos-canada-nova-scotia-new-brunswick> 11
3 Fertility Matters Canada, supra note 2 à la p 1
W Hamish BWallace etThomasW Kelsey, « Human Ovarian Reserve from Conception to the Menopause » (2010) 5:1 PLOS ONE e8772 à la page g5.
4 Charte canadienne des droits et libertés, art 7, partie I de la Loi constitutionnelle de 1982, constituant l’annexe B de la Loi de 1982 sur le Canada (R-U), 1982, c 11; Carter v Canada (Attorney General), 2015 SCC 5, en ligne : <decisions scc-csc ca/scc-csc/scccsc/en/item/14637/index do>
5 Loi sur les services de santé et les services sociaux, RLRQ c S-4.2, arts 8, 99.6.
A Soirée of Discovery
An evening with practitioners in criminal practice
McGill Law Cinéma Moderne
Partenariat entre MALA, MSELA et Actus Réus, avec le support d’ASEF
Le lundi 3 novembre dernier, c ’est environ une cinquantaine d’étudiant e s qui désertèrent leurs lectures pour envahir le Cinéma Moderne Au programme : Anatomie d’une chute, un film acclamé par la critique. L’événement, organisé par la McGill Art Law Association avec l’aide de la Sports and Entertainment Law Association et d’Actus Reus, a permis à nos futur·e·s juristes de profiter d’une soirée cinéma à prix réduit, et ce grâce à la générosité de l’Alumni Student Engagement Fund (ASEF)!
L’idée derrière tout ça? Offrir une pause bien méritée, rappeler que le droit et l’art font parfois bon ménage, et prouver qu ’ on peut réfléchir à des questions de justice tout en mangeant du popcorn
Et ce n ’est qu ’ un début : MALA vous mijote déjà d’autres surprises culturelles pour le semestre d’hiver Restez à l’affût !
I
Barged Through the Security at Riverside. Here is What I Learned.
First, I got kicked out, obviously. Second, I got to think about the entire context of this situation–why was I there? Why did I barge through the security?What was I thinking?
Frankly, I was not thinking Checking for my ticket (in the form of wristband), the security said,“You have a band? If you don’t, you can’t get in. There are 150 people on the waitlist.” Oh well. I am on that list. Have I got any email about available tickets? No! So, I guess I can’t really use the fact that I’m on the waitlist because there are apparently 150 people on the list. (Note: it turned out, there had been a way to get in if you were on the waitlist, but I did not know.)
Why didn’t you just buy the ticket in advance? Sorry. I was relentlessly debating inside my head My shark week just started and FOMO (on missing out on having a great time with my friends) was hitting me at an all time high It was either I go home or go to my friends’pre-game. Both sides failed to persuade me, so I was stuck in the indecision zone
Photo by Connor MacDonald
From left to right: Ian Marcoux (3L), Gabrielle Lachance (3L), Justice Bien-Aimé, Justice Perreault, Me Drouin-Lê, Me Denis, Me Aarenau, Me Poirier, Me Grenier
But I eventually took the metro to the pre; at least I made some sort of decision for now, I thought If I really did not feel like going to the party, I would still be able to take an Uber home Yet, even when I barged in through the door, I was unsure about which side to commit to In the end, it was I who lost the battle
That day, even though I was willing to pay any price at the door, even though I was on the waitlist, even though I knew all the people around me, I still barged through the security and got escorted out. Of course, I regret this choice of action But did I do it? Yes And this fact will not change I did it, didn’t I? Oh boy The crippling shame
On my way home in an Uber, some time has passed, and I started to feel okay-ish Basically, I socially slapped my face so hard just now, so yeah I was okay-ish Soaked in freezing rain, I walked backward to revisit the incident via memory and made a full circle back to regret and shame. The thing is, when I am intoxicated, I look awfully sober And I do, in fact, act as if I am sober But again, unfortunately, I was not sober. I must have looked like a living horror: a sober adult with a worrisome lack of forethought who is supposed to become a lawyer at some point in their life
Lights passed by and just like the next one about to hit my eyes, here came a list of lessons:
Number One: Don’t settle down shortsightedly. If I knew there was another option, I would have chosen another option So, explore more alternatives before you choose Then, your choice will truly reflect who you are as a person, and won’t involve barging into a med-law party… Still, this“explore your options”is a form of privilege. Was I able to live by this rule when I was freezing cold, especially feeling my brain freeze from the rain and the temperature combo, while being intoxicated? Be honest. You would do the same (not the barging in part, but the seeking a shelter part, just to be clear) in my shoes We all would In this weather? With everything lost in haziness? Yes. Please say yes!
Number Two: If you have a people-pleasing tendency, it’s really tough to get a sense of who you are as a person And it’s okay. It takes time to get the hang of (1) the version of you that you genuinely like and can die for, and (2) the version of you that others want you to be per your head (bear with me; I will explain what this means later) But once you figure this out? Instead of performing the version of you that you don’t even like that much for external validation, you can live as who you are by choosing yourself again and again Let me be clear: choosing yourself is to live your life based on your own taste, preferences, and values, not the ones of others.
I must add, it demands practice It’s a commitment When I was indecisive, I subconsciously knew what I wanted. I just wanted to go home.That was my boundary, but I did not
commit to it. Any unclear boundary seems to get challenged by the outside world with no exception In my case, the uncommitted limit was indeed challenged Down this way, without knowing, you end up giving up your standard of self-preservation and self-respect. You might start to build resentment from putting up the version you think they want you to be This emotion will bounce back to you or to the people around you, especially if you are not even aware of the tendency of compromising your own boundaries.
The tragedy is that the version you perform based on your interpretation of the outer world response is not even the version that others want you to be. Some people really like you for who you are! They don’t even want you to be someone else that is not you! Some don’t like you at all, even if you put up the best show you can ever perform. Some, with total indifference, don’t care what you do or who you are
You will never, ever, be able to make endless versions of yourself, ready to put on, to accommodate the likings of all kinds of people That’s precisely how you lose yourself You don’t have such obligations to perform either! So, why bother? Just choose yourself no matter what.And yes, I’m also in the middle of my own practice of choosing myself. I want this mindset to be instilled in my head, heart, and eventually life If I don’t embody who I truly am, how can I stand up for myself, and eventually for others, as my way of living? We can do this It just takes time, practice, and patience
Number Three: Make sure you have a mask! No one will love you except for yourself. Who knows you the most and the best? You Unfortunately, regardless of how you may want it to be, that’s not going to change A soulmate? A twin-flame? You will end up facing yourself over and over again in search of all of these things they call love! Hello, YOU are there, all along! Who has witnessed your life ever since birth? YOU Who was there all along, during all of your ebbs and flows?YOU
Sometimes, I loathe myself But, I do feel great about certain things about myself and I am proud of what I have achieved so far Remembering who I am with the trinkets of pride helps me get out of feeling awful. If you don’t know how to soothe yourself to relieve negative feelings, you might try to outsource the means for relief This human tendency manifests in a form of addiction, reliance, and dependence on anything or anyone on this earth. You think you only get addicted to substance? Think twice You are disempowering yourself when you seek relief from outside
We must learn how to love ourselves in many ways: sometimes as if I’m my own parent; a lover; a friend; a stranger who has no clue about my mistakes and regrets but is impressed by some awesome things I did in front of them (e.g. “Wow, you know how to backflip? That’s awesome!”, “You mobilized people to protest against injustices? That’s awesome!”, “You have helped people in need by providing fair representation as legal counsel?That’s awesome!”...).
American motivational speaker Wayne Dyer once said: “if you lost a car key in your house, find it in the house, not outside of the house”This is supposed to be a metaphor about the pursuit of self-love, so I’ll leave it as is.
Oh! Yes I have not mentioned how to make a good mask Well, once again, it’s up to you Make a good one, play it well, but just don’t forget who you are in this space, time, chronos, kairos, linearity, lineage, legacy, length, whatever, keep the words coming! Amidst all, in this chaos, just don’t forget who you are That’s all!
And never barge into any party, especially a party thrown by an organization with any sort of accreditation Please do not do it It looks awfully irresponsible and, in fact, it is irresponsible. If you have already committed this sort of mistake, it’s okay You can write something to feel okay about making mistakes and save yourself from falling into a downward spiral of self-hatred and shame, and maybe share it with your colleagues to feel better about yourself. But still, please, I beg you, put that wicked and risky behaviour somewhere else, not at a student-association-run school party It’s not worth it Please, I beg you!!!
The Right to Remain Silent… Until You Can’t
Loopholes in Police Interrogation and the Limits of Section 7 of the Charter
the case, or presenting false or exaggerated evidence to pressure a confession
Article 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (“Charter”) guarantees one ’ s right to silence However, the issue is that the law stays so vague that it fails to limit policing powers
These techniques chip away at the very protections the Charter is meant to guarantee, and should be banned
This is seen in cases like R. v Oickle (2000), where the Supreme Court held that a confession must be voluntary and cannot result from fear, prejudice, or oppressive environments. Yet, how do the courts define oppressive environments? Better yet, how do the courts define voluntary?
2
The jurisprudence holds that legal coercion is unconstitutional. For instance, if an interrogator promises a reduced sentence in exchange for a confession, such conduct would render the confession involuntary and therefore inadmissible under section 7 of the Charter. However, a loophole remains: psychological tactics like prolonged questioning, strategic silence, or appeals to emotion are not, in themselves, illegal
For example, in R. v. Singh (2007), Mr. Singh asserted his right to silence 18 times “Throughout his interrogation he was ‘totally under the control of the police authorities’, ‘[did] not have freedom of unescorted movement’ and ‘relie[d] entirely on his jailers for the necessities of life’ Powerless to end his interrogation, Mr Singh asked, repeatedly, to be returned to his cell Yet he was not permitted to do so until he capitulated and made the incriminating statements.” The Supreme Court even noted that the interrogator dismissed Mr Singh’s counsel’s “absolutely great advice” (in the officer’s own words), insisting that he would obtain a statement “ no matter what”. 3 4 5 6
Now I ask: how can this confession still be ruled as voluntary?
I argue that this legal loophole allows police to sidestep the ruling of Oickle because they technically comply with the nature that a confession must be voluntary. How “voluntary”can a confession be when it’s extracted through methods that are designed to manipulate, isolate, and wear a person down?
4
5
3
Timothy E Moore & Lindsay Fitzsimmons,“Justice Imperiled: False Confessions and the ReidTechnique”(2011) 57 Crim LQ 509 at 512–518, 522–530.
1 R v Oickle, 2000 SCC 38 at paras 57–67 [Oickle].
2 R v Singh, 2007 SCC 48 at para 13.
Ibid at para 58.
Ibid at para 61.
Ibid. 6
7
How can our courts keep calling this “voluntary” as they ignore the psychological violence embedded in these so-called “normal” methods of interrogations? By exploiting this loophole, interrogation methods rely on manipulation and exhaustion to secure confessions, without ever being labeled ‘coercive’by the courts.
This reasoning strips the right to silence of its meaning and leads to countless false confessions What is the point of protection if it is unenforceable? The courts’continued refusal to recognize this imbalance perpetuates this fault in our justice system: a system that too often protects its procedures rather than the people it should be serving
Philip Campbell, a renowned criminal defence lawyer, once said, “What you say to the police can only hurt you, not help you ” . But let me ask you this: how long can you bear to stay silent?
7
Philip Campbell,“What to DoWhen the PoliceWant toTalk to You”, The National Blog (19 June 2012) at 8 [PDF reproduced at McGill University, on file with the author]
A Moral Periphery
Il existe des souffrances que nous reconnaissons comme proches, et d’autres que nous apprenons à tenir à distance. Certaines vies nous apparaissent immédiatement dignes d’attention, de compassion ou de solidarité. D’autres glissent, sans que cela soit formulé explicitement, dans une zone où l’indignation se fait plus rare. Les événements se déroulant actuellement au Soudan, en Palestine, ou encore au Yémen illustrent cette dissymétrie Les tragédies qui s ’ y déroulent ne relèvent pas simplement de crises régionales ; elles révèlent un mécanisme plus profond par lequel certaines vies deviennent visibles tandis que d’autres demeurent traitées comme périphériques, presque abstraites
Cette différence de regard ne s ’explique pas par l’absence d’information. Les images, les rapports, les témoignages existent. La connaissance factuelle des famines, des sièges, des bombardements, des déplacements massifs est accessible. Ce qui manque n ’est pas l’accès aux faits, mais la reconnaissance de leur portée morale Que la souffrance ne change pas de nature lorsqu’elle se déplace sur une carte devrait être une évidence Pourtant, lorsqu’elle est perçue
comme appartenant à un « ailleurs » culturel, géographique ou politique, elle tend à perdre sa puissance d’interpellation L’horreur se normalise L’exception devient un état durable. La souffrance cesse d’être scandaleuse pour devenir tolérable.
Ce processus repose sur une construction préalable : celle de l’altérité. Lorsque certaines populations sont implicitement pensées comme extérieures à la communauté humaine à laquelle nous nous identifions, leur vulnérabilité perd de son évidence La distance, dans ce cas, n ’est pas seulement physique ; elle est symbolique Elle permet de justifier, même silencieusement, que l’urgence ne soit pas la même partout Cette logique ne se limite pas aux réactions individuelles Elle traverse les priorités médiatiques, diplomatiques, et institutionnelles Elle explique pourquoi certaines situations suscitent des mobilisations massives, tandis que d’autres s’installent dans un silence relatif, malgré une gravité comparable, voire supérieure.
Ce constat invite à reconsidérer la portée des principes que nous affirmons défendre La dignité, l’égalité et l’universalité n ’ont de sens que si elles s ’appliquent indépendamment de l’origine, de la culture, ou de la distance géographique Lorsque ces principes ne se déploient que là où l’empathie est spontanée, ils cessent d’être des repères normatifs et deviennent des formulations théoriques dépourvues de force C’est précisément dans les situations où la proximité affective est faible que se vérifie la consistance de l’universel.
Dans ce contexte, notre place d’étudiants en droit est loin d’être secondaire Nous travaillons chaque jour avec des mots comme justice ou équité, mais ces principes n ’ont de sens que s’ils dépassent les salles de cours Leur crédibilité se vérifie dans la manière dont nous acceptons qu’ils engagent notre regard sur le monde. La question n ’est donc pas de mesurer notre sensibilité, mais de déterminer si nous reconnaissons comme dignes d’attention des existences qui ne se superposent pas à la nôtre
Le véritable risque n ’est pas uniquement la poursuite de la violence. Il réside dans sa normalisation. Lorsque le malheur d’autrui devient un bruit de fond, c ’est moins la mémoire des victimes qui s ’efface que la capacité d’une société à maintenir ses propres principes. Ce qui se joue alors n ’est pas l’abandon d’un pays ou d’un peuple : c ’est l’érosion progressive des valeurs dont nos sociétés démocratiques prétendent être les gardiennes
That Hammers May Fall Quiet
On Strikes and Silence: Remembering Armistice in a Season of Unrest
As the cool of November sets in and the year begins to fade, the changing season welcomes reflection In Montreal, and especially for students at our university, strikes have occupied an unusually large role in recent memory and reality. Whether professors, postal workers, or public transit employees, in their own way, each has laid down their tools to make their voices heard. The uncertainty produced in the absence of everyday normalcy seeps into daily life, unsettling routines and expectations, as interruptions leave behind frustration and anxiety for many already teetering on the edge of exhaustion (financial, social, emotional, etc). Yet, whatever one ’ s views on the issues at stake, such moments invite reflection on what it means to live and work together in fairness and mutual respect For, beneath each disruption lies something deeply human: a desire to be recognized, to be treated fairly, and to enter a conversation about how we live and work together
It feels fitting, then, that we find ourselves approaching a date that has asked the world to pause for a single moment, every year, to commemorate the day the guns fell silent, 107 years ago This day calls for quiet, for reflection, for gratitude, and yet, history reminds us that peace is never as simple as silence. Around those same November days more than a century ago, the world was already breaking apart for countless many people: in Germany, in Russia, across the dissolving Ottoman Empire, and elsewhere around the globe. Empires crumbled, borders shifted, and revolutions, born from hunger and anger, remade societies in ways that echoed through the twentieth century and still reverberate today Even early anniversaries of Armistice would be marred by days of anguish, including the Centralia Massacre of 1919, the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923, and Kristallnacht in 1938, each a reminder of the fragility of peace, and the ease with which pain turns to fear, and fear to conflict.
Strikes, protests, and acts of dissent, though smaller in scale than wars, resonate in the collective consciousness They are a form of conflict, but one that needs not violence, for they test whether a society can hold disagreement without breaking They ask if we can listen to one another before discontent hardens into division
Strikes are hardly a modern invention. Indeed, the first recorded strike in human history took place over three thousand years ago, in the Egyptian village of Set Maat (now Deir el-Medina). The workers who built the royal tombs of the pharaohs in theValley of the Kings stopped
their labour during the reign of Ramesses III when their rations, paid in grain, failed to arrive They did not riot; they did not revolt. They simply walked out and waited. Their petition was simple:“We are hungry”The strike ended when the administration finally listened and restored their wages
In that small, ancient act lies something remarkable: the beginnings of collective voice An inspiration to artisans and laborers of later reigns, it was not an attempt to destroy authority, but to remind it of responsibility. These workers, carving the afterlife of kings into stone, asked only for the means to live and do their work Their action was not a rebellion against order, but a plea for justice within it.
The Deir el-Medina strike endures as a moral echo that justice is not in dominance or victory, but in respect It is a reminder that even the oldest civilizations understood the power of listening, and the danger of neglect. Sadly, humanity is a fickle student of history
A year after the Armistice, on November 11, 1919, the small American town of Centralia, in Washington state, prepared to celebrate the first anniversary of the peace As veterans marched through the streets, members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), a labour organization already under suspicion in the postwar climate of the early Red Scare, looked on anxiously from their union hall Rumours had circulated that the marchers intended to attack, as veterans widely believed the IWW unpatriotic, if not subversive. Fear and mistrust filled the air, and as the parade passed by the hall, shots were fired The day descended into chaos Within a short time, several men on each side were killed, and one union member, taken from prison, was lynched that night.
A grim reminder of how quickly misunderstanding can spiral into violence, both sides believed they were defending justice, and both saw the other as a threat. What began as a celebration of peace, became a day of bloodshed
A century on, Centralia feels like a distant tragedy, but its lesson remains close. When respect collapses, even ordinary people lose their humanity, for the line between disagreement and destruction is thinner than we imagine
In this way, Remembrance, too, is a paradox and a challenge. The Great War redrew the modern world In its aftermath, entire systems collapsed under the weight of financial and political exhaustion and distrust. The Russian and German revolutions, for example, promised renewal for the common person, yet many who longed for justice found the pursuit of fairness coerced and corrupted by power, a pattern sadly far from unique to any single ideology. What began as a yearning for fairness and equality devolved into years of repression, purges, and state terror with lasting global consequence Revolutions, for all their rhetoric of liberation, too easily fall prey to the same darkness they seek to oppose: the certainty that only one side can be right.
In that sense, November 11 stands not only to mark pea but to mirror its fragility. The Armistice ended the war, b it did not end the conflict. The wounds of war, like a conflict, do not heal quickly Left untreated, they fester sickness that spreads until it consumes the body that bears So, it should be sobering to remember that even as natio commemorated the peace of 1918, seeds of discord we already growing, so that, within a generation, the wor would once again be at war
Yet, dear reader, let this not be a grim reminiscence, f remembering this complexity does not tarnish the meani of Remembrance: it deepens it It reminds us that peace is not a monument built once and forever It is a practice It must be built, maintained, and/or rebuilt every day, in the choices we make toward one another; in the patience we extend when tempers rise; in our ability to see humanity even in disagreement
The Screens Are Too Much With Us
Go Read a Book!
To reflect on strikes in our own city alongside the memory of war is not to equate them, far from it Rather, it is to recognize that they share a moral landscape, not of scale, but of spirit: a tension between presence and power, frustration and patience, justice and peace. Strikes are, in a way, a conversation at a breaking point Yet, unlike war, in them there is hope for dialogue They remind us that change, if it is to be real and to serve constructive ends, must be sought through communication, not conquest.
Perhaps that is the quiet message that November 11 offers each year: remembrance not only to honour those who have fallen to war, but to reflect on how we live with one another and what that means for the kind of world we hope to build To honour the past is not simply to recall suffering, but to heed its lessons, for better or worse, in our own interactions. Respect, after all, does not mean silence or passivity, but to bring a conviction of care and compassion for each other to the fore even when we disagree When we choose kindness over suspicion, when we pause before reacting, when we allow another voice to be heard, we take part, in our own small way, in the unending work toward peace How better may we honour the memory of the fallen?
This November 11, as the city stands caught in its own moment of disruption, listen for the echo, a quiet ring, from those who long ago laid down chisels and hammers, or dropped bayonets, dismantled artillery, and decocked the hammers of guns, not in defiance, but in these first fragile efforts to live differently
The silence at the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day, of the eleventh month does not end conflict, but let it remind you, dear reader, to make the effort in every place where disagreement might be met, to meet it with dignity and thoughtfulness
Peace, after all, is not the absence of struggle, but the presence of respect; that which is needed to build a better world.
I have been overwhelmed for weeks I am arguably chronically overwhelmed, but it’s felt particularly potent and debilitating recently. I go back and forth between thinking it’s a product of an inherent character flaw and thinking it’s a proportionate reaction to my environment I tend to lean toward believing that I am just too easily whelm-able, because I think my life is actually quite perfect whenever I stop complaining and reflect upon it seriously for five minutes
There is something to be said for the environment, too, though Even if my life, isolated, is fabulous, the world in which my life is contextualized is far from it I suppose it always has been, but it feels especially true now. The world feels ridiculous lately. I find myself regularly contemplating running into the woods, if only briefly, in order to blissfully and temporarily escape the bombardment of information that I believe to be the primary driving force behind my simultaneous chronic and acute overwhelm. I never do end up running into the woods, though I’m far too spoiled to deal with the likely instant lack of comfort I would face if I did I’m also unfortunately still too deeply concerned with what other people think of me, and I fear if I suddenly darted off without explanation it would appear as though I’d snapped
Let me be clear that I don’t think my chronic overwhelm nor my desire to run into the woods without even glancing behind me are at all unique to me Nor are they at all novel experiences I think this is worth talking about anyway, though, despite how common and mundane it may be, because this predicament is something I discuss frequently with family and friends, and yet we always end the conversation with some variation of “oh well” I think having our own thoughts drowned out by incessant notifications, relentless breaking news, and the often hollow yet addicting short-form video content we all seem to be perpetually consuming now feels like the unalterable status quo that we ’ re doomed to accept.
Part of what makes being bombarded with information lately so overwhelming is the fact that we end up craving it after a while.Absent-minded scroll begets absent-minded
scroll all throughout our days, only to be rinsed and repeated again the next day The part of the problem we don’t discuss as much is the fact that the information is not only being thrown at us at an unsteadying and unsustainable speed, but also the fact that we never fail to reflexively shoot our arms up and catch what is being thrown at us. We need to start consciously dropping the ball.At least sometimes.
I also think we ’ ve successfully duped ourselves into thinking we are capable of consuming information all day while in the midst of doing other tasks. Not only is it rarely true, but it perpetuates a vicious cycle in which we are never prepared or willing to spend a few moments in our own heads We always need the world to be“with”us in some capacity I could not tell you the last time I put makeup on without listening to a podcast. I’d honestly probably dread it if someone told me I had to. Similarly, I often tell myself I have absolutely no time to pick up a book unrelated to my courses, even for a few minutes Somehow, though, I can justify watchingTV while I paint my nails, or while I fold laundry, because at least I’m still being“productive” At least then I don’t have to feel the guilt of just unadulteratedly enjoying something!
Lately, in an attempt to quell my hunger for the trees and manage my addiction to overconsumption, I have been forcing myself to take the time to read a physical book. Existing amongst the trees, sitting on a park bench, and touching actual grass of course work for this, too, but it's getting cold and the sun is starting to set almost as soon as it rises at this point in the year So, lately, when the news and the notifications and the screens are too much with me, and the grass is slightly out of reach, I touch books I recognize that this is not a groundbreaking development or coping mechanism, but I still felt compelled to talk about it because it has genuinely been helping me. I also think we lie to ourselves and others about how much we actually read, and I want to prompt greater honesty
I would like to dare anyone who happens to be reading this to pick up a physical book and read it this week It would best be done in relative silence, with your phone and your various other devices as far from your grasp as you can realistically put them Don’t tell yourself you don’t have time. Don’t tell yourself you ’ ve done enough reading via news articles or blogs or social media posts this week
Pick up a book, feel the weight of it. Notice that it actually has a smell There are few smells more nostalgic for me than that of a cracked mass-market paperback Revel in how tangible, how permanent it is It can’t be updated or edited in the midst of your reading it; at least not the copy of it you hold in your hands. If you aren’t the first to possess it, there is likely some indication that someone else has been here, holding this same story you are
In the Garden
Thank you for your responses to my recent submission in the Quid Novi; I was moved by your comments.
…[Q]uand on est couché sur la vallée, on sent Que la terre est nubile et déborde de sang ; Que son immense sein, soulevé par une âme, Est d’amour comme Dieu, de chair comme la femme, Et qu’il renferme, gros de sève et de rayons, Le grand fourmillement de tous les embryons !
Arthur Rimbaud
This school shelters a warm tenderness, which dwells in every corner of its space
I hide in the Faculty garden to observe perhaps you have seen me I love when you bring your children here I watch their relaxed faces from a distance, the way they walk in tiny steps beside you.An irrational joy invariably visits my heart, when I
notice their whimsical backpacks (the ones with the space rockets and dinosaurs) All of this reminds me of Aristotle, when he describes the germination of the tree from its seed The potentiality contained within the seed (its power-tobecome) is distinguished from its actualization, which is the realization of its final completeness as the tree I observe this very same teleological unfolding in the tenderness with which you wipe your children’s faces with a cloth, or fasten a helmet upon their heads, taking care not to pinch the delicate skin beneath the chin Against the ordinariness of this security, invisible amygdalae develop to contain within them the promise of human connection.
I learned that my medical treatment is “teratogenic”, which means that it causes congenital abnormalities in embryos The etymological root of this medical word teratogenic is of great interest. It is the compound of two Greek words: genesthai, which means “to engender,” and teratos, meaning “monster” Modern scientific monism possesses a devastating materiality, as it renders some entirely unable to perceive dignity to subjects whose difference resembles absence. Teratoschildren are not spared by virtue of age; often they are consigned to the unbearable religiosity of some maladroit individuals in the medical profession
It was surprising when I heard it this“God bless you ”
It was in the hospital cafeteria To me, it was the saddest one The nurse seated at the little boy’s table was uncomfortable with the silence of his non-verbal world (speaking matters in this area of medicine) His fork was on the floor The meal had scattered into countless, disordered crumbs around the two of them. From my seat, the omelette fragments on the ground resembled a constellation of dandelions. But ours was a different garden
An ardent desire for sanctification will arise from the belief that a highly moral act exists (helping to feed), where there should instead have emerged an ordinary moment of intimacy But the moment is gone now.Always, in a strained effort not to perceive in the boy any defective materiality, my nurse finds a method to confine young persons into the symbolic suffering afforded by religious meaning-making It is harrowing to watch the little boy taken back to his room. From the hallway, we all hear him scream for hours. Sound is muffled by architectural restraints, which is the clinical term for “therapeutic confinement” It is what we technically call it, when a door remains locked all day.
It was a Shabbat evening when I held a newborn baby for the first time of my life
In comparison to the cosmic vastness that suddenly filled my spirit, the being in my arms seemed comically small
Fine stands of hair were gently arranged on his head. What a delightful, sweet moment
The baby was breathing softly in his sleep, and the rhythm made his nostrils quiver slightly. As I watched him, I could understand how tangible our moral obligations were toward the“future generations”lawmakers invoke I could see them all in my mind when gazing at the softness of his closed eyelids I pictured his pulmonary alveoli little trees within his ribcage how they greeted the entire world with each breath His serene face was being illuminated by the glow of candlelight. Despite our deep atheism and the complete absence of the divine, something perhaps even greater appeared to me The secular miracle of a child who stays asleep past bedtime
* *
When religious refuge is unavailable, and nothing within the orderly’s imagination allows him to conceive of a relation with a disabled “Other”, we can witness his profound disquiet in the encounter with fecal matter and its emanations
It is an evening like any other and I watch the orderly curse He carelessly tosses the boy’s blankets to the floor It is not the first time that he seems appalled by the simple existence of bodily functions in another being. What he might have done instead is perceive the profoundly humanist grace that lives within our walls yes, even now, moments which expose us to the bodily fluids of others But from the cold agitation I observe in his gestures, I sense that he fails to recognize his particular privilege: he is the one who is there The orderly is not an absent parent who leaves their child behind, to be consumed by this place. No, he is the man present tonight to another, someone who needs him.
In a bizarre moment, this orderly had come to chat with me, once. He had held his phone to show me pictures of his friends. He smiled at the screen as he scrolled through the images with his finger “They have a lot of money,”he said They were pictured gathered at a social event, seemingly carefree. The mood was festive. Perhaps a very crude process of economic comparison had led the orderly to devalue the work by which he preserved this child’s integrity I looked down On the blanket he stepped on with his shoes, a giant tiger was printed.
They tear us away from life, those clinical moments the kind of everyday life I so dearly love to observe from the school garden Most often, those invisible and ordinary moments exist only through the proxy of this gaze A particular telos unfolds in the warmth of our legal space. Its tenderness cultivates that ineffable sense of dignity which accompanies us through life It was such a fragile reality
STELLAR STATUTES
ARIES TAURUS GEMINI
This month, you are celebrating how far you have come and you are shedding the versions of yourself you no longer need to be Someone from the past might come back mid-month, but you need to keep your focus on growing your longterm friendships and achieving your dreams. Hang up the costume this month Taurus Halloween’s over
CANCER LEO VIRGO
This month, you are realizing who is really in your corner Don’t be afraid to let go of connections that do not serve you Call your family, put a face mask on, and know that you’ll be alright By mid-month, you might feel a strong urge to quit Don’t panic Realignment is not to be conflated with abandonment By the end of the month, you are finding beauty in the small things again. Drink the matcha and dance the cha-cha-cha, Cancer
LIBRA SCORPIO SAGITTARIUS
This month, you are craving quality over quantity You need to watch what you say, how you say it, and how you hear others, especially in emails and texts Revise, and do not rush Your career is flourishing this month. It’s all about long-term alignment By the end of the month, you’ll feel like laughing, sharing, and connecting more You are back on track with your healthy habits Be patient, Libra–you’ll be giggling again by the end of the month.
CAPRICORN
This is your month, Scorpio While you might have been having tunnel-vision about a particular outcome, person, or path, the transformation you are going through this month will help you loosen your grip. Be gentle to yourself and watch your finances The questions you are asking yourself are clues Welcome them By the end of the month, you’ll be sharper, sexier, and more self-aware. Keep shining, Scorpio.
AQUARIUS PISCES
Most likely to
Ghost their group because of Mercury Retrograde: Gemini, Pisces,Aquarius
Get a stare decisis tattoo:Aries, Scorpio, Sagittarius
Say “It’s giving...”during their moot competition: Leo, Libra,Taurus
Strategically plan their semesterly crying session: Capricorn,Virgo, Cancer
CROSS
Winter is Coming
Clues
Down
[1] Hanging hazard after a thaw
[3] Singular word for a winter item that always comes in pairs
[4] What law students want to do right after finals
[5] Transport to class if the STM strike continues
[7] Fresh snow on the slopes
[10] Food to fight the winter cold
Across
[2] “ ” fever or retreat - depends on the context
[5] Reaction to a cold draft
[6] Television family known for the phrase “Winter is coming”
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