Smartphones have become indispensable tools in everyday life, making it easier to stay connected, navigate unfamiliar places, scan menus effortlessly, and access QR codes at events. However, that convenience comes at a high cost. Increasingly, research correlates anxiety, depression, and inattentiveness with smartphone use. As such, some young people are[Read More…]
Opinion
Opinions from our editorial board and contributors.
Student protest is meant to disrupt the status quo
In anticipation of heightened tensions on Oct. 7, the McGill administration preemptively closed campus, silencing student protest and increasing policing. The university moved classes online and required students to show identification at security checkpoints, with some students reporting that they were denied entry into academic buildings despite valid credentials. Fences[Read More…]
Activism must be shaped beyond spectacle
A few weeks ago, my professor began our history seminar on Black Internationalism by asking if we had ever imagined ourselves or our families enslaved. Given the subject matter of the class, the question wasn’t necessarily surprising, but I found it unnecessary. As upper-year history students, hadn’t we learned that[Read More…]
Addressing the Indigenous homelessness crisis—if not now, when?
All too many Indigenous residents of Tiohtià:ke—the island known to many as Montreal—face truly dire circumstances. Only recently, however, through a conversation that I shared with a lovely Inuk man named Paulu, have I come to recognize both the profound gravity and pressing urgency of the situation. During our conversation,[Read More…]
The pill, the personal, and why we need better birth control
The rash was not improving. I was crying, laughing, shaking, and not sleeping; I didn’t want to go outside; I developed joint pain. I felt like I was losing my mind. I had been taking the birth control pill for four months. Side effects were to be expected. I felt[Read More…]
As climate crises reach an unprecedented scale, Canada needs to rethink eco-justice
The climate crisis in Canada is worsening every year. In 2023, wildfires burned six times their historical average, polluting Montreal’s air quality to the lowest level in the world for two days. In 2024, 32,000 hectares of Jasper National Park burned down, rapidly eliminating critical local biodiversity and natural ecosystems.[Read More…]
McGill is leading in research but lagging in workers’ rights
McGill is continually ranked as a top research university in Canada, recently coming in second for medical research. Despite this status, the school consistently fails to adequately recognize the rights of its workers. From pushing its teaching assistants (TAs) to a hard strike for livable wages to undermining its law[Read More…]
My support for Palestine is rooted in, not opposed to, my Jewish identity
Last year, I was having a conversation with a friend on campus. She shared her sense of internal conflict as a member of Montreal’s Jewish community, and her challenges in reconciling the views she grew up around with the headlines and protests surrounding her. Eventually, she turned to me and[Read More…]
Keep Calm! Carry On Providing Students with Mental Health Resources
As the haze of summer subsides and the anticipation of cold, isolating midterms and finals ensue, maintaining and nurturing one’s mental health becomes both harder and ever more critical. On Sept. 6, McGill informed the student body via email that the popular student services once provided through the Students’ Society[Read More…]
Silent stones: revisiting the forgotten in Montreal’s cemeteries
Graveyards occupy a uniquely taboo space that bridges the gap between the grieved and the grieving. They might almost be considered parks, yet they are not always viewed as sanctuaries. With 41 recognized cemeteries and a rich history of burial rites, Montreal stands as the resting grounds to 1.5 million[Read More…]