The Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) of McGill University has publically taken the stance that Quebec universities are under-funded. Last Wednesday, PGSS Council passed a motion calling for the Society to take this position in preparation for the upcoming Quebec Education Summit scheduled for Feb. 25 and 26.

According to the motion, PGSS  also supports the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ)’s call for further investigation into how university money is spent. It passed after a heated debate amongst Council members and representatives of the FEUQ who attended the meeting.

Participants who spoke on behalf of FEUQ said they do not believe there is enough evidence to prove that Quebec universities are underfunded, and that university administrations are responsible for mismanaging the money they receive from the provincial government. FEUQ speakers were concerned that the PGSS motion means the Society is complying with university administrations and their association, known as Conférence des recteurs et des principaux des universités du Québec (CREPUQ).

“I want to point out … that the underfunding that the CREPUQ talks about is a comparison between Quebec and the rest of Canada,” Marc-André Legault, president of the graduate student council at the FEUQ, said. “It doesn’t specify what are the needs of the university .… What we advocate at the FEUQ is that we have to know what are the needs of universities. We are not going to give blank checks to the rectors.”

The PGSS decided to hold its own investigation into university financing after receiving many requests from within and outside McGill to take the stance that universities in Quebec are underfunded, according to PGSS Secretary-General Jonathan Mooney. He named both the McGill administration—which is a member of CREPUQ—and FEUQ as groups that wanted PGSS to take an informed stance on the issue.

“Obviously, FEUQ lobbied us to stick with their position that the studies demonstrating underfunding are flawed and not to take the position that underfunding is a reality,” he said.

PGSS asked Conor Farrell, a researcher for the Society with a background in statistics, to look at the different reports from CREPUQ, FEUQ, and other post-secondary education organizations to determine whether or not Quebec universities are underfunded. Farrell produced a 24-page document that concluded that universities in Quebec need more money to function properly. After having received the report, the executive drafted the motion for Council.

“The first part of this motion is to say that, ‘yes, there is evidence that Quebec universities are underfunded,’” Mooney said. “But, that doesn’t mean you just give the money to the rectors or the principals to let them do whatever they want with it. There needs to be an accountability mechanism system in place, so we are supporting the FEUQ’s motion to create a [Commission for the Evaluation of Universities in Quebec] CEUQ.”

CEUQ would be an independent body that would hold rectors accountable for the spending of public money.

Mooney expressed concern when his colleagues showed scepticism over the report’s findings.

“It’s not just CREPUQ who is saying [that universities are underfunded],” Mooney said. “[When] the Council of Ontario Universities … [was] trying to make a case that Ontario universities are underfunded, they did [a] comparative analysis. Quebec came in dead last among operating grants given from the government.”

“This idea that we don’t need money is absurd,” he continued. “It’s all being done for political reasons.”

Leah Freeman, a graduate student in McGill’s School of Social Work and FEUQ vice-president of graduate student affairs, spoke out against the PGSS’s motion on behalf of FEUQ at Wednesday’s meeting.

“We will always advocate for more money to universities,” she said. “We are not asking you to give us permission to not ask for more. We are asking you to give us permission to get universities’ funding where it needs to go. Right now … we don’t know where the money is going.”

Freeman—along with the other FEUQ representatives, had no voting rights—as she is not a member of Council. Ultimately, the motion passed with an overwhelming majority in favour.

Reform to the nomination process for the position of the AUS Vice-President Finance, the fate of McGill’s Industrial Relations program, and students’ ability to decide whether McGill recognizes their advanced standing credits were among the topics discussed at Monday’s General Assembly (GA) of the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS).

With between 20 and 45 students in attendance throughout the evening, the GA never met its quorum of 150 voters and, therefore, only passed motions as a consultative forum. Each motion passed by the GA as a consultative forum requires a 2/3 vote at AUS Council to become binding.

The most highly debated motion concerned reforming the requirements for the AUS’s vice-president finance position.

Currently, arts students elect a vice-president finance from a group of nominees in the AUS election. If this motion passed, AUS Council would determine through a vote whether nominees were qualified to run for the position after a short presentation from each candidate. Students would then elect the vice-president finance from among the approved candidates.

“This motion is valid because [the AUS] has had a history of losing money and embezzling,” AUS Vice-President Events Natasha Fenn said. “A solid [Vice-President] Finance would prevent that.”

Most students agreed that this motion addressed an important issue, but some expressed concern over its fairness.

“Do you think this is an unfair attempt to influence the outcome of the election?” Daniel Stysis, U3 arts, asked during the GA. “Do you believe that this is a decision best left to the voters who should, in fact, be choosing their own [executives]?”

Current AUS Vice-President Finance Saad Qazi, who brought the motion forward, argued that the measures would allow voters to make more informed choices about their executive.

“The 100-word blurb I wrote for the ballot [when I was campaigning] was nowhere near to conveying enough information about what my qualifications were,” Qazi said. “Something like this would just be adding [an] extra little bit of information on the ballot.”

The motion was tabled for further refinement, and will not affect this year’s election period, since the nomination period for next year’s executive positions begins this week.

Students also passed a motion that aims to protect McGill’s Industrial Relations program. The program is in danger of termination due to a lack of faculty advisors dedicated to continuing the program. AUS Vice-President Internal Justin Fletcher and Benjamin Kershman, president of the McGill Industrial Relations Association, submitted the motion.

“The issue of why the program is considering being retired has nothing to do with student enrollment,” Fletcher said.

Industrial Relations is an interdisciplinary academic program that allows students in the Faculty of Arts to study labour-management relations. Students in attendance wondered whether the program could exist independently from the Faculty of Arts.

“Will the program still continue to fully exist under [the Faculty of] Management if it doesn’t exist under arts?” Enbal Singer, U2 arts, said. “How hard would it be for students to just take it as a management program?”

The motion passed after participants discussed the fact that arts students would have to switch faculties in order to enroll in the program in the Faculty of Management.

Students also passed a motion calling for the AUS to lobby the Faculty of Arts to provide students with the opportunity to decide whether their advanced standing credits are recognized by McGill. Incoming students are currently unable to decline transfer credits from advanced standing credits, and, as a result, are unable choose whether they complete a three or four-year degree.

“I really … like the spirit of this [motion],” Ryan Mitton, U1 arts, said. “I’ve seen a lot of my friends suffering from trying to make decisions [over declaring a major] going into first year.”

Last weekend, the Equity Committee of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) held its annual conference in the SSMU Ballroom for students to learn about issues of inequality and how to promote equity at McGill. Throughout the two-day conference, professors, guest speakers, and students shared their research on equity.

SSMU’s Equity Committee follows the SSMU Equity Policy to promote social justice at McGill, and offers services and channels for addressing equity complaints.

“We tend to think that since we’re at McGill, a university with much cultural diversity, everyone would love each other, but that is not the case,” SSMU Equity Commissioner Justin Koh said. “There are lots of situations in which students are not very comfortable if they are not of the dominant race, social, or ethnic background … this conference is an opportunity for students who have done research on this topic to share their knowledge.”

The first half of the conference, held on Friday night, featured five speakers who gave their perspectives on the definition of space and on the issues of inequality that might arise when people with different backgrounds and goals share a common learning space. The second half of the conference, held on Saturday morning, allowed undergraduate students to present their papers and findings regarding equity on campus.

Ellen Gabriel, an Aboriginal political activist from the community of Kanehsatà, spoke about historical injustices against Indigenous populations, contemporary debates on Indigenous affairs, and their relation to the McGill community. She suggested that attention to Indigenous welfare and heritage from the Canadian government is largely inadequate, and that Canadian public education should invest more effort into educating students on the history and issues concerning Indigenous minorities.

“We are marginalized within academia,” Gabriel said. “I think [because of] the fact that after 11 years of lobbying by students, there still isn’t an Indigenous program, definitely, McGill is not viewed by most Aboriginal students as very welcoming, because there is really nothing here.”

McGill currently offers courses in Aboriginal Studies under the Canadian Studies department, and is in the process of establishing an Indigenous Studies program.

The issue of racial inequality was also brought up during the conference. Mahtab Nazemi, a graduate student from McGill’s Faculty of Education, presented her Master’s thesis: “Beyond Racism: Mapping Ruling Relations in a Canadian University from the Standpoint of Racialized Women Student Activists.” Nazemi informed the audience about the experience of some racialized students at McGill.

“[McGill has] a good reputation of being equitable and diverse globally, but some of the ‘old boys’ club’ reputation is still there,” Nazemi said. “If [a McGill student] can live up to that experience [of being treated equitably] then great—you can feel represented by the institution. But if you can’t, then it is important for you to present your counter narrative.”

The topics of other presentations ranged from the effects of political representation on equality to the gendered landscape of urban spaces. Students engaged with speakers during short question and answer sessions after each presentation.

“[As] McGill is my community, I am very interested in how [equity] affects me,” Sarah MacArthur, U1 arts, said. “Even if we live in Canada, and we go to a very liberal university, [issues of inequality] are still present in my eyes.”

SSMU Equity Commissioners Justin Koh and Shaina Agbayani promised attendees that another conference would be hosted next year.

Over the course of last week, the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG) McGill and the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) presented a series of Social Justice Days designed to encourage dialogue regarding social issues in the Montreal community and around the world.

Now in its seventh year, Social Justice Days has become an annual tradition at McGill. Events this year included a wide range of workshops, film screenings, and lectures. One event, called “the Permanence of Temporary Work,” exposed attendees to Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), the criticisms surrounding it, and the challenges it faces.

The workshop included a viewing of a scene from the film “The End of Immigration,” and a presentation from guest speaker Niel Ladote, who described his experiences as an open permit worker from Indonesia.

The Government of Canada introduced the TFWP as a measure to offset temporary labour shortages for sectors in which Canadian citizens and residents were unavailable for hire. However, temporary workers often face challenges such as cultural barriers, low standards of living, unsafe work conditions, and below-par wages. Due to their status and dependency on temporary work, they often find themselves without leverage when work-place issues arise.

Ladote came to Canada three years ago, and currently has an open work permit.

“I came here as a student, but I don’t feel as though there is any improvement [for foreign workers],” he said.

Ladote said challenges for temporary workers don’t stop at the Canadian border, as many workers find that their position puts a strain on their relationships with loved ones back home.

“I have two siblings back home, and we don’t have [a] really close [relationship anymore],” Ladote said. “I dreamt of the Canadian dream, but it’s not true.”

Students at the workshop were aware that while seemlingly unrelated to McGill, the TFWP plays a role in students’ lives because of temporary workers’ involvement in many aspects of daily life.

“Being a student at McGill, there’s a certain standard of living that we uphold, and I think being aware of how that standard of living is maintained is really important,” Susanna Millar, a U3 social work student who attended the event, said. “Where you buy your daily groceries, where those groceries were harvested, and who made your dinner if you go to a restaurant are important [things] to be aware of, because the standard of living that people enjoy would not necessarily be possible if the cost of production went up.”

Ladote stressed the importance of creating discussion and raising awareness about the challenges temporary workers face in Canada.

“I believe that working together in action is important and crucial—people telling their stories and speaking out, [saying] ‘yes, this is happening in this city and this country,’ ” he said.

Millar echoed Ladote’s call to raise awareness.

“Within the McGill community, we’re not isolated from government policies of immigration,” Millar said. “Just keeping your eyes open to these issues is important because it’s not just [happening] in some remote area, [it’s not just] some people working in a basement; it’s everywhere.”