As September began saying its goodbyes, Montreal indie-rock sensation Arcade Fire took the city for a free ride that is still the subject of many a Facebook status. The downtown streets swelled with a larger crowd than usual that Thursday, and so I paused in my weekly grocery run to watch the masses all stream in the same direction. I stared at the spectacle of a city strutting down its streets to welcome their world famous sons n‘ daughters home, and—unlike most of those in the crowd—I wasn’t fazed. As news of the evening’s unique vibe and enthralling atmosphere ignited discussions throughout the next week, I just smiled and nodded politely.  

Montreal natives were proud that the multi-award-winning crew was performing where they refined their craft, and Torontonians in the crowd were, for the most part, shocked to find out that stuff happens outside the GTA. But my response was off the beaten path because I hail from a prairie province that exists far off of it. My Manitoban perspective often transcends stereotypes in Montreal, not because its nature is invulnerable to them, but because to paint in broad strokes one has to know at least something about a place. And because Manitoba is just ‘out there somewhere’ to most, it rarely gets stroked by outsiders, broadly or otherwise.

I stood there that evening, surmising the controlled frenzy in a way that few else present were doing; like an age-old surfer watching a wave approach. It varied in shape and size, but—all in all—it was something familiar. My reaction bordered on the unimpressed, not because of some backwoods snobbery, but rather because I’d felt this sort of palpable music-infused excitement many a time before. It is not mundane to me, but it’s certainly commonplace. But what happens so often in ‘toba that sounds like the Arcade Fire escapade is something that truly happens ‘out there,’ in recreational centres and hockey rinks far away from the city.

The province’s small towns generate groups with all the flair, emotional fervour, and even stylized eccentricity of Montreal’s darlings. And like Arcade Fire, they prefer to play at home. An apt example is Manitoba’s Dust Poets. This group blends sixties soul, bluegrass, and gritty country with irreverent folk lyrics that has cultivated a charmed audience across the continent. Although they combine genres across the spectrum, the Poets create the same pre-show ambiance in their admittedly older crowd as Arcade Fire does in theirs. There is a difference in decibels, but their audiences both await shows with the same crackling sense of anticipation. So much so, that a homesick Manitoban can watch a Montreal crowd stream hustling and bustling to see a renowned rock band and think, “that’s bigger in scale, but very familiar.”

I can hear the cultural elites from jazz clubs in Montreal and coffee houses in Toronto screaming already, and thus I propose a hypothetical situation in which my Arcade Fire experience becomes theirs:

 Suppose an urban Easterner made the mistake of venturing into the prairies. Their confusion causes them to make a wrong turn (which is a catastrophe because, when driving on the flatlands, there is usually only one turn to make, no matter where you’re going), and they end up in a town of four hundred people where the hardware store doubles as the liquor vendor. If at this point they muster up the courage to follow the sweet sounds coming from a building that was once a barn, I guarantee that they will stop short at the door, sense the atmosphere, and think, “this is something very familiar.”

Last Friday, Kenyan activist and political leader Flora Terah spoke at Atwater Library in celebration of the life of the late Wangari Maathai. Maathai, who passed away Sept. 25 at the age of 71, became the first African woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. She was recognized for her work protecting the environment, promoting sustainable development, and encouraging gender empowerment in Kenya.

“Wangari did not just plant trees for the environment. Yes, environment was key, but please remember we come from a patriarchal society,” Terah said. “Wangari did the tree planting strategically: to get to talk to women. To get the women to understand that they are human beings, that they have a role in the society, that it is their right to ask for basic human rights. This is how many of us in Kenya have followed her path.  Her path was so thorny. She was beaten, jailed, put in house arrest. But she never gave up.”

Terah, an advocate for women’s rights who was abducted when she ran for Kenyan Parliament in the 2007 elections, considers Maathi a source of inspiraction and courage.

“I was tortured too, that’s the same thing Wangari felt. I knew, if she never gave up, I wasn’t going to give up,” Terah said. “Wangari has been my role model, and I feel her presence wherever I go.”

After reflecting on Maathai’s life and the inspiration derived from her life, Terah invited those present at the event to take the podium and “share this story of love from a man’s perspective.” One such person was Esmael Njuguna, currently srudying in Montreal as a Sauvé Scholar working on projects to mitigate HIV/AIDS impact and address questions of sexuality in his native Kenya. Njuguna met Maathai several times at youth leadership conferences.

“She was a humble woman, full of optimism,” Njuguna said. “This woman is my inspiration. She has really done a lot for not only the Kenyan people, but for every citizen of the world.”

Njuguna noted that environmental activism can play an important role in peacebuilding. “[A scholar in Kenya] was once asked, how is [the] environment related to peace? And he said that if we don’t have equity in the distribution of natural resources, we will always have war.”

Asked about her message to students, Terah encouraged young people to continue Maathai’s vision.

“[Students] will make a difference by doing what Wangari loved most: her passion was the environment, social change, and human rights, especially rights for women,” Terah said. “They can also lobby the Canadian government to hold the Kenyan government accountable. They are giving so much money to Kenya but not holding the leaders accountable, so the money is going into the wrong hands.”

The event was organized by a group of women interested in youth apathy and political activism. One of the organizers, Chloe Landry, a U2 honours political science major, explained that the group had originally intended to host an event showcasing Terah’s work to end gender-based violence and her courage in surmounting the challenges she has faced. However, Maathai’s passing led Terah to prefer honouring her friend and mentor.

The event was an occasion for those present to reflect on issues of gender discrimination. Amy Tang, a U1 psychology student, spent the summer volunteering in Kenya and said the event inspired her to rethink some of the situations she witnessed.

“I met a man who was telling me his belief that it’s the man’s place to discipline the woman, to control his household, almost as if the woman was another child,” Tang said. “At the time, I didn’t think too much about it. I got a little ticked off, but thought ‘I’m a visitor, I’m not going to come into this man’s home and argue with him.’ But as I’ve come back and I hear more about [these abuses] I realize that sometimes the issue is culture but oftentimes it’s just human rights. Period.  Sometimes you’ve got to say, ‘Hey, this is wrong.’ You have to speak out.”

Terah’s poignant speech and the legacy of Maathai’s life resonated with many of the people in the event.

“[Maathai] saw tree planting as a way to reduce poverty, as a way to help women and as a way to help [the] community,” Landry said. “There’s an interconnectedness of issues. You don’t have to conquer all the isses because some things can really make a difference on a wide range. I find that is a very powerful message.”

McGill rose in the Times Higher Education World Rankings for 2011. McGill jumped from 35th last year to 28th in the current rankings.

Two Canadian schools were ranked higher than McGill in the Times rankings: the University of British Columbia, which moved from 30th last year to 22nd this year, and the University of Toronto, which fell from 17th in the world to 19th.

Canada had the fifth highest number of universities in the top 200 schools of any country.

According to the Times ranking’s website, there are five overarching categories that determine how a school ranks. These are teaching, worth 30 per cent of the overall ranking; research and citations, both worth 30 per cent; industry income, worth 2.5 per cent; and the international outlook of staff and students, which is worth 7.5 per cent.

“These strong results show that McGill continues to be regarded as one of the best universities in the world,” principal and vice-chancellor Heather Munroe-Blum said in a statement released by McGill. “We are gratified to be thought of so highly and we continue to strive for the excellence in our academic and research missions that will maintain these high standings.”

Monroe-Blum also stressed that rankings are important because they help to determine where prospective students and faculty ultimately decide to go.

One explanation for McGill’s large jump in the rankings was the increased emphasis on international student and faculty composition this year, which favors McGill’s diverse student and faculty body.

Earlier in the year, McGill was ranked 17th in the world by the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) ranking system.

“We are better able to prepare our students to live and work in an increasingly globalized society, where research and interaction will increasingly take place across borders, where different cultures and backgrounds will come together to exchange ideas and experiences in shaping tomorrow’s world,” Monroe-Blum said.

This August, the World University Service of Canada (WUSC) welcomed 74 refugees from Malawi and Kenya who will attend one of 61 participating universities across Canada this year. Two participants in the program have enrolled at McGill, both in the faculty of engineering.

WUSC’s Student Refugee Program (SRP) provides refugees a post-secondary education, a chance to gain permanent residency in Canada, and a foot in the door on the way to becoming Canadian citizens. The SRP began at Carleton University in 1978, the same year that the Canadian government changed the immigration policy to permit private sponsorship of refugees.

Canada has two official policies regarding immigration of refugees. The first is by inland claims, in which a refugee seeks protection at the Canadian border. The second is through refugee resettlement, when refugees are selected by the Canadian government to live in Canada.

“The path to citizenship … is the underlying principle of the program,” Zoe Greenwald, a U3 student, McGill’s co-chair for the SRP, said.

Allison Cooper, another McGill co-chair for the SRP, explained that while all of this year’s participants sought asylum in Kenya, many originate from different countries in Africa and Asia, and of the 1200-plus alumni of the program, many have moved to Canada from the Middle East, Africa, Sri Lanka, and Eastern Europe.

Michelle Manks, senior program officer for the SRP at WUSC’s head office in Ottawa, said that in the past, student enrollment in the program “depends [on] where conflicts are over time.” WUSC provides a means of private sponsorship “to get people out of refugee situations …and into permanent residency in Canada.”

“Most other countries don’t offer resettlement,” Manks said, as refugees in most countries are confined to a camp.

Greenwald said that sifting through applications and picking students to attend McGill was the hardest part of the job.

“It feels like you’re playing God,” she said.

It is difficult to organize educational programs in refugee camps, and programs such as the SRP may seem out of reach for most refugees.  Several students apply for each spot that a Canadian university has available through SRP.

McGill had the first choice of students. However, not being picked by McGill does not imply rejection from the program.

Last year, Manks explained that applicants simply did not meet McGill’s academic requirements, and, therefore the university did not host any student refugees. Instead, the organization used the money intended for last year to admit an additional student this year.

Since its founding in 1987, McGill’s chapter of SRP has levied a 50 cent fee per student for every semester. This was intended to increase with inflation, but remains at the same level today. Those admitted to the program receive financial aid for tuition as well as living costs. After their first year, however, they need to find jobs to support themselves.

Cooper expressed concern that the McGill administration is seeking to diminish the program’s capacity by means of “a referendum question to use [WUSC’s] funding for other purposes.” According to the SSMU website, this referendum question seeks to “support international students from developing countries if there are no eligible WUSC refugee students in any year.”

Nevertheless, Cooper spoke highly of her personal experience with WUSC.

“It really is an awesome and unique way to get involved, very much firsthand, with helping students adjust to life in Canada, learning from them and with them as we go through the [student] experience together,” she said.

David Morley, president and CEO of UNICEF, opened the McGill Global Food Security Conference with a moment of silence commemorating those killed in a bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Oct. 4; a stark reminder of the everyday dangers of life in the region. The death toll from the bombing has risen to close to 100. The area is also experiencing a famine which threatens the lives of 12 million people.

“Let us all remember … A bomb exploded outside the Ministry of Education in Mogadishu, in Somalia, today,” Morley said. “Parents and children had been lined up, waiting to get their test results from school. This illustrates some of what we’re having to deal with today in the Horn of Africa.”

The fourth annual Global Food Security Conference on Oct. 4 hosted a variety of round tables on subjects such as food price volatility, and—a new addition this year—a student-led panel on grassroots action and challenges to aid.  Morley, no stranger to global food crises, shared some of his experiences with the audience on Tuesday, drawing heavily on UNICEF’s efforts in Somalia this past summer. According to Morley, global food production, which continues to rise, has been more than able to keep up with global demand, but distribution is still a big problem.

He also illustrated some of the lesser-known threats to food security, such as infrastructure in the developing world, which is in such disrepair that up to 40 per cent of food produced in those areas is lost.

“We see poor infrastructure in the developing world … that means poor rural roads, inadequate storage facilities … means that so much food is lost during transportation,” Morley said. “Here in Canada, we don’t know how much food we lose, but our loss is at the other end—it’s the food that we throw out, and what we consign to the compost heap.”

The solutions to these problems are not immediately obvious.

Morley’s talk emphasized the realities of famine and food shortages which are often blunted in media reports by “antiseptic” words and statistics. To cope with food shortages or high food prices, people often eat less, sell as many belongings as they can spare, and go into debt.

“If you’re only eating two meals a day, now you’re eating one,” Morley said.

Somalia suffered low rainfall this year and its worst crop production in 17 years. Over the summer, it experienced a food shortage which grew to famine levels, a grisly term based on the price of food and how many adults and children die of malnutrition per day. Morley responded to criticisms that the UN should have declared a famine state earlier than it did with a precise definition.

“There’s a technical definition and there’s a reason that we wait until certain thresholds are met. The definition is this: it’s when more than 30  per cent of the children under five are acutely malnourished, and when people are receiving less than the 2,100 kilo-calories per day needed to survive, and when the death rate is higher than two adults or four children per 10,000 people.”

Nonetheless, UNICEF responded with a massive aid effort over the summer, despite the difficulties of delivering aid to a politically unstable region. They succeeded in importing 31,000 metric tonnes of supplies, including basic health kits for 600,000 people and emergency food supplies for almost 300,000 people for two weeks.

“We want to double our capacity … over the next year,” Morley said. “It takes an incredible amount of diplomatic skill because there are constant negotiations. We won’t pay bribes to get through, but we will talk about negotiations. We’ll say, this is what it’s going for, this is why it has to go, and you have to negotiate clan to clan in making sure that your food [and supplies go] as far as [they] can.”

Dalton McGuinty and the Liberal Party of Ontario won their third consecutive Provincial election last Thursday night, clinching victory despite Ontarians’ preference for Conservative Party candidates in recent federal and Toronto mayoral elections. The result marks McGuinty’s third term as Premier but only the first in a minority government, after handily winning majorities in 2003 and 2007.

When the polls closed, the incumbent party was holding at 53 seats, just one seat short of a third majority parliament. Both the Progressive Conservatives (PC) and the New Democratic Party (NDP) made gains, earning 37 and 17 seats, respectively.

Tim Hudak, running his first campaign as leader of the Ontario PCs, entered the campaign as the official opposition, and, at first, was polling neck-to-neck with McGuinty. The party’s platform focused on what he saw as Liberal tax hikes over the past eight years. A PC press release quotes Hudak saying: “Dalton always hikes taxes. And he never takes responsibility.” Closer to election day, his focus became the spectre of a NDP-Liberal coalition: “He will claim he has to hike taxes as the cost of doing a deal with the NDP.” The party emphasized what they perceived as government waste, and extraneous taxation on hydro.

The NDP made considerable gains by reaching out to middle-class voters concerned with their bottom line. Leader Andrea Horwath vowed to eliminate the harmonized sales tax on hydro and cap the salaries of hospital CEOs. As a near-majority government, the Liberals will need to rely on the support of one of the two opposition parties to pass legislation, considerably augmenting the influence of those parties in the legislature.

McGuinty’s re-election comes shortly after a major conservative victory in last May’s national election in Ontario ridings, as well as the recent election of fiscally conservative mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford. Despite the apparent inclination of Ontario voters toward Tory governance, Iopsis Reed polls during the election suggested that Ford’s presence hurt Hudak’s chances.

Kathleen Klein, president of Liberal McGill, said that voters sent a message to the Conservatives, and were still reeling from previous Premier Mike Harris’ public service cutbacks.

“Stephen Harper wanted to see the Greater Toronto Area go completely blue at the close of this election and his dreams have been trounced … Mike Harris’ so-called common-sense revolution is still too fresh in the minds of most Ontarians to make the mistake of electing Harris 2.0,” Klein said.

Despite a large contingent of Ontarians at McGill, many were unaware of the results of the election, or even that it took place.

“I should care since I’m from there, but I just don’t pay as much attention as I should … I voted in the municipal election here [in Montreal], but I don’t really notice what’s going on back home,” Amy Boekhoud, a U3 Art History student, said. The trend of low voter interest is not unique to McGill; voter turnout was at its lowest in 36 years. Less than half of eligible voters in Ontario cast ballots on Thursday.

“Our health care is still covered by our home provinces, our younger siblings are still affected by government-mandated curriculum [sic] in their classrooms, many parents are paid by the provincial government and are affected by changes in the economy, and many of us students hope to return home to jobs upon completion of our studies,” Klein said, in response to the lack of student awareness. For students in particular, the Liberal platform has several proposals aimed at reducing student debt, such as 30 per cent post-secondary undergraduate tuition grants, and a six month grace period on loan repayment for graduates who enter the not-for-profit sector.

Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s chief research and strategy officer, spoke at McGill last Friday about the future of human-computer interaction and Microsoft’s contributions to the field.

Many students anxiously awaited the talk, including Joel Cheverie, a U0 mathematics student.

“I use Microsoft [products] everyday and so I want to see every development. My class was cancelled because my professor was in a roundtable with [Mr. Mundie], so I figured it should be good,” Cheverie said.

The talk was one in a series of presentations given by the Microsoft executive at various institutions. While at McGill, Mundie also met with principal Heather Munroe-Blum and held a roundtable with many of McGill’s professors and students from different faculties.

“It’s good to have some cross- fertilization between liberal arts and sciences, because there is a lot of room for each to contribute to each other,” Mundie said.

Computers have changed over the last few years, not only in computational power but also in analytic capabilities, and our interactions with them have changed as a result.

To illustrate exactly where he sees computers going in the future, Mundie demonstrated Microsoft’s WorldWide Telescope (WWT), a computer program which turns complex data sets into useful information. Using massive computing power, the project blends terabytes worth of images and information from various sources like ground- and sky-based telescopes to map the known universe. In his presentation he displayed a map of the continental United States and, after processing and overlaying huge data sets, WWT rendered a three-dimensional precipitation map.

Mundie also presented Microsoft Research’s Organ Navigator, which can display cross sections of the human body with the ability to zone in on any specific organ at any angle or cross section.

“Can we teach a machine to identify organs based on a read-out like a radiologist knows how to do? Yes. All those processes that had to be guided by a human is just not true anymore [sic],” Mundie said.

He also discussed the real world capabilities of the Kinect, which has sold eight million units faster than any other computing device as certified by Guinness World Records.

Mundie spent considerable time showcasing Kinect’s capabilities, which include advanced functionality like three-dimensional model making and teleconferencing with up to eight participants. One goal of Kinect is to allow conversing in a natural way, as if participants were in the same room. All of these advances are supposed to enhance the computer-using experience and bring it closer to reality. Although the avatars can replicate facial and hand gestures, they still require a suspension of disbelief since they are computer expression characters.

Mundie, however, remained hopeful.

“We are not very far from blending the virtual and real worlds together,” he said. “It will one day be possible for the computer to be able to write the program for you and learn from you what is needed to analyze the data.”

The talk was very well received by student attendees.

“It was really engaging and had really innovative proposals,” Julietta Jakubowicz, a U3 software engineering student, said. “I was shocked because the stuff he showed was daring and experimental; much more than the public face of Microsoft with consumer products. It showed some high impact examples of cutting edge research.”

Duct tape on the sidewalks by McGill’s entrances now demarcates exactly where MUNACA members on strike are allowed to march. Those aren’t the only lines on campus as a result of the labour conflict; these are divides which no one expects will be crossed anytime soon. New developments this week include a ruling on McGill’s alleged use of scab labour by the Quebec Labour Board, a press conference held by MUNACA,  and a letter sent to Heather Monroe-Blum from 13 biology professors.

Scab labour ruling

The Quebec Labour Board (CNT) ruled yesterday in favour of McGill on the issue of the university’s use of  replacement workers.

The provincial labour board, which issued the ruling late Tuesday morning, found that McGill has been fully compliant with the law and has not used illegal replacement (scab) workers to fill gaps due to absent strikers.

The CNT originally sent an investigator to McGill in late September to review scab use allegations filed by MUNACA. At the end of a 12-day investigation, the labour board released a non-legally-binding report which found 26 instances of illegal scab labour. In the days that followed, MUNACA filed a complaint based on the investigation and McGill presented its position before the board.

Yesterday’s ruling represents a legal verdict on the CNT’s initial finding and clears McGill of any wrongdoing.

“We’ve said all along that the Quebec labour code allows for certain types of workers, management employees, to perform the work of employees who are on strike,” Michael Di Grappa, McGill’s VP Administration and Finance, said. “This ruling supports [what we’ve  always been doing].”

According to Di Grappa, the original report contained some inaccuracies which likely led to the original 26 allegations of scab labour.  There was also some ambiguity around an employee who was called to work at a different campus, but the ruling stated that McGill was operating under the law.

“In most of the other cases, I’d say that it was differences in interpretation of the law,” Di Grappa said. “We’re very pleased that the commission sided with the university.”

Press conference

Last Friday, MUNACA held a press conference in conjunction with representatives from SSMU, PSAC (MUNACA’s affiliate union), and 13 biology professors who have spoken out on the strike.

John Gordon, national president of PSAC, alleged that the university had been attempting to silence students who support the strikers.

“The university has been doing everything in its power to throw roadblocks at [us] every step along the way when it comes to addressing the issues,” Gordon said. “They refuse to address the issues but at the same time they’re trying to gag their own students from doing any protests in support of the strikers.”

Michael Di Grappa, McGill’s VP administration and finance, called the statement false and unfounded in response.

“Mr. Gordon doesn’t know that of which he speaks … the fact that there have been numerous demonstrations on campus, I think, puts the lie very effectively to that statement,” Di Grappa said.

Di Grappa also refuted the union’s claims that McGill has been stalling negotiations.

“Mr. Gordon should know that the conciliator offered many more dates than were accepted by the parties, and it was the unavailability of his representatives that limited the number of dates that we’ve had so far.”

Kevin Whittaker, president of MUNACA, spoke at the conference about changes to their picketing strategy in response to the extension of the injunction, which limits their ability to picket on campus. He also discussed a request for alumni to withhold donations until after reconciliation has occurred.  

“As this injunction has been renewed, we will now be expanding our horizons into more creative methods,” Whittaker said. “We are also asking all alumni from McGill to not donate any money to McGill during the course of the strike. If they wish to do so afterwards, we would encourage them to wait until that time.”

He is also pleased with the reaction he’s gotten from a few members of McGill’s Board of Directors in response to letters.

“We have had some reactions from [some members of the Board] and they have indicated that they will be talking to the university,” he said.

After the press conference, attendees then moved to a rally held on a blocked-off section of McGill College directly across from the Roddick Gates. A negotiator from PSAC updated the union’s members on the process of negotiations. Although no progress has been made on contentious issues like pensions and wage increases, MUNACA had made considerable headway, the negotiator said, on other issues including the language in MUNACA’s agreements surrounding job security.

“The bad news is, we’re still on strike,” the negotiator said, adding that the union would not budge without a meaningful response from the university on key issues, such as pensions.

“In the meantime: stand together in solidarity, because that’s how we’re going to win this thing.”

Faculty support letter

“While we were pleased earlier this month to see McGill ranked first among universities in Canada, we feel we should not turn our backs on a key part of our community that has allowed us to reach that position,” reads part of the open letter addressed to Principal Heather Monroe-Blum from 13 biology professors, urging both parties to resolve the dispute quickly.

Professor Dr. Louis Lefebvre, present at the press conference, emphasized that McGi
ll staff and students must not ignore the striking workers, and that it is not just “business as usual” at the university.

“If [students haven’t noticed the effects of the strike], it’s because someone is working behind the scenes,” he said. “I already know one manager who’s had to take time off because of illness she attributes to overwork … that’s not the way things should be in the community.”

At the same time, he clarified that the letter was not necessarily in support of either side, but rather in recognition of the professors’ absent colleagues and in favour of a speedy and amicable resolution to the strike.

“I’m not saying [to] support the strike … [but] let’s acknowledge the fact that it’s not business as usual,” he said. Nonetheless, Lefebvre believes it is important for students to understand the issues behind the  MUNACA strike and to deal with their ethical and moral implications.

“We’re not a vocational training school,” Lefebvre said. “We’re teaching [students the technical aspect of their degree], but also to be citizens and thinkers … well-made heads, les têtes bien faites.”

McGill alumnus Ralph Steinman passed away on Friday, Sept. 30, after a long struggle with pancreatic cancer. He was 68. The following Monday, the Nobel Prize committee announced that Steinman, who had conducted research at New York’s Rockefeller University until his death, was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Medicine alongside American scientist Bruce Beutler, and Luxembourg-born Jules Hoffmann. At the time of the announcement, the committee was unaware of Steinman’s untimely death.

Steinman, like his co-awardees, had dedicated his life to researching the immune system. When he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he used his own body to experiment and research possible cures.

He removed a piece of the cancerous tumour, and trained his immune cells to hunt down any remains of it that may have been missed during the surgical procedure.

Dr. Sarah Schlesigner, who collaborated with Steinman on the experiment, told the BBC that training his immune cells to attack the tumour invoked a powerful immune response, and it is believed that this allowed Dr. Steinman to live longer than was expected. Unfortunately, his experiment was ultimately unsuccessful and he lost his battle with the disease.

While it has been years since Steinman studied at McGill, his affiliation with the institution continues to be cited routinely in reports of his death.

“McGill University gets a mention in reports around the world because Steinman got his undergraduate degree here. Although it is unrealistic, we will take some credit for his achievements,” Joe Schwarcz, director of McGill’s Office for Science and Society, said. “Maybe we were able to interest him enough to provide stimulation towards a research career. But I suspect he would have done well no matter where he did his undergrad,” Schwarcz said.

Heather Munroe-Blum, principal and vice-chancellor of McGill, issued a public statement on Steinman’s death.

“On behalf of McGill University, I wish to extend our profound condolences to the family and friends on the passing of one of our eminent alumni, Dr. Ralph Steinman, whose share of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Medicine was announced just days after his death,” read the statement. “Dr. Steinman’s outstanding work in immunology and his discovery of the key role dendritic cells play in immune processes has led to a number of significant potential therapies for a variety of diseases, including cancer.”