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News, The Tribune Explains

The Tribune Explains: Abortion rights in the Quebec Constitution Act

by Josette Chandler on

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On Oct. 9, 2025, Quebec Minister of Justice Simon Jolin-Barrette introduced Bill 1, the Quebec Constitution Act, to the National Assembly of Quebec. The act intends to establish a provincial constitution, allowing for more legislative autonomy by enshrining popular Quebec values, such as French language protection, secularism, and abortion rights. However, on Feb. 20, Jolin-Barette withdrew Section 29 of this bill, which would have guaranteed the right to abortion as part of the prospective constitution. The Tribune breaks down Section 29 of the Quebec Constitution Act, examining how its withdrawal may affect the protection of abortion rights in Quebec.

What is Section 29?

Section 29 of the Quebec Constitution Act states, “the state shall protect the freedom of women to have recourse to a voluntary termination of pregnancy.” Jolin-Barrette originally added this clause due to his concern that women’s reproductive rights may one day be called into question, which he described in an open letter.

“I am sincerely worried. Worried that in the coming years, women’s rights—of our mothers, our sisters, our daughters—will crumble, at the risk of their health and dignity,” Jolin-Barette wrote. “It is this deep and persistent concern that convinced me to include in the draft Constitution a provision that would commit the Quebec government to act to defend women’s free choice to have an abortion.”

Why was the clause protecting abortion withdrawn?

The idea of withdrawing Section 29 first gained traction on Feb. 18 in the public hearings for Bill 1, when Claude Morin, a former member of the National Assembly of Quebec, asked whether the clause was being considered for removal. Etienne-Alexis Boucher, a former Parti Québécois member for the Johnson electoral division, expressed support for the section’s withdrawal. 

“My recommendation to all parliamentarians is to improve the bill so that the final version can respond to criticism. And you are right, there has been very strong criticism of the right to abortion,” Boucher said. “If this type of enhancement to the bill allows [us] to broaden the consensus on this one, I think that would be a good idea.”

Later in the hearing, Natacha Meilleur, a representative from the Clinique des femmes de l’Outaouais, requested the removal of Section 29 from the bill. She argued that the clause does not aid abortion rights, but rather puts them at risk. 

“Enshrining abortion in a constitutional text would [offer no] additional protection demonstrated,” Meilleur said. “Canada protects abortion with autonomy and personal safety. And, moreover, the Canadian model is legally more integrated into the fundamental rights structure. And that’s what makes it more stable. It is therefore the absence of legislation that is our strength. Legislating on abortion is therefore a way of offering a breach, a legal hold that may be interpreted, challenged, or modified in the future.”

Following the arguments introduced in this session, Jolin-Barrette removed Section 29 from the Quebec Constitution Act. 

What protections are in place for abortion rights in Quebec?

Currently, abortion rights in Quebec are protected based on jurisprudence that supports the right of women to choose, such as R. v. Morgentaler.  This case overturned a 1969 law that criminalized abortion except in specific circumstances across Canada. The case used Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms—specifically the right to security of the person—as the legal basis for removing the abortion restrictions, arguing that they infringed on pregnant women’s right to security. 

In a written exchange with The Tribune, McGill’s chapter of the Women’s Network, the largest collegiate networking organization for women in North America, emphasized the significance of protecting women’s bodily autonomy as fundamental to women’s rights. 

“It is important to protect abortion rights because they are integral to a woman’s freedom, independence and self-autonomy,” the Women’s Network wrote. “Abortion rights are human rights and women’s rights, and it is important that the legislation reflects that. One should have the right to make decisions regarding their own body and future without judgment or fear of legal or social repercussions.”

For more information on accessing abortion at McGill, please visit a previous article published on Nov. 19, 2024.

Commentary, Opinion

Canada must respect informed consent in its handling of residential school reports

by Sofia Lay on

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In 2017, the Supreme Court of Canada presided over Canada (Attorney General) v. Fontaine, a case brought against the federal government by former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) Philip Fontaine. Fontaine demanded the destruction of Indigenous residential student testimony gathered during the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA), arguing that maintaining these records for potential future disclosure violates the confidentiality of survivors, many of whom shared experiences of intense physical and sexual abuse in their testimony. The Supreme Court ruled in favour of Fontaine, citing the government’s promise to protect witnesses’ privacy as the basis for their decision.

The federal government and some Indigenous groups have argued that destroying records undermines accountability for the horrors perpetrated against Indigenous people at residential schools. However, if implemented correctly, this ruling marks an important step toward honouring survivors’ autonomy by allowing them to control the fate of their testimonies.

As part of the IRSSA’s Independent Assessment Process (IAP), the Government of Canada conducted hearings and negotiated settlements with nearly 40,000 former residential school students. During these hearings, all students testified under the pretense of indefinite confidentiality. Given this, the legal basis for preserving these files in their totality (presumably for future reference in some capacity) is dubious. AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde echoed similar sentiments in a press release, emphasizing that Indigenous community members shared their experiences under the assumption that hearings were private. While some individuals are comfortable publicizing their testimony, others testified //only// with the assurance that their anonymity would be protected. For this reason, the original stipulations of the IAP should be respected, and personal statements must remain confidential.

The Supreme Court’s ruling does not mandate the destruction of all residential school testimonies, but leaves the fate of individual records to the witnesses themselves. IAP participants have until September 19, 2027, to request that their files be preserved for public use by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR). Whether residential school testimonies are preserved in federal records is not for the Canadian government to decide, nor is it the decision of the NCTR. Rather, it is an individual decision owed to those who endured the horrors of residential schools. Even within Indigenous communities in Canada, discourse surrounding testimony preservation has been divisive. While governing bodies like Anishinabek Mukwa Dodem have strongly advocated for the reversal of Canada v. Fontaine, the legal injunction by the AFN under Fontaine proves that support exists for the Supreme Court’s ruling. First Nations and Indigenous people do not share monolithic perspectives, and this heterogeneity must be reflected in policy that respects privacy wishes on an individualized level.

Additionally, it is important to recall the original purpose of the IRSSA, the IAP, and its associated testimonies. The IRSSA was never a social education campaign. Rather, it was an effort to win financial compensation and a formal apology for individuals who have been deeply harmed by residential school systems. Witnesses should not be required to compromise the privacy of their traumatic experiences in exchange for acknowledgement of the wrongs committed against them. 

The Canadian government must honour the legacies and experiences of these survivors by centring the preferences of those directly affected. While the universal preservation of IAP testimonies would likely be useful in promoting government transparency and public education, it would also be yet another undercut to the autonomy of Indigenous people living in Canada, many of whom have expressed a desire for these records to be concealed or erased. 

Fundamentally, it is not for the Canadian government, nor for other non-Indigenous institutions, to dictate how reconciliation is most meaningfully implemented. Just two years ago, McGill, which officially recognizes the Kanien’kehà:ka as the “traditional custodians of the lands and waters on which [the university meets],” removed a ceremonial pine tree planted by Kanien’kehà:ka community members. This move exemplifies the dissonance between the university’s stated dedication to honouring Indigeneity and its disregard for Indigenous wishes that counter McGill’s agenda. It is time for both McGill and the Canadian government to decide whether they will approach reconciliation merely as a semantic exercise or truly commit to a healing process set on Indigenous terms. 

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

‘Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette’ reinvents the look of love

by Loriane Chagnon on

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Warning: This piece contains spoilers.

New York in the 1990s, bike rides in the rain, an avoidantly-attached girlboss, and the son of a former president who falls for her—this is what the new FX show, Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette, offers. Produced by “the most powerful man in TV,” Ryan Murphy, this series is a dramatic retelling of the tragically beautiful romance between Calvin Klein’s fashion publicist, Carolyn Bessette, and People’s 1988’s Sexiest Man Alive, John F. Kennedy (JFK) Jr. 

Starring Sarah Pidgeon and newcomer Paul Anthony Kelly, the show dramatizes the relationship between the most eligible bachelor of the ‘90s and the woman who finally captured his heart. Among recent pleas on social media to “bring back yearning,” the show lives up to the task. The lead actors yearn, suffer and plead throughout, but especially in a particularly memorable scene where John stands in the rain at Carolyn’s doorstep, pleading to come in, managing to make me feel particularly single. It’s beautiful.

The show shines a light on this cherished love story whilst critiquing the intensity of the press, which felt it had a right to invade the private lives of the Kennedy family. Pidgeon’s portrayal of Carolyn Bessette stands out as she encompasses the legend of this powerful woman whilst delivering a relatable and raw performance. The Kennedys are depicted with all the pompousness, pride, and ridiculousness that accompany a dynasty family endlessly preoccupied with upholding their title as “America’s Royal Family.” The show explores their humanness, depicting JFK Jr. as a well-intentioned, intelligent, and caring, privileged man, used to things going his way. In contrast, Carolyn Bessette is the first woman who is not set on indulging him, and what results is a love story that transcends time.

In his breakout role, Kelly delivers a convincing performance as America’s Prince, quickly becoming Canada’s boyfriend by virtue of being an Ontario native. Episode 5: Battery Park stands out as a cautionary tale about the potential downfall of women who risk giving up their identity by marrying powerful men. After receiving John’s marriage proposal, Carolyn must decide whether marrying the man she loves is worth having her life publicly scrutinized and invaded. Reminiscent of Princess Diana’s marriage to King Charles III, the love story between Bessette and JFK Jr. has fascinated the public since the ‘90s, only amplified by their tragic death in a 1999 plane crash.

Notably, Kennedy family members, including Jack Schlossberg, have criticized the show’s creators for not contacting them before making the series. The show’s creators have defended their choice, claiming it allowed them to remain objective in their treatment of the material. They were thus able to take creative liberties whilst retaining the allure of the love story that has fascinated people for three decades. Accordingly, the show stands out as a beautifully entertaining story that exposes the highs and lows of the mesmerizing romance. It makes me want to move to New York, fall in love, wear a capsule wardrobe, and dye my hair platinum blonde.

Still, it is important to question the ethics of adapting a story without the subject’s consent. Further, we must also question the necessity of platforming a family that has consistently dominated American politics. Wouldn’t it be better to adapt novel love stories or romances that have remained hidden on the margins of history? In my view, shows like Fellow Travelers greatly succeed at this task.Despite everything, Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette is a great watch and reinvents the look of love, because telling someone you ardently need to see them while standing in the rain is a lot more romantic than receiving a “you up?” text at 1 a.m.

Off the Board, Opinion

Face it!

by Zoe Lee on

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I saw my mom for the first time this summer. Sitting alone in the busy Toronto Pearson Airport, I waited for my flight to Edmonton to join my family on a trip. I was armed with a couple of pencil crayons, a sharpener, and an Above Ground sketchbook bought from their tiny store next to OCAD University. 

I had been working at a children’s art camp where I spent my breaks outside sketching strangers from my Pinterest boards or friends from university. The kids would clamour around, ask me questions about the people I was drawing, and then enthusiastically confirm that my 15-minute scribbles did, in fact, look like their reference photos. Sometimes, perhaps unnecessarily, they would be brutally honest and tell me that I was way off. 

It’s hardest to draw people you know personally; when you know someone’s face so casually from seeing them every day, you take the minute details of their facial features for granted. However, you also know what makes these people who they are, so when they don’t fully resemble themselves, you can tell. Perhaps you drew a friend’s face perfectly, but it still wouldn’t be right unless you managed to capture their boundless whimsy you could only know from years shared together and a particular glint in their eyes. 

So, when I was stuck waiting in the airport, I felt like I was seeing my mom properly for the first time in this rough sketch of the woman who raised me. It was still imperfect, because the reference photo I used was a couple of years old—her smile lines and the creases in her eyes were softer than what greets me nowadays—but these are things I would only know from loving her.

I find that drawing people you’re close with makes you confront how much you actually don’t know about their faces. My mom’s face is one I’ve seen my entire life, but as I was drawing her, I forgot which side her mole is on. I realized I did not know that the right corner of her mouth tilts down at the very end. I do know, however, how loving her smile is, and how we have the same nose.

My favourite thing to draw has always been faces. I love drawing a portrait, starting with the same proportions and guidelines I learned from an Instagram tutorial when I was 11, then moving on to the eyes, nose, and mouth. Faces of people I know, faces of people online, faces of movie characters, and characters I made up. Landscapes and still-lifes bore me—I wish to understand people.

And, as much as I enjoy drawing portraits, others are even more delighted to have their portraits drawn. They like being seen, being recognized, and being known to others. Not only seeing themselves in a picture, but also knowing that someone took great care to translate their face into a piece of art. 

 The guidelines don’t change: A circle split by a horizontal line to indicate where each facial feature goes, and a vertical one for symmetry. You have to be careful, though, because if you mess up the roundness of their cheeks or the angle of their nose, the face distorts into a new stranger. It’s the same process each time, but I always get to learn something new. What does it look like when a person with monolids furrows their brow, or when an old man laughs? 

When the Sports section of The Tribune writes a “Know Your Athlete” piece, I sign up to do the illustration. Should you search through issues, you will find I have done several portraits for various sections. Some are scientists, rugby players, television characters, or filmmakers. 

It is an intimate and quiet waltz between my subject and me. Who has loved this face, I wonder? What features are they proud of? Which would they change if they could? These are strangers I will never meet, people who will never know someone spent hours staring at their faces, searching for their most recognizable features to ensure that they are represented as accurately as possible. Yet I know how their eyes crease at the corners, I gather how shy they may be to smile in front of a camera, and I see the way they style their makeup for a professional headshot. Maybe I even fall in love with them, my dance partner, while my pen etches lines and shadows. Though don’t tell them, of course.

I still struggle to draw myself. My eyes always turn out too wide or my nose too small, and please don’t get me started on the shape of my jaw. But I’ll keep trying; whether it’s the narcissistic impulse of a 20-year-old, or an effort to know myself as well as these strangers whose portraits fill my sketchbooks’ pages. Each time, I am a little more faithful to my image, slowly improving until the day I will recognize the face as my own. I wish to see myself as I saw my mother on the pages of my sketchbook, with her sweet but stern look etched in turquoise and dark blue pencil crayons

My mom, Penny Lee 

– August 2025

Private

Student activists argue McGill’s proposed identification policy threatens free expression

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McGill proposed an Identification Policy for Access to Properties Owned, Occupied, or Used by the University to the Senate in January 2026. If approved, it would allow authorized personnel to require individuals on campus to present a McGill or government-issued ID “for a legitimate purpose.” These aims include safeguarding the integrity of the university’s academic and administrative activities and protecting McGill property, while also ensuring the safety of members of the McGill community and others on campus.

In a written exchange with The Tribune, McGill’s Media Relations Office (MRO) wrote that there is currently no university-wide policy for governing identification requirements, and that the proposal aims to provide a comprehensive framework only. The MRO asserts the policy is intended to complement existing university policies rather than override them.

“[The policy] does not change or diminish rights and protections already in place, including to lawful protest and those set out in the Charter of Students’ Rights and the Statement of Principles Concerning Freedom of Expression and Peaceful Assembly,” MRO wrote. 

The policy has, however, drawn pushback from student activist groups. On Feb. 23, Divest McGill issued an open letter for students to sign, which will be submitted to the Senate for discussion at its next meeting on March 18. As of 3:00 p.m. on March 5, 474 undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and alumni had added their signatures.

Divest McGill hopes this campaign will mobilize the Senate to push back against the policy. In a written statement to The Tribune, a representative from Divest McGill explained that the policy regulates behaviour through a framework of risk—one that assumes suspicion rather than fairness or justice—which may discourage students from expressing dissent.

“The ambiguity of the policy particularly in areas of training leaves room for violence and racial profiling, almost all treatment of the student seems to be up to the ‘authorized personnel’s’ discretion,” the representative wrote. “There is more than enough room in this policy for authorized personnel to imbue it with their own personal biases and allow for possibly hateful actions to be taken and validated by this general discretion provided.” 

Further, Divest McGill worries these policy developments suggest McGill has increasingly taken steps to limit protest on campus, and the proposed policy appears to be part of this. 

Barry Eidlin, associate professor in the Department of Sociology, said in an interview with The Tribune that this policy would leave a chilling effect on campus. He argued the mandate is counter to the university’s intellectual mission and its commitment to free expression. 

“For the university to have these tools at their disposal, to threaten and intimidate people engaged in protest, is going to hamper or restrict our own scope of action, and so it’s important for us to take a stand, to protect our own rights as well,” Eidlin said. 

Regarding free speech, Eildin further described the proposed identification policy as part of a broader pattern of administrative overreach. 

“We don’t know what other contexts they might feel that it’s appropriate to use this [policy],” Eidlin explained. “Part of the problem with the policy is that it is overly broad […] so it’s going to be applied in arbitrary ways without any sort of clear criteria to determine when it’s used.”


The representative from Divest McGill quoted the open letter, expressing that the policy, if approved, would instill a fear of surveillance in students. 

“Under this policy, McGill community members’ right to learn, work, and research can be interrupted without any evidence of wrongdoing. Not even the police, who must have reasonable suspicion of a crime having been committed to request identification, have this much discretionary power.” 

Campus Spotlight, Student Life

WUSC helps students like Zawadi seize higher opportunities in university

by Gregor McCall on

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Zawadi Ombeni, U1 Science, is just like any other McGillian. She studies Software Engineering, jokes about her bi-weekly mad dash from Adams Auditorium to McIntyre Medical between back-to-back lectures, and wonders if we can truly call our exams “mid-terms” when they don’t end until finals have already begun. 

Unlike most students, however, Zawadi arrived at McGill from a refugee camp in Malawi.

Zawadi is one of thousands of student-refugees that World University Services Canada (WUSC) has sponsored to re-settle in Canada and pursue higher education over the course of its century-long existence. In an interview with The Tribune, Zawadi reflected on what receiving such a sponsorship meant for her. 

“I heard about WUSC when I was still at secondary school, and that it [provides] opportunities to help young refugees to be relocated to Canada and […] [pursue] an opportunity to study at university,” Ombeni said. “I was like, ‘Whoa! This is a very great opportunity for me to become the very first person ever in my family to go to university.’”

For hundreds of young refugees, WUSC provides a path to opportunities that would be otherwise unimaginable for students fleeing war, violence, persecution, and socio-political instability. 

“It’s a beacon of hope for quite a lot of us young refugees, whereby you’re living in a place where opportunities are very limited. [WUSC] helps you to be relocated. It helps you navigate through the finances. It helps you navigate accommodation. Arriving here, at a new place, where you don’t know anybody, you don’t have [for instance] an uncle here that is going to help you, but WUSC and the local committees have always been there trying to help you.”

Despite the resources WUSC provides to students like Zawadi, young refugees still face a range of complex barriers when coming to study in Canada. McGill’s rigorous admissions process, for example, emphasizes high secondary-education grades but often does not fully consider the extreme extenuating circumstances many displaced students face when applying. 

“[W]ith a refugee camp, it’s not like you’re assured every time [that] you’re going to have something to eat. It’s not like you’re assured there’s electricity, or [that] you [will] have other resources. No. It’s not like a person who has gone [to school] here in Canada who has resources, who has got WiFi, who has got […] electricity, because sometimes […] in the camp, you can even do one month without having electricity.”

Besides facing obstacles at the administrative level, Zawadi described the complicated social pressures that student-refugees must navigate upon arriving at university. Often, she said, such students must reconcile the struggle to adapt to a new culture with the need to put down roots, all the while striving to maintain relationships with the family and friends with whom they are now physically distanced. 

“You have the pressure from the families upon arriving here, [who are still] living in the camp. Coming from there, you know the situation. You also have pressure […] to send money back to them, and then, [also in] trying to understand everything: ‘How does this new system work? How am I going to get registered for a new class? What do I do? How do I communicate?’” Ombeni said. “Now, this is another environment. It’s another cultural environment. I need to get adapted to that.”

Nevertheless, Ombeni is confident, eager to work hard, and endlessly grateful to have the opportunity to study at McGill. Thinking ahead to what she’d like to pursue post-graduation, she hopes to help other students from difficult situations receive excellent higher education. 

“I’ve started becoming involved with different humanitarian organizations [around campus], although I’m still studying [….] [At these organizations], you try to advocate for girls in the community, [and] try to speak for somebody who cannot speak for themselves,” she said. “If I have the potential to speak for somebody who cannot speak for themselves, why can’t I do that?”


Students interested in getting involved with WUSC’s humanitarian work can join the organization’s McGill Local Committee, a SSMU club that organizes funds and assists student refugees in their transitions to McGill

Behind the Bench, Sports

Respectability politics in football

by Will Kennedy on

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On Feb. 17, Sport Lisboa e Benfica (S.L. Benfica) hosted Real Madrid CF in Lisbon for the first portion of a two-leg Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League playoff. Real Madrid’s Vinicius “Vini” Jr. opened the scoring in minute 50 of the game before running towards the corner flag to celebrate—an action that Benfica fans and players alike did not take well.

Benfica fans threw objects onto the pitch towards the celebrating Madrid players in addition to making monkey gestures at Vini, and several Benfica players attempted to confront him, including winger Gianluca Prestianni. Prestianni got in Vini’s face and covered his mouth with his shirt before saying something that left Vini incensed. This led to Vini running straight towards the referee, exclaiming that Prestianni had just made a racist remark. Unfortunately, without Prestianni admitting to the remark, there is no evidence that can be used to ban him, and to this day he maintains his innocence. Instead, he reportedly told investigators he used an anti-gay slur—as if that is any more acceptable.

After the game, Benfica Head Coach José Mourinho went on the offensive and implied both that Vini may have lied and that he was at fault for the racist abuse he received.

“He should have […] not messed with 60,000 people in this stadium,” he said in a post-game interview.

Mourinho then went on to make comments suggesting that Benfica as a football club could never be racist because their greatest player ever—Eusébio da Silva Ferreira—was Black.

Eusébio was Portuguese by way of the nation’s colonization of Mozambique. He played in Portugal while the nation functioned as a brutal right-wing dictatorship under Antonio Salazar. Eusébio scored plenty of goals for both club and country and thus was well liked in Portugal and is looked upon favourably. However, he still dealt with racism both at an individual and systemic level. Eusébio never spoke openly about racism during his playing days, as Vini has often spoken to the press in Spain about the racism he faces in opposing stadiums. One must imagine that had he been outspoken as Vini has been, he would have most certainly been targeted even further by racists in a similar manner to Vini. 

Mourinho’s comments highlight a certain colonial logic: Conform or be at fault for the racism you are faced with. It is the same logic we often hear when folks try to explain why they do not like immigrants. Oftentimes it is grievances over immigrants not speaking the same language, or complaints that immigrant communities still maintain their own culture. The concept is known as respectability politics: If you assimilate to and imitate the dominant group, then you earn your dignity. In Vini’s situation, this logic places the blame on him for celebrating rather than on Prestianni or the numerous fans in the stands making racist gestures. 

In a similar vein, Manchester United and INEOS Chemical Group Owner James Ratcliffe went after immigrants in an interview with Sky News, suggesting that they are invading the United Kingdom and blaming them for societal problems the nation faces. There is a certain irony to a British man saying his nation is being colonized and the colonization is causing larger societal issues when three of the UK’s largest immigrant groups in recent years are folks from India, Pakistan, and Nigeria—all of which are former British colonies. 

Ratcliffe’s reasoning for his anti-immigrant stance both in his initial statements and in his so-called ‘apology’—that felt more like an explanation—is that he feels immigrants are a burden on the UK economy despite the amount of money they generate for his various businesses. Ratcliffe has since explained that the ideal immigrant is one who generates economic growth. 

Despite the differing context, the backwards idea both Ratcliffe and Mourinho push remains the same: Basic dignity for immigrants and people of colour is not a given and it must be earned by following the ideals of those in charge. This implication from two of the sport’s most influential figures is extremely disheartening and a reminder of how much progress is needed. Not only should governing bodies like UEFA take action against perpetrators like Prestianni, but there ought to be punishment for anyone who insinuates that racism can be justified because of the victim’s behaviour. 

Features

American gladiators

by Ethan Kahn on

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//Warning: This piece mentions self-inflicted harm.//

Dave Duerson was a hard-hitting safety at the core of two Super Bowl-winning defences, taking home titles with the 1985 Chicago Bears and the 1990 New York Giants, two of the greatest defensive units in the National Football League’s (NFL) history. The Associated Press voted him Second Team All-Pro for his stellar 1986 campaign, during which he set the record for sacks by a defensive back in a season with seven—a record that stood for nearly two decades. Duerson earned four Pro Bowl selections and gained great success off the field; voters named him Walter Payton Man of the Year in 1987. Following his career, Duerson appeared to be enjoying a fruitful retirement. 

So, why did authorities find Duerson dead in his Florida home on Feb. 17, 2011, with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest?

Those in his inner circle noticed significant changes during the last decade of his life. He was increasingly erratic and violent, and he suffered from bouts of depression and intense mood swings. His memory faded and he had trouble putting together words to form sentences. To his wife, Alicia, he had become a completely different person. Duerson’s final message, sent in a text to his family members, was simple.

//“Please, see that my brain is given to the N.F.L.’s brain bank.”//

Upon autopsy, Duerson was found to have been suffering from a neurodegenerative disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The disease most commonly affects athletes involved in contact sports who have sustained multiple concussions without proper recovery time between injuries. At the time of his death, Duerson was one of about 15 retired NFL players posthumously confirmed to have the condition. This number has now increased to at least 345, according to data collected by Boston University’s (BU) CTE Center, the institution where Duerson requested his brain be donated for research. The 345 confirmed cases came from a study of 376 former players, or 91.7 per cent of the sample. While this is a clear example of selection bias, the numbers are still shocking.

According to the Mayo Clinic, a concussion is “a mild traumatic brain injury that affects brain function [….] [Effects] can include headaches and trouble with concentration, memory, balance, mood and sleep.” These symptoms can present significant challenges to the mental health of those who sustain the injury. Concussions are not only found in the highest levels of sport—in fact, it is estimated that between nine and 12 per cent of all injuries sustained in high school athletics are concussion-related. For an age group that is already at higher risk for mental health problems, concussions introduce unpredictable consequences, making brain injuries a youth health issue, not just a professional sports problem.  

In an interview with //The Tribune//, Dr. Gordon Bloom, professor of Sports Psychology at McGill University, explained that the effects of concussions can be incredibly detrimental to the mental health of even casual athletes, especially if not properly diagnosed or treated.

“Unlike other injuries that are more visible, a concussion is an invisible injury [….] People look at someone [with a concussion] and think that they’re completely healthy when they could be going through so much trauma, turmoil, and stress,” Bloom said. “[Symptoms] could last weeks, days, months, years, and that can have a harmful effect on someone’s mental health because it affects your day-to-day activities. You can’t go to school, sometimes you can’t drive […] or [go] somewhere where there’s loud music or bright lights.”

Clearly, CTE’s long-term risks extend beyond the upper echelons of professional sport, affecting amateur and youth levels as well. BU examined the brains of over 150 contact sport participants who had passed away before the age of 30 and found that over 40 per cent of them had CTE, including the first-ever confirmed case of CTE in a woman, a 28-year-old collegiate soccer player. 

According to the lab, “more than 70 per cent of them had apathy, and a similar number were depressed, while more than half had difficulty controlling their behavior; many also had issues with substance use.” Dr. Annie McKee, Director of the BU CTE Center, contends that “those symptoms might be a result of the head injury itself […] breaching the blood-brain barrier.”

This creates a troubling dynamic: An athlete gets concussed, can’t engage with life as they once did, slips into depression, and then re-enters their sport too early and sustains another concussion. If the concussion itself can cause symptoms of depression, not just solely through social isolation, a vicious cycle begins to emerge. 

CTE, as it is currently understood, is a rare phenomenon, but there are risks from concussions themselves that are much more common and are still cause for concern. If not dealt with properly, concussions can create significant interruptions to the most formative years of most youths’ lives. Bloom expanded on the severity of this issue.

“What some of the evidence shows is that if you come back too early, when you’re not fully healed, and you sustain another traumatic brain injury, that you’re doing damage to your brain long term, and if that happens repeatedly, you’re playing with fire,” Bloom said.

For younger athletes, missing out on the socialization they gain in schools can have a massive impact on their social development, not to mention the possible effects concussions have on growing brains, as the human brain does not fully develop until the age of 25. 

In an interview with //The Tribune//, Dr. Isabelle Gagnon, professor and Associate Dean of the McGill School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, who heads a research program on pediatric concussions at the Montreal Children’s Hospital, outlined key concerns when a young person or child sustains a concussion.

“Social life [for kids] is very different [compared to adults], because the social environment is related to school [….] So if you’re taken out of there or have trouble reintegrating, you’re also excluded socially from your circle. That creates extra anxiety, extra problems and symptoms,” Gagnon explained. “We have to protect these young kids, because […] they injure the brain, but the brain is still very, very actively changing, so it’s more difficult to judge the impact of the injury on a brain that’s so unstable.” 

Recovery from a concussion can be a long and arduous process because the timeline is not necessarily linear or the same for every person. Gagnon says that this is a key factor in why concussions are so risky when someone returns to action before their body is ready.

“It’s less about the seriousness of the injury itself, in the sense of the hit, or whether [someone] lost consciousness or not, […] it’s mostly about the rate of recovery that we worry about [….] We worry a lot about […] a repeated concussion in someone who would have had one before that took three, four, five months to recover [….] Then we worry more about the next one, what that one is going to do,” Gagnon explained.

Many problems arising in concussion diagnosis and recovery stem from the difficulty of diagnosing concussions, especially in youth. It’s difficult to determine whether academic struggles are due to a concussion suffered earlier in the year or just a student underperforming. There are no concussion spotters in high school sports like there are at the professional or collegiate level, and up to 30 per cent of high school athletes do not have access to an athletic trainer experienced in identifying concussion injuries. 

The onus is on adolescent athletes to honestly report how they are feeling and if their condition has improved, or if they think they may have sustained a concussion in the first place. For many years, this was a difficult task, as research into concussions was limited, and people did not understand the full scope of how the injury could affect mental and physical health. However, in the past decade, concussion education has improved drastically.

“I think the message now, through the research […] and really paying attention to this, is that people now are being more honest,” Bloom said. “They realize [they] don’t want to have long-term brain damage, so [they’re] going to be more honest and forthcoming with my symptoms than they used to be.”

The question that parents of athletes across the country now have to face is: //Is all of this worth it? Should my kid play tackle football as a ten-year-old and risk altering their adult life forever?// 

The answer to this question, of course, is not a simple yes or no. 

Youth sports promote teamwork, enhance social opportunities, and provide an outlet for kids to stay healthy by doing physical activity. According to the U.S. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, participation in youth sports can lead to “lower rates of anxiety and depression, lower amounts of stress, […] [and] reduced risk of suicide.” Many parents, especially those who had positive experiences with sports themselves, would certainly be inclined to allow their children to participate despite the existing risks.  

Eloa Latendresse-Regimbald, the starting quarterback at McGill who grew up playing football in the Greater Montreal area, believes that there is inherent risk in playing football, but recent attitudes have improved concussion management and recovery.

“Nowadays, when you start [playing] really young, there’s not a lot of contact [….] Even though it’s a beautiful sport, I think you need to be aware of the consequences that [it] comes with,” Latendresse-Regimbald said. 

He ended with a poignant message to all athletes, reminding them that there’s more to life than sport.

“Every athlete is going to have a life after football, and if the few years you play football affects your life [after] […] it’s an issue.”

The larger problem is that contact sports like football and hockey are firmly enshrined in North American culture. It’s impossible to turn on a television during the fall and not see a football game on. Football tells the tale of America: Underdog stories, intense comebacks, competition. It reflects all the good we want to see in the country, and has all the stories to keep our eyes glued to the screen. And once winter arrives, sports fans in both the U.S. and Canada can be found cheering on their favourite hockey teams on the ice, or driving their kids to an early-morning practice. It then creates a daunting task of changing sports that are so closely tied to people’s national identity.

But beneath the cheers and celebrations lies an unsavoury truth: Athletes are sacrificing their quality of life 30 years in the future for immediate gratification. 

It’s the same choice parents must make when they consider allowing their kids to play sports in the first place. Almost three million children aged six to 14 play organized tackle football. That’s three million brains slamming together at the line of scrimmage, three million heads bouncing off the turf after a contested catch—to what end?  The macho, tough-guy attitudes of the past may be fading away, and concussion education may be standard practice for the athletes of today, but football is rooted in violence. Players are praised for brain-jarring hits, and physicality is emphasized above all. No matter how many advancements are made, athletes are still making the conscious decision to risk completely altering their lives for what is, at the end of the day, a game.

The NFL generated over $23 billion USD in revenue during their 2024 fiscal year. It’s not competing with the NBA, MLB, or NHL; it’s competing with Google, Microsoft, and Apple. As the NFL’s revenue grows, so too does the popularity of football worldwide. It will continue to invest in concussion education and research, develop new helmets, and add new rules in an attempt to improve player safety. But to ensure that no player ever meets the same fate as Duerson, there needs to be serious reconsideration about the longevity of the sport if it continues on this course.

Flag football has increased in popularity—over 600,000 kids are playing for teams in the NFL FLAG program in the United States—and concussion education is the best it’s ever been. But football’s connection to American identity, its entrenchment in the hearts and minds of people across races, religions, and backgrounds, makes it nearly impossible to see any major changes coming to the sport. 

Despite the comparatively paltry popularity of football in Canada, the data show that the perceived absence of macho culture does not mean that Canadians aren’t also at risk of brain injury. On average, 200,000 Canadian athletes suffer a concussion every year. 

Canada’s advancements in concussion education can be owed to Rowan’s Law, a legislation that requires sport organizations to educate their athletes on concussions and have proper concussion management protocols. This law was created in honour of Rowan Stringer, who passed away at just 17 following repeated, mismanaged concussions suffered while playing rugby. This is not just an American issue; it affects athletes of all ages, in all sports, in all places.

Without proper treatment, people who suffer from concussions may suffer from the same hurdles that have afflicted other athletes for years: headaches, lethargy, and depression. The reliance on self-reporting of concussions will continue to lead to more people coming back into action before they’ve fully recovered, risking more serious consequences like CTE. The average NFL career is just over three years, largely on account of turnover due to injuries like concussions. While NFL executives continue to rake in the cash, its players continue to go to war on the gridiron every Sunday, risking their bodies while fans cheer on the carnage. It is a cycle that will continue to compound until something changes. These changes must take place at the grassroots level: reducing head-to-head contact in youth sports. 

Dave Duerson’s final message wasn’t just so his family could get closure; it was to ensure any athlete going through the same issues could get the help they need, and that future athletes could be protected from repeated head injuries and their devastating effects on mental health. Sporting organizations across the world must honour his memory by protecting their athletes and making sure that players don’t sacrifice their quality of life for the sports that they love.

Arts & Entertainment, Culture, Private

A deep dive into the Montreal Steppers and the art of stepping

by Malika Logossou on

More in Arts & Entertainment:

Body-based art forms have long served as forms of resistance in Black communities, and stepping is one of its most powerful expressions. It is a Black diasporic art form that uses clapping, stomping, body slapping, and vocalization to create rhythm and beats through movement.

The Montreal Steppers, a nonprofit organization founded in 2019, carry on this legacy by teaching stepping across Montreal and beyond. Kayin Queeley, founder and director, explained his motivation for creating the organization in an interview with The Tribune. 

“When I came to Montreal, I was surprised at how little […] awareness [there was] about stepping,” Queeley said.  “So what I thought of doing is creating different workshops that would marry learning step with learning […] elements of Black history, like how stepping started, what it was about, why it was important.”

Although many may be tempted to describe stepping as a dance, Queeley clarified that it is a distinct art form.

“Stepping is an art form because of its history, because of its lineages, because of its movement, because of its expansion, and […] because of those elements that bring together the new music, the sharing of sounds, the synchronization, […] [and] the polyrhythmic beats,” he said.

By shifting dialogues about Black culture and history, creating original productions, and collaborating with various communities, the organization does more than just teach step.

“We worked with close to 25,000 students across the province since we started. We’ve written original productions that centre Black life after slavery, and we do a lot of community collaborations,” Queely said. “We’re [also] working with seniors and adults and people who might have limited access and mobility, but to give them the sense that the body still has power.”

The Montreal Steppers offer introductory and advanced workshops, as well as courses in several schools, such as the National Theatre School of Canada. The group also shares stepping with college and university students through workshops and performances; they have staged productions all over Canada and have even gone on an exchange to South Africa. 

“We don’t compromise our workshops by just focusing on teaching step [….] We focus on what is critical to the work we do, [which] is making sure that people at least leave with the knowledge being presented to them,” Queeley explained. 

During performances, audiences are invited to try stepping movements. This collectivity of movement, sound, action, and momentum gives the art its meaning. 

“When we’re working together, moving at the same [time] in the same direction, there’s impact, and it gives nod and recognition to the art form of people mobilizing together to make a difference, because [Black people] came together to create this music to resist and to push back against narratives and beliefs that people held,” Queeley said.

The Montreal Steppers also honour Black history by honouring the cultural roots of stepping in each space they enter.

“We thank the ancestors in every space to say ‘thank you for creating this art form out of resistance that we get to share as performance, that we get to share as teaching, that we get to share as community,’” he shared. 

Queeley expressed that the organization also acknowledges the land and people present at each event.

“Once we’re in a space, we give acknowledgement to the land, recognition to the Indigenous Peoples […] the land, the music with it and the ground, and then the final acknowledgement is to the people.”

Beyond enjoyment, the Montreal Steppers hope that their workshops and performances help audiences learn or relearn new elements of Black history.

“It’s not just performance. It’s a ritual, it’s a practice, and that’s why we talk about it as ancestral, because it comes with that level of weight and influence and impact,” Queeley said. “It’s important that we celebrate it, and we don’t shy away from what is ours.”

Anyone interested in joining a stepping class or learning more about this art can reach out to the Montreal Steppers through their website and Instagram.

McGill, News, Private

McGill community discusses anti-unionization efforts amidst $45 million CAD budget slash

by Rebecca Votier on

More in McGill:

Following the Quebec government’s decision to maintain a tuition hike for out-of-province students, alongside McGill’s faculty and staff unionization efforts, the university is implementing a $45 million CAD budget cut for the 2025-2026 fiscal year (FY2025-26). This measure coincides with the administration’s intensified anti-union stance: McGill has spent over $1 million CAD in the past five years alone fighting unions. 

Despite having its own in-house legal counsel, McGill has retained an external legal counsel for negotiations with faculty unions. Documents obtained by The Rover indicate that Borden Ladner Gervais (BLG), the external law firm McGill employs in discussions with unions, costs the university approximately $400,000 CAD annually.

In an interview with The Tribune, Barry Eidlin, associate professor in the Department of Sociology and second vice-president (VP) of the Association of McGill Professors of the Faculty of Arts (AMPFA), explained that McGill’s retention of BLG sends a strong signal to the faculty unions at the bargaining table.  

“This [legal] counsel suggests that they are taking a very hard-nosed approach,” Eidlin said. “The reason that they’re going to outside counsel is precisely because they want the special expertise in avoidance. Or at least, if not avoidance, mitigation.”  

McGill’s decision to hire BLG, who has previously been involved in other major labour disputes, has prompted criticism from some faculty representatives, including Jonathan Nehme, president of the Association of McGill University Support Employees (AMUSE). 

“That decision is well-reflective of the way McGill acts as an employer,” Nehme explained in an interview with The Tribune. “Their representatives are very hostile to unionization efforts and actively act against union members being made aware of the fact that their union exists. McGill hiring professional mercenary union busters fits with that.”  

In a written statement to The Tribune, McGill’s Media Relations Office (MRO) maintained that the university is open to negotiation. 

“The legal fees incurred by McGill for labour relation matters are related to various files,” the MRO wrote. “McGill welcomes discussions with all its association and union partners and appreciates the time they dedicate to negotiating. We firmly believe that the best agreements are reached at the bargaining table.” 

Retaining external legal counsel during a period of budgetary reductions has drawn scrutiny from some faculty representatives, who have questioned whether academic cuts are occurring alongside sustained legal expenditures. The McGill Association of University Teachers (MAUT) President Steve Jordan and President-Elect Reghan James Hill have filed an access to information and privacy (ATIP) request regarding the university’s expenditures.  

“In 2026, I would encourage the Vice-President (Administration and Finance) to disclose the amounts McGill University has paid to other law firms in connection with this matter,” wrote Jordan and James Hill in a joint statement to The Tribune. “The lack of transparency also raises legitimate questions about how much the university might spend each year on litigation aimed at preventing or impeding reasonable [ATIP] requests.”

Eidlin argued that these developments reflect what he describes as a broader corporatization of the university.  

“With the change and structure of the university toward this more corporate model, it became increasingly clear that you had this administrative layer that had developed into a separate form, separate from the faculty and the rest of the university,” said Eidlin.

Eidlin also highlighted that administrative roles have become professionalized career tracks rather than temporary service roles undertaken by faculty, likening the process to “the academic version of climbing the corporate ladder.” 

Nehme emphasized some of the university’s choices that push this corporate image.

“The way [the university has been] restructuring [its] budget, the way they treat labour disputes et cetera, to even the fact that they renamed the Principal to President is extremely characteristic of McGill choosing to move forward with running itself as a for-profit corporation instead of a public academic institution,” Nehme said.

In the Department of Sociology, Eidlin mentioned that the number of faculty members has declined by approximately 40 per cent over the past decade. Graduate student representatives describe similar pressures. Dallas Jokic, president of the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM), said that 21 per cent of teaching assistant (TA) positions in the Department of English were cut between Fall 2024 and Fall 2025. Eidlin suggested that the upper administration has split off from the rest of the university. 

“It is like this bifurcation where the segment of the university is not experiencing austerity,” he said.  

Jokic also pointed out that cuts to TA hours degrade the quality of education at McGill. 

“Cuts tend to make professors turn away from qualitative learning and assessments and towards those which are easier to grade,” Jokic said. “That means less personalized feedback on essays and more multiple-choice tests.”  

Faculty representatives also pointed to a widening pay gap between academic staff and senior administration. A report by the Association of McGill Professors of Science (AMPS) found that expenditures on director and manager salaries from operating funds increased by 118 per cent over the past decade, adjusted for inflation. Contrastingly, the salary mass for full-time academic staff rose by six per cent. 

“Professors’ salaries are not keeping pace with inflation, even when professors’ performance evaluations are formally rated as exceptional,” noted Jordan and James Hill. “These concerns have led MAUT, for the first time in its history, to formally reject the administration’s proposed (2026) salary policy.”

Eidlin and Jokic both emphasized that the growing administrative share of operating funds signals a shift from collegial governance toward more centralized, managerial modes. In a written statement to The Tribune, MAUT revealed that it is currently conducting a survey which suggests that concerns about centralization are widespread among academic staff.

“A recurring theme among academic staff was concern about what our members describe as increasing centralization or decision-making and, in some cases, shifts toward managerial or corporate modes of governance.”

These concerns have coincided with unionization efforts across McGill’s faculties. The Association of McGill Professors of Law (AMPL) received union certification in late 2022. AMPFA and the Association of McGill Professors of Education (AMPE) followed. In 2024, AMPL voted to strike in August, going into the start of the fall semester. Days before the vote, McGill Provost Christopher Manfredi and VP Administration & Finance Fabrice Labeau sent emails to AMPL members addressing the potential strike. Later that year, the Tribunal administratif du travail found that McGill had violated the Quebec Labour Code by interfering in the unionization process. Global News reported that the university defended its actions by insisting that it had followed all procedures. 

The disparity between fiscal restraint and administrative growth has intensified scrutiny over how authority and resources are distributed within the university. For representatives of faculty unions, unionization is a mechanism to formalize bargaining power. For the administration, it remains part of routine labour relations within a complex financial environment. Eidlin highlighted this as the most complex part of labour matters. 

“One of the things that I’ve spent a lot of my time as a labour researcher, getting my head around, is the degree to which employers attach an extremely high value to retaining control of the workplace,” Eidlin concluded. “It is a very high price that they are willing to pay. I think that’s also part of the dynamic that we’re seeing here, is what premium management places on retaining control of the workplace.”

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