It’s official: October is here and fall is in full swing. If you couldn’t tell from the leaves changing or all the sweaters around campus, that crisp autumn wind is a telltale sign. Somehow we’re already addicted to pumpkin spice and apple everything, and it’s only a little while before the Halloween decorations get put up. While we all start layering up and leaving our windows open at night for that fresh cool air, there’s a strong desire to avoid homework. So put on a classic fall favourite and curl up under some blankets next to someone whose ears pop out from under the blanket and gives you a big slobbery kiss on the cheek. Yep, welcome to missing-your-pet-101!
As a relatively diverse and international university, McGill attracts students from all over the world, who make the exciting journey to Montreal through planes, trains, and long automobile rides—trips that are hard for our furry friends. The reality is that most pets get left at home; even if they could journey to Montreal, uni-student life and city living space are often not conducive to pet ownership. This means we’re left missing our best friends, texting in our family group chats for pet pictures, and then getting upset when they’re too cute.
For many students, one of the greatest losses of leaving their pets at home is the lack of a constant stress reliever. How can you relieve stress if you do not have that big dog hug, those purrs from that tabby, or the hiss of your (friendly) serpent on call?
Animals can be the best help when you’re overwhelmed as they offer a loving, non-judgemental companionship—something that is so often sorely lacking at university where everyone’s stress levels run high. Whether you’re missing your cat, dog, bunny, or lizard, don’t worry: Here are The Tribune’stips for staving away the pet blues.
Hosted every Monday and Thursday from 1-2:30 p.m. in the Brown Building, these therapy sessions are the perfect time to get some puppy love and de-stress while having snacks and conversations in a relaxing setting with other attendees.
2. Make friends with a neighbour who is a pet owner
Although having a pet as a student is hard, many other city residents have pets, which can work in your favour. Make friends with your neighbours and offer to pet sit when they’re away. Maybe you can make some cash while also satisfying the need for a little cat cuddle.
3. Say hi to pets on the street
Sometimes all a day needs is a little hello from a dog or cat. Politely ask someone who’s walking their pet if you can give them a pat (try to hold yourself back from a whole-body hug—I know it’s hard). A little hello from a furry friend always leaves me smiling!
4. Volunteer at an animal shelter
If these activities aren’t enough for you, and you have some spare time in your schedule, consider volunteering at a nearby shelter such as the Montreal SPCA or Friends of Humane Society International where you’ll get to work with animals one-on-one for multiple hours. Helping an animal find a new home is always rewarding, but the hardest part will be not taking one home with you!
Although you can never stop missing your pets, I hope these tips will help you decompress a little and enjoy the fall. As schoolwork and other stresses accumulate, make sure to take the time to relax and maybe make some new furry friends!
Content Warning: Descriptions of Israel-Palestine conflict, mentions of death, violence and mourning
Montreal’s Israeli and Palestinian communities organized events and rallies during the week of Oct. 8 in reaction to the escalating conflict in Israel and Gaza. The Tribune covered events across the McGill campus and city.
The Hamas attack on Oct. 7 has killed around 1,200 Israelis according to a spokesperson for Israel’s foreign ministry. As of Monday, Oct. 16, Israel’s airstrikes in response have killed at least 2,700 Palestinians and injured 9,700, according to Palestinian health officials.
MCGILL CAMPUS, OCT. 8 — Fabrice Labeau, Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning), and Angela Campbell, Associate Provost (Equity and Academic Policies), sent a message to McGill University students and staff acknowledging the rising conflict, expressing condolences, and urging the community to act safely.
CHANGE.ORG, OCT. 8 — A petition was started under the name “McGill Peace” pressing for the removal and discipline of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights McGill (SPHR), a Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) club, over its “hateful speech.” The petition came in response to a since-deleted post from SPHR McGill, which read: “Last night, the resistance in Gaza led a heroic attack against the occupation and has taken over 30 hostages.” As of Monday, Oct. 16, the petition had received over 2,700 signatures.
MCGILL CAMPUS, OCT. 10 — Christopher Manfredi, Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic), condemned SPHR McGill’s social media posts.
“I have directed the Deputy Provost to inform the SSMU that SPHR’s use of the University’s name is non-compliant with the terms of the [Memorandum of Agreement] and, furthermore, to revoke permission for this club to use the McGill name,” the Provost wrote.
The next day, SPHR McGill responded with a statement alongside other local pro-Palestine groups rejecting Manfredi’s statement and affirming their support for the Palestinian people.
“We reject the claims by the McGill administration that SPHR McGill’s social media posts ‘celebrate recent acts of terror and violence,’” the Facebook post said. “We are not celebrating violence, we are looking at the prospect of liberation.”
In response to a question about Manfredi’s message, SPHR McGill told The Tribune that “this is not the first time our members and allies have been doxxed and threatened for speaking out.”
“SPHR is appalled by Manfredi’s direct targeting of a McGill student group whose values and demands have remained consistent and are supported by our broader university community,” the group wrote. “SPHR McGill is committed to providing a space for students of all backgrounds to meet and organize in support of Palestine. As long as Israel continues to indiscriminately bomb, killing thousands, we won’t be silenced and we will continue to educate our peers, organize, and reiterate our strong support for Palestinian liberation.”
DORCHESTER SQUARE, OCT. 10 — Some attendees cried and others stood stern as around 200 grieving adults and children gathered at Hillel Montreal’s 8 p.m. candle service.
The smell of burning wicks disseminated through the crowd as folks waited to place pocket-sized candles behind the Sir Wilfrid Laurier monument to mourn their Israeli loved ones from afar.
Police remained on the corners while a few men waving an Israeli flag watched the perimeters.
On the edge of the crowd was a middle-aged mother who does not normally come to downtown Montreal.
“I have a brother in Jerusalem,” she said, leaning backward. “I’m worried for him, […] and for everyone.”
She watched on as the swaying crowd sang hymns and prayers, clapped, waved their phone flashlights in sync, and listened to a handful of speakers voicing community unity.
One of the speakers included a rabbi, who passionately spoke about 19th- and 20th-century Jewish oppression, citing a number of examples including the Holocaust.
As the service came to a head, many banded together, hugging their friends, community members, and family.
(The Tribune)
MCGILL Y-INTERSECTION, OCT. 12 —A crowd slowly amassed around Hillel Montreal organizers at the corner of Lower Field on Thursday evening, many bearing the Israeli flag. By 7 p.m., the crowd had grown to over 100 people.
The Tribune spoke to Avishai Infeld, BA’ 23 and Advocacy Coordinator at Hillel Montreal, before the event.
“The way the Jewish community works […], because it’s so tight-knit, and it’s pretty small, […] everyone has family, they have friends in Israel,” Infeld said. “Many people know people who have unfortunately been lost, who are missing, who are taken captive. The most important thing right now, what people are really feeling, is just the need for community and to be together.”
(The Tribune)
As organizers distributed and lit candles, the event began with the recognition of some of the people present, including Deputy Provost Labeau. The rabbi then recited a series of prayers, some in Hebrew and some in English, for the still-growing crowd to repeat.
Throughout the vigil, speakers denounced Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and grieved those who had died or are missing. Many called for peace and heightened compassion in times of crisis. One speaker led a prayer for members of the Israel Defense Forces. Another speaker read a letter to his family in Israel. As the event wrapped up, the tearful crowd sang “Oseh Shalom”—a call for peace.
(The Tribune)
Kadi Diallo, a first-year law student at McGill, was one of the many attendees who had lost a friend or family member in the conflict.
“I came because a close friend of mine was killed at the rave,” Diallo said after the vigil. “He was doing security when Hamas attacked, and I just wanted to show solidarity with the Jewish people, but specifically try to mourn what happened.”
David Ivanchikov, a Concordia student, echoed the sentiment about the importance of community and spoke about the “polarization and fear” that abounds.
“It’s really easy to get sucked into these cycles,” Ivanchikov said. “But, at the end of the day, we’re only feeding into the negative cycles if we allow ourselves to get sucked into that.”
MCGILL RODDICK GATES, OCT. 13 — On Friday morning, the phrases “YOU ARE WITNESSING GENOCIDE AGAINST PALESTINE” and “MCGILL IS OKAY WITH GENOCIDE” were written on the pillars of the Roddick Gates. The writing was removed by the afternoon.
(The Tribune)
NORMAN BETHUNE SQUARE, Oct. 13 — The Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) called a press conference under the marble statue of the square’s namesake at 4 p.m. on Friday, where an audience of ten or so journalists huddled in a tight circle.
PYM representative Sarah Shamy, BA ‘21, demanded that the Canadian government condemn the hate crimes towards Arab and Muslim communities, citing a specific incident of a Montreal woman verbally assaulting a woman with a Palestinian flag on her car. Shamy added that more preventative measures need to be put in place and an official condemnation of hate crimes toward the Arab and Muslim communities is necessary.
“As we speak, Israel has cut off food, water aid, electricity and fuel from the Gaza Strip [….] Canada is green-lighting this genocidal campaign by providing Israel with diplomatic cover and material support,” Shamy said. “Canada has made it clear to its citizens that they do not care about the Arab and Muslim communities despite having a sizable population of both.”
Shamy also spoke in support of SPHR McGill and criticized the McGill administration’s response to the organization after the conference in an interview with The Tribune.
“The work that the [SPHR] students are doing there is really important,” Shamy said. “McGill has done things like threatening to defund the Student Union [SSMU] before [like] in 2021 when the [Palestine] Solidarity Policy passed with 71 per cent[of the vote].”
(The Tribune)
Criminal litigation attorney John Philpot also spoke at the press conference, echoing Shamy’s criticisms of the Canadian government for not providing greater support to Palestinians in Gaza.
“When people are fighting for their freedom, after years of being slaughtered, massacred, losing their children––it is not tidy,” Philpot said. “It’s not a calm process. It’s a revolution.”
A number of interruptions occurred throughout the conference, with media and non-media attendees speaking out of turn and expressing their opposition to Shamy and Philpot’s words.
As the conference concluded, media members dispersed and supporters gathered in the square to prepare for the subsequent protest, organized by the PYM, SPHR McGill, and SPHR Concordia, at the Guy-Concordia Metro.
GUY-CONCORDIA METRO, OCT. 13 — The bellowing “So-so-so, solidarité, avec-avec, avec la Palestine” chants from pro-Palestine protesters echoed across downtown Montreal.
Attendees assembled around a black-painted truck, strapped with some half-a-dozen concert-sized speakers and parked outside the Tim Hortons, at the All Out for Gaza protest.
Palestinian flags waved and a sea of signs with slogans like “Resistance until liberation!” and “End the siege on Gaza now!” moved up and down as a group of organizers, wearing keffiyehs, circled around the black truck, initiated the chants, and directed the crowd.
Dozens of people quickly turned to hundreds as the clock hit 5:30 p.m., with supporters overflowing off the sidewalks onto the Concordia-metro junction. By 6 p.m., the hundreds had turned to thousands.
“What do we want?” one of the speakers cried out. “Justice!” roared the crowd. Followed immediately by, “When do we want it?” “Now!”
“I’m here to show support for the people of Palestine,” a young woman who wished to stay unnamed told The Tribune. “In the upcoming days, we can expect a lot of tragedy,” she said.
(The Tribune)
As the truck maneuvered from outside the Tim Hortons to down in-between Rue Guy and Rue de Maisonneuve, the speakers reminded the crowd to remain peaceful and to stay behind the truck, which would slowly lead them. The crowd followed suit.
Yellow-vested organizers dotted the sidewalks and the perimeter, ushering the crowd together. Bike-mounted police followed from behind—keeping some 50 metres back for the majority of the march.
“What I think is that there is too much injustice. It’s unfair. It’s unfair,” a woman, who did not want to be named, told The Tribune.
The protest began to pick up pace as it moved along from downtown to Atwater—and toward the Consulate General of Israel in Westmount.
Thousands moved through the streets as passersby and residents in apartment blocks watched on.
Approaching the towering glass Israeli consulate on the corner of Av. Wood and De Maisonneuve, the crowd ushered around to the main steps of the building where they faced a line of riot police wearing helmets and armour guarding it.
(The Tribune)
And so the chanting continued until the protest wrapped up at 8:30 p.m. Flares and sparks turned heads as a drone with flashing Palestinian colours flew overhead. One of the men bearing the megaphone touched on the Palestinian lives lost and calmly and assertively implored everyone to stand together—now and in the weeks to come.
The Student Wellness Hub offers counselling services for students located in Montreal.
Keep.MeSafe is a service accessible 24/7 whenever you need to speak (or text) with a mental health professional for support. You can access Keep.MeSafe from anywhere in the world.
This piece was updated at 11 p.m. on Nov. 13 to fix a capitalization error and to revise the estimated Israeli death toll. On Nov. 10, Israel lowered its estimated death toll following the Oct. 7 attack from 1,400 people to 1,200.
On Sep. 28, 2023, students, faculty, and sponsors gathered at the McGill Engine Centre—a Faculty of Engineering hub dedicated to supporting McGill’s technological innovators and entrepreneurs.
The TechAccel Showcase spotlighted a total of 11 student teams from both the Winter and Summer 2023 cohorts. As one of McGill Engine’s key experiential learning programs, TechAccel encourages and supports student startups, providing one-on-one business mentorship, project grants, community events, and more.
During her opening remarks, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Viviane Yargeau, reflected on the program’s successes.
“Since the start of the TechAccel program, […] over $224,000 in funding has been distributed by the Faculty of Engineering Innovation Fund to support students in early stage ventures, and over 200 students have been trained and 40 per cent [of the benefitted students] are from faculties other than the Faculty of Engineering,” Yargeau said. “And that’s something that I’m very proud of because I strongly believe in multidisciplinary approaches to the work that we do.”
Ranging from software development consultancy to sustainable, iron-based energy storage solutions, the pitches at the TechAccel Showcase exemplified the interdisciplinary ventures that McGill students spearhead.
One of the many groundbreaking technological designs came from Fulcra—a startup focused on orthotic devices to mitigate chronic lower back pain, the leading musculoskeletal issue worldwide.
“In the market, there is currently nothing available for chronic lower back pain. All of these cases and studies have proven that they develop patient dependencies and increase injury occurrences when you remove [back braces]. Now, heavy lifting, strenuous activities, and labour-intensive jobs are all causes of back pain, and all the current solutions are not appropriate for these situations,” Maria Calderbank, U4 Mechanical Engineering and one of the four co-founders, said during Fulcra’s pitch.
Fulcra, in response, designed a unique orthotic device that boasts the advantages of both a corset and an exoskeleton, drawing upon abdominal pressure to stabilize the spine and consequently reduce lower back pain without the restrictiveness or bulk. By applying this pressure during strenuous movements only, like heavy lifting, their device is more sustainable through wear and tear, making it suitable for chronic cases.
The innovations at the TechAccel showcase did not stop at Fulcra’s award-winning orthotic device. Reeva Tech Solutions, a startup in IT system custom software development, also pitched its first product, Sterilization DB.
“The problem that Sterilization DB is trying to solve is the limited amount of medical device tracking that is happening in medical clinics of Quebec. This is a problem because the government of Quebec is following suit with the governments of Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia to develop new laws regarding the mandate of sterilization tracking,” Reeva’s founder and CEO Roko Baljak, U2 Science, said during his pitch.
Baljak noted that medical device tracking is currently tedious, if not outdated. To track equipment, clinics label it with printed QR codes—undergoing a slow, costly process as they are often required to track over 200 devices per day.
“Sterilization DB is a software and hardware kit that allows medical professionals to track sterilization and usage of medical equipment quickly and simply. We feature a very simple user interface (UI) and all the data that we collect are stored on the premises at the clinic, which makes it very secure,” Baljak said.
Another significant advantage of this product lies in its compatibility with existing patient management software in Quebec. The current patient record system could easily incorporate Sterilization DB, thus facilitating the tracking of all the medical equipment used during a patient’s visit along with their medical records.
As the various TechAccel teams continue improving their designs and developing their business ventures, the McGill Engine continues its instrumental work in fostering innovative technologies. On Nov. 30, they will be hosting their ninth annual Celebration of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, bringing together students, faculty, investors, and alumni to highlight emerging technologically-based startups at McGill.
The Martlets faced Laval’s Rouge et Or in their Homecoming and Alumni match on Oct. 13. Laval tested McGill goalie Sophie Guilmette multiple times in the first half after McGill conceded free kicks outside the box, however, midfielder Chloe Renaud gave the Martlets a 1-0 lead with her second goal of the season in the 43rd minute.
The second half opened with a solid shot on goal from midfielder Hana Yazdani in the 53rd minute. Laval reacted quickly, nearly scoring before making two substitutions in the 56th minute. The Rouge et Or was awarded a free kick in the 63rd minute that Guilmette saved, as she registered seven saves during the game. Laval equalized the score by finding the back of the net with an unlucky rebound after it hit the crossbar in the 76th minute.
Despite the Rouge et Or having a 12-5 advantage in attempted shots, the Martlets stayed consistent with their pressure and fought for possession in an aggressive manner throughout the game.
“We were really disciplined. We were really patient with it. [….] We held on […] and we got some momentum going. [….] We stood our ground […] and were able to keep our calm and just keep doing our thing,” winger Stefanie Kouzas explained to The Tribune.
The Martlets will face UQÀM on Oct. 15.
Moment of the game: McGill goalie Sophie Guilmette saved a last-minute shot in the 90th minute.
Quotable: “The girls were focused all week. They played well [and] defended well. It’s time to get ready for the playoffs and that’s the kind of game that you need in the playoffs and hopefully nationals.”
Stat corner: The Martlets are undefeated in their last seven games.
Redbirds’ Soccer: T 1-1
The Redbirds faced off against Laval’s Rouge et Or in their annual Homecoming and Alumni game on Oct. 13. In the first half, Laval conceded several fouls while the Redbirds attempted many shots on a goal. The referee stopped play in the first half after McGill defender Oliver Onye was knocked to the ground in the 35th minute and was able to walk it off. Defender Matisse Chretien scored for McGill in the 39th minute after a free kick led to a scramble around the net.
McGill started off strong in the second half with a shot on goal in the 48th minute. Laval quickly responded by scoring after a free kick in the 55th minute. Each team was frustrated and the energy on the field escalated as the game came closer to the end, with McGill and Laval picking up 16 and 13 fouls respectively. The crowd shouted when several fouls were called or when they felt that the referee should have blown his whistle.
In the 73rd minute, Onye exited the field after sustaining an injury. The last 10 minutes were filled with chances for Laval, yet, redbirds’ goalkeeper Chris Cinelli-Faia made an essential save in the 86th minute after a dangerous cross into the box from Laval. As tensions between the teams rose, McGill midfielders Emilio Rossi-Levin and Yosr Frej were given yellow cards for discipline in the 86th and 90th minutes. Cinelli-Faia made an additional save in the 90th minute while Laval hit the post minutes before the game ended in a tie.
Moment of the game: As the referee whistled to signal the end of the game, both teams collapsed on the field in frustration.
Quotable: “I would say the two center backs, Matisse Chretien, Stuart Klenner. They’ve been solid the whole season. But today, I think they did an amazing job of not letting the opponent have chances, especially the first half where they were solid.”
The Patriotes started the game off with a two-point lead before McGill quickly regained an advantage of 5-2. Middle blocker Meaghan Smith had an excellent block and the first set ended 25-16.
McGill dominated the second set and ended it with a 19 point advantage of 25-6 over the Patriotes.
During the third set, McGill scored two points and maintained a lead until UQTR tied the score 15-15. The teams remained within a point of each other until right-side hitter Clara Poire and middle blocker Erin Keating stunned the Patriotes with their stellar defence , allowing McGill a two point lead of 18-16 but UQTR came back to tie the game 21-21. Neither team was able to score the two point lead to end the set until power hitter Rio Pesochin and Smith blocked a return, making the score 28-27 and leading McGill to take the set 30-28 and the match 3-0.
Moment of the game: Rio Pesochin won five points straight off her serves in the third set.
Quotable: “Rachel Leduc went on a serving run in the second set that ultimately led to us dominating that set. I gotta give so many props to her, she’s been putting in so much work this summer. I could tell how dialed in she was here. And Meg came off the bench in the third set when we were tied 27-27 and she stuffed the ball and that’s the kind of presence you want from your bench. ”
– Libero Olivia Krishnan on which teammates stepped up and led the way.
Stat Corner: McGill had 32 kills this game, 13 each from Poire and middle blocker Charlene Robitaille and six from Leduc.
Lacrosse: W 16-4
On Oct. 15, the Redbirds lacrosse team (4–2) hosted the University of Ottawa Geegees (0–7) for their annual Homecoming game. The game opened with attacker Isaiah Cree scoring the first goal just four minutes in. The Redbirds peppered the Gee-Gees with shots on net, with midfielder John Miraglia scoring from the top of the crease with four minutes remaining to give McGill a 2-0 lead. Goalkeeper Joseph Boehm made a great save, giving the Redbirds a fast break and allowing Cree to score a final goal to end the quarter 3-0.
In the second quarter, both teams ramped up the aggression and number of fouls as Ottawa scored just 11 seconds in. Midfielder Dylan James scored a shot from the top of the crease in the 11th minute of play. Miraglia netted two more goals within a minute of each other and the half ended with McGill up 7-1.
Play in the third quarter slowed down and midfielder Joshua Jewell scored a goal at the top of the eighth minute before the Gee-Gees buried their second goal. Face-off specialist Samuel MacDonald won the face off and took off down the field to sink yet another goal and with under a minute left James and Miraglia each scored a goal to make it 10-2.
With an eight goal lead, Miraglia scored his fourth goal in the ninth minute of play before attacker Massimo Thauvette buried two shots in the net within three minutes. Attacker Mark Symon made the 15th shot of the game before Ottawa scored their last goal of the game. Face-off specialist Chris Koran scored the final goal after winning the face off, securing a dominant 16-4 win for the Redbirds.
The Marlets will face the Bishop Gaiters (1–4) on Oct. 18.
Moment of the game: After a save, Boehm brought the ball outside the crease, leaving the goal undefended. As an Ottawa player gained control of the ball, Thauvette stepped up and blocked the attempted shot before sending the ball down the field for Miraglia to score the second goal of the game.
Quotable: “A guy that I was really proud of in this game is number 99, Kyle Glick. He’s our fourth long pole so he doesn’t play too much in games. Today [when] his older brother went out with an injury, he went out there and played three and a half quarters. […] He’s just pushing himself up on our roster in terms of guys who should be playing more minutes. It was really fun to see a guy who maybe doesn’t play as much just jump out there and play very well.”
– Head Coach Nicolas Soubry on players that impressed him.
Stat corner: The 16-game win streak over Ottawa spans from 9/6/2014 – 10/15/2023 and is the Redbirds’ longest.
On Sept. 28, Tommy Lefroy fans at Montreal’s Le Ministère sent seismic sound waves across North America as the crowd chanted along to the duo’s ethereal and addictive harmonies.
With Wynter Bethel and Tessa Mouzourakis—who record as Tommy Lefroy—on electric guitar, and Blake Evans on drums, the hour-long set incorporated both of the band’s EPs Flight Risk (2021)and Rivals(2023)and a dreamy cover of Lana Del Rey’s “Norman Fucking Rockwell.” The show was divinely electric, powerfully precise, and most of all, unapologetically joyful.
Quebec-based musician and opener Claudelle prepared the audience with French pop tunes, while the tour’s supporting act Haley Blais initiated the night’s melancholy melodies. Blais also professed their love for Montreal bagels, arugula, and her home of British Columbia (BC) between songs “Baby Teeth” and “Coolest fucking bitch in town.”
Each artist expressed their love for the city’s culture. Bethel joked that after their dynamic opening set for indie pop star Samia at Le Studio TD last winter, the band begged their agent to return to Montreal for their North American headline tour. Since Mouzourakis grew up in British Columbia and Bethel hails from Northern Michigan, it was evident all the evening’s musicians hold their northern hometowns close.
Mouzourakis flaunts her Canadian roots in songs such as “Jericho Beach,” where the pair sings about the “seismic renovation” of British Columbia. Introducing the song, she recalled spending time at the spot in Vancouver that inspired the lyrics as a teenager, smiling as BC audience members cheered in recognition. Even more relatable was the description of flight anxiety in “Vampires.” The venue shook with the line “don’t mind the darkness, the ice, or the nightfall / Don’t worry the plane won’t go down out of Montreal.”
Beyond these Canadian ties, Tommy Lefroy’s unique audience resonance lies in the way they both literally and figuratively tell their fans “I’m just like you.” Bethel and Mouzourakis know what plagues their demographic: The crowd erupted with laughter as they dedicated their critique of a pseudointellectual “hopeless wordsmith” in “The Cause” to anyone who has dated someone with a liberal arts degree. Even their song order tells a story; they open their show with “The Mess,” detailing the realization that their experience of womanhood—the transformation into an emaciated disaster—is incongruent with its portrayal in media, and close their set with “Dog Eat Dog,” a satirical feminist anthem about stopping at nothing to get what you want. By structuring their critical account of gendered existence’s triumphs and tragedies as a cohesive narrative, the band invites their audience to collaboratively exorcize shared anxieties.
This investment in fan culture pays off: Lyrics like these provide insight into Bethel and Mouzourakis’ artistic genesis while embedding Tommy Lefroy into a larger tradition of work.
Given that the very name Tommy Lefroy reanimates Jane Austen’s “heartbreaker muse” Thomas Lefroy, and warrants further analysis, it just makes sense that the band would use interactive literary platforms such as Goodreads to connect with fans. By considering the interpretive role of the fan in the legacy of their music, Tommy Lefroy makes use of their inherited genre, while leaning into their own unique literary feminist culture.
Though Bethel and Mouzourakis bind their work to their hometowns and inspirations, a Tommy Lefroy concert transcends individual experience. The band maps the personal onto the universal, and the universal onto the personal—their audience feels seen, and sees them too. Pay attention to the earnest nerd rock of Tommy Lefroy—their sword-like riffs are as mighty as their pens.
Tommy Lefroy’s music is available to stream on all platforms
On Oct. 10, McGill’s Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic) Christopher Manfredi sent an email to all McGill students and staff providing updates on the work taking place on the former Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH) grounds, where the university plans to construct its New Vic project—a state-of-the-art research facility for sustainability systems and public policy. This comes as the latest update in the ongoing investigation into the New Vic site, where the Kanien’kehá:ka Kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers) worry there may be unmarked graves of Indigenous children.
Manfredi’s email addressed a security concern that took place on Oct. 2, sharing that an individual placed themselves in front of active heavy machinery. McGill media relations officer Frédérique Mazerolle explained in an email to The Tribune that it was one of the Mothers who found themselves in front of heavy machinery, which posed a serious security threat to all personnel on the site.
“The incident posed a very serious safety concern for herself, the cultural monitors, and the construction workers on site. As a result, strengthened safety measures, consistent with the terms of the Settlement Agreement, were put in place.”
In an interview with The Tribune, anthropologist and associate of the Mothers Phillippe Blouin explained that leading up to the incident, archaeologists were moving above-ground piles of soil that had already been sifted for potential forensic evidence. However, they proceeded to move piles of soil that had not been sifted for evidence, which the Mothers feared could potentially damage the forensic chain of custody.
“Then, one of the Mohawk Mothers, […] she used a whistle,” Blouin said. “They have whistles there if there’s a problem on the site, to stop the machines, and to have a conversation with the archaeologists, and to see what’s going on.”
Mazerolle asserted that McGill had not provided the Mothers or anyone else with a whistle on the site.
Additionally, in a written statement to The Tribune, the Société québécoise des infrastructures (SQI)—one of the key defendants in the case—asserted that the piles of soil were being moved because the heavy machinery operating nearby made the area unsuitable for sifting such a large quantity of soil. Thus, at the request of archaeologists, the soil was moved to be sifted at a safer location.
The Mothers have not been to the site since the incident occurred, with no current plans to return.
Manfredi stated that no evidence of unmarked graves had been found on the site; he reported that the ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey conducted last month identified any anomalies with “likely” grave-type features, but also found several “unknown” feature anomalies. He did, however, acknowledge that some new artifacts were found on the site, including bone fragments and an additional child’s shoe sole. The sole was found in Zone 11 of the site—a zone that covers paved land and thus was previously thought not to contain anomalies.
Blouin alleged that the court-appointed Indigenous cultural monitors were not told about the initial recovery of the shoe—rather, they accidentally stumbled upon it in a ditch on Sept. 28. The Mothers are skeptical about whether an archaeologist was present during its discovery, as their settlement agreement mandates.
“The Mohawk Mothers didn’t receive any proper explanation of what happened [or] why [the shoe sole] was there. Seems like it had been tossed there in the ditch in Zone 11,” Blouin said “So, we don’t know whether an archaeologist was present when it was found, and if it’s not the case that an archaeologist was present, well, that would be a breach of the agreement directly.”
Another growing concern for the Mothers is the restricted access to the physical building near the Hersey Pavilion on the New Vic Site—where Historical Human Remains Detection Dogs (HHRDD) previously detected the potential scent of human remains. Archaeologists recommended that a ten-metre radius around the area in which the HHRDD had detected an initial scent should be searched—and the building falls within that radius. Nevertheless, Blouin shared that the Mothers have not been allowed access to the building.
Farnoush Toupchinejad, U2 Science, told The Tribune that she feels that McGill communications to the staff and student body could be improved.
“It does seem like, because there is a legal battle going on, like obviously neither side wants to lose, and so, even though McGill does seem like they’re being transparent, it could also be like they’re not sharing a lot of information,” Toupchinejad said. “So even though there is recent evidence that [the New Vic site] could possibly be a grave, they’re still like, ‘Oh well, it could also be this, this, and this.’ They don’t want to kind of be hindered in their goals.”
Despite missing the past two seasons due to a sprained ankle and then a coaching job at Vanier College, Lauren Minns was quick to make an impression with the Martlets’ rugby team, scoring three tries in the Martlets’ historic win in the first game of the season. After back-to-back seasons stuck on the bench, Minns sat down with //The Tribune// to discuss her journey to falling in love with the sport and her excitement to finally play a full season at McGill.
Minns grew up in the Montreal neighborhood of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, and only started playing rugby as a sport in high school. Growing up, she exclusively played soccer and wrestling. After playing a bit of rugby in high school, she switched her focus to wrestling, but felt that it was not giving her what she wanted from athletics.
“I really missed that team-sport vibe, which is what led me to try out for the rugby team at John Abbott [College] in my third year,” she explained. “Also, wrestling wasn’t [competed] at the CEGEP level, so I wasn’t playing for John Abbott when I wrestled—I was just part of my own club. I wanted to get reintroduced into the student-athlete life in college.”
Minns’ rugby prowess in CEGEP caught the attention of the University of Ottawa (UOttawa). UOttawa representatives invited her to rugby recruitment weekend programs before she later committed to the school. At UOttawa, Minns experienced the glory of a national championship in her rookie year; that season, she won Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) Rookie of the Year and was a first-team All-Star. She played three seasons for the school before the pandemic wiped out her senior season.
After graduating from UOttawa, Minns came to McGill Law and decided to continue her rugby journey with the Martlets.
“What I thought was very unique about this opportunity was to just see […] how we can continue helping this program slowly and surely get back to the top—because, at one point, McGill was the best in the RSEQ,” Minns said.
Despite the Martlets’ poor record over the past few seasons, Minns believes that the key to success lies in attitude and in strong defensive play.
“For me, [the mindset] is: How, in any way, shape, or form, can I help decrease the gap between the points we score and the points that the other team scores against us?” she explained. “The goal was to shorten that gap so that every single game felt more competitive, every game felt more like the other team actually had to work for their win, work for every point. I didn’t want [opposing] teams to feel like they could do whatever they wanted.”
In Minns’ eyes, the game against Bishop’s on Aug. 31 exemplified that changed attitude in action as McGill not only rallied to keep their defense tight while scoring points but also made one last try towards the end of the game just to make a point, despite not needing the try to win the game.
At the start of the season, nobody on the team had experienced a win while playing for McGill. With a win under their belt now solidifying their foundation, the team is set up well to keep building their program.
Outside of rugby, Minns is a travel fanatic. Her favourite trip was with one of her best friends to Greece, where she spent six weeks in Sparta volunteering and teaching English to kindergarteners.
“It completely changed my outlook on life—the way people approach life in Sparta is so different from how I was used to approaching it here,” she said. “Nothing felt like a rush there; everyone took the time to do what they wanted to do throughout the day, properly […] the human interaction was so much more genuine and thoughtful.”
The team’s last game of the season was a loss on Oct. 1 against the Université de Montréal. With this season’s conclusion, Minns hopes to make the most of her last year of eligibility in 2024.
Before concrete and steel, wood was the predominant material in many human endeavours. Nowadays, while wood has been mostly replaced, its usage remains common. Wood construction specialists, however, continue to rely on only a few species, limiting their survivability against climate change.
To ensure the viability of forestry and building industries, there must be long-term solutions that reduce the impact of such environmental disturbances. Peter Osborne, a PhD candidate at McGill’s Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture, believes that building with more functionally diverse and ecological resilient wood species is the key.
According to Osborne’s paper, ‘functional traits’ are biological characteristics of plants associated with their growth, survival, and reproduction. A ‘plant-building trait-based’ approach, therefore, analyzes tree species based on their ecological and construction-relevant traits.
“[Trait-based ecology examines] characteristics within aspecies, such as drought tolerance, leaf area, and seed disperaldiameter at breast height that contribute to forest ecosystem resilience. ,” Osborne said in an interview with The Tribune. “[Building-related traits] would be characteristics of wood that are desired in [construction, within] certain ranges of mechanical and physical properties such as fire resistance and pest tolerance.”
By grouping species of similar construction-relevant traits, Osborne compared the current needs of the industry with the internal characteristics of each species. One of his case studies, performed in southeastern Quebec, found that although the construction industry’s perspective designates softwood from coniferous trees as the most desirable wood, overreliance on a few of these species jeopardizes construction systems.
“Softwoods grow faster and straighter. And in Canada, they are extremely abundant,” Osborne said. “The workability, and the general physical and mechanical properties of these species are oftentimes advantageous.”
To enhance the ecological resilience of our forests, Osborne’s forest-building approach advocates for a greater selection of tree species with diverse functional traits. The construction industry should then extend its repertoire of wood construction techniques to encompass a more extensive spectrum of wood species. To achieve this, the forestry and wood industries need to work synergistically.
Coniferous trees, often used in wood-building, would be an ideal candidate for growing ecologically resilient, climate-adapted forests. Unfortunately, coniferous trees are prone to both fire and damaging insect species such as the moth genus, Dendrolimus.
Conversely, fire cannot climb the tight, smooth bark of deciduous trees, which can reduce forest fire spread. However, the wood from these trees can easily bend and form knots, which is considered inadequate for construction lumber. Although not used structurally, these hardwoods can still be used in flooring for high durability. Osborne elaborated on this point by alluding to silviculture—the science of controlling and managing forests.
“There are also silvicultural reasons why [hardwoods] are not as utilized—primarily due to their age, the time that they have to take to grow, and the facility silvicultural applications that surround them,” Osborne said. “So, a maple [hardwood species] forest is not as functionally convenient to harvest as a pine forest.”
To examine long-term forest dynamics within the region where these tree species grow, Osborne simulates them on the LANDIS-II model by testing four forest management approaches—business-as-usual (BAU), climate change adaptation (CCA), and two variants of functional diversification network (FDN)—under different climate scenarios—current, warm, and hot. Then, he measures the changes in harvest output and species composition of the trees.
“[Although] in the business-as-usual [BAU] approach, there is a substantial increase in harvest volume[,] unless we somehow find ways to utilize the wood more efficiently[,] we cannot really do it under this approach,” Osborne said. “Under the climate change adaptation [CCA] and the functional diversification network [FDN] approach, we find that the standard building groups (BGs) stayed more or less the same in their output, if not increased compared to the BAU approach. But where we found the most increases were obviously BG3-BG7 [hardwoods].”
Furthermore, he found a 40 per cent increase in short-term harvest volume in the CCA and FDN approaches, resulting from a timely harvest at early growth stages. Prioritizing species with overlapping functional traits for harvest while planting ecologically foreign species would increase forest functional diversity.
Although the CCA and FDN approaches seem to offer promising avenues, the striking reality is that the outcome remains uncertain. Greater functional diversity and ecological resilience may increase chances of survival in case of ecological disturbances.
“This calls for designers and engineers in the industry to become more adaptable in the future to survive in any of these [climate] scenarios,” Osborne explained.
To prepare for the unforeseeable future, it is critical to work with, and not against, our forests—by increasing the adaptability of wood construction and creating a dynamic and flexible usage of wood in response to current needs.
On Oct. 5, McGill’s Bieler School of Environment hosted their annual Environment Public Lecture. For this occasion, Moyse Hall Theatre was speckled with professors and students curious to hear how Gernot Wagner, a climate economist and lecturer at Columbia Business School, would argue that the solution to the climate crisis lies in the business world.
In his lecture, Climate Risks, Uncertainties, and Opportunities, Wagner argued that investing in sustainable climate technologies to reach global emission targets is the right thing to do, not only morally, but economically.
He stressed that the social cost of carbon (SCC)—an estimate, in dollars, of the economic damages that would result from emitting an additional ton of CO2 into the atmosphere—is an effective tool to guide policy creation, as it translates the consequences of climate change into economic language, which are more easily understood by policymakers than future concerns about preserving the environment.
“$200 [USD] is the bare minimum of the full social cost per ton of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere today,” Wagner explained in his lecture.
However, this estimate only considers what we already know. What we do not know—the risks and uncertainties—may worsen the climate crisis, and push the value of the SCC higher. In other words, as the crisis worsens, the financial toll of each new ton of CO2 may change dramatically.
Since these unknowns are so critical to the future of climate change, Wagner considered environmental protection a global risk-management problem. He highlighted the importance of higher cost estimates, since inevitable tipping points, such as the Gulf Stream collapse, will likely double the social cost of carbon.
But using only SCC estimates leads to a seemingly simple solution: If we were to all pay $200-400 per ton of CO2by policy, we could solve the climate crisis.
“News flash, we don’t live in that world,” Wagner said. “There is no one silver-bullet technical solution, or one silver-bullet policy solution either.”
Rather than treating carbon pricing as a fix-all solution, to see real change, governments must decide to frontload their funding, as opposed to spending a small portion each year. Although legislators may have trouble justifying this hefty initial sum politically, pure economic reasoning can justify these investments even when we leave out the costs of climate-related disasters, health impacts, and loss of ecosystem services.
Wagner explained that, on a global scale, these measures are feasible. If we redirect investments from high-emissions assets, such as fossil fuel extraction, to clean energy, and consider how much is currently spent on clean technologies and infrastructure, then the costs of reaching global emission targets start to shrink.
“The difference between current policies and net-zero by 2050 is only $25 trillion in total spending over the next 30 years, or less than an extra $1 trillion per year on average,” Wagner said.
This extra annual cost is less than half the total military spending worldwide in 2022, which amounted to 2.2 trillion USD.
He stated that ultimately, the right policy would not be to simply price the “optimal fee.” The solution is a mix of different measures: Subsidies and regulations, providing alternative sources of energy, redirecting funds away from high-emissions technologies, and investing in efficient ones.
For context, Wagner used the example of a U.S. policy set in 2007 that enacted the switch from incandescent to LED lightbulbs. Predictions about initial investments paying for themselves due to dramatically higher energy efficiency drove this policy. Soon after the U.S. implemented this policy, many countries followed suit.
Wagner ended by emphasizing that the solution to climate change will happen with the right mix of different approaches. A large part of the solution involves applying our scientific knowledge to direct policy and using all of our current technologies to achieve this.
“It’s technology, it’s behavior, and it’s policy,” said Wagner. “The name of the game is to actually get on with it.”
The transition to apartment life can be a daunting experience for many students. On top of the heavy workload that accompanies attending McGill––the prestigious academic institution we all know it to be––students are faced with balancing perhaps the most strenuous task of apartment-living: Cooking for themselves. Perpetual dissatisfaction with one’s meals seems to be a rite of passage for university students. For those surviving off freezer-burned bagels and cheap coffee for breakfast, followed by a box of Kraft Dinner every night, precarity makes the fulfillment of all the recommended food groups unfortunately out of the question.
For many already busy students, the reality of an unfulfilling diet satisfies the palate, or is simply unavoidable due to financial constraints and skyrocketing food prices. However, for those looking to create slightly more complex and nutritious meals while remaining within the confines of a student budget, they face a more tedious and stress-inducing experience. Luckily, a new and increasingly popular solution to this issue has emerged: Recipe videos on TikTok that teach university students how to cook quick, healthy, and oftentimes affordable meals with just a single swipe. This side of the app is more popularly known as “FoodTok.” Aspiring student chefs can say goodbye to the cookbook, with its inaccessibility and high prices, and hello to a new, more democratic online era of cooking.
One of the biggest constraints preventing university students from unleashing their full culinary potential is time. After all, figuring out which meal to prepare after a lengthy day of classes or endless hours studying at Redpath is often one of the last things a McGill student wants to do. Through the app’s design, users are shown seconds-long snippets that are interesting, entertaining, and informative. Users are guided by short, easy-to-follow recipes that cater to beginner cooks. Here, the structure of TikTok provides a crucial service: It allows overwhelmed and overworked students not to think.
This online cooking explosion ensures that those with little-to-no culinary experience have the opportunity to whip up high-quality, michelin-star level meals in the blink of an eye. Want an under-25 minute meal idea? Hop on TikTok and take your pick of delicious meals ranging from creamy pesto pasta to chicken chow mein.
Another issue facing today’s student chefs is the high cost of food—whether this involves eating out or grocery shopping. Fortunately, many of the TikTok cooking posts emphasize cooking on a budget. The high cost of food affects almost all students whether they are funding part or all of their college or university education, as home cooking is no longer a viable means to affordable and healthy food. TikTok videos exist for every possible budget, advising viewers about what to buy and where to shop for healthy bargains.
For college students, many of whom are living away from home for the first time in their lives and are inexperienced in the kitchen, this sense of community among student chefs is particularly helpful. The TikTok cooking community lets participants share their creations, ask for advice, and learn from others, creating a supportive cooking network. This community acts as a constant source of culinary inspiration and innovation, encouraging students to step out of their comfort zones and try new recipes and techniques. Even celebrities contribute to “FoodTok” to share and popularize their creations––any FoodTok frequenter is familiar with Gigi Hadid pasta and Dwayne Johnson’s famous coconut banana pancakes.
It turns out, cooking and other independent responsibilities don’t have to be as overly complicated as they’re so commonly painted out to be. Online cooking recipes have ushered in a new culinary culture in which students can create easy, affordable and delicious meals, and for that, all university students have TikTok creators to thank.
