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Editorial, Opinion

Students’ Society of McGill University Executive Midterm Reviews 2020-2021

by The McGill Tribune Editorial Board on

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Jemark Earle, President 

Jemark Earle campaigned for the position of SSMU president with two major goals in mind: Pinpointing and improving SSMU’s logistical weaknesses and carving out space for under-represented voices in high-level, decision-making arenas at McGill. Over Summer 2020 and throughout the Fall 2020 semester, Earle has proven to be an engaged adherent to both of these objectives. At SSMU Legislative Council on Nov. 19, Earle presented his 40-page proposal for a five-year growth plan for SSMU. The detailed document outlines a series of amendments pertaining to SSMU’s handling of its staff, operations, student clubs, organizational finance, and advocacy at McGill. Notable initiatives include the doubling of SSMU’s full-time staff, establishing a streamlined online portal for all clubs at McGill, and a Francization Plan, which would guarantee that all SSMU documents be made available in English and French. Earle has also been a vocal supporter of student advocacy initiatives, such as the “Take James McGill Down” campaign. Under his leadership, SSMU passed a motion on Sept. 24 to create a Black Affairs Committee within SSMU’s Legislative Council.

Ayo Ogunremi, VP External

Despite being absent from his position for September and October 2020 due to an illness, Ayo Ogunremi was highly engaged over the summer and has worked on important initiatives. In July, he campaigned against Bill 21 and changes to the Programme de l’expérience québécoise (PEQ). He also coordinated activism against systemic racism at McGill, helping to establish the Black Affairs Committee and helping to lead the “Take James McGill Down” campaign. Moreover, he forged ties of solidarity between SSMU and other student unions to foster continued advocacy. Indeed, when Ogunremi returned from his illness, he helped organize an “inter-association“ of CEGEP and university student unions to facilitate discussion, collaboration, and joint action between student societies. At this event, Ogunremi drafted a proposition on solidarity with international students. 

Maheen Akter, VP Student Life 

Although many clubs are no longer active due to COVID-19, Maheen Akter has fulfilled several of her campaign promises this semester, including facilitating a successful virtual activities night and helping to implement the SSMU Clubs Portal to streamline the creation and organization of clubs. Akter was successful in her advocacy for raising the SSMU daycare fee from $2.70 to $3.00 and has also organized the return of clubs and services to the renovated University Center. While Akter has overseen several initiatives that support student mental health, such as the keep.meSAFE program and the October mental health week, she has not yet significantly increased the Wellness Hub’s accessibility for students, as was indicated in her platform, besides creating a survey about student mental health during virtual learning.

Gifford Marpole, VP Finance 

Gifford Marpole has used the Fall 2020 semester to implement various initiatives. With effectively all campus activity now remote, Marpole and his team have put accessibility, communication, and accountability at the forefront of his work. This semester, Marpole approved credit cards for all SSMU services and oversaw all banking procedures’ transition to remote processes. Perhaps Marpole’s greatest achievement so far is his Investigation into SSMU’s Student Fee Policies (ISSFeeP), which is looking into the current ambiguity of fee levies. Working with the Finance Commissioner and Committee, Marpole plans to establish a process that thoroughly assesses students’ fees for clubs and services and ensures that all funds are transparently and fully re-invested in them. Marpole hopes that these new implementations will be fully integrated and become standard procedure as classes return to in-person, on-campus learning.

Brooklyn Frizzle, VP University Affairs 

Frizzle has been hard at work since their term began, taking on numerous advocacy initiatives. One key area of their work has been library improvement, including working to expand McGill’s collection of free-access course materials and increasing the representation of marginalized authors, and the Open Educational Resources project. On Nov. 22, SSMU announced that coursepacks would be made available free of charge through the library rather than sold by Le James McGill Bookstore starting in Winter 2021—an initiative in which Frizzle played a key role. Beyond the library, they have been revising several policy documents, including SSMU’s Human Resources Policy. With regard to employment equity, Frizzle has also been advocating for SSMU councillors to be remunerated. They also established the Board Ad-hoc Committee on Naming (BACoN), tasked with renaming the University Centre and 3501 Peel, another SSMU building. Beyond SSMU initiatives, Frizzle has been vocal with the McGill Senate to increase student representation within the Senate, address academic racism, and reform the University Student Assessment Policy. 

Science & Technology

Building pathways toward a greener future

by Ronny Litvack-Katzman, Sophia Gorbounov on

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Nov. 17 marked the end of the “Food for Thought” lecture series’ 21st season. Hosted by the Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, this year’s theme was centred on sustainable use and conservation of resources that are otherwise taken for granted. 

Michael Jemtrud, an associate professor at McGill’s School of Architecture and director of the Facility for Architectural Research in Media Mediation, delivered the final talk titled “Building Environments: Designing & Constructing Deep Decarbonization Pathways,” in which he focussed on the three initiatives he is a part of and their efforts to mitigate the environmental impacts of building construction. 

A holistic approach to building and urbanization is at the centre of Jemtrud’s research, particularly the formulation of “deep decarbonization” pathways for architects, engineers, and construction companies, as well as Quebec’s energy and resource sectors.

“One of the things that has collectively frustrated a lot of us within the [field] is that a lot of upstream [and] downstream impacts within our discipline are not accounted for in our methods and the way in which we design things,” Jemtrud said. 

Upstream production deals with raw material inputs needed for manufacturing, while downstream production refers to the process of transforming those raw materials into their final products. 

Decarbonized architecture and building (DeCARB) is one of Jemtrud’s initiatives that is taking an interdisciplinary approach to addressing the lack of environmentally sustainable materials in the construction industry. DeCARB methodologies look at all of the components of the built environment and how they interact with the geosphere and biosphere. 

“We’re very concerned about how a lot of these issues are routinely externalized in the research and design of buildings and urbanization,” Jemtrud said. “These enabling externalizations are directly responsible for a lot of environmental and social degradations around the world.”

DeCARB focusses on a metric called global warming potential (GWP), which compares the relative impact of different greenhouse gases on the environment. There is considerable emphasis on revealing the false sense of environmental sustainability touted by greenwashed technologies. For example, sulphur hexafluoride has a GWP that is 22,800 times greater than that of carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas emission. Still, sulphur hexafluoride is frequently used in electrical insulators due to its low conductive potential. Jemtrud explained that although many people think of electricity as a green alternative to fossil fuels, many electric products and the materials from which they are made are responsible for high levels of greenhouse gas emissions. 

“The more we ‘electrify,’ we might be saving carbon equivalents on certain levels, but this one [sulphur hexafluoride] is really exacerbating another level of that,” Jemtrud said.

The Quebec Building Energy Retrofit program (Q:BER) is another one of Jemtrud’s focal initiatives. The program aims to refurbish existing buildings across Quebec in order to reduce their carbon footprint. 

“Basically, a deep energy retrofit is wrapping the existing building in a new skin, then upgrading its mechanical and its active systems,” Jemtrud explained. “For me, one of the main non-energy benefits is the increase in healthier indoor environments and the well-being of its occupants.”

Indeed, this initiative has many potential benefits in helping to solve the current housing crisis in Montreal. Working with the Société d’habitation du Québec, Q:BER’s efforts to retrofit buildings are especially important in maintaining the structural integrity of existing affordable housing units, as well as an important consideration in the process of building new ones. 

Finally, Jemtrud spoke about the Building Architecture Research Node (BARN), a new program that would release funding for the construction of a new building on Macdonald campus where students and researchers can test DeCARB technologies. 

“Basically, [it’s] a big shop where we can prototype and construct things at full scale,” Jemtrud said. 

If approved, the construction of the building would itself become a part of Jemtrud’s research program, allowing Jemtrud and colleagues to test the viability and construction of many of the sustainability concepts presented in his work.

News, World

Rest in prose: How COVID-19 is affecting the obituary industry

by Signy Harnad on

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She lived through the Spanish flu. He portrayed a suave MI6 agent on the big screen. She invented the windshield wiper. He remained a bon vivant into his ninth decade. She came to be known as “the people’s princess.” These are some of the subjects of the newspaper’s obituary pages.

Since the pandemic began, obituary writers have continued to do what they have always done: Provide captivating accounts of lost lives. To this end, COVID-19 has not upended the art of obituary writing; obituarists are less concerned with the granularity of human suffering and the cause of a person’s death, and more with artfully capturing the essence of a life.

However, COVID-19 has disrupted the obituary industry in other ways. As physical distancing restrictions continue to bar traditional mourning rituals, such as funerals and memorials, obituaries and death notices have emerged as communal spaces for mourners and the curious alike to navigate grief. In a public health crisis of such a magnitude, obituaries give readers the opportunity for a moment of humanity, exempt from abstract statistical projections and enable them to connect to the vibrant stories of strangers, with all their foibles and graces.

Faced with a plethora of life stories to report, obituary writers have had to implement their own form of triage. Danielle Adams, editor of obituaries at The Globe and Mail, described a new normal in the assignment of obituary coverage. 

“COVID-19 has had an enormous effect on obituary writers and editors because of the sharp rise in the sheer number of notable people dying [….] The wave of deaths last spring/summer was absolutely overwhelming,” Adams wrote. “There were too many stories to tell [….] I think the stress of this situation has affected me quite a bit—as it is affecting everyone.” 

There’s a fundamental difference between obituaries and daily updated death notices. Whereas obituaries generally feature the lives of public figures and individuals otherwise deemed notable, it is typically left to families and funeral homes to write death notices. The first wave of the pandemic marked a sharp increase in the number of death notices published in Canadian newspapers such as The Montreal Gazette and The Globe and Mail.For some it is in these swelling pages—online and in print—that the pandemic’s impact feels the most acute. 

By remembering some of the lives lost to COVID-19, death notices and obituaries have assumed an increased resonance—by putting names and faces to the toll of the pandemic obituaries can blur the line between statistic and story.

Linnea Crowther, a senior writer for Legacy.com, a global leader in online memorials, has observed a sharp increase in obituaries through her ongoing project that tallies the number of U.S. obituaries in 2020 as compared to 2019.

“Watching the outbreaks travel around the U.S. through obituary publications has been sobering,” Crowther said. “In New York [C]ity, in April, there were 85 per cent more obituaries in April 2020 than in April 2019.” 

The phenomenon is somewhat reminiscent of an earlier tragedy, the September 11 attacks, when Crowther was part of a team memorializing lives lost in the attack on the twin towers. 

“[9/11] was a gruelling time for anyone in memorialization,” Crowther said. “In many ways, COVID-19 is similar for some people, especially in related businesses like funeral homes.”

Nevertheless, amid the pandemic, the fundamental mission of obituaries has survived unchanged, according to Crowther.

“I’m still committed to telling life stories,” Crowther said. “Regardless of what that cause of death is, I’m still writing that story.” 

Susan MacKay, a freelance obituary writer for The Globe and Mail, voiced a similar sentiment, one that prioritizes the life of the subject above the circumstance of death.

“The focus is very much on […] what made [the person] extraordinary,” MacKay wrote.

The art of obituary writing entails a delicate exploration of someone’s life, a teasing out and careful mining of the hidden gems of their experiences, which are then distilled into a few hundreds, or even thousands, of words. 

“I tell people that I want the reader to feel as if they knew the person,” McKay wrote. “There’s an obituarist’s joke that the editor asks the writer for a shorter obit to which the writer says ‘But I don’t have time to make it shorter.’”

Although the genre dates back to ancient Rome, where obituary notices were published in papyrus newspapers called Acta Diurna, obituaries rose to prominence in the mid-18th century. McGill history Professor Brian Cowan charted the rise of obituaries, which surfaced in 18th century British periodicals, tying their emergence to biographical writing. 

“It’s in Gentleman’s Magazine in the 18th century where you begin to see regular death notices,” Cowan said. “That fits in with biography writing more generally, which has a long history. The obituary is a news item, but it’s also a mini-biography; almost a perfect encapsulation of those two genres coming together.”

Professor Cowan also tied the development of obituary writing to the expansion of celebrity culture.

“It fits with fame, too,” Cowan said. “There is this idea of who is worthy of an obituary—and who is not.”

The politics of whose death merits coverage and whose does not remains a fundamental challenge for obituary writing. Nick Serpell, the former editor of obituaries at the BBC, wrote the obituaries of hundreds of prominent figures, from Margaret Thatcher to David Bowie, during his 10-year term as editor. In an interview with The McGill Tribune, Serpell underscored the phenomenon of concurrent celebrity deaths, where famous individuals die in close proximity to one another, often with the death of one figure overshadowing the other. The death of Princess Diana, for example, by far eclipsed the coverage for Mother Teresa, who died less than a week later.

“There was no way Mother Teresa was going to get on a [U.K. network], because Princess Diana, who died [before Mother Teresa] was just massive,” Serpell said. “If you want to know my rules about getting good coverage when you die: Don’t die when someone more famous than you dies, and try to die on the weekend, because news is pretty sparse at the weekend. They don’t always follow those rules, unfortunately.”

This process of ranking deaths by newsworthiness continues to weigh heavily on the minds of obituarists, who must choose who gets featured in the obituary pages and who gets sidelined. This is especially true for local newspapers, which have emerged to provide a sanctuary for the coverage of lost lives during the pandemic, notable and obscure alike. Maureen O’Donnell, an obituary writer at the Chicago Sun Times, who has covered a wide range of notable lives since the pandemic, from Chicago TV news anchor Joel Daly to Italian deli matriarch Emilia Pontarelli discussed the increased demand for obituaries has had on her writing. 

“Obituary writers are getting a lot more requests to write obituaries due to the pandemic,” O’Donnell said.“You can’t write about everyone who died, but, to many, that one obituary can be universal.”

If there is a common sentiment that unifies obituarists in their craft, it may be the honour of providing a space independent of geography and location, where people can mourn and celebrate the dead, whose stories will remain committed to prose.

“It’s such a gift to be able to tell these stories,” O’Donnell said. “When you can’t be at the funeral home or at the graveside, at least you can read the obituary.”

Student Life

Wisdom Exchange Project combats loneliness through intergenerational friendships

by Wendy Zhao on

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Loneliness has touched everyone at one point in their lives. Now, loneliness has paradoxically become a shared experience, with both its mental and physical impacts warranting increased  attention. The intergenerational Wisdom Exchange Project, initiated by a team of graduate students from McGill University, Ryerson University, and the University of Waterloo, seeks to foster friendships between two demographics especially vulnerable to social isolation: Older adults and graduate students in Quebec and Ontario.

Sivaniya Subramaniapillai, a PhD candidate in the Department of Psychology at McGill, is one of four team members of the Exchange Project. In an interview with The McGill Tribune, Subramaniapillai discussed the value of fostering intergenerational bonds.

“The goal is to merge two people who would otherwise not be able to develop a friendship,” Subramaniapillai said. “I think there’s a huge benefit of having an exchange of ideas and wisdoms between people of different backgrounds. This is what really inspired the project, the focus on exchange between ideas.” 

The project’s founders believe the generational differences that seemingly separate individuals can become sources of mutual wisdom. Subramaniapillai discussed the unique possibilities of building intergenerational connections. 

“I’m seeing it as a friendship spark that happens because we’re learning from someone else who has had a lifetime of experiences that’s different from our lifetime of experiences,” Subramaniapillai said.

Creating these friendships becomes vital in the face of enduring loneliness, a state that impacts  psychological and physical well-being. Recent research connects prolonged periods of isolation to serious health ramifications, including heart disease and dementia. For older adults already at risk of illness, transitioning to retirement, and losing close networks of friendships, loneliness is a particularly crucial concern.

Although they receive less research attention, feelings of isolation among graduate students are prevalent as well. Due to the secluded nature of research work, experiences of imposter syndrome, and constant deadline pressures, graduate school can damage the mental wellness of students. 

Subramaniapillai discussed her own experience working as a graduate student while in social isolation. 

“A lot of the time that’s spent doing research is really [lonely] work,” Subramaniapillai said. “Especially with COVID-19, those natural conversations with lab mates [and] with my supervisor are no longer there. I think I really relied on these spontaneous conversations that happened in the lab.”

Despite the dire effects of long-term loneliness, Subramaniapillai is optimistic for the future. Increasing levels of social contact are proven to lead to positive health outcomes, showing the crucial role that meaningful relationships have for generations both old and young.

The Wisdom Exchange Project also seeks to spark educational discussions of physical and psychological health. As a part of the initiative, knowledge translation seminars will be hosted where graduate and postdoctoral trainees share their research on topics of healthy living. With these conversations, the team hopes to combat a challenge often faced by researchers: Publicly disseminating the results of empirical studies. 

Subramaniapillai explained her desire to cultivate opportunities for dialogues that can improve the reception and impact of influential findings. 

“The goal of these seminars is to provide a platform for scientists to communicate their research in a really easy, understandable manner,” Subramaniapillai said. “But they aren’t meant to be a unidirectional format. We really hope that the older population ends up participating in these seminars, actively engaging with these scientists.”  

Before the pandemic, the Wisdom Exchange Project was already in progress. The exacerbated toll of social isolation in recent months, however, inspired the project’s team to kick-start the initiative. 

In the coming weeks, the Wisdom Exchange Project will release a questionnaire to begin the pairing process. 

Interested students can complete the questionnaire or email wisdom.exchange.project@gmail.com for more information.

Student Life

Comforting meals for cold days

by Maya Mau on

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I love preparing my own food: There is a certain feeling of freedom that comes from knowing that an entire dish can be customized to my liking. Over the summer, I found solace from the hectic developments of the pandemic and politics by experimenting with elaborate meals such as miso ramen with chashu, eggs benedict with hollandaise, and lemon-garlic glazed cod.

However, as the semester comes to an end, it can be difficult to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Although it might be easier to turn to Tim Hortons and Starbucks for the sake of convenience, preparing our own food is still an important source of comfort. Comfort comes in many forms, and I strongly believe that home cooking even the simplest meals can provide calming relief during stressful times. Cooking produces healthy sustenance, provides a creative outlet of sorts, and offers temporary mental relief from external anxieties. Below, I have shared four of my favourite healthy, cheap, and flexible meals to prepare during finals season.

Salads

Although they have a reputation for being bland, salads can be much more exciting than simply leafy greens. I like to make salads using a base of a combination of lettuce, spinach, and kale, but any greens can work. On days that I am not in the mood to make my own homemade ranch dressing, I use dressings purchased at the grocery store. I also like to throw in some carrots or cucumbers to add crunch and flavour if I have them on hand. For a heartier salad, toss in a protein such as tofu, smoked salmon, or grilled chicken, which can all add a luxurious element to your meal.

Fried rice

The great thing about fried rice is that it only really requires day-old rice, oil, and soy sauce for texture and flavour. From this base, you can throw any ingredients you have on hand into the frying pan—the more ingredients, the better it tastes. Besides scallions and scrambled eggs, which I personally feel are a staple for any fried rice dish, add vegetables like broccoli and carrots and protein like ground meat or tofu.

Bean soup

On cold days that leave you wanting something warm, bean soup is a savoury and substantive meal. Both canned and dry beans are affordable pantry staples. My personal favourites are pintos, limas, lentils, and chickpeas. To prepare dry beans, soak them in water overnight, and from there it is easy to make the soup by sauteing onions, celery, carrots, and garlic. Then, cook the mixture in water or, for a more hearty soup, try stock. If I have cooked ham, I like adding even more protein to the mix. 

Curry 

For those who enjoy spicy foods, curry is a flavourful option. Personally, I like making homemade curry roux, but most supermarkets also sell inexpensive curry mixes. Curry is an excellent complement to many vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots, and kale. For a more ambitious meal, I like to serve with pork or chicken cutlets. Be sure to have some rice on hand to mitigate the intensity that comes from the spice.

Student Life

The Yellow Door to host physically distanced Annual Benefit Dinner

by Josephine Wang on

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Due to the pandemic, many people are facing profound hardships, including the loss of loved ones and livelihoods, as well as increased social isolation. In particular, the elderly face special challenges with regard to their mental and psychological well-being. Social distancing, although a crucial strategy to curb the spread of COVID-19, is a major cause of loneliness, particularly in nursing homes. This puts older adults at greater risk of depression and anxiety disorders. Those who do not have nearby family or friends and rely on the support of voluntary services or social care face additional risk. 

The Yellow Door is a nonprofit community organization that brings together university-aged students with seniors from the Peter-McGill neighbourhood to combat social isolation and create meaningful connections across generations. Many of their programs, such as their Wellness Groups, are geared towards helping vulnerable seniors stay connected with their communities while promoting mental and physical wellness. 

Before the pandemic, volunteers visited senior members of the Peter-McGill neighbourhood in their homes and helped them with appointments and errands. The Yellow Door also hosted many activities that gave youth and seniors an opportunity to be together, including yoga, Community Hour, and Book Club. Naturally, the pandemic has drastically changed how The Yellow Door operates, as all activities have moved online and strict safety protocols for in-person visiting have been enacted. Mariel Edwards-Carreau, the administrative coordinator at The Yellow Door, explained how the organization has adapted to the pandemic. 

“Our staff and volunteers worked very hard in the spring to help our senior members feel comfortable [using] platforms such as Zoom to stay connected,” Edwards-Carreau said. “We rely on the internet and phone calls a lot these days but have been lucky to have an increase of volunteers willing to help during these times.”

One event still taking place is the Annual Benefit Dinner, one of The Yellow Door’s main fundraising campaigns. 

“By donating to this fundraiser, we are able to provide seniors with both a delicious and nutritious meal and a chance to connect with other members during the holidays,” Edwards-Carreau said. “For some of our members, it is the only holiday event they have [….] The Annual Benefit Dinner also helps fund our programming so that we can continue helping our isolated members throughout the rest of the year.”

In previous years, the Annual Benefit Dinner took place in person at a restaurant with the entire Yellow Door team, live music, holiday decorations, and festive food. This year, members will gather under very different circumstances. On Dec. 10, a team of volunteers and Yellow Door staff will deliver meals to seniors’ doors and host a live online piano concert that allows community members to dine together safely. Dedicated volunteers, local caterers, and donations are making this year’s dinner possible. 

“We’ve heard feedback from some of our members that other organizations are simply not having holiday events this year due to the pandemic, so we feel grateful that we can still provide them with a little bit of normalcy and something to look forward to during these uncertain times,” Edwards-Carreau said. “As much as we are sad that we can’t be together in person, everyone is really excited that we can still celebrate the holidays together.” 

If you want to donate to The Yellow Door’s Annual Benefit Dinner, visit their website here.  Checks and cash can always be mailed to 3625 Aylmer, Montreal, QC H2X 2C3. For information about volunteer opportunities at The Yellow Door, click here or contact The Yellow Door at info@yellowdoor.org.

McGill, News

Refugee Research Group webinar discusses contemporary refugee issues

by Joseph Pappas and Charlotte Power on

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The McGill Refugee Research Group held its latest event in the Contemporary Refugee Issues Fall 2020 Series, “Global Updates: Refugee Protection and Empowerment webinar,” on Nov. 26. The webinar explored both the individual and organizational responses to refugee crises around the world, which the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened. Three McGill Ph.D. students presented their research on the protection and empowerment of worldwide refugees.

Nick Parent, second year McGill PhD candidate in the department of Geography, researches the displacement, encampment, and repatriation of Congolese refugees. Parent believes that Congolese refugees will be essential in redefining the local political landscape in the Congo and negotiating the terms of their return. 

“My project is very much about trying to bridge people to systems,” Parent said. “We’re trying to find ways to create narratives based on this information [regarding the personal experiences of refugees] and [create] a deliverable output that can be forwarded to the refugee management system with consultation with refugees. [We’re] really trying to make this as much of a bottom-up process as possible, so that whatever management system they do is informed by the refugees themselves.”

Next to speak was fourth-year PhD candidate in anthropology at McGill, Cristina Yépez, who presented findings from her anthropological research, which focusses on Venezuelan migrant and refugee communities in Ecuador. Her recent work has examined how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted 2SLGBTQIA+ Venezuelan migrants. Yépez explained that the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as widespread unemployment and limited testing capabilities, have exacerbated the long-standing discrimination of members of the migrant and refugee 2SLGBTQIA+communities, due to the now decreased access to health care, education, and sources of income. Yépez illustrated how 2SLGBTQIA+ migrants and refugees have often taken up informal-autonomous work, such as street vending and sex work, as a last resort given the high unemployment rates.

“Sex for subsistence is highly violent and risky, even more [so] during the pandemic,” Yépez said. “[It] is very often used in exchange for housing because of widespread situations of eviction and expulsion.”

Merve Erdilmen, a PhD candidate in political science at McGill, studies the global governance of international organizations and the effects that refugee-related policies have on female refugees. Through her research, Erdilmen investigated female Syrian refugees in Turkey and analyzed the impacts of global gender mainstreaming policies. Erdilmen looked at how these policies have limited women’s access to health and education.

“One of the challenges women in Turkey face are barriers to accessing education and livelihood opportunities,” Erdilmen said. “Only 15 per cent of women refugees work in income-generating jobs.” 

Erdilmen believes, however, that refugee advocacy groups often have different agendas and a limited understanding of what needs to be done to empower and protect women refugees. Erdilmen illustrated this concern by explaining that women refugees are rarely consulted when governments decide to change policies that may affect them. 

“This rather traditional understanding of refugee women empowerment often misses the ways in which power politics constrain access for women,” Erdilmen said. “Overall, my respondents state that strategies to foster empowerment must be locally durable and must consider both economy and local approaches that empower [women].”

Ian Van Haren is a fourth-year PhD candidate in sociology with a specialization in population and health dynamics and is the graduate student coordinator for the McGill Research Group and was the host of the webinar. He concluded the event by discussing how best to approach the global refugee crisis.

“It’s really [important] to think about whose voices are being heard and understood in shaping the prospects that refugees in different contexts have,” Van Haren said. “It’s a really interesting process […]. Our examples show us how these three migrant crises have played out and what can be studied in these different locations.”

Student Life

Crossword: Farm fresh

by Meredith Charney on

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*Hints for 19 down

ACROSS

1. Tiny islands

7. Takes advantage of

10. *Place to practice your double axel

12. Church songbook

13. To refuse

15. Common fried rice vegetable

16. Limit, or slang for falsehood

18. Adversary

19. Ocean (French)

20. Unpaid TV spots (Abbr.)

22. Mode of dress

23. Complete collections

24. As well

25. *McGill building with bovine residents

30. One of three H2O: Just Add Water mermaids

31. Singer Bareilles

32. “If it ____ broke…”

33. Parc Avenue pizzeria

34. Graduate students, often

36. NBA award that Michael Jordan won five times (Abbr.)

37. Bird that’s a real “hoot”

38. U.S. politician from the Bronx (Abbr.)

39. June birthstone

41. Stereotypical Frenchman’s name

44. *Homes for plants

45. Pursues in court

46. Closest to the centre 

DOWN

1. Sort of (Suffix)

2. Zoom predecessor

3. Less hip

4. Europe’s highest volcano

5. Madre or padre’s sister

6. Long-running sketch comedy show (Abbr.)

7. Spanish article

8. 2012 Bond film

9. Diorama containers, maybe

11. Telus or Videotron, for example (Abbr.)

14. Like Thor or the Vikings

16. Whistle or shout at on the street

17. Distribute into groups

19. Where to find the starred answers

20. Oft-mocked fall drink offering (Abbr.)

21. Teeter-totter, by another name

22. Disconnect, or a place to buy jeans

26. Not dead yet!

27. Descriptor for a final paper, maybe

28. Tater ___

29. Chinese communist revolutionary

34. Central segment of a human body

35. Land units

37. Grand ___ Opry

38. SSMU, en Français

40. Four Monopoly properties (Abbr.)

41. Letter after upsilon

42. Charged particle

43. Montreal winter time-zone

 

 

Answers

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV, Pop Rhetoric

Destiel sings its swan song

by Zoe Karkossa on

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Over 15 unrelenting seasons, Supernatural has developed a remarkably devoted and persistent fandom. The show follows brothers Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) Winchester, along with the angel Castiel (Misha Collins), as they protect middle-class Americans from mythical monsters while defying death at every turn. Castiel joined the Winchesters in the fourth season, after bringing Dean back to life—and, many have argued, falling halo over heels for him.

On Nov. 5, Castiel finally confessed his love to Dean after seasons of teasing such a reveal and was promptly sent to literal Hell, causing fans to declare Destiel, as the relationship is affectionately known, canon. Despite the emotionally stunted Dean showing absolutely no reaction to this declaration, the moment instantly reinvigorated the online Supernatural community, as well as long-standing accusations of homophobia and queerbaiting by the show’s writers.In the face of the fandom’s constant fetishization of Destiel, showrunners have seemingly no interest in committing to their relationship.

The show continuously romanticizes traditional American masculinity, yet its most devoted fans are overwhelmingly women whose intensity has managed to keep the show limping along as casual viewers wavered. Supernatural developed a devout internet following that has produced over 300,000 unique works of fanfiction over various websites. The relationships between attractive, angsty white men seem particularly conducive to the fascination of teenage girls, as seen with Sherlock and Star Trek.

A potential romance between Dean and Castiel was undeniably teased at from their very meeting. Lingering touches and smouldering stares regularly sent fangirls into a tizzy, but the realization of their relationship was kept tantalizingly out of reach. This form of queerbaiting is common to many TV shows teenage girls typically favour, and is deeply harmful to gay men.

This unending baiting stoked online obsession with Destiel on fanfiction sites and social media, most notably Tumblr. Even the website’s bloggers who were completely uninterested in Supernatural were excruciatingly aware of the floods of GIFS and more controversial memes the fandom fervently spread. This internet enthusiasm led to the complete fetishization of the characters into both “smol beans” and hypersexualized studs, which only served to increase fanbase devotion. The fandom versions of the characters eventually leaked out into mainstream social media, presenting a version of Destiel that is disconnected from their relationship’s representation on the show.

Although Supernatural is ostensibly about the simple pleasures of killing monsters and looking good in leather, Dean Winchester leads a remarkably tragic life, only worsened by the loss of Castiel. After a demon kills his mother, his father raises him to hunt supernatural creatures, prompting an off-the-grid lifestyle filled with violence and loss. All three leading men are deeply alienated from society and frequently struggle with self-doubt and self-loathing. The extension of such a show far beyond its natural lifespan is unsurprising considering that American television viewership loves to watch gay men suffer.

The series finale of Supernatural premiered on Nov. 19, quashing all remaining hope for an ultimate Destiel reunion. Castiel fails to appear in the episode, although Dean’s presumably heterosexual ’67 Chevy Impala makes it into heaven. The ending to this marathon of a TV show demonstrates the steadfast resistance of showrunners to acquiesce to fan demands, and the culmination of years of shameless hinting at anything more than friendship. Faced with the final nail in their ship’s coffin, fans chose to mock the quality of the finale in their frustration. The show’s writers squandered their last chance to achieve the bare minimum of allyship by recognizing a homosexual relationship, leaving a bitter taste in fans’ mouths as Supernatural mercifully starts to fade from collective memory.

Student Life

Alleviating the transfer student blues

by Lucy Keller on

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There is one thing that all McGill students can agree on: McGill is an extremely challenging school. While the degree of difficulty varies between courses and programs, it is safe to say that it is nearly impossible to find a truly easy class that requires minimal work. This academic rigour, mixed with a highly intelligent student body, can cause students to experience imposter syndrome. Feelings of inadequacy in comparison to their peers can prompt students to question their acceptance or accomplishments at McGill. Although McGill students differ in their experiences of imposter syndrome, it is particularly prevalent amongst transfer students. 

“Imposter syndrome is when someone doesn’t feel worthy of their achievements and feels nervous, particularly before they speak, in front of other people,” Sarah Henning,  licensed psychologist, said. “It gets highlighted when people receive an award or receive acceptance into a new and rigorous setting.”

In most cases, students transfer schools because their experiences at their past university did not work out for one reason or another. Whether this is due to academics, tuition fees or other social factors at their previous university, students make a conscious and life-altering choice to transfer to a new school and acclimate to a new environment for a second time. 

McGill’s lack of programming specific to transfer students still unfamiliar with the school can contribute to imposter syndrome. While McGill runs an orientation for transfer students, historically, this program has been only an hour-long non-interactive lecture focussing on transfer credits. While the session provides important information, it can be both overwhelmingly broad and surface-level, consisting of direct screenshots and slides from the McGill website.

Not only does this orientation fail to cover the necessary information on how to navigate the university from a student perspective, it also does not seek to introduce transfer students to their peers. 

Gilbert Lin, manager of Campus Life & Engagement (CL&E) at McGill, explained in an interview with The McGill Tribune that the reason behind the structure of this session is to ensure students understand credit requirements for graduation. 

“We understand that there are a lot of activities going on on campus, and we do not want to keep students any longer than necessary,” Lin said. “The transfer program is organized the way it is because of the academic rigour at McGill. Our first priority in this session is to introduce the specific credit requirements for transfer students, which we know is often different from other students, and so we want to make sure we cover that before touching on other information.” 

Lin replaced Leslie Copeland, the former manager of CL&E, last year. Lin said that he had increased the duration of the transfer orientation in an attempt to put more emphasis on building friendships. The transfer orientation, however, is still only one event and students do not receive any additional, long-lasting support throughout their first year. While CL&E offers great programs such as The Buddy Program, The Student Matching Program, and The First Friend program, which pair incoming first years with upper year students, no CL&E initiative is aimed at supporting and connecting transfer students. 

Before Lin took on the role, there was no reception during the orientation event for students to meet, and there are still no specific Facebook entering class pages or social media groups for transfer students to connect. 

Mahler Meyerrose, U2 Arts, transferred to McGill last year from St. Lawrence University. Reflecting on her experience in the transfer program, Meyerrose explains how the whole process was quite jarring. 

“During the transfer session I was sitting next to a bunch of grad students and PhD students,” Meyerrose said. “The program is not at all just undergrads. I thought it was really weird how it was such a mixed group of students.”

While this experience alone could cause a transfer student to feel isolated, confused, and disoriented, once classes begin and the add/drop period ends, students are buried in work and must begin to learn the social norms of McGill while attempting to keep up with academic expectations. In this process, it is quite easy for students to not only feel different from their classmates due to their unique educational background, but also to  feel confused as to how to access the many resources listed online. Without other peers to relate to due to the lack of a transfer student community, it is understandable that students find themselves doubting their intellect and feeling alone at such a large university. 

This experience hits quite close to home because three years ago, I transferred to McGill from Northeastern University. While I could not be happier today that I transferred, it would be a lie to say that my first year at McGill was easy. 

Not only was it hard to make friends during the first couple of months, but I also struggled to learn the ins and outs at McGill. After leaving the transfer students session three years ago, I remember feeling like I was simply a statistic in the eyes of the orientation leader, as if she was just there to make sure that we could swiftly graduate from the school we just enrolled in. From not knowing what to respond when someone asked what residence I was in, to being unsure how to maneuver add/drop at a new university, my first year at McGill feels like a blur.

Looking back at how I felt during these first couple of months, I remember struggling to find a way to describe my feelings. I was not embarrassed by the fact that I transferred, but I did feel a need to “fit in” with what I always considered “real” McGill students. I was also trying, to the best of my ability, to adjust to the demands of McGill courses, not feeling bright enough to engage with my peers.

In retrospect, I understand that I was experiencing imposter syndrome. In navigating my transfer, I would have appreciated help from McGill through either a more comprehensive transfer programming or more guidance. While I understand that there are mental health resources available through the Student Wellness Hub and the Healthy Living Annex at the university, at the time, I was unaware that this feeling was abnormal. 

Many resources, such as the American Psychology Association and the Harvard Business Review, detail the best way to overcome this syndrome: To begin talking about it with others. For transfer students, this would likely be much easier amongst themselves, allowing them to feel a sense of community amongst 27,000 undergraduates. But without a robust support system offered by the university, this community is unlikely to emerge.

“I know for me, whenever I feel this way, I know it helps to talk to my colleagues and they usually reassure me that this feeling is normal, and can go away,” Henning said. 

Moving forward, the McGill Orientation Program should consider these factors when introducing new and different students to the McGill community. In providing support throughout the first year, or even the first semester, the McGill Orientation Program could ease the feelings of imposter syndrome for transfer students and create an inclusive transfer student community. 

 

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