Latest News

Science & Technology

Conservation in the digital age

by Ronny Litvack-Katzman on

More in Science & Technology:

The power of a convincing story often goes overlooked in the scientific community. While most researchers opt to display their findings in flashy publications or high impact journals, others are taking a less traditional but conceivably more impactful approach at communicating their findings.  

Story maps are a simple yet elegant way for scientists to literally ‘map out’ research results. Gail Chmura, a professor in the Department of Geography and a specialist in biogeography and paleoecology, has done just that. Last week, Chmura and colleagues published two interactive story maps on the McGill Geographic Information Systems (GIS) website about the endangered Maritime Ringlet butterfly and carbon stores in the Bay of Fundy.  

Chmura has been working in Atlantic Canada for as long as she can remember, specifically on salt marshes, a little-known natural resource that has immense consequences for endangered species conservation. Salt marshes are coastal wetlands flooded by tidal sea water. The unique daily drainage and flooding regimes of salt marshes make them a one-of-a-kind habitat for many of Canada’s rarest and most endangered plant and animal species, including the Maritime Ringlet. 

One story map takes users on an interactive tour of Chaleur Bay in northern New Brunswick, the sole place on Earth known to support Ringlet butterflies. With every scroll, readers become further immersed in the wonderful world of salt marshes and the creatures that call them home. 

“We proposed the idea of the story map because Environment and Climate Change Canada’s HabitatStewardship Program for species at risk is also very concerned with outreach,” Chmura said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “Part of it was getting the public to care about salt marshes [… so they might] be interested in protecting them.” 

Users are seamlessly introduced to the Ringlet, its specialized life-history traits, and how the salt marshes of New Brunswick are uniquely situated to support the species. 

“Warning!” reads one frame of the story map in a cautionary tone. “To maintain this fragile species requires protection of its habitat and avoidance of activities that disturb its sensitive larval stage. Thus, walking on the marshes where it lives should be avoided.” 

Story maps are a relatively new methodology for creatively displaying research findings. In the last five years, companies such as ESRI and design studios like Northwestern University’s Knight Lab have made available software packages that make it easy to create story maps on any computer.  

Similar to any new digital tool, however, story maps pose their own set of challenges. 

“One of the bigger struggles with these [maps] is to make them readable,” Chmura said. 

Questions such as simple colour scheme and language choice are common dilemmas faced by first time story map creators, who have the task of making results engaging and understandable for a wide audience. For Chmura, this audience was primarily conservationists, but she also acknowledged that story maps have immense potential as an educational tool. 

As water levels rise, marshes are moving inland and establishing new habitat spaces for species like the Maritime Ringlet, while pre-existing environments are flooded and lost. Chmura was frustrated by conservationists’ efforts to buy land that, in the near future, would be worthless for protecting these species. 

“I was concerned with making sure [that conservationists] prioritized [marshes] properly,” Chmura said. “You want a marsh that has a future.” 

Story maps and their distinct interactive character could be one of the most effective tools for conservation biology. At the intersection of art, digital media, geography, and conservation, the possibilities for story maps are seemingly endless, limited only by human imagination and the initiative of scientists who seek to tell a good story. 

McGill, News

McGill alumni lead panel to discuss challenges for women entrepreneurs

by Victor Wang on

More in McGill:

McGill Engine and Promoting Opportunities for Women in Engineering (POWE) hosted a panel featuring McGill Engineering alumni who spoke about their experiences with entrepreneurship. Specifically, the panel consisted of three women, including Boyana Stefanova (BEng’07), Naureen Anwar (BEng’10), and Laura Al Khoury (BEng’17), who reflected upon their successes, failures, and challenges thus far as leaders and innovators. 

During the panel, the speakers shared tips with the audience based on their past mistakes. Al Khoury, co-founder of Yuma, a service that provides convenient meal plans for companies and their workers, emphasized the importance of maintaining positive relationships with customers, especially in the early stages of a new company.

“At the beginning, the most important thing is observing your customers’ problems,” Al Khoury said. “Understand these problems and solve them as fast as possible.” 

Anwar, CEO of Name Shouts, a company that provides the proper pronunciation to over 360,000 names based on native speakers, also highlighted the importance of accessible and consistent communication with customers.

“Our first mistake is that we didn’t talk to our users as much as we should have,” Anwar said. “[That is] a mistake that I see many other entrepreneurs make.” 

Al Khoury and Anwar encouraged aspiring entrepreneurs to build networks with investors frequently and early on, as initial financial backing is crucial to entrepreneurial success.

“It is important to build relationships from the first day on,” Anwar said. “[Investors] give money to people whom they trust, and it is up to us to build that trust.”

The panelists also reflected on their time at McGill and suggested changes they would make given a chance to go back to university. 

“As an entrepreneur, it is important to be a storyteller,” Anwar said. “In terms of what [the Faculty of] Engineering didn’t give, I would definitely go back and get a degree in philosophy or art or literature.” 

To Al Khoury, the McGill community itself was a valuable place to meet like-minded peers, as she now realizes that much of her current team are McGill alumni. 

“[Campus] is where I built my initial network,” Khoury said. “If I could go back, I would spend more time building that network [because] I wouldn’t be where I am today without it.” 

On the other hand, Stefanova, the Community Builder at Mouvement des accélérateurs d’innovation du Québec (MAIN), an ecosystem of Quebec-based startups, praised Montreal for its diverse resources and abundance of young entrepreneurs. She urged the crowd to pursue their ideas with confidence. 

“[Montreal] is really quite a collaborative space,” Stefanova said. “There’s always a way to find people to jump into your project.” 

Al Khoury pointed to the strict discipline required to truly succeed as an entrepreneur, something which university students might not be exposed to. 

“In university, we’re generally not disciplined at all,” Al Khoury said. “The only consistent aspect of being an entrepreneur that I see is being very disciplined [but] making that shift is very hard.” 

While each panelist has found success in entrepreneurship, women entrepreneurs still face discrimination in the workplace. For Anwar, who leads her company with another woman, the challenges she faces go beyond daily interactions and are deeply rooted in society.  

“Sometimes we can give our 120 per cent but […] the system is against you,” Anwar said. “We still have lots of work to do.” 

The event concluded with a word from Janna Augustin and Michaela Deneva, members of Front Row Ventures, a student-run venture capital fund in Canada. 

Augustin and Deneva are also leaders of the Women Founders Project, an initiative that provides female entrepreneurs with workshops, master classes and panels. Together, they hope to educate and support young entrepreneurs in their initial journey. 

“[We will] have general discussions about identity, what it’s like to be a woman in that space,” Deneva said. “We are aiming to address the most common challenges that founders, especially female founders, can encounter.”

McGill, News

Sit-in at Trudeau’s office takes place in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en

by Abeer Almahdi & Rachel Habrih on

More in McGill:

Across Canada, students are mobilizing in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Nation in British Columbia (BC) that is resisting a Coastal GasLink pipeline project. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) raided and arrested protestors late on Feb. 6, enforcing a Dec. 31 2019 Supreme Court ruling that granted Coastal GasLink an expanded injunction. On Feb. 7, McGill students organized a sit-in at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s constituency office in Villeray. 

Catie Galbraith, co-Chair of the Indigenous Student Alliance and member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, explained how the sit-in is part of larger resistance movements across Canada and the US. 

“We’re here sitting in today in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en and all the other folks who are resisting the RCMP on their land, we’re here as part of a broader solidarity movement,” Galbraith said. “There’s been a number of Indigenous solidarity movements across Turtle Island, both in Canada and in the US, so we just wanted to do what little we can while we are […] here so far away [from B.C.]”

Ella, a recent McGill graduate and organizer of the sit-in,  described the planning and purposes of the demonstration. 

“[A sit-in] was the only thing I could do this morning, to be somewhere to show Canada somehow that I hate [Canadian authorities], or that I’m unhappy with how […] they are not listening to Indigenous folks,” Ella said. “I need to be here, I need to be somewhere [We] stand in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en peoples, and fuck the RCMP.”

Ella went on to explain that the sit-in was not a protest. 

“We’re not protestors,” Ella said.  “This is literally my life. I don’t protest. I don’t want my family to die, I don’t want my kin to die, I love my land, and I’m just done.” 

Amy Edward, a Kanienʼkehá꞉ka student, believes that the sit-in is a larger movement to both honor their ancestors and protect future generations. 

“It’s important to understand that Indigenous peoples are protectors,” Edward said. “We come here today in respect with a good mind and good heart. Even though we are rageful, we, as Indigenous peoples, always will remain respectful because that’s the way of our ancestors [We] are strengthened by the people seven generations before us, and our actions are for the goodness and the wellbeing of our kin seven generations from now. We’re not acting just for the peoples of today: We act for the wellbeing of our future.” 

The sit-in is only one example of the numerous displays of solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Nation on-and-off campus. Extinction Rebellion Quebec held a demonstration  that started in Kanesatake and marched to the Montreal RCMP office. The day after the initial RCMP raids of Feb. 7, there was a vigil at Place des Arts. Most recently, on Feb. 10, there was another sit-in at Trudeau’s constituency office from 3 – 5 p.m. According to Galbraith, Indigenous resistance is stronger than ever. 

“Between this, and between the Oka Crisis, and all of the incredible displays of sovereignty, I think we’re at a turning point where Indigenous people are stronger now than they’ve ever been in terms of asserting their sovereignty,” Galbraith said. “Everyone should pay attention and support however they can.”

Galbraith explained the numerous ways students can continue to support the Wet’suwet’en Nation in their efforts against Coastal GasLink, the RCMP, and the Canadian government. 

“Call your [Member of Parliament], call the BC RCMP office, call the government, call anybody you can, call any of your representatives, and if you are capable, offer financial support […] to the Unist’ot’en camp,” Galbraith said.  “Raise awareness through social media [and] get the word out.”

Student Life

Running toward a brighter future

by Jeffrey D’Ambrosio on

More in Student Life:

On Jan. 31, the McGill Students’ Cancer Society (MSCS) invited students to run around McGill’s favourite finals room for 12 hours straight for their seventh annual Relay for Life. After months of promotion and organization, the night kicked off at 8:30 p.m. with a welcoming ceremony and the introduction of the event’s many teams. By reaching out to other universities around Montreal, club coordinators brought together students from Concordia, UQÀM, McGill, and other schools in the area.  Many of these students rallied behind creative movie-based names including “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Life” and “Eat, Pray, Run!” Working closely with the three Canadian Cancer Society representatives supporting the university’s chapter, MSCS sought to raise awareness for contemporary cancer research, pursuing an ultimate goal of $30,000.

The overwhelming support from both the executive team and participants spoke volumes to the committed members of the Montreal community dedicated to fighting cancer. Spectators set up picnic blankets, sleeping bags, and lawn chairs to last through the night. Food was provided by a myriad of local sponsors such as McGill’s own Student Housing and Hospitality Services and Deville Dinerbar. Allegra Mendelson, U3 Arts and MSCS president, showed enthusiasm about the growing support of external sponsorships over the years.

“It’s unparalleled, we have over fifty different sponsors,” Mendelson said. “We were able to have all food and prizes provided whereas in the past, we’d have to negotiate deals or buy food ourselves.” 

As the Ontario division’s youth advocate in her years leading up to university, Mendelson helped found her high school’s cancer education group. In the past year, she has helped bring in larger sponsors to fund expenses such as the event’s food and prizes. Mendelson expressed great pride in the continual efforts of her executive team’s publicity efforts which have led to a yearly increase of the annual donation sum. 

“Last year saw a $10,000 increase [of participant contributions] from the previous year, and this year we’ve been on track to have a $5,000 increase,” Mendelson said. 

At 11:00 p.m., participants still showed incredible energy and devotion to the cause, spreading themselves across the track floor while eagerly awaiting to learn which team had raised the most funds and would therefore get to choose the movie that would be shown at 3 a.m. Sophia Stegeman, U2 Science and director of entertainment for MSCS, explained why they incorporated team-based activities throughout the event. 

“It’s not a competition between the teams, it’s all about rewarding the participants,” Stegeman said.

Stegeman described the effort that went into meticulously planning the night’s events such as heartfelt a cappella performances, a fierce lip sync battle, and the highly anticipated dodgeball tournament. 

“As an [executive], we’re constantly on our feet,” Stegeman said. “I’ve practically run the entire night [in previous years]”.

Having surpassed their donation goal with $31,609.74 raised, Relay for Life concluded with a celebratory round of Timbits for the hungry crowd. According to the Canadian Cancer Society’s website, half of this funding will go towards research grants. With clinical trials underway using new breakthroughs such as CRISPR, which can be used to manipulate a patient’s immune system to destroy previously undetectable cancer, the funds raised support advances in cancer treatment. The remaining half of the funding goes to supporting programs and resources like Relay for Life across the nation. In the spirit of Terry Fox, many participants kept running long into the night in solidarity with those currently affected. With such support, MSCS successfully proved that even one person’s willpower is enough to encourage students, faculty, and staff to look forward to a cancer-free future.

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV, Music

‘Miss Americana’ is a shallow depiction of stardom

by Joey Caplan on

More in Arts & Entertainment:

Taylor Swift—renowned singer-songwriter, multi-millionaire, 35-time Grammy award nominee, 10-time Grammy award winner, one-time Kendrick Lamar collaborator, two-time Kanye clasher, and attempted Pennsylvania political reformer—sits on her couch in tears because her then-recent album, Reputation, was not nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammys. This devastating moment occurs about halfway through the new Netflix documentary, Miss Americana, which revolves around country-pop idol Taylor Swift. As crushing as it might have been for Swift, the moment is impossible to relate to. Miss Americana tries to frame this moment as her “rock bottom” but it does not land: To the audience, this just seems like an outrageously inconsequential and self-indulgent moment for an already ludicrously famous person.  Furthermore, the doc glances over the fact that Reputation was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album, which further cushions the blow of Swift’s. 

Many will remember the infamous “Imma let you finish” moment: As Swift began her victorious speech at the 2009 Video Music Awards, Kanye West, the dastardly industry villain,  pounced on stage to declare Beyonce’s video one of the best of all time, and the true winner of the Best Female Video category in his head-canon. Both artists made amends, or at least until 2016, when Kanye released his song “Famous” in which he takes credit for her fame and callously suggests potential for intimacy between them. While the documentary rushes through the debacle, the same questions remain unanswered regarding Kanye allegedly getting permission to record the racy line: Did Swift actually give it the go-ahead, only to backtrack once it went public? Rather than discussing the controversy, the documentary rapidly moves on to more footage of Taylor writing songs on camera.

Real, important issues Swift has addressed in the past are also pushed to the wayside. While the film broaches more sensitive topics, such as Swift’s struggles with body image or her mother’s cancer diagnosis, it ultimately spends the majority of its runtime paying lip service to Swift’s career. Miss Americana constantly reverts back to embracing disingenuity. Her valiant attempt to make sure Pennsylvania’s election swung Democratic in 2018 could have been a moment of triumph in the narrative (despite the election’s unfortunate results), but instead it feels like the effort is a footnote in a film that would rather tell the tale of hardships easily overcome. Miss Americana’s sub-90 minute runtime is bloated with scenes that make Taylor appear approximately as entertaining as being stuck in traffic, which is especially frustrating when there is clearly evidence of at least some worthwhile points of interest among the monotony.

Miss Americana fails to offer any meaningful insight into the most allegedly “down-to-Earth popstar” on the planet. Taylor Swift has had a relatively easy life. If this film were a lighthearted flick about all the fun Swift has had touring and performing, it would not be such an easy target for ridicule. However, framing it in such a way that makes it seem like Swift finds adversity around every corner is frustrating and condescending. Miss Americana tries its best to make Swift appear vulnerable, but all it does is show her as she truly is: Dull.

 

 

Basketball, Sports

2020 NBA All-Star mock draft

by Adam Burton & Alec Regino on

More in Basketball:

The 2020 NBA All-Star Game draft may have come and gone, but The McGill Tribune thinks that things could and should have gone differently. Here’s a look at two alternate teams from the Tribune sports section. 

 

Team LeBron

Alec Regino

Bearing in mind the dynamic new format for the All-Star Game this year, Team LeBron is built for the playful, buddy-buddy nature. But do not be fooled—there are two clear reasons why LeBron’s team has won in the past: Raw talent and strong bonds. I’ll be drafting players with the understanding that LeBron’s previous success has been predicated on team chemistry.

First Round: Starters

Anthony Davis (pick #1)

I can’t imagine the fall out from not drafting your all-star teammate with your first pick. With their chemistry on the Lakers, the James-Davis one-two punch combo is simply too good to pass up. 

James Harden (#3)

The league’s leading scorer—averaging an astronomical 35.4 PPG—is an obvious choice for LeBron’s second pick: The All-Star Game is about getting buckets, and that is what Harden does.

Pascal Siakam (#5)

Pascal Siakam has had a career year following the loss of Kawhi to the Clippers. LeBron will be betting on the first-time all-star relishing the opportunity to put the clamps down on his former teammate in front of the league’s best players. 

Trae Young (#7)

While fun, Trae Young is just not on the same level as the other starters. At the very least, we will get to see what Young can do when he shares the court with talent that will make up for his defensive deficiencies.

Second Round: Reserves

Damian Lillard (#10), Ben Simmons (#12), Chris Paul (#14), Jayson Tatum (#16), Bam Adebayo (#18), Nikola Jokic (#20).

The Final Pick

Russell Westbrook (#22)

While LeBron would love to watch Westbrook chuck up terrible three-pointers or stomp down the lane and draw an offensive foul, he probably wants to win this game, so Westbrook gets picked last.

 

Team Giannis 

Adam Burton

Ever since losing to the Raptors in the 2019 Eastern Conference Finals, Giannis has been on a warpath to prove that he is the best player in the league. His loss in last year’s All-Star Game is sure to have him scouring basketballreference.com for hours in preparation for this year’s draft. With that in mind, I’ll be picking players most suited to Giannis’s dominant, high tempo, slash-and-kick offence. 

First Round: Starters

Kawhi Leonard (#2)

Fresh off a Finals victory, Kawhi is arguably the best player in the league. Giannis will need his incredibly efficient and overwhelmingly precise skills on both offence and defence. 

Luka Dončić  (#4)

Dončić is not just an unprecedented offensive talent; he is a symbol of the rising tide of young players that is slowly but surely flooding the league, harkening a new era of basketball. Giannis will be sure to include the second-year phenom as his deadly starting shooting guard.

Kemba Walker (#6)

Ever since his tenure began in Boston, fans would be hard-pressed to find a teammate that has anything bad to say about Walker. This is not hard to believe considering that he had the “good vibes Celtics” all over for Thanksgiving. In addition to being a straight-up good guy, Walker is also an elite point guard, capable of passing and scoring with a quick style of play that will take Team Giannis to the next level.

Joel Embiid (#8)

Despite his offensive production and health inconsistencies, Embiid has moments where he looks like the most dominant centre since Shaquille O’Neal. Considering the notoriety of the All-Star  Game, Embiid will be sure to bring his A-game.

Second Round: Reserves

Khris Middleton (#9), Jimmy Butler (#11), Kyle Lowry (#13), Brandon Ingram (#15), Domantas Sabonis (#17), Donovan Mitchell (#19).

The Final Pick

Rudy Gobert (#21)

Let’s face it: The All Star game isn’t a show of defensive abilities. Unfortunately for Gobert, that is most of what he brings to the table. While his talents definitely merit him a spot on the team, Gobert probably won’t see much playing time.

Arts & Entertainment, Theatre

Apocalypse is at the centre of Centaur Theatre’s ‘The Tropic of X’

by Guilherme Martins on

More in Arts & Entertainment:

At first glance, Caridad Svich’s The Tropic of X seems like an ordinary science fiction play depicting a dystopian future. However, it is clear that Svich grounded this political drama in reality. Criticizing North American colonialism, capitalism, and consumerism, the narrative becomes a commentary on the negative conditions that such structures create. The Tropic of X features an entertaining cast of actors with effective lighting, sound, and costume design techniques which contribute to its convincing depiction of the future.

The audience is greeted with a stage resembling an impoverished urban community. Graffiti on concrete walls, wooden huts lit by a single flickering light bulb, and mountains of garbage bags set the tone for the lives of people that have been discarded by the upper-class. Using explicit symbols of nationalist ideologies in the script, such as the forced use of English and suppression of any other language, The Tropic of X effectively communicates its themes of injustice without distracting the audience from the occurrences of its principal narrative. The two main characters, Mori (Braulio Elicer) and Maura (Arlen Aguayo Stewart), are two lovers comparable to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Their relationship is challenged by a society that is exploiting them for crimes like selling drugs and prostitution, which are their only means of providing for themselves. These themes are only an introduction to the darker occurrences of this performance, as agonizing fight scenes, and the prolonged torture of one of the characters standing bare-skinned, present the harsh reality of poor communities in an uncensored manner.

Mori and Maura’s romance relieves some of the play’s tension. The two are often seen playfully punching the air while making jokes about the last tourist they robbed. As the two look for any form of excitement in their monotonous lives, Kiki (Victor Andres Trelles Turgeon), a transgender woman who is an escort in the slums, seduces Mori into the drug trade. This ongoing conflict creates great tension between the characters, as what once started out as a friendship with Kiki becomes, for Mori, a risk of descending into a life of drug addiction, forcing him away from Maura. Hilton (Gitanjalijain) narrates the story as a radio host.  One such radio announcement warns of Fabian (Eric Davis), a mysterious character who prefers to stick to his cloak-and-dagger nature while he kidnaps new victims, tortures, and brainwashes them. Mori eventually becomes a victim of Fabian’s practices, leading Maura to a rescue mission driven by passion to save the love of her life. These five characters each portray a dog-eat-dog existence, in Svich’s criticism of a society too fixed on individual success and disregard for the impoverished. 

Vivid technical components complement the narrative extremely well, allowing a deeper immersion into the scene. Latin-style drums playing in the background, designed and composed by Mariano Franco, reflect the globalized nature of the world the characters inhabit. Other sound-related elements, such as the gunfire of police coming to dismantle drug operations, or the voices of characters communicating telepathically, add to the authenticity of the worldbuilding. Sonoyo Nishikawa’s lighting design is one of the performance’s most notable aspects, as blood-red hues douse the stage after a stabbing, or lights flash neon green and pink when the characters get high.

The Tropic of X is an explicit, daring play that is not afraid of depicting the realities of economic inequality. A diverse ensemble of characters whose stories are underscored by evocative technical elements make up an entertaining performance with realistic underlying themes. While the play may not be as romantic as Romeo and Juliet’s story, The Tropic of X is a cautionary tale that depicts what may arise from the political nature of the present.

McGill, News

SUS General Assembly does not meet quorum and supports the AUS

by Miguel Principe on

More in McGill:

The Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) convened on Feb. 5 for their first General Assembly (GA) of the Winter 2020 semester. While the majority of the executive team and representatives from the various departmental groups were in attendance, the meeting did not reach quorum for a GA, with only seven constituents present. 

Given the low turnout, gallery member Asa Kohn, U2 Science, inquired if SUS would plan another General Assembly this semester. SUS President Marjan Ghaz, responded by pointing out that GAs typically do not have high turnout. Despite this, Kohn urged the council to consider holding another one before the end of the school year. 

“All of [the] miscommunications and errors [lead] to a very low turnout of the GA,” Kohn said. “I hope the executives will consider holding another one, so that we, as constituents, can actually participate in democracy.”

During the meeting, motions to renew many of the SUS-backed fees were passed unanimously. This included the Science Undergraduate Research Awards, the SUS Ambassador Fund, and the SUS Work Study Program. 

Scheduled last was the motion for the approval of the timeline of the Winter 2020 SUS Election. At this point, the VP External for the Bachelor of Arts and Science Integrative Council (BASiC), Alexandra Millar, noted the recent motion put forward in the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) Legislative Council on extending the campaign period to include the election days. 

“This is something that was […] brought up at the AUS last week about the campaign period,” Millar said. “A lot of our constituents do not interact with our campaign material […] during the elections calendar. There’s talk of extending the campaign period during the polling sessions so that, for our constituents that do not really know [the candidates], can […] check people’s Facebook pages.”

Vice-President of the Physiology Undergraduate League of Students (PULS) Jamie Halperin was hesitant to introduce this policy during the SUS elections due to possible misconceptions by the student body.

“I personally find it really important to end the campaign period before voting,” Halperin said. “With Facebook events still active [during voting], people would say, ‘oh this candidate has 1200 people in there while this person only has 400’, or that ‘this candidate shared a bomb meme’. I just find that [by] having that campaign ending with the voting page, you get to [only] see each platform [and the] constituency can still reach [out] for more information. I think [that is] the purest form of democracy that we can have in student government.”

Speaker of the Council Haoyi Qiu reminded the gallery that the motion was for the dates of the election timeline rather than amendments regarding advertising during the campaign period. With no demands to extend the debating period, the dates were subsequently passed and the meeting was adjourned. 

Flashback:

The email announcing the GA was sent out on the night of Jan. 22, less than an hour before the supposed deadline to submit motions to the Speaker. According to the Speaker Qiu, they were still accepting proposals until the following Monday. The reasons for the delayed announcement were unknown due to the absence of the VP Communications, Karim Almallakh, but factors suggested by the Executive Administrator, Sydney Merritt, were the difficulty in booking a larger room for such events. 

Soundbite:

“Thank you for all your patience, I know it’s difficult to deal with a change of leadership so late in the year. I have my contact info listed, as well as my office hours […] so please do reach out on any questions about SUS you may have.” – President Marjan Ghazi, addressing the recent change in leadership following the resignation of former President Dylan Wong in December. 

Student Life

The Med Café reimagined

by Janine Xu on

More in Student Life:

On July 13, 2018, a fire broke out in McIntyre Medical Building, known among students as McMed. According to the CBC, the fire started on the outdoor terrace of the building, with most of the damage sustained on the fifth floor, where Med Café is located. This left the building without any dining locations. Though most of the building was up and running again by the following semester, Med Café remained closed until December 2019, when it quietly reopened with a renovated seating plan.

According to Marisa Albanese, the senior director of Student Housing and Hospitality Services (SHHS) at McGill, the re-opening of Med Café with a new seating plan, was a concerted effort that involved several McGill organizations working together.

“[SHHS] is responsible for food services on campus,” Albanese said. “We worked in collaboration with Facilities Management and the Faculty of Medicine [on this project]. There was an [in-depth] design process, and the whole area was renovated.”

While the previous seating area featured long tables reminiscent of a classic high school cafeteria, the new space feels warmer and more welcoming, with smaller, round tables. Additionally, the café added a lounge area in the back, which features carpeted flooring and colourful couches for students to relax on. Furthermore, more microwaves are now available in the seating area to allow students and staff to reheat food from home.

“What we want is for students to feel comfortable in the space, to study and […] hang out with their friends,” Albanese said. “You’ll notice that the back room […] was actually walled off before, so the Faculty of Medicine made a decision to tear down that wall and extend that space, [to] add more seating for students [….] You’ll notice [that there is more] window space [now]. We have a banquette that goes along the windows and seating, so you can actually sit outside while eating.”

Samuel Rahman, U3 Representative for Pharmacology Integrative League of Students (PILS), feels that the new cafeteria is a much more inviting and comfortable space compared to what it was before.

“The food is relatively the same, but the actual cafeteria is much nicer now,” Rahman said. “It’s actually [incredibly] nice. There are more seats, and if you actually go inside, there [are] sofas and a nice lounge area.”

While Med Café has made tremendous changes in revamping their appearance, the menu did not change drastically. Med Café offers the same selection of grab and go snacks, found in other spots on campus. There is also a self-serve salad bar and a hot food buffet that offers both vegetarian and vegan meals. Options for the hot food buffet are changed frequently to allow for a variety of food from different cuisines, ranging from roasted potatoes to Asian-style crispy pork belly with buns. These selections remain relatively homogenous to other campus-owned cafés, since many spots on campus are owned by one operator, Dana Hospitality. 

“The [food options] aren’t dramatically different,” Albanese said. “[They are fairly] similar [to what they were] in the past [….] The only difference is that there’s a new operator managing the café [….] That really [motivated] all of our cafeterias and all restaurants on campus to get started with the new vendor in June 2019.”

The re-opening of Med Café is important for students like Rahman, who work long hours in McMed. While the lower half of campus contains a multitude of food options within a short walking distance of each other, finding food on the upper side of campus—Stewart Biology and McMed—can be a trek. 

“I work in a lab on the 12th floor, so I’m always [in McMed],” Rahman said. “Med Café is one of the only places in the area [to easily grab food or a coffee]. The [second] closest option is Second Cup [inside the Stewart Biology building] or the Subway [located on Dr. Penfield]. It’s not great, [especially] the coffee at [Second Cup], which is expensive.”

Especially during the winter, McMed can feel isolating. Diana Di Lorio, U3 Representative for Physiology Undergraduate League of Students (PULS), is happy that Med Café offers more expansive food options than Second Cup. However, she believes that Med Café can still do better in terms of its pricing.

 “The options available in the café are on the pricey side,” Di Lorio said. “I’ve been to [… Med Café] during lunch hours and have seen more options than in the original, but [I still thought] it was pricey. In fact, I have [overheard] other people discussing the food prices [in Med Café] before, so I [don’t] think I’m [alone in this.]”

Issues with food affordability and availability have long been a point of discussion among McGill students. First-year students living in residence pay $5,975 for the mandatory meal plan, but often face a lack of options for their dietary restrictions. A 2017 article in The McGill Tribune argued that residence dining halls should have more gluten-free, vegan-friendly, and non-dairy items for students who need them. In 2014, the Tim Hortons in Redpath Library was controversially changed to a Premiere Moisson, sparking debates about rising food prices on campus. Posts complaining about expensive food and the lack of good quality food can be found all over r/McGill.

However, Albanese explained that her colleagues had given positive feedback on the menu pricing at the new Med Café, saying that the food that they had bought was cheaper than expected. 

“My understanding of the hot and cold food items that [can be] purchased there is [that they cost] about nine to 10 dollars, because it’s all about the weight,” Albanese said.

Rahman noted that he was surprised when Med Café had re-opened because it seemed out of the blue.

“I think it opened during late winter exams, but no one was here [so no one knew about it,]” Rahman said.

For now, Med Café remains a quiet affair, owing to the lack of announcements to its reopening.

“We [haven’t] done [any] advertising yet,” Albanese said. “We’re going to have a small launch very […] soon. We were set to have one last week, but we had to cancel unexpectedly.”

Even with some publicity, Med Café remains a cafeteria whose purpose is to serve the needs of the students and faculty who study and work in upper campus. With this purpose in mind, many students have voiced their admiration for its improvements in where they eat and study, as well as their disappointment in the lack of what to eat between their study period. 

Out on the Town, Student Life

Dining in a movie scene

by ET Wu on

More in Out on the Town:

This year, you can spice things up for Valentine’s Day by travelling through time. Le Roseline, located at 5014 Saint-Laurent, is the product of Jean-Marc Renaud’s work. With an illustrious career working on set design in TV shows and advertisements, Renaud opened a cafe-bar in December 2019 that recreates the atmosphere of Montreal in the ‘30s, giving customers a chance to experience what it would have been like to socialize in that era. Before going into the film industry, Renaud had previously been immersed in the world of dining but grew disillusioned with the field. Le Roseline represents his return with a new perspective on participating within the domain.

“So I said to myself, ‘I should try to go back into the restaurant industry, but with a different eye, a different way of doing it,’” Renaud said. “I didn’t like the energy back then which is why I quit, but now it’s different [….] I am going to combine all my experience doing movies and TV series, and I am going to create [a restaurant], like it is [in] a movie.”  

Renaud had a lot of experience with hospitality growing up. His parents converted their family home in the Sainte-Rose district in Laval into a restaurant. The memories he made during this period of his life contributed to the design of Le Roseline as he was inspired to recreate the environment of their hospitable family restaurant.

“When I finished [hotel management school], my parents opened their own restaurant in Sainte-Rose, Laval in our family home,” Renaud said. “It was a Victorian house, transformed into a restaurant, and maybe that’s why you look at the place here and you feel the homey kind of atmosphere.”

Renaud explained that he has always had a passion for design and wanted to be a furniture designer. He drew inspiration from a combination of his family, Montreal identity, and filmmaking expertise to create the atmosphere in Le Roseline. 

“It’s a combination of my roots, I am a 100 per cent Montrealer,” Renaud said. “[…] My grandma was a musician, she was in a band in the early ‘30s, so what I created in the middle is inspired by my grandma’s living room, with this kind of carpet [and] with the sofa.”  

Renaud also designed a menu that reflects the classic dishes of the time. The restaurant serves traditional dishes with minimal reinterpretation to fully capture the culture of Montreal cuisine at the time, which was heavily influenced by French culture. 

“[For example], the omelette norvégienne we do a flambé,” Renaud said. “No place in Montreal does [omelette norvégienne] flambé anymore […but] we decided to bring back this dessert that was very popular in the ‘30s. Even the cocktails, […] we have the Mary Pickford cocktail, we have the French 75, and the Old Fashioned. Mary Pickford was an early actor of the early ‘30s [who] came to Montreal in 1949 [and stayed at the] Queen Elizabeth Hotel, and they created a cocktail for her. We make it here because it is part of the experience [of 1930s Montreal].” 

Renaud adds that he hopes customers can get a real feel of what it was like to socialize and relax in the ‘30s, adding that people during that time were more at ease. Open Tuesday through Sunday, Le Roseline hopes to take customers  away from the stress of modern day reality. 

“It’s really the vibes of the early ‘30s you feel here,” Renaud said. “[… I wanted] to do something to transport people back to the old times [….] [I wanted to] do something that allows people to disconnect with their own reality and go back in time and see how it was [in 1930s Montreal].”

1 … 428 429 430 431 432 … 1,367

Read the latest issue

Read the latest issue