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Martlets, Men's Varsity, Sports

Fall Season Recaps

by Jack Armstrong, Adam Bell, Adam Burton, Shaun Lalani, & Ender McDuff on

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Men’s Varsity Lacrosse:

The Men’s varsity lacrosse team had a bittersweet season that ended just shy of a championship. This season also served as a farewell to the team’s head coach of 17 seasons, Tim Murdoch. 

The team started the year strong with a commanding 13–9 victory over Nipissing University in their regular season opener. In their next game, the first of the season on home turf, McGill kept the momentum going, with an 8–7 double-overtime victory over Trent University in front of an excited home crowd. 

The team stayed red hot throughout the rest of the season, going 10–0 in conference play. Their only loss came in a midseason exhibition game to the University of Vermont, when they were beaten 22–2. Nevertheless, the team bounced back strong to finish the regular season with a commanding 20–4 victory over Carleton University and another close 5–3 win at Trent University. 

The Men’s Varsity team advanced to the Baggataway Cup Championship Tournament, which was hosted on home soil.  In the semi-final round, they faced Western University in front of a record-breaking crowd at Percival Molson Stadium. The team was up 4–1 at halftime and looked well on their way to a championship final appearance. A late-game push by Western was too much to handle, however, and McGill fell 6–5 to the eventual tournament champions.

Although it was a tough finish to the season, the McGill Men’s Varsity lacrosse team has plenty to be proud of and even more to celebrate. Head Coach Tim Murdoch stepped down from his position after a sensational 17-year career in which he guided the team to a record of 190–88–2. Next season will be one of change, but the Men’s Varsity team is well-positioned to return hungrier than ever in pursuit of a championship.  

 

Men’s and Women’s Cross Country:

Both the women’s and men’s cross country teams ran their last races in early November, bringing their 2019 seasons to a close. The Martlets came into the season with some of the best runners in the RSEQ and high expectations, which they certainly lived up to. Led by fourth-year Elizabeth Hirsch, the Martlets won an incredible four of their six meets, often by considerable margins. They opened their campaign with a resounding victory at the McGill Open on Sept. 15, in which five of their runners finished in the top 10;  Hirsch placed first and fourth-year Chloe Fleurent Gregoire followed in second place. The Martlets kept the momentum rolling all season and secured an impressive win at the RSEQ Championships. Four of McGill’s five runners finished in the top 10 out of 143 runners, with Hirsch finishing second and third-year Sandrine Veillette placing fourth, to help the Martlets edge out Université de Montréal by three points. The Martlets finished their season with a decent showing at the National Championships in Kingston, placing eighth out of 19 teams. They will no doubt look to build upon this season’s success and place even higher at the National Championships next year. 

The McGill men’s team did not have the same success as the Martlets, but their potential is undeniable: Five of their 12 runners this season were first-years including top runner Henry Wellenstein. The team struggled early on, finishing in the bottom half of their first two races. However, they improved noticeably as the season progressed, taking second at the Capital Cross Country Challenge in Ottawa and fifth at the RSEQ Championships, with Wellenstein finishing 15th overall. While the effort was not quite enough to qualify for the National Championships, McGill has high hopes that their young core can help them compete for a national championship in the near future. 

 

Men’s and Women’s Rugby:

The men’s season kicked off with an emphatic 47–15 win against the Harvard Crimson in the Covo Cup, an encouraging sign for the season to come. 

Unfortunately, McGill lost their regular season opener to their rival, the Concordia Stingers. This didn’t discourage the team, however, as McGill went the rest of the season undefeated, finishing with a record of 5–1, which was enough to place second in the RSEQ standings, just behind the Stingers. This momentum carried into the playoffs, where McGill secured an impressive 37–22 victory over the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees. Unfortunately, the men’s six-game winning streak came to an end against the Concordia Stingers in the RSEQ Championship final.

McGill faired decently at the Canadian Men’s Rugby National Championships, losing in the quarterfinals against the eventual tournament winner Queen’s University and placing sixth in the consolation tournament. 

Much of McGill’s success this season can be attributed to fourth-year second row Michael Nawafubo and second-year fullback Benjamin Russel. Both merited all-team status at the Canadian University Men’s Rugby Championship. 

Even though women’s rugby had a less successful year with an overall record of 1–6, their season wasn’t lacking in small victories.

The Martlets’ season opener against Bishop’s University was an electrifying late-game comeback that ended with McGill on top, 25–22. McGill had fourth-year fullback Dana Silerova to thank for this win: She tallied an impressive 15 points to lead the Martlets to their first victory in nearly two years. For this performance, she was recognized as the RSEQ athlete of the week. Silerova continued to lead the team throughout the season, nearly securing another win against the Bishop’s Gaiters on Sept. 15.

With Silerova staying on the team next year and new additions to the roster, the Martlets will look to build on their early successes next season.

 

Men’s and Women’s Soccer: 

Having lost a number of veterans the season prior, Martlet Soccer was in the process of rebuilding with nine new players introduced to the roster this season. Despite these changes, the team managed to clinch a playoff berth and finish 14 points ahead of fifth place Laval after going an impressive 14–9–1 on the season. The strong run came to an end after a closely contested semifinal game against the Université de Québec à Montréal (UQAM) Citadins, but the team still has plenty to be proud of: A 3–0 away trouncing of fierce rival Concordia University, as well as victories against the nationally-ranked Université de Montréal (UdeM) Carabins and Laval Rouge et Or, show that the Martlets are headed in the right direction. 

The Fall 2019 season was less successful for the McGill Men’s Varsity team, finishing the season three points short of a playoff spot. The team failed to pick up any points in their last four games, meaning that McGill missed out on the postseason for the first time since 2016 with a 12–3–2 record. Head Coach Marc Mounicot will lose three players this season including fourth-year forward Mehdi Ibn-Brahim, who finished the season as RSEQ’s top scorer. However, the team has gained valuable experience, and there is plenty of room for players to improve. Third-year forward Dalin Saheb is one prospect to watch out for: He finished the season with five goals, only three behind Ibn-Brahim.

Men’s Football:

McGill football’s 2019 season had mixed results. For the second year in a row, they finished third in the RSEQ, with an improved record of 3–5. The offence struggled at times, ranking last in the conference in rushing yards, total yards, and possession time per game. If not for the first week of the season’s 40–14 clobbering of Concordia, they would have ranked last in points scored, with an average of 11.5 points per game in their final eight matches. However, the defence anchored by fourth-year defensive tackle Andrew Seinet-Spaulding, arguably the best player in the country, was outstanding. Aside from Université Laval and the Université de Montréal, McGill limited most opponents to fewer than 17 points per game while creating the most turnovers in the league. A first-round exit in the playoffs was disappointing, but the future looks bright, as McGill look like the most likely candidate to challenge Laval and Montréal next season.

Arts & Entertainment

Another one bites the dust

by Patrick Gilroy on

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In another hit to the Montreal independent music scene, DIY co-op and underground punk-rock venue Katacombes will be shutting its doors at the end of 2019. In a Facebook post announcing the closure, the co-op reported that rising rent prices and other financial pressures were to blame.

This announcement follows a host of other independent venues that have had to close their doors or change locations in recent years. In early 2018, indie-scene staple Le Divan Orange shut down, unable to cope with rent and tax hikes. In February of the same year, Mile End coffee shop and music venue Le Cagibi announced its move from the intersection of Saint-Laurent and Saint- Viateur to a nearby space in Little Italy, also citing rising costs.  

Having hosted nearly 2,000 shows spanning many genres in the 13 years since it opened, Katacombes’ abrupt closure marks a severe loss for an increasingly gentrified Montreal neighbourhood. The Latin Quarter, which encompasses large portions of the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM) and the lower half of Saint-Denis Street, has seen an increase in rent prices in response to the development of the Quartier des Spectacles.   

This cultural development project, first proposed by the Quebec Association of the Record, Entertainment and Video Industry (ADISQ) at the 2002 Montreal Summit, intends to house 30 different performance halls. Pre-existing facilities such as Place des Arts and the Musée d’art contemporain (MAC) are included in this project and will be complemented by new constructions. In 2008, Mayor Gérald Tremblay claimed that the project’s $120 million budget would bring in nearly $1.9 billion in private investment. The Quartier des Spectacles subsumes the entire Quartier Latin, and its growth plays a role in the area’s increasing gentrification.

“[The] surrounding neighbourhood has been subject to redevelopment as of late with empty lots and older buildings being transformed into office and condo towers,” CHOM-FM radio station noted in their report on Katacombes’ closure. 

Whether or not this will happen to the lot the venue occupies is still to be seen.

In the Facebook comments of the post announcing the closure, owners of Katacombes guessed that the building will, at the very least, be demolished soon.

Without smaller, independent venues to serve as showcases for local artists, communities risk marginalizing musicians who may struggle to find alternative spaces to play. The loss of Katacombes is another blow to the local artistic identity of the Quartier Latin and to the strength of its legacy.

The replacement of underground hubs with large condos or other corporate driven enterprises severely harms the cultural development of individual neighbourhoods, and repercussions echo throughout the communities. 

In 2017, the City of Montreal claimed to be forming a committee with the goal of looking out for the success of smaller music venues. 

 “[We recognize] that a lot of places are fragile and that they provide a really valuable cultural service without getting any of the support, or any of the funding, that one gets for providing this absolutely essential input into our cultural landscape,” said Christine Gosselin, the city councillor member and executive committee member responsible for culture, heritage and city planning. 

The closure of Katacombes suggests a failure to translate these words into action. If the city refuses to stand up for small independent music venues, it will be up to individual community members to support their local artistic spaces. The venue’s closure marks the end of an important cultural artifact, and it hurts both the up-and-coming artists with nowhere to play and the music lovers with nowhere to go. 

Despite the closure, Katacombes will continue hosting shows until Dec. 31, giving regular spectators one last chance to support a local music staple.  

Emerging Trends, Student Life

Revealing a sense of identity through personal style

by Sophia White on

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I have always been fascinated by personal style, and I often wonder how our unique and individual styles are formed, what causes trends to come and go, and why we dress the way we do. Though we might assume that we can tell a lot about a person based on what they are wearing, in reality, we are only getting a small glimpse into their overall identity.

There is something refreshing and exhilarating about observing the street style in a diverse city like Montreal. For many, the city is a fresh start, a blank canvas for personal reinvention, and there is never any shortage of style inspiration walking down a crowded block in any one of Montreal’s neighbourhoods. From the quintessential Mile End toques and mushroom haircuts to sophisticated downtown workwear, Montrealers consistently express their histories, culture, opinions, and ideas through what they wear.

One possible influence on the development of individual style is the way people were raised and what they wore growing up. The clothes that people were exposed to as children have the potential to affect style choices in the present because they happen to be more available in their minds. Since sartorial tastes can come from subconscious places, it makes sense that our parents and other people we grew up around have the ability to affect our style choices just as they affect our mannerisms, behaviour, and personality. Additionally, people tend to gravitate towards the clothes that remind them of safety and that are associated with fond memories.

A staple of my own wardrobe is a brown suede jacket that I snagged a few years ago from my mother’s closet, much to her frustration. Not only is that jacket a vintage find that I’m sure would be difficult to get a duplicate of today, it also has deep sentimental value. My family used to take annual day trips every fall to a nearby orchard. As a kid, one of the highlights of those trips was the giant slides sitting atop makeshift hay stacks. I have a vivid mental image of my mom wearing that jacket as she slid down the giant slide, grinning from ear to ear with my younger brother in her arms. I might be inclined to purchase a similar jacket if I spotted it in a store today, but the sentimental value attached to the original makes me love hers even more.

Personal style at McGill tends to be highly creative and representative of our generation’s desire to experiment by trying out new trends and styles. Many undergraduates are still figuring out who they are and who they want to be, so for many, university is the opportunity to come into an identity, explore new things, and draw inspiration from peers.

Laura Cohendet, U3 Management, is a co-executive director for McGill’s Fashion Business Uncovered. Cohendet describes her own personal style as minimalistic with staple and long-lasting pieces.

“I like to invest in some quality, basic pieces and repurpose from there,” Cohendet said. “I got a pair of Levi’s jeans from Portobello Market in London, which is where a lot of designers go to seek inspiration and where individual merchants set up shops. You can find a lot of quality pieces there, and my jeans are vintage, so I paid more for them than I would for a pair of fast fashion jeans, but I wear them all the time.”

Cohendet noted that there are people with similar styles worldwide, which creates a sense of community in the fashion industry.

“Everyone has their own individualistic style and curates the image [that] they want to portray to the world every day when they wake up,” Cohendet said. “[…] I think that, within the world, even though you might feel like you’re dressing uniquely, there are other individuals maybe in Brazil or Paris that have similar styles, and that creates tribes that dress similarly [….] I think that everyone belongs to one of these tribes.”

Rachael Atkinson, U3 Management, finds it difficult to pin down her style, but is a big fan of thrifting a range of pieces and using them in different ways.

“My style is hard to define, and its influences are far and wide,” Atkinson said. “[…] But I like to thrift a lot, which gives me a lot of really interesting pieces and has developed my style so that it exists at both ends of the spectrum, from the classic Coco Chanel and Jackie O to the more eccentric and modern Comme des Garçons. I don’t necessarily have one go-to. I draw from […] everything.”

Advertising and mainstream fashion also strongly influence style. The more people see and are exposed to trendy pieces, the more likely they are to react positively to them without necessarily knowing why. If many people see a bizarre new style in a store window, only those with an interest in fashion or a real sense of adventure are likely to buy it immediately. But once everyone has seen it on a few people, scrolled through multiple ads for it, and started to recognize it as something normal, the piece can begin to move from the subconscious to the conscious mind, and the mainstream might end up giving it a try.

Trends also make it easier to fit in with our peers, as we see certain groups of people who identity with different ‘looks.’ Our brains are constantly picking up clues and signals from everyone around us, so it is likely that our styles sometimes resemble those of the people we are with the most.

A study in the online magazine Perception led by assistant cognitive science professor Mark Changizi of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute showed how direct and repeated exposure to ads increases consumer preference for promoted products, and explained why the most effective ads are often those that consumers do not even realize.

“The frequency with which an individual is visually exposed to an object can provide evidence of this expected gain, and our brains have developed mechanisms that exploit this information, rationally modulating our preferences,” Changizi said to ScienceDaily.

Our culture constantly bombards us with pressure to buy, accumulate, and always seek bigger and better. When it comes to clothes, no matter how full our closets are, many of us complain that we have nothing to wear. Consumers in the Western world generally believe that they are totally free to express themselves and dress how they please. At the same time, however, many try to conform to images from mainstream advertising and media as an approximation of their ideal image. There are norms and expectations imposed on us every day, and the clothes we wear vary according to our goals, jobs, and overall social position. 

Ultimately, style is the ability to sort through an abundance of options, make a distinct choice, and do so in a way that conforms to how we see ourselves and how we want to be seen. Style is a stamp of personal identity and a visible image to the world. It is an ode to creativity and novelty as well as an excursion into self-expression and our personalities. It is a reflection of our unique complexities as human beings, a self-knowledge and self-confidence expressed through what we choose to wear, and a life-affirming symbol of character and spirit.

Arts & Entertainment, Theatre

‘A History of Breathing’ explores faith and trauma in a fantastical hellscape

by Joey Caplan on

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What do you get when you cross a frog, a murderous soldier, and (maybe) god? This is the question that The McGill University Department of English Drama & Theatre Program ’s performance of  A History of Breathing attempts to answer. This outlandish play combines elements borrowed from creation myths and the post-apocalypse, two themes that appear fundamentally contradictory. While the premise is intriguing, A History of Breathing never seems to reach its potential, and the resolution fails to fully reconcile these themes. However, admirable work from the performers, as well as exceptionally creative set, costume, and lighting design shines through.

The play begins with an interpretation of a Indigenous creation myth: Toad (Oluchi Akinfenwa), Turtle (Cameron Leonard), and Muskrat (Kateryna Fylypchuk) sit on a boat, with no land in sight, waiting for a woman to fall from the sky. They bicker and bother each other, each of the actors committed to presenting the childlike curiosity of their characters.

The play shifts suddenly to a father and a daughter, also drifting along in a boat. The two of them bicker as well, primarily about inane subjects, but also dropping subtle hints as to what happened to this flooded, burning world, building a mysteriously lonely atmosphere. Maddy Corvino plays the daughter, and while her abilities as an actor shine through at certain, more restrained and emotional moments, the character’s near perpetual state of anger makes it difficult to relate to her. The father, played by Gabriela Ray, displays her acting chops, providing a calmer and more comforting presence to contrast the daughter’s fury.

After a while, a stray boat drifts along and its captain, played with captivating ambiguity by Cameron Leonard, offers the family some much needed nourishment in exchange for an oar. Is this man simply another survivor, or could he be god? The other boat, as well as the audience, is kept guessing, and this enigmatic newcomer provides a much needed change of pace.

Just before the end of the first act, the aforementioned murderous soldier is introduced along with his young, silent prodigy (Charlotte Gimlin). Arielle Shiri plays the soldier as an unpredictable allegory for the horrors of war, finally bringing a much needed sense of excitement to the story. Every word the soldier says takes on a sinister edge, making the soldier’s presence intimidating even if the script is not.

The costume design contributes greatly to the play’s dreary atmosphere. The father and daughter’s outfits suggest they were forced to escape with merely the clothes on their backs, while the captain curiously wears fishing attire, despite the apocalypse leaving everyone else entirely unprepared. Each of the animals’ attire is simple and charming, featuring a cap with frog’s eyes, a turtle shell, and a muskrat’s pelt, making it perfect for a creation myth. 

The first act featured creative set designs consisting of boats made to look like nondescript books, and lighting that conveyed the endlessness of the flooded territory. When the curtains opened at the beginning of the second act, the entire stage had changed: Instead of the minimalist combination of boats and lighting, the stage was populated with a massive, whimsically painted tree, a burning house, and  murals featuring demonic sheep. 

Unfortunately, the second act is nothing but a pretty face. While all the performances remain impressive and dynamic, the script itself becomes even more tangled in its own metaphors, unsure of whether it wants to be a commentary on violence, faith, or fatherhood, and promptly fails to deliver on all three. The creation myth aspect of the play contrasts with the murder and profanity of the rest of the production, which not only causes tonal whiplash between scenes, but becomes especially problematic when the two stories finally come together.

The play’s script might be disjointed at times, but every other element makes A History of Breathing more than worthwhile. The McGill Drama and Theatre Department proves that it can impress under any circumstances, and the amount of effort put into every scene left the audience breathless.

Off the Board, Opinion

In defence of texting like a man

by Caitlin Kindig on

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I am, for the most part, a happy person, but I would not be described as cheery by my friends or family. However, if you were to read one of my emails or Slack messages, I am a bubbly ball of joy. 

Until last week, I forced exclamation marks into my daily digital interactions. They were littered throughout text messages to my peers, Slack reminders to my coworkers, and even emails to my professors, littering my language with glyphs of false enthusiasm. My words did not feel like my own, and I started to despise my various empty correspondences. Eventually, I stopped including exclamation marks in my notes, instead opting for periods, or excluding punctuation altogether if the exchange was casual. Acting on this introspection, I felt immediately relieved, yet, I was met with strong opposition from my peers. I received replies like “Are you mad at me?” and “Is everything ok??” I tried reassuring them by using emoticons or elongated vowels in place of exclamation marks, but those do not come naturally to me either. 

Spending hours wondering whether to include exclamation marks in messages or not is a uniquely gendered experience: When someone receives written communication from a woman, they expect a certain degree of vivacity, and in most cases, it is delivered. According to a 2006 study published in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, women use more exclamation marks than men when writing emails in order to seem more friendly. However, when it comes to using an exclamation mark, women are put in a ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ situation: If you use them too much, you are unprofessional. If you use them too little, you are a bitch. If you use them because you feel like you have to, you are not being yourself. And, if you use them because it feels natural, you are supporting the patriarchy.

I find that the problem of overly amicable texting is rooted in the fact that women are socialized to conform to what men are comfortable with: An email lacking exclamation from a woman is often assumed to be cold or mean, while a similar email from a man is seen as casual workplace communication. Worrying about something as insignificant as exclamation marks is a form of emotional labour reserved for women subconsciously trying not to emasculate men. 

Recent studies affirm that women would benefit from being more assertive, more vocal, and from apologizing less. In my classes and workplace, I witness my female colleagues not advocating for themselves, and the results are devastating. A brilliant idea that a woman mumbles will be shouted by a man within seconds, and nearly every time, he will get the credit. The common denominator in assertion, vocality, and refusing to apologize, is that in order to get ahead in life, women should behave more like men. This idea is very unsettling, and what is more, I am disappointed in myself for upholding these stereotypically male ideals by being intense and insistent; although perhaps if I were a man, I would just be acting professionally. Communication within a professional context is a key element in the pay-gap between men and women: Workplaces are set up in a way that respects men who demand raises or promotions, and disregards their female counterparts for doing the same.

Instead of encouraging women to participate in this unnecessary and, quite frankly, obnoxious behaviour, we should inspire a culture that is not dominated by stereotypically male norms. I would love to live in a world where using exclamation marks was a universal way of expressing enthusiasm rather than a mark of femininity, and therefore inadequacy. For now, I will continue to operate in the gendered divide of communication. I will keep writing emails, Slack, and text messages the way a man would, and advocating for myself at the cost of being perceived as cold. 

 

Commentary, Opinion

McGill ignores invisible disabilities

by The COMS 411 Fall 2019 Class on

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Accessibility barriers are, unfortunately, part of the McGill University experience. Students at McGill have repeatedly reported a lack of silent study spaces on campus, and the closure of the Schulich Library and the University Centre—among other construction currently taking place on campus—exacerbates this problem. While the initiatives of on-campus advocacy groups, like the Arts Undergraduate Society’s (AUS) creation of McLennan’s “Tranquility Zone”, are commendable, we feel compelled to express some concerns about McGill’s accessibility barriers. In general, access needs for students with cognitive and physical disabilities are being overlooked. We are writing to ask McGill Administration that these access needs be prioritized, with the urgent recommendation that McGill implements more quiet spaces on campus. These issues are ongoing, and there are currently no short-term solutions for disability advocacy.

The students of COMS 411: Disability, Technology & Communication want to contribute to campus accessibility, which offers a place conducive to thinking about designing for disability. We did a survey of McGill’s current silent study and alternative spaces, reviewing each area based on specific design parameters. Based on our findings, the university’s conception of disability has been primarily concerned with spatial understandings of access and physical disability. The administration seems to understand intellectual disabilities and mental health as matters that do not require spatial considerations. However, these impairments do, in fact, require spatial accessibility policies. Intellectual disabilities, neurodiversity, and mental health are not one-dimensional, nor are they non-spatial. Accessibility goes beyond physical access to buildings, rooms, and washrooms, and has many different dimensions that need to be addressed to create truly accessible environments.

In our audit of the downtown campus, we evaluated light levels, acoustics, and chemical access, among other access categories, which are all crucial when designing accessible spaces. It is widely known that existing resources for students with cognitive and physical disabilities are sparse: For example, there are no quiet zones or rooms on campus that are specifically designed for students with disabilities. A quiet space is an area, zone, or room where one can access and evaluate their needs, rest, take a break, or relax. The absence of quiet spaces is an accessibility issue for students with cognitive disabilities and sensory sensitivities and should be built. 

There has been an effort to make existing spaces more physically accessible, but the administration must consider a wider spectrum of access needs and design spaces with disability in mind from the very beginning. 

Questions about accessibility issues from students are addressed superficially at best. Although the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD) has implemented the Accessible Media Room on the first floor of the McLennan-Redpath library and has offered accommodations such as note-takers, McGill still must recognise that there are more important and long-term needs for students with disabilities. Put simply, the university needs to make accommodations to make McGill’s campus safe, comfortable, and usable for students with cognitive or physical disabilities. Part of the current issue is that if information exists, it is difficult to access or find on McGill’s various web pages. As such, we are currently designing an accessible website which will include a directory of resources for students’ well-being, and a map for silent spaces, lounges, and hubs on campus. We hope that, in the future, this website will be transferred to the Wellness Hub or to another centralized resource, rendering it a long-term and ongoing project.

“There has been an effort to make existing spaces more physically accessible, but the administration must consider a wider spectrum of access needs and design spaces with disability in mind from the very beginning.”

While the university has made efforts toward promoting greater physical accessibility such as installing wheelchair ramps, wide doors with push buttons, and spacious stalls in washrooms, there is still a long way to go. We recommend that any decision to design a quiet space or on-campus resource for students with disabilities be built with a resonant material, or materials designed for specific disabilities, and that any space on campus is designed for a range of disabilities and access needs. Students with disabilities should be consulted and included in the decision-making processes regarding the creation of accessible spaces on campus. Without the input of these individuals, the university administration will continue its pattern of neglecting an important membership of McGill’s demographic. It is crucial that McGill and its community continue communicating about access needs, carve out accessible resources and work together on issues of accessibility on campus. 

Editorial, Opinion

Campus should be a safe space

by The McGill Tribune Editorial Board on

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As final exams approach and the sun sets earlier, more students will be walking to and from campus after sunset. The many construction projects around McGill’s campus make navigating the area more difficult and reduce the amount of well-lit areas for students to traverse. Consequently, McGill’s administration has a responsibility to increase the resources available to students who are made to feel vulnerable or unsafe and rethink the way security resources are used on campus. Not only do students have a right to be safe on campus, they have a right to feel safe as well.

The most basic issue regarding campus safety is lighting. The campus is poorly lit, and increasing visibility in common outdoor areas would make nighttime walkers feel safer on campus. In areas where construction has obstructed normally well-lit walkways, construction crews or the university could easily set up temporary lighting fixtures in darker, well-populated around campus. Construction on campus has also impeded access to the yellow emergency phones placed around the downtown campus. Making these more visible and accessible, especially near construction sites could help students feel safe at night. 

Campus organizations like Walksafe and Drivesafe are important resources that become even more crucial during this time of year. The Walksafe program is an ideal solution for someone walking home from campus late at night, but it is also helpful for individuals who participate in the many drinking oriented events that take place in Milton-Parc during November and December. Likewise, Drivesafe can prevent many intoxicated students from freezing on their way home from a party, but can be equally useful for first-years who live in residences such as Solin who do not want to either make a frigid walk home or use public transit late at night. However, both of these programs are funded by students and run by volunteers whose work is too emotionally intensive to be done without pay. McGill should step up to work with the Student’s Society of McGill University (SSMU) to fund both of these programs, as they are invaluable resources for students who are studying, partying, or just trying to get home safely. 

The way McGill organizes campus security also has ramifications for student safety. McGill outsources its security needs to private companies, however, it also employs full-time security agents who patrol campus and work directly for the university. This means there is inconsistency in the training, experience, and skills security guards have which, depending on the event or circumstance, could pose a threat to student wellbeing. There is an acute lack of information regarding the training that McGill security officers receive on the campus public safety website, and security officers from private companies are often not equipped with active listening or de-escalation training. In addition, McGill’s campus safety office chooses to distribute these officers counterintuitively: More security officers seem to be present on campus during the day than at night, when safety becomes a heightened concern. The way McGill uses security officers as resources is telling: Currently, security guards seemingly work to protect McGill’s priorities, such as the white tents erected on the lower field earlier this semester, which had almost constant security. While events like these remain heavily guarded, students walking home from the library at night remain acutely vulnerable.

Security officers should protect students and student interests by acting as a resource available in times of need. Instead, their reputation on campus positions them as authority figures who will reprimand those that disrupt the sense of order set by McGill’s administration. This power dynamic is only intensified for racialized students. Security on campus is in many ways a form of policing that is packaged differently. As they currently exist, McGill security officers do not represent a viable resource for a racialized student to reach out to in a crisis situation. No matter the diversity of McGill’s security force, security guards, like police, are not immune to racially profiling people. 

McGill needs to ensure that all of its security officers receive a uniform level of instruction, including active listening, de-escalation, and racial sensitivity training. Only this will give them adequate skills to serve McGill’s student body. In addition, McGill should seek to use its security resources more thoughtfully and, in doing so, let McGill students know that their safety matters. Finally, while it is certainly not the job of students to be campus security, all McGill students can create a safer environment by being careful, paying attention, and being active bystanders by helping those in need. 

 

Commentary, Opinion

Canada needs a high-speed rail system

by Kennedy McKee-Braide on

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In November, VIA Rail, the Crown corporation that controls passenger train travel in Canada, unveiled plans for a “high-frequency” train project along its Quebec City—Windsor corridor. Although the project will no doubt make travelling by train more pleasant, it is not a sufficient solution. Canada should avoid quick fixes and invest more money and resources into developing a national high-speed rail system. People living and travelling in Canada, such as McGill students, could stand to gain from convenient and accessible travel within the country.

For some, being at McGill can be a stressful and isolating experience, and many students are far from their loved ones. However, going home for a weekend to destress can be difficult due to the high cost of tickets, especially for flights, and the time it takes to travel there and back. For the 68.7 per cent of McGill students living elsewhere in  Canada, a quick train ride that is accessible and inexpensive could allow them to visit home more often. Those from outside of Canada can benefit, too; getting a change of scenery and experiencing new places can be great for one’s mental health. 

While trains from Montreal to cities like Ottawa, Toronto, and Quebec City are frequent and quite comfortable, they can also be expensive and tend to come with an abundance of delays. An economy ticket for a student may be under $50 if booked far in advance, but the prices for a last-minute ticket can rise to over $150. Delays are common, and more expensive routes, such as the 25-hour Vancouver — Edmonton train, costs hundreds of dollars, have at times experienced delays of a whole day or more. Since VIA Rail does not own the tracks it operates on, it is at the mercy of the Canadian National Railway, the freight railway that owns the rail system in Canada. Ultimately has control over scheduling, and tends to be responsible for these delays. 

 VIA has offered a potential solution to this issue. The newly announced high-frequency project proposes the construction of new dedicated tracks between Toronto and Ottawa, and between Montreal and Quebec City, which VIA claims will reduce travel times. However, there has yet to be a date set for the project’s completion. Many have long argued in favour of high-speed rail in the country for its shortened travel times and environmental benefits. Plus, the technology for such a project already exists—countries and regions including China, Russia, and all countries in the European Union have some sort of high-speed rail system in place. In Europe, most high-speed trains can travel at speeds of around 300 kilometres per hour. China’s network has a total length of 2,298 kilometres, which is promising considering Canada’s size. 

Despite these benefits, the closest Canada has come to realizing such a project was a Transport Canada study on hyperloop technology, a concept that has never been executed, and is in early stages of development. Companies like Canada’s Transpod and Virgin’s Hyperloop One claim that their pod-like system can travel at up to 1,000 kilometres per hour with minimal environmental impact, with a proposed travel time between Montreal and Toronto estimated at 39 minutes. While the concept is exciting, experts have expressed concerns regarding the system’s safety, citing its high pressure levels, which mean that a small defect could cause an explosion. Coupled with the fact that the technology is in its early stages, Canada should still work to create a high-speed system with technology that has proven safe and cost-effective.

Canada needs to catch up and make real improvements to its interprovincial transportation networks. Establishing a high-speed rail system could have significant environmental benefits and would encourage more people to travel within the country. A quicker and more efficient way to travel could bring many McGill students closer to not only their family, but also places in Canada that are inaccessible otherwise.

 

Commentary, Opinion

The lecture hall: The space where my two cultures met

by Sepideh Afshar on

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I was born in Iran, but my family and I moved to Canada when I was four-years-old. Although Farsi was my first language, English quickly became my dominant one and, even though I was surrounded by Iranian culture at home, at school I was being exposed to a completely different set of norms. While growing up with two different cultures allowed me to gain a unique perspective on many social and political issues, McGill played a pivotal role in my perception of my two conflicting identities—Canadian and Iranian—and allowed me to see them in a positive light. 

Growing up, it was impossible to ignore the glaring differences between my life and those of my friends at school. For example, we did not celebrate Thanksgiving or have huge Christmas dinners. On the other hand, when I went to Iranian language classes, it seemed that my family did not adhere to a lot of Iran’s social norms either. My dad, though still a Muslim, drank alcohol and made us ham sandwiches. The older I became, the more I needed to fit into a specific culture. I often felt too Westernized to be Iranian like my family, but too Middle Eastern to truly be Canadian. The height of my uncertainties came during the 2016 United States presidential elections, when suddenly my two identities were being pitted against each other. I thought that I had to justify that I was a Canadian, as if my citizenship was not enough, and I started feeling hyper-aware of the way that my Iranian name rolled off of Canadian tongues. I felt increasingly like I did not fit into either category. Thankfully, coming to university enabled me to start appreciating both of my cultures.

The presence of so many different cultures at McGill immediately made me feel more at ease. However, this did not happen immediately:  I was initially worried when I saw that a unit of one of my political science courses was, “Nuclear Weapons and the Case of Iran.” There were definitely moments of discomfort, such as sitting in class and hearing people disagree with the professor when he stated that ‘Iran was not a rogue state.’ Nevertheless, when I voiced my opinions in a conference, I felt welcomed for the first time in my life. Looking around the room and seeing others nod their heads, genuinely appreciating my perspective, gave me a sense of validation that I had not experienced in my education before. At McGill, I feel that my input is not discounted due to my personal connection with Iran, and if anything, I am listened to more intently.

My experience of feeling heard is only possible because of the nature of McGill as a university that embraces diversity and the respective outlooks that come with its students. Professors, TAs, and students who want topics to be approached in different ways become incredibly important. Academia is the first place where I have not felt the need to justify either of my cultural identities because, even if I am not always agreed with, I feel heard. I am learning that although it may be difficult on a personal level, and the feeling of not belonging might not disappear completely, my dual cultural identity offers a unique perspective in my education that is appreciated by my peers. 

Being surrounded by people from two or more cultures at McGill has made me proud of the uniqueness of my upbringing. Smaller things, like the fact that even though my family in Iran call every year at Christmas even though they do not celebrate, feel much more important. Details like having a Muslim dad who drinks and loves bacon do not feel quite as divisive. I am more appreciative than ever of my cultures, and I can only imagine how that appreciation will grow as my time at McGill continues. 

 

Features

Dumpster diving

by Emma Gillies on

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Canada produced 25 million tonnes of waste in 2016, ranking as one of the highest per-capita waste generators in the world. The non-residential sector, which includes industry and institutions such as universities, produces the majority of this waste. In the past year alone, McGill’s downtown campus has generated 1,454 tonnes of landfill waste and recycling, roughly 10 times the weight of a blue whale. Industry professionals are working to reduce these numbers, and achieving sustainability requires addressing this issue head-on. Since the City of Montreal does not offer waste and recycling services to institutions like McGill, the university forms its own contracts with the companies that haul garbage, recycling, and compost to nearby facilities.

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