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Creative

Tribune Presents: Lonely Boa

by Aidan Martin on

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Lovely duo Lonely Boa joined us in the office for an afternoon of music self described as “classical orchestra meets loft rave meets ambient drone meditation.” Playing a selection from their upcoming album Chrysalia, Eve and Jess brought charisma and passion to our space.

Multimedia: So, where did you come up with the name ‘Lonely Boa’?

Eve: “My preferred answer is [that] I was walking alone from being out one night on a particularly dreary, emotional evening, when I came across a boa (like the pink feather kind) on the street. I thought to myself, “there’s just one lonely boa” and bam! A new band name was born. The real answer though, is “lonely boa” was a user’s alias on a shared google doc. In any case, I love the name Lonely Boa because it invokes the idea of how sometimes uniqueness or being different can make you feel lonely — something I used to struggle a lot with, and something I think people can identify with.”

M: What inspired you to start making music?

E: “I’ve been playing music since I was five years old. Both of my parents are professional classical musicians so it was a given that I would start an instrument from an early age. When I went to university, certain aspects of classical music culture, especially around performance, was something I really rejected. I was always annoyed at playing competitions and concerts as a teen and having to fit into this normative box of what to wear, how to act, and how to engage with an audience.”

M: How would you define your musical style and how has your sound changed since you started ‘Lonely Boa’?

E: “If I were to describe the musical style of Lonely Boa in terms of genre, I’d say [that] it’s like classical orchestra, meets loft rave, meets ambient drone meditation, meets 2000s emo music, meets Robyn, meets Owen Pallett. It’s all of those things, and yet none of them at the same time. I still carry a lot of the emotional weight of when I wrote those songs a few years ago, but now I like to produce music that is more vast and cathedral-like, but very intimate and powerful at the same time.”

M: What is the significance of Jess as your bandmate?

E: “Jess, oh Jess. I traded a bag of coffee beans for Jess and a pink hair crimper in 2016 off Bunz Trading Zone, and from the instant we met I knew there was something special about her. It took me years to understand that I’m drawn to Jess because she is this literal ‘floating head’ — a head without a body. For me, that feeling […] syncs up with what it can feel like to be trans, and my own experiences of dysphoria. I like the physical representation that Jess brings to Lonely Boa performances of that feeling, but in a subtle way. Plus, she’s just a really good singer — when she’s feeling up to performing at least.”

Lonely Boa is releasing an upcoming album, Chrysalia, in the new year. Catch her playing at La Vitrola on December 6 and keep track of what she’s up to on Instagram (@Lonely_Boa_Music), Facebook, Bandcamp and other streaming platforms.

Video by Aidan Martin and our Multimedia Team.

Gladys Hakizimana
Basketball, Know Your Athlete, Sports

Know Your Athlete: Gladys Hakizimana

by Sarah Farnand on

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Fifth-year Martlet basketball star guard Gladys Hakizimana has been involved with basketball from a young age. A Montreal native, Hakizimana has always enjoyed the competition and camaraderie of playing sports.

“I started playing basketball in elementary school,” Hakizimana said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “I was a really shy person, and my mom would always register me in different activities […], and [eventually], I fell in love with basketball.” 

There was no girls’ team at Hakizimana’s elementary school, so she played with the boys. 

“That’s why I am extra competitive now,” Hakizimana said.

Basketball, and sports in general, can teach valuable life lessons. Hakizimana noted how learning teamwork, discipline, and organization from sports have helped her succeed in other facets of her life, including school.

“I know [that] with [my] hectic schedule, I have to find ways to do my school work and do weights and cardio and find time to shoot the basketball,” Hakizimana said. “I really have to be organized.”

On top of classes, homework, and personal training, Hakizimana spends her Mondays working at a gym and has team practices in the evening. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, she has team practices from 6:00 to 8:30 a.m. With such a busy schedule, it is difficult for Hakizimana to have a traditional social life. However, she still manages to build strong relationships with her teammates. 

“If I’m not doing homework, I’m working, so there’s not really a social aspect to my life right now. But, [I have] no regrets, I love it,” Hakizimana said. “Being a part of this team, obviously I love the girls [….] They’re like my social life.” 

Hakizimana is an incredibly hard worker, and this has translated to many accomplishments on the court. Hakizimana cites the Martlet’s National Championship win in 2017, the first women’s basketball national title in McGill history, as her greatest accomplishment.

“The fact that we [had] one victory and four losses in the first semester, and we ended up winning the Provincial [Championship] and then winning [the] national [title], […] was just […] a miracle,” Hakizimana said. “I can’t forget. I have the ring at home, and the goal is to get another one.”

Outside of playing basketball, Hakizimana likes to read, listen to music, meditate, and do yoga. Yoga and meditation help her body recuperate after training and also keep her calm and positive. As far as books go, she enjoys the drama genre. Her favourite book to date is Black and White by Paul Volponi. 

“Even when I watch movies or Netflix, I will go to a drama category,” Hakizimana said. “I like scary movies too and scary books [….] I just like the suspense.” 

After McGill, Hakizimana does not know if she will continue playing basketball. 

“That was my dream as a kid, but I got a few bruises and injuries along the way,” she said. “But I’m going to think about it [and decide] soon.” 

Whether or not she continues to play basketball, Hakizimana plans to pursue a career in social work. 

“I want to help youth,” Hakizimana said. “I want to work with kids and young adults to be there for whatever they need me to be there for. Just help them go down the right path. I love helping, and I like listening, so that’s the main reason I went into social work.” 

Although her final season has had a rough start with, three losses so far, Hakizimana remains hopeful that results will improve over the rest of the season. 

“As a team we’re going [one] game at a time, so no pressure,” Hakizimana said. “But, we’re definitely trying to win Provincials and head to Nationals and hopefully go for the gold.”

Soccer, Sports

USWNT star Megan Rapinoe is fighting the good fight

by Miya Keilin on

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US Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT) star forward Megan Rapinoe accepted Glamour’s Woman of the Year award on Nov. 11. The two-time World Cup champion has a hefty collection of awards for accomplishments on the field, but her activism off it is what makes her a true champion. 

In September 2016, Rapinoe took a knee during the US national anthem before a National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) game, becoming one of just a few white American athletes to show solidarity with Colin Kaepenernick’s protest against police brutality and racism in the United States. She has also long been a part of the USWNT’s fight for equal pay: In March 2016, Rapinoe was among five USWNT members to file a complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunities commission, and in March 2019, she and 27 of her teammates filed a lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation, citing institutionalized gender discrimination. Additionally, Rapinoe continues to use her platform to speak out against homophobia and transphobia in both sports and society, working with groups like the Gay, Lesbian, & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and Athlete Ally. 

Many female athletes are thrust into an activist role because of the systemic sexism prevalent in sports, while their male counterparts have the privilege of being able to focus solely on their athletic careers. Rapinoe, however, recognizes that she cannot just advocate for gender or queer issues, with which she has personal experience. Oppression is intersectional, and while she may experience many barriers, she also benefits from certain privileges. 

In her acceptance speech at the 2019 Woman of the Year awards ceremony, Rapinoe was humble and emotional. She thanked Glamour and recognized the diversity of women receiving this year’s award. Early on, she acknowledged Kaepernick’s role in her rise to fame through her activism, noting that she would not be the activist she is today without him.  

“While I’m enjoying all of this unprecedented, and, frankly, a little bit uncomfortable, attention and personal success […], Colin Kaepernick is still effectively banned from the NFL for kneeling during the national anthem in protest of known and systematic police brutality against people of colour, known and systematic racial injustice, and known and systematic white supremacy,” Rapinoe said. “[…] It would be a slap in the face to Colin, and to so many other faces, not to acknowledge, and for me personally, [not] to work relentlessly to dismantle that system that benefits some [to] the detriment of others and, frankly, is quite literally tearing us apart in this country.”

Rapinoe consistently recognizes her privilege and uses her platform to give power to marginalized voices. She could have spent the bulk of her speech addressing her lawsuit and the issues female soccer players face; she could have spoken about queer issues and promoted her own activist work; she could have brought up Donald Trump’s Twitter attack against her during the World Cup and criticized the very real and dangerous consequences of his words and actions. These are all important issues, and they are issues that affect her personally. However, Rapinoe used her acceptance speech to share her platform.

“I’m not going to act like it wasn’t Colin Kaepernick, Tarana Burke and the #MeToo movement, Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi of Black Lives Matter, the women of Time’s Up, Harvey Milk, Gloria Steinem, Audre ‪Lorde, Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, and the injustices that so many others face that have put me in this very position,” Rapinoe said. “And I’m not going to act like my whiteness has nothing to do with me standing before you now.”

White athletes—and white people—would do well to follow Rapinoe’s lead by sharing their platforms to provide room for the voices of marginalized individuals. 

“We’ve got to switch the game up,” Rapinoe said. “Caring is cool. Lending your platform to others is cool. Sharing your knowledge and your success and your influence and your power is cool. Giving all the fucks is cool. Doing more is cool.”

Science & Technology

Rat Park and the War on Drugs

by Sophia Gorbounov on

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This year, VICE Studios released Rat Park, a documentary that dives into the socio-psychological causes of drug addiction. By looking at drug epidemics in three countries—Portugal, the United States, and the Philippines—the documentary focussed on how class, wealth, social status, life struggles, and politics play into the ongoing war on drugs. 

The title comes from an experiment performed by Canadian psychologist Bruce K. Alexander in 1978. He found that by keeping lab rats in isolation and giving them the choice between morphine and water drips, almost all chose the morphine, and many died. However, when the rats were placed in a sort of ‘rat haven’—a ‘rat park,’ as he called it—with open space, activities, and other rats, almost all of them preferred water to morphine. Thus, he concluded that there are numerous factors that cause someone to use hard drugs, and that addiction is not as simple as the drug itself. 

The documentary first peered into the life of Justin Kunzelman, a former drug user in Florida who has started a harm reduction not-for-profit organization called Rebel Recovery. Florida has had an ongoing opioid epidemic for nearly three decades. Before the so-called ‘pain clinics’ were recently shut down, opiates were easily accessible in the state. Now, many who have since become addicted to them have turned to the cheaper alternative: Heroin. With the government’s unsympathetic view of addicts who cannot simply stop using, it is up to organizations like Rebel Recovery to help them through their addiction in the safest environment possible. 

Next, the film covered Vincent Go, a photojournalist in Manila who is actively investigating the killings of drug-users that are being carried out by the controversial president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte. Since his declaration of the war on drugs, over 20,000 people have been killed due to suspicion of drug usage. 

Countries like Portugal, on the other hand, have taken things in the opposite direction. In 2001, Portugal decriminalized possession of all drugs, and according to the documentary, overdose deaths have decreased by 80 per cent since the law went into effect. Tiago Praca, a visual artist from Lisbon who had previously been used heroin and crack cocaine for over 20 years, explained why criminalizing and demonizing drug usage is ineffective in the film. 

“There will always be drugs,” Praca said. “So, if you want to solve […] the problem, you just have to change the attitude.”

Thomas Brown, an assistant professor of psychiatry at McGill, explained that Portugal’s success may cause other countries to follow suit. 

“The data from Portugal are promising, but decriminalization must be accompanied by a concerted, systematic, and an adequately supported bouquet of first, second, and third line preventative mental health strategies,” Brown wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune.

Norman White, a professor in the McGill Department of Psychology, agreed with Brown that decriminalization cannot be the sole solution. 

“It’s pretty clear that the current policy of trying to prohibit all aspects of drug commerce and use is a total failure,” White wrote. “Some kind of harm reduction approach is clearly indicated.” 

Brown supports the idea that drug addiction is a complex concept. 

“Contribution to addiction is multifaceted: Environmental factors including drug accessibility, poverty, early life stress and trauma, [and] social genetics [are all factors],” Brown wrote.

Indeed, Rat Park showcases that putting people—and rats—in an environment where they can thrive socially and experience a high quality of life drastically diminishes their propensity to turn to drugs.

Science & Technology

Science capsule: The first hot air balloon flight

by Angelina Giordano on

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Nov. 21, 2019 marked the 236th anniversary of the first untethered, manned hot air balloon flight. The flight was the result of the work of Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier, brothers from the small town of Vandalon, France. Their father’s lucrative paper company enabled them to fund their scientific endeavours and also provided them with lots of testing materials. The brothers discovered that filling a lightweight paper fabric bag with hot air caused the bag to float, since the heated air becomes lighter than its surrounding air, and the balloon rises. 

For hot air balloons to carry a 1,000-pound object, 65,000 cubic feet of air must be heated, a number equivalent to the weight of 2,560 hot tubs. The brothers, however, were not aware of this, and initially believed that they had found a new gas lighter than air.

Although the Montgolfier brothers’ 1783 hot air balloon flight was one of the first times that humans took to the skies, humanity’s itch to fly was present much earlier. After the invention of the kite in 400 BC China, people unsuccessfully tried to fly like birds by strapping wings to their arms.

The hot air balloon did, however, inspire further exploration into the world of flying. In 1799, George Cayley created a glider for humans to drift above the ground. Later, in 1891, Otto Lilienthal created a more complicated glider that could fly longer distances. With the help of the engine, Orville Wright piloted the ‘Flyer’ plane into the air in North Carolina in 1903. 

All of these flying machines used a mechanism to lift themselves off of the ground. Lift, weight, thrust, and drag are four forces that determine how high and fast a machine will take off into the air. While hot air balloons rise due to a temperature difference between the air in the balloon and that of the surrounding air, a plane is able to take off due to the shape of its wings. Since an airplane’s wings have a curved top shape with a flat bottom, the air is able to glide over the top of the wing faster than the air on the bottom, enabling it to take to the air.

The Montgolfier brothers first displayed their hot air balloon discovery on June 4, 1783 in Annonay, France, when they burned straw and wool to send an unmanned balloon 3,000 feet into the sky. In their second test, they sent a sheep, a rooster, and a duck into the air. At the time, a sheep’s physiology was considered similar to that of a human’s, making it a good non-human test subject. The duck and the rooster were the controls in the experiment, since they were used to flying, although the rooster to a much lesser degree. 

After these animals successfully completed their hot air balloon mission unharmed, the first human passengers took flight, achieving what had previously been considered an impossible task in front of an excited crowd.

“We observed [the balloon] lift off in the most majestic manner,” spectator Benjamin Franklin wrote in his journal. “When it reached around 250 feet [76 metres] in altitude, the intrepid voyagers lowered their hats to salute the spectators. We could not help feeling a certain mixture of awe and admiration.”

The sentiments that Benjamin Franklin expressed when viewing the majestic hot air balloon still hold true for people today. Every August in Montreal, the International Balloon Festival attracts people from all over the world to witness untethered, manned balloons jet off into the sky. The Montgolfier brothers would not be disappointed with the evolution of flight that their invention initiated and the joy that it has brought to generations.  

Arts & Entertainment, Music

‘Back to the House Concert’ is a rousing success

by Patrick Gilroy on

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Cramming 100 people inside an apartment kitchen is not easy. It also is not easy to play live rock music on a residential street without getting a noise complaint or two. But the “Back to the House Concert,” which raised funds for the charity Jam for Justice, managed to accomplish both.

The retro-themed house concert featured four artists playing back-to-back:  Enter the Mojo, Parker Konz, Societal Siege, and Alyssa Nazmi. Each act brought something unique to the show, but there was a clear through line: Fun. From the groovy keys and funky guitar riffs of Enter the Mojo to the punk-infused rock of Societal Siege, it was clear that everyone showed up to have a good time.

The night began with the timid ambiance of most house parties, which really get going about an hour or two after the posted start time. With the crowd slowly filtering in, Enter the Mojo probably got a better chance than anyone to show off their sound without crowd-noise. Playing covers of both Childish Gambino’s “Me and Your Mama” and “Redbone,” Enter the Mojo got everyone in the mood to dance, playing with technical skill that most amateur bands would envy.

But as the night went on, it became difficult to make out the specifics of what was happening on stage. From the start of Parker Konz’s set until late in the show, the crowd was so thick that the only way to see the performers was to climb onto the counter or to push to the front of the room. The fact that so many did is a testament to the atmosphere of the show. Instead of being a detriment, the chaos simply added to the setting’s intimate vibe. The concert increasingly became a rowdy and electric experience as the night went on. Parker Konz’s cover of Arcade Fire’s “The Suburbs” seemed a fitting late-decade tribute to one of the most successful indie acts from Montreal, and the crowd’s response proved that it still remains one of Generation Z’s most powerful anthems.

Despite how great each band was, the show really peaked with Societal Siege’s pulsing rock-and-roll set. What had been a present but simmering mosh pit throughout the night exploded into a frenetic boil. The original tunes that Societal Siege played were instantly catchy without being predictable, and they allowed everyone to get in on the energy. Multiple attendees launched themselves onto the crowd for a quick surf, and somehow the front rows stayed far enough away from the band to not interfere with their performance.

A DJ set by Alyssa capped off the night of music, which ended up lasting from 9:30 to well past midnight without feeling too long or stretched out. There were rooms in which to hang out and take a breather away from the music, with samosas and free drink samples for all. These spaces provided a nice touch to an already fantastic event, allowing concertgoers to take comfortable breaks over the course of the long night.

Four great acts entered one house and the crowd did the rest. The result was one of the best student-run indie concerts of the year.

Art, Arts & Entertainment

Knockin’ on heaven’s Fridge Door

by Vanessa Barron on

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A staple of the student art community on McGill campus, the Fridge Door Gallery (FDG) continuously offers high-quality programming, filling the absence of a formal fine art program. On Nov. 22, the FDG hosted their fall vernissage, In Present Tense, offering free wine, homemade bread, and art to the public. The event attracted a full crowd to the small venue, Espace 8. The FDG hosts two exhibitions each year displaying sculptures, paintings, and mixed media pieces from McGill student artists. In Present Tense was thoughtfully curated with earnest and intimate art, exploring what it means to carry the weight of the past in the present.

The theme for the exhibition was the “historical present,” a phrase often tossed around when discussing contemporary art, but one that is tricky to define. FDG’s curatorial statement describes it as the point when “our present become[s] our past—rational rather than affective.” 

Rather than an exact moment, the historical present tense is a transitional relationship between the present and past that the works attempt to catch. Many of the works feature bodies depicted in relation to time: As we are constantly in the process of ‘growing up,’ our lived experience are often expressed visually or through emotion.

Grace Pooley’s tapestry-sized acrylic paintings exemplify both the decay and fullness of life through paintings of women’s bodies. In a similar sense, Maddy Holton’s mixed media piece, //stain//, shows the material impact of lived reality on the clothes we wear, adorning space and time with the experience of a stain on a shirt. As the curatorial statement reads, “These works consider what it means to be a body in time-mutable, conditioned, and conditioning.”

A standout piece from the exhibition was a photograph entitled New Jacket by Marie Saadeh. Featured on the cover of the exhibition guide, the image encompasses the historical present gracefully in a captured moment of vulnerable transience. The picture depicts an older man trying on a jacket in a thrift store, examining the jacket and his own figure in the mirror. While he inspects the jacket from the side, he turns his head as if he is hesitant to confront the image before him. The jacket represents hope and possibility, a means of self-preservation and self presentation. The framing of the photo adds to the sense of intimacy—an out-of-focus door frame surrounds three sides of the picture, yet viewers get a crystal clear view of the man’s mirror image. The mundane act of buying a new jacket at a thrift store is incorporating a piece of history into your own. New Jacket gives an intimate look into a moment full of vulnerability and possibility.

The artists’ statements were beautifully eloquent, a testament to the fact that many of the student artists are in McGill’s Department of Art History and Communication Studies. Additionally, the inclusion of each artists’ Instagram handle next to the titles reflects the present state of the art world—often, the only way to access a student’s art collection is through online display. While the works in the gallery were presented in a physical form, many of them focused on digital subject matter. Gemma Else’s watercolour selfie series not only demonstrates that selfies are modern-day portraiture, but also comments on how they are displayed. Aidan Hepburn’s still-life window scenes were originally made on digital mediums, seeing it portrayed on a scale larger than a laptop screen allowed its intricate artistry to shine through in a public setting, far away from a private desktop. 

Overall, the vernissage was a delightful evening celebrating the artistic talent and passion of McGill’s student artists. Without a formal fine arts program at McGill, the FDG provides a valuable platform for promoting student creativity in a public setting.

McGill, News

Unsolicited phone call elicits concern from students about patient privacy

by Helen Wu on

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Social media posts made by a McGill student about the Student Wellness Hub sparked criticism about the Hub’s accessibility. Charlie Baranski, U3 Arts, tweeted on Nov. 15 about the Hub rescheduling a therapy appointment which he made over 80 days prior. Two hours later, he received an unsolicited phone call from one of the assistant directors of the Wellness Hub who wanted to address his tweet.

Baranski felt that his privacy was breached and expressed his frustration to The McGill Tribune.

“We spoke for about 15 minutes, and he told me [that] he got my number from my record and wanted to address my complaints,” Baranski said. “Obviously that was insane to me. I felt very uncomfortable knowing that my information had been accessed like that and I was thinking if I had been at the same place with my mental health as I was a couple years ago […] that would not have helped my situation to say the least.”

On Nov. 18, Baranski made a post on his Facebook page, suggesting that the Hub’s immediate response to his tweet demonstrated that public image was a higher priority to McGill administrators than student well-being. He discussed his concern for those in more dire mental health circumstances.

“It’s pretty obvious that the system at [McGill] is set up to protect [the] reputation of the Wellness Hub first and the health of students second,” Baranski said. “[This] is completely insane, because there are students at McGill who are more vulnerable than me, who are suffering because of this obsession [with] reputation. If they helped those students, their reputation will get better, because then the Facebook posts and tweets will get a lot better.”

In an email to the Tribune, Executive Director of Student Services Martine Gauthier explained that this issue has been addressed with student representatives, and that phone calls of such nature will not happen again.

“When we hear about students who have had trouble accessing services, we try to find solutions,” Gauthier wrote. “In some cases, we reach out by phone.  In our conversations with student representatives, it’s been made clear that expectations about communication have changed and that we need to stick to the platform on which we’re addressed [….] We deeply regret if we have offended students that found this intrusive.”

Student dissatisfaction regarding wait times to access services, physical inaccessibility of the building, and the cost of student health plans were highlighted during a protest outside the Brown Student Services Building on Nov. 12. Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Vice-President University Affairs Madeline Wilson emphasized more accessibility barriers that need to be addressed by the Hub.

“[Further barriers include] not having a counsellor dedicated for racialized students, not having a non-cisgender member of the Pride Team, not being able to afford the cost of private or community care they know they’ll be triaged out to, or not even being able to physically access the Brown Building because the button on the automatic door is broken,” Wilson wrote in an email to the Tribune.

Vera Romano, Director of the Student Wellness Hub, maintains that student feedback currently being collected will help the Hub increase its accessibility. Although three psychiatrists, six general practitioners (GP), and three nurses, have been added to the team during the Fall 2019 semester, Romano explained that the structure of Quebec’s healthcare system has limited the recruitment of healthcare professionals.

“The provincial health ministry doesn’t include hours spent with our students in the hours doctors are required to work, so all of our GPs give time above and beyond their already full workload,” Romano wrote in an email to the Tribune. “The average number of drop-ins with GPs has nearly doubled since the beginning of the semester [….] We have increased the average number of pre-booked appointments available by approximately 150 per cent.”

Baranski urges the Hub to use their resources more effectively.

“Get off the phone with me and give students the therapy [that] they need,” Baranski said.

Commentary, Opinion

SSMU Executives are not paid enough

by Yuecheng Huang on

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Many McGill students do not seem to hold Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) executives in high regard. In fact, one can easily find criticisms of these officials in student publications and on social media. What is more, the majority of students cannot even be bothered to vote in SSMU elections. Faced with these facts, it is only natural to start questioning the validity of a student-funded $30,000 annual salary for these apparently unpopular executives.

As students’ representatives to the McGill administration, however, SSMU executives carry a significant and crucial responsibility, one that comes with its fair share of work and stress. Any decrease of their salary would prove harmful for the health of the university’s student union, and disrespectful of the time and effort they put into their work. Being a SSMU executive is a full-time job, and therefore, it should be compensated as such. 

On Feb. 3, 2016, McGill students voted “no” to a SSMU semesterly fee increase which was designed to, among other things, fund the salaries of SSMU executives. Ben Ger, the SSMU president at the time, lamented the outcome of the vote. According to Ger, his pay does not adequately reflect the sheer volume of work the job requires from him and his fellow executives, who are expected to work a standard 40-hour work week, but routinely work up to 90 hours per week. Juggling class and work, SSMU executives regularly find themselves paid well below the $12.50 Quebec minimum wage. 

Individuals holding official positions in student unions across the country are unequivocally overworked to a damaging extent. Additionally, executives frequently find themselves the recipients of criticism from the student body, which can be equally harmful. In October of last year, then–Vice-President (External Affairs) Marina Cupido resigned due to mental health concerns. Beyond McGill, the  University of Toronto Students’ Union Vice-President External resigned last year over ‘mental trauma’ caused by an allegedly ‘toxic’ work environment. Similarly, the Concordia Student Union has expressed concern about their employees’ psychological well being, and are considering adopting extra measures to address mental health within the union. 

The insufficient salary of SSMU executives also hinders accessibility to students who wish to participate in student governance but do not have the means to do so. Indeed, students at the school pay some of the highest residence fees in the country. Many of them are also experiencing the financial pressure that comes with living alone for the first time. For these students, a mediocre salary, coupled with the stress of long hours, becomes a barrier to participation in student government. 

Despite the crushing pressure of their jobs and the endless tides of complaints directed against them, SSMU executives often prove to be fantastically productive. Annually, The McGill Tribune publishes a review detailing every acting SSMU executive’s achievements during the previous year, and the list is invariably extensive. The first floor of McLennan library is open 24 hours per day thanks to SSMU. Activity Nights and Frosh both exist as results of SSMU initiatives. This isn’t to say that the executives are perfect, a quick scroll through Reddit’s /r/McGill forum will give the reader a detailed description of SSMU’s flaws. But then again, no elected public representative can escape the criticism of those they represent. In a functional democracy, one could argue that it is precisely the elector’s role to keep the elected in check. 

SSMU executives’ low salary is indicative of a larger issue of undervalued labour on campus. Services such as Walksafe, the Sexual Assault Centre of McGill Student Society (SACOMSS), Nightline, and the Peer Support Centre do indispensable work, and are not nearly close to being compensated enough for their emotional labour. Students are forced to choose between extracurricular opportunities and financing their degrees; therefore, these opportunities must become more accessible. 

Listening to McGill students’ persistent criticism of SSMU executives, one might be surprised that they are paid anything at all for their labour. It is important to recognize, however, that these executives are faced with the severely demanding task of overseeing multiple aspects of student life, a responsibility that often comes at the cost of mental and financial stability. The modest annual salary of $30,000 given to SSMU executives is not nearly enough when one considers the significant sacrifices in time and effort they have made in service to McGill students.

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