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Arts & Entertainment, Theatre

‘Honour: Confessions of a Mumbai Courtesan’ brings the world of sex trafficking closer to home

by Asha Bittenbender on

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Before Honour: Confessions of a Mumbai Courtesan begins, the audience is plunged into complete and total darkness in the Montréal Arts Interculturels (MAI) theatre. When a spotlight comes up on writer and performer Dipti Mehta—her face partially obscured from our view by a colorful, bejeweled scarf—her figure is the only limb of reality extended to us in the alien space. The beginning of her one-woman show is not the only time the audience feels that Mehta is rescuing us.

The plot chronicles the life of a young girl named Rani, during the days leading up to her ‘first sale.’ Hers is the world of the courtesan, and she is about to join the adults who work in the trade.

Secondary characters include Rani’s mother, Chameli, a veteran prostitute sold by her own father at age 13. Now as an older woman, she presides over the little world of her daughter; their family friend Meena, a eunuch who helped raise Rani; and Shyam, whom Chameli raised but who now aspires to pimp out both Chameli and Rani.

Mehta plays all these roles herself, and those of prospective buyers. Her extended solo makes the isolation of the world she portrays palpable —alone onstage, her characters live isolated from men and women leading ‘civilian’ lives of marriage and babies, careers and education.

Her main character, Rani, sharply feels this isolation: Her youth and inexperience is impossible not to find endearing. The tensions of the world Mehta explores are present in her titular character as well–Rani is also streetwise, using the kinds of words that young women are not supposed to use,  understanding the desires of lecherous men she meets on the streets.

The supposed isolation of the world onstage is challenged by the presence of the audience in the Montreal theatre. As mature and capable as Rani seems, the audience very much wants to intervene: To stop the sale, to whisk Rani away, to rescue her. But we cannot.

The powerlessness the audience feels watching the plot progress is not the lesson to be taken away–rather it is the coal with which Mehta hopes to light a fire in audience members. The play’s program included research from the United Nations estimating that 24.9 million individuals are in forced labour situations, largely women who have become the victims of human trafficking. For every girl whose fate is sealed, there are thousands more who can be saved by intervention from those with the resources to do so. Panelists at a talkback after the show included an advocate for human trafficking and forced prostitution in Montreal. Her inclusion emphasized the message of the play: This issue is both locally and universally urgent.

Honour is not a lament, but rather a call to action. The issue of human trafficking, though dire, is not hopeless. Mehta’s performance, encompassing seven characters throughout the play, stands in stark contrast to the coerced position of her heroine. Her agency is exercised every time she slips out of a character and into a new one.

In her first appearance as the mother, Chameli, Mehta states: “This is the reality of a woman’s life: She pays for the sins of others.”

But each time her female characters do so, Mehta pulls a scarf from the lines suspending them around stage. By the last scene, she has gathered them in her arms, bearing their weight just as women are expected to bear debts; as the lights come down for the final time, she turns her back to her audience, and lets them fall.

 

Science & Technology, Student Research

A new era of precision medicine to start at McGill

by Owen Dunkley on

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There are three things that get doctors jazzed up: Sleep, coffee, and precision medicine. Caricatures aside, the next stage of medicine will likely include increasingly accurate diagnoses and personalized treatments that consider patients’ genetics, known as precision medicine. Large tissue sample collections and big data on tissue donors have been at the forefront of a new wave of medical research around the world, fuelling this progression. These annotated repositories, termed ‘biobanks,’ are commonly used for associating abnormal cellular or molecular biological markers—biomarkers—with disease. 

Although large biobanks exist in countries such as the UK, US, and China, smaller, local studies are critical validation tools for any healthcare system with distinct genetic diversity. Ayat Salman, a PhD student in the Department of Family Medicine, believes that Quebec’s medical record-keeping infrastructure is limiting the ability to track chronic diseases in the population. Currently, a large portion of medical write-ups in Quebec are stored as scans of doctors’ scribblings on paper, and fax machines govern most communication between hospitals. According to Salman, this antiquated system limits researchers from searching for or codifying data from years of tissue donors’ previous visits to their doctors, potentially letting important flags of chronic disease to go unnoticed. 

“Each tissue has a story associated with it,” Salman said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “The family doctor who keeps a record of regular visits is a good source to tell that story.” 

To gain access to this resource, Salman is pushing for the implementation of standardized electronic medical records across family doctors’ offices in Quebec, so that biobank researchers need not go on furious fax chases to gain knowledge on patients. 

Although much information could be gained from the general practitioner’s office, donors might soon be able to help draw connections between lifestyle and disease by contributing data collected from health-tracking applications to certain biobanks. Montreal has seen a recent boom in app-based health startups. 

“There are so many small companies with great software out there that can be put together and used [in a centralized] biobank,” Salman said. 

When performed in a calculated, secure, and ethical way, data collection on a large scale could catapult Quebec into a new age of understanding chronic diseases.

The information that we gain from biomarker research is only half the battle in providing the public with quality medical care. Professor Vincent Mooser, the new Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Genomic Medicine who joined McGill’s Department of Human Genetics in August, wants to apply biomarker research to develop new therapies.

“[The other half] involves clinical trials to show that [the information gained from biobanking research] can be used for drug discovery and drug development,” Mooser said.

With the help of more than $25 million in funding over the next seven years and an enterprising research program, Mooser hopes to catalyze the world-class biomedical infrastructure at the university and move genomic research-based therapies into the doctor’s office. 

“[Many studies] have already linked biomarkers with disease,” Mooser said. “I am hoping to show that what they found is clinically useful and can actually be translated towards new drug discoveries.”

Mooser is hoping to solve the quandary that if a doctor identifies a disease biomarker in a patient but does not have a proven way to adjust his treatment accordingly, then the initial test for the biomarker serves no clinical purpose. If Mooser and his team succeed in their ambitious goals for the coming decade, McGill may soon be at the centre of a new era in genome-based drug development.

The biomedical field is at the cusp of a revolution in the way that disease is treated, and McGill appears to be keeping with the times. Salman and Mooser have different approaches to precision medicine in Canada, but they share a strong drive to advance evidence-based care towards a future of precision and prevention.

Art, Arts & Entertainment

Le Cartel’s gallery opening is an homage to street art

by Vanessa Barron on

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Montreal-based clothing brand Le Cartel hosted its first gallery event at their brick and mortar store in the Mile End on Oct. 11. In addition to their Fall 2019 clothing line, the event had multiple DJ sets, a cocktail bar, and a flash tattoo station. The work of visual artists, such as William Houde, Aurelien Saly, and HRVB, were prominently featured on the walls, posters, t-shirts, and tattoos. Through all these forms, the event connected street art with streetwear as a style that permeates public space.

Founded in 2015, Le Cartel produces streetwear collections in collaboration with Montreal artists. Their past collections feature works from artists like illustrator KRUMP and muralist Monosourcil among many others. Their purpose as an organisation, according to their Instagram bio, is to explore the intersection between fashion and art. Le Cartel’s Fall 2019 collection features the intricate and groovy artwork of Epithumia Rose, a multidisciplinary artist known for her tattoo work, which she has practiced in studios across the world. Her designs feature on the backs of simple t-shirts, with the brand’s logo on the front. The art on these shirts is as sophisticated as that which would appear in a painting in a gallery.

While Le Cartel hosted the event, their clothes were hardly its focus: A throng of PBR drinking young professionals mingled near a dozen t-shirts hanging on the wall, but most patrons were there for other types of art that decorated spaces and bodies. A makeshift tattoo parlour in the corner of the room complemented the designs on both the t-shirts and on the walls. 

Large graffiti pieces and duplicate posters by the German artist, HRVB, adorned the walls of the large event space. Originally from East Berlin, HRVB’s art is an homage to ‘90s rave culture, heavily influenced by the cultural and political climate that accompanied the fall of the Berlin Wall. Aptly titled ‘Berlin Calling,’ his work often includes pop culture characters like Mario and Lego figurines. As a nod to East Berlin’s history as a socialist state, these symbols of Western consumer culture are manipulated into high art, only to be plastered across buildings like advertisements. The format of the works themselves pertains to the setting of the street: Graffiti is often site-specific, whereas posters are designed to be reproduced and hung in a location of the owner’s choosing. Surprisingly, one of the highlights of the event was the bathroom stalls, where pop art style posters lined every inch of the walls; patrons could take these posters home with them as memorabilia. This process of art reproduction parallels streetwear itself: Taking artistic ideas from someone else on the street, and repurposing it in another space. 

Street art, like graffiti and posters, is heavily informed by the space that it occupies. Similarly, streetwear has a sense of locality because it incorporates local influences and pop culture. While Le Cartel market themselves as the link between art and fashion, the art featured on the shirts is far more important than the garments’ construction. The fact that t-shirts are a staple of streetwear around the globe shows that the visual print design is essential to making an artistic statement, rather than the way it is worn. To some, it might seem excessive to pay so much for just a shirt or a hoodie but at least you know where that money’s going–directly into the pockets of Montreal artists. Streetwear like Le Cartel speaks to a city’s pride in its own artistic scene in the form of wearable art.

Fact or Fiction, Science & Technology

Fact or Fiction: The impact of hunting on animal populations

by Margaret Wdowiak on

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Hunting has often been suggested as an effective means of controlling animal populations. Yet, hunting can be beneficial in some instances and harmful in others. 

Hunting can actually help fund conservation: In the US, hunters generate millions of dollars for conservation efforts through excise taxes and licence fees. In Sub-Saharan Africa, trophy hunting, the government-licensed shooting of big-game animals such as lions, raises more than 200 million dollars a year for conservation purposes. 

Another benefit of hunting is its effect on local communities, which profit off of increased revenue from hunting. This gives them an incentive to preserve animals and the environment. 

According to Kyle Elliott, an associate professor in the Department of Natural Resource Sciences at McGill, hunting can also help improve the health of certain animal populations.

“In some cases, hunting prevents overpopulation and [its] associated diseases and hardships, so individuals may be in better condition because they have less competition from other individuals,” Elliott wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune. 

Hunting is also a useful mechanism for controlling populations of invasive species.

“Hunting can clearly help increase the populations of species that are in competition or predated by the species being hunted,” Elliott wrote. “For example, hunting […] wolves can increase deer and moose populations.”

Yet, despite the good that hunting can do, it can also create environmentally harmful consequences, the most serious of which are overhunting and species extinctions. 

“Most species of animals that have gone extinct in North America have gone extinct due to overhunting,” Elliot wrote. 

One of the most notable examples of overhunting in North America is the extinction of the passenger pigeon. In Africa, too, regulated hunting can drive species closer to extinction. Trophy hunters, who are responsible for killing 600 lions each year and tend to target males, often destabilize lion populations. They also kill animals from populations that are already declining, which is particularly alarming given that 75 per cent of the African lion population have been killed in the last 20 years. 

Trophy hunting often provides a cover for, and consequently increases, poaching. To continue reaping the financial benefits of this practice, groups inflate animal numbers and even pressure the government to raise hunting quotas. 

Furthermore, hunting license fees can adversely affect ecosystem health. The revenue from these fees often increases the population size of big game target species, leading to overpopulation at the expense of countless non-game species. This results in reduced biological diversity, genetic integrity, and ecological balance. 

While hunting invasive species is often a management strategy to save native populations, it can also put these species at risk. 

“Some groups encourage the hunting or harvesting of invasive species to control populations,” Elliott wrote. “This can be effective, but can lead to a market for related species or species in their native range.”

By creating a market for invasive species in their natural habitat, humans endanger these species and degrade these native ecological systems beyond repair. For example, the overhunting of frugivores—fruit-eating animals—hinders seed dispersal, thus reducing tree diversity and overall forest biodiversity. 

Ultimately, using hunting as a management strategy is the result of previous human intervention. In North America, white-tailed deer populations are now abundant, after humans hunted down predator wolf populations. Hunting is often seen as a way to manage these deer populations and prevent habitat destruction, though research shows that it is not always successful. Other options include culling, or selectively killing individuals; translocating individuals; and preventing reproduction through sterilization.

Whether hunting is a useful conservation tool depends heavily on geography, species, and who you ask. In some circumstances, it is appropriate and beneficial. In others, it does much more harm than good.

wives and girlfriends
Behind the Bench, Sports

Behind the Bench: More than her husband

by Kaja Surborg on

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Internet personality and wife of English professional soccer player Wayne Rooney, Coleen Rooney, rocked Twitter on Oct. 9 with her claim that Rebekah Vardy, a competitor on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! and wife of Jamie Vardy, had been leaking personal details of Rooney’s life to British tabloid paper The Sun. The Guardian almost immediately released multiple articles covering the scandal and breaking down Rooney’s scheme to catch Vardy in the act. The whole affair raised the question of why this was getting so much media attention from both tabloid and news outlets. 

Rooney and Vardy are both married to professional English soccer players. While Rooney and Vardy have large social media followings and have appeared on reality television shows, there are plenty of female partners of male professional athletes that deliberately avoid the public eye. Regardless of their online or public personas, many of these women are continually reported on by tabloid news, gossip sites, and even fan accounts on Instagram and Twitter, simply because they are married to or dating famous athletes. The obsession with male athletes’ wives and girlfriends has even led to a colloquial acronym: WAGs, short for “wives and girlfriends.” Rooney was even referred to as “Wagatha Christie” on Twitter–a title that essentially reduces her to being the wife of Wayne Rooney. 

In October 2018, The Daily Star published a story about an Instagram post from Anna Lewandowska, a Polish national karate champion who happens to be married to Robert Lewandowski of FC Bayern Munich and the Polish national soccer team. The story covered a series of negative comments left on the post, most of which seem to blame her for her husband’s team losing a game shortly after the photo went up. Covering the online hate that women receive seems harmless at first glance, but continuing down the single-sentence paragraphs that make up all good tabloid journalism, it emerges that The Daily Star’s defence of Lewandowska is that she is “devoted” to her husband. The implication is that had she not fit the publication’s definition of “devotion,” she would deserve the hate that she received from FC Bayern’s fans. Rather than being worthy of respect because she is a human being, she is deemed worthy of respect because of her husband and her devotion to him. The article also refers to Lewandowska as a “fitness blogger”–a term that is reductive at best. Lewandowska is a retired Polish, European, and world karate championship medalist who now runs a hugely successful fitness empire in Poland with a line of healthy foods and nutrition supplements, baby clothes, and fitness programs. Her assets are estimated to be worth 47 million euros. 

There are endless examples of athletes’ wives being described as everything from “blonde beauty” to “brunette entrepreneur,” but two central themes emerge throughout all of the articles and social media posts: Their appearances and their role in their husband’s lives. Both of these trends in describing the wives and girlfriends of famous athletes dehumanize them, dismissing the possibility that they have any independence as human beings and any worth outside of their physical appearance and their husbands or boyfriends. 

The recent coverage of the conflict between Rooney and Vardy, while hugely sensationalized, was rare in that it focused the story on the actions of the women involved, not on their husbands or their hair colour. But plenty of players’ partners who have worked to build their own brands and careers are still consistently painted as having no autonomy. Unfortunately, conflict and scandal seem to be the only ways for these women to be seen as people capable of being their own person. 

Editorial, Opinion

Racial profiling in Montreal threatens safety of racialized people

by The McGill Tribune Editorial Board on

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A report released by three professors at l’Université de Montreal released on Oct. 7 found that the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) were 11 times more likely to stop Indigenous women on the street than white women, four to five times more likely to subject black and Indigenous people to street checks, and twice as likely to stop people of Arab descent compared to white people. These numbers reflect the reality of people of colour living in Montreal, who experience systemic racism in their daily lives and exist within racist institutions. Montreal and McGill have an obligation to protect the safety and dignity of racialized people and to prioritize anti-oppressive approaches to security.

While this report was one of the first to quantify it, the SPVM has a long history of racial profiling. From the SPVM’s action plan against social and racial profiling’s creation in 2017, only one third of the plan was implemented, resulting in little noticable improvement. The police service’s most recent action plan—released in 2018—was criticized for using ambiguous language that created loopholes for racial profiling. For example,  In Feb. 2019, Montreal mayor Valérie Plante and the SPVM chose not to outfit officers with body cameras, citing high costs as well as police feeling “too surveilled” while on the job. However, Montrealers of colour spoke of experiencing stress, trauma, or anxiety after facing police abuse or being “arbitrarily watched, stopped, and detained.” Body cameras have been proven to reduce violence; a mild sense of surveillance for the SPVM team is a reasonable trade-off for the preservation of the safety and wellbeing of racialized people. 

Given these past failures in accountability and integrity, it is vital that the SPVM maintain transparency with their next steps to address the racial profiling crisis.

The racial profiling report, which was commissioned by the City of Montreal, comes in the wake of the release of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls report on June 3. This report includes a supplemental document that addresses the language barrier in Quebec that endangers Indigenous peoples in Montreal during their encounters with French-speaking police officers. Following the closure of residential schools (where many Indigenous children were forced to speak only English) many Indigenous people were relocated to Montreal without any French skills. Insensitivity and violence towards Indigenous peoples in Montreal by the police has been reported countless times and language barriers only exacerbate the issue. The SPVM must heed the calls against their mistreatment and take steps to address language barriers if any real change is to occur.

Institutional racism expands beyond the SPVM and affects McGill students of colour on-and off-campus. Being a student is a temporary identity, while racial identity is permanent. Students of colour on campus face challenges that white students will never have to endure.

In Quebec, the government’s implementation of Bill 21 in June validated racism, Islamophobia, and xenophobia on a provincial level. The Bill, which prohibits public sector employees from wearing visible religious symbols, disproportionately disadvantages people of colour. In addition to validating racist discrimination, the Bill also whitens the already primarily caucasian police service’s hiring pool. By barring citizens who wear visible religious symbols from joining the police force, Bill 21 systematically weeds out people of colour. 

A rise in police-reported hate crimes following the Bill were attributed to the emboldening and legitimizing of racist attitudes by Bill 21. The Bill reinforces a culture of white supremacy within which the SPVM can practice socially-acceptable discrimination.

At McGill, systemic racism must also be addressed by providing campus security with anti-oppression and de-escalation training. McGill’s floor fellows also play an integral role in fostering a safer environment for these racialized students in residences and their anti-oppression training should be prioritized and improved to ensure a safer space for students. Moreover, SMMU’s “Know Your Student Rights” campaign could be extended to legal rights to help educate racialized students on their rights when confronted by police. While asserting these rights may not be safe in all instances, having knowledge of these rights could be useful.

While McGill is a primarily white space, all students can support student groups including the Black Students’ Network and the Indian Students’ Association in fighting racial injustice. Students can be supportive by being attentive to student movements and petitions such as the gofundme campaign that was created to assist McGill student Jean Kagame with legal fees related to an incident of anti-black racial profiling. Moreover, casting a vote in the federal election on Oct. 21 is one of the easiest ways that students can help the effort. Systemic racism, missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and racial profiling are disturbing realities that must not be overlooked when choosing how to cast one’s vote. Moreover, blatantly racist incidents like when the Bloc Quebecois recently urged white Quebecers to elect politicians who look like them must be condemned for their statements. 

The recent racial profiling study calls for a change in culture and practice at the SPVM. Moreover, McGill and its students must prioritize anti-oppression on campus both through increased training and through support for initiatives by and for racialized students. However, none of these measures can stand alone without a government that addresses systemic racism.

Commentary, Opinion

Voting responsibly means voting sustainably

by Jonah Fried on

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Just as abrupt changes in leaves’ colours herald the coming of winter, shifts in global environment signal that our world is on the cusp of a climate crisis. There is currently an insect apocalypse, and the drastic decline in global bird populations over the past few decades is starting to look like one as well. The worldwide epidemic of wildfires in places such as Brazil, Lebanon, and Siberia, which are inundating the ‘world’s lungs’ by the day, is just one of the more obvious harbingers of climate doomsday. 

United Nations reports outlining the sheer immensity of the challenge that the world faces in preventing climate armageddon have become increasingly foreboding. Voting for officials that will commit themselves to institutional changes to counteract climate change is one of the few means that students have to safeguard their future. It is in the interest of every McGill student with the eligibility to vote to give candidates’ proposals to tackle climate change the most weight during the upcoming Canadian federal elections when determining who to vote for. 

Climate policy should not be the only factor that determines someone’s vote. Candidates’ approaches to dealing with economic inequality, immigration policy, racial inequality, and other issues need to be factored into the calculus as well. However, if climate change is not addressed effectively, these issues will be exacerbated. As sea levels rise, climate scientists predict that millions of people will be displaced within the next two generations. This mass migration of refugees that rising sea levels could create would dwarf the consequences of current climate change-related displacement. The four major parties may disagree about how many immigrants and refugees should be accepted into Canada every year, but there should be unanimity on the need to do what can be done to prevent the rising sea level to prevent an even greater migrant crisis. 

Socioeconomic inequality is already being compounded by climate change. Within Canada, climate change does not affect communities equally: It has a disproportionate impact on lower-class communities, Indigenous communities, and people of colour. If climate change accelerates, socioeconomic inequality will severely increase. 

Considering how inextricable climate change is from other political issues, it stands to reason that if a candidate has a strong climate policy, then they have a solid approach to preventing the escalation of existing socio-economic problems. The Green Party, headed by Elizabeth May, has advocated for “Mission Possible,” a comprehensive plan to dramatically transform the Canadian economy to make it more climate-friendly and avoid “climate catastrophe.” Jagmeet Singh of the New Democratic Party has also promoted “Power to Change” a climate action plan to create new jobs in clean energy.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax has been utterly ineffective. Rather than reducing dependence on fossil fuels, the tax has raised the cost of fuel for average Canadian and created frustration across the nation. Moreover, given the paradox presented by his government’s acquisition of the $4.5 billion Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project, one can hardly call his approach to climate policy practical. However, the Liberals have at least committed to curbing emissions. As demonstrated by his statements at the federal leaders’ debates. On the other hand, Andrew Scheer and the Conservative Party would give provinces such as Alberta, where the economy is extremely dependent on fossil fuel exploitation, greater autonomy to draft their own environmental regulations, which is extremely counterintuitive to sustainability. Scheer’s proposal is contradictory to environmental interests because it would ensure that carbon emissions and other environmentally-destructive practices proliferate, guaranteeing grave consequences for the nation in the long run. 

The reins of Canada’s government should be given to a candidate who will take the necessary steps to ensure that future administrations even have a Canada to govern. McGill students need to vote for someone who will prioritize climate policy and stand up to multinational fossil fuel corporations. We need leaders who will translate their words into action; leaders who will channel legislative power into ensuring that the world that students are graduating into won’t be destroyed.

Commentary, Opinion

Climate change requires global thinking and local action

by Makena Anderson on

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Following a decade of vacancy, the City of Montreal has announced a plan to convert 43 hectares of land, once home to the Bluebonnets racetrack, into the city’s first carbon-neutral neighbourhood. The 10-year plan for the Namur-Hippodrome neighbourhood includes the development of 5,000 housing units, an emphasis on public transit, and the creation of public spaces that encourage pedestrian use. However, for the community to succeed, residents must modify their lifestyles in ways that promotes sustainability.

Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante has emphasized the importance of cooperation and consultation of residents throughout the implementation process, and is committed to designating 40 per cent of the neighbourhood to social affordable housing. Similarly, the proposed neighbourhood will promote mixed land-use, which will be in close proximity to thousands of service sector jobs, and be accessible by transit. While Montreal’s push for carbon-neutrality is a positive large-scale step, progress does not absolve individuals of their responsibility to question their own behaviours and contribution to climate change.

Montreal is no stranger to environmental advocacy: Last month, Plante entered the spotlight at the United Nations’ Climate Action Summit for her commitment to sustainability. Since being elected, Plante has emphasized the need for better transit systems, greenspaces, and banning single-use plastics. If successful, the proposed Namur-Hippodrome neighbourhood will serve as a framework for other cities.

The proposed Namur-Hippodrome community is an encouraging example of municipal climate policy. However, government policies implicitly require changes on the individual level. The success of this new community hinges on the open-mindedness and accountability of future residents, just as the success of global climate action relies on universal cooperation. Whether stemming from macro-level or micro-level policies, lifestyle changes are inherent in sustainable climate strategies. Residents of Montreal’s new neighbourhood will be equipped with housing, roads, and businesses to limit their carbon footprint. However, without individual cooperation these sustainable ideals are vulnerable to failure. 

To promote the success of the community, residents must be open to permanently modifying their lifestyles in a way that is conducive to sustainability. In practice, this may not be straightforward. A recurring theme in climate action is individuals’ reluctance to change their behaviour when benefits are intangible or take years to realize. A study from the International Journal of Economic Law elaborates on this theme through the collective action problem, whereby individuals resort to inaction when the benefits they receive from behavioral changes are outweighed by the costs of individual sacrifice. For example, riding a bike instead of driving reduces net greenhouse gas emissions, yet the added time and inconvenience for the individual may be perceived as greater than the relatively small, shared benefits. While gains from abatement are often perceived as inconsequential, they exist nonetheless.

To overcome obstacles of individual cooperation, researchers at Clarkson University have pioneered smart-housing residences, wherein students self-monitor their energy consumption to encourage palpable revisions in their behaviour. Digital dashboards and sensors reveal energy-use data to students as a reminder that consumption patterns have an impact on their environments. Through demonstrating the weight of behavioural changes, projects like this quantify individual benefits and emphasize the power individuals have in shaping sustainability.

The outrage that drew over half a million people to the streets of Montreal on Sept. 27 must be channeled into an effective tool to catalyze change. However, this change may not be as monumental as Montrealers are expecting. While immediate action is necessary to prevent global climate warming and irreparable damage, the benefits of today’s actions will not be realized overnight. 

Raising awareness about the climate crisis is no longer the most pressing issue. The majority of Canadians believe in climate change and many understand that it is an emergency. The issue now lies in how we tackle the crisis. While the onus is primarily on institutions and governments, their plans will fail without unrelenting support on the individual level. Even if small efforts seem inconsequential, they are always more powerful than inaction. Climate change is a universal issue, and by virtue, it must be universally confronted. Macro-level policies, like Montreal’s Namur-Hippodrome neighbourhood, must be supported by individual behaviour to drive consequential change.

Creative

Tribune Presents: Societal Siege

by Aidan Martin on

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Societal Siege dropped by our office and performed a mini-concert for our multimedia team, showcasing some unreleased music and samples from their new EP, Joseph Ziggler. Antoine, Drew, and Jacob bring a playful warmth to college rock which radiated through the newsroom.

You can find Societal Siege’s music on Spotify, Apple Music, and SoundCloud, and Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/societalsiege/

Video by Multimedia Editors Aidan Martin and Sarah Ford and Staff Producer Alex Hinton.

Montreal, News

Candidates vie for young voters in federal election

by Sydney King on

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New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jagmeet Singh visited McGill on Sept. 16, federal  to discuss his platform with students.  As the federal election is being held on Oct. 21, political campaigns and college campus party associations are searching for ways to engage youth and attract their votes: young Canadians aged 18–24 have the lowest rates of voter turnout compared to all other age groups.

Political parties prioritize different policies targeting Canadian youth eligible to vote. Michael Forian, Conservative Party candidate for Ville-Marie—Le Sud-Ouest—Île-des-Sœurs, highlighted his campaign’s economic policies supporting higher education.

“The most important thing is being able to save for your education,” Forian said. “The new Conservative government will set up the [Registered Educational Savings Plan] grants for parents to save for [their childrens’] education.”

In contrast, the Liberal Party focuses on climate action, 2SLGBTQI+ rights, and reproductive rights to garner support from young adults. Steven Guilbeault, Liberal Party candidate for the Laurier—Sainte-Marie riding, emphasized his track record advocating to address climate change. Guilbeault’s candidacy lends the Liberals climate-change credibility in light of criticism of the government’s Trans Mountain pipeline extension project.

“Young people play a great role in today’s society […] the climate strikers are a great example of the power of student mobilization here in Quebec, Canada and around the globe,” Guilbeault wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune. “I will ask [young people] to look at who I am, to look at what I have done for over 25 years as co-founder of Équiterre or the 10 years I spent at Greenpeace, and, most importantly, to vote.”

Candidates such as Forian and Guilbeault are aided by McGill student party organizations like the Conservative Association of McGill, Liberal McGill, and NDP McGill, which all share the goal of helping to register students to vote and informing them of the electoral process. These organizations also provide pools of potential volunteers for campaigns across Montreal. 

McGill political science professor Elisabeth Gidengil argues that face-to-face interaction between a party and a voter is an effective electoral tactic.

“Reaching out and telling people what this election is about helps,” Gidengil said. “Contact by any party is important and will increase the likelihood to vote.” 

Gidengil pointed out that the turnout gap between young adults and older adults corresponds with education level. The drop in voter turnout between 1988 and 2000 was largely due to the decrease in the number of young voters; however, voter turnout amongst university students and young adults with postsecondary degrees remained steady. Although young Canadians tend to vote less than the older demographic, voters aged 18–24 have had the greatest increase in voter turnout between the 2011 and 2015 elections. 

“It’s about getting young people to realize [that] what happens in federal politics is relevant to them,” Gidengil said.

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