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Arts & Entertainment, Comedy

Ronny Chieng thinks we should all just relax

by Sophie Brzozowski on

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Internationally-acclaimed comedian Ronny Chieng has some advice for university students: He thinks we all should learn to go with the flow.

“I don’t think people teach kids how to deal with uncertainty,” Chieng said in an interview-turned-counselling-session with The McGill Tribune. “You’ll see for yourself […] When you graduate, you’ll see it doesn’t really matter that you didn’t get this job straight out of school, or you didn’t get that internship. In the long run, the important thing is to really figure out what you like doing.”

Even if it happens to derail the course of your interview slightly, it would be foolish not to take life advice from a guy like Chieng.

Chieng began performing stand-up in 2010 while completing his law degree at the Australian National University. Though he graduated in 2012, Chieng’s legal career was quickly eclipsed by his meteoric rise to comedic fame. By 2015, Chieng was a regular correspondent on The Daily Show, and just last year, the Malaysia native acted alongside Constance Wu and Henry Golding in Crazy Rich Asians. Despite his recent successes as a screen actor, however, Chieng insists that he feels most himself onstage.

“With stand up, for me anyway, I can get closer to my own unique perspective on things,” Chieng said. “Whereas with acting, you’re basically kind of trying to play a character. Most of the time, you’re playing a character that someone else wrote and trying to make someone else’s work into a performance.” 

Chieng draws heavily from personal experience in all his creative endeavors. In 2017, he co-wrote and starred in the semi-autobiographical Australian television series Ronny Chieng: International Student. The series was inspired by Chieng’s years as an undergraduate student at the University of Melbourne. Each of the six episodes follows the fictionalized Ronny as he bumbles his way through all the trials and tribulations of student life. 

“I don’t know about you, but, when I was in university, me and most of my peers were always very scared of the future,” Chieng said, recalling the period of anxiety that would go on to inspire one of his most successful creative ventures to date. “But after you leave college, you kind of get more perspective on things and you realize you don’t need to compare yourself to other people; you’re running your own race.”

Although Chieng is a firm believer in following your dreams, he also cautions young people not to get too attached to them. In 2010, for example, Chieng says his goal was to have his own Wikipedia page, a milestone he’s long since accomplished.

“But now all the information on it is so inaccurate, I wish it would stop,” Chieng said with a resigned sigh. “Someone said I’m scared of dogs and it somehow made it to the Wikipedia page. But I’m totally not scared of dogs at all.” 

One can perhaps conclude that the secret to Chieng’s success is his ability to stay true to himself and to take things in stride. His final words of wisdom were simple and sincere: Just trust the process.

“When you’re on your side of the doorway, you can’t tell, you can’t see that path, but once you’re on my side of it, when you’ve had a couple more years of experience, you’ll look back, you know, and you’ll see.”

Ronny Chieng will be performing at Just for Laughs from July 23-25. Visit hahaha.com for more details about showtimes.

 

Science & Technology

HIV in East Africa: An ongoing struggle

by Sarah-Leah Eisenberg on

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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 19.6 million people are living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in eastern and southern Africa as of 2017. As part of McGill’s Africa Field Study Semester (AFSS), students had the opportunity to interact with local individuals and public health practitioners that deal with HIV prevention and treatment on a daily basis. Through their visits to healthcare facilities, they learned about the ongoing HIV struggle in East Africa.

HIV is a virus that impairs the immune system, leading to immunodeficiency, or the inability to form a normal immune response to common infections. Transmitted through fluids such as breast milk, semen, and blood, the virus is often spread from mother to child, through sexual intercourse, and through sharing infected needles. People with HIV are also more susceptible to acquiring illnesses such as tuberculosis, meningitis, bacterial infections, and lymphomas. These illnesses can become even more severe if HIV advances into acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). 

While developed countries have made major advances in terms of access to HIV treatment and the stigma associated with HIV, many developing countries, such as those in East Africa, continue to struggle with the devastating virus. AFSS students visited Jinja, a Ugandan fishing community on the shores of Lake Victoria whose high rates of HIV are largely due to low levels of education, economic hardship, and a migratory lifestyle. The fishermen live day to day with the little money they earn, and their lifestyle revolves around “the four w’s”: Waragi (alcohol), water, wealth, and women. After a long fishing trip, they often spend their earnings on waragi and have sex with different women. This high level of prostitution coupled with low condom usage increases HIV transmission. Additionally, due to the fishermen’s migratory lifestyle, access to HIV treatment poses a problem. For example, if fishermen obtain drugs at a clinic to treat HIV or prevent infection following exposure to the virus, they often do not follow up with their treatment because they have moved to another community. 

AFSS students also visited a Maasai community in Maji Moto, Kenya, another HIV-prone community. The prevalence of HIV in Maji Moto is due largely to the people’s polygamist lifestyle: On average, men in this Maasai community have three wives. If a Maasai man is infected with HIV, he will likely infect all his wives. Women, who can transmit HIV to their child during pregnancy, birth, or breastfeeding, are at a greater risk of acquiring HIV from heterosexual sex compared to men, since the layer of mucus surrounding the cervix is not thick enough to act as an effective barrier against the virus. Due to the Maasai polygamist lifestyle and the different ways in which women can transmit HIV to their children, people in Maasai communities are at a higher risk of getting infected with HIV. In addition, the Maasai community’s traditional way of life and bias against Western medicine impedes access to treatment. Many Maasai elders in Maji Moto believe that various plants and roots in the Kenyan bush can cure HIV, and, often, the Maasai people would prefer to visit the traditional medicine man rather than use Western treatments. 

Finally, students visited Kakamega, a city near the border of Kenya and Uganda that serves as home base for a transient truck driver community. Hosting one of the first HIV clinics in East Africa, many HIV-positive patients settled in the Kakamega area after the clinic was opened. Consequently, the Kenyan town became home to one of the highest rates of HIV in the country. When AFSS students spoke to the public health workers in this facility, they explained that truck drivers have sex with prostitutes, increasing HIV transmission on the Kenyan–Ugandan border. Similar to the fishermen, truck drivers move from place to place and often do not follow up with their HIV treatment. 

According to Avert, an international HIV and AIDS charity, overcoming the HIV epidemic in East Africa requires long-term commitment of the international community and national governments, as well as the involvement of civil society to address gender inequality, barriers to treatment, and the differing needs of each community. In trying to reach global HIV targets, Kenya and Uganda have made significant improvements, but the virus remains a major concern. Preventing infection and promoting routine treatments are of vital importance, and they will likely involve locally-driven educational initiatives to empower men and women and facilitate access to medical services.

McGill’s AFSS introduces students to the wildlife, history, and culture of East Africa. During the winter semester, students conduct research and take courses in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.

Arts & Entertainment, Comedy

Adam Cayton-Holland brings jokes and frank mental health discussions to Just for Laughs

by Gabe Nisker on

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Content warning: Mentions of suicide. 

Denver comedian Adam Cayton-Holland wants to talk about tough topics most comedians choose to avoid, like his sister Lydia’s suicide. In Nov. 2018, Cayton-Holland published a memoir called Tragedy Plus Time, which discussed her passing and how he processes grief. 

“I was a little tired of wondering if people know this about me or [whether they are] tiptoeing around this issue, [like when] people try to bring it up awkwardly,” Cayton-Holland said in an interview with The McGill Tribune.

While writing the memoir felt cathartic to him, Cayton-Holland still felt the urge to process his grief on stage.

“I thought that [the book] would scratch the itch of me being an insufferable artiste and needing to process it in my work, but I felt compelled to talk about it on stage. But it’s not the kind of subject you can just [bring up] like, ‘Hey, comedy club! How are your fried cheese sticks? My sister killed herself,’” Cayton-Holland said. “You need a more appreciative, sensitive, nuanced audience.”

As a result, and at the encouragement of his comedian friends Sean Patton and Rory Scovel, Cayton-Holland tested out a loose adaptation of his memoir as a one-man show. 

“They were like, ‘you should do this as a show’,” Cayton-Holland said. “And they spoke to me, so I tried it, and from the first time I tried it, it felt good to me. It didn’t feel too triggering or indulgent. It felt right.”

Although he says the show is still a work-in-progress, Cayton-Holland is excited to perform his one-man show, Happy Place, at the Just For Laughs Festival this July. He anticipates an enjoyable return to the city of Montreal.

“I look forward to speaking broken French,” Cayton-Holland said. “I’d say I know 100 words of French and I don’t know how to conjugate verbs so I’m really fun to be around as I blatantly try to be a gross American speaking French everywhere I go.”

On stage, however, Cayton-Holland has found audiences are in tune with what he is saying. Mental illness is a topic he finds meaningful to discuss on stage, and he finds a lot of power in sharing his story.

“[I] can’t leave the venue because everyone wants to talk about their experience,” Cayton-Holland said. “You learn how prevalent mental illness, depression, and suicide are. [….] There’s no six degrees of separation when it comes to [this] stuff. It’s like everyone knows someone. Why, in 2019 when we’re all so ‘woke,’ there’s still a stigma about suicide is beyond me.”

After one show, Cayton-Holland was approached by a military veteran who provided a particularly meaningful message. 

“This was a dude who was a veteran [who] had a lot of friends [commit] suicide,” Cayton-Holland said. “And he basically said ‘I can’t believe you talked about mental illness for an hour and I was laughing the whole time.’”

Cayton-Holland wants to use his show as an avenue for addressing and coping with difficult topics.

“[The] spoonful of sugar is the comedy, so I try to make it funny,” Cayton-Holland said. “My goal is funny first. I don’t want it to be this gut-wrenching thing you have to endure. I want you to laugh and be like, ‘Holy shit, we just dealt with some heavy stuff.’”

Happy Place, after all, is a tribute to Cayton-Holland’s little sister and her role in his life. Cayton-Holland told the Tribune that his show has given him the opportunity to be the most himself, and the most open he has ever felt on stage.

“My little sister Lydia and I were very funny together, and I think a lot of my sense of humour came from her,” Cayton-Holland said. “When you’re brother and sister, you run weird little bits. You just have a way of joking that’s very, you know, you have a shorthand with one another. And, so, I feel like doing it on stage is almost like an attempt to recreate that a little bit with her.”

Adam Cayton-Holland will perform Happy Place at 8:30 p.m. on July 23-25 at Le P’tit Impro. Check hahaha.com for more info.

Arts & Entertainment, Comedy

Hasan Minhaj brings digital-age comedy to Just for Laughs

by Gabe Nisker on

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When Hasan Minhaj, host of Netflix’s Patriot Act, takes the Just for Laughs stage on July 26, he will likely surround himself with LED screens. It’s slowly becoming a trademark of his sets: From his parody news comedy to his standup special Homecoming King, information-dense visualizations are everywhere.

“Look at the way we live our everyday lives,” Minhaj said in an interview with The McGill Tribune. “We are constantly flagging through and deep-diving for information through LED screens every single day. You’re probably talking to me on your iPhone while you’re looking [at] questions on a MacBook as you have multiple tabs open in your Mozilla or Google Chrome browser.”

Early on, Netflix producers and critics expressed concerns to Minhaj about the format of his show. 

“[People asked me,] ‘Is it going to be too much for people to take in?’” Minhaj said. “And I was like, ‘No, people watch The Avengers on TV while they are Tweeting [and] texting a friend.’ This is just the way we live our lives now. This is the way people consume and think about information.”

Given that Patriot Act is streamed online, Minhaj makes an effort to discuss subjects that are timely and relevant, but also able to withstand the test of time. In a recent episode about internet access inequality, he joked about basketball player Kevin Durant’s recent leg injury, which sparked a loud reaction from his surprised audience.

“I like that dance between timely and timeless,” Minhaj said. “I love the feeling that you can hear [in] the audience when we did that Kevin Durant joke. It was the day after it happened, so people were like ‘Ooh.’ But internet inequality is […] a relatively evergreen topic, [and] the fight for it has been going for a really long time […] I love that dance. I’m a big fan of blurring those lines.”

In Minhaj’s third appearance at Just for Laughs, he will definitely bring the same energy that won Patriot Act so many fans. While Minhaj does not do cold monologue jokes on Patriot Act, his ability to dive quickly and deeply into a subject while building rapport with his audience will prove valuable to making a memorable gala.

“I knew [that] when we click on a piece of content, whether it’s a sports highlight on House of Highlights or just like a clip from SNL, we just want to get to the show,” Minhaj said. “We get right into the story because I know [that] when you’re clicking in, that is the viewer’s expectation. This isn’t the era of having to fill time because you have a time slot and you’re a one-hour variety show. I think we are seeing an end to that era.”

And, after all, returning to Montreal and performing at Just for Laughs is a meaningful and lasting mark in Minhaj’s career.

“I’m really excited to come back up and be a part of the festival,” Minhaj said. “The last time I was there, I was doing Homecoming King, and the time before that I was doing “New Faces,” and so the festival has kind of been at every critical inflection point of my career.”

 

The Hasan Minhaj Gala will take place in Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Place des Arts on July 26 at 9:45 p.m. 

Arts & Entertainment, Comedy

Spotlight: “The Nasty Show” at Just for Laughs

by Gabe Nisker and Sophie Brzozowski on

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Just for Laughs’ annual Nasty Show will return to the MTELUS Theatre from July 17 to 27, with a full bill of raunchy, envelope-pushing, and hilarious acts. The McGill Tribune compiled some highlights-to-be from the upcoming show. 

Bonnie McFarlane

Gabe Nisker, Features Editor

Bonnie McFarlane knows that nut allergies are dangerous: When she performed a joke about escaping her marriage by causing an allergic reaction in her husband on a late-night show, she earned the attention of many allergy-affected families.

“They kept saying, you know, nut allergies are very serious,” McFarlane said in an interview with The McGill Tribune.. “And my response is, yes, that’s why I used it that way in that joke. I wanted it to kill my husband.”

McFarlane likes to tread in more dangerous waters and joke about serious topics. She names her favourite kind of joke as ‘the mislead’: She’ll start with one premise and hit the audience with an unexpected punchline.

“I really like writing jokes, and I have a very specific thing in my head when I’m writing jokes,” McFarlane said. “I like to go on stage to do it word-for-word […] I like to have the right word in the punchline exactly every time.”

McFarlane, originally from Cold Lake, Alberta, estimates that she has appeared at the Just For Laughs festival around a dozen times. In addition to her appearances on The Nasty Show this year, she will also have the chance to play fast and loose with a more improvised style: Alongside her husband, comedian Rich Vos, McFarlane will co-host Would You Bang Him?, a comedic game show where four female comics watch male comedians do a brief set each and ultimately decide, based on each of the men’s performances, whether they would have sex with any of them. 

“I don’t want my husband to find this out, but female comics talk a lot about who they would have sex with and who they wouldn’t have sex with,” McFarlane said. “I was like, ‘one day that would be a great game show.’ I told Rich about it and he was like “Yeah, let’s do it” and so we started doing the show. It’s so fun and hilarious. It’s stupid and it’s sexist. We call it a slut-shaming game show.”

 

Comedian CP

Sophie Brzozowski, Arts & Entertainment Editor

Chris ‘Comedian CP’ Powell has pretty much always known that he’s funny. Ten years and a lifetime ago, following one fateful open-mic night where he earned a standing ovation, Powell left a successful career as an advertising executive in Detroit to pursue comedy full-time. 

“I loved advertising,” CP said in an interview with the Tribune. “I loved the opportunities it gave me [.…] The only thing was that I just wanted the credit. I just wanted people to know that I was the guy who was funny, [that] I was the guy who was making this stuff. So comedy was a way for me to get that instant gratification from my audience and have them connected directly to my brainpower.”

Even over the phone, CP projects confidence and charisma, and in the years since he first began performing, he’s earned every ounce of hubris. Alongside a successful stand-up career, CP has also made waves in television since relocating to Los Angeles, California. Most recently, in 2018, Powell sold a pilot to the television network Adult Swim. The show, titled Ol Bud’s ANU Football Weekly, is a hilarious dive into the corrupt and lawless world of college football. 

CP insists, however, that stand-up will forever be his preferred medium of expression: The stage is the place where he feels most at home. Powell says he’s looking forward to taking full advantage of the no-holds-barred environment that The Nasty Show will no doubt provide.

“[Comedians are] the ones [who] are supposed to say the stuff that everybody else can’t say. It’s my job to say these things that everybody is thinking. That’s what you’re paying me for!” 

The Nasty Show will take place at MTELUS Theatre from July 17 to 27. Visit hahaha.com for more information on showtimes.

Arts & Entertainment, Comedy

Spotlight: “The Ethnic Show” at Just For Laughs

by Gabe Nisker on

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Billed to near-perfection with names from around the world, The Ethnic Show hopes to bring diversity to the mainstage at this year’s Just for Laughs Festival. The show will take place at Club Soda Theatre from July 12 to 25, and feature an exciting group of comedians. Here are two of The McGill Tribune’s highlights from the upcoming show. 

Robby Hoffman

On stage, one thing is for sure: Robby Hoffman will be herself.

“I just am. I just am whatever I am. If they want to bill me as whatever they want to bill me as, that’s fine,” Hoffman said in an interview with the Tribune. “[There are] no expectations. I go off the rails often. If something hits me, I go with it. [….] I just am the most me that I can be at these shows and that might surprise people.”

In addition to her appearance on The Ethnic Show, Hoffman will also host the Early Evening Show, her spin on the late-night show format—its 7:30 p.m. start time being just one of several twists.

“I like to be in bed,” Hoffman said. “I like to take a bath, I like to slap on a pad at the end of the day and get the flow going. The late-night space, I mean, who wants to be up at 11:35? I’d rather go home, have dinner, watch a show, take a bath, and go to sleep. It’s like I’m a 97-year-old stuck in my young body.”

Hoffman’s impulsive, and in-the-moment, creativity has been a guiding force throughout her career. For example, the first time she hosted her Early Evening Show, she entered singing “Shalom Aleichem,” a traditional Jewish song as a nod to her heritage. Hoffman claims her performance has revitalized the song’s success.

“Turns out that everybody likes ‘Shalom Aleichem,’ and I think it’s on Billboard now,” Hoffman said. “We resurfaced it and brought it back to the number one hit that it deserves.”

Anthony DeVito

Anthony DeVito knows Train, the rock band. He knows them personally and he knows their music, too; he was quick to pick a favourite song. 

“I’m a ‘Meet Virginia guy’,” DeVito said. “I like the original hits that got them there […] ‘Calling All the Angels’ was enormous. I didn’t even know they sang that really until, I guess, I became friends with them.”

DeVito met Train lead singer Pat Monahan when he asked DeVito to perform on the band’s cruise ship; Monahan had seen one of DeVito’s performances on television, and decided then and there that DeVito was one of his favourite comedians. The offer came as a bit of a surprise to DeVito, and as a result, he spent the entire cruise with a surreal, uncomfortable feeling.

“I hadn’t been on TV except for that one thing,” DeVito said. “Maybe I had done Adam Devine’s House Party [by then], but there was really no reason for anyone to be like, ‘Is that Anthony DeVito?’”

Maybe this year, someone will recognize the New York-based comedian as he returns to the Just for Laughs Festival for the third time. Devito promises to dig into his wealth of personal material each night and to give audiences a great—and unique—show.

“I’m super excited to come back this year and spend even more time in Montreal and at the festival,” DeVito said. “I couldn’t be happier.”

The Ethnic Show will take place from July 12 to 25 at Club Soda Theatre. Visit hahaha.com for more information on showtimes.

climate
Commentary, Opinion

Canada’s plastic ban could intensify the climate crisis

by Makena Anderson on

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A week prior to declaring a national climate emergency, the federal government announced a ban on single-use plastics starting in 2021. While bans like this aid in protecting aquatic ecosystems and improving sustainability, they may serve more as a distraction than an effective solution. Announcing a state of emergency serves to paint Canada as an environmental advocate. Yet, without targeted policies and regulations, this announcement will not only be insufficient, but even serve to exacerbate the climate crisis.

Many consumers were happy to say goodbye to plastic straws and bags, as giving them up is a small behavioural adjustment that contributes to preserving the planet. However, environmental conservation policy is not effective climate change policy. Plastic bans may, in fact, serve to amplify our ‘single action bias’: Some experts believe that, in committing to a simple action, people allow themselves to feel as though they contributed to a solution, thus dissuading themselves from further, and much needed, action. 

Populations around the world witness the threat of plastic pollution first-hand. The excess of single-use plastic pollution affects marine ecosystems, coastal communities, and infiltrates the world’s deepest oceans. In fact, some reports estimate that, by 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. While re-evaluating plastic consumption is a critical step in conserving oceans, it should not be conflated with proper policy to address global climate change. 

For years, plastic has been perceived as the epitome of waste and pollution: However, other climate threats of greater magnitude are not as visible and are often underestimated. Carbon, an inconspicuous compound, is a greenhouse gas that serves as the leading contributor to climate change, alongside methane and nitrous oxide. These unassuming, essentially invisible compounds slow down and trap heat in the atmosphere that would otherwise escape to space as part of the earth’s radiation budget. 

While many of these gases are natural and even required to sustain life on earth, the influx of anthropogenic greenhouse gases has caused irreparable damage to earth’s climate. To effectively curb emissions and reduce large-scale climate changes, policies need to be geared towards behaviours that will limit reliance on carbon and other greenhouse gases. Climate policy needs to be systematically integrated on a larger scale.

Moreover, while protecting aquatic ecosystems is vital to long-term sustainability, climate change can only be tackled by addressing the source of the problem: Greenhouse gas emissions from electricity, transportation, and agriculture. Canada is acting as a global pioneer in banning single-use plastic at the national level, however, until the country halts subsidies to fossil fuels and ceases to support pipelines that increase greenhouse gas emissions, the country will continue to encourage behaviour that jeopardizes the vitality of all life. 

Similarly, McGill’s recent ban on plastic water bottles seems laudable until recognizing that the school still profits from fossil fuels. Despite a 2018 recommendation from the Senate to divest, the school continues to retain holdings in corporations that produce, refine, and transport goods from the Canadian tar sands.

Ideally, plastic bans will not be seen as the final tool to tackling climate change. Instead, students and Canadians, in general, can use these bans as a catalyst to challenge institutions to divest from fossil fuels and work to properly reduce future climate impacts. Students should use Canada’s single-use plastic ban as a reminder to be environmentally-conscious on a daily basis, while simultaneously urging stakeholders like McGill to decarbonize the economy and reduce consumption. Several groups exist in and around campus that foster collective action initiatives to instigate change in Montreal, such as Divest McGill and Climate Justice Montreal.

 While it is tempting to believe that the simplest policy answer is the right one, this logic cannot be applied within the framework of climate action, where systemic change is necessary, not only in the future, but right now.

 

McGill, News

In conversation with honorary McGill degree recipient Paul Farmer

by William Pang on

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Doctor Paul Edward Farmer, or ‘Doktè Paul’ as his Haitian patients call him, is a medical anthropologist, physician, and professor at the Harvard School of Global Health and Medicine. He’s one of 14 people receiving an honorary degree this year, which are the highest honour McGill’s Senate can confer. Farmer is a co-founder of Partners in Health (PIH), an organization that provides treatment to populations with some of the worst access to healthcare services.

After graduating from Duke University, Farmer spent a gap year in Haiti and was appalled by the quality of healthcare for the poor and marginalized communities there. His experience in Haiti led him to co-found PIH in 1987. Starting with one small clinic in rural Haiti, PIH has expanded across ten countries, opening and running hospitals and clinics in countries like Lesotho, Peru, and Sierra Leone.

 Farmer visited McGill to receive his honorary degree and sat down with The McGill Tribune for an interview. The transcript has been edited for clarity and length.  

Q: How would you describe PIH?

 A: PIH is a series of sister organizations. Each of them is focused on addressing the burden of disease, as well as gaps in the health system. In the language we cooked up as students, and we still haven’t gotten rid of it in the mission statement — we were trying to make a preferential option for the poor, or otherwise marginalized. We try to do more for them than anybody else. 

 Q: You travel a lot between Haiti, Rwanda, prisons in Siberia, and Harvard. Can you tell me a bit about that?

A:  Not in 30-something years has it been about where I go. In Siberia, for example, what I saw was not the absence of a healthcare system, or the absence of healthcare professions. The collapse of a lot of social institutions following the end of the Soviet Union led to a lot of crime, which led to an epidemic of incarceration, which led to huge epidemics of tuberculosis. That’s radically different from rural Rwanda, where you had vaccine-preventable illness among children, high mortality, and epidemic disease. What unites all of those places, as well as Boston, is that there are health disparities in all of them.

Q: You majored in Biochemistry, but you switched into medical anthropology in your fourth year. Can you tell me a bit about medical anthropology and what fueled that switch?

A: I had no idea what medical anthropology was. I took medical anthropology because it had the word “medical” in it. In that class, you had to write a research paper, so I went to Duke Hospital, and they let me into the emergency room, and I was looking at health disparities, focusing on race, insurance status, and patterns of utilization. I learned that, particularly for African Americans, people were using the emergency room for primary care, for any kind of issue, because they didn’t have easy access to the healthcare system. It was a real revelation and got me launched into the field before I went to Haiti.

 Q: You’ve received a lot of backlash for treating patients who have developed resistance to multiple drugs because medication is too expensive, with your critics arguing that the money could be better invested on prevention. What’s inherently wrong with this utilitarian approach in medicine?

A: I don’t know why that gets to be called utilitarian. To me, it’s a lot worse than that — it’s stupid. Especially tuberculosis, an airborne disease. In Siberia, what happens when you don’t treat drug resistant strains? They spread. I’m also very grateful for anthropology. When you’re told something is expensive, the first thing we should be asking is, “why?” By the time we heard the arguments about drug resistant tuberculosis and HIV drugs, we already knew to be suspicions of cost-related claims. It’s not like diamonds are put into TB medication.

Q: Mountains in Haiti are referred by the locals as “having teeth,” a testament to the steep and tough climbs; You have also made these climbs yourself in order to serve patients. Do you think that in order to provide good care you have to, in some way, suffer alongside the patient?

A: The idea that you should seek out your own privation in order to serve others — I don’t feel that way. But being attentive to other people’s problems and letting that wound you, I think that’s a very good thing to do. I don’t think it comes naturally to us, to imagine yourself in another person’s position.

Q: What are some lessons that you have learned in Haiti that Canada and the United States can learn from?

A: Training community health workers and rolling out a lot of services to prevent illnesses, and to address illness through a huge number of community health workers. Another is to focus on health equity. 

Q: You’ve frequently mentioned that Lord of the Rings is your favourite book series. One quote from the series that a lot of McGill students might relate to is “Short cuts make long delays”. Could you speak to that and how it has applied to you?

A: I have read it so many times I had to switch to reading it in Spanish. A shortcut around, for example, drug resistant tuberculosis, or trauma care, or mental health, or cancer care, makes for long delays. And that means people perish in that delay. But sometimes shortcuts are good.

Other honorary degree recipients this spring include Nobel Laureate and physicist John Kosterlitz, jazz improviser Pat Metheny, as well as gene-editing pioneer Emmanuelle Charpentier.

Montreal, News, Private

Quebec legislature passes controversial secularism bill

by Nina Russell on

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After a marathon 16-hour debate, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) passed Bill 21, an Act respecting the laicity of the State, late at night on June 16. The new law is designed to promote state secularism by prohibiting public sector employees from displaying religious symbols while working. The bill affects teachers, police officers, and lawyers employed by Quebec, among other professions, and enforces penalties for non-compliance.

At McGill, the law will have consequences for students in programs like education, who seek to enter the public sector in the future. In April, numerous school districts and Montreal borough mayors rejected the bill on principle, prompting the addition of a clause which allows unspecified “disciplinary measures” for employees who do not comply.

The act follows in the footsteps of Bill 62, which also aimed to promote laïcité, a French concept of secularism, by preventing people wearing face coverings from accessing public services. 

Bill 21 prompted an outpouring of activism from McGill students and community organizers in Quebec. On April 4, the Education Undergraduate Society (EdUS) denounced the bill, and the following day, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) released a statement accusing the bill of “[granting] further legitimacy to racist and xenophobic bigotry.”

“[EdUS] stands in solidarity with all current and future teachers who are impacted by this bill,” a statement by the EdUS reads. “We are extremely upset by the fact that this may prevent our peers from becoming teachers, and we support the [English Montreal School Board] and [Lester B. Pearson School Board]’s decisions to not enforce this bill.”

Following the passage of the bill, Provost of Student Life and Learning Christopher Manfredi released a short statement regarding its role at the university. 

“While the law will not change our policies and practices, we are concerned that it will affect and unnecessarily restrict some of our students’ future employment opportunities,” Manfredi wrote.

Kareem Hammami, U1 Arts and Science, is one of many McGill students who have taken to the streets to voice opposition. Hammami helped organize an protest on April 12 outside of the Ministry of Immigration to increase pressure on the government to abandon the bill.

“This debate has been going on for ten years, […] at first, it was deliberately targeted at Muslims,” Hammami said. “Just the language they used at the time was targeted at Muslims […] and now [the CAQ] is trying to broaden the language to make it seem like its better, but it’s still discrimination. It still excludes people from society.”

While the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms prohibits discrimination on the grounds of religion, the law invokes Section 33 of the Charter, commonly referred to as the notwithstanding clause, a provision which enables law  to override certain rights prescribed in the Charter. In April, the Canadian Bar Association called for Quebec to remove the use of the clause from the law, arguing that the courts need to be able to examine the bill’s constitutionality in order to determine if it should be struck down.

“In history, whenever you invoke the notwithstanding clause, you lose the next election,” Hammami said. “Considering this is something that was pretty popular with [the CAQ’s voter] base, it might actually work in their favour. But I hope history plays out the way it has [in the past].”

Aziz Choudry, a professor in the Department of Education who specializes in anti-racist education, expressed skepticism towards the motivations behind the bill. 

“I think we should really be quite critical of the notion of laïcité, in […] both laïctié as a concept, and how its used politically,” Choudry said. “The bill itself ultimately has racist and discriminatory kinds of effects.”

While the CAQ has claimed that the bill is not specific in its targeting of religious minorities, it is regarded by many as disproportionately affecting Muslim, Jewish, and Sikh citizens, whose religious symbols tend to be more visible than those of other religions.

“We’ve had this long history of obsessing [over] what Muslim women wear, and folks from Jewish, Sikh, or other communities as well,” Choudry said. “And what this ultimately does is [serve] to be a form of social exclusion. I think that a fundamental thing that lies at the heart of this is the racism and discrimination that’s built into [the bill’s] justification. The invoking of laïcité is something that we need to actually unpack, rather than just take it a surface level of being a neutral, secular concept.”

Commentary, Opinion

In defense of spending the summer outside Montreal

by Derek Pace on

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In the weeks leading up to the end of the Winter semester, many students field questions regarding their summer plans and the answers often only come after long months of searching for the right job or internship. As in every city, a long list of factors can influence where Montreal students choose to spend the season. During the summer, Montreal is filled with festivals, concerts, and other seasonal events such as the Montreal International Jazz Festival,  Piknic Électronik, and Montreal Pride, as well as a multitude of restaurants showcasing sunny and social patios. For many, winter in this city can be a dark few months, so it seems like everyone would want to stick around and get the most out of the too-brief period of warm weather it offers. However, even after braving a long season of icy sidewalks and sub-zero temperatures, some students rightfully choose to leave Montreal when the mercury starts to creep up again. While this move is often met with criticism by die-hard Montreal summer fans, leaving town for a few months to process the pent-up stress of the school year is a valid act of self-care.

Some students may choose to leave Montreal because they feel that they need a mental break from university life. For those whose mental health has suffered during their studies, or even those who have tired of a city that they used to enjoy, a change of scenery may be necessary. Leaving town for the season can equate to leaving overwhelming and stressful memories of the school year behind, even if only for a few months. That can do a lot of good for students who associate Montreal with mountains of schoolwork. 

However, students may also leave for other reasons. The ever-present language barrier can be a factor for those whose potential lack of French may inhibit their search for summer employment. A need to make money during the summer can push non-Francophone students to leave Montreal for work, especially if they are supporting themselves financially. Others may be more comfortable in French and still end up working in Montreal for a variety of reasons, one of which being that working in a non-native language can be intimidating. Others who come from outside Canada may take summer as a valued and rare opportunity to see family and friends from home. For students who are fresh off of a stressful exam season, going home to work can be a welcome dose of familiarity. 

Despite these things, there are some factors that may entice students to stay here. Given all of Montreal’s summer-specific activities, it is nearly impossible to be bored during the summer. I spent last summer in the city, jogging through Parc La Fontaine and seeing a microcosm of the city’s population sitting on the freshly cut grass, each with an assortment of picnic snacks and drinks; my mouth watered at each food truck that I passed as my wallet somberly begged me to resist the temptation. For people who enjoy these things, staying in Montreal might be an easy decision.   

As magical as Montreal may be in the summer, with people taking full advantage of the sunny days and warmer temperatures, staying here during this time isn’t for everyone. For many students, the positive aspects of being here in the summer do not outweigh the valid reasons for leaving, and that’s ok. Spending a summer in Montreal is not necessarily better than spending a summer anywhere else. To return in the fall feeling refreshed and mentally healthy, students should do what is right for themselves, even if that means being away for a few months. Take some time this summer to be elsewhere—the city isn’t going anywhere. 

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