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Behind the Bench, Martlets, Soccer, Sports

Tides and Roses split points as former Martlets reunite in NSL showdown

by Ivanna Zhang on

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The Halifax Tides FC played the Montreal Roses FC in a crucial Northern Super League (NSL) match on Oct. 2, which ended in a 2-2 draw. The game was the final matchup this season between three McGill Martlets Soccer alumni: Sophie Guilmette (MA ‘25), Mara Bouchard (BA ‘24), and Stéphanie Hill (BSc ‘23, MSc ‘24).

Guilmette signed with the Tides in March 2025 and plays goalkeeper for the team. In an interview with The Tribune, she expressed her excitement about playing against her former teammates.

“It’s just joy, honestly. Mara and Steph are [some] of my closest friends,” she said. “And at the end of the day, win or lose, those are my people.”

Founded in April 2025, the NSL is Canada’s first professional women’s soccer league. Its season spans eight months, starting in February and ending in October, and features six clubs: Calgary Wild FC, the Halifax Tides FC, AFC Toronto, the Montreal Roses FC, Ottawa Rapid FC, and Vancouver Rise FC. Over the course of the regular season, each team plays a total of 25 matches, facing every opponent five times.

Bouchard, who is a midfielder for the Roses, explained the uncertainty that comes with playing in a new league in an interview with The Tribune.

“I guess the first thought is, I don’t know what to expect,” she said. “Everyone is just jumping in the league where no one has any idea of how [it’s] gonna turn out.”

Guilmette discussed how part of the NSL’s importance lies in its novelty.

“Up until this year, it was not possible to play [professional women’s soccer] in Canada,” she emphasized. “I’m super privileged to be able to do that at home in front of my family and friends [now].”

Although still in its early stages, the league has already drawn significant attention from Canadian fans, attracting over 14,000 spectators to its opening matches in Vancouver and Toronto. The NSL has also secured multiple broadcasting agreements with major streaming platforms, including CBC, TSN, and the francophone Réseau des sports.

The Tides-Roses match came just two weeks before the NSL playoffs, for which the top four seeds have already been determined. Still, it was an important match, as the Roses aimed to surpass the Rapid to become the second playoff seed, while the Tides looked to end their winless streak dating back to July 12.

“We already qualified for playoffs, so for us, [we treated] this match like a playoff game,” Bouchard explained. “We’ve always had a tough time playing against Halifax this season.”

Despite numerous scoring attempts from both sides in the opening half, a breakthrough did not come until the 36th minute, when Tides midfielder Saorla Miller capitalized on a free kick. Montreal responded in the 68th, with Lorie Thibault threading a pass to fellow midfielder Charlotte Bilbault, who chipped the ball past Tides goalkeeper Anika Tóth to bring the Roses level. 

Just two minutes later, Miller restored Halifax’s lead, scoring her second goal. But the advantage was short-lived—only four minutes later, Montreal’s Chaerim Kang tipped the ball past Tóth to secure a draw.

Hill, one of the Roses’ starting defenders, sat down with The Tribune to reflect on the team’s performance.

“We were having a hard time scoring and keeping the momentum,” she said. “We were perhaps making them look quite good at some moments, and that’s on us to step it up.”

For Hill, the intensity of the game highlighted the changes between playing professionally and collegiate competition. While both seasons end in late October, McGill’s preseason starts in early August, whereas the NSL preseason begins in February, extending players’ calendars significantly.

“It’s just so different,” she explained. “I’m getting paid to do this. It’s my full-time job. We train every day from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 or 3:00 p.m. With McGill, academics always came first. So it was school all day, and then practice [at] 6:00 p.m. or 8:00 p.m.”

Despite these challenges and adjustments, all three former Martlets spoke with gratitude about their journey to the NSL.

“I want to remove the negative connotation that comes with the word ‘challenge’ because I think it’s something that’s to be embraced,” Hill said. “Work hard, and let’s see what kind of magic can happen.”

Student Life

Act like a man, perform like a male

by Jamie Xie on

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“History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.” Thus wrote Marx in The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. Aligning itself with a long legacy of alternative male archetypes, the performative male exists in conversation with the Metrosexual, Soyboy, Nice GuyTM and Male Manipulator—each a cultural attempt to grapple with what it means to be a man in an era of progressive politics, where prized self-awareness is rewarded as social capital. 


What makes the performative male distinctive as a phenomenon is its self-conscious, nonthreatening nature. Originating in feminist criticism of men who appropriate aesthetics of political sensitivity for women’s validation, the label has since been embraced, blurred and reinterpreted as a kind of satire—part parody, part reclamation, culminating in a cultural onslaught of competitions to see who can most embody the archetype.

This spirit materialized on Sept. 26, when Sam Rudin, U2 Arts, in collaboration with Spotted McGill, hosted McGill’s first Performative Male Contest on campus, just hours after the university’s annual Lettuce Club competition. Among the wilted green remains of the Lower Field, competitors advanced through rounds of runway, dance-offs, and mock interview questions in a bracket format by ‘cheer-meter’—scaled to the music of audience uproar and applause. 

Recounting the organizational process, Rudin admits that he hadn’t initially planned to organize anything at all. He initially floated the idea of a performative male competition in a Spotted McGill confession—more of a suggestion than an intention, but when it garnered traction online, it became clear that what started out as a passing joke among his friends had become a serendipitous call to action. “At some point, I realized if I don’t do it, no one will,” he said in an interview with The Tribune

For Rudin, the competition was not so much a matter of political statement as it was an inclusive community-bonding exercise. When asked about the role of gender in this phenomenon, he told The Tribune, “Someone commented on the post asking if girls were allowed to perform and another person replied, ‘performative male is a mindset.’ Anyone can be a performative male.” 

Runner-up Anthanasios Wees, U1 Arts, echoed this sentiment, emphasizing in an interview with The Tribune that “gender and sexuality have no place as a discriminatory feature.” Wees highlighted that it’s the intent that defines a performative man, not the semantics of how ‘he’ acts. 

“It’s about the intention of illusion, pretending to be a safe space for women to gain an advantage in social circles opens you up to rightful criticism […] that’s when you start entering the world of being a performative male.”

Shahzaib Sultan, local social media influencer, winner of the Montreal performative male contest,  and self-identifying performative male, believes the city’s cultural landscape is particularly conducive to self expression. Between the fashion-forward Plateau, and Mile End’s melting pot of subcultures, Montreal naturally fosters performative expression where the line between personal style and deliberate performance often blends sincerity with self-aware Gen-Z irony. 

Though ultimately victorious, Sultan found himself at odds with the contest’s expectations, and at times, considered quitting. “Being queer in the contest, I questioned my place in that too,” he said. Navigating a space where crowds caricaturize the forms of self-expression he feels natural in, Sultan noted the environment’s inherent hostility in an interview with The Tribune: “It’s not authentic—straight men have appropriated queer culture in many ways and this is just one of them. We applaud men for being performative.” 

Despite the underlying tension, Sultan embraced the experience, choosing to reclaim the space on his own terms. The contest, built on exaggerated heteronormative clowning, prompted him to consider how his identity fit within the broader digital landscape. Getting ready for the contest felt ordinary—another familiar morning routine. In an ironic twist, it was perhaps the most genuine participant who triumphed in a contest defined by performative masculinity, revealing heart beneath a seemingly cynical spectacle.  

“I think the performative male trend has done a lot of good. People base their identity in significantly more ridiculous things than being a performative man. Good for them, it’s hard to figure out what we are,” said Wees. 

Montreal, News

Jean-François Roberge bans gender-neutral pronouns in all official Quebec communications

by Amelia H. Clark on

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On Sept. 24, Quebec’s French Language Minister Jean-François Roberge introduced a bill banning the use of gender neutral pronouns such as ‘iel,’ ‘celleux,’ and ‘Mx.’ in all official communications from the Quebec government. Roberge plans on extending the bill to public education in the province, ranging from kindergarten to post-secondary institutions. It further applies to both patients and employees in the province’s healthcare system. 

Roberge states that the pronoun ban is necessary to protect the clarity of the French language. He claims neologisms, or newly coined words, such as ‘froeur’ cannot be conjugated properly due to the pre-existing language structure in French, causing confusion. The bill only applies to written documents, meaning a teacher can be referred to as ‘Mx.’ by students during class, but cannot be identified as such on the record. 

Although Roberge claims that the bill is not intended to alienate gender expansive communities who use the now-banned pronouns, some queer advocacy groups at McGill have expressed concerns that the ban will reduce 2SLGBTQIA+ access to government institutions and resources, while also harming the public perception of transgender and genderfluid individuals. 

The Trans Patient Union (TPU) at McGill wrote to The Tribune that this bill creates further blocks to accessing gender-affirming care in Quebec, and stated that many doctors continuously misgender patients, despite corrections from the patient or an ‘X’ marker written on their file. 

The TPU also wrote that the inclusion of neologisms in French would actually incentivize more people to communicate in the language, as gender expansive people would know that French recognizes their identity. 

“It is at times the case that bilingual nonbinary people will avoid speaking French specifically because of how challenging it can be to speak French while being correctly gendered,” the TPU wrote. “Changes which aim to make the language better include trans and nonbinary francophones can only help encourage its use.” 

A representative of The Union for Gender Empowerment (UGE) at McGill noted in an interview with The Tribune that Roberge’s decision to ban the use of gender-neutral pronouns in official communications was confusing, considering that there are no previous laws mandating the inclusion of these pronouns in government announcements. 

“The fact that this [bill] covers the government and municipalities kind of strikes me as banning a problem that doesn’t exist,” the UGE representative said. “When it comes to widening this legislation to other publicly-funded institutions, my first thought is that this undermines the autonomy of different publicly-funded institutions to decide how they want to structure and address some of their publications.”

The bill also mandates that official communications must be written in the masculine form, going against the government’s past inclusion of also the feminine form within brackets in government documentation. 

“The greatest effect of this decree will be to re-emphasize this type of convention as more expedient, and consistently remove the presence of women, which are, frankly, the majority of the population in Quebec, from references to the population as a whole, whether as workers, as citizens, or as patients,” the UGE representative said.

McGill’s Media Relations Office (MRO) stated in a written response to The Tribune that McGill plans on continuing to denounce the systematic use of the masculine pronoun, and continuing to avoid using gendered language in its announcements.

“You will see that our style guide already favours inclusivity in writing [and] that we don’t normally use the terminology targeted by the government,” the MRO wrote.

The UGE representative further questioned the purpose of the government language ban, noting that no empirical research was conducted prior to its proposal supporting its alleged benefits.

“When it comes to clarity in terms of graphic conventions, I would love to see data on the science of reading that tells me that using a parenthesis is clearer and easier to read for, say, people with dyslexia or learners of the French language,” the UGE representative said. “I don’t think it exists right now. This is merely a question of tradition, not clarity.” 

Campus Spotlight, Student Life

At Queer McGill, trans and nonbinary community-building is stronger than ever

by Gregor McCall on

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On the chilly night of Oct. 8, students, activists, organizers, and vendors gathered on the fourth floor of the University Centre in celebration of Queer History Month. Queer McGill’s Market and Panel Discussion featured a variety of organizations and speakers focused on issues surrounding transgender and nonbinary communities. 

The heart of the conversation highlighted the importance of creating spaces where trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming individuals not only feel accepted but also see their identities reflected in queer-centric spaces. Even within queer organizations and communities, as the panellists discussed, trans and nonbinary people often have to advocate for themselves—whether seeking access to gender-affirming care or fighting to see themselves represented and reflected—in ways cisgender queer people do not. At the same time, the cultural and political rise of transphobia in Canada threatens the very fabric of these communities. 

Val Munoz, a master’s student in McGill’s Department of Integrated Studies in Education, emphasized that in the wake of hateful sentiment, community-building is more important than ever. 

“[In] Quebec, there’s a recent bill that was passed [restricting] gender-neutral language or pronoun-usage anymore in official documentation. It’s still a fight to be acknowledged in the first place. So, it’s super important for us to feature trans and nonbinary specific vendors and panellists for today’s event.” 

Munoz refers to the recent decision of Jean-François Roberge, Minister of French for Quebec under the Coalition Avenir Québec government, to ban the use of gender-inclusive language in all official communications. This prohibits government officials from using the pronoun ‘iel’ or adding inclusive suffixes to gendered words, as in ‘étudiant.e.’

Institutional barriers to gender inclusivity exist beyond the governmental level and manifest in all corners of society, including at universities like McGill. Juno Cinq-Mars, U2 Education, and one of the organizers of the event, stressed that even though McGill has made progress in offering services to queer students, there is still a long way to go. 

“Overall, right now, there’s been an increase in gender-neutral washrooms, but we need to expand on that project and make sure that’s accessible in every single building. There’s no reason that I need to be running around multiple kilometres while being disabled, just because I’m trans, to find a washroom.”

Other panellists and vendors spoke of the importance of safety in community organizing. Katya Tyutyunyk, a master’s student at McGill’s School of Architecture and member of the featured organization lowkiki, highlighted that creating queer spaces apart from party culture is one of the missions of the group.

“Our purpose, initially, was to create an alternative to nightlife and give queer [folks] a space where they can build community and meet each other without having to party and drink.” 

“We mainly do a ‘third-space’ type of event where you come and hang out. We have collaging, […] we’ve done trans-centric events, we’ve done an event that was centred around braiding for Black and Indigenous People of Colour. And these are all kinds of things we want to centre with our events in terms of creating a space where people can come and become friends in the city without pressure,” Tyutyunyk added in an interview with The Tribune.

The event underscored the responsibility of allies to support queer voices and work collaboratively to ensure the proliferation of inclusive spaces. Queer History Month reminds everyone to acknowledge and celebrate the countless queer individuals and organizations who have fought against oppression and for civil rights throughout history. 

Cinq-Mars continued, “Queer issues affect everyone, not just queer people. Issues with forced gender conformity affect cis people, they affect straight people, and overall, we have to break free from the binaries of gender, and the heteropatriarchy, in order to increase the quality of everyone’s lives, not just queer people’s lives.”

Interested students can follow Queer McGill on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date on the wide range of events, services, and programs they offer to the McGill community.

Science & Technology

Breast cancer clarified: Addressing medical advances and common misconceptions

by Sarah McDonald on

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Breast cancer is far more common than many people realize; in 2024, breast cancer accounted for 25 per cent of the new cancer cases in Canadian women. While breast cancer survival rates have improved drastically over time, researchers continue to study the disease to improve patient outcomes. 

One such researcher is Dr. Sarkis H. Meterissian, a McGill professor of surgery and oncology. As director of the Breast Centre at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), Meterissian’s research is centred on breast cancer management.

“We do a combination of clinical research, meaning looking at patient outcomes and trying to determine from our databases what the optimal [treatment] approach would be [….] We also do translational research […] and then finally, we have a lot of very interesting collaborations and projects with industry,” Meterissian explained in an interview with The Tribune.

These industry collaborations help pilot new and developing technologies in clinical settings—a crucial step in tailoring medical technology to patients’ needs. One partnership is with the Montreal company Noze which is working to develop an AI model that can ‘smell’ cancer and other diseases on exhaled breath. 

“[Noze] did a pilot study already, with us at the breast center, with over 140 patients, showing very promising data on sensitivity and specificity,” Meterissian said. “And now I’m leading a study which will hopefully start soon, and will include over 3000 patients.” 

Another collaboration with Polytechnique Montréal involves engineers developing a medical wand to detect cancer on the margins of surgical wounds. According to Meterissian, between 20 and 25 per cent of surgically-treated breast cancer patients have cancer recurrences and require a second operation. Should this project be successful, this technology could significantly reduce reoperation rates—a huge advance in breast cancer treatment.

As diagnostic and treatment technologies evolve, breast cancer treatment results and the overall patient experience are expected to improve.

However, despite doctors’ and researchers’ continued efforts to improve patient outcomes, there are still many misconceptions about breast cancer, which Meterissian hopes to address.

First, he wanted to clarify the most at-risk populations. He explained that while breast cancer is most common among older women, cancer cases are becoming more and more common in younger patients in general. He also emphasized that breast cancer is not influenced by genetics nearly as much as many people believe.

“Only in five to ten per cent of cases is [it] genetic, so you have the other 90 to 95 per cent that are sporadic,” Meterissian said. “In other words, a woman who has no family history can get breast cancer.”

He also described how lifestyle can influence breast cancer susceptibility. Most types of breast cancer are linked to hormone levels—the higher the levels of circulating hormones one has, the higher their risk of developing breast cancer.

“A woman who is of average weight has less circulating hormones than a woman who is 50 pounds overweight, because [the latter] will make hormones from the fat as well as from her ovaries,” Meterissian explained. 

Alcohol also has a definitive influence on breast cancer development.

“If you drink every weekend, every weekend your liver is taking a hit and your hormones are going up,” Meterissian said. “So the chances of you [getting] breast cancer will be higher if you are drinking on a regular basis than a woman who doesn’t drink.”

Another key misconception about breast cancer is that it is limited to one sex. While breast cancer is, expectedly, most common in women, it is important to remember that men can get breast cancer too—something that is forgotten all too often.

Ultimately, Meterissian shares that it comes down to noticing changes in your body. 

“The number one [piece of] advice I have for women is to be aware of their bodies,” Meterissian said. “We see so many times there’s a lump, there’s redness, and women haven’t noticed. So take the time to check.” 

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

‘One Battle After Another’ and the never-ending need for resistance

by Loriane Chagnon on

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Holding on tightly to its place at the top of the box office since its release on Sept. 26, Paul Thomas Anderson’s new action thriller One Battle After Another continues to captivate and delight viewers. With it, Anderson maintains his standing as one of cinema’s best and brightest filmmakers. Inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland, he transforms the story through wide shots of winding midwestern roads, action-packed scenes, and a haunting score composed by Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood. It features career-topping performances from Leonardo DiCaprio and Benicio del Toro, and breakout performances by Teyana Taylor and newcomer Chase Infiniti. 

One Battle After Another entraps the viewer right from the start. It opens with the rescue mission of detained immigrants conducted by the far-left revolutionary group, the French 75, whose members include ‘Ghetto’ Pat Calhoun (DiCaprio) and Perfidia Beverly Hills (Taylor). After an encounter with commanding officer Steven J. Lockjaw, (Sean Penn), whose performance is as wickedly haunting as Hans Landa’s (Christopher Waltz) in Inglorious Basterds, Perfidia and Pat’s daughter is born. Perfidia then enters witness protection, leaving her family behind. Forced into hiding, Pat and his newborn daughter—now assuming the identity of Bob and Willa Ferguson—abandon their revolutionary ways in favour of a simple life in exile.

16 years later, Lockjaw resurfaces to hunt Willa down. To protect herself, she runs away, forcing Bob to rejoin the revolution. Anderson depicts the struggles of a father and retired revolutionary with both humour and purpose, as he switches between Bob’s failed attempts to rescue his daughter and Willa’s determination to carry on the fight her parents abandoned to save her life.

By shooting in VistaVision—a high-resolution widescreen process created in the 1950s—Anderson gives his film a timeless feel, while designing the most enjoyable viewing experience for the big screen. He masterfully captures his characters’ undying determination to make the world a better place, and to escape those who threaten to end these aspirations for their own gain. 

One Battle After Another does not shy away from topics such as postpartum depression, intergenerational trauma, and the never-ending need for resistance, depicted through the father-daughter relationship of Bob and Willa, who both love and despise each other, as parents and adolescents often do.

With a run-time of 162 minutes, the film succeeds in retaining its viewers’ attention, never losing focus on the desire of Bob and Willa to reunite. Penn’s physical acting encapsulates the haunting absurdity of Lockjaw, who is portrayed as both a frightening antagonist and an irrational, law-bending, manic character. His caricatured walk, flexing of muscles, and growling mouth make for a character that is both sinister and ridiculous. Anderson is unafraid to denounce the cognitive dissonance that arises when faced with an authority that works, not for the good of the people, but for its own selfish desires. 

Strong acting, meticulous cinematography, warm colour grading, and the exploration of family, resistance, and revolution make One Battle After Another a movie that leaves no one indifferent. Anderson is at his best, as he reminds viewers that movies are meant to be digested and reflected on rather than consumed rapidly and in greater numbers. One Battle After Another will make you gasp, dance, scream, hope, and most importantly, think. 

McGill, News

Independent Jewish Voices celebrates Sukkot while standing in solidarity with Palestine

by Armen Erzingatzian on

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The McGill chapter of Independent Jewish Voices (IJV), a grassroots, anti-Zionist, Jewish organization, held an event on Oct. 6 on McGill’s Lower Field to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Sukkot and show their solidarity with Palestinians enduring Israel’s ongoing genocide. Sukkot is a seven-day festival of thanksgiving for the fall harvest, where observers build makeshift huts, known as ‘sukkah.’ The holiday also commemorates the 40 years that the Jewish people spent wandering after their Exodus from Egypt, during which they lived in huts. The IJV event was quickly met with heavy presence from the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM). 

At 4:00 p.m., members of McGill’s and Montreal’s Jewish communities began building the sukkah on the Lower Field using a pop-up tent. Nearly 50 individuals gathered and made speeches, said prayers, sang, and waved four species of plants—citron, myrtle, palm, and willow—as well as banners reading, “Jews against Genocide/Free Palestine,” “Liberate Judaism from Zionism,” and “L’chaim Intifada”.

In an interview with The Tribune, an attendee who wished to remain anonymous described the significance of the sukkah-building as a demonstration of support for Palestine.

“[A sukkah is] a temporary structure […] [that] you share […] community experiences in,” they said. “We wanted to bring that here today, to be in solidarity with Palestine, [and] to show that we can make the choice to build a temporary structure like this. [….] The people of Gaza, whose homes have been destroyed, they have to live in structures like this. [….] They don’t have the choice.”

Another attendee who wished to remain unnamed explained why they felt it was important to differentiate Judaism from Zionism in times of Palestinian oppression.

“It’s very clear to me that if there is this injustice, it must be addressed, not just because it is a Jewish thing to do, but because it is the human thing,” they stated in an interview with The Tribune. “And […] in that process, we are actually addressing antisemitism, because we are showing a positive version of what Judaism can look like when people have only been exposed to Zionism.”

IJV McGill was one of the bodies who supported the Students’ Society of McGill University’s Legislative Council’s decision to adopt the Policy against Antisemitism in April 2025, which distinguishes between anti-Zionism and antisemitism. Many pro-Israel groups on campus were opposed to its adoption. The attendee spoke to this disagreement. 

“[The policy] cites […] historical precedent, […] [and] legal summaries endorsed by a lot of law professors [internationally],” the attendee explained. “I really think that this narrative of the Jewish community [being] so divided, [is] disingenuous and […] misleading. Partially because they’re like every community, […] in a state of trying to figure itself out. We’re doing everything we can to engage in this conversation.”

 “I [grew up in] a Zionist perspective,” the attendee continued. “Change is possible. [….] I do think that it is also kind of a mitzvah, a kind of important obligation to try to help people on their journey to having a more open mind.”

Meanwhile, between 4:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m., approximately 25 SPVM officers arrived at the sukkah. Around ten SPVM Specialized Support and Intervention Section police, or riot police, stood 20 meters away from the gathering. 

In an interview with The Tribune, a community member who interacted with the SPVM described how one of the police officers was “mocking” the religious ceremony.

“One police officer explicitly said that he didn’t think this was a religious tent. He was like, ‘It’s just a gazebo,’” the attendee, who wished to remain unnamed, recounted. “[His comments were] pretty demeaning, derogatory, […] borderline antisemitic. [….] [He was] insisting that we don’t have a right to mark this religious service in the way that our faith requires that we do.”

According to the community member, around 5:30 p.m., the SPVM officers threatened to physically intervene in the gathering, claiming the structure had been illegally erected on McGill’s private property.

Though attendees took down the pop-up tent, they gathered to form the sukkah once more using their banners as walls, their bodies as pillars, and the branches in their stretched-out arms as the roof.

Science & Technology

When cells collide: Understanding the effects of red blood cell collisions

by Guillaume Delgado on

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The field of biomedical engineering is complex, to say the least. Out of all the sciences, it is one of the hardest to understand, as it centres around understanding and altering the millions of interactions occurring in our bodies everyday.

In a recent study published in Scientific Reports, McGill Alumni Hristo Valtchanov and his colleagues analyzed the intricacies of the human body, specifically blood flow, to determine if red blood cells (RBC) are negatively affected by intercellular collisions, where two or more cells come into direct contact with each other. Because of the density of our red blood cells and how small our blood vessels are in width, red blood cells frequently collide with each other when being pumped through our bodies.

Valtchanov believes that researchers have overlooked RBC collisions in the modeling of blood rheology—the science of blood flow—despite overall advances in said technology. 

“In the biosciences, model representation is extremely important,” Valtchanov said in an interview with The Tribune. “It’s also important to challenge the assumptions people have on said models.” 

He also argues that previous studies downplayed the importance of RBC collisions, suggesting they had a minimal impact on hemolysis—the destruction of RBCs. High levels of hemolysis is dangerous for the human body and can eventually lead to organ failure. 

“It’s actually quite difficult to incorporate the effect of intercellular collisions, but no one had actually tried to quantify the effect, so we did a study doing just that,” Valtchanov said. 

Thus, the researchers used viscoelastic simulations, measuring the RBC membranes’ responses to constant force or deformation to analyze how much strain intercellular collisions put on these membranes. They specifically analyzed this strain at different shear rates, which measure how fast layers of liquid move past one another.

“Basically, we made a simulation, and smashed the red blood cells together so that we could directly measure the effect of collisions on the strain experienced by the red blood cell membrane, and thus on hemolysis,” Valtchanov said. “We did this in simulation because the distribution of strain on the RBC membrane is exceedingly difficult to examine, particularly during a dynamic event like a collision.”

Their results showcased that overall, intercellular collision increased RBC membrane strain. In fact, they found that intercellular collisions were the main cause for membrane strain in RBC.

The importance of RBC collisions is made abundantly clear when considering what Valtchanov and colleagues had been examining beforehand. 

“We began this study while we were trying to develop constitutive models for hemolysis. We use hemolysis modeling to try to predict the amount of damage to red blood cells when a medical device is implanted into a patient,” Vatlchanov explained.

These findings could help create new and improved biomedical devices, such as blood pumps, that are less likely to cause hemolysis, which could save lives as a result. 

“A high degree of hemolysis is called ‘lethal hemolysis’ because it causes kidney failure and death. Lower doses have all sorts of other complications. It will slowly damage all of your other organs, and your kidneys will eventually give out.” Valtchanov said.

Ultimately, this study could help broaden current knowledge in modelling blood damage and creating biomedical devices.

 “As engineers, our main challenge is to predict things,” Valtchanov added. “If you can predict something, you can control it, and design solutions to stop it from happening.” 

Despite the progress that the researchers have made in this field, the work is far from over.

“The amount of knowledge you need to advance any science is a lot, to be frank,” Valtchanov said. “In general, there is so much work that needs to be done to improve our understanding of how the body works, to model the biomechanical processes that lead to diseases. The future of medicine is preventative, and harnesses data to take into account each individual person’s unique physiology.”

Commentary, Opinion

Canadian gun advocates make a fair point—and it doesn’t matter

by Joshua Karmiol on

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Earlier this month, demonstrators gathered on the lawn of the Myles F. Burke Police Headquarters in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, to protest the federal government’s new gun buyback program. 250 strong and adorned in an assortment of flannel, sunglasses, and baseball caps, the rally-goers held bold text protest signs with references to the Bible and “wasted tax dollars.” Guest speakers, including local Conservative MPs, bemoaned government overreach and encroachment on “good gun-abiding people.” And they made a fair point.

If one considers the merits of the Government of Canada’s gun buyback, broad design flaws quickly become apparent, namely its cost and failure to target illegal firearm owners, the main perpetrators of gun violence in Canada. Although it is easy to criticize the ill-targeted excesses of Liberal gun policy, backlash from gun-owning communities and Conservative politicians ultimately fails to address the merits of the gun buyback program itself in the context of the country’s relatively low rates of gun ownership. 

In May 2020, weeks after a mass shooting in Nova Scotia that killed 22 people, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a ban on over 1,500 models of ‘assault-style’ fire-arms, and instated a transition period during which the government would undertake a national gun-buyback program and shield owners of prohibited firearms from criminal liability. 

Most available statistics indicate that gun crimes in Canada primarily occur through black market weapons smuggled into the country from the United States. No clear correlation between legal gun purchases and crime has been established; in fact, firearms licence-holders have a 10 per cent lower murder rate compared to the Canadian average. Even the Nova Scotia mass shooter who prompted the gun ban used smuggled American guns. 

The program’s compensation of gun owners alone will cost an estimated total of $756 million CAD, leaving some critics to wonder if those funds could be allocated towards something more useful. Others claim the specific gun models listed within the ban itself are somewhat arbitrary, with similar guns to those banned still available for purchase.

Essentially, the government is targeting law-abiding Canadians who purchased their weapons legally at great expense to the Canadian tax payer, for virtually zero benefit. 

Any Conservative politician worth their salt will bang their chest in solidarity with gun-owners. It is easy to see why. Reckless spending in order to create a pointless bureaucracy designed to oppress individual rights, plagued by administrative incompetence and arbitrary decision making? It’s practically a slam-dunk. The Liberal gun buyback regime is, as much as it may hurt for some to admit, stupid.

But who cares? If one told the average Canadian that the federal government was spending a miniscule fraction of our federal budget to remove about 100,000 ‘assault-style’ weapons from the hands of the public, would they be upset? The vast majority of Canadians—92.9 per cent—do not possess firearms, and the cultural inertia that underpins firearm rights in the US does not exist here. On the contrary, most Canadians, while they may not grasp the minutia of the issue, support increased firearm restrictions. 

Self-defense law in Canada does not allow for the use of firearms in the protection of one’s property, rendering guns almost exclusively used for target-shooting and hunting. In other words, gun ownership in Canada is just another equipment-centric outdoor hobby, like kayaking or dirt-biking. What is the difference between guns and hypothetical onerous over-regulation of, say, jet-skis? If certain models of jet-skis suddenly faced sweeping government bans—with proportionate compensation for jet-ski owners, mind you, would anybody shed a tear? The major difference being, of course, that jet-skis cannot be used to conduct a mass shooting. 

Gun advocates have a point in criticizing this specific program, but this argument is senseless in the context of Canada’s political and cultural understanding of gun ownership. There was no counterprotest to the gathering outside the police station in Cape Breton. Besides gun-owners and those that stood to gain politically from their outrage, nobody showed up. I’m not even sure if the police looked out the window.

Montreal, News

Quebec halts free COVID-19 vaccine program for most residents

by Basil Atari on

More in Montreal:

Quebec’s health ministry has announced that starting this fall, coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines will no longer be universally free to the public. Instead, free vaccines will only be available to residents who are 65 and older, those who are immunocompromised or have chronic illnesses, residents of long-term care or private seniors’ homes, health care workers, adults in remote regions, and pregnant individuals. Those who do not qualify for a free vaccine will have to pay between $150 CAD and $180 CAD at a pharmacy in order to receive a COVID-19 shot.

McGill’s Media Relations Office (MRO) clarified that McGill’s Student Wellness Hub does not provide COVID-19 vaccines—free or paid—to students, in a written statement to The Tribune.

“While the Hub does not administer COVID-19 vaccines to the general student population, we recommend accessing vaccines through local pharmacies or public/private health clinics,” the MRO wrote. “Supporting students in staying up to date with their vaccinations and helping them navigate off-campus resources is a key part of the Hub healthcare professionals’ mandate.”

The SSMU Studentcare health insurance plan generally does not cover unprescribed COVID-19 vaccines, as these costs are not considered an eligible expense by provider Desjardins Insurance. However, Studentcare emphasized that this may not always be the case in a written statement to The Tribune. 

“If the vaccine is prescribed by a physician and dispensed by a pharmacist, students may submit the claim to Desjardins Insurance for review, subject to standard plan limitations,” a Member Services Agent with Studentcare wrote.

In an interview with The Tribune, Dr. Anne Gatignol, a virology and molecular biology professor in McGill’s Department of Medicine, described the current risks and realities of COVID-19 on the university’s campus.

“By now, most adults have had COVID, and we have reached some kind of collective immunity,” Gatignol stated. “[Vaccines are] important for elderly or immunocompromised persons, people with chronic diseases, [and] health care workers. [….] For all others, the risk is much lower. [….] The Quebec health authorities have probably evaluated the costs [and] benefits in their decision. Nevertheless, I encourage those who want and can afford it to get the vaccine. They will protect themselves and will contribute to protecting others.”

Kasidy Xu, a final-year Nursing student at McGill, provided similar advice to Dr. Gatignol’s to university students concerned about COVID-19 vaccination in an interview with The Tribune. 

“For the most part, [as] university students […] are mostly young in age, […] [they] are not as [susceptible to COVID-19] as older adults or immunocompromised people,” Xu explained. “They were [more at] risk [in] the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic [due to] the close proximity they were [in] with [other] students [and] people. [However], it is important for everyone [to] get the COVID vaccine if they can, [as] the COVID strains are changing so much [that] even if you get [immunised] now, the strains will change within a year and you will need to receive a new vaccination in order to be protected.”

Quebec’s new policy to pull back universal access to free COVID-19 vaccines follows a decision Alberta Health Services made in June 2025 to start charging Albertans who are not elderly, immunocompromised, or health care workers for COVID-19 shots. Alberta’s provincial government cited the high costs and vaccine waste keeping COVID-19 shots free incurred, after the federal Public Health Agency of Canada transferred responsibility for procuring the vaccines to provincial health bodies in January 2025. Quebec made their decision along similar lines of reasoning, citing cost efficiency after Quebec’s immunisation committee, the Institut national de santé publique du Québec, recommended prioritising vaccination for people aged 75 and older.

COVID-19 and flu vaccines can be booked together through Quebec’s online health booking platform, Clic Santé, or by calling 1-877-644-4545. Coronavirus vaccines will remain available in Quebec at pharmacies, local community services centres, and through other healthcare providers.

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