Latest News

Science & Technology

Davos 2019: Climate change and empowerment

by Katherine Dulong on

More in Science & Technology:

Globalization, climate change, social entrepreneurship, and sustainability were just a few of the topics on the table at the 2019 World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland Jan. 22-25. This year, the annual forum provided a platform for environmentalists, young innovators, world leaders, multinational corporations, academics, and more to consider the issues that threaten humanity and potential solutions.

David Attenborough, a renowned English broadcaster and natural historian, delivered an optimistic yet realistic speech about the necessity of acting quickly to counter climate change. At 92 years old, Attenborough was born during the Holocene, a different geological era than the current Anthropocene era. Reminiscing about the nature docuseries “The Blue Planet,” the environmental activist marvelled at the unbelievably rapid changes in the climate and at the speed of information transmission in this epoch.

Climate change was a central theme at the Davos 2019 World Economic Forum. Protesters such as 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, a climate change activist and one of the youngest attendees this year, brought attention to the prominence of the issue and called out previous generations’ passivity toward the crisis.

“You say you love your children above all else, and, yet, you are stealing their future in front of their very eyes,” Thunberg said.

In their attempts to address climate change, attendees suggested novel solutions, ranging from artificial trees to seagrass. In addition to brainstorming practical solutions to the crisis, participants grimly acknowledged the devastating consequences of climate change including ocean acidification, rising ocean temperatures, smog and air pollution, and extinction. These realities paint a dire depiction of already irreversible trends, although many attendees at the forum remained hopeful that it wasn’t too late to save the planet.

Also present at the Forum were Suzanne Fortier, principal and vice-chancellor of McGill University, and Isabelle Bajeux-Besnainou, dean of the Faculty of Management. As the only Canadian members of the Global University Leaders Forum in attendance, they took on the task of promoting the interests of university students all over Canada. Fortier emphasized the importance of communication between teachers and learners.

“Universities have the opportunity to help people who want to learn, and the challenge is to listen to the new generation and find out what they want,” Fortier said at the forum.

Fortier and Bajeux-Besnainou were just  two of 696 women in attendance this year, 22 per cent of the just over 3,000 total attendees. This figure is an improvement compared to 2016, when women made up only 18 per cent of attendees.

Amidst the many leaders present at the World Economic Forum, six young people stood out as inspirational figures because of their diverse backgrounds, expertise, and ideas. Basima Abdulrahman, founder of Iraq’s first sustainable architecture consultancy firm, spoke as a fervent environmentalist but also as a philanthropist keen on improving social cohesion in her country. Akira Sakano, chair of Zero Waste Academy, explained her organization’s aim to make a small Japanese town waste free by 2020. Julia Luscombe, director of Strategic Initiatives at Feeding America, represented her non-profit that aims to improve food security in the United States through food banks. Finally, Juan David Aristizábal, Mohammed Hassan Mohamud, and Noura Berrouba attended as co-chairs of Davos 2019 with the common mission to empower young people all around the world.

Empowerment shone through at the Davos 2019 World Economic Forum, reminding attendees of the power of change and of shaping our own future.

Out on the Town, Student Life

Conscious coffee-brewing

by Leyla Moy on

More in Out on the Town:

The plant-filled café Le 5e in Verdun has a sweet secret: They make their non-dairy lattes and vegan fare with minimal waste. The cafe strikes a tricky balance between cool minimalism and coziness, with plants lining a bookshelf above a cozy reading nook. Co-founders Vincent Dessureault and Dorian Zéphir were both interested in cafés’ potential as places to meet and exchange information about the environment and social impact. A mutual desire to move away from careers in big business brought the pair together, and Le 5e developed after over three years of collaboration on the project.

Walking straight through Le 5e, past the kombucha on tap, leads customers to the entrance of the similarly ecologically-minded grocery store Épicerie LOCO. The sparsely-decorated space boasts everything from unusual bulk toothpaste and crickets to more pedestrian grocery finds, like bulk grain and bath products. The partnership between the café and the grocery store developed out of serendipitous timing: Le 5e’s pilot project in Griffintown concluded its trial year just as Loco’s owners decided to expand to a second location from their original outpost in Villeray.

“[At the time], we were the only two officially zero-waste companies, so we connected and kept in touch,” Dessureault said. “We ended up finding a nice place that was actually twice as big as we needed, and we [landed on] the idea of sharing the space.”.

Dessureault and Zéphir found that implementing zero-waste policies was a daunting but worthwhile task. While international chains like Starbucks have been lauded for taking small steps toward minimizing waste in their takeout options, Le 5e took more drastic steps to deliver on their zero waste promise. For one, they don’t stock paper cups and, instead, prompt customers to adopt reusable alternatives.

“The biggest challenge we have, and the most impactful decision we’ve [made], was removing all the cup waste,” Dessureault said. “With a typical coffee shop business model, [around] 50 per cent of the revenue comes from takeout.”.

Initially, getting potential customers to change their habits was a challenge, but, for every patron taken aback by the business’s decision to forego disposables, the pair saw a customer developing new habits. For those open to making the switch, Le 5e offers reusable mason jars that customers can purchase for a dollar. But, there is more going on behind the scenes of a zero-waste business than one might assume.

“The other […] challenge […] is what you don’t really see as a customer,” Dessureault said.

This includes everything from choosing the delivery containers that stock arrives in to minimizing transportation emissions. Le 5e sources local and fair trade as much as possible and is thoughtful in every step of the process to reduce waste. They have negotiated with suppliers to make deliveries in reusable containers, which they wash and send back to minimize waste produced from stocking the store. Lately, they have been doubling down on cutting transportation emissions by sourcing their stock from local suppliers that use emission-free transportation options like bike delivery.

Dessureault is made hopeful by the growth of other waste-minimizing businesses across Montreal. Thousands of Montrealers turned out to the city’s first Zero Waste Festival in 2018, and the movement has only continued to grow in the years since.

Le 5e has been connected with the Association Québécoise Zéro Déchet (AQZD), a Quebec nonprofit that aims to raise awareness among citizens, municipal governments, and businesses of the benefits of a zero-waste lifestyle. AQZD’s other partners include NousRire, a group that buys organic and ecologically-responsible food in bulk to make the products more accessible to customers and businesses, and Circuit Zéro Déchet, which compiles a directory of local zero waste businesses. Such projects, which have emerged in response to popular interest in zero-waste living, are encouraging for local trailblazers like Le 5e and Épicerie LOCO.

“They gave us a lot of opportunities to share our experiences with different people, and I think it was a nice way to connect with […] people that are curious or interested in [integrating zero waste principles] into their businesses or their future businesses,” Dessureault said.

Student Life

McGill Art of Wellness sells 2,400 doughnuts in two hours

by Hannah Downard on

More in Student Life:

The McGill Art of Wellness club found itself drowning in pastries on Feb. 5 after accidentally ordering 2,400 Krispy Kreme doughnuts instead of 200 for their fundraising sale in McConnell Engineering. They sold out in under two hours.

Lina Chen, founder and president of the organization, realized the miscommunication when she received a $1,000 bill for what she believed was an order for 200 doughnuts. Upon consulting the receipt, she realized that the order form was by the dozen instead of for individual donuts.

“Krispy Kreme […] thinks in dozens, and […] we think in single doughnuts,” Chen said.

Although the Krispy Kreme Delivery & Returns Policy does not clarify the customer’s rights if they make a mistake in their order, it does provide for refunds, minus transportation costs and reductions in the doughnuts’ value.

“You must send off the Products within 14 days of telling us you wish to end the contract,” the Krispy Kreme Delivery & Returns Policy reads.

After learning from the factory’s manager that, if she did not take the order, all the doughnuts would be discarded, Chen decided to proceed with the delivery. According to Chen, Krispy Kreme donated 80 of the 200 boxes after learning that the order was an accident.

“Krispy Kreme was really generous throughout this whole process, and they were extremely nice about this,” Chen said.

Asli Ercem, vice president events of the club, was taken aback by the club’s sudden, substantial investment in baked goods. Under the impression that they had more doughnuts than they knew what to do with, the club gave away free boxes to the McGill building staff who helped them unload the packed minivan.  

“[I thought] ‘what the hell are we going to do with all of these doughnuts?’” Ercem said. “We literally thought it would be impossible to sell them [….] The one worker I gave [doughnuts] to received it warmly, saying ‘I’m going to tell everybody in the building to go buy doughnuts.’”

Ercem credits their success to her Facebook post advertising the organization’s predicament in the McGill Free and For Sale Facebook group, which rallied the McGill community. In the end, they appreciated it as an unexpected marketing opportunity.

“We had the McGill building staff come by. We even had a professor come by saying there was a faculty email circulating around,” Ercem said. “The law faculty ordered 10 boxes from us [….] We got e-transfers, we got American dollars, we were taking everything [….] A lot of people were like ‘let’s go help this club out!’ [which goes to show that], when we mobilize together, [even just] to buy these doughnuts, we are really powerful.”

McGill Art of Wellness hosts events for students to creatively express themselves and engage with the therapeutic effects of visual arts, including events like a free ‘Paint Night’ in collaboration with Stronger than Stigma, another student club which is dedicated to raising mental health awareness. Art of Wellness will use its profits from the doughnut sale to purchase art supplies for its next event.

“[Art of Wellness events are a way] to focus and de-stress and completely forget about everything else for a few hours, so, then, I just wanted to spread that feeling to McGill and maybe people who have never done art before,” Chen said.

Overall, Chen looks back on the fundraiser as a learning opportunity.

“Read every form you send,” Chen said. “You can make a mistake, learn from it, and sometimes great things you don’t expect will happen.”

Art, Arts & Entertainment

Kent Monkman’s latest exhibit inspires resilience

by Keira Seidenberg on

More in Art:

Canadian artist Kent Monkman’s solo exhibition, Shame and Prejudice: a Story of Resilience, on display at the McCord Museum until May 5, offers a selection of the artist’s re-appropriated paintings and sculptural works focusing on indigenous experience, including well known pieces such as The Scream. Monkman is one of Canada’s prevailing contemporary artists and draws on his Cree ancestry to inform the body of his work. Monkman’s oeuvre is primarily concerned with the history of colonialism in Canada, touching on themes such as resilience, loss, and sexuality to engage with settler-indigenous relationships. Many of his sculptures, paintings, and installations employ what local historian Reilley Bishop-Stall terms ‘archival intervention’ or ‘visual sovereignty.’ These terms refer to works of art that challenge colonial representation within the artistic canon, while deconstructing traditional representations generated by white individuals.

Monkman’s mastery of the mediums that he parodies and re-appropriates is striking. At first glance, The Bears of Confederation appears to be a replica of a  landscape by an artist like Albert Bierstadt and George Varley that nostalgically renders nature as a resource to which man feels entitled. Upon closer examination, Monkman subverts artistic tropes, using historical or invented characters. These figures frequently enact homo-eroticism or BDSM play amid scenic vistas. His works expose centuries of indigenous oppression, expressing the atrocities of the residential school system and the negative implications of colonial trade systems.  

One of Monkman’s recurring characters is Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, Monkman’s alter ego fashioned in the likeness of Cher, who provoked controversy with her 1973 album Half-Breed in which the singer-songwriter exploited her supposed Native American heritage by wearing traditional feathered headdresses in her performances and on the album cover. Many of the works at Monkman’s exhibition cast Miss Chief as a troublemaker, able to traverse spacial and historical boundaries by appearing in scenes from multiple time periods and locations. The character plays on social perceptions of ‘deviant’ sexuality to reclaim indigenous autonomy. For instance, in The Daddies, Monkman reproduces Robert Harris’ 1884 painting Meeting of the Delegates of British North America to Settle the Terms of Confederation, and places a nude Miss Chief in the centre of a room filled with gawking male delegates.

The first several rooms of the exhibition intersperse Monkman’s own works and those from which he draws influence, including paintings by 19th and 20th century Western masters, juxtaposing canonical religious scenes and landscape vistas beside re-appropriated versions. The exhibition also showcases Monkman’s sculptural installations, including an eery, moving replica of Fragonard’s The Swing, and nativity scenes in which stereotypical representations of indigenous persons, dressed in Red Skin and Chiefs sports jerseys, replace Mary and Joseph.

In conjunction with the exhibition, Monkman delivered a lecture on Feb. 6 at Pollack Hall, providing an overview of his work’s development and describing the processes and inspirations behind his opus.

“There’s so many histories of indigenous experiences, both present and historical, that have never been authorized in this very powerful language of painting,” Monkman said. “I needed to fill these gaps that really authorize indigenous experience”.

Canada and the United States are only beginning to acknowledge their histories of violence and oppression, which have long been obscured by narratives of national development. Monkman believes that part of this process must include providing outlets and voices for indigenous persons, and allowing their expression to to pervade mainstream art and pop culture. While works detailing the ongoing turbulence of settler-colonial relationships are often critiqued for reifying the very violence they seek to dispel, Monkman’s work is unique for its comical yet critical approach to the indigenous experience.  

 

Baseball, Football, Hockey, Soccer, Sports

10 things: Ugly uniforms through the years

by Mitch Bannon, Paul McCann, Alden Tabac, Owen Gibbs, Miya Keilin on

More in Baseball:

1960-61 Denver Broncos

With this uniform, the Denver Broncos made one thing clear: Sports teams should avoid brown and yellow. However, the Broncos went a step beyond the ugly colour combination by adding stripes on the pants and socks. While the pants were merely lacklustre, the striped socks may have been the worst addition to any uniform ever.  

1964-76 Chicago White Sox

Few teams can pull off powder blue jerseys, and the 1971 White Sox were no exception. The light blue and bright red colour scheme was a bold choice that failed to even register in the ‘so-bad-it’s-good’ category. The worst part of the uniform was the pants: In general, teams that elect to use the same colour for their tops and bottoms do not look good, and this is doubly true when the primary colour is powder blue.

1972-84 San Diego Padres

The brown and yellow jerseys that the San Diego Padres wore from 1972-1984 are even more disappointing than their 50 consecutive seasons without a World Series title. In the otherwise-beautiful city of San Diego, the brown and yellow stuck out like a sore thumb. The Padres’ promise to return to ‘mustard and mud’ as their main colour scheme in 2020 assures that they will look as bad as they will likely perform.

1974-87 Washington Bullets

The horizontal red and white stripes on these uniforms are terrible. However, the shorts are the true villain here. With their red waistband, white piping, and star-shaped patches, these shorts more closely resemble an American flag than an article of clothing.

1975-1986 Houston Astros

In a long history of unique jerseys, the Astros’ white, orange, and red masterpieces are easily the most famous. Colloquially known as ‘tequila sunrise,’ these uniforms are the perfect combination of beautiful and ugly. In the last few years, they have brought back the look on several retro nights. Conspiracy theorists are still trying to prove a direct correlation between their resurgence and Houston’s recent success.

1978-85 Vancouver Canucks

In an effort to revamp their look, the Vancouver Canucks swapped their classic blue and green uniforms out for a brand new red, black, and yellow design. The jersey featured a large V-shape across the chest which, according to the designers of the uniform, stood for victory. Fortunately, they ditched the ‘V’ after seven seasons and abandoned the red, black and yellow for good in 1997.

1989 Ajax away uniform

This Ajax redesign makes them look like a travelling circus. The kit’s combination of an abstract geometric pattern and a bright red and blue colour scheme is disastrous. Perhaps, the team hoped that their hideous jerseys would distract their opponents.

1995-98 New York Islanders

In 1995, the New York Islanders decided to change their logo from the classic ‘NY’ to a new fisherman emblem. The change led to a disaster of a jersey, which featured bright orange, teal, and black—three colours that were never meant to be in such close proximity. Islanders fans hated the logo so much that the team changed it back as soon as league rules allowed them to at the end of the 1997 season, but the colours remained until the end of 1998.

2016-present Seattle Seahawks

A uniform should be noticeable from the bleachers, but maybe not from space. The NFL-wide colour rush, in which teams wear bright, monochromatic uniforms, is an interesting concept and has produced some gorgeous uniforms. However, the Seattle Seahawks’ variation, which they wore starting in 2016, featured matching neon green jerseys and pants: An ugly and deeply unpleasant colour for a uniform.

2019 Tampa Bay Lightning third uniform

The Lightning’s new alternate jersey is bland. The uniform, unveiled in early February, features only the uninspiring colours black, white, and grey. The steel-grey socks and numbering are both particularly off-putting because of how spectacularly they clash with the black. That, coupled with a lack of detailing, makes this outfit look like a practice uniform in action.

Album Reviews, Arts & Entertainment, Music

‘Tip of the Sphere’ is a little bit magical

by Sophie Brzozowski on

More in Album Reviews:

Singer-songwriter Cass McCombs has always been a compelling storyteller and Tip of the Sphere, his latest work, might just be his magnum opus. The album, released on Feb. 8, is a whirlwind of fantastical world-building, deft lyricism, and cathartic melodies.

The songs are a subtle departure from the spare, folksy aesthetic of McCombs’ past few albums. While 2016’s Mangy Love was delicate and earthy, Tip of the Sphere introduces a fuller, more robust sound which better accompanies the depth of the themes of loss and regret that his work explores.

“The Great Pixley Train Robbery,” the second track on the album, tells the story of a riotous railroad heist involving a fugitive, an insurance salesman, and an otherwise-nondescript passenger from Modesto, California. The details of the fictionalized robbery unfold against a backdrop of thundering percussions and galloping acoustic guitar to produce an atmosphere that perfectly accommodates the wildly-specific dystopian stick-up that McCombs describes.

Few songwriters can boast the kind of lyrical dexterity that McCombs has deployed over the years. In 2015, the artist penned “Bradley Manning,” a somber folk song that mournfully chronicles the tale of a real-life army private who was sentenced to 35 years in military prison for divulging classified documents to WikiLeaks. Four years later, McCombs has seamlessly transitioned from writing political protest ballads to churning out surrealist, dream-like melodramas.

The scope of his stories ranges from transcendental to mundane: “Tying Up Loose Ends,” the album’s melancholic centrepiece, finds its narrator picking through a box of old family photographs, unable to remember the name of the man pictured next to his Aunt Dorothy. McComb’s breadth of skill is equally as poignant on “Sleeping Volcanoes,” an existential and foreboding song about impending natural disaster.

Tip of the Sphere invites the world to see through the keen eyes of an overactive imagination. With his croaky vocals and warm melodies, McCombs beckons his listener into a weird and wonderful world they will never want to leave.

4.5 stars

 

Arts & Entertainment, Theatre

McGill Drama Festival continues to impress

by Nicholas Raffoul, Diana Viola, Leo Stillinger on

More in Arts & Entertainment:

Every year, Player’s Theatre’s Drama Festival highlights the abundance of student talent that McGill’s theatre scene has to offer. Showing until Feb. 23, the festival offers six original short plays written, directed, produced, and performed by students. Stories that depicted everything from a first date between high-schoolers to an existential drama set in 1930s Harlem graced the stage at the Mainline Theatre.

Young Love

Leo Stillinger, Staff Writer

This brilliant and concise comedy tells the story of a  high school first date in the style of a Discovery Channel documentary. Narrated by Steven Finley, the audience peers into to a cringeworthy natural spectacle of medium-sized proportion: The teenage movie date. Viewers watch in suspense as Ari (Liana Brooks, U3 Science) and Bea (Isobel Macleod) struggle through conversational miscues, spilled popcorn, and their own mutual attraction. Finley steals the show as the eccentric narrator, but Brooks and Macleod are equally captivating in their portrayal of the sweet and self-conscious lovebirds. Victoria Stevens’ (U1, Education) script and Hope Kelly’s direction were both perfect, and this tour de force left the audience howling with laughter.

A Man in Hue

Leo Stillinger, Staff Writer

Written by Steve Greenwood, A Man in Hue was a charming amalgam of Shakespearean theatre: An adaptation of Twelfth Night featuring characters from The Tempest. According to Greenwood’s introduction, both plays are “rich with queerness,” and the adaptation brought Shakespeare’s complex network of homoerotic tensions to the fore. Featuring unrequited lovers, power-grabbing queens, and twin siblings who swap suitors, A Man in Hue was an entertaining dive into a hybrid world. Caroline Portante’s (U4 Arts) direction brought the script, which mixes Shakespearean diction with modern swear words, to its full comic potential. A Man in Hue represents queer relationships with a clever twist on Shakespearean scholarship, and it pulls off this performance with aplomb.

Mike and Jo (Jo & Mike)

Nicholas Raffoul, Staff Writer

In an Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-esque production that takes place in the near-future dystopia, exes Jo (Ana Krutchinsky, U2 Arts) and Mike (James Pallato, U2 Arts) have to reconcile their differences and find themselves on good terms. If they fail to meet this seemingly simple objective, they face expulsion from their city. To promote maximum efficiency, the city’s government requires that all citizens fully cooperate with each other. Thus, the two characters are forced into ‘Relationship Recovery,’ an absurd machine invented by a Nurse (Maeve Williams, U1 Arts) with the help of her intern (Ethan Mendell, U1 Arts & Sciences), in which Mike and Jo unpack their relationship, and learn how to move on. The process forces the couple to sit in a room and watch holograms of their bittersweet memories, including the first time they met, their first date, and their breakup. Light and sound effects create the illusion of the latest cutting-edge advancement in relationship technology. Written by Kate Hammer, in her third year at Concordia studying Creative Writing and French, and directed by Tess Capern (U1 Arts), Mike and Jo provides an interesting perspective on breakups and communicating with an ex.

The Bottomless Pit in the Back Room of Nick’s Speakeasy

Nicholas Raffoul, Staff Writer

After selling his soul to the devil, con-man and aspiring musician Tom (Harry Skinner, U3 Music) tries to cheat his soul back from Pinch (Sydney Gemin, U3, Management), Satan is disguise. He tries to win it back in a preposterous card game with Pinch and Zoras (Jen Ower), a graceful and witty angel, losing terribly. In an attempt to settle his bet and replace his soul, Tom scrambles around 1930s Harlem hoping to find and con a gullible stranger out of their soul before the devil comes to collect his. He meets, among others, Cleopatra (Gretel Kahn, U3, Arts), a sharp and melodramatic hospital patient whose illness has forced her into solitude. The trio of Kahn, Ower, and Gemin, play two hilarious roles each, allowing for a diverse range of likable characters in a small cast. With hilarious performances by Kahn and Ower, and a ridiculous card game, The Bottomless Pit in the Back Room of Nick’s Speakeasy offers silly and lovable characters, witty comebacks, and insight into the consequences of betting against the devil herself.

Yellow Room

Diana Viola, Contributor

Yellow Room, written by Paige Lawson (U1 Arts) and directed by Summer Mahmud (U2, Arts), reconstructs friends Flynn and Sloane’s blurry memories of a summer night spent in the bedroom of an old friend whose identity remains a mystery for the majority of the play.  

Sloane, played by Victoria Stevens, is intent on ensuring that  Flynn’s (Laine Berry, U1, Science) attempts to downplay the story do not obscure the truth. Gretel Kahn (U3 Arts), who portrays Flynn and Sloane’s mysterious friend, and Sofie Farkas (U2 Arts), as Lisa, her significant other, slowly unveil the truth about the teenagers’ tumultuous relationships and the misremembered events of the fateful summer night. The play’s ending relieves the tension that builds between the characters over the course of the story but leaves the audience questioning the reliability of the story’s narrators.  

8 ½ Collisions

Diana Viola, Contributor

Written by Danielle Eyer, 8 ½ Collisions is an unflinching portrayal of mental illness following Ferris Powell  (Nathan Mendel) and June Hayes (Ines Vieux Francoeur, U1 Arts), during their stays in a psychiatric hospital. Both are trapped by the loneliness of their illnesses and are at the mercy of  Mania (Leya Gervais), an omnipresent puppeteer who controls their actions. Mania commands that Ferris and June meet just eight times over the course of their stays, allowing the character’s to explore the intersections of their illnesses. “Who was the last person you met? Will you keep in touch? Did you catch their name?” These are some questions, written in the program, that director Charles Atkinson (U0 Arts) poses to his audience, encouraging viewers to reflect on how a single encounter could change their lives. 8 ½ Collisions further questions how much control individuals truly have over their own lives.

 

Hockey, Sports

Bold trades that could happen at the deadline

by Owen Gibbs on

More in Hockey:

Recent National Hockey League trade deadlines have proved massive disappointments, with few trades despite weeks of speculation and hours of television coverage. However, with several big-name players on the trade block, this year’s deadline promises to be more eventful. As the deadline approaches, both buyers and sellers could find value in less obvious options.

Columbus Blue Jackets trade F Artemi Panarin to the Colorado Avalanche for F Alex Kerfoot and a 2019 first-round draft pick

All indications suggest that Panarin is on his way out of Ohio and wants to play in a larger market like Denver. The Avalanche have the most offensively potent line in hockey in Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Gabriel Landeskog. However, they lack firepower beyond those three players, and Panarin would fit well on their second line to boost scoring. In the future, the Avalanche will need to manoeuvre around the salary cap due to Rantanen’s impending contract extension, but for now, this trade would secure them a 2019 playoff spot. Moreover, they already have the lowly Ottawa Senators’ first-round pick, so sacrificing their own pick is a minor loss.

For Columbus, the trade would be ideal. For one, Panarin would be out of their conference. Furthermore, Kerfoot, a talented, young centre, would fill a hole in the Jackets’ lineup, and the pick could fetch another promising young player in the draft—or if they are bold, an immediate replacement for Panarin.

Blue Jackets acquire F Matt Duchene from the Ottawa Senators for Colorado’s 2019 first-round pick and a 2019 third-round pick

The best way for Columbus to replace Panarin would be to flip the aforementioned first-round pick from Colorado over to the Senators. The Blue Jackets would walk away with a strong haul: Duchene, a proven first-line forward, and Kerfoot, a young, up-and-coming centre. As for Ottawa, their roster is in desperate need of a shake-up. The struggling Senators’ trade for Duchene last season proved a mistake when their team ultimately put together a disappointing campaign. So far, Duchene’s performance has been inconsistent; however, his reputation will demand an impressive contract this summer and trading him would serve Ottawa well. Drafting well is critical to rebuilding a club, and Senators General Manager Pierre Dorion needs to rebuild quickly if he wants to salvage his job. Colorado’s first-round pick would go a long way toward building his team’s future, and the third-rounder only sweetens the deal.

New York Rangers trade F Mats Zuccarello to Winnipeg Jets for Winnipeg’s 2019 first-round pick

For the first season in a long time, the Jets have a legitimate chance at the Stanley Cup. As such, they should focus on building a championship team. Their one offensive weakness is on the right wing, and Zuccarello, a top-six forward for the rebuilding Rangers, can help to counter this flaw. He is on an expiring contract with a manageable $4.5 million cap hit, which means that he would be an affordable option for the Jets for the remainder of the season. Since Patrik Laine, Kyle Connor, and Jacob Trouba will all need new contracts this offseason, the Jets likely won’t commit to Zuccarello long-term, but he could have a significant impact in a Cup campaign. Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff has made it known that his team’s first-round pick is available, and the Rangers have committed to a rebuild in which any pick is important. The Rangers and Jets are thus a perfect match.

These trades may seem odd at first glance but could prove valuable as the postseason approaches. As teams look to solidify their postseason position, those who want to hoist the Stanley Cup come June should seriously consider making moves that fundamentally change the NHL landscape.

McGill, News

McGill receives $200 million to fund graduate scholarships

by Abeer Almahdi on

More in McGill:

On Feb. 14, the McGill University Board of Governors (BoG) announced the new McCall MacBain Scholarship and discussed the Strategic Research Plan, sexual violence policy revisions, and the annual report of the Committee on Student Discipline. The BoG also approved motions that were previously approved by Senate, such as the creation of an Institute of Health Sciences Education within the Faculty of Medicine and the renaming of the Département de langues et littératures françaises to the Département des littératures de langue française, de traduction et de création.

McCall MacBain Scholarship

In honour of McGill’s upcoming bicentennial celebration, John McCall MacBain and Marcy McCall MacBain, both McGill alumni, donated $200 million to McGill to establish a new scholarship to support graduate students. This is the single largest gift to any university in Canadian history.

“We are investing a lot of money […] in selection,” J. McCall MacBain said. “Going around and trying to find those hidden jewels around Canada […] and around the world to come to McGill.”

Applications for the new McCall MacBain Scholarship will open in Winter 2020, with the inaugural scholars set to arrive in Fall 2021. The scholarship aims to support a network of up to 75 students per year.

Sexual violence policy revisions

Although McGill has had a sexual violence policy since Dec. 2016, the university missed the provincial government’s Jan. 1 deadline to update its policy. This deadline was set as part of Quebec’s Bill 151, an act to prevent and fight sexual violence at higher education institutions, which required institutions to create or update their policies with new regulations.

“Since we established our own policy in 2016, […] the provincial government […] introduced legislation so that each institution [should] have a policy on sexual violence, and they had some elements that they were putting in their legislation that we would have to add in our own policy,” Principal and Vice-Chancellor Suzanne Fortier said. “[The revised McGill Policy] is actually going to be presented at Senate in our next meeting next week.”

Senate will vote on the revised sexual violence policy at their next meeting on Feb. 20.

Strategic Research Plan

Martha Crago, Vice-Principal (Research and Innovation), presented McGill’s latest revised Strategic Research Plan (SRP). The SRP outlines McGill’s strategy and vision for increasing research over the next five years and was last ratified in 2013. It underwent a multi-level consultation period from Mar. to Nov. 2018 and was endorsed at Senate.

“Every university in Canada needs an SRP. We’ve had one for quite a while, [and] this is the latest version,” Crago said.

The SRP contains five core commitments to research, including a new one dedicated to promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion. Additionally, the SRP highlights seven Research Excellence Themes, with two new ones focusing on technology in the digital age and sustainability innovations. Lastly, the SRP presents four strategic objectives for materializing the university’s vision which relate to strengthening innovation, collaboration, and diversity.

Report of the Committee on Student Discipline

Dean of Students Christopher Buddle presented the annual report of the Committee on Student Discipline, which dictates university policy relating to the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures. According to Buddle, the university needs more staff trained to handle academic offence accusations.

“We had a similar number of cases as we’ve had other years, [and] we have more academic offences reported than non-academic offences,” Buddle said. “Of the academic offences, typically about a third or so of those end up being exonerations [….] This is actually an important point because it means that professors aren’t actually always the right people to be making [accusations of an academic offence]. In fact, we need trained disciplinary officers to oversee that process.”

According to the report, plagiarism is the most prevalent academic offence, comprising 72 per cent of cases, followed by cheating. For non-academic offences, the most common ones fall under article 10 of the code, ‘Physical Abuses, Harassment, and Dangerous Activity.’

The BoG will meet again on Apr. 25.

Football, Hockey, Sports

Changing concussion policy in youth sports

by Kaja Surborg on

More in Football:

With growing amounts of research on the occurrence of concussions in contact sports, conversations about how to keep young athletes safe in organized sporting environments have expanded. At his Feb. 14 talk, “The Games We Play: What Should Law and Policy do About Playing Collision Sports?,” Jason Chung, an attorney and senior research scholar at New York University’s Sports and Society Program, discussed his efforts to find policies balancing the benefits of sports with safety standards backed by scientific research.

“No medical professional will ever say that getting hit in the head repeatedly is a good thing,” Chung said.

However, concussion research has not yet definitively established a cause-and-effect relationship between traumatic brain injuries sustained from collision sports and long-term neurodegenerative effects. Currently, researchers’ focus is on professional sports, such as the NFL and NHL, where there is a greater risk for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a condition that results from repeated impacts to the head. Applying these findings to youth sports is not scientifically sound: The pace of play is not nearly as intense, and athletes’ brains are at different stages of development.

“The recurrent research that’s been performed regarding CTE is on elite athletes with far greater exposure [to CTE] than you and I,” Chung said. “When we talk about risk to the general population, we have to be careful not to take extreme cases or edge cases and extrapolate their experiences to the general public.”

However, both Canada and the U.S. have seen a rise in legislative attempts to restrict or ban collision sports at the youth level based on a belief that action is necessary even without conclusive research. Chung argued that there are more productive ways to address the issue like having open discussions about the pros and cons of a total ban, along with conducting longitudinal studies.

“When I’m speaking to American audiences, this is very black or white,” Chung said. “Either you ban it or you don’t. I am actually advocating for more of a Canadian approach. Let’s look at the evidence. Let’s actually perform the steps. Even if we disagree, let’s have a public forum on it.”

In 2013, after a lengthy review with medical professionals, Hockey Canada banned body checking at the peewee level and below. Chung views this example as concurrent with the more nuanced approach for which he advocates. He noted that the quick rush to add regulations founded on imperfect science is unproductive.

“When there’s still debate on the facts and consensus around an issue, changes on that issue will have a basis that’s […] like quicksand,” Chung said. “It’s vulnerable to any shift in […] public opinion.”

Chung cited the social barriers that come with a complete ban, particularly for low-income and racialized communities, as talent in football and other contact sports can provide an opportunity to receive a university education. He also referenced both the physical and emotional benefits of youth sports to those who partake, including preventing obesity and learning teamwork, as reasons to avoid a total ban on participation.

Ultimately, Chung concluded that the most appropriate direction for policy to take is to force youth sports’ governing bodies to take legal responsibility in keeping their rules consistent with the the most recent research. He also argued that federal and provincial governments should require leagues to keep their participants up to date with the available information. Federal and provincial governments across Canada have already begun to establish more comprehensive guidelines for treating traumatic brain injuries and returning to play after concussions.

“This is happening more consistently across Canada, and the federal government is currently spearheading a deeper look into national standards,” Chung said. “Provincial legislatures are adopting laws like Rowan’s Law or at least discussing it in legislature.”

1 … 499 500 501 502 503 … 1,363

Read the latest issue

Read the latest issue