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Science & Technology

ImplementAI hackathon back for its second year

by Caroline Lou on

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Imagine an app that can guide the visually-impaired, a program that can analyze the nutritional content of the food on your dinner plate, or software that can detect violent encounters as they’re captured on security cameras. These ideas were all implemented during ImplementAI, a 24-hour hackathon which took place from Sept. 29-30 at the Catallaxy office in Montreal.

ImplementAI was held by the McGill Artificial Intelligence (AI) Society, a student-run organization that strives to make space for students to discuss and learn about the AI industry. This was the programming competition’s second year, following its successful inaugural event in 2017. The hackathon was open to students of all education levels and drew a diverse group of competitors from CEGEP, undergraduate, masters, and PhD programs.

“We’re really focused on diversity and inclusivity, both in terms of our participants as well as the different areas of AI,” Jenny Long, vice-president events of the McGill AI Society said. “This is an opportunity to give participants more resources to realize their ideas. We also want everyone to have a really fun weekend.”

The McGill AI executive team fostered a collaborative atmosphere at the hackathon and lauded the benefits of examining problems from multiple perspectives.

“We’re trying to build a community where anyone from any background […] can come together and demystify AI,” John Wu, co-president of the McGill Artificial Intelligence Society said. “The buzz is there for a reason. It’s because it’s technology that’s up and coming and can solve a lot of problems. But you also have to be careful, because right now there’s a lot of backlash toward the AI industry. By bringing people together, you can avoid some mistakes because you’re working together.”

The event began with opening remarks followed by a brainstorming session that gave teams the opportunity to share project ideas. Teams began their projects at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday and continued for the next 24 hours, with many participants working through the night. The first day also featured workshops by Automat and Coveo, two technology companies that sponsored the event.

The open-concept office where the hackathon took place evoked a modern tech start-up, with an abundance of free food, tea, and coffee readily available. The programmers huddled around tables and in conference rooms; flurries of typing and troubleshooting peaked in the moments leading up to the deadline for project submissions. 

While each team dedicated an impressive amount of time and energy to their projects, one project stood out to the judges. The winning team ‘@ention’ (pronounced ‘attention’) developed a program able to detect violent encounters from video footage by analyzing the movements of each individual.

The team members, Meko Deng, Tharsan Ponnampalam, Edward Tran, and Tristan Toupin, attributed their success to their complementary areas of knowledge and their drive to see the project through to the end.

“Before we came, we all had our own ideas,” Deng said. “So we agreed to present our ideas once we got to the hackathon so we’d be fast. I think that really sped up our time, so we were able to get down to business relatively quickly.”

Even with the first place under their belts, the team was humble in their responses and focused on the reward of the process itself.

“There is definitely potential in what we built, but, on my part, what I’m going to take away is really what I learned,” Toupin said. “We were able to apply some of the things we already knew, but we spent a lot of time learning new things. And the point of these events is to complement your skills.”

The McGill AI Society emphasized the importance of having fun throughout the competition and expressed hopes to expand the hackathon in the future.

Arts & Entertainment, Music, Theatre

‘Once’ is the ideal 21st century musical

by Matthew Hawkins on

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The transition between theatre and film can be arduous, and at worst, painful (sorry, Rent). Once, based on John Carney’s acclaimed 2007 film of the same name, successfully manages the transition in reverse.  The story tracks five days in the lives of two Dublin residents, one, a struggling vacuum-fixer who moonlights as a busker and the other, a young Czech immigrant. Both remain nameless, referred to only as ‘Guy’ and ‘Girl’ throughout the play. As Guy and Girl fall in and out of love, the emotions onstage fill the room, manifesting in a series of songs that are, at once, uplifting and heartbreaking, and, with each note, pull the audience further into the story.

Guy (Greg Halpin) is a self-proclaimed ‘sucker.’ He’s all but ready to give up music after a breakup with an unfaithful girlfriend shakes his confidence in both himself and the rest of the world. Enter: Girl (Eva Foote). Their epic begins when she convinces him to fix her vacuum, and after the two play a song together, they record an album for him to play for his ex-girlfriend to win her back. The two spend time together writing and recording, and, before long, they fall in love. But Girl has a husband in the Czech Republic and a young daughter to care for, and Guy, while falling for Girl, is still pining for his ex-girlfriend.

Once feels as much like a live concert as it does a musical. The orchestra is made up of members of the cast, creating a folksy atmosphere—performances feel spontaneous and genuine. The preshow cements the bond between actor and audience, as the cast plays a short set of traditional Irish songs in the lobby before moving inside the theatre, inviting the audience to take their seats and enjoy what feels like a spontaneous jam session that one might stumble across in a lively Dublin pub. The original music was composed by folk-rock duo Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, known as The Swell Season. Their songs carry this conceit, relying on the ensemble band to create a full sound that heightens the vast breadth of emotion portrayed through dialogue.

Once is a tale of missed connections, only the connection isn’t missed, it’s just not right, which makes it all the more heartbreaking to watch. Hearing the subject of Guy’s emotionally-wrought songs turn from an off-stage lover to Girl, who stands before him, evokes both hopefulness and heartbreak. Every song seems to tap into the root of those emotions. Though the reprise of the track that played when Guy first recognized his feelings for Girl strikes an emotional chord, the moment when  Girl whispers ‘go,’ urging him to leave her as the ensemble swells around them truly cuts the deepest.

Once is the kind of show to see for a profound emotional experience. The feelings spill off the stage, out of the theatre, and stay with the audience long after they leave. The story harnesses the power of music to unite and quickly overwhelms the audience with its bittersweet sentiment. Once is exactly what a 21st century musical should be: A story told through song without the frills or cloudiness of complicated choreography that so often muddles musicals.

 

Once is playing until Oct. 28th at the Segal Centre.

 

Commentary, Opinion

Irresponsible representation: How unsanctioned posts damage SSMU’s credibility

by Bryan Buraga on

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On Oct. 2, Quebecers woke up to the results of the previous night’s election: The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) had won a majority of seats in Quebec’s National Assembly. On the same day, then Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Vice President (VP) External Marina Cupido wrote a—now deleted—post on the official SSMU External Affairs Facebook page decrying the new government.

“Yesterday, Quebec elected a racist, xenophobic, far-right government with documented ties to white supremacists,” Cupido wrote.

Taking such an inflammatory, divisive, and polarizing position on an official SSMU social media account, without citing any sources or providing any proof to substantiate its claims, is irresponsible and compromises SSMU’s ability to advocate for its students. By typecasting all CAQ voters as having racist, xenophobic, or far-right intentions, Cupido alienated the portion of our student population that politically aligns with the CAQ. Because of their actions, SSMU risks losing its social license to fight legitimately racist, xenophobic, and far-right groups targeting students on campus.

As soon as I saw this post, I was concerned that a SSMU Executive was able to unilaterally voice their controversial opinion on a social media account with the SSMU name in it.

“[S]pecific [Facebook] pages (e.g. SSMU University Affairs, SSMU Student Life, SSMU External Affairs) are each run by individual Executive members whose views don’t necessarily reflect those of SSMU,” VP Internal Matthew McLaughlin wrote in a comment on a SSMU member’s Facebook post.

I completely disagree: Individual Executive members should reflect SSMU’s views on their social media pages. As elected student representatives, SSMU Executives wield a lot of power in determining how the student body presents itself to the world. One Executive should not take official stances on a SSMU account without having a mandate from the Legislative Council or the Executive Committee to do so. They represent the entirety of the undergraduate student body at McGill, and, as such, should only present the student body’s opinions. For this reason, my colleagues and I introduced the Motion Regarding Responsible Representation at the Legislative Council on Oct. 11. This motion aims to provide a framework to preempt unauthorized opinions made on SSMU’s behalf.

Article 10.14 of the SSMU Constitution mandates the VP External to work with the provincial government to lobby and advance our society’s objectives, goals, and policies. By preemptively damaging our society’s relationship with the new government through unsubstantiated allegations, Cupido has impeded SSMU’s ability to work with the Quebec government not just today, but for years to come. SSMU should continue to provide leadership on issues of social justice, as its constitutional mandate requires, and it should continue to speak out against policies proposed by the CAQ that would harm our members. However, it must do so in a factual, responsible, and accountable fashion.

It took the SSMU Executive Committee nine days to release a corrective statement regarding the CAQ’s election. They had the prerogative to hold an emergency meeting, mandate a retraction of the Facebook post, and release a new statement similar to the one they did on Oct. 11. However, they failed to do so, allowing the fallout from the post to continue rather than curtailing the damage to the society. Students trust the SSMU Executives to use their best judgement to avoid making mistakes, and, when they do, to correct them in a timely manner. The corrected post came later than it should have, and, by then, the damage was done.

I believe that the former VP External was well-intentioned in their desire to protect some of the most vulnerable members of our student body. When they released their post, the former VP External could have posted a statement of solidarity and a commitment to protect our students that was grounded in SSMU policies and values. Instead, Cupido’s divisive rhetoric and the SSMU Executive’s inaction ended up hurting the very people they are supposed to be fighting for.

Campus Spotlight, Student Life

A voice for student parents

by Gabriela McGuinty on

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Navigating student life at McGill can be challenging for anyone. Academic and social pressures can be taxing and dominate many of the decisions students make. For those who are also parents, the lack of services McGill offers to support them magnifies the specific dificulties they face navigating university.

“It is very isolating to be a student parent,” Olivia Kurajian, U3 Arts and mother to a two year old daughter, said. “I believe we have a huge shortage of childcare on campus, [and] it’s really hazy [as to] how student parents should navigate their personal and academic responsibilities.”

In an attempt to address these issues, the Social Equity and Diversity Education Office (SEDE) launched the Family Care program in 2015. The program, which was funded by both the Sustainability Projects Fund and the Senate Subcommittee on Women, works towards tackling the challenges caregivers face on campus. According to Ananya Nair, U1 Arts and an executive member of the club, the club aims to alleviate parents’ stress by expanding access to daycare and advocating for family-friendly residence options.

“We want to expand into other aspects [and] include not only babysitting, but other childcare services too,” Nair said.

The SSMU Babysitting Club, soon to be renamed SSMU Childcare Collective in order to advocate for a broader range of services, was originally created by SSMU to provide free babysitting to students who are in need of child care. The organization is looking for new ways to expand both in size and scope to meet more of the pressing needs student parents face.

“In the past, we’ve had to cancel events because there were not enough volunteers,” Nair said.

Among its initiatives, the SSMU Babysitting Club provides on-campus childcare services to student parents and collaborates with the Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) on Study Sundays, a weekly program where student parents can complete their academic work on campus while volunteers take care of their children. The club also wants to launch a program that pairs volunteers with student parents to provide one-on-one domestic support.

“This club gives agency to student parents who are left on the sidelines,” Kurajian said. “We are not a ton [of students] and are spread out in undergrad and postgrad, so, it’s hard to address [all of our needs], especially when the communication doesn’t expand throughout the different faculties and associations.”  

Although it provides a necessary service to guardians, the SSMU Babysitting Club is restricted by its status on many accounts. As such, it is looking to be converted into a service.

“This would make McGill more inclusive and child accessible,” Nair said. “[The organization could] get actual funding from SSMU [and] apply for space, [as] there is currently no space provided for childcare. With more funding, we can actively get more students to be a part of this [and work towards] solving this [break] between student parents and McGill services.”

Additionally, although SEDE’s services provide a necessary mechanism of support, many student parents believe the administration still needs to make progress. Many members of the student parent community hope that the university will address its lack of policies concerning pregnancy, breastfeeding, and missing exams because of complications with child-care.

“On a personal level, I have been very lucky, and my professors have been accommodating [with my child and I],” Kurajian said. “But, anytime I have a time-conflict issue, I was referred to the Office of Disabilities. This is disheartening because I don’t think [having a] daughter classifies as any type of disability. In fact, I have earned better grades in the past two years and wake up with ambition to go to school. She has really enhanced my commitment [… to] school.”

In addition to the services offered by SEDE, student parents believe there should be more spaces, both physical—such as breastfeeding stations—and psychological, listen to the voices of student guardians.

While progress has been made, student parents still require more assistance in order to get the most out of their times at McGill.

“I don’t understand why being a research university has to contradict or be at odds with [students] having families because a lot of times, […] we [are] more focused and better students after we [have] our kids,” Kurajian said. “We are setting an example for our kids. McGill is missing out on unique perspectives and a lot of talent by not catering to student parents.”

Arts & Entertainment, Music

A different kind of music festival

by Leo Stillinger on

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A stock photo of a sleek white basin was projected on the wall behind the punk band. A song had just finished, and the guitar was still reverberating.

“Let’s hear it for basins,” said Conor Antenucci, the bassist and singer of The Costanzas. “They hold so much goddamn water!”

This is a typical remark at Basin Fest, the independent music festival that ran Oct. 11-13 at L’Escogriffe Bar Spectacle. According to founder Philip Shearing, Basin Fest is about much more than water containers: It’s a grassroots festival with a worthy cause.

A guitarist and vocalist in the band Paddle to the Sea, Shearing created the festival three years ago in an attempt to counter artistic exploitation in the Montreal festival circuit. In order to apply to festivals, artists are required to pay an application fee, but they are rarely given fair remuneration in exchange.

“You pay to apply,” Shearing said. “They take that money from 10 thousand people and then they only give it to five hundred people. They’re always making a profit off the artists.”

In an effort to funnel his frustration into a positive outlet, Shearing created a festival with an alternative business model: Free applications, and the artist always gets paid. Tickets are $10 per night, enough to generate a profit for artists while still affordable given that five bands perform each night.

“I’m not getting corporate money,” Shearing said. “We’re doing this to help the artists and to support the local scene. We don’t charge you to apply, so anyone from Montreal and even other cities can apply.”

Now in its third year, Basin Fest has grown significantly. For the first iteration, the festival ran a single night at Piranha Bar, featuring seven bands.

“It was almost like a glorified show calling itself a festival,” Shearing said, recalling Basin Fest’s modest early years.

The following year, Shearing expanded to three nights hosted at Crobar. Moving Basin Fest from downtown to the Plateau was Shearing’s most significant step yet.

“I’ve seen so many good bands [at l’Escogriffe, so] I always dreamed of putting my festival here,” Shearing said. “This is kind of a step up for us because of the capacity and the location.”

On Friday night, the thundering chords of The Costanzas and other enthusiastic hardcore groups filled L’Escogriffe’s intimate space. The festival was divided by genre, with indie rock on Thursday, hardcore and punk on Friday, and psychedelic music on Saturday.

“I try to make it almost like a Spotify playlist,” Shearing said. “It’s not always the exact [same] style but it fits together.”

The name Basin Fest comes from a Griffintown practice space shared by many artists on Basin Street. Although property developers have since purchased the building with the intention of converting it into condos, fans will remember the space as a beacon of the thriving local music scene.

“[Basin Fest] symbolizes that garage, that place where you jam, you practice 20 or 30 times to play the one show,” Shearing said. “I want them to get paid.”

When considering the future of Basin Fest, Shearing always comes back to the idea of a a communal space, and wants to see the success of his ideology transcend that of his festival.

“I would love if promoters would [support] bands, stop trying to be all profit-driven,” Shearing said. “I’d love to go out of business for that.”

 

Arts & Entertainment, Books

Survival and solidarity: Roxane Gay reflects on a decade of activism

by Emma Carr on

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Cultural critic and best-selling author Dr. Roxane Gay delivered the 64th annual Beatty Memorial Lecture on Oct. 11 to a rapt audience in Pollack Hall. The sold-out lecture drew attendees of various backgrounds, from students to alumni and faculty, all eager to hear Gay’s thoughts on the  #MeToo movement, contemporary feminism, and representation. Since its inauguration by chancellor Sir Edward Beatty in 1954, the lecture series has hosted revolutionary thinkers, including Jane Goodall, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Oliver Sacks. Speaking to a crowd of nearly 600, Gay led what managed to feel like an intimate discussion on feminism and current events with her characteristic humour, authenticity, and candour.

At this year’s lecture, “Difficult Women, Bad Feminists, and Unruly Bodies,” moderated by  Nantali Indongo, host of CBC Montreal’s radio program The Bridge, Gay offered reflections on the progress of the #MeToo movement. Situating contemporary debates within historical contexts, Gay described the initial optimism that the campaign inspired.

“For once, it seemed that women may not only be heard, but believed,” Gaysaid. “Justice felt like a real tangible thing, rather than a vague illusory ideal.”

However, despite the apparent cultural shift instigated by #MeToo, Gay remains skeptical of the movement’s concrete implications.

“This past year, as #MeToo has risen to cultural prominence, we have seen that necessary change can be excruciatingly slow, and that can be infuriating,” Gay said.

Gay articulately acknowledged the continued difficulties survivors face, particularly those who are femme-identifying, when coming forward with accusations of sexual violence. Citing the momentum of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the United States Supreme Court, she couched hope with provocation that more work is required.

“We talk about resistance, when what we actually need is a revolution,” Gay said. “It has been a year of #MeToo, a year of reckoning. I feel like I am supposed to offer up an uplifting message about how far we have come when really we have not come far at all [….] It has been a year of #MeToo, but it has also been more than a decade.”

The work Gay described has already begun on campus at McGill. In Spring 2018, students, encouraged by the #MeToo movement, signed an open letter to the administration demanding an external investigator assigned to cases of sexual violence. When asked by The McGill Tribune how universities can better protect these survivors of sexual violence, Gay responded that more institutions should put support structures in place to protect those who have experienced abuse, validating the work of these student activists.

“I think that [universities] can do more in terms of expelling rapists, because you shouldn’t have to go to school with the person who raped you,” Gay said.

While Gay says that further action is necessary for cultural revolution, there is cause for survivors and their allies to feel optimistic. In her concluding remarks, Gay underscored that, over the past year, #MeToo has amplified survivors’ voices and activists’ demands for change.

“As we move forward, we need to figure out how to hold this space that #MeToo has made for solidarity and empathy while working to create a culture where someday, this space will not be needed,” Gay said. “That, if anything, is what I hope for.”

 

McGill, News

Abortion Beyond Bounds conference combines academia and activism

by Elizabeth Kearney on

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On the 30th anniversary of the decriminalization of abortion in Canada, the McGill Institute for Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies (IGSF) organized a two-day bilingual conference, Abortion Beyond Bounds 2018, to discuss the continuously-changing global landscape of access to abortion. The conference, which featured a series of student and expert panels, revolved around the importance of having control over abortion decisions. The speakers considered how persistent barriers to global access contrast the increased availability  of information and resources thanks to new technologies.

The first day of the conference consisted of student panels, providing graduate student researchers from across Canada the opportunity to present their work. The panel “Voice and Choice: First-Person Narratives of Abortion Experiences in Canada” focused on people’s experiences with self-managed abortion, meaning when a woman chooses to perform her own abortion outside of a medical setting. Contrasting with the independent notion of self-managed abortions, Sarah McLeod, a graduate student at Acadia University, presented a case study on Acadia Pregnancy Support (APS), an anti-choice organization on her campus. Despite advertising themselves as a non-judgmental counselling service with peer support and access to resources, this Christian organization circulated misleading and biased information in addition to resorting to shame and scare tactics to discourage abortion. APS eventually lost its club status and was expelled from the Acadia Students’ Union building for failing to have enough members. McLeod concluded her presentation with her opinion on the organization’s activities.

“Should anti-choice organizations be allowed to operate as ‘pregnancy support’ on university campuses?” McLeod asked. “I would say no.”

With regard to Canada legalizing the self-administered abortion pill mifepristone in 2016, the panel “Trust Women: Current Perspectives on the Safety of Medication Abortion” sought to assess the current clinical scene. Student research focused on expanding the possibilities of existing reproductive health methods to provide women with more autonomy in the process of abortion. Daniela Spagnuolo, a policy intern at Association of Municipalities of Ontario, conveyed the importance of her group’s research in promoting self-managed abortions.

“There needs to be change in the way people across Canada access Mifegymiso [the brand name for mifepristone],” Spagnuolo said. “That it is available in this country is not enough. We need to actively remove barriers to access, provide evidence-based information, and trust users to know their bodies and make their own decisions about abortion options.”

Parisa Sharifi, a research assistant at the University of Toronto, stressed the importance of presenting research findings in the field to a public audience.

“It’s been really important for us to present to the public to hear questions and see what we missed,” Sharifi said. “Especially with this conference where everyone works on or is affected by this research, it is important to hear from the audience.”

The second day of the conference brought together academics, activists, and artists to participate in a series of expert panels on self-managed abortion. Jennifer Fishman, associate professor at McGill and co-organizer of the conference, expressed the importance of discussing abortion through the lens of various institutions.  

“Institutions’ primary motivation is carving out a space to consider how networks, such as clinical and legal networks, are finding ways to expand access,” Fishman said.  

Joanna Erdman, associate professor in Health Law and Policy at the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University, outlined the common goal of the experts present at the conference.

“The real challenge is to think about whether we can capture the concept [of expanding the availability of abortion] without killing it, to recognize ideas of love, compassion and self-care, and to think about whether our institutions are even capable of honouring that,” Erdman said.

News, SSMU

SSMU Legislative Council debates a fee levy for a gendered and sexual violence policy

by Helen Wu on

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The Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Legislative Council convened on Oct. 11 to discuss the implementation of a Gendered and Sexual Violence Policy (GSVP) and the renaming of McGill’s Men’s Varsity Teams. Before the debate on the two primary motions, President Tre Mansdoerfer announced the resignation of vice-president (VP) External Marina Cupido.

“We are all very sad to see Marina resign from [their] position [as] VP External,” Mansdoerfer said. “We worked with [them] on a statement released yesterday [Oct. 10] by SSMU. Currently, we are working on how to [replace] the VP External. [At] the next council, we’ll have a proposal or some sort of discussion on what we plan to do.”

 

Implementation of a Gendered and Sexual Violence Policy (GSVP) and a fee levy

The resignation of two SSMU executives during the 2016-17 academic year following allegations of sexual violence necessitated the Gendered and Sexual Violence Policy (GSVP). The motion for an Anti-Violence Fee calls for an opt-outable fee levy of $0.45 on McGill students to fund the salaries of two Anti-Violence Coordinators, administrative costs, and an Anti-Violence Fund for projects against sexual violence. Anti-Violence Coordinators will be responsible for referring individuals to relevant support resources and conducting investigations into all reported cases.

Bee Khaleeli, SSMU’s GSVP implementation coordinator, presented their work and shared their opinion on the funding.

“Ethically, I don’t think that it should be the case that students should be paying extra money to be safe from their student union,” Khaleeli said. “I think it is preposterous and unacceptable. I would strongly prefer that SSMU were able to fund this on its own budget and SSMU consistently allocated money to sexual violence prevention efforts.”

During the debate on the policy’s funding, SSMU VP Finance Jun Wang argued that the SSMU’s budget is unable to fund the GSVP.

“I would have to cut a portion of the budget, and I don’t think it’s fair,” Wang said. “I can’t say that the GSVP is more important than Indigenous Affairs or Sustainability [….Regardless] the reason why it cannot come out of the operating budget is because the budget has already been approved by [the] previous Council. As long as the money does not fall in [a] category we voted on, we cannot allocate that money elsewhere. Therefore, the GSVP cannot be financed against any part of the budget.”

Arts and Sciences Senator Bryan Buraga insisted that the SSMU must prioritize this policy.

“It’s important to recognize that, if SSMU finds it a priority, they will find the necessary funding for it,” Buraga said. “I think that whenever we tell students they have to pay extra to be safe, it shows that we don’t prioritize these services.”

The motion for an Anti-Violence Fee levy passed with 22 votes in favour, three in opposition, and no abstentions.

 

Renaming McGill’s Men’s Varsity Teams

The name of McGill’s men’s varsity sports teams—Redmen—has drawn criticism in the past decade for the word’s historical use as a derogatory term for Indigenous peoples. Others have argued that the name has been reclaimed by the athletic teams.

“The historical roots of the teams, according to McGill Athletics, holds no association to [Indigenous peoples],”  First-Year Council Representative Robert Hu said. “It is the misrepresented history of the name, and not the name itself, that creates confusion and offence.”

Social Work Councillor Zach Kleiner responded to Hu’s comments by urging the council to protect the Indigenous students at McGill.

“I don’t think it’s up to us say whether Indigenous students are offended by a racial slur,” Kleiner said. “I see that a lot of people in this room are white, and a lot of people in this room are not Indigenous, so I don’t think we have the duty to ourselves as SSMU to vote on anything but protecting the Indigenous students.”

The motion carried with 24 votes in favour, one in opposition, and two abstentions.

SSMU Legislative Council will meet again on Oct. 18.

Montreal, News

Trib explains: Cannabis law

by Laura Oprescu on

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The Government of Canada is legalizing cannabis for recreational use on Oct. 17 following Senate’s contentious June 19 vote to pass Bill C-45. Rules and regulations will vary across provinces and territories; some are opting for government-run stores over private dispensaries, and there will be variations in the legality of home growing, mail ordering, and public smoking.

 

What’s the deal in Quebec?

The legal age for cannabis use in Quebec is 18, but the newly-elected Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government has pledged to raise the age to 21, the highest legal age in Canada. Minors will not be allowed into retail locations.

The Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) will oversee sales and distribution of weed through a subsidiary company, La Société Québécoise du Cannabis (SQDC). There are currently 12 SQDC locations scheduled to open across the province, including four in Montreal: At 970 Rue Ste Catherine Ouest, 9250 Boulevard Acadie, and 6872 Rue St Hubert, with another location opening at 830 Rue Ste Catherine Est later in October. Additionally, the SQDC’s online store will open at 9 a.m. on Oct. 17, which will require that customers show identification proving they are of legal age upon delivery.

SDQC customers will be able to buy around 150 different products, including dried and fresh cannabis, cannabis oils, pre-rolled joints, marijuana pills, and accessories. Marijuana will cost under $7 per gram, the lowest rate in Canada—a price the SQDC describes on their website as “attractive enough to discourage illegal sales, but not so low as to encourage people to increase their consumption.” Users of medical marijuana should continue to fill their prescriptions with a licensed producer.

 

What is still illegal?

The federal government is not permitting the sale of edible cannabis products for the time being but plans to revisit the restriction in the next 12 months. Quebec will not allow home growing, even though federal law permits Canadians to cultivate up to four plants for personal use. Canadians can share up to 30 grams of weed with others, but sale is still illegal, even if both parties are of legal age. Both indirect and direct advertizing in favour of cannabis is banned, and anti-doping agencies have decided that cannabis consumption is banned for competition athletes.

As with provincial tobacco law, smoking cannabis is banned in many public places,  including universities, CEGEP schools, hospitals, elementary schools, bars, and restaurants. Many Quebec cities have banned public smoking and the CAQ has proposed a provincial ban on smoking in public places. Additionally, landlords have the right to ban smoking on their properties, meaning many Quebecers may be left with no space to legally smoke cannabis. Saint-Jérôme Mayor Stéphane Maher has proposed a cannabis café pilot project as a solution to this problem.

Driving high is still illegal. If Canadians are pulled over for suspected drugged-driving, they will have to submit to mandatory drug testing, including the collection of saliva, blood, and urine samples.

 

What about crossing the border?

The United States federal government still views cannabis as a controlled substance, despite it being legal for recreational or medical use in 30 states, and will not allow Canadians to bring any cannabis products into the U.S., even into legal states.

Moreover, crossing the border may be more complicated than simply leaving your weed at home. The Canadian government warns travellers that previous use of cannabis may lead to them being denied entry to the U.S. and there have been cases of Canadians being barred from the U.S. for life for admitting to consumption. This also applies to Canadians who use prescription cannabis and those who work in the cannabis industry. However, such cases are exceptions.

Know Your Athlete, Martlets, Private, Sports

Know Your Athlete: Meggie Dargis

by Ender McDuff on

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With her first-place individual finish at the Sherbrooke Open, fourth-year cross country star and finance major Meggie Dargis helped lead the McGill Martlets to victory on Sept. 29. She slowed down for a moment to talk to The McGill Tribune about her love of running.

Dargis first began running cross-country in her hometown of Trois-Rivières, Quebec, when she tried out for the cross country team in her second year of CEGEP.

“I was running by myself before, just for fun, because my mom was doing marathons,” Dargis said. “[So], I was like, why not try out?”

After that, it was full steam ahead for Dargis. After a solid first Provincials performance, McGill recruited her to join the team.

Three years later, Dargis enjoyed her best season yet. In 2017-18, she won second-team All-Canadian status and finished only a minute and a half back from first in the eight-kilometre National Championship circuit. Dargis’ work ethic is a strong factor in her success.

“I just like the grind,” Dargis said. “You’re out of breath, you’re hurting, and it’s not just that one minute of pain, it’s for a full 20 or 25. [… Pain] is unavoidable, [… so], you have to [learn to] appreciate it.”

A torn quadricep, however, has put Dargis behind to start her senior year.

“I got back here out of shape, not as good as I used to be,” Dargis said. “I wanted to be first-team All-Canadian this year, but I don’t know if that’s really realistic now.”

While pragmatic, Dargis is also a motivated competitor who immediately identified her new objective: Breaking the school record for the three-kilometre.

“Is that possible? I don’t know,” Dargis said. “[But] that’s the goal for this year.”

It is her competitive drive that made Dargis the athlete that she is today. Although she was still happy with her recent win at the Sherbrooke Open, the five-kilometre-specialist pointed to the absence of her main competitors: Université Laval, which won Provincials and placed third in Nationals last year.

“I feel like [my win has] been seen as a big accomplishment when it wasn’t really, at least for me,” Dargis said.

Dargis brings a vibrant, positive spirit to the team. She hopes the Martlets can win provincials this season.

“We run a lot of mileage,” Dargis said. “Last week, I ran over 100 kilometres. We also do a lot of hills, […] so that’s fun. I love that.”

Dargis’ unrelenting love for the sport is necessary to withstand the gruelling kilometres of training and competition—and entirely sincere. She knows it’s strange that she warms up to the song “Sucker for Pain” and laughed when she brought up ‘puke pace’—a term runners use to describe the final set of a workout, when, despite all their pain, they give it all they have.

Although she isn’t a captain, Dargis also strives to be a leader on the team by sharing her wisdom with her teammates.

“What I tell the girls before races is ‘don’t be scared to hurt,’” Dargis said. “[That’s] the mentality that you [need to] have.”

Dargis also stressed the team dynamic of cross country.

“[When] you see other people around, [you need to] think ‘I can pass this person, I need to pass this person [in order to earn points],’” Dargis said.

Dargis leads her team by example and with her wise pre-race words, but she harbours no regrets over not being a captain.

“I don’t think I would have been a good captain, but I like to cheer people on and tell them to push themselves,” Dargis said.  

In her future, Dargis plans on continuing to run, pursuing a master’s degree, and, perhaps, even running her first-ever marathon alongside her mother. In the meantime, however, Dargis’ Sherbrooke Open performance shows that she’s ready to go the distance this season.

“[I’m] finally here, and [I’m] back,” Dargis said.

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