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Off the Board

Make libraries cool again

by Sahel Delafoulhouse Williams on

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On Monday, as I was parting ways with a friend, she casually mentioned, “I’m going to the library to pick up a book for my research.” This phrase stuck with me—not because of what she said, but because of how rare it is to hear someone, especially a student, talk about going to the library not to study or kill time between classes, but to find a book that aids their current research interest.

The next day, when another friend of mine suggested we visit Westmount Library, I spontaneously agreed. After wandering through the greenhouse and settling into a cozy spot, I began drafting this piece. Writing in a beautiful, hushed corner reminds me that these library spaces are more than just quiet rooms with Wi-Fi and outlets.

As I enter my second year of university and transition out of introductory courses, I’m realizing that deep, rigorous research isn’t just about gathering sources; it’s about knowing where to look and how to think. With the convenience of the Internet at our fingertips, we’ve come to rely on quick answers—but at what cost? Have we sacrificed the ability to critically evaluate sources in favour of speed? In this digital age, libraries push us to slow down in our research, ask better questions, and dig beyond an article’s introduction.

But these questions also lead me to wonder: Have we collectively forgotten how to use libraries? Or worse—do we not value them anymore?

With the rise of online databases, academic search engines, and, most recently, AI tools like ChatGPT, the role of the library as a physical epicentre of reference sources and research materials is fading. Why trek across the city or even across campus when information is just a few clicks away? But, in our convenience-driven approach to knowledge, we don’t just fail to take advantage of free, physical books; we also miss out on the library’s ecosystem of services designed to help us in our quest for knowledge. 

Libraries are not just buildings that store books or offer an aesthetic place to study. They are the beating heart of research and scholarship. 

Beyond storing the books themselves, libraries are staffed with trained research experts—human search engines, if you will—who can point you toward resources you didn’t know existed, offer perspectives on a thesis you hadn’t considered, or guide you through citation databases you’ve never used.

With 10,834,072 physical and digital items at our disposal in the collection of the McGill Libraries, members of the McGill community have access to a vast range of materials from rare manuscripts to cutting-edge research journals. Beyond this impressive collection, McGill’s libraries also provide workshops such as the Introduction to Zotero workshop, teaching crucial skills for writing and managing citations. Or, if this article has re-ignited your interest in the library, the McGill library also offers a “Library Research Skills” workshop.

It is clear to me, as I sit in a library to write about libraries, that we need to shift the narrative surrounding these essential institutions. Libraries are not outdated—they are underutilized. If we, as students and emerging researchers, can reframe libraries as active tools in our academic lives, we’ll not only write better papers—we’ll become better thinkers.

So, let’s make libraries cool again. Not by plastering them with neon signs or turning them into Instagrammable study spots, but by using them, valuing them, pondering in the stacks, and remembering what they’re really for.

Features

Bills, borders, and breaches

by Helene Saleska on

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Subhead: An investigation into the militarization, surveillance, and foreign influence behind Canada’s ‘Strong Borders Act’

Author: Helene Saleska, News Editor

In December 2024, the Government of Canada announced a $1.3 billion CAD plan to expand militarization and surveillance along the U.S.-Canada border. The plan includes the deployment of drones, helicopters, and mobile surveillance towers as part of a new Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Aerial Intelligence Task force, along with a commitment to 24-hour aerial surveillance. Nicknamed the ‘Strong Borders Act,’ the project is now part of Bill C-2, introduced in the House of Commons in June. 

By increasing border surveillance, imposing new immigration and visa restrictions, and expanding law enforcement powers, Bill C-2 is a direct attack on human rights. It limits migrants’ abilities to claim refugee status and broadly revokes many resident and work visas. The bill also undermines the rights of all Canadians by expanding private, military, and police surveillance capabilities, while allowing broad international data sharing. To many, Bill C-2 is an effort to appease U.S. President Donald Trump, who repeatedly accuses Canada of allowing undocumented migration as well as gun and drug smuggling into the U.S. 

Consequently, this bill begs the question of whether Canada, in the name of security, is pursuing the same political path of racist exclusion, surveillance, and human rights abuses as the United States. 

Canada’s recent trend towards increased security and militarization demonstrates how Western settler-colonial states reinforce each other’s ability to oppress and control certain groups by sharing tactics, technology, and information, particularly in the realm of border security and surveillance. While Canada is often perceived as the United States’ friendly next-door neighbor, Canada’s reciprocal relationship with the United States and Israel perpetuates the narrative that the need for increased ‘security’ justifies violating necessary protections of human rights. 

U.S. Immigration: A template for Canada?  

Since January, the world has watched Trump’s escalating use of inhumane migrant detention centres for undocumented migrants and asylum seekers, illegal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids on both public spaces and private homes, broad interpretation of immigration law, and increased militarization. 

Arizona State Senator Analise Ortiz told //The Tribune// in an interview that ICE agents sometimes wait for days outside schools and hospitals—places once considered ‘sensitive locations’ where people should feel safe. 

“There are very clear constitutional concerns about how ICE is policing and surveilling people in our communities,” she said. 

ICE Agent Howard Bolick, who refuses to go back to the job under the current leadership, also spoke to //The Tribune// about the blatant human rights abuses the agency is committing. 

“[The border patrol under Trump] is constantly trying to expand their mission, they get into investigations that they don’t know how to do, and civil rights to them is just something to be worked around,” Bolick said. 

He explained that even his ICE unit, Homeland Security Investigations, which is charged with handling only high-level criminal investigations, is now doing raids of places like Home Depot, explicitly racial profiling by using “brown skin” or “speaking Spanish” as a justification for arrest. 

Bolick emphasized that these practices do not make the country safer; in fact, they do the opposite. He fears that the critical investigation into organized crime and trafficking executed by agents in his time is now being abandoned in favour of indiscriminate arrests and imprisonments, targeting ethnicity while disregarding due process. 

U.S. border militarization is not new, nor are the inadequacies of U.S. immigration policies for migrants. But Trump has escalated enforcement to unprecedented heights—increasing ICE surveillance and deploying the National Guard on civilians—under the auspices of public safety. 

These developments serve as a warning for Canada, where a similar pattern is emerging: Bill C-2 threatens to upend the lives of migrants and breach the privacy rights of all Canadians. And this is not an anomaly. Like the U.S., Canada receives much of its military and surveillance technology from Israel, making the parallels between these two nations overwhelmingly stark.  

A shared infrastructure of surveillance

In July, Canada approved $37.2 million CAD in exports of military aid to Israel—but the aid flows in the other direction too: Canada imports Israeli military and surveillance technology. Just as Canadian aid to Israel supports the enormous surveillance apparatus and militarization of Palestine, the technologies made in Israel with Canadian money go to increasing surveillance on Canadians. 

Israel is one of the world’s largest manufacturers and exporters of high-tech military and surveillance technology, often testing spyware and AI surveillance on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank before exporting them, where they are used to oppress other groups of people around the world. 

As of August 2025, Electronic Frontier Foundation mapped 579 surveillance towers across the U.S.-Mexico border, creating what they call a ‘virtual wall.’ Most were developed and installed by Elbit Systems—Israel’s largest military and surveillance contractor. 

In my home state of Arizona, 55 Elbit Integrated Fixed Towers now stand on and around both the U.S.-Mexico border and the Tohono O’odham Indigenous Nation’s border. The towers increase the mortality risks of migrants crossing the desert from Mexico into the south of the U.S. by pushing them towards more dangerous desert routes.  

But Canada is not just a bystander in this system. It plays a role in enabling the U.S.’s application of this technology and maintains its own secretive technology-sharing agreements with Israel. Public information about Canada’s military trade deals, purchases, and production cooperation partnerships is detailed by the Database of Israeli Military and Security Export. This details Canada’s purchase of Israel’s Iron Dome radar technology, frequent deals with Elbit Systems, and annual military imports from Israel of up to $100 million CAD. 

Concerns about Israeli surveillance technology in Canada extend beyond the military, with researchers uncovering possible use of spyware by provincial police on Canadian citizens. In March, Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto discovered evidence of a sale to Canada from an unknown vendor of an Israeli ‘mercenary spyware’ technology called //Graphite//, developed by Paragon Solutions. Researchers believe it was used by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) in investigations against citizens, which the OPP neither confirms nor denies. The spyware from Paragon Solutions has also been found on the cell phones of journalists and human rights activists around the world.

Lack of oversight

Canada is sacrificing its commitment to privacy in the name of expanding surveillance. 

Kate Robertson, senior researcher at Citizen Lab, explained in an interview with //The Tribune// that although Canada has historically been much more forceful in protecting citizens’ privacy than the United States, its privatization of surveillance systems and increasing use by police forces is going unchecked. 

“We’re now seeing gaps in laws that are growing into, frankly, chasms about the privatization of surveillance, and the shift to […] policing that [is] increasingly distant from oversight and meaningful controls by privacy regulators in the courts,” Robertson reported. 

She also stressed the need for increased parliamentary oversight of new surveillance technology. 

“We have pointed to the need for Parliament to play its critical function in regulating and overseeing surveillance systems that include the growing adoption and use of mercenary spyware, but also other forms of algorithmic or AI-fueled surveillance systems that are currently falling through the cracks.”  

Datasharing: Is Canada complicit in the U.S.’s disregard of migrant rights?

With the U.S. expanding its control over immigration, Canada is preparing to grant the U.S. further access to personal information about migrants and Canadians. The two countries are currently negotiating the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use Of Data (CLOUD) Act Agreement, which proposes to allow any U.S. law enforcement officer to receive personal data from any electronic communication or computing service in Canada, all without Canadian judicial oversight. 

According to Citizen Lab, Bill C-2 is a precursor to this law enforcement data-sharing agreement between the U.S. and Canada. The agreement could outright assist the U.S. in committing more atrocities against migrants and people of colour. 

As stated in Citizen Lab’s report, the sharing of this personal data, especially under the current U.S. administration, could make “the Canadian government and technology sector complicit in the data-fuelled criminalization and persecution of historically marginalized groups in the U.S. —groups whose equality and human rights, if they were in Canada, would be constitutionally guaranteed under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”

Kate Robertson described how this agreement opens the floodgates for privacy breaches and human rights abuses by the U.S. 

“When we’re talking about a new data sharing agreement under the CLOUD Act, we’re actually talking about […] Canada ceding sovereignty to the law enforcement authorities across the border to directly issue surveillance orders on companies or entities in Canada, without the involvement of the Canadian courts.” 

Robertson also expressed concern about how this shared data could be used by the U.S.

“There’s a high potential that some of the surveillance and information collection will be targeted towards migrants and refugees on both sides of the border, and with potentially significant consequences leading to family disruption or persons being deported to countries where they have fewer rights,” she said. 

This is yet another example of how a vast expansion in security and surveillance by the U.S., funded and militarized by Israel, encourages Canada’s disregard for migrant rights. 

Canada’s longstanding history with the U.S.  

Although the proposed CLOUD Agreement is much more extreme, Canada’s complicity in U.S. efforts for global domination is not new. For decades, Canada has participated in data sharing efforts, military alliances, and restrictive immigration agreements with the U.S.

According to a report from Queens University, after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Canada and Israel worked together in pioneering the new market for developing ‘counter-terrorism’ military technology and aid for the U.S.’s ‘War on Terror.’ 

In an interview with //The Tribune//, François Crépeau, McGill professor emeritus in the Faculty of Law, explained how the Canadian border has been used by the U.S. for greater military power.

“This border has been a testing ground for American surveillance, with drones being deployed ten years ago, which then served in wars. But at the time, they were tested on the Canadian border,” Crépeau said. 

He also spoke to the lack of oversight in data surveillance and data sharing when it comes to the Canada-U.S. border, even now, before any potential consequences of Bill C-2 or the CLOUD Agreement have come into effect. 

“Databases, including those that contain personal information of migrants, are exchanged between countries easily. When 9/11 happened, Canada accepted within weeks to transfer all passengers’ information to the U.S. for flights going from Canada to the U.S., without restriction. The U.S. could even publish all that information online,” Crépeau said. 

He explained the tightening of the already very restrictive immigration policy for refugees coming through the U.S. from a third country under the later stages of the Trudeau and Biden administrations. 

“[As a result of this renegotiation], there is no possibility to come across the terrestrial border from the U.S. to claim asylum in Canada, unless you are a U.S. citizen. You will be returned automatically.”

The foundation of xenophobic policy, privacy violations, and data sharing that was built before Trump—and thus before Bill C-2—is now allowing both governments to easily push these policies to their extremes. These policies, like the rhetoric of ‘security’ that governments use, were built for exploitation, not protection.  

Bigger than a Bill

McGill students and anyone calling Canada home must advocate against Bill C-2 to prevent its passage in Parliament. Through Bill C-2 and the CLOUD Agreement, Canada is set to facilitate a breach of privacy rights and deepen its complicity in violence against marginalized and colonized people all around the world—from Gaza to the U.S. to Mexico, and beyond. 

But we must remember that this is also bigger than any bill or presidential administration, that every struggle against pervasive state oppression is both ideologically and quite literally materially connected. Canada is working together with the U.S. and Israel to increase the use of the border as a tool for state surveillance and, therefore, for racial oppression and exclusion. Addressing these underlying issues will require institutional changes to dismantle the military industrial complexes, which fuel narratives and systems that call for increased ‘security’ while trampling human rights. 

Science & Technology

Unraveling the painful mysteries of dyskinetic cerebral palsy

by Guillaume Delgado on

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Dyskinetic cerebral palsy is the second most common subtype of cerebral palsy (CP). Children with DCP usually experience serious motor impairments along with comorbidities such as cognitive deficits, communication challenges, seizure disorders, and sensory impairments. 

Despite its severity, very little is understood about DCP. McGill MD student Victoria D’Amours and her colleagues, representing prominent pediatric institutes across Canada, attempted to address these critical research gaps by conducting a large sample study on DCP, which was published in Pediatric Neurology. 

“People tend to believe that cerebral palsy is just associated with a baby that lacked oxygen at birth. But actually, that’s not it,” D’Amours said in an interview with The Tribune. “You have kids that grew up without CP and can develop CP as long as there is a certain insult to the brain. And to know there are certain factors that can either cause or increase the severity of cerebral palsy.” 

In their study, D’Amours and her colleagues evaluated the prognostic significance—how much a particular factor can be used to determine the outcome of a disease or disorder—of two potential early markers: Gestational age (GA) and neonatal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings. GA is the time period between conception and birth, whereas neonatal MRI involves scanning a newborn’s brain to detect any abnormalities. Both methods are routinely available in early life care and have been proposed as predictors of developmental outcomes in other forms of CP, yet their use in DCP remains under-researched.

D’Amours’s analysis draws on data from a sample from the Canadian Cerebral Palsy Registry of 170 children diagnosed with DCP. This study’s large sample size is especially vital considering that the majority of previous research on DCP used relatively small convenience samples. 

D’Amours and her colleagues compared the effectiveness of GA to MRI as early indicators of DCP. Based on their findings, they concluded that GA analysis was a more effective indicator for properly diagnosing DCP. Specifically regarding GA, D’Amours found that 60 per cent of the infants with DCP included in the study were born at term. 

“I don’t think MRI is necessarily inconclusive. I just think when we do compare MRI to gestational age, gestational age is a better predictor of future DCP severity,” D’Amours said in an interview with The Tribune.

These results could help alleviate the delays in diagnosing DCP in children. If certain patterns of brain injury from MRI or thresholds of maturity in GA are found to reliably predict worse outcomes, then children exposed to these methods might benefit from earlier diagnoses and more intensive support. This could, in turn, help to improve the overall quality of life for children afflicted with DCP.

Although D’Amours’ work provides tremendous insight into this subtype of cerebral palsy, DCP remains a critically underexplored subject. Researchers have yet to understand why children born at term are more likely to have DCP than others. Investigating the root causes of DCP is the next step in uncovering these mysteries. 

“We found that there are more kids with DCP that were born at term, but we also don’t know why,” D’Amours said. “So I think the future is in digging deeper and understanding the causal relationships between things, and also seeing where genetics actually plays a role.” 

Science & Technology

Shop talk: We need to have a word about jargon

by Ella Paulin on

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A 2020 study on jargon published in the Journal of Language and Social Psychology found that not only did using more jargon harm levels of understanding among lay people, but it also decreased their engagement with the material and their subjective sense of identification with the scientific community at large. Interestingly, it appears that jargon is not just a barrier for the general public: A 2021 study on citation patterns across 21,486 biology papers found that the amount of jargon in a paper’s title was negatively correlated with the number of citations it received. Taken together, it is clear that jargon may be a barrier to communication for both experts and lay people. Consequently, there is a growing movement to make scientific writing more readable—for example, by developing ‘lay summaries’ for new research in addition to abstracts. 

However, here in the ivory towers of the McGill campus, scientific jargon is not going anywhere anytime soon. In the meantime, let’s take a look at how different fields choose their jargon—and see if we can find some disciplines that fare better than others…

“Conformally covariant boundary operators and sharp higher order CR Sobolev trace inequalities on the Siegel domain and complex ball”

Mathematics

At least mathematics makes things simple for students: If you forget the name of a formula, theorem, or identity, there is a good chance it is named after a dead white guy, and there is a good chance that dead white guy is Euler. To be fair, they do often have fun names—Bernoulli was always a personal favourite, not to mention Cauchy and Schrödinger—but it can get hard to keep track of them all after a few years. When in doubt, though, guess Euler. 

“Vestigial ergativity in Shughni: At the intersection of alignment, clitic doubling, and feature-driven movement”

Linguistics

Ah, linguistics—as the only discipline on this list whose experts should theoretically be able to use human language to communicate with others, you would expect this to be an easy victory. Nowhere is the linguist’s mantra, “we study languages, we don’t speak them,” more on display than in their technical terminology. On the one hand, there’s an overflow of extremely precise, opaque concepts: Welcome to the study of specificational copular sentences, overgeneralizations of dative altemation, and early left-anterior negativity. On the other, we step out of the office and into a place of surprising, wanton sex and violence. Here we have bleeding and counter-bleeding, sisters dominating sisters, clauses binding poor, defenceless pronouns, and PPs—prepositional phrases—searching for verbs to “fill their slots.” Despite the professional shell of linguistic terminology, the inner world of a syntax tree is a dark and dangerous place.

“RobusTAD: reference panel based annotation of nested topologically associating domains”

Biology & Anatomy

As a Classics minor, I have always appreciated life science’s penchant for Latin names, even if they are the bane of every first-year biology student as they frantically memorize body parts and taxonomical kingdoms the night before their final exams. At the same time, these Latin terms are part of a legacy of an elite, patriarchal approach to life sciences that has only begun to change in the last fifty years. Look no further than the jargon for the female body—the fallopian tube and the G-spot are just two examples of many of male doctors’ names that remain attached to female anatomy. 

“On Learning Whittle Index Policy for Restless Bandits With Scalable Regret”

Computer Science

Although it was somewhat of a dark horse in this competition, computer science, and in particular algorithm studies, has an unexpected knack for finding vivid metaphors for thorny abstract concepts. Restless bandits? Regret? We are more in the realm of a fantasy novel than an academic paper, and after the other fields, it is a welcome break from the slew of four-syllable Latinate terminology. Do I know what any of it means? Not at all—but colour me intrigued. 

Science & Technology

Exploring the role of virtual family participation in adult intensive care unit rounds

by Michelle Yankovsky on

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Family engagement in patient care is an essential aspect of adult intensive care unit (ICU) practice. The approach includes family members in multidisciplinary care rounds, allowing them to contribute to medical decision-making while being present for their loved ones—yet systemic and individual-level barriers often get in the way. But what if families of ICU patients could participate in rounds without ever stepping foot in the hospital? A virtual approach may overcome these issues while still benefiting patient outcomes.

In a recent publication in the Journal of Critical Care, Michael Goldfarb, associate professor and physician at McGill’s Department of Medicine and researcher at the Lady Davis Institute, investigated the feasibility of virtual family participation in adult ICU rounds. Motivated by the lack of measurable evidence demonstrating how family member involvement actually improves patient outcomes, Goldfarb aimed to advance this field of research by providing data that could ultimately persuade clinicians to alter their practice.

“There’s not a lot of quantitative evidence in this field,” Goldfarb said in an interview with The Tribune. “A lot of it has been qualitative, involving interviews and focus groups with family members in the ICU […] but what I set out to do was [quantitatively] measure how family member involvement in care actually improves outcomes, and that information will be much more persuasive to the people who work in the ICU.”

Goldfarb emphasized the pivotal role played by family members in patient care and outcomes. He explained that familial involvement can facilitate better communication with the healthcare team, thus creating more effective treatment plans, as well as helping alleviate patients’ fear through a sense of support.

“[The ICU] is more concerned about the best medical management, what medications to use, what therapies to do. But the family members are the integral part of the care team, and in many ways can actually contribute to the patient’s care and outcomes,” Goldfarb explained. “They know the patient best.”

To determine the feasibility of implementing virtual family participation in ICU rounding, 84 participants were given the opportunity to engage via videoconference during ICU rounds across five hospitals in Montreal. Feasibility metrics included recruitment rate, intervention uptake, technical issues, and follow-up rate.

“It allowed people who were at home and couldn’t come to the hospital for various reasons to be more involved in their loved ones’ care,” Goldfarb said.

The results showed that 72 out of 84 participants engaged in at least one virtual round, and they experienced no technical issues in 113 out of 132 rounds.

“We were able to have a high number of successful rounds with very few technical issues,” he noted. “The vast majority of the ICU health care team workers, physicians, nurses, and other allied health members, were willing to participate in rounds with family members virtually, so the overall finding was that it was feasible.”

Not only do these findings indicate that virtual participation by family members in ICU rounds is feasible, but more importantly, it is associated with improved family engagement and high satisfaction scores.

Goldfarb also highlighted that similar results were replicated across five hospitals, speaking to the study’s validity.

“Each centre has its own culture and own team dynamics, so the fact that we’re able to show [this finding] at several centres means it’s potentially generalizable to a larger number of [hospitals] and shows strength to the study,” he said.

Despite these findings, Goldfarb stressed the importance of reassessing these results by conducting a randomized control experimental study in order to determine causation.

“Everyone got the same intervention, which means that we really need studies where people are randomized to the intervention or to the usual [non-virtual rounding] care, to see that this [treatment] actually makes a difference in improving outcomes,” Goldfarb said.

Overall, Goldfarb’s study points to a promising future of virtual rounding in ICUs, where families can care for their loved ones no matter where they are, ensuring the patient receives comfort and support despite the distance.

Student Life

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer!

by Jamie Xie on

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They walk among us, disguised as men. They whisper in accents you don’t recognize and laugh at jokes no one finds funny. Rumour has it that McGill students have superior, bigger ears for listening, while Concordia students have pointier elbows indicative of too much time spent doing studio art. 

McGill x Concordia is the only truly convincing love story of our generation—enemies turned lovers of Montreal’s dark-academia sphere. Both are anglophone, both victims of tuition hikes. As two schools with highly international student populations, they are the highly unlikely downtown darlings of the Montreal imagination. 

Welcome to Concordia 101—The Tribune’s crash course for McGill students looking to co-opt the best Concordia has to offer!

Studying Surrounded by the Enemy

You would need an extra pair of hands to count the number of times a Concordia student has complained about a McGillian using their libraries. Open to the public everyday from 7:00 a.m.-11:00 p.m., both the Webster and Vanier Libraries have quickly become popular spaces for McGill students looking to study. What many people don’t know is that Concordia’s online event calendar lists many drop-in offerings that don’t require a Concordia ID to register; nearly once a month, the Vanier Library on Loyola hosts Therapy Dog drop-in at VL-101 from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. and VR gaming on the third floor. The Webster Library on the Sir George Williams Campus hosts the Fibre Arts Technology Club every Tuesday afternoon from 2:00 p.m.-4:45 p.m. at the Technology Sandbox room, for those interested in knitting, crocheting and “integrated work with wearable technology.”

Though currently closed, the Concordia Greenhouse in the Henry F. Hall rooftop is another study space option that brings a touch of greenery even in winter, with a grand reopening anticipated by the end of Winter 2025. 

Creativity without a Prerequisite

Looking for a space to get creative? At two permanent Concordia Art Hive studios, a pair of creative art therapists host four weekly free walk-in non-directed art sessions. Alongside these time-slots, they offer approximately ten pop-up events per term at varying spaces on Concordia campus to facilitate community bonding. 

For those who would rather admire than create art, the Leonard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery offers free contemporary exhibitions, while the Concordia Film Festival hosted by the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema is the longest running student film festival in North America, also free to attend. 

You Aren’t What You Eat

If you’re looking for a quick meal, the People’s Potato Kitchen is a vegan soup kitchen at Hall building H-700 that offers donation meals from Monday to Thursday from 12:30 p.m.-2:00 p.m., as well as a food bank every second Friday. On the Loyola Campus, the Hive Cafe Co-op has a similar free vegan meal offering on Fridays from 12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m. on the SC building’s second floor.

Though initiated in 2015 by two McGill psychology students, Vent over Tea has since become a Concordia-run service, offering one-hour anonymous, non-judgemental listening sessions with trained volunteers at a cafe of your choice. The service is free—you just need to cover the cost of your own drink. Whether you prefer to meet downtown, in the West Island, or online, Vent over Tea offers a safe space to feel heard and serves as an example of the meaningful collaboration that can emerge when McGill and Concordia are able to realize their responsibilities to a shared Montreal community.

A school by any other name would smell as sweet. Beneath the banners and rivalries which obscure what unites us, we are all struggling students trying to navigate the unfamiliar, hostile environment of being young dreamers. Though there is comfort in school pride, there is shame in personal apathy. University is an opportunity to discover yourself, and that journey begins with fostering an understanding of the shared challenges that every student faces. One person’s success is never another’s failure. To share resources, spaces, and support is more than an act of generosity; it is an act of student solidarity—a respectful acknowledgement of our mutual struggle which spares no one. It’s time that we ask not what we can do for our schools, but what our schools can do for us. 

Behind the Bench, Hockey, Sports

Remembering Ken Dryden: Canadiens legend and McGill alum

by Jenna Payette on

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Ken Dryden, the towering goaltender who backstopped the Montreal Canadiens to six Stanley Cups and became the calm heart of a dynasty, died on Sept. 5 at 78 following a battle with cancer. More than a hockey player, Dryden was a symbol of Montreal’s golden age. An athlete, intellectual, and leader, his presence still echoes throughout the city.

Dryden was larger than life in both frame and character. At six foot four, he commanded the crease with quiet authority, his face hidden behind a goalie’s pretzel mask that revealed little and shielded even less. His poise became the stuff of legend.

Born in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1947, Dryden was drafted by the Boston Bruins in 1964 before his rights were traded to Montreal. Prior to entering the big leagues, he pursued a history degree at Cornell University, while guiding the Big Red to their first national championship in 1967. But when Dryden finally donned his Canadiens jersey, few expected the extensive impact he would make.

Dryden had just six regular-season games under his belt when he was thrown into the 1971 National Hockey League (NHL) playoffs against the defending champion Bruins, led by Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito. Montreal was not expected to last. But Dryden, 23 years old and unshaken, outduelled the league’s best. He carried the Habs to the Stanley Cup title and was named the postseason’s most valuable player, winning the Conn Smythe Trophy. 

The following year, Dryden earned the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year, having been ineligible in his first season without enough regular-season games. No one else has ever captured the Stanley Cup, Conn Smythe, and Calder in that order; it was a remarkable feat, unlikely to be replicated.

But Dryden did not stop there. He won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goaltender five times. He recorded 258 wins and 46 shutouts in 397 games. 

From 1976 to 1979, the Canadiens won four straight Cups. Dryden’s style in net throughout these victories was not flashy, but cerebral. He employed a ‘stand-up’ style, focusing on anticipation and positioning, and rarely relying on sprawling saves. His intelligence and confidence in goal made Dryden a unifying presence in a city divided by language and culture, where the Canadiens were a shared source of pride.

Dryden was never only an athlete. While tending goal at night, he studied law at McGill University by day, often seen in the Forum with textbooks under his arm. When a contract dispute impacted Dryden’s play in 1973, he stepped away from the Canadiens for a season to complete his degree and article at a Toronto law firm. 

In his post-hockey career, Dryden’s relationship with McGill endured. Decades later, he returned to the university to teach “Making the Future”—a course that challenged its students to transform their visions into action, and think critically about the version of Canada that awaited them. His dedication to activism also helped launch “FSCI 198: Climate Crisis and Climate Actions,” a course that continues to shape how students confront urgent environmental issues today.

Dryden retired definitively from hockey in 1979 at just 31, before carving out a second act as an author, lawyer, commentator, and public servant. His 1983 book, The Game, is still hailed the finest book ever written on hockey, as it blends sport with reflections on culture, pressure, and identity. He later became president of the Toronto Maple Leafs, entered politics as a federal cabinet minister, and in 2013, was named an Officer of the Order of Canada. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983, and his No. 29 jersey was raised to the rafters of the Bell Centre in 2007.

Numbers alone cannot define Ken Dryden. Montreal remembers the calm presence he displayed in the crease. McGill remembers the scholar who inspired students to dream boldly. And Canada remembers a man who stood tall—for the game, for his community, and for the future he helped shape.

Dryden is survived by his wife, two children, and four grandchildren.

We will always remember the quiet courage and grace he showed in life, and in facing cancer. Thank you, Mr. Dryden. Your spirit will continue to inspire generations to come.

McGill, Montreal, News

McGill community considers transportation alternatives in the face of upcoming STM strike

by Sonia Berman, Samuel Hamilton on

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The Société de transport de Montréal (STM) has announced a workers’ strike starting on Sept. 22. During the strike, city buses and the metro will be running on restricted schedules Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays until either Oct. 5, or when the STM and the Syndicat du transport de Montréal—a union that is part of the Confédération des syndicats nationaux labour federation—come to an agreement. While STM paratransit will remain unrestricted, school service buses will experience reduced service times during the strike. 

During the strike days of restriction, buses will be available from 6:15-9:15 a.m., and 3:00-6:00 p.m. The night bus service will remain unchanged, going from 11:15 p.m.-1:15 a.m. All buses will finish their routes in their entirety once they have begun. 

The metro will function on a similar schedule, remaining open from 6:30-9:30 a.m. and 2:45-5:40 p.m. The night service will last from 11:00 p.m. through the usual closing time of approximately 1:00 a.m. The STM will close stations’ doors as soon as the last train passes through each stop.

In an interview with The Tribune, Sarah Moser, associate professor of McGill’s Department of Geography and associate member of the School of Urban Planning, pointed out that a lack of provincial assistance to Montreal’s transportation system has been a recurring issue. 

“The STM is being starved of funding from the province, so tension like this will likely occur more regularly in the future,” Moser said.

31 out of 68 STM stations are considered by the STM itself to be in poor or very poor condition. Stations Saint-Michel, Peel, and Champ-de-Mars—among others—have experienced significant physical deterioration that could eventually pose safety risks. Despite these concerns, the Quebec government’s 2025-2026 budget plan announced a $258 million CAD cut to the STM’s funding over the next three years. Éric Alan Caldwell, president of the Board of Directors of the STM and city councillor of the Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough, pointed out at a press conference on March 26 that the STM will require more funding to provide reliable and safe transportation services to its everyday commuters.

Moser also explained that this STM strike has been caused by a history of numerous unsuccessful negotiations between the STM and the Syndicat du transport de Montréal.

“To get to the stage where workers are striking, there have been failed attempts to address the problems,” Moser said. “The upcoming STM strike stems from frustration over the practice of hiring outside contractors, who are not unionized, rather than using unionized employees. The employer is either unable or unwilling to address these problems, so the union may feel they have no other choice but to strike.”

The upcoming 14-day strike will be the STM’s second strike of the year—with the union also striking in June 2025. This previous strike coincided with Montreal’s Canadian Grand Prix 2025, which saw a record of 352,000 spectators heading to Île Notre-Dame over three days to attend the event. In order to handle the resulting transit usage surge across the Grand Prix weekend, Quebec’s Tribunal administratif du travail mandated a pause to the strike, forcing the STM to resume full service from Friday, June 13 to Sunday, June 15.

Moser explained that while alternative transportation options to the STM exist, vulnerable and marginalized groups in Montreal who rely on metro and bus services may be most heavily affected by the upcoming strike.

“Many people like myself take the STM to work, but if there are delays resulting from the strike, I can also ride my bike or take a taxi if I need to,” Moser stated. “However, many people are unable to ride a bike, don’t own a car, and can’t afford a taxi, so they are particularly vulnerable. If I am late for work, it’s not the end of the world, but for many employees, being late could mean getting fired or have other serious consequences.”

Lince Ketchate, U3 Science, stated in an interview with The Tribune that an STM strike would greatly impact his route to school due to the timing of his classes.

“My commute would be mostly affected in the afternoon, because I finish classes when it’s not peak hours, so there would not be service,” Ketchate explained.

He added that this disruption will be particularly difficult in comparison to the last STM strike in June, when he was able to ride a Bixi without having to manage his school supplies. 

“I don’t have a Bixi pass, so I have to pay a lot for every trip, and I had to bike for 50 minutes, so it’s really exhausting,” Ketchate said. “And especially now that I have my backpack with me and I have my books, […] everything’s going to be heavy.” 

In a written statement to The Tribune, Dymetri Taylor, President of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), maintained that the union will continue to accommodate students’ needs during the strike.

“The SSMU’s services will remain available during the strike,” Taylor wrote.

One of these services, DriveSafe, is a student-run volunteer platform that will transport students to destinations anywhere on the island of Montreal from Thursday to Saturday between 11:00 p.m. and 3:00 a.m. In a written statement to The Tribune, DriveSafe explained that they are in the process of finding additional solutions to support students affected by the strike.

“We anticipate no impact to our regular operations, [but] we are currently exploring options to potentially offer a shuttle service of some kind during the day when all STM services are suspended,” DriveSafe wrote. “We would like to remind students that we are an entirely volunteer run and operated service, and thus are limited in how many rides we are able to provide during our service hours.”

DriveSafe also provided recommendations for how best to access their resources in high-demand times, such as during a transit strike.

“Wait times can get fairly long during busy periods, so the earlier [one calls,] the more likely [one will be] able to get a ride before the end of our service hours,” DriveSafe wrote. “Any updates regarding this matter will be made to our Instagram profile, @ssmudrivesafe.” 

Ketchate noted that while he could delay his commute until peak hour STM services resume during the strike, he remains apprehensive about having to wait extensively for strained transportation services, thus missing out on time that could be spent completing schoolwork or participating in clubs. 

“The other option is just to stay on campus until the service resumes, so I [would] have to be here for four hours, but I don’t have anything to do for four hours,” Ketchate stated. “Especially now that [since] things are starting up, I’m going to get more assignments, […] [the strike is] a really big inconvenience.” 

Ketchate concluded by suggesting that it would be helpful if McGill could arrange alternative transportation options or opportunities for remote learning for students throughout the duration of the STM strike.

“I don’t know if it’d be possible for [McGill] to offer some kind of bus service,” Ketchate said. “From campus, to maybe a central metro station […] or [look into offering] classes online.” 

McGill’s Media Relations Office (MRO) declined to comment on the strike and whether the university will make any efforts to accommodate its affected students. 

Student Life

Refreshing third spaces in Montreal that decenter alcohol 

by Mairin Burke on

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After weeks of OAP, McGill Frosh, working your way through Piknic Électronik’s 2025 lineup, and filling university friends in on your summer drama over drinks, your start to September may have been drenched with alcohol. Getting back to Montreal, it can be hard to escape the pressure to enjoy the city’s liquored-up nightlife and McGill’s drinking-centric events. In case you’ve been needing a reset, The Tribune is here to offer you a list of third spaces not focused on alcohol consumption. Ordered from lowest to highest in price, these venues and activities around the city offer a refreshing alternative to drinking, for individuals and groups alike.

Page Break at De Stiil Booksellers

Every Wednesday, regulars of the Plateau’s beautifully curated English bookstore, De Stiil, find themselves eagerly lining up at the shop’s checkout counter to dispose of their cellphones. This is Page Break—hosted weekly at 7:00 p.m., though the seasoned attendee knows to get there for 6:30—a rare and precious opportunity to cuddle up with a good book, all distractions circumvented. For $5 CAD, De Stiil’s staff will confiscate your devices and point you to a corner of the store, where you can nest in cushions or a comfortable chair with your book of the moment. Once everyone is settled in with a glass of lemonade or water, the shopkeepers will lock De Stiil’s doors and turn on mellow jazz music. Page Break’s hour of total, communal immersion in your book flies by magically fast, after which you can mingle with your fellow technophobes and discuss what about your books most deeply engrossed you that evening.

Cinéma Moderne

Cinéma Moderne’s innovative, independent programming is always worth a watch. This cozy movie theatre offers a perfect escape from the gloomiest of days—both emotional and weather-wise. In any given week, the cinema’s programming will range from local and experimental films to cult classics and current fan favourites, making it hard to decide what to buy a $14 CAD ticket for first. Nevertheless, be sure to keep an eye out for the theatre’s monthly Queer Cinema Club, which hosts screenings of emerging and canonical 2SLGBTQIA+ films to spotlight and celebrate queer narratives and creators in the industry. While not the most conversation-appropriate activity, Cinéma Moderne’s Mile End location lends itself well to a post-movie snack with friends at ICONOGLACE—but don’t forget to enjoy the theatre’s popcorn sprinkled with paprika during your show.

Innocere Yoga

For a more introspective option, try a hot yoga or pilates class at Innocere. Tucked away up an unassuming staircase on the pedestrian stretch of Prince Arthur, Innocere’s beautiful space is expansive and full of sun. Their flow options range from beginner-friendly overviews of foundational yoga poses to dynamic vinyasa practice, all in a studio that grounds any level of session in high-intensity movement. After your class, lounge in Innocere’s cushioned, lamplit reception area and enjoy aromatic herbal tea while chatting with your classmates. Though typically a more expensive outing, Innocere frequently offers discounted class packages, and commonly hosts $11 CAD Community Classes taught by newer instructors—cheaper than the average Montreal cocktail.

Late-night ice skating and dim sum
A big group of friends on a Friday winter’s evening can never go wrong by heading to the Quartier des spectacles at Place des Arts. With no cover-charge, you just need to bring your own skates—or rent a pair there for $15 CAD—to enjoy the city’s largest refrigerated ice rink, alongside skaters of all ages and experience levels. With digital art illuminating its surface and hot chocolate sold right beside its locker rooms, the Esplanade Tranquille offers skaters a relaxed, social, and quintessential winter experience as they work up an appetite skating laps around the rink. Enter a post-skate dim sum date in nearby Chinatown, where many delicious restaurants stay open past the rink’s mid-evening close: Late enough that you can get into your spot of choice without requiring a promoter to get you on the guest list.

Arts & Entertainment, Books, Poetry

Robyn Sarah’s ‘We’re Somewhere Else Now’ explores pandemic-era Montreal through poetry

by Anna Roberts on

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On Sept. 2, Canadian writer, musician, and poet Robyn Sarah released her first new poetry collection in a decade titled We’re Somewhere Else Now. She won both the 2015 Governor General’s Award for poetry and the Canadian Jewish Literary Award for poetry, and in 2025, her work was nominated for the National Magazine Award, a testament to her writing. Her highly anticipated collection delves into the intricacies of human life, frequently reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown in a major city such as Montreal. The new work is simultaneously raw and emotionally vulnerable, while also displaying Sarah’s stylistic and poetic talents.

Sarah’s familiarity with Montreal seeps into her poems and grounds the work in an intricately crafted setting. She attended McGill University and has lived in Montreal for many years; this love and concern for the city is reflected in her careful consideration of location. Sarah places her poems in specific areas—and even streets of the city—creating a map of life in Montreal. 

Containing poems written from 2016 to 2024, the collection is split into two distinct parts. The first half is comprised of a series of short poems exploring the central themes of grief, memory, nostalgia, and change. These universal concepts are depicted through mundane scenes of everyday life rooted in specificity, heavy imagery, and metaphors. The book opens with “Chandelier”: “I woke up one day and the world was out there, roaring and / being the world, almost as though nothing had happened,” setting the tone for the pieces that follow. This poem confronts the idea that, despite catastrophic change in the world, there is a natural human desire to ignore it and move forward with life. Sarah writes, “It was a kind of chandelier that hung there above our heads [….] But no one was looking up.” While this poem captures the audience’s attention by opening the collection on a dramatic and bleak note, the work as a whole shifts between tones of despair and hopefulness, depicting the multifaceted human reaction to change and modern life.

These pieces also grapple with current societal anxieties. The collection is dedicated to “my generation,” and several poems reflect on the emotional weight of lockdown, as well as the overwhelming nature of change. In “In Lockdown,” the speaker recalls finding graffiti in both French and English, documenting the bleak and depressing experiences of isolation during the pandemic in Montreal. In contrast, other poems, such as “Street Hockey on Hutchison and Villeneuve, 1981,” draw on memories of a past Montreal to show that things have not always been this desolate. The two poems create a deep contrast, emphasizing what has been lost. 

While the first explores a myriad of themes, illustrating highly specific events, the second half features only one poem titled “Into the Wilderness”—the true heart of the collection. This long, meandering poem is broken into six sections, at times going from highly philosophical and abstract to a more grounded style that mirrors the complex thought patterns of the speaker. While the poem attempts to explore ideas of religious faith, hope, and the human experience, the most intriguing part is the personified character of ‘Doubt.’ Sarah varies her descriptions of Doubt across stanzas, describing him as “a tall, lean, androgynous fiddler,” “the Prince of Nonsense,” and “a jester.” This fluid characterization allows Sarah to profoundly analyze her emotional experiences.

This collection grapples with contemporary life in a way that is both stylized and vulnerable, prompting the reader to reflect on their own lives and emotional experiences. These works form a cohesive unit, connected through shared themes and images, without feeling repetitive. Sarah’s ability to tie scenes of everyday life to highly abstract concepts and ideas results in compelling poems. 

We’re Somewhere Else Now is now available for purchase online.

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