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Arts & Entertainment, Music

Get to Know: The Nicotines

by Maxime Scraire on

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Davide Spinato, singer-guitarist of the indie-grunge-rock outfit The Nicotines, had a lot on his mind when we met.

“Most bands are entitled,” Spinato said. “They think that because they play a show, that because they come out with something, people are automatically going to respond and show up.”

Sitting upright behind an open pack of cigarettes and half a bottle of red wine, he was still in his pajamas, a get-up he somehow pulled off through sheer force of raw charisma. By his side was bassman Costin Dumitrescu. The third and last founding member of The Nicotines, drummer Lucas Villeneuve, was absent.

“When something doesn’t go well, they’re going to blame it on someone else,” Spinato said. “They’ll blame it on the fact that people don’t care about music, that people care more about memes, or something dumb like that [….]”

Despite the harsh words, Spinato was not angry. He was simply bewildered by the general lack of commitment and professionalism that seems to plague Montreal’s hard rock scene. Coming from a musician who has written a song a day for the past year, and demands almost daily rehearsals from his band, his attitude isn’t all that surprising.

After a relentless motivational campaign led by Spinato, The Nicotines assembled and released a four-song EP last March, only two months after the band’s formation. Determined not to let anyone mess with their product, they did absolutely everything by themselves.  

“We [played] the songs live [in our rehearsal space],” Spinato said. “We bought our own equipment. [We] mixed it in my room with my setup. I thought it was really important to have something to show when we [started] to play. Even if it’s not the best thing ever.”

Titled Spaced Out, the grunge record takes inspiration from some of the band’s favourite rock acts of the past few decades, like Nirvana, the Pixies, and Wolfmother–a shared love over which the band first bonded. While many critics call rock “deader” than it has ever been, the Nicotines argued that things have not changed that much.

“Every 10 years you hear someone go ‘rock’n’roll is dead,’” Spinato said. “Rock’s never really been in the mainstream and I think that’s the point. Rock acts are acts that are constant. That work a long time without ever really having a huge mainstream appearance. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”

Now a year after becoming an active live band, they are almost done with the writing process of an as-of-yet untitled 6-songs EP. Soon, they will head to a friend’s cabin in the woods to record. Armed with their own equipment, a dozen songs, and a camera to chronicle the whole process, they intend to redefine themselves.

“We’re trying to take from a lot of different stuff,’” Spinato said. “We’re branching out towards a bunch of different styles.”

The band insists that self-production is a must when it comes to conserving financial and artistic independence.

“When you pay for studio time, you’re also paying producers and sound engineers, and they don’t usually care about the sound that you want to achieve,’” Spinato said. “[It’s the same reason] we book our shows ourselves. If you’re a small-time band, [everyone’s] main goal is to rip you off. Who are you going to trust if it’s not yourself?”

Spinato stopped for a second, lost in thought. He suddenly re-emerged, dead serious:

“Unrelated, but just for future reference, a pitcher of beer is not payment for a band,” Spinato said.

They may not be fit for the rough edges of the underground, but with that kind of commitment and work ethic, it certainly won’t be long before the Nicotines make their way to the surface.

 

Science & Technology

The value of coding in the job market

by Emma Gillies on

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As students feel increasingly threatened by what McGill Principal Suzanne Fortier has described as an in-coming  “Technological Tsunami,” computer programming is an attractive option for students looking to learn a new skill or to strengthen their resume. Top Universities, a worldwide university ranking site, labelled coding as one of the essential skills that every graduate should have, and primary schools are starting to prioritize coding courses over teaching cursive. However, figuring out how to get started in programming can be both daunting and difficult.

Darlene Hnatchuk, director of McGill Career Planning Services, believes that while not everyone has to be a programmer, knowing how to use computers and understanding how they work is important and applicable to a variety of career paths.

“A lot of organizations and […] governments are pushing coding, and I’m going to be a little bit radical in saying that I don’t think […] all students have to learn how to code,” Hnatchuk told The McGill Tribune. “I think what all students should do, however, is at least have an understanding of computing and software.”

Hnatchuk recommended that students take at least one introductory computer science course during their undergraduate degree. Courses like COMP 202: Foundations of Programming, COMP 189: Computers and Society, and COMP 102: Computers and Computing allow students to learn the basics of programming, as well as its applications in the job market.

For students who don’t have room in their McGill degree to pursue an elective computer science course, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)—free online courses offered on a range of subjects—are a manageable alternative. Coursera, edX, and Codecademy are popular online resources with a similar mission of making education more easily accessible. At the heart of it, students should seek out internships or work experiences that allow them to see what skills are needed and useful in their field of interest.

For Derek Ruths, associate professor of Computer Science at McGill, computer programming is an important skill. We rely on computers to problem-solve, and programming is essentially the method through which we communicate our demands. It’s a bit like learning a language—except that there is a shorter learning curve in computer programming than in human languages.

“Once you learn one programming language, it’s relatively easy to pick up another,” Ruths said.

There are hundreds of programming languages that are used for many different applications. R is popular among ecologists; ArcGIS has a wide range of applications in geography; and AutoCAD, CATIA, and Java are just a few of the programs that are used in engineering. In general, though, Ruths believes that learning Python is a good place to start.

“If someone learns [Python], they can really get into any field,” Ruths said.

In this way, any student—including Arts students—can and should familiarize themselves with computer programming. For instance, many jobs that political science majors are interested in are data-centric, which requires experience in programming. For young entrepreneurs, social media and web design experience are particularly useful.

Above all, what makes programming so valuable is that it introduces a new way of thinking that is complementary to the other skills that many students learn in class. For students from any discipline, research projects almost always require a basic knowledge of programming and statistics to sort and classify data. The practical uses of programming extend beyond school, with web design and app-construction as some of the most popular applications.

“There is a value in knowing how to think about problems in a way that is [systematic] and structured,” Ruths said.

Even with the value of knowing how to code, Hnatchuk said that students don’t need to know programming to find a job. But they shouldn’t be afraid to learn new programs, technologies, or platforms.

“It’s not such a mystery if you understand the background of how computing works in general,” Hnatchuk said.

Fact or Fiction, Science & Technology

Are vegetarians healthier than meat eaters?

by Océane Marescal on

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Plant-based eaters come in many forms. Traditional vegetarians, also known as lacto-ovo vegetarians, do not eat animal flesh of any kind but will consume dairy and eggs. Pesco-vegetarians, or pescatarians, incorporate fish into their otherwise vegetarian diet. Vegans are those who abstain from all animal-derived products, including dairy, eggs, and honey. In addition to these lifestyles, there is a spectrum of plant-based diets with a variety of different dietary limitations and restrictions.

But why go vegetarian? People choose to adopt plant-based diets for multiple reasons.  Some experts have estimated that vegetarians can save around 750 dollars a year at the grocery store by going meatless, but others choose the diet as a method of combatting climate change, or reducing animal suffering. Whatever reason one might choose for becoming a vegetarian, these diets provide a variety of health benefits, so long as certain precautions are taken to avoid nutritional deficits.

Anne-Sophie Brazeau, an assistant professor of Human Nutrition at McGill, wrote about the myriad of health benefits that can come from adopting a vegetarian diet in an email to The McGill Tribune.

“[A vegetarian diet] has been associated with lower rates of obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer,” Brazeau wrote. “For example, large prospective studies showed that, on average, vegetarians are 20 to 25 per cent less likely to die of heart disease.”

A reduction in the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol consumed, and an increase in the amount of dietary fibre, may explain the numerous benefits of a vegetarian diet. Along with artery-clogging saturated fats, meat can also contain carcinogenic compounds and artificial hormones. A diet and health study from the National Cancer Institute showed that participants who ate the most red meat experienced a 26 per cent increase in their risk of death from various causes. Another danger is the spike in antibiotic resistance, which has increased due to the large quantities of antibiotics animals are treated with.

Despite the diet’s potential health benefits when properly executed, vegetarians whose diets consist of cheese, pizza, and Coke cannot expect to be any healthier than the average meat eater. In fact, a vegetarian diet requires a great deal of planning. Brazeau stressed the importance of planning meals to increase one’s daily intake of grains, vegetables, fruits, and legumes in these types of diets, and warned about the potential detriments of a plant-based diet if it is not properly planned out.

“Vegetarians are at risk of vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and individuals may be at risk of developing anemia and osteoporosis,” Brazeau wrote. “By excluding meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and/or dairy products, extra care should be taken to make sure to cover their needs of protein, iron, vitamin B12, calcium, vitamins, and omega-3 fatty acids as those nutrients are more abundant in animal products.”

Vegan diets require an even greater deal of planning to make sure that they provide healthy nutrient uptake. Oftentimes, supplements may even be needed to achieve nutrient quotas.

Protein is necessary for the body to build and repair tissues, such as bones, muscles, and cartilage. Vegetarians can easily get the protein they need from egg and dairy products. For vegans, sources of plant protein include peas, beans, lentils, chickpeas, seeds, nuts, whole grains, and soy products. Eating soy products provides the extra benefit of omega-3 fatty acids, which play a crucial role in brain function and the reduction of heart disease. Omega-3s can also come from flaxseeds, walnuts, and canola oil. Iron is important for red blood cells to carry oxygen around the body, and a deficiency of iron can cause anemia.

According to Brazeau, vegetarians need to consume about twice the amount of iron that non-vegetarians do, because iron from plant foods is not absorbed as well as iron from animal foods. Plant-based iron sources include cocoa powder, molasses, legumes, and leafy greens. Leafy greens are also a good source of calcium, a mineral that builds strong bones and can prevent osteoporosis, especially essential to  women who are more prone to the disease.

Ultimately, while adopting a vegetarian diet can be a healthy option, a well-balanced one is key to receiving all the health benefits that it can bring.

Montreal, News

Winter Hydro-Quebec bills freeze students in shock

by Keating Reid on

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McGill student renters living in a Golden Square Mile apartment building managed by the WerkLiv Group, a multi-disciplinary real-estate shop, claim to have been misled by their landlord about the estimated cost of Hydro bills.

Rénée, an Arts student at McGill University, and her four roommates’ Hydro-Quebec bill for November and December 2017 exceeded $400, while her January and February bill is on track to reach $640. Both charges are higher than what she was expecting, according to estimates her landlord gave her prior to signing the lease.

“Our Hydro bill had remained around $150 [bimonthly] until December, when it reached $470,” Rénée said. “We do not take long showers [and] are super careful with our heating and everything, so we were confused as to why it was so high.”

Rénée was particularly concerned about being caught unaware because her building, called “The Greenhouse,” caters to McGill students, and the building’s staff are alumni. Renée explained that even when averaged out over the year, the electricity cost exceeded the estimate her landlord  provided her.

“[WerkLiv] gave us this whole story about how the founder felt bad for students who get tricked by these landlords, and I thought ‘That’s so good. It’s my first time living on my own,’” Rénée said.

However, when Rénée contacted WerkLiv about the discrepancy, her building manager replied that when the suite’s winter and summer electricity bills were averaged out, she and her roommates were still paying significantly below the Montreal average on a per-person basis. According to WerkLiv President and McGill alumnus Daniel Tordjman Goodfellow, WerkLiv cites prices from Hydro-Quebec’s estimator tool to prospective residents if they request them. He recommended setting up an equal payment plan on a yearly basis to better see the winter and summer bills average out.

Goodfellow explained that high bills result from cold weather, poor insulation, and a lack of representative data on new buildings.

WerkLiv keeps records of their buildings’ electricity consumption and works to improve their heat efficiency. In October 2017, the group ran a free, opt-in window resealing program for tenants in Rénée’s building. Just over half of the suites, including Rénée’s, were redone. But according to Goodfellow, tenants should pay more attention to their personal power usage.

“Education is a big element,” Goodfellow said. “A lot of people don’t realise where the heat and energy is going [….] If they each take 20-minute showers everyday, […] it’s a lot more energy to heat up the water tank than to heat up the apartment.”

After being renovated in 2015, The Greenhouse, located at 1300 Avenue des Pins O, went to market in 2016. The mild winter that year meant that the historically low temperatures during the 2017–2018 cold snap was the building’s first real-world stress test.

“[A] lot of the concerns that we are experiencing today, we’re living them for the first time,” Tordjman Goodfellow wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune.

In early 2017, Hydro-Quebec admitted to overcharging its clients for years. The company maintains that its profits increased due to reduced expenses, while the Quebec government claims that the profits were reinvested through the financing of public services.

Not all cases of unexpectedly high bills come from miscommunication. According to Amanda Arella, director of communications for the Legal Information Clinic at McGill (LICM), landlords often knowingly provide misleading information to prospective tenants.

“The number of predatory landlords in this area is quite high,” Arella said. “Most problems are because students are not informed of their rights and obligations as tenants. Twenty-five per cent of the issues we see are residential lease disputes.”

As Arella explained, contract law takes context into account. It requires that parties act in good faith and give free and enlightened consent. For tenants who feel they were misled by their landlords, she recommends seeking guidance from the LICM and, if necessary, filing a case with the Régie du logement, Quebec’s rental housing tribunal.

*Name changed at the request of the student.

Student Life

McGill Students’ Culinary Society Dessert Carnival satisfies sweet tooths and supports student talent

by Natalia Savkovic on

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On Feb. 10, the McGill Students’ Culinary Society (MSCS) transformed the SSMU Ballroom into a dessert lover’s paradise, complete with carnival games, festive decorations, upbeat music, and a delicious array of sweet treats. With help from volunteers, the MSCS hosted an event that was much more than just your average bake sale. Though the club has organized many workshops, such as the French Fine Dining workshop and the Challah For Hunger workshop, this was their first-ever dessert carnival.

“We wanted to do something big, and we also wanted to showcase the talent that we have at McGill because there’s a lot of kids here who are really great [bakers],” Mark Mekhanik, U1 Science and Vice-President Media of MSCS, said.

At the carnival, hungry students paid a dollar per token at the door. These tokens could then be used to either try a dessert or play a game. Through playing the games, which included a ring toss, animal pong, and trivia, students could earn additional tokens and vote for their favourite dessert. The winners of the dessert contest were Ianina Altshuler, PhD candidate in microbiology, and her partner, Jerome Choi, a guest contestant from outside McGill. The pair baked a galaxy doughnut and a bacon doughnut as a team, and were awarded an ice cream machine for their creations.

With desserts ranging from classics like cinnamon buns and tiramisu, to inventive creations like pokemon cake pops and candied bacon-topped doughnuts, any student could find something to enjoy. The most extravagant desserts included an English trifle, blueberry and mango panna cotta, cream puffs with homemade jam, and moka macarons. The array of desserts at the event was inclusive to vegans, too, thanks to volunteer Juliette Coleman, U0 Arts, who brought vegan doughnuts.

“I went vegan a year ago, and I stopped baking because what can you bake when you’re a vegan?” Coleman said. “Then I decided that being vegan doesn’t mean I have to stop baking, and I decided to try and make vegan things and make them good too.”

Along with student volunteers, brothers Jack and Vincent Ma, owners of Le Majesthé, an Asian fusion bistro and teahouse, presented raspberry mousse matcha cake from their restaurant. By taking part in the carnival, they hoped to promote their restaurant and share their love of food with the community.  

“I like to make pretty things, so dessert is pretty desirous,” Jack Ma said. “The product, if it’s made nicely, wows people. I like to see people happy after trying my dessert, so that’s what got me into cooking.”

Volunteers had a chance to win prizes, revel in the recognition of their talent, and receive compensation as they turned in their tokens for money at the end of the night. Participants, on the other hand, were able to enjoy the many different desserts.

“I feel like this is such a hit, and it’s cool to see people explore a talent that not a lot of students ever consider to have the time for because they’re so busy,” Priya Dube, U3 Arts, and event participant, said. “I think food just brings people together.”

The MSCS plans to continue hosting workshops, hoping to grow both their club’s reputation and students’ knowledge and interest in the culinary arts.

“Our goal is to provide a service to students to help them eat better and to help them develop a better understanding of the culinary arts,” Mekhanik said. “The goal is to elevate the standard of the general culinary literacy of students.”

News, SSMU

AVEQ confirms plan to reimburse SSMU for controversial Congress costs

by Alexandra Harvey on

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Following accusations of unauthorized purchases using company credit cards, Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Vice-President (VP) External Connor Spencer and VP University Affairs Isabelle Oke explained that SSMU has conducted similar transactions in past years. They also noted that SSMU Legislative Council was notified of the purchases far in advance, and that receiving proper authorization was complicated by the absence of a VP Finance at the time.

VP Finance Esteban Herpin, who began his term in January, raised the allegations at SSMU’s Feb. 8 Legislative Council meeting. He claimed that Spencer and Oke misstepped by charging over $4,000 to SSMU credit cards—without approval in SSMU’s operating budget—to host the Association for the Voice of Education in Quebec’s (AVEQ) January Congress at McGill. As a student federation, AVEQ regularly holds congresses for members of the various university student unions it represents or hopes to represent, including SSMU.

 

Financial Implications

In response to Herpin’s claims, Oke explained to Legislative Council that AVEQ agreed to reimburse SSMU for its costs. Spencer was not present at the SSMU Council in question, but she seconded Oke’s statements in an interview with The McGill Tribune, explaining that this is a normal procedure for AVEQ congresses.

“Normally what happens is the student unions pay for the expenses of the congresses and invoice AVEQ, and AVEQ invoices the other student unions that were there for their costs, which is just food,” Spencer said. “In the end, after all of this is invoiced, only $28 is going to come from SSMU money.”

Isaac Stethem, advisor to the executive at AVEQ, reiterated that it is standard procedure for local student societies to book hotel rooms, conference rooms, and catering for AVEQ congresses. He confirmed that societies are consistently refunded afterward.

“That’s been the standard practice for a number of years,” Stethem said. “It has been the practice for SSMU as well in the past [….SSMU’s expenses] will be 100 per cent reimbursed.”  

Herpin was troubled by the lack of transparency regarding Oke and Spencer’s dealings with the January AVEQ Congress.

“It seemed like a very last-minute expense of which no one was informed,” Herpin said. “[Spencer and Oke] could have discussed with accounting, the General Manager, […or] they could have invoiced AVEQ ahead of time. There could have been some kind of structure put in place where they didn’t have to use [SSMU] credit cards. That was the error there.”                

Spencer disputed the notion that she and Oke did not make their intentions to host the AVEQ Congress clear.  

“I was trying to make Council come to [this congress],” Spencer said. “I made it very clear that this was something that we were doing. There was no VP Finance at the time. I don’t know how else I could have done it.”

 

Political Implications

SSMU members voted against officially affiliating with AVEQ in the Winter 2016 referendum, but SSMU is still an observing member of the provincial student association. Last fall, Legislative Council postponed a second referendum on AVEQ affiliation due to SSMU members’ insufficient knowledge of the organization and a report detailing criticisms of AVEQ presented by Engineering Senator Tre Mansdoerfer.

“Part of observing is mandating the [VP University Affairs] and the [VP] External to attend [AVEQ] congresses,” Spencer said. “While there isn’t an explicit mention of hosting congresses, that was something done with the intention of making it more accessible to our members in order to [help them] make a more informed decision with this coming affiliation referendum [in March].”

Herpin is concerned that SSMU hosting the AVEQ congress might influence the way that students vote in a future referendum, as it may shift attention from the Union étudiante du Quebec (UÉQ), another provincial student union vying for SSMU’s affiliation.

“To my knowledge we’re not hosting a UÉQ conference,” Herpin said. “It could seem as preferential treatment for AVEQ and this could impact the way certain students feel about it.”

Spencer voiced frustration over Herpin’s choice to present the issue at Legislative Council rather than to discuss it directly with her.

“He knew he was coming into an executive with conflict issues, especially related to people bringing things up in Council rather than in person,” Spencer said. “But I’ve spoken to him about it and made it clear that I didn’t think what he did was ok [….] This is part of my job. It’s me doing my job well.”

Student Life

How to survive the flu in the worst epidemic since 2009

by Janine Xu on

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This year’s flu season is one for the books—according to U.S. government health reports, it’s considered the worst virus since 2009’s swine flu epidemic, with the Public Health Agency of Canada reporting over 15,500 cases in Canada to date. Since avoiding the flu can be tricky, especially when crowding into lecture halls with 700 other students or cramming for midterms at libraries frequented by thousands of people per day, The McGill Tribune has compiled several tips for staying safe this winter flu season.

Eat healthy foods

While it may be tempting to survive on nothing but junk food, especially during midterm season, eating well is key to protecting your body from the flu. Vitamins A, C, and E, which act as antioxidants and heighten immune function, can strengthen your body’s natural defense. Carrots and sweet potatoes both contain a lot of vitamin A, so this may be a good time to grab a sweet potato burrito from Burnside’s Soupe Café, or stock up on carrots and hummus for an on-the-go snack. Try to consume more foods with vitamin C such as cantaloupe, kiwi, and mango—and vitamin e—such as spinach, broccoli, and almonds—to boost your  immune system. In addition, probiotic yogurt or fermented foods like kimchi or kombucha, boost the “good” bacteria in your gut, which in turn may strengthen your immune system and protect your body against viruses.

Get some rest

This flu season, be sure to relax and get plenty of rest. If you’ve participated in competitive drinking events—such as Carnival or Science Games—you may find yourself feeling under the weather. This is because binge drinking harms the body’s immune system by causing deficiencies in necessary minerals such as calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc, and suppressing the ability of white blood cells to multiply, making you more tired and more prone to sickness. However, with a regular good night’s sleep, your body is better able to combat stress and fatigue, both of which can weaken the immune system and put you at a greater risk of getting the flu. In addition, fatigue can increase the duration of symptoms—which can be debilitating during exam season.

Get the flu shot

Many students skimp out on getting the flu vaccine, but it is a great preventative measure against this year’s nasty virus. Usually, the flu shot is most effective when given in October and November of every year, but it’s never too late to get vaccinated. While the McGill Health Clinic no longer offers vaccinations, it’s still possible to get the shot at other clinics around Montreal, including by appointment at Pharmaprix at 1120 Ste Catherine Ouest.

Wash your hands frequently

One of the most common ways for germs to spread is through our hands. Students come into contact with many people over the course of a single day, which makes transmission extremely likely. As such, it’s important to practice good hand hygiene by washing your hands frequently, or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer throughout the day. Also, avoid touching your face or eating before washing your hands, as this may transmit the virus into your body.

If you’re sick, stay at home

If you’ve tried all of these tricks and still wind up getting sick, stay home to protect others from the virus. Highly infectious diseases such as the flu can be easily passed from person to person, and everything from having a close face-to-face conversation to sharing a drink could spread the virus. Maybe instead of going to that party Friday night, relax at home and watch some Netflix—it’s in everyone’s best interest.

Student Life

Fashion with an ethical passion: A McGill graduate on running her own slow-fashion startup

by Marie Labrosse on

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Finding a path after graduation isn’t easy. But Tessa Battistin has found hers. After graduating from McGill with a Bachelor of Arts in 2017, she founded the sustainable fashion brand Asset Designs, based in Montreal. She uses silk-screen printing to adorn T-shirts, bags, and pouches with her own art and poetry.

Battistin has been silk-screen printing since 2012, when her high school art teachers taught her the technique that she would come to love. She had always been a visual artist, but this method offered her a chance to experiment with textile practices. At the time, as a hobby, she printed her designs on standard Gildan t-shirts that she bought wholesale at just two dollars a piece.

She brought her silk-screens along with her to university and continued to print T-shirts in her RVC rez room for friends—and eventually friends of friends, once her talent spread by word of mouth. Once demand for her products began to grow, she created a website to display her creations. However, Battistin had never considered turning her leisurely interest in the art of T-shirt making into an environmentally-conscious brand until she researched the field out of personal motivation.

”I tried to redo my wardrobe sustainably back in 2015 and I realized I really couldn’t afford anything sustainably-sourced, because it’s super expensive,” Battistin said. “[It’s] really an issue that no one is saved from, this problem of where they buy their clothing [….] People care a lot about what they put into their bodies, but not necessarily what they put on their bodies.”

Following this realization, Battistin started paying more attention to the kinds of products her company was using. At that point, she made a conscious effort to try to print on ethically-sourced T-shirts made in working environments with fair wages and high quality working conditions. She entered the McGill Dobson Cup—an annual start-up contest organized by the McGill Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship—in her senior year, and ultimately reached the semi-final round. She credits one of the competition judges’ encouragement with her decision to commit to her business full-time. 

“It started off as an art project […and then] became a sustainable brand,” Battistin said. “[Now] it’s a lot more of a platform for activism [….I can] explore these issues and educate people about the clothing industry and sustainability.”

Although cotton cannot grow in Canadian soil, every other step in the manufacturing process of Asset Design’s products takes place in Canada. The facility that knits, cuts, and dyes all of the T-shirts Battistin uses is located in Scarborough, Ontario. Once they have finalized the T-shirts, they ship the blank canvases to her studio in Montreal’s Mile End, which reduces the entire process of making Battistin’s T-shirts to three physical stops. This model is more sustainable than the fast-fashion supply chain model that many large corporations use, which involves a myriad of different stops and a significantly higher amount of Carbon dioxide emissions as a consequence.

Beyond selling products that she sources and makes, keeping in mind their carbon footprint, Battistin sees Asset Designs as a medium for her to advocate for more sustainable practices in the fashion industry and our consumption of its products. These practices are part of a model referred to as ‘slow fashion.’

“Slow fashion [encourages] a circular economy,” Battistin said. “[A product is] made, it’s used, it’s reused, and [then] repurposed and recycled [….In a linear economy] things seem disposable when they’re so cheap.”

Battistin believes that her voice and brand can contribute to the collaborative effort necessary to reform our current consumption model.

“The main problem with the fashion industry is that it needs […] an interdisciplinary approach to solving the social justice issues associated with it, the environmental issues associated with it,” Battistin said. “And we need people who are interested in technology and engineering to offer solutions for textile recycling that are more easily accessible and cheaper than what we have available right now.”

Battistin is conscious that such a large issue as encouraging equitable and sustainable practices in the fashion industry can be intimidating for students. She wants her brand and voice to foster an inclusive space for anyone seeking to learn about how to make the fashion industry more sustainable. She encourages students to pursue grassroots solutions like browsing second-hand shops, or organizing clothing exchanges with friends to give used clothing a second life. Above all, Battistin advocates for more consumer awareness: The key to a more sustainable fashion industry lies in educated and deliberate choices on the part of customers.

“It’s really up to the consumer to decide [what] they want their money to support,” Battistin said.  “[…There] are small ways that we can tackle [the issue of sustainability in fashion] to feel like we have more control over the situation.”

To learn more about Asset Designs and ethically-sourced clothing, check out Battistin’s own clothing swap and documentary screening at Maison Notman House on Feb. 22.

 

Off the Board, Opinion

Precarious perils: Entering the gig economy

by Daniel Lutes on

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It’s no secret that finding steady, full-time work as a young person in Canada is becoming more and more challenging. Gone are the days where an undergraduate degree alone could land you multiple job offers in your field of study. Now, for many students, an undergraduate degree holds as much clout as a certificate from Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. This sentiment is backed up by some fairly disconcerting numbers: A 2017 Statistics Canada report pegged the youth unemployment rate at 10.3 per cent, roughly double the national average unemployment rate of 5.7 per cent.

If students are able to find jobs upon leaving university, there is no guarantee that this work will be relevant to their degree, or even full-time. The “gig economy”—more formally known as precarious employment—is a term used to describe a labour market where many jobs are short-term contracts or freelance work as opposed to full-time permanent employment. “The Side Hustle” has become a popular way for young people to describe what it is like entering the 21st century work scene.

The recent shift in labour standards toward more precarious employment is disproportionately affecting youth seeking work: A 2015 study by Statistics Canada found that 29.9 per cent of people age 15 to 24 had only temporary employment, as opposed to the national average of 11.3 per cent. The public and private sector alike have adopted this approach to reduce the cost and liability of hiring full-time employees. Short-term contracts allow employers to terminate employees without notice while not paying for health insurance, paid vacation, or sick days. This shift is leaving young Canadians overworked and underpaid—all in the name of profit. Companies need to take a more holistic approach when hiring young Canadians: Employees are investments in the future of any company, and they should be treated as such.

It is challenging to quantify just how many young Canadians work in the gig economy, but the metric of underemployment can be used to get a better sense of the scale of precarious employment. Underemployment occurs when a person is working in a job that either doesn’t allow them to meet their personal financial needs, or for which they are overqualified. A Canadian Labour Congress report from 2014 calculated that the youth underemployment rate is 27.7 per cent. This means that there are thousands of young Canadians who are forced to work multiple jobs for which they are overqualified just to stay afloat.

Companies need to take a more holistic approach when hiring young Canadians: Employees are investments in the future of any company, and they should be treated as such.

Short-term contracts and freelance work associated with precarious employment are taking a toll on many caught in this sector of the economy. A 2013 study by economist Wayne Lewchuk on precarious labour in Ontario found that respondents who were not employed full-time were under more stress and in poorer health than their regularly-employed counterparts. People who find themselves in precarious working situations also earn less on average than peers who have full-time work. Compounding the issue of a lower income is the variability of income from pay period to pay period in a precarious job. Large shifts in monthly income greatly hinder a person’s ability to rent an apartment, make car payments, or support themselves financially.

Although precarious employment may be attractive to employers who are looking to cut costs at the expense of their employees’ incomes, not offering full-time employment is a short-sighted approach. According to a 2015 study from the Social Market Foundation, employees who are happy with their employment situation are more productive and valuable employees. Employers need to consider the intangible value of having full-time employees with longer tenures, rather than simply looking at the upfront cost. In an interview with Steve Paikin, Angella MacEwen, Senior Economist for the Canadian Labour Congress, supported this long-term, holistic approach to employment: “When you have the mutual investment, mutual loyalty [of full-time work], that pays off for the employer in terms of lower turnover, higher productivity, and in terms of being able to plan long range.”

Ultimately, the problem of precarious employment cannot be solved solely through legislation. It requires corporations to fundamentally change how they view their employees—as long-term commitments with long-term value. The temptation will always exist for companies to cut labour costs at the expense of workers, but this practice is not just bad for the youth of Canada—it’s also bad business.

Daniel Lutes is a Web Developer at the McGill Tribune.

 

@mcgilltribop | [email protected]
Arts & Entertainment, Music

Son Lux charts a dissonant journey in ‘Brighter Wounds’

by Domenic Casciato on

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Son Lux is incapable of making an uninteresting song. On their new album, Brighter Wounds, Rafiq Bhatia’s hypnotizing guitar licks, Ian Chang’s slurred drumming, and founder Ryan Lott’s warbly falsetto and intricate production give listeners a glimpse into the eclectic future of music.

The trio are known for a wide array of innovations in electronic music. Perhaps most noteworthy, however, is their experimentation with complete sonic unpredictability. Brighter Wounds is no exception. Its sound design is wholly unique: Each of the 10 songs are characterized by a distinct blend of drums, synths, guitar, and other tones, with Lott’s piercing vocals as their pivot. The album’s bold pairing of orchestral and electronic elements is without compare.

Theatrical and evocative, the album is a murky mix of dread and poise. The lyrics of Brighter Wounds trace the tragic journey of an unnamed protagonist “out of the dark day into the brighter night.” Son Lux’s engaging and poetic songwriting employs a narrative depth normally reserved for higher forms of literature.  

“Forty Screams,” the opening track, indulges in painful sorrow. The lyrics are apologetic, defeated, and retrospective. The same tone unfolds in the album’s monumental single, “Dream State.” This hypnagogic ode to childhood propels the album’s plot, posing a host of unsettling questions that the character desperately attempts to remedy throughout the rest of Brighter Wounds; namely, “will we survive in this, our new wilderness?”

Experimental slow jam “Labor” is where the character’s story begins to unravel. During its brief refrain, Lott’s vocoded vocals implore the character to come to life, and leave the listener teetering between turmoil and tranquility.

But it becomes abundantly clear in “The Fool You Need” that unease is Son Lux’s bread and butter. Vaguely hopeful but unmistakably dark, the track features Lott’s sharp vocals cutting through clanging drums and forlorn tones swimming around the stereo field.

Slipping deeper into melancholia, “All Directions” describes a struggle to remain emotionally cognizant. Sonically true to its name, it seems to place its listener in a chamber with orchestral drums, strings, and twinkling synths swelling and striking from every angle.

“Surrounded” lifts the album from its gloom, though not towards hopefulness—rather, towards overwhelming awe and disarray. This track best highlights Chang’s drumming virtuosity and Lott’s ever-impressive sound design, particularly during its concluding drum solo.

Brighter Wounds finishes with “Dream State (Brighter Night),” a revitalized rendition of the earlier track of the same title. Suitably named, the track escapes the album’s sonic darkness but not its thematic pain and grief; it perfectly captures the irony of escaping a dark day to a brighter night. The listener is left feeling lifted, although like they have taken one step forward and two back. It is the perfect ending to an album that rejects resolution.

Compared to their past projects, Son Lux seem to have begun to more heavily embrace huge shifts in dynamics in Brighter Wounds. Within many tracks, the band crafts phrases in which sounds blend and intermingle into a single massive crescendo. A number of others, notably “Surrounded,” implement industrial drums and atonal phrases. Lotts also tinkers with vocoders throughout the album. However, despite these experiments, Son Lux have largely compounded on the most appealing elements of their music in the album; Fans of classic Son Lux tracks, like “Easy,” and “You Don’t Know Me,” will not be disappointed.

Though listeners might be able to draw parallels between certain tracks and the work of other artists, the album as a whole cannot be neatly defined or classified. Despite being unquestionably avant-garde, Brighter Wounds manages to retain a satisfying compositional structure. A testament to Son Lux’s work ethic and attention to detail, each item on the track list necessitates multiple listens, but can also be enjoyed without toilsome effort from the listener. For fans new and old, listening to Brighter Wounds is a must.

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