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Art, Arts & Entertainment

Unravelling preconceived notions about contemporary art with ‘Ravel Ravel Interval’

by Norah Adams on

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When I find myself pushing open the heavy glass doors of the Montreal Museum of Fine Art’s Contemporary Art Square, I am admittedly apprehensive. I’ve never been drawn to contemporary art pieces, often finding that they lean so esoteric as to feel alienating. My expectation for Anri Sala’s piece, Ravel Ravel Interval (2017), is the same. 

When I enter, and the door slams shut behind me, I am greeted by a dark hallway and the delicate sound of piano beckoning me forward. Entranced by the music, my cynicism seems to dissolve in an instant. As I continue to walk down the hallway, the piano gets progressively louder. I reach a doorway at the end of the tunnel and am met with an open room containing two projector screens with a two-metre gap between them. 

The screens feature two hands; one belonging to Montreal pianist Louis Lortie and the other to French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, playing Maurice Ravel’s Left Hand in D Major (1929-1930). The concerto is a one-handed piece commissioned by Paul Wittgenstein, a pianist who lost his right arm in the First World War. 

I enter the room and sit on one of the benches in front of the piece. The projector screens are translucent, which allows viewers to see both hands playing simultaneously. Sala’s camera work is intimate, capturing the concerto at eye level with the pianos’ keys. The two disembodied hands begin their ghostly melody in sync, dancing about the ivory as if performing a pas de deux. 

As they continue to play, the hands grow separate from one another: While Lortie tickles the low keys, Bavouzet is on the opposite side of his screen, striking the high ones. Even though both pianists play the same piece, their motions are entirely different. In certain moments, one hand will pause on a rest that the other has yet to reach, while the other continues alone, the orchestra shifting into an impromptu solo. The unique playing styles of both artists become noticeable in the observable distance between them, highlighting the divergences that define the breadth of human creativity. The notes of the pair of pianos tumble against each other as both artists align and separate, providing a layered melody that embodies the stratified nature of individuals within a society. 

Eventually, an unseen orchestra joins both pianists; dramatic strings and delicate winds intensify the piece’s pathos. As someone not well-versed in either orchestra or contemporary art, I am shocked by Sala’s piece’s enrapturing quality as I sit facing a combination of the aforementioned forms. The close-up shots make one feel present in the playing of Ravel’s concertos, the distant yet equally visible players allowing viewers a certain level of agency in which pianist’s rendition they wish to participate. Sala pans out as the music reaches its crescendo to feature a broader view of the piano while the orchestra booms in the background. 

The volume and speed of the pianists’ playing rope you in before the experience seemingly ends in a quick cut to both artists’ hands hanging limp, their pianos absent. After following the piece’s life through wavering trills and sharp notes, this feels almost like a death. 

Suddenly, the stillness is interrupted by both hands waving slowly as the orchestra recommences. Sala then cuts to the beginning of Ravel’s Left Hand in D Major, and the whole piece starts anew. As I exit the room and back out the dark hallway, I feel that I—similarly to the two pianists—am experiencing a fresh beginning: A positive relationship with a previously dismissed art movement. Anri Sala’s Ravel Ravel Interval is the perfect exhibit for those wishing to be pulled vigorously into the sphere of contemporary art. Once you open those doors, there is no going back. 

Anri Sala’s Ravel Ravel Interval is on display at the MMFA until Apr. 27. Tickets are both available online and in person. (Free for those aged 25 and under). 

McGill, News, SSMU

Technical difficulties at the McGill Students’ Nightline leave callers and operators at risk

by Daniel Miksha on

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Following an upgrade to McGill’s phone infrastructure in February 2024, the McGill Students’ Nightline has been experiencing difficulties with its phone system. The Nightline is a student-run organization providing confidential active listening services, dependent on telephone infrastructure provided by McGill. Despite attempts to resolve these difficulties, the Nightline remains without the resources it needs to operate safely and effectively.

The Nightline provides confidential, anonymous, and non-judgmental listening services to the McGill community, available seven days a week, from 6 p.m. to 3 a.m..

Ava Fuchs, External Coordinator of the Nightline, told The Tribune that she cannot publicly disclose the exact nature of the problems the Nightline is experiencing, out of interest for student safety. 

“I can’t disclose exactly what the issues are, but they are related to both volunteer and caller safety,” Fuchs said. “Our volunteers aren’t able to provide all of the functions that we normally would want them to. It’s also related to the safety of the caller if they were in a crisis situation.”

The problems began in February 2024, when the Nightline transitioned from using a private phone system independent of McGill to a newly installed network shared by the whole university. 

Hamza Abu Alkhair, the recently appointed Director of Clubs and Services at the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), told The Tribune that McGill began migrating its phone systems to Cisco’s Unified Communications System (UCS) in 2023. All new phones installed at McGill are connected to the UCS.

“In the late Fall of 2023, Nightline requested that their phone system be upgraded and UCS was the only available solution,” Abu Alkhair wrote. “Nightline have had their new phones active since February 2024.”

After approaching SSMU with the Nightline’s difficulties in Fall 2024, Fuchs says the Nightline executives received a tepid response, and that SSMU failed to find a solution.

“We tried to get [SSMU] to get [McGill IT Services] to change [the phones] back, or get more information, or get maintenance, but they’ve been pretty unresponsive,” Fuchs stated. “We’ve been […] on them, and just nothing’s happened. They’ve tried to do a couple of things, and they’re like, ‘It should be working out,’ and it just doesn’t.”

Abu Alkhair acknowledged the issues the Nightline has been experiencing following McGill’s migration to the UCS, and confirmed that all phones used by SSMU have similar problems.

“We have been working with Nightline’s external coordinator and McGill IT to get these issues resolved since September,” Abu Alkhair wrote to The Tribune. “We have also been coordinating with Nightline and a McGill technician who has been directly in touch with Nightline about these issues.”

Despite SSMU’s efforts, the Nightline’s issues still have not been resolved.

“McGill went directly to Cisco about [these] issues just before the holiday break and they recommended a reboot of the UCS system,” Abu Alkhair wrote to The Tribune. “This was tested by Nightline in early January, but [the system] still isn’t working.” 

SSMU President Dymetri Taylor says he was only recently informed about the issues the Nightline has been experiencing, but affirmed that SSMU is working to find a solution. 

“This is something that has newly cropped up on my radar,” Taylor wrote to The Tribune.  “As far as I’m aware, we’re looking into getting them the new and necessary phones to replace the old ones.”

Despite the technical difficulties, the Nightline continues to serve the McGill community. Fuchs informed The Tribune that the Nightline plans to expand its operations to make its services more accessible for a bilingual student community.

“McGill Students’ Nightline will begin implementing a French language chatline on Wednesdays and Fridays starting in February,” Fuchs wrote. “This new feature is a great way for us to make our services accessible to McGill students and members of the community who feel more comfortable chatting in French.”

McGill, News, The Tribune Explains

The Tribune Explains: McGill’s carbon offsetting program

by Mahin Siddiki on

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In 2020, McGill launched the Bayano-McGill Reforestation Project, a carbon offsetting program, alongside the university’s Vision 2020 Climate and Sustainability Action Plan, to help reach its carbon neutrality goals by 2040. The Tribune breaks down what the program is and how it ties into McGill’s long-term sustainability targets.

What are carbon offsets?

Carbon offsets are a mechanism aimed to neutralize the impact of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Polluting individuals and organizations can purchase carbon offsets through a third-party organization to fund agriculture or forestry projects that help remove atmospheric GHGs, or technology-based initiatives such as direct air capture. Once a polluter has measured and quantified their carbon emissions, they can buy equivalent amounts of carbon offsets to compensate.

Those who oppose carbon offsetting claim that organizations may overstate the benefits of their contributions. For example, an investigation from The Guardian found that up to 90 per cent of carbon credits from the Verified Carbon Standard—a prominent crediting program—were “phantom credits,” given for projects that were never implemented. Other critics say that carbon offsets focus on minimizing the impacts of carbon emissions, as opposed to eliminating them altogether.

What is McGill’s commitment toward carbon neutrality? 

The university outlined three long-term targets for sustainability in its Climate and Sustainability Strategy 2020-2025. First, McGill aimed to receive a Platinum Sustainability Rating, which it achieved in March 2024. Second, McGill seeks to become zero-waste by 2035, and third, to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040. 

McGill is taking a three-fold approach to achieving carbon neutrality. First, it intends to reduce GHG emissions wherever possible, including by undertaking large-scale energy efficiency projects such as installing electric boilers. Second, McGill plans to sequester carbon on its forested properties, such as the Morgan Arboretum and the Gault Nature Reserve. Third, McGill seeks to purchase carbon offsets to mitigate the harms caused by air travel and commuting. According to the Climate and Sustainability Strategy, these goals are ranked in order of priority and fall in line with guidelines from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 

What is McGill’s carbon offset project?

McGill’s carbon offset program is based in eastern Panama, created in partnership with the Indigenous authorities of the Ipetí- and Piriatí-Emberá called the Congreso General Emberá de Alto Bayano, and the Asociación de Mujeres Artesanas de Ipetí-Emberá—an Indigenous women’s NGO. The project aims to reforest a watershed in Panama called the Upper Bayano. 

In a written statement to The Tribune, Shona Watt, Associate Director of the McGill Office of Sustainability, explained that the project is overseen and monitored by local leaders and technicians, alongside professors and students involved in McGill’s Panama Field Study Semester.

According to Watt, since the project’s implementation in 2020, Emberá community members have planted more than 44,500 trees in the area, with McGill providing the seedlings and finances needed for planting. As a result of this reforestation, McGill estimates that approximately 925 tonnes of carbon emissions are sequestered each year. Watt also explained that the project “provides an important source of livelihood for its participating families, which became especially critical during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

In addition to the Bayano-McGill Reforestation Project, McGill also supports two other carbon-offsetting projects. One of the projects, Bourse du Carbone Scol’ERE, aims to educate youth and their families in Quebec about their carbon footprints. The other project, Carbone Boréal, is a forest plantation research project which works to restore poorly regenerated forest floors in the Canadian Boreal Forest.

McGill’s Climate and Sustainability Strategy for 2025-2030 will be released between Jan. 27 and Jan. 31.

McGill, News

Student activism for weapons divestment persists following ceasefire between Hamas and Israel

by Kaitlyn Schramm on

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On Jan. 19, Israel and Hamas began the first six-week phase of the ceasefire in Gaza including a hostage release deal. The first phase is meant to entail Israeli military withdrawal and the allowance of Palestinian refugees back into Gaza alongside humanitarian aid into the strip. Hamas will also release 33 hostages in the first phase, dispersed across the six-week period, and Israel will release 1,900 Palestinian prisoners. 

This ceasefire deal has brought a tentative end to Israel’s 15-month siege on Gaza which killed at least 45,000 civilians, wounded over 100,000, and destroyed 90 per cent of the housing units in Gaza. Al Jazeera reports that 1,706 Israelis were also killed throughout the period. 

Negotiations for the next phases are slated to begin on the 16th day following the commencement of the second phase. While the second and third phases are anticipated to continue the release of hostages and further Gaza’s rebuild, some worry the ceasefire may not persist beyond the first phase of the deal. 

In light of the ceasefire, student activists at McGill are continuing to demand the university cut ties with companies involved with funding Israel through weapons manufacturing.  

Students for Palestine’s Resistance and Honour (SPHR) at McGill, alongside Engineers for Palestine at McGill, launched an email campaign demanding the removal of weapons companies complicit in the genocide in Palestine from the McGill TechFair, which will be held Jan. 29 and Jan. 30. Companies like MDA Space, Galvion, and Cisco have aided Israel in the engineering of weapons and surveillance technology used in the genocide. 

“We will keep holding McGill accountable for its complicity in the genocide of Palestinians and ongoing complicity in the settler-colonial Zionist project,” a representative from SPHR at McGill wrote to The Tribune. 

On Jan. 22, SPHR at McGill hosted a fundraising poster sale, donating proceeds to La Fondation Canado-Palestinienne du Québec’s Emergency Gaza program.

Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) McGill also reaffirmed its commitment to anti-Zionism following the ceasefire, emphasizing that it still aims to hold McGill accountable for its continued financial involvement with companies complicit with Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. 

“As a group, we want to keep trying to educate people about the ongoing history of this conflict, continue to build progressive Jewish community with anti-imperialist values, and protest the ongoing complicity our universities and governments have in the forced displacement and mass murder of the Palestinian people,” an IJV representative wrote to The Tribune. 

IJV also spoke to the importance of critiquing McGill’s colonial actions. The organization noted that McGill removed a Great White Pine sapling planted by a group of Kanien’keha:ka women last November as an example, demanding McGill commit to anticolonial efforts beyond divestment. 

“Our administration has spent the last 15 months bankrolling an active genocide, and that responsibility does not disappear with a ceasefire, it can only be addressed through divestment,”  IJV wrote. 

In a written statement to The Tribune, McGill’s Media Relations Office (MRO) explained that the university’s Board of Governors Committee on Sustainability and Social Responsibility (CSSR) has committed to assessing its investments in companies manufacturing weapons. The committee has yet to present its findings to the Board. In December, the CSSR did not recommend McGill divest from companies with ties to  Israel’s siege on Gaza on the grounds that such actions did not constitute social injury. In regard to its academic ties with Israeli institutions, the MRO echoed President and Vice-Chancellor Deep Saini’s remarks from February 2023.

“McGill will not unilaterally sever its research and academic ties with Israeli institutions,” the MRO wrote. “Moreover, McGill will not interfere with the academic freedom of individual members of the university community to engage or partner with an institution simply because of where it is located. To do so would be wholly opposed to our institutional principles.”

Students from other universities in Montreal are also demanding change. A representative of SPHR Concordia stated that students will continue to push for divestment regardless of the ceasefire. 

“The demands to cut ties with five weapons companies partnerships (Lockheed Martin, CAE, Pratt & Whitney, Bombardier, Airbus) in addition to completely divesting from blood money remains,” the SPHR Concordia representative wrote to The Tribune. “Concordia’s responsibility is to not fund this occupation and listen to its students who clearly haven’t given up on divestment.” 

Editorial, Opinion

Calls for Indigenous justice cannot end with Kimberly R. Murray’s mandate

by The Tribune Editorial Board on

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In December 2024, Kimberly R. Murray, Canada’s Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Residential Schools, reached the end of her mandate, concluding a term that had started in June 2022. Her work in this role culminated in a Final Report, presented in October 2024 at the seventh National Gathering on Unmarked Burials, in which she outlined several actionable obligations that Canada’s government and other public institutions have to Indigenous Peoples. Despite the far-reaching and positive impact of Murray’s work under the Special Interlocutor role, the Canadian government has made the conscious decision to neither extend her term nor identify a successor.

Beyond the research Murray conducted to inform this report, her mandate with the Office of the Special Interlocutor (OSI) also involved serving as an impartial third-party mediator in court cases relating to residential schools and unmarked graves. Murray’s role in such cases was to fact-check and to intervene if other parties made derogatory comments about Indigenous peoples, offering a platform through which survivors could be properly represented in legal matters without the fear of being shut down or ridiculed.

Alongside her work in the courtroom, Murray fought against misinformed and denialist myths surrounding residential schools. A lack of conversation on Canada’s history of Indigenous harm allows the Canadian government to avoid accountability and maintain the status quo without internal reform efforts. As such, Murray dedicated significant portions of her time in the Interlocutor role to emphasizing the government’s obligation to reflect, take accountability, and offer reparations to the families of missing Indigenous children.

The Canadian government’s highly intentional decision to neither appoint a replacement to the Interlocutor role nor renew Murray’s mandate will have repercussions on the trust-based relationships established between Indigenous Peoples; the legal frameworks that Murray worked hard to establish will be jeopardized. This failure to fill Murray’s role also suggests that the government considers its work on Indigenous justice to have concluded with Murray’s term. This places the reality of residential schools in a temporal framework that is untrue to the deep and persistent impact of colonialism in Canada. Given the ways in which Indigenous Canadians remain systemically affected—in sectors from foster care systems to healthcare—by these histories of oppression, Canada must not allow their investigations into residential schools to end with Murray’s term.

Standing beside the Canadian government’s clear choice to not extend the Interlocutor mandate, their choice not to implement the report’s obligations speaks to a broader truth that Canada has failed to treat Indigenous justice as an active battle. When the National Advisory Committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)—of which Murray served as Executive Director—similarly collected testimonies from Indigenous Canadians and outlined their own recommendations in 2015, the Canadian government remained completely inactive. Funding organizations like TRC and the OSI to collect data and compile actionable suggestions is a convenient front the government can hide behind to claim it is doing its due diligence. Such behaviour begs the question of whether a government founded in past and present colonial oppression will ever meaningfully support long-lasting anticolonial change.

Such failure to take productive and respectful action in reconciling the sustained colonial realities faced by Canada’s Indigenous populations is not limited to the government; other public institutions, like universities, have been similarly passive. Murray’s report outlined universities’ responsibility to fill their curricula with resources to address myths of denialism, an obligation that McGill could begin to tackle through the establishment of a full Indigenous Studies Program. Without this program, the burden of education on Indigenous histories, cultures, and identities has fallen on the student at the cost of widespread awareness. 

Beyond these internal curricular obligations, Murray also made frequent reference to McGill’s New Vic Project and associated legal battle with the Kanien’kehá:ka Kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers). Without an Interlocutor to ensure meaningful, considerate dialogue, it is increasingly crucial that McGill approach relations with the Mohawk Mothers in a manner dictated by respect and attentiveness. McGill must commit to recognizing the neo-colonial violence that is taking place on the New Vic site in accordance with the demands of the Mohawk Mothers. It is the university’s responsibility to move beyond bandaid solutions towards long-term justice.

Arts & Entertainment, Books

Mothers, daughters, and the spaces in between

by Isobel Bray on

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Hanna Stoltenberg’s debut novel Near Distance is a quiet look at a mother and daughter occupied by different concerns. Karin, the mother, is worried she is losing her youth, and Helene, the daughter, is worried she’s turning out like her mother. They struggle to bridge this emotional gap between them; things go unsaid, old wounds resurface, and tensions flare over a spilled cup of coffee. Yet through all of this, Stoltenberg captures the authenticity of their relationship, showing how they often fall back into a familiar, comfortable rhythm.

Published in Norwegian as Nada in 2019, Stoltenberg’s exploration of complex relationships through understated but descriptive prose has established her as an author to watch. Now, thanks to the efforts of translator Wendy H. Gabrielsen, English-speaking readers can also enjoy the novel.

The story follows Karin, a woman in her fifties working at a jewelry store in her hometown of Oslo. She spends her days socializing with men she meets online and rarely speaks to her daughter Helene. But when Helene discovers her husband is having an affair, she invites Karin on a weekend trip to London. During the trip, we see Helene navigating both her mother’s presence and this new betrayal.

On the surface, nothing much happens in this book, but with a closer look, you can see the intertwining of two lives shaped by love and unspoken tensions. The novel is an intensely character-driven tale about what it means to be a woman and a mother and how these two identities interact. Yet, despite the lack of obvious plot action, from the beginning, Karin and Helene’s relationship feels off; the reader is immediately aware of past hurts without Stoltenberg needing to spell them out. 

At first, Helene inviting Karin to London seems strange given their rocky relationship. Throughout the trip, Stoltenberg reveals how they know each other the way only a mother and daughter could while simultaneously feeling like strangers. She manages to create tension at every moment, even in simple scenes of dress shopping or going out for a drink.

Throughout the novel, the present narrative is balanced with flashbacks of Karin’s life. We witness her efforts to raise Helene and the evolution of their relationship over time. Karin finds a family with Helene and her father Erik but slowly loses it. Stoltenberg’s choice to alternate between timelines adds depth to the otherwise plot-light narrative, revealing enough to immerse readers in the unique mother-daughter bond without over-explanation. The understated nature of the novel allows readers to draw their own conclusions about the characters and their choices.

Karin never knows where she stands with Helene. She is a spectator in her daughter’s life, seeing her grow into a responsible adult from a distance. Since the novel is told entirely from Karin’s perspective, the reader is similarly kept an arm’s length away from Helene, learning about her only through Karin’s observations. 

The brevity of this novel works in its favour. The concise vignettes of Karin’s life are focused and never drag the pace. The minimalist narrative is engaging, even for those who prefer more plot-driven stories. This is also thanks to the tangible, well-written characters who feel authentic and relatable. Some details may seem extraneous at first glance, but when put together, they form a complete characterization of the two characters. Their idiosyncrasies are part of what makes the characters feel so real. They are ordinary people with flaws and strengths, just like the readers who come to know them.

It’s not just Stoltenberg’s keen observations of Karin and Helene that make her writing so striking. Even side characters—passersby, old acquaintances, and fleeting figures—are rendered with the same attention to seemingly mundane detail, making them come alive on the page. Her style and nuanced way of capturing the relationships between people, both within and outside Karin and Helene’s relationship, recalls the practice of observing strangers on the street. You’re reminded that every individual life is as complex and unknowable as your own.
Near Distance was published on Jan. 14 and is now available for purchase.

Science & Technology

Frozen zero-cement backfill may cement a carbon-free future

by Russel Ismael on

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In 2022, cement production accounted for eight per cent of the world’s total carbon emissions, releasing 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. As climate change worsens, reducing carbon emissions becomes more necessary than ever. As such, many researchers are seeking alternative methods to produce cement-like materials without the expensive carbon cost.

Fatemeh Tavanaei, a PhD candidate at McGill’s Department of Mining and Material Engineering, recently published a study in the journal Applied Thermal Engineering focusing on alleviating carbon emissions in the mining industry by developing a “frozen zero-cement backfill.” This novel method aims to replace traditional cement with an environmentally-friendly solution, helping make mining operations more sustainable.

Tavanaei’s approach involves using ice sourced from the Arctic region to create a new material mixed with mine tailings—the leftover waste from mining activities. This material provides the necessary structural stability for backfilling, a process where excavated areas are refilled to prevent the collapse of tunnels or shafts. 

“The objective is to explore the feasibility of using frozen water from the region to create a new mixture with mine tailings, which would be environmentally compatible and minimize disruption to the ecosystem,” Tavanaei wrote to The Tribune. “By taking advantage of the natural freezing conditions, this approach eliminates the need for cement, thereby preserving the integrity of the surrounding environment and reducing the carbon footprint of mining activities.”

Tavanaei’s research team conducted a case study for this material in Nunavut’s Chidliak diamond mine, which can only be accessed by air or by trail. Located in the Hall Peninsula of Baffin Island, the area is surrounded by continuous permafrost extending several hundred metres into the ground. 

Since transporting material to such a remote location is difficult, Tavanaei’s group tried to minimize the logistical challenges by using the natural Arctic environment in their favour.

“The water required for the frozen zero-cement backfill is readily available in the area. Furthermore, the water used [primarily comes] from the wastewater produced by the processing plant,” Tavanaei wrote. “This approach not only reduces the need for additional water but also contributes to effective wastewater management, making it an environmentally responsible solution.”

Tavanaei and her team are also working to ensure that the frozen zero-cement backfill remains durable long-term, making sure it can withstand changing conditions including climate change effects. Although further research will be needed to fully understand its long-term impacts, Tavanaei is optimistic about its potential.

“While the method is still relatively novel, we have carefully planned for its long-term viability,” Tavanaei wrote. “Our research team is committed to ensuring that the frozen zero-cement backfill can be used effectively and sustainably over extended periods.”

Tavanaei is also hopeful that this backfill method can be adapted to other parts of the world with similarly cold climates. She emphasized the need for careful evaluation to determine if it can be cost-effective and environmentally sound in other regions.

“Each case requires an extensive feasibility study to ensure cost-effectiveness and assess potential environmental impacts,” Tavanaei wrote. “Artificial freezing is already used in ground stabilization techniques, and our research group has been involved in developing and optimizing such methods.”

Although frozen zero-cement backfill is still in its early stages, Tavanaei envisions it as a promising solution for a more environmentally conscious future.

“Sometimes, nature provides us with solutions that we may not fully appreciate until we take the time to observe and understand them,” Tavanaei said. “We believe that by closely studying natural processes, we can uncover innovative and sustainable approaches to mining and environmental preservation.”

Science & Technology

Zooming in on the streets of Montreal

by Samathar Senso on

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Streets play a vital role in our day-to-day life, and their layout can affect everything from physical health to social connections and mental well-being. Well-designed streets that prioritize pedestrian safety and offer accessible, active transport options support encourage a healthier lifestyle. However, these thoughtful design features aren’t always equitably distributed across neighbourhoods. 

A recent paper published in the journal Case Studies on Transport Policy studied the quality of streets across Montreal, considering socioeconomic factors like neighbourhood income and population. The research team, which includes Hisham Negm, a doctoral student at McGill’s School of Urban Planning, examined various neighbourhoods around Montreal to conduct their study.

“The goal of the research was to understand how streets are designed differently in Montreal, and if the socioeconomic characteristics of the neighbourhood impact how streets are designed,” Negm said in an interview with The Tribune. 

To conduct this study, Negm and his team first categorized Montreal neighbourhoods according to two key factors: Population density and income. This allowed them to select and compare streets of similar population density but different income levels to study if income level was a factor affecting the quality of street design. The team focused on microscale street elements—small-scale features relating to the physical condition of the street that can have a disproportionate impact on road users. Microscale street elements that positively impact street users, such as well-maintained sidewalks, greenery, and traffic calming measures, were used to assign a quality score for each street based on how many of these features were present. 

Negm explained that examining streets at the microscale level allows researchers to look beyond common, but simplistic, metrics like the width of a street or its connectivity to other roads.

“[It’s not about] a bird’s-eye view of the street,” Negm said. “[It’s about] looking at the details—the elements that make the street what it is for the people who use it.”

To gather data, the team used MAPS-Mini, an adapted version of Microscale Audit of Pedestrian Streetscapes (MAPS), a street imaging tool that focuses on the microscale features that affect pedestrians and cyclists. They also relied on Google Maps and in-person observations to assess the presence of these features.

The study revealed two key differences between the streets of higher and lower-income neighbourhoods. 

“First, streets in lower-income neighbourhoods tended to be of less quality [according to] the MAPS-Mini tool, and second, street assessments done by Google Street View were less reliable than those done on-site for those streets,” Negm explained.

This means that, in Montreal, income level does appear to impact the quality of street design, with lower-income areas generally having fewer of the features that contribute to a safer and more enjoyable street experience. 

While the study focused on comparing street features, it did not explore how these differences in design affect residents’ well-being. 

“We didn’t study how [these built environment features] impact residents directly, but we know that these features vary across different income levels,” Negm said.

Addressing these disparities doesn’t necessarily require a complete overhaul of street designs. In the short term, targeted improvements to the specific features lacking in lower-income areas—repairing broken sidewalks or adding more green space—could have a significant positive impact with a relatively small budget and short construction times. 

Negm emphasized the importance of directing resources to the areas where they’re needed most. 

“If you can spend a little money to make a huge impact, that’s where the resources should go,” Negm said. “For example, if you have a sidewalk that is broken, fix it, and consider expanding it to improve the overall quality of the street.” As Canada continues to urbanize, with over 80 per cent of Canadians living in cities today, well-designed city streets are more important than ever. Ensuring that neighbourhoods—regardless of income level—have streets that prioritize safety, health, and social interaction is key to improving the quality of urban life for all citizens.

Features

Beyond the Bottle: Craft Beer and Community in Quebec

by Eliza Lee on

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Exploring passion, community engagement, and sustainability in microbreweries

When I first moved to the Plateau, I started to encounter craft beer in what felt like every store I went to. Microbreweries are very visible in the neighbourhood. You can find their fare all over the place: Beside the register on coffeeshop counters, through the windows of Lejeune & Frères on Duluth, piled high in dépanneurs. I remember the first time that I visited the Intermarché on Mont-Royal; I was surprised to turn the corner of the store’s final, narrow aisle and find a wall of brightly-coloured cans staring back at me.

It can be easy to see craft beer as just another can on the shelf, but I wanted to go a step further and explore the possibilities microbreweries might open up for reorganizing our society. In an increasingly atomized world where large companies dominate over small businesses, how might microbreweries present other ways of relating to workers, communities, and the environment?

Crafting “The Good Stuff”

L’Association des microbrasseries du Québec (AMBQ) is an organization that aims to support the work and represent the shared interests of member microbreweries to the government. Éric Grypinich, a project manager at AMBQ, explained in an interview with //The Tribune// that an important feature that sets microbreweries apart from larger ones is the sense of passion that brewers bring to their product. Grypinich believes that this passion not only enhances the beer itself, but also serves to better connect breweries to their workers and customers.

“The passion is felt in the quality of the beer, in the way that we talk about beer, and how we engage about people,” Grypinich said. “You go to a brewery, you go see the brewers. They’re always proud of their product. They’re always talking about beer, and […] relating to people [….] Because we’re not into mass marketing, so our best marketing is how we get in touch with people.”

For Vice Presidents of McGill Brewing Club Haley Janvrin, U4 Engineering, and Laura Hebert, U5 Engineering, the intention that goes into craft beer is a key takeaway from their time with the club. The group brews small batches of fermented drinks like beer, wine, and kombucha and regularly partners with microbreweries in Montreal for events. Most recently, the club participated in Saveurs de Génie, a competition at l’École de technologie supérieure where students create a recipe and collaborate with a local microbrewery to brew it. The McGill club’s brew—made in partnership with Benelux—will soon be available for purchase in the brewery’s location on Sherbrooke. 

Janvrin and Hebert told //The Tribune// that getting the chance to learn about how to achieve certain flavours through the brewing process is a highlight of working with microbreweries. In this way, the craft-beer-tasting experience stands in contrast to beer consumption at many other student events, where the priority is often drinking large quantities of brew for cheap. 

“I think we’ve come out of it with a much better understanding of not only the work that goes into beer, but how what you do really changes the flavour of it, and how it creates this kind of experience of tasting beer, as opposed to, say, binge drinking,” Hebert said. “I think it’s given me more of an appreciation for the beverage, and also an appreciation for the [microbrewery] community.”

“If the craft beer drinkers saw someone chugging a craft beer, they’d be like, ‘Oh my God, what are you doing?’” Janvrin said later on. “‘You’re wasting the good stuff.’” 

“It’s a lifestyle”

The sense of community Janvrin and Hebert discuss is something that Anne Claude Thivierge, a sales representative and event coordinator at Microbrasseries COOP, emphasized in an interview with //The Tribune//. Microbrasseries Coop is an association that supports cooperatively owned microbreweries in Quebec. The group is a part of Réseau COOP, a larger network that promotes cooperatively-owned businesses (coops) and offers resources to help create them. 

As Thivierge pointed out, microbreweries frequently collaborate to organize events and brew beers together. Many also source local produce for brews or for food at restaurants attached to their breweries. She noted that having a cooperative structure further connects a brewery to the local community in several ways: Sharing decision-making power amongst workers, providing livable wages, and allowing employees to reinvest their earnings in other local businesses. Thivierge stressed that supporting the community is a crucial value for coops.

“It’s not only beer, it’s what beer is made with, and it’s how the profit or the wealth generated can provide salaries, and it also make other local businesses benefit from the dynamism that it brings to a community,” Thivierge said. “It’s not just alcohol.”

For small communities, breweries do not only draw local residents together, but they also bring visitors to the area. Crowds of visitors come to St. Tite each summer for Festival Western, but Thivierge believes that local breweries such as À la Fût can also bolster the community economically throughout the rest of the year. 

“It’s amazing to see that the breweries sort of have replaced the church, where everybody would gather and meet one another,” Thivierge said. “Breweries have this role as well in smaller communities in this gathering of people.”

These appeals to the local community can also affirm their authenticity to consumers. Daphne Demetry, an associate professor in McGill’s Faculty of Management who studies organizational authenticity, explained in an email to //The Tribune// that authenticity hinges on the notion that “an organization’s claims align […] with what they are actually doing.” Demetry also confirmed that appealing to a sense of local identity is a “major” way many businesses earn this attribution from consumers. 

“Terroir and wine is a classic example,” Demetry wrote. “The idea is that a product gains some sort of ‘essence’ from a location.” 

According to Grypinich, it’s this sense of community and love of brewing that motivates people to continue working in the industry, despite the increasingly crowded beer market in Quebec; in 2002, there were just 33 breweries in the province. In 2024, there were 332.

“Unfortunately, there’s no money [in the market] [….] but there’s some friendship. There’s a way of building your life and having satisfaction towards brewing nice product, the community that supports you, your family, your friends,” Grypinich said. “It’s a lifestyle, basically.”

Many microbreweries reflect the same community-oriented values, though not all follow the coop business model. Thivierge went on to explain that one of the mandates of the Réseau Coop is to promote coops as a viable business model, not just as an “alternative” model chosen by few businesses and often overlooked at business schools. 

“[The coop model] goes well with values that [microbreweries] already have,” Thivierge said. “They just don’t know that there is a structure that would allow them to be [consistent] in their business structure.”

At the same time, Thivierge stressed a distinction between microbreweries and what she calls “fake craft breweries.” These businesses owned by large beer companies are designed to appeal to the values that craft beer espouses despite their lack of commitment to community, such as by brewing products outside of Quebec. 

“The small craft breweries always try to educate the consumer, to say, ‘Well, it’s not only about drinking a good IPA. It’s about a beer that also brings wealth to a community that is respectful of sustainable development and that has care for the people that make the product.’”

Sustainable Brewing

Thivierge noted that among the microbreweries Brasseries Coop represents, environmental efforts can differ depending on their unique needs. Les Grands Bois, located in Saint-Casimir, limited the brewery’s transportation emissions by increasing their warehouse space. La Chasse Pint in L’Anse-Saint-Jean uses heat produced by the compressor during the brewing process to warm the brewery during winter, diverting this heat from the building during the summer. 

Breweries also share strategies for common sustainability dilemmas. One example concerns how breweries dispose of cleaning chemicals that may harm the environment if sent directly down the drain.

“One thing that they share a lot is, ‘What do you do to make your water with chemicals easier on the environment in the city water installation?’” Thivierge said. “There are ways to [dispose of] less chemicals, either by using them more than once, or by neutralizing the chemicals before putting it back into the environment.”

For Grypinich, a commitment to sustainability is a key way that microbreweries distinguish themselves from larger breweries. While the latter simply seek to stay within government parameters, Grypinich believes microbreweries take more active steps to minimize their environmental footprint. Among the AMBQ’s sustainability efforts is an initiative which allows microbreweries to use 500-millilitre reusable glass bottles instead of aluminum cans, cutting down emissions. 

“We have internal committees that are really working on the process and helping all the microbreweries to be better,” Grypinich said. “There are many gestures that you could do to lower your emissions, even though you’re smaller [….] It’s about willingness to make a difference.”

This is not to say that microbreweries are idyllic, communal fantasy lands where people can escape the realities of neoliberal life. Microbreweries cannot fix our world’s growing wealth disparity or solve climate change. However, in prioritizing local engagement and sustainability, they normalize alternative ways of doing business that foreground responsibility and prioritize care for workers, the community, and the environment. These values even go hand-in-hand with business models based on collective ownership, which stand in stark contrast to the nested subsidiaries you might find with big beer companies. Considering this, perhaps we can look to microbreweries for ways to move towards broader, more just social and economic arrangements. 

The work of craft breweries, then, is not just visible on the shelves of coffeeshops, grocery stores, and depanneurs—it’s in the streets.

Editorial, Opinion

Healthcare for all? Not if you’re 2SLGBTQIA+ at McGill.

by The Tribune Editorial Board on

More in Editorial:

A recent study revealed that discomfort among Quebec youth regarding friendships with 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals has doubled since 2017, highlighting an alarming rise in anti-2SLGBTQIA+ attitudes in the province. A broader, growing shift toward conservatism has fueled this surge in intolerance and serves as a threat to the safety of 2SLGBTQIA+ people. Homophobic microaggressions and casual transphobia are increasingly common, often perpetuated by online “alpha male” content creators and their “anti-woke” rhetoric. The corresponding resurgence of traditionalism, a trend rooted in modern economic instability and nostalgia for the rigid norms of the past, scapegoats 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals and makes meaningful discourse on their rights—in Quebec and abroad—taboo. 

At McGill, the growing momentum of conservatism and anti-2SLGBTQIA+ attitudes has coincided dangerously with the temporary leave of Dr. Hashana Perera, who is reportedly the only doctor at McGill’s Student Wellness Hub (SWH) willing to provide Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). HRT is a critical form of care that allows individuals to align their physical selves with their gender identity. Perera has also identified gaps in support for transgender students at the university, making her presence crucial to the well-being of 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals. In her absence, students seeking HRT face referral to the Hygea endocrinology clinic, where wait times can be up to a year long.

The fact that gender-affirming care at McGill relies on a single doctor is particularly egregious, as it creates a precarious system where a single practitioner’s leave disrupts access for the entire student body. Furthermore, even when such staff are available, McGill’s health insurance policy requires 2SLGBTQIA+ students to jump through unnecessary hoops to access care for treatments, even outside of HRT. For example, diagnosed gender dysphoria is a prerequisite for most gender-affirming care, but few doctors are willing to provide this diagnosis. 

The lack of urgency and support, compounded by an overloaded SWH, forces competition for appointments, exacerbating financial strain and hindering students’ ability to engage fully with their communities. Even once students are finally able to access treatments, the costs—including those of repeated HRT or gender-affirming surgery—are not fully covered by insurance.

The fragility of the gender-affirming healthcare system reflects a lack of institutional commitment to equity and inclusion. To truly serve its 2SLGBTQIA+ students, McGill must do more than vocalize its support; it must listen to organizations advocating for gender-affirming care and invest in training more practitioners, expanding healthcare access, and addressing systemic barriers across the board. The university must enforce protections against transphobia, deadnaming, and discrimination to create an environment where all students feel supported.

McGill’s Public Health Masters program also plays a critical role in this process in their duty to prepare future healthcare professionals to work inclusively and effectively with diverse populations. Students in this program should be trained not only to provide sensitive care but also to identify and challenge implicit and explicit biases that uniquely impact the health of marginalized communities. Courses on medical racism, transphobia, homophobia, and implicit bias should be core components of the curriculum, even starting at the undergraduate level. Healthcare students must be taught how to engage with patients in vulnerable moments and to advocate for policies that ensure equitable care. This interdisciplinary approach, which combines technical skills with social and ethical considerations, will better equip future healthcare professionals to address the complex needs of 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals.

Gender-affirming care is not a luxury; it is a right that can save lives, allowing students to feel like themselves and succeed in school and beyond. Until the university prioritizes employing more doctors capable of offering gender-affirming care, offering further guidance for accessing this care, and expanding insurance coverage to these treatments and procedures, the SWH will remain an unreliable and inequitable healthcare provider. This moment calls for collective action to address the barriers faced by 2SLGBTQIA+ communities and to counter rising anti-2SLGBTQIA+ biases through education and advocacy. By fostering a healthcare system and campus culture rooted in inclusion, awareness, and solidarity, McGill can combat rising intolerance and, in turn, pioneer meaningful change for its 2SLGBTQIA+ community, and that which extends beyond McGill’s gates.

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