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McGill, News, The Tribune Explains

The Tribune Explains: McGill’s Canada Award

by Asher Kui on

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In October 2023, the Quebec provincial government announced its plan to increase tuition at English universities for out-of-province Canadian students.

While the government’s original plans were to nearly double tuition rates, in December 2023, Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry settled on hiking tuition rates by about 30 per cent. In an effort to sustain out-of-province undergraduate applications, McGill launched the Canada Award, while Concordia University launched the Canada Scholars Award—both of which subsidize part of the increased tuition for most out-of-province students.

According to McGill’s Fall 2024 Admissions Profile, 22 per cent of the university’s incoming undergraduate class is from Canada beyond Quebec. For these out-of-province students, The Tribune unpacks the Canada Award.

What is the total monetary value of the Canada Award?

The Canada Award is valued at $3,000 CAD annually, with $1,500 CAD disbursed to recipients each semester. The Award offers up to $12,000 CAD over the course of eight semesters, translating to four years of full-time study. 

The award is classified as taxable income, which means recipients must report the return on their T4A tax slips. McGill issues these students a T4A tax slip each February for the award granted in the prior year term.

Why did McGill launch the Canada Award?

In a 2023 CBC interview with journalist Mark Kelley, McGill Vice-President (Administration and Finance) Fabrice Labeau mentioned that the Quebec government’s intention to raise tuition rates would “price [McGill] out of the market and close access to […] degrees and to the McGill experience.”  The Canada Award was thus created to maintain the university’s competitiveness.

“So what we’re trying to do here is [to send] a message to our students and our prospective students […] saying, you’re welcome here at McGill,” Labeau said to CBC. “We’re going to help you overcome these new barriers that have been put up by the government.”

In another statement, McGill President and Vice-Chancellor Deep Saini said that the university’s success is founded in the talent of a diverse student body, and the Canada Award aims to support students who otherwise would not be able to come to McGill.

Who is eligible for the Canada Award?

Currently, the Canada Award is offered to out-of-province, full-time undergraduate students admitted to McGill in Fall 2024 or Winter 2025, in the Faculties or Schools of Agricultural and Environmental Science, Architecture, Arts, Arts & Science, Education, Music, Nursing, and Science.

Additionally, students who have undergone an interfaculty transfer in Fall 2024 or Winter 2025 from an ineligible faculty to an eligible faculty can also receive the Canada Award.

To qualify for full-time status, students must be registered and billed for 12 or more credits per semester. If students receiving the award withdraw from a course with a refund and fall under 12 credits, the award will be revoked. However, if students withdraw from a course after the refund deadline, they can keep the award.

Students in part-time studies due to a disability can also claim the Canada Award, so long as their disability is recognized by Student Accessibility and Achievement.

For students entering McGill in the Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 semesters, the Canada Award will still be offered, albeit with added restrictions: Canada Award recipients will also have to be in receipt of a one-time or renewable Entrance Scholarship or Bursary.

Students who deferred their admission to the Fall 2025 semester or beyond will only receive the Canada Award if they meet the Fall 2025 eligibility criteria.

How is the Canada Award issued? Does it interact with other scholarships or bursaries?

The Canada Award requires no application. It is automatically deducted from tuition rates on e-Bills for eligible students. During the add-drop period, if a student fluctuates between full-time and part-time status, the Award will simultaneously be added and dropped on their student fees account menu.

McGill scholarships and bursaries are distributed regardless of whether a student is a recipient of the Canada Award. 

For more information on the Canada Award, visit McGill’s Scholarships and Student Aid website.

McGill, News, PGSS, SSMU

McGill governance meeting highlights: Week of Jan. 13-17

by Amelia H. Clark, Kaitlyn Schramm, Shani Laskin on

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The McGill Senate,  Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS) Council, and Legislative Council of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) each held their first meetings of the semester during the week of Jan. 13-17. Senators explored the potential impacts of Bill 74 and Bill 83, and concerns regarding McGill’s new policy for booking rooms on campus. Meanwhile, PGSS councillors discussed the union’s new online health provider and a letter from the Graduate Law Students’ Association (GLSA) condemning  McGill’s ban of event bookings on campus in December. Finally, the Legislative Council’s agenda included the low voter turnout of a recent SSMU by-election and proposed changes to SSMU’s internal regulations. 

McGill Senate Jan. 15 meeting

The meeting commenced with messages from the Chair and McGill President, Vice-Chancellor Deep Saini. He expressed worry about Quebec’s passing of Bill 74, which gives the government the ability to cap the amount of international students in universities. Saini noted that the passage of this bill “poses risks to Quebec’s future, threatens the ability to attract top international talent, and could harm Quebec’s innovation and research centers.”

Saini then mentioned the potential ripple effects of Bill 83 passing, which forces all students who go to medical school in Quebec to work in the province’s public health sector for at least five years or else pay a hefty fine. Saini worried that students will refrain from attending medical school in Quebec because of this new provision, which could affect the enrollment of students at McGill. 

The meeting continued to the question-answer segment. Discussion first turned to administrative support for departments, which is divided into Academic Excellence Centres (AECs). Senator Terry Hébert raised concerns about the effectiveness of AECs when much of the work that should be allocated to these centres still falls on the shoulders of the department heads. 

Provost and Executive Vice-President (Academic) Christopher Manfredi responded, elaborating that some responsibilities should be allocated to department heads rather than the AECs since there are particularities within each department. Still, Hébert noted that the weaknesses of the implementation of AECs outweigh the strengths. 

Arts Senator Vivian Wright then spoke on the impacts of the swift changes in room booking protocol. The new booking protocol implemented on Jan. 1 requires one to fill out a form of 26 questions in order to book a room, when previously a simple sentence or two sufficed. Additionally, under this protocol, room bookings require more advanced notice of 10 days, when before only five days were required. 

“I’m concerned that these issues will lead to a lack of trust from the student body,” Wright said. 

Interim Deputy Provost (Student Life & Learning) Angela Campbell explained that these new provisions were implemented for the sake of the administrative staff. Campbell noted that there are only two big changes to policy: The introduction of the form and increased notice. These features allegedly streamline the process for the ease and efficiency of administrative staff dealing with room bookings. 

PGSS Jan. 15 Council meeting

PGSS Councillors gathered in the Thomson House Ballroom for the body’s first meeting of the semester. 

To start the meeting off, the PGSS executives made announcements to the group which included an update on PGSS’s program to offset carbon emissions from travel that students must make for conferences, the extension of the deadline for the Health & Wellness survey, the fundraising for the Needs-Based Bursary, and programming for Academic Bullying Awareness Week which will take place the last week of January.

Next, the Council went over reports from various executives, PGSS commissioners, and PGSS committees. Only two reports—one from the Equity and Diversity Commissioner and another from the Innovation Committee—were shared directly in the meeting as they had been added to the agenda at the start of it, meaning that councillors had not had access to them prior to the meeting.

The meeting then turned to two discussion items. The first was in regard to PGSS’s decision to switch online healthcare providers from Dialogue to Maple. Member Services Officer Ambre Lambert explained that while the two platforms are comparable in services, Maple is cheaper per student.

GLSA Vice-President External Ajey Sangai raised the second discussion item as a last-minute addition to the agenda. Sangai explained that at the GLSA’s General Assembly in December, the group drafted a letter condemning McGill’s decision to ban speaker events on campus until the start of the winter term. In the letter, students argued that the action impeded students’ freedom of assembly and speech and they urged the university to better communicate the reasoning behind the ban. Students also wrote that the ban follows a pattern of poor communication on the part of the university, pointing to McGill’s emails surrounding the injunction against protests on campus around Oct. 7 this year as another example. 

After a brief discussion on this subject, the Council voted on motions brought to the group prior to the meeting. Out of 12 motions, only four saw discussions on whether they ought to pass. In the end, every motion passed. 

After nearly two and a half hours, the meeting adjourned at 8:53 p.m. 

SSMU Jan. 16 Legislative Council meeting

The first SSMU Legislative Council meeting of 2025 began with 18 out of 34 voting members present on Jan. 16.  

Chief Electoral Officer Emma Chen began by addressing the low voter turnout in the past semester’s elections. Chen claimed that students did not believe ballot items impacted their lives, which led to disinterest in election outcomes and a subsequent lack of participation. To avoid nullified results due to a failure to meet quorum—as was seen in the by-election for the Vice-President (VP) Student Life and VP Sustainability and Operations roles on Nov. 29—Chen proposed SSMU becomes more proactive on social media to better inform the student body of their vote’s impact and importance. 

The council then discussed five proposed motions. First, VP University Affairs Abe Berglas  moved the Motion Regarding the Internal Regulations (IRs) of Representation and Advocacy. The motion stands to revise and shorten the current IRs applied to committees on campus to give faculties more control over how and who is elected as a senator. When electing students to the McGill Senate, a group of councillors representing several committees across campus, University Affairs would take into account a candidate’s lived experience and identity. This would give preference to both students and senators most impacted by a committee’s scope when appointing positions of authority within the group. 

Arts Councillor Ben Weissman questioned the rationale behind the removal of sections of the current IRs, and asked how the university would determine the extent to which a student is impacted by a committee’s subject matter. Berglas responded that only committees which serve a specific motion or demographic on campus would be subject to this motion. 

“The Academic [Policy] Committee, we’re all impacted by that,” Berglas said. “But there’s some that are pretty specific […] there’s a Subcommittee on Queer People, there’s a subcommittee on Black people; being part of those communities it makes sense would give you a leg up.”

VP External Affairs Hugo-Victor Solomon supported the motion, proposing a friendly amendment which added the caveat “if applicable” to exclude committees for which this regulation would be irrelevant. 

When put to vote, the motion passed with 10 in favour, three against, and five abstaining. 

President Dymetri Taylor put forward four other motions which were unanimously approved without debate: The Motion Regarding Interim Club Status for the Green Olive Chinese Christian Club, the Motion Regarding Constitution Changes for the McGill Students Chinese Music Society, the Motion Regarding an Interim Provision to the Internal Regulations of Student Groups, and the Motion Regarding Interim Provision for IRs of Elections and Referenda. 

Commentary, Opinion

Those who decry McGill’s work-hard-play-hard culture have it wrong

by Rhys Jones on

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Four days of activities, DJs, and early rises is a serious undertaking at the end of your summer holidays. Some outsiders raise eyebrows when told that’s how McGill readies students for university life—and yet it sets the tone perfectly for our degree. What better way to work out how many nights you can handle on the trot and still function the next day? Who better to introduce you to student life than upper-year students who’ve been in your shoes? Of course, Frosh wasn’t perfect for everyone, but those who declare that it inculcates a toxic culture of peer pressure and alcohol couldn’t be more wrong. 

Frosh has changed with the times and does a great job of ensuring that the almost 5000 students who partake in the orientation week can move at their own pace. As a first-year, I did Frosh sober (loved it), and became a Frosh leader this year. About half of my froshies hardly touched a drink all week, enjoying the opportunities to dip their toes in Montreal nightlife, make friends over a game of beach volleyball, and explore the city. 

This contrasts with a crew of Québecois first-years I bumped into at the Mont-Royal viewpoint on a morning run back in October. They told me they were doing “scunts”—a portmanteau of “scavenger hunts”—to earn points for their team in one of McGill’s activity weeks. These students had read ahead in their classes so they could spend their day running up mountains, taking shots, and all sorts of other chaos. They told me that so far, it had been the best fun they’d ever had. 

One might wonder how it can possibly be in the interest of those students to miss two lectures to spend a day doing silly drunken challenges. However silly as they might seem, these activities play an important role in establishing community, making friends, and having a good time. A McGill degree isn’t easy, but that doesn’t mean students should chain themselves to the library year-round. 

Beyond the classic “you’re only young once” argument—though it is true that you’re not going to be able to squeeze out a 2000-word essay the day after getting home at 3 a.m. forever—life doesn’t get any less busy. Being able to balance academic deadlines with whatever else you enjoy is a vital skill, whether that means getting involved in Intramurals, acting in a play, or running a club—whatever piques your interest. What’s important is making time to do anything other than your essays—if not for the sake of your mental health, then at least for the sake of having something to talk about besides that professor.

A student bar like Bar des Arts (BDA) might not immediately appeal to everyone, but the excitement on the faces in its line reveals that it’s doing a hell of a good job providing respite for stressed McGill students. Frosh and scunts may look like academic self-sabotage, but the 4.0 GPA of the sorority girl who goes out every night (as per the transcript posted on her Instagram for 150 scunt points) evidences the patently obvious truth that McGill students are capable of scheduling their work and their play. 

Some will take it too far and drop a few marks, as has been the case since the dawn of time, but that’s a lesson we all must learn. University is more than simply ensuring you nail your calculus test or can perfectly outline the realist perspective on nuclear proliferation. It’s about learning self-discipline, giving yourself the broad base of experiences you need to tackle an evolving world, and working out who you are. At the end of the day, university is where you make the most of your newfound freedom. Which will you regret more at 30: Dropping down to an A- on POLI 244 because you failed to squeeze in those last couple of readings between a soccer game and a power hour, or having never made the memories at all?

Arts & Entertainment

Arts & Entertainment recommends

by Charlotte Hayes, Kellie Elrick, Shani Laskin on

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The Eternal Memory (dir. Maite Alberdi) – Shani Laskin, Managing Editor

From Chilean director-producer Maite Alberdi, The Eternal Memory follows life partners Paulina Urrutia and Augusto Góngora as they navigate the latter’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis. The film intertwines the couple’s day-to-day routines with home videos and archived footage of Góngora’s career as a broadcast journalist during the repressive Pinochet regime in Chile. 

In the documentary, Urrutia—an actress, union leader, and politician—reckons with caring for her partner as his mobility and cognitive function increasingly deteriorate while acknowledging the reality that he is slowly forgetting who she is. Through this film, these two beloved figures of Chilean public life literally open the door to their most intimate moments, baring themselves to the world. Urrutia’s commitment to her husband and to ensuring that his legacy lives on is an act of tremendous selflessness. Clips of Urrutia leading Góngora on walks juxtaposed with moments of desperation when he fears his beloved books will be taken away from him emphasize the joy, peacefulness, and immense heartache in the act of loving through the loss of memory. 

In addition to the remarkable love between the Urrutia and Góngora, what sets the documentary apart is the throughline of memory not just as a personal endeavour but as a political tool. Góngora’s career was defined by a commitment to truth-telling despite the threat of imprisonment, torture, and even death. Through his work and activism, Góngora stressed the importance of documentary to fuel action and reconstruction. In a way, The Eternal Memory can be viewed as his final attempt to do exactly that.

The Vegetarian (Han Kang) – Kellie Elrick, Arts & Entertainment Editor

Content warning: Eating disorders, self-harm, sexual violence.

When the novel begins, Yeong-hye is having violent dreams—murder, barn floors soaked with blood, frothing mouths, cuts, faces. She stops eating meat, and eventually stops eating altogether. She gives up sex. She dreams of transforming into a plant.

The Vegetarian is written in three parts, each with one voice: Yeong-hye’s husband, her brother-in-law, and her sister. The novel begins in the first person and eventually moves into the third, becoming estranged from itself as Yeong-hye becomes estranged from her own body. She desires to escape the body in order to rid herself of the thing that eats, hurts, the thing men look at, and violate.

Yeong-hye stands on her hands, imagining them as roots in the earth, wills flowers to bloom between her legs, bares her body to the sun, wanting to leave the woman behind and become the tree. The story is a much older one: In an ancient myth, Apollo, god of the Sun, music, poetry, and—most relevant to Kang’s story—healing and illness, falls in love with the nymph Daphne. She tries to flee, but Apollo chases after her. Daphne, terrified, cries out to her father, a river god, who transforms her into a laurel tree. 

But in Kang’s story, there’s no god to save Yeong-hye.

Swan Song (dir. Chelsea McMullan) – Charlotte Hayes, Arts & Entertainment Editor

“Ballet is punk rock as fuck,” says newly promoted corps de ballet member Shaelynn Estrada in the closing moments of Swan Song—and after watching Chelsea McMullan’s docu-series, it’s easy to see why. The series offers an intimate look at the National Ballet of Canada as they take on the ambitious task of mounting an all-new version of the beloved Swan Lake, complete with fresh choreography by their long-time artistic director, Karen Kain.

Over its four-episode run, the series follows Estrada alongside fellow cast members Jurgita Dronina and Siphesihle November as each navigates pivotal “breakthrough” moments in their careers during rehearsals. Swan Song brilliantly showcases the extraordinary mental fortitude demanded of professional ballet dancers, matching their physical endurance and artistic talent. From grappling with mental health challenges to the struggles of immigration and adjusting to life in a new country, the series thoughtfully explores how ballet intersects—both positively and negatively—with the dancers’ personal milestones.
From casting to opening night, Swan Song delivers a comprehensive and unfiltered portrayal of what it truly means to give everything to your art. Blending the intrigue of a gossip-fuelled reality show with the stakes of a high-stakes sporting event, it immerses the audience in the joy and drama that drive one of the world’s most celebrated ballet companies.

Science & Technology

Searching for life beyond Earth

by Lana Liquard on

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What does it mean to be alive? Could life exist elsewhere in the universe, and if so, how would we recognize it? 

On Jan. 14, 2025, Dr. Michael L. Wong, Postdoctoral Fellow at Carnegie Science’s Earth & Planets Laboratory, addressed these mysteries during a seminar at the Trottier Space Institute (TSI) at McGill. Wong’s talk, titled Pondering Our Place in the Universe, showcased his interdisciplinary approach, blending planetary science, data science, and philosophy. 

Wong began his presentation by framing the core questions of astrobiology: How does life emerge? And what makes a planet habitable? These questions, he argued, demand a multidimensional approach to better understand life’s inherent complexity. 

Earth’s distinct atmosphere

One of the key focuses of Wong’s research is atmospheric chemistry. Earth’s atmospheric network is distinct from those of other planets. This could be because Earth’s atmosphere reflects a combination of its biosphere and technosphere—the part of the environment made up or modified by humans. Together, these two unique features form a technobiosphere. 

“Earth’s atmospheric network is the most non-random network we’ve observed,” Wong noted. 

This means that although everything in the universe is formed randomly, our atmosphere has the most non-random biochemistry that would be conducive to harbouring life. 

This begs the question: Does life reorganize matter in a universal manner? And if so, it raises intriguing possibilities for identifying biosignatures—chemical traces of life—in the atmospheres of exoplanets.

How do we detect life? 

The next part of Wong’s talk focused on methods to detect life beyond Earth. One method is the use of Pyrolysis Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (Pyrolysis GCMS), which uses heat to separate the chemical components of a sample to then analyze it. This approach, Wong explained, offers several advantages: Minimal sample preparation, versatility in extreme environments, and low energy requirements. 

“If there is life on an alien world, it will not exhibit the exact same biochemistry as Earth,” Wong emphasized. 

By training machine learning algorithms on a diverse range of biotic and abiotic samples, Wong’s team achieved an impressive 90 per cent accuracy rate in determining whether a sample contained evidence of life. However, challenges remain, particularly when identifying fossilized life or life concealed within mixtures of abiotic components. 

Ethics of the Cosmos

Wong advocates for the development of astrobioethics, an ethical framework to guide humanity’s exploration of outer space. With private companies, such as SpaceX, accelerating the path to space travel, Wong urged the audience to consider what constitutes moral value in the cosmos. 

“We have an obligation to respect that which is morally valuable,” Wong explained. “The big question is, what actually constitutes moral value in outer space?” 

Should intrinsic value be assigned only to living entities, or do non-living structures with innate complexity deserve moral consideration? These questions are crucial to answer as humans prepare to venture into extraterrestrial environments. 

Looking to the Future

From missions like NASA’s Europa Clipper and Dragonfly to the potential for sample-return missions from Mars and Enceladus, Wong highlighted the exciting opportunities that lie ahead. 

“These missions could revolutionize our understanding of life in the universe,” he said.

Moving forward, Wong hopes to partner with space agencies to continue searching for signs of life in the cosmos. He also aims to bring more attention to the field of astrobioethics to fuel moral discussions on space exploration and interaction with the universe. 

Wong’s seminar offered a thought-provoking mix of innovative science and deep philosophical reflection. By pushing the boundaries of planetary science and ethics, he is paving the way for humanity’s search for life beyond Earth. 

“Astrobiology doesn’t just answer questions about life elsewhere,” Wong concluded. “It helps us better understand what it means to be alive here.”

Behind the Bench, Hockey, Sports

What cities would be valuable additions to the PWHL?

by Alex Hawes Silva on

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A recent Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) game between the Montréal Victoire and Minnesota Frost in Denver set a U.S. attendance record, with more than 14,000 fans chanting: “We want a team!” This excitement has sparked conversations about which cities should host the league’s potential 2025-26 expansion teams. Chicago, Vancouver, Denver, and Detroit stand out as strong contenders. Each has a rich sports culture and a passionate audience that could help the league grow and thrive.

Denver is an ideal candidate for a PWHL team because of its established hockey culture, fanbase, and infrastructure for professional sports. The success of the Colorado Avalanche evidences the city’s strong support for hockey, complemented by a thriving recreational scene that sparks interest in the game among youth. Denver’s sports market would offer significant sponsorship opportunities and media coverage, creating a strong foundation for a women’s professional hockey team. 

Denver PWHL fans’ overt support during the Victoire vs. Frost game is a clear tell of their enthusiasm to potentially welcome a team. Additionally, Denver’s diverse and active community aligns perfectly with the PWHL’s goals of growing the game and promoting inclusivity. Expanding to Denver would also strategically extend the league’s presence into the western United States, attracting new fans and strengthening its reputation across North America.

As one of the largest cities in the U.S., Chicago has a passionate fanbase that hosts teams across all major leagues, which would make for a vibrant environment for a new hockey team. The city is already home to a plethora of youth programs, which could help build local talent pipelines. With elite facilities like the United Center and Wrigley Field, Chicago has the infrastructure to successfully host a PWHL team. Its central location also makes it an ideal hub for travel within the league with potential for friendly regional rivalries. 

Vancouver would be another strong option as a host city due to its deep love for hockey and it being one of Canada’s most vibrant urban scenes. As home to the National Hockey League (NHL)’s Canucks and a thriving hockey community, Vancouver has a community of passionate fans who would embrace professional women’s hockey. The city’s picturesque setting and multicultural community would make it an appealing market for players, fans, and sponsors. Expanding to the West Coast also catches the eyes of potential donors for the PWHL, which could help build the league across all facets. Considering its reputation for hosting successful sports events in venues such as Rogers Arena, Vancouver has the means and community needed to host a franchise and grow the league’s presence on the West Coast.

Lastly, Detroit would be a qualified host city for a PWHL team, given its rich hockey culture and passionate fanbase. Known as “Hockeytown,” Detroit has a deep connection to the sport, with a long history of supporting the NHL’s Red Wings and a strong culture of youth hockey. With a community that values the sport as a whole, Detroit fits the criteria of what is needed to support a PWHL team.

Chicago, Vancouver, Denver, and Detroit each offer unique opportunities to help expand the PWHL and elevate professional women’s hockey. Denver’s public display of enthusiasm for a team may prompt the PWHL to prioritize adding them to the league before others. While Chicago’s status as a major sports centre with a thriving hockey culture would attract a large and diverse fan base, the PWHL may prefer a team based on the West Coast to help expand the league’s reach, like Vancouver. As a Canadian hockey hub with a proven track record of supporting women’s hockey events, Vancouver would further solidify the League’s presence in Canada. Detroit, with its deep hockey roots and reputation, offers a perfect blend of tradition and enthusiasm for the sport, but it may not be able to compete with larger fan bases in its area, like Chicago. Looking at the current league, there are three American teams and three Canadian teams, so one could predict that the PWHL would choose to add one team from the US and one team from Canada to maintain a balance for future seasons. All of these cities provide a mix of geographic diversity, supportive fan bases, and resources to help the PWHL continue to grow and inspire future generations of players and would all be exceptional additions to the league.

Letters to the Editor, Opinion

Another Look at PGSS

by Abe Berglas on

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In its Dec. 4 issue, The Tribune published a review of the Post-Graduate Student Society (PGSS) executives The Editorial Board reported on Secretary-General Satish Kumar Tumulu’s lack of initiative (“he has yet to take concrete steps to improve channels for executive and student communications”), but followed it with an uncritical quote from Tumulu about lack of initiative from students to voice opinions about divestment, the Association of McGill Professors of Law (AMPL), or Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM).

Advocacy on these topics has been energetic, consistent, and well-documented. This fall, a motion was submitted to the PGSS’ General Meeting calling for the PGSS to share the Expression of Concern about Israeli companies among all its members. The motion presented on the agenda was changed without the consent of the mover to insert defense of McGill and remove ‘Palestine’ from the title. At the General Meeting, an amendment was made to revert the motion back to its original form and the motion was approved. But after this approval, Tumulu said in an email that executives will not enact the motion. In the same email, he redefined the role of a General Meeting, saying it should only concern itself with financial statements, governing documents, appointments, and removals. This contradicts the spirit of a General Meeting, and also the description on PGSS’s own website, which states, “[t]he General Meeting is the way for members to directly participate in the decision making processes for the society that represents graduate students […] you can also submit agenda items on topics that YOU think are important”. 

Meanwhile, the approach PGSS has taken towards AGSEM has been antagonistic. The PGSS provided AGSEM with no support during the strike and refused to let AGSEM put up posters in Thomson House.  A PGSS member told me they were expelled from a funding working group after being accused of sharing financial information with AGSEM, without being told what information was supposedly shared. 

It does not take in-depth research to reveal the struggles for democracy at PGSS during Tumulu’s term, and I wish the students who have been fighting to be heard at PGSS were acknowledged in the Tribune’s reporting. The Tribune Editorial Board should welcome graduate students to its team, and pay attention to voices that are marginalized by the PGSS’s institutional power.

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

‘Squid Game’ wins again

by Mia Helfrich on

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If offered bread or a lottery ticket, which would you choose? Now imagine this question is posed only to students who are hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. Which would they choose?

Released on Dec. 26, Squid Game Season 2 follows Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-Jae) as he attempts to dismantle the Squid Game, a competition in which players must compete in childhood games for a prize of 35.6 billion ₩ (over $45 million CAD). Winners take home the money while losers die, and each player’s death increases the prize money for the remaining players. Contestants are cherry-picked for having hefty debts; most are motivated to play to escape a life of poverty, pay off medical expenses, or recover from an unlucky gamble. In his efforts to undermine the games, Seong becomes trapped in them instead. Losing contact with his militant team on the outside, he must confront the game’s organizer, the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), on his own.

The first season premiered to unprecedented acclaim, and so far, Season 2 has been nominated for a Golden Globe and reached 152.5 million views on Netflix. Along with near-universal praise, the success of the first Squid Game  led to a reality television spin-off and the second earned a Google Doodle. The cinematography is breathtaking; one could get lost analyzing the lighting, colour, and contrast used in a single frame. Lee’s performance of Seong is particularly captivating as he embraces his character’s duality: Vengeful and strategic, yet frustrated and desperate. In Season 1, Seong is motivated by self-preservation, a few friends, and fortune; in Season 2, Lee expertly captures the transition to a character who is now fighting for all of the players’ survival.

This season’s antagonist is no longer fellow competitors, but the Squid Game itself and those in charge of the operation. It mimics the plots of films like the Matrix and Hunger Games: Catching Fire, where in the midst of violent conflict, both the audience and underdog characters have to “remember who the real enemy is.”  Squid Game Season 2 excels in highlighting the humanity of individual players, ensuring the audience never forgets that the players are not the criminals—the games are the true perpetrators. Squid Game Season 2’s antagonist inversion not only creates plenty of action-packed and gory scenes, but it also reveals an obvious commentary about the exploitation of desperation among impoverished and indebted people in society. Characters that would have been received as villains in the first season, like the pink-suited soldiers hired to oversee and kill players, are made tragic and even sympathetic as their despair is equally as preyed upon as the heroes.

However, while side character spotlights and side plots allowed the audience to focus on the players’ humanity rather than just that of the main characters, the expanding side characters failed to create a clear fan favourite. Viewers can empathize with every side character subject to the cruelty of the game, but each side character doesn’t have enough screen time to make their deaths nearly as emotionally devastating as in the first season.

A striking feature of this season is the increased representation of marginalized people within Korean society, featuring side characters such as a North Korean defector, individuals experiencing drug addiction, and a transgender woman, Cho Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon).  Cho entered the games to acquire money for gender-affirming care, and is unfailingly heroic and caring. Though Cho represents a big step for the representation of 2SLGBTQIA+ characters in Korean media, the character would have been more accurately portrayed by a transgender actress.

Squid Game Season 2 is a masterclass in suspenseful pacing, creative cinematography, and mesmerizing performance, prompting the audience to empathize with those whom society leaves behind.
Squid Game Season 2 is now available on Netflix.

Off the Board, Opinion

Making someplace a home 

by Drea Garcia Avila on

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Over the course of my 21 years of life, I’ve lived in nine different houses/apartments; three countries; five cities. But until recently, I couldn’t tell you if I’ve ever lived somewhere I’d call home.

By Merriam-Webster’s definition, “home” refers to one’s place of residence, and also as “the social unit formed by a family living together.” I had the luxury of living in various places and growing up comfortably. I never lacked the essentials, and I was given every opportunity to explore my interests and identity with my parents’ unwavering love and support.

But there’s always been a gap. When my friends talked about their long-standing relationships with their friends and families—visiting grandparents over the weekends, spending holidays with their extended families—I knew this would never be an experience I could share. Moving around as much as I did, the idea of being best friends with my cousins or living next door to friends for so many years that we basically became siblings wasn’t feasible for me.

For all these types of interpersonal relationships, I generally knew but one: A promising—but casual—new friendship cut short by my family’s next move. Though it is now possible to keep in touch over social media, this option was not one I had access to as a child. Besides, nothing comes close to in-person connection; over time and separated by a phone, it seemed my presence in my extended family’s and casual friends’ minds would eventually fade.

Every move, I would make new friends, and after a couple years, we would move again. I felt a piece of myself stay behind with every changing town. Until I was a teenager, I felt like no one cared about me as much as they did their other friends; and how could I blame them? I wasn’t physically there.

My heart has been separated into so many segments, each one being left in different regions and experiences with people who I’ll never see or meet again. So how can home be where the heart is if my heart is fragmented into all these pieces?

If I could never stay in one place long enough to establish a home, what was the point in relentlessly trying to make one? As a result, I avoided over-personalizing my spaces, knowing it was but a few years until I would have to tear down the decorations and repaint the walls. Establishing intimate connections felt similarly futile, as I would eventually have to tear myself away from everyone I’d met anyway. 

As a student and an immigrant, I’ve always felt like I didn’t quite belong anywhere I went. So I’ve had to learn to find the feeling of home in places other than my residence—I’ve been searching for it in the love around me.

The compassion and love my friends and family have shown me created a home in themselves. My friend and her mom once drove 16 hours total from Toronto to Stamford, Connecticut for a weekend visit; my Whitby friends have driven up to Montreal at least twice a year for nearly four years now. With sleeping bags and air mattresses sprawled on the cold floor of my tiny studio apartment, I’m reminded that I’ll likely never find friends like these again.

Though my scenery changes constantly, I will always cherish my chosen family.

So why should I deprive myself of the joy of having a home that’s my own, filled with colourful ceramic dishes, thrifted crystal lamps, and the laughter of my loved ones? With every hand-me-down from my family, personal trinket, or thoughtful act from my friends, I bring a bit of everything—and everyone—I’ve experienced into every place I go, and, in the process, I leave a piece of myself in every place I’ve been. 

With my turbulent living arrangements, I felt like I would never know stability and community; but, with every year, I’m thankful for the tumultuous moves, as every step has been bringing me closer to something that I might someday call home.

Commentary, Opinion

A rejection of New Year’s resolutions

by Luken Castaneda Garces on

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Happy 2025. If you are like most Type A students at McGill, chances are you made a list of New Year’s resolutions. Perhaps you’ve also made a mood board, a list of predictions for the year, and a to-do list for the past week. You are not alone. About 49 per cent of young adults aged 18-29 made at least one resolution in 2024. Unfortunately, only about eight per cent of people who make such resolutions accomplish them. 

Many people who fail to meet their resolutions reportedly do so because their expectations are unrealistic. At the core of New Year’s resolutions lies an obsession with achievements, leading people to evaluate time well spent based on what they can accomplish. 

What if, instead of adding to a list of unattainable goals, we got comfortable with trying to achieve less—where might that take us? Would it be so bad to do nothing new and be comfortable with who we already are? Adopting an approach of contentment would emphasize that our lives do not ultimately rely on how many things we accomplish; existing as a human being in the world is more than enough.

The time we have on this Earth is limited. By focusing on our potential future accomplishments, we remain perpetually unsatisfied and unable to appreciate the beauty of the present moment. New Year’s resolutions, as is the case with most goals, exist in the future. While we can take steps in the present to accomplish such goals, our idealized fixation would remain future-oriented—unsatisfied with what currently is and always wanting more as a result. 

Ambition is certainly not a bad thing, but when we set so many goals for ourselves, we fail to admire the beauty of the world in front of us and inside of us. Conversely, rejecting the temptation to add New Year’s resolutions to our endless to-do list compels us to reckon with the boredom and overwhelming vastness of our existence. This can be uncomfortable for many people, a fact that inspires their pursuit of a variety of external outlets to stay occupied. Some resort to books, video games, sports, alcohol, school, work, or resolutions. While some may be more or less positive than others, they are all distractions. After all, being alone with one’s thoughts can be a scary place for so many, and rightly so. 

Our assumed obligation to productivity and self-improvement can feel even more overwhelming when considering the overstimulation of our globalized world. We live in an hyper-connected world in which we can take cross the globe in hours, reach any friend any time with one text or call, or order a new pair of shoes online to be delivered the next day.. New Year’s resolutions tend to fall prey to similar delusions of attainability. But time and effort are not unlimited, and there is only so much we can—or should—try to accomplish. This is a cold, hard truth, but a truth nonetheless. 

By giving up on the goal of perpetual self-improvement, we can find a new sense of worth that does not regard our human experience as a means to an end, but rather an end in itself. So what if we don’t get the perfect GPA, land the best summer internship, attain the killer body, follow the healthiest diet, or amass the highest savings? In the grand schemes of our lives, these goals are almost meaningless, especially in comparison to this beautiful thing we call life; it is inherently precious, and there is nothing we need to accomplish to make it more valuable than it already is.

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