The journey to repeat as RSEQ champions is well underway for the no. 7 ranked McGill Redmen, who looked to stay undefeated in conference play during their home opener against the Concordia Stingers on Thursday evening. The Redmen fought through a tough and physical game but never relinquished the lead en route to an 80-62 victory.
The Redmen had no shortage of scoring, topping their season average against an aggressive Concordia defence. Freshmen guard Dele Ogundokun set the pace with a season-high 16 points and nine rebounds. Ogundokun also led the game in both steals and assists.
“[I was] just finding my teammates and shooting when open,” Ogundokun said after his breakout performance. “[I was just] trying to do the best things for the team.”
His efforts didn’t go unnoticed—Head Coach David DeAveiro commented on the freshman’s stellar showing after the game.
“Dele was fabulous for us,” DeAveiro said. “He made big shots and hustle plays today.”
The team’s bench contributed 29 points, led by Brazilian centre Rodrigo Imperador who tallied an efficient 11 points in his 12 minutes on the court.
The team’s emphasis on protecting the paint paid off as the Redmen out-rebounded the Stingers 62-42. Freshman Francois Bourque pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds and ended the contest one-point short of his third career double-double.
DeAveiro was impressed with the team’s ball movement in light of the Redmen’s a season-high 24 assists.
“I think that when we are successful in games it’s because we are moving the ball and sharing the ball, [so] everyone’s a threat,” DeAveiro said.
The ball seemed to constantly run through captain Simon Bibeau’s hands. The fourth-year guard accounted for five assists, and fortified the Redmen’s lead after Concordia went on a run late in the third-quarter. According to Coach DeAveiro, McGill’s response to Concordia’s 12-point run was a crucial moment in the game.
“We knew they were going to make a run at some point,” DeAveiro said. “I thought the thing I was most proud of was that when they got [the margin] down to eight we brought it right back to 16; we scored the next eight points.” The team showed their ability to cope with adversity, which will be needed in their upcoming game against Bishop’s.
Coming off last season’s success, DeAveiro knows the magnitude of this next game against Bishop’s University.
“[They’re] the team I predicted to win the conference,” DeAveiro said. “It’s going to be another dog fight […] but if we play hard, I think we have a chance to be successful.”
Ogundokun echoed DeAveiro’s statements. “I’m excited to go head-to-head against the other top team in the conference.”
Ogundokun and the rest of the young freshmen—there are currently nine rookies on the roster—are going to need another spirited performance if the team wants to stay unbeaten. With three first-years starting Thursday’s game against Concordia, Coach DeAveiro acknowledged the tough situations he had put his freshmen into.
“We’ve been throwing them into the fire and they’ve been responding,” DeAveiro said.
With this many new players being worked into the rotation, it should scare opposing teams to see that the Redmen are undefeated. After the game against Bishop’s University, the team will go on Winter break before returning to Love Competition Hall to play Laval on Jan. 9.
Last Thursday, McGill University finally gave the response our community needed to hear on sexual assault. The message, a Media Relations Office email sent on behalf of Ollivier Dyens, deputy provost (Student Life and Learning), represented a first step towards the administration heeding the calls for change that have been heard on campus in the wake of reports revealing that three former Redmen football players had been charged with a sexual assault that took place in September 2011.
Thursday’s statement announced a set of important changes: the hiring of a new co-ordinator reporting to the Dean of Students, a public forum to be held in mid-January on sexual consent, and a promise to hold annual forums each October on issues of safe space policies. Most importantly, the message promised to clarify the meaning of “the McGill context” with regards to disciplinary policies—this is particularly important because this concept was used by the administration to justify its evasive initial response to the situation following the original Gazette report.
Even more notable in the message was a statement acknowledging the importance of the presumption of innocence in the criminal justice system, and how that is not at odds with taking accusations and survivors of sexual assault seriously. Had this been the administration’s original response to the situation, the reaction on campus—and perhaps the stance of our editorial board—might have been different. In the message, even Dyens recognized the inadequacy of the initial response.
This message represents a refreshing hint of the changes we hoped for in our first editorial of the year. From what we can see so far, administrators seem to be taking student opinions more seriously than in the past few years; recognizing and consulting with student-run resources like the Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS) is a positive first step. It should be noted that staffing a new position in this time of budget cuts is a demonstration that the university at least seems to be taking these issues seriously
However, our praise of this response is tempered by the need for the university to deliver on the promises made here. How effective will this new co-ordinator be, and will the person be held accountable to their stated duties? What will come out of the forum next month, or the promised annual forums? As demonstrated by last year’s forums soliciting comment on the Provisional Protocol on Protests, oftentimes “consultation” consists of forums that are, as this newspaper said at the time, “poorly publicized, poorly timed, and poorly attended.” The documents that emerged from these purported consultations were, for the most part, barely changed. It’s easy for the administration to say that it is listening to students. Hopefully, it will also be taking notes.
Much as the administration needs to deliver on these promises, students also need to hold their end of the bargain; students should be empowered to continue to tell administrators what to do about these issues, and students should attend these forums. In the end, what we think does not matter as much as what you think, and the values you want this university to adhere to in these matters. While much of the attention in the wake of this particular case has focused on athletes and a supposed “sports culture,” students and the administration must be careful to avoid tailoring policies to the specifics of this case, disregarding the numerous other settings and situations in which sexual assault can and does happen. Not only would such a focus be unfair, it would prevent us from turning this incident into a catalyst for broader positive change in the university’s disciplinary policy.
This article is part of our Campus Conversation on sexual assault policies.
By the 20th century, few diseases frightened parents more than the fever, chills, and paralysis delivered by the poliovirus. In response to the epidemic, we saw the development and distribution of two polio vaccines that drastically helped eradicate the virus. Unfortunately, this improved technology has its consequences. As vigorous vaccination programs target the last few countries still suffering from endemic polio, polio is now also the first virus to be recreated in the lab. After all our efforts to eradicate this virus, the question arises: when do you stop vaccinating?
Polio—a gastrointestinal virus—infects and multiplies within the digestive tract. Depending on the virus, it may leave the digestive tract and move into the bloodstream from where it can attack nerve cells. Although only one to two per cent of patients who contract polio become paralyzed, the polio epidemic of the 20th century caused a widespread fear in North America.
While polio has plagued humanity in the past—archeologists found an Egyptian carving from around 1400 that depicts a man with a leg deformity similar to those caused by polio—the virus reached epidemic proportions at the start of the 20th century. Ironically, this occurred while the prevalence of other viruses, such as diphtheria and typhoid, decreased.
“That is sort of the contradiction for polio,” said Jose Teodoro, assistant professor and researcher at the Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Centre in Montreal. “It is one of these diseases that emerged in the 20th century when hygiene and sanitation got better.”
Teodoro explained that this phenomenon was largely due to the fact that polio is spread through the fecal-oral route.
“Before [the 20th century], children were exposed to polio [earlier] because there were no sanitation systems, so people used rivers or [other places] and that is where they got rid of fecal matter [….] When children at a very young age were exposed to [polio] they were already protected by [their mother’s antibodies if breastfed] and were able to develop a good immunity to it when they were young,” Teodoro said.
“We fast-forward to the 20th century and modern sewage systems that disrupt the fecal-oral route, and children become exposed to it much later—after they already lost their mother’s antibodies,” he added.
In response to this epidemic, Western countries saw two major breakthroughs with regards to eradicating the poliovirus. Within 10 years, two vaccines were developed— the Salk vaccine that consists of an inactivated poliovirus, released in 1955, and the Sabin vaccine, also known as the oral polio vaccine (OPV), licensed in 1962.
“[The Salk vaccine] worked, and for all of its flaws—it was not the perfect vaccine—it started to reduce the cases of polio immediately,” Teodoro said. “The Sabin vaccine that came later was the live attenuated vaccine. It is dropped into the mouth and goes into the gut to confer a powerful immune response to the replicating virus causing the disease.”
According to Teodoro, although both vaccines were huge steps in the direction of eradicating poliovirus, the Sabin vaccine (OPV) had the biggest impact on the eradication of the virus. For the first time in the history of polio vaccination, developing countries were able to acquire and distribute the vaccine due to its more accessible cost.
These technological developments were huge breakthroughs with regards to eradicating the poliovirus. Still, Teodoro explains that the biggest barrier right now is geopolitics. Countries such as war-torn Syria and Afghanistan are difficult to reach, and as a result, these countries are the last ones where endemic polio is still rampant. Many of the vaccination programs are spearheaded by Western organizations; however, these countries facing endemic polio are often too dangerous for workers to effectively run their programs.
Teodoro notes that the cost of the vaccine will become a problem in the future.
“Cost will become an issue because OPV is the method used to vaccinate people—it is the cheapest way—but to truly eradicate polio you have to go to the injectable polio vaccine (IPV), which is much more expensive.” Teodoro said.
An even bigger question faced today is the role that improved technology will have on the vaccination programs of viruses like polio. Recently, scientists recreated the poliovirus in the lab by plugging in the nucleotide sequence (the genetic code) of the poliovirus into an oligonucleotide-synthesizing machine. Using the nucleotide sequence, the machine generated a fully functional infectious polio agent.
“With polio—and almost any virus that you start eradicating—it is so easy to bring [it] back,” Teodoro said. “Any malicious group could synthesize it and make a real virus and introduce it into the population—a population that has not been vaccinated anymore. Even though we have eliminated the virus, do we now render the population defenseless against it?”
Teodoro proposes that the simplest answer to this question is to keep vaccinating. However, he also acknowledges that as we begin to eradicate more and more diseases, we may come to a point where we say “enough is enough.”
“Technology is a double-edged sword,” Teodoro said. “You can do great good with it but also you can do great harm if that is what your intention is to do. It enables both […]; should we be getting a vaccine for a potentially eradicated virus? It may be something that we have to keep doing, [or we may reach a point where] we just hope for the best. If something comes up, you deal with it—but we hope it never comes to that.”
The modern Olympics were created after Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee in 1894. De Coubertin had envisioned the Olympic Games as an international stage for amateur athletes to showcase their skills, but through the years, professional athletes have slowly been integrated into the Games. Two contributors weigh in on whether professionals should be allowed to participate in the Olympic Games.
Professionalism
Faster. Higher. Stronger. This is the motto and the purpose of the Olympics: to see who is the best in the world. If professional athletes are prohibited from competition, then the athlete who wins succeeds in a competition that has age and skill restrictions— not a competition that actually determines the best of the best.
How does playing in a professional league—and being paid—make athletes unqualified to compete? Just like amateur athletes, these individuals have put in thousands of hours of training and hours of playing time in order to make it to the Olympics. The Olympics are the highest level that an athlete can play at, regardless of whether they are a professional or an amateur. It is a collection of the world’s greatest athletes under one roof, creating an environment for the best games and performances.
Furthermore, just because they are professional athletes does not make them a shoo-in for the finals. Everyone points to the 1992 American basketball Dream Team as the prime example for why professionals should not be allowed to play because of their overt domination of their opponents. But that instance is the exception. European basketball teams still give the United States a run for their money. In hockey, Canada— despite producing the most NHL players— has only won gold twice since professionals were allowed to play. Having professional athletes compete is not a negative component to the Olympics. Upsets happen on a regular basis and having these athletes present makes the competition that much more exciting.
As for the managers and owners of professional teams who worry about their players getting injured: that risk is a part of the game. It is present every time a player is in practice, in a game, or in training.
Finally, professional athletes raise the credibility of certain sports. Figure skating, gymnastics, archery, and bobsledding benefit immensely from professional athletes competing. Athletic celebrities make sports more popular among fans. As a result, there is more support from society and from sponsors which only helps the building of a strong foundation for a variety of sports. This also helps the standard of competition for the future.
Yes: professional athletes have the opportunity to represent a team every day of the year, whether it be the Buffalo Bills, the Chelsea Football Club, or the Toronto Raptors. However, to have the chance to represent their country is an honour that comes to a select few. If they have the talent, then they should have the opportunity to don their country’s colours and bring home a medal.
— Rebecca Babcock
Amateurism
An idealist with a vision created the Olympics. An educator at heart, Coubertin was inspired to create the Olympics, an international festival of sport where international and class boundaries were broken down as all celebrated the art of physical pursuits.
Professionals do not celebrate this ideal; rather, they are paid to win and to provide a spectacle for the public. They are not indulgent in the way an amateur is. There is no celebration of physical pursuits and the character traits that are present within the amateur. Professional sports discriminate in the sense that coming first is what matters. The Olympics were envisioned as anything but discriminating; it is about what happens on the journey in the quest for the number one spot, not the spot itself.
However, some may counter that amateurism is an outdated and classist concept that recognizes no subtlety, and that professionalism should be expected when performing in an event such as the Olympics. For example, the Soviet Bloc’s state—sponsored athletes were professionals in all but name, but by the definition of amateurism could not be banned from the Olympics. I would partially agree: amateurism has been used far too often as a tool to segregate the upper from working-class athletes—the latter who did not have the luxury to hone their craft.
Furthermore, the likes of Avery Brundage, the fifth president of the International Olympic Committee, have twisted it in order to diminish certain athletic achievements—such as refusing to reinstate Jim Thorpe’s stripped gold medals from the 1912 Olympics, which he lost his medals after it was found that he had temporarily played minor league baseball. However, Coubertin—who was pragmatic in his views of amateurism—believed that rules regarding amateurism should be shifted according to the social times. Celebrating sport is what the Olympics is about, and the definition of amateurism with regards to the Olympics should reflect that.
Finally, the argument that professional athletes help to popularize sporting participation is just dead wrong. Olympic success drives funding in many countries. The recent failure of the British basketball team has done damage to the program’s grassroots funding, despite the presence of the American superstars at London 2012. People need to be shown that they can play sports; not be shown famous people who do play sports.
It is not naïve to believe we can have a worldwide event that encourages mass participation and celebrates physical activity; there are many of these in the artistic and scientific fields. Indeed, it is important to have an Olympics that embodies these values. With the presence of professional athletes, the Olympics are indistinguishable from any other international sporting event.
— Zikomo Smith
Editor’s pick: professionalism
Although professional athletes have historically had a tumultuous relationship with the Olympics, the Games are, at its core, an exhibition for the best athletes in the world. To exclude professionals from the Olympics does not benefit the overall advancement of sport, and penalizes those athletes who want to represent their country.
In his early 17th century play Othello, Shakespeare coined the phrase “green-eyed monster.” The phrase, used to describe jealousy, enjoys popular use to this day, and refers to one of humankind’s most irrational, yet common, emotions. Similarly, theatre companies remount Othello year after year, attempting to refresh and rejuvenate the timeless tale of jealousy and madness.
Unfortunately, director Alison Darcy’s interpretation, in collaboration with the Segal Centre and Scapegoat Carnivale Theatre, dwells too much on the play’s obviously tragic elements—Suicide! Adultery! Racism!—instead of the emotions leading up to them. As a result, the play ends up feeling overwrought and superficial.
For example, Othello’s lead actor, Andrew Moodie, who in limited moments portrays the play’s titular character with sensitivity and heart, spends three quarters of the prodution yelling somewhat hoarsely and gesturing too obviously, instead of drawing the audience in and connecting with his character on a deeper level. Consequently, it’s often difficult to identify with Othello, and, strangely, to feel any true grief when he is completely ruined at the end of the tragedy.
Sean Arbuckle, who plays Iago—the conniving mastermind who convinces Othello that his wife Desdemona is committing adultery, and effectively leads him on a path of devastating jealousy—portrays his role just as shallowly as Moodie. Specifically, the reasons behind his betrayal of the master he once admired are not fully clear—and this was not because Shakespeare omitted them from the script.
Arbuckle also prances around the stage in an irritating elf-like manner during many parts of the play. Unsurprisingly, this becomes rather distracting and takes away from some of the lines he delivers with adequate menace, as well as the sick, evil aspects of Iago’s character.
It appears, then, that these interpretations are the result of Darcy’s directorial choices, and not necessarily those of the main actors. Unfortunately, Darcy’s vision often falls flat—at least with the male characters of the play.
Female leads Amanda Lisman and Julie Tamiko Manning, as Desdemona and Emilia, respectively, redeem the production—to a certain extent—with their intelligent, nuanced interpretations of the unfortunate wives of Othello and Iago.
Although Desdemona’s anti-feminist characteristics leave much to be desired, Lisman plays her sympathetically. As a result her death is much more affecting to watch than that of her easily duped husband.
This production also highlights the reciprocal friendship between Desdemona and Emilia, and in doing so breathes new life into two characters who could easily be forgotten.
After reading the play’s program notes, it appears that Darcy wished to emphasize the symbolic importance of water in the play, and particularly its mercurial, shifting properties. Much like water can change from calm to destructive in a short period of time, Othello does so over the course of the play.
However, the only way this symbolism clearly manifests itself is in a bizarre deluge of water that covers the stage during Desdemona’s death scene and thereafter. Although this use of theatrical special effects lends the play an updated, modern edge, it seems unjustified; the water’s symbolism is not emphasized enough throughout the play to be effective.
In fact, during another scene, when a blue light facing down on the stage is meant to represent a pool of water, some characters realistically navigate around it, while others walk directly through it, completely eradicating its crucial symbolism.
Overall, it is this inconsistency that plagues this production of Othello from its very first scene, and prevents its audience from being entirely drawn into the depths of the play’s—usually—passionate betrayal.
Othello is being performed at the Segal Centre (5170 Côte St. Catherine) until Dec. 1 at various times listed at www.segalcentre.org. Tickets start at $24.
A camera is nothing but a box with a hole in it. The hole opens and closes, allowing light to enter the box, and this light is recorded onto film.
You can control how much light, called the “exposure,” your camera uses through three basic functions: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. The aperture is how big the hole in your camera is; the shutter speed is how long you leave the hole open; and the ISO is your camera’s sensitivity to light.
The right balance of these three functions will produce the perfect exposure and a good-looking photo; but getting your head around these functions is not a snap. To understand how they work, it’s easier to think about light through “the window analogy.”
Pretend you’re in your living room, looking out your window. Now imagine that your window is the aperture, which determines how much light enters your camera. Depending on the size of your window, the amount of light will change. A big window will let in more light, whereas a small window will let in less.
Your window also has some shutters on the outside. The shutter, of course, is the shutter speed of your camera. It represents the amount of time your camera’s shutter stays open and lets light into your living room. If you close your shutters quickly, less light will shine through the window, so your room will be less well-lit (your photo will be darker). But if you close them slowly, then more light will be able to come through over time, which will make your room more well-lit (and your photo lighter).
In case the light gets too bright, you also have your sunglasses with you. Your glasses are the ISO, which determines the camera sensor’s sensitivity to light. If the room is too bright, you would wear your sunglasses and your eyes would desensitize to the light.
Together, the size of your window, the amount of time you keep your shutters open, and whether you wear sunglasses or not will all determine the exposure of your photo.
Let’s say that you’re taking a photograph on Mount Royal at night and you really want to lighten up the Montreal skyline. To do that you would need to make a bright exposure—you could widen your aperture, increase your ISO number, or choose a slower shutter speed.
Be careful not to overexpose your photo too much; you want to find the exposure that’s just right. In a situation where the light may already be too bright, you would want to use a narrow aperture, a low ISO number, and a high shutter speed.
Experimenting and playing around with these three functions will help you get the exposure you want to produce a great photograph!
Aperture range
f/1.4 is considered a wide aperture, and as the numerical value of the aperture increases, the actual size of the aperture decreases. An f/8, for example, is a narrower aperture than an f/5.6.
ISO range
An ISO number can range anywhere from 100-56,000. A high ISO like 1,600 makes your camera very sensitive to the light whereas the lower the ISO number, the less sensitive your camera is to light.
Shutter speed
The typical range of your shutter speed ranges from the fastest being 1/1,000 of a second to the slowest being 1 second.
Here at the Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society’s Advocacy Branch (SACOMSS A-Branch), we commend the stance that McGill has taken towards the recent incidents emailed out on Nov. 21. We are happy that they are committing to creating a co-ordinating role to support survivors of sexual assault, and to consulting more fully with the student population on these matters through forums. A-Branch is happy to be heard by the McGill administration, and would like to continue to co-operate with them to achieve the aim of a safer campus and university culture for all.
With this in mind, we have some recommendations for a future sexual assault policy. McGill has a responsibility to articulate a policy ensuring the protection of its members and freedom from sexual assault at the level of both the individual and the community. We believe that any such policy should be tailored to the empowerment of survivors—we firmly emphasize the need for a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual assault and sexual misconduct on campus. By zero-tolerance, we mean a strong and actively preventative approach to the issue of sexual assault, but we are unable to comment on disciplinary measures at this time.
Regarding McGill’s most recent commitment to hire a co-ordinator to further the dissemination of information addressing sexual assault within the McGill community, A-branch recommends that this role include supporting survivors, receiving complaints, and providing information regarding the university’s policy and other support resources. Such a person should have previous experience supporting survivors of sexual assault and a working knowledge of McGill’s relevant policies and support services. All of the McGill community (including other employees) ought to be able to consult with a designated member of McGill staff on matters of sexual violence and feel that they are informed and supported in these matters.
We are glad that McGill is looking towards the work of projects such as Rez Project, which can be further improved to address the norms of student life, upon which power imbalances that contribute to sexual assault culture can be perpetuated. We hope that projects like these will continue to cultivate sensitivity to, and understanding of, the issues surrounding sexual assault.
Any new policy must be easily accessible on McGill’s website. The website itself should include an individual section that contains information on the policy itself, as well as resources for survivors such as McGill Counselling and McGill Mental health services on-campus, as well as other Montreal services. Additionally, SACOMSS services, such as Drop in and Line (DIAL), Advocacy Branch, and Support Groups could be highlighted for those seeking more information.
We recommend that the policy be formulated to be receptive to and empower survivors, by allowing them to define their own experiences and empowering them to make their own decisions on how best to deal with those experiences. Any policy must avoid blame culture at any cost, and actively encourage survivors of sexual assault to feel comfortable coming forward with their experiences.
Strong policies are written in consent-based language, as opposed to legalistic or overly technical language. Consent must be defined as a positive consent—i.e. saying ‘yes,’ as opposed to the absence of a ‘no.’ We would also like to see a policy that avoids overly complicated language in favour of clarity and accessibility. Columbia University’s Gender Based Misconduct Policy uses examples and definitions to clarify terms such as sexual assault and consent for readers who are unsure. This is just one of many examples of how a policy can be made clearer.
A-Branch expects a policy fully inclusive towards persons of LGBT*QI identities, which includes but is not limited to gender neutral language. If the policy does refer to examples of sexual assault, we expect that the breadth and diversity of experiences of sexual assault will be respected. The policy should not restrict itself to heteronormative conceptions of sexual assault or any other stereotypes.
A-Branch is committed to advocating on behalf of survivors of sexual assault and their allies, and is open to contributing as much as possible to the continued review and formulation of policy in order to ensure that people receive the most support possible at McGill University. We also provide support to students who seek to navigate the McGill Policy on Harassment, Sexual Harassment and Discrimination.
For help, support or information with experiences of sexual harassment, sexual assault or discrimination, get in touch, or drop in at SACOMSS. http://sacomss.org
This article is part of our Campus Conversation on sexual assault policies.
Last week, McGill announced a new set of strategies to confront the issue of sexual assault and build a more cohesive policy on the matter. This comes in the wake of campus debate over the past month, stemming from reports linking three former McGill Redmen football players to a sexual assault incident alleged to have taken place in September 2011. For our final Campus Conversation of the term, we convene voices from across campus discussing how McGill should handle similar issues in the future.
THE CONVERSATION
McGill must deliver on proposed sexual assault measures
McGill Tribune Editorial
Sexual assault policies must be inclusive, comprehensive
Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society
Hasty judgements hazardous in response to sexual assault
Is learning a new language at a young age really the most beneficial? On a scientific level, perhaps. After all, research studies have shown that doing so can enhance a child’s cognitive development, and that there is a critical period for language acquisition at younger ages. But for Indigenous language learners, the focus is not just for children, but for the community at large.
Quebec is home to 11 distinct nations of Indigenous peoples, which include the 10 First Nations as well as the Inuit. Together, they account for approximately 71,000 individuals, constituting nine per cent of the total Indigenous population in Canada. Forty-seven per cent of the Indigenous population in Quebec identified their native language as their respective mother tongue.
However, such statistics by nature are no more than numbers, and they fail to reflect stories of the thousands of people in Quebec facing the challenges of learning their Indigenous language. These stories, after all, do not belong to numbers. They belong to people.
Chelsea Vowel is of Métis descent from the Plains Cree-speaking community of Lac Ste. Anne, Alberta who recently moved to Montreal. Although Vowel’s first language was not Cree, she recalls hearing a small handful of Cree words every once in a while within the community she grew up in.
“It wasn’t until my Law degree at [the] University of Alberta when I started taking a Cree class [that…] I realized that the broken English [I heard as a child] was Cree syntax in English,” Vowel said. “A lot of the things that people were saying and the way they were saying it was because they were translating directly [from Cree]. For me, it proved that […] it was about people speaking English as Cree people. And that was a really big revelation for me and for my confidence about it—for the way that I felt about the language.”
After learning Cree, Vowel now commits herself to Indigenous language education in Montreal.
“I always knew that I needed to teach it to other people,” Vowel said. “My kids first, but other people as well. Right now, I do a lot of writing, a lot of educating, but I spend a fair amount of time gathering Cree resources.”
However, Vowel has recognized some of the difficulties that arise with this task.
“That’s a little difficult here because Plains Cree is not the Cree that’s spoken in Quebec. So I felt sort of intrusive in that way. The Indigenous languages that are being taught in Montreal should represent the Nations that are here in Quebec.”
This divide is one of many challenges people like Vowel face in revitalizing Indigenous languages. With 11 nations of Indigenous people and many dialects from each First Nations language, finding the resources to be able to effectively teach all these languages is no easy feat.
“People […] want to teach Cree, [but] which Cree?” Vowel said. “There’s this […] push to standardize [….] When you have six different dialects, people tend to pick the biggest one, the one that’s represented by the most; [but] we don’t want to get rid of [that] diversity.”
Photo courtesy of Leonor Daigneault.
Allan Vicaire, the Indigenous education advisor at the Social Equity and Diversity Education (SEDE) office at McGill, works closely with programs such as Indigenous Awareness Week and workshops targeting students and faculty in order to educate the McGill community about Indigenous people in Canada. Vicaire explained that while the school will hopefully be offering an Indigenous Studies minor in the near future, there are still challenges with incorporating a comprehensive language component.
“[There could be a] resource program [at McGill] in Mohawk, or maybe Inuit or Cree,” Vicaire said. “But most of the times, [groups will] only offer programs in the surrounding communities. Not all languages will be taught at McGill because there are so many.”
Recently, the First Peoples’ House (FPH) at McGill has started to offer a Mi’gmaq language class in an attempt to provide more learning opportunities within the McGill community. Janine Metallic, a Mi’gmaq from Listuguj and PhD candidate in McGill’s Department of Integrated Studies in Education (DISE) and Mi’gmaq language consultant in McGill’s Department of Linguistics, was approached by Vicaire and Paige Isaac, FPH coordinator, to teach the class.
“For the first time ever, there is an opportunity on campus for language learners to get together and learn Mi’gmaq,” Metallic said. “Many of the language learners are Mi’gmaq staff members and students who work and study in various parts of the McGill community. My hope is that having a Mi’gmaq class on campus will provide something that doesn’t exist anywhere else in Montreal—a common space to hear and speak the Mi’gmaq language. The larger goal is to provide a place where we can work toward Mi’gmaq language revitalization, especially among the youth.”
But learning a language—in any dialect—comes with a slew of challenges.
Leith Mahkewa experienced these obstacles firsthand after deciding with her husband that they would raise their children to be first-language speakers in the Kanien’keha (Mohawk) language, despite the fact that both Mahkewa and her husband had learned English first, and Mohawk second. Mahkewa now works as the Mohawk culture and language facilitator at Step By Step Child and Family Centre, and sits on the Board of Directors of the Kanien’keha:ka Onkwawen:na Raotitiohkwa Language and Cultural Centre. In her work, she strives to revitalize Indigenous languages in the Mohawk Nation Territory, just southwest of Montreal. Mahkewa explained that second language learners—those whose first language is English or French rather than their respective Indigenous language—often feel apprehensive toward learning a new language.
“I think everyone wants to [learn], but for whatever their circumstance is, there doesn’t seem to be a commitment,” Mahkewa said. “If it was equivalent to going to university, if it was appreciated as much […] then maybe people would be more apt to do those language-learning courses. The community as a whole has to be dedicated to that. The learning of the language can’t be forced, but people need to know how important it is for [not only] themselves but also for the community.”
Mahkewa further noted that learning a new language, like any endeavour to learn a new skill, will always lead to a hint of self-doubt.
“People are afraid to make mistakes,” Mahkewa said. “They don’t want to feel judged. People feel safe [wherever it is that] they’re learning, but a lot of times it takes more confidence to go out and speak in public. But if you don’t use it, you lose it; so you have to engage with people outside of your comfort zone and speak the language.”
Another pressing challenge that these language learners face is funding.
Anna Daigneault, the Latin America project coordinator and development officer at Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages (an organization dedicated to the preservation of endangered languages) highlighted the amount of effort and funding that have to go into programs to teach these languages.
“Language revitalization and documentation require the same components as any big undertaking,” Daigneault said. “It’s going to take time, coordination, scheduling, money, organization, and communication.”
Mahkewa works at Step By Step, where Indigenous language learning is emphasized. (Courtesy of Step by Step)
Though these hurdles still exist, Vowel explained that the rise of the Internet has been helpful in creating resources and programs for learning Indigenous languages.
“I think with some of the tools we have now [online], I’ve seen resources becoming more plentiful and representing different dialects, whereas before […] it’d be expensive to put out a small line of books and do that for six different dialects,” Vowel said.
But solely learning online is not optimal. This has led to the development of “language nests”—programs where adults and children within a community come together to learn in a total immersion experience. The focus of these language nests is to provide a place for learners to interact in the language in order to enhance their learning process.
“You can’t learn in an isolated environment,” Vowel said. “Isolation is the number one language killer.”
Regardless of the volume of difficulties that might arise, many like Vowel and Mahkewa are still taking the initiative to revitalize Indigenous languages in whatever capacity they can manage. For these individuals, the importance of maintaining the language will remain at the forefront of their priorities.
In Daigneault’s experiences working with Living Tongues, she had observed that preserving a sense of self-identity will often supersede any difficulties an individual might face when learning a new language.
“It’s very important on the cultural and identity level for the individual,” Daigneault said. “If the [learner] has a very strong connection with their heritage, then no matter what the potential obstacles are, [that] person will overcome the obstacles to learn their language. And [this] goes beyond the price that it may cost. For a lot of people, learning their language is very important on a spiritual level; it is related to their belief systems and their connection to their own ancestors.”
Amidst all these rising programs and initiatives to revive Indigenous languages both in Quebec and in Canada, there is a constant awareness amongst Indigenous people with regards to the undeniable importance of maintaining these languages.
“When we lose our language, we lose our laws,” Vowel said. “And we lose our ability to access our socio-political order. Because the very way that our languages are structured tells us about how we relate to the world. When we use English to translate our concept, we lose something, and we also import something that doesn’t belong there. When we translate, we are doing a disservice to those concepts.”
Moe Clark, whose background is Métis, and who began learning Cree this past summer, kept those concepts in mind when she worked with Daigneault to assemble an Indigenous language panel this month, featuring many who are involved with language revitalization.
“Preserving Indigenous languages means keeping the entire cosmology, ceremony and culture of a people alive,” Clark said. “In a language exists an entire history of information, of stories—a collective ‘narrative memory,’ as Neil McLeod puts it. Each language informs us of our past, present, and future.”
“We need to go back to our languages,” Vowel said. “The language is what holds our culture together like glue. There is no separation in my mind. The language is the culture; it’s how we express ourselves. When you take the language away, you take away the culture.”
Although they largely go unnoticed by McGill students today, McGill’s Greek-letter societies are among some of the oldest student groups on campus.
The first fraternity at McGill, Zeta Psi, was established over a century ago in 1883. Chapter histories and mandates state that the societies were founded on ideals of friendship, philanthropy, scholarship, and leadership.
Decades ago, however, McGill’s fraternities and sororities were perceived as elitist groups where foolhardy behaviour flourished. From as early as the first half of the 20th century, illustrations in Old McGill yearbooks indicate negative perceptions of Greek life, with images denoting the societies’ secretive natures, traditions like paddling and excessive alcohol consumption.
To better understand McGill’s Greek life today, the Tribune looks back to the 1980s, when a series of contentious events changed the way sororities and fraternities exist at McGill.
The eighties
The ’80s were a period when sororities and fraternities flourished at McGill. For cross-country and track and field head coach Dennis Barrett, who was a graduate student at McGill in the ’80s, their popularity was tied to a student body that was generally more engaged in a much more active university sports culture.
At the time, Barrett worked at Gerts (then known as Gertrude’s), which was located where La Prep and the student lounge are in the SSMU Building today.
“Gerts was jam-packed every weekend from Thursday, it was just crazy,” Barrett said. “[Afterwards], staff would head out to a frat party [….] You can bet almost every weekend there would be a frat party.”
According to Barrett, each McGill sports team associated themselves with a fraternity house. These buildings were owned by McGill and scattered throughout the Milton-Parc Community.
Sororities and fraternities also encouraged philanthropy and extracurricular involvement on campus, such as highly publicized blood drives. In this manner, Greek societies and McGill created a stronger feeling of community within a big city like Montreal.
“There’s a line by Gordon Lightfoot that says: “The city that you live in may be quite large, but a circle is small,” and that was the circle at McGill,” Barrett said.
1910 Image from the Old McGill Yearbook depicting fraternities. (Old McGill)
The decline
By the end of the ’80s, the parties escalated. McGill fraternities acquired a negative reputation and were losing support from the university community.
“You get an inch; some people take a foot, and some people take a mile,” Barrett said. “It just got too crazy after a while.”
In 1987, the Tribune reported tense relationships between the Montreal police (SPVM) and fraternities due to unruly parties and the sale of alcohol without a liquor licence.
Barrett recalls one particular incident where one of the last fraternities threw a beach party in their McGill-owned house with sand lining the floor. When the tenants forgot to clean up the sand after the party, the floors were destroyed.
“I think it was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Barrett. “There were some incidents that happened in a couple frats, [and] McGill started to really clamp down.”
On Feb. 2, 1988 the Tribune reported that, with the housing leases of Delta Kappa Epsilon, Psi Upsilon, Delta Upsilon, and Phi Delta Theta ending in 1988 and 1989, the university’s Board of Governors decided to end McGill’s role as landlord for the fraternities.
“The need for more residence space (to attract the best students); the poor return on McGill’s investments (only two per cent) and fraternity problems (liquor law infractions, bad house conditions) [are] reasons for the decision to evict the fraternities,” the article states.
Perhaps most significant among the incidences was the sexual assault of a student by fraternity members at a frat party in 1988. The event spurred sexual assault awareness campaigns on campus and led to the creation of the student-run McGill Sexual Assault Center, the predecessor to the Sexual Assault Center of the McGill Student’s Society (SACOMSS).
The incident provoked major criticism of not only fraternities, but also the prevailing culture at large, although the woman who was assaulted said she did not blame the fraternity but rather the individuals.
“[It was] not [the fault of] the fraternity, […] not the building, not the institution,” she was quoted as saying in the Tribune. “I can’t blame an entire house for something that occurred with three individuals and a handful who watched.”
Additionally, changes to SSMU’s equity policy led SSMU to cut ties with the Greek societies in 1989 by revoking the Inter Fraternity Council’s SSMU club status due to their gendered and exclusionary nature.
Today
1930 Image from the Old McGill Yearbook depicting fraternities. (Old McGill)
Since the ’80s, Greek life at McGill has dwindled, with societies remaining unaffiliated to McGill until the Inter Greek Letter Council (IGLC) became a SSMU club in 1999. Currently,there are four sororities and eight fraternities in the council.
According to Brendan Edge, IGLC executive of fraternities, Greek societies today struggle to have students understand them as groups that do more than just party.
“That stereotype still persists—thanks, Animal House— and that’s something that we’re working really hard to counteract,” Edge said.
Unlike in the United States where the legal drinking age is 21 and campus social life is dependent on fraternities, sororities, and school athletics, Montreal has more than enough to keep students busy.
“When I joined two years ago, I didn’t join to get with girls or party hard,” Sigma Chi President Christopher Peake said. “I joined specifically for networking purposes. I knew it was an international fraternity with over 300,000 initiates who could help me in the future.”
Another important part of Greek life is philanthropy. Peake’s fraternity recently held a gala to raise money for the Huntsman Cancer Institute. The fraternity invited New Democratic Party political figures to the event, which honoured deceased Sigma Chi member Jack Layton.
“It’s nice for the McGill campus to be brought back into a smaller community through Greek Life and be able to get together and give back as one entity,” Ali Bethlenfalvy, IGLC president, said.
Peake said that misconceptions prevail with respect to initiation rituals. Fraternities and sororities at McGill have been actively taking a stance against hazing for more than three decades, including a “no-hazing” policy that dates back to the 1977 National Panhellenic Conference.
“Because [initiation] is shrouded in secrecy, people think it’s something really bad,” Peake said. “The whole process was really inspirational and it focuses you to be introspective and reflect upon yourself and what kind of man you want to be.”
While Peake said he thinks issues such as sexual abuse and excessive drinking are endemic to society and not just Greek life, he sees the societies as environments in which these issues can be addressed.
“When I joined, there were huge parties and the cops would come and shut [them] down because of noise complaints—our house is right next to Greenbriar—but this semester we’re running a dry house,” he said. “We’re promoting responsibility towards drugs and alcohol; there’s a zero-tolerance policy.”
While this policy is part of a probationary measure dictated by the Grand Chapter, the international governing body of Sigma Chi, Peake also emphasized his fraternity’s strong stance on promoting respect for women and building leadership qualities.
Edge said he views the evolution of Greek letter organizations as necessary in a society that is changing quickly. Edge’s own fraternity, Delta Lambda Phi, is designed for gay, bisexual, transgendered, and progressive men.
“We are [a] very special form of organization,” Edge said. “Most of the fraternities in Canada and the United States are open to gay and bisexual men and transgendered as well. But they weren’t originally and that was why we were created.”
In addition, Cyrena Gerardi, IGLC executive of external affairs and Kappa Kappa Gamma member, noted the sororities’ tradition of furthering female empowerment.
“For sororities, we like to promote a lot of women in leadership opportunities and philanthropy that has to do with women empowerment,” she said.
These days, McGill’s Greek letter societies are on the rise, particularly for the sororities, who have doubled their recruitment from last year and have their highest retention rate for members.
“The more consistency we have with large sorority recruitment, the more possibility there is of us adding on a fifth sorority,” Bethlenfalvy said. “[The Greek-letter community] is ever-growing and it’s ever changing, so it’s exciting.”
