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McGill, News

Foreign policy talk warns attendees about Canada’s future

by Maya Abuali on

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On Sept. 24, the Max Bell School of Public Policy hosted a lecture titled “Canadian Foreign Policy at a Crossroads” as a part of their Fall 2019 Policy Lecture Series. Roland Paris, a professor of international affairs at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa, spoke about the mounting challenges facing Canada’s next government. Paris is a non-resident fellow with Chatham House in the UK and a former senior foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

In his talk, Paris spoke to the changing dynamics of international politics that he believes will force Canada to rethink its policies. As an example, Paris’ recounted America’s political situation, saying that it has made it significantly less reliable as a partner than it has been in the past. Meanwhile, populist nationalism has resurged in Europe, while China has begun to assert itself on the world stage, targeting Canada and others by applying political. According to Paris, the structure of institutions, alliances, and policies that have supported a relatively open and stable international order for decades is quickly degenerating, and Canada is transitioning from this American-led international order into something different.

“Maybe by the time [students] reach middle age, the contours of this new international order will be clear,” Paris said. “But for now, what is clear is that the existing order is foundering. To paraphrase the Italian Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci: ‘The old is dying, but the new is not yet born.”

Paris emphasized that this transition is not just of academic interest, but also has immediate and severe implications for Canadians. As a country with few security threats and privileged access to the US, the world’s largest and wealthiest market, Canada is accustomed to occupying a relatively comfortable position in international affairs.

However, Paris believes that these conditions are being called into doubt. Canada’s liberal identity which is dependent on a generally reliable US, is now being threatened by the angry populism and America-first chauvinism that is bubbling to the surface under Trump’s presidency.

“We are an independent country, and we don’t want to be subservient to the United States,” Paris said.

A colossal 75 per cent of Canada’s merchandise exports go to the United States, accounting for approximately 20 per cent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Few countries are as dependent on a single trading relationship as Canada is on the US. Paris highlights that this vulnerability is one way in which the fraying of international order poses a direct challenge to some of Canada’s core interests.

“China and the United States […] have been weaponized in trade, using their own markets as an instrument to extract concessions in other areas or to coerce states for political ends,” Paris said.  “Canada has been on the receiving end of this.”

Aria Yousefi, a graduate student of public policy, commented on Paris’ talk.

“I think he provided a really good perspective on how we need to reaffirm our values [as Canadians] whilst expanding our relationship,” Yousefi said. 

After the lecture, professors, graduate students, and foreign policy enthusiasts lingered to exchange their views on the issues Paris brought to the table.

Jennifer Welsh, a professor of global governance and international security in the Department of Political Science at McGill, spoke to Paris’ analysis of Canada’s current condition.

“I think what Roland demonstrates […] is the importance of clarity […] in this complexity. How do we actually diagnose what we are?” Welsh said. “We’ve got to diagnose our situation. And then we have to speak without jargon […] about what some of our choices are that we need to make.”

To conclude, Paris emphasized that public policy experts need to make sense of how the world is changing and how those changes will affect Canada.

“[Current political leaders] will need all of [students’] brainpower in the years to come,” Paris said. “We will need your help in figuring out how to position Canada for success in this brave new world. So study hard, because it’s no exaggeration to say that your country will need you in this moment of uncertainty and of opportunity.”

Out on the Town, Student Life

Gardens of Light: A multi-sensory gateway in the heart of Montreal

by Naomi Duggan on

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Every autumn, the Jardin Botanique of Montréal presents themed outdoor gardens that showcase diverse cultures. This year’s Gardens of Light guides visitors around the globe through its illuminated Chinese, First Nations, and Japanese Gardens. 

Chinese Gardens 

The Chinese Gardens were first featured in the Montreal Botanical Gardens in 1991. Beautifully crafted by the Shanghai Institute of Landscape Design and Architecture, the scene is the result of a collaboration between the Parks Department of the City of Shanghai and the Jardin Botanique de Montréal. The landscape strives for a  perfect balance of water, stone, plant, and architecture. An arrangement of plants and minerals are embellished with luminescent lanterns that recount Chinese tales and traditions. 

Chinese lanterns date back to the Han Dynasty, when monks traditionally used them on the 15th day of the lunar year to honour Buddha. For the Gardens of Light exhibition, lanterns were handcrafted by artisans in the Shanghai region and imported to Montreal. 

The stone sculptures by the water, which incorporate grey rocks imported from Lake Tai in China and yellow rocks from Saint Hélène Island in Montreal, represent an alliance between Montreal and China. 

First Nations Gardens 

The First Nations garden spans 25,000 square metres and is the largest garden in North America dedicated to people of First Nations and Inuit descent. The First Nations portion was first included in the Gardens of Light exhibition in 2015. With over 300 different plant species and 5,000 trees and shrubs, this garden mimics a peat bog, a tundra, and coniferous forest. The Sacred Tree recounts stories of the Circle of Life and the forces of nature. In the evening, multicoloured lights illuminate the Tree, illustrating the four seasons. Florent Vollant, an Innu Singer and spokesman for the First Nations Garden, explained the garden’s message of tolerance.

“[The garden acts] to break down the barriers of ignorance and intolerance between Native and non-Native people,” Vollant said. 

Japanese Gardens

The Japanese Garden, carefully crafted by architect Ken Nakajima, offers scenes of serenity that contrast with our fast-paced way of life. Funded by subsidies from the governments of Japan, Canada, and Quebec, the exhibit includes a walk through the Japanese Pavilion, which provides a glimpse into Japanese history and culture. The Japanese garden is minimalistic and pays special attention to spatial arrangement. The stones lining the garden are a unique variety of peridotite specially imported from the asbestos mines in Thetford Mines, Quebec. At night, the selected Japanese plants and flowers are lit, exposing their radiant beauty.  

Gardens of Light offers its visitors a tranquil and fascinating walk through different cultures around the globe. The exposition ends on Oct. 31. Doors are open until 9:00 p.m. on weeknights and until 10:00 p.m. on weekends. Tickets, which include admission to the garden during the day and fixed-time entry to the Gardens of Light, are available online. 

Arts & Entertainment

Man’s best friend and musical inspiration

by Deana Korsunsky on

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I was six years old when I first heard the terse, yet bluntly delivered question: Who let the dogs out? It was the audition song of choice for the Big Bad Wolf on Shrek Idol, a post-credit interactive game on the Shrek 2 DVD. “Who Let The Dogs Out”  by The Baha Men is a song that has permeated mass cultural consciousness, whether in a film soundtrack, a karaoke bar, or in a bonus feature to an animated cinematic masterpiece. However, this song is more than just an aural novelty. It is a cultural enigma, a song with no one proven author, and the subject of a near-decade-long investigation.

On Sept. 25, Cinéma Moderne hosted the first day of Montreal’s Film POP, part of the POP Montreal International Music Festival beginning with the comedy documentary by Brent Hodge Who Let The Dogs Out. The film follows Ben Sisto, an unemployed music enthusiast on a boredom and curiosity-fueled quest to determine who really wrote the famous song. 

The documentary opens on a bird’s eye view of a Caribbean beach. We hear a phone conversation between Sisto and music industry lawyer Lita Rosario. Sisto questions Rosario about the rights of “Who Let The Dogs Out,” and the docu-plot is revealed.

Over the course of 70 minutes, Sisto takes the audience on an intricate journey, a whodunnit filled with twists and turns. “I am the world’s foremost expert on ‘Who Let The Dogs Out’,” Sisto announces  before correcting himself and joking: “undisputed expert.” He then begins his story of how he spent eight years tracking down all the individuals who claimed to have come up with the catchy hit’s hook, all prompted by the observation of an incomplete Wikipedia entry in the song’s authorship section. Sisto goes to the Baha Men, who freely admit that the song is a cover that they got from their producer, who concedes that he heard it from a hairdresser in London, who heard it from his friend who brought the song on a tape recorded at a festival in Trinidad and Tobago. 

Sisto traces the origins of the lyrics back decades before the Baha Men song became a hit. He takes the audience from the Caribbean, to the UK, to the US, each interview adding to the web of mystery surrounding the song. Every producer, singer, rapper, and pop group interviewed offers legitimate evidence of having written the chorus, making the mystery all the more exciting.

The tone of the film is comic, yet honest. Sisto is aware that his quest is incredibly random and specific, yet his investigative process is utterly captivating. From start to finish, one is both bewildered and in awe at how enthralling this very niche story is. Every player’s evidence-backed claim to the “Who Let The Dogs Out” chorus sheds light on the rough waters of copyright attainment in the music industry. Yet it also sheds light on the nature of creativity and originality. There is something eerily beautiful about the Bermuda triangle that is the origin of “Who Let the Dogs Out”; it shows that such creation is a shared part of the human artistic experience. Ultimately, the question of authorship becomes less important than the resulting legacy of the track. The mere privilege to have been submerged—albeit, by accident—into this subculture of “Who Let The Dogs Out” fanaticism may just be enough. The dogs were never let out by one single person, as Hodge’s film suggests, but rather by all of us, ready to be released when the right moment of inspiration hits. 

 

Men's Varsity, Soccer, Sports

McGill men’s soccer beats UQAM at Homecoming

by Jack Armstrong on

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McGill men’s soccer (2–3–3) returned to action with a victory against the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) Citadins (2–3–2) on Sept. 27, ending a three-game winless streak. McGill remained composed in an intense game that featured over 30 fouls and six yellow cards. Third-year forward Dalen Saheb led the way with a goal and an assist in the critical 2–1 Homecoming win for McGill.  

“It was pretty important to get the win,” fourth-year forward Mehdi Ibn-Brahim said after the game. “We’re definitely desperate for points to get into the playoffs, and for sure the crowd helped us win. We are definitely pushing closer to the playoffs now, and we are in contention.”

McGill set the tone for the match early on, putting relentless pressure on the Citadins’ backline and keeping the ball almost exclusively in the opponent’s half. By the 10th minute, the Citadins keeper had already made four saves, and McGill continued to control the possession and create chances for the rest of the half. UQAM did give McGill the occasional scare, however, as the ball nearly found the back of the net in the 39th minute when a long-range effort hit the post before the follow up narrowly glanced wide and went out for a goal kick. This served as a wake up call for McGill: Less than a minute later, second-year forward Florian Bettelli latched onto a through pass from Saheb and calmly slotted the ball past the keeper, giving the home side a 1–0 lead. McGill continued to push forward, but found themselves up by only one at the break. 

The second half proved to be a very different story, as it was the Citadins who came out firing and kept the ball in the McGill half for the first 20 minutes of play. UQAM found success attacking on the left wing, forcing McGill’s defence to deal with a multitude of crosses and shots. The Citadins looked likely to score, but, in the 74th minute, McGill struck back. A series of intricate passes down the left flank resulted in third-year midfielder Cameron Butterfield being brought down in the box. Saheb stepped up and converted the penalty, extending the lead to 2–0. UQAM later scored on a penalty of their own, but it was not enough as McGill held on for the 2–1 victory. 

With the win, McGill moved up to third place in the league, but only one point separates them from sixth place Concordia. Head Coach Marc Mounicot stressed the importance of every match heading into playoffs.

“I told them before the game that [for] every game we play until the end of the season, a loss [means] we will stay in the bottom, and a win will give us a chance to go back in competition for playoffs,” Mounicot said. “Every game will be a war.” 

McGill men’s soccer will look to carry their momentum through their last five games of the regular season as they continue to push for a playoff berth. They play next on Oct. 3 at Percival Molson Stadium against Concordia. 

 

Moment of the Game:

Third-year midfielder Cameron Butterfield was fouled after a counter-attack on the left wing, which led to third-year forward Dalen Saheb scoring the winning goal from the penalty spot.

Quotable: 

“Some of them defended like lions today.” – Head Coach Marc Mounicot on his team’s stellar defensive performance.

Stat Corner: 

By the tenth minute, McGill had registered an impressive five shots, forcing UQAM’s keeper into four saves. 

Commentary, Opinion

Everyone deserves a fair share of clean air

by Jonah Fried on

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Montreal residents generally live for a long time, but environmental injustice threatens to change that for many. According to a study released by the Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux de l’Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, the east end’s regional health board, people living in the east end of Montreal live, on average, nine years less than people who live elsewhere in the city. 

The east end, which has the highest concentration of industrial centers in all of Montreal, is also one of the lowest-income districts in the city. There may not be a visible cloud of pollutants hovering on Avenue Bourbonniere, but according to several studies, a microscopic swarm of sulfur dioxide, ozone, and hydrogen sulfide particles infest the area. No one should have to live in such conditions, and this example of environmental injustice is representative of a trend across Canada that should be morally unacceptable to every Montreal resident.

Aside from contributing to climate change by releasing noxious fumes into the atmosphere, corporations such as PetroCan also diminish the quality of life of those who live in the east end by exposing them to frustrating levels of noise pollution. Excessive noise comes in addition to the other pollutants local factories put out that may harm the area’s residents’ health. All citizens, including those living in the east end, contribute to public works and services and should benefit from the system they help maintain. Regulations on local corporate excesses are in order, not only to curb climate change, but also in light of these significant equity concerns. 

Even though McGill is not located in the east end, it is imperative that students, as residents of the city, educate themselves on local issues. McGill students breathe air free from industrial contaminants, but this should be the case in all of Montreal. As a higher education institution, McGill absolutely has a role in improving the conditions of the city around it. However, McGill invests in various corporations involved with fossil fuels, some of which have operations in Montreal that are instigating the local air crisis. By failing to divest, McGill becomes culpable in both the global climate crisis at large and the injustice of pollution in local lower-income areas. One way to combat this malpractice is by supporting groups like Divest McGill or Climate Justice Action McGill (C-JAM). Currently, C-JAM has two email templates available which include their three primary demands regarding the sustainability of McGill’s policies. They are asking students to send these emails to the McGill Board of Governors and Principal Suzanne Fortier so that these demands, including divestment, can be met. 

“No one should have to live in such conditions, and this example of environmental injustice is representative of a trend across Canada that should be morally unacceptable to every Montreal resident.”

Environmental injustice plagues many parts of Canada. In Toronto, a city densely populated largely by minorities and immigrants, environmental injustice in the form of unequal distribution of environmental pollutants is particularly prolific. The concentration of Indigenous communities near industrial centers across Canada is another example. According to United Nations research, such Indigenous communities are already disproportionately affected by climate change in other ways, such as through the loss of their land and resources to the crisis. Indigenous communities are entitled to breathe the same clean air as those who reside on the land that they were violently expelled from centuries ago.

Cities are socioeconomically stratified by their nature, but people shouldn’t have to sacrifice their right to healthy living standards when they pay less for housing. McGill students often contribute to social stratification through gentrification or pollution in Montreal, so it is our duty to work towards being better residents. As the youngest voting generation, current McGill students have the most to lose in the future to the effects of climate change. However, by protesting environmental injustice at large and by holding our elected officials accountable to their environmental promises, we also have the power to change things for the better. We have a responsibility to do so in the upcoming federal election. 

No one wants to go to a school in a city rife with environmental racism and injustice, just as none of us want to live in a world slowly suffering from wounds incurred by corporate transgression. Inaction on this issue by city officials now would demonstrate an immense disregard for their constituents. It would also perpetuate socioeconomic inequality, even infringing on one’s right to breathe air that isn’t going to kill them someday.

Student Life, The Tribune Explains

Tribune Explains: Student voting

by Miguel Principe on

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Election season in Canada is underway once again. For many McGill students, it may be the first time they are eligible to vote; however, many still do not get to the polls. Lisa Drouillard, Director of Outreach and Stakeholder Engagement at Elections Canada, broke down student voter eligibility into simple terms while emphasizing the need for young people to vote.

Am I eligible to vote?

“There are only three questions [to determine who can vote],” Drouillard said. “Are you going to be over 18 on Election Day? Are you a Canadian citizen? Do you have enough ID to prove your identity and where you live?”

Since ID can be a barrier for many youth voters, Elections Canada currently accepts a variety of documents, including your driver’s licence and your McGill ID, as valid forms of ID at the polls. Even if you don’t have any acceptable documents, a friend with appropriate ID living in the same electoral district can vouch for you as long as you declare your identity and address in writing.

Where can I go to vote?

With your valid ID in hand, knowing where to go is the next important step. The location of your polling place depends on which constituency you choose to vote in. Like many McGill students living away from home, you may have two addresses: A Montreal address and the address of a family home. 

In federal elections, you are allowed to vote for whichever district you identify more closely with, as long as you have sufficient ID to prove it. This means that even if Quebec may consider you as someone from out-of-province, you are allowed to vote for your riding in Montreal. 

If you wish to vote for candidates from your Montreal address, you must go to your riding’s designated poll either on election day, Monday, Oct. 21. or on advanced polling days, from Oct. 11–14. To determine where to vote, simply go to the Voter Information Service and search using your Montreal postal code. 

If you decide to vote in your home riding’s election and cannot make it to the designated polls on election day or advanced polling days, you can go to any Vote on Campus location from Oct. 5–9. In the McGill area, the Vote on Campus locations are La Citadelle, New Residence Hall, and Our Lady of Salette Church. If you cannot make it to any of the Vote on Campus locations but still wish to vote for your home riding, you can go to any Elections Canada office before Oct. 15. The offices nearest McGill are 4019 Notre-Dame Street West by Place Saint-Henri metro station and 2120 Rue Sherbrooke East at the corner of Sherbrooke and De Lorimier. 

How exactly can I vote?

Once you enter the booth, you will be given a list of candidates that are running for your specific riding, rather than the party leaders you may have familiarized yourself with. It is imperative to know your candidates beforehand, especially if you are voting at a Vote on Campus location or at an Elections Canada office, since you will fill out a special ballot and will have to write in the specific candidate you choose to vote for. Furthermore, you need to ensure that you spell the candidates’ names correctly. Learning about who is running in your riding is very easy: You can find the names of each candidate and their party affiliation by searching the district you plan to vote for in the Voter Information Service portal.

Interested students can also help others in the community vote by applying to work at any of the polling stations near McGill through Elections Canada.

“Demand for [working at] Vote on Campus and advanced polling stations is still pretty high,” Drouilland said. “It’s nice short term work […], and a nice opportunity to get service and administrative experience.”

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

Festival de films feministes de Montreal triumphs in 2019, hopes to return 2020

by Asha Bittenbender on

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On Sept. 22, the last evening of the third annual Festival de films féministes de Montréal (FFFM), a crowd filled the sidewalk outside the small second-floor venue shared by Association des réalisateurs et réalisatrices du Québec (ARRQ). Patrons waited anxiously for the evening screening to begin. Word was that the evening was sold out, and the wait list was already long. In pairs and solo, hopeful viewers buzzed with anticipation as they waited for the door to be opened.

FFFM was founded in 2016 to provide a platform for feminist films and filmmakers of all kinds. Emphasizing cultural diversity, the festival prioritizes intersectionality and seeks to represent multiple feminist perspectives. Yet the festival, though obviously embraced by the public and a unique boon to participating filmmakers, is donation-based and volunteer-driven. These volunteers take on huge responsibilities. Magenta Baribeau, a founder and organizer of the festival that does the jobs of three people at once in hopes that the festival will return bigger than ever in 2020.

Narratives that are often marginalized are included within the wide range of films and types of feminism. Though all feminist, some films focused on queer perspectives; a genre night included horror submissions. The feminist messages, however, allowed many to connect with the films in a deeply personal way. 

The Sunday evening screening featured a number of shorts themed around the interaction of racial identity and feminism.

The Tigresse Masque dir. Gowri Neelavar (India) 

Based on a poem, this lyrical short is set at a Hindu festival which takes place in the state of Karnakata. Young men in dramatic costume perform as tigers, a religiously significant animal in India that was hunted by British colonizers. Playing on the religious context and youthful nostalgia, //The Tigress Masque// presents this childhood fairytale as larger-than-life, but dreamed of by  a little girl watching in the crowd. When she dons the mask, it’s a rebellion against both the patriarchy holding her back and the history of colonization restricting her country.

Brother, Move On dir. Antshi von Moos (India, Switzerland)

Moos’ documentary looks at the life of a female taxi driver in New Delhi. By casting her sister as her main interviewee, Moos presents the audience with an intimate and complex portrait of a remarkable woman. Her livelihood depends on her assuming a culturally masculine role every time she gets behind the wheel of her taxi.

Me Time dir. Eléonore Coyette (USA)

A crowd favourite, this American comedic soliloquy’s protagonist has a conversation with multiple versions of herself about masturbation. Written by and starring Eléonore Coyette, a Black woman, the film is unapologetic, self-reflective and true to life. The conversations featured in the short speak to the many voices informing every woman’s idea of how she should act. But it is also about embracing every one of them, and thereby coming to an empowering conclusion.

Skies Are Not Just Blue dir. Lysandre Cosse-Tremblay (Haiti)

Third-year UQÀM student Lysandre Cosse-Tremblay submitted this short documentary. It introduces us to four queer Muslims: Yara, a Toronto-based artist and activist; brothers Monib and Tariq, who make Youtube videos together; and the anonymous A., who, filmed only from the back, describes the challenges to and subsequent rejection of his faith when he first arrived in Montreal. In an interview after the screening, Lysandre described coming to their subjects with a camera in hand but no preconceptions, refusing to put words in people’s mouths.

On the final night of the festival, Baribeau was a tornado of efficiency, selling tickets, conferring with volunteers to keep the screening on track, dashing into the hall to find–always successfully–one more seat for the last eager stragglers in. Then, as the lights dimmed for the last time on the 2019 edition of FFFM, she welcomed viewers to the space in English and French and thanked the community for showing its support.

Festival de films féministes de Montréal 2019 ran from Sept. 18-22. 

Art, Arts & Entertainment

Art POP installation offers a creative oasis

by Patrick Gilroy on

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Viewers would be forgiven upon entering Art POP’s main exhibition, Tout ce qui arrive, arrive dans les verbes, for thinking that they had come to the wrong room. A set of lockers that line the left wall and a ‘douches/showers’ sign are among the first things to notice in the venue. This exhibition, which ran from Sept. 25 to 29 at Studio Rialto, is part of the visual-arts strand of POP Montreal International Music Festival. 

Aside from the unique infrastructure of the space, which was originally a dance studio, the cloths that dominate the west side of the installation are the most eye-catching part of the exhibit. These cloths, like many pieces in the room, evoke natural forms: One appears to display the figure of a pig, the other a face shrouded by butterflies and leaves. Neither work displays the artist’s name, which is true of many pieces in the room. 

The event description reads: “We want to construct an art viewing context that makes viewers feel as though they are entering an othered space. Within this, we chose work that humanizes, mystifies […] and divulges and/or withholds elements of these physical spaces.” 

The dearth of information and the surprising difficulty of pairing the exhibit’s map with its physical layout spark curiosity as new pieces are discovered and the exhibit is slowly revealed. Behind one curtain is a changing room; although part of the building’s design, this feature of the studio is incorporated subtly into the exhibit, with no clear additions beyond a creaking blue light and a thin layer of condensation present on the floor. Stepping into it feels like walking into a room where you don’t belong. 

The event description also reads: “Studio Rialto [is] a former dance studio with its own history of bodies in movement, queerness, and temporality.” This history is apparent in the space’s decor, with antique and found items cluttering the space with little-to-no context provided. Their history as objects may be understood from shared, broader cultural knowledge, but their origins are unknown. Many⁠ installations—most of which are strung from the ceiling—appear to have been collected on distant beaches, and include seashells and metal rings.

This natural motif does not clash with the industrial quality of the space itself, but rather heightens it. The presence of seashells, leaves, and other natural objects within the confines of a worn and lived-in industrial space links their histories as objects “of nature” with the studio’s history of being occupied by living bodies. This connection suggests the shared temporality of natural environments and urban constructions. Both capture, contain, and carry their histories within them. This theme is addressed by bio-artist Jacqueline Beaumont’s for luca. Her display features bioplastic breasts hung in glass cases, one containing a lobster. 

This odd combination of materials feels strangely natural in the context of the large hall. The crustacean and the plastic are as real as the walls of the studio or the seashells. But  it is still unclear how the lobster ended up there, or why. In the same way, the space allows the art to speak for itself, without over-contextualizing or providing rich details of the Studio’s history. But as the exhibition appears and disappears, the space of Studio Rialto itself will persist. 

Tout ce qui arrive, arrive dans les verbes ran from Sept. 25–29, at Studio Rialto (5723 Park Avenue) and featured works from Zoe Koke, Sara Maston, Robert Anthony O’halleran, Tommy Ting, Jamie Ross, flora fauna, Julia Autumn, Jacqui Beaumont, Aloë Vrzal, Lucas Regazzi, Sarah Mihara Creagen, Mara Korkola, and XX Files Radio.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Weyes Blood gives a Titanic performance at the Rialto

by Joey Caplan on

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On Sept. 27, a fantastic night at the Rialto Theatre began with a series of sounds more akin to jet engines than music, but very quickly evolved into a formidable series of performances. Natalie Laura Mering, better known by her moniker Weyes Blood, performed some of her finest work to date and amazed the audience that came to see her. 

Markus Floats, one of two openers for the main act, began his set seated in front of a MacBook and proceeded to set the tone in the strangest way possible: By playing a cacophony of shrill, dull, and at times excruciating sounds providing an unusual contrast to the smooth crooning voices of the next two performers. 

Floats’ act was immediately followed by Helena Deland, a brilliant up-and-coming Quebec City native, steadily making waves in the music industry. Deland is featured on JPEGMAFIA’s chaotic new album All My Heroes Are Cornballs, providing short but striking finale to the song “Free the Frail.” Her performance of “Body Language” and “Baby” proved her musical prowess. Deland’s smooth vocals and fervent guitar make her the indie artist to watch in Montreal at the moment. 

Weyes Blood started off with “A Lot’s Gonna Change,” the introductory song on her latest album  Titanic Rising. Despite the openers’ engaging performances, Weyes Blood made it clear that she was the star of the night. The song is one of the highlights of the album, and was certainly one of the evening’s more memorable moments.  The track immediately demonstrated that her vocals are even more arresting live, with one of her more musically complicated songs. While a dreamy, 1970s pop influence was at the forefront of “A Lot’s Gonna Change,” “Movies” was infused with booming, modern electronic beats, shaking the Rialto. This is contrasted with the melancholic, borderline country sound of “Picture Me Better,” a song Weyes Blood dedicated to a dear friend of hers who took her own life during the production of Titanic Rising.

In between a wonderfully upbeat performance of “Everyday” and a suitably more sorrowful one of “Something to Believe,” she posed a question to the audience: Was the moon landing faked? Surprisingly, only about five hands went up, indicating their belief. Weyes Blood proceeded to explain that when she asked the same question, almost everyone in her Vancouver audience had their hands up. She also joked that the Rialto itself was likely haunted, an observation that seems plausible given the venue’s  maudlin, neo-baroque architecture. 

While the four other band members wore t-shirts and jeans they could likely be seen wearing on any given day, Weyes Blood herself donned a crisp white suit, embroidered with her name on the back. The other band members’ attire may have drawn attention away from them, but their abilities compelled you to watch them just as intently as Weyes Blood herself. The essence of Titanic Rising was not only captured, but the band’s performance stood on its own merit. The drummer, in particular, appeared to be having the time of his life. 

Both Weyes Blood and Helena Deland are two of the most gifted and inventive voices in the indie scene right now, and having them perform back to back seems too good to be true. The concert was a spectacular experience, a celebration of musical styles nearly half a century old that were made wonderfully new again.

Science & Technology

Open Future Essay Competition winner covers climate change and law

by Gwenyth Wren on

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McGill law student Larissa Parker recently won the highly competitive Open Future Essay Competition. In her winning essay published in The Economist, she wrote about extending legal rights to future generations to fight climate change. Parker addressed one of the most disheartening realities of climate change: Though we are already facing the effects, future generations will have to deal with more frequent droughts, stronger storms, rising sea levels, and species extinctions if temperatures continue to rise.

Parker, who was invited to attend the United Nations (UN) Youth Summit in New York City this past week, has been a long-time campaigner for climate justice. She believes that climate litigation offers a host of opportunities to fight climate change, especially if rights are extended to future generations. Currently, there are multiple cases against governments and corporations over the effects of climate change. However, the current production of carbon dioxide will cause much more harm to future generations than to current ones; at the moment, no mechanism exists to protect these future generations. 

“There are so many aspects of climate change that hit at ways to sue governments and corporations for breaches of duty of care, but they hit temporal boundaries when extended to future generations,” Parker said in an interview with The McGill Tribune.

Parker argues that current generations should have the power to sue on behalf of future generations. Just as we currently suffer from past emissions, future generations will continue to be affected by today’s emissions. As Frédéric Fabry, a professor in the Faculty of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at McGill, explained, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases linger in the atmosphere for many years.

“The gradual accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is a slow process,” Fabry said to the Tribune. “It takes several generations to remove it from the atmosphere. If you burn fossil fuels, the carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for 100 to 200 years.” 

To put this in perspective, the carbon dioxide that we are emitting now will still be around in 2150.

Parker argues that since we already know about this delay, we have a duty to protect future generations from these emissions.

“Future people are going to unquestionably experience climate change in the worst ways, especially marginalized populations,” Parker said. “These are the first people to be hit by climate change. In the future, it will still be marginalized groups who are first to be disadvantaged by climate change. In 50 years, when the [full] effects are being felt, it will be too late to sue. It’s time to get the preventative ball rolling.”

Parker also addressed how decisions from climate litigation cases can play out for future generations. 

“We constantly see innovative ways [that] judges award remedies, such as putting money in environment programs, trusts for future generations [and] injunctions to stop activities,” Parker said. 

In her essay, Parker articulates the sentiments of ‘the-not-in-my-lifetime’ phenomenon that have continued to grow with rising youth activism over the past few years. 

“There are difficulties with suing on behalf of future generations,” Parker said. “Causation, for example, will be a big one […] but we owe it to them to at least include them in our legal arguments.”

To protect those who are not yet able to protect themselves, the rights of future generations must be considered. As Parker explains, overlooking their rights ignores the behaviour of greenhouse gases, and the delayed and amplified effect of today’s actions on future populations.

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