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Student Life

The Computer Riot, Birth Control Handbook, and struggle for Africana Studies: Brief histories of student activism

by Wendy Zhao on

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Students have long been at the forefront of social progress, both on their campuses and in the wider Montreal communities. The McGill Tribune looks back on a few instances throughout history when students banded together to advocate for their rights.

1969 Computer Riot at Concordia 

This protest would come to be known as the largest student riot in Canadian history. In the spring of 1968, six West Indian students from Sir George Williams University filed a complaint against their professor, Perry Anderson, for deliberately giving Black students lower grades. Though the university agreed to establish a Hearing Committee, Black students denounced the impartiality and incompetency of Concordia’s representatives. They walked out of the hearing with around 200 other students and occupied the school’s Computer Centre. After days of negotiation between the administration’s lawyers and the students, a settlement that would institute a new Hearing Committee was established, and the end seemed near. As protesters began to leave the Centre, assuming that the agreement was all settled, however, the proposal was scrapped. The next day, the administration called in the police and riot squad to handle student threats of vandalism. When they arrived, a large portion of computer equipment had been destroyed and a fire had broken out—totalling $2 million in damages. 

Though the accused professor was reinstated soon after and received no consequences, the occupation forced the administration to establish student representation on university decision-making bodies. Soon after, University Regulations on Rights and Responsibilities and the Ombuds Office was established. 

 

This quote comes from the special issue of the student newspaper The Georgian produced by student protestors called The Black Georgian (Concordia Archives).

The Birth Control Handbook 

In 1968, the dissemination, sale, and advertisement of birth control methods was still illegal across Canada. In spite of this, the McGill Student Council passed a motion to form a Birth Control Committee and host a student seminar on sex education, eventually leading to the conception of the Birth Control Handbook, a guide to the pros and cons of various methods birth control methods as well as other useful information on sexual health. The handbook’s co-editors, Allan Feingold and Donna Cherniak, worked alongside Montreal-based doctors to conduct research and compile practical information on everything from condoms and diaphragms to abortion services and IUDs. Feingold and Cherniak also sought to highlight how social and political issues affected access to sexual health resources. At a time when contraceptives were inaccessible, the handbook responded to a huge demand, with more than three million copies distributed, in and beyond McGill, by 1974. 

(Rise Up! Archives) 

The struggle for Africana Studies 

In the 1990s, the Africana Studies Committee (ASC)—formed after McGill attempted to downgrade its African Studies program to only offer a minor—worked to, among other goals, bring an Africana Studies program to McGill. This program would study the Black diaspora as well as the interdisciplinary, internationalist perspectives that characterize it, and not to mention act as a departure from African Studies’ problematic history of centring white scholars. Black students at McGill worked for four years to craft a proposal for the expanded program, presenting it to the McGill administration in 2000. It was the culmination of several initiatives, including a public demonstration that demanded the African studies program continue, the fundraising of approximately $20,000 for the Committee, and the organization of the Africana Congress 2000, which brought students, community activists, and lawyers from different countries together to strategize the future of Black studies at McGill. 

The proposal was also delivered at an important time: McGill had recently received more than $65 million in private donations and a commitment of $80 million in government investment. In the end, however, the administration showed its blatant resistance to the needs of Black students, stalling and eventually shelving the proposal once the student leaders graduated. Throughout the years following the ASC’s proposal, the Black Students’ Network has continued to spearhead the initiative for an Africana studies program at McGill. 

Commentary, Opinion

For a better future, McGill must learn from Black history

by Monique Kasonga on

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Every February, Black History Month comes around with growing support, yet there is still room for growth on behalf of institutions and individuals. Oftentimes, corporations and institutions appear to care about Black history, while truly not doing much good for anyone. These institutions shape Black History Month increasingly around Black trauma when, this month should really be a celebration of Black achievements and history. Most importantly, this celebration should take place all year, keeping the discussion prominent and accessible in the mainstream.

The history of Black nationalism in Canada dates back more than 400 years, but many students only know about Black American history, which diminishes the role of Black internationalisms in the history of Pan-Africanism and Black nationalism. This is shocking considering the major links between Black Canadian and American history. For example, the parents of Malcolm X, Earl and Louise Lansing, met in meetings of the then-newly formed Montreal branch of Marcus Garvey’s United Negro Improvement Association and later wed in the city. After defending his family’s right to reside in a predominantly white neighbourhood in Michigan, Earl was killed, and Louise was subsequently admitted to a mental health asylum. These experiences pushed Malcolm toward the ideology of Black nationalism, with which he would greatly influence the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s as he fought for racial justice. This great connection between Canadian and American Black history should be recognized and more widely taught.

Montreal’s role in the emergence of jazz culture makes the city a cornerstone of Black history,  and is even home to the largest Jazz Festival in the world today. The roots of Montreal’s jazz culture can be traced back to the early 20th century when the Black community of Little Burgundy established a number of social organizations to counteract poverty and social marginalization, out of which arose artists like Oliver Jones and Oscar Peterson. During the Golden Age of jazz, several famous artists visited Montreal and frequented clubs founded by the Black community, such as Café St-Michel and Rockhead’s Paradise, the latter being the first Black-owned nightclub in Canada, founded by Rufus Rockhead. The impact that jazz has had on the city is indisputable, and countless McGill students spend their weekends enjoying jazz bars. Residents of Montreal have the responsibility to recognize the rich history of Black culture in the city, to help revive historical and cultural narratives.

McGill has made great progress in celebrating Black History Month with events, and supporting organizations like the Black Students’ Network and the McGill African Students Society, which have brought attention to Black history. However, it is the obligation of McGill students to make use of these resources to further their knowledge of Black history and its impact. These organizations use history to help understand current issues facing Black students, and also offer calls to action that equip students to be better allies to the Black community. 

McGill should offer more on Canadian and Montreal Black history. Moreover, McGill is very loud and proud as an institution regarding their alumni, but many students may not have heard that Julius Garvey, son of aforementioned Marcus Garvey, attended McGill. This is a strong link between the Black nationalist and Pan-African movement that the university should recognize during Black History Month. 

Montreal and McGill both have profound Black histories. With living in a major city comes the responsibility of acknowledging and understanding the history that shaped it to be what it is today. Montreal holds a diverse population, and increasing recognition of local Black history can truly impact the way residents treat each other and can go a long way toward cultivating an anti-racist society. 

From the BrainSTEM, Science & Technology

Winter Olympics 2022: Mother Earth returns empty-handed

by Chloé Kichenane on

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After the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing ended with a grandiose closing ceremony on Feb. 20, it is time for a review—not so much of the sports, but rather of the ecological impact of the quadrennial event. Some may wonder as they read this: Didn’t the International Olympic Committee (IOC) assure us that these would be the most sustainable Games in history? They certainly did, but if anyone is still unclear about what “greenwashing” is, here is exhibit A. 

While Beijing boasted about its renewable energy efforts and the IOC published a 130-page sustainability report on the Olympics, nothing can erase the startling image of a completely artificial ski slope rising up amid a semi-arid landscape. The almost post-apocalyptic picture has been trending all over social media, sparking indignation and shattering the eco-friendly myth Beijing tried to spin. Far from being the most environmentally friendly games in history, the only title that Beijing 2022 managed to earn is being the first winter games to fully rely on artificial snow. 

But what exactly is artificial snow? Joe Schwarcz, director of the McGill Office for Science and Society, explained that snowmakers produce droplets of ice, each with a diameter of about one ten-thousandth of an inch, by quickly releasing water and compressed air, which then expands. The temperature drops and freezes the water, thus releasing heat. 

“This should be obvious when we realize that in order to melt ice we have to add heat,” Schwarcz wrote in an article for the Office for Science and Society. “The heat released is taken up by the expanding compressed air. Incidentally, this is why the ‘snow making’ pipes are always high in the air. If the snow were made close to the ground, the heat released by the freezing process would actually warm up the ground and melt some of the snow.”

The process of snow-making itself is not environmentally harmful: The IOC has ensured the absence of chemicals in artificial snow. The biggest problem with artificial snow is the massive amount of natural resources needed to produce it: 185 million litres (49 million gallons) of water is required to generate enough snow for the Games. 

This is a significant demand from a region that receives only 300,000 litres (300 cubic metres) of water per capita per year, more than two-thirds below the UN’s water-scarcity threshold, which is 1,000 cubic meters per capita per year. Hosting the snow-based events in Beijing could require enough water to fill 800 Olympic swimming pools.

To add to the environmental catastrophe, China has also made the decision to establish its ski domain in the Sonshang nature reserve in Yanqing, causing the decimation of 20,000 trees, the equivalent area of 1,000 soccer fields. On top of that, the IOC’s commitment to transplanting all the felled trees reveals, once again, the crucial lack of commitment the Games has to environmental issues—not the slightest consideration was given to the impact of such a decision on the region’s biodiversity. This doesn’t come as a surprise, as the IOC’s primary mission is the “democratization of sports”—with its market of 1.6 billion people, China turns out to be a purely strategic choice to fulfill this goal. 

The tug-of-war between profit and environment is on display. And yet again, profit wins. But is this struggle even worth the price? Unless greenhouse gas emissions are drastically reduced, only one city out of 21 host cities surveilled—Sapporo, Japan—could feasibly host the event by the end of the century. It seems like the IOC should start worrying about ecological concerns, for its own survival.

Basketball, Sports

Dry spell for women’s basketball prolonged by 66-36 loss to Citadins

by Zoé Mineret on

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The seats of Love Competition Hall were sparsely filled as the Martlets basketball team (0–5) made their return to the court after a three-month hiatus to face off against the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) Citadins (3–2). With only nine players on the bench, the Martlets lost 66-36. 

“I approached Thursday’s game as the start of a whole new season. New year, new beginning,” wrote third-year guard Jessica Salanon in a message to The McGill Tribune. “[The] first half of the season wasn’t easy for us, but at this point we have nothing to lose, only experience to gain.”

First-year guard Iman Ibrahim opened up the scoring with an easy layup. UQAM was quick to gain the lead back, but both teams’ defences kept each other on their toes. There was no clear leader in the first quarter until the last three minutes, when the gap between UQAM and McGill widened in the visitors’ favour, leaving the score at 15-13 for the Citadins.

The Martlets started the second quarter with a dry spell until Salanon scored the team’s first points of the quarter at the 6:46 mark. Yet, the Citadins persisted, maintaining an 11-point lead.

The Martlets continued to make unsuccessful attempts at field goals, and their defence fell short against the relentless Citadin offence. But Rathwell brought morale back up after a fantastic three-pointer, cheering up both the team and the crowd.

Centre Kristy Awikeh made a layup with just over one minute left in the second quarter, while Salanon sank two free throws. The Martlets went into half-time reinvigorated despite UQAM’s 35-24 lead. 

“I think the first half of the game showed that we have improved as a team,” Rathwell said. “We are a very young team going against much older teams. There is no doubt that this is a rebuilding year for us, but I think that each of us have our individual strengths and have potential.”

By the end of the third quarter, the Martlets had only managed to score four more points, including another two free throws by Salanon. The Citadins scored 11 points, bringing the score up to 51-28, increasing their already significant advantage. 

Salanon was disappointed with the results of the third quarter, but took the time to reflect on how the team could improve moving forward.

“Unfortunately, when we came back from half, things went downhill,” Salanon said. “We weren’t able to score and we were giving them easy baskets. I know we are a young team so we lack a lot of experience. We have to learn to stay consistent through the whole game.”

The fourth quarter was dogged by player exhaustion on both sides, resulting in low scoring and several loose balls. However, guard Joy Taan-Tobias broke the slump through an amazing defensive move, setting Rathwell up for a layup.

Spirits brightened, and the Martlets gave it their all for the end of the game. Rathwell scored an additional four points, but UQAM’s lead was too substantial, and they claimed victory 66-36. While it wasn’t the outcome they wanted, Rathwell believes that their moment will come.

“Progress and winning isn’t something that is going to happen overnight, but I’m certain as we all fight our hardest this next month and for the seasons to come it’s something in our future,” Rathwell said.

With the team’s motivation and determination, it won’t be too long before the group solidifies the perfect winning combination.

The Martlets next face off against fourth-place Laval on Feb. 24 at Love Competition Hall.  

Moment of the Game:

After a long scoring drought, the crowd saw a brilliant play from Taan-Tobias. The resulting turnover allowed Rathwell to score, reinvigorating the Martlets.

Stat Corner:

With 11 points and five field goals out of 10 attempts, Katie Rathwell had her best game of the season yet.

Quotable:

“I think that for the rest of the season, our goal would be to be disciplined and [to] fight through the whole game, not only through the first half.” — Third-year guard Jessica Salanon

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

CBC’s new series ‘The Porter’ tells stories of Black resilience in 1920s Montreal

by Isabelle Lahiri on

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Far from the rosy multicultural haven one may have been taught about in their high school history class, Canada has a sordid legacy of anti-Black racism and discrimination. CBC’s new show, The Porter, released on Feb. 21, explores the little-known history of Black Canadians in Montreal through the lens of Black railway workers in the early 1920s. 

An eight-episode series, The Porter follows the lives of train porters Junior (Aml Ameen) and Zeke Garrett (Ronnie Rowe), as well as Marlene Massey (Mouna Traoré), a Black Cross nurse, and Lucy Conrad (Loren Lott), a jazz club performer. Though characters face systemic problems in their professions—including dangerous working conditions and racist and sexist higher-ups—their stories are imbued with strength and resilience, with a major plot point of the show centering on Zeke’s efforts to establish the first Black labour union.

Though it tells a fictional story, The Porter incorporates real historical events into its plotlines. Zeke’s efforts to unionize Black porters, Junior’s bootlegging operations, Marlene’s involvement with the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), and Lucy’s work in the entertainment industry encompass a range of true stories, albeit consolidated and rearranged for engaging television. A crucial element of the show is its location in Montreal’s own St. Antoine neighbourhood—also known as Little Burgundy. As both a railway hub and the home of Canadian jazz, St. Antoine attracted a diverse and growing Black community from the Maritimes, the Caribbean, and the United States in the early 20th century. Several dance numbers in the Stardust Club pay homage to St. Antoine’s African and Caribbean heritage and give credence to Montreal’s 20th-century status as the “Harlem of the North.” Though the show was shot in Winnipeg, the production recreated life in Montreal in the 1920s, drawing upon archival photographs and consultations with historians. 

Aside from its captivating historical perspectives, The Porter’s strength lies in its diverse array of nuanced characters and situations. Tragedy strikes when Henry, a fellow porter, dies after falling off a railway car due to a lack of safety precautions. While Zeke attempts to reason with the Cross-Continental Railway higher-ups and rallies to unionize his fellow porters, Junior enters the bootlegging industry in Prohibition-era Chicago. Junior sees Henry’s death as proof that work as a porter is fundamentally inhumane, so he quits as an act of self-preservation, while Zeke tries to change the nature of the job to help his community. Though the two bonded as soldiers in WWI, their differing reactions are understandable—they reveal the complexities of coping with the racist society surrounding them. Marlene’s internal conflict in wanting to help those struggling in her community but questioning whether her work as a Black Cross nurse is ultimately useful enough to them, presents a similar struggle. 

With a healthy dose of human drama, The Porter presents an engaging and thought-provoking look into a chapter of Montreal’s history, striking a satisfying balance between soap opera and historical drama. It entertains viewers while simultaneously encouraging them to look further into the stories of Black Canadians and Montrealers. With a talented cast of characters with diverse backstories and perspectives, The Porter brings to life some of the many stories that made Canada into the country it is today. 

The Porter is available on CBC and BET+.

Features

Putting nature in the foreground

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The one constant for me throughout this turbulent pandemic has been seeking refuge in the outdoors. During the headlines, elections, and political battles that constantly preoccupied everyone’s minds, nature became a source of comfort and solace. 

It was in April 2020 when the virus initially surged in New England, right when the bitter cold started to thaw. Two weeks off from school started to look like it was going to be a lot longer than anticipated. After weeks without schoolwork and a waning social life, I eventually grew bored of online shopping and scrolling through TikTok. Instead, I began spending more time in my own backyard. Just being in the sun and surrounded by greenery was a refreshing break from the constant stream of information I absorbed from news and social media. 

Addicted to the exhilarating feeling of being outside, I started taking walks around my neighbourhood, looking for nature both in our local parks and in less obvious crevices of the suburban landscape—like thriving gardens dominated by native plants or mini-ecosystems flourishing on mossy rocks. Later in the summer, after getting my bike fixed, I started taking long bike rides on the rail trail that bisects my town. No matter which turn the pandemic or any other current events took, I could always walk into the open arms of the outdoors for consolation.

Though I’m back in Montreal now, I still try to seek this solace in nature. Admittedly, it is oftencan be much more challenging to do this in a big city like Montreal, which is certainly more urban than my suburb outside Boston. The harsh winter that wipes away most of the greenery for almost half the year makes it even harder to interact with the natural world, especially when most of the city is blanketed by layers of snow.

But even in an urban setting, nature physically and culturally shapes our landscape more than we realize. Animals and plant life physically enter into and interact with what we deem “human spaces,” and their presence or absence affects how we as humans connect with our world. There are, of course, the public parks that all Montreal-dwellers enjoy—Parc La Fontaine, Mont Royal, and Parc Jeanne-Mance, to name a few—but even in seemingly bleak downtown areas, nature still manages to creep through. No matter how much humans make their mark on the planet, even our most urban spaces are occupied by plants and animals that seek to share space with us; squirrels make McGill’s campus home, plants constantly weather our man-made structures, and pigeons shadow humans anywhere there seems to be food. To see the omnipresence of the natural world sometimes requires a change of perspective: You need to put nature in the foreground of how you view the city. Whether it’s the weeds sprouting through the cracks of sidewalks or fences covered in thin vines of ivy, one is reminded that the natural environment and the city are not mutually exclusive.

Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

‘Uncharted’ might be Nathan Drake’s most daring quest yet

by Karthikeya Gautam on

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Since its 2007 release, Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series has honoured three generations of PlayStation consoles with its preeminent fable. The quartet of video games follows treasure-hunter Nathan Drake, accompanied by mentor Victor Sully and reporter Elena Fisher, as he quests for ancient treasures and mysteries across the world. Uncharted is revered in every aspect of its composition, setting unrealistically high standards for any related media to come. 

While the fourth game (Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End) seemed to wrap up the series for good in 2016, the Feb. 18 release of the Uncharted movie brought Nathan Drake back to the screen—albeit this time, the silver one. Basing my judgment off the previous terrible movie adaptations of some of the most iconic video games, I issued a self-consolatory sigh and convinced myself to watch the movie without expectations. 

The story introduces a much younger Drake (Tom Holland), a confident and talented bartender whose side-hustles include, but are not limited to, pickpocketing and retelling conveniently relevant historical facts—oftentimes simultaneously. A descendant of the notorious explorer Sir Francis Drake, the younger Drake’s seemingly ordinary life takes a sudden turn toward an inescapable destiny when Mark Wahlberg’s Sully requires his assistance in tracking down an ancient treasure. 

Before going any further into the review, however—and on the topic of Sir Francis Drake—it is important to acknowledge the romanticization of exploration present throughout the Uncharted franchise. The asymmetry in power between the explorer and the area explored makes the latter a mere fascinating object of study for the former. This “Orientalization” of the landscape subdues local autonomy over its own peoples and cultures, providing the explorer with free-reigned ownership of historical artifacts.

The movie follows a simplistic storyline that is predictable to anyone well-versed with the Uncharted games. However, the high production value and star-studded cast offset that weakness, delivering a final product that far outshines the script. Effortless camerawork complements the over-the-top, video-game-esque action. There are frequent and delightful references to the games, such as visual puzzles, occasional stealth (it isn’t Uncharted without massive crates you can hide behind, after all), and ledge-grabbing parkour that only Nathan Drake could execute. 

That being said, Uncharted has a few inherent flaws in need of immediate acknowledgement. 

For one, the characterization takes a serious backseat to the action. Nate’s brother, for example, is introduced at the beginning for only a few minutes, yet the viewer is expected to form a sympathetic bond with him. This is virtually impossible, considering the only personality traits divulged to us are that he steals things and likes to disappear without explanation. Holland and Wahlberg’s chemistry pays homage to Drake and Sully’s immutable dynamic, wherein one is but the extension of the other on every quest. However, while this is reflected from the source material, it is a bit too smooth at times. They form a bond within minutes of knowing each other, making for humorous quips that seem a little ill-fitting for near complete strangers. 

Santiago Moncada (Antonio Banderas) is the run-of-the-mill villain, providing the unidimensional “bad guy” without a purpose. This boundless immorality caricatures his personality, reducing the impact that could have been dealt had he been a more polished, well-developed antagonist. 

At times, the story seems unsure of its own characters’ motives. This confuses viewers, as they question their sympathies with characters who make arbitrary decisions fuelled by unjustified motivations. Most characters go through little to no development over the course of the movie, and when they do, it is often abrupt and clumsy. 
When it comes to movies based on video games, historical precedent painted a grim picture for Uncharted far before its release. Critics and audiences alike circled like vultures, waiting to tear it apart. And quite frankly, most did. However, this movie sets an optimistic scope—not only for future installments within the franchise, but for movies based on video games in general. To synthesize well-known and loved faces in a production of such immense magnitude showcases a hopeful mainstreaming of video game storylines—a bank which holds an ocean of hidden treasures, and then some. 

Off the Board, Opinion

The unspoken harm of digital hoarding

by Maya Abuali on

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Toward the end of my winter break, I flipped open my copy of the New York Times to find a dying Seneca, scantily clad with arms outstretched as if to spread the last vestiges of his sagacity to his surrounding party. He was trapped in the chassis of an article written by Molly Young, who was describing the revival of Stoic philosophy during the pandemic. Young writes that ancient philosophers Epictetus and Seneca practiced stoicism to escape psychological enslavement—which, today, many attribute to their abundant screen time. But this is old news; we are all too cognizant of (and admittedly complacent with) the fact that technology is taking over our lives. A grave element of the issue, however, often flies completely under the radar—that is, our newfound capacity to indulge in technological hoarding. 

It is not just the photos dating back 10 years that we carry around with us. It is the countless messages across every social media platform that have documented our every conversation. Not to mention our notes apps, brimming with every grocery list, fleeting idea, or emotional word vomit we have churned out over the last decade. In the same space, the digital footprint looms, ominous and unassuming, ready to bite us in the ass with a mortifying Facebook status from 2013. The development of iCloud has ensured that the litter of our daily lives—things our parents would scrawl down on scraps of paper or send away in physical letters—remains with us on every device for the rest of our lives. 

We casually carry around remnants of every moment, relationship, and discussion we have had since our adolescence. The healthy bunch of our generation might pay this no mind, but to the anxious remainder, these colossal archives are a merciless poison. Nostalgia, the secret force behind our troubles, convinces us that life is nothing without moments to remember, good or bad. Poet Anaïs Nin once wrote that we write to taste life twice; the victims of Nostalgia, however—who pore over old texts or notes like daily prayers—do not read their writing as a rare indulgence, but as a persistent and nauseating gorging.

We consume good memories like drugs—looking back at our pictures or notes to chase the first high of the lived moment, but never quite catching up to it. As we re-indulge in these moments, the dull ache of forcibly induced dopamine rises like bile in our chests, each time less potent than before. A once determined fist that has tired of knocking on the same door, its wrist too limp to cause that satisfying rap against the wood. 

We devour the bad memories with the same insatiable voracity. We mull over the word choice in our every text. We feed on each obsessively recorded moment in our notes apps. We revisit conversations that should have been forgotten the moment they happened. Like a siren, Nostalgia beckons, promising us signs of personal growth, or at least a little more self-awareness, should we return to these memories. And so every horrendous haircut, traumatic interaction, and cringe-worthy word written to a trusted friend—or a despised ex—it’s all there, preserved in our useless Library of Alexandria that we refuse to let burn. 

How can we expect to heal from a past that we can never escape? Whenever our ancestors said something to regret or experienced something profound, they would allow the memory of the moment to dissolve. The shame or embarrassment or joy would fade with time. Our cells may divide and regenerate every decade or so, the same way theirs did—but we prevent ourselves from shedding the skins of our past.

Whether it is guilt, loss, rage, or pure sentimentality that has you rummaging through your past, know that it is a practice we were never meant to engage in at this level. Purging our phones of our past is something we all must do for a semblance of primeval sanity. Clicking delete may feel like losing a part of ourselves, but it is the only way for us to grow. 

News, SSMU

SSMU President back in the limelight, but questions about absence remain

by Elena Lee on

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Darshan Daryanani is resuming his duties as  president of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) after a five month break rife with contentious questions and debates regarding the circumstances of his absence. In an interview with The McGill Tribune, Daryanani raised several grievances he has against SSMU leadership, who, in turn, remain troubled by the still-confidential circumstances shrouding Daryanani’s vacancy.  

“It is a relief to be back fulfilling the duties I was elected to fulfill, but the transition has not been complete,” Daryanani said in an email to the Tribune. “Despite my formal reinstatement, I have still not been permitted to serve as Chairperson of the Board of Directors, nor to even attend its meetings, which severely hinders my ability to complete my duties.”

According to Daryanani, the SSMU Board of Directors (BoD) unilaterally decided to suspend him with pay—a salary of approximately $32,000—in a closed meeting that he was not present for. Daryanani believes that his suspension may have been racially motivated.

“When the Legislative Council posed questions about my absence, the other executives and board members continued to falsely claim that I [was] ‘on leave,’” Daryanani wrote. “This insidious rhetoric is typically used to target, delegitimize, and dehumanize people of color based on racist tropes which portray Black and Brown people as ‘unfit’ for positions of authority. This is a double standard that would not be leveled against a non-racialized person.” 

During the question period, councillors grilled Daryanani with questions about his suspension. Nathaniel Saad, U2 management representative, does not think the majority of SSMU members share the President’s enthusiasm about his return, saying he was distressed by the number of messages he received throughout the Council meeting from concerned student employees and members. 

“[People are feeling] very mixed emotions, but all negative, unfortunately,” Saad said. “People were texting me during the [Legislative Council] meeting saying, ‘can you please do something?’ or ‘I’m not feeling okay.’”

At the Nov. 25 Legislative Council meeting, Saad and management co-representative Mary Zhang put forth a motion calling for Daryanani’s resignation due to his prolonged absence that included a provision for a possible student body referendum on his impeachment. It passed with no opposition in the Council, but the SSMU BoD struck the motion down a week later. Saad told the Tribune that some SSMU members have preached out to him privately, calling for the motion’s revival.

Another topic that has garnered significant discussion throughout the year, and that Daryanani was pressed on at the Feb. 17 Legislative Council meeting in his role as president, is concern about SSMU’s workplace culture. According to Yara Coussa, U3 arts representative and BoD member, the world of politics is traditionally male-dominated, and SSMU is no exception.

“What I will say is that there is an ongoing culture of sexism at SSMU, and in the past, we have seen a certain type of personality run,” Coussa said in an interview with the Tribune. “You’re not very well-paid [and] giving up one year of your studies is a privilege […] most often held by people who are in places of power, […] so we end up in this position where SSMU is not an accessible space for gender minorities or anyone who doesn’t fit the standard—the hetero, cis, patriarchal standard.”

Though Daryanani believes the motion only passed Legislative Council due to the BoD’s deliberate mischaracterization of his absence, Saad contends that the crux of the motion was that Daryanani was holding a title and getting paid $32,000 from student fees for doing nothing, regardless of circumstance. 

“Whatever term we’re using, he wasn’t there and he wasn’t doing his job,” Saad said. “Having [his salary] donated to a charity, or putting it back toward students who need it […] would be a wise choice that demonstrates leadership, which we’ve been lacking.”

Daryanani says he hopes to earn the McGill community’s confidence again by fulfilling his duties and promises.“In light of the many issues surrounding SSMU’s workplace climate, my main priority is to act on my main platform promise, which is to make SSMU a more inclusive, equitable and accessible place,” Daryanani said. “I believe it is important now, more than ever, to put this promise at the forefront of the next few months.”

A previous version of this article stated that Nathaniel Saad said that Yara Coussa, U3 arts representative and BoD member, had reached out to him calling for the motion’s revival. In fact, Coussa never publicly called for the motion’s revival. The Tribune regrets the error.

McGill, News

McGill Committee responds to expression of concern regarding Dollarama warehouse workers, recommends no action

by Madison Edward-Wright on

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On Feb. 10, McGill’s Committee to Advise on Matters of Social Responsibility (CAMSR) issued its report on the expression of concern the McGill Corporate Accountability Project (MCAP) submitted to the university’s Board of Governors (BoG) in August 2021. The expression of concern regarded the alleged human rights abuses and mistreatment of migrant warehouse workers by Dollarama—a company that McGill had invested $3.3 million in as of Dec. 2020. The BoG shared the report with MCAP on Feb. 14 and informed them that CAMSR recommended McGill take no action.

MCAP originally penned its expression of concern after evidence surfaced throughout 2020 and 2021 of immigrant warehouse workers being mistreated by Dollarama. Reports detailed that workers were not receiving first aid after being injured on the job, or were being forced to work overtime for no pay, among other things.

The Association of McGill University Support Employees (AMUSE) and Montreal’s Immigrant Workers Centre (IWC) collaborated with MCAP throughout the process of creating the 16-page report, which included evidence compiled from multiple news reports, a 2016 report compiled by the Integrated Health and Social Services University Network Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal and more. 

According to Frédérique Mazerolle, a McGill media relations officer, CAMSR made its decision based on its inability to find evidence of “social injury,” which it defines as something that causes extreme harm, social or otherwise. Furthermore, Mazerolle explained that according to CAMSR’s mandate, an expression of concern must contain evidence of “a pattern of breeches of existing rules” or “a pattern of serious and continuing” violations of business behaviour standards to warrant action on the part of the university. 

“Although the submission provided testimonies of warehouse workers expressing concerns relating to their income, employment and health and safety conditions, these concerns appear to be limited in number, and are not sufficiently supported by evidence demonstrating the undertaking of other due processes, such as evidence considered by a tribunal or other regulatory body,” Mazerolle wrote in an email to The McGill Tribune. 

Samuel Helguero, 3L, co-leader of MCAP, and one of the primary writers of the expression of concern, was dismayed by CAMSR’s report. He argued that the criteria that the committee used to evaluate the evidence submitted was arbitrary and stricter than they would have been in a court of law. 

“The issue here is that CAMSR is just inventing standards,” Helguero said in an interview with the Tribune.  “I am convinced that if I brought this before a judge and they were deciding on the balance of probabilities, whether or not there was social injury here, reading through all this testimony, all the statistics and evidence, they would agree that there has been social injury.”

AMUSE’s communications and outreach officer, Katia Lo Innes, views CAMSR’s report as part of a larger pattern of McGill’s continued refusal to support living wages. McGill has stalled contract negotiations with McGill University’s Non-Academic Certified Association over wage increases, while floor fellows are also struggling to secure fair wages and more flexible meal plan options. 

“McGill continues to prove that it does not care about workers, nor does it care about social impact, it only cares about maintaining the status quo,” Lo Innes said in an interview with the Tribune. “Continuing to invest in Dollarama, a company that underpays its employees and reportedly pays third party employees and migrant workers illegal wages, shows where McGill’s priorities lie.”

Helguero agrees with Lo Innes. He views McGill’s inaction in the face of what he believes are blatant human rights abuse to be a clear lack of respect and care for immigrant workers. 

“Dollarama workers saying very similar things about their employer publicly […] should be believed, just as we have the tendency, and should have the tendency, to believe victims,” Helguero said. “It baffles me that someone could doubt their testimonies [….] McGill’s response shows insensitivity to the experience of workers.”

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