Cognitive scientist and linguist Steven Pinker presented this year’s Beatty Lecture to the McGill community and the general public on Sept. 25. Every year, the Beatty Lecture brings leading thinkers to McGill to present a public talk on a topic of their choice. During the online lecture, which drew in[Read More…]
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Reconciliation must go beyond a toppled statue
The police murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 sparked global protests against police brutality and anti-Black racism, giving renewed momentum to the Black Lives Matter movement. In light of these events, McGill, an institution whose history is rooted in violence and enslavement, expressed its intention to put forward[Read More…]
Anonymous Instagram pages highlight student experiences with discrimination at McGill
As recent Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests against police brutality have ignited a global reckoning with racism, new McGill-related Instagram pages are platforming anonymous Black, Indigenous, and people of colour (BIPOC) students’ experiences with discrimination at the university. Untold McGill and Black At McGill have highlighted disturbing instances of racism[Read More…]
Reshaping public commemorations in Montreal
This summer’s series of Black Lives Matter protests around the globe have sparked greater awareness of colonial legacies that persist in public spaces. Recent petitions calling for the removal of the James McGill statue and the Sir John A. MacDonald monument, and a name change of the Lionel-Groulx subway station[Read More…]
McGill students protest for the removal of James McGill statue
Around 100 members of the McGill community rallied just north of the Roddick Gates on Aug. 1 to push for the removal of the statue commemorating James McGill—the founder of McGill University and slave owner. Protesters stood in solidarity with members from the Black Students’ Network of McGill (BSN), the[Read More…]
Reshaping public commemorations in Montreal
This summer’s series of Black Lives Matter protests around the globe have sparked greater awareness of colonial legacies that persist in public spaces. Recent petitions calling for the removal of the James McGill statue and Sir John A. Macdonald monument, and a name change of the Lionel-Groulx subway station have[Read More…]
Black Lives Matter at McGill too
Danielle Geathers, MIT’s first Black woman student body president, and Nicholas Johnson, Princeton University’s first Black valedictorian, inspired my recent Facebook post reacting to the news that I would be serving as one of the very few Black presidents in the Students’ Society of McGill University’s (SSMU) 112-year history. I[Read More…]
Holocaust survivor condemns McGill’s handling of anti-Semitism allegations
During her visit to promote her memoir, Holocaust to Resistance: My Journey, Suzanne Berliner Weiss led a rally on Feb. 17 condemning Deputy Provost of Student Life and Learning Fabrice Labeau’s handling of anti-Semitism allegations regarding last semester’s controversial Face to Face trip. Weiss, a lifelong activist and Holocaust survivor,[Read More…]
Divest McGill obstructs entrances to James Administration for divestment
Approximately 20 members of Divest McGill, Climate Justice Action McGill (C-JAM), and Greenpeace McGill blocked all five entrances to the James Administration Building from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm on Feb. 18, demanding that the university divest from TC Energy, the company behind the controversial Coastal Gaslink Pipeline. The pipeline[Read More…]
Erased by the administration: James McGill was a slave owner
Although McGill takes superficial strides toward inclusivity such as participating in a Black History Month and Indigenous Awareness Weeks, the university still refuses to address its colonial history and practices. The history of this university is intertwined with racism and the enslavement of Black and Indigenous individuals—a fact that must[Read More…]
