The theme for this year’s Social Justice Days was “Art and Resistance,” featuring events such as a panel discussion on art as resistance and a workshop on the revolution in Northern Syria, among many others. The event series concluded with the Self-Love Cabaret on February 14.

Speaking to The Daily, Kiera Sheppard, a U2 Philosophy and Women’s Studies student and Campus Outreach Coordinator at QPIRG-McGill, talked about how the Social Justice Days event series is organized.

“I got involved with QPIRG by volunteering for the Popular Education Committee,” Sheppard said. “It’s the committee that organizes all the events that we put on, [including] Culture Shock and Social Justice Days.”

“We’re exploring different artistic and creative ways of engaging in social justice organizing and also looking at art and creative practices as a form of resistance in themselves,” Sheppard continued.

By working on Social Justice Days this year, Sheppard hoped to contribute to fostering an alternative political culture and allow students to develop new concrete skills.

“We’re exploring different artistic and creative ways of engaging in social justice organizing and also looking at art and creative practices as a form of resistance in themselves.”

“If, as a campus, we have a goal of creating a more equitable environment, I personally think that free educational events […] are an extremely effective way to go about [that],” Sheppard said.

Amy Darwish, a member of the Working Groups and Community Research Committee of QPIRG-McGill, has been working on the event with other organizers since November.

In an interview with The Daily, Darwish said, “I feel like it’s an important opportunity for students to be able to connect with both on-campus social justice issues [and] community struggles happening beyond campus gates.”

For Raphaële Frigon, the outreach and promotion coordinator at QPIRG-McGill, Social Justice Days is “one of the rare outlets where McGill students can learn about equity programs and what the working groups at QPIRG do.”

Speaking to The Daily, Frigon said, “This year we’re focusing on art, creativity, and resistance. It’s not just about the struggle, but also the positive things that come out of it. […] It’s about the new and novel ways in which people organize and create in the face of difficult situations.”

Arno Zilouchi, a U1 Philosophy and Political Science student, told The Daily, “I think Social Justice Days are a good way for anyone from any background to come and explore […]the different social issues discussed and fought [for] on campus.”

Zilouchi continued, “It’s a good way for people to inform themselves, join social justice movements, build movements, and mostly think for themselves. It is also good for people to gather and achieve things together, especially by forming a community that thinks like them or challenges them on intellectual and human grounds.”

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The MoA is renewed every five years, and the current one is set to expire on May 31, 2016.

This year, for the first time, the VP Finance and Operations is replacing the President in negotiations with the University. Faced with an increased workload following the resignation of both the VP Internal and the General Manager, President Kareem Ibrahim delegated the task of negotiating the MoA to VP Finance and Operations Zacheriah Houston, who will be in charge of negotiations alongside VP University Affairs Chloe Rourke.

“It makes a lot of sense for the VP Finance [and Operations] to be involved, because so much of the MoA is financial,” Houston told The Daily. “A lot of it has to do with how our student fees are dispersed, what fees we pay to McGill and what services we receive in return. The VP Finance [and Operations] has to be very familiar with the MoA.”

“It makes a lot of sense for the VP Finance [and Operations] to be involved, because so much of the MoA is financial.”

In 2011, 132 student clubs underwent name changes as per a controversial clause introduced in the MoA in the very last round of negotiations that restricted student groups’ right to use the McGill name.

Josh Redel, who was the President of the Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS) during the negotiations in 2011, was disappointed over what he perceived as a lack of student consultation on the part of the executives. In an interview with The Daily, he had said at the time, “Nobody knew it was going to SSMU Council. […] No one knew. Clubs didn’t even know.” The agenda of the Council meeting where the MoA was discussed was not widely publicized.

Asked whether there would be more transparency this year, Ibrahim said that executives are “definitely hoping to involve students in the process.”

“Nobody knew it was going to SSMU Council.”

“We definitely want students to know what we will be negotiating in favour of,” Ibrahim added, despite the fact that negotiations are typically confidential, as per the preference of the University.

Since 2011, many more clubs have been forced to change their names. VP Clubs & Services Kimber Bialik said that over the last year and a half, clubs have been updating their constitutions only to realize their names were incorrect.

“[This] has been causing a number of issues for all of the clubs for their social media presence, their web presence, and what they’re putting on their posters,” said Bialik.

“There does not seem to be a whole lot of rhyme or reason to how that happened or how these categories were determined or why they differ.”

McGill is actually “cracking down,” says Bialik, on clubs that are not meeting the rules set out in the last MoA. Certain clubs have received requests from the University to change their logo – particularly those using the McGill Martlet or crest. As well, many clubs have been forced to add “McGill Students for” at the beginning of their name. Athletics groups are generally not allowed to use the McGill name, except in certain circumstances.

“There are varying levels of strictness on the different clubs which seem relatively arbitrary,” Bialik added. “There does not seem to be a whole lot of rhyme or reason to how that happened or how these categories were determined or why they differ. It’s inconsistently applied among the groups, as well, which is a big grievance the clubs have.”

Negotiation process

Last year’s SSMU President Courtney Ayukawa attempted to open negotiations with the University a year early to ensure they would be resolved within a reasonable timeframe, but the University was unwilling to open the discussion early. At the time, Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Ollivier Dyens had told The Daily, “That’s why we sign agreements – so we don’t re-open them every year.”

According to Houston, current negotiations will focus on the restrictions placed on clubs and SSMU’s operations. Houston cited the example of the University limiting SSMU’s ability to cater on campus.

Rourke and Houston communicated their demands to the University in November, but have yet to receive a response. However, Houston seems hopeful that their demands will be met by the University and that overall negotiations will be finalized before the end of the semester.

“We’d like [to not] have to pass on negotiations to the next execs,” Houston said.

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The McGill contingent was organized by McGill Against Austerity, a newly formed student group whose goal is to mobilize students, spread awareness about austerity, and increase McGill’s involvement in the movement. Around twenty McGill students gathered at the Roddick Gates at 12 p.m. to participate in the march.

SSMU VP External Emily Boytinck, who participated in the march, told The Daily, “I think it’s really important for McGill students to stand in solidarity with the rest of the Quebec student unions, the Quebec student movement, and the workers. We’re all fighting together against austerity.”

“[Austerity measures are occurring] while tax rates for corporations are being cut and taxes for the rich are not being increased. So essentially, what we are doing is having policies which benefit the rich at the expense of the poor,” Boytinck continued.

“Mass mobilization has always been key to changing government policy and changing power structures.”

At 12:45 p.m., the McGill group was joined by a Concordia contingent of around thirty students, chanting “Avec nous, dans la rue” (“Join us on the street”). The two contingents walked east along Sherbrooke, accompanied by several police cruisers and motorcycles. Ignoring police requests to use the sidewalk, protesters chanted: “Étudiants, travailleurs, même combat” (“Students, workers, same struggle”).

The McGill and Concordia contingents arrived at the general meeting point, the Montreal Science Centre, at 1:15 p.m. More contingents arrived shortly thereafter.
Adam Mackenzie, a U3 Political Science and History student, told The Daily that “mass mobilization has always been key to changing government policy and changing power structures. […] Today I hope to build toward that goal.”

Before the march began, three speeches were broadcast from a stereo system mounted on a truck. A union representative criticized the Quebec government’s claim that there isn’t enough money to reinvest in public services and education, in light of the multinational aerospace and transportation company Bombardier’s recent $1.3 billion bailout.

One student emphasized how austerity measures particularly affect women, in the form of closures of women’s status bureaus, the loss of public sector jobs mostly occupied by women, the closing of regional medical centres, and the cutting of affordable health services among other things.

“I believe that if people want to feel protected by their country, their government, the government should feed into social services.”

Nicola Protetch, a U2 Anthropology student, explained that she was attending the march because she believes austerity is the root of larger problems.

“Hopefully there is power in numbers and hopefully through that power, our voices will be heard, and the government [will start] looking at reform,” Protetch said.
The demands of protesters centred on reinvesting in public services and the public school system, and halting the budget cuts that disproportionately affect the most vulnerable people in society. “I believe that if people want to feel protected by their country, their government, the government should feed into social services,” Protetch explained.

The demonstrators left the Old Port at 1:45 p.m., marching up St. Laurent accompanied by dozens of police officers dressed in full riot gear.

The march was largely peaceful, save for some intervals of tension when police forces walked through the crowd or prevented demonstrators from marching in the direction they wanted to. At certain points, officers forced the march towards the north and east, away from Downtown.

The march ended after around two and a half hours.

Boytinck said, “There’s lots of different solutions to austerity. […] For example, by increasing the number of tax brackets, or raising the corporate tax rate, or really cracking down on corruption, […] gathering money from alternative sources, and not cutting valuable social programs.”

“Austerity is not a necessity; it’s a political choice,” she added.

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