This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness. 

The McGill Daily (MD): After graduating from McGill and entering the workforce, you didn’t originally anticipate becoming a journalist. In what ways did your education at McGill and prior experience in economic research prepare you to become a journalist?

Luca Léry Moffat (LLM): To maybe give you a bit of background, in my third or fourth year, I got really into economics. I was doing a different major, did ECON 416 that was about topics in economic development, and sort of fell in love with it and decided to switch to the honours program. By the end of my third year, going into my fourth year, I was pretty set on applying for economic research. As I said in the lecture, I applied to a bunch of different pre-docs; most of which were very academic. 

Then, of course, I went on to get this job at a think tank. It was a kind of pre-doc as a research analyst, but it was at a think tank, so [it was] less academically focused. Policy is a bit different from academia. It’s more about being a messenger between academia and policymakers. So, as an economist, I was reading lots of academic stuff, policy papers, and then trying to communicate it clearly to another audience. 

I think it was actually during my first job when I picked up a lot of the skills that I needed in journalism: the ability to read a lot, synthesize that information, spin a story, figure out what the most important story is, and what the key messages you want to get across are. Something else I got from my first job was a network. So, I started building a network in Brussels, and those people have become invaluable in [my] pivoting to journalism because being a journalist is basically knowing lots of people and getting them to tell you stuff. I mean, that’s literally all it is – anyone could do it. 

I would say that one thing that I got from McGill in the economics program was the ability to use data. I think that has given me a real edge in my journalistic career because not many people can make a graph. Data visualization is something which journalism is really shifting towards. People don’t have [long] attention spans anymore, so we like to see pretty graphs and pictures while scrolling through these interactive articles. The ability to code and knowing how to use an Excel spreadsheet was very attractive to prospective employers. I’d say that’s something I got from McGill which really helped me. 

MD: You mentioned that you were also a graduate of POLI 331. With regards to knowledge concerning Ukraine, Russia, and their histories, what piqued your interest in Eastern European affairs during your undergraduate degree or even when working in economic research? 

LLM: I was talking to Professor Popova about this – I loved my time at McGill. I had amazing professors, learned so much, and got a really good quality of education. Having said that, I feel as though I was taught economics and Russian both quite badly. I don’t think that’s McGill’s fault, I think that’s just education in the West. 

On the economic side, you learn all of this economic theory which comes from the 1970s and 80s. But you don’t really look at finance at all even though finance has, over the last 40-50 years, become such a crucial part of the economic system. International financial flows have real ramifications for the economy, whereas that’s not integrated into a lot of the economic models that we study. On the Russian side, we were studying all of this literature without looking at it through the lens of colonialism. I think in the West, the idea that Russia is an empire is sort of a bit of an odd one when you’re first confronted with it. But actually, it’s one of the last standing empires from this massive period of colonialism. The US still exists, but many of the others have kind of disintegrated, or are now a shell of their former selves. I would study Russian literature and I remember studying, for example, A Hero of Our Time by [Mikhail] Lermontov, and at no point did I stop to consider, “Why is there this Russian guy in the Caucasus? What is he doing there?” Well, of course, it was part of this expansion of the Russian Empire. So, that’s just something which I’ve sort of reflected on since leaving McGill. 

In terms of what piques my interest in Eastern European affairs, I think it was classes like POLI 331 or HIST 226, which were about the Balkans, Greece, and Turkey throughout the 20th century. What I found so interesting about it was how it’s really complicated – borders changed all the time throughout the 20th century, and people moved. After World War I, borders moved and people stayed where they were. After World War II, borders pretty much stayed where they were and people moved. There’s so much packed into European history, which is really difficult to unearth because it’s complicated. The Russian, poli-sci, and history classes I took at McGill started to shed a light on that, or even just scratched the surface of those really complicated events. And it left me hungry for more. 

MD: During the Zoom call, you mentioned that you often feel conflicted as the journalistic field often emphasizes objectivity and neutrality, while the reporting you do and the publication you work for are staunchly supportive of Ukraine’s sovereignty. How do you navigate this conflict and adhere to journalistic integrity while fighting for a cause you feel so strongly about?

LLM: I find no trouble navigating it whatsoever because I think many things can be true at the same time. I’m staunchly supportive of Ukraine. I believe the facts clearly show that Ukraine is in a war for its own existence, that this is a war for two competing visions of society: one is dictatorship, and one is democracy and liberal values, and I am more partial to the latter. 

At the same time, I believe that Ukraine has a lot of work to do when it comes to implementing certain reforms. Some articles I’ve written have been sharply critical of the government. In other articles, I have been less critical or even praised the government. I’m not writing op-eds. I’m a reporter, so I’m interviewing people, I’m putting in their quotes, and I’m telling the story. I [will] always try to tell a story that I believe is factually accurate and where I’ve quoted people in the way that they would want to be quoted. 

At the end of the day, Ukraine is fighting for a future where it’s a democracy and it has its own sovereignty. Freedom of the press is a key tenet of a democratic, rules-based, sovereign state. So I think as a reporter, it makes complete sense that I’m writing articles which [can be] more critical of the government.

MD: To my knowledge, you are proficient in Russian and currently learning Ukrainian. What has the process of learning the Ukrainian language been like for you, and what is it like to report for a primarily English-language newspaper when English is not the official language of Ukraine?

LLM: First of all, learning Russian [at McGill] was amazing because I had incredible professors. I have to shout out Maria Ivanova, I think she’s still there, as well as Daniel Pratt, and a few others. Having had a series of other language teachers since who weren’t so good, it made me appreciate how incredible [my McGill ones] were. At McGill, the quality of education in the Russian department was really phenomenal. I’m really nostalgic about it. 

The process of learning Ukrainian started when I arrived here on the 17th of April, exactly 11 months ago. When I first arrived, I figured that my Russian would be reasonably helpful, even though I understood that people were speaking less Russian nowadays because they’re being invaded by Russia and also wanting to put [the] Ukrainian [language] into the limelight. Kyiv used to be a very Russian-speaking city up until the full-scale invasion in 2022, but has [now] massively pivoted to Ukrainian. You still hear Russian around quite a lot, but out of respect I wanted to learn Ukrainian. For me, it was very clear that a lot of people didn’t want to be spoken to in Russian. As a way of just being respectful, I wanted to learn Ukrainian. 

What I think the most crucial element of learning any language is completely immersing yourself. It’s been very humbling because learning a language from scratch is not easy. Ukrainian is a very difficult language. It’s massively helped me to have such a good quality of education at McGill on the Russian side of things because they’re both Slavic languages. Even though they’re very different, lots of the grammar is the same, [and] lots of the endings are sort of similar. Not having to start from scratch on the grammar side has been really helpful. 

MD: How have you perceived reporting from journalists in Ukraine on the Russo-Ukrainian war to be different from reporting published by Western media? 

LLM: I’m thinking of a time when I went back to the UK last summer, and we had a big gathering [with] a bunch of McGill alumni. I brought back a bunch of caps with the Ukrainian flag on them to give to some friends. Someone said, “Oh, you’re the one who’s working as a journalist in Ukraine,” and made a joke about not being neutral [in the war] because of my friends who had these caps on. I think there is a desire amongst some reporters, and a desire in the public rhetoric of the West, to believe that this war is political and that you can be neutral in it. 

What was always clear to me but really crystallized when I arrived in Ukraine was that this war is happening because of Russia’s intent to erase Ukrainian statehood, erase the Ukrainian language, and to absorb Ukraine as part of Russia. Putin has some really peculiar historical fantasies which all mainstream historians reject entirely: that Ukraine isn’t a real place and that it’s the Bolsheviks’ fault that Ukraine exists. The reality is that Ukraine is a real place. It has people who really care about their country, [and] demonstrably so because there are 900,000 people in the army. There are hundreds of thousands who have been injured or have died defending their country. There are so many Ukrainian civil society activists who care about their language. You see Ukrainian flags everywhere. People have backpacks with Ukrainian ribbons. 

Ukrainian society is complicated. There are lots of different perspectives within the country. But I’m actually rather impressed by the homogeneity in supporting Ukraine, Land] not wanting [it| to be part of Russia, especially in a country that has a long history of entanglement with Russia. Given everything that I’ve just said, it’s pretty easy to define this war as a genocidal war because it is an attempt to erase a nation. And that is the definition of genocide. 

In the Western media, this is not always made explicit. I think it should be made explicit. This is essentially an anachronistic empire. If you know anything about history, you can see this [repeating]. I mean, it rings throughout the ages. If you look at recent history, you can see Georgia in 2008, which Russia invaded. You can see Crimea in 2014. You can see interference in Ukrainian elections in 2004 [and] 2005 (the Orange Revolution). 

Western media sometimes doesn’t always do a good job of portraying that. But for me, those are the facts and a journalist’s job is to report the facts. And it’s very difficult for me to see it from any other perspective. I love hearing other people’s views, even if I find them abhorrent sometimes. I really enjoy trying to understand where people come from. For me, it’s so clear that the facts are [that] this is an imperialistic, genocidal war.

The post Reporting in a Warzone appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Over the reading break, I had an in-depth conversation with Baybayon on his motivations to run, his campaign strategy, and his upcoming plans for the 2026-2027 academic year.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Sena Ho for The McGill Daily (MD): What motivated or inspired you to run for AUS president? What experiences or moments throughout your time at McGill led you to this decision?

Keith Baybayon (KB): came to McGill with background in student government, because I had served as a student trustee for my school board in Toronto. So I had already done a lot of advocacy work, such as recognizing the pride flag [and Pride Month in my Catholic school board, etc. I had been in important operational and standardized meetings with the school board, which gave me the experience I wanted to take forward at McGill University. I think student advocacy is very important because we’re at a very unique standpoint in our lives, where the systems in place constantly affect us, and we have the least representation at these decision-making tables. Growing up with that mindset, I’ve always wanted to fight for my peers.

I first got involved with the AUS in my first year as a committee’s volunteer, through the Arts Student Employment Fund Committee, as well as the Valedictorian Selection Committee. I wanted to test the waters a little bit of what student government was like in this new environment – because, [Montreal] was just completely different: a new language, new government, etc. I later was elected as Arts Representative to the Student Society at McGill in my second year. That got me more familiar with the environment of how student government actually works. I’ve come to really love the Arts community, because I feel we’re so unique. We have so many different disciplines, and so many different programs under our portfolio, to the point where it’s so diverse – it’s so full of life. And that’s why I wanted to continuously expand my horizons within the AUS and explore more positions to get more involved with the art student perspective at these decision making tables.

Once I leave McGill, I want to, and hope to, leave the Arts community better than I found it.

MD: Was there anything that you observed while being an Arts Representative or Arts Senator, that institutionally you wanted to change as president?

KB: One thing I definitely wanted to change was the structure of power that was distributed within the SSMU I feel like it was just a bit imbalanced. You have, for example, the Legislative Council in which you have all the elected representatives from different faculties. But then you have the Board of Directors (BOD) who have the last say in a lot of the things we try to pass at Legislative Council. I feel like the distribution of power was very imbalanced [because the BOD were elected for different positions that don’t necessarily represent every single faculty, point blank.

Right now, we’re in a review period for the Student Society of McGill University Constitution, which I’ve been able to take part in. There was also the recent plebiscite released to the Student Society [asking] who should have the power of operations. The results [displayed a preference for] Legislative Council over the BOD or the executive committee. I hope to see that implemented very soon. What I’ve been wanting to focus on when entering the Arts Representative role is changing up operations to ensure that whoever gets these positions is elected by the students.

MD: Are there any initiatives in which you are planning to enhance Arts student life and community on campus?

KB: I hope to continue my advocacy work from my role as Senator into my presidency. A lot of things that we at the Senate Caucus focused on has been the Policy on Assessment of Student Learning. The policy was implemented just last year, and because it’s so new, there aren’t really strong mechanisms in place to hold those responsible for enforcing it accountable within their classrooms.

This policy is so important because it protects a lot of rights for students. For example, PASL requires that assessment methods, including their structure, weight, and due dates, be outlined in the syllabus, which raises questions about practices like pop quizzes. Under this policy you also have the right to receive feedback from your assignments or assessments. So I want to create a mechanism in the Faculty of Arts, where we can track violations of this policy. We need to make this clear amongst our faculty, professors, and students, so that they can report these violations, [observe how trends are increasing, and [learn] how to mitigate them.

I see the future of working alongside the Vice President Academic, Lucy, and our senators, who are interested in working on this mechanism. Another thing I’d like to focus on is the state of learning at McGill. A lot of students are very vocal about how these classes with hundreds of kids are just not conducive to learning. Whereas, for example, the Education Student Senate has been a leader in assessing the state of learning for students through capstone projects and experiential learning experiences that I would love to see in the Arts. So, I want to work with the Office of Arts Education on that end to identify the best pedagogical practices for our faculty.

Another aspect on the operational side is accountability. My campaign focused a lot on keeping executives and any student elected positions accountable to their responsibilities and our recently amended AUS Constitution makes it easier to achieve that. I don’t want to take a punitive approach to keeping people accountable. I want to take a more collaborative approach. So I focused my campaign on co-creating an accountability plan with executives, departmental executives, and students of the Arts Faculty to see how we can keep ourselves accountable to our responsibilities and pitches from the beginning of the year.

I want to kind of take some time from now up until September to create a plan in which we can keep ourselves accountable, whether that means identifying what our specific focuses are for the year, alongside our mandates within our positions, [or] doing midterm check-ins, which we already do in Legislative Council, but also making that more public and visible to the general student community.

MD: Switching gears to another tenet of your campaign: student internships. I’m wondering, what steps are you planning on putting in motion to give students better access and opportunity to internships? Considering the present economy and job market, in what ways does the AUS plan to support Arts students financially and in their career prospects?

KB: There’s going to be a lot of collaboration on that for sure. We have our Vice President External that’s in charge of partnerships and postgraduate opportunities. But I don’t want to solely focus on just postgraduate opportunities. An important partner that we have is the Arts Internship Office (AIO) – they provide a lot of opportunities for our students already. I want to make that more visible [since] McGill is notorious for having so many things going on, but students just aren’t aware about them. It could be through a centralized database within the AUS or an internship event where partners of the AIO can come to the AUS to talk.

On the internal side of things, we actually have the Arts Student Employment Fund. This is an opportunity for students to get work experience, like research on campus alongside a professor. This can be very intimidating, I’d say, especially for first or second years who don’t really know much about the processes of requesting for research opportunities. I really want to demystify the Arts Student Employment Fund for students to simplify that process for them, and work with VP Academic on that end.

Another thing I’d like to really promote is cross-faculty opportunities. I feel like we shouldn’t leave ourselves to just the Arts when, for example, the School of Population and Global Health have so many opportunities under their belt, and are constantly promoting it to different faculties. Last semester, I did a Department of Equity, Ethics, and Policy internship. My project was stationed at the Department of Integrated Studies of Education in the Faculty of Education where you have so many different departments working together. I see the power in collaboration, I see the opportunities found in other faculties, and we need to work with each other.

With the upcoming President’s Roundtable of the different faculty presidents, I’d love to garner their knowledge and also their expertise in how we can provide more opportunities for all students using our resources.

MD: What were your main goals during the campaign process to get your message across to students?

KB: To simplify, I had a really fun time doing it just because it’s an opportunity for the students to get to know me. For me, it was more [focused] on authenticity because I’ve been with the AUS for a while now. I know a lot of people can vouch for wanting new leadership, but what was a very important pillar for myself was institutional memory. Over three to four years at the AUS, I’ve seen so many different initiatives and projects take place – I’ve seen a lot of things fail, too.

I was able to work with that in my campaign because I was focused on what’s happened in the past year and how we can improve things for the coming year. I wanted voters to see that the AUS should be a space in which they feel comfortable learning and being in; it should be a society that functions, works reliably, and follows through on their commitments, not just making huge promises during the elections. My platform focused onaccountability, student rights and advocacy, and community engagement. An important thing for me was making accountability a very central expectation because it’s really tough not having any visible outlets for students in the General Assembly. One big frustration I’ve had over the years is that sometimes governance [is not] accessible to students. So that was a very important priority of mine – I wanted students to feel less disconnected from the student society. Whether that means more town halls, more roundtables with, for example, the President and VP Academics to talk about PASL, the Policy and Student Assessment and Learning, or VP Finance to study the finance mechanism for the Financial Management Committee.

Another thing in my campaign was empowering students to build community under the AUS. Over the years, you start seeing the LUTHOUL in voting increase. During my Arts Rep year we had 13 per cent turnout, while this year we had almost 18 percent. Another one of my pillars was to reduce the barriers to student initiatives under the AUS. Making it easier, for example, to start clubs, which you don’t have under the AUS. It could be a future endeavor that is possible after consulting departments, students, and executives.

MD: A more lighthearted question – in terms of your campaign, you had a very clear branding. How did you envision that? Did you come across any obstacles or road blocks throughout that brainstorming process?

KB: I feel like my campaign brief was just an accumulation of everything that I’ve experienced at McGill in the past three years: every conversation, debate, project I’ve taken on, motion I’ve written, etc. Everything kind of led up to that moment because all of these ideas were not created from thin air. It’s been built upon those that came before me.

I’ve shown a lot of appreciation, and I will continue to show a lot of appreciation for the past presidents. I’ve worked with each of them, and I’ve seen their leadership has accumulated over the years too. This year, I just wanted to take that opportunity to show that collaboration is really possible. This platform was really built on the students, because, like a lot of the pillars I’ve mentioned, they were also in consultation with departmental executives or even just my friends, gauging their interests and thoughts.

With my branding and messaging, that was just like my own little twist to it. I’ve seen so many fun, creative things happening online. I remember I did a dance to Sabrina Carpenter’s “Man Child,” because I just woke up one day, saw it on TikTok, and thought ‘let me do this.’ So I called my friend and we did it right there. I felt like taking a fun twist to things was very important for my campaign, because that’s who 1 am.

MD: Are there any future projects or initiatives planned that you want to mention?

KB: I am very excited for my executives – we have so many amazing individuals in these positions, and they’re going to have their own passion projects, too. I’m very keen to support each of them. The president’s role is very all-rounded. I feel like when people see it at first glance, they think, ‘Oh, you’re just the spokesperson and on the operational side of things.’ I want to ensure that the AUS is in a stabilized state so that you can actually do what you want to pursue. Without transparency or accountability, the AUS can fall short on their promises just because we don’t have the internal structures in place. So that’s been a very important focus of mine for these next few months.

Afterwards, I’d love to be able to see all of their projects come into action too [as well as any students that want to do a project with the AUS. I’ve emphasized an open door policy a lot in my campaign. A student can book a meeting with me and I’ll be happy to talk to them. I want to foster that sort of environment within the AUS as a whole.

The prospective executive team will not officially take office until May 1, and are currently undergoing a period of transition from the current AUS board.

The post A Plan for the Future: A Chat with Keith Baybayon appeared first on The McGill Daily.

GardaWorld’s involvement with ICE was revealed last July in a Miami Herald report that detailed how a subsidiary of the Montreal- based firm, GardaWorld Federal Services, was approved as one among ten companies to aid in running Alligator Alcatraz. The company was awarded eight million USD by ICE for the security contract.

Montreal activists — accompanied by Québec solidaire, Amnesty International, and several union representatives from the Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux (CSN – Federation of National Trades Unions) and the Fédération Autonome de l’Enseignement (FAE) — gathered at Place Vertu, before making the approximately two-kilometre march towards the security firm’s headquarters. A McGill contingency also attended the protest.

The university has historically procured at least $19 million in GardaWorld contracts for campus security services. McGill currently continues to hire security officers from GardaWorld, with job listings as recent as February 4, 2026. Student organizers joined the march with a banner stating: “Garda Off Our Campus.”

McGill students departed from the McGill campus and joined other demonstrators at Place Vertu. The organizers, who have asked the Daily to remain anonymous, elected to create this contingent to encourage students to travel to the protest despite being 55 minutes away by public transit. They sought to highlight McGill’s involvement with GardaWorld in a written statement to the Daily: “McGill contracts GardaWorld to police its students. Students have observed an increased presence of GardaWorld security in the semesters that followed the Gaza Solidarity encampment.”

The McGill organizers further stated that, “McGill has been extremely willing to pay large amounts of money to “securitize” its campus … Considering that a good portion of this money must have gone to their partnership with Garda[World], the students have a responsibility to demand an end to our University’s complicity in ICE’s terrorism, which we know is facilitated by GardaWorld.”

When asked about their personal feelings about having GardaWorld’s security officers on campus grounds, the organizers said that, “we are outraged. It is extremely unsettling to think that the same security guards who follow around students and encroach on their right to protest” work for the same organization that helps “ICE dehumanize and terrorize people in Alligator Alcatraz.”

When asked about why McGill students should mobilize, student organizers responded, “Students should be in charge of what occurs on their own campus.” The contingency outlined future steps that McGill students can take, should they also feel outraged by the GardaWorld contract: “We need to mobilize to show admin that we do not agree with the securitization of our own campuses. We refuse for our tuition to go towards security that we don’t want … our money going towards a company which funds ICE.”

Before leaving from Place Vertu, Celeste Trianon, one of the protest organizers, led a series of speakers to the fore. Each condemned GardaWorld’s collaboration with ICE and their participation in detaining over 6,000 individuals at the South Florida detention centre under inhuman and unsanitary living conditions.

An organizer from Indivisible Québec said, “While ICE operates in the United States, the infrastructure that enables it does not stop at the border. GardaWorld, a corporation headquartered here in Quebec, is one of the private contractors involved in the immigration detention systems.” In 2022, Investissement Québec, a provincial investment agency, invested $300 million CAD in the firm; while nationally, the Canadian federal government has entered into significant, long-term contracts with GardaWorld, including a deal brokered with Canadian Air Transport Security Authority in 2023 for $2.7 billion.

“Let us be clear: when public funds strengthen corporations tied to detention systems, when subsidies and contracts flow without scrutiny, and when profit is made from incarceration that is not neutrality. That is participation,” the speaker continued.

A Montreal local who wished to remain anonymous spoke with the Daily, stating that it was vital for Canadians to show up and protest, “especially when we are seeing this rise in right-wing conservatives who are not afraid to assemble on the other side.” She noted that attending protests such as this one is important for building community and creating active change in the world we live in.

“There’s a lot of action in the US [against ICE], which makes the world think that Canada isn’t doing anything, but we are,” she said. “Canada is also participating in protesting here — that’s why it is so important.”

So far, the protestors mentioned there have been no talks with the McGill administration regarding its affiliation with GardaWorld. The students urged that there is a chance for dialogue should there be more pressure on the University through popular support and direct action. As they put it, “They will not change unless they are cornered into doing so.”

The Daily has reached out for comment from McGill University. As of the time of writing, we are waiting for a response.

Upon arriving at the firm’s headquarters at 5 PM, the demonstrators were met with riot police and GardaWorld’s security staff. According to the Montreal Gazette, the confrontation resulted in officers spraying the crowd with pepper spray and tear gas. At least one demonstrator was arrested, reportedly throwing a piece of ice at an officer before being pinned to the ground.

The post One Thousand Protest McGill-Contracted Security Firm Operating at ICE Detention Facility appeared first on The McGill Daily.

But who are this year’s candidates, and what campaign promises are they running on? 

There is a marked distinction between the realms of what the province is responsible for, and those that the municipalities are in charge of. While Quebec deals with issues such as health care, education, or immigration, municipalities provide Montrealers with basic services, including snow removal, road maintenance, or water provision to residents. As a result, these candidates have focused their promised policy agendas on issues such as public transit, unhoused populations, cleanliness, and culture/recreation. 

This Sunday, voters should expect to see five main candidates on the ballot: Luc Rabouin from Projet Montréal, Soraya Martinez Ferrada from Ensemble Montréal, Craig Sauvé from Transition Montréal, Gilbert Thibodeau from Action Montréal, and Jean-François Kacou from Futur Montréal.

Of the city’s main issues, Montrealers are most concerned with the cost of living, homelessness, and transportation around the city. Let’s look at how each candidate fares on these three policy areas.

Luc Rabouin

Coming from incumbent Valérie Plante’s party, Luc Rabouin came out in the lead in Projet Montréal’s leadership race this past March to become the new party leader. He has held political office for five years, which began after his victory as the elected borough mayor of Plateau-Mont-Royal in 2019.

Rabouin’s push to run his campaign on the homelessness crisis and affordable housing in the city is what ultimately led to his victory in becoming party leader for Projet Montréal this year. He claims to be driven by a wide array of issues including environmental policy, urban planning, and participatory democracy.

Cost of Living

When it comes to affordable housing and the cost of living, many Montrealers feel skeptical of the possibility for change under another Projet Montréal term. Since 2018, housing has become increasingly inaccessible, with the average cost of rent almost 120 per cent higher than when Plante took office in 2018. In that same time period, the number of unhoused people has also increased by 10 per cent each year.

Rabouin claims that his office will bring affordability back to Montreal. He intends to launch a $100 million fund that would support nonprofits in building out socialized housing which would replace Plante’s 20-20-20 affordable housing bylaw that mandated all new residential developments to designate at least 20 per cent of units as social housing, 20 per cent as affordable housing, and 20 per cent as family housing. This bylaw, which was adopted in 2021, was unable to fulfill its goal of creating more affordable housing due to its lack of enforcement, and had also eased some of its requirements for new development projects. Rabouin’s focus has been on incentivizing property owners to allocate more of their lands into housing, as well as forcing landlords to keep their properties on the market through a tax on unoccupied housing. For low-income homeowners and elderly residents, his plan will also include a property-tax deferral program.

Unhoused Crisis

The homelessness crisis was presented as one of Projet Montréal key agendas, as revealed in the party’s electoral platform released earlier this month. Rabouin pledges to eliminate homelessness in Montreal by 2030 by doubling the funding granted to organizations that work with unhoused populations. He also proposed to add 1,000 total social and transitional housing units, 500 of which would be modular units, which are smaller scale forms of transitional housing that are quicker and cheaper to construct.

Public Transit

Furthermore, as the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) prepares for another strike to be held next month, public transit has risen as another key area of concern for Montrealers. Rabouin has announced his plans for an “efficient bus network” system called the Réseau express bus that would implement a reserved bus lane and operate 24/7. Additionally, his campaign supports the construction of three new tram lines that are already under development, including the east-end tramway project, increasing the frequency of the Metro during rush hour, and making all Metro stations universally accessible.

Soraya Martinez Ferrada

Soraya Martinez Ferrada is a former Liberal Member of Parliament for Hochelaga and former Minister responsible for the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, ending her tenure in early 2025 to lead Ensemble Montréal. Having begun her political career in 2005 as a Montreal City Councillor for Saint-Michel, she has twenty years of experience within the Quebec political scene.

Martinez Ferrada is currently polling ahead of the other mayoral candidates for Montrealers’ top pick, according to a Segma Research for Radio-Canada poll conducted on Thursday, October 16. She is currently the candidate with the most voter support at 26 per cent, compared to Rabouin who is at 18 per cent. Although her platform is largely centered on housing-related issues, giving herself the title la mairesse du logement, or “the mayor of housing,” her reputation among Montrealers took a hit this May after having violated Quebec law by illegally collecting a security deposit from one of her renting tenants.

Cost of Living

In order to tackle the lack of affordable housing and the rising cost of living, Martinez Ferrada claims she will invest $1 million in community organization and housing initiatives, such as La Maison du Père, a rent assistance bank in Montreal. She has also pushed forward a housing bank initiative that would reserve affordable housing units on the market with the intention of transferring the leases to those without housing on July 1, which is when most leases in Montreal begin. In tension with her history as a landlord, as well as her connections with the landlord lobbyist group CORPIQ, she states that her party is committed to protecting renters’ rights and aims to establish a municipal rental registry. In addition to these larger projects, her campaign is also running on assisting first-time homeowners with buying property by granting them tax breaks as well as loans.

Unhoused Crisis

Under the wing of Martinez Ferrada, Ensemble Montréal seeks to establish a Tactical Homelessness Intervention Group that will approach the unhoused crisis in the city as a long-term goal. The party looks to work with the Montreal municipal police, Service de police de la Ville de Montréal, to create public safety committees alongside citizens, community organizers, and borough representatives.

Within her first 100 days, Martinez Ferrada announced plans for a protocol to manage homeless encampments that would be developed with community organizations, with the promise of ending encampments in the city within the next four years. She also intends to increase the city’s annual budget that addresses homelessness to $30 million, with a $10 million matching fund in the private sector to attract contributions that would fund homelessness initiatives.

Public Transit

One of Ensemble Montréal’s key policy platforms is to promote safe and efficient transportation. They have focused their energy on making the Metro system more efficient, specifically transways on the eastern side of Montreal. The party has stated that it plans to increase the frequency of Metro services as well as “improve the comfort, speed, and safety of users,” which local transportation planning experts have found to be a large undertaking. In addition, Martinez Ferrada claims she wants to reduce the STM’s “unnecessary spending.”

With regards to active transit, Martinez Ferrada had been headstrong on the biking front, committing to launch an audit of Montreal’s bike path network in her first 100 days. She is looking to secure safe bike paths by allocating funds to bring most routes “up to standard,” while eliminating ones that are found to be potentially dangerous.

Craig Sauvé

Transition Montréal’s mission is vastly different from both Ensemble Montréal and Projet Montréal. Led and founded by Craig Sauvé, former city councillor for Projet Montréal and now vice-chair of the STM’s Board of Directors, this party is attempting “to offer [Montrealers] a new voice: a constructive voice, a voice that focuses on collaboration and good ideas.”

The party is strongly rooted in its progressive vision, proposing a divestment plan from the genocide in Palestine and the war in Ukraine. Sauvé’s platform is ambitious in reenvisioning transit for Montrealers, implementing municipal electoral reforms, establishing safer school environments, offering social transit fares for low-income residents, and imposing higher property taxes on Montreal’s ultra-wealthy landowners.

Sauvé has caught the attention of many young progressives in the city with his radical approach to public transportation, even denouncing Quebec’s ban on gender-neutral language in provincial communications, which other candidates have yet to do. Major concerns about Transition Montréal surround the party’s ability to follow through with the strong claims they have campaigned on.

Cost of Living

Sauvé has campaigned on a progressive housing policy that is geared towards improving tenant conditions within the city. Transition Montréal is looking to establish Bâtir Montréal, a paramunicipal body that will oversee the construction of public and community housing alongside local non-profit to develop a $10 million rental assistance bank with a public rent registry. He aims to make the process of receiving assistance more efficient by creating a “one-stop housing portal” to centralize permitting applications, as well as simplify the permits co-operates and non-profits apply for. Additionally, Sauvé intends on taxing the city’s ultra-wealthy by subjecting single-family properties valued at over $3.5 million to 1.25 times the standard tax rate.

Unhoused Crisis

At a debate on October 9, Sauvé announced that he would declare a state of emergency to allow unhoused people to move into vacant buildings and hotels as sources of temporary shelter. With regards to homeless encampments, he noted explicitly his plans to ban police interventions on encampments and replace them with community initiatives led by a team of social workers and outreach staff. Longer-term efforts consist in establishing a detailed plan for how to approach encampments with more than 10 tents, consulting with local and unhoused populations on decisions regarding those encampments. Transition Montréal estimates allocating a total of $20 million annually to combat homelessness.

Public Transit

Public transpiration is one of Transition Montréal’s key priorities. The party proposes extending the orange and green Metro lines to the Bois-Franc REM station and to LaSalle and Lachine, respectively. This is a part of Sauvé’s vision to restructure the Grand Sud-Ouest. They have also proposed the “social fare system” that would make public transit more affordable for low-income residents, giving those with an adjusted annual income of under $47,500 the reduced monthly fare of $62.75. For transit infrastructure, Transition Montréal is looking to invest in rapid bus corridors and create reserved lanes on routes where light-rail network rails are planned to be built. Furthermore, they hope to establish a kilometre-based tax on vehicles, with tax revenue going towards maintaining roads and developing more extensive public transit systems.

Gilbert Thibodeau

Gilbert Thibodeau, the founder of his party Action Montréal, is running again in this year’s municipal elections after having received less than 1 per cent of the vote during the 2021 election cycle. Thibodeau’s platform leans center-right, with his proposed agenda aiming to reduce the number of elected officials in Montreal, increase surveillance efforts among Montreal police, and eliminate a number of bike paths and Bixi stations to clear up street spaces.

Cost of Living

To address the increased cost of living, Action Montréal aims to support social economy organizations such as the Unité de travail pour l’implantation de logement étudiant, the Fédération des coopératives de Montréal, and the Société de développement Angus in providing affordable housing. The party has claimed they are opposed to rent registries, and intend to respond to the housing crisis through strengthening rent transparency, protecting tenants against renovations, encouraging tenant autonomy, and facilitating cooperating and non-profit initiatives.

Unhoused Crisis

Action Montréal recognizes the severity of the unhoused crisis and aims to utilize civil society organizations, such as churches and mosques, to provide these populations with temporary housing. To address the current crisis, Action Montréal’s platform states that the party will introduce “transitional centres” in the next two years. These are described as secure hubs located in 80 vacant Office municipal d’habitation de Montréal buildings that would provide key health and sanitary services for “three profiles: people facing economic hardship, those with addictions, or those with mental health challenges.” With the help of social workers, the party additionally states that they will offer personalized rehabilitation programs for individuals belonging to these profiles. In terms of mitigation efforts, Action Montréal plans to provide rent assistance and at-risk youth programs.

Public Transit

Thibodeau has been vocal about reducing the number of bike lanes in the city in order to promote and protect drivers. In order to achieve this, he has proposed the removal of Bixi rental stations between December 1 and March 15. Action Montréal also plans to make car parking more accessible through the implementation of price caps on parking meters at $2 per hour, with free marking meters from Fridays at 9:00 AM to Mondays at 9:00 AM.

Jean-François Kacou

Futur Montréal is the newest centrist party in the running, founded just this year, with the goal of “doing politics differently, with bold ideas, pragmatic solutions and leadership rooted in fairness, accountability and inclusion.” Jean-François Kacou has an extensive political background, having served as the executive director of Ensemble Montréal and as an elected member of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO. Futur Montréal unveiled its party platform on October 23, with key policy areas including tackling the unhoused crisis, securing public transportation, and bringing affordable housing to Montrealers.

Cost of Living

Futur Montreal is looking to levy on luxury housing, moving subsequent tax revenue into a transparent fund dedicated for building social housing. The party have been strongly opposed to the current 20-20-20 bylaw and instead wants to focus on converting underused spaces into rent-controlled student housing zones.

Unhoused Crisis

Futur Montréal’s platform outlines plans to create a Social Intervention Service (SIS) which would unite over 60 organizations already active in addressing the unhoused crisis. The SIS’s projects would include a pilot project that would convert vacant industrial buildings that would temporarily provide immediate shelter for the city’s unhoused population. It would additionally provide relocation assistance and transportation for unhoused populations.

Public Transit

Jean-François Kacou has placed a heavy emphasis on the increased accessibility of bus networks. In an interview with CBC, the Futur Montréal leader stated that he “wants Montreal to have the best bus network in the world.” Acknowledging the cost efficient price of public transport in Montreal, the Futur Montréal platform states that the party aims to introduce a four year public transit fare freeze and increase the efficiency of the city’s bus network with a proposed frequency of buses every 15 minutes, seven days a week. In relation to cycling networks, Futur Montréal plans on suspending the construction of new bike lanes along commercial arteries, residential streets, and parks to improve safety. The party has made it their objective to improve the security of existing bike lanes and to implement a safe and monitored overnight bicycle storage.

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As a hub for student activism in America, particularly regarding pro-Palestinian resistance on campus, Columbia University has been the first of many higher education institutions in the U.S. targeted by the Trump administration. For example, on March 20, Trump announced the suspension of 175 million USD in federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania for allowing transgender women to participate in women’s sports. The Trump administration has also called for an investigation into the University of California (UC) system in the wake of allegations of antisemitism. As a result of these threats, the UC system has also banned ‘diversity statements’ from their faculty hiring process amidst a federal crackdown on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, showcasing how the Trump administration’s goals will leave lasting impacts on both students and staff.

The cuts in Columbia’s federal funding mark the first of many initiatives that the U.S. government is taking in stripping private and public institutions of their autonomy, in curriculum, admissions, and hiring processes. Critically, it has also created a shift in the exercise of First Amendment rights in spaces where free thought has traditionally been welcomed. As the number of campus protests
has exploded in the past year – with over 3,000 protests logged by Harvard University Ash Center’s
Nonviolent Action Lab – the Trump administration is adamant to control many of the country’s
leading universities. Trump has carefully crafted a route to justify restrictions on free speech, such
as by equating pro-Palestinian activism with anti-semitism, setting a dangerous precedent for
future leaders.

Amid the protests at Columbia, Trump dispatched federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) into two university residences, as revealed in an email sent out to students from the Interim President Katrina Armstrong on March 13. These agents, alongside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, had been assigned with arrest warrants, one for Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil, his detention being met with massive outcry across the country. Following his arrest, Trump vowed to deport pro-Palestinian activists, claiming that they support Hamas and are antisemitic. Despite the extreme circumstances that students across the country have been met with, protestors have refused to back down.

Universities across Canada and the U.S. have already been experiencing massive budget cuts, curtailing many PhD programs and even rescinding acceptances, as reported at the University of Pennsylvania. Now, with the threat of additional cuts looming over American universities, higher
education has become an instrument to Trump’s agenda to lead the country down a path of anti-intellectualism. As demonstrated earlier by the UC system’s banning of ‘diversity statements’ (despite California being a forerunner of readjusting to restore diversity in its admissions after the banning of affirmative action in the 90s), universities have preemptively changed their policies to align with the Trump administration’s values in order to protect themselves against retaliation.

The many arguments that Trump has used to silence or control universities, such as punishing antisemitism due to anti-war protests, have been used as scapegoats for their broader mission of destroying “wokeness” in the U.S. In 2021, J.D. Vance declared that “the universities are the enemy.” This was not just an empty statement, as indicated by Trump’s recent executive order to shut down the Department of Education. Along the campaign trail, Trump and the Republican Party argued that the department should be under state control and that it has become dominated by liberal ideology. This anti-woke agenda is a symptom of the accelerating democratic backslide in the U.S., as well what many scholars deem to be an element of a developing fascist regime. In its self-declared war against “woke” culture, the Trump administration has actually been fighting against political opposition, resistant strains of thought, and values that do not directly align with its own.

On Friday, Columbia announced that it would concede to the requests from the federal government, which includes placing the Middle East, South Asian, and African Studies department under academic receivership, making protest rules on campus more strict, and increasing law enforcement authority. In the coming year, more and more universities will have to face a decision to either retain their institutional independence or to make concessions to the Trump administration and fundamentally restructure university policy.

Columbia University protests during its first encampment in April 2024.

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Reports of these cuts first circulated in November 2024 when McGill announced that the teaching support budget in the Arts faculty was to be cut by 15-20 per cent, Morard stated. Each department and unit were given their own proposed cut number within that 15-20 per cent range: for example, the History department was directed to cut 17 per cent of its teaching support budget.

The cuts introduced last semester are linked to the larger cuts that the Faculty of Arts has to make in the upcoming fiscal year, as detailed in the Town Hall. When the monthly Faculty of Arts council convened on February 18, Morard described that the Faculty of Arts would face a $3.6 million cut target overall, including funds directed to teaching support.

“The way this will impact TA positions, and graduate students more broadly, will ultimately result in less hours and/or less positions,” Morard said.

Currently, TAs take a 180-hour position during a semester. While each department’s approach to these cuts will vary, the most common moves will be either cutting TA hours — for example, by creating 150-hour shifts — or by moving TAs into different positions, such as graders. Morard underlined how these cuts will not be uniform across the Faculty of Arts, and that individual departments are still in the process of deciding which route to take.

Potential cuts to the number of TA positions will have drastic impacts on the academic experiences of both graduate and undergraduate students, according to Morard. By reducing reaching support and lowering the budget for the Arts in general, course offerings are expected to decrease. Without TAs, the quality of these course offerings will also be affected, leading to lower educational experiences for both undergraduates and graduates at McGill.

Having been a TA himself, Morard described that being a TA is a valuable experience for many graduate students. This opportunity opens doors to teaching and is beneficial for those who are looking to go into an educational career. On the flip side, TAs help and support undergraduates in a variety of ways. They are a second source of expert knowledge on the course material, and can give students a new perspective on how to approach the concepts taught in their classes.

“An important part of McGill class offerings is having tutorials and conferences, not just lectures,” Morard further explained. “Having a TA allows for conferences, allows for tutorials, and that allows many students who, say, may not thrive in a lecture setting, thrive in small groups or smaller classrooms.” By eliminating TAs, and effectively cutting the number of tutorials or conferences offered to undergraduate students, they are removed from an opportunity to succeed academically.

Additionally, undergraduate students may feel more inclined to reach out to TAs instead of their professors, as TAs are younger and can appear more approachable. Morard noted that many undergraduates appreciate their TAs for having a closer interaction, which is not feasible in larger courses. Lastly, without TAs, professors are expected to take on the responsibilities of grading and will be inclined to offer more robust office hours, which takes away from professors’ ability to engage in their own academic research.

Morard described a few ways in which AGSEM has currently been trying to mitigate the effects of these cuts, primarily in trying to get the university to understand the value of TA labour. Last semester, the union launched their “No More Free Hours” campaign that has encouraged TAs to stick to their hours and prevent doing unpaid work. TAs often work beyond the hours they are paid for due to unpredictable workloads, such as responding to student emails, additional office hours, and extra-long grading. This campaign has been one of their main efforts to emphasize how important TA labor is. In addition, Unit 3 of AGSEM — which encompasses graders, course tutors, undergraduate course assistants, graduate student assistants, graduate teaching fellows, and other academic casuals — began bargaining for better work conditions last semester. These negotiations also seek to make it harder for departments to move Unit 1 employees to Unit 3 in what Morard described earlier as the effort to transition current TAs to graders. Unit 3 workers, while unionized, currently do not have a contract and are waiting on McGill to respond with an intent to bargain.

Overall, these imminent changes in the academic climate at McGill have left Arts TAs with a general sense of anxiety. Morard explained how younger TAs, such as first-year PhD students or Masters students, are increasingly worried about losing these opportunities. For many, these positions are an important source of income amidst rising costs of living in Montreal. The possibility of losing out on hours, or on even obtaining a TA position, has created much uncertainty and anxiety within AGSEM.

“Many TAs feel that they have to work over their hours, and will work over their contract hours […] knowing that they will lose experience or be forced to feel the pressure of possibly having to overwork for less pay,” Morard explained, rooting the overall sense of anxiety for current TAs to these reasons.

These attacks are a continuation of the general trend of disregard for the Arts at McGill. Recent years have seen consistent cuts in funding for the Faculty of Arts that extend beyond TA hours into course offerings. In 2013, McGill removed 100 Arts classes, which led to a reduction in “lower enrollment courses” as Provost Christopher Manfredi (then Dean of Arts) stated, replacing them with larger, broader classes. These larger courses were implemented at the expense of a more intimate class environment, which is what Morard warns will happen with these new rounds of cuts.

“A lot of people like to harp on the Arts and usually they are one of the first faculties — not only at McGill but across Canada and North America more broadly — that gets targeted,” Morard concluded.

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Critically, the brunt of these costs are expected to ripple through employment at the university. Manfredi stated in the town hall meeting that “staffing costs account for 80 per cent of our operating expenses, so most of the adjustments are going to come from reducing our staffing costs.” While faculties and other major administrative units at the university have received budget targets for the upcoming year, which gives them the discretion to eliminate activities that may accrue additional costs, approximately 250 to 500 jobs will be cut in the process of this $45 million correction. McGill has yet to release details on which specific jobs they are targeting.

In order to account for the full repercussions of these financial pressures, administration has announced plans to launch a multi-year initiative in two key phases. This initiative seeks to not only balance McGill’s budget for the upcoming years, but almost optimize administrative services, review the current management of academic programs, and launch plans for strategic enrolment. Phase One of this initiative is geared towards implementing immediate corrections in the coming years, which include cutting $16 million and $14 million from the budget for the 2027 and 2028 fiscal years, respectively. Phase Two entails what Manfredi claims to be a “major transformation of McGill.” This phase will be carried out predominantly through an international benchmarking initiative titled UniForum, which observes the measures other universities have taken to increase efficiency under reduced operating costs due to financial pressures.

The immediate impacts of these budget cuts will be felt most drastically in the academic lives of McGill’s students. In December 2024, McGill imposed a hiring freeze in light of the financial impact the tuition hikes had on enrollment rates. Manfredi stated in an email to the Montreal Gazette that “the goal of this measure is to reduce the number of employees in the short term through attrition rather than cutting positions held by current members of our workforce.” Now, however, it appears that this is no longer a short-term solution, and that the university will begin implementing layoffs. In the town hall meeting, Manfredi claimed that McGill will ensure equal treatment across all employee groups — but it has already become evident that the most vulnerable employee groups, such as teaching assistants (TAs), will become the first source of reduction for the university’s operating costs.

Last winter, the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM) initiated a month-long strike asking for a pay increase comparable to the hourly rates of other Canadian universities. They ultimately came to an agreement with McGill on a 15.5 per cent increase over the next four years, with their hourly wage increasing from $33.03 to $38.46, effective as of August 1, 2026. This means that TAs now are still facing the same conditions in which they began their strike. Moreover, with McGill’s new policy of attrition, the university will not be replacing the positions of those TAs who choose to leave. This leaves many faculties potentially understaffed as they try to navigate this semester and the upcoming school year. However, in the town hall meeting, there was little discussion about how these job cuts will directly impact this student-led position, especially since TAs are often a first point of contact for students.

Saini admitted that “it just really is impossible to say how many jobs, because we won’t know that until individual units — faculties, departments and so on — come up with their plans on how they are going to achieve the reduction in salary mass.” Deferring the judgement on financial planning to the faculties themselves leaves TAs unable to go directly to McGill administration about their grievances. Saini, Manfredi, and Labeau emphasized how they are trying to maintain the reputation of McGill among the world’s leading universities. Manfredi assured students that they want to make sure that “McGill remains a place that provides [students] an educational experience that led [them] to choose McGill.”

However, these promises were made without a thorough explanation of how the budget cuts would directly impact the education students receive at McGill. TAs and professors work together to make sure that students are understanding course material in the most optimal fashion. It becomes difficult to “thrive in [one’s] research and scholarly endeavors,” as Manfredi put it, when one TA is assigned to large courses, often responsible for hundreds of students at once. The reduction in academic staff is guaranteed to put students’ educational experiences in jeopardy.

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Three weeks ago, I was on a call with my cousin in the metro, imagining all the places we would travel to as a reward after graduating. While we are both Cantonese, only she had ever traveled to Hong Kong, reacting to my desire to visit as a “return to the motherland.” I entertained her joke, agreeing with the notion that it was my duty to visit the motherland once and for all. After arriving home, and considering what the term entailed, a knotted feeling soon bubbled from within. I pictured the bustling streets of Hong Kong, but not myself in them. It was more than a disconnect, but an inherently alien feeling of non-belonging.

At the age of 19, my father traveled to Hong Kong for the first time since moving to Canada when he was five. Throughout his trip, he immersed himself in the culture of his true motherland, something I fear I will never be able to do. My identity is not rooted among the Cantonese people. While I weakly participate in cultural engagements of Chinese New Year or Sunday dim sum brunches, the only semblance I have of these ethnic origins is in my appearance. When I watch Wong Kar Wai’s films, or others that capture the sentiment of Hong Kong at the turn of the millennium, I wish for something that I have never had: a true motherland, or a nation I can refer to as my home.

Identity, though, is construed in a web of entanglements. It exists externally and internally to us. While I spent much of my childhood and adolescence with my grandmother in Türkiye, despite speaking the language and engaging in the culture, my identity was always assumed; I was foreign — something they approached gingerly. However, they, of course, respected my effort of trying to assimilate. What I believed to be my motherland refused to welcome me. I wanted to identify with the Turkish people, but instead of being offered their warm embrace, I was shunned and forced to face a cold shoulder. Individuals spend their whole lives fighting for their belonging to a nation, but there I was floating in the abyss.

If our identities emerge at different levels, I would say the first is a belief that we exist in the world we live in. Our second-order identity would be belonging to a group, whether that is to one’s family, among a class, or linked to culture. After several failed attempts of trying to find that stereotypical “place I belong to,” I resorted to the belief that our identities are not chained to a nation, but are rather determined by the people you spend your time with.

Yet, the status of our identities is never that simple.

I look at the state of the world right now, and ask what am I missing? Palestinians are punished for wanting to retain the autonomy of their people and the land that has been violently taken away from them. Ukrainians seek to fend off Russian forces who want to seize the territory for themselves. Stateless ethnic groups, like the Kurdish, are repressed by regional governments amid their efforts for nationhood. There is constant opposition in framing one’s homeland against another, as a result of greed and power. For this, I believe, the homeland, or motherland, is critical to our existence in society.

Where has my motherland gone? Has it slipped through my fingers, or am I unconsciously averse to such containment? Growing up in the United States has further deteriorated my ethnic identity. No matter how white-washed I get, I will never be accepted by the masses. I have learned to bite my tongue and keep such apprehensions at bay. But as I watched Wong Kar Wai’s film reel echo in my living room with my father beside me, intently staring at the scenes of empty Hong Kong streets, a strange serenity entered my subconscious.

Perhaps our motherlands exist in a particular time and space. As we grow up, we are preprogrammed to reminisce on the memories we still remember of our quickly fading youths. But the world around us is constantly changing against our bitter wills. We almost beg for time to remain frozen. Rather than claiming my motherland is in Hong Kong itself, I have become attached to the media produced in the short period of Hong Kong’s handover to China. Wong Kar Wai and his contemporaries were able to portray the sentiment from that decade: a celebration of Cantonese culture and community, filled with unsettling dread from a population painfully aware of its imminent erasure.

Everyone has a motherland. Whether that exists in the land itself, or through a reproduction of that land in a particular era, these spaces are sanctuaries for our most primal sensations of belonging. We move through the world and operate under the assumption that the most fundamental aspects of our beings are contained to that land. Contemporary battles for the retention of this “motherland” are evident of its enduring power.

At long last, I have found my motherland. Maybe that motherland has found me, too.

The post What Wong Kar Wai Has Taught Me About My “Motherland” appeared first on The McGill Daily.

The Anti-Coloniale Student Convergence (CEAC) and Association générale des étudiantes et étudiants du Collège Lionel-Groulx (AGEECLG) planned a counter-summit protest at Place Emilie-Gamelin that Friday at 4:30 p.m., which would later merge with the larger demonstration at 5:30 p.m. on Sainte-Catherine and Saint-Urbain. These students took to the streets to oppose what they call NATO’s “destructive logic” and to reject its role in spreading “imperialism, militarism, and colonialism.”
“I want people to know that it’s not a war, it’s really genocide, and NATO are supporting this genocide,” a student from Collège Lionel-Groulx said.

NATO has long been referred to as “the West’s great military alliance.” Originally assembled in 1949, NATO formed to create a collective opposition to the USSR during the Cold War, leading to their assertion of military power in the pursuit of Soviet containment across the world. After the disassembly of the Soviet Union, NATO expanded its legions, inducting multiple post-Soviet states and European countries into the confederation. Today, NATO presents itself as a “defensive alliance,” as US President Biden stated in an address, that protects the interests of US hegemonic imperialism.

Despite its long-standing collective defence mission, NATO has faced increased scrutiny from public opinion in recent years. In the days approaching the conference, activists have demanded that Canada withdraw from the organization.

The Daily spoke with students from Collège Lionel-Groulx about their perspectives on NATO. Many believe that the organization is a military alliance funded by Western capitalists willing to do anything to expand the Western imperial agenda. Their perspectives echo some of the prominent public criticisms of NATO’s past operations, which have sparked significant debate over the alliance’s true motivations and its commitment to international law.

NATO’s previous foreign interventions have been referenced as examples to back the public’s opinions that the organization serves a Western imperialist agenda.

For example, NATO’s Operation Allied Force against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999 raised concerns over international humanitarian law: NATO conducted a bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for 78 days, prompted by Yugoslavia’s bloodshed and ethnic cleansing of Albanians in the Kosovo regions. To this day, there exists complex political tensions between Serbia and Kosovo.

In 2011, NATO established a No-Fly Zone over Libya, heeding the United Nations’ international call to protect the Libyan people from Muammar Gaddafi’s regime. Over the span of eight months, deploying 7,000 bombing sorties against Gaddafi’s forces, NATO’s military intervention in Libya concluded after the assassination of Gaddafi. However, the country spiralled into chaos and came under threat from violent extremists in the aftermath of the Muammar Gaddafi
regime’s ostracization.

Barack Obama has said that his “worst mistake” during his presidency was “failing to plan for the day after […] intervening in Libya.” Obama further conceded that NATO’s intervention “didn’t work.” White House spokesman at the time, Josh Earnest, said that Obama’s regrets extended to what “the United States and the rest of the members of our coalition didn’t do.”

The Libya intervention exemplifies NATO’s poorly conceived global security agenda. Framed as a mission to dismantle Gaddafi’s repressive regime, NATO failed to consider the critical need for a stable central government in a nation already grappling with chaos. The aftermath left Libya in deeper turmoil, prompting widespread skepticism about NATO’s true motivations, questioning the organization’s imperialist tendencies and Western-centric political agenda.

Most recently, under Joe Biden’s leadership this past July, NATO promised an additional 40 billion euros of military and financial support for Ukraine in its defence against the Russian army, two years after Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. However, the year-long war in Gaza has been largely ignored by most NATO members.

Friday’s anti-NATO protest was conjoined with a pro-Palestine protest led by the Divest for Palestine Collective. The organization announced their message to “NATO and to governments complicit in the oppression of people around the world” in a press release on November 24 stating that “peace cannot be built through arms and repression. It is built through solidarity between peoples and resistance to oppression in all its forms.”

Student activists from Le Collège Lionel-Groulx, who wished to remain anonymous, voiced their opinions, calling out NATO’s failure to act in not supporting the people of Gaza. “It’s hypocrisy. Why would you say that you support human rights, but then when it’s also about other cultures, like from Arabic countries, why are you not showing up?” one of the students said.

“Right now, they’re meeting in Montreal because of global security and all, but they don’t care about the 43,000 people that are dead in Gaza.* I think it’s not logical that Israel is part of it and does things against the principles that they support,” another student told the Daily.

This past July, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez emphasized the need for NATO to adopt a consistent political stance, urging the alliance to avoid double standards in addressing global conflicts like those in Gaza and Ukraine. Speaking at the NATO Public Forum in Washington, D.C., Sanchez argued, “If we are telling our people that we are supporting Ukraine because we are defending international law, this is the same [as] what we have to do towards Gaza.”

The Daily also spoke with several students from the University of Montreal who echoed this sentiment, expressing their concerns over NATO’s inaction. “They’re walking on eggshells. They don’t want to go deep into the problem, and they only stay on the surface. Unfortunately, it’s not enough,” they said.
The Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) closely monitored the protest, deploying bicycles, mounted officers on horses, patrol cars, and vans to encircle the crowd completely.

“This is a significant step toward building a collective force for change and advancing decolonial education,” a speaker announced during the protest. “It’s thanks to all of you who voted ‘yes’ to the strike and to those who are here in the streets with us today. Together, as a community, we can work toward freeing Palestine. Remember, this is both a continuation of the struggles that came before us and the beginning of those yet to come.” With these words, the protesters began to move to the location of the general demonstration.

Later that evening, the protest escalated as the SPVM used chemical irritants and physical force, leading to at least four people being injured and sent to the hospital. One protester was clubbed over the head by an officer, and the SPVM assaulted first-aiders on the scene. Three protesters were arrested by the SPVM for “impeding police work.” Since these events, politicians across the country, including Defence Minister Bill Blair and Quebec Premier François Legault, have claimed that the protest was explicitly antisemitic, unlawful, and violent. The Divest for Palestine Collective refuted their statements, saying that “these are false accusations aimed at delegitimizing the solidarity movement for the liberation of Palestine and undermining the fight against anti-Semitism.”

* The death toll in Gaza is over 44,000 today.

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It was clear that the opening of this festival struck a chord with a variety of attendees. The audience hung onto every word as Massimadi staff, event organizers, and sponsors gave heartfelt speeches encapsulating the importance of their work. One organizer ended their speech with inspiring words of gratitude: “Thank you for allowing people to breathe, to be able to shout through the works that their life matters, that their existence matters, that their feelings matter, that their dreams matter and that their culture can be a means of expressing their personality.” The opening words spoken at the festival drove home the message of what it means to have the courage to persist.

Massimadi ultimately strives to celebrate the achievements of the LGBTQ+ African community at large. Described by its founders as “Canada’s premier festival celebrating LGBTQ+ Afro cinema and arts,” the Massimadi Festival positions queer African excellence front and centre. Film, music, and the visual arts all come together during this festival to weave complex, multi-faceted stories of strength and persistence across a diverse emotional spectrum. Their website describes their mission statement as aiming to “encourage and highlight the cultural contribution of Afro LGBTQ+ artists by promoting the arts through multidisciplinary events.”

The festival’s origins lie in the 2002 project Arc-en-ciel d’Afrique, which aimed to provide members of African and Caribbean communities with health and social services. Over the next 17 years, this organization would work alongside the first World Outgames in Montreal, lead awareness campaigns for queer Afro- Caribbean rights in Quebec, and foster relationships with the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. Arc-en-ciel d’Afrique persists through the Massamadi Foundation today, using “art and culture to combat discrimination while encouraging and highlighting the cultural contributions of Afro LGBTQ+ artists.” The Massamadi Festival creates a space for visibility, using the elements of creative expression inherent in visual art to shine a light on the stories of queer African artists.

As President Laurent Lafontant explains, “Our suffering transforms into beauty in creation, allowing the community to transcend and overcome its traumas.” The newest iteration of the Massimadi Festival faces these words head on. Celebrating 16 editions since its beginnings in 2009, the fall 2024 festival’s title tells all: Renaissance et Résilience (Rebirth and Resilience). After hearing the heart-warming speeches from

Massimadi’s founders and sponsors, these themes of rebirth and resilience stood out all the more. President Laurent Lafontant, general manager Naomie Caron, and communications manager Chiara Guimond, among many others, all spoke beautifully about what Massamadi means to them, as well as the legacy of the foundation going forward.

2024 marks the first year that a $1,000 prize will be given to the top- scoring film presented during the festival. This reward could not be more well-deserved, as all 15 films selected to screen at Massimadi this year merit both critical and financial recognition. Films such as M.H. Murray’s I Don’t Know Who You Are (2023), Merle Grimm’s Clashing Differences (2023), and Simisolaoluwa Akande’s The Archive: Queer Nigerians (2023) each take a touching, beautifully varied approach to the theme of rebirth and resilience. One of the films that stood out to me the most was the hauntingly beautiful Drift (2023), directed by Anthony Chen.

Screened on the opening night of the festival, Drift follows Jacqueline (Cynthia Erivo), a young Liberian woman living on the beach of a Greek island. The traumas of her violent past cyclically plague her, trapping Jacqueline in an echo chamber of horrors until she begins to bond with tour guide Callie (Alia Shawkat). The film opens with a pair of footprints – implied to be Jacqueline’s – in the sand slowly being lapped away by waves, and ends with Jacqueline swimming in the sea, looking back at the camera with a newfound sense of strength. Massimadi’s themes of rebirth and resilience feature prominently in this work, making it the perfect choice to open the 16th edition of the festival. The tone of this year’s selection of films is best captured by the short poem featured in the “about” section of the foundation’s website:

Massimadi reflects us, 

Massimadi unites us,

Massimadi, it’s you, it’s us, 

Massimadi is family, 

Massimadi changes lives.

…

The following interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Naomie Caron, spoke with The McGill Daily on October 24, describing the process of planning the film festival, as well as the struggles and obstacles they have faced throughout the years. As a non-profit, the Massimadi Foundation staffs individuals passionate about accelerating its mission forward. The group arrived at their theme Renaissance et Résilience (Rebirth and Resilience) by first asking the question, “Where are we at as a society?” We learned more about Naomie’s experiences working with Massimadi, as well as the thought process behind the creation and organization of this year’s festival.

Eliana Freelund for The McGill Daily (MD): The theme this year was about visibility and recovering, rebirth and renewal. I noticed that a lot with the film that was presented last night, Drift, and it was really beautiful. Sena and I were both really touched by that film. I was wondering how you planned the theme for this year, and if there was any thought process behind this theme in particular. How did you arrive at the art you chose to represent it?

Naomie Caron (NC): We’re trying to see as a society, where are we at? With the Black Lives Matter Movement a few years ago, we were at a time where people needed to communicate their pain, suffering, and trauma — to fully let it out. We wanted people to tell the world what was happening. So of course, when everyone does that, it becomes a mess. There’s a lot of tension. People are simply letting things out without gauging the impact of their words. And so we thought it was important now to guide our community towards a better future, towards a healing process that allows you to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I think Drift really is one of those films that conveys this sentiment. You see the protagonist Jacqueline – she’s torn, she doesn’t want to communicate, she’s isolated. But as soon as she opens up and lets someone else into her world, we can already see this shift. We only tap into this idea at the last second when she’s swimming. To me, this scene represents the metaphor of rebirth. She jumps into the ocean, and stays underwater for a long time. We see her breaths beneath the surface, and finally, she comes up. I have tears just thinking about it. She comes out, finds her friend, and just smiles. And you just think, everything’s going to get better. We want to help people move on from their pain and pursue a healing journey.

MD: The recurring water imagery in Drift was impactful. Were there any other metaphors or visual cues that you felt really encapsulated the theme this time around, maybe in any of the other works you chose?

NC: I think Drift was a great choice for an opening because there’s not a lot of words – it’s mostly imagery. But the other films are a little bit more tense. We have themes of vengeance that appear in the other movies. We’re also playing with the anti-hero, shifting from portraying the victim to showing those in positions of power. Meanwhile we are also questioning, is it a good thing to revert to vengeance? Through this, we’re tapping into another avenue for healing. Among the films this year, our main focus is on storytelling, and less on imagery.

Sena Ho for The McGill Daily (MD): What do you hope to achieve by giving visibility to these filmmakers through the festival?

NC: Well, the main point of our foundation is to fight against discrimination, racism and homophobia. By showcasing all these stories of different people in our community, it helps others understand our struggles. We fight against discrimination in these communities that we are serving, by displaying empathy to the public. In order to do this, we illuminate these stories and highlight the different artists. So the general public has more of an intimate relationship with individuals from these communities and can see that they’re people just like everyone else.

MD: I would also love to ask how would you and your team perceive the success of your objectives and what have been some major wins, obstacles, or struggles that you’ve experienced over the years?

NC: I think for any nonprofit, it is really hard to secure funding, especially with the politics that are happening, and have been happening, for the past few years. This year, the federal government and provincial government are not giving us much. They are cutting funding a lot in culture and the humanities in general. At the end of the day, we are affected by that.

I think we have to adjust to government guidelines when determining what our aims are for the year. They are focusing more on ways to support the Black community, or support the LGBTQ+ community. It is always about finding the balance and focusing our energies on guiding different projects into what the government is supporting that year. But that always happens: having to find funding with limited resources.

We have also had a big shift in our staff. There has been a lot of burnout in the organization. I’m not only referencing mine, but in non-profit organizations in general, there tends to be a lot of burnout. People are working a lot because they are passionate. But also because the subjects we deal with address the lives of people who undergo extreme hardship. There’s trauma. There are a lot of mental health issues. So these are the many reasons. All of these elements have helped us, but it’s part of the journey.

MD: How can students or people living in Montreal get involved with the Massimadi Foundation? How can we do more? How can we increase visibility?

NC: I think it’s to just keep doing what you’re doing: coming to the events, talking about them, sharing on social media. If you want to do volunteer work, too, that’s always welcome. I think that just sharing and talking about these events goes a long way. In the past we’ve done a lot of collaboration with Concordia. We have also done workshops. There are so many things. Eventually, we could do projects and display them to class panels with the students on certain topics.

The projection for today has already started. The Massimadi Festival is at the Cinema Public, and there’s a panel after on sexual health, because the subject of the movie I Don’t Know Who You Are is a movie about a Black male who gets sexually assaulted. It’s a subject we often don’t talk about. A lot of times, when discussing sexual aggression, we visualize a vulnerable female. This type of sexual aggression is not discussed as widely. And unfortunately, the hero of the story contracts AIDS. So we’re also going to have a panel on AIDS after the one on sexual health. Tomorrow, we’re going to project the movie Clashing Differences, and we’re going to also have a panel on that. Getting involved is really about just coming to those events and collaborating in the panels and conversations.

If you’d like to get involved with the Massimadi Foundation, follow their website at www.massimadi.ca to keep up with upcoming events. Consider making a donation or volunteering if you are able to, and make sure to watch the films showcased in this year’s festival.

The post Massimadi 2024: Rebirth and Resilience appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Numbers and events may have changed between the time of writing and the publishing of the article

It has been one year since Hamas launched Israel’s deadliest terrorist attack, killing over 1200 Israelis and taking more than 250 hostages. The immediate Israeli military response has since devastated the Gaza Strip, displacing around 90 per cent of its population, and killing 41,788 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health authorities. Israel has also continuously been putting pressure on neighboring countries. In the past weeks, the Israeli army has pursued increasingly violent attacks on Lebanon, severely weakening Hezbollah’s leadership, prompting Iran to retaliate with a large-scale missile strike against Israel. Meanwhile international organizations have proved incapable of bringing an end to the violence.

Despite multiple international calls for de-escalation and investigations into Israeli war crimes, Israel has continued to navigate multiple military fronts. In the past weeks, it has continued its relentless bombing of the Gaza Strip while also targeting Yemen, Syria, Iran and Lebanon. For the past three weeks, Israel has bombarded Lebanon with airstrikes, killing over 2000 people while injuring nearly 7500 others. In addition to their aerial attacks, Israel announced its decision to begin “ground operations” in Southern Lebanon, reminiscent of their invasion four decades ago. While the Israeli government’s stated goal has been to take down Hezbollah’s structural organization, calling this a “limited, localized and targeted” operation. But the reality on the ground is far from this as shown by the growing number of civilian deaths.

The tensions between the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Israel are decades old. The militant group Hezbollah was founded in 1982, after Israel seized Lebanon, creating a humanitarian crisis in the southern part of the country. Israel has been targeting Hezbollah leadership in hopes of dismantling the organization, launching one of the most intense aerial campaigns in the Middle East within the past two decades, as Airwars, a nonprofit that monitors military conflicts on Islamic states, reported. Following Iran’s missile strike against Israel, Iranian spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani, said that they are not seeking a broader regional war. However, as tensions increase between Israel, Lebanon, and Iran, hopes for de-escalation are slim.

As Israel pursued its systematic attacks on Gaza, with disregard for civilian victims and the urgent calls for humanitarian aid, the government increasingly faced criticism from its citizens and grew more and more isolated from the international community. Over the course of the year, thousands protested across Israel calling for Prime Minister Netanyahu’s resignation, and for a cease-fire allowing hostages to return home safely. From the perspective of many of these protesters, Israel’s image as a regional superpower was damaged following the October 7 attacks and their failure to safely return all the hostages. However, since the pager attacks in Lebanon, the current seems to have changed. Recent polls show that Netanyahu’s far right coalition party, Likud, is steadily recovering. The series of successful targeted attacks on leaders of Hezbollah boosted a renewed support for the offensive warfare and created a rally round- the-flag effect in favour of Netanyahu’s government.

For the past year, international organizations and world leaders have been faced with the fact that stability will not be reached unless a solution responding to both Palestinian and Israeli national aspirations is reached. Today, a negotiated settlement seems more distant than ever.

There are several reasons why ceasefire deals and talks for consensual agreements have fallen through. Democratic countries such as the US and Israel “are essential for promoting the rule of law…and for ensuring public trust in democratic systems of governance,” the UN announced in a statement. However, Israel’s impunity from its crimes against Gaza, as well as the US and Israel’s threats of retaliation against ICC and ICJ have demonstrated their lack of intention to end the war and protect human rights. Furthermore, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to launch military bombardment across Gaza, despite there being no real progress in achieving a ceasefire deal.

International structures designed to maintain international peace and security have consistently failed to effectively carry out resolutions. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres released a statement with Al Jazeera on the failures of the Security Council to bring about political change in the region. He believes that the Security Council’s mechanisms at resolving conflict are outdated, referencing the permanent members’ veto powers and the severe obstacles it poses for action. Furthermore, if the Security Council cannot tackle the humanitarian crises that it was designed to, it hinders other UN agencies, such as the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) from completing their tasks. With the recent developments regarding Israel’s shifted focus on Lebanon and Iran, UN experts admitted that “the ballooning violence adds immensely to the instability and the ongoing suffering of civilians in the wider region, including in Palestine.”

Previous peace frameworks, such as the Oslo Accords in 1993, have been unsuccessful at mitigating tensions between Palestinian self-determination and Israel’s desire for domination. For years after the failure of the Accords became evident, the United States and other major powers took a back-seat role in possible negotiations between Palestine and Israel, allowing these tensions to worsen.

What comes next? After one year, the conflict shows no signs of ending. It seems that with US continued support of Israel, refusing to restrict its weapons shipments, alongside Hezbollah’s commitment to continue attacks on Israel until a Gaza ceasefire is achieved; and the ongoing collapse of ceasefire negotiations in Gaza the situation won’t change.

This has also been a year of student uprisings, protests and counter protests. Students in Montreal have been relentlessly organizing marches and protest in solidarity with Gaza and now Lebanon, continuing to call upon the government and university administrations to divest from Israel and recognize the ongoing genocide. Additionally, the Palestinian Youth Movement, alongside other student led organizations held marches commemorating “One Year of Genocide, One Year of Resistance” from October 5 to 7.

On October 5 the Palestinian Youth Movement called for an International Day of Action. Thousands of people marched in over 50 cities across the US and Canada to mark one year of mobilization and solidarity with the people of Palestine and Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and all those victims of Israel’s violent attacks. Here in Montreal thousands met on Place des Arts. Students and Professors from McGill, Concordia and other institutions joined the rally to the rhythm of drums and slogans. Amongst the speakers was activist Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel. She spoke out to the crowd, denouncing the genocide, celebrating the strength of students and others to stand together, and reaffirming the shared struggle of Indigenous peoples and Palestinians against colonial oppression and occupation. “We see, as Indigenous people, commonalities between our struggles. We know what genocide is like. Our people united, our people are strong in standing with Palestine” she said. For hours, the steps and slogans resonated through the streets of downtown until Atwater, reminding the world that “the people united will never be defeated”

As a response to the different calls to mobilize McGill and Concordia have decided to restrict access to their campuses. At the time of writing, it has been communicated with students that access to the downtown campus until October 7 will require a McGill ID or a permission letter for visitors to enter. They justified these measures to “prioritize the stable continuation of critical academic activities at a time when there is an elevated potential for disruption” even if there have been no threats to physical safety.

Students at McGill and in the Montreal community at large have displayed their solidarity with the Lebanese people. On October 1, Students for Palestine’s Honour and Resistance (SPHR) McGill and Concordia alongside other student-led groups held a vigil for Lebanon on the campus lower field. Speakers were students from McGill and Concordia, and professor Michelle Hartman reading out a poem written by professor Rula Abisaab. Around 100 students gathered, with candles and Palestinian flags being held next to Lebanese ones. Speakers later condemned the systematic violence carried out against Lebanese people and the genocide in Gaza, while praising the power of resistance and the sustained need for solidarity and collective actions.

A member of Montreal’s Lebanese community has shared their perspective on issues ensuing back home. “As a Lebanese student living in Canada, I can share that many of us are deeply concerned about the ongoing threat in southern Lebanon, even though we’re miles away,” said Sarah Tehini, a U1 Computer Engineering student at McGill. “The situation with Israel is something we’ve grown up hearing about, but now it feelslike things could escalate at any moment.” She expressed concerns about the future state of Lebanon if Israel proceeds with its current military tactics. “We worry about being able to visit home, or if there will even be a ‘home’ to return to. There’s this overwhelming sense of uncertainty about whether Lebanon will ever find stability again, and it’s heartbreaking,” she said on behalf of herself and other Lebanese students in her community.

In light of Tehini’s worries, she still believes there is room for hope. “Despite everything, the resilience of the Lebanese people keeps us hopeful. No matter how much we’ve been through, our love for our country keeps us holding on to hope for a better future,” she concluded.

The post An Analysis of Israel’s Actions Since October 7 appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Groups such as HOOK and EPPNE repeatedly claim that schools indoctrinate children through LGBTQ-inclusive education and purposely undermine parental authority. Slogans such as “Say no to indoctrination” and “I belong to my parents” have been used for the mass mobilization of their members to launch nationwide protests, initially held on September 20, 2023. 

A statement supporting the counter-protest denounced the claim that schools indoctrinate students as false, arguing that HOOK and EPPNE “oppose the simple mention of trans people and couples of the same sex.” The statement added that “it is just as scary to consider the ideology of these groups that view children’s autonomy as eroding parents’ rights.” It also condemned the actions of the Quebec government, specifically the creation of the Comité des Sages as an advisory committee of gender identity.

In a press release on behalf of the organizations and communities that brought this counter-protest to life, they discussed the importance of standing against such hate: “We are fighting towards the same goal, only ours includes the protection and wellbeing of trans and queer youth, youth who have queer and trans parents or loved ones, or youth who have have trans and queer friends,” Zev Saltiel, a registered social worker and parent, wrote. 

Early into the counter-protest, the Daily spoke with a U1 McGill student, who chose to remain anonymous. “A lot of people are still ignorant,” they said, when reflecting on the importance of bringing awareness to not only trans people, but the harms and obstacles actively posed against them. They emphasized on what they believe this ignorance entails, by saying, “I feel like among a majority of non-queer people I meet, there is ignorance. And by ignorance, I mean lack of knowledge about trans people and a lack of empathy as well.” The student felt it critical that they come to support and participate in the counter-protests’ mission. 

Throughout the morning, the two sides were separated by two lines of riot police. Around 10:30, the original protest began to march and counter-protestors split into several groups in an attempt to cut them off. However, riot police formed a line between the two groups, and quickly started pushing the counter-protestors back with their shields and spraying the crowd with tear gas. The Daily witnessed police continue to push and assault counter-protestors even when they showed visible signs of injury or medical distress. When speaking with an organizer after the protest, the Daily found out that at least one counter-protester was arrested, and another sustained a head injury from a police baton. The Daily did not witness a similar level of police brutality towards the anti-trans protesters.

After the police violence calmed down, counter-protesters gathered in Place Vauquelin to wash off the tear gas and recover from the assault. Food from People’s Potato was served for lunch, which helped to boost morale. Around 12:15, a counter-protester arrived to announce that the original protest had disbanded, drawing cheers from the remaining counter-protestors.

The post Police Tear Gas Counter-Protesters Opposing Transphobia appeared first on The McGill Daily.

“We will not stop until we get justice for the people of Palestine,” an SPHR organizer announced to the crowd, as students chanted back to administration.

In addition to Solidarity for Palestinain Human Rights (SPHR) McGill, five total student contingents from across Montreal congregated at different parts of the McGill campus that day: SPHR Concordia, Law Students 4 Palestine, World Islamic and Middle East Studies Students’ Association (WIMESSA), Independent Jewish Voices at McGill,andCegep4Palestine.

Flyers for the walkout were handed out on campus in the days leading up to the protest. On the morning of August 30, student protesters entered classrooms near the walkout meeting spot, informing students of their goals. Sophie* recounted her experience of the classroom interruption: “I felt the spokesperson delivered their message very clearly and effectively. They related the Palestine conflict to issues pertaining to the school, such as using the money they are currently investing to pay the TAs. That resonated with me.”

After thirty minutes, the group proceeded to the MacDonald Engineering Building, filing onto the second floor. They focused on the Faculty of Engineering ’s complicity in the killing of Palestinians, citing their funding for weapons manufacturers such as Lockheed Martin and Bell Flight, both of which sponsor the department’s computational fluid dynamics laboratory. Protesters then exited to the steps of the MacDonald Engineering Building entrance. Walkout organizers brought professors from the McGill Institute of Islamic Studies, who recited poems and expressed their solidarity with the movement.

The protest concluded at the Lower Field, which had been closed off to students following the dismantlement of the Palestine Solidarity Encampment on July 10. After removing the warning tape, protest organizers stood before students to describe the fate of the encampment and McGill’s use of the private security firm, SIRCO, to remove the tents and the residing protesters.

At the Lower Field, protesters began to pick up and toss the sod McGill had planted to recondition the field after the encampment’s removal. Speakers announced their intention to take back the campus, urging students to bring this message into their faculties and classes. Security guards, who had kept in close proximity to the protesters throughout the walkout, then started to close in on the Lower Field. The walkout concluded at approximately 3:00 p.m, and McGill restored the field to its original condition shortly after.

McGill’s Campus and Public Safety released an announcement discussing the events that unfolded during the walkout, noting that the “protest and associated activities did not cross the bounds of law or policy until” the protesters’ disruption of classes while in the MacDonald Engineering Building, and the removal of grass on the Lower Field. These actions, McGill claims, violated the university’s policies: they further stated that they would investigate participants and subject them to disciplinary action. They reiterated that protests are a legitimate part of campus life, when peaceful, but admitted to adding extra security measures on campus that day to monitor the walkout. Additionally, the university called the events on the Lower Field acts of vandalism, stating “Vandalism is not a legitimate exercise of one’s freedom of expression. McGill condemns such acts unequivocally.”

With regards to McGill’s first claim about class disruptions, Sophie says she “felt [the protesters] went about speaking to the class in a respectful way, and by no means disrupting.” She believes the student protesters’ statements did not pose a violation to university principles.

Amy*, a McGill student who attended the walkout, commented on the importance of staying resilient and bringing support for the cause. “We are showing McGill that the movement for Palestinian liberation is here to stay, as long as out tuition is being used to fund a genocide being conducted by an illegal occupation,” they said.

On the dismantlement of the encampment, Amy remarked that the administration “has shown that they will stop at nothing to repress the voices of its students.”

Despite being disappointed in the way administration has dealt with protesters’ demands, they remained hopeful on the growing pro-Palestine community on-campus.

McGill student activists have consistently been at the forefront for social change, with their success in pressuring the university to divest from South African apartheid as a critical example. Even though McGill avoids productive negotiation and leaves the question of reaching an agreement open ended, protesters have no intention of straying away from their goals.

“There has definitely been anger at the atrocities taking place and the administration’s dismissive response so far, but there is also a sense of love between the community and a deep respect for the Palestinians who have been experiencing the genocide,” Amy said.

*All names are changed to preserve anonymity.

The post Students Walk Out to Protest McGill’s Financial Ties to Israel appeared first on The McGill Daily.

The demands of the encampment were as follows:

• Disclose: The McGill Board of Governors and the Concordia Investments Committee must fully disclose all investments in companies complicit in the genocide of the Palestinian people.
• Divest: McGill and Concordia must fully divest from all complicit companies and cut academic ties with Israeli institutions.
• Defend: The universities shall not pursue disciplinary charges against students taking action in support of Palestine; and will drop any pending charges against students.
• Declare: The universities must issue a statement condemning the genocide against the Palestinian people and pressure the Canadian government to cease all military contracts with Israel.

Beyond McGill, student activists across the world have taken initiative to hold their universities accountable and to pressure administrations to not only disclose their investments but also divest from funding Israeli apartheid. The Daily has compiled a list of major developments this summer concerning the student encampment in solidarity with Palestine at McGill. 

It is crucial to follow events happening on the ground in Gaza, as these directly inform why students are mobilizing in North America. We recommend following Palestinian journalists reporting on the ground, like +972 Magazine, as well as broadcast channels such as Let’s Talk Palestine for more comprehensive updates.

An encampment is organized by McGill and Concordia students on McGill’s lower field, becoming one of the first Canadian universities to do so. The students plan to remain indefinitely at the encampment until McGill agrees to divest. 

Despite McGill’s administration requests to remove the tents, the students refuse. Fabrice Labeau sends out an email stating that the protest is currently peaceful.  

After two days, the encampment triples in size as members in the community rally around the student protestors. McGill security tells students that they “have no right to be here,” threatening to use other options to dismantle the encampment. 

Labeau sends an email out stating that the administration “saw video evidence of some people using unequivocally antisemitic language and intimidating behaviour.”  

President Deep Saini announces that the encampment has become unsafe with “hateful rhetoric” being “flagrantly used.” McGill announces that they are trying to de-escalate the protests and demonstrations, but the students remain adamant in their occupation on campus. 

Two McGill students attempt to file an injunction request against the encampment, asking  to ban protests within 100 meters of McGill buildings for a 10-day period. They claim that words circulating around and within the encampment were creating a hostile and unsafe environment. 

Judge Chantal Masse rejects the injunction made by the McGill students, stating insufficient evidence of urgency or danger to students’ access to McGill buildings.

In an email, Saini upholds that dismantling the encampment is “non-negotiable,” offering to hold a forum with students to discuss their demands in exchange for leaving the encampment. 

At this time, Montreal Police has received McGill’s request for assistance with the encampment, but have yet to make a decision. 

A counter-protest in support of Israel is organized on Sherbrooke, leading to heavy police presence on campus and the closure of the Roddick Gates entrance. The counter-protest lasts for a few hours, and there are no major escalations between the two groups.

Quebec Premier François Legault comes out with a statement claiming that the encampment is illegal, and that the police must move in and dismantle it. 

SPHR, IJV, Profs4Palestine, and the Mohawk Mothers hold a press conference in the encampment. Students explain that they have presented their demands to the university and are waiting on a concrete plan for divestment. Until such an agreement is met, they will continue to maintain the encampment. 

At this press conference, students reveal that McGill has been instructing their security to restrict certain basic necessities from entering the camp, such as porta-potties and COVID-19 masks. 

McGill University requests an injunction to remove the encampment by use of the SPVM, and they announce that convocation ceremonies will be moved from the lower field. In their request they refer to the encampment as a “fortress” and a “village,” with “occupants” posing safety and health risks. 

Students hold another press conference affirming that they will not move until their demands are met. 

After filing for an injunction, McGill goes to court against the encampment. 

Court documents reveal that McGill previously asked the SPVM to intervene, but the SPVM refused and asked the university to resolve the situation peacefully.

Nakba Day marks the 76th year of the Nakba.

Quebec Superior Court Justice Marc St-Pierre denies McGill’s injunction request, describing it as “ill-founded” and suggesting that the school modify it to refile. 

Montreal activists glue childrens’ shoes and red paint to the steps of the Arts Building to honour the Palestinian children killed by Israel, whose deaths they view McGill as complicit in.

McGill files its second injunction against the encampment, arguing under the basis of legal rights and claiming the campus as private property. Talks between administration and students within the encampment are revealed to have halted after McGill filed for its first injunction. 

Saini publishes an op-ed in the Montreal Gazette arguing that the McGill encampment “isn’t a peaceful protest; it’s an unlawful occupation.” He states that the university and the protestors have tried to reach a mutual understanding, but the “occupants continue to eschew meaningful conversation.” 

To celebrate its 30th day, members of the encampment organize a day of family-friendly workshops, art, and teach-ins for the community. Activities include a “Mapping Palestine” workshop for kids; a talk from Michelle Hartman and Malek Abisaab about their book What the War Left Behind: Women’s Stories of Resistance and Struggle in Lebanon; a photo exhibition from the early days of the encampment; and a teach-in on the history of Palestinian student activism at McGill by SPHR.

Students organize a banner drop on the construction site of the Sylvan Adams Sports Science Institute, an institute funded by billionaire and self-appointed “ambassador for Israel” Sylvan Adams. According to SPHR McGill, two people nearby were arrested.

Saini sends out an email update condemning several actions of the encampment, such as protesting outside of Angela Campbell’s house and setting a table of rotten food for the McGill Office of Investments. He admits that while the university has asked the SPVM to “take every action possible under the law” to dismantle the encampment, the SPVM have refused. He emphasizes that while McGill “offered to examine divestment from companies whose revenues largely come from weapons”, it will continue to take a so-called “neutral institutional stance”.

Naksa Day marks 57 years since the Naksa or the “setback,” when Israel seized the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, which displaced 300,000 Palestinians.

The McGill Hunger Strike officially ends, with strikers saying that they “are no longer willing to risk our lives and bodies for the genocidal killing machine known as McGill.”

Student protestors barricade themselves inside of the James Administration building as a result of McGill’s continued investments in genocide and in response to calls to escalate for Rafah. 

Police arrive on the scene, using tear gas and pepper spray on the protesters while also charging at them with shields pushing them away from the building and toward the Roddick Gates. The protesters are escorted from the building, and police say arrests will be made. 

The Montreal Police arrest 15 people involved in the James Administration building occupation; 13 on the account of entering and breaking, and two for interfering with police officers. 

McGill makes an amnesty offer to the protestors in the encampment. Their offer proposes to review and explore new options for divestment from weapons manufacturers. The university will also grant disciplinary amnesty to participants, student or employee, in the encampment if they leave by June 16. This pardon will not extend to acts committed during the James Administration building occupation and barricade. 

McGill says they will disclose direct equity and fixed income investments below $500,000 and create a mandate to support Palestinian scholarship at McGill. 

Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) creates a post advertising a “youth summer program.” McGill denounces the post as the image contains individuals holding assault rifles. The program seeks to inform on resistance movements against Israel’s genocide of Palestinians.  

McGill ends its negotiations with encampment protesters, saying that the protesters have rejected their offers of amnesty. Saini says the university will pursue disciplinary action. 

In Saini’s statement he claims the encampment has “maintained that their demands are non-negotiable while accusing the university of unwillingness to engage in fair discussions.” The proposed offer on June 11 was rejected with protesters saying they won’t leave the encampment until the university cuts all investments connected to Israel. 

McGill closes its campus, using private security guards to dismantle the encampment during the night. Protestors are escorted off the lower-field while workers hired by the university clear away the tents, signs, and tarps. Saini states that “this camp was not a peaceful protest,” but a “a heavily fortified focal point for intimidation and violence.” The McGill encampment was the last encampment remaining in Quebec, as those erected at Université du Quebec à Montréal (UQAM), Université de Sherbrooke, Université Laval, and in Square Victoria had all been taken down.

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