Students engaged with the environment and climate crisis from both a local and international perspective this year. The December 2015 COP21 summit in Paris was the subject of debate: Would anything come of the summit? Could international negotiations meaningfully combat climate change? Ella Belfer argued that domestic emissions reductions, often conditions of agreements made at such conferences, are undermined by carbon offset payments (“The carbon offset loophole,” November 30, page 14). Victor Frankel argued that COP21 could lead to needed change, but only if leaders are proactive (“Seize the COPportunity,” February 1, page 11).

The climate crisis was also fought close to home with Divest McGill’s continued advocacy for McGill’s Board of Governors (BoG) to divest from McGill’s holdings in fossil fuel companies. Kristen Perry reflected on her time as a Divest McGill activist and the pending decision on divestment, saying, “You have all of the information, you certainly have the support, and you have taken more than enough time; now all that is needed is courage” (“Progress and disappointment,” November 10, online). On March 23, the BoG decided for the second time not to divest.

Mental health on campus

Attention paid to mental health as an important aspect of campus life has only grown in recent years. Between budget cuts and increasing demand, the McGill Mental Health Service (MMHS) has been criticized by students for providing inadequate or inaccessible services. Paniz Khosroshahy argued that MMHS’s inconsistent availability and lack of communication with other university institutions makes it nearly impossible for some students to access the care they need (“Chasing mental health at McGill,” November 2, page 8). Anna Pearson recounted how her experience with MMHS left her without a plan for further care upon graduation (“Careless care,” February 1, page 9). However, one student noted that, despite the financial pressures on MMHS, they found the Eating Disorder Program to be very helpful (“In defence of mental health,” October 19, Letters, page 8).

Navigating mental health at McGill comes down to more than MMHS. Looking at ways of accommodating students in the classroom, Connor Tannas argued that trigger warnings are often misunderstood as censorship when, in reality, they can make sensitive topics easier to approach for students dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or other effects of trauma (“Trigger warnings are not censorship,” September 28, page 7).

BDS sparks campus discussion

Once again, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) General Assembly (GA) was a major site of political action and reaction on campus this year. While the Fall 2015 GA had no motions and struggled to meet quorum, the Winter 2016 GA passed a motion from the McGill BDS Action Network that called on SSMU to support boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaigns and to lobby McGill to divest from a number of companies that operate in the occupied Palestinian territories. While the motion failed to pass online ratification, it succeeded in fuelling important discussions in the McGill community and beyond.

A group of Jewish students at McGill argued that the conflation of Judaism and Zionism is harmful, and that engaging with and supporting BDS is a crucial step in ending Israel’s human rights violations against Palestinians (“Making space for Jewish resistance,” February 15, page 9). Hundreds of students, alumni, and faculty from McGill and beyond, including Noam Chomsky (“Rectify the misrepresentation of BDS,” March 10, Letters), signed letters condemning Principal Suzanne Fortier’s response to the online ratification results, in which she stated that the BDS movement was “contrary to the principles of academic freedom, equity, inclusiveness and the exchange of views and ideas in responsible, open discourse.”

Histories, experiences of racism

Analyzing the historical roots of racism and sharing their experiences, our writers put forward both global and personal perspectives on racism this year. Inori Roy-Khan made the topic the focus of her column “Minority Report,” in which she spoke of cultural appropriation, whitewashed allyship, and the persistent nature of racism. In his column “Shadows of Slavery,” Nadir Khan narrated histories of domination and resistance in the transatlantic slave trade. Roy-Khan called for an end to police violence against Black youth in the U.S. (“Kids deserve to be kids,” November 9, page 9), and Khan traced the roots of this racist brutality to the era of slave patrols (“Policing the racial hierarchy,” February 1, page 10). Meanwhile, Laura Xu examined the racist origins of drug prohibition in Canada and the U.S. (“The colour of pot,” February 22, page 11).

Closer to McGill, Francesca Humi described how, as a French speaker, she is “caught in between spaces and places” when attempting to articulate her racial identity in France (“Between places and spaces,” March 21, page 10). Ralph Haddad and Nadine Tahan uncovered the orientalist assumptions behind Principal Suzanne Fortier’s selective condolences in response to terrorist attacks around the world (“On selective grief,” November 23, page 8), while an anonymous student described the racism they experienced during a teaching placement and the subsequent lack of support from the Education faculty as a “personal hell” (“Speak louder than racism,” February 8, page 9).

2015 federal election

Students weighed in as Canada sought to shake off nine years of Conservative leadership in the October 2015 federal election. Gregoire Beaune observed during the campaign that, like progressive parties around the world, the New Democratic Party (NDP) had drifted to the right and abandoned its past socialist ideals (“The orange drift,” September 8, page 10). For Jules Tomi, this cost the party the election: in an effort to rebrand the NDP as a more palatable centrist party, leader Tom Mulcair made it into an unappealing shell of its former self (“Lessons in hope and disillusionment,” October 26, page 9). In response, Malaya Powers and Jacob Schweda, co-presidents of NDP McGill, argued for a more nuanced analysis that acknowledges the NDP’s progressive tax plan and campaign commitments (“Progress over pessimism,” November 9, page 8).

Meanwhile, Gavin Boutroy pointed to the emptiness of the leaders’ debate on the economy (“The meaning of ‘the economy,’” October 15, page 8), and Xiaoxiao (Alice) Liu praised Green Party leader Elizabeth May for going above and beyond as her Member of Parliament (“On waiting for representation,” September 1, page 10).

The election was also as good a time as any to reflect on democratic reform. Erin Dwyer warned that the 2014 Fair Elections Act could lead to the disenfranchisement of vulnerable groups, such as youth, Indigenous people, seniors, and homeless individuals, all to the benefit of the Conservatives (“The Unfair Elections Act,” September 14, page 9). After the election, Louis Warnock emphasized the need to introduce a proportional component into Canada’s electoral system to ensure equitable representation (“Toward democratic reform,” November 23, page 9).

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Motion in support of Indigenous communities

Council discussed a motion regarding the institutionalization of support for Indigenous communities. Similar to a motion passed by Council last year, this motion mandates SSMU to adopt a traditional territory acknowledgement. This year’s motion specified that the acknowledgement is to be “stated at all major SSMU events and addresses made by Executives, including but not limited to SSMU Awards, town halls, Discover McGill, and General Assemblies.”

In an effort to improve support and visibility for Indigenous communities, the motion also allows for Indigenous students and groups who organize events to have access to free room bookings through the VP University Affairs, meaning these groups could bypass the restrictions on advance bookings that other student groups are subject to.

VP Clubs & Services Kimber Bialik, although in favour of the motion, expressed concern about the feasibility of promising room booking space in the SSMU building when there already isn’t enough bookable space for SSMU clubs and student groups. “In my opinion, it’s a bit of an issue that we keep spreading ourselves more and more thin,” she said.

However, President Kareem Ibrahim noted that similar privileges given to groups that hold events related to mental health have had a negligible impact on the operations of the building, and that the effect of privileges for Indigenous groups would likely be similar.

The motion was passed with three abstentions.

Ad-hoc electoral reform committee created

Council unanimously passed a motion to establish an ad-hoc committee on electoral reform in response to “the unprecedented degree of personal attacks during campaigning” and the “conduct of candidates and voters” throughout the Fall 2015 referendum and by-election period, during which one candidate resigned, citing threats to herself and her family.

Arts Representative Adam Templer, one of the movers, said that the motion is also meant to address the aftermath of similarly controversial SSMU elections in the last few years, and make elections “more functional and sustainable” in general.

“I don’t think I’m alone when I say they’ve really been a mess lately,” Templer said.
The committee’s investigation into alternative electoral formats will include a review of internal regulations of the Presidential Portfolio – rewritten two years ago – as they pertain to SSMU elections.

“I don’t think I’m alone when I say [the elections have] really been a mess lately.”

Arts Senator Erin Sobat expressed skepticism, stating, “I’m very much in favour of this motion, I just want to point out that there were some similar issues around elections before those internal regulations were rewritten two summers ago,” Sobat said.

However, Bialik pointed out that the rewritten regulations included no guidelines for online campaigning, one of the major sources of contention in recent SSMU elections. “These are things that are entirely missing from our regulations right now,” she said.

The committee will include an equal number of SSMU councillors and members at large; meetings will be open to a gallery to allow for more student involvement in the process.

Health and dental committee

Council also unanimously passed a motion from the floor to establish an ad-hoc health and dental committee to look into ways that SSMU health insurance coverage could be improved.

According to Templer, one of the movers and co-chair of the new committee, the committee would look into addressing issues such as a lack of legal coverage and of off-campus mental health coverage, and the fact that only 80 per cent of birth control costs are covered by the current SSMU plan.

“This committee would look at utility of [changes to the plan], how much it would cost, and whether students would think it’s beneficial,” said Templer.

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The events included everything from workshops and speakers on different mental illnesses to therapy dog sessions to group painting exercises. The week was meant to continue a dialogue about mental health on campus and reduce the stigma that surrounds mental illness.

According to SSMU VP University Affairs Chloe Rourke, mental health initiatives are critical for universities, especially ones as academically demanding as McGill.

“Mental illness is quite prevalent on university campuses [with surveys showing] that over 50 per cent of students report symptoms of anxiety or overwhelming anxiety. […] Also, a very high percentage report depression, and even suicidality is over 10 per cent,” Rourke told The Daily.

“It was hard to push through, but my case was not incredibly severe and I was able to manage it enough. I don’t know how anyone else does it, though.”

“In terms of the unique culture at McGill, when I talk to students about it, they cite it as the competitiveness, the intensity of McGill’s curriculum – it doesn’t leave a lot of room for good mental health and healthy habits. That’s something that we need to internally reflect on and see how we can address it.”

As part of Mental Health Awareness Week, Healthy McGill and McGill Mental Health Services (MMHS) held a question-and-answer session with MMHS Clinical Director Nancy Low on Friday. According to Low, the demand for mental health services at McGill is high.

At the session, Low told the group, “Of around 40,000 students, about one in ten come in [to MMHS].”

This high demand has implications for how quickly students can access care. In an interview with The Daily, one U2 Psychology student, who wished to remain anonymous, recalled that after their initial intake appointment at MMHS in November 2014, they were unable to begin therapy until April.

“It was hard to push through, but my case was not incredibly severe and I was able to manage it enough. I don’t know how anyone else does it, though,” said the student.

According to Low, this is not abnormal. “If you went in [to MMHS] in November, you were probably not seen that year. Which is really disappointing and discouraging,” she said. Low added that to address the waitlist at MMHS, which currently numbers 105 people or a roughly three-month wait, they are providing more group therapy options, with the hope that this change could cut the wait list in half.

A student-driven culture of care

The scope of Mental Health Awareness Week went beyond mental health services specific to McGill. According to Rourke, one of the goals of the week was to give students tools that can empower them to seek help.

Speaking to The Daily, Rourke said, “We want to destigmatize mental illness. We want to say ‘It’s okay to not be okay sometimes.’ We want to encourage help-seeking behaviour. We want to validate […] the huge number of students [who] are struggling, and tell them that they’re not alone.”

Rourke added that the student-driven aspect of initiatives like Mental Health Awareness Week is important, and that these projects can have an institutional impact on McGill.

“Students have always pushed the administration on issues we care about. […] I think that if you look back historically, after this [kind of] continued advocacy, the administration does respond.”

“The one way that I’d strongly advocate for the University to step up a bit more is in the provision of resources to support [student-driven mental health] initiatives,” said Rourke. “The funding for these initiatives, and the human resources [required] should not unfairly and unduly burden students.”

—With files from Saima Desai

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The strike started at 7 a.m. and ended around 7 p.m.. Organized by AGSEM, the union that represents TAs and invigilators, the picket was divided into shifts of fifty to sixty people, with each shift lasting around four hours.

Because the union voted to hold a ‘soft’ picket, no one was prevented from from entering or leaving the gym – most invigilators chose to continue with their work, though some did join the picket line as an act of solidarity for their fellow employees.

“Our purpose was really not to disrupt exams. Our purpose was to stand and to make a point, and to get visibility for these issues that we want to talk about,” said AGSEM Invigilator Grievance Officer Jamie Burnett.

“It is just to say, ‘look, we are here’ – it’s not that it’s just for people [directly] bargaining with you, it’s the whole TA union who cares about the outcome of this. We support our bargaining team.”

Physics PhD student and TA Michael Stroebe, who was part of the picket line, told The Daily that visible support for the bargaining committee was one of the main goals of the strike. “It is just to say, ‘look, we are here’ – it’s not that it’s just for people [directly] bargaining with you, it’s the whole TA union who cares about the outcome of this. We support our bargaining team.”

In an email to The Daily, McGill Director of Labour and Employee Relations Robert Comeau was appreciative that the strike did not disrupt finals. “The union has a legal right to exercise this way of expressing their concerns, and we think they handled their strike with the upmost [sic] respect for the rights of our students, who were in exams, and we thank them for it.”

Although some undergraduates had expressed concerns about the potential impact of the strike on their exams, AGSEM TA Bargaining Chair Giulia Alberini told The Daily that students had been largely supportive.

“We were worried that maybe undergrads, being nervous for their exams, [would] not [be] too happy with us being there, but they actually have been very supportive. People have been asking for the stickers to put on their exams, and the day has been very cheerful and joyful.”

According to Burnett, the organizers of the strike were in communication with McGill security and representatives from Labour and Employee Relations to make sure that exams could still go smoothly during the picket.

TAs seek better compensation, student ratios

One of AGSEM’s main bargaining demands is a wage increase of 5 per cent per year. According to AGSEM, McGill TAs are are poorly paid compared to those at their peer institutions across Canada, such as the University of Toronto and York University. TAs at both institutions were on strike for the month of March over funding and working conditions.

According to the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union, the minimum funding that graduate students receive has not increased since 2008 and is well below the poverty line for a single adult in Toronto.

“Compared to other universities all over Canada, [McGill has] relatively badly paid TAships,” said Stroebe. “We want to make sure that there’s some leverage, because McGill always wants to compare themselves, not only in Canada, but worldwide.”

“It’s difficult to bargain at McGill, the administration has not always made it clear that they care a lot about student concerns, about worker concerns, so it’s difficult. But we have a lot of support, so I think we can move forward.”

However, McGill’s TAs are better paid than those at other universities in Quebec, which, according to Comeau, is the most relevant comparison.

“We would note that McGill TAs are the best paid TAs in Quebec, and we don’t think the reference market is Toronto,” he said.

AGSEM is also asking the University to include a limit on student-to-TA ratios in the agreement in order to prevent them from increasing further. According to Burnett, this is important for TAs’ working conditions, as well as for the quality of education for undergraduates. “We want to make sure that we have enough time to do our job properly, and that’s something that undergrads care about as much as we do.”

According to Comeau, two conciliatory dates have been set to continue negotiations, although a specific timeline was not given.

Speaking to the nature of negotiations with the University, Burnett said, “It’s difficult to bargain at McGill, the administration has not always made it clear that they care a lot about student concerns, about worker concerns, so it’s difficult. But we have a lot of support, so I think we can move forward.”

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This year’s executive, currently entering the final days of its time leading the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), has demonstrated leadership in areas such as austerity mobilization and support for student-run services, often going above and beyond to advocate for the University to make student voices a priority when making decisions in these areas.

SSMU made a big effort at its general assembly, which was much more organized that the Fall GA, revised the Equity policy in response to issues raised by students, and hosted many teaching events and forums, thus showing an increased push for student consultation this year. However, there definitely remains room for SSMU to improve in this area. Overall, despite bumps along the way, this was a much better year for SSMU compared to previous years.

Click on a position to see its end-year review.

President — Courtney Ayukawa

For many students, the SSMU General Assembly (GA) is the most visible part of the President’s portfolio. Similar to last semester, the Winter 2015 GA was one of the central events of Ayukawa’s term. Indeed, it was very well-organized compared to the fall — while also the site of multiple controversial motions and with an initial turnout of over 500 students, it did not see the same time and security delays present at the Fall GA, and went much more smoothly. However, like the Fall GA, attendance dropped significantly after the first motion on Palestine solidarity, and quorum was lost for the last motion.

Ayukawa was also behind a number of small sustainability initiatives this year, including the introduction of a SSMU composting program and the broadening of the Green Events Coordinator and Green Buildings Coordinator job descriptions. Ayukawa also plans to do interviews with the incoming SSMU executive for the 2014-15 Sustainability Assessment, which will take place in May.

Additionally, Ayukawa has shown initiative in her negotiations with the administration, as she made an attempt to open Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) negotiations with the University one year early. This attempt, however, was unsuccessful due to a lack of cooperation from the administration. She has also been one of the less vocal members of the student Senate caucus this semester. While the bulk of the Presidential portfolio concerns Human Resources and is thus oftentimes less visible, it is important for the head of a student society such as SSMU to have a visible leadership presence, which has ultimately been inconsistent throughout Ayukawa’s term.

VP External — Amina Moustaqim-Barrette

As the member of the executive charged with representing SSMU’s interests outside of McGill, VP External Amina Moustaqim-Barrette has motivated a variety of initiatives this year. Aided by her previous involvement with Divest McGill, Moustaqim-Barrette helped organize SSMU’s involvement with the People’s Climate March, and also initiated SSMU’s affiliation with anti-pipeline group Étudiant(e)s contre les oléoducs (ÉCO), which now represents over 100,000 students across Quebec.

While environmental initiatives at SSMU have quieted down this semester, anti-austerity organizing has picked up. Initiatives such as the recent anti-austerity activities night, actions of the mobilization committee, and the hiring of a mobilization officer are commendable attempts to increase engagement with ongoing issues in Montreal and Quebec. However, the mobilization of McGill students has not been particularly successful — this lack of student interest in the VP External portfolio was highlighted by the fact that no one ran for the position in the first round of SSMU executive elections last week. Although two candidates are now running in by-elections, dwindling student engagement in external issues is a problem that both the current and future VP External should seek to improve.

One of Moustaqim-Barrette’s recent projects has been to explore the possibility of starting a new student federation. In light of SSMU’s disaffiliation from the Table de concertation étudiante du Québec (TaCEQ) last year, and the possible dissolution of the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ), this move to maintain and improve McGill’s connection with other Quebec universities is a necessary step forward.

VP Finance and Operations — Kathleen Bradley

Kathleen Bradley has done well as this year’s SSMU VP Finance and Operations. She succeeded in bringing a more clearly presented budget to Council. A huge change from last year was Bradley’s outreach to the media concerning this year’s budget: when the budget first came out at the beginning of the year, Bradley sat down with campus media and explained it to them in full, demonstrating a clear dedication to transparency and willingness to communicate with students. However, further initiatives to increase the visibility of SSMU’s budget among the student body as a whole, and to make students more aware of where their fees are going, would have been beneficial.

Bradley told The Daily she was glad to help SSMU break even on its budget and see sales rise at student-run cafe The Nest. She said that the continued expansion of student-run operations is one thing she hopes will be continued by next year’s executive as well. At SSMU Council meetings, Bradley has asserted that she expects the Nest to break even next year.

Bradley has done a great deal of work this year to promote student-run operations beyond the explicit demands of her portfolio, and we commend Bradley on her involvement with the Food Coalition and for leading SSMU in its support of student-run services, which have been under constant attack from the administration this year. A minor criticism of Bradley, however, is that throughout the year she has been reluctant to give as much time to campus media inquiries as compared to other members of this year’s executive and past holders of Bradley’s current position.

VP Clubs & Services — Stefan Fong

During his second year as VP Clubs & Services, Stefan Fong has endeavoured to make clubs more accessible to students and to increase student consultation. Fong told The Daily that he hopes that the Club Hub, a club management portal Fong has been developing since his first year in office, will finally be implemented under next year’s VP Clubs & Services, as the research and consultative phases have been completed.

In working toward achieving the Club Hub, Fong obtained constitutions from clubs that he identified as being active this year, thereby updating the list of functioning clubs. Additionally, Fong told The Daily that he wants to see the development of a co-curricular activities record, wherein participation in SSMU clubs would be recorded on a student’s transcript. While this is a worthwhile endeavor, it is still in developmental phases and is unlikely to be implemented this year.

Fong also showed initiative by rewriting the bylaw book for clubs and services. Overall, Fong has been an active member of Council, taking one of the executive positions often perceived as more mundane and very much making it his own. However, Fong has also faced criticism from various clubs and services for failing to consult with them before SSMU imposed clubs regulations. While this is a near-inevitable side effect of improving the organization of the Clubs & Services portfolio, the future VP Clubs & Services should seek to maintain and improve SSMU’s relationship with its clubs to help facilitate future cooperation.

VP Internal — Daniel Chaim

Daniel Chaim has prided himself on amassing larger amounts of revenue than last year’s executive in every social event that he has run as VP Internal, including 4Floors. Although some of the events still ran a deficit, Frosh almost broke even, missing the mark by a margin of only 0.35 per cent.

He also assisted in the restructuring of the Students’ Society Programming Network (SSPN), which increased overall volunteer involvement by delegating more responsibilities to volunteers and giving them more experience with event planning. Chaim noted that he had worked closely with SSPN this year and said that the committee played an integral role in the running of SSMU’s social events.

Chaim has not had many visible accomplishments this year outside of the standard organizing of these events; his proposed publications fee, for example, has as of yet failed to materialize. He has done little to go beyond the minimum requirements mandated by his portfolio; for example, he has failed to use the listserv as a tool to promote political engagement. This lack of drive to do more than the basic requirements of his portfolio was the most concerning aspect of Chaim’s performance this year.

VP University Affairs — Claire Stewart-Kanigan

Claire Stewart-Kanigan has been exceptionally active in student advocacy as VP University Affairs in many ways. On the policy front, she has been heavily involved in the continued development of a sexual assault policy for McGill, has helped update SSMU’s Equity Policy to allow for consultation with relevant student groups, and has worked on formalizing SSMU’s stance in opposition to harmful military research on campus. Stewart-Kanigan has also been central to the successful launch of SSMU’s mental health department.

Stewart-Kanigan has continued work on decolonization by seeking to bring a territory acknowledgement to Senate by the end of the year. Student researchers under her portfolio have also been very active, notably investigating equitable hiring practices at McGill. At Senate, Stewart-Kanigan has continued to provide a strong presence, and has acted as an effective leader for the SSMU Senate caucus.

Student consultation and collaboration have been a priority for Stewart-Kanigan. She has held forums and informational sessions, and has been receptive to concerns brought forward by students such as the women-only gym hours. Overall, Stewart-Kanigan has fulfilled her mandate exceptionally well, and has had a lasting impact on the university.

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Like last year, several of the Post-Graduate Students‘ Society (PGSS) executive candidates are running as a slate, namely Danielle Toccalino, Sahil Kumar, Bradley Por, Brighita Lungu, and Behrang Sharif. The slate‘s common platform elements mainly consist of increasing the availability of the executive to constituents — in particular by holding consistent, visible office hours — and maintaining a regular presence at Thomson House, Mac Campus, McGill-affiliated hospitals, and PGSS events.

Click on a position to see the candidates’ overviews.

Secretary General

Danielle Toccalino

As former Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) President, current SUS Chief Returning Officer, and current representative to PGSS for the Graduate Student Association of Neuroscience, Danielle Toccalino has a wealth of experience with McGill student politics. In addition to sitting on the SUS Constitutional Affairs Committee — where she helped update the Society‘s governing documents and reform electoral bylaws — Toccalino has participated in a number of working groups with both McGill Principal Suzanne Fortier and Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Ollivier Dyens. She noted that her terms in office demonstrate the organizational skills needed for the role of PGSS Secretary-General, which involves sitting on all of the associationís committees and acting as a bridge between graduate students and the University.

The PGSS executive committee suffered from strong internal divisions this year, with former Secretary-General Juan Camilo Pinto eventually resigning in January, citing personal reasons. Toccalino aims to promotes unity within the executive officers by making sure every executive officer has an equal voice. She also indicated that she would prioritize consensus-building on issues that polarize executive officers, aiming to work through proposals as a unit instead of relying on majority voting to make decisions. Divisions are not unique to just the executive, however, and Toccalino stated that she intends to shorten the gap between heavily committed PGSS members and apathetic ones.

As Secretary-General, Toccalino said that she would visit each of the 57 departmental associations meetings at least once a semester in order to solicit broad opinion. She is also advocating improved communication with graduate students by conducting more surveys and organizing more face-to-face events. Mental health and equity are also prominent parts of Toccalino‘s platform, and she would mandate each executive officer and commissioner to undergo equity and mental health first aid training.

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Saturnin Espoir Ntamba Ndandala

Saturnin Espoir Ntamba Ndandala completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Cape Town, where he was president of the undergraduate student society. He has also occupied leadership positions while studying at the University of Sorbonne and the University of Toronto, and has helped in the development of a smartphone application that aims to promote electoral knowledge among minorities. At McGill, Ndandala currently serves as a member of the Policy and Structural Advisory Committee of PGSS and ran for interim Secretary-General following the resignation of Juan Camilo Pinto in February. He lost to Yony Bresler, winning only 29 per cent of the votes. Ndandala argues that his exposure to different cultural values will give him a good standing if elected. Furthermore, he describes himself as a fighter, citing his cancer survival as evidence of his tenacity and strength.
Of the two electoral platforms in the PGSS Secretary-General campaign, Ndandala‘s is the more radical. He is proposing to reduce the fees that graduate students pay to their association by eliminating PGSS executive salaries. In support of this, he argued that executive officers are only required to work for 15 hours per week, and that the heads of graduate departmental associations are also unpaid.

Raising awareness of sexual assault is also a key part of Ndandala‘s platform. He hopes to make it mandatory for all graduate students to take a course on sexual assault, sexual harassment, and gender equality as part of their degree. True to his international academic experience, Ndandala also wants to ensure that international students have an easier transition into McGill by starting a program that would pair Canadian and foreign students. He envisions the program as a cultural exchange that would promote diversity among the student body.

Members Services

Jenny Ann Pura

Jenny Ann Pura is currently an Experimental Surgery Graduate Student Society (ESGSS) representative on PGSS Council. She told The Daily that her experience there sparked an interest in joining the executive committee. She also participated in initiatives to train student volunteers in active listening while an undergraduate at the University of Victoria. Aside from her work for ESGSS — of which she is co-president — Pura indicated her having attended Council meetings as experience that would count in her favour as Member Services Officer. The office is designed to offer guidance to graduate students on accessing McGill services — such as career planning, health services, and mental health services — as well as managing the various services run by PGSS.

Pura said that it is difficult to pinpoint what is most crucial to the role, stating that all aspects of the portfolio are equally important. She also had difficulty expressing a clear platform, but emphasized that team building exercises, transparency, and dealing with conflicts in a timely manner were all crucial. Additionally, she suggested that services for post-grads should be centralized in a single online platform, similar to Minerva. Pura stressed that every person‘s voice should be heard. However, she cautioned that she could not guarantee the feasibility of every electoral promise, expressing reluctance to declare what she hoped to achieve if elected.

Brighita Lungu

Brighita Lungu, having completed her first term, is running for re-election to the position of PGSS Member Services Officer (MSO).

Given the year she has spent as MSO and as a member of the Graduate Architecture Students‘ Association (GASA), Lungu has built up extensive experience catered to the position. Although she characterized the learning curve of being a PGSS MSO as steep, Lungu said that given her increased familiarity with the terrain, she will be able to accomplish more in the next year if re-elected.

Lungu said that she thought that one of the biggest issues facing student leadership is the turnover that the positions often see. Therefore, highlighting institutional memory as a crucial factor for success, Lungu asserted that being consistent and running for the same position will give her an edge over her opponent.

With the brunt of the MSO‘s responsibility surrounding the proper representation of her constituents, Lungu cited a good working relationship with existing administrative organizations as a significant advantage. She also addressed the importance of teamwork, and said that she intends to require all PGSS executives to go through equity training and active bystander training.

Lungu was also very vocal about providing support mechanisms for graduate students, particularly with regard to mental health and counselling. She also noted potential future collaboration with the McGill Office of Religious and Spiritual Life (MORSL) as a way to ensure that graduate students who might not be seeking these services because of perceived stigma are able to access them safely.

Lungu said she believed that one of the challenges facing MSO is that the departmental associations are not centralized in one place, like at the downtown campus — instead, they take the form of eighty small groups around Montreal. She expressed her hope to work on improving the disjointed relationship between these associations if re-elected.

Internal Affairs Officer

Sahil Kumar

Sahil Kumar gained a sense for the position‘s portfolio through his involvement with the Internal Affairs Committee this year as a PGSS representative for the Experimental Medicine Graduate Student Society (EMGSS). He sat on the PGSS Equity Committee this year, and has past experience in student government; he was the Science Undergraduate Society (SUS) VP Internal in 2013-14, a position in which he coordinated orientation week and introduced changes to make Frosh more accessible. He was also the SUS executive administrator in 2012-13, and worked for Campus Life & Engagement.

Kumar highlighted the importance of activities, communications, and committee recruitment to the Internal Affairs portfolio. He noted that there was room for improvement with orientation options — as a first-year graduate student, Kumar found orientation activities insufficient, even though a services fair was available. He hopes to create more welcoming orientation activities such as an activities night for committee positions, and to get students involved in committees, clubs, and departmental associations early in the year. Kumar also noted that he wants to provide more family-friendly events for PGSS members with children, and to take proactive action toward a sexual assault and harassment policy for PGSS.

Kumar considers mediating internal struggles to be an aspect of the Internal Affairs portfolio, noting that issues this year had detrimental effects on PGSS‘s public image, as well as on the atmosphere at Council meetings and Annual General Meetings.

External Affairs Officer

Bradley Por

Bradley Por decided to run for External Affairs Officer during the extended nomination period. Por is currently in his third year at McGill, as he has completed a Masters in Law and is just starting his PhD; he was previously the Academic Affairs Officer at the Graduate Law Students‘ Association (GLSA).

Por made it clear that he is not afraid to take strong stances, and indicated that resistance to austerity was a priority for him at a time when budget cuts are resulting in reduced funds for education services. In the wake of the possible collapse of the Fédération Étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ), Por indicated that it was essential to rebuild a new organization based on open collaboration and communication in order to resist austerity.

Another key element of Por‘s platform is increasing communication between the External Affairs Officer and PGSS constituents. An Annual General Meeting twice a year, he noted, is not enough of a conversation with students. Por emphasized the importance for students to see their students‘ society as a tool for advocating for their interests, with regard to both the administration and the government.

Academic Affairs Officer

Devin Mills

Devin Mills served on the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee at Edgewood College in Wisconsin for three years, was an assessment graduate research assistant, and is currently the Education Graduate Students‘ Society (EGSS) VP Finance. If elected, communication and transparency will be at the forefront of Mills‘ priorities, as he has said that communicating with constituents is something that he would like to see PGSS do more of in the future. He hopes to make the policies that impact student life more clear to students, and thinks that, overall, PGSS could benefit from more transparency in its initiatives. He cites the Society‘s recent disaffiliation from the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) as an example — PGSS members were unaware of the disaffiliation vote‘s potential effects on their fees.

Mills indicated that he was highly concerned about budget cuts at McGill, and also named increased research funding as an issue that he would prioritize in his advocacy. He said that filling all the Senate committee seats allocated to PGSS was a priority for him, and that he would seek to improve communication with PGSS members to that end.

After the controversies of this past year that resulted in the removal of Secretary-General Juan Camilo Pinto from his position on the PGSS executive, Mills said he would like to help PGSS regain respect from its constituents and re-establish its credibility. Overall, he says he would like to eliminate doubts that people might have regarding the organization in order to promote engagement.

Financial Affairs Officer

Behrang Sharif

Behrang Sharif has been involved in various PGSS committees since he began his graduate studies at McGill around three years ago, and was previously treasurer and president at a national association for pharmaceutical students in Iran. He has also worked in a financial capacity at a startup, has taken part in local, national, and international student organizations and federations, and has spent two years as a PGSS representative for the Physiology Graduate Student Association (PGSA).

Transparency and accessibility of the PGSS budget and its overall finances is of great importance for Sharif, especially given that PGSS is struggling financially following its legal dispute with the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS). He suggested seeking increased revenue to avoid hiking fees by encouraging people to hold meetings at Thomson House throughout the day in order to increase sales, for example.

Sharif‘s other portfolio-related goals include improving the partnership between PGSS and other campus organizations, and continuing the Thomson House lease negotiations with the University in case they are not completed by the current executive. He noted that there is currently a lack of clarity about the negotiation process on the part of PGSS executives. He also aims to to promote PGSS involvement among constituents.

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Funding for students with disabilities

Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Arts and Science Senator Chloe Rourke, Arts Senator Jacob Greenspon, and Medicine Senator David Benrimoh presented a question regarding the allocation of McGill’s $1.2 million share of a provincial grant for the support of students with disabilities.

According to the official response to this question, provided by Provost Anthony Masi and Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Ollivier Dyens, this money has been absorbed under the annual budget, with the administration claiming that a sufficient amount is already spent on services benefitting students with disabilities.

“The unrestricted envelop [sic] of approximately $1.2 [million] provided this year is part of the overall university budget from which much more than $1.2 [million] has been allocated for services to students with disabilities and other needs across the university. In essence, then, the funds have already been distributed,” the response read.

However, the response also noted that the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD) would be facing “budget restrictions” in the coming year, along with other units on campus, and that there was “no pending disbursement to OSD.”

“[We] can guarantee only what we can afford to guarantee.”

Rourke said that the student senators asked the question because students had expressed concern that the OSD was inadequately funded. “We realized that the current budget is not able to sustain operations even without funding cuts,” said Rourke. “How is the University going to ensure that this service is able to fulfill its mandate and operations?”

In response to Rourke, Masi said that the OSD is an “important service,” but emphasized that the current climate of decreased government funding requires budget cuts. “We have to make difficult choices sometimes […] and [the funds] can’t just be given because it’s an important service.”

However, Benrimoh insisted that more information be provided about how the funds would be disbursed to ensure that they were actually being used to directly help students with disabilities.

“How can you guarantee us clarity of purpose for these funds?” he asked Masi.

Masi responded that the University can guarantee “only what we can afford to guarantee.”

“We cannot put any more money into this operation than what we are already doing,” Masi continued, adding that these circumstances would not lead to the dissolution of the service.

Speaking to the OSD’s apparent operating difficulties, Dyens said, “I was not made aware of this. This is a discussion that [Executive] Director of Student Services [Jana Luker] and I must have. […] We are committed to making sure we provide these services.”

Advising disparity between faculties

Greenspon presented a question about the disparity in advisor-to-student ratios between faculties and about the University’s actions to address this. The question noted that the ratio was 843 students per advisor in Arts, compared to an inter-faculty average of 265 students per advisor. Law, the faculty with the lowest ratio, has only 88 students per advisor.

Dyens said that the University has been making concerted efforts to obtain donations to fund for advising. “This is a resource issue. […] I think we’ll be making progress very soon on this.”

Dyens also noted that the “Ask McGill” website, which serves to respond to simple questions to free up advisors for larger discussions, saw a usage increase of almost 20 per cent in February. “[Survey] data says students are seeing progress, but we’re still behind our peers,” he said.

Grad student relocation concerns

Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Martin Kreiswirth presented his annual report to Senate.

Many questions raised in response to the report pertained to the recent move of many research students to the new Glen site of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC). Medicine Faculty Senator Edith Zorychta asked what was being done to address space concerns, given that roughly 9 per cent of the graduate student population has moved to this new location.

Kreiswirth did not provide a specific solution, but acknowledged the problem that some units have research and funding but lack space. He suggested better liaising with the Glen site, but said that there were “no simple solutions.”

PGSS Academic Affairs Officer Jennifer Murray expressed concern with the impact of the move on students’ workflow and quality of life. “We have received many complaints,” she said.

Murray requested that Kreiswirth form a working group to investigate issues with the move and report to Senate in May and September. Kreiswirth said he would get back to Murray with a decision.

New programs, Principal’s remarks

Principal Suzanne Fortier said that McGill’s proposal for the use of the Royal Victoria Hospital, which will become vacant next month, has been made a priority by the government. The University will conduct a feasibility study, half of which will be funded by the government, on the use of the space.

“[We] need to have a clear picture of what problems we would face if we developed the site, and what costs we would incur,” said Fortier, adding that McGill would require significant investment from the government before committing to developing the site.

Two graduate certificate programs, one in digital archives management and the other in information and knowledge management, were approved by Senate, along with two new concentrations for Masters programs in the Faculty of Arts.

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The Coalition held its first public event on February 13: a “heartbombing” under the Leacock stairs, where representatives from SNAX, Midnight Kitchen, the Nest, and the McGill Spaces Project had snacks and information for those passing by.

The online description for this inaugural event outlined the goal of the coalition. “Currently, [student-run food and space] initiatives are vulnerable to the top-down, profit-driven decisions of our administration. We believe that unified, the groups in the coalition will have stronger negotiating power within McGill’s hierarchy and ultimately more influence on campus.”

The survival of student-run services and spaces is an issue that has reared its head frequently at McGill. Last semester, the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) negotiations took the spotlight when McGill ordered the AUS-run food kiosk SNAX to “cease and desist” the sale of sandwiches.

Kathleen Bradley, Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) VP Finance and Operations and former head chef at the student-run cafe the Nest, told The Daily that the SNAX controversy helped prompt the development of the Coalition.

“Around the time that McGill told SNAX that they couldn’t sell sandwiches – that was sort of the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

“Around the time that McGill told SNAX that they couldn’t sell sandwiches – that was sort of the straw that broke the camel’s back – a whole bunch of students from Frostbite, from SNAX, from the SRC [student-run cafe, the Nest], from a bunch of SSMU services kind of got together,” said Bradley.

“We met with the people from the Concordia Food Coalition, and they shared their experience with corporatized food services and how they’re working against the Concordia administration to make sure that student-run food services are preserved on campus,” she continued.

The Coalition is in the process of drafting a charter that outlines its purpose and values, one of which is to support student-run food services in their interactions with the McGill administration. According to Bradley, advocating for students throughout MOA negotiations is one way this goal can be achieved.

“We were a little bit late to the SNAX game, but hopefully in the future if EUS [the Engineering Undergraduate Society] or another faculty was negotiating its MOA and was having difficulty preserving their student space, the Coalition could come together, do demonstrations, [create] awareness, and put pressure on the McGill administration to put [measures to preserve student space] in the MOA.”

Meldrum added, “If the SNAX negotiations continue to drag as they are, there is still definitely an opportunity for the coalition to participate.”

Bradley listed “coming out to demonstrations if you see them, writing letters to the McGill administration or getting in contact with your faculty and seeing how you can support their student-run food service,” as ways that interested students can get involved with the Coalition.

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Dubbed “Operation Brown Building,” the initiative began this semester as a collaboration between students in ARCH 514: Community Design Workshop, the Brown Building Redesign Advisory Group (BBRAG), and the McGill Spaces Project (MSP). Operation Brown Building is intended to make the building a less confusing and more student-friendly space.

“The Brown building was initially planned as a transit space from Doctor Penfield to McTavish as well as […] a conduit to connect to SSMU. But, these [connecting] doors look like fire exits, they don’t look very approachable,” MSP Director and U3 Sustainability student Alan Chen told The Daily.

“Institutional memory has been lost over generations in the sense that people who are using the Brown Building right now don’t know that the space was initially planned to be used as a conduit,” he continued.

These information sessions were the beginning of a consultative process that will be continued through similar events in March.

“Right now, we are just introducing people to the idea, and then [during] reading week we will have workshops, actually have people sit down, and we’ll show them options and they’ll pick,” Ila D’cruz, a Masters student studying Urban Design, explained to The Daily.

“Once that’s done, by the end of the semester, we will come up with design proposals, and they’re actually going to do it in summer,” she said. According to D’cruz, the funds for the project have already been set aside by McGill.

Chen emphasized that community input was key to the project.

“We not only would appreciate, but would welcome and encourage community members to come and leave their ideas and opinions.”

Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) student Catherine Weatherall agreed that the Brown building could use improvement. “Every time I do come in here, it’s not the most inviting building, – you walk in and you don’t know where to go, and to be honest, I really don’t spend a lot of time here,” she said. “It doesn’t seem like our building, like a students’ building.”

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In an email to The Daily, Divest McGill organizer and U3 Environmental Sciences student Kristen Perry spoke to the significance of this faculty backing.

“I think that faculty support will absolutely play a role in the ultimate decision by the Board. When they are hearing the call for divestment from multiple parts of the McGill community – students, faculty, alumni, staff – that only strengthens the message that we want McGill’s investments to reflect the values we extol, including a commitment to sustainability and leadership.”

According to McGill professor Darin Barney, he and other faculty members were approached about a year ago to start developing formal faculty support for divestment.

“I would say [McGill Faculty for Divestment] was really prompted by the students of Divest McGill,” said Barney.

The letter, which is still open to signatures, has received support from professors in a range of departments from Art History to Physics.

“We were quite pleased with the level of faculty support […] we still think we can do better, but our goal was to get 100 signatures by the time the petition and brief were submitted by Divest McGill [to CAMSR], and we exceeded that goal,” said Barney.

“We were quite pleased with the level of faculty support […] we still think we can do better, but our goal was to get 100 signatures by the time the petition and brief were submitted by Divest McGill [to CAMSR], and we exceeded that goal.” 

While Divest McGill has been organizing on campus for over two years, signatory McGill professor Shaun Lovejoy was not surprised that McGill has been slow on the uptake.

“McGill – the administration and BoG – are a pretty conservative bunch,” Lovejoy told The Daily. “I don’t think they want to be the first to do something like this, but I doubt they want to be the last.”

According to Barney, McGill Faculty for Divestment has broader plans moving forward.

“We’re now moving into the phase where we’re going to be liaising with some of the faculty groups that are at campuses across the world […and] approach different kinds of faculty bodies at McGill to try to get collective support [for divestment].”

Perry said that Divest McGill also plans to continue working with McGill Faculty for Divestment.

“We are certainly going to be continuing to work with these wonderful faculty members. There is already a dedicated group of them working on promoting divestment, and they seem to have lots of energy and ideas, so we’re excited to move forward.”

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A fire broke out on the roof of the West Wing of Royal Victoria College (RVC) residence today. According to The McGill Reporter, the approximately eighty students housed in the West Wing will be relocated to temporary residences as the building has been closed until further notice. No injuries have been reported.

The fire was called in to emergency services at about 10:45 a.m. and was under control by 1:15p.m.. According to Élise Breault of the Service de sécurité incendie de Montréal, there were 48 firefighters at the scene. Breault told The Daily that the fire started on the roof.

“There was no propagation and the damage was located only on the roof,” said Breault, adding that the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Power to the nearby Strathcona Music Building, shut off earlier this afternoon, has been restored.

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“One of [the contest’s] goals is to provide a platform for the broader McGill community to be able to shape discussions around equity, or lack thereof, at McGill,” SEDE Public Awareness Strategy (Communications and Events) Intern Cadence O’Neil told The Daily in an email.

O’Neil continued, “Everyone’s experience at McGill is unique, and this is determined in part by the barriers and supports in place at McGill, and the space created to discuss these realities.”

The scope of the contest is as broad as the range of barriers that exist at McGill. O’Neil outlined some of the issues centred in the few submissions that SEDE has received so far.

“Everyone’s experience at McGill is unique, and this is determined in part by the barriers and supports in place at McGill, and the space created to discuss these realities.”

“These submissions have highlighted a broad range of issues already, for example: the accessibility of equipment in offices at McGill, some of the reasons behind the underrepresentation of Indigenous students at McGill, and the lack of abuse and sexual assault support services for all members of the McGill community.”

Ultimately, O’Neil was hopeful that the contest would spur changes on campus beyond a discussion of barriers and accessibility.

“I […] hope that the important critiques and barriers being identified by students through this project will be taken seriously by other members of the McGill community, and will result in tangible changes,” said O’Neil.

“There is clearly a long way to go before public education is truly accessible and a positive experience for all, but SEDE is dedicated to helping that process along.”

SEDE will be accepting photo submissions until March 13.

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The motion to recognize CSUS as an AUS departmental association was put forward by AUS President Ava Liu, VP Finance Li Xue, and Political Science Students’ Association (PSSA) VP External Gabriel Gilling. CSUS VP External Ian Karp spoke to the reasoning behind the motion.

“There are many students in the Faculty [of Arts] who are in computer science, a lot of people who are minoring or majoring, so it made sense that we’d become a departmental [association],” Karp said.

“To get people to vote, people have to be aware of what’s going on on campus.”

Tom Zheng, co-founder of app development company Kreate Solutions, gave a presentation to Council about the new AUS app, which is set to be launched on February 16.

According to Zheng, the app is meant to allow students to access all AUS-related information through one channel, and to give AUS representatives insight into what issues their constituents care about the most. Zheng also highlighted its potential for increasing election turnout, noting that AUS hit a record of a mere 21 per cent during the strike year.

“To get people to vote, people have to be aware of what’s going on on campus,” said Zheng.

Xue asked for clarification on the legal implications of the marketplace aspect of the app, where students could hypothetically advertise the buying and selling of textbooks. “In our Memorandum of Agreement [with the University], it says that we cannot be a medium for these sorts of activities because that goes through the bookstore.”

Zheng responded that, while no transactions actually take place on the app, AUS should display a disclaimer outlining any activities that the app should not be used for.

Xue also noted that the app was late, as it was originally contracted to be available for Frosh 2014.

A last-minute motion to approve the AUS operating budget was tabled at the request of Councillor Patrick Dunbar-Lavoie to allow Council more time to read the budget, which had been revised since it was last presented to Council, before voting.

Council also unanimously passed a motion to adopt a revised version of the Classics Students’ Association (CSA)’s constitution, which was last updated in 2011.

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