The meeting followed the SSMU Board of Directors’ (BoD) decision on January 26 to suspend all J-Board activities pending a review of its structure within the SSMU Constitution.

The recommendations aimed to ensure SSMU’s compliance with the Quebec Corporations Act and the province’s Accreditation Act by constitutionally recognizing the BoD as the highest governing authority of SSMU.

Concerns over J-Board’s relationship to the BoD were raised in light of the current J-Board case, filed by students Zach Newburgh and Brendan Steven. The case contests the results of the QPIRG referendum question. Both students were present in the gallery at the BoD meeting.

The ad hoc Bylaw Review Committee met on January 30 to decide how to move forward. Its goals included protecting SSMU from liability while ensuring “a fair, unbiased method of addressing complaints/petitions.”

The committee decided it was in the best interest of all SSMU members for the J-Board to resume activity as soon as possible, and to hold hearings for current cases before reading week.

Members also agreed that the BoD must submit a question during the Winter Referendum period that would clarify the relationship between the BoD and J-Board.

The motion, debated Thursday by BoD members, sought to reinstate activities of the J-Board immediately, with consideration of the recommended constitutional changes. The motion passed with eight BoD members in favour, one against, and three abstentions.

Constitutional recommendations put forward by the J-Board – which were then reviewed by the Bylaw Committee – include amending the current provision that J-Board is “the final authority” on the interpretation of the SSMU Constitution and By-laws of the Society to J-Board having “the authority to adjudicate” on those matters.

Gabriel Joshee-Arnal, a law student and legal advocate in the current J-Board case, was in the gallery and asked for clarification regarding the motion’s application to the current case.

In response, VP External Joël Pedneault proposed an amendment and explained that the motion is only in effect until the Winter Referendum period is complete. The amendment read, “With the additional provision that decisions made by the J-Board which are unreasonable, or contrary to its procedures, may also be overturned by the SSMU BoD.”

Pedneault said that he hoped this would “keep the logic that the BoD can overturn a decision of the J-Board for clearly demonstrable reasons,” and maintain compliance with Quebec law as soon as J-Board activities resume.

During debate on the amendment, Newburgh said that he was “concerned about ‘unreasonable’ and whether it can be used to overturn a decision for political reasons.”

Arts Representative Isabelle Bi also expressed that she was “worried about the use of the term ‘unreasonable’,” but Joshee-Arnal clarified that it is a standard legal grading.

The amendment passed, along with one put forward by Arts Representative Jamie Burnett, which called for SSMU to create a working group “to investigate democratic avenues of resolving issues of constitutionality” in the spirit of placing SSMU’s general membership at the foreground of decision-making processes.

Review of the SSMU’s Constitution and Bylaws is ongoing. “The goal is to have a full by-law review done by the end of this year,” said SSMU President Maggie Knight.

Newburgh and Steven’s case will be heard Monday.

The post Judicial Board activities reinstated appeared first on The McGill Daily.

The preliminary report, which addresses the Inquiry’s methodologies and data collection strategies, as well presenting a chronology of the events of November 10, was published on December 1. The report’s key findings include misinformation passed throughout the night from McGill staff to students, and the actions of McGill Security to block access to Dawson Hall, where protestors could have escaped riot police.

Arts Representative to SSMU Micha Stettin announced his resignation from his position. He cited the legislative body’s institutional structure as the foremost reason for his resignation. At next week’s Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) council meeting, an interim Arts councillor will be elected from current departmental representatives by secret ballot.

In an email to AUS Council members, AUS President Jade Calver stated that, at the same council meeting, the AUS will decide whether it “deem[s] it necessary to hold an election for a new Arts Representative, or if the person we appoint at council will be able to serve in this capacity until the end of the winter term.”

A motion regarding reform of the SSMU General Assembly (GA) followed a review of the GA performed by the Bylaw Review Committee, as well as an online survey, and two town halls asking students for recommendations.

The motion stated that “all reasonable efforts shall be made to live stream and film the General Assembly,” as well as subsequent procedures outlining that a motion may be put to an online vote with the support of two-thirds of the GA, and shall remain open online for no more than 48 hours following the close of the GA.

There was considerable disagreement about the merits of allowing motions from the floor until the GA commences. SSMU President Maggie Knight argued that motions from the floor “may drive more people to show up to take part in their democratic processes if they don’t know what might happen.” Engineering Representative to SSMU Alex Kunev also highlighted the importance of addressing time sensitive issues that arise between the deadline for approval by Council and the GA.

Arts Representative to SSMU Isabelle Bi argued that the ability to bring motions from the floor could be exploited by special interest groups looking to introduce controversial motions, and that such motions could therefore escape the advanced scrutiny a traditional motion receives.

After debate as to whether motions from the floor should be subject to an online vote, or other systems of ratification before adoption, Council decided to informally consult with the Judicial Board about the constitutionality of an online vote for the GA. Although the vote was falsely recorded in the minutes as having failed, councillors voted in favour of the proposed reforms.

Another close vote concerned a motion to send a letter regarding Dean of Law Daniel Jutras’ investigation into the events of November 10. Jutras’ investigation was commissioned by Principal Heather Munroe-Blum, and stipulated that no individual blame be assigned for the events.

The letter, addressed to the Chair of the Board of Governors, Stuart Cobbett, voiced “serious reservations” regarding the investigation, and expresses, “not only that the current investigation lacks independence, but also that the prior constraints imposed on its scope and process will undermine its credibility in the eyes of the McGill community.” The motion failed with 10 votes for, 10 votes against, and four abstentions after moving to a role-call vote – in which councilors publicly declare their vote – for the first time this academic year.

In the printed version of this article, “GA reforms fail at SSMU Council” (News, January 12), it was incorrectly stated that councillors voted to reject the proposed reforms for the General Assembly. In fact, the vote passed after being falsely recorded in the meeting minutes. SSMU Recording Secretary Clare Michela has apologized and corrected the minutes. The Daily regrets the error.

The post Key findings from Independent Student Inquiry presented at SSMU council appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Constructed by Alex Rivers, the production’s striking set instantly throws you into a world where appearances are struggling to be maintained. The blue and gold floor tiles are jagged around the edges, the fireplace is boarded up, the window hangs crooked, and the johnny (the toilet) still hasn’t been fixed in what otherwise appears as an expensive home. All of this is contrasted by a straight line of bare, low-hanging incandescent bulbs that shed light on Mommy and Daddy’s eerily dark past.

Mommy and Daddy had a “bumble” of joy (or bundle, perhaps?) once, but it was defective, and finally died, so they have to buy a new one.

The American Dream begins as the couple are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Mrs. Barker, played by the ever-energetic Maija Whitney. Unfortunately, she has no idea what sort of business brings her to the apartment, but after a little hinting and a lot of cunning from Grandma she successfully delivers a new bumble – the “clean-cut, Midwest farm boy type” young man played flawlessly by Cory Lipman. Needless to say, he fully fits Mommy’s requirements.
While both plays on the bill are immensely satisfying (for the audience – the characters make very clear that they receive little satisfaction these days), it is The Sandbox that really fulfils all the promises of what Beresh refers to as his “absurd, post-modernist, post-structuralist baby.”

Written by Albee in the midst of completing The American Dream, Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, and The American Dream all make a return for Grandma’s final moments of life at the “beach.”

Lasting only about 10 minutes, The Sandbox provides a concise portrait of the family it took so long to uncover in The American Dream, thanks to the characters’ many pretences. Unlike the first play, in which there are very few breaks from tightly phrased dialogue (leaving the audience begging for a moment to catch their breath from spending the entire play begging for logical coherency), The Sandbox is perfectly paced and provides ample opportunity to appreciate its near-cinematic staging.

Not to mention the added perk of Claire Stewart-Kanigan’s cello playing whenever Grandma allows it.
The entire cast gives an impressive performance. Gabriela Petrov as Mommy perfectly assumes Albee’s critiques of material society with her insistence on a beige hat over a wheat one, and though occasionally lacking engagement with the other characters, Charles-Adam Foster-Simard as Daddy succeeds at constantly straddling the line between in-control husband and Mommy’s doormat.

Rebecca Gibian’s performance of Grandma is particularly notable. Her character fills the apartment with an all-knowing, prescient presence even when simply watching Mommy and Daddy from her chair in the back corner of the stage.

Albee’s world may be a confusing and critical one, but I highly recommend that you “Come in. Take off your dress, and get comfortable.”

The post All in the family appeared first on The McGill Daily.

According to the previous MoA, McGill would advance SSMU its portion of student fees – calculated based on projected income from student fees to the University – on September 15. Any extra fees given to SSMU would be refunded to the University later in the year.

Since there is currently no active MoA, the University has no obligation to grant SSMU its fees by September 15, and is therefore withholding the funds until a new MoA is signed.

SSMU President Maggie Knight explained that McGill is open to giving SSMU its student fees in increments if MoA negotiations continue through November.

“Fortunately, SSMU is in a robust financial position, so, even though we don’t have our fees and we won’t be getting the interest we normally would, SSMU is doing fine,” she said.

The only outstanding item on the negotiating table is Appendix G of the MoA – a list of all of the clubs and services under the purveyance of SSMU.

The use of the McGill name by student groups has been a contentious issue, and it  appears that the majority of student groups will be facing name changes.

“We’re happy with the current state of negotiations, in which students will be able to use the McGill name within certain parameters, but, obviously, it presents a problem for existing groups, especially McGill Outdoors Club and McGill Nightline,” said Knight, highlighting the difficulty caused to McGill student groups with long histories.

“We understand the concerns of the University,” said Knight about matters regarding liability, fundraising issues, and blurred lines surrounding the ownership of these names.

“However, as we have seen recently from the principal, ‘We are all McGill.’ It’s unfortunate we haven’t been able to get the University to agree to grandfather the names of these longstanding clubs,” she added, referencing Principal Heather Munroe-Blum’s recent email to McGill staff and students regarding the University’s ongoing labour dispute with striking non-academic workers.

Knight said that SSMU has been working extensively to understand the rationale behind the requested name changes, but that the University’s stance on particular names has shifted throughout the negotiations. According to Knight, the word “club” seems sufficient in most cases to denote a student-run group that is unaffiliated with McGill, but “collective” is often problematic.

Julian Cooper, an executive member of the McGill Outdoors Club (MOC), said the group had known about the McGill name issue since the summer. “We were just wondering when they were going to come for us,” he said of McGill’s request to change the group’s name to McGill Student Outdoors Club (MSOC).

“We’re also involved with a lot of outside groups, so changing our name is a lot more than adding an ‘s’ to our acronym,” said Cooper.

The MOC, founded in 1936, is one of groups with whom SSMU consulted for new name proposals.

“Maggie [Knight] tried to explain the situation, but it still left us feeling dissatisfied because all of our proposals had been rejected [by the administration],” explained Cooper.

Inan-Ul Haq, another MOC executive, expressed concern about the degree of leverage that SSMU holds in negotiations with the University.  “I think their hands are tied in a lot of ways,” he added.

VP Clubs and Services Carol Fraser will be speaking with all of the affected clubs and services in the next several weeks.

After nearly two and a half years of negotiation on the issue, “finally, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. I’m just looking forward to getting to support clubs and services in the work they’re supposed to be doing,” she said.

The post McGill withholds SSMU student fees appeared first on The McGill Daily.

The plan was updated at Council to include a greater focus on technology in pedagogical work and interdisciplinary research. Masi remained for questions for nearly an hour after the allotted time for his presentation.

A major focus of the plan is increasing the number of professors at the University. Arts Senator Matt Crawford brought up concerns that this would come at the expense of course lecturers and TAs.

“We’d like to have more tenure track professors who can bring their expertise into the program,” stated Masi, who continued to explain that the positions would vary across disciplines. “Some faculties will be requiring more course lecturers,” he added.

Masi was reluctant to answer questions regarding the MUNACA strike, citing the fact that he has not been present at the bargaining table.

Education representative and former Daily Design and Production editor Kady Paterson questioned the White Paper’s proposed commitments to enhancing career development opportunities for all McGill employees, citing a perceived reluctance on the part of McGill to allow MUNACA members back to work.

“The support staff walked out. There’s a strike, so people should tone down their rhetoric,” Masi responded.

The comment came after questioning about the administration’s treatment of students who protest and visibly support MUNACA on campus.

“There is confusion between the ability to conduct freedom of expression and the inability of the University to go about its business,” Masi said.

“The injunction [against MUNACA] doesn’t say you don’t have the freedom of speech,” he added.

Masi spoke of increased commitments to TAs. “We have engaged with TAs in something called a ‘skillset’ program.  We are certainly in favour of anything that enhances the skills of our graduate students and our TAs,” he said.

Jonathan Mooney, representative for the Association of Graduate Students Emplyed at McGill, announced that the union will vote during its next Council meeting on whether to authorize pressure tactics.

“When we vote to authorize pressure tactics, that excludes a strike,” said Mooney, specifying that tactics may include letter writing campaigns and rallies.

In light of the upcoming fall referendum period, members of community radio station CKUT were present to see their referendum question approved by Council. The question asks students to vote on the continued existence of CKUT by renewing the $4.00 per semester fee from every undergraduate.

The motion is similar to their previous existence referendum question, but includes specification that the fee “is not opt-outable on the Minerva online opt-out system but is refundable on the premises of CKUT.”

Since the online opt-out system was instituted in 2007, CKUT and other interest groups supported by opt-outable fees have attempted to negotiate the system with the University, but have yet to see any changes made.

Myriam Zaidi, a CKUT board member and former SSMU executive, responded to concerns that forcing students to retrieve their refund from CKUT’s premises might be intimidating for some.

“This is like a refund, so when you purchase something at a store, you’re not pressured to answer whether or not you’re going to keep it,” she said.

Since McGill has control over the Minerva online opt-out system, questions were raised whether or not the University would make changes if such a motion were to be passed.  VP Clubs and Services Carol Fraser, who authored the motion, responded that, “McGill would be grossly delegitimizing democratic processes if it ignored the votes of thousands of undergraduates.”

QPIRG put their referendum question forward by collecting 500 student signatures, as opposed to submitting the question to Council. However, QPIRG representatives were present at Council to discuss the work of the group and answer any questions that councillors had.

A motion presented by the Executive Committee to enhance transparency was passed, despite questions regarding its constitutionality from former SSMU President Zach Newburgh. Minutes from in-camera sessions of the Executive Committee will now be available to Councillors upon request.

The post White Paper plan presented at Legislative Council appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Previously, there was one undergraduate representative for every 8, 805 students on the Board, but, with amended membership, a single undergraduate member will represent all 35,408 Concordia Student Union (CSU) members. The single representative of graduate students will remain on the Board.

After a week of pressure from the CSU before the vote, the Board included a second undergraduate student position on the board as an alternate governor.  While occupying committee positions and exercising speaking rights at all meetings, this alternate governor has no vote unless the undergraduate representative is not present.

The university “felt that this was a good compromise to allow students to have a voice,” said Chris Mota, the head of Concordia’s media relations, on the decision to add an alternate undergraduate governor to the Board.

The CSU is not satisfied with this inclusion of a non-voting student presence.

“We don’t want your sympathy, we want a vote,” said CSU president Lex Gill on the decrease of student representation.  She sees the addition of an alternate governor as a sign that “they have acknowledged there’s a problem and found a completely inadequate solution.”

The university cites two documents as the impetus for changes to the Board’s membership.

Bill 38, a provincial bill that would mandate standardized restrictions on university governance across Quebec, including limited internal university representation.  The bill, proposed in 2009, was quickly tabled after criticism from all levels of university governance, and shows no sign of being immediately brought back to the table for consideration.

The second document is the External Governance Review Committee report released earlier this year.  Former McGill Principal Bernard Shapiro chaired this committee, charged with reviewing Concordia’s governance structures.

The recommendations to downsize the Board came as an attempt to increase governance efficiency.

Mota commended the changes for helping to bring the university’s governance in line with the governance structures of other universities across the province.  There are currently 25 members on the McGill Board, with one voting undergraduate representative – a similar composition to the proposed Concordia Board.

“The university feels that all of these measures are moving toward progress,” said Mota.  Concerning the issue of decreased student representation, Mota told The Daily that “clearly the board felt that this was an appropriate move for the time, recognizing that students would not be happy.”

SSMU VP University Affairs Emily Yee Clare addressed the assumption that a smaller board will necessarily bring increased efficiency.  “You may increase the efficiency in terms of time, but increasingly the overall dynamism of the group and the ability to represent one’s constituency is a different matter.  It shouldn’t be a question of numbers.”

The vote on this motion to cut the Board’s membership numbers did not go unchallenged during the Board’s meeting on September 28.  “We did everything procedurally possible to stop [the vote],” said Gill.

The chair of the board, Peter Kruyt, decided to call a vote by secret ballot, and, when challenged on this decision, Gill said that Kruyt decided it is not permissible to challenge the decision of the chair.

According to Gill, when a student gallery member challenged Kruyt’s actions as undemocratic, Rita de Santis, a Board member and member of the Ad Hoc Governance Review Committee – which authored the motion – responded, “We’ll talk about democracy later.”

This was the prelude to Kruyt’s telling Gill, “We’re done, we’re done, we’re done,” after she challenged the decision to hold the vote by secret ballot.

At this point, student representatives walked out of the meeting in protest.

The new composition of the Board is required to take full effect by September 2012. In the meantime, positions will be gradually phased out throughout the year.

The post Concordia reorganizes Board of Governors appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Though the GA quickly surpassed its 100-student quorum with a total of 130 attendees, so many people left the room after voting on the motion regarding accessible education that the attendance count was lost.

“It started off really promising and we went swiftly through the Board of Directors and the sustainability motions,” said SSMU Speaker Michael Tong.

Debate increased exponentially during the motion regarding accessible education, with speakers both against and in support of tuition hikes.  SSMU Speaker and chair of the meeting Nida Nizam felt the discussion strayed from the substantive issue of the motion.

“There was definitely a lot of philosophical debate going on,” she said. “I think a lot of the motions were boiling down to principles and I think the students just had very different viewpoints based on personal context, especially regarding the Quebec tuition hikes motion and taking a stance on that.”

Whether education should be defined as a fundamental right or a privilege was reoccurring theme throughout the debate. Niko Block, a former Daily News and Features editor, made the final comment on the matter.

“You can make the argument that education is a privilege and not a right – you can still want that privilege to be bestowed upon every member of society for the sake of making it a more democratic society,” Block said.

The motion passed with a vote of 91 students in support, 6 against, and 7 abstentions.  It was immediately following this result that quorum was lost.

“There was a movement at one point of many people walking out of the room,” said Arts Representative Micha Stettin.  “And I am very curious to know from those individuals whether that walkout was intentional or whether they just had something else to do that was more important. And if it was intentional, why they walked out – what about the GA was not to their liking.”

Nizam highlighted that “people are well within their right to walk out on something if they disagree with how it works, but that may delegitimize what they were saying in the first place.”

SSMU President Maggie Knight echoed similar concerns surrounding the mass walkout, but acknowledged that maintaining quorum is something the GA has historically struggled with for a variety of reasons.

“I think when people have frustrations with the outcome of particular motions it isn’t ideal, but I understand that that motion took a long time to debate.  McGill students are busy people and I understand they have places to be,” Knight said.

Knight reiterated her appreciation that the motion to reform SSMU’s Board of Directors had passed, which instituted by-laws clarifying its membership, powers, and procedures.  “For me, it was very important that that structure was reformed.  It was important that we address the issue of the [SSMU] exec ultimately being accountable to the exec,” she said.

Although motions were only symbolically passed after the loss of quorum, those who submitted motions were pleased to see constructive debate continue. Stettin authored the motion regarding support for workers’ struggles, which encourages SSMU to take immediate action in support of striking campus unions.

“I think it was an enriching debate,” Stettin said. “I’m glad there were a lot of diverse opinions and I’m glad people got to spend more than 20 minutes talking about the motion before it was even voted on. I’m also very glad that it passed. I’m sad that it didn’t pass with quorum, but, as a consultative body, that will give us a lot of incentive to pass it in Council.”

Clubs and Services Representative Adam Winer submitted the Motion on Student Consultation in Re-Appointments of the DPSLL (Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning)), which would mandate the executive to lobby for a stronger consultative voice from students in the reappointment of senior administrators.

With the belief that students should be treated as equal partners in the campus community, he was happy to see the motion passed in consultative forum.

“It’s very troubling that students don’t have a say in the appointment of someone who’s supposed to be the voice of the students,” said Winer of the motion, which was drafted with input from former councillor Eli Freedman.

All motions voted on by the consultative body will be submitted to the Legislative Council for consideration at its next meeting today.

The ad-hoc SSMU by-law review committee is currently looking into GA reforms. The Executive hopes to implement changes before the winter GA, which is set to be held on February 1.

The post GA Supports Commitment to Accessible Education appeared first on The McGill Daily.

SSMU VP Finance and Operations Shyam Patel confirmed that SSMU provided prior notice to MTY that they would be publicizing the termination of their business relationship at the first Council meeting of this academic year. After repeated attempts to reach the president of the company, however, MTY has not responded to SSMU.

“If we ever were to receive a response, it was, ‘Give us more time’, so I’m still trying to figure out what’s going on on their side,” said Patel regarding attempts to negotiate with MTY.

Cultures, Franx Supreme, and Tiki-Ming are subcontractors of MTY, and therefore any information regarding their contracts in SSMU must flow through MTY itself, who ultimately holds the lease on the cafeteria space.

“In our contract it’s MTY that should be telling them, but I also feel like telling them ourselves is appropriate because they deserve to know,” said Patel.

When asked whether she had been in contact with MTY, Jing Yao, the owner of Cultures, said she hadn’t “heard anything for a while.” She explained that the cafeteria subtenants are currently on a one-year lease extension. She expects to be meeting with the SSMU General Manager in the near future to discuss plans for the upcoming contract term.

“I don’t know what the plans are for next year. I think we need to sit down and talk about some changes [to the contract],” said Yao.

Rena and Lihui Wan, owners of Tiki-Ming, have heard that the contract with MTY will not be renewed next year.

Patel said he was approached by the Wans, who expressed interest in continuing to occupy the space. Patel stated that SSMU would be accepting business proposals from the current subtenants to occupy the space as individuals unaffiliated with MTY.

“We understand these are the lives of individuals, and giving them the chance to make proposals is great,” said Patel.

A presentation on the tenant selection process and the current proposals was originally scheduled for the next Council session on September 29, but it has been rescheduled for the first meeting in October in order to give current subtenants adequate time to prepare any proposals they plan to submit.

Multiple businesses, including Burritoville and Lola Rosa, have already expressed interest in working with SSMU and have outlined their plans for student-friendly food services. The deadline to submit proposals is October 3.

The post Shatner businesses in the dark over failed contract negotiations appeared first on The McGill Daily.

The group is now renaming itself the McGill Student Emergency Response Team (M-SERT).

Liz Pollen, director of M-SERT, explained that the change was not directly imposed on the service, but was a decision made within the group. Pollen elaborated that, after months of discussions with the administration, campus security and residence services, “It got to the point where we decided that this is what we do, so if all we need to do is to change our name to keep providing our service, then we will do it.”

Along with the name change came other major changes in the group’s relationship to McGill. M-SERT services are now dispatched through McGill Security, giving students a 24-hour emergency line to call for first aid needs.

Services in residence have also expanded. Whereas M-SERT previously serviced the upper residences only, they now have nightly shifts at all residences from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

“The executive director of residences is very keen to have them expand their services,” said Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Morton Mendelson.
For M-SERT, the negotiations were about realizing mutual gains. By finalizing an agreement on their name, the group was able to expand without losing their autonomy from the University.

“I think it’s nice that [the service is] coming from students. There’s also a trust that comes from students helping students. It’s almost a camaraderie,” Pollen said.

The use of the McGill name and logo has been an ongoing issue since SSMU’s Memorandum of Agreement and lease expired on May 31, 2011.

“McGill’s made it very clear that the McGill name issue is a very critical one,” said SSMU President Maggie Knight. “We’re not going to be able to win anything from a legal standpoint; McGill has the copyright and we have no legal claim to it.”

Mendelson explained the goal of the negotiations as an attempt to avoid ambiguity about who provides a given service.

“The University is responsible for safeguarding the name [of McGill], and what we wanted to do is to create a framework within which the groups could use the name in a way that would not create ambiguities,” Mendelson said.

He added that McGill has a need to protect the value of its name. “In protecting the name, which is essentially protecting the brand, we’re protecting something for students,” he said, supporting his belief that “a McGill diploma should mean something.”

The tone of negotiations seems to have strongly shifted since the issue arose last year.

“People weren’t very yielding [last year], which I really admired,” said SSMU VP Clubs & Services Carol Fraser.

“We’re still coming at it from a very strong stance, but we’ve realized negotiating means there has to be some compromise on both sides,” she added. “I’d say that it’s been tough on one level, but there’s been a lot of talk and consultation with student groups on the name change issue as opposed to just an ideological stance.”

Knight and Fraser hope that once these agreements are made, there will be a framework in place for student groups to use the McGill name in the future.

Although M-SERT is the only group that has reached a formal agreement with McGill, other clubs continue to consult with SSMU. Additionally, TVMcGill will now be known as “TVM: Student Television at McGill” after informal negotiations with the administration.

The post First Aid Service changes name appeared first on The McGill Daily.

“This has the potential to develop into serious legal action,” said a representative of Talon who asked to remain anonymous.

Written collectively by Alain Deneault and the members of the Collectif resources d’Afrique, Imperial Canada Inc. critically examined the factors that have led Canada to become home to the majority of the world’s mining companies. 
It focuses on four themes: the mining codes of Quebec and Ontario, the Toronto Stock Exchange, Canada’s involvement in Caribbean tax havens, and Canada’s official diplomatic approach toward international institutions that govern worldwide mining, all of these factors perpetuate what the book calls the extension of Canada’s “imperial heritage” into today’s extractive sector.

The authors examine the extent to which Canada supports mineral speculation, grants subsidies to mining companies, and most importantly, provides a legal sanctuary for companies facing lawsuits from communities that are experiencing adverse effects due to their extraction operations. 
Montreal-based journalist Tim McSorely has reported that the book “outlines alleged human rights abuses carried out by Barrick Gold in various African countries, including the deaths of more than 50 Tanzanians in 1996 and fuelling the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.”

Imperial Canada Inc. also examines Canada’s judicial practices of giving legal preference to one’s right to reputation over freedom of expression and the public right to information. The authors assert this legal tradition as the reason that many academics have been reluctant to present their mining-related work in Canada for fear of libel charges.

This is not the first time that Canadian mining companies have tried to silence their critics.

Noir Canada: Pillage, corruption, et criminalité en Afrique, also co-written by Deneault, presented a collection of documents detailing the impact of Canadian mining companies in Africa, and credited the continuation of these questionable operations to the “unfailing help of the Canadian government.” 
It was successfully published by Édition écosociété in 2008, though Barrick Gold successfully cancelled the book launch in April of that year by serving the editors and publisher with a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation based on claims of inaccuracies.

In a press release that followed the cancellation of the book launch, the Collectif Resources d’Afrique said “It is understood that the financial means of a powerful mining company, compared to that of the researchers who prepared the book, permits the company to proceed by intimidation.”

The original intent of Talonbooks was to produce a direct translation of Noir Canada. However, after mining companies Barrick and Banro filed lawsuits against all who were involved in the production of the book, Talon was advised to develop a new approach in light of legal considerations. 
Imperial Canada Inc. focused on Canada’s economic policy and other cultural and institutional factors in order to ask one question: why are 70 per cent of the world’s mining companies registered in Canada through the Toronto Stock Exchange?
Given that the book’s intent was mainly scholarly, Talonbooks said they were shocked to receive a threatening letter from Barrick’s lawyers demanding the complete handover of all pieces of the manuscript that either directly or indirectly reference Barrick Gold, any subsidiary company, an affiliated company, or any former or current company administrator.   
The representative from Talon said there is no known explanation for what prompted the company to demand access to the manuscripts last month.

Also in the letter from Barrick Gold to Talonbooks Publishing, the company warned that if Talon failed to provide such documents, to rigorously check their facts, and to refrain from republishing any “defamatory contents” that were included in Noir Canada, Barrick would not hesitate to take legal procedures against the authors, or “any other person who will have played a part in the drafting, the translation, the publication, the diffusion or the promotion,” of Imperial Canada Inc.

As manuscripts prior to release are considered private property, Talonbooks – perceiving the letter as seriously threatening – saw Barrick’s actions as a deep violation of privacy, according to the representative of the publishing company.

The post Mining company squelches critical book appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Their speeches detailed the environmental, social, political, and cultural damages caused by the pending projects and current operations of Canadian mining companies in their countries.

El Salvadorians are resisting efforts of Pacific Rim, a Canadian company vying for operating permits to create an open-pit gold mine in the northern region of the country.

Bellosos stated that it is widely recognized throughout El Salvador that such a project is undesirable from an ecological perspective, though Pacific Rim insists on pressing ahead with its operations.

Through a translator, Belloso, who works for the Association for the Development of El Salvador explained, “Since there’s a big interest behind the amount of minerals that are found within the fields that Pacific Rim have been exploring, it has been basically the only company that has remained insisting to get the permit to keep exploring.”

The company’s behaviour, Belloso said, overlooks the likely ramifications of the open-pit mine. He added that the company’s testing phase alone has already resulted in the contamination of water sources and death of livestock.

Since the granting of 16 exploration permits to Canadian, American, and Australian companies, the political context of El Salvador has greatly shifted. Last year’s national election brought Mauricio Funes to power under a mandate of ending mineral extraction on El Salvadorian soil.

“Before 2010, in El Salvador the government was always responding to the neo-liberal policies in the interests of these big companies,” said Belloso.

Belloso added that the companies take “a stand toward big multi-national exploitation in El Salvador with no respect whatsoever for the needs of the country.”

Due to the issuance of exploration permits under the previous government, Pacific Rim and another Canadian company, Commerce Group, are demanding a total of $200 million from the El Salvadorian government through the Central American Free Trade Agreement.

“We are asking why is this happening,” Belloso said. “This is a Canadian company and El Salvador doesn’t have a free trade agreement with Canada.”

Although El Salvador wants to become the first country to ban all forms of mineral extraction, it sits in a precarious situation while it deals with the charges the companies have brought to the World Bank. Banning mineral extraction now may support the companies’ claims that El Salvador “illegally expropriated their investment.”

According to a Pacific Rim press release from earlier this month, the company “believes that El Salvador’s objections are not only completely without merit, but are also frivolous, and that [the government of El Salvador] filed them purely as an attempt to stall the arbitration proceedings. [Pacific Rim] fully expects that the Tribunal will reject the objections and proceed with the arbitration claim.”

The 29 sites originally considered for mining operations are located in the northern part of El Salvador, near the headwaters of all the major rivers that flow through the rest of the country.

Belloso stated that these rivers face contamination by heavy metals and cyanide if the open-pit operations begin.

This area is also home to the majority of all agricultural production in El Salvador, so a project such as this, said Belloso, threatens to destroy the entire country’s means of production and ability to feed its population of seven million.

Moreover, 250,000 families would be directly affected through forced displacement – a necessity given the mining sites proximity to the city of Cabañas.

These environmental concerns are only a part of the issue, as human rights abuses mount. There have been six killings with suspected links to the company in the region where Pacific Rim plans to dig. Religious leaders and radio journalists have received death threats after publicly opposing mining operations in El Salvador.

Belloso explained that there’s a need “to tell the Canadian people that Canadian companies are involved in very dirty ways of doing business.”

He also sees strong parallels between Canada and El Salvador, given the many struggles against the extraction of minerals on indigenous land.

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Given that Canada’s previous target, adopted in 2006 under the “Turning the Corner” plan, was a 20 per cent reduction in emissions by 2020, the latest target of 17 per cent below 2005 levels is actually a weakening of Canada’s climate position. It promises a reduction equal to 2.5 per cent below the 1990 levels. The 2010 commitment is 20 per cent less than its 2006 counterpart.

In a speech a few weeks ago in Calgary, Prentice restated that the latest reduction target would be accomplished within the next 10 years – while adding that development of the tar sands will continue with a consideration for environmental concerns.

Plans are also in the works between the Harper and Obama administrations to create North American emissions targets for the transportation industry. However, Prentice affirmed that no action would be taken toward the energy sector until the U.S. has declared their position.

But Canadian environmental groups are worried that with Obama’s climate change legislation tangled up in Congress, a policy of synchronizing climate strategies with the U.S. will likely result in nothing but inaction for an extended period of time.

The environment minister maintains otherwise. In an Environment Canada press release, Prentice said, “It is absolutely counterproductive and utterly pointless for Canada and Canadian businesses to strike out on their own, to set and to pursue targets that will ultimately create barriers to trade and put us at a competitive disadvantage.”

Quebec premier Jean Charest has publicly denounced the federal government’s policy of mimicking the U.S. plan. Charest told the Globe and Mail, “The only federal plan is to align with the United States. However, I never in my life thought that aligning our policies with the United States was good enough for Canada.”

Quebec’s most recent commitment is a drastically steeper reductions target of 20 per cent below 1990 levels. The province has also applied a carbon tax on all fossil fuels.

Amid the plans to have a North American standard regarding transportation emissions by 2011, Quebec has gone ahead with its own strategy to implement strict regulations on both vehicle emissions and the energy industry.

A federal official told the Globe and Mail that this move places Quebec dangerously outside of the North American norm. It is a move that prompted Prentice to warn Quebec “of the folly of attempting to go it alone in an integrated North American economy.”

Charest’s decision to retain Quebec’s standards independently from the federal plan continues to raise tensions between Harper and Charest. As Prentice rails Charest for placing Quebec outside of the North American climate norms, recent polls showed a drop in Conservative popularity in Quebec.

The strained relationship between Harper and Charest on the climate regulation issue may account for why Quebec was denied a request for a role at last month’s international conference on Haiti, though it was held in Montreal. Charest and Harper clashed again at the economic forum in Switzerland last week when Harper spoke in favour of a national securities regulator. Charest stood in strong opposition of the plan.

When asked about the official federal position in regard to Quebec’s independent targets, a spokesperson from Environment Canada replied, “The government of Canada has consistently encouraged all provinces and territories to take action on greenhouse gas emissions. Effectively addressing climate change will require action by all levels of government in Canada.”

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Robert Wares, Osisko’s chief operating officer, himself a McGill graduate from 1979, told the McGill Reporter last month that he wishes to give back to his industry by investing in earth sciences, where, he said, training is chronically underfunded. The announcement comes as the mining company proceeds with its plans to establish Quebec’s largest open-pit gold mine in the western Quebec community of Malartic. The billion-dollar gold mine, likely to commence next year, is one of four mining operations currently in the planning stages for the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region.

Many mining critics, including Randy Hart of Mining Watch Canada, believe the Malartic case signals a shift in the Quebec mining industry. “There is a growing trend toward open-pit mines with longer-term environmental liabilities,” he said.

Malartic’s economy was largely built on local mining operations throughout the past century, but its population peaked at 6,000 in the fifties when three nearby mines closed. Today the town’s residents, now less than 4,000, largely support the billion-dollar Osisko project, which will generate 800 new jobs for the region in its first four years of operation.

According to Ugo Lapoionte, a spokesperson for the Coalition for Better Mining in Quebec, the creation of new jobs could still come with strings attached. “A big company operating a big project in a small town with little economic or social ability to mobilize looks like a third world relationship in this way.”

There has also been local opposition to the project, according to Hart. “A lot of people have had to do some rethinking about their position based on the behaviour of the company,” he said.

Lapointe explained that resistance to the mine generally falls into one of two categories: criticism of the type of operation from an environmental perspective, or criticism of the company and its process of development in the region.

Upon proposal, the dimesions of the mine were 800 metres by 2 kilometres with a depth of 400 metres, according to Action Boreale Abitbi Temiscamingue. Lapointe said the mine would be roughly equivalent to Mont-Royal, while only producing enough gold to fill the volume of one or one and a half Smart cars. Action Boreale Abitbi Temiscamingue has estimated that the mine, operating 24 hours a day and seven days a week, will use 25 million litres of water, 11 tonnes of cyanide, and extract 120,000 tonnes of rock daily.

However, a meeting in Montreal last Monday saw the expansion of the original plan, with the length of the pit increasing from 2 kilometres to 2.5 kilometres. The expansion would create the need to relocate the highway Route 117, which travels through Malartic – costing an estimated $50 million of taxpayer dollars. Some in the Malartic community have expressed concern that the diversion of the highway would adversely affect business in the town.

While speculating on the land in Malartic, Osisko relocated 200 homes and five public institutions – a process that began before the province’s environmental impact assessment had been completed. Even after the relocation, the nearest Malartic home is only 100 metres from the mine site. Now that mine expansion plans are in the works, the impacts of the mine are likely to change. “As far as I know, they’re not planning to do any more assessments or public consultations,” stated Lapointe.

Osisko has also received criticism for its use of up to a dozen independent lobbyists to get the green light from the Quebec government, including paid members of the Parti Québecois and Parti Libéral Québec. Some members of the community and the Coalition for Better Mining in Quebec have speculated that this political engagement allowed for the company to ignore the necessary environmental assessments.

Although the company plans to begin digging in 2011, it has still not committed to either filling the pit after the 10-year operation is completed nor providing royalties to the town of Malartic to diversify the town’s economy after the company withdraws from the operation in 10 years. During initial public consultations, the company proposed donating up to $4 million dollars to a public fund over the 10-year operation. Their pure profit margin, however, will be in the ballpark of $850 million, and this was estimated when the price of gold was far lower than today’s rate.

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The closure marks the end of a 10-year battle by the Frente Amplio Opositor (FAO), the international coalition that worked to close the mine on the basis of its environmental and social impacts on the nearby community of San Luis Potosi.

Cleve Higgins, of FAO Montreal, commented on the unprecedented importance of the closure. “It’s really significant for the people of Cerro de San Pedro, also for the people opposing mines in Latin America and all over the world…. This is the most high profile, widely known opposition to a mine of this kind.”

On November 14, the FAO filed complaints with the British Columbia Securities Commission and the Toronto Stock Exchange. The FAO accused these bodies of misrepresenting and withholding information that was of “central importance to shareholders.” Since the closure announcement, New Gold’s stock dropped by 18 per cent, though some analysts expect it to recover.

George Albino, an analyst with Macquarie Equities Research, expects the company’s shares to suffer, but only until the situation is resolved as he anticipates. “In our view, Mexico is a pro-mining country and will ultimately allow New Gold to resume mining operations at [Cerro de San Pedro] in spite of the current setback,” Albino said in a memo.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Curran echoed the sentiment in a memo to clients. “We do not believe that the mine is an environmental liability that warrants permanent closure,” Curran wrote.

New Gold announced that it plans to appeal the decision, although it has made no mention of how it will conduct the appeal. The ruling that New Gold operated under null permits is unappealable under Mexico’s highest court.

According to a press release circulated by the FAO and Mining Watch Canada, FAO lawyers are currently pursuing charges against New Gold and its Mexican subsidiary. The coalition is also launching a “Mega-remediation project” to restore the mine’s detrimental effects on the historical and environmentally distinctive valley of Cerro de San Pedro.

“They are proactively taking steps to ensure mines of this kind don’t happen in the future,” Higgins elaborated.

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Enrique Rivera – a lawyer, activist, and political refugee who sought asylum in Montreal after he faced violent attacks for his involvement in the legal conflict – spoke about the mine Tuesday in a discussion on Canadian mining practices in a panel discussion as part of McGill’s 2009 Culture Shock event. According to Rivera, at the time of New Gold’s arrival at the site, a decree had been passed by the state government declaring the area around Cerro de San Pedro and the mountain where the mine is located as an environmentally protected area. The government, he said, hoped to protect the numerous forms of wildlife that can only be found in the region.

“Part of the decree stipulates that no form of industrial development can take place in that zone,” said Rivera through a translator.

There is also concern that New Gold’s leach pad – the construct where gold is separated from other materials using chemicals such as cyanide – is inhibiting the replenishment of the aquifer within the valley, which is home to 1.3-million people. Rivera said that the membrane stopping the seepage of chemical and gold into the earth is also stopping fresh water from reaching the aquifer.

Rick Killam, Director Environment and Social Impact of New Gold, asserted that the company carefully regulates the quality of water in the area. “There was extensive investigation done on the aquifer since 1990…. There’s no change in the quality of water in any of those wells,” claimed Killam.

The decision made at the end of September not only declared the operation of the mine to be in violation of Mexican law, but also made clear the illegality of the current permit under which New Gold is operating.

In 2005, the Mexican courts declared the land-use permit originally issued to the company in 1999 to be illegal. But following management changes within the company, the mine continued operation under a new permit, which has now been deemed illegal.

Professor Daviken Studnicki-Gizbert, who has been working on this issue since 2001, said that the struggle against this mine project should have ended years ago. “There was a final decision,” said Studnicki-Gizbert in reference to the 2005 decision, which, he said, stated that “under no conditions can a permit be admitted for this project. There are too many violations.”

The history of this mine at San Luis Potosi dates back to its discovery by Spain in the 16th century. After passing from Spanish to Mexican control in the early 1800s, the mines at Potosi changed hands between multiple companies, both foreign and domestic, before coming under the full control of New Gold in 1997.

The first appearance of a formal resistance movement came in 1996 with the formation of a group now known as the Frente Amplio Opositor, or the Broad Coalition against the Minera San Xavier. However, the former mayor of Cerro de San Pedro was assassinated two days after proposing opposition to the project in 1998.

New Gold declined to comment on the Tribunal ruling of September 24, citing that the information of the event came from a non-governmental organization, and the company is unaware of any recent legal decisions involving their operations at Cerro de San Pedro.

Comments of Vice President Investor Relations Melanie Hennessey echoed the sentiments of the company’s press release, addressing what she saw as recent misinformation about the company.

“All permits, licenses, concessions, or authorizations that are required to operate its Cerro San Pedro Mine are valid and in force,” said Hennessey.

A petition encouraging the Mexican government to follow through on the ruling is currently circulating. To sign it, send an email saying “ok” or “sign me up” to jcruizguadalajara@gmail.com.

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