“Naming a station for Mary Two-Axe Earley is a good step,” wrote Mia Alunik Fischlin to The McGill Daily, the Administrative Student Affairs Coordinator in the Indigenous Studies Program at McGill (MISC). “Hearing powerful Indigenous names in daily life matters,” she continued. “It reminds people that these are Indigenous places and that Indigenous women and Peoples fought for their rights.”

Mary Two-Axe Earley was a member of the Kanien’kehá:ka nation (Mohawk), born in Kahnawà:ke, which is located on the southern shore of the St. Lawrence River. This is the easternmost point of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, of which the Kanien’kehá:ka Peoples are the “Keepers of the Eastern Door.” At the age of 18, Two-Axe Earley relocated to New York City, despite being separated by the colonizer-determined Canadian-American border. She then lost her “Indian Status” in 1938 upon marrying her non-Indigenous husband, Edward Earley. According to Section 12(1)(b) of the Indian Act of 1876, Indigenous women who married non-status spouses lost their status of Indigeneity and could not pass it down to their children.

Additionally, Indigenous women could lose their status upon divorcing their husbands. This was not true for Indigenous men with non-status spouses. This is because status was inherited patrilineally, rendering Indigenous women status-dependent on Indigenous men to “displace our matriarchs and destabilize our society,” writes Dr. Wahéhshon Whitebean to The McGill Daily, a Wolf Clan Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) scholar and professor in Indigenous Studies (MISC) at McGill.

“We pass our identity and citizenship through our matrilineal Clans,” states Whitebean. “Status is manufactured and determined by the colonial state and imposed on us to undermine our traditional Haudenosaunee Clan System,” she says, which is particularly evident in the institutionalization of Indigenous women’s disenfranchisement. Losing status meant losing distinct legal rights to Band Council membership, treaty benefits, and reserve property ownership.

According to the Montreal Gazette, Two-Axe Earley’s activism was prompted by the death of a close friend, Florence, who was unable to return to Kahnawà:ke after losing her status and property. In 1967, the same year the Royal Commission on the Status of Women (RCSW) was established, Two-Axe Earley founded Equal Rights for Indian Women (ERIW), a provincial organization that later evolved nationally into the Indian Rights for Indian Women (IRIW). The timing of the RCSW, which called for the amendment of the Indian Act to allow Indigenous women to keep their status and pass it down to their children, was an objective shared by the IRIW. Two years after the commission, Two-Axe Earley returned to Kahnawà:ke with her daughter, who had gained status from her Kanien’kehá:ka husband and could thus own housing on the reserve. There, Two-Axe Earley continued her activism as a founding member of the Québec Native Women’s Association (QNW) in 1974.

“My grandmother [Millie, who was stripped of her status] was part of these movements and joined meetings with Mary Two-Axe Earley,” recalled Dr. Whitebean. “She spoke highly of her, and as a result, I grew up thinking of her as a hero for fighting against one of many inequalities that Indigenous women face in our lifetimes,” added Whitebean. This perception of Two-Axe Earley was shared by many, as her work spread internationally in 1975 when she and 60 women from Kahnawà:ke attended the International Women’s Year conference in Mexico City. During this time, the Kahnawà:ke Band Council sent eviction notices to the Kanien’kehá:ka women participating in the conference, which were repealed when Two-Axe Earley publicly revealed the discriminatory nature of these actions at the conference. The council’s actions are examples of “what colonialism does,” which, according to Dr. Whitebean, “[destabilizes] communities and destroys relational bonds,” as “[the] pain and struggle [Whitebean’s grandmother] endured was mainly at home, inflicted by her own people.” This is still apparent now. For example, the Quebec Superior Court ruled the Kahnawà:ke Band Council’s membership law, known as the “marry out, stay out” policy through which Indigenous residents with non- Indigenous spouses were evicted from the Kahnawà:ke reserve, as a Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Charter) violation in 2018. Nonetheless, Two-Axe Earley and Dr. Whitebean’s grandmother Mille “remained on the reserve through all of the tensions and violence.”

Moreover, “[m]any people do not realize that it was at least two decades of advocacy and activism at local, regional, national, and international stages that built enough momentum to push those changes through the legislature,” reflected Dr. Whitebean. In 1982, Two-Axe Earley’s activism pressured the federal government to address the discrimination First Nations women faced. This was done with the support of Quebec’s former Premier René Lévesque, who at the First Minister’s Conference, gave his seat to Two-Axe Earley after she was denied time to speak. The conference regarded the inclusion of “Aboriginal and treaty rights” into the patriation of the Canadian Constitution in 1982 and its protection in the Canadian Charter. Today, Section 35 of the Constitution Act of 1982 guarantees these rights for all Indigenous Peoples, including women, as stated explicitly in subsection 4. Nonetheless, Section 12(1)(b) of the Indian Act remained in place. Ultimately, it was in 1985, with Bill C-31, that the section was amended. That same year, at the age of 73, Two-Axe Earley became the first Indigenous woman to have her status reinstated and was awarded the National Order of Quebec for making contributions of the highest order to the province’s development.

It is important to note, however, that many Indigenous women and children did not regain their status following the amendment. It took until 2011 for Bill C-3 to reinstate status to those after the second-generation cut-off — where third generation children don’t hold status despite being Indigenous after two previous generations of parents lost their statuses — and until 2017 for Bill S-3 to grant status to the grandchildren of the Indigenous women who were reinstated. According to the Government of Canada, “[w]ith the full enactment of Bill S-3 on August 15, 2019, all known sex- based inequities have been eliminated from the Indian Act.”

These amendments are a result of decades of activism pioneered not only by Two-Axe Earley but also by Jeannette Corbiere Lavell, Yvonne Bédard who challenged Section 12(1)(b) at the Supreme Court of Canada, and activist Sandra Lovelace. “Although these legislative changes were a [product] of collective activism,” wrote Dr. Whitebean, “they also required personal sacrifice.” Thus, names like Mary Two-Axe Earley “should be raised up,” especially since many government-subsidized public spaces “are named after colonial settler men or religious figures.” Dr. Whitebean reminds us that “[t]here is power in naming”; the metro stop named in Two-Axe Earley’s honour represents “the power of Indigenous women and Kanien’kehá:ka matriarchs.” These efforts have not ceased; Whitebean affirms, “we’re still here fighting for our future generations.”

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The president and CEO of LaSalle College, Claude Marchand, told CBC that negotiations between the school and educational ministers have been delayed since August 2021. Marchand hoped to negotiate with the new minister Premier François Legault before August 18, when faculty returned to the college. The lack of negotiation prompted a cancellation of the first day of classes on August 25, which resumed the next day in order to catch the minister’s attention. In the meantime, the institution is challenging MEES’s fine of $30 million in a case submitted in July 2024 to the Quebec Superior Court. The college further challenges the data used in MEES’s decision. LaSalle claims this challenge was indirectly validated by Superior Court of Quebec Judge Éric Dufour’s 2023 verdict that out-of-province tuition hikes triggered by Bill 96 at McGill and Concordia were “not justified by existing and convincing data”. In the case of LaSalle College, a student expressed concern over the government’s financial threat, admitting in an interview with CityNews, “I’m worried that either they’re going to shut down the school because of lack of funding or make our tuition much higher, which is obviously going to be higher on everyone,” not exclusively for international /out-of-province students.

As the only private CEGEP penalized by the government, “[i]t’s really our belief that we did nothing wrong,” said Marchand in an interview with the CBC. However, other private CEGEPs negotiated their quotas, and LaSalle College did receive warnings concerning the penalization of their misconduct. On one hand, LaSalle College defended themselves on their website, explaining that the timing of the February 2023 quotas followed after the admission of international students, which are done a year prior to the commencement of the school year. Thus, applicants had already been legally admitted for the fall of 2023 prior to the quota amendments, and as a result, the institution had a responsibility to not cancel the students’ contracts. On the other hand, the college also admitted on their website to having prior knowledge of the quotas and exceeding them. This is in line with MEES’s statement to CBC that the college “knowingly broke the law.” In other words, the court must now decide if LaSalle College’s misconduct with Quebec’s language laws warrants avoiding the potential illegality of rejecting students after their admissions contract.

Moreover, the monetary penalties totaling $30 million threaten the institution itself, as the sum makes up almost half of the college’s annual $70 million budget. The penalty for 2023-2024 totals $8.7 million and just over 21 million for 2024-2025 , as confirmed by the Minister of Higher Education in letters dated June 28, 2024, and June 30, 2025, to LaSalle College, which can be found on the college’s website. The college responded on December 9, 2024, asking the government for an “impact analysis” and a “rescue plan.” They explain that, under fines, the students’ education would suffer as collateral and the staff’s employment would be at risk, threatening the service of specialized programs like hospitality services, as well as fashion and video game programming, which they claim are rarely offered in other CEGEPs and feed into Quebec’s labour force. Fewer international students would also decrease Quebec’s footprint, particularly in the African Francophonie and in the LCI Education network that spans across ten countries.

Marchand further described the MEES’s monetary penalties as “abusive,” while the Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry, described the college’s protest as holding students “hostage,” especially after the MEES offered alternative negotiations that did not involve delaying the first day of school. Nonetheless, the College sent a discretionary email to its students on August 25 to inform them of the cancellation of classes and that despite this, the campus would still be open. The notice explained that, as a private institution subsidized by the Quebec government, LaSalle College could not continue to service their students when the government “assumes 40 percent of the cost for each Quebec student” and would not continue doing so to the same extent considering the penalties imposed. It is important to note that, according to LaSalle College, the CEGEP has not asked for additional subsidies for international students, which was disclosed in a letter to the Minister of French Language.

While the CBC reports that LaSalle College has adjusted their numbers for this fall per Bill 96’s quotas, negotiations regarding penalties are still underway as Minister Déry called Marchand back to negotiations as classes resumed.

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These services are those deemed essential for the public, defined in s.111.22.3 of the bill as “minimally required to prevent the population’s social, economic or environmental security from being disproportionally affected.” According to the bill, in section 111.22.4-6, the government determines the essentiality and maintenance of the services by submitting an order to the Administrative Labor Tribunal. If deemed essential, services will be maintained for the public during the negotiation stage of strikes and lockdowns unless determined otherwise by the Tribunal, which has the power to “warrant suspension of the exercise of the right to strike or to a lock-out,” according to s.111.22.11.

McGill professor Barry Eidlin, the vice president of the Association of McGill Professors of the Faculty of Arts (AMPFA) and an expert in political sociology and labour, views this legal power as unilaterally forcing workers “to work against their will under conditions that are not of their choosing” – the very conditions they are protesting, he told the Montreal Gazette. 

Moreover, the Labour Code was amended to include “Chapter V.3.1 Special Power of the Minister,” where the Minister of Labour has the power to end a lockdown or strike if he believes that the union still poses a threat to public well-being after mediation. This intervention in labour disputes manifests the minister’s ability to unilaterally send the bargaining unit to arbitration – whose decision, like a court, is legally binding, meaning there will be penal consequences for non-compliance. However, it is important to note that while the provincial government can unilaterally send parties to the Tribunal, it does not unanimously make these decisions. 

In contrast, Richard Janda,  Associate Professor and chief negotiator in the Association of McGill Professors of Law (AMPL/AMPD), interprets the Minister’s power to send both parties to arbitration as the bureaucratization of the negotiation process, where arbitration is used as a tool for the government to avoid the legal and political backlash of back-to-work legislation. Eidlin shares Janda’s views, regarding the government’s imposition of service requirements and settlements as materialising a power imbalance between employees and employers. In an interview with the CBC, he said “[f]or meaningful bargaining to exist, the parties need to be on a level playing field,” particularly because “workers have only one tool…the power to collectively withhold their labour.”

According to the Montreal Gazette, Minister Boulet justifies the government’s intervention to “limit the length of labour disruptions.” This is particularly the Minister’s response to the province’s increasing labour strikes in Quebec. In May, Boulet cited Statistics Canada data claiming there were 759 strikes in 2024, an increase of 64 strikes compared to 2023. However, in July, CityNews reported that the Confédération des syndicats nationaux, or the Federation of National Trade Unions (CSN), “found that data published by Statistics Canada concerning labour disputes in Quebec were false” and that there actually were 208 strikes in 2024. According to CBC, the CSN is not the only labour union with criticism. The Quebec Central Union of Trade Unions (CSQ), the Quebec Federation of Labour (FTQ), and the Central Democratic Trade Union (CSD) are also planning legal action against the new bill.

Labour groups are not the only associations entering legal action, as four certified faculty unions at McGill have formed the Confederation of Faculty Associations of McGill (COFAM). This coalition is composed of the AMPL/AMPD, the Association of McGill Professors of Education (AMPE), the AMPFA, and the Association of McGill Academic Staff of the School of Continuing Studies (AMASCS/AMPEEP). In their August 5th press release, COFAM announced their application for the judicial review of Bill 89’s constitutionality in Quebec Superior Court under the grounds that the bill violates employees’ freedom of association. The matter particularly affects McGill, as the bill expanded the definition of essential services from health and social services, per the Essential Services Act, to include manufacturing and education sectors and “any worker in Quebec”, including post-secondary faculty.

“As university faculty, we have a particular responsibility to defend constitutional rights and the rule of law,” said Professor Eidlin in COFAM’s release. “This legislation could subject universities to government-imposed service requirements during labour disputes, potentially compromising academic independence,” he continued. This directly affects students in terms of pursuing academic knowledge and freedom of speech without institutional intervention. While the bill does not directly target student protestors with arbitration, they may be legally vulnerable if the Minister deems “that a strike or a lock-out causes or threatens to cause serious or irreparable injury to the population,” as cited in s.111.32.2 of the bill.

In other words, freedom of speech and association are the reasons that COFAM is legally challenging Bill 98. This goes beyond McGill, as COFAM reiterated in their press release. The organization expressed that the provincial bill attempts to overturn the Supreme Court of Canada’s 2015 verdict in Saskatchewan Federation of Labor v. Saskatchewan, stating that s.2(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom protects the “irreducible minimum” of the freedom of association. In contrast, Minister Boulet justified Quebec’s actions in an interview with the CBC as wanting for “Quebec to have similar powers to the federal government when it forced a return to work for striking Canada Post workers” last December. 

Ultimately, it will come down to a balance of powers whether or not strikes and lockdowns can be bureaucratized and settled faster with mutual consent – without infringing on employees’ Charter rights and freedoms as Canadian citizens.

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As of now, four candidates are running for party leadership. The current list of candidates includes Pablo Rodriguez, an MP who has worked under the Trudeau government but is now independent; Denis Coderre, the former mayor of Montreal; Charles Milliard, the former president of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of Quebec (FCCQ), a federation of provincial businesses; and Marc Bélanger, a tax lawyer who has previously run for federal office.

Discourse concerning whether the PLQ should maintain a traditional platform similar to its opponents or reinvent itself is particularly relevant considering the Liberal Party of Canada’s decline. The PLQ’s support has been diminishing among the francophone population outside of Montréal, a bilingual city with an anglophone minority. As a result, Maura Forrest from CBC News stresses that the provincial party’s success depends on its ability to distinguish itself from the federal party.

The PLQ’s interim leader Marc Tanguay holds a positive outlook on revitalizing the party’s political position: “The challenges are many,” he said, “but as you are aware…the Quebec Liberal Party has always been able to reinvent itself.” Some of the candidates have expressed this same rhetoric of distinguishing the PLQ from its political opponents, while others have adopted other positions to gain popularity. Millard’s campaign avoids nationalist and language rights discourse used by the Coalition for the Future of Quebec (CAQ), yet Coderre has adopted this discourse to counter the Quebec Party (PQ)’s popularity by advocating against the centralization of federalism at the expense of provincial autonomy.

Sylvia Martin-Laforge, the Director General of the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN), stresses that the party’s provincial success is dependent on the discourse of language rights and that a “traditional image of economic stewardship” should be maintained. Millard is in solidarity with both francophones and anglophones in Quebec, emphasizing that “the Quebec Liberal Party is the only political party in Quebec that can talk to all Quebecers” in an interview with CBC. While both Rodriguez and Millard’s campaigns focus on public welfare programs, such as healthcare and education, Coderre and Bélanger have targeted the economy with a focus on developing natural resource programs.

In terms of the voting process, party members of the PLQ will gather on June 14 to select their party leader for the next four years. At the provincial level, parties use direct elections, encouraging more participation as one’s vote is not mediated by a convention delegate, a method first implemented by the PQ in 1985. While voting is limited to party members, there may be voting fees and a requirement regarding the length of time one has been a member of the party. On their website, the PLQ explained that “members in good standing will be able to vote by telephone or Internet,” reducing issues of lower vote turnout due to mobility issues during the voting period from June 9 to 14. Rather than counting up votes, the PLQ is using a points system where the votes are weighted by age group and riding. Each riding has an equal say, as all constituencies are given 250,000 points, while 125,000 points are given to party members 25 years of age or under. Candidates are then assigned points based on the share of votes given in each riding.

Voter participation will be a key deciding factor in this election. One of the PLQ’s greatest concerns is consolidating a strong voting base outside of Montréal, as the electorate is composed of whichever party members choose to vote. Thus, levels of participation may vary regionally, reflecting political cleavages. This is why the party has employed a points system instead of rounding up the votes, where instead of a vote per member, different amounts of points are allocated based on the members in different ridings. Both Rodriguez and Millard are supported by the Liberal caucus, Millard having also consolidated a youth voter base. This is particularly important considering that the PLQ voter base had little support among younger demographics, as reported by The Montreal Gazette. Lower youth participation is also noted at the provincial level among the age groups of 18 to 24 and 25 to 34, and at the federal level among those 18 to 24 years of age.

Moreover, the newly elected leader of the PLQ will inform the party’s success in the provincial elections on October 5, 2026. In the provincial general election, voters from each constituency or riding vote for the candidate that they would like to represent them in Parliament, known as a Member of Parliament (MP) or, in the case of Quebec, a member of the National Assembly (MNA). According to the first-past-the-post system, the constituent that accumulates more votes than other candidates first wins. Unlike an absolute majority, in a simple majority, an MP/MNA can be elected with less than half of the votes as long as they garner more votes than their competitors. Each riding has a seat in Parliament/National Assembly; thus the elected MP/MNA of each riding has a seat in Parliament where they can vote on legislation on behalf of the people. As of 2022, the Liberals have 19 out of the 125 seats in the Quebec National Assembly, while the governing CAQ party has 86 and the PQ has 4. Despite this, CBC reports that the PQ has been rising in polls, particularly due to their “young, charismatic leader,” Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.

While it is early in terms of establishing a party campaign for the 2026 elections, the economy, immigration, and language policies remain contested issues in Quebec, as they were in the last provincial election in 2022. Electing a new party leader will determine the PLQ’s party platform in the 2026 general election and whether they will keep pursuing a traditionalist platform or reinvent themselves.

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While only undergraduate students in their second year or beyond studying Canadian history at a Canadian university can qualify, new Canadian residents are encouraged to apply by submitting an essay in either French or English. In Madeleine Le’s case, she qualified as a first-generation Canadian student majoring in Canadian Studies and minoring in Political Science. As a McGill undergraduate, she was introduced to the scholarship by the professor of her Canadian Political History class (HIST 370). Edward Dunsworth is an assistant professor in History and Classical Studies, concentrating on the history of Canadian immigration, labour, and politics. After hearing Le’s family history of her father’s immigration to Canada, Dunsworth saw her as an ideal candidate for the bursary.

His premonition proved true as Madeleine Le was awarded the prestigious Molloy Bursary on November 30, 2024. Le dedicated her 1000-word essay to the sacrifices her father made to establish himself as a Canadian citizen and raise his family here. Her father, Hieu Le, was a Chinese-Vietnamese refugee who fled the Vietnam War at the age of five. During his escape, he was separated from his family at a refugee camp where he remained until the Anglican Church of Canada sponsored his immigration to Ontario. In her essay, Le explains how winning the bursary would mean more than fulfilling her financial needs to further her studies: her efforts are dedicated to her father, especially as he has been supporting her post-secondary education.

Le’s essay also details the relevance of Michael James Molloy’s project “Hearts of Freedom and Flight to Freedom” to the story of her own family. Molloy’s project was based on research into Indochinese immigration in the 1970s and 1980s, with a particular emphasis on Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian refugees. This diaspora would have included Le’s father. In other words, by sharing her father’s biography with CIHS, Le was able to preserve Vietnamese stories of settlement in Canada while honouring the intersectionality of her heritage with Canadian identity. The latter is especially important to Le and has inspired her to become involved in extracurricular initiatives such as the Canadian Studies Arts Undergraduate Society (CSAUS), the McGill Pre-Law Society, and McGill’s North American-born Asian Association, through which she investigates history’s role in precedents pertaining to Immigration Law.

As the former president of the CIHS, a non-partisan organization composed of immigration history academics, Michael Molloy has greatly expanded the ability for stories of Canadian immigration to be shared, through his independent work, such as that in “Running on Empty: Canada and the Indochinese Refugees, 1975-1980,” as well as partnerships with the Hearts of Freedom project, the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, the Indochinese and Ugandan Asian communities, and the Flight to Freedom conference held by the Hungarian community. In light of Molloy’s significant contribution to the resettlement of Indochinese and Ugandan Asian diasporas in Canada, the CIHS bursary was named after him to further honour the promotion of Canadian immigration history in today’s political scholarship arena. For Le, Molloy’s work intersects heavily with both her field of study and familial history. She finds this dual significance reflected in the bursary, one of the few available that promote the undergraduate scholarship of immigration history in Canada.

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In October 2018, McGill became Canada’s first post-secondary institution to celebrate QHM. This initiative was kickstarted by Meryem Benslimane, the former education advisor of the Equity Team, a group that facilitates the university’s LGBTQ+ events. In addition to the Equity Team, this year’s events are organized by Queer McGill, the Subcommittee on Queer People, the Union for Gender Empowerment, the Department of Family Medicine, and the Indigenous Health Professions Program. This month’s events are designed to further stimulate community involvement amongst students, faculty members, and graduates.

Sophie*, a student at McGill, stresses the importance of “queer communities that are racially and ethnically diverse to help people come to terms with the intersectionality of their identities,” similar to how she found acceptance in her identity through other women of colour at school.

While these activities are first and foremost celebrations, Christopher Manfredi, the Provost and Executive Vice President (Academic), who partners with the Equity Team, notes that it is also important to acknowledge McGill’s efforts to combat any systemic barriers LGBTQ+ people face on campus. Providing a space to discuss these grievances represents this year’s theme of “visibility,” which concentrates on access to sexual and gender care for two-spirited, transgender, and gender-non-affirming people. The Two-Spirit, Trans, and Nonbinary in Academia virtual roundtable on October 15 addressed issues in navigating identity in academia. Speakers included Dr. Jae Ford, who addressed inequities in the health care system; Raiya Taha Thomure, who advocated for justice through sport/non-sport movements; and Hazel Ali Zaman-Gonzalez, who spoke on the intersections of identity expression in art.

Moreover, this conversation of identity expression in academics is in the spotlight of Canadian politics. By the end of the month, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith plans to introduce legislation banning underage students from changing their pronouns or names without parental consent, a policy the Saskatchewan government passed last year. This is in addition to Smith’s proposal earlier this year to notify the parents of students who change their names and/or pronouns, while also limiting transgender students’ participation in female sports and their access to gender-affirming care. These barriers exacerbate pre-existing discrepancies in health care access for transgender and nonbinary Canadians. A 2019 survey by the National Library of Medicine revealed that only 52.3 percent of Canadians 14 years and older felt safe addressing their healthcare needs with a provider, the first step to accessing gender-affirming care.

Disadvantages in the health care system impacting Indigenous and LGBTQ+ peoples persist to this day, as addressed in Two-Spirit physician Dr. James A. Makokis’s opening speech for McGill’s Queer History Month programming on October 8. Makokis is a leading figure in Indigenous and transgender health, which he spearheaded through his medical clinic. Makokis’s speech emphasized the theme “visibility” in bringing to attention the issues that persist in Indigenous and transgender health.

This month also saw the Return of the Rainbow, a homecoming celebration for queer alumni, current students, and staff. By sharing their stories at forums like this, community members serve as “proof that if I accepted my identity and came out, there was still fulfillment and respect in my future,” said Bailey, another McGill student. For the rest of October, students can attend film screenings, web panels, art workshops, and book collections of identity expression through drag.

Events beyond October that uphold LGBTQ+ visibility include the Launch of the Rainbow, the annual celebration of the achievements of LGBTQ+ graduating students most recently celebrated this past May. This is also known as Lavender Graduation. The lavender, an international symbol of queer empowerment, symbolizes the Stonewall riots that triggered the queer rights movement internationally. Quarterly meetings are held by the Subcommittee on Queer People, one of six Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee (EDIC) advisory bodies to the McGill Senate. The subcommittee ensures equity for LGBTQ+ people at McGill, making reformative recommendations to address the needs of a community that has been systemically silenced and made invisible. McGill student Hannah* defines queer visibility as “not having or wanting to hide a core aspect of my identity,” and is grateful for the progressiveness of her community, particularly the work done by women of colour. McGill community members can access an array of social and medical gender-affirming services, including the Shag Shop, counsellors, sexologists, and more.

According to Manfredi, “the university’s work is far from done.” QHM’s purpose encompasses McGill’s continuing efforts to consolidate an equitable campus, “especially in the wake of … political mobilization against gender identity and sexual orientation equality in Canada and around the globe.”

*Students’ names have been changed to preserve anonymity.

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As McGill celebrates its 14th Indigenous Awareness Week, post-secondary institutions in Montreal are taking steps toward addressing disparities for Indigenous students in higher education. This is particularly evident in Concordia’s tuition exemption, announced last month, and the Dawson Student Union’s petition to exempt Indigenous students from Law 14.

These actions reflect the efforts to address the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s ninth call to action, where the federal government reports on the fiscal parity in education. They also address the need to close the education gap for Indigenous students and non- Indigenous students, including Indigenous students on and off reservations, as exhibited in the eighth call to action.

Starting this fall, Concordia will be addressing the 10th call of adequately funding education for Indigenous students. McGill announced a similar policy in June where the university would cover tuition fees for Indigenous students from nearby First Nation communities. However, Concordia is the first to implement its policy across the province. In this policy, the school mitigates fiscal barriers to post-secondary education by exempting Indigenous students in Quebec from tuition fees. This includes those who live remotely, such as in fly-in communities, as well as those inhabiting urban communities. Canadian post- secondary institutions outside Quebec have implemented similar tuition waivers, notably Humber College, the University of Toronto, and the University of Waterloo.

While fiscal barriers to educational equity are being reduced, the same cannot be said in terms of language. Last month, the student union at Dawson College (DSU), an English-language CEGEP, petitioned for the exemption of Indigenous students from the additional language requirements enforced by Law 14. According to this law, all students enrolled in an anglophone CEGEP must take an exit exam in French and take additional French courses, deterring Indigenous students from pursuing post- secondary studies according to the DSU. These requirements force Indigenous students to choose between attending these post-secondary institutions or learning and preserving their own languages and cultural identities.

Mia Fischlin, the Administrative Student Affairs Coordinator in the Indigenous Studies Program, further affirmed that settlers imposed their languages on Indigenous peoples and “under no circumstances should another colonial language still be enforced.” Considering many Indigenous students are learning French as their third language, they face additional barriers compared to their francophone and anglophone peers. Many Indigenous students say they will not continue employing the language after graduation as they plan to return to their communities or work in Indigenous organizations. Thus, as French may not coincide with their future professional and cultural paths, “learning French, for many Indigenous people, is a form of assimilation,” Fischlin said.

Other barriers to Indigenous youth’s involvement in CEGEP include Law 14’s admissions cap and prioritization of students with certificates to be taught in English. While Indigenous students may be exempt from the language exam, it is unlikely that they can avoid additional French courses, demonstrating the Bill’s lack of Indigenous consultation regarding equitable exemptions.

This lack of awareness of the plurality in our education system was exemplified in Fischlin’s account of her time at McGill, where Indigenous peoples such as her own family members were excluded from academic discourses due to their time in residential schools. These institutions were created by the church and the Canadian government to assimilate generations of Indigenous children into a homogenous Canadian population. As a result, Indigenous students face different obstacles than their peers which extend to post-secondary education, a discrepancy that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission addresses.

Moreover, the Dawson Student Union plans to take their petition to exempt Indigenous students from Law 14’s language requirements to the National Assembly of Quebec. Criticism of the law has also stemmed from other English CEGEP institutions who have contacted Quebec Premier François Legault to address these discrepancies in consultation with Indigenous peoples. This exemplifies the need in Quebec’s bilingualism to address the plurality of Indigenous peoples in the province.

According to Fischlin, it is important to “account [for] the reality of all the people living in so-called Canada.” Until then, she believes our education system remains an extension of settler- colonialism as it “overwhelmingly favours settler histories.”

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