Opening Ceremony and the Ohen:ton Karihwatehkwen

The opening ceremonies began on September 13 with the Ohen:ton Karihwatehkwen (The Words Before All Else) by Kanien’kehá:ka elder Otsi’tsaken:ra Patton.
In a later event, the meaning of the Ohen:ton Karihwatehkwen was explored further, as well as other cultural practices and teachings, by Otsi’tsaken:ra and Niioie:ren Patton. “Humans, we need to take the fur of the deer to make clothing so we won’t get cold. We need to eat the meat of those animals so we can survive. And on and on and on it goes, those are the things that they give us,” said Otsi’tsaken:ra Patton. “So when we talk of the opening, we give thanks to life, and all the things that give us life. We came from the earth, and the earth is our mother.”

The ceremony closed with artistic performances from two Indigenous artists. Beatrice Deer, an award-winning Inuk singer, performed her song “Takugiursugit (The First Time I Saw You).” Craig Commanda, an Anishnaabe multi-disciplinary artist – he works in beadwork, poetry, music and sound, and filmmaking – from Kitigan Zibi First Nation, performed a musical composition, “For the Children,” “in dedication to the spirits of the children lost to residential schools.”

Medicine Walks and Sustainability

Kanien’kehá:ka Knowledge Keeper Elaine Delaronde and Kanien’kehá:ka student Brooke Rice hosted a medicinal plant walk on MacDonald campus. Delaronde and Rice provided recipes, medicinal uses, and personal anecdotes for each plant they found. Delaronde emphasized the importance of protecting the environment and the interconnected relationship between people and the environment: “We treat the earth like our mother. It grows everything. We have everything we need.”

Another medicinal plant walk was hosted by Abénaki lands manager Michel Durand Nolett on September 20. It took place in the McGill-owned Gault Nature Reserve, similarly teaching uses for native plants along with historical context about their use. Both these walks took place on land owned by McGill University – it is important to note that the Gault Nature Reserve was not open to cultural use by the Abénaki people until January 2021. This action was taken to recognize McGill’s 52 Calls to Action, created in 2017 in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada; so far, only seven have been completed, according to the university’s call to action webpage.

On the subject of sustainability and the environment, Kanien’kehá:ka Faith Keeper Ka’nahsohon Deer gave a talk about Indigenous worldviews and the Seventh Generation Principle – a land stewardship concept that focuses on living life and preserving the environment for the benefit and protection of the next seven generations. Deer noted how colonialism and Christian spirituality negatively impacted human connections with the land, and how returning to Indigenous traditional knowledge is imperative to protecting the environment.

Roundtables

On September 14, a roundtable discussed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). The panelists consisted of five Indigenous researchers and representatives from what are currently known as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the US on how UNDRIP has been considered, implemented, and ignored in their respective communities.

Another roundtable for Indigenous students was the Student Health and Wellness Kitchen Table Conversation held on September 16. Current and former Indigenous students at McGill shared the highs and lows of their experiences at the institution. Some shared that they struggled to adjust to university life, others that they felt isolated, especially as one of very few Indigenous students on campus. However, the panelists shared their positive experiences in rediscovering and embracing traditional knowledge, and reconsidering their perspectives and ideas on education.

For Wahéhshon Shiann Whitebean, a Kanien’kehá:ka PhD candidate in Educational Studies and a Vanier Scholar, researching the impacts of Indian Day Schools for her thesis required healing. “It was the first time I was working on every level – mentally, emotionally and spiritually – at the same time. I learned to value my family and community, in what we’ve been through and who we are, in a much different way.”

Closing Ceremonies

This year’s IAWs closed with a virtual powwow, celebrating the 20th anniversary of McGill’s “First Pow Wow.” Although unable to come together in person, dancers were invited to share videos of performances.

Kanien’kehá:ka activist and artist Ellen Gabriel reflected on the organization of McGill’s first powwow, as well as her experience working at First Peoples House, 20 years later.
“When I worked at First Peoples House, I did my best to try and support the students who were attending McGill, and make them feel at home,” she said, adding that she wanted to create “a safe place [for students] to be who they were, and not as an object of curiosity which I think sometimes we [feel like] because we’ve been so researched to death.”

She also shared her thoughts on reconciliation in post-secondary institutions: “The way Indigenous people want to see change in these institutions, it has to come with education and dialogue and discussion and sometimes that change is not welcomed.”

Recordings of most of the events can be accessed on the IAW’s website (the National Building Reconciliation Forum Workshops were not recorded).

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McGill’s bicentennial website features a timeline of McGill’s history, but this timeline is flawed and incomplete. In highlighting social justice accomplishments, this timeline takes credit for the work of racialized alumni, but fails to address McGill’s colonial history and present. The timeline also fails to recognize the efforts of students in pushing for these changes and improvements: for example, the introduction of an Indigenous Studies and Education task force is noted as an achievement on the part of Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic) Christopher Manfredi, but information regarding the Indigenous student led efforts to push for these changes, including the successful campaign to implement the Indigenous Studies minor program, are erased. The same goes for the information provided on the Plan to Address Anti-Black Racism: there is no recognition of activist labour. We cannot allow McGill to praise itself for the hard work of students and the community to fight and dismantle colonialism at this institution, especially not while the University remains complicit in the continued oppression of marginalized students – by failing to address the oppression that stems directly from their preservation of colonialism, McGill continues to fail its marginalized students.

It must be noted that it is impossible to decolonize a colonial institution, but the anti colonial work of marginalized students is vitally important. All students must assist in the fight against oppression on campus, and dismantle the inherent colonialism of this institution. McGill cannot be decolonized, but the University must continuously be challenged to address its harmful and unbalanced power dynamics, address its oppressive structures and systems, and reckon with its history in a real and tangible way. 

These realities cannot be ignored. It is impossible for us to observe the bicentennial without acknowledging and interrogating McGill’s ongoing role in settler colonialism. 

McGill University was founded in 1821, eight years after the passing of James McGill, who left behind £10,000 and his 46-acre Burnside estate “to the Royal Institution for the Advancement of Learning (RIAL), on the condition that they establish a college in his name within ten years of his death.” These 46-acres are the traditional territory of the Kanien’kehá:ka – it was never McGill’s land to own or bequeath. While historical narratives often portray James McGill as a hard-working man who acquired his wealth independently, he enslaved at least eight Black and Indigenous people. McGill’s bicentennial materials (technically) acknowledge this, but navigating to the page where they do so requires the user to click through multiple inadequately labelled pages. You have to be looking for this content to find it, so someone who does not know about James McGill’s life would not naturally come across it. Furthermore, McGill does not begin to grapple with the fact that celebrating this anniversary at all includes celebrating the conditions in which the University was built.

Although McGill claims to acknowledge the “deep, long-lasting adverse impacts that [enslavement has] exerted on Black and Indigenous communities,” the school’s administration has taken no action to support the efforts of Black and Indigenous communities in addressing these impacts. University administration continues to ignore the demands of current Black and Indigenous students, including continued demands to take down the statue of James McGill on the downtown campus. In contrast to the large and prominent statue of James McGill on campus, monuments and information that recognize the real history of the University are hard to find; Hochelaga Rock, a monument that acknowledges the Indigenous history of the land campus is situated on, is small and shoved out of sight.

McGill’s Action Plan to Address Anti-Black Racism includes a commitment to create a “Working Group on African and Black Studies to explore options for the expansion of the Program’s scope to include African diasporic/Black studies and to build its research capacity.” However, as former McGill professor Rachel Zellars notes, “African Studies is not the place to develop a rich and varied discipline that addresses the breadth of Black Canada’s history and people or the radical epistemological underpinnings that guide Black and Africana Studies. Simply, McGill must commit to and fund a stand-alone Africana (or Black Canadian, or Black Diasporic) Studies program.” Furthermore, McGill commitments to exploring options while completely disregarding the work that Black students have been doing for years to implement this type of program. Since as early as 1991, Black McGill students have been demanding the creation of a Black or Africana studies program, which still does not exist at McGill. In 2000, members of the Africana Studies Committee (a subcommittee of the Black Students Network) created a 24-page paper describing a proposed implementation of an Africana Studies program. This report was shelved, without any portion of it being implemented by the University. As of 2018, students were still asking McGill to implement the program to no avail.

McGill has also ignored the concerns of Indigenous students countless times. From 1927 to 2019, the McGill men’s varsity sports teams were named after an anti-Indigenous slur. Despite claims from people involved in varsity athletics that the name simply referred to the school’s team colours, McGill athletics used images of Indigenous people as logos and mascots from 1951 until 1992 and only stopped after continued lobbying by student groups. While the Athletics Board acknowledged that the name could be interpreted as anti-Indigenous, it ignored the demands of Indigenous students to change the name of the teams, saying in 1992 that “unless [they found] historical evidence which [established] that the R*dmen name came from other than the colour of McGill’s uniforms,” they intended “to preserve the traditional name for our men’s teams.” McGill only agreed to change the name after years of activism by Indigenous student groups, a SSMU referendum that gathered over 6000 votes (a disproportionately large number), and extensive consultations with “stakeholders” that demonstrated McGill’s commitment to protecting potential donors over Indigenous students.

These instances of anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism are just a few of many perpetrated by the school’s administration over its long history. These are not the only times McGill has ignored Black and Indigenous students, and they’re continuing to do it today, 200 years later: the overwhelming lack of Black faculty members, refusal to divest from pipelines and fossil fuels, and a persistent commitment to “academic freedom” at the expense of racialized students all contribute to the continuation of oppression at McGill. Colonialism is endemic at McGill, and by looking back on this history we can see that the University has made very little progress to even mitigate the harms of systemic discrimination. 

The University and the McGill community must first recognize the presence of colonialism on campus in order to take action and support groups in our community that have historically been ignored and oppressed. Instead of attending bicentennial events, we, as students, should support the efforts of Black and Indigenous student groups, including the Black Students’ Network, Take James McGill Down, and the Indigenous Students Alliance.

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Around 100 people – the majority of whom were students – attended the event, which featured presentations from the Legal Information Clinic at McGill (LICM), The Concordia Student Union’s Off-Campus Housing and Job Bank (HOJO), and the ASHC itself about their plans for building affordable housing for the McGill community in partnership with Unité de travail pour l’implantation de logement étudiant (UTILE).

Noah Merali, Services Representative and ASHC Member, facilitated the event, along with VP External and ASHC Member Ayo Ogunremi.

The event opened with a presentation by Julianna Duholke, Director of Community Services at LICM, and covered common questions about housing rights and the legality of many common practices in the housing market – including whether landlords can ask for a security deposit/furniture deposit/last month’s rent when a tenant first signs a lease (they can’t, only first month’s rent), whether it is the tenant’s responsibility to pay for repairs (it is for minor repairs but not major ones), whether a tenant is allowed to sublet if there is a no-subletting clause in lease (they can, but they must inform their landlord) and whether a tenant can refuse a rent increase (they can). LICM is a resource by and for students who need housing advice and assistance, and can also assist students in navigating the Tribunal administratif du logement (TAL), an agency of the Quebec government which handles relations between landlords and tenants.

Representing HOJO, Alex Apostolidis elaborated upon the process of refusing a rent increase and transferring leases – actions that keep rent prices down and protect other residents in the community. Apostolidis also touched on the problem of gentrification in many Montreal communities, the importance of student’s being mindful of the space they occupy in these communities, and gave tips on how students can do their part in keeping rent affordable.

While HOJO is technically intended as an organization for Concordia students, many of their resources are available and applicable to McGill students, such as likehome.info (also available in French: lappart.info and Mandarin: zufangba.info) – a resource for apartment hunting and choosing a neighbourhood in Montreal – and their online classifieds for jobs and housing. They also run workshops on practical tools that help students navigate Montreal’s housing system.

In addition to advocating for tenants’ rights and educating students through events like this one, the committee also works closely with community organizations, ASHC Committee Member Andrew Faber explained. The committee has partnered with the The Milton-Parc Citizens’ Committee (MPCC) to advocate for public ownership of former hospital sites such as the Royal Victoria Hospital. ASHC is also currently working with UTILE to create an affordable student housing project for McGill students, similar to the Woodnote Cooperative, created for Concordia students by HOJO and UTILE.

In the past few years, rental vacancy rates in Montreal have plummeted to 1.5% as of June 2020. Rental prices are also increasing – in the 18 February 2020 episode of Unfit to Print, it was reported that in “14 different buildings, across Montreal […] the average renting price went up by 13%” from January 2019 to January 2020.

The housing coalition Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Québec (RCLALQ) has issued a statement about the housing crisis, as well as its disproportional effects on BIPOC and lower income communities: “Even if discrimination is prohibited under the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, many landlords do not hesitate to discriminate or use different schemes to avoid renting to certain people,” explained RCLALQ spokesperson Maxim Roy-Allard. “These low vacancy rates intensify the discrimination experienced by tenants as owners become more selective.”

This selectivity impacts students as well – according to the motion that led to the creation of the ASHC, “McGill students pay significantly more in rent than any other student population in Quebec.” Committee members believe that McGill students deserve tools to combat this; more ASHC events will be announced in the coming months as they continue their efforts to educate students on tenants’ rights and ways to combat rising rent prices to protect the entire community.

If you are interested in voicing your opinion on the upcoming McGill student housing project, consider completing this Google form.

The author of this article has a personal relationship with Noah Merali, a member of ASHC. They were not interviewed or contacted for the purposes of this article.

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The march and demonstration was organized by the Milton Parc Citizens’ Committee, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), and the Community Council of Peter-McGill. Dozens of people participated, marching from the hospital to Léo-Pariseau/Lucia Kowaluk Park, in an act of “symbolic occupation of Pine avenue,” according to the Facebook page for the event.

The Royal Victoria Hospital was decommissioned in 2015, and the Société québécoise des infrastructures (SQI) has been tasked with developing a plan for the future of the building, excluding the half that has been claimed by McGill University. On the web page for the project, the SQI claims the site “is now opening up to new vocations which will restore [it] to the fundamental role it has played in the organization of society.”

The hospital buildings are crucial in providing shelter to homeless people in the area as many shelters in the city have closed due to COVID-19. Because of its size and resources, it is also used to isolate homeless patients who have contracted the virus to minimize the spread in homeless communities. Mayor Valerie Plante has announced that the site will remain a shelter until March 31, 2021.

The primary concern of protestors is the lack of public consultation in research for the project. There has been one consultation between the SQI and the Milton Parc Citizens’ Committee, and an information session with the Community Council Peter-McGill and the SQI. But the community has not had an official opportunity to share their ideas and concerns with the SQI in a public forum outside of these two small meetings.

“As with many other projects being considered in the metropolitan area, deciding the Royal Victoria’s fate must be done with an eye to the intense gentrification disenfranchising low-income communities, those experiencing homelessness, and those longing for a united community with enough space to host services and activities,” stated the organizers on Facebook.

The organizers also believe that the original intentions of the founders should be upheld; “the social vocation that the founders outlined in the deed of transfer and the fact that the site was built primarily as healthcare or housing (in particular for women) must be at the forefront of any decision,” stated the event description. The descendants of the original benefactors of the site agree that there should be no privatization of the landmark.

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I should start by saying that I hadn’t yet been born when Dawson’s Creek first aired in 1998. The show wasn’t a part of my formative years, and when I watched it for the first time during quarantine, it felt outdated and completely different from my own high school years. Small town life? Teenagers with names like “Dawson” and “Pacey” working in a video rental store? Boats?

And yet, I developed an obsession. I couldn’t help but keep watching Dawson’s Creek, with all of its formulaic teen show charm. Before my very eyes, I saw early aughts television history being made. 

For those of you who haven’t watched basically every teen TV drama to ever air, let’s start at the beginning, AKA the year 1990. While “adult” dramas and soaps like The Young and the Restless and Days of Our Lives were well into their 27th seasons, television executives failed to consider how the teen demographic would respond to soapy drama and romance. At this point, most teen shows were sitcoms or ensemble family series – that is, up until the success of Beverly Hills, 90210, which ran from 1990-2000. The show borrowed many elements and plotlines from “adult” soap operas, but replaced the cast with attractive 20-somethings who played teenagers, a staple of the teen drama genre. 

The success of Beverly Hills, 90210 prompted the founding of The WB Network, which became a home to teen shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gilmore Girls, One Tree Hill, and, of course, Dawson’s Creek. These iconic series set the blueprint for the teen TV genre, and specifically influenced the next generation of shows, who took the basic structure and made it racier; Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, and 90210 (the 2008 remake) doubled the drugs and the sex, and even added murder, for some reason. But more than any other show, Dawson’s Creek created the modern formula from which all new teen series are born. Its lack of gimmicky storylines, along with its cast of mostly relatable and down-to-earth characters, established the baseline upon which new teen shows build more complex storylines. 

But back to Dawson. The show begins with a central group of four friends: Dawson, played by James Van Der Beek, is the titular teen who somehow becomes so unlikeable that the writers exile him to Los Angeles in the last two seasons, so that we can all get a break. Dawson’s best friend Joey, played by Katie Holmes, is the girl next door (or more accurately, down the creek), and the heart of the show. Pacey, played by Joshua Jackson, is Dawson’s other best friend and a smarmy underachiever – that is, until he falls in love. And Jen, played by Michelle Williams, is the new girl from New York who is punished for her “bad girl past” for all 6 seasons, the last nail in the coffin being her untimely death. They all live in the fictional Capeside, Massachusetts, and due to the town’s coastal geography, boats are often used as plot devices. 

Dawson’s Creek starts off simple; Joey likes Dawson, Dawson likes Jen. Pacey is groomed by his “hot teacher,” which we’re all supposed to pretend is normal. (It was the 90’s – what’s your excuse, PLL?) Quickly, though, we realize that Dawson is idealistic about his own love life, to the point of delusion. He quickly burns through relationships because of his possessiveness, and he’s unable to accept that the women he dates don’t match up to his own perfect versions of them. After a season and a half, Jen is removed from the love triangle – she’s honestly too mature for it – and is left instead to her own sad devices, which include being harassed by her toxic ex-boyfriends and overusing alcohol and drugs. At one point, she even dates her own creepy stalker. (Yes, I’m talking about Henry. He’s the worst.)

Lucky for us loyal Dawson viewers, this means that there’s room for Pacey to join in on the romance. And thus began the first teen television love triangle wherein the girl has all the power. Before this, the love triangle trope was written in to force women to compete with each other for the hot guy’s attention, while he flip-flopped between his options and disregarded their feelings. But on Dawson’s Creek, Joey has the agency. She is given the opportunity to have a legitimate friendship with Jen, without jealousy and competition, and she’s liberated from the cycle of repeating her mistakes over and over again with the same guy. She is given the choice.

By season 3 of the show, Joey has already dated Dawson, and the whole thing failed miserably. Pacey, however, has just ended a generally healthy relationship with a new cast addition, Andie (played by Meredith Monroe), so we – and Joey – have a chance to see the full extent of the emotional maturity and depth underneath his slacker, jokester facade.

As Joey realizes her complex feelings for both Dawson and Pacey, we see the show’s main characters’ true personalities emerge. Dawson becomes withholding and spiteful – he even crashes his boat into Pacey’s (see what I mean about the boats?). But Pacey communicates honestly with Joey, and gives her the time and space to decide what she wants. Teenage girls get to see what the nice guy is actually like, and we finally get to see Joey have a healthy, communicative, and respectful relationship (she and Pacey go away on a trip together, on Pacey’s boat). Oh, and we get to see Dawson cry.

Meanwhile, we also get to watch groundbreaking storylines, courtesy of newcomer Andie and her brother Jack (played by Kerr Smith). Characters that experience mental health issues are usually a sensationalized plot device in television, but in Dawson’s Creek, they are treated with respect, normalizing a generation of viewers to the ideas of seeking out help through therapy and taking medication without shame. We see the sweet, yet high-strung Andie have difficulty balancing her high expectations for herself while taking care of her mother, being her brother’s protector, and figuring out her relationship with Pacey. Andie ultimately starts taking medication with the support of her friends and family. When a death triggers her unresolved trauma, she decides, with the help of her support system, that she should take some time to recover at a treatment facility. And no, it’s not a Riverdale-style spooky asylum run by evil nuns. It’s a legitimate mental health treatment center. In another instance, Jen’s experience attending school-mandated therapy helps her understand that her issues with trust are due, in part, to her father’s neglect. The series suggests that anyone can benefit from therapy, regardless of how they look and act, and that it isn’t shameful, or even uncommon, to seek help.

And Dawson’s Creek even has – that’s right! –  a complex gay character. Andie’s brother Jack initially shows up in Capeside as a quiet, artistic love interest for Joey. Eventually, we get to watch him come out with the support of Joey and his other friends, and we see him pursue romantic relationships with interesting, well-developed love interests. The show even aired TV’s first onscreen romantic male kiss. And although Jack  becomes Jen’s best friend, he is not reduced to the “gay best friend” trope. Jen and Jack become a healthy constant in each other’s lives, providing support for one another in times of romantic and familial trouble. We get to see a gay high schooler who is popular, who’s on the football team, who has a supportive group of friends, and who isn’t constantly bullied and traumatized, as gay characters often are. This isn’t to say that there aren’t homophobic characters and plotlines within the show. They just aren’t  the overarching theme of Jack’s entire story. We get to see a nuanced gay character in the 90s. We get to see queer joy.

Watching Dawson’s Creek today, you can definitely see its age showing. The series can no longer be considered a “progressive” television series; it has a severe diversity problem in its casting, Pacey attempts to pester his gay brother out of the closet for much of the show’s first two seasons, and Dawson slut-shames any girl who has sex with someone other than him. Heck, the show isn’t even well-written most of the time. Still, I am an unapologetic fan of this silly teenage drama. Of all that it accomplished, of all that came after it, and of its strange obsession with boats.

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On February 12, 2020, as part of Black History Month programming at McGill, the African Studies Students’ Association (ASSA) and Black Students’ Network (BSN) hosted a talk by lawyer and activist Jeffrey Haas. Haas represented Hampton’s family, as well as the survivors of the BPP after the Chicago Police Department raid on December 4, 1969. He also wrote a comprehensive book on the raid and the trial, entitled The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther.

The talk, “The Assassination of Fred Hampton,” detailed Hampton’s life and activism, the raid, and the trial. It described how Haas and his legal team exposed the Chicago Police Department’s and the FBI’s involvement with the raid, which resulted in the murder of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, as well as the injury of four other Black Panthers.

Hampton’s life of activism began when he was a young student. “[Hampton] led a walkout at the high school because Black girls were not being considered for homecoming queens. And then another walk out because there weren’t enough Black teachers or administrators. Finally, he led a demonstration to the city hall because there was no swimming pool for Black kids in the summertime […] He took 300 people there to demand a recreation center,” said Haas.

He continued on to explain the heavy policing and profiling of Hampton and fellow Black activists: “the police saw so many young Black people coming, they responded with tear gas, and while Fred was negotiating for a bigger room, some of the kids ran down the street and broke some windows. And they’re being charged with mob action. Even though he was nowhere near where the windows had happened,” Haas added. “Early on, Fred stood up against injustice and also became a target of the police.”

Haas became connected with the Black Panthers and Fred Hampton through his work as a lawyer, but with the organization he worked at originally – Legal Aid – he could not represent criminal cases. So, when Hampton asked for “lawyers for the people,” Haas and his associates began the People’s Law Office. The law office worked with many clients, including the Panthers and Students for a Democratic Society, as well as community activists and members of the civil rights and Black Power movements in Chicago.

After Hampton’s assassination, Haas represented Hampton’s famly in a civil suit that Haas pursued for 13 years before being able to prove the true events, exposing the police coverup and the FBI’s involvement. The trial faced countless barriers, including a racist and explicitly biased judge, high paid defense lawyers that used inaccurate evidence and smear tactics, as well as the overwhelming attempts of both the justice system and the media to spread misinformation about the Panthers and to cover up the actions of the police and the FBI.

Judge J. Sam Perry had Haas arrested at one point during the trial, and at another, agreed with Haas that he was not going to give him a fair trial. Still, Haas and his legal team proved that there was an FBI informant of five to six years in the Chicago Police department that was directly involved with the assassination, in connection with a secret FBI program, COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program). This program specifically targeted groups and individuals considered “subversive” or “radical” by the government, including communist or socialist political organizations, anti-Vietnam groups, and especially the civil rights and Black Power movements. Specifically, the program stated that the FBI must “prevent the rise of a messiah who could unify, and electrify the militant [B]lack nationalist movement” and explicitly worked to suppress Black activism.

Notably, the informant, William O’Neal, joined the Panthers in order to collect intel, including to make a floor plan of the headquarters to assist the police in the 1969 raid. This information gained O’Neal a $100 bonus from the FBI.

Haas closed the talk with a quote from Hampton: “‘We are not all required to risk our lives for the principles we believe, but those who did inspire all of us. If you are not ready to make a commitment at the age of 21 only because you’re afraid to die, then you are dead already.’” Haas compared Hampton’s words with the importance of continuing these commitments today, saying, “if you’re not ready to make, or continue your commitment to ending racist, authoritarian, and corporate control of our government in 2020 and fighting for our children’s future – you and all of us are dead already. Our commitment is Fred’s legacy. Silence and inaction equals death.”

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On the same date in 2017, a shooter opened fire in the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City mosque, shortly after evening prayer. Azzeddine Soufiane, Abdelkrim Hassane, Mamadou Tanou Barry, Ibrahima Barry, Aboubaker Thabti, and Khaled Belkacemi were killed, and 19 others were injured, including Aymen Derbali, who was paralyzed by the attack.

The commemoration was held in partnership with the second annual Muslim Awareness Week (MAW), which takes place in Quebec from January 25–31 each year. Ehab Lotayef, a member of McGill’s Board of Governors and coordinator of the MAW organizing committee, described the week as “an initiative by the Muslim community to try to go beyond just compassion and sympathy after what happened in 2017, and to take that to the level of trying to build bridges and connections.”

Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic) Christopher Manfredi and Caroline Savic, a representative of the Quebec National Assembly for Westmount-Saint-Louis, spoke on behalf of the McGill and Montreal communities, respectively. The Provost led a moment of silence.

Hamza Lahmimsi, president of the Muslim Student Association, spoke on the lasting effects this act of terror. “It is important to remember that no such tragedy occurs in a vacuum,” he stated. “Women were left widowed; children, fatherless. A whole community was wounded by the loss of their beloved friend. All Muslims were shaking at the realization that it could have been them in that mosque. How can a community be at peace when the place that gives them the most peace is no longer safe to enter?”

Professor Khalid Medani from the Institute of Islamic Studies emphasized the importance of accurate Muslim representation in the media to prevent the perpetuation of ignorance and prejudice. “We, of course, represent a diversity of different nationalities, points of view, ethnicities, and that is something that, surprisingly, is not always projected sufficiently in the media,” Medani told attendees. “We really want to encourage the media also to represent Muslims in a realistic way – that has such an important impact on how people percieve Islam in general, and Muslim-Canadians in particular.”

The event finished with a walk to the tree planted on campus in memoriam of the mass shooting. For each name read of the victims who lost their lives, as well as Aymen Derbali, who has been permanently paralyzed, an attendee placed a white rose under the tree. This portion of the event also provided time for reflection and prayer in front of the memorial.

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SSMUnion’s parent union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), is also the union that represents the Concordia Student Union (CSU) and the Graduate Student Union (GSU) at Concordia, giving the organization relevant experience on unionizing student workers in Quebec.

The SSMUnion hopes to tackle issues faced by the over 100 employees of SSMU. Belle Sullivan, a member of the organizing committee and acting communications coordinator, tells the Daily that these issues include “unpredictable fluctuations in schedules and workload, lack of job security from being kept on temporary contracts, histories of harassment, and serious and systemic problems with communication.”

Those covered under the union range from volunteers to full-time paid employees. SSMU executives are not included in the coverage, as they are considered a part of management. This includes, for example, those working within an organization run under SSMU, such as Queer McGill or the Sexual Assault Center of the McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS), and those who do administrative work in SSMU. Claire Downie, one student who recently joined the union, works in the organizing committee. Downie tells the Daily she got involved because she believes “unions can benefit every worker;” however, she feels strongly “that having protections provided by a union is especially essential for McGill student workers. Students often manage a job, schoolwork, and involvement in extracurricular activities, which can get extremely stressful.”

The next steps for the SSMUnion include electing executives, working to create internal bywlaws – they will be governed by CUPE’s bylaws until they do so – and beginning collective bargaining with SSMU. From there, the Union will negotiate wages, working conditions, additional resources, and other demands with their employer (SSMU).

Most importantly, the organizing committee is preparing for their first General Assembly (GA), “where union members will be able to vote on by-laws, elect executives, and amend our constitution,” Sullivan says. “We’re trying to get as many union members as possible to come out to the GA, because we want everyone’s opinions to be heard as we move forward as a union.”

Although over 50 per cent of SSMU employees have signed cards and joined, organizers are continuing to reach out to workers to join the Union. While doing so, they are listening to their grievances to ensure that the needs of all SSMU employees are heard, and that all union members are being negotiated for.

“If you’re a SSMU employee who hasn’t yet signed a card, or you’ve already signed a card but have yet to be involved with the SSMUnion, please reach out!” Sullivan says. “We want everyone’s opinions to be heard, because the SSMUnion is here to represent every SSMU employee!” You can follow the SSMUnion’s Facebook page for updates on upcoming events, including how to join the union and information about the upcoming first General Assembly.

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A small group of around 15 people came to the living room of ECOLE, an urban sustainable living project for McGill students, on November 16 to learn about Indigenous political, cultural, and social realities and grassroots movements, as well as how to better work with and uplift Indigenous voices in the climate justice movement. The workshop, entitled Indigenous Realities and Solidarity, was hosted by Climate Justice Action McGill (C-JAM).

The speaker at the event was Tayka Raymond, a grassroots advocate and protector of the environment who has been directly involved in climate activism for the past 30 years. Her record of environmental activism is extensive and includes working at the Indigenous Environmental Network, which was established in 1990 and “formed by grassroots Indigenous peoples and individuals to address environmental and economic justice issues.” More recently, she joined protestors at Standing Rock during demonstrations against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The [two-row wampum belt] was created around 500 years ago, and it has two separate and parallel rows. They represent the “European boat” and the “Native canoe” […] They walk side by side, together.

The program began with an introduction of each person’s heritage, followed by a smudging of white sage. As Raymond completed the smudging ceremony, she explained how the ritual has been appropriated by non-Indigenous people and is leading to the endangerment of sage and abalone shells. She clarified that commercialization by colonizers is the cause of the depletion of these sacred resources.

Raymond started the talk by explaining her goal: to “decolonize your mind.” Recently, she stated that climate justice has gained traction worldwide, but it has been co-opted by white voices. Although Indigenous people have been vocal environmental advocates and protectors for centuries, they have been given very little space to be leaders in the increasingly popular environmental movement.

While sharing her experiences from the Montreal Climate March, Raymond said there was obvious disrespect to the Indigenous groups present, including being pushed out of the front, having their traditional regalia – for example, Raymond’s brother’s eagle stick and her daughter’s jingle dress – touched and played with, and experiencing harassment while chanting “take back the land,” being told by non- Indigenous protesters “it’s not just your land” and that the march is “not about you.”

Raymond wants Indigenous peoples and colonizers to learn to work together, and drew attention to the two-row wampum belt. The beaded belt was created around 500 years ago, and it has two separate and parallel rows. They represent the “European boat” and the “Native canoe.” They never intersect, interfere, or take up each other’s space. They walk side by side, together.

“How can we work together?” asked Raymond. She emphasized the importance of learning about each other without judging based on personal experience. “Ask, learn how. Stop seeing people as you are.”

Another way to decolonize your viewpoint, she continued, is to understand the irrelevance of colonial borders, and the entire concept of controlling separate land. This has been a common misinterpretation of the Land Back initiative.

“Possession, such as ‘my land’, does not exist in Indigenous languages. The only translations are [similar to] ‘the land upon which you stand.’ The earth is ‘the land that creator put us on to protect,’” said Raymond. She explained that borders disregard ancestral land, and do not acknowledge the Indigenous peoples who lived there before their land was carved up into separate lands to be bought by colonizers. By disregarding these borders that only function to keep people separated, Raymond explained, they lose their power. Climate change does not see borders – uniting forces around the world is what is necessary to stop the climate crisis.

Raymond moved on to teach about the differences between two Indigenous governing systems: the tribal council system and the ancestral grassroots system. Tribal councils were created by the government with the Indian Act to control and assimilate self-governing Indigenous communities. There is often corruption within them, Raymond stated, especially when it comes to funding being lost on its way from the government to the people. It also disregards the ancestral process of consensus-based decision making in exchange for a more structured majority vote, which marginalizes many in the community who feel unheard by voting.

“Possession, such as ‘my land,’ does not exist in Indigenous languages. The only translations are [similar to] ‘the land upon which you stand.’”

– Tayka Raymond

In a Guardian article about tribal reform, a tribal councilman at the Blackfeet Indian reservation, Joe McKay, said “There’s a single word that describes why we are sitting in this room today: power. The use and abuse of power. The council has absolute power. So if you muster the majority of the council, you control everything […] It doesn’t matter how unethical, illegal, unjust it might be. As long as you have the votes and the power, you control everything. In that setting, societies don’t flourish. They go backwards.”

In contrast, Raymond explains that the traditional decision making process includes all voices, requiring a unanimous decision: “We don’t make decisions fragmented […] as a whole nation, [we] must meet a consensus and act together.”

Learning about the corruption and colonial systems on reserves creates better Indigenous allies: a representative from Climate Justice Montreal shared that the organization has a policy to only work with traditional grassroots Indigenous leaders and organizations.

Raymond finished the seminar with a crash course in basic sacred teachings and practices to better engage with and respect Indigenous

peoples when working with them. She began by explaining when it is appropriate to give tobacco as a gift – it should always be given to elders, but not to others unless it is an offering to ask a question or for advice. Next, she explained the significance of the medicine wheel – for each direction, there is a particular value, traditional medicinal plant, animal, and stage of life. She also explained the uses for each of the four sacred medicines – tobacco, the first gift from the Creator, used to communicate with the spirit world; sweetgrass for purification and attracting positive energy; sage for cleansing and removing negative energy; and cedar as purifying and healing, hence its use as a tea and in baths.

The importance of removing preconceived notions from Indigenous and colonizer relations is vital to developing long-lasting partnerships, Raymond told the participants. Listen to the lived experiences of Indigenous peoples who are close to the land and their thoughts on what is needed in climate justice, she added. Raymond also mentioned a project by the Yellowhead Institute, “a First Nation-led research centre based in the Faculty of Arts at Ryerson University in Toronto.” The institute published a report titled “Land Back” in October 2019, detailing how land reclamation is central in fighting the climate crisis.

“The council has absolute power. […] It doesn’t matter how unethical, illegal, unjust it might be. As long as you have the votes and the power, you control everything.”

– Joe McKay

To conclude, Raymond told the participants: support Indigenous climate activists, volunteer with climate organizations that work with and make space for grassroots Indigenous activists, and prioritize Indigenous education and traditional knowledge within environmentalism.

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The shelter, called Resilience Montreal, is a culmination of efforts from the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal, the Nazareth Community, and Architecture Without Borders Quebec. It will be located on the corner of Atwater and Ste-Catherine, in a three-storey building that was previously a sushi restaurant. The shelter secured a one-year lease of the property, but its directors are already looking elsewhere for a permanent location.

Fourteen people have died in the area this past year, as a result of violence against homeless people, as well as the lack of services following the forced relocation of the Open Door Shelter to Parc Avenue to make space for a new housing development. While the presence of Open Door in the Milton-Parc community has been a crucial resource for the homeless population there, the move left a huge gap in services in Atwater.

Gentrification in the neighbourhood is a contributing factor to the housing crisis in the area. Across the street from Cabot Square, luxury condominiums and chain stores are being built, increasing the cost of living in the area and displacing many former residents in an area that once housed a largely Indigenous and low-income population.

“There’s always concern because there’s so many beautiful condos going up, but where’s the social housing?” asked Sheila Woodhouse, executive director of the nonprofit Nazareth Community, in an interview with CBC.

“There are people sleeping outside. There’s people unwell. There’s been an increase of aggression,” Woodhouse continued. “It’s not a healthy environment. It’s a health crisis, actually.”

A high percentage of homelessness in the area is experienced by Indigenous women and trans and two-spirit people, who are statistically more likely to experience violence. Intervention workers in the area say that some of the homeless population in Cabot Square moved from Inuit communities in Quebec to Montreal – often for medical care – but without a support system in the city, many have been abused.

One of the NWSM’s programs, the Iskweu Project, aims to reduce the number of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and trans and two-spirit people in Quebec, acknowledging the role that colonial violence plays in causing homelessness. “The context of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (trans, two-spirit), interlocks with the trauma lived by Indigenous peoples and the various attempts, by the government to assimilate them,” the website states.

“The staff that are going to be hired are going to have background in sexual assault and addiction. We’ll have a psychologist that is going to be there, and we’re also going to make sure that we’re going to have a lot of community organizations coming through our doors,” Nakuset said to CBC.

The shelter will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., 365 days a year, providing a place to sleep, a place to shower, and three meals a day to anyone who is in need. Other programs offered will include substance abuse counselling, yoga, reiki, manicures, and haircuts.

Visit http://www.nwsm.info/resilience-montreal for more information, including how to support the shelter. They are currently in need of skilled and unskilled volunteer labour. 

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Ayo Ogunremi, political coordinator for the Black Students’ Network (BSN), co-founder of C-JAM, and an organizer of the AUS strike, opened the GA, calling out the University’s inaction in the movement for climate justice. Drawing attention to the fact that McGill is the only university in Montreal not to declare a climate emergency, as well as the sole university in Montreal not to cancel classes for the demonstration on September 27, Ogunremi argued that these decisions show a “total contempt for both the escalating environmental crisis that threatens the future of humanity, and the urgent demands of universal emancipation from oppression.” The room clearly agreed with Ogunremi’s ideas, which were met with clapping and cheering.

During question period, students requested clarification of the motion, including what the effect of a strike would be on students and the greater Montreal community; in response, organizers explained that students’ graduation would not be affected by a one day strike, but C-JAM spoke to the possible detriment on the province’s revenue, as well as the potential loss of skilled labour in Quebec’s economy, should McGill students undertake an extended strike. Another student asked how the soft picket lines would be enforced, to which organizers stated people would not be physically barred from Arts classes, but that they would be informed of the strike.

Ahead of voting, the motion’s official demands were stated. In their demands, AUS called on McGill to acknowledge the climate crisis and its disproportionate effect on “traditionally marginalized and oppressed populations that have also contributed least to the climate crisis.” They also press McGill to divest from its investments in fossil fuels, and to use its platform to pressure the Quebec and Canadian governments to recognize Indigenous peoples’ rights to the conservation and protection of the environment and their land, as stated in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Article 29. The meeting was concluded with a unanimous vote in favour of the motion.

The Faculty of Law, McGill’s MacDonald Campus Students’ Society, the McGill Environment Students’ Society, the Earth and Planetary Sciences Graduate Student Society, the Faculty of Nursing, and the Medical Students’ Society have all committed to striking as well. The Science Undergraduate Society has issued a statement in support of the climate strike, urging professors in the Faculty of Science to cancel classes and encouraging students to participate, but not officially striking.

On Friday morning, the vote was ratified with a 35.9 per cent voter turnout: 2887 students voted yes, 82 voted no, and 53 abstained their vote.

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Dr. Jen Rae, Métis artist and researcher, began her lecture, Creating into the Future: The Role of Artists in the Climate Crisis, with the message that we must grieve for our planet. Even if individuals reduce their consumption and attempt to live more sustainably, governments and corporations must also be held accountable for the majority of emissions and environmental destruction. These institutions must massively change their behaviours on a global scale to become more efficient.

However, regardless of what strides are made in the next decade, we will still feel the intense effects of environmental destruction due to the over 1°C rise in global temperature, including what we are already experiencing: increased frequency and intensity of natural disasters, water contamination, air contamination, habitat and species loss, and displacement of communities. Climate change has and will undoubtedly end everyday life as we know it. Her presentation encouraged the audience to treat this loss like we would any other: by moving past our denial, feeling and understanding our emotions, and accepting the reality upon us.

But Dr. Rae’s approach is not one of hopelessness or defeat. She believes that society can make great strides to combat climate change and adapt to our new reality.
Dr. Rae continued on to explain the various climate and art festivals, installations, and organizations she has helped found or has contributed to in her home of Melbourne, Australia. Although the primarily Canadian audience may have felt disconnected from these localized events that happen across the world, audience members asked Dr. Rae for advice to start their own initiatives at the end of the seminar, proving that the case studies inspired others, fulfilling the goal of this event.

One of Dr. Rae’s arguments in support of environmental art is that art connects and engages with people more so than scientific reports or intimidating statistics. Additionally, there is an elitism in only publishing dense scientific studies and research that limits their audience to the highly educated, creating a class barrier between the informed and the uninformed. The people who will be most affected by climate change are those who are excluded from the relevant information. Many don’t want to listen to the experts, for example, because they would rather learn in a more approachable way or experiment for themselves in a non-hierarchical space where everyone can contribute their personal knowledge and where there are no barriers. Artists can create that space.

Climarte, an art and climate festival in Melbourne, tasks artists with making pieces that can act as educational tools. The poster program is a particularly popular aspect of the festival. A handful of artists are commissioned by the event runners to create posters on their choice of environmental commentary. The posters are then hung around the city for maximum exposure to promote thought and discussion, as well as to remove the idea of privilege and exclusivity from art. Dr. Rae notes the accessibility and utilitarian nature of posters as an art form, and therefore their value in the space of environmental art and education.

The people who will be most affected by climate change are those who are excluded from the relevant information.

The artist Amy Spiers notably created the poster Our Future, which features a statement in Woi Wurrung and Boon Wurrung, two Indigenous languages originating from the land that is known to settlers as Melbourne, to remind the viewer of the land that has been stolen and the cultural practices and languages that have been lost due to genocide. The poster subverts colonial control of communication and language by isolating settlers from access to information.

Indigenous peoples have been excluded from the conversation of environmental issues despite their traditional ecological knowledge, especially through classist educational barriers and racism within political institutions. As well, many experience trauma and distrust of colonial institutions, and therefore do not wish to engage with the governments that have repeatedly betrayed Indigenous communities throughout history (see the Daily’s editorial on the continuous issue of boil water advisories in Canada).

Another poster, The Coal Face (ScoMo) by Eugenia Lim, is a political commentary on the newly elected Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrisson, and his bold statement to bring a piece of coal into the House of Representatives back in 2017.

Morrisson used the coal as a symbol of the importance of the fossil fuel industry, and is quoted as saying, “This is coal. Don’t be afraid, don’t be scared.”

Morrisson’s Liberal Party believes a reinvestment in fossil fuels is key in order to grow the Australian economy.

The focus of Dr. Rae’s studies is the connection between art and environmental knowledge. She and her collaboratives combine the creation of contemporary, interactive art spaces with education on how to tackle issues that humanity will face in the climate crisis, ranging from food insecurity to natural disasters. The project REFUGE: Art Meets Emergency takes place annually at the Arts House in Melbourne. Every year, the project simulates a different emergency; so far, flood, heatwave, pandemic, and displacement have been displayed.

The concept of immersive experiences that help prepare for the problems facing humanity is extremely useful for an inarguably ill-prepared population. However, it feels inaccurate to call much of the work done “art” in a traditional sense. Rather than creating physical art, the artists have created an environment conducive to creative thinking and problem solving, whether it be a safe space to discuss concerns for the future or a workshop on building rafts that were later used in an immersive art piece. Sometimes these fall into the category of installation, but the bulk of the activities and experience itself are not unimportantly preparative workshops and experiences that teach participants the skills that will be necessary in these situations.

The main idea of these immersive workshops is the importance of community. By valuing the knowledge of others, and creating a sense of unity between neighbours, a framework of connection is built that is invaluable to our survival as a species.

As a Métis environmental advocate, Dr. Rae is reclaiming her position as a voice for environmental protection. She is creating a space for marginalized voices to be heard and for teaching in a collaborative, anti-oppressive environment.

Dr. Rae used an example of casualties during a heatwave in Australia to illustrate her point, and the importance of bond building during REFUGE events. In two city blocks immediately next to each other, one had multiple casualties, and the other had none. The first was a new development, where none of the neighbours knew one another. The other, with no deaths, had a sense of community, and neighbours checked on each others safety. This enforces Dr. Rae’s emphasis on fostering relationships as an integral component to the safety and preservation of humanity in the age of the climate crisis.

It is not what was built that mattered; it was the practice of working together and creating connections between people.

Again, the focus of these events is not the finished product. It is not what was built that mattered; it was the practice of working together and creating connections between people. In this case, the art created is the human connection.

Dr. Rae argues the mindset that we must establish in the climate crisis is one of an artist: one that accepts risk and is unafraid of experimentation and utilizing imagination. The artist is willing to be vulnerable and open up to others.

The world is changing rapidly in ways that are impossible to accurately predict. Being prepared for these events is a way for the average person to have control over an uncontrollable future. Dr. Rae believes the best way to be prepared for the climate crisis to come is to think like an artist.

Art as a medium for change, both societal and personal, is what we need in the age of the
climate crisis.

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