The same day, student and student -faculty associations at 11 Quebec post-secondary institutions joined a one-day strike for a provincial day of action. The day was organized by the Association pour un Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante (ASSÉ) – with support from the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ) and the Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec (FECQ) – in protest of Quebec Minister of Finance Raymond Bachand’s St. Patrick’s Day budget.

The tabled budget provides for a 25 per cent increase in funding for university operating revenues, to be mainly financed by a 75 per cent hike in tuition. This hike will see students paying almost $3,800 in basic Quebec tuition by 2017.

Alex Trahan, a theatre student at UQAM, spoke to The Daily as he sat in front of riot police guarding Charest’s office on McGill College, where protestors had symbolically cut through wads of yellow caution tape.

“Today is just a warning strike. We considered a longer strike, but it probably wouldn’t be effective until the fall,” he said.

As part of the day of action, around seventy students organized a sit-in at the Montreal offices of the Conférence des recteurs et des principaux des universités du Québec (CREPUQ) housed in the Loto-Quebec building at 500 Sherbrooke O. Thirty to forty students made it past security; the remainder sat in the lobby.

One receptionist fractured her wrist while trying to block the doors during a student rush, according to embedded Rue Frontenac reporters.

A UQAM student who only wanted to be known as “Frank,” was part of the occupation and said that it was intended as a political action against CREPUQ’s stance, and that there was no intention to harm employees. He added that the occupants received no formal eviction notice but left the CREPUQ offices after an hour.

Hundreds gathered at the entrance of 500 Sherbrooke O, chanting “liberez nos camarades” at the riot squad guarding the doors while occupants and employees looked on from the glass windows.

After asking those assembled outside the CREPUQ office to disperse, police charged at demonstrators, journalists, and photographers with batons, bottlenecking them against police cars parked immediately below the building steps.

The riot squad fired stun grenades and pepper spray at unarmed protestors – most of whom fled east along Sherbrooke and south on City Councillors. A handful of protestors were tackled to the ground and one man was packed into a police car.

ASSE coordinator Élise Carrier-Martin felt the use of force was disproportionate. “It was completely unnecessary to do that because we were already leaving,” she said in French.

Eyewitness reports confirm that similar arrests happened earlier during the march.

Police spokesperson Raphael Bergeron declined to comment on the method of arrests, but said that three warnings were given during the altercation at 500 Sherbrooke O.

Five people were arrested on charges of mischief, contempt of police officers, and breaking municipal bylaws. Four were released Thursday night on promises to appear in court.

One man went to court Friday on charges of mischief.

CTV reported that police are investigating an officer who knocked down an elderly woman during the earlier part of the demonstration.

CREPUQ agreed on a pro-tuition hike stance last fall, arguing that funding for Quebec universities falls short by $620 million in comparison to other Canadian universities. McGill Principal and CREPUQ member Heather Munroe-Blum has said that the organisation’s position has been increasing tuition rates “while maintaining a strong commitment to accessibility.”

Carrier-Martin disagreed.

“The system of loans and scholarships is inadequate, and will not be adequately increased to ensure genuine equality in access. Although the government might claim they are expanding financial aid, there are a lot of barriers to admission,” she said.

Although Education Minister Line Beauchamp was unavailable for comment, a government spokesperson said that her position was not going to change as a result of Thursday’s actions.

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Quebec Minister of Finance Raymond Bachand announced on March 17 that tuition will increase $325 per student per year for five years, starting in 2012. Tuition fees are scheduled to reach $3,793 by 2017, almost double the current fees but still below the Canadian average.

The demonstration was organized by the l’Association pour un solidarité syndicale Étudiante (ASSÉ), which has 45,000 members.

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, ASSÉ director of communications, explained that the objective of the occupation was two-fold.

“We gave a letter of our claims to the minister that explained our discontent to the minister, our most fundamental disagreement regarding the tuition hikes announced last week,” he told The Daily in French.

“It was to give this letter to the minister and let him know that if he doesn’t go back on his decision we would undertake a much greater movement in the months to come,” Nadeau-Dubois continued.

Rue Frontenac reported that dozens penetrated the building through an emergency exit and entered the fifth floor offices. According to Nadeau-Dubois, a bodyguard pushed an activist into the glass door. One student was injured by the shattered glass.

Daniel Lacoursière, a spokesperson for the Service de police de la ville de Montréal (SPVM), said that this claim was still under investigation, explaining that  surveillance cameras were not working, “so we need statements from different witnesses.”

During the demonstration, Nadeau-Dubois left the premises, fearing further action from the building’s security.

“Unfortunately we went to the offices to undertake a pacifist action but the security in the building reacted in a pretty violent way, so violently that we had to go down to the main hall and have a peaceful sit-in because we were worried about our safety,” he said

A red banner was hung in the main atrium of the mall, reading, “Bachand, tes hausses de tariffs fous-toi les dans le cul!” (Bachand, take your fee hikes up the ass!)

Some protestors were hit with pepper spray. Lacoursière did not confirm if it was the police who used the spray, but said that this too was under investigation.

“If it is police that used the pepper spray, not saying that it was not used, so I have no report of that at this point. An investigation will give us more information about that,” he said.

SSMU VP External Myriam Zaidi explained that explained that the Quebec Student Roundtable (QSR) would not be calling for occupations of offices any time soon. “But it would hypocritical of student representatives to condemn occupations, given that those are what got us seats in the Board of Governors and Senate,” she said.

Arts Senator Tyler Lawson pointed out that in 1997, about 18 students held out for three days, after which ancillary fees were cut in half.

“Tactics substantiate power, and a lot of occupations are pacific, so no one gets harmed,” he said.

Zaidi explained that in the case of a province-wide strike, a special general assembly would be called with 500 students required to make quorum. In such cases, however, she predicted over 1,200 students would show up out of the SSMU membership of around 21,000.

“SSMU is usually the last one to [join a strike] – the movement happens and McGill follows,” she said.

“Surveys commissioned by the administration have shown that McGill students are very privileged, [Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Morton] Mendelson recently couldn’t grasp why so many students came from upper classes or parents who went to university. Not to put all students in the same bag, but when you are less exposed to students having a hard time, it’s harder for you to feel affected.”

Nadeau-Dubois said ASSÉ is calling for a provincial demonstration March 31 in Montreal.

“This action is really the last straw that we’ll give the Charest government to warn him to back down on the tuition hikes. If he refuses to do so at that time, well then we will embark on a mass mobilization, and we’re ready to go all the way to overcome it,” he said.

FECQ occupies Simard’s office

Around thirty students affiliated with the Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec (FECQ) occupied the premises of Serge Simard, Quebec delegate Minister for Natural Resources, in Saguenay– Lac-St-Jean the same day.

Léo Bureau-Blouin, president of FECQ, explained that the occupation was peaceful and that everyone dispersed when the police arrived.

He described how students in the area had met with Simard a few months ago to present their demands, and engaged in discussions with Minister of Education Line Beauchamp, but feel that there demands did not make it to the Quebec National Assembly.

“There has been no overture on their side, so we must take action,” said Bureau-Blouin. “We are going to protest until the Quebec government stops hiking tuition fees.”

“Almost every student has to [leave] their homes to go to university, not like Montreal or Quebec where students can live at their parents house.  Students have extra costs to afford university…for 70 per cent of students in Lac-St-Jean, it is the first time of their family history that a student is going to university, so post-secondary accessibility is really fragile,” he added.

The post Students occupy Ministry of Finance appeared first on The McGill Daily.

The McGill Daily: Why did you join the protest?

Timothy Walsh:  I was wandering around the campus when I heard the noises, I saw the student protests, I saw the sign. I’m old enough to remember the free speech movement, and I supported it then. I was glad to see that the spirit was still alive, and I support what they stand for. They were planning to raise the fees by some $3,000 at a go and the students were naturally quite upset about it. I can see their point, I didn’t have that much money when I was a student, and I know that some people are saying that when you increase the fees it doesn’t decrease the enrolment. That may very well be true, because there may be other people that have to drop out or not go to university because they can’t afford the fees. But the people who replace them are the people that didn’t make it on marks, and as a professor, I would like to teach stronger students.

MD: Do you consider occupation tactics to be violent?

TW: I wouldn’t consider it violence if nobody got hurt. One the other hand, you have to consider the effect of the image that it gives the public. Generally, these protests are won or lost on public sympathy. It’s very brave of the people to be willing to risk arrest, but it has to be on something that will gain public sympathy, and it’s possible that breaking into an office like that may not. I wouldn’t consider the tactic immoral but I might consider it unwise on that basis.

MD: Several associations at UQAM will be striking to protest impending tuition hikes on March 31. Do you feel that the faculty will support a strike?

TW: I haven’t interviewed the staff but I shared my link to the Cal Daily with others in the Computer Science Department. Quite a few wrote back congratulating me. So just on that small sample space I would imagine that there would be a considerable amount of support among the staff. Certainly the professor’s union, SPUQ (pronounced “spook,”) has supported the students on this and others. It represents the union’s position and quite possibly the majority of the faculty’s position on this.

We ourselves had a strike over financial issues. I entertained the strikers by singing old union songs in English; it would seem quite consistent of us to support the students as well.

MD: Why do you think that students in some faculties are less likely to mobilize around tuition than others?

TW: One reason why a smaller proportion of students in the professional faculties, especially engineering, than arts students join protests is that they are more dependent than arts students upon getting jobs related to their studies upon graduation, and joining protests could harm their job chances.  Some employers may be reluctant to hire graduates who were active protesters, and CSIS [Canadian Security Intelligence Service] would be not at all reluctant to inform them. In my student days at the University of Toronto, I took part in many demonstrations against the war in Vietnam. In 1972, after obtaining my PhD and spending a year in post-doctoral studies, I got a one-year definite term contract as an assistant professor in the University of Waterloo.

After twice telling me that I would have no trouble getting my contract renewed, the head of the department in which I worked invited me into his office and told me that the reason the universities have less money these days is that corporations that profit from the war in Vietnam are discouraged from giving money to universities by the professors and students who protest against that war.  Since my contract was not renewed, and since the demonstrations in which I had participated were in Toronto and not Waterloo, I can only assume that the RCMP had mentioned my participation in those demonstrations to some higher-ups at the University of Waterloo, who in turn indicated to the department head that it would be unwise to renew my contract.

The probability of such a thing happening these days is less than it used to be, but it is understandable that career-oriented students would be reluctant to take even a small risk of reducing their employability.

Another reason is that the protests sometimes directly inconvenience other students.  A case in point is one of the actions in which I was involved at the University of Toronto.  A recruiter from Dow Chemical came onto the campus to interview engineering students.  Dow Chemical made napalm, a sticky gasoline, which the Americans dropped on enemy soldiers in Vietnam, setting them on fire. To protest the use of napalm, we blockaded the building into which the recruiter had entered, preventing prospective employees from entering.  The engineering students were understandably furious with us.  What we should have done is to hand out informational leaflets, explaining our objection to Dow Chemical and asking students to seek employment with companies whose hands were cleaner. …

I think students from all faculties will be willing to support the current protests because increased tuition fees hurt them too – provided that the protesters make common cause with them instead of antagonizing them with ill-considered actions like the blockade I mentioned.

—Compiled by Rana Encol

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In an email to The Daily, Kristen Rose, senior coordinator of Media Relations for the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, wrote that, despite being stricken, laws prohibiting sex work “continue to be in effect and the status quo remains.”

The three provisions – communicating to solicit sex, running or working in a brothel, and living off income procured by sex work – were ruled to be in violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms when they were challenged in court by Terri Jean Bedford, a dominatrix, and two former sex workers.

The Ontario Court of Appeal stayed the decision of the Superior Court of Justice until April 29, 2011, or until the hearing of the appeal. The appeal is scheduled to be heard over four days by a five-judge panel and will start on June 13.

If Bedford v. Canada stands, the sex trade will be legalized in Ontario, setting a precedent for other jurisdictions in Canada.

Maria Nengeh Mensah, a professor of Social Work at UQAM, spoke to The Daily about the controversial provisions before moderating a panel discussion at the official launch of the Feminist Alliance in Solidarity for Sex Worker’s Rights (FAS) at the Théâtre Ste. Catherine. FAS is a newly formed Quebec coalition of over 200 “individuals and feminist groups working together to support and defend the rights of people working in all sectors of the sex industry.”

Mensah explained that the laws are often applied in a way that creates unsafe working conditions for sex workers.

“They are a cause for repression on the street and indoors – negotiations cannot happen in the best way. And this is the main reason why we want to decriminalize [sex work]. These laws are under the guise of ‘protecting,’ but, in reality, they limit options for police. For instance, it’s hard for sex workers to report theft when explaining the circumstances would criminalize the worker,” she said.

“The laws take aim at the most vulnerable sex workers, those who work off of a street base,” Mensah added.

Rose refrained from providing opinion as to why the Ontario government was appealing the decision, as the matter remains before court.

“We can say, however, that Ontario’s position at the Superior Court was that these provisions of the Criminal Code are designed to prevent individuals, particularly young people, from being drawn into prostitution, to protect our communities from the negative impacts of street prostitution and to ensure that those who control, coerce or abuse prostitutes are held accountable for their actions,” she said. “Thus, in our view, they are consistent with the core Charter values of human dignity and equality.”

According to Mensah, the current laws target and criminalize sex workers, not sex work abusers.

“Criminalization of some things is redundant, particularly when used to intervene when there is assault, gangsterism, exploitation, or the violation or exploitation of children, since laws prohibiting these already exist,” she said.

Mensah also disagreed with the government’s stance on youth.

“Behind the idea of ‘preventing youth’ is the moral idea that sex work is bad, but the law is not meant to reflect particular morals – to paraphrase Pierre Trudeau – the law has no business in the bedroom,” she said.

Seven civil and social groups have intervener status in the upcoming appeal case, including the Canadian HIV/AIDS Network and the Canadian Liberties Association.

Maggie’s, a Toronto-based government-funded sex workers’ agency, also applied for intervener status in order to argue that the legislation further discriminates against women on the basis of gender and occupation.

The Montreal Gazette reported that Ontario Justice Dennis O’Connor denied their application Wednesday as it was too late to address this “significant new ground on which to challenge the legislation.”

Mensah added that in Montreal there are municipal bylaws in place that are meant to remove marginalized workers – especially street-based ones or youth – from the streets.

“For example, it is illegal to communicate with a moving vehicle or throw a cigarette on the ground. More and more the criminal code is being used to target these workers. But with the municipal bylaws, if you don’t pay your fine, it begins a cycle of being judicialized,” she said.

“The bottom line is that sex work involves feminist issues of gender and sex, so we ask for close solidarity, not to impose a particular view or meaning onto the work, but to support each other in their rights.”

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Clubs and Services Councillor Maggie Knight won the 2011 SSMU presidential election in a landslide victory over Speaker of Council Cathal Rooney-Céspedes on Friday night. Knight won with 67.2 per cent of the student vote, with Rooney-Céspedes pulling in 25.8 per cent.

Only 21 per cent of undergraduates – or 4,172 students – voted in the elections.

“It’s good to feel that I won by a decent margin. I’m really excited by the team, a lot of the races were really close,” said Knight. “I think a lot of the other candidates will do a good job too, but I’m incredibly excited about this team going forward.”

“Maggie’s going to do an incredible job – I wish her the best of luck. The only downfall of next year’s executive is that they can’t have both Maggie and I working for them,” said Rooney-Céspedes.

Acclaimed candidate Joël Pedneault won VP External with an approval of 80.3 per cent of the student vote. Current VP External Myriam Zaidi was elated with the result.

“I’m really glad that Joël will have a team that supports him on many of them have campaigns against tuition hikes, and I know that he won’t be alone next year. What I really like about the team is that they’re all progressive people – and that’s good because that’s what our generation should be,” she said.

Carol Fraser, Midnight Kitchen volunteer coordinator and the only SSMU outsider to be elected, was shocked by the results in the closest race, in which she won VP Clubs and Services by a margin of 0.7 per cent – or just 29 votes.

“I’m looking forward to working with all the people that got elected, I think we’ll have a really solid team. I’m genuinely pleasantly surprised – it was a really close race, my opponent ran a really good race and was just as good a candidate as I, but I’m really happy to win,” she said. “I’m happy to work for students. SSMU has given so much to me and I’m excited to give back that much more.”

Current VP Clubs and Services Anushay Khan stressed that the transition month between this year’s and next year’s executive was of paramount importance to the position.

“There’s a lot to learn in this position, a lot of institutional memory, with the politics of opt-outs and student space. No matter what candidate won tonight, the most emphasis should be placed on that month,” said Khan.

Current SSMU Equity Committee member and AUS VP External Todd Plummer also won by a tight margin, winning with 25.4 per cent of the vote and edging out Education Councillor and former Daily editor Kady Paterson by 45 votes for the position of VP Internal. SSMU outsider Natalie Talmi pulled a close third at 24 per cent of the vote.

SSMU Funding Coordinator Shyam Patel had a clear-cut victory over last-minute addition to the election, U2 Management student Stefan Zuba Prokopetz.

Equity Commissioner Emily Clare beat Science Councillor Lauren Hudak by an 11.8 per cent margin, and expressed excitement over the incoming Senate caucus. It will comprise Matt Crawford and Jason Leung for Arts, and Max Luke and Annie Ma for Science. Single seats went to Daily editor Tom Acker for Management, Usman bin Shahid for Engineering, and Sameer Apte for Medicine. Emil Briones, Ian Clarke, Haley Dinel, and Ryan Hirsch ran unopposed, and were approved to represent Music, Law, Religious Studies, and Dentistry, respectively.

“I think the group will be good – but honestly, before I make any kind of judgment, I want to meet with them and see how they interact with one another, see how they feel,” said Clare. “What matters more is how Senate caucus interacts with each other than how I feel about them.”

All referenda questions passed, including increases for the ambassador and Midnight Kitchen fees, renewed funding for Nightline, Queer McGill, and the Union for Gender Empowerment, and the creation of a McGill International Student Network fee. TVMcGill will receive an extra $1.00 per year.

TVMcGill president Carter Li explained that the increase was vital to the existence of the service.

“If we didn’t get this referendum again after just a year [of having the opt-outable fee], we would have to go back to our usual SSMU-provided budget of $4 to 5,000 a year, which barely covers anything to repair our equipment, let alone get anything new,” said Li. “We’re a service and we provide a service to the McGill community – that’s why it was so important for us, it essentially dictates our existence.”

Carol Fraser indicated that the creation of an opt-outable Midnight Kitchen fee was similarly essential to the continued existence of the volunteer-run lunch collective.

Chief Electoral Officer Tais McNeill explained that voter turnout was slightly lower than the previous year, when 28 per cent of students voted, but said that he was “pretty happy” overall.

“I was looking back at some of the records of previous elections, it really seems to be the contentiousness of the race that drives turnout,” said McNeill. “Considering we had a very civil campaign period and no referenda campaigns that were tense, I think that it was a really good turnout.”

The post Knight elected by a landslide appeared first on The McGill Daily.

MUNACA is the largest non-academic union at McGill and represents over 1,600 employees.

The University has asked for concessions regarding the probationary period, access to bereavement and other leaves, sick calls, and sessional workers.

Kevin Whittaker, President of MUNACA, identified the protection of union work as a key point of contention.

“Most of the concessions were things that would reduce our rights and our members’ rights and their abilities to be represented at meetings and other work-related scenarios, “ he said.

He added that McGill fails to meet the standards of other Quebec universities in regards to the recognition of seniority for job placement and a progressive pay scale.

“They are not willing to recognize seniority…they’re trying to maintain their prerogative that management will decide who is the best candidate regardless of their years of experience, and that is not something done in other units.”

“It takes thirty years for someone to reach their maximum salary, at other institutes it could take as little as five years to do so…and we’re nowhere close to that. That was where we saw was a glaring difference between McGill and other universities in Canada.”

Whittaker did say, however, that the administration and MUNACA have come to an agreement in principle on streamlining the grievance process.

“As of right now it’s convoluted, it cuts out management’s responsibility in some of the beginnings of  a grievance or pre-grievance,” said Whittaker. “We’re looking at involving the manager…to allow for us to have a better ability to resolve an issue before it comes to a grievance.”

The two parties will conclude the review of the grievance procedure on March 25, at which point they will review other less controversial issues on which they feel they can proceed.

McGill Associate Vice-Principal (Human Resources) Lynne Gervais could not be reached for comment.

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There has been another uprising in the Maghreb, but it has been less publicized than most.

On Sunday, about 25 Moroccan children, students, and older community members gathered in front of the Moroccan consulate on René-Lévesque to reprimand the regime of King Mohammed VI, in subdued solidarity with their compatriots. Despite the perception of a repressive and scrutinizing Moroccan government, there has been a dearth of public and media interest relative to the attention garnered by similar protests in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya.

One woman on Sunday held a sign that read in French, “We want a Morocco without tyranny.”

An older protester, who identified himself as Assou and has lived in Canada for 11 years, emphasized that the Moroccan youth were fuelling the political uprising in his home country, and that the basic grievances were poverty and unemployment.

“We have assembled here in solidarity with the youth of Morocco, who have mobilized around the 20 février movement,” Assou said in French.

February 20 marks the day that Moroccans took to the streets for the first organized movement against a centuries-old monarchy, according to a 22-year-old international law student who withheld her name due to fear of reprisals.

The student said she has not seen “any city that didn’t go [protest], which is interesting for a country like Morocco, which has been silent for a very long time.”

She attributed the small numbers of demonstrators in Montreal to the fact that many Moroccan immigrants in Canada belong to a financially comfortable upper class. She added that ten large families control the economy and government back in Morocco.

Moroccans are demanding constitutional reform that would see the king relinquish his sacred title and the institution of parliamentary democracy, as in England or Spain. As it stands now, Moroccans cannot question his authority. They are also asking for a new prime minister and the liberation of all political prisoners.

The student gave the example of Ali Lamrabet – the only qualified international Moroccan journalist – whose ten-year ban on practicing his profession ends in 2015.

Royalty is cultural in Morocco – the King is said to have descended from the prophet and as such, is designated to be the commander of all believers.

Morocco has been pursuing an economic stimulus program with the aid of the IMF, World Bank, and Paris Club creditors, but the student claimed that the existence of a “Ministry of Palaces” demonstrates a blatant misallocation of public funds.

At press time, the Facebook group for the 20 février movement had over 31,000 members – most of whom participate in discussions under false names, according to the student.

Though largely peaceful, protests in Morocco have also witnessed self-immolation.

“A woman burnt herself two days ago,” said the student. “She left behind two kids. I have heard of five other such attempts,” she added.

An estimated 15,000 have been in the streets since February 20 but have been repressed by the police through mass arrests and kidnappings. The government claims that the Polisario – the UN-recognized national liberation front for the Western Sahara – is at the root of this public movement, according to the student.

The student also said she knew of a friend who spent two nights in jail because she was accused of being a Spanish spy.

“There have been over 200 arrests this past week. People with PhDs are sleeping in front of ministries, asking for their basic right to work. They are the brains of the country – how could you say they are betraying the country?” she asked.

In the original version of this article, the source was quoted as saying that Ali Lamrabet’s prison sentence ends in 2015, when in fact a state ban on his practise of journalism will expire in 2015. The student spoke anonymously because of fear of reprisals, not necessarily threats from the Moroccan government, as originally indicated.

The Daily regrets the errors.

The post Small numbers and big hopes appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Jonathan Glencross, a student who has worked extensively on campus green projects, argued that the spirit of the bike motion should reflect a collaborative attitude with administrators. The motion ultimately passed with an amendment that charged SSMU to conduct meaningful consultation with the administration on whether biking is indeed a “valuable asset.”

The investments motion also passed with amendments to mention consultation with the Financial Ethics Review Committee (FERC) and SSMU Legislative Council.
Students debated a motion condemning the unilateral appointment of McKinsey and Co. consultants offering pro bono work to the university. Whereas clauses in the motion described past controversial recommendations McKinsey had made.

Brendan Steven, founder of the Prince Arthur Herald, agreed with the motion’s criticism of the unilateral decision-making process, but felt that “the guns here are targeted at the wrong thing” and that students “shouldn’t base a condemnation on consultation on three or four examples.”

Arts Senator Tyler Lawson noted the urgency of the motion in light of austerity measures McKinsey has recommended for other schools.

“McKinsey was directly involved in the independent review of higher education in England – they produced a report right before the government there introduced austerity measures and tripled tuition,” he said. “In the spirit of the GA, we have an opportunity now to take a strong stance as a group, as students, in the name of student power,” he said.

The motion passed, but without quorum – at which point the GA devolves into a “consultative forum.” Resolutions passed by this body are non-binding.

As a consultative forum, students also mandated SSMU to defend groups such as TVMcGill and the McGill First Aid Service that the administration asked to disassociate from the University. It proposes that SSMU bar the University from using the society clubs and services on any publication or promotional material if “the University is unwilling to negotiate.”

Speaker of Council Cathal Rooney-Cespedes explained that the resolution regarding SSMU improvement was struck from the agenda as it involved direct financial decision-making, an inappropriate topic for the GA. It will be pushed to the next Council agenda.

Executive Committee Report

The auditorium erupted with questions aimed at SSMU President Zach Newburgh’s own presidential portfolio after VP Clubs and Services, Anushay Khan, announced that she would be working with Newburgh and a third-party researcher to restructure her portfolio.

Sebastian Ronderos-Morgan, VP External in 2009-2010, asked Newburgh if he would be “clarifying the structure of his own portfolio,” and whether executives could hold part-time jobs, as Newburgh had claimed in a TVMcGill interview from the previous day.

Newburgh replied that he “would be more than happy to do so,” and further stated that each executive was working on individual job descriptions that will be approved at next legislative council.

Councillor Maggie Knight asked Newburgh to personally clarify why councillors had to refrain from discussing the incamera council session in which Newburgh revealed his involvement with startup networking website jobbook.com.

Newburgh responded that the confidential session was technically a trial, and therefore only the accused is allowed to disclose information. Although some rules can be suspended regarding confidential sessions, those protecting “the rights of the accused” cannot be overturned.

Alex McKenzie, U1 Arts and Daily staffer, asked whether Newburgh, as the accused, would be releasing any information about what happened in council.

“The GA is not the time or place to deal with this particular matter … right now we need to move forward,” replied Newburgh.
Although he delivered his own report, VP University Affairs Joshua Abaki was notably absent for a portion of the Executive Committee’s report to the Assembly.

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Matthew McLauchlin, who co-chairs the NDP federal LGBT committee, worked with the trans community in promoting the bill and spoke to The Daily about its implications.

The McGill Daily: What kinds of discrimination do trans people face at the federal level, and how would the law affect judicial processes?

Matthew McLauchlin: Human Rights tribunals would hold private and public actors accountable at the federal level of jurisdiction. … Banks and air travel are the site of a lot of discrimination in the private sector. Federal government services such as the army, RCMP, and prisons are also the site of a grotesque amount of discrimination.For full human rights protection, the bill would have to have to see similar legislation in the provinces, so as to cover areas such as housing and health care.

MD: Private-members’ bills generally do not make it to third reading. Could you comment on the fear that it won’t make it through a Conservative-dominated Senate?

MM: The precedent has been that when the House passes a bill, the Senate has been wary of blocking it. That changed under the Harper government. He promised not to appoint new senators and then he did. The Conservatives have abused their presence in the Senate to block legislation, such as the NDP’s climate change legislation [Bill C-311]. We’ll be pressing the Senate hard and contacting the community to do so as well. … The bill now has to go through the same stages and readings at senate…  and it would all have to take place before any elections were called.

MD: A McGill prof, Douglas Farrow, recently signed an open letter telling MPs not to vote for the bill, telling them it would open up a “can of worms” such as the bathroom scare, the provision of unisex washrooms, and over-crowding hospitals because of sex-reassignment surgeries (SRS). What is your response to this claim?

MM: First of all, hospitals fall under provincial jurisdiction, and secondly, well, there’s maybe ten annual SRS surgeries carried out in the province of Manitoba. If anything, this will be all for the good; there have been barriers to accessing what has long been established as a medically necessary set of procedures.

As for the bathroom scare, this one really hurts me. My partner is trans and I know what he goes through. In the more than one hundred jurisdictions around the world where similar protections have been put into place, there has never been a recorded case against anybody who has tried to engage in reprehensible behaviour in the washroom. Trans people already use washrooms and locker rooms, and it’s trans people who get subject to violence and discrimination.  Crimes are still crimes, and trans people already use washrooms and locker rooms.

MD: Another criticism of the bill is that it does not define gender identity and expression.

MM: None of the other grounds for discrimination are defined…not race, religion, sex orientation, because the law is meant to be applied in terms of social understanding of what those concepts refer to. … If we have survived and managed to make use of the Canadian Human Rights Act without defining the other concepts, the same ought to be true for gender identity and expression.
As Bill Siksay said effectively in parliament, “A right that has to be explained is not an effective right,” and trans people or people who do not fit traditional gender stereotypes should not have to think their way into protection under legislation that defines grounds of discrimination for different groups.

For example, in New York City two years ago, a non-trans woman was evicted from a restaurant because she had gone to use the woman’s washroom and someone thought she was not a woman, and therefore had no business being there, even though she showed her ID. She won a human rights case because New York city human rights code specifies gender identity and expression.

—Compiled by Rana Encol

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MK volunteer Kayle Towsley broadcasted news of the reopening over the group’s volunteer listserv on Thursday, saying that the certification issued last year was still valid, and that re-certification was no longer an immediate concern.

“There has been a lot of confusion with SSMU. We thought we had to certify new people with food safety training, but it turns out our certification from last year is still valid, but just had to be re-submitted,” she wrote in the email obtained by The Daily.
Volunteer coordinator Carol Fraser explained that two MK members had received Institut de technologie agroalimentaire (ITA) certification last April and that it was valid “for life.” The certification numbers were mailed directly to the individuals and therefore not obtained by SSMU, which needed them for renewal.

“It’s been a learning curve for everybody…there wasn’t enough dialogue and the closure was a matter of miscommunication between us,” she added.

SSMU general manager Pauline Gervais, who oversees the Shatner building’s operations, and SSMU VP Clubs and Services

Anushay Khan approached MK volunteers on Tuesday, telling them that the collective had to cease operations until they acquired a new permit.

Khan explained SSMU’s confusion: “We had thought the collective increased to more than 20 people, [meaning that] more than two people would need to be registered, but it turns out that only ten to twelve people are involved in cooking, so only two people are needed,” she said.

Khan and Gervais have since called the registry and submitted the existing certification numbers for renewal. This means MK can resume its operations without any risk of being fined.

Serving food and alcohol is permitted in Shatner as outlined by SSMU’s Memorandum of Agreement with the University, but the ITA certificate is a requirement for any group that prepares food.

Fraser added that  “this has not been an isolated instance between us and SSMU – the new legislation is effecting soup kitchens everywhere.”

The People’s Potato, which offers a similar service at Concordia, went through the same process.

Several MK members involved with Organic Campus, the locally grown food stand that was shut down under similar circumstances last Wednesday, guessed that it would also reopen after similar paperwork processing.

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Eric Caplan, senator for the Faculty of Education, was the only opposition to the motion, on the grounds that it “would be useful [to have] some kind of mechanism for the departments and the evaluating committee to have a conversation.”

When Provost Anthony Masi replied that such a process would be very costly, Caplan disagreed.

“As of right now, the reports that come out are a series of monologues – it would be more collegial to have more dialogue, and as five of the seven reviewers are McGill employees, they could easily be connected through Skype [or such technology],” he said in an interview with The Daily. “So I don’t see any budgetary problems, and nobody raised any procedural problems, so that was the only reason for my opposition.”

Board of Governors report

Amir Raz, Senate representative from the Board of Governors (BoG), reported to Senate that the BoG approved the purchase of ten “state-of-the-art” sequencers as per the Genomics Funding Proposal at its October 25, 2010 meeting.

In closed session, the BoG Executive Committee also approved “any purchase contracts and accessory documents of $4 million or more associated with the Genomics funding proposal approved by the Executive Committee on March 22, 2010,” according to the Board report.

At closed session on November 30, 2010, the BoG approved of a number of other items that were not presented at Senate, but were included in the report.

These include awarding a contract to Securitas Canada Inc. that will be effective from February 1, 2011 to January 31, 2014, increasing premium rates for the McGill Health and Dental Plans, and authorizing a budget to convert 410 Sherbrooke O. into a residence.

As required by the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail du Québec (CSST), the BoG also approved giving “signing authority to the manager of staff benefits in Human Resources Department for claims from the University for 2011, 2012, and 2013.”

Exams, Academic Advising, and Mentorship

Morton Mendelson, Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning), presented a motion yesterday to create a “comprehensive University policy regarding the assessment of students,” to be voted on at the next Senate meeting taking place February 16. VP University Affairs Joshua Abaki is the student representative to a working group on examination regulations.

Student Arts Senator Amara Possian spoke yesterday about the upcoming launch of a new cross-faculty mentorship program. Over the past two years the Dean of Students Jane Everrett and Faculty of Science Senator David Harpp have been developing a program to address “the lack of a sense of community at McGill and the lack of mentorship – especially outside of one’s faculty or development,” said Possian in an interview with The Daily. “There are opportunities for mentorship through CaPS [Career Planning Service] or through one’s program, but McGill doesn’t make an effort to create a sense of community across faculties or departments.” The new program aims to bridge this divide. Student sign-up begins on February 1.

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David Roseman, Vice-President of Labour Relations at the McGill University Non-Academic Certified Association (MUNACA), said that McGill’s refusal to place Zahorak in a job commensurate with his capabilities was in contravention of the Quebec Charter of Rights and Articles 37 and 38 of MUNACA’s Collective Agreement with the University, which stipulate that an employee cannot be discriminated against on the basis of disability.

NCS Director Gary Bernstein, who signed the November 26, 2010 letter firing Zahorak, declined to comment.

“We do not make public comments on personnel matters,” wrote Bernstein in an email to The Daily.

In 2003, Zahorak, then a Security and Telecommunication Technician at McGill Network and Communications Services (NCS), was carrying a stepladder and his tools through the back door of the Arts Building when the ladder hit a four-inch recess in the ceiling, hyper-extending his left shoulder and leaving him with a permanent disability.

On December 15, 2010 MUNACA presented a 300-signature petition to the University, demanding that Zahorak be placed in a job.

Lynne Gervais, Associate Vice-Principal of Human Resources, said that McGill had made “every possible effort within the constraints of what the CSST [the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail du Québec] said…was allowed,” echoing the words used in the administration’s formal response to the petition.

Adrienne Gibson, Quebec Regional Representative of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), which has a service agreement with MUNACA, explained that McGill’s position was the result of a “legal grey zone.”

“There is this interpretation that…because the CSST is involved in getting injured employees back to work, the CSST has the responsibility of ensuring that the Quebec Charter is applied – and nobody else,” said Gibson.

“We’re not talking about a firefighter whose injuries might have posed a safety risk – we’re talking about someone whose limitations are lifting his arms above his head. … It seems crazy that McGill couldn’t find a job within the limitations of the Charter,” said Gibson.

Zahorak said McGill did little to help him. “The extent of [McGill’s] help was that they would either call me or email me saying, ‘Look, there’s a posting online that you might be interested in,’ which I was doing on my own anyway,” he said.

Zahorak had participated in the expansion of the McGill security system when he started at NCS in 2001. His job was to install, maintain, and configure the relevant software, and teach security personnel how to use it.

“We had it running in a way that we did a lot of upgrades to it ourselves – a lot of homemade stuff. I have a degree in electronics so I did a lot of modifications myself. The system became very personalized to the University,” he said.

Last year, Zahorak lost a new software programming position – which required no physical labour – to someone from outside of McGill, “which once again goes against the Collective Agreement,” Zahorak emphasized.

“The guy that interviewed me for the position, I taught him how to use the system – so how do you not give me that job?” Zahorak said.

Gervais retorted that “jobs that are given here are based on qualifications. If he didn’t get accepted, that’s because he didn’t have the qualifications.”

In an internal newsletter sent December 2 to all staff and obtained by The Daily, MUNACA and PSAC are also disputing McGill’s claim to a “Certificate of Compliance from the federal government’s Federal Contractors Program (FCP),” which is necessary for all provincial employers that receive $200,000 or more in goods or services contracts from the federal government.

“This certificate attests that the University is developing a plan to ensure that no person will be denied employment opportunities or benefits for reasons unrelated to ability,” the memo reads. “Women, aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities are the four groups targeted by the government.”

“We’re asking the federal government to assess this claim especially in light of Zahorak’s case – and if [the government] has indeed issued a Certificate, to revoke it,” said Gibson.

Zahorak had filed a claim with the CSST and received Workman’s Compensation and Long Term Disability (LTD) payments, which worked out to approximately seventy per cent of his original salary. When his LTD payments ran out, Zahorak had no revenue and went on unpaid leave, but was ordered back to work by McGill in November 2010 before he was fired.

McGill lost all three hearings. The CLP confirmed Zahorak’s permanent disability, and he received a “back-to-work” order from his doctor in November 2009.

“So I went back, and they essentially left me hanging – they refused to reintegrate me, they didn’t pay me, they did absolutely nothing,” said Zahorak.

“I’d come into work everyday at 8 o’clock, sit down, read the paper, have breakfast, and wait ‘til 4 o’clock. Occasionally, they would give me a chore. I’d sit here and answer the phone for a while or do this or do that. And that went on for several months,” he added.

Zahorak claims that, despite his physical limitations, he could still do eighty per cent of his job – and that the remaining twenty per cent “I could probably do – just not repetitively, all day, everyday. But [McGill] said it had to be 100 per cent every day.”

“Since November 2009, they’ve completely and utterly raped the Collective Agreement – they didn’t live up to any of their responsibilities whatsoever,” he added.

Around this time, Zahorak fell into depression and was put on suicide watch at Lakeshore General Hospital in Pointe-Claire, Quebec.

“I had absolutely no revenue; I was a single dad; I had to abandon my apartment; I had to move in with my girlfriend. My girlfriend had to support me and my daughter for an entire year. She doesn’t make all that much – she’s a registered nurse so she makes a half-decent living – but between the two of us we have four kids, so 50,000 [dollars] a year for six people – you can imagine,” Zahorak said.

“I went from being given complete and absolute access to the entire university – I had more access than security did. I could do absolutely anything I want in the system from my home computer in my living room. If I wanted to be malicious, I could have locked down the entire university from home. So I went from that kind of status and access, to not even being able to be good enough to answer a phone,” he continued.

There will be another hearing before an arbiter this year, but no date has yet been set as it is dependent on the employer’s lawyer’s availability.

Zahorak is currently working part-time for MUNACA and has taken out student loans to enroll in a programming analyst and internet solutions course at CDI College.

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One-hundred-thirty to one-hundred-forty groups and individuals will participate in the day-long Rencontres, an annual education policy meeting, on December 6. Thirty people will sit at a special table to deliberate on three key themes: accessibility, performance and funding.

The four major student lobbying groups, various trade union representatives, several private sector representatives, and three MNAs from the provincial opposition parties – Parti Quebecois, Action démocratique du Québec, and Québec Solidaire – will be in attendance. (See Page 5)
Munroe-Blum will bring two colleagues from other universities with her and stressed that she will not be there to represent McGill’s point of view.

“We will not be there as individuals or representing individual institutions – we will be there to represent the CREPUQ framework,” she told Senate.

CREPUQ’s position is premised on their assertion that the Quebec university system is underfunded and falling behind the rest of Canada. According to Munroe-Blum, Quebec is “dramatically behind on high school graduation rates and dramatically behind university participation and degree completion rates.”

A report released last week by the Fédération étudiante universitaire de Québec (FEUQ) found that nearly fifty per cent of full-time undergraduates abandoned or interrupted their studies for financial reasons. (See page 5)
The CREPUQ position thus far has been increasing tuition rates “while maintaining a strong commitment to accessibility,” in Munroe-Blum’s words.

“It would be a complete miss if all groups didn’t come together on a common front,” she said. The administration has been “working with student groups over the last week to see if we can’t get a common message,” Munroe-Blum continued. On November 10, the principal met with a handful of SSMU executives to discuss the financing of Quebec universities and tuition.

VP University Affairs Joshua Abaki does not think that student groups and the administration would agree on the need for tuition increases, but did point to some common ground.

“We are both opposed to Bill 100. We both definitely believe that the federal and provincial governments need to invest more in post-secondary education, and that universities should be able to keep a greater share of the subsidies – of the amount of money that they get due to increased tuition, but then with a cap,” he said.

At Senate, Abaki asked McGill administrators to reaffirm their commitment to promises made in the Principal’s Task Force on Excellence, Diversity and Community, Engagement (PTSFLL), a 2005 document that appeals to the idea of a “student-centred” university.

“There is no evidence to support observation that [Principal’s Task Force] recommendations have been dismissed,” said Provost Anthony Masi.

Abaki said, however, that he was “not entirely” satisfied with Masi’s response.

“I think there’s been a lot of recent decisions that didn’t exactly live up to the promises made in the document [such as] the decision made on the Arch Café, the one made on the athletics board, the ones regarding the exchange fee, raising tuition for international students taking French as a second language courses,” he said.

“All these positions are made without student consultation,” Abaki added. “That’s contrary to the promises that were made in the PTFSLL, so we just wanted to make sure that there is a reaffirmation [from] the principal to that line and that argument. We wanted to make sure that while the principal emphasizes being research-intensive, that the undergraduate experience is at the top of the list.”

Management Senator Matt Reid pointed out that certain courses, especially first-year Science courses, have been closed off to students from other faculties, and asked what was being done to address overcapacity issues that have led to registration restrictions.

According to Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Morton Mendelson, students in a given program take priority in registering for those courses, adding that “courses may be capped to enhance learning experience, but the two main constraints are space and personnel.” A Student Enrolment Management program is underway and will be presented to Senate in February.

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Senators, council members, and core members of the activist group Mobilization McGill, along with other students, filled the Molson Hall common room. Unlike past town halls, few faculty or staff came forward to ask questions.

In response to questions about tuition, Munroe-Blum explained that when she came to McGill in 2003, Quebec universities faced a $350-million gap in average funding between Quebec and the rest of the country, but that government support was the highest in the country.

According to Munroe-Blum, government support is currently fifth or the sixth in the country. “And then we lack in Quebec the culture of philanthropy,” she added. She argued that tuition increases were a part of filling this funding shortfall.

“Tuition fees have their place if they are accompanied by a commitment to student financial aid, but our first stop is federal and provincial government,” she said.

Robyn Wright-Fraser, U1 Arts, asked how much of the current $800-million dollar gap in university funding would be filled by tuition hikes. According to Munroe-Blum, the majority of the gap will have to be filled by “sustained” government financing: “15 per cent less of our funding comes from tuition than other universites with our mandate,” she said.

Eli Freedman, U1 Management student and Management representative to SSMU council, voiced concerns over the emphasis on graduate programs and how this would impact the undergraduate student experience. Munroe-Blum explained that a Task Force on the issue and her appointment of a Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) in 2003 were meant to redress these concerns.

“We’ve increased our total revenues year after year for the better part of the last decade…there’s no question but that the overall investment in those domains [undergraduate life] has gone up,” she said.

Guy Mark Lifshitz, U4 Computer Science student and Mobilization McGill member, asked “why decisions regarding the Architecture Café [were] done in closed session,” referring to the confidential portions of Board of Governor’s meetings.

“Many of the decisions taken by the University develop on a multi-year basis – and the implementation of these decisions also happens on a multi-year basis,” Munroe-Blum replied. “Given the fact that student leadership changes every year, those who are involved are often not here when [decisions] are implemented.”

“One of the major goals of [Mendelson’s] working group is to understand how we can consult [in] ways that will have people who are affected, informed, and engaged in the decision-making process,” she continued.

She maintained, however, that there would always be closed sessions of the Board, to “to protect confidentiality, to deal with issues of competitiveness on real estate and other things.”

Heather Munroe-Blum repeatedly said that she was hearing of cuts in more localized areas for the first time – mainly grad student research space and employment as well as recent cuts to tier-two and tier-three sports teams.

Emily Essert, PhD 5 in English, said that she works in a department of “have and have-nots.”

“Those who have obtained RA-ships have study space, those who don’t may not…I got an email yesterday – when we go to teach, there may or may not be TA-ships available,” she said.

Munroe-Blum responded by saying, “We have narrowed the gap in support for our graduate students …but there is still a gap – we are looking to bridge it through philanthropy, and the majority of our campaign has gone to support students with a very special focus on providing financial aid and fellowships for our students.”

Joseph Giardini, U3 Computer Science, expressed his displeasure with a lack of “promised” follow-up on the bike forum held last month. Munroe-Blum deferred to Vice-Principal (University Services) Jim Nicell, who said that it wasn’t his understanding that there was a commitment to follow-up, but that there would be more “info sharing.”

“We’re working hard to eliminate those on the margins that don’t comply [with the ban on campus biking]…there’s not an appetite for going back on cars or bikes,” said Munroe-Blum.

In the wake of the Town Hall, SSMU VP University Affairs Josh Abaki, VP External Myriam Zaidi, President Zach Newburgh, and Deputy Provost Morton Mendelson met informally yesterday. They agreed that SSMU and the administration should work together on three issues. The issues, according to Zaidi, including Bill 100, government funding of universities, and government-sponsored financial aid to students.

“Ultimately the message at the meeting today is that we should be bringing the entire community together to lobby the government, rather than doing so in factions,” said Newburgh.

“We are in the process of developing an approach with the principal, and we sowed the seeds for this kind of partnership especially at today’s meeting,” he said.

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Despite this rejection, Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) Morton Mendelson did announce the creation of a “working group on student communication and consultation.” Like Newburgh’s original proposed committee, the group will be made up of various administration and student representatives, and will report to the Deputy Provost. (See sidebar on facing page for more information.) However, it does not have an explicit mandate to discuss the Architecture Café closure.

At Senate, Principal Heather Munroe-Blum and Newburgh both expressed their gratitude to the Deputy Provost for establishing the group, and Newburgh later called it “a really good step in the right direction.”

Budget concerns in light of the provincial budgetary Bill 100, new accounting principals, and deferred maintenance dominated the remainder of the meeting.

Bill 100
Bill 100 stipulates that public institutions must reduce general administrative operations by ten per cent and institute a 25 per cent travel expenses reduction over the next four years, as part of a Quebec government initiative to return the province to a balanced budget by 2013-14.

Munroe-Blum described the bill as an “omnibus law that treats us all the same, and that distorts each university’s ability to follow through with their individual missions.” Its implications for McGill are not clear, she said.

Accounting
Until last fiscal year, the University’s financial statements were not in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principals (GAAP) issued by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. This rendered the projected deficit for the fiscal year ending May 31, 2011 “greater than we anticipated,” according to the financial report of the Board of Governors, presented by interim Vice Principal (Administration and Finance) Michael Richards.

Under the former system, liabilities such as pensions, vacations, and retirement were not recorded and their addition has increased McGill’s non-cash accumulated deficit.

“You now get to see the full value of benefits we accord our employees,” said Richards.

Residences
Michael Porritt, Executive Director (Residences and Student Housing), announced that two market studies are currently underway to determine the future needs of first-years, upperyears, and graduate students.

As of 2008-09, residences accommodated 52 per cent of McGill’s first-years. Porritt projected that this figure would increase to 62 per cent with the opening of new buildings. “We are still 100 per cent over capacity and it is the end of October,” said Porritt. However, he also brought up the possibility of having upper-year students live in residence in significant numbers. Currently, of the 3,850 students in residence, there are 41 upper-year students who are not floor fellows, Porritt said.

Porritt also stated that the residence system is facing $150 million in deferred maintenance costs, forty million of which is deemed high priority. A five-year plan to reduce these costs by fifty per cent will begin in fiscal year 2012. These costs are mostly concentrated in older and smaller buildings around campus, including MORE and graduate student houses with low occupancies and urgent maintenance needs.

– with files from Emilio Comay del Junco

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