Shanaya D’sa, Author at The McGill Daily

Ontario Students Walkout

Shanaya D’sa — Mon, 08 Apr 2019 15:42:55 +0000

In January 2019, Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government, led by Premier Doug Ford, announced that they were cutting post-secondary tuition by 10 per cent, as well as giving students the option to choose what student fees they pay. The Ford government believes that this is a “historic” move which empowers students through its prioritization of merit and choice. However, to enact these changes the Ford government had to scrap the generous additions to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) made by the previous Liberal government. There will no longer be a six month grace period for student loans, nor will low-income students be granted free tuition. According to the Ford government, the overhaul of OSAP is necessary because the program is not “financially sustainable.” Student groups and initiatives set to lose funding through these changes include campus papers and other support groups for marginalized students. Many critics point out that these changes will predominantly harm low-income students and families by decreasing the accessibility of postsecondary education and eliminating the funding for student services.

On March 20, university and college students across Ontario participated in demonstrations protesting Ford’s changes. The walkout was organized by the Ontario branch of the Canadian Federation of Students in conjunction with other student groups and unions. Participants demanded that the government provide more grants than loans to students and protect their right to organize. Many students protesting told various media outlets that Ford’s changes mean that they will not be able to return to school for the following academic year. In March, the Ford government also introduced a variety of changes to kindergarten, primary, and secondary institutions. These changes involved cuts in funding, increased class sizes, revised sexual education and mathematics programs, and the introduction of e-learning in schools. The sexual education policy in particular has been a controversial topic in Ontario. Following the Ford government’s repeal of the Liberal’s progressive curriculum, students were left with material last updated in 1998. Ford’s version delays the introduction of topics pertaining to gender and identity, putting LGBTQ youth at risk.

The increase in class sizes would result in decreased time spent with each student, and would also further affect the school’s capability to offer specialized courses. Additionally, the government has claimed that schools would receive attrition protection to prevent loss of teacher jobs. However, if the number of expected layoffs exceeds the attrition number, this could result in unemployment throughout the province. The Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association expects the loss of approximately 5,000 teaching positions in Catholic schools.

On April 4, high school students across Ontario walked out of class to protest these changes. Sarah Cann, a grade 12 student from Welland, Ontario told the Daily, “I protested because I wanted to show the Ford administration that students will not turn a blind eye to his destructive policies. Students are not a group so easily trampled upon, and we will be extremely vocal in our fight against these cuts. Doug Ford deserves to see the faces of those he’s directly affecting.”

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Climate Justice March

Shanaya D’sa — Sun, 24 Mar 2019 20:07:31 +0000

On March 15, 150,000 people took to the streets of Montreal to demand climate justice. The demonstration was organized by high school, CEGEP, and university students in conjunction with over a million students around the world. Montreal’s demonstration ranks among one of the largest worldwide. Students and demonstrators met at the Sir Georges-Étienne Cartier Monument at noon, marched through downtown, and rallied at Place des Arts. As protestors marched, they chanted slogans, such as “system change, not climate change,” and “sausau- sau- sauver la planète [save the planet].”

Anne Sophie, a Montreal resident, was asked why she attended the demonstration. She pointed to her son and said, “I’m here because of him, because of my daughter, and because power belongs to the people. When the politicians don’t listen, we need to make them listen.” Université de Montréal student, Gabriel Hamelin Roussel, emphasized the importance of the government’s role in combating climate change, telling the Daily that climate justice “definitely has a political dimension that has to be addressed.” Many others, including speakers at McGill’s rally, organized by members of Divest McGill and La planète s’invite à l’Université McGill (LPSU), argued that climate change is tied to the current global economic and political system. As a result, combating climate change means drastically changing the status quo.

UdeM student Camille Abbas said, “I think it’s a really important cause. […] I hope that people will do this daily. If we do, I believe that we can change things.” Many others echoed the sentiment that while the march was important, sustained pressure was a necessary next step. McGill student Nivedita Shukla also spoke to the importance of the rally, saying,“it’s disappointing to know that there are still people out there who don’t believe in climate change, who think of it as a hoax, whilst everything around them actively suffers. This kind of action can be the only way to spark consciousness and make it a universal priority to save what we have left to save.”

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BSN and BLSAM Panel: Racism and Systemic Discrimination in Canada

Shanaya D’sa — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 11:00:58 +0000

The Black Students’ Network and the Black Law Students’ Association of McGill organized a panel discussion with the Faculty of Law as part of Black History Month on February 4. The panel focused on systemic discrimination and racism in the Canadian context. Panelists Philip Howard, Julius Haag, Fabrice Vil, and Shanice Nicole Yarde began by demystifying overused terminology such as “prejudice,” “bias,” “anti-Black,” and “racist” while also clarifying the key differences between institutional, systemic, and social racism. They also debated the usefulness of the term “multiculturalism,” with most panellists asserting that the term is an illusory, all-inclusive word that is used to compensate for the more specific racial problems prevalent in society.

The panel highlighted Canada’s history as a settler-colonial state, unpacking its previous actions supporting anti-Blackness and extracting labour. They focused on “relearning ” these histories to challenge current dominant stories. Panellists explored the idea of anti-racist policies, pointing out how they are mainly governed by white ideologies. They emphasized the need to be more critical of the news, media, and so-called anti-discriminatory policies set by the government. The audience clearly supported the speakers in their claim that acknowledging discrimination in Canada is not enough; reparations must be made in order to effect change. Furthermore, the question of increased representation of Black people in the police forces and the government was brought up, which led to an interesting conflict of opinion among the panellists and the audience. The majority of the attendees believed that increased representation would result in large scale reformations. However, most panellists explained that “getting representation in a prejudiced system is a trap.”

Panellist Phillip Howard went on to dissect our current education systems, and how “McGill [….] could be seen as a product of colonialism.” Fabrice Vil explained how McGill has a “diversity deficit” and argued that the University should engage in more efforts to improve the student body’s diversity. They further stated that contrary to the US, most Canadian universities don’t even have departments for African Studies, and the majority of the ones that do offer a few classes per semester often taught by white/ non-African professors.

It was reiterated that the only way to prevent systemic racism and discrimination is to change the ideology of the system. Terminating hyper-surveillance, carding, and random frisking will only be possible if society recognizes our “honest history” and un-learns the prejudice against Black people in order to re-humanize them on social and institutional levels.

A previous version of this article neglected to mention the Black Law Students’ Association of McGill’s involvement in organizing the event. The Daily regrets the error.

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