Anya Sivajothy, Author at The McGill Daily

Cozy subversions

Anya Sivajothy — Mon, 18 Jan 2016 11:01:19 +0000

The name Quilted Creatures, belonging to a new Montreal-based publishing collective, immediately evokes the cozy feeling of soft plush animals. That warm sense of comfort is perfectly fitting for the collective’s unique aspirations of exploring alternate pathways in children’s literature by weaving together different media, experiences, and stories.

Quilted Creatures was created about a year ago with the collaboration of former McGill students Jehane Yazami, Kai Kafrissen, and Rachel Nam, who also is a former Daily editor. It aims to serve as a platform for creative minds – whether visual artists, musicians, or writers – to collaborate on pieces intended for children.

Initially disappointed by the lack of alternative literature available to children, the founders felt determined to create a space that explores the fantastical realm of childhood while also tackling the sometimes oppressive, and lonely aspects of being a child that experiences the world in a way that differs from the normative experience. The founders’ vision is to create a non-hierarchical space where artists can create imaginative and politically conscious pieces to both educate and entertain children.

“The first thing we wanted to acknowledge with this collective is that we [as the founders] all think that children’s books are inherently political,” said Rachel Nam in an interview with The Daily. “Because they’re meant to teach kids morals, how you should behave in this world, and [they’re] a representation of what’s available or what’s happening in this world, and that could obviously be skewed depending on the artist or writer’s perspective.”

One of the collective’s main goals is to create support for children whose dreams and ideals may not align with dominant representations of childhood – where some experiences, such as those of people marginalized based on their sexuality, gender, or race may be neglected.

“In a lot of publishing [companies …] it is white straight cis men who are creating or writing these books, or white women who are creating these books. So we wanted to open up a space for these alternative children’s books where someone […] can bring their particular perspective to children,” said Nam. “Because a lot of kids grow up feeling left out if you are a little bit different from everyone else.”

“It’s so disheartening when you hear stories about young people being ostracized or feeling left out and it’s so painful to hear that at that stage […] when you feel so vulnerable,” Nam added. “I wanted to do something [about it], at least a little bit.”

In the pursuit of creating multiple spaces for support, the collective doesn’t focus only on print material. Being a relatively new collective, much of their early work has so far involved exploring different media and experimenting with fresh ideas. This is in part because of the collective’s vision of empowering children, as well as exploring the particular experiences encouraged by each medium, such as the dreamlike utopias that visual illustrations can conjure or the nostalgic melodies that can be found in lullabies.

“We are interested in making products that emphasize beauty and rhythms that we found to be powerful in our own childhood – slowness and emptiness and space for thought that isn’t [usually] given to you,” said Yazami, speaking about the pressure to be productive that is often placed on both children and adults.

“The problem that we all find in our own childhood is being belittled, and we’re really interested in thinking about that [and …] seeing childhood as a full state of incredible potential,” she added.

While the collective is still young, it already has multiple projects underway. One current project is a picture book by Kai Cheng Thom, also a Montreal writer and spoken word artist. Titled From the Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea, the book is expected to be published next year. Other projects still in early stages include a call for submissions of children’s books made during childhood and submissions for a blog of lullabies – both as written lyrics or recorded with music.

For now, Quilted Creatures is bubbling with potential, and only time will tell how and when their dreams of providing softly subversive pieces of art for children will come true.

A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Kai Cheng Thom was one of the founders of Quilted Creatures. In fact, the article should have stated that Kai Kafrissen, not Kai Cheng Thom, is one of the founders.

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Poetry imprisoned

Anya Sivajothy — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 11:06:40 +0000

“Intro,” the opening poem of Mirrors of Absence, projects vivid images of reflection into a whirlwind of thought. It finishes with the stark phrase, “nothing at all.” This is an apt introduction to Faraj Bayrakdar’s book of short verses which complicates ideas of identity, freedom, and imprisonment – all set within the context of a poet struggling with his identity while living under a tyrannical regime.

Faraj Bayrakadar is an award-winning Syrian writer who was imprisoned by the Hafez al-Assad regime in 1987. He was released 14 years later, and has been living in Sweden since 2005. Following his release, he published several books of poetry and a book of prose. Mirrors of Absence is his fifth book of poetry, published in 2015 in Arabic, and translated into English by John Mikhail Asfour.

The only poem that is titled in the collection is “Intro” – the rest are numbered and trail off in stream of consciousness narratives, loosely connected by unnamed figures, absences, and repeated reflections.

This is an apt introduction to Faraj Bayrakdar’s book of short verses which complicates ideas of identity, freedom, and imprisonment – all set within the context of a poet struggling with his identity while living under a tyrannical regime.

While some longer poems are marked by a cutting violence, others are composed of short lines that impose a juxtaposition between anger and resigned sorrow. Such lines cast this sorrow toward a constrained God who is silently watching the treachery unfold.

As the collection unravels, one begins to connect with the loneliness that the speaker is experiencing. Certain figures, such as the daughter, exist only as interwoven voices within the poems, never fully materializing as complete characters. This absence of secondary voices stresses the chasm between the imprisoned voice and the outside world. The vague unsubstantiated pronouns also emphasize the struggle of identities within the speaker, as he loses his anchor to reality and is pressed through the structural disintegration of time.

Words lose their meaning over the course of the collection as well. Many poems include repeated lines – desperately trying to convey the inability of words to fully express the violent erasure of voice that is inherent to imprisonment.

This absence of secondary voices stresses the chasm between the imprisoned voice and the outside world.

Mirrors of Absence is a powerful collection of poetry that entangles the reader within the nebulous and peripheral existence of the speaker, which can be attributed to Bayrakdar’s own experiences of imprisonment.

Staying true to the title, the reader becomes the object of reflection by engaging in a dialogue with the text. The simplicity of the strong and pointed phrases allows readers to explore and perhaps lose themselves in the different layers of meaning. When readers comes up for air, they are just as implicated in the final interpretation as the author’s original intention, reflecting their own internal state onto the poetry.

Much of the directness and straightforward nature of this translation can be attributed to John Mikhail Asfour. However, as with all translation, a worry remains over the ideas that are potentially lost in translation or untranslatable. This inevitability evokes another tragic sense of absence that further adds to the layers of restrained sorrow surrounding the work.

Although a reader cannot possibly experience the full calamity faced by those imprisoned in an oppressive state simply by reading the short poems, Mirrors of Absence acutely captures the inner turmoil of the speaker and leaves the reader struck by the loaded verse.

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Beyond the binaries

Anya Sivajothy — Mon, 02 Nov 2015 11:12:15 +0000

The first time – and one of the only few times – I ever saw a Tamil Hindu trans character was in an Indian TV show that my parents had always watched when I was younger. Her name was Ganga, a villain that was caught up in the high stakes melodrama of the show Arase. Ganga was merciless. She swung her long thick hair whenever she laughed sinisterly and only had a soft spot for her neglected wife, whom she had married before her transition. Even now, I feel very conflicted about her character – why does the only trans person depicted on the show have to be the villain? At the same time, there were never any malicious comments made about her gender on the show. Ganga was respected by her family (although her family was just as malicious toward others as she was), and everyone referred to her by the name she had chosen for herself and the pronoun she preferred. Since no transmisogynist comments were made about her, the show never implied a connection between her wickedness and her identity. Perhaps it was okay that she was a powerful villain.

In the end, the only type of discrimination that became evident to me as I reflected more on the depictions of trans people in South Asian media was one of the most insidious types that manifests over and over again against marginalized groups: the erasure of a cultural history, in this case after the start of British rule in India. Ganga sparked my initial curiosity and search for the missing narratives of South Asian trans people within the context of Hinduism, and why their stories are erased from mainstream South Asian media and in the Western world.

Before distortions: third gender in Ancient Vedic Hinduism

Hinduism, considered one of the oldest religions in the world, has a wide range of philosophies and concepts. It also has a multitude of modern interpretations and practices – especially with respect to LGBTQ communities. Many of the ideas about gender and sexuality in Hinduism don’t necessarily translate to Western modes of thought, making it particularly difficult for certain narratives to be shared. My particular experience with Hinduism is both coloured and limited by the fact that I grew up in a traditional and religious Tamil-Sri Lankan home, and many values and realities were taught to me through Hindu mythologies. One of these is a Tamil myth about Iravan, a minor character from the highly revered Hindu epic the Mahabharata, which dates back to eighth century BCE.

The Mahabharatha is set during the Kurukshetra War in the Kuru kingdom of ancient India. The war is a dynastic struggle between two families, the Pandava princes and their cousins, the Kaurava princes, for the throne of Hastinapur. Meanwhile, Iravan embarks on a journey in search of his father, wholly unaware that he is the son of Arjuna, a Pandava prince. When reunited with his son, Arjuna asks for his assistance in the war. Iravan proves himself to be a strong warrior and helps the Pandavas win many battles. But suddenly, one of the Kauravas, anticipating defeat, summons the help of a demon – there are many different variations about the summoning – to help them win, and kill Iravan.

Iravan is left with two choices: he can either attempt to kill the demon with his fellow warriors, or sacrifice himself to Kali, the Goddess of Power to ensure a victory for his father and uncles. Iravan chooses self-sacrifice but with one final request: to marry a woman before his death. No woman agrees to marry him, knowing he will be dead the next day, but finally, Krishna, one of the most popular Hindu deities, takes a human form and descends as a woman called Mohini and marries Iravan. The following day Iravan sacrifices himself to the Goddess Kali and Mohini mourns for him in the traditional Hindu manner. Iravan becomes immortalized as a village deity, and for having married Mohini, he becomes known as one of the several patron gods for trans people.

The day of Iravan’s marriage to Mohini is celebrated during the Koovagam festival, a highly ritualized 18-day festival that has been happening for centuries in an Indian village named Koovagam. Every year, thousands of trans individuals re-enact this ancient myth. First, the person marries the statue of Iravan by having a priest bless them and tie the ritual wedding threads around their necks. Following the marriage, they mourn the death of Iravan by crying loudly, breaking their bangles and changing into a white sari – it is a Hindu custom for a widow to wear white following the death of their spouse. The festival attendees also dance and play music as part of the celebrations.

This story is just one of the many ancient Hindu mythologies that are intertwined with the cultural narratives and history of trans individuals in South Asia. The Vedic religion that predates foreign influence and from which modern-day Hinduism evolved showed a deep understanding and respect for the LGBTQ community, especially trans people. It understood the concept of gender and sexuality in a culturally distinct way. This history is not apparent by looking at the treatment of trans individuals in contemporary Indian society, or at popular Western depictions which misconstrue Eastern religions as inherently oppressive.

I would like to humbly make the argument that Kali Yuga started alongside the onset of British rule in ancient India in the mid-19th century.

In Hinduism, the term “pums-prakriti” refers to males, “stri-prakriti” refers to females, and the third sex/gender category is “tritiya-prakriti.” There are other terms for sex and gender, but these three group the two together. The third gender is inclusive of people of a broad spectrum of genders and sexualities including trans, genderqueer, gender non-conforming, and/or queer people. While third gender is a term that is used within Hindu LGBTQ communities, not all LGBTQ people in these or other communities identify as third gender. The term hijra, which has historically been used in South Asia to refer to eunuchs and intersex folks, is used almost exclusively to address trans people and cross-dressers today; not all hijras identify as third gender.

In the Vedic age, from 1500 to 500 BCE, rather than being persecuted or punished, third gender people were allowed to live in their own exclusive third gender societies and communities, or could continue to engage with the societies they grew up in if they wished. Even the famous Kama Sutra, an Indian Hindu text that gives guidance on sex and sexual desire, has a section that talks about pleasure specifically for third gender people.

The only thing that was frowned upon by society at-large was people engaging in rituals that didn’t align with their sexual orientation – for example, a gay man marrying a woman. The acceptance of varying genders and sexualities was understood as part of the basic Hindu philosophy which teaches that the material world is a mere reflection of the infinitely beautiful and eternal spiritual world – which has more variety that one can fathom. This is one of the reasons why in Hinduism – although there is only one ultimate reality, and one eternal, perfect being – the deities manifest in so many different forms.

In the end, the only type of discrimination that became evident to me as I reflected more on the depictions of trans people in South Asian media was one of the most insidious types that manifests over and over again against marginalized groups: the erasure of a cultural history, in this case after the start of British rule in India.

In the Vedic age, trans people were symbols of good luck. They were protected by the community, and it was believed that their blessings would help society. This luck was attributed to the belief that third gender people, because they occupy a distinct identity beyond the gender binary, played an important balancing role in human society and nature. In fact, one ritual – which continues to a lesser extent today – included inviting trans people to all kinds of birth, marriage, and religious ceremonies because their presence was considered to be auspicious. Although one could interpret this inclusion as mere tokenism, it is also important to consider that many important rituals such as weddings and births are not centred around the few individuals who are directly participating, but rather the entire community, where every member has symbolic religious roles. Trans people were also well represented in Vedic religious scriptures and within religious artwork, and were considered almost semi-divine. This, however, in no way reflects the unfortunate reality faced by trans folks in contemporary South Asian societies.

Modern-day realities

Ancient Hindu texts describe a final stage called Kali Yuga in the life cycle of the universe. Kali Yuga is the apocalyptic stage that the world goes through before the rejuvenation of the universe, and is described as a time when human civilization begins to degenerate spiritually. While some religious scholars interpret LGBTQ communities as a symptom of Kali Yuga, others, such as Amara Das Wilhelm, argue that this was never stated in Vedic texts. In fact, Wilhelm argues that the intolerance and mistreatment of third gender people is the true sign of Kali Yuga.

Many also debate when Kali Yuga started and when it will peak. I would like to humbly make the argument that it started alongside the onset of British rule in ancient India in the mid-19th century.

During the colonization of India, the British initiated the erasure of third gender people and experiences. Firstly, there was the problem of translation and understanding. Many of the ideas that Hindus were immersed in were not well understood by the British colonialists. One example of this was the understanding of gender.

Popular thought in the West had largely forced a binary understanding of gender and a heteronormative conception of sexuality. Because of this, the third gender was mistranslated in various ways, such as conflating gay men with eunuchs and lesbian women with impotent women. The British settlers deemed third gender individuals to be ‘unnatural’ and believed that they upset the order of nature, while Hindus accepted the third gender to be part of the natural, material world.

Aside from mistranslations, references to third gender were at other times simply omitted in the English translations of important Vedic Hindu texts such as the Mahabharata and Bhagavad Gita. Eurocentric morals and Christian thought were taken as ultimate truths and used against the colonized, while the settlers portrayed Hinduism as a barbaric and backwards religion.

This resulted in the eventual criminalization of trans people under the Indian Penal Code and the Criminal Tribes Act, which were established in 1860 and 1871, respectively. The law also attacked many other groups that British rulers considered threats – homosexuality, for example, was declared a crime in 1860. In the following years, trans people’s rights continued to be stripped away and they were forcibly removed from social and cultural practices.

Unfortunately, this discrimination has spread and found its way into the mainstream understanding of modern-day Hinduism. In India right now, many trans people are highly discriminated against and are forced to live on the streets as beggars or sex workers. They can also be prohibited from receiving a driver’s licence, identification cards, and other important documentation.

Although many of the laws regarding ‘deviant behaviour’ that were used to describe and criminalize LGBTQ people have been abolished in the West, notions of unnatural deviancy that were imposed through colonial rule are still deeply rooted in modern-day India. Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which was enacted by the British colonial regime, still exists today – almost two centuries later – and ambiguously criminalizes all “unnatural offences.”

Despite this, the hijra community in India, and more broadly in South Asia, has shown a tremendous amount of resilience. In South Asia one can find exclusively hijra communities that support themselves but also provide support for third gender children and teens who have had to flee their homes because of rejection and discrimination. Because of successful trans rights activism and such communities, conditions are slowly starting to improve for trans people in India and the whole of South Asia.

For example, the Tamil Nadu state in India established a welfare board and policies for trans people, wherein the state provides free sex reassignment surgery, food, housing, and full scholarships for pursuing university studies. Because of the investment in providing access to higher education for trans people, new literature is increasingly being published about trans experiences. Trans people are slowly getting increased visibility in the media and their basic rights are being enforced by the state. Although there are concerns about delays in how changes are being implemented, these policies represent change on a political level that is starting to occur in India as a whole.

Here is one more short myth to illustrate the importance of the third gender community within Hinduism. At my parents’ house, in our prayer room, there is a small picture of the androgynous forms of the Hindu God Shiva and Goddess Parvati called Ardhanarishvara, who appears as half man, and half woman. This is a very popular form and depiction of Lord Shiva, and I’ve seen it many times in temples and in religious books. When Shiva and Parvati married, both deities wanted to share their experiences. So when she sat on his lap, Shiva shed half of himself and Parvati became half of him. Because they had a perfect balance between masculinity and femininity, they experienced a totality that was beyond a gender binary, a perpetual state of ecstasy.

Part of the symbolism is centred around the belief that masculine and feminine principles are complementary, but also around the implication that something greater and more fluid lies beyond the sex and gender binary. Because of this, those who are third gender are considered to be spiritually privileged beings in Hinduism, as the ultimate goal of Hinduism is to achieve liberation through moksha – to break free from the life cycle and transcend beyond sensual experiences. This is the ultimate goal regardless of the individual’s gender or sexuality.

If not privileged, the narratives of third gender people at least deserve more space than they have today. Despite violent erasure in recent history, it is undeniable that they once occupied a respected space, and they deserve to regain that. There is no single understanding of gender and sexuality; this is why we must make an effort to uncover culturally distinct narratives and allow more voices to be heard – not just within the context of Hinduism and South Asia, but within the whole world.

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Quebec public sector employees to strike

Anya Sivajothy — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 10:05:32 +0000

Several Quebec public sector employee unions are expected to start a series of rotating strike days starting October 26. Teachers, health workers, and the province’s two largest labour federations are getting ready to hold demonstrations across the province at the start of this week if no serious progress is made during the ongoing negotiations.

The Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), which represents over 325,000 workers and the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ), representing more than 130,000 members, voted overwhelmingly in favour of holding a strike earlier in the month. This mobilization comes in the aftermath of a series of failed contract negotiations and cutbacks with the provincial government. The rotating strikes are expected to start in the Laurentides on October 26 and finish in Montreal and Laval on November 16 and 17.

The Front commun, a coalition of public sector unions, is also expected to hold three consecutive days of striking from December 1 to 3, across the health and education sectors. According to a press release on the Front commun website, almost a year has passed since the union filed its demands and negotiations with the government started.

The unions’ main concerns include a two-year salary freeze, followed by a salary raise of 1 per cent over the next three years, and the raising of the retirement age from 60 to 62. Other concerns are job insecurity, setbacks in the working conditions, the transition of services towards the private sectors, in accessibility of public services, and the loss of professional autonomy for employees in the public sector.

Speaking to The Daily, Maxime Clément, the press officer of the Secrétariat intersyndical des services publics (SISP), expressed frustration with the current offers. “The offers on the table right now are just unacceptable, […] in five years the [salary] would have an increase of 2 per cent, which is way below the life cost increase.”

“With all the workers who are retiring [in] the next year, we must be able to attract [a] qualified workforce. With salaries like that it will be really tough for the public sector to recruit in the next years.”

“With all the workers who are retiring [in] the next year, we must be able to attract [a] qualified workforce. With salaries like that it will be really tough for the public sector to recruit in the next years,” Clément added.

The Fédération autonome de l’enseignement (FAE), a union that represents over 34,000 French-language teachers across the province, which has already been on a one-day strike on September 30, has also voted in favour of a strike following a work-to-rule mandate earlier in the year. It will be holding three consecutive strike days on October 26, 27 and 28, and the intended strike action will coincide with the labour federation’s first days of striking.

FAE’s main concerns include the proposed increase in teacher-student ratios, the elimination of funds toward special needs children’s services, the removal of 800 special education and resource-teacher jobs, a two-year salary freeze, and cuts to the employee pension plans. The Quebec French-language teachers have been negotiating without a contract since April 2014.

The Montreal Teachers Association (MTA), which represents all the teachers working for the English Montreal School Board, will be holding strike days as well.

“We have a strike day in the [English Montreal School Board (EMSB)] for teachers on October 29, and we have two more scheduled for November 16 and 17 […] assuming we need them,” MTA President Peter Sutherland told The Daily. “If the negotiations still don’t get settled, we could be on strike December 1, 2, and 3,” he added.

“If the negotiations still don’t get settled, we could be on strike December 1, 2, and 3.”

The English-language teachers of Quebec have similar concerns as those represented by the FAE. According to Sutherland, the Quebec government initially proposed removing the practice of having smaller class sizes when classes included children with special needs.

“For example, when they [were forming] a class they [took] into account the students in that class with special needs,” Sutherland said. “If there were many [children with special needs,] then the class didn’t have as many students in it. Initially [the government] wanted to remove all that.”

“We’ve been attending a lot of the meetings that the [university sector unions have] been having […] as well as lending our support discursively,” said Molly Swain, president of the Association of McGill University Support Employees (AMUSE).

Quebec’s labour federations have promised further disruption if the provincial government refuses to negotiate. The CSQ has also released a statement notifying that the series of strikes is part of the first phase and further scenarios will be considered if the negotiators have not found an agreeable settlement by November 9.

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Resistance & reimagination in the ring

Anya Sivajothy — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 10:03:08 +0000

“I’m from another dimension far beyond human comprehension. […] I’m a channel of countless beings,” proclaimed Princess Ula, the performance artist also known as Tanya Stasilowitch, and the founder of the League of Lady Wrestlers Montreal (LOLWM), in an interview with The Daily.

“I crowned myself [after] Princess Khutulun, a [Mongol] warrior from the 1300s. She was an athlete, a fighter, she led an army, and whoever would ask her hand in marriage, she would challenge them [to] a wrestling match. If they lost, they would grant her their horses. If they won, they would marry her. She ended up with 10, 000 horses,” Princess Ula told The Daily. “And when she passed, she entered my vessel.”

The League of Lady Wrestlers, a non-hierarchical and anti-oppressive wrestling league, was originally started in Dawson City, Yukon, by wrestler Big Jody Mufferaw. It was created as an alternative to traditional professional wrestling and seeks to subvert the gender stereotypes that mainstream wrestling exploits. Today, sister leagues exist in both Toronto and, most recently, Montreal.

LOLWM had their first performance last May at the Société des arts technologiques after a year of preparation. The league’s performers consist of female-identifying wrestlers who celebrate feminine identities; however, everyone regardless of gender is invited to participate within the group by working with music, sound effects, props, training, and scripting. Members create their own characters, and use the ring as a space for positivity, creativity, and conflict resolution.

Lilac Poussez, who is performed by Hannah Morrow, a LOLWM wrestler, told her genesis story to The Daily. “I myself was born on the planet Venus as it’s been named by earthly human scientists,” she said. “I named myself Lilac when I made my way to Earth and for the first time encountered this thing called struggle. […] The lilacs embraced me and I heard this beautiful word in the language of français – the imperative of push, ‘poussez,’ which also sounds like pussy. I made that my last name, because I want to push.”

Unlike Princess Ula, who says that the “ancient art” of wrestling is “in [her] blood,” Poussez was not so sure about the whole thing at first.

“Physical combat wasn’t something that really appealed to me,” she explained. “I slowly [became] open to it once Princess Ula and I met in the forest and developed this friendship.”

This past Saturday, Poussez, Ula, and the LOLWM women took part in Ladyfest Montreal, a festival dedicated to celebrating female comedians. Working in collaboration with Women in Comedy Montreal, they held a workshop titled “Put Doubt In a Chokehold,” which worked on confidence and character building through different creative exercises.

Confidence-building workshops might seem unusual for a wrestling league, but Poussez and Ula both see the sport as therapeutic.

“I’m a very physical being. I think that by tackling someone you really get to know [them],” said Ula. “Especially if you wrestle them with care because wrestling is all about the safety of you and your partner. That’s what we believe in – not so much combat fighting in order to hurt someone, but [rather] to figure things out physically.”

“Sometimes it’s incredibly personal, as well,” Poussez added. “Sometimes challenging someone to a match is a very intimate thing.”

John Jacob Courtney, one of the musicians who composes soundtracks for the wrestling matches, agrees.

“Wrestling isn’t really a performance,” he told The Daily. “It’s more of an intimate relation, an amazing struggle and dance. It’s an incredible thing to watch and to create these universes for, these microcosms of sound.”

“I chose [LOLWM] as [a way] to deal with the oppression and conflict in my life. As an artist, I was always trying to find a medium to cater to my activist side. […] The answer for me is wrestling.”

Stasilowitch, Ula’s alter ego, initially studied at a pro-wrestling school, only to find out that it wasn’t a good match for her. She decided that instead she would start her own league.

“It’s been a struggle,” said Stasilowitch, now out of character. “Wrestling is a very male-dominated sport. I just felt very pushed away, […] but it only made me stronger, it fueled my fire to get me where I am.”

“I never would’ve imagined that I would get involved with a wrestling ring,” added Morrow, also out of character “But the very strong element of artistic flare, the fantasy adventure story aspect […] that’s what drew me as a performance artist.”

The members have all gone through training to explore their dramatic sides and develop these characters.

“Everyone involved with this project has an incredible imagination. The group is constantly surprising and astounding to me,” Morrow said.

“We provide a space that’s safe for expression, we don’t stop anyone from exploring and we’re very open to processing together. We’re just a big family,” Stasilowitch added.

The radical reimagining of pro wrestling not only applies to the star wrestlers but also to the villains they face. One of the main evil characters is the misogynist Massimo Pop, described by Ula and Poussez as “odious, and angry,” always “mansplaining,” and putting down the women wrestlers. Dressed in sportswear and shades, he is quickly taken down by the lady wrestlers during matches.

This on-stage critique of sexism and misogyny is informed by Stasilowitch’s lived experience. “I chose [LOLWM] as [a way] to deal with the oppression and conflict in my life,” she explained. “As an artist, I was always trying to find a medium to cater to my activist side, and make a difference with a positive message, especially with [regard to] female strength and equality in combat sports. The answer for me is wrestling.”

Active resistance is in fact a core part of the LOLWM manifesto, which Morrow read out in part to The Daily: “We are agents, yet we are a heterogeneous group with identities and lived experiences that are all different, visibly or invisibly. These differences inform our own personal experience of subordination. We will not imagine a resistance that is not rooted in such differences.”

Morrow went on, “It is a mutual learning and empowerment. Resistance and reimagination are simultaneous: Resistance as active engagement with current liberation movements, and as the work to free our minds and spirits from the weight of our own experiences of oppression.”

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The realities of post-traumatic stress disorder

Anya Sivajothy — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 16:19:06 +0000

On March 24, the Bridge the Gap speaker series held an event focusing on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Bridge the Gap is a mental health speaker series meant to foster better understanding and awareness of mental health-related topics. The speakers are selected so that an event begins with a more scientific discussion of mental health, which is followed by a speaker presenting their personal experience with the topic. Bridge the Gap is an initiative of jack.org, a network that aims to remove the stigma surrounding mental health through education.

Jorge Armony, a researcher at the Douglas Institute and associate professor of psychology at McGill, explained that PTSD is a mental illness that follows direct exposure to a traumatic event. Traumatic events may include different types of threats, sexual violence, or a serious injury, among many other things.

“My experience with post-traumatic stress disorder – I compare it to waves that are rolling in consistently, and I’m constantly trying to get on shore. I would constantly have these triggers which would be another wave coming and coming.”

Armony described three general categories of PTSD symptoms. The first type involves reliving the event, possibly through nightmares or flashbacks. The second type involves avoiding situations that create reminders of the event. The third includes negative associations and changes, such as avoiding loved ones.

Armony noted that a person may not necessarily experience all four types of symptoms.

Caitlin Kelley, the student speaker at the event, shared her personal experience with PTSD. She started experiencing PTSD a couple of years ago following an incident of sexual assault.

“My experience with post-traumatic stress disorder – I compare it to waves that are rolling in consistently, and I’m constantly trying to get on shore,” said Kelley. “I would constantly have these triggers which would be another wave coming and coming.”

She explained that part of the difficulty in trying to recover from PTSD is the stigma and shame that surrounds mental health, and emphasized the importance of destigmatizing mental illnesses by creating more awareness of them.

Armony also touched upon the impact of stigma when discussing treatment for mental illness. He explained that individuals who have experienced traumatic events like natural disasters are much more likely to recover than a man who has experienced a sexual assault. This is because for the first incident there is more likely to be a sense of community and sharing of experiences while the latter would most likely be hidden due to stigma.

“I think it’s super important to have education-based events, because it helps inform people […] a lot of people don’t know how to approach the topic. Having things like this helps open the conversation about mental health.”

“Strength lies in the ability to love yourself unconditionally,” said Kelley.

Illustrating PTSD in more scientific terms, Armony explained that within the brain, the amygdala, the emotional centre of the brain, is very active. The prefrontal cortex the area associated with control – including emotional control – is less active. This means that someone with PTSD will feel their emotions more deeply, but possess less of a capacity to deal with these emotions.

Regarding risk factors, studies have shown that individuals with a smaller hippocampal volume are more likely to get PTSD. The hippocampus is a major component of the brain that is associated with memory and is very susceptible to stress – when an individual reaches high levels of stress, it actually kills cells in that area.

After the talk, student audience member Loa Gordon spoke positively about the event. “It’s really nice that you get the perspective of an expert in the field […] and also a personal story.”

One of the audience members asked what a good response would be to a friend who suffers from PTSD. Kelley said that responses would vary depending on the individual, but that one of the more important things is to say that you’ll be there to support them.

“I think it’s super important to have education-based events, because it helps inform people […] a lot of people don’t know how to approach the topic,” said Laura Herbert, the president of McGill’s Chapter of jack.org. “Having things like this helps open the conversation about mental health.”

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Workshop aims to proactively address sexual violence

Anya Sivajothy — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 10:00:09 +0000

McGill’s first bystander program, Becoming an Active Bystander, was launched this March as a collaboration between Healthy McGill, Residence Life, and the Office of the Dean of Students. The program is comprised of a series of sexual violence prevention workshops and is a continuation of the consent campaign launched in fall 2014. The series aims to provide the McGill community with the tools necessary to recognize and address potentially harmful situations on campus that relate to sexual violence.

“The content can be applied to different scenarios,” Liason Officer (Harm Reduction) Bianca Tétrault, one of the main developers of the workshop, told The Daily. “It involves recognizing that the tools can be used to interrupt incidents of oppression, racism, [ableism], and sexism, and so on and so forth.”

The program is a series resulting from ongoing action to promote consent on campus, which has occurred in the wake of last year’s Redmen sexual assault case. Students can sign up on myInvolvement, an online portal, to register for the workshop. Two workshops will be hosted on March 30 and 31 on the downtown campus, and one will be held at MacDonald campus on April 8. Tétrault noted the possibility that there might be more coming up in April, and said the sessions will definitely be resuming in September.

The free workshop lasts three hours, which, once completed, means that attendants are certified as active bystanders in the community and will receive credits on their co-curricular record – a part of students’ official transcript.

The workshop talks about the importance of language and identifies the need to approach sexual violence intersectionally. It also addresses the ways in which power and privilege play a role in our ability to respond to potentially harmful situations, as well as one’s likelihood to become a target for certain harmful behaviours.

“We address the fact that, due to our culture of silence and secrecy, sexual violence continues to exist and go unchallenged.”

“We address the fact that, due to our culture of silence and secrecy, sexual violence continues to exist and go unchallenged,” said Rebecca Dales, the program’s Logistics Coordinator and one of the facilitators of the workshop. “Throughout the workshop, we avoid blaming participants for past decisions, but rather empower them to be more aware of these behaviours so that they can change in the future.”

Amanda Unruh, Health Promotion Officer at Student Health Services and one of the collaborators and developers of the program, said the series aims to look at ways of mitigating violence proactively, addressing it head-on, and providing resources and support after the violence has taken place.

In terms of prevention, Unruh also noted the importance of creating a sex-positive environment that allows for people to express their sexuality in a positive way.

Participants will also learn about what an active bystander is within the McGill community, and will be provided with the tools necessary to intervene safely and consensually. Recent media coverage of sexual violence will be reviewed and discussed, and participants will watch a video titled “Who Are You” to identify active bystanders in specific scenarios.

“The last hour of our workshop is dedicated to reviewing case scenarios where participants are able to discuss and think about how they will take what we have reviewed and put it into action,” said Dales. “We use scenarios that happen in our everyday lives within our community.”

“We recognize that we can give them all the information, but if they do not have the space to be able to practice [being an active bystander], when they are actually confronted with the situation in real life it is harder to be able to go forward and actually do something,” added Tétrault.

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Unbearable darkness

Anya Sivajothy — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 10:04:39 +0000

Shadeism, also known as colourism, is not a term that many may be familiar with. In fact, a lot of people may not even be aware that it exists. However, shadeism is an experience that most people of colour are very well-acquainted with, and have either felt it or witnessed it. It is a type of discrimination based on the lightness of skin tone, and it occurs within communities of colour as well as intraracially. Shadeism is the result of self-hatred and internalized racism that attributes beauty to the tone of one’s skin. Although many have felt the impact of shadeism, there is little awareness of why it exists in the first place. Shadeism continues to flourish because it is a direct consequence of societies being pressured to conform to Western ideals and socially constructed standards of beauty.

Kali the goddess
There is variety of terms used by different communities to categorize shades of skin colour. Many of the terms that describe darker skin tones are typically derogatory. One term that I once heard was particularly disturbing to me. After my cousin and I spent the day outside, we returned home (several shades darker) only for her to be chided by my aunt for staying in the sun for so long. My aunt jokingly called my cousin kali a word that is derived from Sanskrit and means black or dark-coloured. This is not an uncommon term to describe a dark-skinned South Asian girl. However, it was especially concerning for me because the word kali, used as an insult in many parts of South Asia, is actually the name of a Hindu goddess.

Kali is symbolically depicted as black because she is an entity that existed before time and light themselves. The blackness represents the infinite and pure nature that transcends colour and light. Although she has been historically associated with death and destruction, these traits were not usually seen in a negative way. Rather, Kali was greatly revered as the goddess of salvation and feminine empowerment, and she is considered by devotees to be a protector and the mother of the universe. She is worshipped in many parts of South Asia, the darkness being part of her beauty. How is it that the name of a goddess that represented powerful feminine energy is now tossed around as a casual insult? Although there are many factors that play into this subversion, it largely stems from British colonialism in India.

Under the gaze of colonial imagination, Kali’s image was objectified and she became a symbol of the violent and strange ‘Oriental Other.’ Especially within the Victorian culture at the time, the colonial image of Kali challenged the perceptions of society. She became this distorted depiction of the ‘dark’ and ‘savage’ which the colonizers attributed not only to the goddess, but to the colonized as well. To the colonizers, the assumptions based on the darkness of one’s skin were not only affecting religious figures, but were used as stereotypes for all members of society. This idea was pervasive, as being dark was soon equated to also being violent, sexually aggressive, and somehow morally depraved.

This, of course, is just one very specific example that I am aware of as a member of a South Asian family that is also Hindu. However, the idea of the ‘exotic otherness’ in comparison to the ‘standard whiteness’ is a concept that is deeply rooted in many communities of colour. This subversion of natural beauty suddenly creates the need to be ‘fixed’ and ‘whitened’ as whiteness becomes the symbol for purity, elegance, and sophistication. Having white skin is not only more pure, but it is also perceived as more beautiful and powerful. The result is a mental scale of whiteness, where having a skin shade closer to white is linked to ‘better’ opportunities. Interestingly, studies have shown that in communities where this scale is very much an indication of social classification, it may be used to discriminate against other racialized people, but the complexion of white people is a much lesser concern. Whether white people are extremely pale or tan, very rarely (if at all) are they subjected to the same scale of whiteness in communities of colour. This emphasizes the very tangible racism inherent to this scale, as skin tone is one of the most prominent visible cultural identifiers.

The idea of the ‘exotic otherness’ in comparison to the ‘standard whiteness’ is a concept that is deeply rooted in many communities of colour.

Shadeism in a modern context
Rooted in a history of racism and class discrimination based on coloniality, shadeism has evolved to become indicative of desirability within communities of colour. The Western standard of beauty, which has been projected into other parts of the world, is based on European traits such as fair skin, soft hair, and light-coloured eyes. Based on colonial structures of white supremacy, this is also associated with intelligence, wealth, and, ultimately, power – and sadly that standard is still very prevalent today. Many people have internalized the idea that being closer to ‘whiteness’ means attaining more beauty and power, and therefore will provide more opportunities.

Drawing from my experiences in the South Asian community, one of the more hurtful and glaringly obvious instances of shade being equated with beauty is within the Indian film industry. All the Tamil movies that I have seen since I was a child have always depicted the main heroine as this beautiful, fair-skinned woman. It is also notable that fair skin was much more important for the female characters than the male characters. Although men also feel the effects of shadeism, women are more likely to be objectified within this very narrow perception of beauty. In many cultures, the lightness of skin tone also has a great effect on the desirability of girls as brides, as the whiteness of their skin is perceived to be directly correlated to their femininity and innocence.

In fact, the importance of having a light-skinned actress becomes even more evident when the film industry uses actresses who are not even Tamil. Currently, a popular actress in Tamil and Hindi films is Amy Jackson, a white British model who has no South Asian heritage whatsoever and does not speak the Tamil language. For all the Tamil movies in which she stars, she has to be trained to learn the dialogue or the film must be dubbed, requiring extra effort. The only conclusion that I can draw from this is that having the right shade is such a great concern in the industry – and in society – that actual talent and ability are of secondary importance. When I first became aware of this, I was shocked and appalled, but it is merely another sad affirmation of the hypocrisy surrounding the construct of beauty.

It is now probably not surprising to hear that some of the more profitable companies in India and other parts of Asia are those that provide skin-lightening products. One popular skin-lightening product, called Fair & Lovely, produces ads that have garnered a great deal of controversy, as many of them depict dark-skinned girls who are unable to find a job or get a marriage proposal but are then ‘saved’ by the whitening cream. We live in a world where Unilever – the company that owns Dove and created the award-winning “Real Beauty” campaign, which promotes ‘natural beauty’ in Canada and the U.S. – owns Fair & Lovely, and perpetuates internalized racism and self-hatred in Asian countries. The frightening part is how normalized these products have become. In many countries, skin-lightening creams or bleaching creams are as common as moisturizers. Even in Canada and the U.S., many drug stores in communities of colour widely sell these types of products. Even more horrifying is the fact that there are many people who cannot afford these types of products, and settle for more dangerous, toxic bleaching products, all in the pursuit of fairer skin. Media and film play an incredibly strong role in the creation and affirmation of unnatural beauty standards that are then perpetuated and exploited by large companies.

I still feel uncomfortable when sunlight hits my skin directly. There is this constant irrational fear that if I don’t ‘hide’ from the sun – either by wearing extensive sun protection or just staying inside – somehow I will be exposed as an ‘other.’

Historical context of shadeism
Shadeism, however, existed long before the first film was ever played in a theatre. The origins of discrimination based on skin colour and the historical attitudes toward light skin are complex, but even though the implications or situations vary, there is almost always a common thread seen throughout different cultures that experience shadeism. It is related to the systems of privilege that are created through class differences. These differences, and the discrimination that followed based on social hierarchy, were further exacerbated by European colonization. For the most part, shadeism was reinforced by the colonial acts of social classification and establishment of power.

In Europe the term ‘blue blood’ was used to describe aristocrats, because their skin was so pale that their blue veins could be seen through it. This was desirable, as it differentiated them from members of the working classes who had darker skin tones because of outside labour. With the industrial revolution, this perception changed, as more people began working indoors and tanned skin became a luxury. Even though having pale skin has largely lost its previous value in the West, it is still sought-after in Asian, African, Hispanic, and Indigenous communities.

In the U.S., shadeism is thought to have originated from the ‘pigmentocracy’ of slavery. There was a difference between slaves who worked in the house and slaves who worked out in the fields. While the house slaves would typically be lighter-skinned, the field slaves would be darker, which the slave owners saw as ‘more African’ and associated with aggression and resistance. Those who had a mixed-raced heritage, often resulting from sexual relations between the slaves and the slave owners, would have fairer skin and would get preferential treatment, such as less labour-intensive work and better healthcare. The privilege that came with the lightness of one’s skin effectively established a hierarchy of shades.

This hierarchal mentality remained active long after the abolition of slavery. One of the more shocking examples is the ‘paper bag parties’ that were held in the first half of the twentieth century. An individual had to be at least as light as a brown paper bag to be admitted into certain black social events or organizations. Many believe, even today, that to get better employment and access to higher education, they need to be accepted by the perceived white majority. This perpetuates a type of self-hatred, which is visible in many communities, in which a person feels as if they have to distance themselves from their own ethnicity in order to achieve a certain status or class privilege. Shadeism has led to divisions in the community, with darker-skinned individuals seeing themselves as disadvantaged, and lighter-skinned individuals feeling targeted and socially victimized for having advantages in the broader society.

Beyond shade
Although I’d say that I’ve distanced myself from shadeism, I still see it insidiously reveal itself in unexpected ways in my own behaviour. One of its obvious manifestations is my disdain for the sun. This experience of shadeism being a voice in the back of my mind is an experience that I share with many of my friends who are people of colour and who have similar childhood memories of tanning being seen as repulsive. Even now that I do not see shade as a factor in beauty at all, I still feel uncomfortable when sunlight hits my skin directly. There is this constant irrational fear that if I don’t ‘hide’ from the sun – either by wearing extensive sun protection or just staying inside – somehow I will be exposed as an ‘other.’ In the end, even if individuals do not use shadeism to discriminate against others, it remains a tool for hating ourselves and judging our self-worth according to external factors. Shadeism is dangerous in the way that it subtly ties in with an individual’s self-perception of their own beauty. It becomes difficult to convince yourself that it doesn’t matter when the world is filled with products and images that say otherwise.

However, we are not mere objects that have to passively accept the world for what it is. Different forms of resistance around the world are raising awareness of shadeism. Decades ago, the “Black is beautiful” cultural movement was started in Canada and the U.S. to empower Black people and repel the notion that their natural features aren’t beautiful. It encouraged them to celebrate their racial traits, including skin colour, in pursuit of conformity to Western ideals. More recently the “Dark is Beautiful” campaign was launched in India to fight the effects of shadeism, and new laws are being drafted to prevent companies from presenting individuals as disadvantaged because of their skin tone in advertisements. Many documentaries and films have also shed light on the issue. In places such as the Caribbean, the fight against shadeism has been integrated into educational programs to prevent it from being ingrained in the minds of young children.

In 2010, a group of students from Ryerson University created a short documentary film called Shadeism. With voices from Toronto’s South Asian, Caribbean, African, and Latin American communities, the film exposed the shadeism present in contemporary society, which many people were not fully aware of. The film saw a very positive response and is now being shown in many classrooms in the greater Toronto area. It has since evolved into a multidisciplinary initiative that includes workshops and discussions on shadeism. A second film, in which the origins of shadeism are discussed, is being created and is scheduled for release sometime in 2015. Initiatives such as these are important because they create the space for people who have dealt with shadeism to start the process of collective healing within their communities, beginning with themselves.

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Factions of the left, unite!

Anya Sivajothy — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 10:03:03 +0000

Rising income inequality across the world suggests that we increasingly need class-based movements. These movements already exist, of course, but they are often criticized by people concerned with identity politics (or individual oppression) for ignoring other inequalities. This rift between class politics and identity politics is unnecessary. Activists from both schools of thought need to put aside their differences and collectively fight to break down all structures that oppress and exploit.

The ‘universal classism’ of traditional Marxism assumes that the proletariat has one uniting interest, and that is its economic exploitation as a class. Class divisions are absolute, because one’s economic status can be easily defined. However, proponents of identity politics argue that class universality is a flawed concept: it ignores the intersection of a myriad of other factors that contribute to varying degrees of social alienation.

Identity politics, then, are tied to the concept that one’s identity, such as one’s gender, race, sexuality, or other attributes, can make one particularly vulnerable to oppression. With the emergence of large-scale political movements in the latter half of the twentieth century, such as the civil rights movement or LGBTQ movement in the U.S., identity politics have come to encompass a large range of political projects that are based on providing support to marginalized groups. The driving force behind identity politics is the need to correct the injustice of the dominant culture’s alienation of marginalized groups, through raising consciousness about their communities. The ultimate aim, though, is to ensure the safety of these groups, and end their marginalization.

The rift between class politics and identity politics is unnecessary. Activists from both schools of thought need to put aside their differences and collectively fight to break down all structures that oppress and exploit.

However, much debate surrounds what defines ‘identity.’ There are questions on whether focusing on individual oppression in fact isolates people from each other, making it easier to exploit and discriminate.

Class struggle, meanwhile, focuses on economic justice and labour rights for the working class; though there are different definitions for what that means. Previously, the working class referred to the “industrial proletariat, employed in large-scale factory work,” according to Jacobin, a socialist magazine. The term ‘working class’ as it’s used today, though, is broader. It generally refers to people who earn low wages, as well as the cultural signifiers associated with low wages.

Proponents of class-based politics, though, are often criticized for not taking different identities into account. Typically the ‘working-class member’ that these activists refer to is really a white, working-class man. And even though they are working-class, white men such as these benefit from structural privileges that many other groups don’t.

Class, just like every other type of identity such as race, gender, and sexuality, is interwoven in the web of inequality and oppression.

Similarly, identity movements have been criticized for disregarding class differences. For instance, second-wave feminism has been criticized as primarily emphasizing the needs of upper middle-class women, and not properly considering class in their analysis of social oppression.

But class can also be analyzed through the lens of identity politics, because class distinctions are often correlated with such distinctions of race, gender, sexuality, and so on. However, many still see class and identity as separate. This is in part because some intellectuals, like Barbara Ehrenreich, still defend a universal class identity. Along these lines, class analysis is more extensive than identity analysis; class politics dissolve identity issues.

There is divide and distrust between the two sides of leftist politics, and sometimes it seems that supporting one side is to the detriment of support for the other. This shouldn’t be the case. Class, just like every other type of identity such as race, gender, and sexuality, is interwoven in the web of inequality and oppression. Furthermore, there is value in analyzing economic exploitation in broad strokes. Each mode of analysis is influential on the other, and trying to combat exploitation and oppression separately is not an effective tactic. Neither class nor identity should take priority over the other.

Class movements mobilize based on people’s relation to the economy, whereas identity movements fight against individualized oppression that stems from social structures.

“It’s important to recognize that these struggles are not in a zero-sum relationship with one another,” writes Kevin Carson, a senior fellow at the Center for a Stateless Society, a left-wing think tank. “They are complementary and cumulative. It is not a distraction from the racial and gender justice struggle to put a special focus on the needs of the economically oppressed. It is not a distraction or detraction from the struggle for economic justice to address the needs of workers of colour or of women, gay, and transgender workers. Just the opposite. It creates a positive synergy.”

In fact, recognizing both class and identity struggles would be the opposite of a zero-sum relationship; the value in harmonizing both would result in more than a sum of the parts. Both types of politics are complementary because, in effect, they do different things. Class movements mobilize based on people’s relation to the economy, whereas identity movements fight against individualized oppression that stems from social structures. People can be oppressed both as a member of a class, and a member of an identity group. It’s important that both movements recognize the importance of the other.

Indeed, trying to abolish economic exploitation is futile without acknowledging how that is experienced differently through different identities. Carson refers to the ‘divide and conquer’ strategy used by the ruling class to point out that creating divisions between classes and identities only weakens dissent to the status quo. Presenting a unified front has long been a problem on the left, but doing so is crucial; otherwise, groups become atomized, and the ability to affect change through collective actions is weakened. To build true solidarity that has power, all those who are disadvantaged must be considered. Strengthening the power of those who are the most oppressed – whether economically or individually – will strengthen collective power as a whole.

Identity politics cannot replace class politics, and vice versa. It is useless to deny that identity is interlaced with class implications, or that class is interlaced with identity implications. Instead of wasting time debating the value of one form of politics over another, activists from both sides should focus on uniting to combat their common enemy.

Subhanya Sivajothy is a U2 Biology and English Literature student. To reach her, please email subhanya@gmail.com.

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Building spaces for everyone

Anya Sivajothy — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 16:23:40 +0000

On February 23, about seventy students, faculty, and staff attended the Forum on Accessibility and Universal Design in the Faculty of Engineering, hosted by the Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS) and the engineering faculty, with help from the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD).

The forum is the second in a series of equity events spearheaded by the EUS Equity Committee – an informal body within the EUS that works alongside the EUS Equity Commissioner to address inequality in Engineering. The first forum took place in October and discussed “inclusivity.”

The goal of the forum was to create awareness about accessibility, emphasizing ‘universal design.’ Universal design is the concept of designing buildings, products, and environments that are accessible to the widest range of people, both with and without disabilities.

The panel was comprised of four experts whose work focuses on accessibility, and who implement universal design in their work. Before the discussion began, keynote speaker Isabelle Cardinal, the Consultation Services Director at Société Logique, a non-profit that promotes creating universally accessible spaces, explained the concept of universal design.

She said that much of the concept of universal design focuses on removing obstacles and making places “barrier-free.” Cardinal pointed out that these obstacles “create” disability.

“Separate is not equal. The way you’re offering service is important.”

For example, if a person had a spinal injury or a walking disability and there was a gradual slope to the building that they were trying to access, then there wouldn’t be any obstacles and they wouldn’t be handicapped.

She explained that universal design’s focus on creating structures that are inherently accessible differs from the previous approach of ‘accessible design,’ which focuses more on adding features to inaccessible structures.

Cardinal illustrated this by explaining that, instead of creating a building with a separate ramp for people in wheelchairs, under universal design, the entrance to the building would be lower in the first place, so that no ramp would be needed.

“Separate is not equal,” said Cardinal. “ The way you’re offering service is important.”

Ernesto Morales, an architect and Assistant Professor at Université Laval, noted some of the challenges in implementing universal design. The current construction code, he said, is not conducive to a universal approach, and to change the code one needs to either argue that the issue is a question of human rights or provide scientific evidence as to how the code is inaccessible.

Furthermore, panelist Ling Suen, Director of Transportation Planning and consultant at Intelligent Computer Systems and Applications (ICSA) Inc., pointed out some factors that may be overlooked.There is a difference between making something accessible for a person who is deaf and a person who is deaf and blind. She also noted that cultural differences need to be brought up in universal design.

During the question period, one audience member asked about how to encourage engineers to create more accessible designs.

Morales said that education was key, and that universal design should be integrated into the curriculum and not taught as a separate concept.

Michael Kokkolaras, a mechanical engineering professor, noted during the discussion period that accessibility is often not incorporated in design because of the way engineers are taught.

“Mechanical engineers are traditionally trained to find solutions for given problems, but they’re not really trained to formulate problems already,” he said, explaining that while problem formulation is emphasized in design courses, students often “don’t realize that formulation is 50 per cent [of the process].”

There was also debate over the importance of cost. For example, to add in an elevator in the Redpath building would cost about $1.09 billion, compared to the $450,000 budget that is allocated to this type of planning.

However, Suen argued that it wasn’t a matter of cost but political will.

“Cost is strictly relative,” she said.

“Mechanical engineers are traditionally trained to find solutions for given problems, but they’re not really trained to formulate problems already.”

Jenna Laham, a U3 student in chemical engineering and member of the EUS Equity Committee, noted that in classrooms, students are taught to think ahead when it comes to costs and to under-budget, but not so much to consider costs of accessibility.

“What’s important for us is to witness conversations happening,” said Tinke-Marie De Witte, also a U3 chemical engineering student on the EUS Equity Committee. “To have four panelists who come from different backgrounds professionally, to be a in a room with students who are studying different things and professors who are teaching different things – it brings together in one room people who are approaching problems in a lot of different ways.”

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Diversifying environmentalism

Anya Sivajothy — Mon, 23 Feb 2015 11:00:27 +0000

The concept of sustainability is held up by three major pillars, which are social, environmental, and economic. ‘Mainstream’ environmental movements have sought to adapt in a way that intersects these three pillars. However, studies are increasingly showing the lack of diversity within environmental sectors and related mainstream movements. This homogeneity in environmental movements limits not only their accessibility, but also their effects. Issues related to the environment tend to have disproportionate effects on those who face economic or social oppression. For example, changes in water distribution may asymmetrically affect someone in vulnerable areas, more dependent on land and agriculture than a city dweller in Canada. Food insecurity caused by climate change affects those who already experience poverty more significantly. Those living in poverty will be much more vulnerable to detrimental environmental factors such as poor water quality, polluted air, and hazardous waste – all of which are exacerbated by climate change. The first step in rethinking sustainability is understanding our own place and privilege in the movement, as well as being aware of the different ways in which others might experience environmental change.

Positioning ourselves within the movement

Mainstream environmental movements are commonly assumed to be paired with anti-oppressive movements that seek to combat ongoing colonialism; however, part of the problem lies with how colonial privileges have sustained themselves in the movements without being opposed. Sierra Club and Earth Justice, for example, only recently started working toward more diversification of their projects. One way colonial legacies can be seen is in the way we view land as a commodity, something that can be bought and sold. When settlers introduced the system of private property in Canada, many Indigenous cultures did not believe that pieces of land could be owned by individuals – a struggle that Indigenous cultures worldwide are still facing. “Land is a fictitious commodity,” Nicolas Kosoy, an economics professor at McGill, told The Daily. “A commodity is something we build for trade; we need to re-assess this. We cannot continue expanding the commodity front.”

Aldo Leopold, an American environmentalist who was an important figure in the field of environmental ethics, wrote a highly influential book in 1949 called A Sand County Almanac. In an essay from the book called “The Land Ethic,” Leopold argues that humans need to have mutual respect for the earth, and that the concept of community needs to be expanded to include humans, animals, plants, as well as abiotic elements. He also explains that while the economic privileges of land have been recognized, the obligations that humans have toward the land have not.

Currently, these views persist in the way that mainstream environmentalists may view themselves as defenders of the land. Although biodiversity and maintaining ecosystems is a deep concern, some of the theory on environmentalism has been motivated by emotional currents that have been expressed in romantic attitudes toward nature. Environmental romanticism developed in the late 18th century, and still provides an objectified view of nature as something ‘pure’ and unaffected by humans. Romanticism doesn’t value the environment for its own sake, but rather as a projection of human desires and cultural values, which may stem from believing that humans have ownership over it. This is problematic, because the disconnectedness doesn’t allow for humans to have a sustainable role within nature.

“Environmental movements continue to be underpinned by colonial relationships to land, and are not without guilt of perpetuating those relationships in their work,” wrote Claire Stewart-Kanigan, Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) VP University Affairs, in an email to The Daily. Stewart-Kanigan noted that romanticism is not only seen in the perceived relationship with the land, but with regard to other cultures as well. Mainstream environmentalist movements have often been criticised as romanticizing and appropriating Indigenous knowledge to serve the movement’s goals, while neglecting to rectify fundamental problems of colonialism – such as returning land to Indigenous peoples instead of seeking to ‘protect’ it.

Examples such as these also depict one of the root problems that plague environmentalist movements: the issue of privileged people speaking over those who are directly affected by environmental issues. In fact, many of the most effective cases of environmental resistance have been through direct local action, because community development and collective efforts have a greater effectiveness in creating appropriate solutions.

One example is the Green Belt Movement that was founded by Wangari Maathai, a professor at the University of Nairobi. Along with other local women, Maathai planted trees in rural Kenya to confront the gendered poverty, deforestation, and erosion that was destroying the land. It was successful because it involved the action and participation of local members, and it took a holistic approach, combining environmental conservation and community-building. Her actions are also seen as part of the ecofeminist movement, which connects feminism and environmentalism by linking the oppression of women to the exploitation of nature.

In order to make a significant impact through environmental movements, we need to think more critically about our position and not erase the diversity of experiences that people have when facing environmental issues. Environmental destruction is driven by the need to control people and spaces – we cannot repeat those same actions in order to reduce it.

“Environmental movements continue to be underpinned by colonial relationships to land, and are not without guilt of perpetuating those relationships in their work.”

The privilege of choice

Ethics have a role not only in social and ecological sustainability, but also within the economics as well. Furthermore, despite usually being thought of in monetary terms only, economics need to be understood as having inherent values and responsibilities as well. One issue where the intersection of values and data can be seen is within the ‘green consumption’ or ‘ethical consumption’ strategies, where consumers are mindful of the environmental impact of what they consume. Looking at alternative consumption simplistically, we can conclude that it is more eco-friendly; however, having the privilege to alter one’s consumption is complicated with the recognition of race and class privileges. Often, green consumption includes switching products or finding another supplier, though this might result in higher monetary costs. It is, therefore, an option only available to people who are able to pay.

“Unfortunately, certain forms of consumption, such as buying local, driving a hybrid, or even voluntary simplicity, are often conferred moral weight, despite the fact that the ability to make such choices relies on the systemic unearned privileges that go with being white and middle-class,” writes Gregory Mengel, a social justice educator, in his editorial on privilege in the environmental movement published on the Pachanama Alliance website.
Environmental strategies, such as alternative food choices, have implicit social impacts, since much of these values and choices are culturally very specific. Strategies such as green consumption, although better for the environment, depict only a limited spectrum of what one can do for environmental activism. Being an ecologically-mindful citizen shouldn’t have to equate with good consumption. These strategies are not inclusive or diverse, and don’t acknowledge the inequality of the capitalist economy and its inherent structures of privilege.

Kosoy outlined some of the societal and environmental costs of our economic system. “We tend to see economic processes as ever-growing, but ecological processes have […] feedback loops that maintain [their] check and balances within,” he said. He also noted that the social and environmental costs of this come in many different dimensions. There are many consequences of economic ‘growth’: from ecological impacts, such as climate change, to social impacts, such as poverty.

Currently, by neglecting ecological limits, we are putting the capacity of systems to evolve at risk. Not only are we eroding environmental resources, but we are also eroding our cultural diversity via assimilation, which in a way is eroding humanity’s evolutionary capacity to respond to sudden shocks. Evolutionary mechanisms seen in nature function through diversity, because in the multitude of different responses to environmental stress, communities can find a way to adapt to the changes. By homogenizing society, or by acknowledging only one perspective, we are reducing the diversity of options at the societal level, and are therefore destroying the resilience of our society and our ecosystems.

Kosoy also pointed out that the problem is the idea that businesses believe that they can have a ‘triple bottom line,’ aiming to win socially, economically, and environmentally. However, if you maximize one dimension you cannot maximize any other. “We can’t optimize [or] maximize three dimensions at the same time, that is a mathematical impossibility,” said Kosoy. “There are obvious trade-offs that nobody makes explicit.”

“Many environmental issues are rooted in the poor understanding of the greater consequences of manufacturing and consumption trends, and so the solution lies in mobilizing people,” said Lily Minkova, a member of MyVision, a social business club at McGill. She commented that the immense environmental degradation of the last century is overwhelming, which may even paralyze people into non-action or into willful ignorance. However, instead of focusing on the guilt of each person’s ecological footprint, social business focuses on the empowerment of people, inspiring them to change, which in turn can inspire change on a greater scale.

Shona Watt is the owner of a social business in Montreal called TinyHomestead, which runs workshops on ecological and sustainable living. Last year, at the Post-Graduate Students’ Society of McGill’s (PGSS) Green Drinks event, she gave a talk on whether capitalist companies, who value the pursuit of profits over the environment, can ever be sustainable. During that talk, Watt brought up that many companies have an incentive to do ‘good’ and be sustainable, because it increases customer satisfaction, but that it is ultimately another strategy for making money. Buisnesses in a capitalist system are inherently in conflict with sustainability, and we need to address when we play the role of the consumer and try, at the same time, to participate in ethical consumption.

Environmental destruction is driven by the need to control people and spaces – we cannot repeat those same actions in order to reduce it.

Moving past the status quo

In the process of reaching a higher level of sustainability, the overarching challenge is reconciling our ‘infinite aspirations’ on our finite planet. “We’re at a race between our environmental potency and our self-awareness,” said Andrew Revkin, a New York Times journalist, in his recent talk at McGill entitled “Charting a Good Path in the Age of Us.” Revkin proposed that the human population can be compared to bacteria on a petri dish smeared with agar. The bacteria grow until they receive feedback from the waste and there isn’t enough food, and then the population stops growing. “You’d think we’d be smarter than that,” said Revkin.

For decades, scientists have been saying that we as humanity are heading toward the “edge to the petri dish” – our planetary limits. They have attempted to quantify the planet’s biophysical limitations that place restrictions on our resources. This resulted in a list of nine planetary boundaries, as outlined by the Stockholm Resilience Centre, which are: stratospheric ozone depletion, loss of biosphere integrity, chemical pollution, climate change, ocean acidification, fresh water consumption, land system change, nitrogen/phosphorus flows to bodies of water, and atmospheric aerosol loading. 28 internationally-renowned scientists have made it clear that humans can thrive only within the boundaries of these criteria, and that crossing these boundaries could result in irreversible detrimental environmental changes. Unfortunately, our situation is already fairly severe: we’ve crossed four of these nine boundaries already.

All of these issues are backed by years, if not decades, worth of scientific research; however, it doesn’t seem to be inspiring much progress. Revkin pointed out that the biggest enemy of climate change is inertia. Humans have a tendency to prefer sticking with the status quo, even when it is clearly irrational.

Maintaining the status quo is a very easy task. The desire to uphold the status quo not only strongly affects our interests, but also our lifestyles, which determine the way we approach and combat climate change. Environmental movements should overcome their status quo, and be actively involved in making diverse, ecologically-conscious decisions. Mainstream environmental movements need to be aware of how the strategies of combatting climate change, such as the previously mentioned ‘green consumption,’ may at times end in results that are limited to certain cultures, and exclusonary to those that are not seen as part of the globalized mainstream. There are societies on this planet that have lived sustainably for millennia, and they should not be ignored for the sake of capitalist thought.

In 2003, a paper called “Response diversity, ecosystem change, and resilience” in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment highlighted that it is not the biodiversity or the number of species in an ecosystem that we need to focus on, but rather the response diversity to environmental distress. The response diversity is what ultimately leads to resilience. Similarly, Revkin noted that we can use the same concepts in society when trying to combat climate change. Having multiple responses to the same threat is the key.

However, diversifying the movement is not merely taking peripheral actions to include people of colour and people who do not associate with the standard, white middleclass in the West within the mainstream environmental movement. It is a matter of putting lasting investment into standing in true solidarity with those who are oppressed and whose voices may not be heard. When engaging with the environment and ecology, the concept of the collective has unfathomable importance. Scientifically, one can see the interconnected, delicate systems within nature that all have effects on one another. It is important to place ourselves in those systems as well and understand everyone’s role within it. In fact, many movements are already taking this approach.

In parts of South America, buen vivir is a social philosophy that is taking hold as a starting point for new perspectives, in direct opposition to Western capitalist thought. Loosely translated from Spanish as “good living,” buen vivir describes a way of doing things as a community, in a state of coexistence with other humans as well as nature. Building on its Andean, Indigenous past, it rejects the notion of ‘natural capital,’ which gives monetary values to environmental goods such as water and forests. It also rejects the notion of ‘human capital,’ where essentially people are reduced to their economic value. This type of movement calls for a significant overhaul of the capitalist modes of production we have today – especially with regards to primary production.

Other examples of social movements in response to environmental issues include transition towns and the idea of ‘degrowth,’ where less is more. Transition towns are community-oriented projects that are appearing in diverse communities all over the world. People attempt to build ecological resilience through local initiatives that transition away from high levels of energy consumption and carbon emissions. The goal is to find happiness through collective and non-consumptive means. Degrowth is built on the idea of reducing consumption drastically and going ‘back to basics.’ It is opposed to the idea of economic ‘growth,’ and the mainstream idea of sustainable development. Conceiving development as a type of growth is incompatible with, and unsustainable in a world that is already environmentally stressed. Neither of the movements are completely inclusive either, however, as they are directed to people who can actually participate in ‘degrowth’ due to their excessive prior ‘growth,’ or who have the financial means to start up a transition town.

Diversity in sustainability needs to do more than simply reaching out – the idea of community needs to be understood in its broadest sense. In order to create the space to act in solidarity and as a collective, we need to recognize our own position and decolonize our understandings and presumptions, within what we consider to be the mainstream environmental movement. Many of the systems that we currently have in place are completely at odds with the biophysical boundaries of the planet, yet many cultures have already developed systems that live comfortably within them. Environmentalist movements shouldn’t assimilate and erase marginalized voices, but rather integrate diversity and actively participate in reciprocity as well.

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Protesters demand justice for missing and murdered women

Anya Sivajothy — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 20:55:08 +0000

On Saturday February 14, hundreds of protesters marched in the streets of downtown Montreal as part of the city’s sixth annual Memorial March for Missing and Murdered Women. The march was held to remember and commemorate women of all backgrounds who have been murdered or gone missing, with particular emphasis on murdered and missing Indigenous women.

The march started at 3 p.m. in front of Square Cabot near Atwater Metro and continued peacefully eastward along Ste. Catherine. Those present held signs and chanted slogans, such as, “Bring our sisters home! Bring our daughters home! Bring our mothers home!”

The first memorial march took place in Vancouver in 1991, organized by a group of Indigenous women and frontline workers. It initially started as a response to the failure of police to investigate the murder of a Coast Salish woman. Since 1991, the march has continued as a means of addressing the systematic violence against Indigenous women, pervasive across society and throughout the media landscape.

“If you’re silent, then nothing changes, so I think that the march is to remind the people that it’s not over […]”

Saturday’s demonstration began with performances of various groups as well as chants. Among the performances was a healing song performed by a group of women drummers called Odaya.

Monica Van Schaik, an organizer from Missing Justice, told The Daily that this year’s march was the largest so far. She added that while she believed the march was a good way to show support, it was not enough.

“I think I will only be able to say that enough awareness is being given to the phenomenon of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada when they stop going missing,” Van Schaik said.

The march also aims to highlight the lack of government initiative to investigate these crimes, a criticism that many Indigenous-rights activist groups have been voicing for years.

“As we see, the Harper government ignored this issue and refused to have a public inquiry, refused to put more funding into Indigenous-run and -led organizations [who were trying to raise awareness of the issue] and that makes this march and us being here today so much more important,” Van Schaik said.

“Bring our sisters home! Bring our daughters home! Bring our mothers home!”

One unidentified speaker at the march made references to the Chapel Hill shooting that occurred in North Carolina on February 10, noting that this march was also for other victims of racist violence.

Another unidentified speaker noted the significance of uniting the huge variety of backgrounds and perspectives of those attending the march.

“I don’t know if there is anything that is essentially common to our experiences, to what we mean by violence, to what we mean by women, or to what we mean by memorial,” she said.

She continued, “So my hope is that […] we can walk together today and that we can support one another in a unity that’s composed of unique and complicated realities.”

John Cree, an Kahnawake elder who does presentations at universities on Indigenous awareness, was a speaker at the event, and spoke to The Daily about the importance of the march in cultivating change.

“If you’re silent, then nothing changes, so I think that the march is to remind the people that it’s not over, it’s not a demonstration for one day, it’s a demonstration. […] We’re going to do until change is made.”

Van Schaik spoke to the significance of the event falling on Valentine’s Day, a day catered specifically to cherishing loved ones.

“I think it’s very important and very specific that it’s happening on Valentine’s Day, because on Valentine’s Day, we often show affection and show that women are important within our society and we’re here on the streets to show the same, and to also highlight that women are being devalued within our society,” Van Schaik said.

“They’re going missing, they’re being murdered. Violence is happening toward the women here in Canada and we’re here to say that that needs to stop.”

[flickr id=”72157650756016086″]

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Feeling like an outlier

Anya Sivajothy — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 11:02:55 +0000

Diversity in science, technology, engineering, and math – which together make up the fields of STEM – has been a constant struggle for decades. Historically dominated by white men, women and people of colour who enter these fields must often grapple with society’s perception that they do not belong, and can be subject to discrimination in their workplaces.

There is a lack of information when it comes to diversity in STEM fields. There are only a few, limited statistics available for women in STEM fields, and there is almost no information for women of colour. However, the information that does exist is enough to highlight the huge gap in equity between women, especially women of colour, and their male counterparts in STEM fields.

In a recent study conducted by the Canada-centric datablog The 10 and 3, statisticians Michael Kuzmin, Arik Motskin, and Zack Gallinger published a disconcerting diversity report concerning the number of women in STEM fields that hold professorship positions at major Canadian universities. The report was inspired by a similar diversity report released by Google and other tech companies such as Facebook and Twitter. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the statistics gathered showed that women are vastly underrepresented in tech fields, and many tech companies refused to share information. Motskin pointed out in an email to The Daily that perhaps the gender disparity is more well-known within the tech industry and Silicon Valley; however, data regarding gender imbalance in universities is more hidden and inaccessible. Estimates by The 10 and 3 suggest that about 25 per cent of tech positions in Canada are held by women.

“We felt that there was a similar information vacuum in the math, computer science, and engineering departments at Canadian universities,” said Motskin. “While everyone knows there is a gender imbalance […] it’s difficult to have a meaningful conversation about the depth of the problem without concrete figures, looking both at particular institutions and at the variation between institutions.”

“It’s as if universities are happy to have very well-qualified women teaching the students, but are not happy enough to grant them the most secure academic jobs.”

Regarding professorship ranks held by women at Canadian universities, the results were far lower than that of the tech companies. When looking at computer science, math, and engineering departments, most universities didn’t reach the 25 per cent mark, and many failed to even have 10 per cent. One specific department that was highlighted in the study was McGill’s Math department, which, out of its forty-member academic staff, has only two women. Motskin also noted that departments don’t always publicly make a clear distinction between tenured and tenure-track faculty (who do both teaching and research), and teaching-intensive faculty (like instructors and lecturers). They found that a disproportionate number of the non-tenure, and so less prestigious teaching positions are taken by women. “It’s as if universities are happy to have very well-qualified women teaching the students, but are not happy enough to grant them the most secure academic jobs,” said Motskin.

The sources of barriers to diversity in STEM

From tokenization to feeling out of place, there are several factors that can deter women from STEM fields, according to Simrin Desai, the Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS) equity commissioner. She noted that, while some departments try to fix the problem through compensatory action such as hiring quotas, which do provide women and people of colour with opportunities to hold STEM jobs. “It can often re-perpetuate the idea that the minority group is not actually fit for the position, and their incorporation into the company is a forced act which does more harm to the person of the minority group than giving them the hiring opportunity may do,” she explained.

Desai said that sometimes as a result of being the only or one of the few women at their workplace, women in STEM face more pressure than their male counterparts.

“For instance, at McGill, there are some faculty events that require a female faculty member’s presence. This is great in increasing overall diversity in voices present at said event; however, on a personal level it tends to add another layer of work to female faculty,” explained Desai.

Female professors are tokenized and are expected to be the voice of diversity. However, this essentially results in added work, such as having to attend meetings or events to maintain an artificial image of diversity. If they cannot handle this it will make them seem ‘incapable’ for their profession — even though the extra workload is a result of their gender. She also cited the fact that women sometimes feel that their success in STEM is an irregularity, as media and other outlets in society “suggest that they should not be present in this field.”
“Women end up feeling like imposters in a male-dominated field.”

Data shows that when searching for funding, women are less likely to receive funding (such as grants) than their male counterparts, and if they do receive funding, they tend to receive smaller amounts.

Shawana Habib, VP Communication of Promoting Opportunities for Women in Engineering (POWE) – told The Daily that there have been some women in POWE who expressed frustration with facing discrimination in their workplaces and the classroom.

“During our general meetings, some members have expressed that they face discrimination from their male peers in the classroom, and we are always open to discussing such matters,” Habib said. She also noted that in the past, some people featured at the networking events POWE holds for female engineers have said that they felt they had “not been given importance or their opinions had not been taken into account,” generally by older male employers or coworkers.

Adding to the challenges women face in the workplace, Motskin pointed out that women also face a “pipeline problem,” meaning it can sometimes be hard to retain women at important steps that lead to STEM careers, spanning from when girls are studying science in schools up to graduate school, employment, and tenure. “The challenge is to avoid having too many qualified women drop out at any given stage, for one reason or another,” he wrote, noting that there is room for universities to get involved at some of these steps to help keep women on track to STEM careers.

Ingrid Birker, McGill’s Science Outreach Administrator, recently spoke at a lecture entitled “Women in Science.” She outlined some of the reasons for the pipeline problem and why qualified women may feel pressured to leave STEM careers. One of the problems she identified was funding. Data shows that when searching for funding, women are less likely to receive funding (such as grants) than their male counterparts, and if they do receive funding, they tend to receive smaller amounts.

To effectively encourage and support women in STEM fields, early and comprehensive intervention is needed to address the challenges and discrimination many encounter throughout their careers.

Birker also noted some problems are present from the very the beginning with societal deterrents, such as the encouragement of girls when they are young to enter typically ‘female’ professions. This, along with many other types of school- and work-based discrimination, brings up certain obstacles that aren’t present for men. This also results in women being less self-assured on average than men in the workplace where confidence is valued just as much as competence.

Habib noted that POWE has created programs aimed at combatting these problems, such as networking events for female engineers, an annual conference, and discussions on how to increase the number of women in engineering.

While limited, the information from the studies portray the ongoing struggle against discrimination in STEM fields, and states that the problem of equality is as relevant today as it it was twenty years ago. The statistics from these studies highlight the lack of women and women of colour working in STEM fields. Ultimately, they indicate that current attempts to amend this through compensatory action only, such as hiring quotas, is inadequate. To effectively encourage and support women in STEM fields, early and comprehensive intervention is needed to address the challenges and discrimination many encounter throughout their careers.

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No faith in the system

Anya Sivajothy — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 11:00:22 +0000

Both students and community groups seem to be reaching a consensus that the systems that deal with sexual assault need to change. Dissatisfaction with the system has been ongoing for decades, recently fuelled by events such as the reports of sexual assault by former Redmen players and well-publicized assaults by taxi drivers, among others.

McGill Law students and other community members discussed with The Daily how rape culture affects the way sexual assault cases are handled by the judicial system, and spoke to a growing need for alternative, pro-survivor approaches for responding to sexual assault.

“Right now we don’t even have a system designed to catch most sexual assault cases,” Annie O’Dell, a member of the Feminist Collective of McGill Law who has experienced sexual assault, told The Daily. “Most of it is ignored, forgotten about, or dealt with on a personal level.”

Forms of support for sexual assault survivors – namely sexual assault centres – are often inaccessible. According to Nathalie Duhamel, coordinator at the Regroupement Québécois des CALACS, a non-profit that supports a network of sexual assault centres, the Quebec network has gaping holes that make transportation difficult or impossible for some.

“There is not a single sexual assault centre in Northern Quebec,” she said.

Deciding to report

Sexual assault survivors face difficult choices before deciding to report the assault – many choose to remain silent. Campaigns such as #BeenRapedNeverReported have created awareness of the overwhelming proportion – roughly 94 per cent according to SexAssault.ca, a resource for survivors – of sexual assault cases that aren’t reported.

Duhamel said that not enough acknowledgement is given to the social implications of a survivor deciding to come forward.

“What’s intimidating, firstly, is the step forward, and acknowledging that you’ve been a victim of a sexual assault,” Duhamel told The Daily. “Women feel that there’s an impact with their family, with their friends, in their jobs.”

O’Dell said that, based on a paper by University of Ottawa criminology professor Holly Johnson, the primary form of dealing with sexual assault in Canada is criminal law, which only addresses 3 per cent or less of all sexual assaults.

Justice through the courts?

According to SexAssault.ca, prosecutors have “the power to force [a survivor’s] testimony and will do so if they feel it is in the public interest.”

“The legal system will break into your life, challenge your credibility to prove that you consented even though you did not,” said O’Dell.

Part of the problem is in how rape culture infiltrates the courtroom, Karen Trane*, member of McGill Women and the Criminal Law, told The Daily in an email.

“People still believe a drunk or scantily dressed woman ‘was asking for it’ [or …] that if a woman consents to sex with a man once, he has free reign over her body forever, [or …] that women actually falsely report sexual assault for revenge or a laugh,” she said.

According to Trane, these normalized ideas can – and do – seep into the courts. Under the “rape shield law,” a defence lawyer is not allowed to infer that the survivor “was asking for it” or to cast doubt on their credibility by asking about their sexual history. They often ask anyway, however, during the survivor’s testimony. If the Crown does not object to the defence’s line of questioning, the survivor could give an answer that might affect the views of the jury, judge, and others present.

According to Trane, another problem is that these distorted understandings of consent make it especially difficult for the survivor to prove their testimony beyond a ‘reasonable’ doubt.

“The legal system will break into your life, challenge your credibility to prove that you consented even though you did not.”

“All the accused has to do is say he ‘thought’ the survivor was consenting and throw in any mildly plausible excuse to justify his ‘mistake,’” said Trane. “Never mind that a person who is incapacitated by drugs or alcohol cannot legally consent to sex [… and is] legally not allowed to claim he ‘thought she was into it’ if he was drunk.”

Duhamel explained that the likelihood of proving a survivor’s case beyond a reasonable doubt is a major factor in whether or not the case is prosecuted at all. “Not all complaints are selected or kept by Crown prosecutors, it depends on the facts and if the Crown prosecutor feels that he has a chance to establish proof without a doubt.”

The decision to prosecute comes at the end of a long string of legal procedures that sexual assault survivors would have to follow, if they decide to report their case.

When the survivor turns to the judicial system, the first thing a survivor must do is account for every detail surrounding the assault, and either sign a written statement or make a statement on film. This is all followed by medical examinations and police investigations. Only after a few weeks or months is the case finally turned over to the provincial Crown prosecutor.

“Other than [the criminal system] there is the civil system – you can technically sue somebody for sexual assault, but that is expensive, and the cost is on the survivor to do this,” said O’Dell.

Support for survivors

Although a new sexual assault policy is being revised by a student working group, currently there is no specific policy in place at McGill that deals specifically with sexual assault cases.

O’Dell explained that the current process at McGill is the same as the process for dealing with claims of plagiarism.

“All the accused has to do is say he ‘thought’ the survivor was consenting and throw in any mildly plausible excuse to justify his ‘mistake.’”

“For plagiarism, you have the right to face your accuser. [If] a professor says that you have plagiarized your paper you have the right to interview and question your professor,” said O’Dell. “For sexual assault, the person being accused has the right to question the survivor and be in the same room – so already just the way it works is very problematic.”

Students at McGill are currently leading the drafting of a new sexual assault policy, the main goal of which is to get the University to adopt a pro-survivor approach that offers services and options to survivors.

“In most cases of sexual assault, reactions and policies tend to focus on the perpetrator: whether they’re ‘guilty,’ what sort of action should be taken, whether and how they should be disciplined,” the Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS) wrote in a statement to The Daily. “Instead, we want to put the focus back on the survivors, and on ensuring they feel safe and are supported.”

“There’s really nothing in place for the average person who doesn’t want to have their life torn to pieces at trial, which still often happens in a university administration setting. That’s why this policy needs to happen,” said O’Dell.

“We need to allow people to have that space to be believed and supported, because it doesn’t exist outside.”

*Names have been changed.

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Double Superior Court challenge to bylaw P-6

Anya Sivajothy — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 11:04:49 +0000

In a statement released on January 28, the activist legal clinic Contempt of Court announced that over eighty people who had been charged and fined under the P-6 bylaw at the March 2012 anti-police brutality demonstrations had their charges withdrawn. The trial, set to begin on January 29, was cancelled by the prosecutor.

Municipal bylaw P-6, which regulates demonstrations, was amended in May 2012 to make it illegal to demonstrate without submitting a planned itinerary to the police. Over 3,400 fines, each usually amounting to $637, have been distributed since 2012, with hundreds of protesters contesting their tickets in court. In some cases, charges have been dropped, while others have accepted plea bargains or have been found guilty.

“The [P-6 bylaw] restricts our rights to peacefully gather and express our opinions in a public place,” Collège de Maisonneuve professor Julien Villeneuve told The Daily.

“It forces us to enforce [the] itinerary, if it’s not enforced then everyone can be held responsible for that, and that has a lot of problems, [one of which is that] it forces us to be our own police.”

Villeneuve, who became known as Anarchopanda during the 2012 protests thanks to his panda costume and mask, was arrested five times under P-6 and is involved in a multitude of legal battles over the bylaw. In addition to contesting his tickets, he is contesting the constitutionality of the bylaw in the Superior Court of Quebec, and is one of eight people spearheading class-action lawsuits against the city over conditions of arrest and detention.

He noted that many of the charges that have been withdrawn have been so due to technicalities such as legal proceedings that have taken too long or erroneously filed paperwork. However, for him, the real argument is over the constitutionality of the bylaw, which might clash with the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.

“It forces us to enforce [the] itinerary, if it’s not enforced then everyone can be held responsible for that, and that has a lot of problems, [one of which is that] it forces us to be our own police.”

Villeneuve is also challenging section 3 of the bylaw, which prohibits protesters from covering their head with a hood or a mask without a reasonable cause. Villeneuve argued that there are several reasons to wear a mask that are in no way related to criminal activities.

“Those that are frightened of work repercussions, or people with a difficult legal status that might have problems with immigration, one could join a parade for gay rights while staying in the closet,” said Villeneuve. “We think that people have a right to express themselves [anonymously] in a public space – especially these days when everything is filmed.”

“[As things stand] the police could give P-6 bylaw tickets to almost everyone that’s not on their own [in] the public domain.”

The ambiguity of the bylaw is another issue, as section 2 restricts any “assembly, parade or other gathering” without prior disclosure, while section 3 prohibits wearing a mask without a “reasonable motive.” Villeneuve said that the interpretation of those terms is left to the discretion of the police.
“[As things stand] the police could give P-6 bylaw tickets to almost everyone that’s not on their own [in] the public domain,” said Villeneuve.

Conditions of detention

Last August, the Superior Court authorized eight class-action lawsuits on behalf of 1,600 people arrested under P-6, through which protesters are seeking compensation for their conditions of detention and arrest.

The kettling process used by the Montreal police is a tactic for containing large crowds during gatherings. It involves a large formation of police surrounding the crowd and moving in to contain the protesters so that they can be arrested or given tickets. Kettling was used during the student protests, such as when 518 arrests were made during a single demonstration in May 2012, as well as during the annual marches against police brutality in 2013 and 2014.

“We were detained for many hours without access to water or washrooms. Political profiling occurred, since police let some people go solely based on their age or clothing.”

“We were detained for many hours without access to water or washrooms,” Perry Bison, the representative for the lawsuit concerning the March 15, 2014 anti-police brutality march, said in French at a press conference on August 26. “Political profiling occurred, since police let some people go solely based on their age or clothing.”

“Of course, not having access to food, water or toilet for that long is really problematic,” Villeneuve told The Daily.

As for the constitutional challenge of the bylaw itself, Villeneuve said that he remains hopeful of the outcome of the judgement.

“The trial went really well as far as I’m concerned,” said Villeneuve. “Even an appeal judgement in our favour would be useful legally at this point, and I think we would win on appeal if it has to go that far.”

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