McGill plans to develop the Royal Vic site into a new research and teaching facility, known as the New Vic Project. However, last year, the Mohawk Mothers entered a legal battle with McGill, fighting for an archaeological examination of the site to find potential burial sites from the MK-Ultra experiments conducted by the CIA and McGill  in the 1950s and 60s at the site. After winning their case, archaeological work began last April as part of a Settlement Agreement that was reached between the Mohawk Mothers, McGill, and the SQI.

Tensions between the Mohawk Mothers and the parties involved in the construction at the Royal Vic site have continued to rise since the start of archaeological work. The Mohawk Mothers have condemned the actions taken by McGill and the SQI at the site, as the archaeological work is not Indigenous-led. In August, archeological work was halted due to a security incident involving one of the cultural monitors and a security guard.

More recently, the Mohawk Mothers filed an emergency court order for construction at the site to be suspended, claiming that McGill and the SQI had been breaching the Settlement Agreement. The hearing took place on September 14 and revolved around the issue of “mapping” and a disregard for archeological techniques by  McGill and the SQI. As part of the Settlement Agreement, an independent archaeologist panel was erected to ensure the proper archaeological techniques employed at the site, specific to the mapped-out zones. However, after McGill claimed that the initial stage of the  archeological investigation had been completed in September, they disbanded the independent panel.

Diane, a member of a solidarity group, told the Daily in an interview: “[the disbandment] was a unilateral decision by McGill. That’s always the way it works, although, paragraphs 1 and 16 of the injunction state that this investigation should be Kahnistensera and MK-Ultra survivor-led.” Without the archaeological panel in place, McGill and the SQI reserved the rights to interpret excavation results. “McGill is refusing to share the Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data with the Mohawk Mothers as well as the archaeological panel while they were active,” said Diane.

The McGill Media Relations Office (MRO) told the Daily that “information is shared between the parties as stipulated in the Settlement Agreement.”

During the September 14 hearing, McGill and the SQI told the court to dismiss the request for  construction to be halted; the groups stated that the agreement had been followed and construction was occuring in an area where no burial sites are likely to be found. The judge did not grant the Mohawk Mothers their requested emergency injunction.

Another focal point in the alleged breach of the Settlement Agreement surrounds the removal and transportation of soil to a private site for inspection. In an October 12 press conference attended by the Daily, Mohawk Mother Kwetiio said that she felt “totally betrayed” by McGill and the SQI’s handling of this process. She argued that  if any evidence were to be uncovered, moving these piles instead of examining them on the site would allow McGill to escape accountability. Nevertheless, the Daily observed the piles being removed later that week. The MRO confirmed to the Daily that the piles had been moved at the request of the archaeologists on October 3 and “was placed in a secure perimeter to allow the archeologists to sift through it.” The MRO claimed that the Mothers were informed of this on October 3.

Kwetiio claimed that anomalies in priority zone 11 had not been adequately investigated. Three different teams of historic human remains detection dogs (HHRDD) detected possible human remains in that zone, and detections made by HHRDD are about 95 per cen accurate, reaching up to 15 feet. Kwettio additionally expressed frustration that the Mohawk Mothers were prohibited from investigating the interiors of buildings within the 10 meter radius of where the HHRDD detected possible remains.

“We inquired many times if these dogs can smell through [buildings] and they said yes, there’s a pipe leading from inside to outside of the building and yet we still do not know where those three different teams of dogs detected [human remains],” she explained. According to Kwetiio, the reason given for not allowing the Mothers to investigate inside the building was a risk of asbestos.

Diane elaborated on the construction happening inside the building in the interview with the Daily. “The Kahnistensera witnessed construction workers inside this building –  right where they’re fighting to have access. The workers were demolishing something, and when the Kahnistensera were worried, of course, they asked, ‘what are you doing?’  [The workers] refused to say anything.”

The Mothers are not the only ones upset with how McGill has been handling this case. Special Interlocutor Kimberly Murray, one of Canada’s leading experts on unmarked graves associated with residential schools, told The Eastern Door that “everything they do is a misstep, and is not good for reconciliation, and is not Indigenous led.” Like the Mohawk Mothers, she decried McGill’s lack of transparency as well as a disrespect for her office.

At the Quebec Superior Court on October 27, the Mohawk Mothers will detail breaches of the Settlement Agreement made by McGill and the SQI. At the end of the interview with the Daily, Diane said: “We’re calling all supporters, all citizens who are sensitive to this kind of struggle to show support to the Kahnistensera in front of the court.”

Names in this article have been changed to protect the anonymity of sources.

The post “Totally betrayed” appeared first on The McGill Daily.

A year later, the Daily met with Delali, the general coordinator of Midnight Kitchen, to discuss the service, the progress they have made in the past year, and their plans for this year. 

The McGill Daily (MD): Could you briefly explain what your association does? What are your main activities and goals? 

Delali: Briefly, our goal is to provide alternative food options on campus. One of our biggest programs is our free lunch program that we do on Thursdays at 1:00 p.m. in the ballroom of [the University Centre]. Our goal is to serve approximately 150 meals this year at each service. But we do a lot of different things. 

MD: Could you explain what an “alternative food option” is?

Delali: Typical food options are grocery stores, restaurants, and stuff like that. And usually there’s a big price tag attached to those things, especially in recent years. Prices keep going up, but it’s not accessible to everyone. Food is a necessity. There was a point where people could access food by growing it themselves or trading for it, but as things have progressed, [this has] become less of an option, or it’s a lot harder for people in the city to grow all of their own food to provide for their family.  So Midnight Kitchen just adds another option that doesn’t require money. 

MD:  Do you feel like the food situation on campus has worsened in recent years, with the inflation of food prices and COVID-19?

Delali: For sure. I feel like even before COVID, prices for food on campus were  pretty steep for a student coming to campus every day. If you weren’t making all of your own meals and you had to buy lunch every day between classes, often people choose whatever is around, and what’s around is usually quite pricey. 

MD:  Have you seen an increase in student demand? 

Delali: Absolutely. A lot of mobilization came from frustration with the current food situation on campus. It’s great that people love our service and use it, but we’re not going to solve the issue as one service. But I feel like there have been new things popping up that are trying to offer alternatives, such as the grocery store in [the University Centre] with cheaper lunches.

MD: How has McGill responded to your actions? Has there been an increase in support? 

Delali: No, we’ve never had support from McGill, and there’s not been an increase. Since we’re a student service, and most of our interactions are with SSMU, we don’t really have a relationship with the administration.

MD: Would you like McGill to get involved and help? 

Delali: Of course, we would love that. 

MD: Can you discuss the fee increase that happened last year? How has that helped? What were the reactions? 

Delali: We’re really happy about the fee increase. Our biggest goal was just to expand our food budget so that we could not only cook with donated food that we get through Moisson Montreal – which is a food organization that distributes food that would have otherwise been thrown out. We do get a lot of free food through them, but it’s also nice to have the option of buying more fresh stuff to cook while keeping an inventory of options of things to cook for students. So in order to make sure that we can still provide all the same services and more, the increase has been really helpful. 

MD: Have you been receiving a lot of student support? 

Delali: Yes, but we always get lots of student support, which is always very heartwarming. There’s always a lot of students who are interested in volunteering with us and helping to cook. Honestly, I wish our kitchen was bigger so we could have more people in the kitchen helping us cook. 

MD: How do these volunteer training sessions work? 

Delali: Usually we will have people come to a training session, happening next week, and then also fill out a little form just so we know that they’re coming. Then, we have a big sheet with the shift times and stuff like that. Usually, shifts are two hours. And anybody is welcome to come – you don’t have to have experience cooking at all. Just an interest, curiosity, and [willingness] to help out in any way.

The Midnight Kitchen Collective will be hosting its volunteer orientation on Monday, September 18, from 5:00–6:00 p.m. at the University Centre (Room 304) and on Tuesday, September 19, from 5:00–6:00 p.m. at the University Centre (Room 302/304). To register for an orientation session, fill out the form on Midnight Kitchen’s website.

The free packaged meal service schedule can also be found on the Midnight Kitchen website. The next free meal service will be held on September 21 at 1:00 p.m. on the third floor of the University Centre. The food provided is plant-based and nut-free, and Midnight Kitchen asks that participants bring a reusable container and utensils.

The post An Interview with Midnight Kitchen appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Excavations of the Royal Victoria Hospital site were first halted in November of last year when the Mohawk Mothers won in court, but by the end of April, the injunction was lifted. The terms of the resumption of the project included an archaeological survey of the project site for unmarked graves as well as the presence of cultural monitors to observe the work and conduct ceremonies. 

Human detection dogs detected the scent of historic human remains at the Royal Victoria site on June 9. Following this, McGill announced a full archaeological investigation of the area which spans a ten-meter radius. This portion of the site is outside McGill’s project site which takes up about 15 per cent of the land. In a July 26 update surrounding the project, McGill disclosed that ground penetrating radar was used between July 10 and 12. In an interview with the Daily, Executive Director of the New Vic Project Pierre Major explained that this technique was in accordance with what the panel of archaeologists recommended to deploy on the site – each zone is colour-coded on a map to indicate which archaeological technique will be used. Last fall, the Mohawk Mothers repeatedly requested remote sensing technologies to be used on the site to protect any cultural significance that is buried. Now, as part of the agreement, the Mohawk Mothers are updated every two weeks on the archaeological techniques deployed. 

On August 3, McGill disclosed in an email sent to its students and faculty that there had been an incident regarding a security officer and the Cultural Monitors at the site. On July 25, a security guard at the site made offensive remarks towards the Cultural Monitors after the work day had ended. The security guard also inappropriately directed the Cultural Monitors to leave the premises. Since the SQI is in charge of security at the site, they took action against the security guard.

When asked about the security incident, Associate Provost Angela Campbell told the Daily in an interview, “We’ve […] been very categorical that what happened was unacceptable. It never should have happened, and it’s being dealt with.” Campbell did not provide any further detail on the subject but did note that the SQI hired GardaWorld, a new security firm. The August 23 update provided by McGill did not mention this switch of firms made by the SQI.

Archaeological work was halted for approximately three weeks following the security incident until McGill, the SQI, and the Mohawk Mothers could reach an agreement. On August 23, McGill announced that this had been achieved and archeological work would be resumed. As part of the agreement, the Mohawk Mothers were offered the opportunity to appoint their own security representatives to be present at the site. However, the appointees do not have the proper security licensing, so their purpose is to accompany the cultural monitors, according to Campbell. 

Now that archaeological work has resumed, the Mohawk Mothers continue to demand clear and efficient communication surrounding archaeological work. Blue netting was recently put up around the perimeter of the work site, obstructing the view from people passing by. Upon questioning the reason behind this, Major told the Daily that it is common practice to put up netting at construction zones for safety purposes to block debris from entering sidewalks or nearby roads and that this was approved by Pomerleau, the construction company at the site. Major noted that the netting was transparent, but he told the Daily that this was disputed by the Mohawk Mothers and that “[McGill] informed them on that same day that we would take it down.” When asked if the now-exposed construction site would be a safety hazard, Major responded to the Daily by saying, “we will have to put it back up at some point, but we will wait for archaeological work to be done.”

In early August, the Mohawk Mothers explained that they felt McGill was trying to “control” the process of finding unmarked graves, and they felt they were being excluded from much of the information. Kahentinetha, one of the Mohawk Mothers, told APTN news that the archaeologists on-site had been very informative, but there was often a delay in the Mothers receiving important reports. “The only way we can find out is to be right there, because we are not told and I don’t know why the material goes to them, and then they distribute it in the way they want and eventually we get a copy of it,” she said. “It seems like this is violating the court order.” 

Campbell told the Daily, “ [The Mohawk Mothers] are at the site every day, and so they’re getting kind of updates in real-time faster than [McGill]. But, of course, there’s also a requirement in the agreement that every two weeks there’s an update of every [archaeological] technique.”

The Mohawk Mothers are not the only ones questioning McGill’s actions and the New Vic Project. On August 28, SSMU sent a letter to the McGill community demanding transparency from McGill about the project. The letter deems the communication surrounding the New Vic Project largely inadequate, pointing out discrepancies between the information provided by McGill and the Mohawk Mothers about archaeological work. One of these discrepancies was about the findings of the ground penetrating radar survey which were published without the consent of the Mohawk Mothers. According to the report, nine potential grave sites were identified within the area that McGill intends to excavate. McGill emphasized that “potential” did not indicate that they were “likely.” Archaeologists also uncovered children’s shoes and a women’s dress which appears to date back to the 1940s. McGill failed to include this finding in their August 3 newsletter. The Mohawk Mothers have published a list of false narratives about the project on their website to provide clarity on the progress of the archaeological work being done. 

Campbell told the Daily, “there’s a lot of […] conjecture and attention [about the New Vic Project] which is normal and good.” She added that the project involves a “really crucial part of making sure that things are proceeding in a good way […] with Indigenous Nations that are close to the […] campus. It’s challenging, but we’re doing things very methodically, carefully, and with extensive consultation.”

The Mohawk Mothers continue to fight for better action taken by McGill and the SQI, writing in an August 11 press release that “the process can no longer by any means be considered ‘Indigenous-led,’ as the SQI and McGill attempt to control the whole process, reducing the role of Indigenous people to performing ceremonies on the site.” The Mohawk Mothers were hopeful that there would be “an amicable and open dialogue to resolve the disagreements in implementing the Settlement Agreement,” but Mohawk Mother Kwetiio states that, “it is not acceptable to our people that Quebec and McGill entirely control an investigation searching for the unmarked graves of potential victims of those institutions in the past.”

Archaeological investigation in priority zones is scheduled to be completed this fall, according to Major. Since no archaeological work can progress in the winter, Major told the Daily that work on the rest of the Royal Victoria site will likely resume next year.

The post Archaeological Work Resumes at Royal Vic appeared first on The McGill Daily.

The current University Student Assessment Policy (USAP) was initially approved in 2011 and was last amended in 2016. “The USAP was non-enforceable. So, essentially it was like a guideline which told instructors what to do in terms of their pedagogy and how to use assessments to teach [students],” VP University Affairs and member of the implementation committee Kerry Yang told the Daily. “So if a professor or course instructor were to break something in the USAP, it’s not like a student could be like, ‘well you broke this, you should change it.’” 

The PASL, which was approved in May 2022, contains similar principles to the USAP, however its key differences reflect an evolution in the university’s academic objectives: “The principles shift how the university thinks about assessments and to have assessments be more in the mindset of testing students’ knowledge rather than be used to rank students and have students compete,” Yang told the Daily. 

For the Desautels Faculty of Management which uses a bell curve grading policy, the new assessment policy implies changes to grade distribution and possibly the modes of assessment. Section 4.4 states that the distribution of grades and/or averages cannot be predetermined for any individual assessment or the course as a whole. Though this may have a more pronounced effect on the Faculty of Management, all McGill instructors will have to make changes to their courses to adhere to the new principles, inevitably evoking pushback. “It’s going to take some time because a lot of professors are resistant to the idea. [They] have this idea where you grade students based on which ones can sink and which ones can swim. [The policy] is about changing that mentality to where professors understand ‘OK grading is actually not about that, it’s about students learning what they need to learn in this class,’” said Yang.

An additional change that comes with the new assessment policy is a detailed process for contesting assessment practices. The new Section 10: Process for Contesting Assessment explains that students can now report occurrences of instructors’ pedagogy not being in accordance with the  PASL: “In cases where a student believes this Policy is not being respected, they are advised to make their concern known by contacting the instructor and/or Program Director/Chair of the Department in writing.” This differs from the current policy which fails to provide a course of action for students to seek recourse. 

The PASL also mandates and specifies assessment feedback for students. Section 4.2d says that there will be support for instructors to develop “effective and meaningful assessment and feedback strategies.” Furthermore, section 5.3 notes that students “must have the opportunity to receive some formative feedback before the University’s official course withdrawal (without refund) deadline.”

Though the principles of the PASL are designed to create a “fair, meaningful, and effective assessment of a student’s learning,” some of them continue to weigh individual assessments heavily. According to section 9.6, ‘final assessments’ are mandated to be a minimum of 25 per cent and a maximum of 75 per cent of the final grade. This mirrors the percentages in the current assessment policy, allowing instructors to continue to heavily weigh exams in their courses. These high-stakes exams can be harmful for many students’ learning, leading to consequences such as being forced to repeat a course. 

When the Daily asked what this new policy means for the future of the university, Yang said, “[…] I think there’s a lot of realization that the older modes of thinking when it comes to assessments aren’t necessarily the best because it’s not the point of education. […] So I think the university sector in general is shifting towards that direction, and McGill is very clearly shifting towards that direction.” The COVID-19 pandemic prompted many universities to turn to a pass/fail grading system and eliminate required standardized test scores from their admission processes. However, since the pandemic, grade inflation has been increasingly prevalent at McGill as well as other Canadian universities. In terms of the new policy and the future of McGill’s academic reputation, Yang told the Daily, “It might affect [McGill’s] reputation, it might not, but time will tell in that regard.”

The new assessment policy will be reviewed by the Office of the Dean of Students and Teaching and Learning Services every five years, involving both students and instructors. The first review of the policy will happen in May 2027. 

Find more information on the PASL website: https://www.mcgill.ca/pasl

The post A New Policy on Assessment of Student Learning Is Coming in 2024 appeared first on The McGill Daily.

In 2021, a group of tenants organized the Montreal Autonomous Tenants Union (SLAM-MATU) to serve as a platform for tenants across the city to coordinate actions against landlords infringing on tenant rights. The union formed when McGill students renting in Milton-Parc decided to unionize against the illegal actions of landlords across the city. SLAM-MATU aims to work towards a world without the need for landlords, and therefore, without the need for collective actions that advocate for tenants rights. Despite these initiatives, Montreal tenants – including many university students – continue to endure hardships in dealing with landlords, often having their rights infringed upon.

At McGill, students who have completed their first year of studies are provided with very few opportunities to live on-campus. According to the Student Housing Market Report Canada, which has collected data on 14 student cities, student accommodation provision in Canada stands at 12  per cent. This number reflects the total number of purpose-built student accommodations in relation to the total number of students at the university. To rent an apartment near McGill in the Milton-Parc neighbourhood, students can pay upwards of $1,000 for a one-bedroom apartment. By failing to provide affordable student housing, McGill fails to provide students with adequate protection from exploitative landlords.

Difficulties Signing Leases

A Facebook group created in 2015, McGill Off-Campus Housing, currently boasts 52,947 members and serves as a place for students to browse rent listings, schedule showings, and post advertisements for subletting agreements. The group has seen roughly 10,000 posts in the past month, creating a copious amount of listings for students to sift through with no way to verify the legitimacy of the landlords. Because of this, some students have turned to a Reddit page titled “Landlord Blacklist,” which details students’ experiences with Montreal landlords, particularly in Milton-Parc.

Users of the Reddit page warn that landlords who have listings near McGill’s campus often seek to take advantage of out-of-province and international students who are looking to rent but lack the necessary know-how to avoid being exploited. One user wrote, “[I]n my experience the more a building advertises to out-of-province students, the more likely they are to [take] advantage of international students who don’t know their rights. Landlords of smaller buildings outside the [McGill] ghetto are used to dealing with tenants who actually know their rights and are typically not as bad.”

Charging often-illegal fees is a common tactic used by landlords to exploit students from outside of Quebec. Requiring security deposits from renters in Quebec is illegal, but it is common for landlords in Milton-Parc to ask tenants for a security deposit or rent payments in advance. An out-of-province second-year student told the Daily that when signing a lease with roommates (who are international students), the landlord acted unethically. “Right before signing our lease, our landlord said he wanted a $1,000 deposit. He said he knew it was “technically illegal in Quebec […] but that he asked for it anyway and expected it before we signed the lease. He did express that we’d get it back after our lease ended.” Another student posted that their landlord had charged a security deposit and did not give it back, instead trying to “charge us money to repaint and fix things that we allegedly broke (which we didn’t)” at the end of the lease.

On the other hand, some landlords will outright refuse to lease apartments to international students. One McGill student from France described this experience with the Daily, recounting a time when they tried to sign a lease with a landlord in Milton-Parc. “On the day my roommates and I were going to sign the lease, the landlord said it would not be possible.” According to the student, the landlord was only willing to rent to students from North America, despite it being illegal in Quebec to discriminate based on national origin. “I think it was xenophobic. I even have family living in Canada, but [they] were like: ‘no,’ because I’m French.”

Outside of the McGill area, newcomers to Montreal also face challenges when signing leases. In an interview with the Daily, Verdun resident Riham Al Bakouni shared her experience of immigrating to the city in 2016. “[…] it was impossible to sign a lease. I tried hard to rent a studio or a one bedroom apartment but it was impossible as they requested a guarantor to sign.” Many landlords will request that people applying to rent find a guarantor if they do not have Canadian credit history, pay stubs, or work experience. For those who have recently moved to the city, these expectations can be difficult to meet and often result in lowering their living standards.

Without being able to sign a lease, Al Bakouni endured further challenges as a tenant. She told the Daily, “I was new to the country and I did not know anyone here […] I first rented Airbnb rooms in shared apartments until I finally rented a room in an old lady[’s] apartment. After literally two weeks she changed her mind and kinda kicked me out. There was no lease signed, so she just returned what [was] left of the rent ($250 covering the 2 weeks left of the month).”

Challenges as a Tenant

Problems for tenants do not end once they sign a lease. Quebec law states that landlords are responsible for attending to repairs for the apartment at no cost to the tenant. However, tenants in Montreal will often live in hazardous conditions at the hands of negligent landlords who have not kept up with repairs. A renter in Milton-Parc posted, “When we refused to pay $170 for [the landlord] to paint one of our walls that was damaged, [they] locked my roommate in [their] office and threatened her, eventually saying [they were] going to deduct the money from her account (which they had access to for direct deposits of the rent).”

While it is not uncommon for landlords to charge tenants for repairs, some landlords will disregard the need for repairs entirely. This year, tenants living in townhouses in Berri were sent a letter from their landlord on October 7, 2022 that cited the danger of the building’s foundation, and were subsequently forced to evacuate by October 23. This came after their landlord repeatedly failed to adhere to the tenant’s initial complaints of damages to the building and repair needs. “To come to us with such little time that we don’t have the ability to react, to find housing or basic needs, to put us in this compromised (situation) because [the landlord] just didn’t act, for me that’s negligence,” one tenant told CityNews.

In the case that tenants are not evacuated and housing is not up to livable standards, tenants are susceptible to increased health risks and a lower quality of life – especially those living in low-income areas. In one case, the housing corporation, the Société d’habitation et de développement de Montréal (SHDM), took over the management of a building in Montreal’s Notre-Dame-De-Grâce neighbourhood in 2019. SHDM moved trash in the courtyards, closing the garbage rooms and garbage chutes. This introduced many flies, cockroaches, mice, and other pests to their building complex, affecting tenants’ living standards.

In Milton-Parc, tenants have experienced plumbing issues, ant infestations, and safety hazards such as a lack of working smoke detectors. A student-renter posted, “we had a plumber called in after the sewage line was blocked, and were told the pipes hadn’t been touched in ~10 years. He was supposed to have them checked once a year.” Landlords have little incentive to adhere to the repair requests of tenants, as turnover rates and competition for rents are high in Montreal. Many have been known to impede inspections, though fines for blocking this work can start at $1000.

While housing quality remains a struggle for many tenants, landlords are raising the cost of rent. In 2022, the average rate of annual rent increase as a whole was 10.9 per cent, following a 1.6 per cent average annual rent decline in both 2020 and 2021. Housing costs are already high in Montreal, and for many, there is a short time frame for finding affordable housing. It is highly competitive close to university campuses in Montreal, and in some cases, people are ‘making proposals and trying to sell themselves to landlords,’ Laurent Levesque told CityNews. Levesque adds that amidst this steep competition, bidding wars will sometimes occur between students for rent prices, contributing to inflation. With excess demand for housing in Montreal, especially near universities, landlords are given more power in who they choose to rent to and how much they charge.

Renovictions

Thousands of tenants in Montreal have been forced to leave their homes at the hands of landlords. According to the Montreal Gazette, although forced evictions with the purpose of renovating are illegal in Quebec, landlords are buying an increasing number of Montreal buildings to empty them out and renovate them in order to charge double the rent.. Landlords often get away with this, deceiving tenants who are unaware of their rights. Al Bakouni told the Daily that she was able to move apartments in 2017, however “[…] in April 2021, a new landlord purchased the building in an attempt to evict everyone, do surface-level renovations, and rent out the apartments for double the price.” Al Bakouni explained that in Verdun, there is a trend to ‘renovict,’ meaning that landlords will attempt to evict tenants to renovate apartments to increase what they can charge in rent. She told the Daily that her landlord initially offered $5000 to each tenant in her building as a means of renoviction. “He was deceptive – he did a door knocking for all tenants saying that the other tenants are leaving and this person is the only one left. He offered them $5000 to leave and gave an ultimatum of one month. Then the offer is off the table.” The tenants who chose to accept the money from the landlord are prohibited from discussing further, as they are “legally not allowed to,” according to Al Bakouni.

Tenants in Al Bakouni’s building began to discuss with each other and share their experiences with their landlord. “[The landlord] kept telling lies, lies and more lies. We had [a] roach infestation because of the renovations spread all over the building! We had to empty our apartments for the extermination team to spray the apartments. We had to take time off from our work, and keep packing/moving stuff, and all this was with no compensation whatsoever! This infestation took almost four to five months to end!” The landlord’s renovictions affected Al Bakouni to the point where she had to involve the city. She told the Daily, “During renovations, [the] noise was too loud and they used to work late after 10 P.M. – I contacted the city hall and the inspector sent a letter to the landlord, so they limited their work period to what is allowed by law.”

After these renovictions, Al Bakouni’s landlord charges nearly double her rent for tenants in the renovated apartments. “My rent is $750, while the apartment next door was rented out for $1,350 after the so-called renovations – which is outrageous,” Al Bakouni explained to the Daily. Their landlord attempted to increase their rent last year, but could not after they refused it. This year, Al Bakouni says, “I am going to refuse. I am just stalling until around the end of the 30-day delay period.” Unlike Al Bakouni, many tenants are unaware of their rights and are subjected to illegal tactics by landlords. According to Maxime Roy-Allard in an interview with The Link, landlords in Montreal send fake eviction notices to tenants, obtaining signatures under false pretenses and forcing renovictions. The landlords will also offer money to renovict tenants, which Al Bakouni describes happened in her building.

Al Bakouni told the Daily that one tenant in her building was offered $4000 (less than what they had initially offered) and afterwards signed a non-disclosure agreement. She added that another tenant “moved out because of the stress and he got a similar offer.” She also experienced harassment by the landlord. “When [the landlord] wanted me out – I said NO – he kept insisting on why I do not want to move! He offered that he [will take] care of packing stuff and moving expenses. He said I will provide you with compensation for years to come,” Al Bakouni told the Daily.

After Al Bakouni’s continued refusal to be renovicted, she has experienced legal pressure from her landlord. “The landlord kept threatening me because I have a business at home – although he is aware that it is purely online, and I do not have clients at home, neither I have a room dedicated to this purpose, no office set-up, yet he insisted on intimidating me and even opened a file at TAL [the city courthouse]. He was asking to end the lease! He has no legal basis and no rights yet he kept the case open until this date.”

As a result, Al Bakouni was forced into a hearing – the first in December 2021. Within the case, the landlord was requiring that she provide tenant insurance. “[M]y lease and the building regulations, NOTHING indicates that I have to get one! It basically gives me the option to purchase one, but it is not obligatory.” At a second hearing about the same case, Al Bakouni’s landlord did not show up: “Well, either there was a reason or he just felt it [was] a lost case.” Al Bakouni continues to fight a legal battle against their landlord.

To learn about tenant rights and protect against landlord exploitation, refer to the Daily’s article, “Renting 101: Montreal Tenant’s Rights.” You can also go to educaloi.qc.ca to find helpful information for navigating housing and property law. To contact an informations clerk regarding concerns about landlords, applications, and documents, reach out to the Tribunal administratif du logement.

The post Montreal Landlords Continue to Exploit Tenants appeared first on The McGill Daily.

The McLennan Library Building was first opened in 1969, and since then, the student population has grown to over 40,000 students. Currently, McGill offers seating to roughly only nine to 12 per cent of the student population, while public research university libraries with similar population sizes to that of McGill’s offer seating to 20 per cent of their student body. McGill held a “Census Day” in 2019 to gauge the number of visits to its library branches on campus. During the 24-hour period, the library branches collectively received 15,117 visits, with McGill students making up 14,175 of the visits. This means that 35 per cent of the Fall 2018 student enrollment number visited the library in a single day. 

To accommodate the present-day needs of more work space and seating for library visitors, the University decided on a plan to relocate its physical collection to an automated storage facility, following the example of many other universities, such as the University of Toronto, Queen’s University, and the University of Ottawa. According to McGill Media Relations Officer Frédérique Mazerolle, McGill has undertaken the Fiat Lux project and the establishment of a new Collection Centre (formerly called Collection Management Facility) to “address these constraints and transform the quality of services and spaces that the Library offers.” 

According to Mazerolle, these projects will almost double the number of workspaces and transform them into technologically advanced spaces that are “accessible, comfortable, safe, and sustainable.” The Collection Centre is estimated to hold 2.5 million volumes. The Centre – which measures 40,000 square feet – has been under construction this past year. As the system becomes operational, the transfer of materials from the McLennan & Redpath Library Buildings will occur, with library users then being able to request the collections online. Requested materials will be delivered within 24 hours to either the downtown or Macdonald campus. 

Movements of items from the McLennan & Redpath Library Buildings will tentatively begin in late Fall 2023 and will conclude in Winter 2024, according to Mazerolle. “During the move period, library staff will be responsive and do everything they can to find and provide users with the resources they need.” The university does not foresee any changes to opening hours of the Library Building, and study spaces will remain open. 

However, library visitors will face reduced access to the McLennan-Redpath circulating collection and stacks in the McLennan-Redpath Library Complex. Though, according to Mazerolle, users retain the ability to access materials in other ways, such as e-book options, network and interlibrary loans, paging service, and access to stacks by appointment for McGill faculty. Access to stacks and the paging service will depend on the status of the transferring of materials at the time of the request. Inter-library loan requests from the McGill Community will be prioritized during the relocation of collections while materials are unavailable.

Once the transfer of collections from the McLennan & Redpath Library buildings to the Collection Centre is completed, construction in the Library Buildings will begin. Construction will take approximately three years, during which the McLennan-Redpath complex will be closed. 

After renovations of the library are completed, there will remain space for 500,000 items. However, items held physically will be required to have been published within the last ten years and borrowed within the last five years. Additionally, just 450,000 items will be kept, as the University aims to allow for space for new publishings. In 2021, the University asked that library users fill out a request form of what materials they wished to remain in the library downtown. An itemized list of which books will be held in the library after the renovation is completed and which will be sent to the Collection Centre can be found on the McGill Library website.

This relocation of collections is not the first that the McLennan-Redpath Complex has seen. Since Spring 2019, McGill has been relocating several collections across its many libraries, with the last move of materials taking place in Fall 2021. During the 2019 Spring-Summer Recollection project, the two-year closure and renovation of the MacDonald-Stewart Library resulted in the temporary relocation of materials from the Schulich Library. As a result, collections were moved to various spaces within the McLennan-Redpath Complex. 

During the temporary closure and with limited access to materials within the McLennan-Redpath Complex, students and faculty can expect that librarians and staff will “provide a high level of service to the community from other downtown McGill Library branches,” according to Mazerolle. In 2023, the newly-renovated Schulich Library of Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, and Engineering, will tentatively reopen, and the university is striving towards the creation of temporary satellite student study spaces and service points in other buildings downtown. 

“As with any large project, the dates outlined are tentative and dependent on the timely completion of related activities (for example, equipment delivery or installation). We will continue to keep the McGill community updated as the projects evolve,” said Mazerolle.

The post McGill’s Library Project Underway in 2023 appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Turpel-Lafond’s career took off in the 1990s when she served as a constitutional adviser to the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations Ovide Mercredi. Since then, Turpel-Lafond has served in various prominent roles that aim for restorative justice. She was appointed British Columbia’s first Representative for Children and Youth in November 2006, and she also served as the founding director of the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre (IRSHDC) at UBC. Turpel-Lafond retired from the position this past June but maintains her position as a law professor at UBC’s Peter A. Allard School of Law.

A prominent Indigenous scholar in Canada, Turpel-Lafond is highly decorated and has been awarded 11 honorary degrees from Canadian universities, including McGill. In 1994, she was named one of the “The Global 100” leaders of the new millennium by Time magazine, and in 1999, she was selected as one of the top “Canadian leaders for the 21st century.” The Indigenous Bar Association awarded her the distinction of “Indigenous Peoples’ Counsel” in 2007. She was also a recipient of the Order of Canada in 2021, one of the highest civilian awards in the country.

CBC reports that that “there is a growing problem in this country of non-Indigenous people taking away opportunities from First Nations, Métis and Inuit people by improperly claiming Indigenous ancestry.” Turpel-Lafond’s background and claims that she is a member of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation has been disputed since the mid-1990s. In 1995, a reporter for the Ottawa Citizen explained that in the interviewing process for a profile on Turpel-Lafond, “more than one person suggested checking into her Indian background.”

According to Turpel-Lafond, her father is Cree while her mother was English-Scottish. However, the CBC report found that genealogical records show that her paternal grandfather was of Irish, German, and American ancestry and that his wife was born in England to British parents. After a request from CBC, Turpel-Lafond declined to comment on her father’s biological parents’ identities, instead saying, “I respect my parents and all members of my family and I will never call anyone out. Growing up we did not question biological parentage.”

The same day as the findings of the CBC investigation about Turpel-Lafond’s Indigenous identity were published, UBC issued a statement to The Globe and Mail praising her accomplishments as the IRSHDC director and her connections to the Indigenous community. UBC Director of University Affairs Matthew Ramsey said: “[Prof. Turpel-Lafond’s] identity is her own and the university is not going to comment on it.” Others have also condemned the investigation into Turpel-Lafond’s claimed Indigenous identity; the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) said that Turpel-Lafond has been a groundbreaking advocate for Indigenous peoples for decades, adding that issues of First Nations identity should be personal for Indigenous peoples and not for media “digging into private matters.” Furthermore, UBCIC rejected using solely genealogy as the best indicator of Indigenous identity, deeming it a legacy of “assimilationist colonialism.”

The Muskeg Lake Cree Nation confirms that Turpel-Lafond is a member of their Nation and has been for the past 30 years, stating in a press release that “[k]inship determines who is a member of the Nation, and she is part of one of our kinship families.”

In recent years, Canadian universities have begun to address concerns surrounding the claims of Indigenous identities of faculty. Last year, an anonymous report published at Queen’s University claimed that six faculty members were falsely claiming Indigenous status. The university defended its faculty, saying it “respects and trusts the Indigenous protocols used to identify those it considers Indigenous.” This case came after the University of Saskatchewan was made aware of the alleged mendacity of professor Carrie Bourassa’s claim to Indigenous identity. Bourassa resigned from her position after the university promised to investigate her Indigenous heritage and implement a review of its policies surrounding claims to Indigenous identities.

Though policies to review claims to Indigenous identities are being updated, many Canadian universities prioritize the hiring of Indigenous faculty. In 2019, then-provost Manfredi said: “One of the keys to fulfilling this commitment is to actively increase the number of Indigenous scholars in our professoriate.” UBC says that “Indigenous identity was not a criterion” for Turpel-Lafond’s position at the school.

The Indigenous Women’s Collective is calling on universities to rescind honorary doctorate degrees awarded to Turpel-Lafond, saying that “[r]econciliation starts with truth.” York University, Brock University, Royal Roads University, and the University of Regina are among the universities that have begun to review the honorary degrees they awarded to Turpel-Lafond. 

McGill’s ad hoc sub-committee to review Turpel-Lafond’s honorary degree is composed of Manfredi and three to five Honorary Degrees and Convocations Committee members. Regarding the assembly of the committee, McGill claims that it “places the highest premium on respect and honesty.”

McGill did not elaborate further on the review process, per the Daily’s request.

The post McGill Will Review Honorary Degree Award appeared first on The McGill Daily.

The post Demonstrations Take Place in Response to the New Vic Project appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Rising average grades, a phenomenon commonly referred to as grade inflation, has been a prominent subject of discussion across North American universities since the early 1960s. The McGill Enhanced Crowdsourced Averages data, an unofficial collection of class averages across all McGill faculties since 2013, confirms that grade averages have been climbing steadily (as observed Figure 1). 

The original grading system in Canada – modelled after the British system – was structured where no more than five per cent of students were awarded A’s, and another 30 per cent given B’s. However, Canadian universities have steadily been seeing an increase in these letter grades. In the 2019-2020 school year at Western University, a significant increase in the percentage of students receiving A’s and B’s than in previous years was found. Other universities experiencing grade inflation include the University of Toronto and the University of Waterloo. 

Figure 1:

At McGill, between the Fall 2021 and Summer 2022 terms, 14.7 per cent of grades distributed were a 4.0, or A according to McGill’s undergraduate grading system. 37.4 per cent of grades distributed were a 3.7 or A-.  This means that 52 per cent, or over half, of all undergraduate courses had average grades of an A or A-. This calculation does not include average grades from courses with fewer than 25 students per McGill’s policy which bars provided averages for these courses.

In December 2020, McGill Senate approved an additional S/U (satisfactory/unsatisfactory) option for the Fall 2020 and Winter 2021 terms to accommodate students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The option allowed for students to choose up to six credits (over the fall and winter terms) to be graded as S/U, if in accordance with faculty policies. As for the school year class averages, the University notes that “class averages showing on transcripts for Fall 2020 and Winter 2021 may not be reflective of true class averages in those terms.” The crowdsourced averages do not include S/U grades, but if students during this time opted to forego a letter grade, there would be fewer grade letter averages to look at from those classes. 

McGill’s grade distribution can differ depending on the faculty. In the Faculty of Engineering, letter grades do not automatically correspond with McGill’s undergraduate numerical grading scale, and are instead up to the professor’s discretion. 

The Desautels School of Management has made an attempt to combat grade inflation through its bell curve grading policy. Additionally, the faculty only permits a change in the distributed grading scheme if there is “unanimous consent of all students registered in the course,” decreasing the likelihood of an adjustment. However, the faculty saw a change in this policy in 2019 that increased the required class average grade of between 65 and 74.9 per cent to 65 and 77.5 per cent. 

Next year, there will be new changes made to the Desautels grading policy in accordance to the newly instated Policy on the Assessment of Student Learning (PASL), according to Vice Dean and professor of Desautels Genevieve Bassellier. Students in the past have complained about the fairness of the current grading curve at Desautels, while some have argued its importance in stabilizing averages. When asked about the goal of changing the grading policy, Professor Bassellier says, “providing a new policy is a step toward encouraging instructors and the Desautels community to reinforce principles and objectives that promote learning and pedagogical excellence in the classroom.”

When asked if these possible changes to Desautels’s grading policy would have an effect on the level of course difficulty, Desautels Assistant Professor Sentao Miao says that “personally I will be consistent with previous years. I think the current range of GPA is reasonable, and I do like to maintain the difficulty within this range. Of course if the students are particularly good, I see no problem giving them a higher overall GPA.” 

A particular problem associated with grade inflation is the subjectivity of grading. According to the Charter of Students’ Rights, Articles 12-14,  “the evaluation of a student’s performance in a course shall be fair and reasonable, and shall reflect the content of the course.” However, this can be difficult when assignments are subjective. According to Professor Miao, “for more subjective grading such as course projects, I will try to maintain a similar standard as previous years. As a result, the GPA should objectively reflect the performance of students in my class.”

When asked their opinion on the grading system at Desautels and the school-wide grade inflation, Professor Miao says, “personally I’m against both GPA inflation and GPA range requirement. In the ideal situation, all students should be graded fairly and consistently, without any restrictions and concerns. That said, I do notice GPA inflation happens everywhere in North America. The only benefit of raising class average I could imagine is that McGill students (in the short run) won’t have the low GPA disadvantage when they apply to graduate schools or jobs. However, in the long run GPA inflation does hurt the reputation of McGill so I’m still not a fan of it.”

The possibility of removing barriers against grade inflation creates a unique discussion to what effects it will have on both students and universities. One concern relating to grade inflation is the “dilution of attaining a degree”, meaning that the value of achieving a degree decreases as it becomes easier to accomplish. However, labeling degrees as easy to attain can be harmful to the achievements of first-generation and marginalised students.

Another concern about inflated grades is that it will decrease students’ motivation to work hard in school. Though it is difficult to prove that A’s are distributed for the same work that in the past would have received a lower grade. Another view is that attaining higher grades could also be seen as boosting confidence in new fields. For example,​ female students are more likely than male students to switch their fields of study if they earn low grades in introductory courses, but with higher grades, there could be a higher retention rate in male-dominated fields such as science and engineering.  

GPA information is likely to be used during a hiring process when candidate pools are large. More than half of employers eliminate applicants from the hiring process if their GPA falls below a 3.0. However, there are issues with GPA when it comes to equity in hiring; higher GPA cut scores correlate with a greater risk of a negative impact on employment equity groups. Additionally, GPA’s do not reveal the rigour of the grading system of the university the degree was received from. This can eliminate candidates qualified for the job but under qualified based on their GPA.

No McGill faculties – with the exception of Desautels – have introduced measures to protect against grade inflation. Since it is unclear the exact root causes of rising grades, it may be difficult for the University to combat or stabilize grade inflation. However, if there is no change in the upward trend of class averages, the topic of grade inflation will be an ongoing debate in the McGill community. 

The post  Grade Inflation at McGill is not a Myth appeared first on The McGill Daily.

The last review, in March 2019, was a “big overhaul in the policy,” according to Marcotte. Bill 151, a Quebec law passed in December 2017, required all post-secondary institutions to adopt a policy to prevent sexual violence by January 1, 2019, and to implement it by September 2019. In 2019, McGill, UQAM, and several CEGEPs missed the adoption deadline. At the time, McGill Principal Suzanne Fortier told the Daily that the university did not miss the deadline set by the province, as McGill adopted a sexual violence policy in 2016. Regardless, Quebec Liberal MNA and former minister for higher education Hélène David – who put forth Bill 151 – called out institutions like McGill for lagging behind the province’s deadline, characterizing this lag as “unacceptable.”

McGill has formed an implementation committee in accordance with Section 9 of the current Policy. This committee is composed of various administrators, representatives from the Student Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society (SACOMMS) and OSVRSE, and student representatives. As Marcotte told the Daily in an interview, “That [implementation] committee has been meeting on a regular basis for the past three years to evaluate the implementation of the policy [and] to make recommendations. And so the boarding group will be looking at those recommendations as well as the recommendations of the different stakeholder groups,” such as SSMU and the Post-Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS). The university is not soliciting student feedback beyond the presence of these stakeholder groups on the committee and Policy Working Group.

In Spring 2021, McGill launched the Office for Mediation and Reporting (OMR), which now serves as the main site to receive formal reports of sexual violence. Other resources for survivors currently include OSVRSE and SACOMSS. Since 2019, McGill has also implemented a mandatory sexual violence education program called “It Takes All of Us,” modelled after a course at Concordia University. This four-module program is online and all students, staff, and faculty are expected to complete it. Students have taken issue with the sexual violence education program since it was released. The recommended duration of the program is 45 minutes, but there are options that can allow students to complete the program in a matter of minutes. Incompletion of “It Takes All of Us” will result in a hold on add-drop functions for students. Students who have already registered for Winter courses are immune to this consequence, as well as students graduating at the end of the semester. It is unclear whether there is a consequence for staff and faculty.

In December 2020, five McGill students started a petition for the university to “take action” against a first-year male student they accused of sexual assault. Two of the five allegations included rape while the survivor was intoxicated. Within three days, the petition gained over 50,000 signatures. Throughout the investigation, the administration received several complaints about the ongoing presence of the accused student in residence and in classes. This is contrary to the current sexual violence policy, which states that a student that poses as a risk of harm to any member of the university community can be subject to pre-emptive disciplinary action – meaning it would be permissible to remove this student from residences and classes where survivors were present. 

McGill is bound by Quebec privacy laws, or the “code of silence,” to not share information on any particular case, ongoing investigation, or outcome related to allegations of sexual assault. Because of this, survivors are not informed of the nature of the sanctions imposed on the aggressor – or if the aggressor was sanctioned at all. The annual report on the sexual violence policy in 2020 – the same year as the aforementioned petition was distributed – states that the disciplinary measures imposed on aggressors that year included admonishment and conduct probation, formal reprimand, and orders to cease and desist communication and contact. The report also states that only eight of the nine found sexual violence cases were disciplined by McGill. 

Section 99 of Bill 64 will mandate institutions of higher education in Quebec to allow survivors to request information surrounding the details and outcomes of disciplinary processes on a confidential basis beginning in September 2023. However, it is unclear whether this new legislation will allow survivors to request information about past cases. Community members have been advocating for an end to the code of silence for a long time: an online petition to end the code began in Fall 2020, and Bill 64 was enacted a year later, in Fall 2021.

McGill’s sexual violence policy states that a “Special Investigator shall conduct and complete an investigation within 90 Days” of a report of sexual violence. When asked if this could change, Marcotte told the Daily that this time frame is not up to the university. The 90 day time frame is set by Quebec law for educational institutions to investigate reports of sexual violence. However, Marcotte added that “there are interim measures put in place to ensure the safety of the participants while they’re studying or working on campus. And that is something in which the person […] filing the complaint has a lot of say. They are asked what their concerns are, what their needs are, and what we need to be. But then also due to the code of conduct, they’re not going to know what’s happening on the other end.”

According to the current policy, reported cases are meant to be immediately filed with a special investigator trained in “trauma-informed processes and in the manner in which persons of diverse identities might experience Sexual Violence” and procedural fairness. According to Marcotte, McGill works with two law firms and has contracts with the firms to do sexual violence investigations.

There have been concerns about how COVID-19 has affected the response to sexual violence cases. Marcotte told the Daily, “I think it was obviously a surprise for everybody in terms of how serious the pandemic was. And there was an adjustment period that I think was felt there, as with any office in terms of moving online and continuing to offer services.” Marcotte added, “That said, there was no gap in services in terms of either offering support or helping people through the policy itself.” Prior to the pandemic, certain cases were done at a distance, according to Marcotte. “The person who is a survivor – the person filing the complaint – does not have to be a current McGill member. So, sometimes that meant that people who are in different cities or even countries could file a complaint if they wanted to. And so we’ve offered interviews via distance and support.” However, one survivor interviewed by the Daily last week explained that their case “fell through the cracks” at the onset of the pandemic.

According to the 2020 annual report, “12 investigations were completed within the 90-day delay set by the Policy. 4 investigations started in mid-March 2020, just as Quebec began lockdown measures, and exceeded the 90-day delay.”

In this current review of the Policy Against Sexual Violence,  representatives from various groups are involved in the “working group” process, according to the policy itself. These include OSVRSE, SACOMSS, Human Resources, SSMU, PGSS, and University Residences/Student Housing, among others. Each group is represented by just one representative, and the review of the policy is chaired by the Provost or a delegate. The working group also looks at recommendations made by the Implementation Committee, which contains student and staff representation.

The 2021 annual report on the sexual violence policy states that the March 2022 policy review “will be an important opportunity to strengthen the Policy and associated resources further.” It adds that “any proposed revisions to the Policy that result from this review process will be presented to Senate and the Board for review and approval.”

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence or harassment and needs support, you can contact:

Office for Sexual Violence Response, Support, and Education (OSVRSE)

Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS)

Reporting Sexual Violence

Sexual Violence Support

The post Sexual Violence Policy Renewal appeared first on The McGill Daily.

For the first time, the Black Law Students’ Association of Canada (BLSA) will survey Canadian law schools to compile a ranking of law schools for Black students. As advertised on the BLSA Twitter page, the BLSA will conduct research that looks at law schools across the country. According to Fanta Ly, a supporting committee member of the BLSA at McGill (BLSAM) and BLSA national mentorship representative, this survey will take into account the application processes, scholarships, responses to discrimination, and the experiences of Black students and faculty at each school. Ly says the rankings should be completed by the end of this summer.

In an interview with the Daily, Ly explained that “McGill is really the only educational environment that I’ve been in where anti-Black racism was so intense and so repeated that it impacted my ability to do my studies.” This has prompted her to get involved in initiatives – such as the Action Plan to Address Anti-Black Racism at McGill, BLSAM, and the national BLSA – aiming to combat anti-Black racism at McGill and at the national level. 

In her role as the BLSA national director of mentorship, Ly focuses on the retention rate of Black law students. She estimates the usual number of Black law students being eight out of 186 students in the faculty. At the University of Calgary in 2020, three of the more than 350 law students were Black.

Increasing Black representation is a goal of many of Canada’s law schools. In 2020, the University of Toronto launched the Black Future Lawyers Program, which gives Black students the opportunity to participate in job shadowing programs, workshops, and a “special application process” for prospective students, among other resources. Many Canadian law schools have established initiatives encouraging Black students to apply to their programs in recent years. Western University’s Faculty of Law now offers $1,000 packages to five Black undergraduate applicants to financially support them in the application process. In June 2021, the University of British Columbia announced that its Faculty of Law would fund the tuition of 15 Black students using $225,000 donated by various lawyers from the province. 

Ly told the Daily, “For scholarships, you’ll notice that a lot of the new ones are only four years [for Black students]. For other scholarships, there is an endowment.” These endowed scholarships exist in perpetuity, providing the scholarship recipient with long-term payment – as opposed to the short-term money received for a four-year scholarship.

These initiatives will be considered as part of the BLSA’s rankings. Ly says, “Right now what we are doing is putting together all of the initiatives that were put forth last year and comparing what [the law schools] are doing. I’m reaching out to an admissions officer right now just to get an idea of what their plan is.” The rankings will serve to facilitate a national conversation to compare the actions of various law schools, according to Ly. She adds, “But [the Canadian law schools] don’t want to have [a conversation] because they’re scared of having a discussion on anything related to anti-Black racism, or they just don’t care.”

At McGill, the BLSAM and the Admissions Office team host a Law School and Diversity Information Session each fall. The goal of the session is to reach out to marginalized student groups at universities and CEGEPs in the Montreal area who might be interested in pursuing a career in law. According to McGill’s diversity and inclusion statement on the Law Faculty website, “We believe that it is essential to our excellence as an institution that our community reflect the diversity of the society our students will serve as jurists after they graduate.”

According to Ly, Black law students have informed McGill about the discrimination they have faced. Ly says, “Last fall, two students – I’m one of them – filed a complaint against McGill at the Quebec Human Rights Commission. It’s actually a common thing. McGill has gotten a lot of complaints through there because the internal process is an incredibly flawed process. I went through it myself as well last year.”

Ly adds, “As part of my complaint I tried to do a systemic argument as well. So, I met with a lot of alumni. I spoke with a lot of people. I documented testimonies. I’ve been getting numbers of the amount of students that were kicked out of the program or that dropped out.” This type of research led her to realize the value of the information she was collecting and the benefit it would serve to Black students applying to law school. This information, when included in the BLSA rankings, would also serve as a form of accountability, according to Ly.

Ly informed the Daily of an incident she faced regarding a motion on anti-Black racism she wanted to put forth as a part of her role on faculty council. Ly said, “I have the right to present a motion. I wanted to put a motion on anti-Black racism, and then the Dean refused. I called him out on it, and he tried to reintroduce it.” Ly then refused in fear of retaliation. She said, “If you call things out, there’s a big price to pay.”

Asked about anti-Black racism incidents she has faced, Ly cited the overturning of student rights as she was applying for a minor. Previously, a law student needed a 2.7 GPA to apply for a minor. However, Ly explained that approving a student’s application for a minor is now “at the discretion of the faculty. So, they changed the website and they changed the minor. But the Student Charter of Rights says that no policy can be changed retroactively [to] the detriment of the student.” This came after Ly had previously filed a complaint with McGill’s Faculty of Law concerning anti-Black racism.

McGill’s Faculty of Law faced controversy in October 2021, when Black students urged the faculty’s dean, Robert Leckey, to take accountability for his discrimination against Black students. The Twitter page @BlackAtMcGill wrote that Leckey was ignoring Black students who have “written to him reporting feeling suicidal due to the unabated harassment and discrimination they experienced at the Faculty of Law.” Leckey also ignored the threats and academic retaliation that Black students were subject to after denouncing Associate Dean Rosalie Jukier’s racist and ableist management, according to the page. The Twitter page states: “It is time for McGill’s Faculty of Law to uphold the equality principles they teach but deny Black students, and for McGill’s Equity Office to break with its usual complicit and oppressive silence and creases replicating through deceptive policy the same prejudice and biases it has been mandated to present and redress McGill-wide.”

Ly told the Daily, “Before, administrators could hide behind the fact that they weren’t aware of what [Black students] were experiencing. I remember I sent an email outlining everything I’ve experienced and then the Dean responded by saying, ‘We gave you a stipend.’” Ly posted on Twitter that Dean Leckey gave her a $13,000 stipend last summer which Leckey wrote was to “support her summer studies.” Ly wrote in her post that she wants to remind all McGill law graduates that “Dean Leckey uses your money to silence Black students. Sorry, my humanity is not for sale and this Faculty needs to stop traumatizing Black students.”

Ly hopes that the BLSA rankings will provide Black students looking to apply to law school with information she wishes she had before applying. As another goal, Ly says, “My idea is to also share [the rankings] with the Canadian Bar Association and other bodies that have some type of relationships with law schools. It could be partners, law firms, donors.”

When asked about how often the rankings will be made, Ly told the Daily, “It’s going to depend on the resources that we have, but I think that every two years would be a more feasible timeline. But at least having on [the BLSA] website something that updates students on what is happening [at each law school].”

The post BLSA to Survey Law Schools across Canada appeared first on The McGill Daily.

At the beginning of Winter 2022, the AUS recruited two note-takers on a first-come, first-serve basis for each course that is included in the pilot program. Note-takers will be expected to provide notes for each lecture so the AUS can compile lecture notes into a “course pack style”. According to the AUS VP communications, course packs will be released on the AUS website prior to the final exam period, and students will have free access to the lecture notes. The pilot program consists of the following courses: ECON 208, POLI 227, PSYC 215, and SOCI 211.

The AUS has opted for a course pack style of notes since the program is a pilot project, according to Rajkumar. She told the Daily, “with the complications of returning in person, there are other working groups such as SSMU and the AUS arts representatives alongside the Associate Dean of Arts who are working on weekly note taking initiatives. So we are just doing a small pilot project on another system to see if it would benefit students as well.”

In an interview with the Daily, Alexandra Mirescu, the VP Academic of McGill’s Science Undergraduate Society (SUS), explained the note-taking and note-editing processes within the Science Faculty at McGill. Mircescu edited notes as a part of her role as a U1 representative for McGill’s Microbiology and Immunology department (MIMM) in 2019. According to Mircescu, programs within McGill’s science faculty sell note packs, or NTCs, to its students. 

Both McGill’s Anatomy and Cell Biology Students’ Society (MACSS) and McGill’s Biology Student Union (MBSU) offer just a few courses as a part of their NTC programs. Mirescu acknowledges that limited numbers of courses in NTC-type programs are largely due to the demand for quality note packs. She says, “You have to make sure that your [note] writers are writing in a good format — you do have to quality-check a lot. Already four or five classes a semester for one VP Academic can be a lot.”

For the AUS pilot program, lecture notes will be checked for quality by the AUS. Rajkumar says, “this process will likely look like myself (VP Academic) along with one or two other execs, going through the class syllabus, cross referencing this with the notes that were given to make sure that information aligns.” The AUS is currently in the process of communicating with other faculty executive teams to find out how they conduct quality checks and “will likely add more to the process if there are other processes and steps that could be of benefit.”

As for the OSD note-sharing system, peer notes are subject to randomized quality checks that are coordinated by the OSD. However, the Office does not “verify the accuracy or note quality for all individual courses.” 

This year, the Microbiology and Immunology Association (MISA) hired editors to “bring up the quality of the notes” rather than solely relying on representatives and the VP Academic position, according to Mirescu. When asked about the price point of the NTCs associated with the Science Faculty, Mirescu says, “We still charge a fee. At the end of the day, NTCs can be thought of as a service.” MISA sells their NTCs at $10 for a set of three lecture notes or $35 for the entire course. The profits from the NTCs go towards paying the note-takers and editors. Note takers are paid about $13 per lecture, according to Mirescu. 

Other programs within the science faculty use the money made from NTCs to benefit their program. McGill’s Anatomy and Cell Biology Students’ Society (MACSS) uses the profits made from NTCs to fund the society’s events and scholarships. The society charges its students $40 for notes and $15 for a question pack. Just recently, the MIMM council has been in contact with the OSD to offer their NTCs to the Office for free, following last year’s decision of McGill’s Biology Student Union (MBSU) to provide its NTCs, according to Mirescu.  

For the AUS pilot program, the note-takers will be compensated with $50 during midterm season in February and an additional $50 given before final exams in April, according to the AUS VP communications. Since the pilot program will be posting their notes for free on the AUS webpage, there will be no incoming revenue associated with the pilot program.

Before Fall 2019, note-sharers were paid $50 per class for their notes made available to students through the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD). Now the role is an unpaid volunteer position, and note-sharing students are credited with 10 hours of volunteer service per course on their co-curricular record (CCR). They are also eligible to win one of the ten available $50 gift cards through a draw. 

Currently, free peer notes are available through the OSD for students with disabilities that “impact their ability to take comprehensive notes” during classes. Students looking to receive notes can meet with an OSD Access Services Advisor to determine if they are eligible. The OSD notes that they are not able to guarantee a note-sharer for each course. If there is a volunteer note-sharer, they will be expected to upload their lecture notes on the OSD Note-Sharing page in myCourses after the add/drop deadline of the semester. 

The hope of the AUS pilot program is to broaden the availability of notes to students while not requiring students to be registered with the OSD. According to the AUS, though they are beginning with a small number of classes to keep the startup manageable, they also are looking to expand the program in the near future. Rajkumar says, “The goal would be to see how this goes, survey if it was of use to students, and then expand in fall — likely hiring a note taking coordinator. This position alongside VP Academic could run a sufficient program for all courses or as many as someone is willing to note-take for.”

The post AUS Launches New Note-Taking Pilot Program appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Fortier became the university’s 17^th Principal and Vice-Chancellor in September 2013. She was reappointed for her second term as Principal beginning in 2018. She has served as an important figure to McGill’s community, working hard to ensure the success of McGill’s students and faculty. She also received criticism throughout her tenure, with multiple policy-related controversies and issues surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

A McGill graduate herself, Fortier received a BSc (1972) and a PhD in crystallography (1976). In 1982, she went on to become a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and in the School of Computing at Queen’s University until 2006. During her time at Queen’s, Fortier occupied two administrative positions: from 1995 to 2000, she served as Vice-Principal (Research), and from 2000 to 2005 she served as the Vice-Principal (Academic). Beginning in 2006, she held the role of the President of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) until 2013 before returning to McGill as Principal. Currently, she is a member of many boards, some of which are the HEC Paris International Advisory Board, Board of the McCall MacBain Scholarships at McGill, Board of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), and Board of Directors of Montreal International. She also serves as Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global University Leaders Forum (GULF).

During her tenure at McGill, Professor Fortier has worked on the McGill Commitment, established in 2015, which has led to more research and academic opportunities for McGill’s students and faculty. Principal Fortier has also prioritized working towards McGill’s full research potential. This includes ensuring McGill as a top research-intensive university and increasing the impact of research conducted at the university. Other priorities include enhancing McGill’s partnerships, ensuring a healthy workplace, and working to transform campus to be a safe and welcoming environment for all of McGill’s community.

Professor Fortier is involved in initiatives along with the Vice-Chancellor and her colleagues, which aim to build upon McGill’s strengths on the local, national, and global level. These initiatives include the Principal’s Task Force on the Academic Vision and Mission of the RVH Site, Association of American Universities (AAU), Global University Leaders Forum (GULF), and U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities. One initiative, Respect and Inclusion in Campus Life, has led to disagreement on what the University should be prioritizing in terms of inclusivity and academic freedom. In October 2020, a white professor at the University of Ottawa faced heavy criticism after saying the n-word during a lecture. The professor and those who took her side said that punishing this act would be a violation of academic freedom, and the professor was reinstated. Fortier wrote in a message to the McGill community discussing McGill’s academic freedom and inclusivity: “I believe that abandoning one principle in favour of another is not the solution. Rather, these situations call upon us to engage in active listening and dialogue so as to understand the cause of the conflict and to learn.”

In recent years, Fortier has received pushback when it comes to the Mission of the RVH Site. In 2020, the SSMU as well as other organizations criticized the University’s vision for the Royal Victoria Hospital site in an open letter because the Quebec government’s decision to give a significant portion of the site to McGill University was made “without any consultation with civil society or local citizens, and without debate in the National Assembly.” The SSMU could not obtain a copy of a formal analysis of a process of consultation with the community, though the University insists they completed and carried out the process.

During her time in Office, Fortier contributed to the establishment of the Sexual Violence Response Policy. In 2017, she received criticism for her stance on McGill’s policy within the context of reports of alleged sexual violence against a McGill professor that went seemingly unaddressed. In a 2017 exchange with campus media, the Daily asked about the administration’s lack of investigation into allegations of sexual assault committed by professors. Fortier responded, “If there’s a serious allegation, we will investigate. Now, we will investigate in the context in which we live, which has a respect for privacy, and a respect for […] universal justice. […] Sometimes people in society in general, and at McGill, want to have a public disclosure when this is not allowed, not permitted, and not appropriate.” 

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Fortier faced an increasingly difficult challenge. The university did not impose a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, though many universities outside of Quebec did. This decision to not require McGill’s community to be vaccinated sparked criticism from both students and faculty, and has since been upheld. In Fall 2021, Fortier wrote in a message to the McGill’s community saying, “From the beginning, the University has made clear its expectation that all members of our community should be vaccinated, unless they cannot do so for medical reasons.” Rather than a mandate, Fortier and the McGill administration have relied heavily on Quebec’s vaccination passport to incentivize McGill students and faculty to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

The University’s Chair of the Board of Governors, Ram Panda, said in a statement to the McGill community that Fortier received additional money to her whopping baseline salary of $470,000 under the university’s executive retirement plan. In total, Fortier received over $860,000 this year. McGill’s full professors earn an average salary of $137,485 yearly. Assistant professors earned an average salary of $84,094. Panda noted Fortier’s public salary’s comparability to the salaries of other U15 research universities.

Until officially stepping down as McGill’s principal in August, Fortier “will remain focused on building on the strong foundation of McGill University, embedded in its Mission and Principles.” She added in her message to the community, “I will continue to help steer our University safely to harbour, through what I hope will be the tail end of the COVID storm, so that my successor can sail in calmer waters towards a bright future for McGill.”

To select McGill’s next principal, an Advisory Committee will be formed in the coming months that will recommend candidates. The committee is made up of two representatives from the Senate, Board of Governors, Board of Directors of the Alumni Association, and others. The SSMU will be represented by one member, and the Post-Graduate Students’ Society will also be represented by one member. The appointment of Fortier’s successor will be approved by McGill’s Board of Governors before they take Office.

The post Principal Suzanne Fortier will step down in August 2022 appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Since December 15, Canada has set a non-essential travel advisory for travel outside of the country. In other words, the government discourages travelling outside Canada for non-essential purposes, but it does not ban this type of travel. As McGill’s winter break began December 21, shortly after the advisory was released, many international students followed through with their travel plans to return home. Quebec implemented a lockdown beginning on December 26, and added further restrictions on December 31. The lockdown prompted the closure of all schools, restaurants, and bars, while a curfew of 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. was imposed, among other restrictions. Despite the end of the curfew on January 17, 5,400 new COVID cases in Quebec were reported that same day, leaving students abroad to anxiously await what it will be like to return to Montreal.

McGill international student Adam Nsouli is currently at home in Dubai and has already delayed his return to campus by two and a half weeks. When asked about his concerns returning to Canada, Nsouli answered: “I’m concerned about whether I need to quarantine upon arrival, as there doesn’t seem to be one definitive answer on whether I need to do so or not.”

At the Canadian border, travellers may be selected for randomized testing. For those selected for this arrival-testing, travellers who have only been in the U.S and Canada in the past 14 days are exempt from quarantine while waiting for test results. However, if a traveller who has been outside the U.S. or Canada in the last 14 days is randomly selected for testing, they are not exempt and must quarantine until they receive a negative test result. Those who have tested positive for COVID-19 within the past 15 to 180 days are not required to test upon arrival. The government advises that air-travellers pre-register for their potential arrival testing in order to speed up the process.

All travellers entering Canada that do not possess Canadian citizenship and are above the age of five must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 – currently, a third dose of the vaccine is not required to be considered fully vaccinated. Proof of a negative molecular COVID-19 test taken within the past 72 hours must also be provided. If a traveller is entering the country via flight, they must present proof of a molecular test taken within 72 hours of their flight departure. For non-air travellers, the test must have been taken within 72 hours prior to their arrival time at the border. Proof of a previous positive test result taken within the 15 to 180-day threshold is also accepted in lieu of the negative test result. As for proof of vaccination, travellers are required to upload their vaccination information via the ArriveCAN form. This form requires basic information about the traveller, their travel document (i.e. passport), previous location and destination, COVID-19 symptoms, and a plan to quarantine in case of positive results. The form is required upon entry at the border and can be filled out on the ArriveCAN app. 

If the traveller is unable to present proof of a valid COVID-19 negative test result, they may face difficulties getting through the border. For a Canadian citizen, they will be allowed entry, but may be subjected to a fine of up to $5000 or face criminal prosecution. Travellers lacking the negative test result may also be required to go to a designated quarantine facility if they are symptomatic and do not have a quarantine plan. Non-Canadian citizens who do not have proof of a negative test result – or a positive result from the past 15 to 180 days – or exhibit COVID-19 symptoms, will be denied entry. For travellers unsure if they will successfully be able to enter or return to Canada, they can find out by answering a few questions on the government’s travel webpage.

At customs in the Montreal YUL airport, international travellers are first required to show their ArriveCAN receipt before proceeding to wait in line to use the kiosks. At the kiosks, travellers are required to enter in further information about their travels and get their photo taken. After receiving a receipt from the kiosk, travellers will once again wait in line until directed to a border agent who will confirm their travel details, quarantine plans, and ask other possible questions before determining whether they will be allowed entry. 

These travel measures have been in place since before the spread of the Omicron variant, but the increased cases, hospitalizations, and the lockdown in Quebec puts new pressure on the measures in place in terms of preventing new cases from entering the country.

Some students have already successfully gotten across the border and have been attending online classes in Montreal these past few weeks. Loane Nguyen, a McGill international student, had previously delayed her arrival back to campus from France, but has since returned to campus. She said, “I extended my flight by a week (from January 1 to January 8) after hearing about the latest [student residence] restrictions on top of Quebec’s [restrictions].” Nguyen explained that COVID-related restrictions while she was in France in late December were relatively loose. Nguyen said, “My family was able to visit other family members around France. We made sure to test ourselves via auto rapid tests every two days though. In the end, increasingly more people around me got COVID so it made me want to leave France before potentially catching it.” When asked about her experience at the Canadian border, she explained that the process was long due to her being selected for COVID testing. She added, “the nasal test was poorly done because they barely swabbed my nostril.” Since Nguyen was travelling from France, she had to quarantine for a day while she waited for her negative test result. McGill boasts over 30 per cent of its student population, or about 10,000 students, being international. As these students come back before the start of in-person classes, they will have to fulfill the necessary requirements to cross into Canada. These measures aim to curb the spread of COVID-19 and the Omicron variant as students return to campus before January 24.

The post How will Canada’s tight travel restrictions impact the return of McGill’s international students? appeared first on The McGill Daily.

A student can register with the OSD if they are experiencing academic or physical barriers and have a documented disability, mental health disorder, chronic illness, or other impairment. This does not apply, however, to a student who has contracted COVID-19. If a student needs academic accommodations solely based on concerns regarding exposure to COVID-19, they are to submit their request via Minerva; it is then processed by the Office of the Dean of Students. If a student struggles with long term effects after contracting COVID-19, registration with the OSD may be a possibility. The OSD emphasizes that accommodations are awarded on a case-by-case basis, depending on the student’s situation and medical documentation.

The wait time for an appointment is less than four weeks and is usually closer to around two weeks, per the OSD. Students can decide between booking an in-person appointment and an online appointment – according to the OSD, students generally prefer online appointments. Already registered students are eligible for a same-day drop-in appointment they can book on the booking page.

The OSD acknowledges that email response times are longer this year, as the Exam Centre has recently adapted to offer both in-person assessments and remote assessments which require coordination with instructors.

Typical accommodations the OSD provides can include exam accommodations, note taking support, learning resources, peer-to-peer supports, and assistive technology. The University has made significant cuts to the OSD’s budget, leading to changes related to the accommodations. Since the winter of 2019, students participating in note taking for other students are no longer compensated financially, despite the work being up to ten hours a week. The OSD has chosen to reward these students with volunteer hours and an entry into a draw for one of several gift cards at the end of the semester. Because of this change, there is an alleged shortage of note takers. 

Since the OSD is responsible for academic accommodations, the Office of the Dean of Students makes a point to emphasize the use of “academic considerations” as opposed to “accommodations” to differentiate between the roles of each office. As opposed to the OSD, the Office of the Dean of Students does not require medical documentation to receive academic considerations. According to the Office of the Dean of Students, the student may be “academically considered” with a flexible grading scheme, audio and/or video equipped teaching rooms, zoom recordings, past year recordings of classes, withdrawal from a course or courses, an “incomplete,” or a Leave of Absence. However, with the University reporting 85 per cent of classes being held in person, it remains unclear what percentage of these classes are being recorded. The Office of the Dean of Students cannot guarantee these academic considerations, but notes that they are flexible and other options may be considered. 

McGill has set these academic considerations in place for the Fall 2021 term but has not confirmed a plan for the Winter 2022 term. The University writes that if a plan is needed, it will be developed closer to the start of the term. However, in McGill’s response to questions from the Daily, the University discussed the launch of the Ad-Hoc Advisory Committee in early October. The Committee is mandated with advising the University on COVID-related decisions that affect academic planning and policies, focusing heavily on the Winter 2022 term.

Though there are offices responsible for handling different matters in regard to academic accommodations and/or considerations, students are allegedly being falsely directed in some cases. Student employees often face difficulties extending academic accommodations to their work, and McGill’s Human Resources has been known to direct student employees to the OSD, though its purpose is for academic accommodations. This lack of consistency of where student employees should go for work accommodations has yet to be addressed by the University or its offices.

As for the academic accommodation requests from the OSD, the reason for the increase remains uncertain. However, there are plenty of resources available for students looking for additional aid, whether they are facing an academic or physical barrier. These resources are distributed amongst different offices, and students should be aware of the different specialties they have and which will be most useful to them.

The post Academic Accommodations and the OSD appeared first on The McGill Daily.