As of September 23, all students have access to McGill’s new consent-focused sexual violence prevention program, “It Takes All of Us.” It is recommended that students go through the 45-minute program in one sitting. The program stops playing if the viewer leaves the webpage, but this does not prevent students from leaving the page open while they do something else. Each page features a pause button allowing students to stop the program momentarily if overwhelmed. However, students have noticed that all of the sections are skippable, allowing them to complete the program in mere minutes. Furthermore, the consequences for not completing the program – placing a hold on add-drop functions – do not affect students who have already registered for their winter courses or are graduating at the end of this semester.

The program presents valuable statistics and a generally healthy and realistic understanding of sex and consent. For students whose backgrounds do not include sex education, or who have a less comprehensive understanding of consent, “It Takes All of Us” could serve as a valuable introduction to respectful sexual interactions. But it is just that – an introduction. In order to be truly effective, McGill must follow up with the tangible support that it is not currently providing.

A 45-minute online program cannot, and will not, solve McGill’s sexual violence problem. The program’s stated goal is to “increase awareness of social violence in order to shift campus culture to one of respect and consent.” Sexual violence is not a secret epidemic – certainly not on a university campus, and assuredly not at McGill. The Campus Climate Survey Validation Study showed that an average of one in ten (and up to one in five) undergraduate women experience sexual assault in just one academic year. However, this estimate is conservative; these numbers are higher for LGBTQ+ people and people of colour, with Indigenous people facing almost triple the amount of sexual violence as non-Indigenous people. We are past the stage of raising awareness. We need meaningful action now.

“It Takes All of Us” is mandatory for teaching staff and administrators as well, but the consequences of failing to complete the program are unclear, and multiple professors report that they have not yet been notified of these requirements. According to the program’s FAQ, the module for teaching staff and administrators will not be available until January 2020, over six months after its initial release.

Over the past several years, McGill has shown repeated disrespect for students’ calls for a safer and better-informed campus environment, and has consistently failed to implement effective plans to combat sexual violence. The University’s first Sexual Violence Policy (SVP), which was only adopted in 2016, was not well-received by student groups, namely for not being pro-survivor and not providing adequate resources to report sexual violence. Prior to this, the University did not have an official policy and referred only to the Student Code of Conduct. On January 1, 2019, McGill missed the deadline to adopt an updated policy in compliance with Bill 151, a province-wide requirement on post-secondary sexual violence policies. By not providing compulsory training for all university officials, among other failures, McGill’s current SVP still does not comply with Bill 151 – which also needs improvement.

Prior to and during its implementation, students and student groups, including the Sexual Assault Centre of McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS), have expressed their issues with the updated SVP. Their concerns have been “consistently met with hostility and disparagement” by the administration, according to multiple open letters. These examples, which are by no means exhaustive, are indicative of McGill’s complete disregard for students and their needs, and for creating the community of “consent and respect” the administration claims to support.

Before McGill proclaims that “it takes all of us,” and that it’s our “communal” responsibility, the institution must do its part to address systemic imbalances of power that perpetuate sexual violence. As it stands, the burden of care falls on students who are forced to rely on whisper networks to protect themselves. McGill must provide adequate support for survivors of sexual violence, it must believe and encourage belief of survivors, and it absolutely must provide non-traumatic services for those who come forward. McGill’s administration gains social capital from student-run services such as SACOMSS, and from incredibly sensitive and effective in-person workshops like those run by Our Shared Spaces, despite having no active role in creating or running these programs. Real people leading workshops are able to accommodate survivors and their comfort zones, and to directly confront potential abusers and their internalized violent ideas.

As a student body, we must pressure McGill to provide adequate resources. A revamped “It Takes All of Us” could potentially serve as an introduction to the topic, but in-person follow-up sessions are necessary. We can pressure the administration to do better: send your criticisms and opinions to Angela Campbell, Associate Provost (Equity and Academic Policies) or to sv-education@mcgill.ca. Call or write to provincial representatives, specifically Hélène David (sponsor of Bill 151), and encourage them to push for more comprehensive sexual violence programs on university campuses, and to improve the content and enforcement of Bill 151. If you or anyone you know is struggling due to sexual violence, consider reaching out to SACOMSS.

This editorial was originally published in print on September 30, 2019. 

The post “It Takes All of Us” Is Not Enough appeared first on The McGill Daily.

The lack of access to clean drinking water in the Neskantaga First Nation is a clear human rights violation, indicative of the government’s purposeful disregard for Indigenous peoples in Canada. The First Nation has been under a boil water advisory and without access to safe tap water since 1995, which has fundamentally altered everyday life in the community. Prior to the elementary school’s closure on September 15, its filtration system had been a key source of safe, clean drinking water for Neskantaga First Nation residents alongside a temporary Reverse Osmosis Unit on the nearby Attawapiskat Lake. While the school was open, it was a normal part of the children’s day to fill water bottles and containers to take home to their families. This not only took critical time away from their education, but put the responsibility on children to provide safe, drinkable water for their families. 

Both the government and the media are characterizing boil water advisories as the results of “challenges [in] infrastructure,” as opposed to clear displays of racism and colonial violence through the government’s failure to provide basic life necessities to Indigenous communities. Despite having been promised a new water treatment facility by 2018, the First Nation is still waiting for an operational facility nine months after the deadline. 

On September 13, the Neskantaga First Nation made an emergency evacuation request to Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) for 188 of the residents most directly impacted, which included individuals with chronic illnesses, infants, and elderly people. Over 18 hours later, ISC rejected Chief Moonias’ evacuation request, which he announced to members and residents of the First Nation via Facebook. 

Kevin Deagle, Press Secretary for the Minister of Indigenous Services, stated that the Ministry had a “firm commitment to resolving this issue and ensuring access to clean water for [the] Neskantaga First Nation,” despite not having sent pump repair technicians to the community until 48 hours after the original request. The Neskantaga First Nation remains reliant on bottled water just months after Trudeau announced plans to ban single-use plastics. 

Following the rejection of their evacuation request, Chief Moonias called for a self-evacuation. As a result, the community is faced with financial uncertainty: residents are staying in hotels at their own expense in order to access safe drinking water. Councillor Allan Moonias stated that “it’s probably going to cost [the community] half a million dollars.” Seamus O’Regan, the Minister of Indigenous Services, told The Globe and Mail that the Ministry respects “Chief Moonias’ decision to evacuate his community and [is] focused on ensuring that community members […] have the health and wellness supports they need.” He vaguely added that the Ministry of Indigenous Affairs “will work to minimize any financial impacts that result from the self-evacuation,” with no clear indication of how much of the financial burden will fall back on the community. Indigenous Services Canada has also claimed that a new water treatment system will be ready in October, but community members are skeptical, given that the project was promised to be completed by 2018.

As areas across Canada are impacted by disparate water crises, it is important to keep context in mind. Chief Moonias expressed that he “will not involve [himself] in any discussion that will compare [the Neskantaga First Nation] with other First Nation communities.” He added, “our issues and crisis is unique and should be treated as such.” There are currently 56 separate areas in Canada affected by boil water advisories, each facing their own struggles and their own issues – all caused by the same government’s violence. We must condemn such violations of human rights and the Canadian government’s dismissal of people in crisis. In light of the upcoming climate march on September 27, we must recognize that sustainability practices which do not include Indigenous realities are counter-productive. While it is important to reduce plastic waste, the Prime Minister cannot call for a blanket ban on single-use plastics while the government’s willful inefficiency leaves many communities with no choice but to rely on them.

According to Chief Moonias, no GoFundMe page is affiliated with the Neskantaga First Nation at this time. You can support the Neskantaga First Nation by donating to the Gathering of Rivers for Community Care, a charity the First Nation is affiliated with through Matawa First Nations Management.

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The news coverage and rhetoric around Hurricane Dorian have been largely focused on the impact on the tourism industry, rather than on human lives and the material loss for the inhabitants of the islands. Even within the media’s misguided discussion of the country’s economy, the coverage remains classist. More than 70,000 Abacoans and Grand Bahamians who commute to Nassau, where they largely work on cruise ships or in the homes of the rich, are now displaced from their homes. This attention to tourism focuses on the wealthy foreign tourists, rather than on the racialized working class, whose labour upholds the tourism industry.

Hurricane Dorian is a direct manifestation of the climate crisis. However, the devastation caused by the hurricane is rarely linked to a larger discussion on who is impacted first and most severely by climate change. Natural disasters in the Caribbean must be contextualized and addressed as a result of environmental racism. While the US leads the world in greenhouse gas emissions, it is racialized populations who are primarily affected by “natural disasters,” and who are denied adequate disaster management response. Racialized climate refugees are then denied entry in countries like the US and criminalized should they manage to enter.

Great Abaco, one of the main islands hit by the hurricane, has large informal housing communities where Haitian refugees, who fled from the 2010 earthquake, have settled. Those housing communities are now gone as a result of the category five hurricane. “Everybody says, ‘Leave.’ Leave and go where?” said Jackson Blatch, one of the 20,000 residents of Great Abaco living in informal housing. With over 60,000 people in need of food and water, the Abacos and Grand Bahama are now left unlivable for thousands of Haitian refugees, who were already victims of environmental racism.

It will cost an estimated seven billion dollars to repair the damage in the Bahamas caused by Hurricane Dorian. Instead of providing aid to Grand Bahama and the Abacos, some people are encouraging tourism in Nassau as a means of offering support, while totally dismissing the crisis in Great Abaco and Grand Bahama. This means of “support” does not include resources that help communities in the Abacos or Grand Bahamas. Informal housing communities were already fighting for the state to fund the construction of permanent housing even before the hurricane’s damage. At the same time, the government was actively tearing down informal settlements and surveilling inhabitants with drone technology to prevent them from building new necessary housing. Making these islands livable again will take much more than tourism campaigns which bolster areas that mostly serve wealthy vacationers, not permanent residents. According to the UN, there are several communities that already do not have access to clean drinking water or sanitation. Effects of an oil spill, reported to have reached over 70-80 kilometers into the open ocean, render any remaining clean water unusable, and leave citizens needing both food and water assistance. Getting these islands back to a livable state will take immense combined efforts to rebuild homes and infrastructure, provide basic necessities, and clean up the environmental disasters in the hurricane’s wake. The burden of these efforts should not just fall on countries affected by the hurricane, but should include international aid, especially from former colonial countries.

We must reorient how we talk about climate change, recognizing that it disproportionately affects racialized populations and former colonies. We can support the Bahamas by donating to local funds such as the National Association of the Bahamas, and the Bahamas Red Cross.

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To make up for the removal of the permit requirement, the bill includes compensation for drivers with taxi licenses, but this is not enough. An elected representative from the Bureau du Taxi de Montreal, Hassan Kattoua, says that the formula used to establish compensation rates is punitive: “Transport Minister Francois Bonnardel […] wants to pay the value that the owners paid for their permit,” regardless of when they bought it. Taxi drivers are demanding to instead be compensated for the market value of their permits in 2014 – sometimes more than $200,000 – which has since plummeted with the arrival of ride-hailing apps in Quebec. Taxi drivers who took out large loans to pay for their permits years ago, or bought them as an investment to compensate for the extremely low wages they make annually, are now unable to resell them. Bonnardel’s compensation plan does not take this into account, and would unfairly offer compensations as low as $5,000 for those who purchased their permits 15 years ago. Moreover, the compensation offered by the provincial government to the taxi drivers is being paid for through royalties. A 90-cent royalty fee has been applied to each ride, meaning the government offloads the responsibility to the consumers.

Through this bill, the Quebec government is supporting ride-hailing apps like Uber. These apps, in addition to negatively impacting the taxi industry, are known for their poor treatment of workers. Because Uber has maintained that they are a “technology company” that hires “independent contractors,” Uber drivers are not able to unionize and obtain benefits, nor are they able to protect themselves against unsafe working conditions and biased rating systems. This is a legal maneuver that enables the company to then dismiss workers’ rights, including health care, work hours, and safety standards.

While it is important to be critical of ride-hailing apps, the taxi industry is itself monopolized by a few companies and investors who buy most of the set number of government-issued taxi licenses. Taxi drivers are then consequently forced to buy these licences at grossly inflated prices and rent them out to other taxi drivers to compensate for these costs. The added costs of monthly plate rent or loan repayment already render the taxi driver’s work precarious, which Bill 17 does not take into account. Many taxi drivers are thus pressured to leave the taxi industry and seek employment at ride-hailing companies with fewer regulations and fees, such as Uber.

We must be critical of both the taxi industry and ride-hailing apps, while also supporting labourers. Taxi drivers and ride-hailing app drivers are often pitted against each other. However, in both industries, workers are forced into precarious labour conditions for the profit maximization of their employers. Bill 17 deregulates taxi drivers’ work, privileging ride-hailing apps without any care for fair working conditions.

You can support the taxi strike by refraining from both ordering a taxi during the strike and using ride-hailing services as an alternative. We encourage you to think about the impact that you have when you use ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft. The reliance on taxi services also comes from a lack of public transit in the province; we must push for massive investment in public transportation infrastructure. If you are travelling at night, keep student-run services in mind, including Walksafe (514-398-2498) and Drivesafe (514-398-8040), which are free services offered through SSMU to McGill students.

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According to Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, over 76,000 fires are currently burning through the Amazon, which represents an 80 per cent increase compared to last year. The Amazon is the largest rainforest on the planet, and its ecological cycles regulate both regional and global climates. The destruction of even a small portion of this rainforest is accelerating the climate crisis and posing devastating environmental consequences that ultimately impact marginalized groups and Indigenous peoples the most

Conversations about the climate crisis tend to frame it as an unstoppable force, and the discourse surrounding the Amazon fires is no different. The blame is put on individuals to adopt different lifestyles and diets, ranging from veganism to the ban of single-use plastic. While these should be encouraged, we must keep in mind that only 100 corporations are responsible for 71% of global carbon emissions. The companies who produce and directly benefit from these fires, mainly within the agribusiness and mining sectors, should be the ones held accountable. These companies work hand in hand with the farright Brazilian government and have a shared interest in not only the destruction of the rainforest, but in the theft of land from and killing of Indigenous peoples.

Bolsonaro’s policies, which encourage deforestation for the development of agricultural land, are directly responsible for the spread of fires in the past few weeks. The fascist and antiIndigenous agenda of the government was made explicit in documents recently leaked by openDemocracy. According to the documents, Bolsonaro is promoting specific construction efforts and propaganda campaigns that serve to stop conservation efforts in the Amazon. The leaked presentation expresses the Brazilian government’s opposition to “globalist” efforts working with Indigenous peoples to “relativiz[e] the National Sovereignty in the Amazon basin,” and asserts the need for efforts including “psychological oppression” to oppose this movement. Under Bolsonaro, environmental regulations were also loosened, cutting penalties for breaking regulations and giving greater freedom to deforest. His environmental minister, Ricardo Salles, has also amended the Forest Law to expedite the granting of licenses to clear-cut the rainforest.

On August 26, Trudeau announced at the G7 Summit that Canada was pledging “$15 million and water bombers” to help combat the fires. This announcement was received with praise, as Canada remains seen as a leader in environmental protection. However, Trudeau’s government has simultaneously refused to halt negotiations with MERCOSUR, a South American, Brazilian-led trade block. Other countries, such as France and Ireland, decided to postpone the ratification of any agreement until Bolsonaro takes action to stop the fires, and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh demanded Canada halt the negotiations in an effort to apply international pressure on Brazil.

Trudeau said at the G7 summit that it is imperative for world leaders to “act for our planet,” and joined other Western leaders in publicly criticizing Brazil for its lack of action. Canada’s blatant hypocrisy not only enables Bolsonaro’s eco-fascist agenda, it also supports it by maintaining trade negotiations that directly concern the same companies that are destroying the Amazon forest. Furthermore, Canada’s actions render it complicit in the theft of land from and killing of Indigenous peoples, whose voices are being deliberately stifled by the Brazilian government.

Indigenous peoples who are voicing their criticisms and resisting occupation of their land are being criminalized under Bolsonaro. As a result of the loosening of environmental regulations, farmers and loggers, who are encouraged to seize Indigenous land for profit, have threatened and attacked Indigenous groups. Máximo França, a member of the Baré Indigneous people from the Amazonas state, explained, “we are facing a process of genocide with this government, also a process of ecocide.” “They are killing us every day; they are killing us with the fire that is happening, they are killing us when they displace us from our territories, when they invade our territories.”

Any discussion of the Amazon fires should be centred around Indigenous peoples’ struggle for liberation. The theft of land from, displacement, and intentional killing of Indigenous peoples in the region is directly connected to its destruction. Raoni Metuktire, an Indigenous Brazilian environmentalist and chief of the Kayapo people, states that the fires started by farmers across the region are a direct response to Bolsonaro’s fascist propaganda. He calls for international pressure on Bolsonaro and eventually for the deposition of the president through Congress and denounces “the anti-indigenous government of Jair Bolsonaro, who normalizes, incites and empowers violence against the environment and against us.”

The most effective way to help combat the destruction of the Amazon is to give space to Indigenous voices who have been relentlessly opposing the eco-fascist actions of the Brazilian government. Further, anti-colonial and environmental activism are inherently linked. Groups have already been organizing protests in front of the buildings of some of the major corporations investing in the Amazon. You can research what complicit companies are in your area and mobilize to pressure them into divesting from projects within the Amazon. You can also donate to Indigenous groups, rather than international NGOs like Greenpeace and the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, whose funds are rarely allocated directly to the communities affected.

The post Blame Fascism and Colonialism, Not Straws appeared first on The McGill Daily.

By banning the wearing of religious symbols and limiting access to public services, the bill explicitly targets Muslim people who wear the hijab, burqa, and niqab, Jewish people who wear the kippah, and Sikh people who wear the turban.

Proponents of Bill 21 hide behind the guise of secularism to push for this Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, and racist bill, arguing that it would strengthen the separation between church and state. This discourse around the need to create rules “to ensure secularism” only serves to perpetuate Islamophobic ideas. Secularism at a state level should not infringe on an individual’s right to religious expression. As the author and activist Arundhati Roy writes, “when an attempt is made to coerce women out of the burqa rather than creating a situation in which a woman can choose what she wishes to do, it’s not about liberating her, but about unclothing her. It becomes an act of humiliation and cultural imperialism. It’s not about the burqa. It’s about the coercion.”

The settler-colonial Québécois and Canadian states have been interested in forced assimilation since their foundation, and Bill 21 is nothing but another step in this project. By targeting these groups, the bill aims to erase the identities of those deemed “other” by a white, supposedly secular, French-Canadian society. Beyond religious discrimination, the fact that the bill will predominantly affect people of colour makes it a part of Quebec’s racist and colonial assimilation project.

In the aftermath of the Christchurch massacre, Quebec Premier François Legault stated, “I don’t think there is Islamophobia in Quebec.” This shows his complete disregard for the Quebec City mosque shooting in January 2017, and for the harassment that Muslim women across the province regularly experience on the basis of their religion and race. Bill 21 forces Muslim women to unveil themselves in order to use state services and limits their economic opportunities. Bill 21 is therefore Islamophobic.

The National Council of Canadian Muslims opposes the bill, stating, “we are now facing the blatant legalization of discrimination against minorities.” They have asked for the bill to be withdrawn and have already said they intend to fight “by every means available.” Two Montreal school boards have announced their refusal to enforce the bill: the English Montreal School Board and the Lester B. Pearson School Board. On April 5, SSMU firmly denounced Bill 21, saying that “this unnecessary bill will only exacerbate division in our society, and further marginalize communities already targeted by white supremacy.” There are also three demonstrations planned – one on April 7, one on April 12, and one on April 14.

The opposition to the bill is encouraging; it shows that many in this province are committed to fighting racism, anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia. However, given the CAQ majority in the National Assembly, it will take a huge amount of pressure for the bill to be retracted. We all have a responsibility to stop Bill 21. We urge you to join the sit-in in front of the Ministry of Immigration, Diversity, and Inclusion (287 Notre-Dame Street West) at noon on April 12, as well as to attend the demonstration on April 14 at Place Émilie-Gamelin (Berri-UQAM). We also encourage you to sign the open letter condemning Bill 21.

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The Queen Victoria statue, which was erected in 1900, stands today as a constant reminder of the centuries of imperial violence enacted across the globe by the British Empire, not least in Montreal. Colonial statues, and the entirety of the McGill campus, are situated on unceded land that was violently stolen from the Kanien’kehá:ka by colonizers like Queen Victoria. The statues of Queen Victoria, James McGill, John A. Macdonald, and other racist and colonial figures plague Montreal, despite numerous Indigenous and other activist groups asking the city to take them down.

John A. Macdonald is commemorated by a monument in Place du Canada, despite having actively perpetrated genocide against Indigenous peoples through measures such as residential schools and the promotion of an “Aryan Canada.” In the words of the Delhi-Dublin Anti-Colonial Solidarity Brigade, “public space should celebrate collective struggles for justice and liberation, not white supremacy and genocide.” To give colonizers validation through grand monuments is to honour the historical and ongoing violence that their legacies perpetuate.

Using paint has been an effective part of campaigns to remove racist statues elsewhere. In Halifax in May 2016, protestors doused a statue of Edward Cornwallis in red paint. Cornwallis was responsible for the “scalping proclamation” that offered cash rewards to anyone who killed a Mi’kmaq person. That action, combined with years of protest, led to the removal of the statue in 2018. Protestors in the US have also had success after employing similar techniques: a Confederate monument was removed from a Los Angeles cemetery after activists spray-painted the word “no” onto it, and a monument to Confederate soldiers in Maryland was removed after protestors spray-painted the phrase “Black Lives Matter” onto it.

The statues on campus and around the city stand at the expense of Indigenous peoples and their sovereignty. By refusing to take them down, McGill and the city of Montreal continue to perpetrate anti-Indigenous racism and to marginalize those who are harmed by the realities of colonialism and white supremacy. The “vandalism” of public monuments represents the denunciation of a shameful legacy of racist and violent colonialism. It is a refusal to continue to tolerate white supremacist self-congratulation. Statues created to honour imperialists and white supremacists have no place in public spaces.

As members of the McGill and greater Montreal community, we must be vocal in our denunciation of colonial monuments on campus and elsewhere. We cannot go on walking past these statues every day or taking pictures of them as if they are not explicit, concrete symbols of colonial violence. Instead, choose to actively oppose these racist statues in whatever way you see fit.

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This individual act of violence occurred within a society that has normalized the oppression and hatred of Muslims. The Christchurch massacre took place within a larger system of state-sanctioned white supremacy that manifests itself daily and perpetuates Islamophobia worldwide. Fascist leaders, such as Trump, fuel white supremacy through their constant demonization of Muslim people, both within their countries and abroad. When the US decides to drop a bomb on civilians in Syria, and when Trudeau praises this decision, they both reinforce white supremacy and create a culture in which the Christchurch terrorist attack is horrifically unsurprising.

Andrew Sandock, representing the World Islamic and Middle East Studies Student Association, said at the vigil for the Christchurch victims: “What is the difference between a white man who attacks a mosque in New Zealand with a gun, and a leader of a Western country who drops bombs on mosques in Afghanistan? Why is one called a terrorist attack on ‘peaceful’ Muslims, and the other an unfortunate but necessary event in the ‘fight for our freedom?’” Ensuring that a massacre like this never takes place again means that we must recognize the ways in which Western governments engage in white supremacist terrorism on a daily basis. The state regularly contributes to the mass dehumanization of brown people, to the point that their deaths overseas seem banal.

The Quebec City mosque shooting that occurred in 2016 is also inseparable from the policies that cultivate this hatred. Anti-immigrant sentiment and policies have been increasing across Canada, as have Islamophobic and xenophobic rhetoric within the government. The CAQ recently proposed banning the hijab for all public sector workers, which was treated as a matter of secularism, rather than being denounced for the racist, Islamophobic policy that it is. The fact that blatant Islamophobia is now considered a matter up for debate is indicative of the widespread suppression and marginalization of Muslim voices.

Moreover, the white supremacist ideology that motivated the Christchurch shooter cannot be separated from the spread of online fascism. From the violent manifesto the shooter published on 8chan prior to the attacks to the livestreaming of the massacre on Facebook, the Christchurch attack was made by and for the internet. White supremacist ideology is spread through Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, and fascist memes on platforms such as 4chan, 8chan, and private Facebook groups. This new form of fascist recruiting hides behind the facade of irony. It infiltrates online spaces, specifically gaming communities, to spread racial panic using fascist ideology and racist rhetoric.

Further, the attacks were live-streamed, mimicking the frame of first-person shooter video games. The popularity of these violent and graphic video games, in which the massacre of brown people is not only normalized but also encouraged, cannot be separated from the global white supremacist movement. The shooter specifically referred to Pewdiepie in his livestream, a YouTuber who has a worldwide following of over 91 million. Pewdiepie regularly normalizes anti-Semitism, anti-Black racism, Islamophobia and Nazi ideology in his videos. This behaviour is then dismissed as humour. Subscribers’ refusal to condemn online content producers who mask their intent, and excuse their deadly language as “jokes,” directly contributes to the spread of white supremacist ideology. While personal responsibility in the way we consume online content is fundamental, tech and social media companies complicit in the Christchurch shooting also need to be held accountable for passively condoning this rhetoric. As demonstrated by their purge of ISIS propaganda in recent years, platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Discord have the technological and financial means to ban terrorist propaganda. However, under the guise of free speech, most of these companies allow white supremacist rhetoric to thrive and organize on their platforms. This is evidenced by the publication of the horrifying livestream on Facebook and Twitter, which is still circulating long after the shooting. Fighting white supremacy also means fighting these insidious, normalized online fascist spaces.

The recent shooting in New Zealand, as well as in Quebec City, is a violent manifestation of white supremacy. White supremacy and xenophobia do not occur in a vacuum – they are systems upheld not only by those who commit acts of violence, but also by those who remain silent about them. White people need to recognize the ways in which they are complicit in white supremacy, and use their platforms and voices to call it out when they see it occurring. Tangible ways of doing this include: reporting white supremacist content when you see it online; boycotting creators who normalize it; pushing social media companies to de-platform and demonetize these creators; calling out family members and professors when they use racist rhetoric; actively opposing racist domestic and foreign policies; and being aware of your own positionality if you are a white person. We also urge you to donate to the fund for the victims’ families and the New Zealand Council of Victim Support Groups fund.

The post White Supremacy Caused the Christchurch Massacre appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Several reports have been released, including one from the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa, stating that Israel upholds “an institutionalised and oppressive system of […] domination and oppression over Palestinians as a group; that is, a system of apartheid.” Israel has violently encroached upon and stolen Palestinian land, segregating and confining Palestinians to ever-shrinking portions of their homeland. Palestinians are now restricted to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and blockades such as the Erez Crossing into Gaza have limited the transport of goods and the movement of Palestinians. In the first ten months of 2018, only 274 Palestinians were allowed to exit through the Erez Crossing each day, in contrast to 24,000 in 2010. Israel has also blocked fire trucks and ambulances from entering Gaza, denying Palestinians access to emergency medical care and denying Palestinians access to emergency medical care and resulting in numerous preventable deaths.

Apartheid does not stop at segregation; Palestinians also face constant racial discrimination. A telling example is the Nation-State Bill passed in 2018, which stated that Jewish people are the only ones to have the right to self determination in the country. Another salient example is the dual legal system which exists in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Palestinians live under military law, while Israelis are governed by civil law. The enforcement of military law has led to the detainment at least 220 Palestinian children for “crimes” such as throwing stones. Furthermore, Palestinians in the West Bank have more limited and more costly access to state services, including water and electricity, than Israeli settlers. In addition, separate roadways exist for Palestinians in the West Bank, including a recently built wall dividing Israeli and Palestinian drivers on Route 4370. This divided route allows Israeli drivers easy access to Jerusalem, while Palestinians are forbidden from using the Israeli side of the road without a special permit. Moreover, the Israeli Defence Forces use lethal violence against Palestinians who approach or attempt to cross fences between Gaza and the rest of occupied Palestine.

Supporters of Israel argue that the IAW should not exist because it endorses the BDS movement. This nonviolent movement calls on people, institutions, and governments to stop their complicity in the human rights abuses carried out by the Israeli government by boycotting, divesting from, and imposing sanctions on Israel. The BDS movement has been mischaracterized as anti-Semitic; this wrongly conflates the Jewish identity with the Israeli settler-colonial state. In the January 28 editorial, the Daily wrote more in-depth about the importance of the BDS movement in holding Israel accountable for its apartheid regime.

The obstinate denial that Israel is an apartheid and settler-colonial state speaks to the necessity of raising awareness about the ongoing violence and discrimination faced by Palestinians. The IAW in Montreal is taking place from March 18 to March 25, centering around the theme “Stop Arming Colonialism.” We encourage you to attend the various events happening throughout the week, which include panels, movie screenings, and workshops. We also encourage you to continue spreading awareness and standing in solidarity with Palestinians resisting the Israeli occupation after the week is over. You can do so by attending events, including those organized by McGill Students in Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR), Independent Jewish Voices McGill (IJV), and QPIRG, participating in demonstrations against Israeli apartheid, and engaging in the economic and academic boycott of the institutions that contribute to the occupation of Palestine.

The full list of events is available on Israeli Apartheid Week – Montréal Facebook page.

The full list of companies which contribute to the occupation of Palestine can be found here.

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Subsequently, in December 2018, the administration received the final report of the Working Group. Unlike the Task Force, the Working Group never provided a concrete statement of approval or disapproval of the name of the men’s varsity teams. An email sent on December 21, 2018, regarding a meeting of the Board of Governors, announced that a decision on the name change would be made in January. Fortier’s latest email contradicts that earlier statement, and further delays a decision. The administration’s bureaucratic procedures and multiple empty emails give the illusion of progress to the student body while doing nothing substantial. Fortier’s email perpetuates the racism of the name and insults student activism. Moreover, the only reason for delaying a decision is that the students who have, and continue to, mobilize, will eventually graduate, or lose momentum in their efforts.

The Working Group’s final report also noted that several major donors expressed attachment to the R*dmen name. In the report, donors stated that if the name was changed, “they would never again donate to McGill, they would discourage their children from applying to McGill, [and] they would ‘consider McGill dead to [them].’” The administration is failing its students by focusing on the monetary implications of changing the name instead of addressing its inherent racism. Further, Fortier’s email emphasizes consultation with “key stakeholders,” such as athletes and alumni. This dismisses the racism experienced by Indigenous students, as they are the only real “stakeholders” in this situation.

The final reports call for consultation with Indigenous students and organizations both on- and off-campus. In reality, these groups have already made their opinion clear: the name needs to change. SSMU Indigenous Affairs has campaigned all year to change the name. Tomas Jirousek, the SSMU Indigenous Affairs Commissioner, wrote an open letter to the administration where he stated that “the University’s tokenization of Indigenous people and initiatives to ‘Indigenize’ in order to defend the continued usage of the R*dmen name is morally reprehensible at best.” The Indigenous Student Alliance released a statement last November in support of SSMU Indigenous Affairs’ “Change the Name” campaign. The student body as a whole also supports a name change: on November 12, SSMU released the results of the “‘R*dmen referendum question,” in which 78.8 per cent of those who voted wanted the name to be changed. The report’s emphasis on further “consultation” is part of the administration’s attempt to delay the renaming process and ignore concerns from Indigenous students and groups that have already spoken.

In Fortier’s email, she asserted that she, and only she, will make the final decision concerning the name change by the end of the academic term. Fortier had the possibility to use her influence to push for a rapid change of the name after Indigenous students made their needs clear. Instead, as Shanon Fitzpatrick, Assistant Professor and supporter of the “Change the Name” campaign, explains, “[Fortier] has granted herself (by fiat) additional ‘time and space’ to consider the ‘opinions’ of various ‘stakeholders.’” The problem with Fortier assuming full responsibility for the decision is that she hasn’t shown any real concern for the demands of students and seems perfectly comfortable being complicit in preserving the toxic and racist history of McGill.

Fortier herself told us that “if you have yet to add your voice to the conversation, you can do so through the online form.” State your discontent and rally against the administration’s ongoing racism by attending Senate meetings. Enough is enough: the administration can no longer ignore the name’s racism in order to appease donors.

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As of January 1, 2019, McGill has missed the deadline set by Quebec’s Ministry of Education to update its sexual violence policy. Bill 151, passed in December 2017, mandates all post-secondary institutions in Quebec to adopt a new sexual violence policy, or to update their existing policies. Other institutions, such as Concordia University, have met the deadline, while Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and most CEGEPs have not. Although Bill 151 provides the first step to creating a more comprehensive sexual violence policy, it still has issues that need to be addressed. The Bill demands that the new policies include mandatory trainings for students and staff, a standardized complaint process, and support services for survivors. While these changes must be implemented by September 2019, our demands should not stop at Bill 151.

McGill’s current Policy against Sexual Violence was adopted in 2016, and received a grade of C- from OurTurn, a student movement that addresses sexual violence on campuses across Canada. According to Provost and Vice-Principal Academic Christopher Manfredi, the new policy is “in review,” and is expected to be completed in February and seek approval from the Senate in March or April. The current policy mandates compulsory training for counselling and front-line healthcare professionals, but not for other members of the university community, as Bill 151 stipulates. McGill’s Code of Student Conduct also does not explicitly include a section on relationships between students and teaching staff, which is mandated under Bill 151.

In a roundtable discussion with the Daily, Principal Suzanne Fortier maintained that McGill already introduced a policy on sexual violence in 2016, and therefore did not miss the deadline set by the province. Fortier’s argument neglects the fact that students still have to live with a policy that does not comply with provincial regulations.

The McGill administration has not done enough to address student concerns about its sexual violence policies. At last year’s walk-out, organized by the Concordia Student Union and SSMU, several hundred students demanded that the administration take action. This came after allegations of sexual misconduct emerged against at least five professors within the Faculty of Arts. McGill students called for an external investigation into sexual misconduct of professors and for a stand-alone sexual violence policy. The report published by the Ad- Hoc Committee on Teaching Staff-Student Intimate Relationships does not fully ban student-staff relationships. The administration has continually ignored student concerns over the inadequacy of the report. In response to students chanting “we want a ban” at a Senate meeting on December 5, Principal Suzanne Fortier said, “I think we all heard you. You don’t have to repeat that twenty times.”

McGill has failed to demonstrate that it is committed to ensuring the safety of students and supporting survivors. An open letter published a year ago by OurTurn and several other organizations included other recommendations to improve Bill 151. While McGill’s sexual violence policy is still being reviewed, we have the chance to push administration to exceed the requirements of Bill 151. McGill students have made clear through their actions that they advocate for a survivor-centric approach from the administration. Until then, the burden of care continues to fall on students.

While this continues to be a problem, there are ways to pressure the administration to improve their policy and overall attitudes regarding sexual violence. The first step is to follow the policy updates, and hold the administration accountable for the deadlines Manfredi announced. Secondly, you can email Angela Campbell (angela.campbell@mcgill.ca), who is in charge of the external investigation on teacher-student relationships to voice your concerns. Third, you can show up when demonstrations are organized on campus. Lastly, you can go to the next Senate meeting on February 20 and disrupt the event if nothing has been done by then.

SACOMSS and O-SVRSE are on-campus resources for students who have experienced sexual violence.

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In November 2018, Coastal GasLink, a subsidiary of TransCanada, filed an injunction with the British Columbia Supreme Court against the Unistot’en Camp for prohibiting entry to Coastal GasLink employees. In December, the Court sided with Coastal GasLink, ordering for the removal of the checkpoint. Instead, the Gitdimt’en Clan established another barricade ahead of the existing checkpoint, in solidarity with the Unistot’en Camp. As a response, the RCMP, who claim to be neutral in the conflict, forcibly entered the Camp.

Fourteen people were arrested on January 7, including the spokesperson for the Gitdimt’en Clan, Molly Wickham. Everyone arrested was released within two days. On January 9, the Hereditary Chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, who oppose the pipeline, came to an agreement with the RCMP, which stipulates that Coastal GasLink can temporarily work within the Unistot’en Camp. However, in a Facebook post, the Hereditary Chiefs made it clear that this agreement was aimed at limiting potential violence. They insist that they have by no means consented to the construction of a pipeline on Wet’suwet’en territory. Although direct confrontation between the RCMP and the Wet’suwet’en land defenders has ceased, Wet’suwet’en Nation members have declared: “this is not over.”

The Daily Editorial Board stands with the Wet’suwet’en and opposes the Coastal GasLink pipeline. If built, the pipeline would pose extreme environmental consequences to the area it passes through. According to the Unistot’en Camp website, dozens of the chemicals used for fracking are known to be toxic to both humans and the environment. People in favour of the pipeline argue that it would create jobs, but less than 35 of those jobs would be permanent and nearly all of the profits would go to Coastal GasLink. As the Unistot’en Camp website states, “there are no jobs on a dead planet.”

More importantly, this confrontation is about Indigenous rights and self-determination. The Daily recognizes the sovereignty of the Wet’suwet’en Nation and the authority of the Hereditary Chiefs in regards to their traditional territory. The militarized presence of the RCMP on January 7 shows that the state considers the land to be theirs and is ready to use force to suppress meaningful opposition to its capitalist aims. Pipelines, and thus corporate interests, are being put before Indigenous rights.

Last week’s events on Wet’suwet’en territory have made it clear that colonization is ongoing and that discussions of reconciliation are hollow. We must stand in solidarity with Indigenous people resisting colonial occupation, and help in the ways we can. Although the conflict has de-escalated, the Wet’suwet’en land defenders still need support. To donate, visit unistoten.camp/support-us/donate. You can also join the camp, or host an event in solidarity, both of which are described in more detail on the website. Staying informed and attending demonstrations are also ways to stand in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en. McGill’s Indigenous Student Alliance will have a demonstration at the Y-intersection at 2pm on Monday, January 14.  

*The Gitdimt’en Clan and Unistot’en House are both part of the Wet’suwet’en Nation. For more information, read our news piece.

**This editorial was written on January 11. There may have been developments since.

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