This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

MD: How would you pitch R3ACH to a potential investor in 30 seconds?

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Good People is a bi-weekly article series highlighting McGill students doing community-oriented work on and around campus. Because it’ s important to celebrate good people doing good things.

Finn Jacobsen was in his first year of law school in the fall of 2025 when he and his colleagues formed a community of transgender students at McGill’s Faculty of Law.

The Trans Law Collective — a volunteer-run organization that provides free legal information, education, and advocacy support for trans, non-binary, Two- Spirit peoples, and individuals questioning the gender binary in Quebec — was born out of this group of peers. The Trans Law Collective offers monthly legal clinics, free of charge, on McGill’s downtown campus to help students and Montreal residents navigate the legal process for changing their legal name and sex designation. Beyond clinics, the collective also hosts social events, a pre-law mentorship program, and conducts legal research with an eye towards using the law as a tool of liberation.

The Daily spoke with Finn Jacobsen, second-year law student and the Trans Law Collective’s Vice President of Communications, about the organization. We talked about making legal information accessible, building community, and their organization’s vision for growth and continuity.

This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Enid Kohler for The McGill Daily (MD): To get started, I want to learn more about you. How did you get involved in this organization? What drew you to it?

Finn Jacobsen (FJ): I’m a second year law student, and this club started up last year, when I was a freshman. A bunch of my first year colleagues and I reached out to the trans community in our first year law class. We were really lucky to have a ton of trans people in our 200 person class. We ended up with twelve people in first year and we made this club. We’re building it from the ground up.

MD: How would you pitch the Trans Law Collective to a student who has never heard about it before in 30 seconds?

FJ: We have three main arms. We do legal research, social events — connecting the trans community and students at McGill — and then we provide services as well. The main service we do is legal clinics, like for name and gender marker changes. But in general, we’re just trying to support any initiatives that involve the intersection of the trans community and the law.

MD: From your perspective, why is the Trans Law Collective important? Why is there a need for these kinds of services for the trans community in Montreal?

FJ: When it comes to legal transition issues, I find the process in Quebec is actually really great. It’s pretty open, but it’s so hard to understand, especially if you don’t have a legal background. It can just stump people when it really doesn’t need to; it can be really confusing. Our clinics get people to feel confident to make the changes that they really need. It’s nice to talk to someone who has done it all before and who can just get you sorted and connected.

Generally, trans people are facing a lot of struggles right now. There’s a lot of laws trying to be put into place that make it harder to be trans. So it’s important that we keep on top of that, stay aware, and take control of the rights that we do have as trans people and as people generally.

MD: Since you launched last year, what has the response been like, particularly to your legal clinics?

FJ: Weve had some pretty great moments. It’s been really cool. We worked with one person who was nonbinary and who didn’t always feel seen in their gender. And then they got to submit all these things [paperwork] to get an X marker on all their IDs and to have their chosen name reflected on all their legal documents. At the end of their time at the clinic, they were super emotional and just really excited to have this done. When you see stuff like that, it’s really moving.

MD: What do you have planned for this school year? What’s in the works for your team.

FJ: We’re having a clinic right now, actually. I just left it to come here. For this year, we’re running bi-weekly clinics off campus in Verdun, at the Centre des Femmes. And then we do monthly clinics on campus to try and be as accessible as possible to McGill students. We’re doing social events too. Trans Tuesdays will be starting up soon, just fun social events for people to hang out.

MD: Imagine a student sees a post for Trans Tuesday but feels nervous about attending the event alone. What would you say to them?

FJ: I’d say it’s probably a lot less intimidating than you think. Everyone in the club is really nice. And everyone who’s ever been to these events is always friendly and happy to chat.

Feel free to bring anyone, like a friend if that will make you feel more comfortable. We just want to give people an opportunity to meet other trans people, queer people, or supportive allies on campus.

MD: What is your vision for the future of the Trans Law Collective?

FJ: We’re just focused on continuity right now. We want to make sure the service stays available, especially on campus. Hopefully, the further we go, we can get more funding, provide more support, and do more legal research, too. The sky’s the limit.

MD: The tagline for this column is “good people doing good things.” In the context of your work with the Trans Law Collective, what does being a “good person” mean to you?

FJ: I think for a lot of trans people, it’s just nice to be able to be seen and supported. I feel like the trans community often doesn’t ask for much, it’s just, “let people be who they are and then see them for who they are.”I think that’s what we’re trying to do. Let’s make sure people get access to that.

Learn more about the Trans Law Collective’s services, social events, and opportunities to get involved through their Instagram account, @translawcollective or via their website, translaw.info.

The post Trans Law Collective Dismantles Legal Barriers for Montreal’s Queer Community appeared first on The McGill Daily.

It happens to the best of us: a neglected sleep schedule, long hours at the library, or too many house parties can quickly turn a stubborn cold into a serious health risk. In the face of a medical scare, it can be challenging to know where or how to access care, especially for international or out-of- province students. 

That’s where HeyDoc comes in. Launched on July 31, 2026, HeyDoc is a free online resource built to guide students through Montreal’s healthcare system. In partnership with GTR Santé, a Quebec-based private healthcare network, HeyDoc’s “speak-with-a-practitioner” function allows students to text or call nurses in real time. 

The Daily spoke with co-founders Ella Durno and Shoshana Iny, fourth-year McGill students studying General Management and International Development respectively. We talked about the sources of strain on Quebec’s healthcare system, the importance of accessible and affordable care, and how empathy can change people’s lives for the better.

This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness. 

Enid Kohler for The McGill Daily (MD): I want to start with the basics. Imagine you’re at a house party and a student asks you about HeyDoc. How would you describe it to them? 

Shoshana Iny (SI): We’re a startup to help students access care as easily as possible, especially for out- of-province or international students. We both have recognized the difficulties trying to access free, same- day healthcare in Quebec. That’s our goal — just to help as many students as possible. 

Ella Durno (ED): I would paraphrase it as their Montreal healthcare concierge. It’s a healthcare … one-stop shop to help navigate the system, no matter their background, their language, their insurance coverage, their age, or gender identity. On top of that, we have an opportunity for them to speak with nurses directly, because sometimes it’s a lot easier and more comfortable to speak to a real human. 

MD: Why did you start HeyDoc? What prompted the idea? 

SI: We initially became friends through the Integrated Management Student Fellowship (IMSF), which is a year-long program through the Desautels Faculty of Management that brings together students from a variety of faculties who are broadly interested in social impact and positive change-making. 

As a part of the fellowship, you have to create a sustainable startup related to one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We came up with the idea of wanting to be aligned to SDG 3, which is good health and well-being. 

Ella and I built on that vision. We reflected on our own experiences as out-of- province students who have really struggled when … [accessing] different kinds of healthcare in Quebec. And we realized that there would be a real opportunity to help students in Quebec access healthcare more easily. That was when HeyDoc was born. 

ED: Coming to a new city and a new province, it can be so overwhelming for so many reasons. When it comes to healthcare, that’s just another thing that you don’t know how to navigate. 

MD: You already touched on this a bit, but can you describe your observations about challenges when it comes to access to healthcare among McGill students more broadly? 

SI: Looking more broadly at the system, some of the current pain points that we identified during our research is a huge lack of family doctors in Quebec. International student population aside, even people that are already living here are struggling to access family doctors, which is burdening the system. There are huge strains on ERs as a result of that. Because of the family doctor shortage, coupled with the fact that walk-in clinics aren’t really common here, that creates this pervasive issue where there are not a lot of accessible, free same-day health care options. 

MD: In the process of launching HeyDoc, were there any challenges that you encountered?

ED: We launched this summer, when we were both working full-time jobs, which was one of the biggest challenges. Initially, it was also a challenge that neither of us had any technical experience in web development.

SI: I think the other part that we both struggled with was just navigating creating a real business, especially as undergraduate students. I’m not in Management; I felt as though I didn’t have any substantial background on the start-up scene or in entrepreneurship. It can be a bit daunting launching this new venture, putting yourself out there, especially on social media, without knowing how people will react. 

But it’s been amazing to see the overwhelming support from both friends and family, and also people that we don’t know who come up to us, saying that they wish they’d had this in their first year. That’s really given us the encouragement to keep going forward and trying to grow the platform.

ED: Adding onto that, just the uncertainty of pouring everything we have into an idea that we believed in and not being sure how the community would react was stressful. But since launching, it’s [been] nice to see that there is a big demand for it. 

MD: Looking five or ten years down the line, what is your vision for the future of HeyDoc? 

ED: I would love for HeyDoc to be known as the go-to resource for students, maybe [students from] other universities as well, trying to navigate the healthcare system in Montreal. 

SI: Right now, our focus is as much growth as possible, because that’s how we can positively impact as many students as possible. 

MD: The tagline for this column is “good people doing good things.” In the context of your work with HeyDoc, what does being a “good person” mean to you? 

SI: I think just leading with empathy and having that guide both your personal values and your professional aspirations. That’s always been really integral to my life and what I see for myself in the future. I’m really grateful to have the opportunity with HeyDoc to be putting that into real-world practice. 

ED: I was going to say something very similar about being very intentional about your values and how you choose to follow them on a day-to-day basis. That looks different for everyone, but I think if you have strong values and stay true to them, you can make a positive impact. 

You can learn more about HeyDoc via email at info@heydocmtl.com, their Instagram page @heydocmtl, or their website, heydocmtl.ca, to make a free account and use HeyDoc’s services. 

If you know good people doing good things who you would like to see featured in this column, email news@mcgilldaily.com.

The post Student Start-Up Provides Free Healthcare Resources for McGill Students appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Good People is an article series highlighting McGill students doing community-oriented work on and around campus. Because it’s important to celebrate good people doing good things.

The World University Service of Canada’s Student Refugee Program is a unique initiative that combines refugee resettlement with access to higher education. Founded in the 1920s, World University Service of Canada (WUSC) is a Canadian non-profit organization dedicated to improving educational, employment, and empowerment opportunities for young people globally.

The organization’s Student Refugee Program (SRP) is a student-led sponsorship program that supports refugee students at Canadian universities.

The Daily spoke with Mohammad Alnatour about WUSC’s McGill committee. A Syrian refugee living in Lebanon, Alantour arrived in Canada in August 2022 through the SRP, when he started his undergraduate degree in anatomy and cell biology at McGill. One year later, he became an executive member of WUSC’s McGill committee before leading the group as Co-Chair the following year. Now in an advisory role, Alnatour will start his master’s degree at McGill’s Integrated Program in Neuroscience in January 2027.

We spoke about Alnatour’s involvement with WUSC, the importance of community for refugee students, and why he believes in doing hard things if it means getting to change someone’s life for the better.

This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Enid Kohler for The McGill Daily (MD): How did you first get involved with WUSC? What drew you to the organization?

Mohammad Alnatour (MA): The Student Refugee Program, one of WUSC’s pillar programs, sponsors refugee students who were unable to continue their studies at home to come study here in Canada. It gives them an opportunity for a brand new life as immigrants here in Canada.

I was a student of the SRP. Before coming here, I was a Syrian refugee in Lebanon. I heard of the program and I applied. I got rejected the first year, and then I got accepted, thankfully, the next year. I was eventually placed at McGill.

MD: I’m curious, what was it like to be part of WUSC upon arriving at McGill? What were your initial impressions of the organization?

MA: Well, for me, I was one of [WUSC’s] beneficiaries at the beginning. It’s a life-changing experience, not just for the person who benefits [from the program], but also for the people around it. During my first year at McGill, I felt I was given so much support that I felt obliged to give back. And this is why I got involved first as a VP Internal, and in the following year, I became the Co- Chair. Right now, I’m in more of an advisory position to advise the new team on how to approach and navigate future plans.

MD: In a nutshell, what kind of activities and events does your organization run?

MA: Our biggest program is the SRP. The program has sponsored over 50 students, with more than 35 of them being active students on campus right now.

The SRP still is our main program. But in the past few years, we realized we needed to do more on campus to engage with the student body, because the program entirely relies on student involvement.

That’s when we started doing more activities, whether that be social activities to foster a feeling of community for the students that we bring here to study at McGill, or advocacy events to highlight the refugee crisis around the world. We’ve also decided to expand the scope of our audience to offer opportunities for students or scholars at risk in general. We have other programs running right now under the committee, like a winter drive through which students can donate winter clothing for students at risk. We also started a French learning program for newcomer students that would like to integrate better into the community.

MD: Either as a WUSC scholar or as an executive member, what has been a highlight of your experience working with the organization?

MA: After coming here and realizing that I would not see my family and loved ones for quite some time while I was studying in Canada, you know, that hits hard. After a couple of weeks, the homesickness really starts to kick in.

But then at the beginning of the semester, WUSC held one of its very special events, very close and dear to my heart, which is simply a fall picnic that we do at the beginning of the semester.

During that picnic, I really felt a sense of belonging and I felt that there was a community for me here, that there was a family for me that would support me during my studies and in my new life. It really started to feel like home, finally.

MD: The theme of this column is “good people doing good things.” In the context of your work with WUSC, what does being a “good person” mean to you?

MA: During the SSMU referendum period last year, when we had to campaign to renew the student levy which is our main way of funding the SRP, I would constantly call my parents and tell them how stressful this was. Some nights, I would barely even sleep because peope’s lives would have literally been at risk had this not gone through.

My dad used to always ask, ‘You’re a pre-med student, you already have a lot on your plate. Why do you keep giving this much time and energy to this?’ And I always told him that I was given this chance, and without it, I wouldn’t have been here.

Now, I have the chance to contribute that back to someone else’s life. This is what being a good person feels [like] to me, that even when you are not tasked or asked to do something, if you feel that you can do something that will change someone else’s life, I believe that you should do it.

And this is what I’ve done. Successfully running the referendum means about 18 extra students over the next five years can be sponsored, and 18 extra students mean 18 extra lives that are changed.

Learn more about WUSC McGill and opportunities to get involved on Instagram, @wuscmcgill, through their website, wusc.ssmu.ca, or email wusc.mcgill@ssmu.ca.

If you know good people doing good things who you would like to see featured in this column, email news@mcgilldaily.com.

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In 2026, Deloitte predicts that women will make up less than 30 per cent of the global technology workforce, given that they are consistently underrepresented in academic programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). What is more, women make up only 25 per cent of tech positions on a global scale, as reported by Forbes and the National Center for Women and Information Technology. 

Girls Who Code confronts gender disparity in STEM by making the field inclusive and accessible for women and gender-diverse people. With an eye towards breaking gender barriers, the organization offers computer science lessons and mentorship for elementary and high school students across Montreal. It also runs hackathons for university students, networking events, and workshops. 

The Daily spoke with Girls Who Code executives Jenna Cacchione and Virginia Ceccatelli, U3 students studying Computer Science and Economics at McGill. We talked about the creative side to coding, imposter syndrome, and why young girls and gender-diverse students belong in the computer science field.

This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Enid Kohler for The McGill Daily (MD): How did you get involved in Girls Who Code, and why? 

Virginia Ceccatelli (VC): I was never really exposed to coding in high school. It wasn’t really a subject that was taught, and I always thought it was scary as a field and very masculine. When I started my studies in International Relations in university, I got a bit of exposure to Python and R and had so much fun with it, so I transferred into Computer Science. I want to give girls the opportunity to get into coding and see that it’s a creative process as well. 

Jenna Cacchione (JC): Similar to Virginia, I did my first year in [another program, Economics,] and then I switched into Computer Science. My high school didn’t have anything computer related…Had I had a program like this, maybe I would have switched into CS a little bit earlier. I really just wanted to give back [by giving] other girls that same opportunity. 

VC: CS really is like learning a language. Like any language, the more you speak it and the earlier you’re exposed to it, it’s so much easier to pick it up. 

MD: That’s a really good comparison. For those who aren’t familiar with your organization, can you pitch Girls Who Code in a few sentences? 

VC: [Girls Who Code] a way to make coding fun and creative, and to change the narrative that [coding] is anything relegated to the masculine sphere. We give back to young girls [by seeing] them learn every week. It’s really rewarding.

JC: [Coding] can be really daunting. Sometimes I look at my computer screen and I’m like, ‘oh my God, what am I even doing?’ For younger girls especially, it can be super intimidating, especially since it’s a male-dominated field. I hope our facilitators can act as big sisters to our students. 

MD: Why is it important that young girls and gender-diverse students have access to program like Girls Who Code? 

VC: In general, the CS field is massively male-dominated. Most role models in the industry are guys. So for us, it’s really to show girls that they can do it; it’s not that hard. For guys, this message is something they might have been told growing up, and for girls, it’s not necessarily the narrative. 

MD: You mentioned that the Computer Science space is predominantly male-dominated. In your own professional and/or academic experiences, what kind of patterns have you observed in terms of female representation and inclusivity? 

VC: I’m not working in the field yet, but through research projects, I’ve found that you have to prove yourself more. If you’re in a room that has seven guys and two girls, the two girls have to prove that they know what they’re talking about, that they can actually do everything that everyone else can. I feel like there’s this constant voice that’s second guessing my abilities as a girl coder. 

JC: I have to agree. I also find imposter syndrome is very much there. Exactly what you said, if you’re sitting at a table with a bunch of men, and you’re the only two girls, I sometimes feel like, ‘I don’t belong here.’It’s a mental challenge. Like, ‘no, I’ve put in the work. I do belong here. 

MD: On that note, what do you hope students will take away from the program beyond practical coding skills? 

JC: I hope that students realize that it’s okay to ask for help. Sometimes you do need guidance. I had tons of [it], and I was very lucky to have had mentors who were part of Girls Who Code. I hope that [these girls are] able to ask for help and possibly find a mentor later on in their academic career. 

MD: Do you have a favorite memory of your work with Girls Who Code? 

VC: In my year of being a facilitator for Girls Who Code, I taught at the same high school and a lot of the girls stayed the entire year. In the beginning, they were shy about asking questions, but it was really nice to see them gradually gain so much confidence. 

JC: I like the fact that our whole executive team is going through the same thing: we’re all looking for internships, we’re all studying pretty much the same classes. It’s nice to have that community. 

MD: The theme of this column is “good people doing good things.” In the context of your work with Girls Who Code, what does being a “good person” mean to you?

JC: To me, being a good person means giving back and helping younger girls. Acknowledging that I didn’t have the guidance or knowledge that I do now, and then giving it to the next person. 

VC: Instead of resenting the system and having to stretch myself to catch up to get to where I am now, I can give these girls what I wish I had. Being a good person also means sticking together as girls and by helping girls realize that they can do it if they want to. There’s nothing stopping them. 

Learn more about Girls Who Code and opportunities to get involved on Instagram, @girlswhocodemcgill, or through their website, girlswhocode. ssmu.ca

End note: If you know good people doing good things who you would like to see featured in this column, email news@mcgilldaily.com

The post Rewriting the Code: McGill Students Break Barriers in Computer Science appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Play is critical for children’s physical and mental well-being, but not every child has the same access to recreational athletics and community socialization. Founded in 2000, Right to Play is an international non-profit organization that seeks to protect, educate, and empower children in disadvantaged communities through the power of play. Since its foundation, it has reached millions of children in Africa, Asia, and North America, namely, Canada; with the aim of harnessing play to support youth enduring conflict, disease, and poverty.

Since 2006, students have been the official university representatives of the Right to Play organization at McGill. They volunteer in local Montreal schools to promote inclusive and accessible play, fundraise for the international organization, and run community events like toy and food drives for underprivileged communities in the city. The Daily spoke with Co-President and U3 Biology and Math student Jack Gill about Right to Play. We spoke about his involvement in the club, the importance of play and physical activity, and why curiosity should be encouraged in youth.

This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Enid Kohler for the McGill Daily (MD): I’m curious about your own involvement with Right to Play. How and why did you get involved?

Jack Gill (JG): I’m on the varsity swim team at McGill, so I’ve been swimming most of my life. We train almost every day, sometimes twice a day. So sports and being active have been a really important part of my life. It’s allowed me to develop a sense of community, make tons of friends, and build my confidence in and out of the water. I wanted to encourage that in other kids. I started volunteering in winter 2025. I worked in a class with students who have learning disabilities and autism, to encourage more inclusive play. It was really fun to build connections with these kids and slowly see throughout the semester how they got more comfortable and open with us.

MD: How would you pitch Right to Play to a first year student at Activities Night?

JG: Right to Play is not just a club we founded here. It’s a broader international organization. Their whole goal is to empower kids through play to overcome adversity, especially less privileged kids. In Canada, the branch focuses more on [BIPOC such as] African communities who might not have … access to [the] resources that we do, as well as Indigenous communities who similarly don’t have the same resources or access. Our chapter takes from that. We have a lot of events where we fundraise in order to support local schools and youth groups, as well as give back to the broader Right to Play organization. We also volunteer in schools to encourage active lifestyles and fun activities.

MD: Why is it important for kids to have play in their lives?

JG: A lot of children we volunteer with don’t necessarily have access to play. For those with learning disabilities, their parents try to protect them a lot and they don’t necessarily let them do the things other children would do. It doesn’t necessarily give them the opportunity to learn and be curious. Being able to encourage that and let them try things and maybe fail and letting them explore is really meaningful to me.

MD: Do you have a favourite memory of your work with Right to Play?

JG: At one of our schools where we volunteer, we go sledding on this little hill in the winter. One of the kids at the beginning wasn’t able to get up on his own. We would encourage him to get up, but we’d end up having to help him. But later, near the end of the semester, he was able to start getting up by himself with all of us cheering around and encouraging him. It was just so nice when he was able to stand up by himself and show [that] he was fully independent. And now he’s able to do that all the time. His parents might have just always helped him and would never have let him learn to do it by himself. That was probably my favourite moment.

MD: What do you hope kids will take away from Right to Play programming into university and beyond?

JG: I think just life skills, like being able to be independent and do things on your own and interact with other people. Also a sense of community as well as teamwork and the idea of an active lifestyle. With this generation we’re kind of leaning away from that with technology, but it’s so important.

MD: The theme of this column is “good people doing good things.” In the context of your work with Right to Play McGill, what does being a “good person” mean to you?

JG: I think what it means to be a good person is to be able to listen to people and kids and let them guide you. One of the big things I like with volunteering is not necessarily forcing kids to do things but guiding them and helping them choose their own path.

To learn more about Right to Play and opportunities to get involved, visit @rtpmcgill on Instagram.

End note: If you know good people doing good things who you would like to see featured in this column, email news@mcgilldaily.com

The post The Power of Play appeared first on The McGill Daily.

The McGill Black Medical Students’ Association of Canada (BMSA) is a student- run chapter of the national organization, which goes by the same name. Founded in 2022, the organization seeks to address anti- Black racism through advocacy for curriculum modification and reform, tackle barriers to medical school admissions by supporting Black pre-medical students, and to foster a sense of community for current Black students.

The Daily spoke with co- president and second-year student of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Science, Britany Mbangi, over her lunch break on the first day of her neurology rotation. We spoke about Black inclusion and representation in the medical community, BMSA’s rapid expansion, and how to be a good person without losing yourself in the process.

This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Enid Kohler for The McGill Daily (MD): I’m curious to know more about your story. What drew you to BMSA and how did you first get involved?

Britany Mbangi (BM): I knew that I wanted to get involved in a club coming into medical school, and seeing all the Black students at orientation the very first day touched something deep within me. It wasn’t easy getting here. Within the BMSA, we’re all about supporting each other and trying to make the path easier for fellow Black students who are interested in medicine specifically. So it was a no-brainer for me. I was going to join the BMSA by fire and by force.

MD: As Co-President, how would you describe the BMSA in a nutshell?

BM: The BMSA is full of super- motivated, highly-driven people. We’re all about encouraging each other, pushing each other forward however we can, and trying to build connections with people in the community. We all know as visible minorities that it’s not easy to integrate into certain spaces. But we want to make it easier for Black students to join this space. The BMSA is rapidly changing. Last year, my cohort, [the] class of 2028, was the largest cohort that McGill Medicine has had. It’s a long journey, but we believe that little by little, year after year, we do our best to make it better.

MD: Before beginning McGill medical school, was there a specific experience or person who inspired you to join BMSA?

BM: It’s kind of [a] cliché, but ever since I was little, honestly, I knew I wanted to be a doctor. I decided, you know what, I’m going to shoot my shot at medicine. I’ve been surrounded by a lot of very strong Black figures in my personal life. The sky wasn’t even the limit — I could do anything if I put my mind to it, and I was very lucky and grateful to have the support of my close family members. It wasn’t abnormal for me to strive to greater heights.

MD: That’s really special that you had that growing up. On a wider scale, why is BMSA important for the McGill community, but also for the medical space at large?

BM: Historically, there has always been a very low number of Black people getting accepted into medicine due to socioeconomic barriers, social challenges, or biases. We cannot brush those under the rug. So having an official space for Black medical students where their voices are heard and where they are seen and supported is so important.

The BMSA really is integral to bettering the education of not only Black medical students, but all students from different backgrounds and cultures. It advocates for an even better medical education and safe space for Black patients, Black students, and Black professionals.

MD: Switching gears a bit, do you have a favorite memory of your work with BMSA?

BM: Oh my gosh. There have been a lot of great moments within the BMSA. I think one of my favorite memories was the welcome event [in] my first year of medical school. The Welcome Event is an annual event for our members across all cohorts, including Med-P and MD-PhD students. It creates space for our new students to connect with returning members and for the broader community to engage with Black professionals. I cannot even put into words [how] I felt when I saw the 25, 26 other Black students in my cohort. This was the first time in my life that I’ve seen so many Black fellow students. Going to the welcome event this year where there were, I believe, over 100 attendees, was amazing.

Speaking of the welcome event, this year the McGill BMSA reached over 100 members across all years. It’s a milestone for us. Just thinking that a few years ago, we were only five students and now we’re over 100, [is] just incredible. It speaks to the work that the McGill BMSA has been doing.

MD: Beyond your graduation from McGill’s School of Medicine, what do you hope will be the lasting legacy of BMSA on future students and the medical space more broadly?

BM: That’s a great question. I would say that I don’t see BMSA as just a student club. I see it as an organization where we strive to better the whole experience around the healthcare system, specifically the medical system for Black professionals, Black patients, and Black students. I would hope that my legacy would be to better this experience, not just for Black people, but for everyone. I hope that the BMSA leaves a lasting positive influence on the healthcare system and encourages people to strive for greatness, [creating] a better environment for all.

MD: The theme of this column is “good people doing good things.” In the context of your work with BMSA, what does being a “good person” mean to you?

BM: Oh my gosh, what does it mean to be a good person? Being a good person to me means being able to make the people around me feel good without losing myself in the process. Although we’re all unique, as Black people, we often have to minimize or filter ourselves to present a more digestible version to the people around us. While that can make you a great person to others, it doesn’t make you a good person to yourself, because you lose yourself in the process.

Learn more about BMSA and opportunities to get involved on Instagram, @mcgillbmsa, or through their website.

End note: If you know good people doing good things who you would like to see featured in this column, email news@mcgilldaily.com.

The post Taking the Medical Community by “Fire and Force” appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Founded in 2009, Swimming With a Mission Montréal (SWAM) is a registered not-for-profit organization led by student volunteers. A chapter of the national organization SWAM Canada, it seeks to provide affordable and accessible one-on-one swimming instruction to children with disabilities aged 3 to 18. Instructors are paired with one swimmer for the course of the eight week program. Every week, they teach 30-minute lessons with the ultimate goal of fostering confidence in the water.

The McGill Daily spoke with Co-Presidents Anna Bogdan, U3 Psychology, and Benjamin Lévesque Kinder, U3 Neuroscience. We discussed their motivations for joining SWAM, making sports accessible, and the power of swimming to transform how children with disabilities move through the world.

This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness. 

Enid Kohler for The McGill Daily (MD): I want to start by learning more about your involvement with SWAM. Why and how did you join the organization? 

Benjamin Lévesque Kinder (BLK): I got involved in the winter of my first year. I had been a camp counselor many summers in a row during high school, giving swim lessons to kids. One week, I was assigned a girl who had an undiagnosed autism spectrum disorder. Her support needs were very high, much higher than the camp had the resources for. She loved swimming. We just wandered around the whole day. It was awesome. When I came to McGill, I learned about SWAM at Activities Night and knew it was something I wanted to do. 

Anna Bogdan (AB): I’ve been a competitive swimmer since I was very, very small. When I was injured, I transitioned over to coaching. When I came to McGill I really wanted to continue. I went to Activities Night and saw that there was a club that was offering swimming lessons for children with disabilities, and I thought it was a great way for me to continue my coaching experience, but also to help out the community in Montreal. 

MD: You both mentioned you found out about SWAM. at Activities Night. As co-presidents, how would you pitch your club to a prospective student member at Activities Night?

AB: SWAM offers swimming lessons to children with disabilities. Typically, a swimming lesson for a child with a disability is upwards of $300, but our lessons are about $45. We’re about the only place in Montreal that offers lessons at this level. You’re partnered up with just one instructor for the entirety of eight weeks, every single Sunday for 30 minutes. You see your child become more comfortable in the water and have more confidence in their own abilities, and become more engaged and happy overall. 

MD: You already touched on this in your response, Anna, but why is SWAM important? 

Why is it important that it exists in Montreal?

BLK: There are a few reasons. This is a demographic for whom it’s hard to get exercise. Getting out of the house and doing activities can be difficult for those with sensory issues. SWAM is conscious of this: we have a lot of staff and procedures set up. We’ve had parents tell us that it’s one of the few places that they can just be somewhere. 

A key reason is affordability. Most of the population cannot afford hundreds of dollars of swim lessons every week. We have a lot of new arrivals to Quebec in our program, people who arrive in Canada and have children who are newly diagnosed, and now they have to adapt not only to a new culture, but also what it means to get the right support for their kids. 

It’s the highlight of my week, every Sunday morning when we do this. Because it’s totally different from everything else I do. To me, it feels like real life again. There’s all this other stuff and none of it is kind of real, but this is.  

You show up, and none of your concerns matter to anyone here. It does become sort of trivial. As a student, you’re thinking about graduation and graduate school in these very long time spans. And then I go to SWAM, and you’re making progress on a week to week basis. I think that is refreshing.

MD: On that note, what have you learned from your work with SWAM that has influenced your own outlook on life?

AB: For me, one of the things that I learned is that progress is not always necessarily linear. It requires a lot of patience and it requires a lot of confidence within yourself. I’ve also learned how important it is to make sure that you’re always there to support and encourage each other. 

BLK: I’ll pick up on the point you made about progress not being linear. There was a scheduling mishap a few semesters ago, where a lesson for my swimmer was moved to a different timeslot. For these kids for whom routine is a big, big part of how they move through the world, it throws them off-kilter. They feel uncomfortable. So there were a few lessons where I struggled to get anything done, and my swimmer was irritable. It was like all the progress we had made was gone. 

But then on the next lesson back, seemingly out of nowhere, he swam unassisted, basically unprompted. He just went after it. I was so surprised. After that experience, we realized that for all of us, progress isn’t linear. We like to think that we’re always making progress upwards and so on, but that’s not true. That’s something that I’ve also carried into my day-to-day life.

MD: What is your vision for the future of SWAM? What do you hope children will take from their swimming lessons and apply into their future lives? 

AB: We hope that SWAM is like a stepping stone to the rest of their lives going forward. We’re hoping that these children not only have more skills to be safer in the water, but we also hope that they can build other skills, for example, social skills and communication skills, to be able to create meaningful connections with others.

BLK: To give a concrete example, one of our swimmers had been with the program for three or four years. His dad told us that he had joined a water polo team for kids with disabilities, and that he would not have been able to do that without the swimming foundation he had built.

It would also be nice at some point to build a relationship with the Special Olympics in Quebec. It is a big problem in the disability space that once you age out, resources go to zero. The amount of money that gets put towards programs for children is huge, but once they turn 18, it’s all over. We also hope to expand the chapter to reach more kids.

MD: The theme of this column is “good people doing good things.” In the context of your work with SWAM, what does being a “good person” mean to you?

BLK: By virtue of our position, Anna and I have become the spokespeople for SWAM. But really, we’re not the good people. The good people are really the almost 100 instructors who come in every week. It’s not easy getting up on Sunday morning at 9 AM to trudge through snow, to do this for some kid, in a city you showed up in less than a year ago. Without all of them volunteering their time, Anna and I would be two people with a logo. SWAM is the team we have behind us.

AB: Although Ben and I are the heads, typically the ones that make the most amount of difference in the community are our instructors. So I think being a good person is being able to help others out. As a university, we have all of these services and resources, so why not use them to serve underserved populations? 

To learn more about SWAM and opportunities to get involved, visit swammontreal.caor @swammontreal on Instagram. 

End note: If you know good people doing good things who you would like to see featured in this column, email news@mcgilldaily.com

The post “Swimming With a Mission”: Using Sport for Good  appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Founded by five engineering students from McMaster University in 2013, Queer Engineer is McGill’s chapter of EngiQueers Canada, a nationwide nonprofit organization that promotes “diversity and belonging in engineering.” Queer Engineer creates welcoming spaces for McGill Engineering’s queer community, hosting events such as craft nights, monthly socials, and professional networking events.

The Daily spoke with Ken Sippola, an undergraduate Chemical Engineering student at McGill and President of Queer Engineer. We talked about the club’s evolution and recent growth, what a safe space looks like, and why queer inclusion and representation in the engineering industry matters.

This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Enid Kohler for the McGill Daily (MD): I’m curious about your role within Queer Engineer. How did you get involved in the club, and why?

Ken Sippola (KS): I joined the club in 2022 because I wanted to be a part of a community of queer engineering students. I wanted to be a part of a movement to improve the visibility and the acceptance of queer people in engineering.

The club’s been around since 2013, but it has ebbed and flowed in its activity. At first, there were no roles on the executive team, so IaskedifIcouldsitinon meetings. When a role eventually opened up, I became Vice President of Finance. However, when I was away on an internship, for about a year, the club was less active. When I came back from that internship, I realized I was kind of the only one left. That’s when I started stepping up into the role of being President.

I just knew I couldn’t let it die on my watch; I had to do everything I could to make sure it continued to exist.

MD: How would you pitch Queer Engineer to a prospective student member?

KS: Queer Engineer is primarily a social club about fostering connections and community. We host a lot of cozy events like craft night, skating night, things like that. But it’s also a great way to make professional connections and get involved with the community.

MD: On that note, how has the McGill community responded to having a space dedicated to queer inclusivity in the engineering field? Why is it important to have this kind of community?

KS: The response has been super positive. A lot of people didn’t know about us before, so when they found out that we existed, they were like, ‘oh, wait, that’s so cool.’ The Engineering Undergrad Society (EUS) was really, really helpful in making sure we have the resources to get going again.

Something I think about a lot is the definition of a safe space, a space that you walk into and feel accepted. Walking into a space and knowing you’re not going to get hate-crimed is very different from walking into a space and knowing you’re accepted. So even though the majority of spaces on campus are at least relatively safe, our club is about getting to that level when people know they’re going to be accepted and can be their true selves, which is why [Queer Engineer] is so important.

MD: That’s really well said. You’ve already touched on this a bit, but in your experience, what have you observed about the level of queer inclusivity in the engineering field?

KS: I’m from rural Saskatchewan, so growing up, to be honest, I never thought that I would be able to work as an engineer in a way that I could be authentic to myself. I’ve done multiple internships and I have found it to be more accepting than I expected, but it definitely varies company by company. I know there’s also a lot of people who don’t feel comfortable being their true selves in the field, even though they don’t feel discriminated against directly.

They often can’t mention things like, ‘oh yeah, on the weekend I was with my boyfriend,’ in casual conversation. There’s still that level of hiding in a lot of engineering disciplines. And of course, there’s a lot of places where it’s just outright unsafe to be out. I would just emphasize that there still is a long way to go.

MD: Do you have a favourite memory of your work with Queer Engineer, or a moment that stands out to you in particular?

KS: That’s such a good question. One thing that I’ve found really fun and interesting in the last year is our merch and stickers that say, “Queer Engineer,” with a little logo. I’ve been really happy with how many people want to take the stickers and put it on their laptop[s], even if they’re not necessarily queer. I also think it’s great because then people, especially new students, can see these stickers and feel more comfortable.

The other thing I’ve been really impressed with is how much engagement we’ve gotten in the last year. Before, the club was a lot quieter and we had a lot smaller events, but recently our reach has been much larger. Our comeback has been more successful than I actually anticipated, so I’m really excited about that.

MD: Do you have a vision for how Queer Engineer will evolve in the future?

KS: This is something I’ve thought about a lot because I’m graduating this year, so I’m kind of passing the torch. When I became president, I really thought about, ‘how can I form this group in a way that it’s going to continue after me?’ What I hope to see is that it will continue being active, host social events, and also become more involved in professional events and advocacy. I have faith that the future generation will carry the club on well.

MD: The theme of this column is “good people doing good things.” In the context of your work with Queer Engineer, what does being a “good person” mean to you?

KS: To me, it means making things easier for the people who come after you. So that future Queer Engineering students, for example, have an easier time. In general, just trying to leave an environment better than when you arrived.

Find out more about Queer Engineer on Instagram, @queerengineermcgill.

If you know good people doing good things who you would like to see featured in this column, email news@mcgilldaily.com.

Editor’s Note (26/01/26): The print version of this article features an incorrect spelling of Sippola. This is the correct version.

The post Queering Engineering: An Interview with Ken Sippola appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Good People is a bi-weekly column highlighting McGill students doing community-oriented work on and around campus. Because it’s important to celebrate good people doing good things.

2.5 million people in Canada do not have adequate care to support their mental health needs, according to a 2024 report by the Canadian Mental Health Association. In Quebec, psychological distress among adolescents rose to unprecedented levels in 2025. For young people in particular, the steep cost of mental health care is a significant barrier to accessing psychological services.

The mental health needs of students do not go unnoticed by Jesse Millman and Mekhi Graham, both McGill undergraduates studying Cognitive Science. In 2025, Millman and Graham launched their free student mental health service, Eye 2 Eye, which provides psychological guidance constructed upon the shared understandings and experiences of students. Within this framework, students complete an online survey to be connected with a peer who is going through similar struggles — such as loneliness, academic stress, or homesickness — with the hope that their shared experience can lead to psychological healing. Once matched, students receive guidance and tips from Eye 2 Eye team members to navigate their conversations.

The Daily spoke with Millman and Graham about founding Eye 2 Eye, men’s mental health, and why emotional vulnerability is so powerful.

This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Enid Kohler for The McGill Daily (MD): I want to start with your friendship. How did you meet and begin Eye 2 Eye together?

Jesse Millman (JM): Great question. It goes as far back as a McGill friendship can go: to Frosh week. We were both in the Arts & Science Frosh, which instantly set a precedent for a very wonderful friendship. I feel very grateful to have both social and academic aspects of my relationship with Mekhi.

I remember the idea [for Eye 2 Eye] coming to me in the summer after first year. It was a result of having all these similar conversations with people around me, about so many people feeling a little bit stranded and isolated from university culture. I came to Mekhi with the idea in the fall of second year.

Mekhi Graham (MG): I have a lot of memories of late night grind sessions studying with Jesse. I remember one day in the library, we were studying and Jesse was like, ‘Yo, dude, I have this idea.’ And he pitched it to me. I thought it was super cool. We started brainstorming from there. Honestly, every time we were supposed to be studying for class, we ended up talking about Eye 2 Eye instead. We were so excited about it. Probably not the best for the GPA, but we ended up with a pretty cool thing. No regrets.

Now, we have the website up and running thanks to Jesse, and we have a little team now, working with two other people who are also in cognitive science. I think we’re in a great spot. We’re currently working on outreach and trying to get it to as many people as possible.

MD: If you wanted to pitch Eye 2 Eye to someone in one minute at a house party, how would you describe it?

JM: Gosh, the amount of one minute house party pitches we’ve done, you’d think we’d be better at it.

MG: Yeah, we should have a script at this point. Eye 2 Eye is meant to be an informal mental health resource. It’s targeted specifically at first-year students who are dealing with issues related to homesickness and struggling to adapt to the new academic and social environment in university. Maybe they’re not really vibing with the party culture, maybe they just haven’t found their people yet.It’s also for people who might think those issues don’t necessarily warrant professional mental health care. I know for a lot of people there’s a stigma around [therapy], and the tendency to think that their struggles aren’t enough to warrant seeing a therapist.

So the idea behind Eye 2 Eye is to give students the opportunity to talk to someone else who’s in the same boat as them, who’s going through the same things. They are then able to make a connection, learn, and grow together.

JM: We’re definitely not anti-professional help. But I think for these issues specifically, while professionals are trained to help you in many ways, the reality is that they still won’t know what it’s like to be a first year university student in the social atmosphere that exists in 2025. We think that’s where real power is held: in each other. It’s a very comforting experience to realize, ‘I’m not the only person feeling these things,’ so that’s what we’re trying to tap into.

MG: Absolutely. Although the McGill Wellness Center and therapy in general can be super helpful for a lot of people, it’s also true that there is just a shortage in general. It sometimes can be difficult to get the services that you need. At the end of the day, anything that can make mental health support more accessible is a really good thing.

MD: Was there a defining moment in your own experience with therapy or in sharing your feelings that inspired you to start Eye 2 Eye?

JM: That’s a really good question. I don’t know if I can speak to a specific moment, but in previous romantic relationships, I’ve felt very lucky to explore vulnerability, and being able to open myself up completely to someone inspired me to share that. I think there’s something really magical about hearing yourself verbalize something about the way you’re feeling for the first time, and being able to articulate it when for months it had only existed in bubbles and squiggles around your head. I think we should all talk to each other more, and that’s what we hope the service facilitates.

MG: Absolutely. I can think back to times in my life where I didn’t have someone I was comfortable sharing my feelings with, so I would keep them all inside and bottled up. I realized once I started opening up more to people, my problems just felt a little smaller, a little more manageable.

MD: I’m curious about the gendered dimension of your work. In Canada, almost one in two men report feeling socially isolated, and men account for 75 per cent of deaths by suicide across the country. About 67 per cent of men have never sought professional mental health care before, according to the Canadian Men’s Health Foundation. As two young men leading a mental health service, how would you encourage people of all genders — but especially men — to be vulnerable?

MG: The biggest thing I would say to other men is that I don’t see being vulnerable as a weakness. It takes a lot of strength, but in my experience, when I’ve been vulnerable with people, it hasn’t led to judgment, but deeper connections. People can understand because you’re both human.

JM: It would be wonderful if we can get some guys who haven’t opened up in this way before to climb over that barrier just a little bit, because I think vulnerability is so magical. Once you grasp it, you unlock the expanse of what you haven’t explored yet, [and all] that exists behind [everything] that you may have repressed for so long.

MD: The theme of this column is “good people doing good things.” In the context of your work with Eye 2 Eye, what does being a good person mean to you?

MG: To me, it means helping others. Having gone through some of those difficult times in my first year and being on the other side of that now, if there’s any way I’m able to give [support] to first years who are currently struggling, I think that’s what it would mean to me to be a good person.

JM: I think everyone has so much value to their experience and so much to share. There really is an infinite amount to learn from the people around us. I think being a good person is both being willing to listen to what people have to give, and giving in the right way.

You can learn more about Eye 2 Eye at eye2eyemcgill.ca or on Instagram, @Eye2EyeMcGill.

If you know good people doing good things who you would like to see featured in this column, email news@mcgilldaily.com.

The post “Vulnerability is Magical” Says Co-Founder of Student Mental Health Service appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Many Canadian students lack the necessary knowledge to make informed and confident financial decisions. PennyDrops, Canada’s largest student-run non-profit organization dedicated to advancing financial literacy among youth, aims to change this. With an emphasis on peer-to-peer learning, university-level mentors help high school students develop financial literacy skills. Today, PennyDrops has reached nearly 30,000 high school students.

PennyDrops was founded at McGill in 2015 and has since grown into eight university chapters across the nation. I spoke with Co-Presidents Onora Nativ, a U3 student in Marketing and IT Management; and Chayse Holden, a U3 student in Finance and Environment, about PennyDrops McGill. We discussed the importance of financial literacy, building community through education, and why young people need more than Google to make confident financial decisions.

This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Enid Kohler for the McGill Daily (MD): I wanted to get started by asking both of you why you got involved in PennyDrops.

Chayse Holen (CH): I just really like the mission of the club. The importance of financial literacy is something that my parents brought me up with, and I think there’s a huge gap in academic curricula on this. I was really happy to see a club addressing that.

Onora Nativ (ON): I heard about Penny Drop support, and I thought they have this wonderful reach throughout the country, but also a tangible impact in the Montreal community. It extends well beyond just the school itself, which I thought was honestly incredible. Financial literacy is also very privilege-based and is specific to one’s upbringing, often limited to people who are from Canada or are familiar with how the financial system works here. I’m happy to be a part of something that breaks down those barriers.

MD: What does a week in the life of being Co-Presidents of PennyDrops look like? What are some of the concrete tasks you work on?

CH: Pretty much anything operational, it’s the two of us making everything happen. Hiring our executive team, tabling at SSMU Activities Night, and the Jaclyn Fischer Career Fair… anything we can do to spread our reach. As we progress into the year, we want to plan more events and maybe speaker panels, things like that.

ON: We also train our executives who are in contact with our teachers, making sure everyone is prepared and comfortable. That’s honestly the biggest role.

MD: I want to shift a bit more to the mission of the club. Why is it important to learn financial literacy at a young age? How would you respond to a skeptic who might doubt the importance of becoming financially literate as a kid?

ON: Firstly, I’d say that this particular perspective would come from a position of privilege if that person never had to think about what financial literacy means, or if [they believe] it’s something that feels almost innate, like it’s always been a discussion. Financial literacy is the crux of everything that we need growing up: from people who have had to take out student loans, to budgeting during school, or taking out a line of credit to get a car or a house. It’s a reality for almost every single Canadian. You really do have to be literate about the system in which you live.

CH: I absolutely agree. I also think a lot of people are like, ‘Anything I need to know, I can just Google it,’ which is only half true. If you don’t have that base level of holistic understanding of the basics, it is so intimidating.

MD: When did both of you start learning about financial literacy?

ON: Honestly, it’s always been a discussion in my household since I was very little. I’m fortunate that I asked my parents whenever I had questions about opening a TFSA, about student loans, or even about opening my bank account. But again, I recognize this is not information that I would have known otherwise.

CH: My answer is similar. My dad is kind of a nerd for this stuff. He would talk about compound interest and needing to open your TFSA as soon as you’re 18, all of that. So it’s always just been a discussion, but I recognize that that is not true for everyone.

MD: Do you have a favorite memory of your time with PennyDrops or a moment when you realized the importance or gravity of the work that you’re doing?

CH: That’s a good question. I wish I had a really distinct memory coming to mind, but what I found really impactful was teaching lessons to kids with special needs. It was such a unique experience. I’ve been a tutor before, but it felt extra impactful to reach that audience and see that we can adapt our lessons based on individual students’ needs. They were very interested and engaged; it was really special.

ON: While I was tabling this year and last year, a lot of students came up to me saying they remembered PennyDrop’s mentors coming into their high schools, and they now wanted to be a part of it, which I thought was incredibly important, knowing that the program meant enough to them when they were younger that they’d want to continue it.

MD: The theme of this column is “good people doing good things.” In the context of your work with PennyDrops, what does being a “good person” mean to you?

CH: For me, it’s trying to foster even more community within the club this year and more mentorship. That’s part of the lessons, too. You’ll usually wrap up the content, and then the high school students will ask you, ‘What’s university life like? What classes are you taking?’ You have that connection with them, which is so important.

ON: It’s also trying your best to level the playing field and the act of sharing your knowledge. We’re always looking to older people for mentorship. So, paying it forward any way that we can to spread the wisdom that we’ve gained, since people are always going to have questions.

Learn more about PennyDrops and opportunities to get involved on Instagram, @pennydrops.mcgill, or via pennydrops.org.

End note: If you know good people doing good things who you would like to see featured in this column, email news@mcgilldaily.com.

Editor’s note (27/11/25): The online version of this article features the correct spelling of Chayse Holden. The original print edition, which instead notes the Co-President as “Chase Holden,” is incorrect.

The post Dropping Financial Literacy Knowledge for Canadian Youth appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Single-use products have a significant environmental cost. Reusable products are therefore more sustainable than single-use items in any form. Since 2007, The Plate Club, run out of the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), has been championing reusable products. The service provides free reusable dishware to McGill students and community members, with an eye towards promoting sustainable and environmentally-friendly practices.

The Daily spoke with Jamie Silverman, the General Coordinator of The Plate Club and a third-year undergraduate student majoring in Sustainability, Science and Society with minors in Urban Studies and International Development. We talked about The Plate Club’s history, what it means to be sustainable, and making the world a better place.This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Evan-Platt Goldstein, Co-VP Sustainability (left) and Jamie Silverman, General Coordinator (right). Image courtesy of Enid Kohler.

Enid Kohler for the McGill Daily (MD): How would you describe the Plate Club to someone who has never heard of it before?

Jamie Silverman (JS): So the Plate Club is a free dishware rental service. We essentially furnish dishware to any group on campus or to the broader Montreal community for free. This means that all our dishes are rented out, volunteers package up the orders, and then groups use them, usually for big events like back-to-school barbecues, parties, or end-of-year galas.

JS: The group has their event, they use the plates and glasses and cutlery (it’s not just plates!), and then they wash them and bring them back to us, and then we put them back in the office and do it all over again.

MD: How and when did the Plate Club start?

JS: It actually started in 2007: this has been going on forever. It was originally very avant-garde. It started on a smaller scale with more basics, and then as we grew and people started requesting our service more frequently, we were lacking inventory for like 400-person events, and so we started getting grants and funds to increase our inventory. We have thousands of items right now.

MD: How would you respond to a student club who uses recyclable or compostable products in the hopes of being sustainable, rather than using reusable ones? Why would you convince them to use Plate Club resources instead?

JS: I was actually looking up stats for this. I think you only have to use a reusable plate a handful of times for it to be better than compostables, because when you’re using compostables, it can still only be used once before it goes to the landfill. Whereas we’ve had these plates since 2007. They’re not going anywhere. They’re not breaking because most of our inventory is hard plastic, so they’re meant to last. We have so many people using our stuff that it’s definitely paid off for any kinds of disposables over time.

JS: Sustainability is made up of many facets, but one of them is economic sustainability. Even compostable dishes have to be bought new every time, whereas the Plate Club offers services for free. Let’s say you don’t care about the environment whatsoever. You’re still getting free dishware. Even if you don’t care about the environment, it doesn’t really make any sense, given the Plate Club’s services on campus, in my opinion, to do anything else.

MD: Do you have a favorite memory or an event that stands out to you from the past few years?

JS: I wouldn’t say I have a specific memory, but a continuous reminder of the accumulation of work over the last two years. It’s very physical, right? All of our dishware is material; you see the plates going out and coming back in. It’s a very material way of seeing your impact, quite directly in the orders that we’re preparing. So it’s pretty rewarding.

JS: I don’t know the exact numbers, but I know that every year we have over a hundred orders. We’re trying to create a sustainability report to assess exactly how many dishes we’re diverting. In a report from 2007 to 2017, the service diverted over 60,000 disposable items to landfill. There’s no recent reports, but I’m hoping to put more emphasis on that so that over the years we have a better idea of our impact.

MD: The theme of this column is “good people doing good things.” In the context of your work with the Plate Club, what does being a “good person” mean to you?

JS: For me, as a student studying Sustainability, Science and Society, I’ve always had a very societal outlook on life. And so I think being a good person is living within the collective while trying to better everything around you. And people take that in a lot of different ways. You don’t have to be working in sustainability to be bettering people’s lives. I think ultimately, it is about helping make the world a better place, which is what I see the Plate Club doing for McGill and Montreal.

Learn more about The Plate Club on Instagram, @theplateclub, or place orders for rent through their website, https://theplateclub.wixsite.com/mcgill/plate-rental.

End Note: If you know good people doing good things who you would like to see featured in this column, email news@mcgilldaily.com.

The post More Than Just Plates: An Interview with Jamie Silverman on The Plate Club appeared first on The McGill Daily.

In 2024, an estimated 67,219 Quebecers were diagnosed with cancer: in other words, 184 new cases each day. Gabrielle Lavoie, a U4 undergraduate student in Computer Engineering at McGill, knew she wanted to take a stand in the fight against cancer. In honour of her grandfather, who loved the outdoors and recently passed away from cancer, Lavoie launched Le Quémino, an initiative to walk 142 kilometres to raise funds for the Quebec Cancer Foundation. “I hope you can see my support as I carry your strength with me every step of the way,” Lavoie writes to her grandfather on Le Quémino’s website.

Between October 24 and October 28, Lavoie, alongside her boyfriend and uncle, walked from downtown Montreal to Mont-Tremblant along the P’tit Train du Nord trail, walking 20 to 45 kilometres every day. (That is equivalent to walking a half or full marathon for five days straight!)

The Daily spoke with Lavoie about the walk, the wide-reaching impact of cancer diagnoses, and persevering through difficult times.

This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Enid Kohler for the McGill Daily (MD): I wanted to get started by asking how your walk was. How are you feeling today?

Gabrielle Lavoie (GL): I’m feeling good. It was definitely a challenge physically, but I was happy to complete the full 142-kilometre walk.

MD: What prompted you to begin this project? Where did the idea come about?

GL: Cancer touches so many lives around us: families, friends, our loved ones. So this walk is an act of solidarity to support the thousands of Quebecers affected by cancer. Personally, my grandpa recently died from cancer, but there’s multiple people around us who are also affected, so this was an initiative to support all of those touched by the disease.

MD: Is there a specific moment or memory of the walk that stands out to you?

GL: Looking back to see that I had traveled such a large distance at the end of the walk was very gratifying. Even driving the distance by car to come back home, you could really see just how many kilometres had been walked.

MD: Can you tell me more about the route you took? Was there an intention behind choosing it?

GL: I wanted it to start in downtown Montreal at McGill, where I live and study, and end in Mont-Tremblant. The stops in between all followed the P’tit Train du Nord trail, which is a very popular scenic trail in the Laurentian region. The stops in between ensured the distance was between 20 and 45 kilometres every day.

MD: Did you encounter any particular challenges during the walk? Was there ever a moment where you wanted to give up?

GL: Definitely. It was very physically challenging; every night, my legs were very sore. There were days I walked up to 12 hours, where I would start in the morning and end after sunset. Walking in the dark was definitely a challenge. I was very grateful to have people next to me supporting me on the journey, and I was always proud to be able to raise money for the Quebec Cancer Foundation.

MD: What do you hope will be the long-term impact of this project?

GL: I hope this walk can inspire other people and show them that any initiative, no matter how small, can make a difference.

MD: The theme of this column is “good people doing good things.” In the context of your work with Le Quémino, what does being a “good person” mean to you?

GL: That’s a big question to think about. This walk was really about putting one foot in front of the other, having the perseverance to keep going, and having the overarching goal of doing something good for the world. In general, if someone is able to do small actions and trickle positivity in the world in their own way, people together can make the world a better place.

So far, Le Quémino has raised $2,300 for the Quebec Cancer Foundation. To make a donation, visit canadahelps.org/en/pages/le-quemino.

End note: If you know good people doing good things who you would like to see featured in this column, email news@mcgilldaily.com.

The post Walking 142 Kilometres for Cancer: An Interview with Gabrielle Lavoie appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Menstrual health products should be accessible to everyone who needs them. Period.

Since 2017, the SSMU Menstrual Health Project has been working towards this very mission of accessibility by supplying over 160 washrooms on McGill campus with free menstrual health products. SSMU members pay $2.40 in fees each semester to fund the service, which aims to promote sustainability menstrual equity, and reduce period stigma. Notably, the SSMU Menstrual Health Project does not use gendered language when describing periods in its aim to foster a comprehensive understanding of menstruation that includes trans, non-binary and/or 2SLGBTQ+ students.

The Daily spoke with Momoka Takami, U3 McGill student majoring in International Development Studies and Commissioner of the Menstrual Health Project. We talked about menstrual equity, sustainable hygiene products, and making invisible work visible.

This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Enid for the McGill Daily (MD): How did you get involved in the Menstrual Health Project?

Momoka Takamo (MT): I had an eye on the Menstrual Health Project since I started McGill in 2023, but then I knew it was a demanding job because it has a time commitment of 10 hours per week. I knew I had to commit to this role if I were to do it. So in January, I saw there was an opening for Menstrual Health Product Coordinator and I thought I was ready so I decided to give it a try.

MD: Can you tell me about your current role as Commissioner? What kind of work do you do on a daily basis?

MT: The role of commissioner really varies. Unlike other student-run clubs, we are a SSMU service, which means there’s one commissioner and multiple coordinators. Since the coordinator’s primary job is to restock bathrooms and they’re pretty occupied with it, I am responsible for everything else. In short: HR, social media, inventory management, and event planning or monthly pickups as well. So yeah, the role is really everything you can think of. For other clubs, they have VP Media, VP Internal, VP External, but I’m just Commissioner, so my role consists of everything combined.

MD: How would you describe the SSMU Menstrual Health Project in a few sentences?

MT: We are part of the student society, so every undergraduate student member pays $2.40 for our service fee, along with other student services fees and tuition. We combine all the $2.40s from each person to buy disposable and reusable menstrual health products to be placed on campus. There are 160 bathrooms on campus, including residences, that we restock. The project is run by five Coordinators, so it is a physically demanding job, but we go to every single bathroom. As for reusable products, we have an event called “monthly pick-up,” which involves us showing up on campus and talking with students and providing products to them. We have reusable underwear, period underwear, reusable pads, and reusable cups, according to students’ needs.

MD: If a student feels skeptical about your organization, perhaps they don’t use menstrual health products themselves, how would you argue that your work is important?

MT: That’s an interesting question. We have many students who come to our pick-up because there was a line or they heard about us somewhere on campus. And they say, ‘I don’t really use it.’ So we usually say, “Oh, if you get a product from us, it’s free because you already paid for it. So you might as well take advantage of the service. The underwear or any reusable products usually cost more than $40 to $50 if you buy it personally, but if you try one from us, it’s free.” So it reduces the barrier to try a new product.

MT: We usually don’t have that much time to convince people at the pick-up. But another approach could be that it’s a sustainable product because it’s reusable, and each unit of underwear should last between five to ten years. So that’s an approach that we can incorporate.

MD: Do you have a specific memory of a moment when you realized the impact of the work you’re doing?

MT: At monthly pick-ups, some students tell us how much they love the project, and how they support us, which is very huge inspiration to continue doing our work. Another one was during the fee renewal that we did in Winter 2025. It was a very tough one to pass, because the SSMU renewal fee campaign in general had a very low vote average – it wasn’t really reaching students. We had to physically table on campus and give out flyers to students to let them know that there was a fee renewal going on. While doing that, I met many students who just passed by, and said ‘oh, no, thank you,’ because they didn’t want to get involved in it. But there were also many students who said, ‘oh, I love you guys, I’ll vote, I hope it passes.’ So that experience really communicated to me that there are students who are constantly supporting us.

MD: The theme of this column is “good people doing good things.” In the context of your work withthe Menstrual Health Project, what does being a “good person” mean to you?

MT: Wow. Good person…well, I’m always someone who wants to help people. That was my goal since I was a kid. As an extracurricular or volunteer community involvement activity on campus, being part of SSMU Menstrual Health enables me to support students with free menstrual products. When we did a survey to students, there were about 180 responses, and many of them said if it weren’t for the Menstrual Health Project, they wouldn’t have thought about using reusable products. Once they figured out about us and they got products from us, it just, like, changed everything. They love the reusable products. So, whenever I see those comments or even interact with students, I know that through my role I’m helping students on campus. I don’t think our work is as visible as it should be., but I think we are a group of students who have similar mindsets about, like, staying behind the scenes but doing small things on campus, small things to help people. So, yeah, for us, being a good person is not necessarily being someone in the front seat, but someone who just secretly supports you to make your day better.

The SSMU Menstrual Health Project’s next pick-up will take place on November 12 between 1:30 and 4:30 PM at the Redpath-McLennan library. Students can follow @ssmumenstrualhealth on Instagram for more information.

If you know good people doing good things who you would like to see featured in this column, email news@mcgilldaily.com.

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Margaret MacKenzie is a 2024 McCall MacBain Scholar pursuing a Master of Arts in Educational Leadership at McGill University. She is a citizen of the Métis Nation, British Columbia and is the Indigenous Outreach Program advisor for Branches, McGill’s Community Outreach Program. Margaret worked alongside a team of Indigenous researchers at McGill to create the Critical Campus Tour: an evolving project that launched in 2023. The tour, facilitated by Indigenous students and graduates, visits select sites on McGill’s campus to critically engage with their history and significance. The Daily spoke with Mackenzie about the tour, the importance of community, and why knowledge should evolve rather than remain static.

This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Enid Kohler for the Daily (MD): How did the Critical Campus Tour come about?

Margaret Mackenzie (MM): It started with the Participatory Cultures Lab, which is in the Faculty of Education and is run by Dr. Claudia Mitchell. In 2023, I was an intern in her lab as part of the IMPRESS program (Indigenous Mentorship and Paid Research Experience for Summer Students) and my task was to formalize the tour, to add more spots on the tour, and then to digitize it. That September, we ran the tour for the first time in-person, at the We Will Walk Together Event. There were three tour groups, each about 15-20 people. Last year, the turnout in my group alone was huge – there were probably over 100 people.

MM: Based on the feedback from our 2024 tour, I have been working with other students to continue working on the tour and make it more concrete for the future.

MD: If you were pitching the Critical Campus Tour to an educator in a nutshell, how would you describe it?

MM: It’s to look at McGill’s campus in an anti- colonial and truth-seeking lens. It’s also about engaging with the sites and monuments at McGill that you walk by everyday, which actually have a deep history or meaning behind them that we don’t pay attention to or recognize. The tour is supposed to provide a basis for critical conversation, discussion, and reflection. The tour guide gives you some points to. consider and then you have what can be uncomfortable or challenging conversations. You need to show up to this tour ready and willing to do that.

MM: This tour is also about uplifting and shedding light on all the hard work that Indigenous staff and students are doing on campus. One of my favourites is Projections: Kwe in the Faculty of Engineering building, which was an Indigenous student group out of the Faculty of Engineering that put up this really cool art display in the lobby. So things like that as well, just uplifting and providing a platform for really amazing work on campus.

MD: You mentioned digitizing the Critical Campus Tour. What is your vision for how the project will evolve in the future?

MM: We’ve been trying to share [the tour] with professors and students to have it be accessible, so that it’s available on days other than just September 30. That’s why we’re trying to move it to a digital platform, because all the information and all of what we would say on the tour is now online. So you can do it yourself. There’s also a map to guide you.

MM: We really hope that it’s a useful resource for classes and for groups on campus, just to continue the legacy of having this tour run because it has so much interesting information. A lot of it gets swept under the rug. So just having people be more aware and using it in different spaces.

MM: I also want to emphasize that the Critical Campus Tour is definitely not just my work; I’m one piece but it’s been many, many people who have worked on this. (Emilee Bews, Samantha Nepton, Sarah Boyer and Rune Hartgerink are Mackenzie’s primary collaborators.) The tour also gets revised every year. It’s like a living document. I hope that it continues to grow and change since it’s not meant to stay the same. We hope that other students will do more work [on the project] and continue it.

MD: What is your relationship with McGill’s Indigenous community like and how has it changed since participating in the IMPRESS program and starting the Critical Campus Tour?

MM: I’ve never seen myself as someone to do a Master’s. That was never really in my plan. I just was like, ‘OK, I’m going to be a teacher.’ And then after I did IMPRESS and research, my mentor Emilee Bews – who was also an undergrad at the same time as me and in the same program – really encouraged me to apply to the McCall McBain program. She was like, “just do it.” And I wasn’t sure. But Emily really pushed me. And then I decided to do a Master’s. And through my Master’s, I’m so lucky to do Indigenous centered research, which is really, really incredible. And I’m really grateful. I fully changed my trajectory.

MM: Working with and supporting Indigenous students in higher education also really changed how I see what I want to do in the future. It’s been a full circle experience. I’m so, so grateful for all the experiences that I’ve had.

MD: The theme of this column is “good people doing good things.” In the context of your research and work with other Indigenous scholars at McGill, what does being a “good person” mean to you?

MM: Well, for me, it’s just supporting my community. It’s not about myself. I think it’s really about uplifting the voice of my community and strengthening my community. And following our values and doing everything with a good heart and good intentions is really important to me. I’ve been so grateful to have so many amazing opportunities. And I just want that also for my community.

The digital version of the 2025 Critical Campus Tour will launch at the We Will Walk Together Event on September 30. Students can find out more about the project and McGill’s Indigenous community and history by attending the event.

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