A panel organized by the Concordia Student Union discussed the implication of the recently-passed provincial religious neutrality law. Photo by Sandra Hercegova
Panelists suggest more National Assembly gatekeeping, more political involvement panelists suggest
Human rights lawyer Pearl Eliadis was about to leave a panel discussion on Bill 62 organized by the Concordia Student Union (CSU) early because of an obligation when she asked the panel moderator for the microphone one last time.
“When this bill was debated two years ago, where were all you guys?” she asked. Eliadis’s comments came after an attendee asked how protesters of the bill could have been more proactive.
Eliadis—an adjunct professor of McGill University’s faculty of law—answered mostly judicial-related questions in the small Hall building classroom where the CSU invited guests for the panel discussion on Nov. 1.
She sat alongside Canadian Muslim Lawyers Association (CMLA) national board member Sameer Zuberi and policy analyst Idil Issa. The latter, when asked how society should stop being reactionary to controversial legislation, sighed before uttering: “I don’t have the answer.”
Throughout the discussion, but also immediately following her question to the attendees, Eliadis urged the public to thoroughly read and study Bill 62.
Specifically, she pointed out the parts other than the second—and most publicized—section, which state: “persons receiving services from such personnel members must have their face uncovered.”
The section—named “services with face uncovered”—has been the most controversial part since the bill passed on Oct. 18. Two days after the law passed, multiple people descended on Montreal’s Park Avenue and in the metro system wearing ski masks to protest against the bill.
The panel’s organizers invited Fatima Ahmad, a McGill student who wears the niqab, to share her thoughts on the new bill and talk about her experience wearing the full face veil.
“I feel really used [and] targeted,” Ahmad told the group of mostly students gathered in the room. When Quebec Justice Minister Stéphanie Vallée said the law had passed, Ahmad admitted she “was super shocked.”
Ironically, Eliadis noted, the provincial government launched an inquiry into systemic racism in Quebec in September, just a few weeks before Bill 62 passed. “Right hand and left hand, really,” she said, referring to the disconnect within Quebec’s government.
According to Eliadis, section three of the bill, pertaining to reasonable accommodation, is just as important if not more than the ban on covered faces when using public services.
The lawyer criticized section 11.4 as an example, which states that when an institutional body deals with an accommodation request, it must make sure the request is reasonable “in that it does not impose undue hardship with regard to […] the proper operation of the body.”
“It really is ‘anything goes,’” Eliadis said, referring to the provision’s vagueness.
“Instead of making [accommodation] something that you should be doing in order to ensure that we have inclusion in this country, [the bill] says: ‘Here are all the reasons why you should not accommodate people.’”
More involvement in politics
Zuberi, a former CSU executive who also ran as a councillor under the Projet Montréal banner in 2013, encouraged the panel’s attendees to get involved in the political process.
“[It’s] because people like us are not involved in those conversations that legislations like this actually pass,” Zuberi said.
The CSU—which already motioned to condemn the bill during a special council meeting on Oct. 19—was supported by the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) vice president of external affairs, Connor Spencer, and Association pour la voix étudiante au Québec (AVEQ) secretary general Rami Yahia at the panel.
Spencer said the bill should be “called for what it is: racist and sexist”.
“We do need to take a position on this. We’re students, but we’re also members of society,” he added.
“[It’s] not this piece of legislation that’s problematic, it’s the societal conversation that we’re having around this legislation that’s so damaging,” Zuberi argued.
According to Zuberi, company boards of directors and elected bodies in Montreal should also represent the city’s demographic by having the same percentage of visible minorities as in the society itself.
Issa supported Zuberi’s idea, adding that more representation from minority groups at the National Assembly could, at the very least, bring more opposition to legislation like Bill 62.
For Issa, the issue with the bill is more than political: it’s moral. “Use your moral imagination,” she said, “and try to think of what is fundamental to your character, to your beliefs, something that you hold dear, and imagine if it was violated upon every encounter with someone with institutional authority.”
The John Molson Sports Marketing Committee organizes the annual John Molson Sports Business conference. Photo courtesy of the John Molson Sports Marketing Committee
Annual John Molson Sports Business conference to feature NFL, Sportsnet speakers
Nicholas Vonapartis was attempting to find speakers for the John Molson Sports Business conference when he received an email from Sportsnet president Scott Moore.
“He sends me an email [saying], ‘How do you like Bill Daly?’” recounted Vonapartis, the vice-president of speaker personnel for the John Molson Sports Marketing Committee (JMSM), in an interview with The Concordian. That is how the conference managed to book the National Hockey League’s deputy commissioner as a speaker.
According to Vonapartis, two elements came into play when the committee began reaching out in June to potential speakers: name recognition and educational purpose. Daly fits both criteria.
In a few days, students from 23 North American universities will flock to Montreal for the three-day conference taking place at Hotel Bonaventure. According to JMSM vice-president of marketing Romana Kazi, 300 tickets have already been sold for the event.
Daly is one of more than 20 speakers, including lawyers from National Football League teams, public relations agents representing the biggest names in sports and Major League Soccer franchise presidents.
Daly’s panel with Moore and Sportsnet columnist Stephen Brunt will kick off the conference on Nov. 2. A discussion between Montreal Impact executive vice-president of soccer operations Richard Legendre and Toronto FC president Bill Manning will follow.
Vonapartis said the committee had a specific vision for the panels, and then found individuals who embodied that vision to participate. In short, the committee wanted to keep the panel discussions “completely up to date,” according to Vonapartis.
Consequently, the topic of national anthem protests in the NFL will be touched upon during a workshop featuring New England Patriots general counsel Jack Mula, Vonapartis said.
During Legendre and Manning’s discussion, Vonapartis expects the increasing number of MLS franchises to be addressed. The MLS imposes “huge franchise fees, but profits are nowhere to be found,” Vonapartis explained.
Some familiar faces
The Concordia Stingers 2015 rebrand featured new colours and a new identity, but more importantly, a lot of business decisions. The man responsible for it, Patrick Boivin, will return to Concordia more than a year after leaving the school to join the Montreal Alouettes as the organization’s president. He will host the VIP breakfast on Nov. 4.
Boivin’s short-lived tenure with the university—just over three years—doesn’t match Matt Pfeffer’s one-year stint as a consultant with the prestigious Montreal Canadiens.
Pfeffer––a data analyst for the Nashville Predators––is remembered not for the duration of his time with the Canadiens, but rather for the way his tenure ended.
Following the blockbuster trade that sent Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Shea Weber, Pfeffer wrote in a statement that he “made a passionate case in favour of Subban” prior to the trade. He added: “There was never a meeting with [Canadiens] management” prior to the trade.
A month later, the Canadiens fired Pfeffer. Pfeffer will talk about hockey analytics alongside Sportsnet writer Dimitri Filipovic, hockey analyst Mike Kelly, Stathletes co-founder Meghan Chayka and Florida Panthers assistant general manager Eric Joyce.
The conference is a representation of Vonapartis’ overall goal for panels. The JMSB student said he wanted “a mix of three things: journalistic perspective, independent company perspective and internal [team] perspective.”
Courtesy of the John Molson Sports Marketing Committee
The Commission des droits de la personne recommends that Concordia University pay $33,000 in damages to a woman who claims she was a victim of social and racial profiling. Photo by Étienne Lajoie
Commission des droits de la personne recommends damages to be paid to victim
In July 2013, Chantal Lapointe was making her way through the underground tunnel between Concordia’s EV building and the Webster Library. She had been doing paperwork in the library and was carrying multiple bags. As she was about to enter the building through the tunnel’s revolving doors, two university security guards asked Lapointe for ID. When she asked why they needed to identify her, the security guards told her they had the right to do so.
This identification request is one of many factors that were considered by the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse in recommending that Concordia and the Montreal division of the Commissionaires—a security firm—pay Lapointe $33,000 in damages.
The Commission wrote that Lapointe’s race and social condition played a “decisive role” in the security guard’s decision to intercept her.
“The fact that she was perceived as a homeless person led her to be treated badly by security guards at Concordia,” said the executive director of the Centre of Research-Action for Race Relations (CRARR), Fo Niemi. Lapointe noted that nothing similar ever happened to her at the Université du Québec à Montréal while she was earning her bachelor’s degree.
The report further indicates that Lapointe was intercepted by Concordia security for no valid reason and that a security guard attempted to take a picture of her without her consent.
Lapointe said she tried to stop the security guard from photographing her by blocking their view with her hands. When another security guard intervened, the guard who took the picture told a colleague that Lapointe tried to slap him, according to the complaint filed a month after the incident.
The guards called police when Lapointe refused to leave. Police requested she provide identification, to which she obliged in order to avoid more trouble, she said.
In response to the accusations and the Commission’s reports, Concordia wrote in a statement that it “vehemently disagrees with the findings in [the] reports, which does not include all of the relevant facts.”
The university had until Oct. 27, 2017 to comply with the recommendations of the Commission—which doesn’t have the power to impose regulations—if it wanted to avoid going to trial for litigation.
Concordia failed to do so, writing to The Concordian on Oct. 24 that “it’s not appropriate for it to share those [relevant facts] at this time,” but that it “will be challenging the Human Rights Commission’s proposal, and the relevant facts will be brought forward through the judicial process.”
Commission legal counsel Buschra Jalabi—who prosecuted the case—declined to comment.
“We are the complainant, we have full legal status to be involved,” said Niemi in a press conference alongside Lapointe.
CRARR—where Lapointe has worked in the past—has offered legal support to the complainant.
In addition to paying the damages, the Commission also suggested the university give “anti-discrimination training” to its security guards and modify its institutional policies in order to “remove elements that target and stigmatize homeless people.”
The Concordia Student Union council passed a motion during the Oct. 25 council meeting to create a working group tasked with researching ways to improve the union’s health and dental plan service. Photo by Kirubel Mehari
Concordia Student Union motions to create a working group to review health and dental plan services
In a letter sent to Concordia Student Union internal affairs coordinator Veronika Rydzewski, Alliance pour la Santé Étudiante au Québec (ASEQ) CEO Lev Bukhman denied allegations that he provided gifts or benefits to CSU general coordinator Omar Riaz and finance coordinator Soulaymane El Alaoui.
Bukhman’s letter comes after Riaz and El Alaoui were issued formal warnings by the CSU on Sept. 20 for accepting plane tickets from ASEQ to Vancouver for the Student Union Development Summit (SUDS) conference held at the University of British Columbia from Aug. 18 to 21.
At the Sept. 20 council meeting, the council decided to designate Rydzewski as the new liaison between the CSU and ASEQ. Bukhman wrote: “At no time did [ASEQ] or its CEO, Lev Bukhman, provide a personal gift or benefit to Omar Riaz and Soulaymane El Alaoui.” Instead, ASEQ’s CEO described the plane tickets as a “sponsorship” that should “in no way be construed as a personal ‘gift.’”
According to Bukhman, “the sponsorship was from [ASEQ] to the CSU as an organization, not any particular individuals.”
Creation of a working group
A working group was created by the CSU to research ways to improve the union’s health and dental plan service. According to El Alaoui, the CSU’s last contract with ASEQ—the union’s healthcare provider—was signed in April 2017 and allows for the creation of a working group.
El Alaoui is one of five CSU executives and councillors in the group, along with Riaz, Rydzewski, councillors Rowan Gaudet and Rory James, and CSU general manager Robert Henri.
Riaz and El Alaoui previously told The Concordian that the idea to bring services in-house came from the SUDS conference where they observed the work of UBC’s Alma Mater Society—the university’s own student union. The Alma Mater Society, which also has a contract with ASEQ, brought its health and dental plan services in-house, meaning UBC students can access ASEQ services on campus.
During the council meeting on Oct. 25, El Alaoui said the union would be able to save more than $100,000 if it brought some of ASEQ’s services in-house. The finance coordinator added that bringing services in-house would create jobs for students.
The working group will not be a decision-making committee. Rather, it will bring recommendations to the CSU council that will be voted on.
Gaudet said it was “very obvious that [the CSU] could provide those services for cheaper.” Riaz explained students often come to the CSU office with questions regarding their health and dental plans, and receptionists have to redirect students to call ASEQ’s operators.
The CSU general coordinator added that all communication between the working group and ASEQ would be done through Rydzewski because of El Alaoui and Riaz’s ban from communicating with ASEQ.
By-elections referendum questions
The council approved the questions for the CSU’s next by-elections, which will run from Nov. 28 to 30.
Two of the questions are related to internships. The first will ask students if they are in favour of removing the requirement that mandatory internships in the departments of applied human sciences, education and art education be unpaid.
Because of the uneven level of support for internships from one department to another, according to the CSU, the second question will ask if students are in favour of “establishing a standardized system and placement protocol for all student internships.”
The CSU will also ask if students would approve of adding four new positions to its position book, including: “that the CSU oppose racism in all forms and rejects all values, structures and behaviours that perpetuate systemic racism.”
The last question will ask students if they are in favour “of Concordia University refusing to enforce” Bill 62. The refusal to enforce the bill would extend to students, staff and faculty who choose to practice their right to religious freedom.
Motion refusing to enforce law’s provisions passed at department meeting
A motion was passed at an Oct. 20 Concordia history department meeting condemning Bill 62, a provincial religious neutrality law adopted by the National Assembly on Oct. 18.
The motion—which was published on the department’s Facebook page—claims that the new law “discriminates specifically against one group, Muslim women who wear face coverings.”
After the law was adopted last week, it was understood that Bill 62 would require people to uncover their faces when receiving public services. However, on Oct. 24, Quebec Justice Minister Stéphanie Vallée clarified that women who wear a veil will only have to show their face for identification purposes and when interacting with a public service employee.
In its motion, the history department added that “the real effect of Law 62 will be to restrict women’s access to essential services and public space.”
“Therefore, the Department of History resolves that we will refuse to enforce its provisions in our classrooms and offices,” the motion continued.
The history department is the first Concordia department to officially condemn the bill. The motion also urged the university and major unions, such as the Concordia University Faculty Association (CUFA) and the Concordia University Part-Time Faculty Association (CUPFA), to take a similar stand in refusing to enforce the law’s provisions.
In an interview with The Concordian on Oct. 20, Concordia president Alan Shepard said the university was not provided with guidelines or explanations for how to interpret or implement the law. “So for now, it’s a status-quo—as if the law weren’t there,” Shepard said.
As part of their motion, the history department stated, “the new law not only contravenes the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms but also Concordia’s own policies regarding ‘civility, equity, respect, non-discrimination and an appreciation of diversity,’ as well as the right of all members of the university regarding ‘freedom of conscience and religion; freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression.’”
A settlement has been reached between CJLO and a former employee after a complaint was filed last March. Photo by Mackenzie Lad
Complaint filed under the Canadian Labour Code closed, non-disclosure agreement signed
A settlement was reached between Ellen Smallwood—a former CJLO employee—and the university radio station last week, according to the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR).
CRARR represented Smallwood, the station’s former director of promotions, fundraising and sponsorship, when she filed a labour complaint against her former employer last March. Smallwood claimed the station’s executive team created a hostile work environment for women and that she was fired without just cause.
In an email to The Concordian, CJLO station manager Michal Langiewicz wrote that the settlement was done “to the satisfaction of both parties.” According to CRARR executive director Fo Niemi, the final approval of the settlement by the Canadian Human Rights Commission is pending.
“The complaint filed with Human Resources and Social Development Canada under the Canada Labour Code has been closed as part of the settlement,” Niemi added.
Neither Langiewicz nor Niemi commented on the settlement, citing a non-disclosure agreement between the two parties.
Smallwood, worked at CJLO from January 2015 to November 2016. She told The Concordian in April that tensions began between her and the station’s executive board and management team in June 2016.
According to Smallwood, certain employees opposed putting up posters condemning sexism, racism and other forms of bigotry intended to promote the office as a safe space because they believed it interfered with their freedom of speech.
She told The Concordian that their refusal was an indirect form of oppression against minorities.
She added that Langiewicz eventually decided to ask the station’s volunteers whether or not they approved of the poster via an online poll. Smallwood said Langiewicz refused to put the posters up, despite the staff voting overwhelmingly in favour of displaying them.
Another female employee, who remained anonymous, corroborated some of Smallwood’s claims regarding the work environment and tension created following the safe space poster debate.
While Smallwood did not name any particular board executive in her complaint, she described Langiewicz’s leadership as being “paternalistic and sexist.”
According to the former CJLO employee, she was told by another employee that she wasn’t fired in person or given advanced notice because she would have “cried like a baby.”
At the time, Langiewicz told The Concordian it was the first labour complaint CJLO had dealt with in 17 years. “We cannot comment on any details at this point for reasons of confidentiality, except to say that we are seriously disputing the allegations,” Langiewicz said at the time.
Niemi said the complaint was filed not only to correct past actions but to protect future employees from the same conditions Smallwood faced.
TRAC president Alexandre St-Onge-Perron talks financial negotiations. Photo by Alex Hutchins
Upcoming bi-weekly meetings between the two parties to sign new collective agreement
Negotiating the negotiation. That’s the way Teaching and Research Assistants at Concordia (TRAC) president Alexandre St-Onge-Perron described the first of a series of bi-weekly meetings between the union and Concordia. The two parties hope to sign a new collective agreement to replace the one that expired on April 30, 2016.
On Oct. 13, according to St-Onge-Perron, Concordia and TRAC determined the way they wished to negotiate and established a protocol. They’re now ready to go, with the negotiations set to start on Oct. 27.
“The discussions have been very positive,” university spokesperson Mary-Jo Barr told The Concordian.
Concordia will be represented by an employee from the human resources department, vice-provost of faculty relations Nadia Hardy, and professors from the political science and engineering departments, St-Onge-Perron explained.
Once agreed upon, the new collective agreement will apply retroactively to the 2016-17 academic year and be effective until the end of the 2018-19 academic year.
Seven demands—described by St-Onge-Perron as “big themes”—are on the table. Some are minor issues, such as changing the word “handicap” when talking about people with disabilities in the collective agreement. Four other demands are featured on a flyer TRAC executives will be distributing to the student body this week. They include transparency with regards to teaching and research assistant appointments, higher wages for research assistants, a stop to unpaid work and a ban on contract splitting.
St-Onge-Perron said the last two are especially important to him. According to TRAC communications and mobilization officer Eunbyul Park, the issue of contract splitting was brought up when TRAC executives met with union members from the history department.
St-Onge-Perron explained that contract splitting consists of a teaching assistant being paid a wage for his time in class, and a second wage for marking papers—which is lower than the wage for being in class.
“It makes no sense. If you’re only marking for a course, it’s fine to have a marker contract, but if you do both for the same course and you’re the same human being, it makes no sense to have two contracts,” St-Onge-Perron said.
In an email to The Concordian, Barr wrote that “all contracts are managed in accordance with the collective agreement, which is negotiated by the parties.”
Article 15.05 of the 2013-16 collective agreement for teaching assistants reads that “marking duties may be the object of separate marker contracts.”
St-Onge-Perron wrote in a subsequent email that, while contract splitting has been allowed since 2013, the measure has only become the norm recently.
“Human resources now encourages departments to split contracts, which has been done in numerous cases in the fall semester,” the TRAC president wrote. “We expect an even higher number of contract splitting in the winter [semester].”
“You pick up [the students’] assignments, you walk to your office and you’re doing a marking job so we’re going to give you a separate marking contract for these hours,” St-Onge-Perron said, describing the situation of teaching assistants who have two contracts.
According to St-Onge-Perron, teaching assistants are paid approximately $24 per hour, and markers are paid approximately $20.
The issue of unpaid work is also important to the TRAC president. “Right now, some people sign contracts for 130 hours for example, but their workload is so big that they have to [work] 150 or 200 hours, and they’re not paid for these hours,” St-Onge-Perron claimed.
The union is already going into arbitration with the university, advocating for higher wages for its invigilators—one of two groups represented by TRAC, along with the teaching and research assistants.
Some of TRAC’s executives were also present at Montreal’s International Workers’ Day march on May 1, where marchers insisted on raising the minimum wage in Quebec to $15 per hour.
Hoping for more delegates
There are few delegates—liaisons between members and executives—at TRAC. There are “a bit more than 10 [active delegates]”, St-Onge-Perron explained. Adding delegations “is one our priorities,” Park added. The delegates report to the seven TRAC executives.
TRAC delegates can be self-appointed or mandated by their student association, according to St-Onge-Perron. The president said delegates are asked to organize “one meeting per semester per department or faculty.” In these assembly-like meetings, TRAC members are free to express their concerns to delegates, who then inform the executive team.
“Sometimes, [the executives] think ‘this department is going well, there’s no big problem,’ but then when you let people talk, you realize that there are a lot of problems,” St-Onge-Perron said.
A meeting was organized on Oct. 20 by the delegate for the department of mechanical, industrial and aerospace engineering (MIAE), Hossein Kalbasi. St-Onge-Perron said he believes one will soon take place at the John Molson School of Business.
According to St-Onge-Perron, some departments are more contentious than others. Consequently, some complaints come up more often in certain departments than others. “Departments sometimes have different work cultures,” St-Onge-Perron said.
TRAC recently changed the formula for the delegate meetings. “People have more space to speak,” St-Onge-Perron said. “We’re giving more power to the delegates because we want to improve accountability of the executives.”
Number of TRAC members hard to track
There are currently about 2,000 TRAC members, according to St-Onge-Perron, 1,600 of which are teaching or research assistants.
“It changes from one semester to another,” Park explained, “because sometimes research assistants sign contracts midway through the semester.”
According to Barr, the university “keeps data in the payroll system and archives the contracts that are sent by the departments and faculties.” But, according to St-Onge-Perron, the “system is from another century.” St-Onge-Perron said TRAC has access to the list of members on the payroll system.
“We can know today how many TAs and RAs there are […] but for a whole semester it depends because sometimes the RA could be hired for a month, for a semester,” St-Onge-Perron said.
When teaching and research assistants sign their contracts, they must sign the TRAC members form, which is then sent to the union, according to Barr.
“They send us membership forms, on paper form. Not all of them do though. And that has to be put in by hand,” Park said.
CRARR executive director Fo Niemi is offering legal support to a Concordia student who is taking her alleged harasser to the Quebec Human Rights Commission. Photo by Alex Hutchins
CRARR and individual considering filing a civil rights complaint against Concordia
It’s Monday April 18, 2016. Concordia student Maria* checks her phone and sees a text message: “Hey Maria, my names [sic] Eric*, I saw you on [Plenty of Fish], how’s it going? (:”
She asks the man where he got her number. He answers with a screenshot of what Maria realizes is a fake account with her name on the dating app. “This is fake. Someone has been stealing my info,” she quickly replies.
A day earlier, according to documents obtained by The Concordian, a post appeared on the Concordia University subreddit—a forum dedicated to the university on Reddit—claiming Maria had been seen performing sexual acts in a university office.
Soon after the post was published, she was contacted by a student she had met a few months earlier. He informed her about the post and attempted to start a conversation. Maria told him she wasn’t interested in talking.
Less than 24 hours later, a second post was made on the Concordia University subreddit, describing Maria as a “whore.”
These interactions are included in a report written on April 22, 2016 by Concordia security investigator and preventionist Lyne Denis. The report documents weeks of alleged cyberbullying, online sexual harassment, intimidation and threats Maria faced from a fellow student.
The Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR) offered Maria legal support following the recommendation of the Concordia Student Union Legal Information Clinic. On Sept. 2, the centre’s executive director, Fo Niemi, told The Concordian they would be filing a complaint against the alleged harasser to the Quebec Human Rights Commission.
In a press release sent out 19 days later, CRARR wrote that Maria was also “considering” filing a civil rights complaint against Concordia “for discrimination and failure to protect and support.”
Maria, a 21-year-old international student, first met her alleged harasser after posting a message on a Facebook page for new Concordia students. “I made a post [to introduce myself] trying to make friends in the group,” she said. She was 19 at the time. “We met up in person, and we became friends. We were on and off in that friendship.”
The harassment began when Maria ran for an elected position in a student association in 2016. A few months into her campaign, she said abrasive messages were being posted about her on Yik Yak, a now-defunct social media app that allowed users to anonymously post messages viewable by users within a certain radius, such as on or around campus.
Maria said she would receive messages from the alleged harasser shortly after the posts were made on Yik Yak. This behaviour became a recurring pattern.
“He messages me with, ‘Oh, look what’s being said about you.’ ‘Oh, I’m so sorry that this is happening to you,’” Maria said, referring to any time a message about her was posted on Yik Yak.
A Reddit account with her full name and the words “TheWhore” was also created around that same time. “He would always be the first one to message me with links to that,” Maria said. “It was posted five minutes ago, and he already knew. He already saw it, and he already had the time to text me about it.”
In April 2016, Maria said she confronted the student when another Reddit thread about her was created. “I know it’s you,” she recalled telling him. “Just stop. I’m going to go the police. If there’s a paper trail, I want it to lead to you.”
Maria explained that, “within five minutes of that conversation online, [the thread] was deleted.” During the same month, she allegedly got calls from men on several occasions because her Facebook pictures and phone number had been associated with fake online accounts under her name.
“I was walking to class, I would receive calls from strange men like, ‘Hey baby, I know you’re in the H building, just wait for me,” Maria explained. She said she also received rape threats “not from [the alleged harasser] but through the accounts he created,” yet she claimed little was done by the university to protect her.
A visit to Concordia’s security on April 22, 2016 was not the first step Maria took to address this ongoing issue. Two days prior, she went to the university’s Office of Rights and Responsibilities (ORR) to file a complaint for harassment, sexual harassment and threatening or violent conduct, according to CRARR’s Niemi.
The ORR’s annual reports indicate the office saw a steady increase in the number of reported infractions of the university’s Code of Rights and Responsibilities—which include cases and consultations handled by the office—between the 2012-13 and the 2015-16 academic years.
Graphic by Zeze Le Lin
In 2012-13, according to the office’s annual report, 59 harassment infractions and 16 sexual harassment infractions were reported to the office. Two years later, in 2014-15, 63 harassment infractions and 29 sexual harassment infractions were addressed by the ORR.
The academic year Maria filed her complaint with the ORR, 99 harassment infractions were reported, according to the annual report, as well as 33 sexual assault infractions.
Concordia’s Code of Rights and Responsibilities reads: “Formal complaints by students against other students shall be adjudicated by a hearing panel consisting only of students.” When a formal complaint is made, the secretary of the Hearing and Appeals Panel selects three graduate or undergraduate students from the Student Tribunal Pool, as well as one non-voting chair.
The Student Tribunal Pool is nominated by the Concordia Student Union (CSU) each year in June. A maximum of 15 undergraduate students are chosen by the student union, in addition to a maximum of 10 students selected by the Graduate Student Association (GSA), according to Concordia’s Policy on the Establishment of Tribunal Hearing Pools.
Every student hearing panel (SHP) also has a chair, whose role is “to preside over the proceedings, keep order and ensure fairness,” according to the Code of Rights and Responsibilities.
In November 2016, Niemi compiled an unofficial list of lawyers who have acted as student tribunal chairs, including Roanne C. Bratz, Emmanuelle Demers, Sandra Mastrogiuseppe and Angela Onesi. The Concordian confirmed the four to be acting chairs.
The chair for Maria’s case was Vincent Lesage, whose appointment had been proposed by the then-university counsel, Bram Freedman, in 2002.
“They tend to be from big law firms,” Niemi said. “And in dealing with sexual violence and harassment, we start to raise questions about whether these people are trained enough to deal with this issue.”
University spokesperson Mary-Jo Barr explained that tribunal chairs were chosen “due to relevant experience” and because they agree to chair the tribunals on a volunteer basis. “They are trained by our tribunal office on all our processes and policies,” she added.
Maria’s SHP did not take place until October 2016, four months after her visit to the ORR. In April, the same month she visited the ORR and Concordia Security, Maria filed a report with the Montreal police’s 20th precinct, near Concordia’s downtown campus.
An employee from Concordia Security accompanied her to the precinct on April 25 at 10:30 a.m., according to the incident report filed by Concordia Security’s Denis’s incident report.
When asked if Concordia had a copy of that report, Barr said the university would “not comment on a specific case.” “We can confirm that when a student brings to our attention a concern for their safety, with or without a police report, we look carefully at how we can support that student,” Barr explained.
According to Maria, the university offered her very little support.
“Pending the trial, at the beginning of April last year, [Concordia Security] offered to walk me to the metro [at] night, but that was it,” Maria said, adding that her alleged harasser could still approach her on campus.
Maria said she also received no follow-ups from the police regarding her report. “The Sexual Assault Resource Centre [SARC] offered to get me support, offered to be there for me, offered to email my professors asking for extensions, but that’s it. There were no continuous follow-ups.”
On April 20, Maria’s alleged harasser received an email from the ORR informing him that the office wanted to schedule a meeting with him and Concordia Security “to discuss […] concerns regarding his alleged behaviour involving another member of the university.”
A meeting was set up between the alleged harasser, ORR and Concordia Security on May 5, 2016. In her report, Denis wrote that the individual said “he would be available at any time after his last final.”
“The university accommodates him and his final schedule, but no accommodation was given to me,” Maria said.
On Oct. 25, 2016 at 1 p.m., Maria entered a room in Concordia’s GM building for the hearing.
Niemi and Maria later criticized the trial’s procedure. Maria told The Concordian there was a power imbalance. “I was represented by two CSU student advocates. He was represented by two university advocates paid by the university,” she said.
In addition, Maria had to sit at the same table as her alleged harasser. “If I wanted to go to the restroom, I would have to almost touch him because the room was very narrow, [and] he had his friends sitting outside, his witnesses, laughing. I could hear myself being called a whore,” she recalled.
According to Barr, “any party or person who feels uncomfortable in the physical setting can bring this up and solutions can be sought.” She added that survivors can be provided with information and support from the SARC coordinator throughout the process. According to the SHP decision, Maria’s advocate said SARC coordinator Jennifer Drummond would act as a witness. However, Drummond did not testify at the trial because “she had a prior commitment,” the SHP decision reads.
CRARR executive director Fo Niemi is offering legal support to a Concordia student taking. Photo by Kirubel Mehari
During the hearing, the respondent claimed he gave Maria’s phone number—which eventually ended up on fake online accounts—to an individual who used the alias William.
The respondent said he met the individual through the online gaming platform Steam but had never met him in person throughout their five years of acquaintance.
Maria’s advocates asked the SHP to expel the respondent, arguing that “if the respondent is not adequately sanctioned, the complainant will not be able to continue her studies at the university.”
In response, the respondent’s advocates argued that “the complainant’s advocates failed to establish a direct link between the respondent and the charges contained herein.” For that reason, they added, a sanction of expulsion “would be very severe.”
After a deliberation, the SHP unanimously upheld charges of harassment and sexual harassment, and a majority of the panel upheld the “threatening or violent conduct charge.”
In light of the decision, the SHP imposed a written reprimand and compensation for the cost associated with Maria’s need to change her cellphone. However, Maria said this was not an issue, since phone companies have policies to replace phones for free in cases of harassment.
Maria said it was very stressful for her to inform her family about the harassment. “I come from a very conservative family [and] the culture is not very feminist,” she explained. “Just the fact that I had to call my dad [and] having to explain to him, ‘I’m being called a whore. I can’t walk to campus without someone wanting to rape me.’” According to Niemi, Maria’s alleged harasser has also threatened to sue her.
In its Sept. 21 press release, CRARR wrote that “common patterns of the university’s failure to protect and support [students include] being kept in the dark about the aftermath once a decision is rendered, especially where personal safety is concerned.”
In its conclusion, the tribunal decision read that the “majority of the SHP recommended that the present file be forwarded to the appropriate department(s) for its assessment and management.”
Niemi said he doesn’t know where the file was forwarded. In an email, Barr wrote that the file “could be forwarded to Security, the Office of Rights and Responsibility and/or the Dean of Students—all depending on the circumstances.”
According to Niemi, Maria has been suspended from her program. Maria said she is not attending classes at the moment because her grades suffered too much throughout the ordeal. “In the middle of my finals, I was walking with security to the police department, spending five hours with them to write reports. How was I expected to do anything? Concordia was aware because I was going with [them] to do all these procedures,” Maria said, adding that the university did not unenroll her from the classes she expected to be excused from. “Classes that were supposed to be dropped were not dropped,” Maria said, and her GPA suffered as a result.
According to Maria, she only knew about the support available to her on campus because she was involved in student politics. “Had I just come to my class and then went home, I would not have even been aware of these bodies, and would have had effectively no support,” she said.
Niemi said the Quebec Human Rights Commission “will investigate the harasser [and] gather all the evidence to eventually rule whether she has been a victim of harassment and discrimination.” Despite the SHP’s decision to uphold the charges of harassment and sexual harassment, Niemi said he and Maria are not satisfied. As the SHP decision acknowledges, the tribunal “does not have the authority to impose conditions restricting the respondent’s movements on campus.”
If the Human Rights Commission recommends damages, Niemi said CRARR “is looking at five figures.”
Maria said she “wanted to make sure [her] experience had some good come out of it.”
“I want to make sure that this person will not go out in the world and perpetuate those same actions to someone else.”
*Names have been changed to ensure the individuals’ privacy and protection.
An infrastructure renewal project for a generator and boiler at the Loyola campus will cost around $8.37 million. Photo by Alex Hutchins
Infrastructure project to include new generator and boiler at Loyola campus
An infrastructure renewal project for a generator and a boiler needed to power and heat certain buildings connected to the centralized systems of the Loyola campus is projected to cost a maximum of $8.37 million, according to documents obtained by The Concordian through an access to information request.
The authorization for the renewal project was given following the recommendation of the university’s Finance and Real Estate Planning Committees. It was one of three resolutions concerning the renewal project that were passed during a closed session of the April 19 board of governors meeting.
In an email, university spokesperson Mary-Jo Barr wrote that the amount “is based on an estimate, and the final cost will be confirmed as part of the tendering process.”
Part of the projected cost—$3.1 million—will be funded by the federal government’s Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund (SIF). The SIF and Quebec’s Plan québécois des infrastructures 2016-2026 (PQI) will also fund the research centre due to be built on Concordia’s Loyola campus.
According to Barr, the remaining cost of the $8.37-million renewal project will be “funded by a separate fund paid for by the PQI.”
“Concordia is contributing [approximately] $930,000 to the Loyola Campus Infrastructure Renewal Project,” Barr said.
Funding for the $52.75-million research centre, to be built behind the existing Richard J. Renaud Science Complex will also be split three ways. “Approximately 40 per cent is covered by the federal government, 30 per cent by Quebec [provincial government] and 30 per cent by Concordia,” according to Barr.
The research centre, named Applied Science Incubator in the documents obtained, is a 8,700 square metre extension of the campus’ current science facilities.
An internal memo reviewed by The Concordian confirmed a fund was created for the project on May 27, 2016 by Nancy Sardella, a senior financial officer in the university’s Restricted Funds department.
The principal investigator of the project—who is “responsible for the management of the research project, both financially and operationally,” according to Concordia’s Researcher’s Guide to Financial Management—is Roger Côté, the university’s vice-president of services.
The fund was created approximately a year before the announcement of the Applied Science Incubator. According to Barr, it was created “to allow the university to prepare its submission to the governments for project funding.” As well, the fund included “expenses related to feasibility studies, such as conceptual architecture drawings, estimates and technical studies.”
In response to The Concordian’s request for the science building’s architectural plans, secretary-general and general counsel Frederica Jacobs wrote that, because “the project is in its preliminary phase, final architectural plans are not available at this time.”
According to the board of governors’ resolution during the April 19 meeting, the cost of the research building project “will be paid from a combination of funds received from the federal government through its Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund (SIF), contributions from the government of Quebec and the university’s own capital budget.”
A decision-making summary signed by Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough director Stéphane Plante on June 30 indicated that 54 more parking spaces will be needed for the new project, according to a study done by the engineering firm CIMA+.
The summary reads that “it is very probable that [the borough] will need to add parking spaces on street parking reserved for residents when the project is done and to answer to the demands of residents.”
In early September, the C.D.N.—N.D.G. borough determined the project could proceed despite opposition by N.D.G. residents, including Irwin Rapoport, who created a petition requesting a referendum to determine whether or not it should be built.
Rapoport and other N.D.G. residents said they hoped to preserve the green space on which the building would be constructed. “The residents are seeking a moratorium on any development of green space on the campus,” Rapoport told The Concordian at the time.
On Sept. 11, borough officials discovered a clause in Bill 122, a new provincial law adopted in June, which states “public property intended for collective use in the education sector is no longer subject to approval by a referendum.” Consequently, the project was able to move forward without the threat of a referendum.
Phishing emails were sent to Concordia University students by a fake administration email account in early October.
University sends warning to students not to open hyperlink in spam mail
An email was sent by Concordia University to students on Oct. 3 advising them not to open a phishing email circulating in the student community. The phishing email was sent by newsonlineconcordia@concordia.ca, according to a screenshot sent by the university.
The phishing email read: “Concordia University Latest News & Media.” A second line included a hyperlink with the words “Breaking News. Find out more.”
In its message to students, the university asked to “please delete [the email] immediately […] Phishing techniques such as this can spread viruses and malware.”
The message continued: “A recent example of the dangers of this type of email is the WannaCrypt/WannaCry ransomware attack, which paralyzed thousands of computers across the globe.”
Phishing emails and potential cyberattacks have been commonplace in Montreal universities over the past two years. Last May, 120 computers at the Université de Montréal were infected by the WannaCry virus, which encrypted copies of user files before deleting the originals, forcing people to pay a ransom to regain access to their documents.
Phishing emails were sent to Concordia University students by a fake administration email account in early October
Cyberattacks occurred on two occasions at Concordia in the last two years. In March 2016, keyloggers were installed at the Webster and Vanier libraries. The devices allow hackers to record all the keys pressed by a person, allowing them to remember everything that was typed.
In April 2017, the university’s online course system, eConcordia, was also hacked.
Concordia President Alan Shepard told The Concordian in September that cyberattacks were a “big issue.” “We were lucky in both episodes that we didn’t have any major damage that we’re aware of,” he said, referring to the two incidents at Concordia.
According to Shepard, the university made “some technical changes to try and prevent repeats of these episodes.” The president wouldn’t disclose what these changes were.
Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton, an accounting firm, audited the university’s IT security in 2017, according to Shepard. The IT audit was part of the annual audit presented to the university’s board of governors. Shepard said the audit showed the university’s cybersecurity had strengthened.
The audit differs from a separate project Shepard described as a “large-scale review of cybersecurity.” As the The Concordian previously reported, a call for tenders was sent by the university in July through the publicly accessible Système électronique d’appel d’offre du Québec (SEAO), seeking professional services to assess the university’s cybersecurity risks. Shepard said the result of the assessment will be private.
Eight different companies bidded for the contract, including Bell Canada, Montreal-based GoSecure and Okiok Data. The value of the contract is still unknown.
Rally organizer Rami Yahia sees cause as case of self-determination
The sound of Catalans chanting in Barcelona coming from the television was loud enough for a sympathizer passing by to hear and wave his hands in the direction of the open window.
Inside Café Gitana, the few people gathered on wooden chairs eyed their phones for results of the Catalan independence referendum and for a better quality live stream than the one playing on the TV screen.
The rally’s organizer, Rami Yahia, wants to look at Catalonia’s independence under the lens of self-determination. Photo by Mackenzie Lad
Rami Yahia, the event’s organizer, sat on a Moroccan-style bench with a Palestinian flag hung above his head. The former Concordia Student Union internal affairs coordinator said there are parallels to be drawn between Palestine and Catalonia, which is looking to separate from Spain.
“When we talk about the struggle of Catalonia, we need to look at it under the angle of self-determination,” Yahia said. “The people of Catalan are indigenous to the land of Catalonia, the Palestinians are indigenous to the land of Palestine, and we need to fight injustice wherever it is.”
On Oct. 1, Spanish national police tried to stop the independence referendum in Catalonia by preventing people from voting and closing voting stations early. When the voting closed on Sunday evening, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said in a speech that the referendum was illegal. He bluntly told Spaniards: “There has not been a self-determination referendum in Catalonia.” The vast majority of Catalans voted in favour of independence, according to Reuters, but the vote was not acknowledged by Rajoy.
Organizing the gathering at Gitana was natural, said Victor Boko, Yahia’s childhood friend and the coffee shop’s owner.
Café Gitana owner Victor Boko held the rally at his establishment, which he describes as “revolutionary.” Photo by Mackenzie Lad
Boko described his enterprise as a “revolutionary coffee shop.” Located on the hill of St-Denis Street, the two-storey building is a place of togetherness, he said. The Catalan flag flapping in the wind and the yellow and red arm-band he wears in support of independence are only some of the examples of political solidarity around the coffee shop.
“In the context of Quebec, Indigenous lands have been occupied for hundreds of years. Whether it’s Quebec or Canada, the injustice is still there. We’re all living on unceded territory,” said Yahia a few hours after the event.
Politicians from parties such as the Bloc Québécois, Parti Québécois and Québec Solidaire, were in Catalonia the day of the vote.
About 150 people, including Parti Québécois and Bloc Québécois leaders Jean-François Lisée and Martine Ouellette, met in front of the Spanish consulate in Montreal on Sept. 23 to show their support for the Catalans.
Yahia said he wanted his gathering to be different. “The reason why we’ve organized this event, we noticed [the event on Sept. 23] was just a platform for independence movements in Quebec to promote their own platform and their struggle,” he said. “However we’re looking at this under the lens of self-determination for people of the land.”
Concordia student’s master’s study analyses the sport’s culture
When I met Aaron Lakoff, the Concordia media studies student was wearing a Montreal Canadiens cap. It’s his favourite hockey team, he told me a few minutes after our first handshake. It’s also a case study for hockey culture: the Canadiens are the National Hockey League’s oldest and winningest franchise.
Lakoff admitted he has difficulty accurately defining this culture. Nonetheless, it will be his object of analysis in the four-episode podcast about social justice in hockey he is producing to complete a master’s study he began in September 2016.
If the time to start such a study was fascinating—former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick had begun kneeling during the national anthem of NFL preseason games to protest the oppression of people of color in the United States—the topic of social justice in hockey has never been more prominent.
On Sept. 24, the Stanley Cup-winning Pittsburgh Penguins accepted American president Donald Trump’s invitation to visit the White House with the cup, a tradition in the NHL.
“I think it’s completely tone-deaf what the Penguins are doing by accepting the invitation,” Lakoff said.
A day earlier, Trump rescinded his offer to the NBA champion Golden State Warriors after star player Stephen Curry openly criticized the American president.
“My research looks at social justice in hockey and asks this question: Why are we not seeing the same political stances [from players] like we see in the NBA and in the NFL?” Lakoff explained. To answer that question, he said he will be examining “several different social justice hockey perspectives,” starting with colonialism in Canadian hockey, racism in hockey and the Indigenous hockey experience.
The latter is especially salient to the Concordia student. “For me, what’s really important is centring on the fact that we live on Indigenous land; Montreal is unceded Mohawk territory,” Lakoff said.
The popularization of hockey among First Nations intersects with Canada’s assimilation process during the 20th century in the government-sponsored residential schools, according to Lakoff.
Hockey was a bit of an imposition, he explained, because “priests wanted to get young Aboriginal boys into hockey to inculcate them with Canadian values.”
While the Indigenous hockey experience isn’t his main focus, Lakoff’s first interview was with an Algonquin media producer who directs Hit the Ice, a TV show on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) featuring the best Aboriginal hockey players participating in an NHL-like training camp.
Lakoff said he also has interviews lined up with Indigenous hockey players, thinkers of the game and feminist sportswriters, among others.
Hockey writers, Lakoff argued, “have to acknowledge that sports are inherently political.”
“Sometimes the backlash that you’ll hear from people who don’t like to see these anthem protests will be ‘stick to sports,’” he said. “But that is an incredibly ignorant statement because it doesn’t recognize the fact that sports are so embedded in politics.”
According to Lakoff, political influence is found in many forms in hockey, such as the anthems themselves, the presence of military before some games and taxpayers’ money used to fund private stadiums and arenas.
The Concordia student said he “would love to produce something that gives people a tool to confront and oppose, fix and repair the negative aspects of hockey culture.”
“What those protests do is create a space to have a discussion,” Lakoff said. “My research is a humble addition to this discussion.”
