Author: Hadassah Alencar

The importance of teaching Black History

How the story of a Black enslaved woman resonates today

An enormous portion of Montreal had burned down; among the devastation numerous households, merchant shops, a hospital, and a convent were lost. After the destruction on April 10, 1734, the city turned its eyes to Marie-Joseph Angélique, a young Black enslaved woman, as the culprit.

Maintaining her innocence throughout the trial, Angélique denied the hearsay allegations of majority white citizens. After almost six weeks of a trial that collected no definitive evidence or testimony, Angélique was sentenced to death. 29-year-old Angélique was tortured, hanged, and burned on June 21, roughly two months after the fire, for a crime many historians believe she did not commit.

Today, tucked away in Montreal’s Old Port, a plaque honouring Angélique tells a different story: the fight for the abolition of slavery, and the remembrance that slavery did occur here in our city. Angélique has become a symbol of resistance, not only because of her treatment in the colonial justice system, but of the testimonies revealing her fight for freedom, 100 years before the abolition of slavery in Canada.

However, the hard-to-spot plaque emphasizes the lack of any outstanding acknowledgment for Angélique, and magnifies the criticism of Montreal’s suppression of minority people’s history.

Montreal Black history tour guide Rito Joseph runs “Tourist in My City,” a tour in the Old Port and Little Burgundy which sheds light on the city’s centuries-long diverse history. A self-taught historian, Joseph believes that learning about Black history is crucial to understanding Canadian history and systemic racism.

Rito Joseph, leader of ‘Tourist in My City”

For Joseph, the story of Angélique represents the reality of racism in the city, and how the impact of the trial resonates today.

“Marie-Joseph Angélique shows us that Montreal, Quebec, Canada, was involved in slavery and they benefited from the Transatlantic slave trade, it also shows us that systemic racism goes beyond what we can imagine.”

At the time of Angélique’s trial, Montreal was part of the French colony “New France,” where Black individuals were not legally considered people. For the trial, Angélique had to prove her innocence against a slew of allegations, and was not allowed a lawyer.

“They had about 20-something people testify against her, none of them had seen her set the fire. It shows a lot, and it shows us that the mentalities haven’t changed much,” said Joseph.

The lack of monuments and school curriculum dedicated to Black history, for Joseph, are in line with Angélique’s treatment and the suppression of Black people in the city.

“It shows that Black history here is not being taken seriously and by not taking Black history seriously it shows the lack of appreciation or respect for the Black community here.”

Montreal saw the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement during the summer, followed by the protests calling for justice after the death of Indigenous woman Joyce Echaquan in September. Protestors and organizers said the city has a problem with racism, and that systemic racism exists in institutions in Montreal, such as the police.

For Joseph, learning about Black history is a step towards fighting systemic racism.

“Theres a level of dehumanization that we have to face on a regular basis that is rooted in slavery [and] racism and because we don’t take time to study the history that affects us on a regular basis, its really hard for us to really acknowledge or deconstruct what we call nowadays systemic racism,” said Joseph.

Montreal theatre and film producer Ayana O’Shun produced both a play and documentary about Angélique, after watching an episode on the History Channel about her and becoming inspired by the character’s story of resilience.

“Can you imagine being in a society that treats you like less [than] an animal? You’re actually like furniture, a piece of furniture? And to stand up and say no, everyday trying to establish her human dignity,” said O’Shun.

“I found this is a sign not only of strength but a sign of self-awareness, and consciousness of who she is, and what it takes to fight everyday against a system that tells you to sit down and do what we want you to do. I found it absolutely amazing and admirable,” she said.

After being refused her freedom, Angélique attempted to run off with her lover, a white man named Claude Thibault; a relationship which was forbidden at the time. She was often rebellious in her home in an attempt to gain freedom, but unfortunately Angélique’s behaviour was despised, and instead of contributing to her freedom, it was used to pin the arson crime on her.

Her gruesome death speaks to the missing history of Black Montrealers throughout the centuries, and how previous injustices mute their voice throughout the historical landmarks of this city.

O’Shun believes it’s important to include Black history landmarks throughout the city and teach it in schools, because through it, we can learn the real story of Canada.

“When you teach history, you should teach a whole history, not take out some part[s] because it doesn’t look good,”she said.“The real story is much more complex, nuanced, and the story of Angélique is a proof of that.”

 

Photos of “Tourist in My City” and Rito Joseph by Christine Beaudoin, photo of “Black Hands: Trial of the Arsonist Slave” courtesy of Bel Ange Moon Productions

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News

Concordia researchers explore how Montreal Casino’s “Vegas Nights” target our senses

Researchers describe the impact of experiential design by experiencing it themselves

Concordia researchers delved into the Montreal Casino’s Vegas Nights to study how the casino experience affects and caters to our senses.

From the neon glow, to the aroma of perfume at the slot machines and the collective experience of playing at a blackjack table, the researchers describe and examine how these different elements played with their senses.

Interdisciplinary scholar and lead author of the study Erin Lynch told The Concordian the study was about “how a sensory ethnographic approach could shed some light on that kind of experiential marketing within the casino space.”

Different from a traditional observatory study, a “sensory ethnography” approach involves researchers putting themselves in the space to better understand the environment.

“Instead of just observing, we want to experience the site along with other people to sort of really attune our senses and help us understand the way various sensory elements within the casino space are interacting, how they’re kind of mixing and mingling, and how that impacts the general experience at the casino,” said Lynch.

Experiential design isn’t new; it can dictate decisions such as how much resistance to put on a video game controller button, or how soft, plush, or smooth a fabric should be for use on chairs at a restaurant.

In a casino environment, almost every element involves experiential design. Lynch said, “That’s been a real push on the design side of it and we noticed that there hadn’t been that much research delved into the experiential part of it.”

Lynch describes the casino experience as an “emergence into another world.”

“We found that there’s a lot of this overwhelming quality, particularly if you look at sights and sounds in the casino, but we also wanted to pay attention to some sort of under-observed, or …  overlooked aspects of the sensory qualities of the casino,” said Lynch.

One example of this was a gaming machine that vibrates when a person wins.

“The casino touches back, which is a really interesting aspect that we were looking at.”

For taste, Lynch tried a signature cotton candy cocktail.

“I knew I was in trouble when they slid a couple of wet wipes over to me as they were handing me the drink,” said Lynch, who described the drink as stinky, overly sweet, and “pink” tasting.

The question begs: is it work when you’re having this much fun?

Lynch said they wanted to embrace the experience, not only talk about the risks and problems associated with gambling, but to really understand how the different aspects of a casino work to intrigue clients by going to the source themselves.

Going forward, the researchers will look at applying this methodology to other spaces, and see how the pandemic has changed the sensory experience in the casino space as well.

Concordia professors David Howes, a professor of Anthropology, and Martin French, an associate professor of Sociology, co-authored the study along with Lynch.

Howes will explore sensory design in places like hospitals, parks, and spas, “to examine the way sensory design is marketing to all the senses.”

For many, a hospital environment isn’t exactly a calming place.

“Think about fluorescent lighting, and smells, and the extent to which that could be stress-inducing. So [it’s] thinking about the way our environments and the design of our environments impacts us, in an embodied sort of sensory fashion,” said Lynch.

Ultimately, looking at these spaces through a sensory approach will help better understand how they impact us.

“The casino was a really fun area to explore that in, but I think what we’re hoping it has demonstrated is the value of that sensory ethnographic approach, and looking at these spaces more broadly,” said Lynch.

 

Graphic courtesy of @the.beta.lab

Award-winning journalist Christopher Curtis on his new venture, The Rover

Curtis spoke with The Concordian about leaving the Montreal Gazette and what he would say to his younger self

Christopher Curtis is an award-winning journalist in Montreal, who chose to leave his job at the Montreal Gazette to start a crowdfunded investigative journalism venture called The Rover with Ricochet media. Bursting out of the 24-hour news cycle, Curtis says his reporting is about going in-depth into unreported issues.

I spoke with Curtis about how he came to leave the Gazette, his new venture, and what he would say to his younger self.

HA: How was the Montreal Gazette experience for you, working there for so many years?

CC: It was great, I learned to become a journalist there. It was a really nurturing, caring place, but it was a place that had this cloud of uncertainty hanging over us. When I started out there were maybe 120 people at the Gazette and by the time I left there were like 60.

What happens is that over time when you’re not investing in journalism, and when you’re constantly having to cut employees, which was the case across the board at all Postmedia properties, the quality of the work begins to suffer.

We can feel that crunch and an urgency to produce content everyday. And if you have to produce something everyday, then you don’t have that extra time to build relationships in your own community or in a remote community. So, that’s why I started to consider leaving.

HA: What made you make that jump? It’s hard to leave a job!

CC: What happened was just, I think [over] the summer, I thought about the journalist that I was when I started out. I remember for one story I slept in a tent, just outside of a reserve in the middle of nowhere one night on a day off, just to get access to a story that might turn out to be good or might not turn out to be good. I was willing to take risks.

Would that kid look at me, almost ten years later, and say they’re proud of what I’ve become? I wasn’t so sure anymore.

I thought long and hard about my future at the Gazette. It felt like we were really just surviving and I didn’t really just want to survive anymore.

HA: I saw your video that announced your The Rover project, where you travelled to where the John A. Macdonald statue once stood, what was the significance of that?

CC: Well, my girlfriend suggested the John A. Macdonald statue, and I thought it was great. I think to me it was kind of apparent that there’s this pretty big disconnect with a lot of the traditional reporters and journalists and what’s actually happening on the ground in Indigenous communities. There isn’t nearly enough good journalism that feels like it comes from the ground up.

HA: What is good journalism?

CC: I think good journalism feels real. Good journalism talks to the people who are affected by a decision that’s made in a parliament, or in an office, or in the halls of power somewhere. It should always be about the people who don’t have a say in what happens, and [who] don’t feel like they have access to justice. That to me is good journalism.

HA: What would you say to yourself, if you could go back and talk to the younger, student reporter, you?

CC: I would say that journalism is a set of skills that take a very long time to master. You need to put in hours, that’s the one thing I did get right back then was I put in my time. You need to build journalism into your muscle memory, or at least the mechanics of journalism: interviewing, transcribing, writing fast copy. I think one year at The Link I wrote something like 120 stories.

What I would say is do all that, but when you get your hands on something that you really think is different or exceptional follow it through. But you need to master that basic shit. Bust your ass, and hustle hard, and when you can stand out, stand out!

 

Feature photo by Christine Beaudoin

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News

Concordia student starts petition for pass/fail option in the Fall 2020 semester

Concordia University spokesperson says pass/fail option will not be offered

A Concordia student has started a petition urging the university to enact the pass/fail option for the fall semester, while Concordia University told The Concordian the administration does not plan to do so.

Third-year English Literature student Marcia Lobo said she started the petition because this fall semester has been difficult for her and others around her. She says the stress of balancing the restrictions, online course work, and lack of family, friends, and support has been a lot.

“We weren’t expecting this semester,” said Lobo. “The stress didn’t go away, the pandemic is still here, it’s still very real and we are practically in lockdown … nothing has changed really.”

Lobo is originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and due to the pandemic she will move back home. Lobo is currently juggling selling and packing her belongings, a part-time job, and studying full-time, and says she feels isolated, stressed, and unsupported.

“I feel like it’s even worse now, because in the beginning we were getting used to it and we didn’t think it would last that long, and now it just seems endless and we don’t know when things will go back to normal.”

“I don’t learn nearly as much,” said Lobo on the stress of online classes. She says some of her teachers have not been accommodating. She feels exceedingly stressed about getting good enough grades to apply for grad school, due to the pressure of trying to excel in a learning format that she struggles with.

“With the pressure I get even more nervous and I really don’t absorb what the professors are saying,” she said.

Concordia spokesperson Vannina Maestracci released a statement to The Concordian saying the pass/fail option will not be offered this semester.

“The pass/fail option was offered to students in the Winter 2020 semester as an exceptional measure, due to the unforeseen disruption created by the pandemic. The option will not be offered this semester as it was announced last May that Fall 2020 would be delivered remotely for teaching and exams, giving time to all to prepare for this delivery format.”

Third-year finance student Jay Bowers told The Concordian, “This semester, everything changed … they just kind of expected us to keep up rigorously with the curriculum that they were demanding at whatever cost.”

Bowers had an online midterm exam where the program stopped working as he submitted his exam to COLE (Concordia OnLine Exams).

“I have a whole screen recording of this. I sent my professor this lengthy email … and [the professor] said [to] contact Proctorio, [but] it was COLE! Proctorio had nothing to do with this.”

According to Bowers, he spoke to a Proctorio representative, who told him this was a COLE issue. After emailing the professor, she told him to direct any more questions about the exams to COLE. Bowers said he feels bounced around between services and has been offered limited solutions.

Bowers said he has tried to reach out to his advisor this semester, but has been offered no concrete help and was not recommended anymore services he could seek.

“I feel that the support that they offered was minimal at best,” said Bowers. “Who’s listening?”

Venn Mauge, a second-year Management student, said this semester has been difficult because of the isolation and lack of support. Mauge is an international student, and cannot return home because her country’s borders are closed.

“I haven’t seen my family for an entire year, so that’s just a mental strain on its own. For me to have to just mask it with school, it’s just super overwhelming. I’m getting emotional talking about it,” said Mauge.

In one of her classes she had a quiz with 40 theory-based questions, each with five multiple choice answers to choose from, and the quiz length was 30 minutes. This leaves less than one minute per question.

“They ask you questions and you have to think of a theory and then apply it … I was on question eight and I looked at my timer and I had 17 minutes left. I’m not even halfway through … this is super unreasonable.”

Third-year Aerospace Engineering student Nico Brouillet said he was also facing issues with professors and online schooling.

He describes how in one of his classes, if a student asks a question during the lecture that is not immediately relevant to the topic the teacher is discussing at that exact moment, the professor has responded with anger and has kicked students out of the Zoom lecture.

“I’ve looked into emailing the program advisor, but it’s just— there’s no one place, there’s no certain spot to … report a teacher.”

All three students describe feeling like, on top of experiencing problems related to online learning and with no clear avenues for help, these issues are exacerbated by the pandemic. They described the burden of isolation from family and friends, and feeling like their home environment has been eclipsed by online school.

“We’ve never done this before, where everything is done online. The mental strain [on] students, they just don’t understand it. We’re stuck inside, we can’t even go see friends, we can’t go out,” said Brouillet. “Combining the two environments has been a catastrophe and much more than the average college student is ready to cope with.”

“It’s just school, school, school. I don’t have enough time for myself to focus on my mental health … I don’t have a life outside of school right now,” said Mauge.

General Coordinator of the CSU Isaiah Joyner said the CSU is working towards resolving issues around Proctario, COLE, and looking into pushing for pass/fail options.

“With more and more problems arising, it’s showing [that] although we are [almost] completely remote … this is still not the remote learning that is conducive to the student community.”

“We need some reassurance that this won’t have a lasting effect on our Masters, our internships, our GPAs,” said Joyner. “For those people that have been drastically affected given all those varying circumstances and needs, we need some type of support.”

Graphic by Taylor Reddam

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News

Untold Concordia features anonymous stories of discrimination

Anonymous co-creator speaks about how the page can validate student experiences

Untold Concordia is an Instagram page that features anonymous submissions detailing stories of oppression, such as racial, gender, and sexual discrimination by Concordia faculty members and student organizations.

One of the two creators behind the page agreed to speak with The Concordian under the condition of anonymity. They told us they started the page after seeing how popular the Untold McGill page became in early July.

“The [McGill] page was getting so much traction and so many people seemed to have a desire to have a space to share stories like this, [we thought] that was probably shared at Concordia, and we were right,” they said.

As the Black Lives Matter movement gained momentum in the early summer following the death of George Floyd, conversations revolving around discrimination came to the forefront. The goal stated on both Instagram pages is to highlight experiences of oppression and discrimination at the respective universities.

“Your experience is valid,” reads the first post. “Submit your stories and help create a platform for others to be heard.”

All posts are referred to as submissions rather than complaints. The co-creator told The Concordian the page is not affiliated with Concordia University and the submissions “aren’t complaints in any official capacity.”

One of the posts describes witnessing how a professor teaching a sexuality class did not use the right pronouns for one of their students; another describes being severely let down by the Concordia administrations’ handling of their sexual assault complaint.

Anyone can anonymously fill in a submission form by clicking the link in Untold Concordia’s bio. They can also choose if they prefer to keep the comments on or off on their post.

“We never ask them to reveal their names and we encourage them not to reveal the names of anyone involved … for their safety and our own,” said the co-creator.

“Some of these accusations can be relatively serious, and we want it to be truly up to the submitter if they do want to file formal complaints. They have the lee-way to do that without any of these submissions coming to hurt them in that process,” they said.

One of the issues with anonymity is determining the validity of the complaints. From the beginning, both creators discussed this issue and what to do if someone were to try trolling them.

So far, the posts have all been believable. Both creators are members of minority groups who have experienced “varying levels …  of oppression and systemic oppression within the University and outside, and coming from that place, you can kind of tell.”

Because the account isn’t an official complaint forum, anonymous users can feel free to describe the experience according to their understanding.

“They’re not meant to be perfect, factual re-accounts of events that happened. They are people’s perspectives; they are all true in their own way.”

“I’ve never seen one that I’ve been like — I don’t believe that — every single one of them to me is truly believable,” they said.

The posts speak to the larger issues of discrimination.

“The university is a structure like every other built on centuries of oppression that is rooted in Canadian history and much of the world’s.”

They feel some of these posts don’t refer to instances of “active hate and active oppression, but they are people not realizing how harmful what they say is and how harmful what they’re doing is just because it feels normal to them.”

“A few of our posts have been around the subject of various professors using slurs in quotations or in discussions, and saying ‘since I’m referencing, quoting a text is allowed.’ Students who are directly affected by the slurs feel very uncomfortable.”

Just this week, University of Ottawa part-time professor Verushka Lieutenant-Duval was suspended and later apologized for using the N-word during an online lecture after a student made a formal complaint. Several professors and government officials are weighing in on this issue, with Legault denouncing backlash against the professor.

They said many submitters have thanked them for the page, especially as many submitters have tried to file formal complaints and it is difficult to get through.

Concordia Student Union (CSU) General Coordinator Isaiah Joyner said that the process of submitting a complaint against someone with the University can be challenging for students.

“The whole overall process [for complaints] is not student friendly, it’s more bureaucratic…it’s very rare that you see the effects yielding the result in the favour of what the students want.”

The co-creator of the account said they would like Concordia to realize students are turning to anonymous means to voice their concerns.

“Eventually, maybe, Concordia will kind of realize that there are so many students that feel uncomfortable reporting these instances and that these instances are more harmful than they think they are, [and] maybe take action for that.”

“For these young people who are for the first time stepping into their own, there needs to be ways for them to express how they feel and how they’ve been harmed that is more streamlined and … accessible,” they said.

Concordia Spokesperson Vannina Maestracci released a statement to The Concordian on Untold Concordia: “Although we understand that some prefer to use social media anonymously to be heard, we’d also encourage all members of our community, if they want, to take advantage of our internal accountability mechanisms so that we can properly address these issues.”

“Complaints brought through our mechanisms are treated confidentially and independently and can be addressed in a variety of ways, including with support services, depending on what a student wants.”

 

Graphic by Taylor Reddam

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Concordia Student Union

A petition proposed by a CSU councillor seeks to defund The Link and CJLO

Both organizations told The Concordian that allegations in the petition questions are unwarranted

 

Disclaimer: The Concordian is a fee-levy organization and Hadassah Alencar also works for the CJLO news team.

Petition questions calling to defund student-run publication The Link and campus radio station CJLO were presented by councillor Tzvi Hersh Filler to the Concordia Student Union (CSU) during a regular council meeting last week on Oct.14.

Added to the agenda the night before the CSU meeting, allegations against the two fee-levy organizations caused alarm among the organizations, other fee-levies, and some CSU members.

The first question claims, “The Link has run smear campaigns against those who tried bringing the opt-out system online.” The second asks, “CJLO is attempting to sue the CSU to prevent online opt out, do you support removing CJLO‘s fee levy?”

The petition lacks clarification and proof of the claims, with both organizations telling The Concordian the statements are unwarranted.

The Link’s Editor-in-Chief Marcus Bankuti provided a statement to The Concordian, saying, “Councillor Filler’s claims of smear campaigns are baseless. We stand by the integrity of our reporting.”

Filler would not provide a comment on his claim against The Link “due to ongoing litigation.”

When asked how he will collect signatures if he cannot elaborate on the reasoning behind his question, Filler said, “I would expect that well before next semester, the relevant processes would have been resolved, and I would be able to answer those types of questions.”

He expects the litigation will be resolved before the Winter 2021 semester, and said he would “likely” speak on the allegations in the near future.

Filler said the intention of presenting the petition questions was to validate them so that he may collect signatures at a later date. He does not have any “hard deadlines” for when he would begin collecting signatures.

According to the CSU by-laws, a petition is only valid to be added to the referendum if it is first presented to the CSU before collecting signatures. Members are allowed to voice their opinion and give advice on the questions, but the petitioner is not required to take their advice.

The petitioner must then collect 750 signatures and submit them to the CSU before the deadline to add the question to the referendum. Students would then vote on whether or not they support the question.

As for CJLO, Filler plans “on seeing what [CJLO does] before I start collecting signatures, because I really don’t want to collect 750 signatures without a good reason.”

The petition question claimed CJLO was suing the CSU “to prevent online opt-out.”

CJLO Station Manager Francella Fiallos said the legal letter was a “challenge” to the online opt-out process, rather than an attempt to put a stop to it. The letter “was to challenge the way in which the CSU had decided to implement the referendum question, and how the consultation process was insufficient.”

Back in May, CJLO sent the CSU a legal letter to challenge the online opt-out process, given how the CSU was handling the process at the time.

Internal emails obtained anonymously through a request for information showed former General Coordinator Christopher Kalafitidis was working on the online opt-out system with the Concordia administration before he consulted with the fee-levy groups.

In the referendum questions, students voted to have an online opt-out system created “in consultation with all fee-levy organizations.” Kalafitidis said a survey sent to fee-levy groups was a sufficient consultation process, and said that the document he created with the fee-levy’s answers was adequately discussed with the administration.

Several groups, including CJLO, felt that the consultation process under Kalafiditis was not enough.

But this has changed with the current executive team, who began their mandate in June.

“Now we have a very strong relationship with the CSU,” said Fiallos.“We basically felt that the new administration…seem[s] to have an interest to make sure that fee-levy groups are adequately represented in this online opt-out process.”

“Once they came in, we basically said that the injunction was not going to be a relevant factor anymore.”

Filler said he did not speak to anyone from CJLO or the CSU recently about CJLO’s legal injunction against the student union.

Filler speculated on a legal argument against CJLO’s legal letter, speaking on his interpretation of the limitations of the letter: “It strikes me as grasping for straws and unlikely that a reasonable judge would accept it.”

“But in the event that a judge will accept it, how do I remove that obstacle? And the simple answer to that is remove CJLO’s fee[-levy] entirely,” said Filler.

Should CJLO’s position ever change, he plans on collecting signatures with his currently validated petition question.

“In the event that they do, I want to have the right at that point to collect signatures without having to go to present to council. So I’m trying to remove barriers, so the back up steps are ready to be done, in the events that an actual injunction is filed with the Court of Quebec.”

He believes that “The basis of the potential lawsuit is that online opt out affects the CJLO fee, and if the fee doesn’t exist, then online opt-out can’t affect it.”

Fiallos said, “[Filler’s petition] is not going to impact our judgement.”

“It just felt like he was just trying to intimidate us, but the fact is we’re not going to be intimidated,” said Fiallos.

She said that the decision to back down from the suit was based on how Eduardo Malorni, CSU student life coordinator, is handling the online opt-out process.

“He’s talked directly to us several times about this, he’s advocated for the recommendations that we made to the administration … I genuinely feel like it’s a much better relationship.”

The difference is, Malorni has continually directly consulted with the fee-levy groups since starting his mandate as CSU executive. He has dealt with the online opt-out process by discussing and negotiating the process between the administration, the CSU, and the fee-levy association.

Malorni told The Concordian, “We de-escalated the situation because basically they felt that they weren’t being listened to.”

On the night the petition questions came in, Malorni stayed up late answering questions and speaking with several fee-levy members about their concerns.

Malorni is also in charge of the Fee-Levy Review Committee, which reviews all applications regarding fee-levy groups, and said Filler must “give a clear reasoning as to why he is defunding [fee-levy groups], or he believes that they need defunding.”

Chairperson of the CSU Caitlin Robinson referred to the CSU’s Standing Regulation 259, which explains the manner in which a fee-levy is removed. One must simply provide a reason for the petition: “An explanation of the reasoning underlying the request.”

“That being said, although under the CSU’s regulations a petition can be circulated, the person circulating it needs to be very cautious about what they are writing and disseminating because they could encounter legal issues if they are circulating libellous claims,” said Robinson.

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Pro-Armenian protestors gather to call for Mayor Valérie Plante’s support

A thousand protestors gathered in front of city hall on Thursday

A pro-Armenian protest in front of Montreal City Hall on Thursday Oct. 8 called on Mayor Valérie Plante to publicly support Armenians in the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh territory conflict.

On Sept. 27, conflicts re-erupted in the region, leaving at least 23 civilians killed. While the Nagorno-Karabakh territory is recognized internationally as located in Azerbaijan, the majority of the territory is occupied and controlled by a majority population of ethnic Armenians.

Aram Shoujounian, one of the organizers of the demonstration on Thursday, said they want Plante to denounce Azerbaijan and Turkey’s violence towards Armenians in a conflict that has claimed over 300 lives, according to Armenian, Turkish, and Azeri reports.

Shoujounian said the protest also calls on Plante to recognize the independence of the “Republic of Artsakh.”

While the disputed territory is officially called the Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenians refer to the territory as the Armenian-language name of the region: “Artsakh.”

At present, the majority of the territory is ruled by a government called the “Republic of Artsakh,” and positions within the government are largely held by ethnic Armenians.

“We’re telling Valérie Plante, and the entire city hall, to recognize the Republic of Artsakh as an independent state, because that’s the only way to guarantee the security and the right to live on the territory of the Republic of Artsakh,” Shoujounian told The Concordian.

“We do not want our democratic societies to stay neutral,” said Shoujounian.

Located between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the territory has been disputed through political and military conflict for decades, beginning in the ‘80s.

Russia brokered a cease-fire with both countries in 1994, but conflict continued throughout the years.

Canada suspended drone technological exports to Turkey after reports emerged that the technology was used by Turkey to target Armenian civilians.

A ceasefire agreement on Oct. 10 was promptly broken just minutes after the agreed upon deadline. Both countries put blame on the other for breaking the agreement.

On Friday Oct. 16, Justin Trudeau met with Armenian and Turkish leaders to speak on the conflict, and to encourage a peaceful resolution. A petition supporting Armenia and Armenians in Artsakh was begun by Ontario Liberal Member of Parliament Bryan May, and will collect signatures to present to parliament until Nov. 8.

Fourth-year Concordia student at the protest.

One fourth-year Concordia student said she was attending the protest because more needs to be done.

“There is a second genocide towards Armenians happening right now and people are silent,” she said.

She says leaders need to take a stand to get involved beyond peace talks, stating, “Talking nicely and telling them to cease fire won’t work because we had a ceasefire agreement.”

Nathalie Setian, the student’s close friend, said, “they [Azerbaijan and Turkey] just want to invade and erase us as a nation as an Armenian race.”

Both Armenian Montrealers said they came to pressure government officials to support the self-determination and safety of the people in the disputed region, and to aid the movement in Montreal.

“We’re raising money [for Armenian soldiers], we’re donating a lot, we’re writing open letters,  we’re urging the government and the politicians and especially the media to stand with us,” said Setian.

“We’re raising our voices and doing as much as we can to get people to stand up for us, because we’re not accepting biased and falsified information by journalists.”

Last week the Armenian diaspora in Montreal organized a protest in front of the Montreal Gazette and Global News media offices, to call out the “surface level” reporting on the conflict, and how the reporting does not accurately represent the level of threat this conflict has for the ethnic Armenians in the conflict zone.

“If you are neutral, that means you support terrorism,” said Setian.

“We don’t want genocide to repeat itself and we don’t want whatever happened in Syria to repeat itself in Artsakh,” said Setian.

Since the protest, Setian has co-written an article on the conflict.

On Saturday Oct. 17, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a ceasefire starting at midnight. The deal was brokered by the OSCE Minsk Group. Early Sunday morning, the ceasefire deal was broken with both sides blaming each other for the violation.

Today, Monday Oct. 19, Plante has released a statement saying she stands in solidarity with the Armenian people, and will support efforts to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

“To the Armenian community of Montreal I would like to offer you all our support…I wish you strength and peace in these very difficult times and know that we stand altogether with you,” said Plante.

Photos by Hadassah Alencar

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Poli Savvy: How did an insect steal part of the spotlight

A fly that landed on Vice President’s Mike Pence’s head during Vice Presidential debates makes headlines

The hurricane of news erupting less than a month ahead of the U.S. presidential elections can leave anyone with a serious case of whiplash.

Some of the news circulating before and after the 2020 United States Vice Presidential debate: President Trump delayed an economic relief bill to help Americans until after the election; new revelations that former Attorney General Jeff Sessions requested that children be taken away from migrant families at the border in 2018; President Trump refused to participate in a virtual town hall to debate Biden; Trump changed his mind and requests an in-person debate…

But even with the incessant stream of must-read news flooding news feeds and timelines everywhere, this is what everyone seems to be talking about: a fly resting on Mike Pence’s head for two minutes during the Vice Presidential debate.

“The fly” was trending on Twitter before the debate had even finished, with hundreds of thousands of mentions and dozens of Twitter accounts created attempting to impersonate the insect. Etsy shops now sell Pence’s fly apparel, and Biden’s campaign issued a quickly sold-out “Truth over flies” fly swatter.

Why all the focus on such a small matter, compared to all the other much more serious matters that are being published?

During the debate, many more important news-worthy moments happened. For example, Pence discussed the Trump administration’s take on several hot topics, including the Rose Garden ceremony for Amy Coney Barrett.

According to Pence, “It was an outdoor event, which all of our scientists regularly routinely advise.”

This comes after Trump and 22 members of his administration tested positive for the virus following the meeting, described as a “super-spreader” White House event. Attendees did not wear masks nor social distance, and pictures show they also gathered indoors.

In the current climate, a situation like this just becomes a needle in a polluted haystack of controversies. There’s too much to keep up with. To focus on the fly isn’t about getting immune to corruption, or about having a short attention span.

It’s more about being fed up. It is a way to showcase the perfect visual for how some feel about the administration without having to air out all the grievances on a list.

Maybe that’s how the fly got so big.

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University removes deadline for community feedback on their Equity, Diversity and Inclusion plan after pushback from the CSU

The CSU criticized the university’s limited deadline and consultation process with student associations

Concordia University removed the due date for community feedback on their Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) plan after a Concordia Student Union (CSU) press release deplored the university’s limited time span for outsider input.

The EDI plan is a three-phase process that is aimed at implementing equitable hiring practices, increasing diversity, and fostering an inclusive environment on campus.

Phase two of the EDI plan ran from Sept. 2019 to Oct. 2020, culminating in a 32-page report recommending how the plan should be implemented. The report was published by the EDI Working Group, a group mostly consisting of Concordia staff members.

The Working Group released the report for community input on Sept. 10, as part of the last step in phase two before proceeding to the third phase in November.

Initially the university gave a 10-day limit for community input on the recommendations made by the Working Group. This was planned to run from Sept. 10 to 20, which the CSU called an “exclusionary and flawed process.”

“There has been little publicity on this important process,” read the release, published on Sept. 16.

According to Concordia University spokesperson Vannina Maestracci, the deadline was removed around Sept. 17.

Following the press release, the CSU met with Lisa Ostiguy, Chair of the Advisory Group on EDI and Special Advisor to the Provost on Campus Life.

Ostiguy said the intention behind the limited deadline was not to limit feedback, but had to do with the pre-set due date of the EDI’s plan, which is next month.

She said she heard the CSU’s concerns with the EDI plan and process during their meeting together. She said, “we would continue to welcome any feedback, and if the Working Group finalizes their work, it doesn’t mean that the feedback would be lost.”

Any input on the EDI made after the report is complete would be passed along to the third-phase steering committee.

Ostiguy said the university did include student associations’ input throughout the EDI process.

During the second phase, over 40 student groups were contacted by the Working Group and invited to a three-step consultation process in August, which included a video-call information session, a questionnaire, and small group consultation sessions from Aug. 13 to 26.

She also mentioned that Kajol Pasha, a CSU student representative, was a part of the EDI phase one’s Advisory Group and phase two’s Working Group. Both groups had other students in the members list as well.

But according to the CSU and the CSU Legal Information Clinic, more needed to be done to include feedback from student associations.

General Coordinator of the CSU Isaiah Joyner told The Concordian he felt it was problematic that the CSU and other student associations were not heavily involved in the consultation process for the EDI plan.

Joyner said the Working Group did not reach out in a substantial way to centres like the CSU Student Advocacy Centre and the Legal Information Clinic, which “deal with these issues [of racism and discrimination] on the front lines.”

Walter Chi-yan Tom, manager at the Legal Information Clinic, said he is a “frontline worker” in helping students and faculty with issues relating to racism and discrimination.

Tom told The Concordian that the majority of the discrimination complaints he deals with are made by university employees on issues they face in the university workplace.

“Thousands of files we have gone through over the past ten years, they don’t even see that we are important enough to be interviewed as a stakeholder?”

The Legal Information Clinic was not included in the list of 40 student groups that were invited to the three-step consultation process in August.

He says throughout the entire EDI process there was minimal contact to get his input, or for any student associations’ input, compared to the input faculty had on the plan.

Last year’s Advisory Group report states that student associations were “contacted” for input; Tom said what the Advisory Group’s report means by “contacted” is that an email was sent.

“Bottom line, there wasn’t any real consultation or communication,” said Tom.

As the EDI moves into its third-phase — implementation — Tom questioned the report’s general recommendations.

“They are more recommendations on the principles, not necessarily the specific measure[s] for implementation.”

The CSU’s press release listed what they see as “serious flaws” in the Working Group’s report, including no reference to Quebec’s Act of respecting equal access to employment in public bodies, “which requires, among other things, Concordia, like all other universities, to identify and remove systemic barriers to equitable representation of women, Indigenous people, visible minorities, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities in different job categories.”

The press release also stated “that a quick search of the term ‘systemic racism’ or ‘systemic discrimination’ in the report produces no results.”

However, on the report it does state, “We commit to dismantling systemic historic and continued discrimination and inequities at Concordia University.”

In a statement to The Concordian, Maestracci said, “Over the two years, the extensive community consultation opportunities included a survey completed by 700 students, information sessions and six days of consultations in small groups as recently as this August and which included students.”

“The opportunities to take part in the EDI conversation were communicated widely to the Concordia community,” said Maestracci. 

 

 

Visuals courtesy of Concordia University

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Concordia student files two ethics complaints against five SPVM officers

Student said she felt dismissed and minimized when reporting her harasser to the Montreal police

 

A Concordia University student has filed two ethics complaints against five Montreal police officers over the dismissive treatment she endured while reporting a harassment complaint.

The 30-year-old PhD student Anna* told The Concordian she felt continuously dismissed and disparaged by the SPVM officers.

Over the course of a month, Anna said she made several attempts to report a man who had been stalking and harassing her on the downtown campus.

The Center for Research Action on Race Relations (CRARR) will be assisting Anna with the two complaints filed with the Quebec Police Ethics Commission. According to a statement on the issue released by CRARR, Anna was harassed in October and November of 2019.

“He followed me to coffee shops, and my workplace at Concordia, and would seemingly know my schedule,” said Anna.

She decided to file a formal criminal complaint to police at Station 20 near the downtown campus after the two months of harassment escalated to a physical altercation with the man.

She explained her situation at the station but was told that the officer who would listen to her complaint was busy with an Amazon package theft, and that she had to come back later.

“I had a feeling that there was no sense of triage, there was no sense of the gravity of my situation being taken seriously,” said Anna.

After she returned to the station, this time escorted by a Concordia security guard later that evening, Anna said she had to fill out a document about her complaint behind a glass window sitting in a waiting room chair.

She said this process took hours of back and forth with the officers, who asked her to describe details such as what her harasser was wearing, what time of day the incidents occurred, and what was said.

When she described to the supervising officer what the man looked like, Anna said the officer responded, “Sounds like a good looking man, why don’t you go on a date with him?”

“I was really shocked at this callous and offensive conduct,” said Anna.

After filing her complaint, she told an officer that she was scared, and asked to be escorted home. The officer dismissed Anna’s request, asking her if the attacker was at her home “right now,” and if she had any friends or family that could help her instead.

“Instead of supporting vulnerable women, who already self-identify as ‘I’m in trouble, I’m vulnerable’ there’s a sense of ‘we can’t help you, go find some friends, why don’t you call your family.’”

Anna is not originally from Montreal, and said she didn’t have a support system she could rely on at the time.

A few days later, Anna said she was terrified to be walking home from class at night, only to find the door to her apartment already open. She called 911, but the police officers took over an hour to arrive. The officers then gave Anna a document for her to fill out her complaint report, again.

The officers told Anna she would have to follow up with her complaint at the police station near the downtown campus, where it was initially filed.

After they left, Anna said she felt she needed to know more about her harasser. She decided to research about him online after obtaining information on her harasser from a police document. That’s when Anna found out he had a history of sexual assault.

“It hit me at that moment, that the police had a record of him and yet still did nothing to protect me, or even inform me of his record.”

Afraid for her safety, Anna went to the police station and waited for hours at the detention centre for a detective to look at her case.

“I was too afraid to go home,” she said.

On several occasions, Anna said when she tried to communicate in English about her case with the SPVM, officers were reluctant or outright dismissive of her case.

Anna described trying to follow up on nine separate occasions, and officers would hang up on her, or walk away from her at the station. On one occasion, she said she called and spoke to a supervising officer about her case only to have him say “tabarnak” and hang up on her.

“Being minimized, being laughed at, and not being taken seriously, and to have to chase the police down for my own safety, all of these are barriers to access to justice for women like me.”

Executive Director of the CRARR Fo Niemi, who is assisting Anna with her case, says this is the first time he has seen a case like this.

“We haven’t seen something so blatantly egregious like this, especially in terms of the very offensive comments that she got at the police station, and the fact that she had to run after police officers and the police department and after [reaching out] several times in order to get at least somebody to call back,” said Niemi.

According to Niemi, Anna’s two police ethics complaints involve incidents which occurred at the SPVM police station, and the incident in which the officers came to her apartment after it was broken into.

What concerns Niemi is not only the treatment Anna endured, but whether this is a systemic issue.

“If accessing a police department or police services involves this kind of reaction and conduct, you can imagine how many women may not even go to the police for fear of not being taken seriously and not being believed.”

SPVM spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant says the SPVM could not comment on the ongoing investigation.

*to protect the subject’s identity, we are using a pseudonym.

 

Graphic by @the.beta.lab

 

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Kind Time features inspirational stories in Montreal

The Concordian interviews Pamela Pagano about filming Kind Time season two

Kind Time, a YouTube channel founded and hosted by third-year Concordia Journalism Student Pamela Pagano, features inspirational Montreal community stories. The initiative started bringing positive stories to light at the beginning of the pandemic, and the channel even managed to catch John Krasinski’s attention.

Pagano spoke to The Concordian’s News Editor Hadassah Alencar about Kind Time, John Krasinski, and how she managed to film her shows’ entire second season in one day.

Hadassah Alencar: How did you come up with Kind Time?

Pamela Pagano: My entire life, my parents and I have always preached be kind to others, and they’ll be kind to you, so when I discovered that I wanted to go into journalism I ended up figuring out that I love reporting, but I [felt] like there weren’t enough good news stories. I’m a very positive peppy person, and I wanted stories like [Kind Time] to be showcased in the news. Just like how there’s entertainment news, business news, there are so many different niches in journalism, and I was like, why can’t there be good news too?

In the beginning of the year, Kind Time came about in a conversation exactly like this with my mother and I, and we decided to just follow through with it, and then the pandemic happened.

So I started planning that, and started finding people in Montreal who are doing good for our community, and then after the pandemic happened I decided to continue with the initiative through Zoom — thank god for technology — and that was the first season, and now season two was just filmed on Saturday!

HA: So you filmed all in one day?

PP: Yes I did — season two was filmed all in one day. But season one was throughout the week because there was quarantine, and that was easier to manage because I would have the week to edit, and I’d have time to post it.

But [in] season two since we had an actual crew and it was in person and it was done at my home, being very very very COVID careful, we followed all the precautions to [a] T. We can’t do that every week [with a filming crew] at my home, so we decided to do a whole day of filming with the camera crew and volunteers, and yeah, that’s how season two is going to be!

HA: How did you plan that — are the interviews going to be done through Zoom like the first season?

PP: For season one, it’s exactly like you said it: I would research them and reach out to them and see if they were comfortable to talk about their stories, and when they would be, I would set up the Zoom call and we would talk and do our interview. For season two I also did research, and I found all local people who are sharing kindness in our community and they came in person.

You really appreciate television once you do everything yourself! It was a wonderful team, but it was a lot of work; from booking, to marketing, to sponsors, to food, to safety precautions, it was a very crazy experience, and I would do it again and again and again.

Once things started to be safer, where we could meet wearing masks and social distancing, [at a] maximum of ten people — which has now changed — the camera crew said, Pamela if you feel comfortable and your guests feel comfortable, we can do this in a very safe way next month. And so I was like alright, let’s do this!

HA: I learned that you were the international correspondent for John Krasinski’s Some Good News! How did that work, how did you get that?

PP: Oh my, that’s another story! So I had posted my first season of Kind Time [on] March 16, and then all of sudden, a few weeks later my friend sent me a DM on Instagram and she’s like, Pamela, check this out: it’s as if John Krasinski is following you! And I was like, what do you mean? He wasn’t following me. I looked [on his social media] and he had started this beautiful YouTube series called Some Good News with John Krasinski, and I was so proud to see a celebrity using his platform for good.

And then after the series was over, he was like, “by the way, we’re looking for global correspondents!” And I was like, this ties in so well with what I want to do in my life, I would love to be a global correspondent for Some Good News! So I made a video, and they saw it, and they contacted me and they were like Pamela, could you please make more videos like this and we’ll post it on Some Good News. And so I continued to do that along with Kind Time.

HA: How do you manage this — you’re a third year student, how do you manage Kind Time and university? 

PP: Passion. It is truly passion. I believe that we all have [a] purpose in life and when you do, it’s such a magical thing, so I believe that I have found my purpose. My purpose is to share kindness. I feel like I have so many smiles to share with the world, and I want everyone to have a place where they can feel safe to share their stories. My passion is journalism, and my purpose is to share kindness — so I put those two things together, and this is where Kind Time came about.

The quote that I always say at the end of my videos was created by my mom, and it’s “remember to think happy and be kind.” So I just hope that everyone can remember to think happy and be kind. It’s a difficult time, but we’re all in this together.

Photograph courtesy of Pamela Pagano, Video by Lola Cardona.

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How are Concordia’s clubs adapting to the pandemic?

From esports to cheerleading, the clubs at Concordia have a lot to offer

For many students, a big part of the university experience is joining a club. Participating in any club can help students gain resume-worthy skills, build new and long-lasting friendships, and really just make life at university more memorable.

Clubs are facing hurdles to engage new students and continue their legacy during this “new normal” year. The Concordian spoke to several Concordia clubs to ask how they’re adjusting to the changes the pandemic has brought on.

The Concordia Debate Society was able to quickly switch their weekly meetings to an online platform when quarantine began. Violet Maxfield, Vice President of Internal External for the club said that she was able to continue participating in the debate practices even when she moved back home to Boston in March.

Maxfield said the adjustment has been challenging for new members.

“For people who don’t know what debates are like in person and they’re just there online, it’s just more difficult, because it doesn’t feel as fun as it normally does,” she said.

Omar Salem, Vice President of Training for the Concordia Debate Society, added to the issue, saying, “now our biggest concern is trying to keep them engaged, and trying to adapt our program … so it’s more encouraging to the more novice debaters.” Salem explained that meetings on Discord are organized to help answer questions and guide new recruits.

“We’re trying to tailor those meetings … so that they’ll be able to learn, improve, [be] more professional, and gain some more expertise.”

Debate teams operate in a structured style, with two opposing teams having 15 minutes to prepare and present arguments that are either for or against a motion. Motions can be on any topic from philosophical to scientific, said Salem.

The team practices in weekly online meetings on Discord, and sometimes on Zoom, to prepare for tournaments against other universities. Isaac Finkelstein, the Executive of Communications for the Concordia Debate Society said, “the pluses are that anyone can join from anywhere, and it’s more convenient.”

For the Concordia Esports Association, the transition to a completely online platform was not as easy as it may seem. President of the Concordia Esports Association Patryk Surowiak argued that it would be wrong to assume gamers haven’t been affected by the changes in the pandemic, saying, “People could say it didn’t affect us at all but in reality, it has made a major difference.”

Surowiak lamented that they cannot bond together like they did in previous years. Last year the club hosted a watch party for the League of Legends World Championship, which started at 7 a.m., and 150 students attended.

He mentioned that the yearly CSU club fair was an event where he would be able to meet and recruit new members.

“We can’t participate in the yearly club fair and make these friendships, bonds, and connections with people who want to join on day one, we have to interact with them solely through online.”

Now the club needs to advertise through alternative platforms, which they didn’t need to before. Surowiak said part of the difficulty in reaching out online is because not everyone will actually read their emails or social media posts.

The Concordia Esports club has a Discord server with about 700 active participants. The club also has teams to participate in collegiate esports leagues that compete against other universities.

This year, the esports club will help fill in for the missing in-person sports by partnering with Concordia Recreation to host three different online intramural leagues with video games such as League of Legends, Valorant, and FIFA20. The competitions are open to all, and require teams to sign up online.

For the Concordia Ski & Snowboard Club (CSSC), an online version isn’t possible. President of the CSSC, Luke Martin, said they were brainstorming options for the new year.

The CSSC is open to Concordia students and Montrealers alike, and in non-pandemic years club members paid a $10 deposit fee to purchase discounted trips to ski resorts. These weekly one-day trips transported about 100 people to the mountains, with the club even offering some longer weekend outings on occasion.

Martin said they were thinking of possibly becoming a ski ride share “where people can use us as a mediator to get people to go skiing.”

“We are still planning on running trips but just with less people to be properly socially distanced,” Martin added.

Martin said they are waiting to make any concrete decisions. First they need to see how the pandemic will unfold during the winter and if the resorts will be able to open.

The logistics of organizing and planning online events is also an issue that the Concordia Real Estate Club (CREC) is facing. The club’s main events of the year will most likely go online, along with the club’s “CREC talks,” a recurring event where one or two guest speakers talk to students about the real estate industry.

One of their big events is a yearly conference about the real estate industry. CREC Vice President of Marketing, Camille Hamel, argued that it’s difficult to give continued attention to an online conference the same way you do an in-person one. For that reason, they will host the event over the course of a few days.

“It’s really hard online to really connect with people, to engage them, for that reason we are going to hold the conference on different days,” Hamel said.

Hamel said that the CREC isn’t just about connecting students to the real estate industry, it’s about creating a welcoming community space for students.

“It’s so important at uni to have close friends to meet people, because sometimes it can get very overwhelming, just for your general motivation, and also mental health. It’s so much help to have people.”

The Concordia Cheerleading executive team for the 2020-2021. Picture courtesy of the Concordia Cheerleading team

Creating that environment on an online platform has its challenges. Yasamin Fawzi, President of the Concordia Dance Club said that the team is focusing on moving to a digital platform.

“Some people embrace, some people don’t, and it’s hard to guarantee attendance with things that are online,” said Fawzi.

The dance club used to organize weekly classes that featured a different dance style every week, and members could show up to any classes they were interested in. With COVID-19, Fawzi said the club is considering Zoom dance classes, and possibly renting studios off-campus for dance classes, where a limited number of members attend.

But the real issue is their legacy: the club is only two years old and both the founding members will graduate this year. On this, Fawzi said, “we obviously have to keep the club alive after we graduate.”

The Concordia Cheerleading team shares the same concern. Monica Knaapen, one of the two captains of the Concordia cheerleading team, said, “when we eventually leave the team and the other vets leave the team we want to basically have a legacy … [that] we’ve established something concrete.”

The club is four years old, and became an ever-growing presence on and off campus, with the cheerleading squad performing at WE Day in Montreal in 2018 and for the first time at halftime at a Stinger’s football game last year. Before that, the team cheered exclusively on the sidelines.

The team captains said they are looking into doing Zoom cheerleading practices. Co-captain Arianne Bellerive mentioned that they still want newcomers to feel a welcoming club experience despite the circumstances, saying, “we want the new girls who come to feel like you’re a part of something. Just because it’s not like what it’s been in the past years, nothing is normal right now, so we want them to feel like it’s a team.”

Visuals by @the.beta.lab

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