Author: Joel Ashak

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News

Taking back the night one step at a time

Photo by Celia Ste Croix
Photo by Celia Ste Croix

Take Back the Night! is an annual tradition taking place in multiple major cities around the world. About 60 protesters gathered at Norman Bethune square last Friday to condemn gender violence, sexual assault and what organizers call the “rape culture” in which we live.

Organized this year by Concordia University’s 2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy, the Take Back the Night! event started with a succession of speeches and performances from various Montreal-based associations.

“We live in a culture where rape and sexual assault are normalized and expected,” said Julie Michaud, administrative co-ordinator at the 2110 Centre. Michaud explained that the notion of women attracting predators by wearing short skirts or revealing clothes when walking alone at night reinforces the idea that sexual assault is expected.

Associations touched upon a range of topics but the nature of the message stayed strong from one speaker to another. Québec Trans Health Action, a group for the rights of transgendered people, condemned the dynamic of fear and exclusion in which certain individuals, especially sex workers, are forced to live in. The Action des Femmes Handicapées described the violent nature of the “circle of dependence” in which physically disabled women live.

Finally, the pro-choice Reproductive Justice League performed a chorus enumerating the many ways a person can say “no” to sex, from “I’m tired” to “I’m not sure” to simple silence.

The march started around 7:45 p.m. and carried on for an hour through the main arteries of downtown Montreal.

“It’s something I’ll never understand as well as [women] do, but marching in an event like this one gives me a better understanding,” said protester Andrew Hogg. “The problems of sexual assault are usually hidden and are personal things that often people don’t talk about. I also don’t think most men talk enough about sexual assault.”

On the way back to Concordia a seemingly confused bystander exclaimed, “Is that really a protest against sexual assault?”

The bystander, Peter — who declined to give his last name — was on a cigarette break outside the restaurant he works at when he saw the march passing on De Maisonneuve Blvd.

“Everybody is against rape,” Peter told The Concordian. “I don’t see the point for a protest and blocking the street for something everyone agrees on.”

This type of argument is common in today’s society and translates a misunderstanding about the nature of sexual assault, according to Felix Chu, a volunteer at the 2110 Centre.

“The problem is people don’t know what sexual assault is,” said Chu. “We have such a pervasive rape culture where saying a verbal no is the only thing that [will make] people … take no for an answer. But there are some people that will coerce and emotionally blackmail, especially in university settings where there is so much date rape. People won’t call it rape. That’s what we’re trying to change.”

The 2110 Centre has been campaigning for a number of years to have Concordia follow the example of McGill and the University of Alberta and create a sexual assault centre in order to welcome and help victims of sexual assault, as well as educate students on what consent is.

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News

OpenFile keeping quiet

After being kept in the dark for more than a month and still waiting for up to $2,000 of unpaid work, a handful of Montreal journalists launched a collective action against the community-based news website OpenFile on Monday.

In an open letter sent to CEO Wilf Dinnick and published on a Tumblr page, four former OpenFile contributors demanded that the website creator pay the outstanding invoices and explain why the website has been on hiatus for nearly two months.

“All we want is our bills paid and a little respect for all the work we’ve done,” said Justin Ling, a former contributor to OpenFile and media spokesperson for the group who wrote the letter.

After the letter was published, Ling says he received a call from Dinnick on Monday. Their conversation left Ling feeling “content” and “confident” that all reporters would be paid by the end of the year. Ling, however, would not go into specifics saying that Dinnick was “worried about saying too much before everything is settled.”

Despite success in six major Canadian cities, Dinnick announced a hiatus for OpenFile in a post published on the website Sept. 28. He did not say when the site would be online again and cited restructuring as the cause for the temporary shutting down.

Due to a number of questions raised by the sudden decision, Dinnick attempted to appease writers and editors with a group email sent on Oct. 2, promising payment of overdue invoices within 60 days. Monday’s open letter stated that some writers have been waiting for more than 90 days.

More recently, in an article published by J-Source on Nov. 7, Dinnick was quoted as saying auditors physically removed all the books from OpenFile offices, forcing him to wait for the accounts to be “loosened [so he could] write those [cheques].”

There was no mention, nor official statement about the nature of the auditing or the people behind it.

The authors of the letter openly expressed their frustration over the contradicting messages they received and the secrecy surrounding the nature of the hiatus.

“His comments were hardly reassuring,” the open letter states about Dinnick’s interview with J-Source.

“It’s unfortunate that we had to learn this from J-Source,” added Ling.

Prior to yesterday’s call, Ling said the last time he heard from Dinnick was about a month ago where he was told to “hang tight”. He was assured that everyone would be paid within the timeline that OpenFile promised, which has yet to happen. Ling said that they were not considering legal actions for now.

Brennan Neill, freelancer and president of the Board of Directors at The Concordian, contributed to OpenFile on several occasions and said most OpenFile staff saw the shutdown coming.

“In August, I was told by [former Montreal city editor Dominique Jarry-Shore] that they were cutting down on the freelance budget because traffic on the website was slow, but I never suspected they would shut down in September,” said Neill.

A few weeks prior to the hiatus, contributors were not being assigned stories for the most part and editors were being let go one after the other, including OpenFile Editor-in-chief John Ferri.

Neill, who is still waiting for an unpaid story, expressed concerns over the extinction of English media in Montreal and said he was worried about decreasing opportunities for upcoming journalists.

“This year’s been pretty horrible for the Anglo freelancer,” said Neill. “It left a big open hole in the Anglo freelancer landscape of Montreal.”

Dinnick could not be reached for comment.

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Opinions

The name is Elba…Idris Elba

Idris Elba accepting the "Best Actor" award at the 2012 Golden Globes. Photo via Flickr.
Idris Elba accepting the  award for “Best Actor” at the 2012 Golden Globes. Photo via Flickr.

The newest James Bond movie, Skyfall, hasn’t even hit the big screens yet, but predictions for who will be the next James Bond are already making waves, with one name standing out for the controversy it sparked: Idris Elba.

For those who just raised an eyebrow wondering who this guy is, Elba is the talented, charismatic British actor who played, among other roles, Stringer Bell on the The Wire, and Luther in the eponymous British detective show.

Elba is also black. Why the extra description, you ask? Because that detail seems to be of major importance to many James Bond purists.

Created by author Ian Fleming in 1953 as a half-Scottish, half-Swiss character born and educated in England, tradition, they say, dictates that James Bond has to be a white male with a British accent in his forties with some underlying misogynistic penchants.

But here’s a fact for you guys: this is not the 15th century Europe we’re talking about. The United Kingdom is not all white and most people know it by now. Hearing a perfect English accent coming out of the mouth of someone of Indian or Jamaican descent does not seem strange for many people of our generation and we know that an Englishman does not necessarily have to look like Maxwell Sheffield.

Tradition, as critic and film studies professor at Concordia University Matthew Hays says, is not a good enough argument.

“There are all sorts of traditions we have that are just bad ideas. Slavery and child labour were traditions and we decided that they were not good ideas. Limiting what people can do on the base of the color of their skin is another one.”

I am no James Bond movies scholar, but it seems to me that what makes the series so popular throughout generations is that the British secret agent, as well as the adventures he lives through, evolve.

“James Bond is a quite old-school figure,” Hays continued. “He is forever catching up with time and with whatever current trends are happening, trying to look cool. That’s what the British franchise is trying to do.”

Bond’s success, therefore, resides in his ability to detach himself from the character created in 1953 in order to better represent the image our society depicts as the coolest secret agent in history.

Sean Connery was too good of a Bond for the public to hold it against him that he was Scottish, instead of British like most of his successors. Similarly, Daniel Craig had to be much more of a badass than his predecessors in order to answer the rebellious and anti-authority expectations we have of modern heroes (they tortured him by smashing his balls for Christ’s sake).

Much like the character of Batman, it seems that James Bond tends to improve with time and it is we, the audience, that shapes him to become the attractive character he is.

But here it is; it seems that many James Bond fans don’t think being black fits the image. A phenomenon that Hays compared to society’s readiness for a black U.S. president. Something that eventually gets overturned with the help of popular culture.

Elba himself said, and rightly so, that he did not want to be known as “the black James Bond,” on National Public Radio. By that he meant that he didn’t want to be categorized in his performance for just the novelty of being black, “just like Daniel Craig wasn’t ‘the blue-eyed James Bond’,” the Prometheus actor said.

At the risk of disagreeing with an actor I greatly admire, perhaps it is, in fact, time to shake things up a bit and not wait another 10 years to make sure the audience is ready for a non-white James Bond. Idris Elba is a perfect Bond precisely because he represents what Great Britain is today; an eclectic country in a multicultural, yet smaller world.

Perhaps whoever will be producing future James Bond movies will want to broaden the series’ audience to more than the typical, old-fashioned, more-or-less repressed macho guy, who wishes he could have the face of an 18th century British colonist that can break women’s hearts with a wink.

And maybe, just maybe, it is time for us to realize that what makes the emblematic secret agent so irresistibly charismatic is neither skin color, origins, age or even sex.

Yes, you read right. It is about time we free ourselves from the sexist, Charlie’s Angels style bouncy butt and generous breasts stuffed in a spandex jumpsuit, female secret agent cliché and realize that James Bond, or whatever name we come up with for the occasion, could very well be an elegant and charming woman.

James Bond mutates according to us.

So, do we have the licence not to be racist and misogynistic when shaping our future James Bonds? I think we do.

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News

Vanier Student Association drops Playboy Condoms sponsorship

Photo by Madelayne Hajek
Photo by Madelayne Hajek

Vanier College’s administration rejected the student association’s wish for Playboy Condoms to sponsor their upcoming winter festival last Tuesday, thus depriving them of their sole sponsor for the event and ending a contentious dispute.

In an article published on Oct. 16, The Concordian revealed that the VCSA established a verbal deal with Playboy Condoms, a condom company that shares the Playboy Enterprise’s name and associated with their trademark bunny logo, to sponsor their end of semester party.

In exchange for space on campus to promote their products and safe sex practices during the event, the company promised a financial and material contribution to help the student association organize the event.

According to Monique Magnan, director of student services at Vanier, a previously planned management executive committee meeting held last Tuesday, led to the unanimous agreement on the ineligibility of the VCSA’s chosen sponsor. Following the meeting, the committee contacted the VCSA to demand the student executives cancel any possible deal with Playboy Condoms.

“Although the VCSA has a certain margin of autonomy, they need the school’s permission to have external business companies on campus,” said Magnan. “We collectively agreed that the school could not have a company harbouring Playboy’s image on campus, one related to pornography and exploitation of women for 60 years […] whether the company is directly related to Playboy Enterprise or not.”

VCSA President Alexander Liberio said that in face of the “controversy,” the VCSA council will be addressing the issue during a regular meeting to decide whether they wanted to continue with the event on campus and follow the school’s directives to sacrifice the sponsorship, to negotiate with the administration, or to take the winter festival to a different location in order to keep the sponsor.

“Now that we have a full council, there’s much more division on the matter and not everybody is in favour of [the sponsorship] like it was the case in summer,” said Liberio, who insisted he opposed the contract from the beginning. “Given the controversy, I wouldn’t think we would go with Playboy Condoms again for any future events.”

According to Liberio, Vanier’s students services’ office approved the sponsorship when they were first notified in September but then decided to vet it through their committee following rising tensions.

Conversely, Magnan told The Concordian she never approved of the sponsorship. After Taruna Kaur-Singh, VCSA’s special projects officer, approached her a second time with the idea on Oct. 11, Magnan asked her to hold off the deal until she consulted the executive committee. This was something Kaur-Singh ignored, according to Magnan, and continued with the deal until Oct.16.

Magnan explained that the VCSA’s liberty to initiate the deal without the school administration’s permission was based on “miscommunication and inexperience.”

She also went on to say that misunderstandings of a similar nature are rare at the college. According to Magnan, the VCSA and administration are usually in constant communication with one another.

“The idea is also to use this experience to educate student executives about the company they chose and the values it promotes,” she added.

Magnan notably insisted that, unlike some of the other schools that Playboy Condoms will be visiting during their sexual awareness “Playin’ It Safe” tour, Vanier College is a CÉGEP and not a community college.

“CÉGEPS still keep a high school feeling,” she said. “Many of our students are 16 or 17 and Vanier College cannot be associated with Playboy, mainly because the company does not share the values we want to disseminate among our students, even though we do promote safe sex.”

Anthony Kantara of the Vanier Mob Squad, the group behind a petition launched last summer against the sponsorship, said he was pleased by the school’s decision to disallow the bunny logo on campus but wished both the VCSA and the school administration kept the student body more informed about their decisions.

Playboy Condoms representatives have since been contacted by both the VCSA and the school administration, and the posting of Vanier College as one of the destinations of the “Playin’ It Safe” tour was officially taken down from their website on Oct. 20.

“It is a shame we had to go to Playboy Condoms’ website to see the cancellation,” added Kantara.

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News

Playboy shakes up Vanier College

Photo by Madelayne Hajek
Photo by Madelayne Hajek
UPDATE: Vanier’s Student Association has since dropped Playboy Condoms as a sponsor for their winter carnival. Read the follow-up story here.

– – – – –

Vanier College’s winter carnival has a new controversial sponsor which is creating waves on campus and beyond. The CÉGEP accepted the offer to have Playboy Condoms, a new brand of condoms bearing the Playboy name, sponsor the carnival.

As part of their sexual awareness “Playin’ It Safe Tour” in seven different CÉGEPs and universities in Canada, Playboy Condoms will be on campus during the Vanier winter festival on Dec. 7, 2012 to promote their new product.

In exchange, the bunny logo company pledged a financial contribution to the Vanier College Student Association for prizes, games and contests organized for the event, as well as investing in goodies.

As expected, the idea was not welcomed by all students at Vanier College and quickly triggered a petition pressuring the VCSA to break the deal.

Anthony Kantara, member of the Vanier College Mob Squad that created the petition, said he was concerned about the increasing corporate presence on campus.

“The fact that it’s a company that is mostly linked to pornography is even more worrying,” Kantara said. “School should be a sacred institution without commercial influence, especially not Playboy’s.”

The petition created last summer, has been signed by 110 individuals so far. It states that although “the VCSA claims [the sponsorship] is ‘OK’ since [Playboy Condoms] is promoting safe sex,” they demanded that the student union cancel any deal with a company that is connected to pornography, as well as “sexist and degrading [content] toward women.”

According to Taruna Kaur-Singh, VCSA special projects officer and student leader behind the sponsorship deal, the arrangement is not yet “set in stone.”

Since a contract has yet to be finalized, Kaur-Singh could not reveal a precise figure regarding the contribution from Playboy Condoms but explained she accepted the deal mainly for financial reasons.

“I am a woman too and I understand why this sponsorship is perceived as offensive to some but I also had to think about the financial needs for the event and my business side took over,” she said.

In response, Kantara claimed that Vanier College has one of the largest CÉGEP student association budgets in the province.

“Money is not an issue in this debate,” said Kantara. “The executives are just looking for an excuse to try to make the event more fun.”

Kaur-Singh said the idea was also to attract a certain demographic “that don’t usually participate in school activities but who would recognize a brand like Playboy.” She also emphasized the benefits of raising awareness regarding safe sex.

But the Vanier Mob Squad said it was not an excuse for making a deal without consulting the student body and keeping students uninformed on the nature of the arrangement.

During the summer, VCSA voted twice on council on whether or not to make Playboy Condoms a sponsor for the event. According to Kaur-Singh, both votes were in favour of the deal, the first one passing unanimously and the second one — after the creation of the petition — passed by a “large majority.”

Kaur-Singh said that although she did not have the chance to discuss offers with other businesses because of time constraints, Playboy Condoms was the only company to offer a sponsorship so far.

While Playboy Condoms already started investing money in producing T-shirts, pamphlets and other products for the occasion, the Vanier Mob Squad is trying to mobilize the teacher’s and parent’s association to pressure VCSA on holding off the deal until the decision is taken to a vote in a general assembly.

Kaur-Singh admitted she heard some teachers were concerned by the sponsorship and said she was still looking into the matter. She also affirmed that the deal could be cancelled at any moment, which would implicate cutting into other expenses but without requiring compensation to the condom company.

On their part, Playboy Condoms has already announced Vanier College as one of their destinations of the “Playin’ It Safe Tour” on their website.

– – – – –
11:20 a.m. 17/10/2012 – Corrections made to story

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News

Anti-police brutality march remains calm despite tension

Photo by Kalina Laframboise.
Photo by Kalina Laframboise.

The anti-police brutality protest, notorious for its violent turnout, was mostly peaceful and recorded no arrests Saturday night.

Following months of continuous student protests, roughly 200 protesters gathered at Place Émilie-Gamelin before marching through the streets of the downtown core to condemn Montreal Police’s use of excessive force.

Demonstrators were notably present to denounce a recent mass dismissal of complaints against police behaviour filed during the student conflict.

“This year’s protest is mainly about the irregularities within police ethics,” said protester and Dawson Student Union Director of external affairs Nicholas Di Penna. “When people give in complaints and they are simply refused it means there are problems of introspection within the police and we ask why isn’t there more control over police brutality.”

According to the protest’s Facebook event page, the ethics commissioner of the Service de Police de Montréal brushed off 46 per cent of the complaints filed against officers during the student strike movement. As a result, demonstrators are concerned that the accused officers will not face sanctions but instead receive a slap on the wrist or the alleged victims will have the opportunity to “express his or her feelings to the accused officer.”

The Montreal Police’s ethics commissioner could not be reached for comment due to the holiday weekend.

According to the Huffington Post Quebec, the reason behind the dismissals are either a lack of information in order to proceed with an investigation, or the alleged victim dropping the case.

The Montreal Police’s Ethics Commissioner Louise Letarte also said that the number of dismissed complaints might increase as the department reviewed only 149 out of the total 193 complaints received related to the student conflict. So far, 60 complaints will lead to further investigation for which the result will appear in spring 2013.

Angered by the dismissals and feeling powerless against a police force individuals believe used excessive violence in interventions, some protesters expressed their concerns over the SPVM’s ability to exercise control over its own officers and to sanction them in the adequate manner.

“If the SPVM and the city won’t hear us in court, then they will hear us in the streets,” said Marc Lamarée, a protester who is currently facing charges in two trials after he was arrested at the Victoriaville riot last May, and at another student protest during the summer. “The SPVM has treated us like troublemakers since the beginning of the movement and I was even told they had a list of protesters to pay special attention to, which I am on. We should be able to defend ourselves legally against such profiling and excesses and this dismissal of complaints is bad news.”

Saturday’s protest was declared illegal by the police before it began due to the organizers failing to provide a march route. The demonstration was still authorized providing it remained peaceful.

The protesters, many of them masked and dressed in black, left Place Émilie-Gamelin at 8:45 p.m. closely flanked by officers and followed by mounted police. They walked through the streets of downtown Montreal, improvising their route and often walking against traffic. Aside from a few busted traffic cones and firecrackers, the protesters carried the march until it ended at its starting point around 11 p.m. with a single individual receiving a ticket.

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News

Student strike stalemate sways public opinion

If the Quebec government hoped to see the student movement against tuition hikes lose momentum with the end of the academic year, student leaders say they should think again.

Despite the Liberals’ attempts to appease the student protesters with first signs of interest in negotiating and promises of bursary bonifications, the government is currently taking increasing heat from businesses, universities and citizens, being urged to quickly find a solution to the ongoing stalemate.

Two weeks ago, the head of the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec warned that an extension of the winter semester would have repercussions on the number of students filling summer jobs, and would result in a serious blow to the province’s tourism and economy. Last week, the rector of the Université du Québec à Rimouski also urged Minister of Education Line Beauchamp to re-establish a dialogue with students and proposed to name a mediator.

“In this context of pre-elections, it’s going to be increasingly difficult for the Charest government to maintain their position [in favour of tuition hikes],” said Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec president Martine Desjardins. “The government is expecting the movement to lose steam, but what we see is an increasing number of strike votes and an intensification of the movement.”

At Concordia, despite a one-week general strike and sporadic disruptions of classes and exams, the movement led by the Concordia Student Union will likely have no effect on the university’s academic calendar. Concordia spokesperson Chris Mota said the movement was not disruptive enough to make the university consider an extension of the winter semester.

In other universities, however, administrations are forced to adjust their schedules due to as much as eight weeks of general strikes in some cases.

UQÀR, Université du Québéc à Montréal and Université de Montréal are looking into extending the winter semester by at least a month and are hoping for a return to classes by April 16.

“Cancelling a semester would have disastrous economic consequences for universities and CÉGEPS,” said Desjardins. “It would mean having double the number of students next year, double the amount of professors and double the entire costs.”

Many departments in these universities have voted for an unlimited strike until their demands are met or until their student union puts an end to the movement. Added to that, the major student associations are informally respecting an agreement of non-denunciation and non-negotiation, where associations cannot question the legitimacy of other student groups’ actions, nor can they initiate negotiations with the government without the presence of all the major associations. The return to classes will likely depend on the government’s decision to negotiate with students.

For Desjardins, the threat formulated by Beauchamp warning students of academic consequences after the massive March 22 protest only proved the Liberal government had its back against the wall.

Beauchamp opened the window for negotiations for the first time last week saying she was ready to talk about improving the loans and bursaries program, but was adamant in her refusal to contemplate a tuition freeze.

“I cannot sit down at a table with students and discuss the topic of ‘to whom are we passing the bill to,’” Beauchamp told La Presse.

Although Desjardins praised Beauchamp’s effort to initiate negotiations, she said raising conditions for the talk was a bad start.

Desjardins also said that student mobilization against tuition hikes will continue to grow and actions will continue to be organized week after week, depending on the context and government responses.

“So far, it doesn’t look like we are stopping anytime soon,” she said.

At Concordia, there are still no signs of a petition that would initiate a third general assembly in order to vote for a continuation of the strike among undergraduate students. Concordia Student Union vice-president external Chad Walcott said that even if a GA was to be held by the CSU, “it would be very difficult [in the context of the end of the semester] to mobilize enough people in time in order to meet quorum.” However, Walcott said that the CSU would still participate in other organizations’ movements and said the union was ready to provide the necessary resources to students who “are keeping the movement alive.”

The major actions planned by student organizations so far are a protest in Premier Jean Charest’s Sherbrooke riding on April 4 and an outdoor show in downtown Montreal on April 5.

Information about future actions will be posted on the FEUQ’s, the Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec’s and the Coalition large de l’Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante’s websites.

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News

Agent involved in alleged assault found unlicensed

McGill student Amber Gross was alledgedly hit by an unlicensed security guard. Photo by Jess Glavina.
McGill student Amber Gross was alledgedly hit by an unlicensed security guard. Photo by Jess Glavina.

The Concordia security guard who allegedly hit a student in the face last week was discovered not to be in possession of a valid security permit, according to a letter sent by the Concordia security department.

Amber Gross, the McGill student who said she was assaulted, filed a request for information last Thursday asking for the name and permit number of the security guard in order to file a formal complaint.

The acting director of Concordia University Security, Jacques Lachance, replied to Gross in a letter sent on April 1, saying the university had been informed by the security guard’s employer, Maximum Security Inc., that the agent did not possess a security license at present.

“Given the fact that he is not a licensed security agent […] we are not legally permitted to release his name,” the letter stated.

The guard is said to be in the process of a license application with the Quebec Bureau of private security, according to the agency contracted by Concordia University.

Concordia Student Union VP external Chad Walcott called the news as troubling and assured the CSU would do everything possible to obtain the security agent’s identity.

“It would be very concerning if we are being blocked access to an information about the assault of a student,” said Walcott. “Having unlicensed security staff on campus is completely unacceptable.”

Gross told The Concordian she was worried the university would try to put the responsibility on the individual security agency and pass the “whole thing [off] as an isolated incident.”

“These kind of accidents are likely to happen again,” Gross said. “That’s what happens when you start hiring a large number of security guards for political purposes on campus when they’re not trained to do it.”

In his letter, Lachance also mentioned that the security agent had been reassigned and was no longer working at Concordia. The university intends to pursue the investigation directly with the agency.

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Concordia Student Union News

Two CSU executive candidates disqualified from race

The two candidates disqualified after one week into the Concordia Student Union general election campaign, A Better Concordia’s presidential candidate Schubert Laforest and VP academic and advocacy candidate Lucia Gallardo, have filed a request to the CSU’s judicial board asking to be temporarily reinstated.

Both candidates sent their requests just after midnight on Monday asking for their candidacies to be temporarily reinstated until the JB finds a resolution to the case. Gallardo and Laforest claim that if the outcome of the appeal rules in their favour, they would have unfairly lost several days of campaigning. They are also asking that chief electoral officer Ismail Holoubi review his decision to not put the candidates’ names on the ballots.

In addition to their disqualifications, the candidates were also “shocked” to find out about a leak of an “outdated and inaccurate version of [their] private student records,” according to an official statement sent by the affiliation.

The statement went on to say that the “origins of the private documents are currently being investigated by multiple parties. It was also indicated that the leak most likely came from a faculty or department member.”

“How can someone get this document if not from us and why was it leaked to the press?,” said Laforest. “These documents do not just contain grades, but also very personal information that should not be made public. We filed a report to security saying that our privacy has been breached by someone within the faculty administration.”
Laforest said the affiliation did not know who was behind the leak, but he said that the dean’s office and the registrar were working to find out what happened and how the information got out.

Both Laforest and Gallardo were made aware of the disqualification decision by the CEO on March 5 just before the beginning of poster night, preventing them from launching their campaign fully. In an email to The Concordian on March 13, Holoubi indicated that after verifying again with the dean of students on March 7, neither Laforest nor Gallordo were registered students.

In a March 10 email, Holoubi had said, “Both of these candidates are not taking any classes at Concordia this semester. Therefore they are not eligible to run.”

The affiliation responded by releasing a statement saying that “double major student Lucia Gallardo and honours student Schubert Laforest are both registered full-time international students at Concordia University.”

In Gallardo’s case, she explained that at the moment the CEO verified her student status, her short-term student visa was in the process of being switched over to a long-term student visa. But Gallardo maintains that she has always been a registered student.

Laforest explained that his student status was related to “financial aid,” but did not want to go into further details because of the pending judicial board hearing.

“The CEO was more concerned by meeting his deadlines than the actual bylaws,” said Laforest.

“That is also why there is an inconsistency between being disqualified and not being eligible and this also why we are arguing the case. What we know is that both [Lucia] and I are full-time registered students.”

Current CSU President Lex Gill pointed out that the decision to disqualify the two candidates was not Holoubi’s alone. She explained that for every general election, the CEO sends the list of candidates to the dean of students, who sends it to the the registrar to make sure the students are registered for classes.

“Both of these candidates are international students and sometimes people get de-registered in the process of change of immigration status, for example,” Gill explained.

Gill explained that if the appeal to the JB does not go through, the elections will still be held and no new candidates will be allowed to run in the A Better Concordia affiliation. If the positions are uncontested, students will have the choice to vote “yes,” “no,” and “abstain” for the presidential position.

The opposition affiliation, Concordia Could Be, lead by presidential candidate Melanie Hotchkiss, released a statement March 11, affirming their faith in the JB and respect for Gallardo and Laforest’s decision to appeal.

“We want students to continue to evaluate both affiliations, and we hope that they will support Concordia Could Be based on our merits,” read the statement.

The affiliation stated that they want the upcoming election “to be about candidates and platforms, not the Chief Electoral Officer.”

“For too long CSU elections have been marred by controversy,” continued the statement. “Faith in our student union has slowly been deteriorating, and we hope for a quick, fair, and honest resolution.”

The chair of the JB, Ceejay Desfosses, said she hoped members of the board would meet early Tuesday morning and that if there is a hearing concerning the case, it will be made open to the public. However, Desfosses said she was unable to judge on the length of time that is needed for the JB to make a decision.

With files from Marilla Steuter-Martin

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Concordia Student Union News

Two CSU executive candidates disqualified

Less than a week after the Concordia Student Union general election campaign period started, two candidates running with the A Better Concordia affiliation, presidential candidate Schubert Laforest and VP academic and advocacy candidate Lucia Gallardo, were disqualified.

Laforest and Gallardo were made aware of the decision yesterday evening by CSU chief electoral officer Ismail Holoubi, according to A Better Concordia VP external candidate Simon-Pierre Lauzon.

“Both of these candidates are not taking any classes at Concordia this semester,” said Holoubi. “Therefore they are not eligible to run.”

The affiliation responded by releasing a statement saying that “Double Major student Lucia Gallardo and Honours student Schubert Laforest are both registered full-time international students at Concordia University.”  Attached to the statement are screenshots of Gallardo’s and Schubert’s class schedules.

Current CSU President Lex Gill pointed out that the decision to disqualify the two candidates was not Holoubi’s alone. She explained that for every general election, the CEO sends the list of candidates to the dean of students, who sends it to the the registrar to make sure the students are registered for classes.

“Both of these candidates are international students and sometimes people get de-registered in the process of change of immigration status for example,” Gill explained

Gill also said that if the candidates chose to appeal the decision, their case would go to the CSU’s judicial board and they would have to present evidence stating they are registered students. The elections, however, will not be cancelled or postponed.

If the appeal does not go through, the elections will still be held and no new candidates will be allowed to run in the A Better Concordia affiliation. If the positions are uncontested, students will have the choice to vote “yes,” “no,” and “abstain.”

“I just hope this gets resolved quickly one way or another,” said Gill. “There are still a lot of candidates running and I hope Concordia students make sure they still go out there to vote no matter what.”

Candidates file reinstatement request

Both candidates sent requests just after midnight on Monday to the judicial board asking for their candidacy to be reinstated temporarily until the JB finds a resolution to the case. Gallardo and Laforest claim that if the outcome of the appeal rules in their favour, they would have unfairly lost several days of campaigning. They are also asking that the CEO review his decision to not put the candidates’ names on the ballots.

“We were very surprised when we knew about the disqualifications,” said Gallardo. “It doesn’t feel good to be disqualified in the middle of a campaign we worked hard for, especially when you know you are a registered student.”

Gallardo explained that her visa was not the one international students typically have and she believed that this might have been the reason for the misunderstanding.

“We just hope that the situation will be resolved soon,” Gallardo said. “Hopefully, this will only make us stronger as a team and push us forward to winning the elections.”

Reactions from ‘Concordia Could Be’

The opposition affiliation lead by presidential candidate Melanie Hotchkiss, released a statement March 11, affirming their faith in the Judicial Board and respect for Gallardo and Laforest’s decision to appeal.

“We are continuing to campaign against a ‘full affiliation’ until when or if the Judicial Board decides otherwise,” read the statement. “We want students to continue to evaluate both affiliations, and we hope that they will support Concordia Could Be based on our merits.”

The affiliation stated that they want the upcoming election “to be about candidates and platforms, not the Chief Electoral Officer.”

“For too long CSU elections have been marred by controversy,” continued the statement. “Faith in our student union has slowly been deteriorating, and we hope for a quick, fair, and honest resolution.”

With Files from Marilla Steuter-Martin.

Categories
Concordia Student Union News

CSU campaign period in full swing

The Concordia Student Union’s campaign period for the upcoming elections began at 12:01 a.m. last night.

Historically, poster night, when candidates rush to put up their campaign posters on the walls of both campuses, has been a competitive tradition at Concordia, but this time around one of the affiliated teams decided to take another approach.

As of 9 p.m. Monday, Melanie Hotchkiss’ affiliation Concordia Could Be began tacking up posters throughout the Hall building, while Schubert Laforest’s affiliation, A Better Concordia, was nowhere to be found.

CEO Ismail Holoubi said that he had given each team notice of the 9 p.m. start and that it was simply a matter of one being ready and the other not.

Arts and Science Federation of Associations VP internal and presidential candidate Laforest, said in a phone interview that his goal was not to overload students with too much information all at once.

“We’re taking an incremental approach,” he said. “We were focusing on other aspects of the campaign.”

Laforest went on to say that he doesn’t see the team’s lack of poster exposure early in the campaign as a disadvantage.

“It just wasn’t the first priority in our mind,” said Laforest. “Students are intelligent, they will see the posters and they will decide for themselves.”

Laforest said that he could not give a definite time when posters would be up, but he assured The Concordian it would be done by Tuesday night.

Although current CSU councillor and other presidential candidate Hotchkiss was wondering where her opponents were, her focus remained on the campaign.

“There are so many opportunities of what Concordia could be,” said Hotchkiss. “We want to be the ones who make Concordia more accessible, representative, collaborative, sustainable, empowering and fun. I want to be the candidate who is there to support both my team and the students.”

The competition is not shaping out to be very fierce with 15 candidates running for the 14 Arts and Science council seats, one candidate running for student representative, three running for each of the three council seats available for Fine Arts and Engineering and Computer Science, and four candidates running for the six available seats for John Molson School of Business.
At an information meeting held on the evening of March 4, of the 42 candidates running, only three showed up.

The CEO and the deputy electoral officers decided to hold two debates, on Thursday, March 8 and on Thursday, March 15, that will see each candidate running for an executive position debate with his or her opponent.

The first debate will take place in the common area of the 7th floor of the Hall Bulding and the second one will be held at the The Hive at Loyola. Both debates will feature a Q&A session for students to ask questions directly to the candidates.

At Sunday’s information meeting, Holoubi also addressed the concern that some candidates could use their current offices to promote themselves or their affiliation during non-campaigning time.

“If I witness any violation or get any contestation, I will immediately ask candidates to step down from their current offices,” Holoubi said.

President
Melanie HotchkissSchubert Laforest
VP Finance
Stephanie Beauregard           Keny Toto
VP Academic and Advocacy
Chuck Wilson Lucia Gallardo
VP External Affairs
Cameron Monagle Simon-Pierre Lauzon
VP Clubs and Internal Affairs
Museb Abu-Thuraia           Nadine Atallah
VP Student Life
Lina Saigol            Alexis Suzuki
VP Sustainability
Iain Meyer-Macaulay        Andrew Roberts
VP Loyola
Jonathan Braziller             Stefan Faina

Categories
News

McGill occupiers evicted

McGill students occupying the James administration building - Photo by Navneet Pall
McGill students occupying the James administration building – Photo by Navneet Pall

After almost 115 hours, the nine students still occupying the sixth floor of the McGill James Administration building were evicted by Montreal police Sunday morning.

The Occupy McGill movement started last Tuesday when 23 students assembled in the office of Deputy Provost (student life & learning) Morton Mendelson to take a stand against the university administration’s decision to not validate the results of a student referendum.

The referendum, which took place in Nov. 2011, was in regard to the continued autonomy of campus groups CKUT radio and Quebec Public Interest Research Group-McGill.

The referendum questions asked students to confirm whether or not they supported the continued funding of the groups and if they agreed that the opt-out period, in which students can choose to not pay fees to the groups, should be switched from online to in-person. Over 60 per cent of those who cast their ballots voted “yes” in the referendum.

Sami Fink, a McGill occupier, said that despite the eviction, the protest was not in vain.

“Occupy McGill is still a victory since we made the university use force to evict occupiers,” Fink explained. “It caught the attention that we wanted.”

McGill spokesman Doug Sweet explained that officers of the SPVM informed students Sunday morning that they had five minutes to leave and no charges would be pressed.

“We wanted to get services back up and running for Monday,” said Sweet. “We needed to get the building back in operation.”

Sweet went on to say that the university had denied occupiers access to electricity and washrooms in an effort to “persuade them to leave of their own accord.”

Despite the firm approach, the university administration did provide water to occupiers, added Sweet.

“We didn’t take any measures that would endanger the health of students,” he reiterated.

Following the eviction, a protest of solidarity occurred on Feb. 13 where students expressed their discontent with a new set of provisional rules issued by the university concerning how students will be allowed to protest in the future. Over 60 people were reportedly in attendance.

The Occupy McGill organizers first entered the James building to orchestrate a “surprise resignation party” planned for Mendelson. Students peacefully started redecorating and preparing to celebrate in front of his office.

A second wave of about 20 students followed, but were welcomed by security who tried to stop Throughout last week, occupiers ran low on basic supplies and several students on the outside found creative ways to get around security. At one point, an estimated 40 pounds of food was delivered up to the sixth floor window via a pulley system.

Occupiers stayed in the James building for more than five days. Students supported them by finding creative ways to deliver them food – Photo by Navneet Pall

As time went by, the second group stayed in the lobby and a third group of students started camping outside the building to support the occupiers.

Caitlin Mason, an outreach coordinator at CKUT, said the station was not directly affiliated to the movement but agreed on the principle that McGill denied a right to students.

“The occupy movement caught us off-guard,” said Mason. “We had reached a principle agreement with the administration an hour before students occupied the building. However, as a student organization we completely support the students’ freedom of speech.”

CKUT has agreed to another referendum in March, while QPIRG McGill has not chosen to accept the same deal.
QPIRG McGill board member Simone Lucas said the organization was “disappointed” with the way the administration has been treating students.

“This is a continuation of what has happened in the past,” she said, “student dissent met with punitive measures.”

Lucas said this is a clear indication of the administration’s unwillingness to listen to students.

On Feb. 11, QPIRG extended an offer to the McGill administration to engage in negotiations which include student protesters.

“We would like to have a dialogue with the administration and the occupiers,” said Lucas.

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