Author: Joëlle Jalbert

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News

“Freedom for Ukraine!” solidarity rally

Photo by Joëlle Jalbert

Hundreds gather at Place du Canada on Sunday

Blue and yellow flags were raised and could be seen through the snowflakes as chants of liberty were heard: “UK-RA-I-NA! UK-RA-I-NA! UK-RA-I-NA!”

Michael Shwec, president of the Quebec chapter of the Canadian Ukrainian Congress, organized the event to raise awareness within the Montreal community and show solidarity to his compatriots in Ukraine.

“They are under tremendous stress, they’re suffering out there, the country’s been bombarded, all areas of the country,” Shwec said, “and we want to show them that the Ukrainian community of Montreal is definitely behind them.”

Shwec also wishes this demonstration will help unite the Montreal-Ukrainian community.

“Most people here have family in Ukraine and we need to congregate, stay together in our own community to show support to one another,” he said.

His daughter, Adelia Shwec, was also present at the event. “We’re here today because Ukraine believes in peace and a democratic future, and it’s a sovereign country,” she said. 

“Our people are dying so the least we can do is come support them at this protest.”

Adelia Shwec denounces the attacks of Putin on her population as hatred towards Ukrainians.

“Our aggressive neighbor wants to destroy all of Ukraine and its people, its identity,” she said.

Ivanna Skotar, a family friend of the Shwecs, agreed. “It’s not part of Russia, it never will be,” she said.

Skotar was also present to show support to her community. “We’re Ukrainian, we wear our hearts on our sleeves,” she said, holding up her Ukrainian flag proudly.

Michael Shwec acknowledged the outpour of support that has come from the Canadian population over the last few days and called on the people to increase the support they can lend to Ukraine.

“The arena of the battle is Ukraine, but it’s really a world problem. Democracy is really at stake here,” he said.

On Feb. 26, Canada and other western allies announced that Russia was removed from SWIFT, a “global member-owned cooperative and the world’s leading provider of secure financial messaging services.”

Shwec said this is a good move, but insists on all governments of the world to show support by creating a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

“If you can stop the Russian bombers from bombing kindergardens, hospitals and civilians then it’ll make a tremendous difference. So, I think that’s really the next step,” Shwec said.

The Canada-Ukraine Foundation already had a team stationed in Ukraine for humanitarian purposes prior to the war. They are scaling up what they usually do to lend a hand to the people trying to evacuate the country and offer support for those staying behind.

“We’re getting ready for immigration to Canada,” Shwec said, “As a community in Montreal, we’re gearing up to help anybody who might want to come and be with us here in Montreal.”

Even though the Canadian government match of $10 million has already been met, the Red Cross is still accepting donations.

According to their website, the Red Cross’ support “could include preparedness, immediate and ongoing relief efforts, long-term recovery, resiliency, and other critical humanitarian activities as needs arise, both in Ukraine and surrounding countries, including supporting populations displaced.”

“At home, you can share the right information with your friends and family, because there’s a lot of disinformation coming out from Russia,” Shwec said.

“He won’t get away with this, it’s ours, it’s our country […] our grandparents fought for this. We’re not handing it over easy, it’s not happening,” Skotar said.

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Sports

I love a sport that doesn’t love me back

Formula One is starting its season with a driver who inappropriately touched a woman in its line-up

Content warning: Sexual harassment

I need to get it off my chest: my favourite sport is going in a direction that I cannot ignore anymore.

As Formula One’s (F1) 2021 season began this past weekend, I am now, more than ever, realizing how it is basically the white, straight man’s sport of honour.

As a woman, being an F1 fan is hard.

Back in 2013, my 16-year-old self was ecstatic when I saw a woman would be in charge of an F1 team for the first time; Claire Williams.

Williams’ Formula One team, however, has not been performing as it once was for the past few years.

Now, many would be quick to associate this downfall with Claire Williams’ promotion; however, the team was doomed to fail since the 1998 Concorde Agreement; a contract which dictates how F1’s television revenues and prize money are distributed, changing the money distribution drastically.

Williams was not even given a fair chance as she was the victim of the glass cliff.

This phenomenon occurs when women in leadership roles, such as company executives or even political candidates, are more likely than men to achieve these positions when the organization is facing crisis or the chance of failure is high.

Williams addressed her struggles linked to sexism and even mentioned how it got worse once she became a mother.

“I have actually had someone say to me that a lot of people in the Formula One paddock think that the team started doing badly when I fell pregnant and had a baby,” she said. “How dare they? There are nine other team principals in F1 and I am sure the majority of them have children. Would you ever level that criticism at them?”

As I grew up trying to find my place as a woman in the sport, I had to endure seeing my only representation in the sport being critiqued all these years for supposedly leading the team to failure.

As a young girl, the only image I had of women in the sport was of its “Grid Girls,” and how conventionally beautiful and useless, for a lack of better word, they were.

Despite their absence today, the image of the paddock remains a playground of sexual advantage that catters to a heterosexual male audience.

As Hazel Southwell, a motorsport journalist, wrote: “Women who work in motor sport warn each other about the predators because they don’t face consequences. I know more women who’ve left the sport after harassment, by far, than men who’ve got even a stern email about doing it.”

This toxic climate was always something I knew of from hearsay, but never actually something I wanted to believe, until Dec. 9, 2020.

Only eight days after Nikita Mazepin was announced as a Haas 2021 driver, he posted a video on his Instagram story where he can be seen groping a woman’s breast.

Mazepin’s list of controversies already included punching another driver in the Formula 3 paddock in 2016, demanding nude pictures from a woman in exchange for paddock tickets, endorsing racist comments, and record-breaking violent driving on the track.

The incident was met with outrage amongst fans, as the hashtag #WeSayNoToMazepin was circulating on social media, and a Change.org petition was created demanding the driver face proper correctional measures.

What is frustrating as a woman who enjoys the sport, who has given money to the sport and who would eventually like to work in it, is that the only thing I got was a statement from the Haas Team condemning his actions, but keeping him on board for the ride and saying that “No further comments shall be made.”

The son of a billionaire who will most likely help the sole American team to get out of its financial struggles, Mazepin’s controversy was quite frankly not the groping, but the broadcast of it.

He made an embarrassment of the sport and the Haas team, upset the sponsors and, most intriguingly, opened up the curtain behind the sexism still present in the paddock.

Although I believe that punishing Mazepin for his actions should not be too much to ask for in 2021, I do believe the F1 group and the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) should address Mazepin’s case as what it truly is: not an isolated incident.

I am writing this article as McLaren driver and Twitch streamer Lando Norris’ sexist comments during a recent stream have just come out.

Norris can be heard objectifying women as he refers to them as “yours,” “mine,” “that one” and “the nationality one.”

In times dominated by seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton, where every driver wants to be as fast as him on track and every fan admires him for his performance, maybe the men of F1 should start taking notes on his off-track activism as well.

After years of watching the sport demonize my gender, at the start of the 2021 season, I am left feeling as though I am going back into a toxic relationship. Because the part of me that loves the sport believes it can change for the better.

But will the sport I love ever love me back?

 

Graphic by Taylor Reddam

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Sports

Does Formula 1 really #RaceAsOne?

The new race in Saudi Arabia raises questions about the new Formula 1 initiative

Formula 1 (F1) announced their provisional calendar for the 2021 season on Nov. 10, which includes a new race in Saudi Arabia that sparked controversy.

When F1 launched their #WeRaceAsOne initiative back in June in the midst of international Black Lives Matter protests, fans were pleasantly surprised that the sport was taking a stand on the issue.

It is no surprise to long-time followers of F1 that the sport has showcased predominantly white drivers from privileged backgrounds. This new initiative was, according to F1, “aimed at tackling the biggest issues facing our sport and global communities.”

Lewis Hamilton, the first and only Black driver to race in the sport so far, fully supported the initiative and took it upon himself to use his platform to raise awareness on racial discrimination.

At a race this season in Mugello, Italy, the seven-time world champion wore a T-shirt on the podium drawing attention to the Breonna Taylor case. Taylor was shot and killed in her bed by Louisville police officers back in March. The shirt read: “Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor.”

The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) responded to his statement with a new rule stating that, for the duration of the post-race interviews and podium ceremony, “The driver may only wear their racing suit, which is fastened to the neck and not on their waist.”

The FIA made it clear they did not want to mix politics with the sport, and Hamilton argued his statement was one of human rights and not politics.

This decision left the fans divided, as some agreed that Hamilton’s statement on the podium was of political nature and others were left confused as to where the sport situates itself regarding human rights.

With the unveiling of the 2021 provisional calendar, however, some fans had their answers.

This next season will welcome a new Grand Prix in Saudi Arabia, the 33rd country to host a round of the world championship. The city of Jeddah will be hosting the event, which will potentially be a night race.

As stated by F1, “The final track design has not been decided, but organizers say it will feature a good flow of long straights and tight corners, with no equivalent track on the calendar.”

The hefty deal of $900 million that race organizers agreed on was the subject of controversy.

Amidst the announcement, human rights organization Amnesty International even accused Saudi Arabia of “sportswashing,” a term used to refer to the practice of hosting a sporting event as a means for a country to better their reputation.

Amnesty International said that Saudi Arabia violates its citizens’ human rights by using torture as a form of punishment; being the world’s top executioners; criminalizing public gatherings such as demonstrations; and keeping many outspoken activists behind bars, violating their rights to free speech.

F1 believes, however, that this new deal with Saudi Arabia will help cross borders in terms of sharing a common passion.

“[F1] has worked hard [to] be a positive force everywhere it races, including economic, social, and cultural benefits,” the release said. “Sports like [F1] are uniquely positioned to cross borders and cultures to bring countries and communities together to share the passion and excitement of incredible competition and achievement.”

The 2021 season will start in Australia and end in Abu Dhabi with a total of 23 races, a jump from the current 17 races the revised 2020 calendar had due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year’s revised calendar made F1 teams stay in Europe for most of their races and revisit some old fan-favourite circuits such as Germany’s Nürburgring and Italy’s Mugello and Imola.

Contrary to fans wanting these tracks back on the permanent calendar, F1 decided to go a different route and keep the usual big budget Grand Prix races that usually appear on the calendar.

With the unfolding of the 2020 season and the many controversies it brought, many are left to wonder if F1 does #RaceAsOne.

 

Graphic by Laura Douglas

Categories
News

How a young Montrealer is fighting toxic masculinity and sexism at school

Colin Renaud wore a skirt to school to protest against “sexist dress code”

Don’t be surprised if you saw high school boys in skirts Tuesday. It was part of a student movement led by Colin Renaud, after his own experience of wearing a skirt to school went viral on Instagram last week.

Renaud, a 15-year-old Villa Maria High School student, wore a skirt to school last week as a protest against their sexist dress code and the hyper-sexualization of women.

“I got a lot of negative comments, just not to my face,” Renaud, who recently started grade 10 and is a member of the student council, told The Concordian. “One of my first projects with the student committee was to make our school uniform unisex,” said Renaud.

His first project was a successful one, as Villa Maria implemented the unisex dress code a couple of years ago, allowing every student to wear whichever pieces of the student uniform they prefer. At least, that is what Renaud thought when he decided to put the new rule to the test by showing up to his class in a skirt.

“I thought that it would be easy, that my school had already approved a rule implying a unisex dress code, but it was the opposite.”

As Renaud walked to his class, he was followed by a school staff member and, during his second period, was summoned to the school secretary’s office, escorted by two faculty members.

What followed still shocks Renaud today.

“They said a lot of degrading comments about me,” said Renaud. What the school administration reprimanded Renaud for doing included wearing a skirt, wearing nail polish and not being a good model for younger students.

Renaud finds it disappointing that his school, which promotes itself as very inclusive, would have such a bad reaction to his choice of attire.

“Diversity is one of their fundamental values,” said Renaud.

He is happy to say, however, that the following day, he had another discussion with the administration, and that they seemed open and ready to hear what the students had to say.

Renaud said the fight is not over as the students’ association has been trying for three years to abolish another dress code rule: mandatory knee-high socks that girls have to wear in combination with their skirt.

“When I wore the skirt, I did not get reprimanded for not wearing knee-high socks but all the girls around me did,” explained Renaud. According to him and his classmates, this account of events shows the sexist nature of this rule.

Renaud is hopeful, however, that his actions will have the impact necessary to make a difference as he compares his situation to other students who imitated him at different institutions.

“There are certain schools that did worse, they sent the boys back home, telling them they can either wear pants or stay home,” said Renaud.

Seeing the movement move across the province in different schools makes him proud, but also uncomfortable.

“At the beginning I was happy … but I felt that it wasn’t my place to be the face of this movement,” said Renaud.

“I like getting feedback, whether it be positive or negative,” said Renaud as he recalled getting a lot of messages from disappointed women. “They believe it is sad that a movement like this one started getting media attention when boys were involved, which I totally understand,” said Renaud.

He prefers to see himself as an ally to the feminist movement, saying, “That’s something I want to change because I don’t want to be at the center of it all, I want to educate people so that we can live in a just place but I don’t want to steal the attention and have the spotlight on me.”

Renaud did just that when he created the movement Le Cercle Mauve, which has the objective to fight against the hypersexualization of women, toxic masculinity and sexism in school dress codes. He is hoping the movement will be a catalyst in changing how students of all genders feel about their school uniform.

“I am still waiting for excuses from the administration,” said Renaud, although he feels the administration owes an apology to all students.

“I’m not attached to that skirt, it is not a skirt I want to wear every day, but if a boy would want to wear it every day, he should not have to go through the experience I went through in order to feel more comfortable at school.”

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