Author: Leo Litke

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Culture News

Cabane à sucre comes to Concordia

Students taking "tire à l'érable" (maple syrup on a stick) during Concordia's sugar shack event. Photo by Leo Litke / The Concordian

Annual sugar shack celebration brings a slice of culture (and pudding chômeur!) to staff and students.

On Wednesday, April 10, Concordia Hospitality hosted a sugar shack-inspired lunch in the EV junction, bringing the yearly spring celebration back to campus after COVID restrictions had put it on pause. Profits from tickets sold went towards the Emergency Meal Plan Program, a service run by Concordia Hospitality that provides students in need with meal cards to students. 

Tables were arranged around the ground floor of the atrium and attendees enjoyed a selection of traditional Quebec cuisine while Québécois folk music was played on loudspeakers. Meat- and plant-based options were made available to attendees, including tourtière—a meat pie—, ham, pea soup, along with maple-centric pudding chômeur, maple pie and pancakes with maple syrup.

Shortly after the event began, a maple taffy station was set up where attendees were able to roll their own maple taffy with direction from a staff member.

“We like doing the sugar shack because it is very Québécois, and we have lots of students coming who’ve never had taffy before, who don’t know the different food we’re eating,” said Sarah Caille, director of Concordia Hospitality. Explaining the significance of the event, she elaborated.

“First of all, it was an opportunity to bring the community back together [after pandemic restrictions were lifted]. And then at the same time it worked to raise some money towards the Emergency Meal Plan Program,” she said.

The sugar shack celebrations are an integral part of Quebec and eastern Canadian culture, and the event had many students excited about the nostalgic nature of maple taffy, also known as tire d’érable.

“This year I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to go to a cabane à sucre, so when I saw this here I was so happy to have this,” said second-year Computer Engineering student Yasmine Abdallah, referring to the syrupy candy on a stick in her hands. Born in Morocco but raised in Montreal, she considers it an important part of Canadian culture. 

“I feel like you just think of maple syrup when you think of Canada,” she elaborated.

This was echoed by final-year Classics student Luca Baldassare. “I was just passing by, got out of the metro and saw some tire [à l’érable] and was like: ‘What am I doing right now, not getting tire?’ It’s honestly that simple,” he said.

It hadn’t happened since COVID and we really wanted to bring the community together again. First of all, it was an opportunity to bring the community back together. And then at the same time to raise some money towards the Emergency Meal Plan Program which is a program our department organizes where we collect funds to be able to give meal cards to students.

Tickets to the event themselves were also distributed to students through the Concordia Student Union (CSU), Campus Health and Wellness, Recreation and Athletics, and the Concordia University Student Parents Centre. 

Caille spoke to the inclusiveness of the event. “It really is a whole community. It’s for students, for staff, for faculty, we even have a couple retirees coming,” she said.

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News

From seeking visibility to vengeance

Hundreds of pro-trans protesters marched against the CAQ's comité des sages on the Trans Day of Vengeance on March 31. Photo by Matthew Daldalian / The Concordian

Several hundred protesters marched through the gay village in criticism of the “committee of wisemen” on Trans Day of Visibility

At 2:00 p.m. on March 31, over 200 protesters gathered at 600 Rue Fullum, near Pied-du-Courant park. After half-an-hour, speakers gathered on a small hill to do a land acknowledgement, direct attendees to those with first aid training, and speak to the reasons the protest was organized before beginning the march.

March 31 is often celebrated as Trans Day of Visibility, and the protest was described as “Trans Day of Vengeance: for an end to state-sponsored anti-trans hate.” Last fall, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) announced the creation of the comité des sages or the committee of wisemen, which is a group created with the aim to provide guidance on creating trans policy and legislation. In January, several trans organizations and activists came together to form ‘Nous ne serons pas sages,’ [We will not be wise] a coalition for the dissolution of the committee of wisemen.

The lack of trans people on a committee designed to make legislation decisions that directly affect trans people is a common criticism faced by the comité des sages. 

“I think the government is playing a very dangerous game,” said Zael, an activist involved with the coalition who wished to not give a last name.

“Our hope is that [the general population] will [see that] this is not acceptable; you cannot build political momentum on a marginalized community,” she said.

Clara, a queer student who wished to refrain from giving a last name, chimed in. “[The committee members] are getting people who have nothing to do with the community to make judgments about something they know nothing about,” she said.

Simon Etien, a father of two who was attending the protest with his family, also expressed dissatisfaction with the existence of the committee. “I don’t think it’s just for a government to impose boundaries on what kind of medical treatment or psychological treatment should be right for a child or teenager,” Etien said.

He also criticized the idea of “parents’ rights.” “As a parent, there are a lot of people who are talking about the ‘parents’ rights.’ As a parent, I don’t feel we have rights. We have the honour ‘de devoir,’ the obligations toward our child,” Etien said.

The group of protesters, now closer to 350 people, began marching southwest on Boulevard René-Levesque at 2:30 p.m. before stopping in front of the CBC-Radio Canada building. Numerous police officers were standing outside and police tape had been placed around entrances on both Papineau street and Boulevard René-Levesque. 

The group marched around the building before gathering on the corner of René Lévesque and Alexandre-DeSève street, where a few people spoke to the impact of anti-trans legislation. Protesters were then directed to continue marching along the boulevard, where they then turned north on Alexandre-DeSève before turning west onto St. Catharine street. The group then turned south on Berri, continuing before turning west on René-Levesque.

The march finished with a few final speeches at the Place des Festivals plaza at 4:45 p.m.
In addition to calling for the dissolution of the comité des sages, the protest was a celebration of the yearly day of visibility and an opportunity to combat rising anti-trans sentiments. “The trans agenda is an average life expectancy, merci beaucoup, thank you so much!” said activist Celeste Trianon, ending the final speech of the protest.

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News

Beyond strikes: next steps for anti-tuition hike mobilization

Hundreds of students marched against the tuition hikes on March 13 during Concordia's strike week from March 11-15. Photo by Joel Louiseize / The Concordian

In lieu of picketing, Concordia students organize demonstrations and events to mobilize students.

From March 11 through 15, Concordia saw 30,000 students across departments on strike. No strikes have continued past that week and no further strikes are being organized by Member Associations (MAs) at Concordia. However, mobilization in support of paid internships, anti-austerity actions and the ongoing strike of the teaching assistants at the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM) is still going strong.

Though the strikes are over, support for accessible and affordable education remains important to many students. Despite the lack of further strike action, those who have helped with the mobilization against tuition hikes are maintaining their support for common financial issues facing students.

The Coalition de Résistance pour l’Unité Étudiante Syndicale [Resistance Coalition for the United Student Union] (CRUES) is one key group organizing mobilization in support of students. CRUES aims to unite students across educational institutions to tackle issues faced by students.

At 12:00 p.m. on Friday, March 29, the student body at CÉGEP de Rimouski organized a demonstration against unpaid internships at the Émilie Gamlin Park. CRUES and the Social Sciences Student Association at Laval University have also expressed support for their own students’ access to paid internships. 

The momentum behind such rebuttals against internship conditions has been carried over from past student strikes in Montreal, like the 2019 and 2022 strikes at UQAM demanding internship remunerations. 

Jasper Cobb, an upper-year geography student at Concordia who helped organize picketing during the recent strike week, spoke to the importance of solidarity.

“It all boils down to austerity measures and capitalism, whether that’s making students pay insane amounts of money for tuition or doing unpaid labour,” they said. 

This sentiment was echoed by Mowat Tokonitz, a first-year urban planning student, who pointed out that increased tuition rates are “going to affect everyone’s university experience.”

While the complete extent of service cuts at Concordia is unclear, the university is already anticipating cuts on certain services such as Adobe. Last November, Concordia spokesperson Vannina Maestracci said in an interview that the university “was looking into what the total effects of the tuition increase will be on smaller programs like creative arts,” since the majority of its students come from outside the province.

Despite the dedication of those involved in mobilization, there are no further strikes planned at Concordia. “When the strike ended, we had a long talk and came to the conclusion that we don’t really have the capacity to extend the strike or have another strike this semester,” said Cobb. 

In lieu of picket lines, students have organized a demonstration on April 10 with a student mixer afterward, as well as a “DJs Against Austerity” event on May 2 at Reggies bar.

Further mobilization efforts will be planned over the summer, with further emphasis on anti-strike action being ingrained into next fall’s frosh events.

There are several opportunities for those willing to get involved in collective mobilization. Cobb and Tokonitz suggested that students reach out directly to their Instagram account (@tuitionstrikes) for general information.

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Arts and Culture

Black and white and quiet all over

Graphic by Keven Vaillancourt / The Concordian

Free theatre workshop brings mime to attendees of all experience levels.

On Tuesday, Feb. 27, Concordia hosted a “Mime as Non-Verbal Communication” workshop. Open to all regardless of affiliation with Concordia, the workshop described an exploration of body awareness, self-expression, and clown communication.

Hosted by Sue Proctor, a professional clown and mime with over 30 years of experience, it was an opportunity for those interested in learning more about the style and techniques of mime performance in a beginner-friendly setting.

“[Non-verbal communication] is such a significant part of how people communicate with each other,” Proctor said, describing the importance of the physical expression mime relies on.

“It’s very useful for people who have difficulty with language, either because they’re from another language or have difficulty with talking,” she said. “It’s a very fundamental way for humans to communicate.”

Some attendees at the workshop included Allyson Gray, a recent graduate from Concordia’s translation program who loves all things artistic, and Maya Kanitkar, a third-year biochemistry student at McGill who is playing a mime in an upcoming student production of Big Top Down. Other attendees included a theatre therapist, a post-doctoral student in dance, and both former and current acting students. 

After everyone arrived, Proctor encouraged them to go around the circle and introduce themselves. She then led the group in a few rounds of mime ball, where attendees passed around an imaginary ball to each other. When she received it, she demonstrated how the ball she was holding could change size, weight, and elasticity before passing it back to an attendee, allowing others to determine the specifics of the ball they were throwing.

She continued to lead the group through exercises exploring movement centred around specific parts of the body, such as walking around the room and instructing attendees to be guided by their heads, shoulders, feet, hips, or nose.

Proctor touched briefly on the history of mime and some of the predominant techniques of performance. While many schools teach mime purely through physical instruction, Proctor explained that she best learned to mime when first visualizing the object she was working with in great detail. 

She explained that it’s easiest to start working with actions you have already built muscle memory around, before guiding attendees to partner up and work to mime a daily activity. 

The workshop concluded with everyone sharing something new they had learned from Proctor.

“Aside from it being a great learning experience, it was a fun atmosphere,” said Gray. “It was a place to experiment and learn without being afraid of judgment,” she said. 

Kanitkar echoed similar sentiments. “I really enjoyed the whole ‘we’re trying things out together’ atmosphere,” they said. “It was a lot of fun to experiment with expressing different ideas in a new form of communication.”

Proctor’s passion for mime was evident to attendees, and her support of everyone present created an environment that encouraged exploration and wholehearted effort.

“I love making an invisible world visible, of creating something out of nothing, of creating a shared vision with people when there is nothing in the room,” said Proctor.

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News

AI vs. Humanity panel discussion comes to Concordia

Panelists discussing the future of AI during the AI vs Humanity event last week. Photo by Matthew Daldalian / The Concordian

“Let’s Talk: AI” series hosted by Concordia student groups encouraged re-thinking of common ideas around artificial intelligence.

At 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 6, the School of Community, Public Affairs, and Policy studies (SCPA) and the Engineering & Computer Science Association (ECA) of Concordia came together to co-host a panel on artificial intelligence (AI) titled Let’s Talk: AI Vs Humanity. Moderated by Margie Mendell, professor with Concordia’s SCPA and co-founder of the SCPA 301 course, the panel discussion focussed on the future of AI use and its implications for society.

The panel consisted of Suzanne Kite, an interdisciplinary Indigenous artist and academic, and entrepreneurs Thierry Lindon and Vincent Boucher. Lindon is the co-founder of the Federation of African Canadian Economics and Happily.ai, and Boucher has worked with developing the applications of AI since 2002, with Montreal.AI and Quebec.AI.

“It’s such an important topic,” said Mendell, discussing the pertinence of the panel. “Until recently, people were either dazzled by AI or terrified by what it could possibly do to our lives and societies. The reality really depends on the ability to regulate it,” she said.

As the first American Indigenous artist to use machine learning in her works, Kite’s perspective of AI is shaped by her indigeneity. “[My PhD at Concordia is] basically all the ways that my [Indigenous] community makes relationships now with non-human beings,” she explained.

“I started interviewing lots of elders, lots of community members, and it became clear that in my community and in probably every community all over the world, there’s almost nowhere you can’t find a community or village or a family that has a relationship with a non-human being,” Kite said, before touching on the kinship many individuals feel with their non-human companions.

Boucher’s experience in technology has shaped his perspective on AI and artificial general intelligence (AGI) as a tools to be used for economic development. “I see it as the second industrial revolution,” he said. AGI refers to a kind of artificial intelligence that is able to learn how to do human tasks.

“I’m developing an AGI agent that is able to look at a screen and have access to a keyboard and a mouse and is able to do any kind of task that a human can do,” he said. “People should have AGI agents that are working for them, advancing their capabilities, and developing new business to create wealth.”

Lindon similarly sees AI as a technology to be used for the betterment of society. His work has involved building an algorithm that searches the internet for funding opportunities for underrepresented groups. “We match entrepreneurs, non-profits, institutions, and municipalities with money based on their unique profiles and needs,” he said, describing his work.

Although Lindon is interested in using AI as a tool for social change, he acknowledged that it may be relatively inaccessible for marginalized communities right now. “Black people and Indigenous people have been on the short hand of the economic playing field that is Canada,” he said. “We make sure we’re leveling it.” 

Despite these differences in the applications of AI, all three panelists expressed hope for the future of AI. “I see AI as fire, it can burn you or it can warm you,” Lindon concluded.

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News

Concordia embraces new starts with “The value of being a beginner” workshop

Graphic by Finn Grosu / The Concordian

Offered through the FutureBound program, the workshop encourages attendees to start anew and try new things.

While many students started their second week of classes on Jan. 22, a handful of students attended the “The value of being a beginner” workshop. The workshop was hosted by Concordia’s FutureBound program, a subset of the Student Success Center that focuses on preparing students for life after graduation, and aimed to “encourage [students] to explore how to be a beginner and get comfortable with the self-compassion and joy that arrives along the way,” according to their website. 

After students trickled into the room and grabbed a name tag, event facilitator Niem Huynh, welcomed attendees by encouraging them to introduce themselves and share why they were attending the workshop.

Many students had different goals in attending the workshop. “I want a new perspective on being a beginner besides the anxiety of starting something new and knowing which direction to take or if I’m able to get to the end of the path,” first-year independent student Yasmina Shawki said.

Other students expressed being new to Concordia, wanting to improve their English, and finding the workshop title interesting.

Hyunh explained to the room the importance of a growth mindset when trying new things as it helps reduce anxiety and encourages setting reasonable goals. “Being a beginner is part of the process.”

Huynh asked students to track their progress on something they began doing over the past few years. Following her own example of cross-country skiing, attendees drew graphs to represent their progress in pursuing things such as languages, music, and coding. Together, the group analyzed each other’s graphs, pointing out that everyone had progressed at different paces. 

“There are apples and oranges, lychees and dragon fruits. They’re all good, but they’re different,” Hyunh said.

She then linked this to being a student. “Whether in your personal life, in your social life, or in your professional life, it’s about being. You’re constantly learning and constantly doing.”

After attendees examined aspects of their own lives where they are beginners, Hyunh touched on risks that come with expertise, such as how confidence can lead to error. “When people are beginners, they bring a fresh viewpoint,” she said, before elaborating on the creativity that many beginners have when trying something new.

Attendees were later invited to teach a skill  to the rest of the group. One student offered to teach the Cornell method of studying and another offered to teach the lowercase cursive alphabet. First year computer science student Yu Par Aung offered to teach words in Burmese, her native language. “I was a bit nervous at first, but everyone was so supportive,” Aung said. “Teaching Burmese to everyone was a rewarding experience. The workshop inspired me to try something new, so I took on the challenge!”

Aung was grateful for the opportunity to share her language and for what she learned. “Learning that it’s never too late to begin and that the journey itself holds significant value was inspiring,” she said.

FutureBound is run through the Student Success Center and aims to encourage skill development in undergraduate students to prepare them for the professional world. They run workshops that focus on areas such as career development, communication and digital capabilities, innovation and entrepreneurship, leadership and connection, growth and balance, and financial literacy, and offer certificates to students who complete a certain amount of modules in each section that are eligible to be added to their co-curricular record.

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Concordia Student Union News

How the CSU and ASFA prepared for strikes during “week of mobilization”

Students decorating banners at the banner-making workshop on Monday Jan. 29 for the three-day tuition hike strikes last week. Photo by Matthew Daldalian / The Concordian

The Concordia Student Union and Arts and Science Federation of Associations hosted a banner painting event and picketing workshop.

Last Monday, Jan. 29, the Concordia Student Union (CSU) and the Student’s Society of McGill University (SSMU) began their week of action against the proposed provincial tuition hikes. A banner and sign making workshop co-hosted by the Arts & Science Federation of Associations (ASFA) and the CSU took place at 11:00 a.m. in the Art Nook located on the 7th floor of the Hall building. 

At the same location, a “Picketing 101” workshop was held from 3:00-4:30 p.m. the next day. During the event, ASFA mobilization coordinator Lily Charette spoke about the history and importance of strikes in the context of student activism in particular.

“When you have 10,000 students fail a semester [due to strikes] and they have to go back and retake that semester, you’re essentially doubling the amount of tuition that the government is paying for that one semester of school because everyone has to retake it,” she said, explaining how strikes put financial pressure on the government.

Charette also discussed ways the strikes put pressure on universities themselves, including on the ‘double cohort effect.’ “When you have a large group of students in a lot of departments fail a semester and have to retake that semester, [the university] now has major logistical issues in terms of having double the students having to take that 200- or 300-level class,” she said.

Students attending the banner and sign making workshop designed several banners that were used during picketing on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1-2. At the workshop, several students expressed enthusiasm about supporting the strikes, including second-year environment and sustainability science student, Maria Jennett. 

Jennett spoke to The Concordian about the impact of tuition hikes on current students: “Arts and science has already cut 10 per cent of classes, so the choices available to us are already going to be greatly reduced.”



She also touched on the inherent issues of the policy. “There are exemptions for students coming from France and for Francophone Belgians, but not for all of the Francophone countries in Africa. I think that’s blatantly racist,” she said. 

Fourth-year sociology and anthropology student Chloe Mayes chimed in with Jennett. “I see these tuition hikes as part of a broader politic of neoliberal austerity and the gutting of our public institutions and I resist that wholeheartedly,” Mayes said. 

At the picketing workshop, ASFA academic coordinator, Angelica Antonakopoulos, spoke to the importance of organizing student movements around the current capacities for mobilization. “When we have smaller strike actions, a lot of [the importance] is about building momentum to be able to have the capacity to take these larger actions,” she said.

Several other events were hosted in preparation for the strike. These included workshops covering lessons from the 2012 student strikes, Black radicalism, legal self-defense, prison abolition, anarchism & the student movement, and a screening of 5 Broken Cameras, a 2011 documentary covering Palestinian resistance in the West Bank.

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News

Finding Urban Nature exhibit showcases unique green spaces in Montreal

Attendees gather for a Q&A session in Concordia's 4th Space at the exhibition. Photo by Leo Litke / The Concordian

The exhibition co-hosted by Concordia, McGill, and urbaNature celebrates the biodiversity and community spaces found in areas around the city.

On Tuesday, Jan. 16, groups and individuals came together to celebrate the urban nature spaces in Montreal. The one-day exhibition focused on four urban nature spaces and dived into their histories, uses, and biodiversity. 

The event was coordinated by Ashley Spanier-Levasseur, a Concordia student in the Loyola College of Sustainability and Diversity, in conjunction with McGill and urbaNature Education. 

This exhibition drew attention to the uniqueness of spaces like Champ des Possibles, which is an abandoned-rail-house-turned-communal-green-space in Rosemont. Other spaces acknowledged in the exhibition included Falaise St-Jacques (a stretch of forested cliff located south of NDG), Parc-Nature MHM (a large site made up of wetlands, meadows, and woodlands in Hochelaga), and Technoparc Montreal (a high-tech industrial park near the Montreal-Trudeau airport).

“They are not parks. They are not these manicured, perfectly maintained spaces where you can have baseball diamonds—they are nature,” said Morgan.

Concordia political science professor Amy Poteete had conducted research studying the use of these spaces and their environmental and ecological impacts. Maps charting the community use of green spaces, graphs comparing the daily temperatures inside and outside of them, and infographics about the uses and histories of the spaces were displayed.

The artistic contributions to the exhibit were made from various communities and independent artists. The contributions included; wish flags from a summer camp in NDG, photography from community members, and videographic ‘portraits’ of the urban nature spaces from photographer KWP Morgan.

Interactive elements like audio recordings of birdsong and bat calls were set up around the exhibition for attendees to listen to with headphones, and 360 degree video portraits of the four spaces were projected on a screen in the centre of the room. Video navigation was controlled by a mouse on a podium in the middle of the room, and those involved with the creation of the exhibit encouraged attendees to use the mouse to “look around” the spaces. 

One hope of the exhibit was to bring awareness regarding these spaces to those who may not know they exist. 

“Surprisingly not everyone knows that these places exist,” said Morgan. “To a degree [our hope for this] was that we want people to know these spaces exist, and also we want people to know that these spaces are important.”

Another hope was to bring together a mix of organizations and individuals who worked in similar contexts around urban nature. 

“We wanted to not leave out the community partners who have been working, protecting these spaces and advocating for the continued community uses of these spaces for many years before Concordia got involved,” said Spanier-Levasseur about the importance of collaboration with and between the different organizations and individuals who contributed to the exhibit.

Poteete added, “We know that the community groups are also producing knowledge. They know their sites better than anybody else does and they have a lot of knowledge about the history of their spaces.”

The exhibition ran from 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m., with a Q&A panel held at 4:00 p.m. A turnout of over 100 people was reported, as a steady stream of attendees had been exploring the exhibit.

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News

“Queers against the CAQ” protest held in Old Port

Protestors march near Rue de Bleury and Viger. Photo by Andraé Lerone Lewis / The Concordian

Several queer organizations in Montreal came together to protest against anti-trans actions by the current Quebec government.

At 4 p.m. on Jan. 15, about 50 people gathered in front of Montreal’s Palais de justice in the Old Port. Co-organized by Mubaadarat, Com (CUMSLUTS) UQÀM, Première Ligne, P!nk Bloc and Queer McGill, this protest comes as a response to recent decisions made by the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ). 

On Dec. 5, Quebec’s Minister of Families, Suzanne Roy, announced the creation of a “comité des sages” or “committee of wise people” to guide the province in legislation concerning trans people. Though one of the three goals of this committee was to “ease social tensions,” many trans and queer people have expressed concern about the implementation of the committee.



“[Their] job is essentially to debate ‘the trans question’ in a way that really is debating whether or not we are allowed to exist and how they presume how to let us integrate into society,” said protest coordinator Ki’ra, who preferred not to share their last name. “Conservative governments are generally not very queer-friendly, but this [government] particularly has taken several steps to alienate queer people in an attempt to garner more support.”

Much of these criticisms come from the absence of trans people or allies within the committee.

Celeste Trianon, one of the protest’s co-organizers, chimed in: “It’s a committee that’s going to make so many decisions about the future of queer and trans rights in Quebec, yet does not contain any trans people, concerned people such as parents of trans people, nor experts.”


Speeches began shortly after the crowd gathered, with various organizers speaking in English and French about the CAQ’s policies, why they were harmful, and what they hoped would be done moving forward. “This committee is François Legault’s response to [the anti-trans protest on] Sept. 20,” Ki’ra said. “If [the committee members] cared about trans people, they would resign from the committee and call for its dissolution.”

The implementation of the committee was not the only criticism made about the CAQ at the protest. “F*** the CAQ, everyone has a good reason to hate the CAQ,” said Ki’ra. “It’s been months that we’ve seen rotating strikes going on in the public sector. They don’t have any solutions for that, they don’t have any solutions for housing, they’ve recently put through a law that would allow landlords to refuse lease transfers without any reason.”

After the speeches concluded around 4:45 p.m, the group of protesters, now closer to 100, began marching north towards the Palais des congrès and Place D’Armes metro station. They continued chants such as “Tout le monde déteste François Legault” [Everyone hates François Legault], “When trans rights are under attack what do we do? Stand up fight back,” and “Contre Legault et la CAQ, queers bash back” [“against Legault and the CAQ, queers bash back”].

“I want to be part of the protest, to be part of the change,” said protestor Coralie Chouqette. “What’s happening everywhere in the world is unacceptable, but we have to start somewhere.”

Protesters then arrived at the Palais des congrès, marching through the doors near the Place D’Armes metro station. Chanting “on avance, on avance, on recule pas” [“we move forward, we move forward, we don’t move back”], protesters marched through the convention center.

Though mall security tried to stop the protestors and redirect them through the first exit toward the parking lot, the protesters persisted. Refusing to divert from their planned course, there was a brief stand-off between some mall security officers and those at the front of the protest. The protesters continued down the center, chanting “hey hey, ho ho, François Legault has got to go.” The protesters then left the complex, marching down René-Lévesque Blvd. Chanting continued, with “dans la rue avec nous” [on the road with us]. 

After marching down René-Lévesque Blvd, police positioned their bikes in a diagonal line in an attempt to redirect protesters toward the other half of the road. The protesters persisted, chanting “get a real job” as they pushed through their attempted diversion, forcing police to further reroute traffic.

Throughout their march, organizers and coordinators offered informational flyers about why the queer community was marching against the CAQ to those they passed.

The group continued marching towards Place Victoria, arriving at the square around 5:30 p.m.. Shortly after, final remarks were made and the group of protestors disbanded.

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News

Support for Palestine maintained in new year

Vigil attendees surround an event organizer as they read a list of Palestinian journalists who have been killed in Gaza since Oct.17. Photo by Andraé Lerone Lewis / The Concordian

Vigil and weekly pro-Palestine protests held in Montreal.

At 6 p.m. on Jan. 11, around 100 people attended a vigil for Palestinian journalists in the Old Port. Organized by the Palestinian Youth Movement, the vigil was a break from the protests the organization has focused on in the past few months.

A volunteer with the Palestinian Youth Movement, who wished to remain anonymous, stated that the event was “an opportunity for the community to come together and mourn after the deaths of several journalists since October in Gaza.” 

“The majority of our events since October have been protests. This is really intended for us as a community, to give ourselves a chance to honor people in between continuing to march and continuing to fight,” they said. 

They also mentioned the importance of maintaining support for Palestine in the new year.

“As time goes on, people might feel hopeless, people might feel like what we’re doing is not working. Our political leaders are banking on us getting tired and are banking on us eventually just giving up, and three months in we have proven to them that this is not the case,” they said.


Similar sentiments were echoed by attendees. Sarah Graham, a Montrealer and vigil attendee, said that it was important to show solidarity and support. “We’re all implicated in this. Our government officials are actively or passively supporting Israel, and I think we all have a collective responsibility. I don’t want to tell my grandkids that I didn’t do anything.”

Organizers set up a projection of video footage that included a list of 112 journalists killed, photos of the journalists accompanied by their quotes, and graphics calling for the liberation of Palestine.

At 6:30 p.m., a loudspeaker was set up and one of the vigil’s organizers welcomed the first of many speakers to address the crowd. A Mohawk activist drew parallels between Indigenous struggles in Canada and the genocide in Palestine before calling on attendees to join her for a moment of silence for the journalists killed.

After the moment of silence, the names of journalists killed echoed through the crowd. Speakers from Independent Jewish Voices, Students for Palestinian Human Rights, the Journalism Department of the University of Montreal, the Montreal chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement, and the McGill Daily spoke to the importance of journalism and the bravery and sacrifice of Palestinian journalists.

Sarah Shamy, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement, expressed, “It is really important to recognize that the aggression is getting worse and spilling over into the region. Tonight, we had news that Yemen has been targeted by the US with airstrikes for standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people,” Shamy said.

Another attendee expressed, “What we are fighting for right now is not just a ceasefire. A ceasefire is just the absolute bare minimum that we can accomplish.”

This vigil comes in between the weekly pro-Palestine protests that have continued since October 2023. At their latest protest on the afternoon of Jan. 4, thousands of protesters gathered in front of the Israeli consulate before marching downtown.

The Palestinian Youth Movement’s next protest is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Jan. 14 at 730 rue Cathcart. It will mark 100 days since the “Zionist-American aggression and genocidal campaign,” according to the group’s Instagram page. 

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