Slimming the budget, post-Voluntary Departure Program
The window for university staff to accept Concordia’s Voluntary Departure Program (VDP) and leave their positions early in exchange for financial packages recently closed. All in all, about 90 members took the offer—well behind the 180 spots available.
The VDP was one of many ways the university planned on cutting back on its costs in light of the continuing government cuts to education, estimated at $15.7 million for Concordia this year alone. The VDP was open to staff, but not faculty. One particular segment of employees that eagerly accepted the offer was the library support staff.
“We’d heard from the community that there were a few people who were kind of on the fence, and keeping in mind this is a major life decision, we opened it up for a second week,” said Concordia President Alan Shepard on his decision to extend it by an extra week.
Most takers are expected to leave by Nov. 30, with the remainder leaving between then and the end of the fiscal year, depending on the nature of their positions.
“This tells me a couple of things. One is that people like working at Concordia; there’s no rush of people trying to escape. It tells me that this is a major life decision…What we’re going to do right now is that we’ve accepted those 90 people, and we’ve had a number of other positions become vacant by virtue of people resigning or having already retired. In the course of the year we’ll have several hundred positions become open, and we’ve frozen those for now while we figure out what our next steps are.” Shepard said it’s likely some vacancies would be closed, but the way forward would be carefully thought out.
“It’s not a great idea to try and shrink the staff. That being said, I have a lot of respect for my colleagues who devised the program,” he added, saying there hadn’t been any complaints in the offers. “It’s a complex balancing act.”
Shepard said 30 positions in the future might be re-hired because of the needed roles they play but wouldn’t say what the conditions and pay would be for returnees.
To cope with the new budget, and the estimated $1 million in additional cuts is predicted to come in the near future; the school is now looking for other avenues of cost-cutting.
“We have a fairly clear idea of where the cuts are coming from: they’re coming from the VDP, from the closed positions, some of them are coming from reductions in the contingency fund—every organization our size has a certain amount of money kept for unexpected costs.” Currently, he says that’s around $4 million, a number that will dip to around $1.5 and will have to be built back up in the future. He also says $2 million will be saved on deferred computer purchases or upgrades.
The austerity mindsets with the current government has hit not just Concordia, but all Quebec universities, and it’s provoked widespread criticism from both institutions, bystanders, and students.
“We’re going too far, too fast in terms of the compressions,” said Shephard. “These are extremely complex places to run and we care deeply about the quality and opportunities for students, staff, and faculty.”
“We’re taking a stance privately. You don’t see this, because it’s done by phone calls and face-to-face meetings. I’ve met with our minister and deputy ministers to say very clearly it’s not okay, [and] it’s having a very negative impact on the institution.”
CSU closes in on signing-off on Student Advocacy Centre move
The Concordia Student Union’s (CSU) Student Advocacy Centre is on the brink of finalizing a move that will see it moved from its presently cramped and tucked-away location to the Hall building mezzanine.
The Student Advocacy Centre’s mandate is to aid students and mediate campus complaints and issues like discrimination.
CSU President Ben Prunty said a meeting was arranged last week to approve the project’s price increase. The revised price will now be roughly 10 to 15 per cent higher than the $100,000 originally allotted as the CSU’s portion of expenses. The move was made in concert with the university, with Concordia covering the infrastructure costs and the CSU covering the rest.
The centre has experienced increased activity that has made its current location cramped. Moving it to the mezzanine would not only alleviate the space issues, but give it a more visible and central location. Meanwhile, its old space will be taken over by an expanded Legal Information Clinic, with the financial details of that transfer unknown at the moment.
The CSU also managed to negotiate for an extra $10,000 to be taken on by the university. Prunty said the university was helpful and understanding of these sorts of moves and upgrades.
“HOJO [the Off-Campus Housing and Job Bank] sees way more usage than the advocacy centre, and we’re pretty certain it has to do with location,” said Prunty, adding that he’ll be happy to see the mezzanine return to a completely student-run space with the re-opening of Reggie’s alongside the Hive and HOJO.
“The mezzanine will be once more very student-centric.”
Concordia suggests projects for novel Je vois Montréal project
Concordia has less than seven days remaining to garner sufficient votes and see whether its six proposals on social and business initiatives will make it into the final round, in a city-sponsored project looking for public solutions to improve Montreal’s prosperity.
Je vois Montréal was launched in February by Concordia Chancellor and BMO Financial Group President Jacques Ménard in partnership with the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal. It seeks to better Montreal’s reputation, increase its international stature, and improve both economy and society. According to Concordia’s press release, Ménard’s other reason was to “counter the negative publicity that has too often plagued Montreal in recent years.”
The campaign depends heavily on community voting in choosing the final projects—arranged in four broad categories: community identity; business; skills and education; and quality of life—that will see the initial 200 proposals whittled down to 120. Organizations and individuals submitting comprehensive plans detailing aims, timelines, and logistics must be willing and able to carry out their proposals should they be chosen at a Nov. 17 forum.
Concordia’s six proposals are:
A network of ambassadors of entrepreneurship throughout Montreal, proposed by Xavier-Hervé Henri, director of Concordia’s District 3 Centre.
A universal discount card for post-secondary students proposed by Concordia as well as the other major universities: Université de Montréal, McGill, HEC, and UQAM.
A partnership with La Vitrine for a fund dedicated to the cultural integration of international students. The students would receive credits exchangeable for artistic activities in Montreal.
A collaboration with Youth Fusion in the mentoring of youth at the Kahnawake Education Centre for the duration of a school year.
“Adoptez une école,” likewise with Youth Fusion, would pair organizations with schools to increase student success by having organizations provide human, technical, and financial support. In return, businesses would profit as skilled students enter the workforce.
“Keeping kids in school is our priority—creating innovative partnerships between targeted schools, universities and private companies, and implementing long-term projects in order to engage youth in learning,” Gabriel Bran Lopez, Youth Fusions co-founder and Concordia alumnus, said.
“We want to reach the 80 per cent graduation rate target that we have set for ourselves as a society.”
Want to vote for Concordia’s initiatives or curious about the other projects? You’ll find everything at jevoismtl.com. Deadline to vote is Nov. 17, 2014. (French only).
Elizabeth May on the approaching juncture between democratic change and ruin
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May stopped by McGill University on Saturday, Nov. 8 to speak about her latest book Who We Are: Reflections on My Life and reflect on Canadian democracy, world climate and the next election.
The Concordian had the opportunity to speak one-on-one with the social activist, and environmentalist. Below is a part of our interview. It has been condensed and reordered for readability.
The Concordian: Canada is rapidly becoming an economy dependant on the export of raw resources. What has this meant for Canada?
Elizabeth May: I have to say [resource dependence has] been the result of failed policies, and the focus on bitumen production has seen a weak case of Dutch disease that’s reduced employment opportunities for Ontario and Quebec. That’s not entirely due to tying the dollar to a barrel of bitumen, but it sure hasn’t helped. As our dollar rose, a lot of jobs were lost in traditional manufacturing and export-based industries, as well as our tourism industry. The resource-based industry is both evolutionary and manipulated by certain policies: [Prime Minister] Stephen Harper has favoured one industry above all others, which is basically fossil fuels, particularly bitumen.
C: The centre is shifting from Quebec and Ontario to the western part of the country. Provinces there, especially Alberta, are particularly tied and dependent on petrochemical exploitation and raw resources for growth. How does this bode for the Green Party’s fortunes?
Photo by Keith Race.
EM: The fortunes of the Green Party are, I think, national, not regional. We’ve just elected our first member of parliament in New Brunswick, and he defeated the Conservative Energy Minister [Craig Leonard] and the top issue [there] was fracking. We’ve also elected our first member to the B.C. legislature in 2009, who’s one of Canada’s leading climate scientists; the issues were climate, pipelines, and oil tankers.
The Green message is resonating in Alberta, and that’s because Albertans are also concerned about conservation. You can’t make assumptions that Alberta represents a certain type of person anymore. Those assertions were never right. The land ethic in Alberta runs very deep. Farmers and ranchers as much as young, savvy, professionals want a concrete plan on climate change.
Our message gets across anywhere to the extent [that] we are able to command political space in the field. During the last elections, the mainstream media virtually ignored the Green Party. If we can be noticed enough … it will change our electoral fortunes everywhere. I think we are going to have a breakthrough in the next elections.
C: What do you think this determined drive for oil says about our country?
EM: We’re going for the last barrel. We’re scraping, we’re going for fracking and bitumen, and this is what happens when you get desperate. It’s time to really start looking at what kind of economic opportunities Canada has that’s not specifically geared to fossil fuels, a push away from regional resource models.
C: You say in your book that there is no inherent conflict between the economy and the environment. Could you explain a bit more?
EM: Capitalism is in the way, but only because we’ve allowed corporate rule, we’ve allowed the notion that the profits of multinationals are more important than the health, sustainability, and resilience of Canadian communities.
All sorts of statistics show when you ramp up environmental protection, competitiveness improves, productivity improves, [research and development] improves. The stronger your environmental policies, the stronger your economic performance. But it has to be driven by government policy, because without guidance, industries will always have to hedge for the outlier laggard in any sector that wants to make profits cheaper.
C: You also call upon pragmatic governance, but simultaneously point out these huge companies have never enjoyed as much influence and power. How can you pragmatically expect to fetter organizations that will refuse to yield and are at the apogee of their power?
EM: This is why Canadian citizens, and citizens from [all] over the world, will have to work a lot harder at this. We’re not bystanders to this. Students at Concordia are not bystanders to corporate rule. We are enablers to corporate rule when we don’t step up and say ‘this is what’s happening.’
Voting is the least of it. Explaining, educating, reaching out so that Canadians understand these issues before the next election, putting maximum pressure … we have to make citizens aware [that] we’re in a serious struggle.
Ursula Franklin said that we live in an occupied state. We’re occupied by multinational corporations. If the occupiers were soldiers stationed on every street corner, I think we would have formed a resistance to that by now. But because it’s the friendly face of corporations whose products we buy because we’re relatively comfortable and consumer culture breeds passivity, we’re not organizing a resistance.
I think that the tools of fundamental democracy are all the resistance we need—I’m certainly not calling on anybody to break the law! The tools that we have in the law-abiding, non-violent use of our democratic rights to demand governments pay attention to things that really matter—we’re not really using that. The largest voting bloc in the last election were the people who didn’t vote. I know there are many reasons why people decided to not vote, but citizen disengagement is the key enabler of corporate rule. As long as we act like we have no power, it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.
C: Is this more of an election fight, or a generational struggle?
EM: Because of the climate crisis we’ve got to make significant progress the next election—we’ve got to have a globally inclusive [climate] treaty by 2015, which is the deadline for negotiating the next climate treaty that takes effect by 2020.
It is a generational struggle in the sense that [we have] to nail this now and really recover democratic governance, repair social safety networks, get rid of the notion you can’t have a single discussion on any issue in public policy before first bowing down to the idea that unlimited economic growth must be the underpinning. That’s going to be a longer struggle than one election. But let’s start naming the problem now, and engage more people.
C: What do you see as the state of Canadian political system right now?
EM: Stephen Harper is the first prime minister who’s written off entire regions of the country because he figures he can get enough votes here or there. It’s all an electoral calculation rather than a public policy meant to be of greatest benefit to the most people. This is a deliberate calculated manipulation of public opinion and shared values [and] common assumptions. We can still repair our laws, so we can have engaged citizens.”
C: Politics is compromise. How will the Green Party compromise?
EM: I don’t really believe in compromise on the key issues that really matter, but it’s figuring out [things] in the context of governing. It’s important to stop having politics on the basis of division, the so-called wedge issue and the politics of slicing-and-dicing issues, that’s not healthy in terms of holding a country together. What can we do collectively as a country to change the fact we waste half the energy we currently use? What employment opportunities are there for energy efficiency, conservation, demand-side management, building retrofits? There are a lot of opportunities for having a healthier, more prosperous Canada. All these things can happen, but they won’t happen when you have a system where politicians work through fear and division and not consensus. You use the word compromise, I use the word consensus that will take everybody’s interests into account.
Elizabeth May’s book, Who We Are: Reflections on My Life, is now on sale and can be purchased hardcover on Amazon.ca for about $19.
Nomination period starts for upcoming byelections, referendum
The Concordia Student Union (CSU) is holding its nomination period from Nov. 4 to Nov. 7 for the open councillor positions to sit on the CSU’s board of directors as student representatives of their individual faculties.
This time, the available slots include one seat for Arts and Sciences, Independent students, and Engineering representatives. Three additional seats are up for grabs for John Molson School of Business (JMSB) after two left because they were unable to meet their time commitments.
The Fine Arts councillor positions, however, are already filled, which as CSU President Ben Prunty says is pleasantly unusual.
“I think that it’s really awesome there are no spots open for Fine Arts students. It’s the first time in years that we haven’t pretty much called by-elections specifically for Fine Arts students. It feels good to turn the page and [that] Fine Arts feels engaged in the union again.”
Though it is unclear how the campaigns will play out, if the last few years are anything to go by there may be tight competition for the spots.
“Often people hand in the paperwork on the last day,” said Prunty.
The upcoming byelection will also see ten referendum questions presented to the student body, tackling everything from austerity and Concordia’s daycare to the final ratification of funds used to create and run the Hive Cafe and fee levies.
The International and Ethnic Association Council of Concordia is an international student association run by the CSU, and this vote will see whether they are to be completely separated from the CSU.
The councillor campaigns will stretch from Nov. 11 to Nov. 24, afterwhich the actual byelections themselves will be held in the last week of the month.
If you’re interested in putting your name in a hat, or know somebody who might be, the nomination forms can be found at the CSU offices or from the Chief Electoral Officer at H-462-3. These forms must be submitted in person by the nominee. Deadline is 6:00 p.m. by Nov. 7.
Referendum questions in full:
Day Care Centre – Do you as a member of the Concordia Student Union approve the continued prioritization and active support of the establishment of a Daycare Centre as an initiative to improve student space on campus through the student space, accessible education and legal contingency fund?
Student Housing – Do you as a member of the Concordia Student Union approve the continued prioritization of efforts being made to address student housing conditions and actively support student cooperative housing as a student space initiative?
Hive Café CSU Loan – Council has approved the use of the Student Space, Accessible Education and Legal Contingency Fund (SSAELC) for the general purpose of starting the Hive Café Solidarity Cooperative, but the committee set up to overview the Fund (the Fund Committee) has not ratified the decision by Council. The only way to forgo the ratification by the committee is by referendum. Do you approve of expensing the $102 536.79 used to create and launch the Hive Café Solidarity Cooperative from the SSAELC fund, thereby nullifying the need for the CSU to use its operating budget to repay the load to the SSAELC.?
Budget Cuts 1 – Do you wish for the CSU to take the position of officially opposing the budget cuts to the education sector and the public sector in general?
Budget Cuts 2 – Do you wish for the CSU to take the position of supporting working in solidarity with other organizations with comparable positions?
Budget Cuts 3 – Do you wish for the CSU to take the position of being in favor of seeking additional revenues for the public sector as facilitated through the provincial and or federal government?
IEAC Separation – The international and ethnic association council of Concordia is a federation of international students associations that is currently administered by the CSU. They plan social and educational events for their various constituencies and have a governing body that intervenes on their collective behalf between the member associations and the CSU. Do you agree to the complete separation of the IEAC from the CSU?
IEAC Fee Levy – IEAC Separation – The international and ethnic association council of Concordia is a federation of international students associations that is currently administered by the CSU. They plan social and educational events for their various constituencies and have a governing body that intervenes on their collective behalf between the member associations and the CSU. Do you agree to increase the fee levy for the IEAC from $0.06 per credit to $0.12 per credit?
Do you approve the collection of a fee of 7 cent per credit to fund the operations of the Model United Nations Education and Leadership Centre, effective with the Winter semester 2015, which fee shall be refundable with accordance with Concordia’s with Concordia University’s Fee Payment, Refund and Withdrawal Policy?
Do you approve of the CSU supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement which calls for the boycott of all academic and consumer ties with any institution or company that aids in Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
Over 10,000 march against budget cuts to public sector on Halloween
A familiar sight presented itself in downtown Montreal on Friday as tens of thousands showed their displeasure with provincial austerity cuts. At the protest, students weren’t the only marchers, but were rather joined by professionals, unions members, and public servants.
Concordia’s contingent to the morning protest commenced at the Sir George Williams campus before joining the main group at the McGill University Roddick gates. Colourfully dressed in costumes as befit the occasion and the event entitled “Austerity: A Horror Story,” all assembled were protesting against the large cuts in spending by the Quebec government.
“I think it went really well,” said Concordia Student Union (CSU) President Benjamin Prunty, who noted the comparably large turnout.
“It’s not quite the same as tuition,” he said, referencing the 2012-13 protests that saw hundreds of thousands of people protest against cuts to the education sector. “When the university is looking to cut 180 positions and [is] losing $16 million—and that’s only in one year, obviously the year before they lost more—it’s really easy for students to realize this is affecting them in a real way, and not only that, it will be affecting them in the future.”
Sustainable Concordia’s (SC) External Coordinator, Mike Finck, also agreed that the event was a marked success.
“I think [the event] was very successful on the amount of people who came out on such short notice and looking across who was represented,” he said.
Beside the CSU and SC, representatives from a dozen Concordia student organizations across most faculties. Labour unions like Teaching and Research Assistants at Concordia (TRAC) and the Concordia Undergraduate Part-time Faculty Association (CUPFA) were also present.
“The government is not prioritizing the public sector, and so the public sector needs to remind the government … why they exist—which is to provide support for citizens,” said Prunty. Many of the labour contracts at Concordia and Quebec as a whole are up for renegotiation next year, and he says austerity won’t be lost on the negotiators.
“This is all very top-down. We’re told this is the case, we have no choice, and things are compartmentalized,” said Prunty, who disputes the idea of austerity as the only course of action and without alternative discourses. “We have cuts to the public sector, and low and behold, there’s also tax cuts here to certain parts of the private sector or certain parts of the financial sector.”
Prunty would like the university to take a clear stance on the austerity measures coming from the provincial government.
“When you’re making cuts to education instead of to other places, you’re affecting the people who really need it most. It doesn’t make any sense to me when there’s so many opportunities,” said Concordia student and protester Alejandra Melian-Morse. “We’re struggling, and we’re individuals, not huge corporations.”
“The key, really, is to not feel disempowered by this message being constantly pushed down and that we’re always hearing from the figures we see as authorities. The only answer is to start the conversation ourselves,” said Prunty.
Geography Association given abrupt deadline for move to a smaller office
What started as a request by Concordia’s Geography Undergraduate Student Society to turn a small unused space into a cafe has resulted in the university initiating a room change, leaving the group surprised and unsure of how they will be able to conduct their affairs.
The trouble began when GUSS, noticing their former office on the 12th floor of the Hall Building lay empty, approached the university with ideas on turning it into a student-run cafe.
“We had an idea of making it a little more geography-minded, supplying fair trade, etc. Unfortunately, we put efforts towards that and it didn’t really pan out,” said Pete Johnston, VP External of GUSS. “We were looking at working within what was legitimate and confining it to whatever was in the rules for the lease of space.”
He said the university declined because of a lack of running water, and regulations over office space and health.
While this may have settled matters, they soon received another response informing them that their current office in the TD building above the bank on Guy St., which they share with the Urban Planning Association (UPA), would be vacated and GUSS would find itself back in its old office.
Johnson described their old room as being effectively half the size of their current one, estimated at 11 square metres. Both GUSS and sister society UPA last used the space together three years ago, but Johnson says both organizations have grown since then and it would now be impossible to jam a dozen people for meetings, not to mention furniture and necessary electronics like computers with specialized department software. He also wonders why, if space is the issue, the school isn’t doing anything about empty next-door offices.
GUSS President, Kristen Hirsch-Pearson, said there had been prior discussion with their department about a possible switch, but nothing final or concrete. “The reason why the department felt strongly about getting us back on the 12th floor is because this [current office] wasn’t space they could protect in the future. If we move to the 12th floor, they can guarantee that space for us.”
Throughout, it appears UPA wasn’t aware of the developments, and Pearson says they were not notified of the changes.
“[The university was] talking to us about bringing us closer to our students, that it would be best for the interests of our students, but in my opinion the students were never consulted and the fact [is] that we were abruptly told to leave the space without consulting our membership.” He originally believed the school’s reason for the room change was related to its desire to lease it.
At a department meeting discussing the issue, department Chair Monica Mulrennan explained the matter was primarily a space issue, especially a seeming prioritization of the university’s commitments for research and PhD purposes.
“There’s a commitment from the university to find space,” said Mulrennan. “We are really maxed out on space.” She said the university was trying to find space, but that space exclusivity would have to take a hit overall.
“We asked that we consult the student membership to find out what to do next,” said Johnson, who said they would convene a general assembly in the time available to them—the university eventually agreed to a transition after the exam period—and hold a consultation.
“The two student associations…are probably the last on the department and the dean’s list in terms of relocation. It wasn’t the original intent for [GUSS] to be moved over there—it was the intent given the size of the room and its utility for a researcher with grad students,” said Associate Dean of Academic Facilities Peter Morden during the meeting.
“Were there to be extra space just kicking around you would never have been relocated, and we wouldn’t have had this discussion now … but its just not the case now.”
Labour of love sees organic and healthy come to a university near you
Oct. 29 was the opening of Concordia’s Farmers’ Market, a unique outlet for students to purchase and learn about what they eat. Founders Kasha Paprocki and Alejandra Melian-Morse say the event went extremely well for something that wasn’t even on the drawing board before the semester began.
The two say that the idea, supervised by Dr. Satoshi Ikeda, an anthropology professor with a devoted streak to food initiatives like the Hive Café, the Greenhouse, and the Food Coalition, came about from a deep respect and love for quality produce.
“I decided I wanted to do it through the Social Economies Food Internship that’s offered through the Anthropology and Sociology program, and I came up with the idea and came to Satoshi. Kasha was taking the food classes this year and we were talking about it and she got really excited about it too, so we approached him for a partner project.”
The Farmers’ Market, looking to become Concordia’s own Jean Talon Market, was put together on a relatively modest timeline beginning at the start of the semester with the opening deadline slated for Oct. 29. Paprocki and Melian-Morse began working on it right away; they joke their volunteering hours were complete after about ‘two weeks.’
They obtained consultation and advice from organizers and the food markets of UQAM and McGill for the how-tos and arranged for space with Concordia. The hardest step was directly contacting and building a relationship with the farmers who would be the linchpins of their plan. Simultaneously they launched a marketing campaign. This amount of work was steep for two full-time students, but the duo were helped by volunteers, some of whom needed to satisfy a volunteering course component. Paprocki and Melian-Morse say their varied skills and help was invaluable.
“It was pretty stressful, especially since before we had the opening on [Oct. 29], we decided to have a sample market day three weeks beforehand,” said Melian-Morse of their pre-opening.
“I was in contact with the farmers and Alejandra was responsible for the administration [and] applying for funding,” said Paprocki. “It all turned out well in the end and the farmers were really happy.”
For funding, the Farmers’ Market obtained the necessary capital through student funding opportunities like the Arts and Science Federation of Associations (ASFA) and from the Concordia Council for Student Life. This community funding means the money is there, but the effort remains a labour of love.
“We don’t feel comfortable taking student’s money and paying ourselves,” said Melian-Morse, who did concede that the future may see paid positions be created if demand grows.
Melian-Morse said the seasonal beat to which the market marches on makes winter logistics problematic, but one which is highly beneficial to both producers and buyers.
“Since we’re a full-year market, and we’re indoor, it’s very attractive [to the farmers],” said Melian-Morse, listing the seasonal items—at the moment, mostly root vegetables—available.
“There’s also an amazing baker that has this massive table out with baguettes and croissants,” waxes Paprocki. “And there’s pie.”
The two are happy with the results, but see no need to limit the ambition.
“We’re going to start having workshops every week; different types of cooking, classes, or just info sessions on local organic food or food movements. We’d love to make the Farmer’s Market as much as of a learning experience as possible.” Already they’re hoping for better and bigger placement for next year, perhaps in the Library building or the EV building.
With winter coming, the girls are tackling the problem of securing a variety of produce from greenhouse operators. Maintaining locality and organic produce will be restricting, but they’re confident they can do it by learning from past attempts like one that saw a summer-only market fail from lack of patronage.
“I think the prices are very affordable,” she continues, saying they’re roughly equivalent to what organic food would be in supermarkets.
Experts weigh in on the impact and aftermath of the Parliament Hill shooting Oct. 22
Separate attacks by two radicalized Canadian converts formed the scene last week that saw a pair of fatal attacks on two members of the Canadian Armed forces, one in a hit-and-run in Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu and another at the War Memorial in Ottawa and just steps from Parliament.
The first occurred on Tuesday morning in Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que., when Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent, 53, was wounded alongside another soldier after 25-year-old Martin Couture-Rouleau struck them with his car and sped away. Vincent later died of his injuries, while a police chase and shootout ended with similarly fatal results for Couture-Rouleau.
On Wednesday in Ottawa came a moment most surreal as a gunman barged through the halls of Parliament, exchanging fire with RCMP officers. The shooter, 32-year-old Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, had earlier killed Corporal Nathan Cirillo, 24, at the nearby National War Memorial. He too was killed in a barrage of gunfire.
The objectively minor death toll by the two attackers belied a subjective trauma and the breaking of new psychological ground. Up until then, Canadians could perceive themselves as inconspicuous players on the world stage and almost below the notice of counter attack. No nation’s capital—excepting the 2005 train bombings and the 2013 murder of soldier Lee Rigby, both in London—had ever been attacked before in such a way, and certainly not the nerve centre of a country. It was a completely unexpected and rude awakening for Canadians.
Fervent or ill?
While both perpetrators are said to have converted to Islam, their personal circumstances bring into question the reasons behind their actions. The National Post portrayed Zehaf-Bibeau, a convert to Islam for the better part of a decade, as a crack addict who saw prison as a way of beating his habit. In 2011 documents showed he demanded money from a Vancouver McDonald’s before calmly awaiting to be apprehended by the police. Later he was said to have wanted to travel and fight in Syria until his passport was taken away. Authorities only later admitted their error. On the other hand, RCMP officers have stated he’d made a video showing his ‘ideological motives’, according to Reuters.
Couture-Rouleau also planned on going abroad and, in contrast to Zehaf-Bibeau, had been under close surveillance for many months from authorities who knew of his deepening radicalization. His passport was seized when he attempted to fly to Iraq. There was even a program of ultimately unsuccessful de-radicalization undertaken with Muslim community leaders who knew him. Officials said despite all the signs, no crime had been committed, and as such no steeper measures could have been taken.
What has happened is past, and what remains is to see how Canada will respond. As befits this country, there has largely been an atmosphere of mourning without a descent into prejudiced revenge.
Canada’s military involvement—catalyst or not?
The two attacks throw a spotlight onto the uncomfortable fact that Canada has now bled on home soil for its long-time support of Western military action in the Muslim world. They highlight the reality with which extremists are bringing the fight from active battlefields and to their host countries. No longer are the big players the targets, but also their steadfast allies.
As journalist Glenn Greenwald recently wrote, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that, after 13 years of military participation he dubs ‘perpetual war,’ Canada finds itself a target. The indisputable point is that Canada’s involvement has seen tens of thousands of soldiers serve in war zones, and an equal effort on the part of the Canadian government as an aid and conduit to intelligence gathering and logistical support.
What is surprising is how Canada has managed to maintain a low-key profile in the public psyche, despite taking part in international military campaigns, serving as a top-notch intelligence conduit, and already promising a war response in Syria and Iraq but barely a few years extricated from Afghanistan.
The Way Forward
Concordia professor Julian Schofield, an expert in policy in Southeast Asia, disagrees with the view that outside actions by the government brought the attacks to Canadian soil. Instead, he sees the situation as a deep sociological tension between landed Canadian society and those of its increasingly prevalent, uprooted immigrants.
“Young men especially behave in an aggressive gang-like fashion when they see they can’t assimilate into society,” said Schofield. “If he [Zehaf-Bibeau] did not seek the Islamic movement, I could see him attach on to maybe a political right movement, or an anarchist-type [to get a] sense of what was happening to him. He was somebody looking for an explanation for his life. He was seeking solitude from his drug problem.”
Schofield considers a bringing together of cultures as a pragmatic, if painful, way to improvement.
“We’re going to have to accommodate these other values,” he said. “I think we have to be ready to change our laws with our identity over time. We certainly can’t stay the same…It’s the price we pay for being in a secular, highly socially-mobile non-classed society. We have a certain anomie, where people are not sure what the purpose of life is.”
If we are immune to actual war, how are we to dodge the insidious range of media propaganda that requires no fuel and can filter through border checks and national boundaries with impunity?
Both sentiments are somewhat bridged by Dr. Chedly Belkhodja of Concordia’s School of Community and Public affairs, a researcher specializing on immigrant policies and fundamentalism.
“You can say it’s because we live in very individualized worlds. We see people more and more in a bubble. In a society you need to be able to talk, you need to be able to reach, to help, to smile, to look at a Muslim and not think he’s a threat. And that’s what I think we’re losing.”
“Responsibilities aren’t only on individuals. Extracting bad apples doesn’t make us safe. Canada has a foreign policy that is unchanged, but Canada is participating in a war against the Islamic State, and Canada is at risk and is exposed. Maybe 10 years ago, that wasn’t the case … [we weren’t] as present or as aggressive in our foreign policy.”
A Muslim response
Ultimately an answer will have to come as much from traditional Canadians as newer ones. Overwhelmingly, the Muslim community’s reactions have tended towards solidarity with their fellow Canadians in condemnation of the attacks and condolences toward the families of the victims. Yet that doesn’t do away with the problems afflicting Muslim culture when it comes to self-critical introspection and an openness to change.
CSU Advocate and Muslim convert Stephen Brown is not one to shy away from such questions, having perspective with them by virtue of the twin words he now straddles.
“The Muslim community, like it or not, is in the middle of this conflict. And they need to deal with it better than they are,” he said, criticizing the poor state of outreach between the two communities, the simultaneous ‘pandering’ by the government of such crises for votes and an increase to powers, and the cycle all players find themselves in.
“The first question everyone asks is, ‘why?’ When you ask Muslims, they say Islam is peaceful. Where are the Muslims denouncing it? When you say that Islam is peaceful, tell us something we don’t know. These old slogans … are not addressing fears and concerns, and are not addressing the actual problem,” said Brown. “As a convert, I live my daily life as a Canadian. But, I have a good mentality of the average Muslim in Canada. It’s a unique understanding.”
Meanwhile in the same school, student and Officer Cadet Karl Antoine Usakowski walks the halls without his uniform, the result of a military decision to do away with visible military attire. Usakowski sees his fellow Canadians in much the same way, Muslim or not: as a privilege to be around, and a privilege to serve. Meanwhile, looks forward to the day when he can once again wear his second skin in public.
“As soon as we are allowed, we’ll be wearing our uniforms with pride and not walk in fear—anywhere. This is our home, this is our land, this is the land we promised to defend,” Usakowski said.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article stated that the Ottawa shooting took place on Oct. 24, when it in fact took place on Oct. 22. The Concordian apologizes for the error.
Project aims to teach humanity rather than passivity in the face of atrocity
Concordia will co-host a special panel discussion on Wednesday, Oct. 29 in memory of a Swedish diplomat whose intercession, at personal risk, saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews from Nazi extermination. His willingness to remain in danger for the sake of others ultimately led to his disappearance after arrest by Soviet authorities sure of his complicity as a spy. For this he was eventually made Canada’s first honorary citizen in 1985.
The Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS) is organizing the event.
“I was impressed by MIGS’ hands-on approach consisting of advocacy, organizing conferences, and professional training,” said Daniel Haboucha, a research associate for the organization who has been involved with the initiative for quite some time. With a background on international humanitarian and human rights law, he was interested in using Wallenberg as a tool for public awareness in the light of genocide prevention.
“I was very enthusiastic about the opportunity to work on the Raoul Wallenberg project and contribute to public education and awareness around this important historical figure, making his legacy relevant to a contemporary audience,” he said, adding the project was started by former MIGS intern Isadora Hellegren through the Swedish Institute, the organization highlighting Swedish contributions abroad.
Haboucha calls MIGS a ‘hub for policy discussion about mass atrocity prevention’ and an emergent type of law, called the Responsibility to Protect, which twins the concepts of state sovereignty with the responsibility of protection against atrocities.
“Being based at Concordia’s History Department and operating out of Concordia for the past 28 years, we naturally appreciate the university’s support for our work, which comes across in a variety of ways, from assisting with space and publicity to providing logistical and administrative support,” wrote Haboucha by email.
In its nearly three decades of existence, MIGS has grown into a regular partner with the United Nations, save when it works independently, in monitoring conflict zones around the world, particularly in monitoring domestic media in at-risk countries as an early warning bell against atrocities, serious human rights abuses, and genocide.
“With the number of living Holocaust survivors rapidly diminishing, it is important to keep alive the memory of what they experienced—both as a cautionary tale for humanity and, in the case of Raoul Wallenberg, an inspiring one as well—for future generations,” continued Haboucha.
The Raoul Wallenberg Legacy of Leadership Project will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 29, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. It will be held at Centre Mont-Royal,2200 Rue Mansfield, Montréal. In attendance will be Sweden’s ambassador to Canada, Per Sjögren, Cameron Hudson, Director of The Center for the Prevention of Genocide at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Irwin Cotler, Canadian Member of Parliament for Mont Royal, and Adama Dieng, UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide.
2014 MicroTalks fit Concordia professors’ contributions in 6-minute talks
The second annual Concordia MicroTalks event is about to get underway and bring together a whole array of Concordia’s part-time faculty to discuss their research by way of short, individual 6-minute presentations.
Run by the Concordia’s University Part-time Faculty Association (CUPFA), MicroTalks will once again draw from the the PechaKucha method. Developed in Japan, PechaKucha is a presentation style where 20 slides are shown for 20 seconds each, leading to a concise, purposeful experience that avoids the perils of lengthy powerpoint presentations. The brevity of the talks encourages fast-paced and energetic discussion periods.
“It’s good for speaking to a non-specialist community,” said Alison Reiko Loader, a presenter at this year’s event with a project using forest tent caterpillars to create living paintings, and one of last year’s organizers. “If you get ten people talking in a row, you can cover this huge diverse area where [you’re] much more likely for someone to find something they’re interested in.”
This year’s theme, Equity and Engagement, was chosen to coincide with Campus Equity Week, which seeks to highlight part-time faculty contributions. As CUPFA Vice President and MicroTalks organizer Lorraine Oades explains, part-time or not, members are heavily involved in making the university what it is. This is one way of getting the word out there.
“Everything the association does essentially helps to create greater visibility for our members in order to have our voices heard at every level of the university,” said Oades.
Though part-time faculty operates under a reduced load, they represent Concordia nationally and internationally at all manner of conferences, exhibitions, performance events, and workshops.
“We hold positions on administrative committees, on every hiring committee, on the Board of Governors, Senate, on faculty councils and departmental councils,” she continued.
There will be 10 lecturers at this year’s event, with such titles as “Cinderella and Chinese Foot-binding” and “Real-time Motion-Based Graphics on Stage with the ISS.”
“Part-time faculty teach in every area of the university, so this means there is a lot of ground to cover in terms of ideas. While six minutes doesn’t seem like a lot, you’d be surprised at just how much can be done in such a short period of time,” said Oades. “Being integrated into the fabric of the university allows us to share our ideas and experiences, which overlap but are also distinct from full-time faculty.”
Concordia’s 2014 MicroTalks will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 29, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at 1515 Ste. Catherine St. West, EV 6.720. The event is free.
Professor Emeritus talks about his desire for Hungarian democracy
Concordia’s Journalists for Human rights group will be hosting their first speaker series of the year on Thursday, Oct. 23 by Concordia Political Science Professor Emeritus András B. Göllner.
Entitled “Rules for Civil Rights Activism”, the talk will look at what it takes to be a human rights activist and the dangers of the role by drawing largely from Göllner’s experiences as a campaigner for Hungarian democracy.
A Hungarian by birth, he briefly returned to the small landlocked country of 10 million people in the ‘90s after the Soviet collapse allowed him to participate in its nascent democratic institutions. Instead, what he saw was a steady drift towards political cronyism and authoritarianism by a government cleverly renewing the traditional pillars of Hungarian nationalism—anti-communism, Catholicism, social and political conservatism—for its own cynical uses.
“Hungary never had a democratic tradition, and as soon as the communist system collapsed people came into power without any democratic experience,” he said.
Finding himself increasingly unwanted by the authorities due to his outspoken views, he returned to Canada and formed the Canadian-Hungarian Democratic Charter, a civil rights activist group campaigning for democracy in the country. Göllner says the current regime under Prime Minister Viktor Orban has reached new heights of corruption and rights violations.
Because emigration remains easy in Hungary, those who do not agree with the situation and want to leave can and often do, but this makes it difficult for them to participate in matters back home.
“You must understand that of the 300,000 [Canadian] Hungarians, a very small percentage are organized on a community level,” he said on the importance organizations such as his give to dissidents.
“We are basically a civil rights group trying to limit the expansion to [the Canadian Hungarian community] by this anti-democratic revolution happening in Hungary,” said Göllner on the rise of the neo-fascist, anti-semitic radical right who’ve sent him death threats, harassment, and political obstruction.
Like most European countries suffering economically during the past few years, Hungary has had a tough time recovering. According to the Budapest Business Journal Hungary has a poverty rate of over 45 per cent of the population, and this has made the political fringe attractive. The neo-Nazi Jobbik political party won 20 per cent of the vote in the 2014 elections; meanwhile, ruling party officials have openly referred to Roma as animals fit to be stamped out, and Orban has been quoted by the Independent as determined to adopt a system of ‘illiberal democracy’ modeled on Russia and China.
He attributed the smallness of the country, relative obscurity in the minds of the international community, and the limited reach of its language—Hungarian is highly localized and completely unintelligible to other European languages—with limiting international coverage of the bizarre politics that would make for instant international news elsewhere.
By speaking about his work, Göllner hopes to get across the idea of the difficulties involved as much as the strategies one can use to fight for improvement, and the role Canada and the larger international democratic community has to play in fostering this change.
“We are planning a major action … for John Baird and the PM for the conjunction of the visit of Hungary’s foreign visitor [on Thursday]. We hope Canada becomes more vigorous in its protestations,” said Göllner.
“Rules of Civil Activism” takes place on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2014 at 5 p.m. at N sur Mackay, 1244 Mackay St.
