Author: Mina Collin

Is celebrating Thanksgiving still relevant in today’s society?

Thanksgiving is a national holiday that highlights colonialism and the mistreatment of Indigenous people

 

Thanksgiving was almost canceled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was celebrated this Monday, Oct. 12. The federal government has made it clear that gatherings during Thanksgiving weren’t a good idea, and to limit contact.

“This coming weekend for Thanksgiving and for the weeks to come, we need people to do everything they can to prevent transmission of this virus,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in regards to the holiday, asking people to stay home.

But it wasn’t the first time the legitimacy of the holiday was questioned. For several years now there has been a moral debate regarding the celebration of Thanksgiving.

As Gilbert Mercier, a French journalist would illustrate, “In many ways, the … celebration of Thanksgiving is analogous to setting aside a day in Germany to celebrate the Holocaust.”

 

A genocide

Thanksgiving was established by a proclamation of the Canadian Parliament in 1957 as a statutory holiday. It is at first glance a chance to celebrate the good harvest and all the blessings received throughout the year. But beyond feasts and celebrations with family and friends, the holiday’s story is less joyful.

The first colonists had trouble surviving on the new continent, and some Indigenous people offered their knowledge of the territories to help them. It was the case of Martin Frobishor and other navigators who arrived in 1578 to the Baffin Island and to whom the Mi’kmaq men taught ice-fishing techniques.

It wasn’t long before the relations turned disastrous, and the colonists decided to take possession of the lands by violating treaties, and exterminating Indigenous peoples. A war exploded over Halifax because the Mi’kmaq never agreed to give away their territories to the British settlers. In response, Governor Edward Cornwallis, who established the Nova Scotia colony, offered a bonus for every Indigenous person killed.

For many, colonists did significant harm.

The media outlet Cut released a video in 2015 asking Native Americans to associate Christopher Columbus with one word. Their answers were among others, “evil,” “invader,” “ignorant,” “genocide”— words that could also describe Edward Cornwallis.

 

A Day of Mourning for Indigenous people

For many Indigenous people, Thanksgiving marks the starting point of the smothering of their culture  and the theft of their lands, and therefore many are not celebrating the arrival of the European settlers. Being aware of the history of the holiday, some non-indigenous people also choose to not celebrate it in solidarity.

It is a day some use to protest systematic racism and oppression.

Last Sunday, about 20 people met in downtown Montreal in regards to the upcoming holiday for Indigenous Peoples Day of Rage.

Indigenous people are still fighting today to recover their sovereignty and their rights to their lands, which have never been ceded.

 

Categories
News

The 2nd annual climate protest took place in Montreal last weekend, and here’s what you need to know

More needs to be done to deter a climate crisis, said organizers

A protest for climate and social justice took place on Sept. 26, starting at Place du Canada. The event began with a word from the organizers about safety measures and a few speeches from different invited organizations. Then, the climate march, encased by police officers, led protesters through Montreal’s streets to the Parc des Faubourgs where closing speeches were given.

One year after the historic climate march that brought over 500,000 people to Montreal’s streets, little action has been taken by the government, said protest organizers. Carbon neutrality by 2030, a full recognition of Indigenous sovereignty on the territory and defunding the police were at the heart of the discussion.

Several social justice groups organized the protest, including La Coalition étudiante pour un virage environnemental et social (CEVES), la Planète s’invite au Parlement (LPSP) and the Defund the Police Coalition.

John Nathaniel Gertler, member of CEVES and one of the organizers of the protest, told The Concordian that the message they want to pass on is not the same as last year.

For Anne-Marie Lortie, a student in Urban Planning at Concordia, it was important to be there.

“I was there last year … and one year later, there are still no changes. I think we need to reiterate the message until someone understands.”

 

 

Intersectionality: a voice for everybody

For Elijah Olise, spokesperson for the Racial Justice Collective and for the Defund the Police Coalition, the link between racial justice and climate justice is clear.

“People who are affected by climate changes [are] the most marginalized people and that is not by accident. That is a choice made by the people who take the decisions in our communities,” he said in a speech before the march.

For him, it was important to give a voice to minorities in the fight for climate justice.

“Across Canada, toxic dumps, risky pipeline projects and tainted drinking water disproportionally curse Indigenous and Black communities. I want these people that I am talking about to be seen and heard and feel powerful,” he added.

Many other organizations walked during the protest including IRA Mauritanie, which fights against Black discrimination in Mauritania.

“We are in the 21st century and still Black people are being killed, being dispossessed of their land and their rights. We are fighting for the independence of human dignity,” said spokesperson for IRA Mauritanie.

 

The importance of a protest even during a pandemic

When Montreal was declared an orange zone last week, organizers had a meeting to discuss the legitimacy of still holding a protest.

“The thing to keep in mind is that coronavirus is a health crisis for sure, but the things we are discussing here are just as much risks for people’s lives and livelihoods, if not more,” said Gertler.

The organizers prepared different protocols to ensure the protest met health and safety guidelines. Volunteers were on the field distributing masks and ensuring social distancing between protesters.

“A big thing we knew was that protests don’t seem to be the biggest spread [of the virus] … we are all outside, we are all [keeping] our distance,” added Gertler.

Milan Codbecq-Pérus, a volunteer at  the protest declared, “We can exercise our right to democracy despite the situation. There is a way to be safe and responsible and to maintain social distancing while demonstrating our discontent.”

 

Photos by Mina Collin

Categories
News

New services at the library to help student survive through their online semester

Librarians do their best to give students the resources they need

Just like the students, Concordia’s libraries have had to adapt to life during the pandemic.

“I think the access to collections was a huge change we implemented when we realized the library wouldn’t be open to users anytime soon,” said Lorie Kloda, who works in the offices at the university’s library.

She and her colleague Krista Alexander, reference and subject librarian at the Vanier Library, shared new strategies they set up to support students throughout the semester.

 

Study spaces 

Philosophy student Andrew Wilcox was disappointed when he learned the library would be closed during his first year at Concordia.

“Hopefully, for the next semester we will have access to it,” he said.

Wilcox also mentioned the importance of having study spaces for students in need. Students were unaware that the university was already working on reopening some study spaces for individual study. The information was launched on the Concordia Library website on Sept. 14.

“The study spaces will need to be reserved in advance under very specific guidelines and we will have very limited numbers of spots,” explained Kloda.

“We usually have, at the Webster and Vanier libraries combined, up to 15,000 visitors a day during exam periods, for example. Right now, we are offering 125 seats at the Webster library and 50 seats at Vanier, so it’s a huge reduction,” she said.

The reservation works on a first-come-first-served basis; students will have three hours and thirty minutes, and must wear a mask throughout their study session. Respecting the sanitary instructions, a cleaning crew will sanitize every study space in between the blocks of time proposed.

“The students still won’t have access to the [physical] collection … There are no devices, no computers, and no other services offered on-site,” said Kloda.

 

Online resources

Even if most of the libraries’ areas are closed, employees are organizing themselves to make sure students have the best possible experience during the semester.

“Funding is still being used to improve and enhance library services for students. It’s not because the physical space isn’t open that we are not still working for students,” said Kloda.

After a presentation of the services available, Wilcox had a clearer vision.

“They are trying to do their job to accommodate us the best they can, but it isn’t an ideal situation,” he said.

For a face-to-face, real-time interaction, there is an online service where students can video call the librarian and ask questions Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Since students can’t access the physical collection, there is a contact-less book pick-up service.

“If a student only needs a book chapter or a journal article … a member of the library’s team … will go into the physical collection, make a scan and send it to the student’s email,” explained Alexander. “Those services were in place before COVID and have become even more important now in terms of getting the students the access they need to the content we have in the collection,” she added.

 

Restrictions

The librarians do their best to get all the textbooks online, but not all book publishers allow libraries to offer a multi-user electronic copy of a textbook. Copyright laws make it also impossible for the librarians to scan all of certain items in the collection.

“The minute [a student] starts asking for more chapters, even if [they do] it in different weeks, it’s copyright laws, and they do not permit us to do it even during COVID,” said Kloda.

There have been corrections made. Krista Alexander corrected from Alexandre, Lorie Kloda corrected from Kolda, weekly question session times changed from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. The Concordian apologizes for these mistakes.

Photo by Christine Beaudoin

Exit mobile version