Category: Community

Attention all procrastinators: The first day of exams begins in two weeks. If for some reason you now see black spots, the trick is to sit down and breathe slowly.

This is for every one of you who slept through all your morning classes for the past three months. You might be visualizing at this moment all your (or daddy’s) tuition money being flushed down the toilet. Don’t feel too bad, there might be hope for you yet.

Those of you whom have remained diligent and hard working all semester, be proud because final examination time is your time to shine. The rest who suffer from Can’tgetoffmyass-phobia are probably thinking of the perfect excuse to get out of the inevitable stress that awaits them.

Put deferral out of your head right now! Fabricating a spontaneous exotic illness might seem clever, but will only catch up with you later.

If you are getting mocked, for taking the high road that appeals to you, relinquish your first instinct to begin crash dieting on espresso, jolt cola and powdered sugar for the next few weeks. The secret recipe is organization and lots of sleep.

Procrastinators of the twenty-first century now have access to the resources they need to survive their exams with some helpful tips and the aid of modern technology.

According to counsellor Marc L

Wearing the poppy or gathering at war memorials across the country are ways many Canadians will commemorate Remembrance Day. Taking two minutes of silence, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the time the armistice of World War I was signed in 1918, is still generally practiced to remember the over 100,000 Canadians who lost their lives. This day is also used to remember any fatalities in any war and to reflect on those who fought bravely. However, what does Remembrance Day mean to Concordia students? Will they be commemorating it?

“Santayana said that ‘Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,'” says Adam Paige, a 23-year-old administration student. “I hear people today compare the Jews in Israel to the Nazis. I truly believe that anyone that would make that comparison is abysmally ignorant of the history of the Nazi regime. Remembrance Day is just that: a day not to forget, to learn from the past so that we can have wisdom today to build a better tomorrow.”

For Paige, Remembrance Day has a very personal meaning. “My grandfather served in World War II as an officer in the Black Watch,” he says. “It is a good way to think of him every year and thank God for the sacrifice that he [grandfather] and others made to safeguard the freedom of the Western world from tyranny and massacre.”

His way of paying tribute to the veterans of WWII? Paige read William Shirer’s 1,500 page tome The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.

Cathy Pott, an applied human sciences student, is also extremely thankful to the veterans. “Remembrance Day gives me the opportunity to remember those who paid with their lives to protect us from tyrannical world powers,” she says. “It makes me feel profoundly grateful, especially since I come from Dutch stock. The Canadians did so much for the Dutch in liberated Holland, and I, as a child of an immigrant people, owe them my life.”

For Pott, the commemoration of Nov. 11 is inevitable. “I plan to spend time with a good friend as well as my family. With my friend, I may spend time praying for older people we know who were affected by war, for Canada’s role in the world as a peacekeeping nation, and just thanking God for His protection over our lives. We don’t take it for granted!” she says.

Still for others, Remembrance Day strikes an even deeper cord. While Pott will be remembering the sacrifices of those who died in the wars, Lana Chackal will also be thinking of a very special lady.

“Since my mom passed away on November 14, 1999, it is a time to remember [the veterans] but also [my] mother,” says the 22-year-old English literature student. “It’s important to remember what others have done for us and to remember the person that my mother was.”

Chackal admits that she will be paying homage on Remembrance Day. “I find [the veterans] courageous and sacrificial. Not everyone is willing to do what those people did, [and] I will be wearing my poppy and remembering them. I do pause and remember what they did even though I don’t know much about it. A lot of innocent people lost their lives just like in 9/11,” she points out. “Also, because my mother died around that time, it makes me stop and pause even more.”

For 21-year-old English literature student Christina Gudzio, taking a moment of silence at 11 a.m. on Remembrance Day, is a small way to honour the veterans. “It is the least we can do,” she says. “They made tremendous sacrifices, so remembering the day is our way of saying, ‘Thank you.'”

Even though he will not be doing anything to commemorate Remembrance Day besides perhaps wearing a poppy, Steve Tavone, a 23-year-old independent student, agrees with Gudzio. “A lot of times we don’t remember our past. I like the fact that we haven’t forgotten.”

For others, Remembrance Day means virtually nothing. “It holds almost no significance for me,” admits Eric Lis, a 20-year-old psychology student. “I’ve never liked the fact of setting one day aside to remember something when it should be remembered all year long. I think Remembrance Day glorifies war as a means to an end. It doesn’t glorify the soldiers; it glorifies the battle. There is no glory. There is no honour.”

Attitudes like this only depress Miriam Rodriguez, a biochemistry student. “I know that a lot of young people don’t know what Remembrance Day is about. We have to keep it alive and educate students in school,” she says. “A lot of them think that [Remembrance Day is] not important because it happened a long time ago. This is sad.”

In regards to this, Anthony Synnott, the chair of the sociology and anthropology department as well as a sociology professor, believes it reflects the fact that times change.

“History is not being taught well in high school. It doesn’t have very much meaning,” he says. “Military interest peaks when Canadians are killed in Rwanda or Afghanistan. Canada is a relatively peaceful country, and war would not be memorialized as it would be in Europe.”

He points out that since he had two cousins killed in war, Remembrance Day means more to him than it would to his sons who did not have any relatives killed.

“It used to be two minutes silence when I was growing up in the U.K. We used to have a minute of silence to remember Nov. 11. Time changes things, and I don’t think you can go back.”

Our student union president has been thrust into the spotlight since the events of Sept. 9 and has gotten mixed comments by her fellow students.

Sabine Friesinger is your average Concordia student. She goes to her classes, occasionally eats in the cafeteria and writes her exams. Recently, her interaction with the University has been one in which no one else can understand.

Friesinger lives with her younger sister Stephanie, a first year geography student. “Sabine’s best characteristic is her determination, the focus she applies when attempting to achieve a goal,” says Stephanie. She says her sister is too hard on herself and worries that she sometimes hasn’t done her best.

Like any article involving the CSU this year, the moratorium usually slips in somewhere. As one would guess, Friesinger feels that the lifting of the moratorium on the Mezzanine is a step in the right direction with the fight being far from over. Students can rely on her to fight the resolutions passed by the Board of Governors (BoG), a comforting thought to many.

“I have to fight for those who are studying here from the Middle East because I can’t imagine the difficulty they are experiencing not being able to speak about issues so close to home,” says Friesinger. Friesinger plans to remain very active in social and political issues. “However,” she says, “a career in politics is unlikely.” Her job as president has not been unbearably difficult, but she looks forward to getting away from it all for awhile once her term is over. Her career path is currently heading towards journalism & communication studies, the program in which she is currently studying.

Therefore, does she feel students have the right to talk about Middle Eastern issues on campus? Was the CSU contradicting itself by giving up their room for the Netanyahu speech, then protesting it? Is anyone else tired of the circular discussions taking place?

Friesinger’s intentions are to represent and protect the rights of students. The BoG, who sometimes represent a great obstacle for her.

One of Friesinger’s critics is Noah Joseph, a CSU councillor and a co-president of Hillel Concordia, who believes that she is doing a good job representing only certain students.

“She is further politicizing Concordia,” says Joseph. “Moreover, she had a hand in getting council to support students who took part in the Sept. 9 riot.

“Sabine did not condemn the riot or the violence that had taken place against Jews and other students who were trying to get into H-110,” says Joseph.

Joseph adds that it is not the place of the student union to take a position on the Middle East.

Two years ago, while Friesinger was VP internal under former CSU President Rob Green, the CSU took a pro-Palestinian position on the Middle East. Joseph says she could have not taken a position, which he says is inciting more campus tension between pro-Israelis and pro-Palestinians.

One can argue that everyone’s a critic these days, but everyone can agree that she’s just like the rest of us.

*Additional reporting by Diana Thibeault

During one of the weeks when the whole continent of Europe decides to pack their bags and go celebrate their spring holiday, I decided to go to Belgium. I discovered a beautiful city that unfortunately does not get much attention: Bruxelles, as its French-Belge habitants call it.

Brussels is Belgium’s capital and has about one million inhabitants. It is located at the heart of Europe in the Senne River Valley. It has been ruled by various European nations from the Romans to the Spanish to the Germans. The city has become the centre of Europe housing the European Union Council and the European Commission.

I spent five days in Brussels and lodged in student hostels. The Sleep Well Youth Hostel was my popular choice and it is less than ten minutes away from the city centre.

This nation has three official languages representing the two communities living there: French and Flemish. There are many Belgians who speak English and German as well. Brussels is a cosmopolitan city with French as the major language, but almost every other language can be heard in the streets and shops.

Sights to See

The stunning La Grand Place situated in the lower city is a magnificent site. Buildings from different ages, including the Gothic Hotel de Ville, surround this square. I was amazed by the different architectures in all their splendor and I would stare at their grandeur.

A short walk through the architectural splendor of the Grand-Place is the cheeky symbol of Brussels, the Manneken Pis. This statue of a boy is a legendary figure in the country who after, according to one of their legends, saved the city from a fire by extinguishing it with his urine.

The Palais Royal is a monumental representation of the history of the royal family of Belgium. The tour is a worthwhile investment.

In 1830, Belgium became independent and its new king, Leopold I, decided to use the new palace as his residence. It was king Leopold II, who had the original building turned into the palace as it is currently. This transformation ended in 1903 and the palace was used as the residence of the Belgian King until after the death of Queen Astrid in 1935. The royal palace is now used as the office of the king and as the residence of the crown prince. The royal palace houses a museum called Belle-vue with a collection about the Belgian royal dynasty.

If you’re lucky enough to visit Brussels in August, the Grand-Place provides the backdrop to a unique masterpiece: the Carpet of Flowers. On Belgium’s National Day, a precious carpet that no one is allowed to walk on, but which is universally admired for its dazzling array of colours and elegant flower-beds.

Other worthy places to visit are the trendy Place Grand Sablon, in the exclusive centre of Brussels with its many shops, art galleries, busy cafes and restaurants.

The Our-Lady-of-the-Sablon Church, built in 1304 to honour the Holy Virgin, dominates the Sablon Square in the centre of Brussels. Even today, the Sablon Church is one of the most beautiful and intimate Gothic churches in Brussels and a true example of Brabantine Gothic style.

The artsy travelers cannot miss the Musee d’ Art Modern and the Belgian Comic Strip Centre. The latter exhibition cover some four thousand square metres, and brings together under one roof a magnificent building designed in 1906 by the architect, Victor Horta. It has everything to do with the world of the comic strip, from its stately origins to its more recent developments.

Food for thought

From the mouth-watering mussels at the Rue Antoine Dansaert restaurant to the sweet Belgian waffles sold at every street corner to its world famous Belgian chocolates, Brussels can tantalize almost any pallet.

One of the sweetest gastronomic mysteries is why has Brussels become the chocolate capital of the globe? Its history is the Neuhaus chocolate shop, which was founded by the Swiss immigrant, Jean Neuhaus Jr. in 1857. It became the birthplace of Belgian chocolates, that timeless pairing of place and product which – like French wine or Russian caviar – has become instantly recognizable as a hallmark of quality.

Attractions galore

There are many tourist traps, or outposts of the big names in Belgium chocolate like Neuhaus, Leonidas or Godiva, but turn down the Rue du Lombard toward the trendy bars and boutiques of the Place St. Gery neighborhood and you’ll find a chocolate maker unlike any other. As well as serving handmade chocolates of the highest quality, Planet Chocolate offers an exotically decorated caf

Play execution was the name of the game last Saturday as the Concordia Stingers proved to the Laval Rouge et Or that their victory on Oct. 12 was no stroke of luck.

In the QIFC semi-finals game that was held in Quebec City last Saturday, the Stingers came onto the PEPS Stadium field with gutsy plays and sharp defensive coverage to eliminate the Rouge et Or by a 29-21 win.

The Stingers’ offence looked in tiptop shape, led by quarterback Jon Bond who hooked up with his receivers 13 times for 139 yards. The Stingers’ backfield had no trouble entering the Laval red zone in their first ball possession, but was unable to execute.

A Concordia turnover at their own 27-yard line proved to be costly one minute later when Laval quarterback Michel Bertrand hooked up with receiver Jean Francois Tremblay in the end zone, opening the scoring with a 7-0 lead.

That would be the only time Laval would lead in the game however, because Concordia pulled out the big guns in the second quarter, evening out the score to 7-all following a Darrell Wood 16-yard touchdown.

The 10,279 Concordia-hostile fans in attendance were shouting their discontentment towards the Stingers’ bench, who did not let the crowd affect them.

Defence handled the Laval offensive line by sticking like Velcro to Laval running back Dimitri Kiernan.

“We had a scheme today where we took away Dimitri Kiernan.from the play almost every chance we had,” said linebacker Graeme Burns, who had one interception.

“When a quarterback’s first read is taken away, he has to look to a second or third read.that makes him [quarterback] confused and allows us to get better coverage, and that’s what happened: we got better coverage, we were able to get on our men.”

Laval’s defence managed to snap back to life whenever the visiting team got too close, forcing a field goal for a 10-7 ConU lead with 2:06 remaining.

Concordia increased their lead by three points on the final play of the half when kicker Simon Rodgers successfully completed a 34-yard field goal.

Concordia and Laval played yo-yo with the ball throughout the third quarter.

Bond showboated his strength on passing when he threw a long bomb to receiver Alain Rousseau. The winning play of that drive showed the teamwork between the pivot and Rousseau when Bond dropped back into the pocket with the ball.

Stunned by Laval’s coverage, Bond pointed out a spot in the end zone to Rousseau, to which the receiver ran to and caught the ball to score Concordia’s third major.

Running back Jean Michel Paquette was in fine form in this game, sidestepping Laval’s defensive line and rushing 34 times for a total gain of 209 yards.

“Jean-Michel played the way Jean-Michel can play,” Coach Gerry McGrath said.

“We preserved him all year, because in other years we used him too much early and then he’s hurt; he’s not a big guy. This year we kept him healthy until the end, and today we turned him loose.”

Paquette’s stats included an 11-yard run that secured the home team’s lead to 27-8. Laval persevered however. Taking the snap at their own 54-yard line, Bertrand threw a 57-yard pass to P Ianniciello, who in turn proceeded to run the ball into the zone for seven extra points on the scoreboard.

After allowing Concordia a safety, which increased the lead to 29-15, Laval’s defence tightened up and forced a punt, which resulted in the game’s biggest fluke play

The ball grazed Concordia punter Mike Renaud’s fingers following the snap, which caused a mad dash towards the ball by both teams.

Stinger Mike Lynch was the first to recover the ball, who then kicked the ball to clear the end zone and placed the Concordia defence on their own 40-yard line.

Seemingly satisfied with their lead, the Stingers relaxed slightly in the fourth quarter, allowing their red zone to be entered by the Rouge et Or backfield which did not cause much damage.

The Laval squad refused to go down easily and Tremblay threw a 29-yard pass to Bertrand, bringing the score 29-21.

Sadly enough for the Rouge et Or team, it was too little too late. Being eliminated in the semi-finals for the first time since 1997, the Laval squad gave the Bee Boys a one-way ticket to the Dunsmore Cup against McGill.

“We kind of looked past them last game,” said Bond referring to their last game against the Redmen. “We didn’t really focus on them, didn’t really take this seriously. This time, we’ll be a different team that’ll show up for this game.”

“For our date I wore a gown of white lace petals. Shiny and soft. I shimmered out my front door. Two hours later you tore the petals away. Clawed and ripped them, like a rabid squirrel. I stood, a stern without thorns and watched the petals fall one by one. On the ground, they shriveled and turned brown. You threw them into a trash can while I stood naked and bruised.”

This poem called “Daisies”, was written by an anonymous survivor of sexual assault, and was published in a journal called Fire With Water, produced annually by the Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS).

SACOMSS was founded in 1991, and was the first of its kind in Canada and in North America. Ever since, the University of Alberta, the University of Victoria, York University, and others, have established similar services.

The McGill centre is funded mostly by undergraduate student fees collected from the McGill Students Society and by some private donations.

Meaghen Buckley, external co-ordinator of SACOMSS, says that because university is a time of transition and upheaval, support is necessary wherever and whenever possible.

“I feel that there is a need for sexual assault centres on university campuses, where it is functionally and financially possible to have them,” says Buckley. “Assaults do occur on campus, during Frosh week and between teachers and students.”

One Internet survey indicated that 60 per cent of Canadian college-aged males would commit sexual assault if they were certain they would not get caught.

These days, getting caught is harder with the invention of various date-rape drugs. “Three years ago we weren’t talking about the date-rape drug,” says Commander Pierre Leduc, head of the Montreal police sexual-assault squad. “But in the last year, there have been 150 complaints concerning the drug.”

Recently, a 15-year-old girl was allegedly drugged and found dazed and naked in a Taschereau Blvd. motel, with only a sheet wrapped around her. Her only memory of the event was being surrounded by four men.

A similar story was recounted by Nathalie Brault, a psychologist at Hotel Dieu’s sexual assault division, who says that one of her patients left a drink unattended just once and paid the price.

According to Brault, who sees about 250 cases each year, 15 to 20 per cent of attacks are committed with drugs like Gamma Hydroxybutyrate (GHB) or Rohypnol. These drugs cause the victim to forget what happened to them the night before.

Victims often feel shame for not being able to recount the events and blame themselves, says Dominique Raptis, a counsellor at Centre d’aide et de prevention aux assaults sexuelle (CAPAS) in Chateguay.

“The woman will often feel as if she is damaged goods,” says Noreen Gobeille, a counsellor at Concordia’s Counselling and Development services.

The goal of SACOMSS is to empower survivors and to step away from the stigma of guilt that is associated with sexual assault. “There isn’t a way to avoid it; that would be assigning blame,” Buckley asserts. “It’s never your fault, and you never asked for it, and you never deserved it.”

Although SACOMSS and other centres like the Montreal Sexual Assault centre never focus blame on the victim, the victim often blames herself. This is why as many as 40 per cent of sexual assault cases go unreported, says Leduc.

On the island of Montreal, the sexual-assault squad sees about 1,700 cases annually in which the age group of between 5 and 30 is most common.

It is not just an Island-wide problem, it is a national one as well. In the 2000 Revised Uniform Crime Reporting Survey, 27,154 sexual offenses were reported in Canada. Women made up the vast majority of the victims. And of those cases, 40 per cent of the victims were attacked by a friend or a casual acquaintance, while roughly 75 per cent of the cases were premeditated.

Attacks are a way of conquering a woman, having control over her and not always about sex, says Brault. Knowing the modus operandi (MO) of the attackers helps the police solve cases, according to Leduc.

Montreal police have established the MO of the serial rapist that recently made headlines. The Villeray rapist, who has not yet been apprehended, has been linked to five cases through his DNA, left at each crime scene.

In the two most recent ones, the rapist stalked women in their early twenties, approached them from behind and threatened them with a knife. “We have 70 tips to go on,” says Leduc, “and a few of them are really good.”

Leduc also says that the DNA was paramount in connecting the Villeray rapist in five different cases. He is optimistic that this man will be caught, because many of the perpetrators are.

A year and a half ago, a man was arrested on McGill campus after harassing women and sexually assaulting one. He disappeared after a court date was set, but police have located him since.

The Accompaniement Team, a division of SACOMSS, provides support for those who are lodging sexual harassment complaints through McGill’s grievance procedures. SACOMSS’ motto for its estimated 100 volunteers, some of them survivors, is active-listening. The goal is to strengthen victims so that they may start seeing themselves as survivors.

As another poem called “Standing Naked” in the Fire With Water journal states, “Yes I am a survivor of sexual abuse, but I cannot forget that I can also be a witness if I choose to be. Most of all I can never forget that I am also a victim and acknowledging my victimization is what makes me a survivor.”

For more information on SACOMSS call 398-2700.

Leila Mouammar bears little physical resemblance to the emotionally charged, rock-throwing Palestinians on CNN. She is a poised and stylish Concordia University student with a PhD. Her distinction, however, is her connection with other Palestinian refugees. Like them, activism is at the core of her political identity.

This was evident on Sept. 9 when Mouammar was among 50 Concordia students who entered the Hall Building to protest the speaking engagement by former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The heated exchange between Palestinian and Israeli supporters led to an intervention by riot police, leading the university to place a moratorium on activities relating to the Middle East until at least mid-December.

“We were exercising our freedom of speech,” explains Mouammar. “It was a peaceful demonstration until the police became involved.”

Mouammar viewed Netanyahu’s speech as a provocation by pro-Israeli groups. She and other members of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) intended the protest to be an exercise in free speech, claiming they had been denied freedom of assembly.

“Concordia is our university, we pay student fees and tuition – we had a right to voice our opinions,” says Mouammar, who personally felt the sting of tear gas after demonstrators broke a large window. “In Europe, police are not allowed on university campuses. It felt like Israeli apartheid.”

Mouammar has heard Netanyahu speak before and describes his eloquence as a dangerous means to publicize a hostile political agenda. “When you actually listen to what Netanyahu is saying you realize he is actually a guy who delivers hate speech,” says Mouammar. “He was waiting for something to happen.”

Despite the current moratorium, Mouammar praises Concordia for having such a politically charged student environment. “There is a support system at Concordia that activists can draw upon,” says Mouammar who explained how Palestinian students suffer for their lack of identity. “Many are ashamed of ethnicity because they feel people expect them to justify the entire Middle East crisis. People ask them ‘Why do you hate Americans?’ and it becomes a very uncomfortable situation.”

Raised in Toronto with a keen political identity and Christian upbringing, it was during the Gulf War that Mouammar noticed biases in the media’s portrayal of Arabs and Jews. She was drawn to activism on a 1996 visit to Israel and the West Bank. There, the harsh realities of the Middle East crisis became clear.

Mouammar’s political identity was sharpened after seeing where her parents were raised. The sense of loss she experienced from not having grown up in her Palestinian homeland inspired Mouammar to publicize a more balanced viewpoint than what students in North America received from American news sources.

Mouammar returned to Canada and started Students for Awareness in the Middle East (SAME) at McGill with a Jewish student, Dan Bitton. SAME provided students with a nonpartisan forum to discuss Middle East politics which rapidly increased in popularity.

After finishing her BA in humanistic studies at McGill, Mouammar moved to New York to complete a master in humanities and social thought. There, Mouammar remained active with Palestinian student organizations through the Internet. Through her web server she wrote letters in defense of Laith Marouf, a Palestinian student at Concordia, who was expelled for writing pro-Palestinian graffiti on university property.

In New York, Mouammar says she was threatened for admitting she was Palestinian. As a result, she decided to move back to Canada where she thought her freedom of speech could be exercised freely.

“Concordia has a buzzing reputation,” says Mouammar, who is completing an interdisciplinary PhD in conspiracy theories at 27 years old. “The campus environment here is a vanguard.”

At the Sept. 9 protest, Mouammar spoke with Jewish student Dan Bitton about starting a group similar to SAME at Concordia. “Everyone interprets events differently due to their factual contexts. We want to help both sides understand that there are two different histories at work,” says Bitton. “Otherwise it’s too easy to stereotype.”

Bitton adds that activists like Mouammar are essential to any possible resolution. “Most people have narrow-minded viewpoints and don’t know how to get their message out,” he explains. “Leila gets along great with others and understands where people are coming from.”

Mouammar emphasized the need for co-operation in light of the current international situation. “We are on a precipice. If the U.S. attacks Iraq we will be entering into a world war situation.”

Despite the outward intensity of political demonstrations, Mouammar wants others to know that political activism is not about violence, but understanding.

“Our main concern is to help people see others as human beings.”

“It is a shame that difference seems to divide us, people, so much, but Best Buddies helps to promote similarities and the human aspect of living a full and happy life,” says Laura Bailey, the volunteer recruitment co-ordinator at Best Buddies Canada.

“I personally believe that Best Buddies is a great opportunity to grow as a person who has a more open mind and loving heart. I think that more people should be involved in Best Buddies because it adds to a greater acceptance and understanding in our communities of people in general,” states Bailey.

Anthony Kennedy Shriver founded Best Buddies International in the United States in 1989. Best Buddies then established its first Canadian chapter in 1993, and Best Buddies Canada was incorporated as a registered national charity in 1995. With about 1,500 national volunteers and about 220 in Quebec, Bailey says the number grows each year.

What is the goal of Best Buddies Canada? To match up cegep or university students with adults who have intellectual disabilities based on similar interests and to allow for a one-on-one relationship and eventual friendship to blossom. It strives to teach the public that people with intellectual disabilities are not lesser individuals.

Also referred to as a developmental disability, an intellectual disability is “a term used to describe any condition that includes a life long impairment to a person’s ability to learn and/or adapt to their environment.” Intellectual disabilities do not necessarily have a recognizable condition and are also not always accompanied by a physical disability.

According to Best Buddies Canada, about 900,000 Canadians have intellectual disabilities, three out of every 100 children are born with some degree of intellectual disability and 80 per cent of individuals who have an intellectual disability live with a family member.

Through being a Best Buddies volunteer, one can make a difference in someone’s life by showing love and acceptance. Volunteer work is flexible since it consists of a weekly phone call and two outings per month. Furthermore, all the buddy pairs at each chapter get together for four subsidized annual group outings.

“The commitment is not so tiring that it becomes a chore and the leadership opportunities such as campus co-ordinator or executive member also assists in gaining valuable transferable skills: time management, communication, a stronger sense of responsibility, patience, stronger listening skills, among other great qualities,” says Bailey.

Michael Todary, the 21-year-old campus co-ordinator of the Concordia chapter of Best Buddies, shares Bailey’s sentiments. “It’s very rewarding to see what difference you’re making in their life. When you call someone, they smile all night because they’re happy someone was thinking of them,” says the third year engineering student.

In existence for two years now, Best Buddies Concordia will have 12 match-ups this year. The adults with intellectual disabilities are from the Miriam Home that has been offering services for children and adults with intellectual disabilities here in Montreal since 1960. There is a screening process though for volunteers, and one must fill out two reference forms and agree to a police check.

As for Todary, this is his first year as the campus co-ordinator. The year before he was a volunteer best buddy and matched up with someone who also loved sports; the two were able to watch Concordia games together. He is now matched up with 52-year-old Morty Lighter, who loves bowling.

Lighter, who has been involved with Best Buddies for seven years and has been part of a bowling league for 35 years, considers Best Buddies to be a blessing. “It’s a better life with the buddies because they come to take us out to restaurants and games, and we go to the movies,” he says. “It’s fun all around.”

Furthermore, this is Lighter’s first year as a Buddy advocate working alongside Todary, which he is enjoying. According to Todary, a buddy advocate is a functional person with an intellectual disability who helps the campus co-ordinator by representing the intellectually disabled.

While Buddy pairs are matched up for a year, Todary admits the fun does not stop there. “A lot of the time after we match them up, people remain friends and call each other.”

When all is said and done, the Best Buddies program offers volunteers a rewarding experience. Bailey can testify to this because she used to be involved with Best Buddies at Wilfred Laurier University and learned that people with intellectual disabilities are just as dynamic as anyone else.

“I think that this volunteer opportunity is even more meaningful than others because everyone wins! The goal of the Best Buddies program is to make a friend. From friends, people get to learn and teach and help and care: all the positive qualities of being human,” she says. “By participating in this program, the student gets the opportunity to make a friend. Having one good friend is having a world of possibilities.”

If you are interested in becoming a Best Buddy volunteer, call Michael Todary at 298-1652 or by e-mail at mtodary@hotmail.com or to contact the Concordia chapter, email concordiabestbuddies@hotmail.com For further information about Best Buddies Canada visit www.bestbuddies.ca.

In October 1999, I ran on behalf of Sheryl Murphy in the CIBC’s La Course a la Vie. Her funeral was on October 8, 2002. Coincidentally, October is recognized as breast cancer awareness month. Sheryl Murphy is not the last one to suffer from this horrible disease. One in nine women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime and one in 27 will die.

This year alone, the National Cancer Institute of Canada expects 20,500 Canadian women to be newly diagnosed with the disease. Meanwhile, an estimated 5,400 women already diagnosed will die. In fact, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women.

Breast cancer usually strikes older women, with the high-risk zone being between ages 40 and 79 and peaking in the 50s. Some things that contribute to increased breast cancer risk, like heredity factors and the age at which a woman begins her menstrual period, are beyond their control. However, other determining factors lie in every woman’s hands; her lifestyle throughout her teens and 20s can impact her future risk for breast cancer.

According to Owen Moran, the health educator at Concordia’s health services, 30 per cent of all cancer deaths are related to smoking and 30 per cent of all cancers are linked to nutrition. To lower ones risk for breast cancer, a woman should not smoke and should eat a low-fat, balanced diet.

As well, Moran encourages all young people to maintain a regular exercise regimen. This not only helps to decrease the risk of breast cancer in women but reduces the occurrence of illness in general.

High alcohol intake and the use of hormones, such as those in oral contraceptives, have also been linked to increased cancer risk. Early detection is the key preventive tactic helping lower the risk. Breast cancer can be treated and statistics from the National Cancer Institute show the average survival rate lies between 70 and 85 per cent when detected early.

While the number of women diagnosed with cancer has been steadily increasing over the years, the death count has been on the decline since the 1980s. This is largely due to a better awareness of the disease and more advanced treatments.

The breast self examination (BSE) is the first step in detection. Although the occurrence of breast cancer increases with age, young women can develop the disease. This is why at Health Services, Moran urges women in their 20s to begin practicing monthly BSE. “Number one, it’s not an invasive procedure,” he says. “The younger you start doing them[examinations], the more you get to know what’s normal. You get to know your own breast.”

BSE should be done monthly, seven to ten days after a woman starts her period. Concordia’s Health Services can help students learn to do their own BSE. As well, it offers informational brochures about breast cancer and its lending library has a women’s health section with books on the subject.

Physicians are also available for clinical breast examinations. Any woman who suspects she has found something abnormal should have it checked. Women who find lumps will require follow up examinations, often through mammography and biopsy. “If women do find the need for care from a specialist, we can refer them,” says Moran.

An estimated 50 per cent of women will find a lump at some point in their lives. However, this is no cause for immediate panic. Between 80 and 85 per cent of lumps are non-cancerous. Even when they are, most breast cancers do not grow rapidly. A cancer the size of a large pea may have been in a woman’s body for eight or 10 years. Taking a couple weeks to evaluate treatment options usually does not affect survival rates.

Treatment options can include surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, hormone therapy or a combination of the four. Based on the patient’s preferences, and the type of cancer she has, her doctor can help modify her choices.

Gene therapy research is currently underway as scientists have isolated several genes linked with increased risk of breast cancer. Genes involved in suppressing tumors and repairing genetic damage are found damaged or missing in many women with the disease. However, genetic treatments are still a few years away.

While many government programs and corporate funding support this and other research, wearing a pink ribbon, participating in runs for the cure and making donations to the Canadian Cancer Society can only help in the fight against breast cancer. One of the nine women you know could be next.

In keeping with Breast Cancer Awareness month, there will be a presentation about breast care by a guest speaker on Oct. 30. Contact Concordia’s Health Services for more details at 848-3565, or visit them at 2155 Guy, room 407. At the Loyola campus they can be reached at 848-3575, or found in AD 121-3.

For more information on breast cancer, visit these web sites: www.cancer.ca www.cancerhelp.com http://health.concordia.ca

Alternately cheap and chic, downtown west is a study in contrast. Window displays of shoddy souvenirs and itchy stuffed bears alternate with Diesel sneakers on glass pedestals. Three tall women dressed in immaculate leather file past a vagrant from Edmonton collecting coins outside the Canadian Forces building. The contrast of upscale boutiques bordering those of the other extreme selling cheap thrills is the conundrum that is Ste-Catherine Street.

A giant hole, four stories deep, has been dug up on the corner of Ste-Catherine and Guy. In three years a new building will fill the void allowing the ever growing population of Concordia students, now at 29,000, an addition to their downtown campus for faculties of engineering, visual arts and computer science.

This startling absence allows the district to appear in stark cross-section from the shops to the south, Concordia’s pale buildings anchoring the north in a hail of buses and traffic, the concrete apartment blocks interrupt the old grey stone streets to the west all while downtown hovers on the eastern horizon like a great billboard of steel and stone. The massive empty space was however not always such.

Until recently, at least a portion of it was occupied by the 1938-vintage York Theatre, an edifice recognized in a book called Montreal Movie Palaces by Dane Lankin as one of the great movie palaces of Montreal. The York was something of an oddity on the outside. Its streamlined style seemed tarnished by an excess of fire escapes and railings, and many of the extravagant details particular to the building, were replaced by cheap knockoffs in the early 1950s. Inside it was a marvel of gilded age design; Murals of nymphs and oblique lighting recreate cinematic escapism for the modern age.

Remembering this, Heritage Montreal researcher Robert Klein says the destruction of the York last year was ill informed. He points out that since the structure had only sat empty since 1989, structural decay was minimal. “It was just a case of taking a trowel, not carving angels and statues. It’s modern.” He points out that Concordia, who bought the site in the late nineties after a condos-and-offices scheme failed to materialize, could easily have rehabbed the building and incorporated it into their plans. Concordia, however, didn’t need a movie house.

Their plan involves a striking pair of postmodern towers that will occupy both the hole north of Ste-Catherine and a vacant lot at Guy and de Maisonneuve designed by Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg in joint venture with Fichten Soiferman and Associates. The buildings are reminiscent of KPF’s IBM-Marathon tower on Rene-Levesque, all tinted panes and beamed planes.

This is where urban planning grows difficult; neighborhoods change. Where a movie house may once have been the best anchor for an area, sixty-four years hence a university complex might better fit the bill. In some cases, according to Lankin, such as that of the World Trade Centre on Place Victoria, older structures can be imaginatively re-adapted. The purpose-specific buildings such as movie houses or for that matter, public baths or churches can be hard to reinvent.

Business owners in the area are applauding the new construction. Toufik Abiad is the proprietor of Influence-U, a clothing store on Ste-Catherine near Mackay. He says that he feels the new building will help to stabilize the area. “It will be very nice for the neighborhood with all the students passing by. The security will help take care of the bums.”

Abandoned buildings, however ornate, often bring people to the area who may not exactly be the type interested in dropping a few bills at a boutique or a restaurant.

Concordia’s new buildings, rising as this is being written, inevitably represent more than just labs and hallways. The university is seeking to remake this stretch of downtown in its own image, Cartier Concordia. Glassy atriums and media screens will give a new centre to the multifaceted district that stretches away from them. Towards the new forum, towards the museum, towards downtown, it will uniquely hold.

This semester, the events at the university have been an intense experience for any first year student. What started with a demonstration on Sept. 9, preventing former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu from speaking, grew into a moratorium banning all activities that deal with the Middle East in the lobby and Mezzanine in the Hall Building. The conflict has now grown to the point where it is impossible to walk through the building without seeing or hearing some form of student protest.

By now, newspapers all over North America have taken their shots at Concordia University and the stories surrounding the demonstrations and moratorium. With all of this negative press, it is very likely that people outside the Concordia community will have a bad impression of the university. However, educational institutions, specifically ours, should not only be defined by a loud minority and their actions, but by what the university is primarily founded; education and freedom of speech.

From any perspective, the demonstrations and moratorium just look bad. “Our name is out there, and not in a very favorable light,” says Dennis Murphy, executive director of university communications. “It is not only the events, but how they are being reported,” he says. Its reputation will very likely suffer when there are those, having little connection to the school, reading about Concordia for the first time.

The negative attention also distracts from the fact that Concordia is an academic institution and this inevitably overshadows its main reason for existence.

“I think it’s a bad impression,” says Alicia Ross, a fourth year geology student. “Concordia is not being portrayed as an educational centre, but as grounds for demonstrations.”

Some students feel that the university’s negative impression will carry over into the workplace when it is time to find a job with a Concordia diploma. What happens when prospective employers see Concordia on the resum

It’s 5:30 p.m. Friday evening and the Graduate Students Association at 2030 Mackay is buzzing with the sound of students winding down after the week’s lectures. The clink of glasses and hubbub of voices spill out from the lounge into the narrow corridor where a path is being worn to the kitchen for refreshments. Meanwhile, in the basement, another type of social activity is underway. Boxes with video cassettes are stacked high in the corner of a small room and the merchandise is being off-loaded and arranged in neat rows on a table. The thud of footsteps on the staircase announces the arrival of the first punters.

The Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) provides a support structure for the second largest international student group at Concordia; students from the People’s Republic of China. Organizing the video exchange is one of their core activities, according to Hai Lin, a former president and prominent figure in the CSSA. Friends and family in mainland China send tapes of favourite films and TV shows to the CSSA who centralise and rent them out to Concordia’s 210 mainland Chinese students.

Lin arrived in Montreal in 1989 as a research assistant to a professor in the electrical engineering department. Before leaving China, he earned a monthly salary of $200 as a microwave engineer in a communications company after completing his master’s in electrical engineering. “Life is easier here,” said the 32-year-old Lin from Beijing, now a permanent resident in Montreal who is married with a well-paid job. “Canadian society is multi-cultural; I really like that,” he adds.

The number of Chinese immigrants at Concordia has risen dramatically in recent years. Claudette Fortier, co-ordinator of the International Students Office, recalled how difficult it was for students to leave China in the years after Tiananmen Square. “China wasn’t letting students leave directly after high school,” she says. “Only post graduate students with bursaries or research/teaching assistantships could come at that time.”

The undergraduate Chinese students have currently outnumbered the graduates, reflecting the increased openness of its Communist regime.

“If tuition fees were free, everybody would come,” says Cao, formerly a Teaching English as First Language professor in China who came to Concordia in 1995 to study in applied linguistics. Now a financial securities adviser, Cao still lends a helping hand at the CSSA.

“There is more freedom [in Canadian universities], more flexibility, more room for creativity,” he says. He described how his role as a teacher in China consisted in doling out information to students who passively took notes. “There was no debate [and] no group discussions,” adds Cao.

There are, however, other reasons why Chinese students come to Canada. Chinese universities have become so overcrowded that there is simply not enough room for all those who wish to go onto higher education.

“The competition in China is very high,” says Lin. “In most Chinese provinces, only 30 per cent of students can go to university. In the best provinces, the rate is still only 50 per cent.” The result: those fortunate enough to afford $80, 000 over a period of four years in which to obtain a degree come to Canada or the U.S. and their numbers are swelling.

“China is exploding in terms of its economy,” says Tom Swift, international recruiter for the John Molson school of business, who has travelled to China promoting Concordia as a centre of excellence for business studies.

The engineering job in Beijing that paid Lin two hundred dollars in 1989 now commands a salary of $1,500 and it is now easier to find a job in China than in North America. Little wonder why Concordia and other Canadian universities have devised strategies to woo Chinese students into their midst.

One hundred and forty-one million young people left secondary school in China in 2000; a dizzying prospective market with exponentially growing spending power. The progeny of the one-child policy, introduced in 1979, has come of university-going age, meaning that more parents can afford to send their children to be educated abroad.

“There is tremendous interest in having that child highly educated,” says Swift. “Parents are putting all their resources behind that one child.”

China is just one of 130 countries represented at Concordia, which prides itself on the diversified origins of its student body. The CSSA has not yet received official Concordia association status but provides invaluable assistance to Chinese students. Lin told the story of a student whose wife and three children were injured in a car crash two years ago. The CSSA members rallied round and raised more than $2,000 to help him with the medical costs.

Concordia’s student population has become increasingly diversified as we emerge into the twenty-first century. The response from international students has grown progressively optimistic and the university will inevitably become highly regarded globally and locally.

The CSSA can be contacted through their web site at http://www.geocities.com/concordia_cssa/ or call: 848-3528. Their office is located at H-733-5.