Concordia increases security after student files complaint
Concordia has increased security on campus after a student spoke publicly about two times she was harassed at school by strangers in the last month.
Concordia student Lisa Komlos was approached on campus by two different men on two separate occasions, who complimented her with a sense of urgency. The compliments were followed by a line of questioning about her personal information. According to Komlos, the men also tried to isolate her from the crowd in both instances.
In a statement released on Saturday, the university said they increased security on the Sir George Williams campus and they are “committed to fostering a safe and respectful environment.”
Concordia is in contact with the police. “We are in touch with our colleagues at McGill and UQAM to ensure a coordinated response,” said Fiona Downey, university spokesperson.
Komlos was walking to her class through the Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Integrated Complex (EV) when the incidents occurred.
Komlos posted a video describing the incidents to her Instagram story on Friday afternoon.
In the video posted to her Instagram, Komlos describes the men as “aggressive” and “angry” when she told them to leave her alone. “I was feeling unheard, frustrated, and frankly, I was annoyed,” said Komlos about the first incident, which happened on March 11. “I finally got away from him and went about my day thinking that this was just another daily occurrence of harassment.”
Komlos realized that the encounters were scripted and rehearsed during the second incident on March 26. “It is because of situations like these that I purposely never take the same route to my class,” she said. “Having a routine makes you predictable, and being predictable can make you vulnerable. It is exhausting having to always be on alert.”
The public service announcement Komlos made now has over 152,000 views. “I felt that it was my duty as a woman to come forward with this story,” she said. “I wanted to share these encounters so that I could warn others to keep their eyes open.”
Komlos is in contact with the university’s security department to identify one of the men who approached her. The man was caught on video surveillance footage.
Over a dozen women from Concordia reached out to Komlos with similar stories on campus after seeing the video. “There was also a flood of responses from other women sharing their personal experiences with sexual harassment and sexual assault,” she added.
People who feel unsafe or are harassed on campus can call Concordia security at (514) 848-3737 option 1. A Safe Walk program is also available on campus. Find more information on the security department’s website.
RiZe, Cut the Crap and New Community discuss their plans for next year
Three slates are running in this year’s general election for the Concordia Student Union (CSU). Online polling for the CSU’s elections will be held from 9 a.m. on April 2 to 9 p.m. on April 4.
The general coordinator is the leader of the executive team that governs policies related to all undergraduate students.
Cut the Crap candidate Chris Kalafatidis. Photo by Gabe Chevalier.
Christopher Kalafatidis, the general coordinator candidate for Cut the Crap, said he would focus on fixing the sanitary conditions of bathrooms, implementing an online opt-out system, and extending the nomination period for elections. Cut the Crap is “a statement saying ‘lets get things done,’” he said. The bathrooms “are a symbol of the most obvious problem that Concordia students see,” he said, adding he would like to see renovations and maintenance.
Kalafatidis would also implement fixed election dates so students are aware when to vote each year. “Right now, we have to wait for our CEO, which is always a point of last-minute, and everything is in chaos,” he said, adding that he wants to extend the nomination period from one-to-two weeks to three months. “This would encourage democracy and it would encourage competitive elections.”
Giving students the right to get their money back from fee-levy groups is a priority for Kalafatidis. Fee-levy groups are student-run organizations around Concordia that help students socially and financially. Currently, students must reach out to each group individually to get their money back. “We would create a system in collaboration with [fee-levy groups],” he said. “If it was online, you could check a bunch of boxes.”
Cut the Crap’s goal is to put students first. “I think you should vote for Cut the Crap because we are standing for the students who are never considered in elections,” he said. “We are the only slate to consider the rest of Concordia.”
riZe candidate Margot Berner. Photo by Gabe Chevalier.
Margot Berner, general coordinator candidate for riZe, said “this [position] is extremely close to my heart and almost everyone who I care about has been affected by these issues. I believe the university should be a safe space for students. I really want to advocate for students everyday and have that be my job.”
The name riZe is a reference to Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise,” but it also stands for rising up against oppression and all forms of discrimination.
Berner wants to make sure international students get an affordable health plan and that mental health services are affordable for all students. “We would provide more health insurance surrounding mental health, so that people have coverage and it doesn’t break their bank to go and [pay] for a therapist,” she said.
Finally, Berner wants to help student associations fight against unpaid internships and be an institutional support network that can give students the resources they need. “Everyone should be paid for their labour,” she said.
Berner feels she is fit to be next year’s CSU general coordinator because of her experience on council, the Concordia Food Coalition board and as an Independent Jewish Voices executive. “I also have personal lived experience, which is really important for this job,” she said. “I’m a survivor [and] I will fight absolutely for the things I believe in.”
New Community candidate Marcus Peters. Photo by Sam Kaiser.
Marcus Peters, the general coordinator candidate for New Community, has also been on council for two years and is the current academic coordinator of the Sociology & Anthropology Student Union. He was the CSU Loyola coordinator in the 2016-17 academic year and he was previously on the board of the Hive Café and Concordia University Television.
Their slate name was created to reflect their three goals: fossil fuel divestment, shutting down international tuition hikes, and advocating for the survivors of sexual assault. “Our platform is mostly built around three projects that will have sweeping impacts […] What we will be doing is creating a new community,” Peters said.
Peters joined the fossil fuel divestment campaign when he first arrived at Concordia in September 2013. The campaign’s goal is to push the administration to fully divest from fossil fuels and any other toxic industries. “We became the first campaign in Canada to pressure the university to start to divest in fossil fuels,” he said.
Peters wants to re-create the health and dental plans, as well as expand mental health services for students. As for advocating for survivors of sexual assault, “we would want to work with the Sexual Assault Resource Centre and develop a very thorough and well-vetted policy on harassment and assault,” he said.
Making students more aware of the benefits of fee-levy groups is a better option than allowing students to get their money back, according to Peters. “Before we have a discussion of online opt-outs, we would look at educating the student body as a whole.”
Peters said his experience and vision is what stands out from the other general coordinator candidates. “I don’t see projects of the scale that we are proposing being incorporated in any of the platforms,” he said.
Independent candidate Jane Lefebvre-Prevost. Photo courtesy of Courtesy of Jane Lefebvre-Prevost.
Meet the independent candidate
The academic and advocacy coordinator candidate, Jane Lefebvre-Prevost, who stands on a single-person slate called No More Slates, is running independently. She wants to bring awareness to certain flaws she believes exist in the electoral system. “By moving away from a slate mentality, we can limit political nepotism in our institution and further encourage electors to research their decision so as to have the representatives who truly represent the will of the student populace,” she said.
Lefebvre-Prevost wants to help low-income students through specialized bursaries based on financial need and identity—such as one for trans students and another for Indigenous students—rather than academic merit. “These students need a subsidized tutoring system that would allow them to afford to improve their grades without financial penalty,” she said.
Lefebvre-Prevost recommended that students “research the candidates who are running, listen to them speak, and most importantly see if they listen,” she said. “Then vote for the candidate that you believe will advocate for the needs of all students, not just the few, and who will truly represent the will of the undergraduate body.”
The results for the Arts and Science Federation of Associations’s (ASFA) general elections were released on Sunday. Momentum for ASFA won five seats out of seven, all unopposed.
ASFA’s new executive team consists of Evan Lee (general coordinator), Janet Yang (finance coordinator), Richard Mayer (internal coordinator), Tori Smith-Ayotte (student life coordinator), Michelle Lam (communications coordinator), independent candidates George Manolakis (academic coordinator) and Maryam El Hebri (mobilization coordinator). Gabriel Barrios-Obando and Balbina de la Garza were elected as independent councillors.
Students also approved a referendum question that included restructured the executive team in ASFA’s by-laws and allows executives to vote in council. Previously, the mobilization coordinator and the general coordinator were represented by one executive, the advocacy and executive coordinator. Marguerite Rolland, ASFA’s current advocacy and executive coordinator, said it would be preferable to separate the advocacy and executive mandate since both roles were too much for a single coordinator to handle.
The sustainability mandate has been divided between the student life coordinator and the finance coordinator. According to the policy, sustainable practices would be embedded in every action from ASFA. The Loyola mandate will be absorbed by a standing committee composed of one member from each Loyola member association.
The referendum question asked whether students agreed to give executives a vote in ASFA council meetings. It also asked whether students agreed with the creation of an assistant coordinator for frosh and elections.
“Thank you to the hard working current exec team, the ASFA council and the students for inspiring my team and I to run and continue to build a better future for ASFA,” Smith-Ayotte wrote in a Facebook post. “To all Arts and Science students, we can’t wait to work for you to help you find your place and community at Concordia.”
This year, 541 students voted in the elections, compared to 459 in 2017.
The Arts and Science Federation of Associations’ annual general elections are over and there’s a new team who will be taking over the office this year. Meet the members of ASFA’s new executive:
Evan Lee, general coordinator. Photo by Walid Jabri.
George Manolakis, academic coordinator. Photo courtesy of George Manolakis.
Tori Smith-Ayotte, student life coordinator. Photo by Walid Jabri.
Richard Mayer, internal coordinator. Photo by Walid Jabri.
Michelle Lam – communications coordinator. Photo by Walid Jabri.
Janet Yang, finance coordinator. Photo by Walid Jabri.
Maryam El Hebri, mobilization coordinator. Photo by @PeterandParkr.
Evan Lee – General Coordinator
Lee co-ran Model UN and participated in civic engagement clubs at his high school in New Jersey. “That’s where I found my passion for politics, my interest for international relations,” he said.
Lee said that, oftentimes, students find themselves with no mentor to guide them, but he is always eager to help students find the perfect balance between academic and social life. When asked what is his proudest achievement, he said it would be setting a good example in a family with two younger siblings, the youngest being six. “Being a good role model for them is one of the biggest things for me,” Lee said.
During his first year at Concordia, Evan Lee became an ambassador for the university’s Political Science Student Association (PSSA) to help other first-year poli-sci students learn about the events and workshops happening at the university. He later became an independent councillor at the Arts and Science Federation of Associations (ASFA) and is now ASFA’s incoming general coordinator.
As general coordinator, Lee hopes to change students’ apathy towards university politics and encourage them to get involved in student life, as well as to use ASFA’s resources.
Michelle Lam – Communications Coordinator
Originally from Toronto, Michelle Lam is a communications and economics student at Concordia, and the incoming communications coordinator at ASFA. Previously, Lam was an independent councillor at ASFA along with fellow Momentum for ASFA members Evan Lee and Tori Smith-Ayotte.
She presently works as the marketing director for the student-run magazine John Molson Business Review and the ASFA Journal Editorial Board. Lam is also involved in the events and leadership committee at Grey Nuns.
Before studying at Concordia, Lam was the communications officer for the Toronto District School Board Student Senate and chief marketing officer at Toronto International Affairs. Her impressive efforts in the community were recognized by TMX when she was named one of Canada’s Next 150 Leaders.
Ever since she was young, Lam found joy in cooking. “My father owns a restaurant and cooking is something that brings us together,” she said. She plans on pursuing a culinary certificate in her hometown.
Richard Mayer – Internal Coordinator
Third-year philosophy student Richard Mayer is ASFA’s incoming internal coordinator. He began his political involvement at Concordia as the communications director for SoPhiA, a student association representing the university’s philosophy undergraduates. Mayer then became SoPhiA’s member association’s (MA) representative in ASFA’s council. He later transitioned to the executive level where he became the first person appointed as the federation’s consul last winter.
“There is currently a large sprawling movement sanctioned by ASFA to reform a lot of the communications practices and internal methodology,” Mayer said. “I saw first-hand the internal procedures of ASFA, and while I’ve always enjoyed student politics, it’s very frustrating that its elite mentality is bogging that change,” he added.
As internal coordinator, he plans on breaking ASFA’s current corporatist attitude by giving the student body more room for representation.
Maryam El Hebri – Mobilization Coordinator
Maryam El Hebri is a fourth-year history student and ASFA’s incoming mobilization coordinator. Running independently, she defeated Momentum’s candidate, Ryan Simonyik 235 votes to 116.
This is El Hebri’s first experience with ASFA. In her spare time, she has volunteered at community organizations such as West Island Palliative Care, YMCA, and Miriam Home and Services, a centre for people with intellectual disabilities. “I decided to run because I deeply care about the issues regarding sexual harassment, mental health and discrimination,” she said.
Although she is new to the incoming executive team, El Hebri is looking forward to working with and getting to know them. “The best thing to do is to be open, compromise, and adjust to gain the best outcome,” she said.
Tori Smith-Ayotte – Student Life Coordinator
Sociology student Tori Smith-Ayotte is ASFA’s incoming student life coordinator. Appointed thrice as a Frosh leader, Smith-Ayotte spent six hours a day from June to August preparing ASFA’s 2018 multi-day event Froshifornia Dreamin.
Sitting on multiple committees at ASFA, Smith-Ayotte is engaged in the duties of an independent councillor and consul for the federation as well. As consul, she chairs the meetings of the executive team. As student life coordinator, she wants to promote a sense of community for students by helping MAs plan their orientation events.
“We study one thing, but we have so many interests,” Smith-Ayotte said. She enjoys attending a variety of social events held by different student associations, from camping trips with the geography department to wine and cheese parties. “And you can actually do all those little things if you knew what MAs have to offer you,” she said.
“There’s very low involvement from the students to come to our events,” Smith-Ayotte said. “People don’t have a sense of school spirit when it comes to ASFA.” She hopes to change this by fulfilling the student body’s requests on academic and social events and she welcomes suggestions for next year’s Frosh and Halloween parties.
Janet Yang – Finance Coordinator
Janet Yang is an actuarial mathematics student and soon-to-be ASFA’s finance coordinator. For the past year, she has been heavily involved in Concordia’s Mathematics and Statistics Member Association (MSSA). She started as VP of Internal Affairs before her appointment as MSSA’s president from the last by-elections.
With her interest in programming, Yang recently co-hosted a VBA Workshop with MASSA’s VP Social Louis-Landry Mwizero for beginners that was a success with JMSB students. VBA is a programming language of Excel that stands for Virtual Basic for Applications, a practical asset for any business student to have.
As a member of Concordia’s Co-operative Education program, Yang has hands-on financial experience from multiple internship positions as an accounting assistant and data analyst. “There’s no standard procedure for MAs when they’re making a budget,” Yang said. As finance coordinator, she plans on using her skills to train all MAs’ finance executives with basic knowledge on finance.
George Manolakis – Academic coordinator
Following the completion of his first degree in human relations, George Manolakis is currently in his first year of political science at Concordia. Manolakis’s experience as a student is what motivated him to run for ASFA. “Having been a student in the Arts and Sciences for many years, I have seen first-hand the academic issues facing students, including myself, and this is what inspired me to go after this opportunity,” he said.
Although Manolakis wasn’t previously involved in student associations, he said “I have always enjoyed and have often had the occasion to help others.”
“As a new executive who is not a member of Momentum, I plan on working with them in a collaborative effort to make the voices and issues of the students heard,” Manolakis added.
Fine Arts students vote to disaffiliate from provincial student association
Concordia’s Fine Arts Student Alliance (FASA) voted to disaffiliate from its provincial student association last week.
In FASA’s general elections, fine arts students approved a referendum to formally cut ties with l’Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (ASSÉ). Students were given three options on the ballot: disaffiliate from ASSÉ, move for ASSÉ’s dissolution at the association’s next congress, or remain paying members.
“The disaffiliation is immediate,” said Clara Micheau, FASA’s finance coordinator. “By our members choosing disaffiliation, we are no longer part of ASSÉ.”
“The fee-levy collected twice a year for FASA’s ASSÉ membership will no longer be collected, as of fall 2019.”
The now-failing coalition was once called “Quebec’s most militant student association” by Le Devoir. Founded at the University of Sherbrooke in 2001, ASSÉ was born out of the protests of the Summit of the Americas in Quebec city. The association was at the centre of the Coalition large de l’Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante, a union of several student associations at the forefront of the 2012 tuition hike protests. At the time, Québec Solidaire’s Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois was the coalition’s spokesperson.
With the departure of FASA, ASSÉ’s members include 24 university and nine CEGEP student associations. FASA became a member of the association through referendum in 2014. Fine arts students paid $1.50 per semester into the association.
FASA published a guide leading up to the vote, explaining the referendum question to students. “The dismantlement of ASSÉ would create a hole, which will take a few years to fill, and it is an inconvenient political period for our community to have an unstable ground,” the guide reads. “That said, ASSÉ’s inactivity cannot be overlooked.”
In particular, the guide criticized the association for not doing more to join the current mobilization against unpaid internships. In September 2018, ASSÉ launched a campaign against the commercialization and privatization of education. Michaud said FASA took this as a sign that the association had lost touch with its members. “The commercialization and privatization of education is a current and extremely concerning problem. However, it’s not what associations across Quebec have informally chosen to mobilize against. In 2018-19, students in Quebec have been going to assemblies to discuss unpaid internships and vote for strikes. You can’t claim to be one of the biggest national combative unions but decide to choose a different issue than the one discussed by student groups.”
ASSÉ previously discussed dissolving at a congress in February 2018. However, the association’s members did not have the necessary mandate from their student bodies to vote to dissolve. Instead, members moved to hold a national assembly in fall 2018 to discuss restructuring the association. It is unclear whether or not the meeting took place.
“For several years, especially since spring 2015, ASSÉ has been an organization that, despite the immeasurable contributions of many militants, no longer seems fit to respond to the needs of its members,” the motion of dissolution read. In April 2015, the association’s entire executive team was impeached. This happened after the association suggested its members organize a strategic withdrawal from the austerity protests rather than continue protesting.
Currently, four of the association’s eight executive positions remain vacant. This is a decrease from the executive’s seven vacancies in 2018.
Documents from the Feb. 2018 meeting show that ASSÉ was collectively owed around $308,000 from its members. Only eight of 46 members had paid their full fees. At the same meeting, members unanimously voted to suspend three members who had not paid their fees or attended meetings since joining in 2016. These were l’Association étudiante de littérature comparée de l’Université de Montréal, l’Association étudiante du Collège d’Alma, and l’Association étudiante d’histoire de l’Université de Montréal.
The situation has worsened since then. According to FASA’s handout, only two member associations, including FASA itself, have paid their fees in full. Given ASSÉ’s precarious financial situation, the handout reads “Our decision is conclusive of ASSÉ’s future.” FASA’s financial information is not available on its website.
Michaud said that if ASSÉ does dissolve, “a committee might be established to discuss the building of a new student union. FASA is interested in the committee and has planned to examine this idea in its upcoming meetings.”
The vote comes just months after the dissolution of the Concordia Student Union’s (CSU) provincial student association, Association pour la voix Étudiante au Québec.
ASSÉ did not respond to a request for comment.
Graphic by Ana Bilokin.
A previous version of this article quoted Clara Micheau as saying “By our members choosing disaffiliation, we are no longer part of ASSÉ and therefore can’t attend the next congress.” Micheau has since corrected the record, saying that FASA may in fact attend the next ASSÉ congress.
In addition, statements to the effect that FASA “disbanded” from ASSÉ have been corrected to state that FASA “disaffiliated” from ASSÉ.
An 85-year-old woman died after being hit by a car on the corner of Jean-Talon St. and de Lorimier Ave. during Friday rush hour, according to TheMontreal Gazette. Police said neither alcohol nor speed were the cause of the collision.
A boil-water advisory was issued on Saturday in Anjou, according to CBC.The advisory suggested to boil the water for at least one minute before consumption. Children should be monitored or washed with washcloths to avoid swallowing, according to the advisory.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante shuffled her executive team on Friday to promote a greener economy, which she considers a municipal priority, according to CBC. Plante said the city should always be conscious of environmental impacts when making decisions regarding transportation, economic development and the development of the territory.
Montreal taxi drivers had to abruptly cancel their protest on Friday after a driver harmed himself on live TV, according to CTV. The driver cut his arm with a sharp object before showing it to the camera during a live interview with an LCN reporter. Taxi drivers were protesting against CAQ’s Bill 17, which would facilitate ride-hailing services, such as Uber, to operate in the province.
Nation in Brief
Ontario will open its first cannabis stores on April 1, six months after the federal government legalized the recreational consumption of marijuana, according to Bloomberg. However, as of Friday, only 10 stores received the necessary licenses to open. The most populous city in the country, Toronto, will only have one store open by then.
On Wednesday, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) tabled its secularism bill in an attempt to achieve religious neutrality in the province, according to CBC. The long-awaited bill will ban public workers in positions of authority from wearing any religious symbols. This includes teachers, police officers, crown prosecutors and government lawyers.
A report by the Human Rights Watch indicates that a missing Quebec woman in western Africa was kidnapped and taken to Mali, according to CTV. Edith Blais and her traveling companion have been missing since January. They were travelling from Burkina Faso to Togo to do volunteer work with an aid group when they went missing.
Around 50 people gathered in Regina to call out Canada’s involvement with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), according to the Leader Post. Organizers of the protest condemned NATO for violently imposing Western standards in other countries.
World in Brief
Donald Trump threatened to shut down 3,200 km of the U.S. border if Mexico does not cooperate in halting the flow of illegal immigrants, according to Reuters. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he will not quarrel with Trump, instead opting for welfare handouts to combat poverty.
Theresa May’s Brexit deal was defeated for a third time in Britain’s House of Commons on Friday, according to Reuters. May had pledged to conservative lawmakers on Wednesday that she would leave office if the deal passes.
Slovakia elected its first-ever female president, Zuzana Čaputová, on Saturday, according to Agence France Presse. Čaputová, an environmental lawmaker, won 58.4 per cent of the vote, defeating the many years of populist trend in Slovakia.
Cities across the world turned their lights off on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. to mark Earth Hour, according to the Associated Press. Having started in Sydney, Australia in 2007, Earth Hour has reached 180 countries across the globe to call for greater action against climate change.
Roadmap to Apartheid draws parallels between South African segregation and Israeli occupation
This year’s Israeli Apartheid Week featured the screening of a film about the living conditions of Israeli Palestinians. Roadmap to Apartheid was screened by La Société générale des étudiantes et étudiants du Collège de Maisonneuve (SOGÉÉCOM) and Tadamon!, a Montreal-based association that supports the Middle East and diaspora communities.
According to War On Want, an organization that fights against poverty and for global human rights, Israel controls both the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel itself. The legislation in place favours the Jewish population by allowing them better living conditions in opposition to the Palestinians, whose fundamental rights, such as education, liberty of movement and housing are restricted. Israel commits acts that are prohibited by the UN Apartheid Convention, including “preventing Palestinians from returning to their homes and lands” and “murder, torture, unlawful imprisonment and other severe deprivation of physical liberty, especially of Palestinians living in Gaza,” as mentioned in the Israeli Apartheid Factsheet section on the War On Want website.
Organized by over nine organizations, including two from Concordia and McGill, Israeli Apartheid Week consists of a series of events aimed to educate people on the subject. This year marks the 15th edition of the global event. The week’s ultimate objective is to bring awareness to the environment in Israel and to reinforce the BDS (boycott, divest and sanctions) movement. The BDS movement aims to put an end to the international support of the oppression of Palestinians by targeting Israel’s economy, encouraging government sanctions and ceasing support of Israeli institutions (sports, academic and cultural).
Jérôme Charaoui, a member of Tadamon!, was the host of the event. Tadamon! advocates for Palestinians seeking refuge in Canada. The association is also involved in organizing various protests in Montreal.
During the South African Apartheid, media pressure on the government helped put an end to the country’s discriminatory politics. The reason the issue with Israel is unique, according to Charaoui, is “the actual situation is not internationally recognized as Apartheid.”
During the 90-minute screening, Roadmap to Apartheid showed aspects of the Palestinian-Jewish conflict that are similar to the South African Apartheid. Part of the documentary consisted of a juxtaposition of images from both conflicts to illustrate their similarities.
The documentary discussed the differences in access to resources for Jewish and Palestinian citizens. Jewish people have an abundance of water, whereas Palestinians would go without it for several days, particularly in the summer. It has reached a point where they have resorted to collecting rainwater.
Alice Guindon, a 22-year-old Guijek student, attended the event because she is interested in issues surrounding oppression.
Guindon recommends the documentary because “we have to open our eyes on the issue that is happening there.”
According to Guindon, the situation is “very violent, thus, we must mobilize ourselves all around the world.”
Panelists discuss the future of AI and policies to help it evolve into a tool to serve society
Ensuring that artificial intelligence (AI) technology remains a beneficial tool for society was a serious concern for the panellists at The Future of Law & AI: A Multidisciplinary Panel Event, on March 21.
Concordia’s Law and Society Student Association (LSSA) assembled a group of three tech professionals, as well as a lawyer whose work is intrinsically linked to artificial intelligence. The goal of the conference was to consult guests on their views regarding artificial intelligence in society and what types of policies are needed for ethical and just practices.
AI technology is rapidly being integrated into various IT infrastructures, from those supporting social media, the health-care sector, or the Internet of Things, a field dedicated to the integration of connectivity to non-internet-enabled devices. This is why all panelists agreed that when developing these programs, there must be an adequate effort to anticipate the negative impact they might have. During the conference, the panel was asked whether they believed any specific policies should be implemented to regulate the proper development of AI research or its commercial use.
“Policies relating to process and impact fairness would be incredibly useful,” explained Rahul Mehrotra, a senior program manager at Microsoft Research Montreal, where he teaches machines to think, reason and communicate with humans. Mehrotra said policies are needed in his field, in order to make AI developers liable to answer a few fundamental questions. “This means considering what the process was that you took to actually build your application,” said Mehrotra. “Were you being fair in every step, and what impact do you see it having on society once you’ve built it?”
Mehrotra doesn’t think that formulating these policies will be an easy task. “How would you regulate something that is new and still being developed, not to mention there are so many different ways to approach it,” he said. “How do we expect our policy makers to understand this technology in a truly wholesome way?”
“AI cannot compete creatively,” said Andrée-Anne Perras-Fortin. “It cannot truly create anything original, it simply repeats or imitates something it was fed with.” Photo by Elodie Lima.
The Co-founder of District 3 Innovative Centre, Sydney Swaine-Simon, has his reserves as well. While he wants to prevent any harmful impact deriving from the technologies he helps build, Swaine-Simon worries AI may be too recently developed for policies to be properly formulated and implemented. For now, he said that regulation may stifle the evolution of AI, rather than encourage its desired growth.
Eventually, AI has the potential to evolve into something called “general” or “strong” AI, a much more advanced form of artificial intelligence than the one readily operational as of now. It would likely outperform humans at most cognitive tasks. The form of AI currently available, also known as “weak” AI, is remarkably less advanced. It is designed to perform only narrow tasks such as voice recognition, translation or internet searches.
Panelist Andrée-Anne Perras-Fortin, a lawyer specializing in intellectual property, entertainment and technology law, shared her experience using AI software in her practice. Among other things, AI is applied to run through contracts and identify clauses that may contradict the interests of a client. “AI is incredibly useful to analyze dense amounts of information,” she said. The technology still has its limitations, since the information needs to be fed according to a specific format for the AI to process it properly.
The software Perras-Fortin uses is an application that can predict which verdicts to expect for a case, based on precedents. Unfortunately, according to Perras-Fortin, the results aren’t accurate or substantial enough yet, especially when there aren’t enough prior examples to draw upon. This is due to AI systems’ present inability to apply creative thinking to produce solutions to the problems they are tasked to solve. “The AI cannot compete creatively,” said Perras-Fortin.
AI technology is still in its early stages, and ensuring it remains beneficial to society is a priority, at least for guest speakers at the Future of Law & AI event. This will require balancing opposite approaches to reach a compromising solution. The panel agreed there is a risk of getting carried away by AI’s potential. However, it’s important to consider that people may be denied its benefits, due to misunderstanding and fear. “I think what makes people uncomfortable is the lack of understanding and knowledge about AI. Sometimes it’s justified, other times maybe not so much,” said Helen Poumbouras, LSSA’s vice president of finance. “I think the problem is that AI is still quite early in its developmental stages so creating policy about it would be rather difficult.”
Hundreds of protesters marched against racism and xenophobia
For the third time since November 2017, protesters gathered downtown this Sunday to denounce racism and xenophobia, in Montreal and elsewhere. People at the demonstration criticized the current political context and the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government’s policies, calling them racist and discriminatory.
Safa Chebbi, an antiracist, decolonial activist and spokesperson for the demonstration, said this event sends a clear message against the CAQ’s policies.
“Let’s stay vigilant and united in the face of the provocations of this government, which present a real social danger for our society and let’s walk together today against the racist and xenophobic policies of this government,” said Chebbi, at the beginning of the protest.
Many people at the demonstration expressed their opposition to the CAQ’s immigration plan, Bill 9, also known as the Tinder of immigration, and to the legislation banning religious symbols for government employees.
“We want to demonstrate that we disagree with the CAQ government’s decisions on secularism and we also come in solidarity with the victims in New Zealand,” said Carolane Foata, a protester holding a sign with Quebec Premier François Legault’s picture and the caption “No hope.”
“Yes, there is racism and islamophobia in Quebec and it’s important to unite so that everyone who is racialized feels welcome here,” said Foata.
Midway through the demonstration, the protesters stopped at the intersection of Sherbrooke St. and McGill College Ave., near Legault’s offices, to make speeches aimed at his government.
The urge to recognize the existence of islamophobia in Quebec and to fight it arched back to feminist discourse during the demonstration. Demonstrators expressed their disagreement with the government’s intention to ban religious symbols for all government employees.
“Although this law affects men and women of many religious communities, especially racialized ones, this law will mainly target muslim women because they are vulnerable to islamophobia and gendered [discrimination],” said Marlihan Lopez, vice-president of Fédération des femmes du Québec (FFQ). “It is them who will suffer to a greater extent the impact of these measures for job accessibility.”
When asked what kind of actions they hoped to see from the government, Chebbi emphasized the necessity to take action and to show popular mobilization.
“I think it is time to stop this denial of islamophobia and racism,” said Chebbi. “We categorically refuse the laws that they are proposing. We cannot make populist laws of that kind pass and affect minorities.”
Some people at the demonstration had directly experienced acts of racism and discrimination.
“I am here as an individual, as a Canadian, as Lebanese-Canadian,” said Hend Mady, a Champlain College student wearing the hijab, while holding a Palestinian flag and chanting with other protesters. “I’ve faced racism in the workforce and I have faced racism in school as well by peers and teachers […]. It’s important to participate in the march so that people can understand that racism is real and it affects everyone.”
Participants chanted slogans that claimed the government implemented racist policies, and many chanted against the police, who surrounded the group. Some police officers biked at the front of the protestors, while others walked on either side of the participants.
The demonstration galvanized people from many different backgrounds and organizations. Some protesters felt that the fight against racism is intertwined with other causes they fight for.
“As climate change is getting worse, […] the number of climate refugees is just going to go up and up and up, which is also going to lead to harsher immigration laws and more racism,” said Alison Gu, a demonstrator.
Members of different social movements took part in the event to show their solidarity with victims of racism and discrimination. Chants to free Palestine were heard throughout the march, with some protesters carrying Palestinian flags and maps. Socialist Fightback, the Canadian section of the International Marxist Tendency, said racism is deeply connected with the cause they are fighting for.
“Racism as we know it today, at least, would not exist without capitalism, it arose very much as a form of class exploitation and continues to be so to this day,” said Finnegan Arthur, a member of Socialist Fightback. “If we want to end racism for good, as we understand it as a form of systemic oppression, then capitalism needs to go as well.”
Members of three slates debate student apathy, sexual assault
Sustainability, sexual violence and student engagement were the main themes of the night as candidates for the Concordia Student Union’s (CSU) general elections participated in a debate on Monday.
Candidates squared off in front of an audience of about 60 students in the Hall building’s seventh-floor lounge. Candidates for each position took the floor alongside their opponents to answer pre-submitted questions and those from the audience.
“What do we stand for? It’s in the name,” said Chris Kalafatidis, the general coordinator candidate for the slate Cut the Crap. “But most of all, we want to clean the bathrooms.” Kalafatidis is a fourth-year political science student, CSU councillor and the president of the Political Science Students Association. He emphasized sustainability, saying it was “the one issue every student is affected by.”
Kalafatidis’s opponent, Margot Berner, stressed the need to combat sexual violence and hold the administration accountable in light of Concordia’s sexual violence scandal. “We have to be able to hold our administration accountable past the end of the year,” said Berner, who represents the slate riZe. A third-year English student and CSU councillor, Berner helped redesign the Arts and Science Federation of Associations’ (ASFA) anti-harassment and sexual violence policy last fall. She also pledged to bring international students into the CSU’s health plan.
Members of the third slate, New Community, faced tough questions about their connections to the Solidarity Economy Incubation Zone (SEIZE). SEIZE is a Concordia-based group whose goal is to support local businesses that operate in the solidarity economy. This semester, their proposed fee levy referendum was rejected twice by the CSU’s council. Now, New Community, whose candidate for general coordinator, Marcus Peters, is also the project leader of SEIZE, has made the group a key part of its platform.
Political science student and former CSU councillor Alex Karasick asked if the slate’s intention was to promote SEIZE’s agenda, despite being rejected by council twice. Although SEIZE was a key part of their platform, external affairs candidate for New Community, Jessica Avalos Salas responded that the resources New Community was promising to provide would be accessible to all students.
Candidates also addressed the issue of student awareness of the CSU. “I think it’s pretty sad when Concordia Spotted has more likes on Facebook than the CSU,” said Kalafatidis. Peters said the key to promoting engagement is to appeal to the diverse interests of the student body.
Only CSU councillor Jane Lefebvre-Prevost ran independently, under the banner “No More Slates.” In her pitch for academic and advocacy coordinator, the fourth-year women’s studies student emphasized the need to support low-income students. She said that when she first became a Concordia student, she relied on food banks. “When you’re putting this much into your studies [as a low-income student] and you’re barely even making even, why even try?,” she asked. If elected, Lefebvre-Prevost said she would advocate for a subsidized tutoring program.
Monday also marked the first day of the campaign period, which will continue until April 1. Polling takes place between April 2 and April 4.
Campus bike shop keeps the wheels turning for NDG cyclists
The Physical Services Building, or PS building, seems like any other Loyola building. Located at the back of the campus in the middle of a parking lot, the building hides an interesting room, one urban cyclists would refer to as a bicycle paradise.
Stacked with handlebars, pedals, wheelsets and bike frames, PS-141 is home to Le Petit Vélo Rouge, a non-profit bike shop opened in 2010 by Concordia students. Their goal was to build bikes out of used parts and sell them to people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford one.
“A bike can totally change someone’s life,” said Noah Sadaka, a volunteer at Le Petit Vélo Rouge. “When you’re not dependent on paying over $100 a month for STM passes, it’s a huge gain.”
“I used to live in Toronto, where the metro passes are much more expensive than in Montreal, so I decided to start biking,” said Sam Little, another volunteer at Le Petit Vélo Rouge. “That’s how I started learning to fix them, and my knowledge of bike mechanics grew from here.”
Before it was occupied by Le Petit Vélo Rouge, PS-141 was Concordia’s storage space for bikes that were left unattended for over six months. Eventually, if unclaimed, the bikes were given to charity. Le Petit Vélo Rouge used these bikes to start this student-run organization.
The room that now houses Le Petit Vélo Rouge used to be a storage space for abandoned bikes. Photo by Jad Abukasm.
The bike coop’s current goal is to promote cycling and sustainable culture in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG) community. In fact, other than disposable parts such as brake pads and chains, all parts are recycled from old bikes.
Le Petit Vélo Rouge accepts volunteers from all cycling backgrounds. Being an expert in bike mechanics is not a requirement. In fact, most of the volunteers learned most of their repairing skills in the shop.
“Another part of our mission is having people improve their cycling skills and empower them to be able to repair their own bikes so that they don’t have to pay a bike shop,” said Sadaka. Inside the shop are five bike repair stands. Sadaka and Little say they are always in use during the summer by cyclists fixing their bikes.
“Last year, we even had people in the hallway tuning their bikes,” said Sadaka.
While the shop might be full in the summer, that’s not the case during the winter. In fact, having more than five customers a week is rare this time of year. Instead, volunteers focus on building bikes to sell when the temperature heats up. Last year, Le Petit Vélo Rouge was so popular among NDG residents that it did not need to ask for funding from Concordia associations such as Sustainable Concordia and the Concordia Student Union to stay open. This was a first in the shop’s history.
“We got to a level where we made enough money solely by selling bikes that we no longer needed to apply for grants,” said Sadaka.
Volunteers at Le Petit Vélo Rouge are not alone in making biking affordable for all. Bernard Blouin, a 63-year-old bike commuter who conducts research on alternative medicine in his free time, is currently working on home-made winter tires. He is a year-round regular at the shop.
“These kinds of tires cost around $200 and can really make a difference in winter,” said Blouin. “My goal is to start selling them to students at around $70 for them to be safer during winter.”
“If you can make enough for next winter at such a low price, we might consider selling them,” said Sadaka, teasing Blouin.
The shop has been supportive of Blouin’s idea by supplying him with the proper materials. These kinds of tires are equipped with metal spokes to properly adhere on icy roads.
Blouin has been building recycled bikes for more than five years now. Finding a shop with all the right tools was a gem, according to the cyclist.
“Bike tools are really expensive and really only have one utility,” said Blouin. “It’s really helpful to have such a privileged access to them.”
Sadaka and Little hope the shop will keep self-sustaining and helping the biking community in NDG grow. In the meantime, Le Petit Vélo Rouge will keep passing on its passion, one bike at a time.
The Journalism Student Association (JSA) held a one-week strike against unpaid internships in solidarity with over 40,000 students and interns across Quebec.
The strike, which occurred from March 18 to 22, offered activities and workshops organized by the Journalism Student Strike Committee. During the strike, students were asked not to attend classes or hand in assignments, and not to cross picket lines.
Journalism students Miriam Lafontaine, Erika Morris and Jon Milton presented a strike motion at a January general assembly, which was approved. Sandrine Boisjoli, an education student from UQAM, helped students on the strike committee organize the strike.
“The biggest thing is that we want to get as many students together to put pressure on the provincial government to change our laws around internships,” said Lafontaine.
The students who participated in this strike fought for their right to get paid for their work. “We are doing valuable work. We are contributing something valuable to the community and that merits some form of compensation,” said Lafontaine.
Morris said she can’t take an unpaid internship because she cannot afford it. “I can’t juggle being a full-time student with my work and another job and an unpaid internship—it’s too much,” she said. “An internship is a valuable experience that everyone should have access to.”
Lafontaine argued there are interns doing unpaid internships who end up having the same responsibilities as an employee. “Those cases really blur the line between what is work and what is study,” explained Lafontaine.
Another issue raised by Boisjoli was how existing paid internships are mostly found in male-dominated work fields, such as engineering. “These people usually get paid internships that are well paid. Whereas, in more female-dominated jobs, interns have no remuneration or compensation,” she said. “We ask for the same equity […], to be paid and protected in our fields. This will help valorise our profession.”
On March 20, over 100 students from different universities and faculties gathered at Place Émilie-Gamelin to march against unpaid internships.
“I’m here today out of solidarity for people, such as minorities and women, who are most impacted by unpaid internships—people who can’t afford and who are not in a privileged position to take an unpaid internship,” said Caitlin Yardley, a Concordia journalism student.
According to Yardley, job security is another reason she participated in the protest. “As newsrooms are being impacted, there is no secret that they are hiring [unpaid] interns to do paid work. As a journalist that wants to secure a job in the future, we can’t let this trend continue,” she said.
Yardley said working 40 unpaid hours a week should be illegal. “I think that should be completely stopped,” she said. “If we can implement a mandatory wage for interns or a mandatory hour cap, that would make things a lot more equitable.”
Holding a “B**ch better have my money!” sign high and proud was the Concordia Student Union’s Finance Coordinator, John Hutton. “I am here because work is work and work should be paid—it’s as simple as that,” said Hutton. “Labour rights is student rights, it’s human rights, and it’s also a women’s rights issue.”
John Hutton, financial coordinator at the Concordia Student Union, proudly holding his sign during this week’s protest. Photo by Hannah Ewen.
According to Hutton, a lot of businesses have realized there is a constant flow of internship opportunities every year, so they have eliminated real jobs, which are then filled with internship positions. “It’s not just exploiting students, it’s also dragging down wages all across the workforce,” said Hutton.
Hutton hopes the provincial government changes the labour code for all internships to be paid. He would also like Concordia to change their policies. “Departments that require their internships to be unpaid for credit should have that [policy] removed so everyone has the chance to take paid internships and get credit for them too,” he said.
In the crowd, two social work students from L’Université de Montréal (UdeM) held a sign initialized “AÉSSUM en grève,” which translates to: “Social Work Association of UdeM on strike.” “For myself, and on behalf of the AÉSSUM, we would like to position ourselves concerning a blatant injustice: why are people from the social work field not being paid the same way as people who have a bachelors in engineering?,” said Laurence Blanchard, a social work student at UdeM. “We also deserve to be paid for the work that we do because it is work,” she added.
From left: Laurence Blanchard and Laurence-Anne Bertoldi marching for their rights as social care workers to get paid during internships. Photo by Sandra Hercegova.
Blanchard’s classmate, Anne-Laurence Bertoldi, said this is also a feminist battle, “because we notice that a lot of the female-dominated jobs are not paying their interns,” she said.
According to Blanchard, within their social work program at UdeM, students are required to complete 750 hours of training through unpaid internships. “If you are not certified to have achieved these hours of training, you cannot practice as a social worker,” explained Blanchard. “Then we are told that these internships are volunteer placements but they are work placements,” she said.
Blanchard said that the majority of employers in their field support this movement. “What we want to say to the government is to wake up. We all work but it does not mean that, because we are in the field of social care, that we are less important. The government needs to adjust its priorities.”
