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Protesters Gather to Support Egyptian Families Seeking Asylum

Protesters rally outside the Prime Minister’s constituency office to voice their displeasure regarding the refusal of five Egyptian families seeking asylum in Canada

Across Canada several groups protested Vancouver’s Canadian Border Service Agency’s (CBSA) refusal to grant five Muslim Egyptian families refugee status in Canada, due to allegations that they were associated with a political party connected to the Muslim Brotherhood.

 Dozens of people protested outside Justin Trudeau’s constituency office in Montreal on Jan. 29, along with groups in Vancouver, Toronto, and Ottawa, to voice their opposition of the CBSA in Vancouver for placing these families in a precarious situation, especially if deported back to Egypt.

In 2017, CBSA officers in Vancouver terminated the process of an Egyptian seeking asylum. Though he filed a refugee claim stating he was a member of the Freedom and Justice Party during the 2011 revolution in Egypt, he was deemed inadmissible due to the political party’s association with the Muslim Brotherhood despite the group not being listed under Canada’s list of terrorist entities. The Muslim Brotherhood had a following of over 2 million people and were one of the biggest oppositions to the Egyptian government in 2011.

 Mohamed Kamel, one of the organizers of the event, said all CBSA offices but one accepted refugees with the same allegations. 

“How can CBSA [in] Vancouver decide to take actions on their own? This is something nobody can understand!” Kamel said.

“We have hundreds of people who have been accepted. Only the CBSA office in Vancouver decided to favour the claim of the Egyptian government.”  

 According to protesters, CBSA in Vancouver has not provided any proof to support the allegations towards the individuals, and rather, refused admissibility based on the alleged association with the Muslim Brotherhood. Though two families have gone public, none of the five families knew each other before the refusal from the agency.

 Protesters and family members are now alleging CBSA Vancouver was acting in bias and islamophobic way, in a press release, stating that “the CBSA’s evidence is sourced from the current Government of Egypt, and right-wing institutions that have exhibited a patterned anti-Arab and Islamophobic bias.”

 “We now fear the actions of the CBSA could have the same impact and build on Islamophobia […] as a part of a government agency doing what they’ve done — they’re creating a new level of systemic discrimination,” Kamel said.

The protest coincided with the five-year anniversary of the Quebec City mosque shooting. They want the Minister of Public Safety to intervene in not only helping the refused families but to also recognize the racism and Islamophobia within the CBSA. 

“That’s why we’re here today, to call on the minister to take action. He just has to issue the CBSA to follow the Canadian government terrorism list,” said Kamel.

 

Photo by Gabriel Guindi

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BREAKING NEWS: Concordia approves fall reading week

The week-long break will be implemented in fall term of 2023

The newly-approved fall reading week break is scheduled to happen each year in the second week of October, during the same week as the Thanksgiving holiday, according to Isaiah Joyner, student senator and general coordinator of the Concordia Student Union (CSU).

The two-year delay to implement the break is due to the adjustments that will need to be made to the fall academic semester schedule. As a result of the break, the fall term will be shortened to a 12-week academic term, instead of the current 13-week academic term.

This change will mean the winter and fall semesters will both have a week-long break, and an equal amount of academic weeks.

Passed with overwhelming support by senate members on March 19, Joyner explained the initiative took three years of student-led work, calling it a ‘generational’ project.

Former Advocacy and Academic Coordinator Sarah Mazhero presented the motion to implement fall reading week during her mandate as senator in 2018-2019. In 2019, a majority 86.6 per cent of students voted in favour of the CSU referendum question, which proposed enacting the week-long break.

Joyner said the success of the initiative was not possible without the support from students, stating, “Students voted overwhelmingly in support, which is what supplied pressure to make this happen.”

Following the voting results and Mazhero’s initiative in the senate, an ad hoc committee was created to carry out the proposition. Joyner, who was a member in the committee, said they “continued to work with the administration to make this a reality.”

Initially, second-year Journalism student Maria Bouabdo did not support the fall break in the referendum, because it was unclear about what the new semester with the break would look like. “The [referendum] question didn’t say whether the semester would go longer or shorter because of the break,” said Bouabdo.

Now that it has been approved, Bouabdo says she supports the initiative, explaining “We need a break during the middle of the semester when everything’s intense during midterms and [with] assignments.”

Her only concern was what having a shorter academic semester would mean for students — whether the material would be condensed and students would have more work, or whether the extra weeks’ worth of course plans would be cancelled altogether.

These are questions that will be presented and worked on in the upcoming months. Going forward, Joyner explained that “Administration would work with staff and faculty to begin seeing how to make the shift, but students will remain involved in the process in some way.”

 

Logo courtesy of the Concordia Student Union (CSU)

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Breaking News: Premier Franḉois Legault announces Montreal is now in “red zone”

With 797 new cases confirmed on Saturday, the city goes into high alert

 

Montreal, Quebec City and Chaudière-Appalaches have been placed in the “red zone,”  the highest-risk zone for COVID-19. New restrictions will be put into place as soon as Thursday September 30, and will last until October 28. Restrictions are subject to be extended if necessary.

Legault announced this change only a week after placing these high-risk areas in the orange zone, the second-highest alert level.

“The situation has become critical, the number of cases are rising. If we don’t want our hospitals to be submerged, if we want to limit the number of debts, we must act strongly now,” the premier said.

The new restrictions are as follows:

  • Dining rooms and patios in restaurants will be closed.
  • Theatres, cinemas, and other similar public places will be closed.
  • In red zones, places of worship will be open, but only 25 people will be allowed inside at any given time.
  • Social distancing measures will be enforced when outside. When within two meters of other people, masks must be worn.

These measures hope to slow down the second wave, and allow schools, workplaces and our health care system to stay afloat for as long as possible.

Hospitals appear to be feeling this second wave, with 37 people already in intensive care units due to the vicious virus.

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Concordia’s fall semester is moving online

Concordia will be following the lead of universities across the country

Concordia University has officially announced the upcoming fall semester will be almost entirely online.

In an official statement made this afternoon, the administration said the decision was based on public health recommendations regarding social distancing, and that an online semester is the “responsible choice.”

Some exceptions will be made for courses that require hands-on learning, such as studio work, biology labs, and research labs. Concordia students involved with courses that are deemed an exception should expect big changes to how the courses will be taught in person. 

The administration said the in-person classes will be taught with “fewer participants than usual, attending on a rotating basis.” More details regarding which other classes will remain on campus are still to come.

Students that are unable or uncomfortable attending in-person classes will be provided an online option for in-person classes. 

Student access to campus life will also be affected, with all campus libraries closing during the fall. Online access to the library collections and research assistance will continue to be available.

Concordia’s announcement comes the same week as McGill’s announcement to move classes online.

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