Tag: COVID-19

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News

Owning a music venue through the pandemic

An interview with Austin Wrinch of the Diving Bell Social Club

At 3956 Saint Laurent Blvd., behind a black door covered in graffiti, and three stories up a single flight of stairs is the Diving Bell Social Club. The venue opened in 2018 in a space previously occupied by the once-popular Champs sports bar.

Since their opening, the Diving Bell has acted as a multimedia performance venue, hosting concerts, stand-up comedy and drag shows.

However, the club has been closed since early March 2020, when the owners chose to close the venue in response to the then-burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic, not long before government regulations forced all venues to close. 

Diving Bell Social Club is under renovation.

Austin Wrinch is the co-owner and manager of the Diving Bell.

“We actually decided ourselves to kind of close before [the government] had fully mandated it. Basically, we’re an event space and a bar. So our activity, what we do at the space, is very much dictated by the community around us,” said Wrinch.

“At that point, we were saying, [we’d be closed] ‘til the end of the month of March 2020, which is kind of funny in retrospect.”

It’s disappointing that the Diving Bell has had to close for so long when 2020 was looking like it could be their best year yet.

“January and half of February was definitely a good time. It’s weird thinking back now … My memories of those shows don’t include any sort of COVID fear. It kind of set in like, two weeks later [that] it was just here to stay,” said Wrinch.

“If we were not hitting a stride, I would feel less confident about all this time passing and opening up again … If it wasn’t for COVID, 2020 was looking like it was going to be the best year ever for us. But it will again.”

The venue has stayed afloat thanks to rental subsidies and loans that have been made available to small businesses. Some emergency loans have been made available for small businesses, but they depend on a variety of criteria such as revenue. Some loans are interest-free while others have small amounts of interest. All of them are outlined under Canada’s COVID-19 response plan.

But, in the world of the pandemic, those loans don’t guarantee that you’ll be able to keep your business open.

“Yeah, you can get access to $20,000 or something for your business as a loan. [But] you know you have to start paying that back at a certain point, and then there’s interest after a certain point,” said Wrinch.

“When your business has been closed and it’s still unclear how long it’s going to be before you can actually be generating money with that business, it’s actually kind of nerve-racking, using more loan money, because that’s not your money. It’s all going to be paid back eventually.”

The staff at the Diving Bell hasn’t remained completely out of work.

“We had a lot of time to do a lot of things that we’ve always wanted to do in the space,” Wrinch said.

The team has been doing some renovations during its closure, which is great but can be very tricky to do when you have no idea when your business may be open again.

“It’s been definitely very tough the last year, just with the uncertainty and everything, and it’s by no means over,” said Wrinch

“We didn’t do crazy renovations, we did them all ourselves … We had to be very, very cautious on not spending too much money.”

Wrinch says the space has also been used by artists to do live streams and hybrid performances, as a way of making sure it gets some use during the pandemic. 

As restrictions are gradually being lifted, theatres and larger venues were able to open on March 26, 2021. But because the Diving Bell is also a bar and a smaller standing room venue, it will be remaining closed.

Even when restrictions are lifted, the team at the Diving Bell won’t be desperate to open up if they don’t feel it’s safe. “We would definitely stay closed if we didn’t feel like it was a good idea,” said Wrinch.

But even if the space was to reopen, their business revolves around the artists who perform there. In the summer when restrictions were more relaxed, it was difficult to get people to come out and perform.

“The general response was ‘yeah, I’m definitely down. But I want to wait and see some other shows go first, to kind of gauge the vibe and make sure that it’s not pushing it.’ You don’t want it to feel irresponsible.”

Wrinch is confident the Diving Bell will be able to reopen but isn’t sure it will be happening anytime soon.

“It’s been definitely very tough the last year, just with the uncertainty and everything, and it’s by no means over,” said Wrinch

“People have been good with supporting local businesses, restaurants and stuff. But, I think that really when it comes down to reopening live performance halls in safe ways, it’s obvious [that] it’s going to come down to people showing the actual support, going and contributing to those communities, if they want them to survive,” Wrinch continued.

The Diving Bell Social Club will be back to hosting concerts of all kinds — as soon as it’s safe — at 3956 Saint Laurent Blvd., way up the stairs.

 

Photos by Kit Mergaert

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News

#refund2020: a student-led battle against Concordia’s tuition fees

 Over 100 students have signed the #refund2020 petition, aiming for economic and academic justice at the university

A new student campaign called #refund2020 was launched on March 21, demanding a full refund of summer and fall 2020 tuition fees to all Concordia students.

The movement is based on students who are feeling dissatisfied with paying full tuition fees for an allegedly inferior quality of remote education, as well as limited access to on-campus activities and services.  

Ace Baldwin is the founder of Economic Justice Concordia, a student group seeking to “break down financial and economic barriers to wellness for Concordia students.” Besides tuition-related demands, which also include a detailed report of Concordia’s expenditures in 2020, Baldwin’s campaign advocates for prioritizing student health on campus.

Nathalie Heller, co-organizer of #refund2020, says that it can take up to several months to schedule a mental health appointment at the university, even if a student only wishes to have a brief conversation with a specialist.

As an international student currently living in Colombia, Heller also believes that non-Canadian citizens are at a disadvantage when it comes to health coverage at Concordia.

“My health care plan would be over $1,000 this semester, yet Quebec’s Blue Cross insurance can’t [always] be extended to other countries. I can’t even negotiate my coverage abroad, so it feels unfair since I had already paid for this service in the past,” she explained.

The campaign also wants to provide the Pass/Fail and DISC options to every student, this time for an unlimited number of courses taken in the summer and fall of 2020. As of now, Concordia students are allowed to apply the Pass notation to just one course in the fall 2020 and winter 2021 semesters.

The platform also aims to eliminate all proctored exams at the university and to bring back course evaluations, which would allow students to provide honest feedback for their professors.

While #refund2020 has collected over 130 signatures on its official website, the campaign is determined to take further action.

On April 10, Economic Justice Concordia will host an on-campus rally in collaboration with students from McGill University, according to Baldwin. Further details should be announced closer to the date of the protest.

“We are serious about this. It’s a joint effort to show our administration and the Quebec government that this is a pressing issue,” said Baldwin.

#refund2020 also organized a tuition action night, which is set to take place on March 30 at 7 p.m. over Zoom. The event will be hosted by Nora Loreto, a writer and activist specializing in social movement organization, especially for labour unions, women, and students.

“We will discuss how collective action works — and also how it looks — because there’s often a disconnect between the two concepts … Despite living through a difficult period right now, the pandemic is actually a very fertile moment for political action,” Loreto explained.

The activist wants to inform Concordia students on how to organize general assemblies and have a detailed action plan, since movements such as the 2012 Quebec student protests have proven to be effective.

As of now, #refund2020 has not received an official response from Concordia’s administration.

However, Baldwin remains hopeful that their campaign will soon reach an agreement with the university, with both parties approaching this situation as allies rather than opponents.

 

Logo courtesy of #refund2020

 

Economic Justice Concordia changed the date of their on campus rally to April 10. A previous version of the article said the rally was on April 3.

Categories
News

Thousands of Montrealers gather to protest violence against the Asian community

One of the protest’s organizers tells us how we can show continued support

Calls to “Stop Asian hate!” echoed through the streets of Montreal on Sunday, when thousands marched to protest anti-Asian hate crimes and to show their support for the Asian community in Quebec and abroad. The protesters marched from Cabot Square to Chinatown, shouting call and response chants.

Store owners along Saint-Catherine Street stood outside their businesses taking photos and cheering on the protestors as they made their way towards Chinatown. The protest ended with a vigil for the six Asian women murdered in Atlanta last week.

Violence towards the Asian community has increased rapidly since the beginning of the pandemic. British Columbia Premier John Horgan recently announced that the Vancouver Police Department has reported a 717 per cent increase in hate crimes against Asian-Canadians since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Protestors walking downtown.

One of the protest’s organizers, a member of Progressive Chinese of Quebec (PCQ) and Groupe d’entraide contre le racisme envers les Asiatiques du Québec (GECREAQ) spoke to The Concordian about the backwards sentiment behind these attacks. The individual wishes to keep their identity private.

“We are being scapegoated for a virus that’s a consequence of climate change, which is a consequence of our capitalist world.” They said that on top of struggling to adjust to life during COVID-19, “We are also feeling anxious to go into work or walk down the street, because getting attacked in broad daylight is becoming more common.”

“Even while we are born here, raise our families here, pay taxes and work here, we are not considered Canadian. We are subjugated to being seen as a ‘forever foreigner.’ When Canadians tell us to go back to where we came from, as if that same sentiment doesn’t apply to them, it’s to remind us that we do not belong here,” said the representative.

Chao Hua, a third-year international student at Concordia, found out about the protest “last minute,” but knew he needed to show his support. Speaking from the heat of the downtown protest, he argued that “You cannot just put your hatred on Asians, on us. We are not your scapegoat.” He pointed to his sign, which read those same words.

“Killing Asians, beating up the Asians, it’s not going to stop the virus. Everybody must work together. If all races, all ethnicities, all countries work together, we can beat up this virus. That’s the only way out.”

Onnie, another protestor, said that she feels sickened, not only by the violence directed towards the Asian community, but also by major media’s willingness to ignore the pervasiveness of the issue.

On the recent hate crimes, she said “They’re willing to put in the effort and energy to go into the fucking profile of a murderer, but not the grand profile of how this reflects on everyone else and our complicitness with the situation.”

Protestors laid flowers to honour those killed in the Atlanta shooting.

As the PCQ and GECREAQ representative stated, “It’s no secret that anti-racist work requires a lifetime

commitment.” To show support in the short term, they said to “Contact your representatives about denouncing the racist laws in this province, for instance loi 21; to continue standing with [the BIPOC community] against their racist relative(s); to ensure that the spaces, especially work spaces, are safe for their BIPOC friends and coworkers, especially women and gender minorities.”

However, in order to see real, actualized change, the PCQ and GECREAQ representative says we must recognize the root of the issue: colonialism, imperialism and capitalism.

“In the long term above all, keep learning about how prevalent racism is in our everyday lives and how it operates as such a fundamental gear in this capitalist machine we are all in.”

To the Asian community in Montreal and abroad, they give an important message.

“While we mourn for those who’ve lost their lives and who’ve been physically assaulted, it’s a great time to remind ourselves that we can’t feel disenfranchised. We have every right to exist. We have every right to be here. We are allowed to take up space and stand together against the colonial enemy.”

Photos by Christine Beaudoin

Categories
Student Life

Canada’s costly new mandatory quarantine unfairly punishes international students

Canada’s latest travel restrictions will incur exorbitant costs for those with student visas

Following a slew of winter vacationers to the Caribbean and Mexico, new regulations for passengers entering Canada have been enforced in an effort to discourage non-essential travel.

In effect since Jan. 30, the new restrictions include a suspension of flights to some sunny destinations enforced through April 30, as well mandatory COVID PCR testing at airports for returning travellers. But most notably, mandatory three-day quarantines at government-approved hotels, with packages that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says could cost upwards of $2,000 per returning passenger, have been the subject of complaint.

Among the chatter from Canadian vacationers who have expressed disdain for the new regulations, international students have begun to voice concerns about the financial and logistical impacts these travel restrictions will bear on their plans to return to Canada.

In multiple public posts to Concordia University’s subreddit, international students wonder whether those with student visas may be exempt. One user commented, “[$2,000] equals the tuition of a whole semester for a Quebec resident at Concordia. If they would [implement] this, why [issue] new study permits to international students?”

Currently, Concordia’s website lists international student tuition fees as ranging between $21,720 to $28,995 for one academic year. Given that Canadian citizens were responsible for the majority of non-essential travel that inspired these restrictions, legitimate concerns are being raised over the inequities in its effects on international students.

Conversely, since Canadian universities such as Concordia stand to profit broadly from international tuition fees (specifically nearly $6 billion in annual revenue for Canadian universities and nearly $22 billion in expanded economic contributions), candid discussions around the equitable handling of returning international students must be had.

In another Reddit post, one anonymous student remarked, “Concordia has definitely failed us, especially international students as they said last year that we could all go home and that they would adjust consequently…” Concordia and universities across Canada did, in fact, reassure international students flexibility as they collectively navigated distance learning in the pandemic.

However, the latest Canadian travel measures do not exempt international students from the $2,000 mandatory quarantine, which is evidence of universities’ negligence in advocating for their international students.

It is important to note that international students are not asking to break public health guidelines. Rather, given that international students are ineligible for emergency financial support like the Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB) or the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), the costly mandatory quarantines exacerbate the already exorbitant costs they face. One anonymous student remarked, “That’s crazy. That’s the equivalent of four months of my rent.” Currently, robust measures to provide equitable travel guidelines for international students are still needed.

Concordia’s international students information page touts Montreal as the “best student city in North America.” With Canada’s failure to consider the unfair impacts on returning international students, Concordia’s claim that Montreal is an “affordable, student-friendly city” appears to leave out international students amidst a global pandemic.

 

Feature graphic by @the.beta.lab

Categories
Sports

Tennis players still can’t play in red zones

Despite the resumption of many activities, tennis is still not allowed to take place in the Greater Montreal area

With vaccinations for COVID-19 accelerating and the spring season coming up, Quebec is allowing more and more activities to resume, depending on your location. However, despite having shopping malls, cinemas and museums open, many sports like tennis are still prohibited in the Greater Montreal area.

This has frustrated sports centres such as Tennis 13 in Laval, which keeps posting videos on Facebook about how safe and healthy tennis is for people. They also shared a photo that compares the number of people in some places currently open, versus the number of people that would be allowed in a sports centre like theirs.

Before the curfew was put into place, people could play tennis, badminton and some other indoor, individual sports in Montreal. We haven’t been given clear reasons as to why these activities have been prohibited since the curfew’s creation, which is frustrating since they could be taking place safely in the daytime.

Many people are currently worrying about childrens’ health; their favourite sport often represents everything to them. Some school-related sports recently restarted for those in orange zones, but for people in the Greater Montreal area, it might just be too late when we decide to reopen sports centres and allow back some activities.

People who hoped to have their favourite winter sports back, like hockey, have probably already thrown in the towel due to the time of the year we find ourselves in. Fortunately, as spring is coming up, sports like tennis can be played outside shortly.

 

Graphic by Rose-Marie Dion

Categories
News

Texas lifts all COVID restrictions, causing outrage from the Biden administration

Mask-wearing and gathering limits will no longer be enforced by state law

Texas Governor Greg Abbott lifted the statewide mask mandate and allowed all businesses to operate at 100 per cent capacity on March 10, while only one-tenth of Texans have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Texans are still encouraged to follow all of the necessary health guidelines, including social distancing and wearing a mask in indoor spaces. However, Gov. Abbott explained that his people “no longer need government running their lives.”

U.S. President Joe Biden called the governor’s decision “Neanderthal thinking” on March 3,  claiming that such measures are the last thing Americans need at this stage of the pandemic. This situation threatens Biden’s plan to have all Americans wearing a mask for the first 100 days of his presidency.

Mass sporting events and music concerts are also allowed to take place in Texas and may welcome over 10,000 spectators.

Despite receiving a green light from the state government, however, American businesses decided to further protect Texas residents from the spread of COVID-19.

Companies including Target, Best Buy, Toyota, and Macy’s will continue to require all of their employees and customers to wear a mask on their premises. The majority of retail stores, supermarkets, and pharmacies will not be cancelling their COVID policies across the state.

Gov. Abbott’s statewide changes have led to a political clash, as the Republican governor was met with resistance from Democrat mayors of Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin.

As the cities’ leaders have the authority to implement COVID restrictions on a local level, social distancing and mask-wearing will still be required in all municipal buildings including libraries and convention centres, as well as public transportation.

“We think that masking is so important. The doctors and the data all indicate that,” said Steve Adler, the mayor of Austin. “We’re going to stay on that course as long as we can. […] Now is not the time to take a risk.”

U.S. health officials have warned against lifting such restrictions, emphasizing the highly contagious variants and the lack of vaccination in the state. Despite the recent drop in daily coronavirus cases, Gov. Abbott’s decision directly goes against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines.

Houston became the first American city to record all the dangerous types of COVID strains, while Texas — a state of 29 million people — currently ranks 47th out of the 50 states in terms of per capita vaccine distribution.

As mask-wearing turns into a Republican-versus-Democrat debate rather than a health precaution, a political divide is inevitable on Texas’ path towards defeating COVID-19.

O Canada… Whose home and native land?

Canada is finally breaking the silence around anti-Asian racism

Ever since I’ve been old enough to recognize patterns of race and gender-based discrimination in society, my mother has denied being a victim of either of those things.

My Taiwanese mother immigrated here over 20 years ago. Single-handedly, after only a few years of living here, she had bought a house and started taking French classes offered by the Quebec government’s immigrant integration services — the fourth language she would be learning after Hokkien, Mandarin, and English.

I’ve witnessed her being talked down to by bureaucrats at government offices and had countless store employees turn to face me to answer a question she had asked, sometimes with a look on their face that was asking me to relate to their deliberate misunderstanding of her Chinese accent. As a teenager, I remember looking at my sister as we drove past someone who had just yelled out a racial slur and commented on our mom’s driving. I’ve never rolled up my window so fast. To this day, I’m still glad she didn’t hear it.

And yet, despite all this, my mom is probably the person I know who is the most optimistic about the social climate of Canada; she’s never let her optimism and gratitude towards the country be clouded by microaggressions and negativity.

I was on exchange in Singapore when COVID first hit, when the western world was busy making coronavirus memes instead of planning ahead for an inevitable pandemic. And one day, on a WhatsApp call with my mom, as I was telling her I was okay and was monitoring my temperature every day, she told me she didn’t want to go out too much because there were increasing reports of anti-Chinese violence in Chinatown. She told me there was a lot of racism around Montreal those days.

To say the least, that made me terrified.

East Asians are often dubbed the “model minority”: they have the benefit of a skin tone fairer than other ethnicities’. Some have even said they don’t fall into the “people of colour” category.

And the stereotypes associated with being East Asian, including academic excellence, obedience, bring really good at martial arts, and eating dogs are frankly not as harmful as being associated with inherent violence, terrorism, and drug addiction.

They also experience discrimination to a lesser degree than other visible minorities; Chinese people in Canada only earn 91 cents for every dollar a white person makes, which is far higher than for, say, Black people, for whom this number is 73 cents.

Yet, the model minority attribution becomes especially toxic when it comes as an excuse to dismiss anti-Asian racism on the belief that Asian people don’t stand up for themselves or fight back. It takes advantage of Asian stereotypes being associated with silence and endurance to double down on bullying, microaggressions, theft, and violence.

In my view, this is why we never heard about anti-Asian hate crimes until the numbers shot up by over 700 per cent in the past year, like the Vancouver Police Department has reported. In Canada alone, community-based groups have reported over 600 cases of racial aggression against Asian people since the start of the spread of COVID-19. In the first four months of 2020, 95 per cent of reported incidents happened in March and April, as the country entered lockdown.

Our generation is pretty good at recognizing and calling out discrimination when we see it, and especially taking a stand against it. But the state of anti-Asian racism in Canada has gotten so bad that even my mother, who has always had so much faith in this country, has noticed and become apprehensive because of it. For a second-generation immigrant, it’s almost worse than seeing your mom cry.

 

Graphic by Taylor Reddam

Montreal will push Canada to collect race-based COVID-19 data

Marginalized communities face some of the highest COVID-19 infection rates

Montreal city council voted on Feb. 23 to push the federal and provincial governments to collect and publish race-based COVID-19 data, which would entail registering ethnic and socioeconomic information from those who have tested positive for the virus.

Minority communities have faced increasingly higher COVID-19 case numbers across Canada, according to studies cited in the motion. The goal of the initiative is to better understand systemic disparities in marginalized communities and to develop effective health measures to address social inequalities.

Developed in cooperation with the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR), the successful motion was proposed by Marvin Rotrand, independent city councillor for the district of Snowdon.

This initiative would be the first of its kind in the country, and for co-author of the motion and researcher at CRARR, Kathryn Nicassio, a necessary step to address inequalities among vulnerable communities.

“These groups tend to be racialized groups, people who are poor, or struggling in other ways,” said Nicassio.

In Montreal, Nicassio cites disproportionate COVID-19 infection rates in largely racialized communities, such as the Côte-des-Neiges and Ahuntsic boroughs, that have seen over 9,000 and 8,000 cases respectively. Comparatively, the affluent suburb of Westmount, with fewer racialized groups, saw just a little over 600 cases.

“We have some data, we know that this is happening, but [we] don’t know the extent of it, and we’re not collecting it at the scale we need to be collecting it,” said Nicassio.

This disproportionate impact on minority communities echoes the findings in the August 2020 SHERPA report cited in the press release, which found there was a greater impact of COVID-19 in racialized communities who faced an “intersection of multiple economic and social factors.”

These issues include poverty, racism, working in areas with higher exposure to COVID-19 (such as long-term care clinics), language barriers, lack of health insurance, and precarious immigration statuses. Ultimately, gathering race-based COVID-19 data would be integral to designing effective health policies that would account for these discrepancies.

“We need the hard data to be able to identify the root causes of system disparity … because we have to be able to inform our actions by addressing these root causes and to come up with more effective responses,” said Concordia Public Affairs and Policy student and CRARR intern Eva Rokakis, who also contributed to the motion.

Going forward, Rokakis said CRARR is working on a project to bring this initiative to the federal government.

“We have to keep fighting for it,” said Rokakis.

Graphic by @sundaeghost

Categories
Sports

Writing about sports in a year without them

I wasn’t expecting my first year as Sports Editor to look like this

My experience with The Concordian these last two and a half years has probably been the best thing that has happened to me since starting university.

As a huge sports fan, I‘m always looking to share my passion with people, and quickly got the chance to do so when I was offered the Assistant Sports Editor position in my first year on campus. I started covering Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) games, interviewing athletes and coaches, and had to look for a story to write about each week.

After two years in that position, I applied for the Sports Editor role. I was lucky enough to get it, and embrace this new challenge in front of me. I would be lying if I told you that my goal, when starting out with The Concordian, wasn’t to end up leading the sports section one day.

I was looking forward to learning all the duties of the Sports Editor position, and getting experience in that position for later. I was excited about the fact I would be the one deciding which Concordia Stingers games we would be covering each week as well.

However, this challenge came with a second one: I was going to write about sports in a year where there practically wasn’t any. COVID-19 forced most sports leagues to cancel or postpone their seasons and playoffs, and I was therefore stuck with an interesting problem at hand.

What was I going to write about? For me, there was no way I was only going to give COVID-19 updates for the different sports leagues and events. I was also wondering about my weekly Colour Commentary piece, where I would usually give thoughts on relevant or important things that happened recently in the world of sports.

Despite all that — and, of course, a bit of sadness at first — this has been one of the most enriching experiences of my time at Concordia. From ways to stay active from home to online competition stories, I quickly learned that you can find sports stories everywhere. The Concordian’s staff, especially our Creative Director Chloë Lalonde, have been doing a great job to help me find ideas. The challenge of writing for sports during the pandemic made me realize I sometimes had to get out of my comfort zone, which is actually what you need to do if you want to succeed.

My Assistant Sports Editor Liam Sharp has literally exceeded every expectation I had. In his first year with The Concordian, he’s brought some of the most original stories I’ve seen for our sports section since I joined the staff. That shows how much you can find stories even without the Stingers or major sports leagues filling out your section. Having learned all of this, if I ever had to restart my year as Sports Editor, but without the pandemic, I’d definitely  make sure to write more often articles that differ from what we’re used to reading. Try new things, and be open to ideas —  that’s probably what I’ll retain the most from these past months, and that’s something I’d suggest everyone to do.

 

Graphic by Lily Cowper

Categories
News

Concordia students share their thoughts on heading back to campus

In-person classes are allowed again… but is that what students want?

On Feb. 2, the Quebec government announced universities could begin to reopen gradually, encouraging students to get back in the classroom.

Quebec’s guidelines for higher education specific to COVID-19 currently state that “Since February 8, 2021, educational institutions must ensure that all students are able to access in-person educational activities several times a month, ideally once a week.”

Despite this improvement on the education front, the province-wide curfew and restrictions on gatherings in private homes are continuing, with some exceptions.

Universities have been holding the majority of classes online since the pandemic’s first wave began last spring. Exceptions have been made for students who need to take part in essential in-person activities, such as labs or studio work.

An email sent out to the Concordia student body from the office of the Provost said “What the government has announced are orientations, not directives. It goes without saying that Concordia would like to see campus life return to ‘pre-pandemic normal’ as soon as public health conditions permit.” The university will continue to evaluate public health conditions against what in person activities they already offer before making a large-scale return to in-person activity.

Evaluating whether or not it is the appropriate time is difficult. While COVID-19 case numbers have been trending down in the province, there is a large amount of speculation that international variants of the virus have found their way to Montreal.

There is also the question of how students feel right now. Many students don’t feel safe returning to classes. 

“I wouldn’t feel safe because in Montreal I live with a host family. So if I do bring the virus home that would be like, not good for me … For my course at least I don’t see any advantage in having in-person, only some classes, let’s say group work and things like that,” said Natalia Ferraz de Camargo, a second-year international student who is currently located in Brazil.

But it’s not just international students who may not be able to take advantage of new in-person activity. Students who are immunocompromised or live with someone who is will have to seriously consider whether they can take advantage of returning to class.

“You have to listen to your conscience and ask yourself, am I going in because I really want to and it’s going to make me feel good, [is it] the best thing for the people around me? Especially if you have people in your life who are immunocompromised or older, you might not want to take that risk,” said Ebby Crowe, a first-year student in Child Studies.

However, there are students who feel fine about returning to school.

“I don’t think I would have a problem regarding the COVID situation to go back to classes… As long as everyone is wearing masks and two meters apart it’s basically the same as being back at work,” said Mahoor Ramzirezaei, a graduate diploma student in Communications Studies.

For many students, the timing of the announcement is also an issue. For many out-of-province and international students who chose to stay home for the semester, it’s hard to hear that suddenly classes could be available, five weeks into the semester.

“If I knew that it was going to be in person like before the semester even started I would go back for sure. But now, like, if they tell me ‘oh it’s in person,’ I don’t want to go back,” said Ferraz de Camargo.

Concordia won’t be making any of the new in-person activities mandatory, and students located outside of Montreal are not being told they need to flock back to the city.

If the doors to Concordia and other universities are going to open, some students don’t think that classes are the first place to start.

“I’m thinking about the counselling services … There are so many students who are waiting to be put on the list and I know that you have to email them and hope to god there’s a spot available,” said Crowe.

It’s important to remember that last March, classes weren’t the only thing that went online. Most of Concordia’s university services remain online or require online booking. This new government ordinance could be an opportunity to gradually open up student services on campus and make them more accessible before we worry about flooding classrooms one day a week.

Despite universities having the option to host in-person classes and declining COVID cases, a large-scale return to class still seems to be a long way off. But, in response to these new governmental orders, Concordia has said they are “working to organize social and/or extra-curricular activities, such as spaces for networking and team meetings, that would allow you to gather with peers on campus at a safe distance, should you wish.” 

Graphic by James Fay

Sorry to burst your bubble — the “COVID talk”

These are some points to hit when you have the COVID talk

As the Quebec government extends the province-wide curfew to curtail the COVID-19 transmission rates, it’s become increasingly important that we start engaging in the difficult conversations with ourselves and our loved ones.

“Are you being safe?” and “Did you see anyone?” isn’t enough. We need to have frank, honest and clear communication as a matter of public health and common sense.

Certain people experience a higher risk of exposure to the virus simply from their job, their household, or their context. It’s important to turn up the compassion, turn up the curiosity, and turn down the judgment. It’s your business to know the facts so you can assess what risk you’re comfortable exposing yourself to, but that’s not a free pass to look down on other people’s risk assessment.

To get a sense of safe contact, let’s talk geometry. In terms of COVID contact, the safest shape is a circle, not a line. I’ll explain.

A “COVID bubble” is a closed circle. Meaning, if you are in a bubble of three with you and your two roommates, you see each other exclusively. Otherwise, it would no longer be a closed circle, but instead a chain.

It’s also important to communicate clearly and honestly when choosing a person to bubble with. That way everyone can make an informed decision.

For example, if I live alone, and plan to see my “one person” who also lives alone, before going to see them, we need to have a conversation about exposure to make sure we’re both on the same page.

To start the discussion, try and lead with setting your goals and intentions for having this hard conversation. Something like, “I know it’s awkward, but I appreciate that we can have these hard talks. I’m hoping to get clarity about our contact levels recently so that we can make sure that it’s safe and responsible to see each other. I completely respect your decisions, and I hope you respect mine, even if it means we can’t see each other at this time. ”

Then ask questions. Keep it short and simple. Be honest.

Asking if someone is “low risk” or “being safe” is perception-based, and relies on assumptions and personal opinions. This leaves room for miscommunication as folks may define “risk” or “safety” differently.

Replace “Are you being careful?” with “Who have you seen in the last two weeks?”, “Were you wearing masks the whole time?”, “Were you 2 metres apart?”, and “Were you outside?”

Replace “Do you trust the person you saw?” with “Did you have a conversation with the person you saw?”, “What questions did you ask?”, and “What was their reply?”

Replace “Are you taking risks?” with “What is your job?”, “Do you see children who go to school?”, and “Do you see people who have children in school?”

It’s about eliminating mystery and assumption from the conversation, and normalizing the conversation. This isn’t personal, it’s practical.

This is the kind of situation that forces change, and ultimately growth. Bestselling author and therapist Lori Gottlieb says, “Change and loss travel together. We can’t have change without loss, which is why so often people say they want change but nonetheless stay exactly the same.”

In this time, we are acquiring the skills to advocate for our own health and safety and that of others as well. We’re learning how we best receive feedback and how best to deliver it. We’re deepening our relationships with loved ones, and forging new ones as we endure this strange and complex hardship together.

This situation is forcing loss on everyone. It’s also forcing change. It’s uncomfortable, it’s scary, and it hurts. But we can choose to change for the better.

 

Graphic by Taylor Reddam

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News

Protestors gather to protest against police-based solutions to the health crisis

“Money for the health, not for the police,” shouted protestors.

A group of organizations and protestors joined to march against the police-based solutions facing the COVID-19 pandemic on Feb. 6. The group of 300 people met at Place Émilie-Gamelin and walked down De Maisonneuve Boulevard.

Collectively, Meals For Milton-Parc, The Racial Justice Collective, Solidarity Across Borders, Ensemble Contre la Gentrification, L’Association Québécoise pour la promotion de la santé des personnes utilisatrices de drogues (AQPSUD), Pas de solution policière à la crise sanitaire, and many more marched.

The groups demanded new systemic solutions such as reinvestment in the social safety net, such as housing to fight against the pandemic.

By giving the police the power to decide how the curfew is applied arbitrarily, it deprives vulnerable people of their rights to the health and safety,” said Chantal Montmorency, a member of the AQPSUD.

Though the curfew has been suspended for the homeless population, the protestors believe that the curfew remains ineffective for other marginalized communities like people with precarious status, drug users, domestic violence victims, sex workers, and fugitives.

During her speech, Montmorency emphasized that the curfew prevents vulnerable people from accessing the health and security services and care they are entitled to and guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights.

Montmorency also said that the AQPSUD has dealt with managing epidemics for over 30 years, and stated that repression, denunciations and police interventions are not the only solutions to end the pandemic. Whether it is an epidemic or pandemic, she said, it is prevention, education, and constant care that will solve the issue.

According to Maryan Kikhounga-Ngot, organizer of the housing group Projet d’organisation populaire, d’information et de regroupement (P.O.P.I.R), the protest’s goal was to address the housing crisis.

“We don’t need a curfew, we don’t need repression and repressive measures, but rather we need solutions.” According to Kikhounga-Ngot, the solution is to increase housing options for the homeless.

If [Raphaël André] had housing, he would have respected the curfew in his house as the prime minister wanted, and not dead in a public toilet.”

Raphaël André was a 51-year-old man who froze to death in a portable toilet at the corner of Milton Street and Parc Avenue trying to respect the curfew rules.

Member of the Socialist Fightback Students (SFS), Simon Berger, shared the same thoughts.“We are here because we vote [against] the repressive measures of the CAQ government like the curfew, and we are for solidarity measures against the pandemic.”

Berger clarified that he and the SFS did not attend the protest because they don’t believe in the virus. He explains that the best way to fight against the pandemic is for all the different organizations to protest for everyone’s health and safety by demanding democratic measures.

On the Facebook event page for the protest, a post by Pas de solution policière à la crise sanitaire says that the protest was a success, making it possible for their message to be heard loud and clear. The post concludes by assuring the public not to give up as the fight is not over.

 

Photographs by Christine Beaudion

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