Students protest against student hikes. Photo by Lily Cowper / The Concordian
Mobilization against tuition hikes continues with multiple student groups moving to strike on Nov. 30.
The Geography Undergraduate Student Society (GUSS) moved in unanimous support to block access to classrooms in accordance with a “hard picket” on Friday, Nov. 30 against the tuition hikes for out-of-province and international students.
Another student protest is set to happen on the corner of De Maisonneuve and McKay at 12 p.m. on Nov. 30. The movement is currently supported by the CSU, ASFA and the McGill student associations.
The tuition hikes will raise tuition for out-of-province students from around $9,000 to $17,000. For international students, the government will charge universities $20,000 per international student outside of France and Belgium. Concordia has now started a page for FAQs and the implications of the tuition changes.
In a general meeting open to all members of the geography undergraduate program on Nov. 17, GUSS moved to block the entrances of geography classes on Nov. 30 as an action of hard picketing. They will be accompanied by a number of other student associations including the Fine Arts Student Association (FASA), the Urban Planning Association (UPA) and the School of Community and Public Affairs Student Association (SCPSA) among other MAs in defiance against tuition hikes.
“I found a program here that I really like, and I’ve found a community and a city I really like,” said Max Neumann, a student on the GUSS mobilization committee.
Neumann is from British Columbia and was looking to pursue a masters degree in Quebec, but will not be able to because of the tuition increases. She said that Concordia’s opportunities for geography students are unique to the university and that many students will be pushed into programs in Ontario because of the tuition hikes.
Some students have expressed concern with what they will potentially lose out on by not attending the classes that they paid to attend, but GUSS is lobbying to make sure that the effects of the hike on the students will not be detrimental.
Jackson Esworthy, a GUSS executive, said that a lot of the faculty informally supports student action against tuition hikes since this will affect the faculty and Concordia will see cutbacks in funding. They have not seen information from Concordia on which will be the most impacted programs nor any specific reports per program.
Students have a long history of successful student strikes in the province of Quebec. Esworhty added that GUSS was one of the first student associations in the province to lead the strike against the increased tuition. “That [strike] started at Concordia on the MA level,” Esworthy said about the 2012 “Red Squares” strike against the increase of tuition.
In 2012, students across Quebec mobilized against tuition increases posed by Jean Charest’s Liberal Party at the time to increase tuition by $325 every year from 2012 to 2017. Thousands of students across Quebec took to the streets to participate in the longest general unlimited strike in Canadian history.
As for the current tuition increases, weekly meetings are held with Concordia’s student groups as well as groups from other universities across Montreal including McGill and UQAM to maintain a front of solidarity and to work together to hold student strikes.
UQAM’s ASFA equivalent, Association Facultaire Étudiante des Sciences Humaines de l’UQAM (AFESH), told The Concordian that they “offer solidarity to student associations of English universities,” but offered no comment about whether they were participating in the strikes on Nov. 30.
The strikes on Nov. 30 will not be the last. The ASFA is moving to host a three-day strike from Wednesday, Jan. 31 to Friday, Feb. 2.
Protesters march in protest of the coverage of the Israel-Hamas war. Photo by Angie Isnel / The Concordian
Montreal students demand an end to unfair media coverage.
As the Israel-Hamas war continues to create polarized tensions, students in Montreal accuse the media of biased coverage and creating mistrust.
At a pro-Palestian march on Nov. 9, protesters directly targeted Radio Canada, TVA and CTV, all of whom were present. The protesters yelled: “Every time the media lies, neighborhoods in Gaza die. Shame on you!”
At the demonstration, a young woman half-masked by a red keffiyeh was surrounded by individuals holding “Jews say ceasefire now” and “Ending the genocide of the Palestinian people” signs, when she took the megaphone to denounce TVA Nouvelles.
“They [TVA] said there were only Arabo-muslims yesterday,” she added, referring to the incident at Concordia the previous day. “Can I hear all the other nationalities and religions here?” The crowd replied: “Yes!”
The march occurred a day after the incident at Concordia’s Hall Building on Nov. 8. The aftermath of the incident caused tensions to rise on campus, as various media outlets attempted to accurately recount the beginning of the conflict through interviews.
The Concordia pro-Israel club StartUp Nation called out CBC’s latest article, promising to “release the truth about yesterday’s horrific events on Concordia campus.”
According to a statement given to CBC, “Pro-Israel people came barging in and began screaming anti-Palestinian slogans and slurs at them.” This statement was denied by StartUp Nation. The group has since then published videos of the escalation on Instagram that contradict the statement given to the CBC.
During the protest, The Concordian spoke to various students from neighboring universities, to get their thoughts on the media coverage of events that ocurred over the past few days.
Karim, a UQAM student, deplored the polarizing angle of Canadian media stories. “The media are trying to show some sort of consent that Israel is right to do what they’re doing,” Karim said. “But people don’t believe them anymore. The information intensely flows through social media.”
Luz Montero, a UQAM student, held a painted portrait of Netanyahu with the word “infanticide” sprayed around his head. Montero said she stopped following mainstream media, instead getting information through alternative media. “The last thing I saw from CNN, I was like, ‘Oh my God, come on… Stop!,’” Montero said. “We are not ignorant, we know what’s happening there.”
David Derland-Beaupré, a Concordia student and member of La Riposte Socialiste, recounted challenging a Radio-Canada reporter about their support for either the pro- or anti-Israeli. “Where you don’t take sides, you take the side of those who oppress,” he told them. “So you have to expect that people don’t trust you anymore.”
Tara, a member of the Independent Jewish Voices at McGill, weighed in on the Nov. 8 incident at Concordia’s Hall building. “It’s really a horrific show of what divisive rhetoric can do, especially from university administrations that have a duty of care to protect all of their students rather than just a certain cohort,” Tara expressed.
While Thursday’s protest was unfolding, the Canadian Jewish Advocacy (CJA) federation held a press conference to express safety concerns following two Jewish school gunshots that occurred overnight.
Yair Szlak, CEO of CJA, said that the pro-Palestinian protest was “salt in the wounds” of the Jewish community, as the demonstration was scheduled on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, a Nazi assault against the Jews in 1938. “The poster that [the pro-Palestinian protesters] use shows the breaking of glass,” Szlak said. “‘Kristallnacht’ means the night of broken glass,” which represents antisemitism for the Jewish community.
During a press conference on Nov. 8, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed that Canada is indeed facing a rise in antisemitism, which instills fear in Canadians across the country.
“We need to make sure that Canadians are doing what we do best, which is listening to our neighbors, understanding and acknowledging our neighbors’ pain, even though it may be diametrically opposed in its cause, to the same pain that we are feeling.”
Protesters unite last semester for the Rage Climatique protest. Photo by Angie Isnel / The Concordian
How student movements transformed the climate narrative in Quebec.
On Sept. 26, 2019, the streets of Montreal were flooded with colorful blue planet signs and urgent calls to action. Half a million people wearing blue and green makeup screamed, sang and danced to pressure the government to act against climate change.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg led the largest protest in Quebec history, with teenage activists as her bodyguards. “We held on by the hands, arms in hooks to form a circle around her. We were also in the middle of a procession of Indigenous delegations. That was special,” activist Albert Lalonde recalled.
Lalonde has been at the root of student-led climate activism in Montreal since 2019. Acting as Thunberg’s bodyguard on that sunny day represented the culmination of a year-long climate mobilization.
“There was a kind of richness, a moment of collective education. There was an incredible force to that,” Lalonde recalled.
Half a million people attended this march. This year’s climate protest in September, led by the anti-capitalist group Rage Climatique, gathered only 1,500 protestors.
In September 2019, half a million protesters took to the streets of Montreal to protest climate inaction. Photo by Kaitlynn Rodney / The Concordian
This September, 1,500 people attended the climate protest organized by the group Rage Climatique. Photo by Angie Isnel / The Concordian
In 2019, Lalonde co-founded La Coalition Étudiante pour un Virage Environnemental et Social (CEVES), a non-hierarchical group uniting climate activist groups across Quebec. The CEVES transcended the traditional normative structure of unions by organically rallying individuals around the same values: acting quickly through direct actions and taking responsibilities for the environment.
For spring 2020, the CEVES had planned a full Transition Week strike to engage even more people.
And then, COVID-19 hit.
The uniting strength of the CEVES’s non-hierarchical structure became its weakness. Students couldn’t gather anymore, and the movement lost momentum.
Last October, the CEVES in Montreal announced its dissolution.
That same month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that the world is going in the wrong direction to keep global warming below a 1.5°C increase.
In November, the +2°C critical warning threshold was surpassed for the first time. A symbol, as states had sworn not to exceed the +2°C during the Paris Agreement in 2015. A federal audit also declared that Canada is not on track to meet the 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan.
The COP28, which will take place at the end of November, will discuss the loss and damage created by the boiling era. This is a term recently used by the United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres, who said: “Global warming has ended. The era of global boiling has arrived.”
In light of these events, Louis Couillard, one of the first members of the group La Planète s’invite à l’Université, believes renewed mobilization is necessary. “The government sees that, in 2019, we were half a million in the street. Today there are maybe 3,000. We need to put pressure again,” he said.
La Planète s’invite à l’Université was created in early 2019, uniting students from Université de Montréal, McGill, Concordia and UQAM around a desire to act against climate change.
Together, they urged their institutions to implement significant environmental measures, such as cutting fuel investments, implementing measures to cut methane and carbon emissions, and co-creating an awareness program about the climate crisis.
According to Couillard, these demands were ambitious. “Today, if you really look at it from a completely mathematical point of view, have our objectives been achieved? No,” he said.
Before co-creating the CEVES, Albert Lalonde started school strikes and walk-out early 2019 through Pour Le Futur Mtl, which echoed Greta Thunberg’s worldwide movement, Fridays For Future.
Lalonde felt that the government didn’t hear the warning sent by the student movement momentum, and that it instead used the call as a political recuperation.
Lalonde cited the federal government’s “2 billion trees” program, which was recently criticized for skewing their calculations of the trees planted. According to Lalonde, this feeds into a pattern of governmental hypocrisy around environmental action.
“The government declared a climate emergency one day, yes, and voted to buy back the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion the next day, within a 24-hour window,” they said.
Sebastien Jodoin, an environmental lawyer and professor at McGill, took part in the ENvironnement JEUnesse (ENJEU) lawsuit against Canada in 2019, aiming to represent Quebecers under 35 who were directly impacted by the lack of government measures against the climate crisis.
Two years later, the Quebec Court ruled against them. “It is a very disappointing decision,” Jodoin said. “It is contrary to everything we know from research, which shows the disproportionate impacts of climate change on young people.” Similar lawsuits are currently underway in Ontario.
Through successes and defeats, the student coalition ignited the environmental consciousness and deeply changed the media and political narrative. However, “this has become green economic development,” Couillard said. “That’s not at all how we wanted it to go.”
This “green economic development” is a greenwashing narrative that gives unearned environmental credit to political decisions and corporations. During the pandemic, La Planète s’invite à l’Université and the CEVES re-focused their messages toward criticism of capitalism and recognition of social issues.
Lalonde recounted the Gazoduc blockage in British-Columbia by the CEVES. “If there is no more propane supply because we block the trains, that’s a win,” Lalonde said. This event in co-mobilization with the Land Defenders Wet’suwet’en led to the Memorandum of Understanding signature that recognized and legalized the hereditary rights of Wet’suwet’en Chiefs in British-Columbia.
That event was a significant turning point in the message of the CEVES. “We really wanted to bring the imperative of this transition outside of capitalism,” Lalonde said, explaining that climate justice cannot be discussed without social justice. “The communities most vulnerable to the system are those who suffer the most.”
Couillard, who is now working for Greenpeace, emphasized the importance of students remaining active and voicing their concerns through mobilization. His optimism goes to the Coalition de Résistance pour l’Unité Étudiante Syndicale (CRUES), an inter-university student union created this year with strong social and environmental values.
However, he believes environmental activists have to collaborate on a bigger scale, through three levels of mobilization: students clubs, civil unions and larger NGOs. He thinks that bigger NGOs have the responsibility to help Indigenous groups and student movements to gain knowledge and independence.
Lalonde, now the communicator and events coordinator at David Suzuki Federation, learned from the successes and failures of the CEVES to create Horizon Commun. This project is slowly being launched after three years of incubation. It aims to empower regional communities, particularly Indigenous nations, with independent political structures. The initiative seeks to reshape social organization with climate-merging measures.
For environmental lawyer Jodoin, these social ideals aren’t realistic for the general society.
“Social change takes a lot of time, we don’t have that much time to solve the problem,” he said.
Jodoin sees the climate dilemma in a more pragmatic way, where people have to act at the individual level through their own financial and physical capacities. For him, technology, geo-engineering projects or innovative businesses are part of the solution. Jodoin thinks anti-capitalist speeches and grassroot activism are important, but not enough. “It will continue to play its role, but there are other initiatives that must be developed at the same time.”
DJ Lia Plutonic playing at Boiler Room Montreal on Nov. 10. Photo by Stefano Rebuli // The Concordian
The hottest club culture event took place in the city for the first time in over a decade.
On Nov. 10-11, Montreal hosted a Boiler Room event for the first time in over a decade. Succeeding the last edition from 2013, which included KAYTRANADA’s now-legendary DJ set, this year’s edition brought forward six local collectives across two nights to highlight three of the city’s key music scenes: Afrobeats, queer club music and techno/house.
The event was held at Hall Ste-Catherine, which used to be Montreal’s Circus Afterhours nightclub. The venue contains three rooms, each of which was designated to a different group each night. They were connected by hallways which facilitated navigation between them. There was easy access to bars and benches in every room, which allowed attendees to grab either a drink or a seat whenever they pleased.
Mansa kicked off Afrotonik’s party in one room, raising the energy bar to a high that was maintained for the hours that followed. This medium-sized room was complete with several screens behind the DJ setup and a bar in the center. Her set was a blend of traditional Afrobeats songs and amapiano (a South African afro-house subgenre) with hints of contemporary music. A DJ of Malian origins, she also highlighted the most prominent Black women in music (such as Beyoncé and Rihanna) by fusing their modern hits with African music styles. Her song selection garnered excited reactions from the crowd, especially with her fast-paced mix of Sexyy Red’s “SkeeYee,” which ended her set. Her performance also emphasized the venue’s immaculate sound quality, as the trademark stabs of bass in amapiano music sounded perfectly full and heavy.
Later in the lineup, DJ Karaba would bring a house flavour, energizing the crowd with afro-house spins on popular tracks like Modjo’s “Lady (Hear Me Tonight)” and Nelly Furtado’s “Say It Right.” Fusing Afrobeats with hit songs proved to be an effective formula throughout the night.
Mootanda followed up with a rap spin, providing combinations of hip-hop and afro-house. I found myself going lyric for lyric and dancing with others as renditions of various hit songs like “Dior” (Pop Smoke), “fukumean” (Gunna) and “The Box” (Roddy Ricch) rang out through the speakers. Afrotonik entertained a crowd that sang, danced and grew increasingly throughout the night, arguably becoming the most crowded room by the end of the event.
Homegrown Harvest was simultaneously playing in the biggest room which featured a trademark Boiler Room setup: the DJ decks in the middle, with the crowd surrounding it. A stage also elevated the crowd behind the booth, accentuating the audience’s presence and role in the event. One of its DJs was Lia Plutonic, whose set was full of infectious house tracks with bouncy drum patterns and even some Jersey Club music sprinkled in. These songs featured different buildups, pauses and even jazz breaks that triggered crescendos in the crowd’s excitement, allowing the excitement to relax, rise, release and then rebuild. Lis Dalton followed up with an even more addictive set which blended house and UK garage drums with swirling, hypnotic loops. It’s the type of trance any clubgoer would want to fall into during a Boiler Room set.
The inclusion of traditional elements into the different sets was noteworthy, with analog practices serving as extensions of the musical experience. Afrotonik had a live drum player on the first night who was mic’d up in a way that allowed the drums to be perfectly audible and seamlessly included in the mix. Meanwhile, Lia Plutonic bridged traditional and modern DJ practices together by mixing with vinyl records in addition to the digital, Pioneer CDJ player and mixer setup.
Boiler Room lived up to the hype. It gave attendees the chance to cut loose and engage in the music individually, as well as to connect with friends and strangers alike. The musical showcase resonated with the crowd and effectively highlighted the mix of cultures and musical styles that define Montreal. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait ten years for the next one.
Protester holding a sign at the Blue Falls protest. Photo by Aidan Raynor / The Concordian
English universities struggle to see what their future will be without diversity in registration.
Montreal is the diversity hub of Quebec, and the provincial government’s latest blow to its universities has led to uproar from all sides of the city.
“It feels terrible. Very like… have your cake and eat it too,” said Dyan Solomon, renowned restaurant owner in Montreal and once out-of-province student, on the topic of the tuition increases set by the government of Quebec.
On Oct. 13, the Quebec government implemented measures beginning at the start of the next fall term to “rebalance” the university network in Quebec and protect the French language. To do so, the Quebec government will be increasing tuition for out-of-province students from $9,000 to $17,000 and charging universities $20,000 for every international student. This move would make Quebec universities the most expensive in Canada for out-of-province students.
Students who are currently enrolled in an English university in Quebec will be grandfathered in at their current tuition rate.
“I’ve been paraded around a lot by the Quebec media,” she added. “It’s very charming, the anglophone who learned how to speak French.” Her overall experience with francophone Quebec media has been positive, but she questions why she is being used for tourism in Montreal while supposedly being a threat to the culture.
Graphics by Carleen Loney / The Concordian
Solomon hails from Kingston, Ontario. She moved to Montreal to study English literature at McGill. Now, Solomon has gone on to open up three renowned restaurants; Olive & Gourmando, Un Po’ Di Più, and Foxy. She employs over 100 people and is a massive contributor to the culinary culture of Montreal. Her cafe/restaurant Olive & Gourmando was the first business to breathe life back into Montreal’s Old Port. So, being described as a threat to the French language did not sit right with her.
She also spoke about many of her colleagues in the restaurant industry who have come from away and forged a life here in Quebec navigating the difficult life of entrepreneurship here as an Anglophone.
Since the tuition hikes were announced, she has been using her platform as an influential Montrealer on Instagram to share her story as a former out-of-province student. She quickly accumulated a lot of responses from other remarkable Montrealers who have come from away and decided to gouge out a life in Quebec.
Being here during the referendum of 1997, Solomon felt the high expectation of learning French as an out-of-province student in the 90s. “When you came here you had the responsibility to speak French,” she said. “This is what you do–get with the program.”
Students who are currently enrolled in an English university in Quebec will be grandfathered in at their current tuition rate.
In a press conference, Jean François-Roberge, minister of the French language, and Pascale Déry, higher education minister, presented the new tuition framework as a way to promote the French language in Montreal as well as redistribute funds in the under-funded Quebec university system.
When asked if there is too much English being spoken on the streets of Montreal, Jean François-Roberge said: “Of course.” This has sent Quebec’s three English universities, McGill, Concordia and Bishops, into a frenzy, as they account for the largest population of students from outside of Quebec.
In the same press conference Pascale Déry stated that they are looking to “put an end to funding Canadians” by introducing this tarification model. She said that most of these students leave after their studies, and asked why the Quebec tax payer should foot the more than $110 million a year bill for these students. This number has yet to be proven in documents from the government.
Bishops University, with a student population of just 2,500 students, 30 per cent of which are out-of-province and 15 per cent international, will feel the biggest impact of the tuition increase. This new framework threatens to force the closure of the small liberal arts college in the Eastern Townships.
As an out-of-province student from Alberta, Bishops’ student body president Sofia Stacey believes the measure will make out-of-province students feel unwelcome in Quebec. “Students are fearful, stressed, frustrated, but most of all angry, because they feel that they’ve been told whether they won’t be affected or not, that they don’t belong here,” she said and continued by saying that maybe there just isn’t a place for them in Quebec anyways.
Stacey fear the news of the proposed tuition hikes will steer incoming students away from Quebec. “That’s heartbreaking for those who have contributed, not just to the economy, but to Quebec society and the culture,” she added.
On Nov. 6, Quebec Premier Francois Legault refused a historic proposal put forth by English universities to significantly increase their French language education for students. This proposal included plans to help out-of-province students integrate into the French job market after they graduate.
After the announcement of the measure in October, Concordia University spokesperson Vannina Maestracci said in an interview that Concordia was not consulted on the new framework, but was notified two days before the announcement.
She added that Concordia was looking into what the total effects of the tuition increase will be on smaller programs like creative arts with a large affected population of almost 50 per cent of out-of-province students.
Graham Carr, president of Concordia University, shared the financial ramifications of the new framework in a letter to the Concordia community. With the added effects of the tuition increases on out-of-province and international students, the university will see a $62 million loss in four years, when the grandfathered tuition wears out.
Quebec Liberal education critic Marwah Rizqy has been the loudest MNA against the tuition hikes and said Minister Dery needs to “find some common sense” when it comes to the new tuition increases.
Many out-of-province students come here to learn French and experience the vast and diverse cultures of Montreal. Concordia student Semira Kosciuk from Toronto said she came here for the “culture and for the opportunity to learn more French by immersing myself in it.” Even if she did not speak enough French to complete a degree at a French university, Concordia was the next best thing to learn the language.
ASFA academic coordinator Angelica Antonakopoulos spoke after the Blue Fall Protest on Oct. 30, encouraging students to sign the petition sponsored by the Quebec Liberal Party to force the issue to be debated in Parliament.
ASFA is currently working on other demonstrations in partnership with other institutions to bring out more students later in November.
the 2023 Pan American Games. // Courtesy Photo by the Canadian Olympic Committee
The Canadian boxer has been undefeated since 2021 and is now eyeing the gold medal in Paris.
Concordia alumna Tammara Thibeault recently won the women’s boxing middleweight gold medal at the 2023 Santiago Pan American Games.
Today, all her attention is geared towards the only competition she has yet to win at the amateur level: the Olympic Games.
Her beginnings
Growing up, Tammara Thibeault’s father was a wide receiver for the Saskatchewan Roughriders. During the offseason, he boxed to stay in shape. Thibeault’s passion for the sport started at nine years old when visiting the boxing gym with her father. “On Fridays, we would go together, my three siblings and I, and then eventually I just got hooked on to the sport,” she recalled.
In 2012, women’s boxing became an Olympic sport. By then, Thibeault had already been boxing for a few years. She remembers looking up to Mary Spencer at the time, the first Canadian woman to box at the Olympics in her weight class.
Seeing Spencer, a young Canadian woman at the Olympics, inspired Thibault to chase her own dream of becoming an Olympic champion.
Balancing school and boxing
Following her 2017 Canadian Championship win, Thibeault joined the Canadian national team. From there, success quickly followed, with multiple medals at international competitions.
Around the same time, she started attending Concordia University, where she obtained her bachelor’s degree in urban studies in 2023.
Being a university student and an elite international athlete simultaneously was not easy. There was “a lot of running around, a lot of tiresome days, but I managed to make it work,” Thibeault said.
After next year’s Olympics, she plans to pursue a master’s degree in urban studies, a field she wants to work in after her career in boxing.
First Olympic experience and gold medal galore
Tammara Thibeault with her gold medal from the 2023 Pan American Games. Courtesy Photo by Sweet Science Management
Thibeault qualified for what was originally the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. However, the yearlong postponement of the event was a stressful experience for her. “The fact that the Olympics got postponed for a year was kind of crazy,” she said. Since her loss in the quarter-finals in Tokyo, the southpaw fighter is undefeated, a streak of over two years.
In 2022, she won her first world title at the International Boxing Association Women’s World Boxing Championships. Since the Olympics, she has also won the 2022 Commonwealth Games and two continental championships.
Thibeault then headed into the 2023 Pan American Games this October with two goals: qualifying for the Olympics and winning the gold medal. She did both, winning every fight by either the referee stopping the contest or by unanimous decision.
What’s next?
After taking some time off to relax and attend graduation, Thibeault will start her preparation for the Olympics next summer in Paris. Although she is ranked number one in the world in her weight category and is arguably the favourite to win the gold medal, she tries not to put too much pressure on her shoulders regarding expectations.
“I’m definitely on top of the game right now, but I try not to think about [being ranked number one in the world] because I don’t want it to impact my performances. I try to take everything one step at a time and just, like, really focus on what I can control,” Thibeault expressed.
After the Olympics, Thibeault plans to turn professional. The two main differences between the amateur and professional levels are that amateur boxing is competed in a knockout tournament format, while professional boxing consists of longer single fights.
“I think women’s boxing is growing and the level of opposition is growing, which is really interesting because you have women like me who have big amateur backgrounds that jump into the professional sport,” she said. “I think people are starting to appreciate women’s boxing more, which is really nice.”
Percival Moslon Stadium just as the sun is about to set. Photo by Matthew Piscina/ The Concordian
The Alouettes are playing their best football at the right time of year.
The Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL) just completed their most successful regular season in 11 years, finishing with 11 wins and seven losses. This effort earned the squad a spot in the Grey Cup playoffs with home field advantage in the first round.
The CFL is the Canadian equivalent to the wildly-popular National Football League (NFL) in the United States. Although there are some differences in the rules between the two leagues, the CFL puts out a good brand of football to the spectators that have watched over its storied history. Locally, the Alouettes have won seven Grey Cup championships, most recently in 2010. In 2023, they will try to hoist the historic trophy once again.
This season has been successful for the Alouettes. The 2022 offseason saw the Alouettes lose quarterback Trevor Harris, as well as star wide receivers Jake Wieneke and Geno Lewis, but the team filled the spots successfully. Newly-acquired quarterback Cody Fajardo stayed healthy, something the Alouettes desperately needed, playing all 18 regular season games this year. He also found a connection with former NFL player Austin Mack, who finished the season fourth in passes caught among all CFL receivers.
These statistics are in large part due to Concordia alum Kristian Matte, who was a CFL East All-Star in 2019 and 2021, and the rest of the offensive line. Montreal’s strong defense protected Fajardo from getting sacked and helped keep opponents off the scoreboard. Montreal gave up the second-least amount of points this season.
On Nov. 4, the Alouettes hosted the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the CFL Playoff East Semi-Final. In front of a 20,127 fan sell out at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, the Alouettes punched their ticket to the CFL Playoff East Final with a 27-12 win. Running back William Stanback led both teams in rushing yards, finishing the game with 95 and giving Fajardo extra options when passing yards were hard to come by.
This year’s East Semi-Final was a rematch from last year’s and so will be the East Final on Nov. 11 against the Toronto Argonauts. Last year, the Alouettes beat Hamilton 28-17, but ran into the Argonauts (who would go on to win the Grey Cup), losing a heartbreaker, 34-27. Montreal is hoping history doesn’t repeat itself in 2023.
It will surely be a tough test for the Alouettes this year if they want to clinch a berth in the 110th Grey Cup Final. Toronto finished this season with 16 victories out of 18 games and haven’t lost a single game at home. However, the Alouettes haven’t lost since Sep. 15, winning five straight games and finding themselves two wins away from becoming champions.
Women’s team leads their division in points while men’s team trails division lead by just one point.
It is certainly an encouraging start to a season when both hockey teams in a school’s program are winning out the gate. The Concordia Stingers have done just that. While we haven’t reached the halfway point in the regular season, the men’s hockey team trails the tightly-contested Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Men’s Hockey East Division standings by a single point. On an even higher note, the women’s hockey team leads the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) hockey standings by four points. This is on top of remaining undefeated this season.
The Stingers’ women’s hockey team has been nothing short of impressive in the early going of their regular season campaign. Following a loss in the Theresa Humes Cup championship game on Oct. 1, the team won eight straight games, including six in league play.
With wins against division rivals like the Université de Montréal Carabins, the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees, and most recently the Bishop Gaiters, the Stingers have shown how they could compete and be successful against any team in their division. Stingers head coach Julie Chu spoke on how proud she is of the team’s hard work and success. “We have found a way to win differently in all [our] games, and that’s what I’m really proud of,” shared Chu following a 6-1 win against the Gee-Gees on Nov. 3.
While the start was a victorious one, Chu wants to make sure nobody gets ahead of themselves with it only being November. “We always come out of every game with ‘this is what we did well’ and ‘this is what we need to do better,’” she explains. “It’s always our mentality, and regardless of being undefeated and winning five games so far, it’s a long season, and where we actually want to play our best hockey is at the end of the season.”
The Stingers’ women’s team will look to keep the win streak going when they play next at McGill on Nov. 10.
The men’s team has a lot to be proud about to this point as well. Despite dropping their last two games to the East division-leading Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières Patriotes, the Stingers began the season with a 6-1-0 record.
This season, the OUA expanded the amount of teams that each university plays. The East division now plays against the West in league play, which only makes the competition tougher.
That being said, the Stingers handled the change well. Concordia earned at least one point against the top two teams in the West division, beating the second place Toronto Varsity Blues 4-3 on Oct. 20 and losing in overtime to the first place Brock Badgers 3-2 on Oct. 28.
Defensemen Christopher Inniss takes a slap shot Photo Credit: Concordia Athletics
Goaltender Jordan Naylor split the games as starter with teammate Nikolas Hurtubise as the men’s team tried to find a consistent starting netminder after Jonathan Lemieux left in the offseason on a professional contract. To this point, Naylor is second amongst all OUA goaltenders in goals against average (1.98) and tied for fourth in save percentage (0.923).
Also high up on the leaderboard is Stingers’ right winger Charles-Antoine Paiement. He is currently tied for third place amongst leading goal scorers in the entire OUA.
The Stingers’ men’s team will be back in action on Nov. 10 when they travel to face the Western University Mustangs.
As the season progresses for both the women’s and men’s hockey teams, the competition will only continue to increase. But if the Stingers continue to improve on what they have already accomplished, both teams are bound to have success this season.
A secret ballot, open until Nov. 13, opposes TRAC and CREW.
Graphic by Carleen Loney / The Concordian
After a months-long battle in the courts and on social media, TRAC and CREW have gone silent to allow Concordia’s teaching and research assistants to vote, determining once and for all which union they want to be represented by.
Between Oct. 23 and Nov. 13 at 8 a.m., some of Concordia’s teaching assistants (TAs) and research assistants (RAs) will have access to an online ballot in which they can decide which union will represent them.
By April 3, the end of the campaigning period determined by a legal deadline established in TRAC’s Collective Agreement, CREW had gathered 1,700 memberships out of Concordia’s 2,100 TAs and RAs, according to court documents.
However, it turned out that TRAC’s Collective Agreement had never been filed to the Tribunal Administratif du Travail (TAT). This gave TRAC the chance to re-file their membership list over the summer, allowing it to remain the standing union for TAs and RAs.
Instead of turning to a lengthy legal proceeding to entangle the validity of these memberships, TRAC and CREW are moving to a secret ballot to act as a tie-breaker between the unions. The vote will end on Nov. 13 at 8 a.m., after which the chosen union will be able to negotiate with Concordia for a new collective agreement.
The eligible TAs and RAs have received an email from TAT with instructions on how to vote for their preferred union.
For more information on TRAC and CREW’s legal battle this summer, read our article here.
Lionel Groulx metro station where hundreds of thousands of Montrealers come and go everyday. Photo by Dalia Nardolillo/ The Concordian
The proposed plan to stop metro service at 11 p.m. could have detrimental effects on citizens.
Almost every Montrealer can relate to the feeling of sprinting to catch the last metro of the night… only to watch those blue doors close and see it drive away at the very last moment, leaving you stranded. If the rumours are true, that situation will be even more common, as the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) may soon cease operation even earlier—at 11 p.m., to be exact.
This past week, there has been talk of major reductions in public transportation. Beyond ending metro service early, inter-city bus routes may end at 9 p.m. and some routes could be halted entirely. If the plan is put into action, the cuts will have significant impacts on the city’s population, particularly workers.
What is the reason for this proposition? This hypothetical plan was put forth in response to a large deficit of funding from the province. According to Quebec’s transport minister, Genviève Guilbault, the government is unable to absorb the transportation systems’ funding deficits—which could be a shortfall of $2.5 billion over the next five years. Their first offer was a 20% coverage of deficits, which was quickly rejected as not nearly enough.
Laval’s Mayor Stéphane Boyer and Montreal’s Mayor Valerie Plante have both been vocal about how detrimental reducing transport would be. Boyer stated that reductions are “unthinkable,” as countless Laval workers rely on the metro, while Plante expressed the sentiment that Montreal needs a powerful public transport system in order to compete with other cities.
Student responses to the possibility range in severity: for some, the issue would be a mild hindrance whereas others could be completely disadvantaged. Michael McDonald, a second-year engineering student at Concordia, expressed his disappointment at the possibility of ending his nights out early, and remarked that there will likely be more alcohol-related BIXI accidents.
Beyond personal setbacks, the change could hinder workers who work night shifts, such as healthcare workers. “Most healthcare workers rely on public transportation, and if they don’t have access to it, they might just quit,” said Chloe Kim, a John Abbott College nursing student. “And there’s already a huge worker shortage crisis.”
In addition, a lack of viable public transport would mean countless more cars on the road, which would cause a substantial increase in traffic jams and accidents. And of course, women and minority groups who feel uncomfortable on the streets at night could find themselves in unsafe situations without proper means to get somewhere secure.
Public transportation is more than a convenience: it is a key facet of any area, and an essential element in countless lives. Though the reductions may not seem massive, they could have enormous repercussions.
Overall, however, it seems like the public transport system is safe for now. A spokesperson for the STM called these plans “hypothetical scenarios,” and meetings are to be held between the Greater Montreal Mayors and Guilbault to discuss alternatives. Let’s hope they come to an agreement: you can only run so fast for that last metro.
The Concordia Student Union starts its campaigning phase aiming for a significant turnout at the polls.
On Oct. 30, the Concordia Student Union (CSU) started its campaign period for its fall by-elections. The by-elections serve to vote on referendum questions and fill empty seats on the CSU’s council of representatives. This year, the CSU has 22 seats available on the council. The campaigning period will last until Nov. 6.
According to Simply Voting, the online platform that hosts the CSU elections, the turnout in 2022 was only 5.7 per cent. CSU Loyola coordinator Talya Diner blames COVID-19 for last year’s low participation. She is hopeful that more people will be interested in casting their ballot this year.
There are two referendum questions being presented to the committees in the fall by-elections. They are about whether or not to increase the student services fee by $0.85 per credit, and to propose the introduction of an anti-islamophobia policy to CSU’s Section 5 by-law entitled Anti-Racism, Diversity, and Inclusion.
“The by-elections are super significant. This is the best time to get involved in the CSU,” said CSU student life coordinator Tanou Bah.
A public debate is scheduled for Nov. 1. This event will allow candidates and referendum committees the chance to introduce themselves to students and present their ideas concerning Concordia University and the CSU. The public debate will take place at 6 p.m. on the 7th floor of the Hall building.
“Being on the council is a way for students to get directly involved in the democratic process that governs how the CSU spends the money that students give to the union. It’s really important that students get involved so that the CSU can represent students honourably,” said Diner.
The polling phase will start on Nov. 7 and end on Nov. 9. Students will receive an email from the CSU encouraging them to vote. The CSU will also have polling stations at the Loyola campus on Nov. 7 in the SP building, and at the SGW campus on Nov. 7 through Nov. 9 at the Hall building mezzanine to help guide students through the online voting process.
Otis Grant (right) vs. Henry Porras, 2004
Photo Credit: Herby Whyne
How did Concordia alumnus Otis “Magic” Grant perform at the highest level while still in school?
Who would’ve known that Concordia University harboured sporting greatness, and not even under the Stingers name? For Concordians who aren’t boxing fanatics or old enough to have sat with him in class, chances are you weren’t aware that the middleweight champion was a full-time student on this campus.
Otis “Magic” Grant grew up as a multi-sport athlete in Ville Saint-Laurent. He played on Vanier College’s basketball team, while fighting professionally to pay for his tuition. He figured he should obtain a higher level of education “to secure [his] future outside the boxing ring”, in case his career took a dive. “You can’t always put your eggs in one basket, especially in professional sport, because your career can be over in one night,” Grant said.
Grant enrolled at Concordia in the fall of 1989, majoring in recreation and leisure. A month into his first semester, he was being broadcasted on ESPN, beating his opponent Art McCloud by technical knockout.
Although a boxing career was his ultimate life goal at the time, it wasn’t his priority—graduating came first. That being said, you can’t be great without practice and dedication. He would be at school from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., get to the gym by 5:30 p.m. and be showered off at home doing homework by eight. If he had no class in the mornings and had a project to get done in the evening, he would go for a run and work on cardio before school.
“If I had a bad day at school, get a bad grade or fail an exam, it’s the best way to get rid of stress. Physical activity is the best way to counteract the stress that life might bring you. Physical activity has always been my stress reliever,” Grant said.
The champ debuted on Canada’s senior national team at the young age of 17. To maintain status on the team, a fighter must represent the team in at least one international tournament yearly. This had Magic flying around the world, usually to Europe, while he kept up with his academics by regularly checking course syllabi. Outside of training, fighting, and press conferences, he would study in his hotel room while the rest of the team was sight-seeing.
“The guys on the senior team normally were 19+. So I was a young kid travelling with some grown men of 25, 26, 28 years old. But you know, they had no issue. I did my work, I stayed in my room,” he explained.
For Grant, the discipline required in the sport of boxing had intertwined with that required to get higher education. “You’re the only one in the ring, you have no teammates, you can’t call a timeout. To have to be in shape, you have to put the work in. Doing any sport like this will teach you life lessons. You learn that if you put the work in, hard work will pay off,” he said.
The athlete had friends take notes for him in instances when he missed a class during a trip. Grant had become skilled at finding solutions around academic disadvantages. For example, as a self-proclaimed “terrible typer.” He would get his buddy Steve and his girlfriend Betty, now his wife, to type out his hand-written assignments.
Otis Grant vs Librado Andrade 2006 Photo Credit: Herby Whyne
Of his 42 professional career fights, 15 were fought during his time at Concordia—and he won all of them, including nine by knockouts. His most important fights involved title contention, such as his WBC intercontinental super middleweight title against Jaime Ollenberger, Canadian middleweight title against Dan Sherry that earned him a top-six ranking in North America, and a North American Boxing Federation (NABF) title win against Gilbert Baptist. The latter performance earned him a top-10 world ranking.
Before graduating from Concordia, Grant was offered multiple world title shots, but he turned them down in sacrifice for a diploma. “I waited until I was a little bit older,” he said. The professional boxer only seized the opportunity when the WBO middleweight title was vacated in ’97, as he beat Ryan Rhodes for the belt in his home town of Sheffield.
Grant was named Concordia Alumnus of the Year in 2007 for his community work through the Otis Grant & Friends Foundation, a fundraising foundation for food and clothes to be distributed to people in need, and his work as a teaching assistant and counsellor in Montreal’s secondary school system.
Grant was two accounting classes away from graduating with a business minor. His business success is apparent through his long-time boxing gym started with his brother, Howard, called “Grant Brothers Boxing” in Dollard-Des-Ormeaux. The brothers frequently plan events through BoxKO Promotions. Their latest amateur, BOXCITY 6, was held on Oct. 14.
Otis “Magic” Grant’s story is an inspiration for any student athlete, whatever the size of the goal. “If you have your priorities in order, it shouldn’t be a problem. It’s been done. Nobody can tell you you can’t do it, because I’ve done it,” Grant said.
