Tag: montreal

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Where should Montreal plant its coveted 500,000 trees?

The city’s government must find a place for the urban forest it promises by 2030

As Christmas trees begin gradually disappearing from windows this time of year, the opposite may soon be true for trees just outside them. With an urban forest in mind and a shovel in hand, will Montreal’s government be planting near you?

The city’s Climate Plan is promising half a million more trees on the island by 2030. However,  as the Government of Canada’s website explains, large-scale tree planting is often not as simple as it sounds. It involves ensuring that “the right tree is planted in the right place, for the right reasons.”

Determining the right place when it comes to tree planting is something that Carly Ziter, urban ecologist and assistant professor at Concordia University’s Department of Biology, is wholeheartedly invested in. Ziter’s research focuses on “ecosystem services,” or the services that flora could provide to people within urban environments.

“One of the reasons I focus on urban areas is that you are providing benefits directly to people where they live,” said Ziter, who had cycled to the university’s greener Loyola campus despite the snowy start to the November day. “Things like reducing temperature during heat waves, reducing flooding, improving air quality, improving mental health and wellbeing.”

The tree oath is part of the city’s vision for a “green Montreal,” with a three-pronged mission: to combat climate change, bolster the ecological resilience of the island, and improve quality of life for residents.

As a part of that tree oath, Soverdi, a tree-planting non-profit organization based in Montreal, will be planting 200,000 of those trees on non-municipal land, which takes up 66 per cent of the city’s total land area according to Soverdi’s General Manager Malin Anagrius. Private and institutional land is Soverdi’s main focus, explained Anagrius, and a greening of Montreal cannot be possible if there is an exclusive focus on parks, or cutting through sidewalk pavement to plant trees.

“That’s the traditional tree planting when you think about trees. It’s either the side of the street or in the forest,” said Anagrius. “But what we do is that we try to see it otherwise and try to make a little mini forest behind different kinds of land.”

The non-profit collaborates with boroughs, land owners, and companies to fund the sprouting of these mini forests in locations such as schools, hospitals, and industrial areas.

“Trees can be integrated into a lot of different spaces,” explained Ziter, “and so even if we don’t have enough space for, you know, a larger green space or a park or a garden, we might have enough space to plant a tree.”

In spite of its versatility, the location of a tree is paramount to maximizing its benefits and can present several challenges, as outlined in Montreal’s 2021 Nature and Sports Plan. One challenge is the “availability of required spaces for planting.” The government is also committed to identifying and planting trees in zones which are vulnerable to heat waves, since greening would help prevent overheating.

For Christopher Vaccarella, president of Concordia’s Political Science Student Association, the question of place was an easy one to answer. In keeping with the association’s first sustainability policy, Vaccarella and his partners successfully planted 250 trees in Montreal last year.

“​​All of our tree planting projects were in elementary schools,” shared Vaccarella proudly, sitting at a Second Cup Café in downtown Montreal. He donned a forest-green fleece jacket, a colour absent from the storefronts of many cafés downtown.

“But what I found interesting was all of them are in the East End, which is what we preferred because that’s an area neglected by the city.”

Vaccarella’s heavy endorsement of planting trees in the east comes as no surprise. Just this October, a CBC article analyzing a 2015 study on Montreal’s tree canopy revealed significant disparities across the island. The wealthier neighbourhood of Mount Royal, with its median income of $110,000, boasted a 40 per cent canopy cover. In the east, Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and its median income of $40,000 had a canopy cover of just 11 per cent. Reasons mentioned in the analysis  include real estate values, lot sizes, and differences in property tax revenue.

“If I had 500,000 trees in Montreal, I would certainly focus on improving what we sometimes call tree equity,” said Ziter. “[We should] focus on reducing some of those disparities in the canopy cover and ensuring that low canopy, low green space areas did receive the majority of those trees.”

Soverdi is doing their best to ensure just that, as their operations continue taking root in areas like the east end of Montreal.

“It costs a lot more too, to plant in the city than to plant in [a] rural environment,” said Anagrius, whose organization Soverdi has planted 85,000 trees in Montreal since 2014. Trees need to be bigger in order to withstand a metropolis’ tougher conditions, and in many cases, obstacles like asphalt have to be removed to make planting possible.

Location also breeds all sorts of complex decisions concerning appropriate tree species, Ziter explained.

But greener may not always be better. Vaccarella expressed worries over eco-gentrification, a phenomenon that associates greening with snowballing real estate and rent values.

“Just here,” Vaccarella claimed, pointing to the grey pavement adjacent to the Second Cup coffee shop. “You can fill that with a tree and it’ll probably shoot up the market value by a couple of hundred bucks.”

Indeed, when announcing the $1.8 billion greening project in May, Mayor Valérie Plante emphasized the allure of an urban forest for tourists and investors. The greening is a point of focus in the city’s post-pandemic recovery plan, which could exacerbate government-led gentrification.

“One thing that’s really important is thinking about, as we implement greening projects or policies, are we also thinking about corresponding social mechanisms or policies that will help people to stay in their communities?” asked Ziter. She believes that these mechanisms could include rent freezes, subsidies, and a more community-led approach.

Still, that disparity may be bridged with the city’s development of 110 km of “green corridors” connecting large parks and living spaces across the island. One of those corridors will branch out from Bois-de-Saraguay Park in Ahuntsic-Cartierville to Angrignon Park in Le Sud-Ouest.

“You’re going to get a lot more people that can access that kind of thin strip of green space than if you had that same amount of land kind of condensed in, you know, a square or a circle where it’s really only serving people in that particular area,” said Ziter.

This “linear greening” would also benefit wildlife as the corridors create safe paths for their city-wide movements. For the urban ecologists, the location of a tree should not only have humans in mind. “I would also want to think about areas where we could try and maximize the impact for both people and other biodiversity,” explained Ziter.

Towards the end of last year, tragic events in British Columbia concerning the knock-on effects of wildfires, floods, and deadly mudslides have once again drawn attention to issues of soil stability. Reforesting is one viable solution, though it represents a vastly different and much larger scale of tree planting according to Ziter.

Anagrius hopes the topic of reforestation will be addressed by the federal government and their own 2030 arboreal aspirations.

“With the two billion trees project from the federal government, I think there’s enough trees for everyone,” said Anagrius. “We just have to find the space to plant them.”

 

 

Visuals by Madeline Schmidt

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News

Protesters Gather to Support Egyptian Families Seeking Asylum

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Photo by Gabriel Guindi

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Ar(t)chives Arts

Melvin Charney’s history of Sherbrooke St.

1976 saw Sherbrooke St. becoming an arts venue, but only until the city’s mayor decided otherwise

The city of Montreal welcomed the Olympic Games in 1976. Along with the sporting events, art pieces were showcased and organized throughout the city. Corridart was one of them: an urban exhibition displayed on a long portion of Sherbrooke St. going from Atwater Ave. to Pie-IX Blvd. Curator Melvin Charney led the organization of the event, which presented various installations, exhibitions, and performances. He was interested in the history of the street, and the historical value of its buildings.

The event saw a variety of artistic creations. Pierre Ayot presented the sculpture La croix du mont Royal, a large illuminated replica of the mythical Mount Royal cross. Another piece entitled Mémoires de la rue was composed of scaffolding structures on which images and art pieces would be placed. Large red plastic hands pointing at different elements of the urban landscape, such as buildings or streets, were also a notable element of the exhibit.

Politics quickly took a large place in the evolution of the event as the exhibition was dismantled less than a week after it was launched, ordered by Mayor Jean Drapeau. This occurred during the night of July 13, four days before the start of the Olympics. Drapeau believed the artworks did not fit the aesthetic standards that would properly represent the city for this international event.

Charney had not aimed at presenting a clean and perfect Montreal. On the contrary, according to art history professor and researcher Johanne Sloan’s analysis of the event in the book The Other Architect: Another Way of Building Architecture, the curator’s approach was to “insist on the cultural value of domestic and vernacular architecture, and of streets themselves.”

Charney had done extensive preliminary research for this project. He analyzed the history of the buildings, the sidewalks, and their placement in the public space. Therefore, the location where the artworks would be placed was meticulously chosen so that the architectural heritage of the city would be integrated in the exhibit. The goal was to make art accessible to pedestrians and encourage them to engage with it.

For Charney, the street was itself a representation of the city’s cultural background. “The physical traces of the streets define a bond between people and the city as a collective, public artifact that subsumes individual buildings,” he wrote in 1977 as published in the book On Architecture: Melvin Charney, A Critical Anthology.

The presented artworks tackled themes related to the history of Montreal, its urban development, and activism in the community. Artist Françoise Sullivan presented a creation titled Legend of Artists. This piece featured archives of meaningful art movements in Montreal. They were displayed in large boxes placed on top of steel legs, and each contained objects, texts, and photos recalling a specific artistic practice. Those mini-exhibitions were placed in arts venues as well as in front of the homes of artists who inspired Sullivan, such as Paul-Émile Borduas and Émile Nelligan.

Legend of Artists reached passersby and accompanied their walk on Sherbrooke St. while providing a historical background on cultural events related to the site. Charney’s creation for the exhibition also touched on historical features, but through one monumental work. Entitled Les maisons de la rue Sherbrooke, the piece was a life-size imitation of an apartment building’s facade. The empty lot where it was presented was previously occupied by Victorian style buildings that had been destroyed by the city.

Charney’s installation replicated the aesthetic of the new modern buildings that were built in the neighbourhood. The piece engaged with reflections on the treatment of the city’s architectural heritage.

Despite its short existence, Corridart is still recognized today for its ideas regarding the reappropriation of everyday urban spaces by pedestrians. According to Sloan, Charney was “proposing a theory of the street itself as the site of urban knowledge.”

Following the destruction of the exhibition, a group of artists who had participated in it sued the city of Montreal for $350,000. The controversy around this project became famous and the plaintiffs eventually received a total of $85,000 12 years later through a settlement agreement with the city.

 

Visuals by Taylor Reddam

 

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Opinions

Flying off the shelves — the love for Squishmallows

One year later, let’s take a look at our plushie obsession

Last winter, it was hard to come by the squish.

I scoured the shelves of any Walmart I came across looking for a rare squish, even following stores on social media to know when they would come back in stock.

Yes, it may be a little shameful to admit that is how I spend my time, but I love the soft, squishy plushies. They come equipped with a name and a small description of what their aspirations are, and can become your fluffy best friend.

Although, now I find myself asking, where the hell am I gonna put all these damn Squishmallows? 

This all began when my partner’s mom innocently gifted me Tally the Tabby Cat, one of the original Squishmallows. Within a few months, I was obsessively placing my many squish on my bed every morning.

Maddie Laxer, a fellow squish-enthusiast, had a similar experience. After receiving a squish as a gift from her bestie, she suddenly found herself immersed in the world of round fluffy friends. “It just turned into such a fun thing, trying to find all these little animals.”

After all, the hunt is half the fun.

After finding fame on TikTok, Squishmallows became virtually impossible to find in stores. Not only were me, my cousin, and my cousin’s friend all looking for them, but a slew of resellers appeared out of the woodwork, driving up the price of our round furry friends online and in stores. All of a sudden they were not only hard to find, but they were exclusive.

That’s when things got interesting. It became a real hunt, searching for the cutest companion for the best price (the big squishies retail for $20-25, pretty reasonable in my opinion). “You never know when they’re sort of gonna pop up,” said Maddie.

Although she occasionally went out on hunts herself, Maddie’s mom was the main culprit responsible for her daughter’s Squishmallow collection. “It sort of turned into a fun little, like, activity with me and my mom,” explained Maddie.

Last year, as outings were limited to essentials only, and many of us weren’t able to go out to browse for fun anymore, Maddie’s mom would utilize her weekly trips to Winners to hunt for squish. She would send photos of neatly stacked rows of them to her daughter, asking which one would best suit her collection. “She started going out of her way every time to be at Winners trying to see which ones were there.”

Squishmallows aren’t just useful for cuddling and staying cozy, they also help to build a community, and helped some to stay connected during a long lockdown.

Much of the content posted on social media showed us how friends and family of Squishmallow enthusiasts would get in on the fun of the hunt. Often accompanied by captions such as, my grandpa found me the cutest squish today! or get yourself a boyfriend who hunts squishmallows with you.

In a time where — and I don’t have to remind you of this — the air felt tense, everyone was locked inside and forced to face the realities of a global pandemic, maybe we all needed a furry friend to rely on.

Teddy bears and plushies were a huge part of our childhood. A recent study found that four in 10 Americans still find comfort in their childhood stuffed animals. So it’s not so surprising young adults have taken an interest in this new plushie craze.

In the ‘90s it was Beanie Babies, now it’s Squishmallows.

But, I will reiterate: what the hell am I supposed to do with the mountain of stuffed animals I have in my small Montreal apartment?

I’ve shoved a substantial amount of my collection up on a shelf I can’t reach without the help of a chair. But still, a select few stay on my bed, desk chair, and couch at all times. I find it fun to switch them out depending on my mood. For example, I currently have Dawn the Fawn out, since she’s a winter-themed squish. Fitting for the recent snow, and cold weather.

But there are other solutions if you wish to get rid of them entirely. I’d recommend finding a toy drive to donate to, or even a thrift store with a large toy section. Maybe you have a relative that just had a baby.

Regardless of where the squish ends up, they will always hold a special place in my heart. Not only did they single-handedly throw me back into childhood, but they also represent my biggest financial shame… don’t tell my parents.

 

Photo collage by Catherine Reynolds

Omicron FOMO sweeps the nation

Why are healthy Concordians embarrassed?

At the beginning of the pandemic, whispers about who had COVID were shrouded in a cloud of shame. Those who contracted the virus were blamed for not following the precautions properly and not behaving the way an upstanding citizen should.

Now two years later, with the emergence of the highly contagious Omicron variant, the cloud of shame seems to rain on those who have a sickness that’s even worse — Omicron FOMO (fear of missing out).

“In March 2020, it was only the reckless, cool kids getting it,” said a COVID-less Concordia student who wished to stay anonymous out of embarrassment. “But now, it’s everyone. Even my dentist has had it. At this point, my mom is seriously worried about my social life.”

The student explained that her mother has had all three variants, all secured from three separate trips to Florida, and is pushing her offspring to run rampant and maskless through the swamplands to finally catch the damn virus. The student is considering this option, but has also heard that licking every metro pole on the Green Line proves more cost-effective on a student budget.

This is not a single-case phenomenon; another Concordian, who also requested anonymity — citing fear of not seeming cool enough to get a job in accounting — noted that they feel like they’re missing a part of history by still not having caught COVID.

“Honestly, what I think about is what I’m going to tell my hypothetical kids,” he said, sniffling (with concern, not COVID). “When they ask me what it was like to have the virus, I’ll be the lame dad who won’t be able to tell them. They’ll probably put themselves up for adoption.”

He was also concerned about not knowing how to converse with peers. “All everyone talks about these days is COVID. How can I relate to everyone if I haven’t had it?”

He explained that he’s tried everything to catch the virus, including living in his COVID-positive friend’s closet during her isolation period. Alas, his PCRs have all come up negative. “It feels like I’m a hopeful mother waiting for a positive pregnancy test.”

Quarantina Jab, a Concordian who explicitly demanded to be named, is part of the minority who is still avoiding Omicron. Jab said that she does not want to get sick for the sole reason of fulfilling her dream of holding the world record for not getting COVID for the longest amount of time. “I’ve actually been living in isolation since I was born. I hopped out of the womb and got my own apartment, where I’ve been living ever since,” she said.

Jab seems to be the only person who shares this sentiment according to a survey conducted on the now-obsolete MyConcordia portal.

Still, those who have yet to catch Omicron need not fear. With humanity’s luck, there will be another, even more contagious variant in approximately three months to sweep you off your feet and cure your FOMO.

 

Graphics by James Fay

Categories
News

Waste Not, Want Not’s fireside chat highlights the importance of a university curriculum based in sustainability

Some important voices at Concordia come together to discuss a sustainability curriculum and fight against the climate crisis

On Thursday, Jan. 13, Waste Not, Want Not, a compost and waste reduction initiative at Concordia, hosted a virtual fireside chat. The purpose of the conversation was to discuss the future implementation of sustainability education into the curriculum at Concordia. This curriculum would give all students at Concordia a greater understanding of sustainability and the climate crisis.

The panel discussion included both student leaders and university administrators: Chief Data Officer at Times Higher Education, Duncan Ross, Concordia University Provost and Vice-President Anne Whitelaw, Concordia Student Union (CSU) Sustainability Coordinator Faye Sun and Waste Not, Want Not founder Keroles Riad. The conversation detailed the implementation of sustainability education, touching  on the timeline, importance and effect that such a curriculum would have on students at Concordia.

The conversation followed a referendum question proposed by the CSU in 2021, which saw 89 per cent of students vote on implementing sustainability education into the curriculum. The question was proposed in a by-election which saw a 20 per cent student turnout, the highest in CSU history.

While the curriculum is not currently in development, Concordia has already begun doing more work in the field of sustainability in 2020 with the Sustainability Action Plan. One aspect of this plan is forming a committee, and one of the topics of discussion is on curriculum development. But for Riad, any step the university takes towards supporting the initiative is important, including the fireside in itself.

“I think it’s one of those situations where it feels as if the university makes progress just by showing up,” said Riad. “Having senior administrators get out of their comfort zone, outside of those scripted PR events and actually have a conversation that is real, and that discusses different perspectives — I think that’s really important.”

The goal of the initiative would be to have all students at Concordia learn about sustainability and the climate crisis. In the meantime, according to Riad, the John Molson School of Business (JMSB) and the Faculty of Fine Arts are currently working on their own sustainability initiatives. But, to create a university-wide curriculum, there is a lot more that needs to be done.

“Number one is a commitment, a goal that everybody agrees on. Number two is a mechanism that ensures that we are getting to that goal in the proper timeline, with built-in flexibility where all our departments and programs can design curriculum the best way for their own disciplines,” said Riad.

“The last thing I think [is needed] is university support, and resources that programs and professors can access so that the initiative is not broken.”

During the discussion Whitelaw mentioned the university is already working on creating some of these resources.

“We will be hiring a sustainability curriculum developer in our centre for teaching and learning that will be supporting faculty members to include sustainability content in their courses,” she said.

A curriculum based around sustainability isn’t a unique idea. A similar program was put in place by Université Laval in 2009, which took ten years to fully implement. This timeline roughly falls in line with the goal of implementing a similar initiative at Concordia by 2030.

With growing fears of the climate crisis and sustainability becoming a more and more popular topic, for Riad this new curriculum can’t come soon enough.

“There’s nothing that prevents the university from saying, ‘Well, look, we heard you were listening. Let’s move even faster, let’s be more ambitious,’” said Riad. “You’re not going to hear me or anybody at the university saying ‘Oh, please don’t move so fast. Don’t go too fast. You’re being too ambitious.’ Nobody’s gonna say that.”

Riad believes that conversations surrounding sustainability at the university level are an important step in a very long road to greater climate action.

“It’s like a marathon. I think today was a good step forward, but we have not reached the finish line. And I think we should not only keep running, but accelerate faster.”You can view the Fireside Chat here. Learn more about Waste Not ,Want Not here.

Categories
Opinions

Where should you eat now that we’re in lockdown (again)

My guide to ordering good food in Montreal

Let me save you some time: when ordering in, the easy way out is always Dominos. When in doubt, you can always count on their thin crust pizza to be edible.

Personally, I like to be a little more adventurous when I scour UberEats and SkiptheDishes. If I’m gonna spend at least $13 on service fees, tax and delivery, I will make sure the meal is worth it. And so over the past two years (yes, it’s really almost been two years), I have discovered a few gems worth checking out.

Three different price categories will make it oh-so-easy for you to navigate this guide to ordering in  our third… or fourth? Maybe even the fifth lockdown.

 

PRICEPOINT — cheap-ish

For those who still eat meat (such as myself, as much as I hate to admit it), Cantine Emilia is the perfect spot to satisfy your Portuguese craving.

Their delicious roasted chicken is cooked and served in a spicy and acidic fiery red sauce — and you can pick what level of spice you can handle. Sides such as light and yummy green salad, rice, and obviously fries are available for your liking. In my experience, they tend to be generous with the portions. The spicy mayo that comes on the side (as an extra) puts A&W’s spicy mayo to shame; you can also find the sauce-slathered onto one of their chicken sandwiches.

Lastly, my favourite part, the natas. Please, do yourself a favour and heat those babies up in the oven, sprinkled with a little sea salt before eating.

Five different locations around the Island of Montreal make it so you can order from wherever you reside — no excuses.

 

PRICEPOINT — medium

For a slightly more expensive option, Mont Everest Masala is a great place for some delicious Indian food. The way I see it, ordering Indian food is an investment: it may be a little more expensive than what you’re ready to spend, but you will have delicious leftovers for days.

You can go the “safe route” and order butter chicken, basmati rice and naan, but why not try something different? Go for some lamb korma, palak or shahi paneer, and even some yummy mixed vegetables.

I always order extra naan and make my own rice to save cost (never enough rice in my opinion), but if you have pitas or even some frozen naan, that’ll do the trick to help u save even more!

 

PRICEPOINT — hard

Obviously, if you are gonna treat yourself, the meal to order is sushi. Cheap sushi is a miss, but good sushi is a MUST.

SOZO Sushi, located next to Metro Mont-Royal or in Saint-Leonard, is a delicious treat you can afford maybe once a semester. Why not surprise yourself and get an assortment of random sashimi and nigiri?

Even if that order doesn’t float your boat, then this place will be sure to have at least one roll to satisfy your belly. The portions are generous, and worth the cost (5 futomaki per order, 6 hosomaki per order, and 8 maki per order).

One thing I really appreciate from this establishment is the rice. Unlike most sushi shops, the rice at SOZO is nicely seasoned, not too wet, and served at the perfect temperature. Rice that is too gummy or falls apart at the touch is so unpleasant, but the worst is ice-cold rice. The rice should be room temperature, stuck together but still distinct individual grains.

Just remember — even if it may be unaffordable for must of us to order everynight, but it’s okay to indulge sometimes… right?

To help save on some of the delivery costs, maybe walk to the location to pick up your food rather than going through an app, or make it a point to try the restaurants within a six-block radius. Save some money and help your favourite restaurant make more money by disregarding a thirst party app.

But don’t worry, ça va bien aller. 

 

Graphics by @sundaeghost

Categories
Student Life

Omicron — COVID’s dreaded fifth wave

Four students reflect on how they experienced the Omicron breakout from home

By: Juliette Palin, commentary editor; Evan Lindsay, news editor; Talia Kliot, assistant commentary editor; Amanda Defillo, contributor

 

Juliette’s version 

The day I left for Budapest, mandatory PCR testing was just being re-implemented for travellers on any Air Canada flight. No snow had managed to stick to the ground longer than 72 hours, and Omicron was just starting to bear its gruesome teeth. Once we got to Budapest, and the jetlag started to wear off, my sister and I got wind of the chaotic state Montreal was in: no available rapid tests, serpentine lines outside testing centers, and the familiar sight of cases rising, with one main difference. Never before had we seen such high case numbers in Quebec. One day it was five thousand… then twelve thousand… eighteen thousand…

My sister and I watched in terror from Budapest, where the fourth wave of Delta was dying out and Omicron was a looming threat. We went to the scenic city to visit our parents but had we known how fast the situation would deteriorate, I don’t believe we would have gone.

While we saw every Quebecer and Canadian become confined to lockdowns, and spending holidays alone — my own family catching COVID, and being unable to reunite for the holidays — our situation was different. We had no problem getting tested (which we did a total of five times) and everyone around us had already acquired a booster shot. Our only real issue was explaining why our vaccine passports wouldn’t scan, since they were not registered in any European database.

In Hungary, people were unbothered, lazy with their masks, aloof to what was happening all over the world, or even just a day’s drive away in France or Austria. Needless to say, it was difficult to face two alternate realities every day: that of the fifth wave back home, and an eerie sense that I was looking at the past — a city full of people still enjoying the normality of unregulated life.

 

Talia’s version

The Omicron outbreak in Montreal was frustrating. I was lucky enough to spend it skiing, reading, watching movies, and going for walks with my family. While we were safe and healthy, it was annoying to see that even with COVID case numbers spiralling out of control, hours-long testing lines in the cold, and rapid test shortages, restrictions to help relieve healthcare professionals were only put in place after Christmas. But of course, Quebec is a secular province, duh.

When the government brought back our beloved curfew and shut down restaurant dining rooms, it was right before New Year’s Eve. Many restaurants had already ordered all their food, not only creating waste but causing many to lose much-needed income.

On one hand, I’m sick of all the restrictions and want to live my life again. I missed a Taylor Swift dance party because of this stupid outbreak! But, I know that we need to offer some relief to the healthcare system, which is crumbling as many workers get sick and are unable to come in. It also feels like everyone I know has or has had COVID, so I guess it’s just a matter of time before it comes for me. Wish me luck…

 

Evan’s version

The longer that this pandemic drags on the more I wish that I could say it was somewhat exciting. To think that 40 years from now someone might ask me what it was like to live through a global health emergency… I wish that I would have some more dramatic stories to tell them. Unfortunately, the reality is that this holiday season was spent much like the last, trapped in my house with my family.

I’m grateful to have the opportunity to spend time with my family in Victoria. But if it wasn’t the spike in BC COVID cases keeping me inside, it was the snow. People from Victoria tend to refer to the southern part Vancouver Island as the “tropics of Canada,” which is to say that snow is rare — and when it happens, insignificant. Instead of blizzards, we get massive amounts of rain. This year the snow was neither rare nor insignificant.

Unable to drive due to the snow and a lack of winter tires, I wasn’t able to escape my family home as much as I may have liked. Again, this did yield some positive results: being unable to leave meant more quality time with my family, and kept me from rubbing elbows with potentially COVID-riddled Victorians.

My home is typically very busy during the holidays with out-of-town relatives coming in and constant baking, cooking and the occasional extra glass or three of wine. Despite the pandemic, many of these holiday traditions remained intact. On both sides of the family, my grandparents were unable to travel back to Canada from their vacation homes in the states. My dad’s parents stayed in Palm Springs and my mom’s dad from Seattle stayed in Arizona. More wine for the immediate family I guess?

Restaurants, bars and movie theatres in BC stayed open if you had a vaccine passport, but gyms closed (a popular topic of debate and internet outrage among many of my friends). I was able to take advantage of all our open amenities without much trouble, other than a few people scowling at me for showing a Quebec vaccine passport, and a small argument with my dad about whether it was safe to see Spider-Man: No Way Home (either way, it was worth it. Great movie).

Despite spiking cases in BC, most of my attention and anxiety was directed towards Montreal, knowing in just a few weeks, I would be back in time for a second curfew and record-breaking case numbers.

 

Amanda’s version

When the news about Omicron broke, I remember lying in my bed and receiving a call from my mom. At the time, she was overtaken with panic. She went on and on about how I needed to get back home immediately and told me I should start packing.

I’m from the Dominican Republic, studying as an international student in Canada. I just remember feeling scared that I, along with everyone else in Montreal, would have to go back into lockdown, unable to go back to university for an undetermined amount of time… Once again, I felt as if my life was being uprooted and it’s just not a fun experience.

Probably not even three days later, maybe even sooner, my parents had already bought me a ticket to go back home at the end of that week. Sitting on the plane, I thought to myself, “this can’t be happening, again?”

When I finally got back home things were okay for a while. A little bit better than Montreal, where everything was going to hell, but it didn’t take long for things to quickly go downhill here too. COVID’s fifth wave in DR coincided with an outbreak of influenza. People were getting sick left and right especially during the holidays, with rumours of full hospitals crowding every conversation. Things eventually started to calm down but still, a lot of people around me were getting sick either with COVID or with influenza. It just all felt very intense.

 

Visuals by Cathrine Reynolds

Categories
Opinions

Tackling worldwide issues requires a new definition of proximity

COVID-19 tested our ability to care for strangers, and this test will only continue as we face climate change

I scoured the internet for the name of the first man to die of COVID-19. I learned that he was a 61-year-old man from Wuhan, China. I learned that he was a regular at the live animal market, he had previously been diagnosed with abdominal tumours and chronic liver disease, but I couldn’t find his name. He’s a number; he was patient zero. His heart failed on Jan. 9, 2020, and since then, there have been over 5.5 million COVID-19 deaths worldwide.

As consumers of news, there is always a disconnect when reading about events happening overseas.

These stories lack one of the seven ideals in newsworthy journalism: proximity. If you want people to read your articles, you need to report on issues that affect your reader or their communities directly. A man died of a virus in China, why should I care?

At this point, the answer to that question should be clear.

After that first death in Wuhan, it only took three weeks for the World Health Organization to declare a global health emergency, on Jan. 30, 2020.

Every single person on the planet was affected by COVID-19 in one way or another, and as the world becomes more globalized, there will be more of these worldwide issues that affect all of us. What we thought of as “proximate” is no longer relevant.

The problem we’re facing is that these new types of global issues are blurring geographical borders, but we are all still inclined to care more about issues directly affecting our family, friends, and neighbours. It’s hard to care about strangers overseas.

In international news reporting, we need to be connecting readers to issues by fabricating a sense of proximity. This would lead to better global awareness and a deeper understanding of events that will inevitably affect us all.

Personal narratives can be used to “reduce” distance and diminish the disconnected feeling we get from reading about foreign issues.

Having journalists report on people’s lives in a more intimate way can make it easier for audiences to empathize with the subjects — even those from far away, and even when they are not directly affected.

About two months into the pandemic, NBC News published a story about 60 lives in 60 days, which told the stories of some of the first American victims of COVID-19. They outlined other hardships the victims overcame in their lives and provided testimonies from loved ones. While this project didn’t receive an overwhelming number of likes on social media, the comments posted in response were genuine. Strangers were mourning these deaths.

However, in some cases, cultural or political barriers don’t allow us to gain the insight we need to make these connections.

Obviously, reporting operates differently in China.

Whether the country was trying to downplay the virus in January 2020 as they did with SARS in 2003, or whether the government’s official statements were delayed due to its complex, rigid system, it is possible that patient zero’s name purposely wasn’t shared. But not sharing his name was a disservice to the rest of the world.

If you had told me he left behind a wife or kids, it would’ve made me think of deaths that occurred in my own family. It would’ve brought about a fleeting wave of sadness, and it would’ve sparked an emotional connection.

Award-winning writer Walt Harrington wrote that more intimate journalism stories open “windows on our universal human struggle,” — and death and mourning are inevitable for all of us; it’s relatable. Sure, patient zero’s personal details wouldn’t have been all that relevant in reporting the spread of the virus, but readers abroad would’ve been able to connect.

COVID-19 isn’t the only ongoing global issue. Climate change is creeping up on all of us. And I mean all of us.

Developing countries have been suffering for decades from earthquakes, tsunamis, and other natural disasters as a result of global warming. And if that’s not enough to make you care, the recent floods in British Columbia are an indicator that these problems are not as far away as they may seem.

Sound familiar? The virus once felt far away too.

COP26, the most recent UN climate change summit, is one example of a collaborative effort — however flawed it may be. After 26 gatherings, the Earth should be in better shape, but what we do benefit from is the exposure to those people affected by climate change.

James Cadet, the Minister of Environment of Haiti, spoke in French about how their lives are “intimately linked” and their economies are “interdependent.” It doesn’t matter how far away Haiti may seem; COVID-19 wasn’t bothered by geographical borders, and climate change won’t be either.

Haiti is a vulnerable country and undoubtedly feels the intense consequences of climate change. Hearing first-hand about the hardships faced from a Haitian native creates a new type of proximity in which listeners feel closer to and empathize with the speaker.

Some journalists have turned to different forms of media to fabricate this sense of proximity.

Mia Lindgren, Professor and Dean at Swinburne University of Technology, discusses the effectiveness of audio media in storytelling. Mediums like radio and podcasts create proximity with the human voice. Hearing the warmth in the voices of strangers makes it easier to relate and sympathize than it would be through a piece of text.

Ear Hustle, a podcast which is recorded and posted by current prison inmates, is a perfect example of how technology has made it much easier to keep up with people beyond our own geographical and social borders.

Listeners can feel the pain, sadness, or guilt in the voices of the podcast host and guests. Audio storytelling achieves the element of proximity outlined in the principles of successful, newsworthy journalism.

Not knowing the name of COVID-19’s patient zero created even more distance in a situation where it was already difficult to connect. What if he wasn’t just a faceless victim? What if we had the opportunity to feel for him more deeply, 11,000 kilometers away?

If Wuhan wasn’t reported on, the situation could’ve been very different once COVID-19 reached North America. If there wasn’t communication across various nations, it’s possible that vaccines would not have been developed as quickly as they were. People need to be aware of events happening internationally – that’s how solutions are found.

This lesson learned from our pandemic response can be applied to every sort of global issue. Solutions will require worldwide collaboration, so again geographical proximity becomes irrelevant.

The Montreal Protocol is the most impressive example of this much needed communication and collaboration, as it is the only UN treaty to ever be ratified by all 197 UN-recognized countries. This collective agreement to protect the ozone layer came into effect in 1989. Among its notable achievements, it has led to the phaseout of the production and consumption of 98 per cent of ozone depleting substances. Global cooperation led to fixing global-scale problems — weird!

The traditional definition of proximity is no longer relevant in deciding what is “newsworthy.” As our problems get bigger, we have to widen the scope of our concern accordingly. Journalists have the power to create a feeling of proximity through their storytelling and make us care — something the world desperately needs as we face unprecedented, worldwide issues. The stories of those already affected by climate change must be shared, because we saw what happened when the world couldn’t sympathize with patient zero.

 

Graphics by James Fay

Categories
Sports

How to grow women’s hockey

Concordia vs. McGill Women's Hockey game on Oct. 1 2021

Increasing visibility and investment and paying a living wage could be the key

Brooke Boquist, a forward for the Toronto Six in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), works in real estate by day and plays hockey by night and during the weekends. She said her lifestyle can be tough.

“If you’re working and making these trips every weekend or every couple of weeks, it’s pretty busy. So it’s definitely not easy, but we find a way to make it work,” she added.

Before signing with the Six last season, Boquist played two seasons in the Swedish Women’s Hockey League (SDHL), where she didn’t need a second job and was able to completely focus on her game.

“But now here, I can’t just play hockey and not work,” said the 25-year-old forward. “It’s just that you don’t make enough money to do that. And living-wise, I live in downtown Toronto. It’s like a whole different story, right?” she said and laughed. Despite city living costs, she’s happy to have found an interest outside of hockey that she can pursue at the same time.

Boquist said her team has practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and plays games on the weekends. Each PHF team is projected to play 20 games this season, whereas in Sweden her team used to practice every day and play almost every weekend.

Being a professional female hockey player in North America isn’t easy. As opposed to professional male hockey players, female players can’t only focus on their passion, and train, play, and breathe hockey, as that simply doesn’t earn them a living wage. 

The PHF along with the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) are the two professional leagues for women’s hockey in North America. The PHF is comprised of six teams, and the PWHPA of five. That’s a total of 11 professional women’s hockey teams compared to 108 professional men’s teams in five different leagues across North America, including the National Hockey League (NHL).

Many female players, current and former, want women’s hockey to grow to allow these athletes to make a living wage by playing hockey, just like male players.

Julie Chu, head coach of the Concordia Stingers’ women’s hockey team and four-time U.S. Olympic medalist in hockey, said that in order for women’s hockey to get there, the investment has to come first.

While this would allow players to earn a living wage, it would also let them train full-time and “put a product on the ice that is going to be really strong and be top quality,” Chu said.

However, she added that it’s really difficult for players to be able to get to that stage, even if they want to, since they need to have a full-time job, as is the case with Boquist and her teammates.

“There are some amazing athletes still playing in the PHF and the PWHPA, and they’re able to do this,” Chu said. “But just imagine if those athletes have the ability just to be professional athletes and the time and investment that they can put into being a great hockey player, resting, recovering, getting stronger, […] all those resources. That just increases the product itself. So, we need that investment to make the product better.”

Chu played in what used to be the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) with the Montreal Canadiennes (who were formerly known as the Montreal Stars). Being in different situations, Chu said it has really made a difference in understanding that “we can only be as good as we can be, with the resources we have.”

She also strongly believes that increasing visibility would be a big step in making hockey more accessible to women.

“I’m a big believer that, if we’re able to see it, if things are visible, then we have the opportunity to think about wanting to do it,” Chu said.

She said that promoting current athletes at the elite level for the female game is really important. Chu described adding women’s international hockey in the video game NHL 22 as a “huge milestone” for the visibility of women in the sport. There are several ways better representation has been achieved, such as having female player cards in Tim Hortons’ new hockey cards collection.

“I think we do have to make a more conscious effort to make sure that in our local organizations, we’re giving value to each of them equally, versus having the women just be an afterthought,” Chu said. For example, women might not be included within boards of local hockey organizations, or they might not be given the best ice time because they are an afterthought, so a good solution for shared facilities between men’s and women’s teams would be to alternate good ice time – which usually refers to daytime access to facilities – according to Chu. 

She added that we need to make sure that women are part of conversations or part of the solutions if organizations are looking at things that concern both female and male teams.

Another way to increase visibility would be to expand the PHF. The league announced on Jan. 18 that the plan is to expand to Montreal next season.

“I think the main goal for women’s hockey is to get the exposure out there right now and to, eventually, at some point in time, have the girls make a living wage,” Boquist said. “That’s the sole focus. And I think that expanding the league to get more exposure is everything in the right direction.” Currently, the average salary for PHF players is $15,000 per season with a team salary cap of $300,000. With the cap increasing to $750,000 next season, the average salary should reach $37,500.

“It would be awesome to expand into Montreal […] and across Canada,” Boquist said. 

“Obviously we should focus on one thing at a time, but it would be nice to have another team in Canada.” The other three professional female teams in Canada are part of the PWHPA: Team Sonnet of the Toronto Region, Team Harvey’s of the Montreal Region, and Team Scotiabank of the Calgary Region.

However, Chu added that more needed to be done prior to taking that step. She said there’s currently a disconnect in the women’s hockey world since the PWHPA and PHF are separate entities, and that the two should find a way to merge or dissolve separately to then come together in a new league in order to have everyone working together in one entity.

The most ideal situation for her would be for the PHF and PWHPA to merge and launch right after the Winter Olympics. She said using the momentum and visibility of the worldwide event would make the transition a bit easier.

Boquist believes the PHF’s expansion will provide women in Montreal an opportunity to be part of the league without having to relocate. She also thinks the league will benefit from a potential rivalry with Toronto.

Along with an expansion to Montreal, the PHF announced a possibility to add new American teams to the Federation. For the moment, the PHF’s Board of Governors will invest $25 million to the players over the next three years, starting with $7.5 million next season. The plan isn’t only to improve the players’ salaries, but also healthcare benefits, as well as to update facilities, buy new equipment, and increase ice time in terms of both practices and games. The plan is to expand the schedule to 28 games.

“This is amazing news for the league and for women’s hockey,” Boquist said. “Such a great step in the right direction, not only with raising the salary cap but also the expansion (…) particularly to another Canadian team in Montreal.”

At the end of the day, the ultimate goal for Chu, Boquist, and for women’s hockey in general, is to be able to pay players a living wage.

“I believe in everything the PHF is doing right now,” Boquist said. “We’re getting there, we’re making the right steps and doing what we can so one day, I don’t know how long it will take, but one day, hopefully, the girls will be able to just focus on hockey.”

 

Photograph by Catherine Reynolds

Categories
News

A delayed return to in-person learning was Concordia’s only realistic option, according to some students

Concordia University's Sir George Williams Campus, January 2022. CAROLINE FABRE/The Concordian

The university recently announced that in-person classes would resume on Feb. 3

Concordia University’s decision to delay the return to in-person learning beyond Quebec’s recently announced date of Jan. 17, 2022, was the move that many students saw coming. Concordia shared in a statement that the university plans to welcome students, faculty, and staff back to classrooms on Feb. 3. 

 “I’d love to [return to in-person learning], but I want it to be safe and have everyone feel comfortable, because school is supposed to be a place where you feel safe,” said Selma Ferdjioui, a first-year journalism student at Concordia. 

“I don’t want to go back and worry about us all getting sick.” 

 Concordia University initially planned on extending online instruction until Jan. 19, following the province’s guidelines for educational institutions. However, according to some students the previous date to return was unrealistic. 

“COVID cases are still going up so it wouldn’t make sense to make it in-person now, when COVID cases are getting worse,” said Julia Lecompte-Robbins, a first-year early childhood and elementary education student at Concordia. “Everyone’s health is more important than getting back to in-person classes right now.”  

 University students across Quebec attended a mixture of their classes online and in-person during the fall semester of 2021. In the wake of surging Omicron variant cases and hospitalizations in Quebec, many students said that returning toa primarily  online learning platform feels like the obvious and necessary move.    

 “Even though my life is very limited to being at home and not doing much, I would rather do that than go out, get sick, or give COVID to other people,” shared Ferdjioui.

 “I think [delaying the return to in-person classes] is a smart move on Concordia’s part,” said Karim Ghrayeb, a first-year economics student at Concordia. “It only takes one student who has COVID to spread it, so opening all the schools is a risk.”  

 In response to the rapidly evolving public health circumstances in the province, Concordia notified students that “should there be any change to [the return to in-person classes on Feb. 3], we will give faculty, staff, and students a week’s notice.” 

 The lingering uncertainty of whether Concordia will resume in-person classes has led some students to delay the process of completing their studies. 

 Dina Bastounis, a first-year journalism student at Concordia, said that the initial return to online classes in the winter semester was a significant contributing factor in her decision to delay registering for her core courses. 

“I need to be in the mix of it, where the environment is conducive to my learning,” she said. Living with a full house composed of others trying to make do with remote work and school made this a challenging task for Bastounis. 

 “For me to continue in the journalism program, I knew what would work for me and what wouldn’t,” said Bastounis. “I told myself that this was probably going to remain online for more than two weeks and decided to put it off and do it properly next year.” 

 For third-year biochemistry student Cindy Huang, the mere possibility of moving classes to in-person was a risk she couldn’t afford to take. 

 “I didn’t register for courses this semester because I didn’t feel safe going to school in person,” said Huang. “I don’t see any point in going back right now.” 

 The nature of her work often brings Huang into close contact with those who have tested positive for COVID-19, she explained. The unpredictability of Quebec’s evolving public health situation, coupled with Concordia’s lack of hybrid options for the winter semester, is what she said forced her to put a pause on her degree. 

 “A school is supposed to teach people that your life is more important than anything else,” said Huang. I think it’s ridiculous that you have to choose between going to school in-person or online at a time like this.”

While the return to in-person learning may be scheduled for Feb. 3, students wish to see more decisive actions taken on Concordia’s behalf.  

“There’s so much back and forth,” said Bastounis. “Regardless of what the situation is, people want a definitive date that is somehow realistic instead of it being week-by-week. The university would be better off serving us by just simply deciding.”

 Although not his first choice, Jay Tee, a first-year economics student, believes that sticking to an online semester would avoid further complications for students. “They should be more decisive,” he said. “Instead of extending our return to classes, they should just say that it will be from home and that’s that.” 

 With a tentative return date ahead, students hope that any future decisions made by Concordia in the coming weeks will be reflective of the province’s COVID numbers.

  On Monday, Quebec reported 5,400 new cases of COVID-19 and 54 deaths. Accompanying this number, the province reported a new record of 3,381 hospitalizations, an increase of 81 from Sunday, including 286 in intensive care. 

“If we still have the same amount of COVID cases as we did when they decided to put school online and add the curfew and close things, obviously returning to in-person classes might not be the greatest idea,” shared Ferdjioui. “If cases get lower and lower, then why not return? At the same time, I don’t want to go to school and be scared of getting COVID either.”

 Returning slightly later than expected is a “better option” than returning on Jan. 19, said Lecompte-Robbins. However, she believes the consequences are likely to remain the same. 

 “It’s taking away two weeks where people can be exposed to COVID by being at school,” said Lecompte-Robbins. “At the same time, we’re going back anyway and [COVID] is still going to circulate around campus either way.”

 “It’s not going to fix the problem permanently, but it helps,” said Ghrayeb. “I just hope that [returning on Feb. 3] is not a rash decision just to get people back into studying in classrooms, at the risk of increasing cases.” 

 

Photos by Caroline Fabre

Categories
News

Teachers Feel Unsafe Returning to In-Person Learning

With the return to in-person learning, some teachers feel that Minister of Education Jean-François Roberge’s lack of transparency has contributed to providing an unsafe work environment. 

Teachers in both the French and English education sectors feel that not enough has been done to ensure a safe return to school now that classes will return in-person, especially amid the highly contagious Omicron variant.

Some say Minister of Education Jean-François Roberge has not provided an effective plan for teachers and students to return to a safe working environment during the pandemic, and feel that the measures put in place are not sufficient in providing a safeguard between students and teachers.

 Last year, Roberge didn’t believe that air purifiers were necessary in ensuring better air quality, stating that there was no evidence that correlated poor air quality and COVID outbreaks in schools. He has now backpedalled and instead recommended that teachers keep windows regularly opened, to improve air quality — something he mentioned in a press conference on Jan.5 of this year.

 This back and forth in decision-making from the Minister of Education has teachers like MJ, a grade one teacher in Montreal who requested to remain anonymous, feel that they’re not properly represented in what’s best for them. “I think he should resign,” MJ said. “He can’t do the job properly, one day he says something, the other day he says something else. He puts the teachers in a very uncomfortable position.”

 Unions like the Fédération autonome de l’enseignement (FAE), which represent 50,000 teachers across Montreal, Gatineau, Laval, and some other regions in Quebec, are also trying to receive clarity from the government. Sylvain Mallette, president of the FAE, feels that the teachers he represents share the same sentiment in wanting more transparency from the Minister of Education when relaying information. “There’s a sort of confusion, it’s not clear, sometimes one thing is said and 48 hours later it’s contradicted,” Mallette added.

 The aforementioned press conference with Roberge and former public health director Dr. Horacio Arruda ensured that during the two-week hiatus from in-person learning, the already promised 50,000 CO2 readers will finally be delivered and installed in classrooms across the province while another 40,000 should be received between the months of January and February.

 Arruda also highlighted that according to Quebec’s public health experts, N95 masks may not be sufficient due to their lack of comfort and difficulty to speak when worn. Teachers who want to equip themselves with N95 masks will need to do so out of pocket, as the government will not supply them.

 A high school teacher who wanted to remain anonymous told The Concordian that they don’t feel that it should be teachers who should supply themselves with the necessary resources to be adequately protected. Their concern is the government’s actions in ensuring the safety of teachers if a return to in-person teaching becomes a reality.

“My biggest concern is that I don’t think my employer is going to supply N95 masks. What worries me is going back to school with Omicron and having a mask that supposedly doesn’t necessarily protect from anything.”

 The FAE agrees that teachers should have the right to have N95 masks supplied to them by the government. “We continue to ask the government to supply and provide access to N95 masks,” Mallette said. “We have to assure not only teacher security, but also provide a feeling of security within our schools. If they feel a N95 provides a better feeling of security, they should have the right to wear them,” he added.

 Though CO2 readers will ensure readings of the air quality in each room, they will not provide protection against Omicron. For some teachers, the infrastructure of the schools in which they teach are outdated, resulting in some rooms that cannot support air exchangers or even the simple ventilation recommendation by the government of opening a window. “We knew the air quality at our school was poor even before the pandemic. There are some windows that don’t open at our school, so I already didn’t feel safe to begin with,” the anonymous source said.

 “The problem isn’t with equipping classes with CO2 detectors, the problem is that even if the detectors read that there are high levels of pollution in the air, there’s nothing to solve the problem at its core,” Mallette said.

 According to a 10-year government infrastructure plan, slightly over half (54 per cent) of Quebec schools have dated infrastructure, resulting in not only poor air quality and ventilation but a poor condition overall.  

 Mallette and the FAE believe that there could be alternative methods for repairing the air quality in schools, regardless of their condition. “I’m sorry, but if the human race was able to land on the moon and travel through space, we should be able to find ways to install air exchangers in our older schools,” said Mallette.

 Ottawa gave Quebec 432 million dollars to improve air quality and increase hygiene measures across schools in Quebec. However, the provincial government has not been transparent about where the rest of the money was spent.

“The government is still refusing to provide further detail on where the money went except for what the education minister has said,” said Mallette.

 For now, the FAE will continue to request information to try and obtain a justification for the decisions made but to also track the federally-funded money. However, the process of requesting that information is receiving heavy pushback from the government.

“We’re requesting information through access to information (ATI) requests, and we’re not getting anything. The Minister of Health is playing a hand in delaying our requests by contesting our demands so we’re still not able to obtain that information.”

 

Graphics by James Fay

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