Parisian artist The Rodeo explores solitude and uncertainty in her fourth studio album Arlequine
The COVID-19 pandemic hit the music industry hard. With live shows and concerts being canceled, many small performing artists were struggling to make a living. This was the case for French indie musician Dorothée Hannequin, who goes by The Rodeo onstage. Despite the pandemic’s challenges, she has continued to create and release music, and her dedication and passion have kept her going through these difficult times.
Hannequin began her musical career at the age of 15 while she was still in high school. Growing up in Paris, she was influenced at a young age by her uncle, who gave her her first-ever guitar. She credits her Vietnamese and French heritage helping her discover a diverse plethora of music, influencing her love for the indie genre.
“I was really shy as a teenager and I met a bunch of people in high school playing music. It really helped me a lot to get out of my shell. I’m a self taught musician so we started a band playing with all these friends. I wrote a lot of songs and I proposed them to the band,” said Hannequin.
After nine years with her first band Hopper, Hannequin released her debut solo album Tale of Woe under the name The Rodeo in 2014.
When speaking with The Concordian, Hannequin revealed that the indie music scene in France is much smaller than Montreal’s.
In France the main genres of music people listen to are Rap and a lot of techno. According to Hannequin, there are around three bars where you can listen to indie music in Paris.
“Everyone knows each other here. So maybe a good thing is that there’s maybe less competition than in bigger cities.”
In June, Hannequin will be on tour in Vietnam, where she will be working on songs with local artists.
Her fourth and latest album, Arlequine, focuses on Hannequin’s struggles throughout the pandemic, isolation and a recent breakup. When asked if hard times helps artists be more creative, she jokingly replied: “I’d almost recommend that to other artists.”
The pandemic gave her a lot of time to create. Her newest album represents not just Hannequin’s experiences, but also stories, phrases and ideas from things she’s read, watched or observed.
It’s a mix of loose facts and her own life. “There’s a song on the album about a jealous woman, which I’m not. But it was interesting to have this character on this album. It’s a fictional character, but it’s interesting to be in that skin.”
Hannequin says that she wanted different portraits of different women. “It’s like a harlequin, with different faces of humans or different humans in one outfit.”
She insists that the main driving force for her new album was the feeling of isolation. During the pandemic, artists had a lot of time to create, but could not play live in front of audiences. That was the main joy in Hannequin’s artistic experience: going to concerts and singing in front of a crowd. It’s also why the first song on her new album “Courir Courir Courir” is her favourite.
”It’s my favourite because of the vocals. I feel the words are really powerful and I love the solo part. And I have to admit, it was one take for the solo. There’s no trick,” she said.
During the pandemic, she tried to do what other big artists had done: play a small concert remotely in front of her computer. But the feeling wasn’t the same. “It was a nightmare!” Hannequin said.
“I think now, due to the pandemic people just want to get out and feel the music. The sweat, the heat, the energy. Maybe for techno or folk music, you can be at home. But when you want to have a live show, you have to be there in person.”
Hannequin says that her new album is about feeling better. She loves the uncertainty the future represents and says listening to her new songs should feel like
“Imagine taking a ride on a horse to who knows where,” she said.
Protesters took the streets of Montreal on Feb. 10, calling for justice for Nicous D’André Spring. Photo by Sakib Hossain/THE CONCORDIAN
Protesters take to the streets demanding release of video footage after the death of the poet and boxer in police custody
Montreal community members gathered on Feb. 10 to march for justice for 21-year-old rapper, poet, and boxer Nicous D’André Spring, who died on Dec. 24, 2022 while being illegally detained in Bordeaux Prison.
Officials at the prison have stated that there was an altercation which led to the guards fitting him with a spit hood and pepper-spraying him twice. Spring was then taken to a hospital, where he later died.
The circumstances surrounding Spring’s death have led to an investigation into the actions of the prison officials and the treatment of inmates at Bordeaux Prison. The case has gained widespread attention, sparking public outcry over the treatment of prisoners and the need for reform in the criminal justice system.
As of Feb. 14, only one correctional officer involved in the altercation has been suspended, and the footage of the incident has not yet been released to the family. The, Justice for Nicous Action Committee, continues to call for the release of the footage of Spring’s death to advance justice for his family.
The event organizers wore green bandanas on the upper arm to maintain visibility. At the start of the protest, Karim Coppry, one of the organizers, referenced the African proverb, “Il faut un village pour élever un enfant et le village est ici” (It takes a village to raise a child and the village is here), highlighting the importance of the community’s solidarity.
The march began at 1 p.m. and proceeded down Sherbrooke St. W. towards the Palais de justice de Montréal. Protesters chanted slogans like “No justice, no peace” and “When Black lives are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back.” Marlene Hale, a Wet’suwet’en Elder, led the protest with the beat of her rallying drum.
Throughout the protest, Spring’s family members spoke, demanding justice for their loved one. Spring’s sister, Sarafina Dennie, and mother, Niquette Spring were in attendance.
“I’m just looking for justice,” said Spring’s mother.
Spring’s sister also expressed her grief and anxiety: “Every day, I wake up and hear a siren, and I have anxiety — we came here to have a different life, and you took that away,” referring to the guards at Bordeaux.
Protesters marched through Montreal, passing the Government of Canada building while shouting “release the video.” Volunteers wearing construction vests guided the crowd. A child watched in awe at the number of protesters and waved at a police officer on a bicycle, unaware of the fight for justice happening all around her.
The protest ended at the Palais de justice at 2:45 pm. Spring’s mother closed the protest. “I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, I can’t work. I need justice for my son!” she exclaimed.
When counselor Gary Chapman wrote a book on his theory of the five love languages, he probably didn’t think that, years later, people would be saying that avocado toast is their love language.
Initially, Chapman came up with a pretty simple concept: “Different people with different personalities give and receive love in different ways.”
The Love Language Quiz is an online questionnaire you can use to find out how you and your partner prefer to receive love. Ultimately, love language compatibility is not as important as it is to understand how your partner feels loved.
Now, don’t get me wrong, it sounds good in theory and practice. However, people have been talking about love languages in a very self-focused way. Today, the love language test is being used more as a personality test than a tool to help relationships.
People are listing their love language on their dating profile just as they would their astrological sign and personality traits. But at the end of the day, the love languages were meant as a way to guide your relationship, not base it off of that.
Are people really going to start using this as an excuse for incompatibility?
It’s also important to note that Chapman’s book was published in 1995. Not to sound too old and wise, but things have changed since then. The way we talk about relationships has changed. So, should we even rely on them at all?
Couples can now use the languages for scorekeeping. After all, aren’t most arguments started because someone feels like they are the ones doing more in the relationship?
Not only that, love languages can change and evolve over time. Don’t we all need physical touch at one moment, and quality time at another?
As long as we communicate what we need at that specific time, our relationships would be just fine. We shouldn’t need a quiz to do that work for us and then blame our incompatibility on that when our relationships don’t work out.
Stingers' D2 men's hockey team during practice, 2023. Maria Bouabdo/ The Concordian
Teams in the D2 league will get to play 13 extra games against CEGEPs starting in 2023-24
Starting next season, teams in the division 2 men’s university hockey league in the RSEQ will get an extra 13 games added to their season, played against division 1 CEGEP teams.
The league currently consists of three teams: Concordia University, École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), and Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC).
Instead of playing 12 games per season, which sometimes can go a couple of weeks without a game, each team will now get to play 25 games per season.
Stingers D2 forward Christopher Séguin is looking forward to seeing a busier schedule. He previously played for the Patriotes of CEGEP Saint-Laurent, and is now in his first year at Concordia studying economics but will be switching to business marketing.
“We’re happy to have more games,” Séguin said. “It’s going to give us a better pace between school and hockey, while now it felt more like school, with sometimes one game every two weeks… It can get long.”
He also hopes to see the league get bigger, with more universities joining.
“It would be more fun and I think it deserves to become a strong league,” Séguin said. “There are a lot of good players, if they don’t make it to major junior, and they play college hockey or AAA, and they don’t know what to do, this would allow them to continue their education and keep playing hockey in university.”
The Stingers’ D1 men’s hockey team coach Marc-André Elément started the D2 program in 2021-22 to give more athletes the chance to play hockey at the university level. Elément also assists with the D2 team and is the athletics department liaison.
“Our league has become so good that we only recruit from major junior [CHL],” Elément said about the OUA, the league the Stingers’ D1 team is a part of. “So most [players from] CEGEP don’t really play D1. Some can, but not a lot. There are a lot of teams at that level in CEGEP but not in university. So that’s why we started this program, it gives the opportunity to 25 more players to play hockey and practice almost every day.”
Elément looks forward to seeing more universities join the D2 league and to seeing it grow over the next couple of years, with the possibility of some D2 teams moving up to the D1 league.
People dancing near the DJ booth at Montreal en Lumière near Place des Arts. Photo by Dalia Nardolillo/ THE CONCORDIAN
Are you going to go out and visit?
This year’s edition of the Montreal en Lumière festival is back bigger than ever. The festival is on from Feb. 16 until March 5.
The Concordian had the chance to sit down with Julie Martel, the director of the gastronomic programming of the festival. Martel has been organizing the festival’s food for the last five years.
“It’s an important edition of the festival, because it marks the full return of the program outside of the pandemic context,” Martel said. Due to previous restrictions that were in effect at last year’s festival, the organizers were limited in programming. Most had to get a little creative with how they put it together.
“This means we are welcoming back international chefs. We have 40 international guests — not only chefs but winemakers from all over the world.”
Martel emphasized that one of the highlights of the gastronomy part of the festival was Indigenous cooking, which was introduced for the first time in last year’s edition of the festival.
“We have planned for a full day of for the Indigenous cooking on Feb. 25 at Quartier Gourmand. This year also marks the return of the Quartier Gourmand, which is a free space that people can visit in Place des Arts,” Martel said.
The free space is very important to the festival because it is a way to democratize local food. Another interesting aspect of the Quartier Gourmand is that on specific days, there will be different themes. For example, one of the themes that will be covered is sustainable food. Martel wants to make that information available to all the guests of the festival.
“At Quartier Gourmand, it’s always free tastings and visitors can meet with the local chefs and producers,” Martel said.
Quartier Gourmand at Montreal en Lumière near Place des Arts. Photo by Dalia Nardolillo/THE CONCORDIAN
Martel is very proud of the fact that the Quartier Gourmand is free for visitors. She recognizes that even though the festival has 40 participating restaurants, it might not be affordable for everyone.
If the food part of the festival doesn’t pique your interest, Maurin Auxéméry, the director of the musical programming of the festival, promises some surprises for this year.
“Music is back this year, and last year due to COVID we didn’t have any special shows,” Auxéméry explained.
He emphasized that in this year’s edition of the festival there will be two types of programming, the outdoor sites and the indoor shows.
The outdoor sites around Place des Festivals and Quartier des Spectacles will have DJs every night that play a different kind of music. The first nights will debut Latin music while towards the end of the festival there will be more French music.
The highlight of the musical programming is the indoor shows which includes all the live performances.
“I can’t remember the amount of indoor shows that we have right off of the top of my head but I do know that we have three nights at the Wilfrid-Pelletier concert hall with a symphony show,” Auxéméry said.
There is absolutely no excuse for boredom for this upcoming March break. Montreal en Lumière packs a punch in terms of programming this year. For more information please click on this link.
Outdoor site at Montreal en Lumière near Place des Arts. Photo by Dalia Nardolillo/THE CONCORDIAN
Concordia Arts Hive conjures the psychological and spiritual aspect of arts
The history of art therapy goes back to around the 1700s, when art was being used in various modes of psychological treatment. According to Lois Woolf, founder of the Vancouver Art Therapy Institute, art therapy was first explored in Europe and North America in the 1940s.
The study of this subject and human psychology was explored in increasing depth for years. Unlike art creation, art therapy focuses on the process of art rather than the result.
The Centre for the Arts in Human Development at Concordia University provides creative art therapy for people with disabilities and special needs, as well as for people with anxiety and depression. Senior associate director Lenore Vosberg says that instead of teaching art skills, the centre helps people express themselves through different art forms.
“It’s a very supportive place. People get a lot of good and positive feedback for everything they do here,” Vosberg said. The centre works to build participants’ self-esteem and self confidence, as well as build relationships and trust through the process of art creation.
Courtesy Photo by Rachel ChaineyCourtesy Photo by Rachel Chainey
As art is a genre of work that embraces different ideologies, art therapy is useful for all kinds of people. It’s an alternative to traditional therapy for people who find it easier to express themselves through an art form rather than speaking to a therapist.
The Concordia Art Hive is a public practice art therapy space, located on the first floor of the ER building downtown and on the fourth floor of the central building at Loyola in the G-Lounge. The spaces are accessible to anyone who wishes to achieve self-expression through art. Students sit around a table to communicate with each other while creating their crafts.
Rachel Chainey is an art therapist who coordinates the Art Hive HQ located at Concordia’s downtown campus. She says that one of their challenges is getting people to understand what art therapy is.
“Some people would be intimidated by arts because they think they should be good,” Chainey said. “[But you approach] it from an angle of play. It’s not a performance, or result, but more of a process.”
There are more than 30 art hives in Montreal. Traditional arts are spreading internationally into many other fields, like technology, creating endless possibilities for artists everywhere.
Courtesy Photo by Rachel Chainey
Art education student Kaida Kobylka stopped by the Art Hive with the goal of observing art studios in a public space. She explained the process of an AI project that she had explored, in which she had to put the artistic idea first to let it create. “AI can learn and create, but it can’t just make something out of nothing yet,” said Kobylka. “I have to put the artistic thoughts into the input, it isn’t just replacing an artistic mind.”
“Everybody has the crisis when they are an artist, like does what I made matter or would painting exist in the future,” Kobylka said, “but the answer is yes, the paintings are still evolving and relevant.”
Indeed, art has been always seen as a form of self-expression and materialized thoughts throughout the existence of humankind, and this is how traditional art participates in society in a psychological and spiritual way.
Tetiana Lazuk leads Ukrainian refugees in a dance-movement therapy session. Photo by Bogdan Lytvynenko/THE CONCORDIAN
As Ukraine enters the second year of war, Tetiana Lazuk uses dance-movement therapy to help refugees
One year after the beginning of the war, Ukrainian refugees in Montreal are working to heal from their difficult experiences and get settled in their new life. In the heart of the Mile End, the Ukrainian National Federation of Canada (UNF) offers wellness activities to help refugees find community through dance-movement therapy.
Tetiana Lazuk is a Ukrainian dance therapist and a scholar-in-residence at Concordia, and she leads dance-movement sessions at the UNF. During these classes (which are taught in Ukrainian), she helps refugees heal from their difficult experiences in the war through dance.
“It’s not only this psychological support, wellness,” she said, “but it’s also helping to connect people who have a lot in common, and helping them to find their place and to establish here in Canada.”
While the war has faded from public attention in the past few months, it is still very real for Ukrainians in Montreal and throughout the world.
“On Feb. 24, 2022, many people thought that Ukraine would cave within a few days, if not a few weeks,” said Michael Shwec, president of the Quebec Provincial Council of Ukrainian Canadian Congress. “We’re coming up to a year, right now, where the Ukrainian people are very resolute in their defense of their territory, their culture, their language.”
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress represents 1.4 million Ukrainians around Canada, according to their website. While they have supported the Ukrainian community from their beginnings, work has increased considerably in the last year.
“We need to help [displaced Ukrainians] land and be successful in Canada, for those who wish to stay,” said Shwec. “That means everything from housing to education, to employment, to have some sense of normalcy in their lives, and help them bridge that gap from Ukraine to here, as best as possible.”
This is exactly what Lazuck strives to do. She lived in Ukraine until 2009, when she moved to Canada to continue her studies in dance-movement therapy. She started working with Ukrainian refugees at the UNF in September.
Lazuk pointed out that her experience moving to Canada was very different from many refugees. She was prepared for her new life, for the changes it would bring, and for the challenges she would need to overcome. The refugees she works with did not get that preparation.
“These people were forced to leave their country, and many of them had excellent, great professions, perfect life conditions, and now they are forced to move to another country,” said Lazuk. “Many of them don’t speak English or French, so they need to learn, they need to adapt.”
The UNF’s aim is to provide refugees with the resources to do just that. The organization helps Ukrainians find a community and adjust to their new life in Canada.
According to Lazuk, specialized psychotherapy is important to help them process their experiences in the war. On the flip side, her dance-movement sessions help Ukrainians connect with their community and handle the hardships of leaving their homeland.
“They meet all together, they discuss what problems they’re facing, and how to get through this,” she said.
“The dance-movement therapy sessions provide something through the body that allows them to not only be in their head, but moving, connecting, and sometimes forgetting what they have in their head.”
Since last year, the Canadian government has implemented many measures to help Ukrainians coming into the country. In March 2022, the government created a new emergency travel visa for Ukrainians.
However, the war is not over, said Shwec. “As long as genocide continues in Ukraine, which it does, there’s never enough done. Enough will be when Russian forces are out of Ukraine and the genocide stops,” he said.
“Before our lives, livestreamed, is a genocide happening in what has been a very peaceful European country. The onus is on every single student to reflect on what is actually happening, and to make sure that you take a stand, and you defend the values that you believe in.”
The last time Lazuk visited her home land was in November 2021, to see her and her husband’s families — a few months before the beginning of the war. She looks forward to the next time she can visit her country, hopefully soon.
“We all hope that finally, peace comes to Ukraine, and we will be able to visit our family and help in rebuilding our country,” she said.
“Here in Canada, life continues. We have plans, we continue working. Dancing.”
If jev. was a stock, now would be the time to invest
Since the beginning of the year, jev. has been a name on the lips of most underground rap fanatics . From having one of his songs at the number one spot of the Top 50 US Viral Songs to now having over 700,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, it’s safe to say that Jephté Kweto, A.K.A. jev., has been blowing up over the past few weeks.
The African-born rapper spent the majority of his life in Africa, growing up in the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa before moving to Canada with his family in late 2019. jev. has been making music since 2009, but it’s only in 2015 that the moniker jev. took form. Despite the colder weather, the move to Canada was actually beneficial for the young rapper
“You find yourself a lot in the house so it gives you time to be creative and come up with ideas, so for me it worked out well especially during the pandemic,” he said.
For those who don’t know jev. (yet) the 22-year-old rapper is an up-and-coming figure in the new generation of young rappers influenced by both old school hip hop and the rap scene from the 2010s. In this era where the boom bap drums and chopped-up soul samples are making a comeback, jev. thrives on this type of instrumental with his varied flows, brilliant wordplay and energetic delivery. You can hear the influence of some of the greats in his music: artists ranging from the likes of Nas to Joey Bada$$ and Kendrick Lamar are only a few inspirations that can be heard on his tracks.
Even before coming to Canada, jev. had already started to work on his last project the color grey. which released in late December 2022. While most of the songs came together over the pandemic, he first started mastering his craft in 2018, recording “aitd – demo,” the final track, on his phone.
jev. has been turning a lot of heads recently, which can mostly be attributed to all the love his song “where’s the confetti?” is receiving. As of now, the song has been streamed nearly 2.8 million times on Spotify since its release in July 2022.
“From 0 to 100,000 was probably the hardest, but from the 100,000 to a million was easy as I think it was two weeks[…] But 0 to 100,000 was like three or four months. It’s exponential growth,” he said.
“where’s the confetti?” is a hookless song that sees jev. celebrate. Once he starts rapping, he never stops, laying clever one-liners after another over a simple drum beat and looped sample. In the past couple of weeks, this track has been circulating everywhere. Whether on TikTok, Instagram, or in various Spotify playlists, this massive exposure helped the song claim the number one spot of the Viral 50 – USA playlist on Spotify.
“I didn’t know how to react at the time, I was kind of in shock, but I’m super grateful for everybody that has played it and added it to their playlists and everything. It’s crazy,” he said.
With all the success he’s having, you may think that jev. gets help from other people or works with a team, right? Well, you would be wrong. Aside from working with certain producers on his songs, everything else he does, he does it alone. From promoting his songs on his different social media accounts, to reaching out to brands, to creating his songs, he does it all by himself.
jev. is his own team, so much so that he has started his own brand: LONER inc., a project that allows jev. to have full creative control of what he does, in every sphere.
“LONER inc. was gonna be this umbrella of me just being as creative as possible. Movies, music videos, TV, film, fashion, clothing, music, and music is the main thing right now, that’s where it was born from,” he said.
Despite being fully in charge of his music career, jev. is much busier than that. Not only is he a full-time student, currently studying marketing at Carleton University in Ottawa, but he works part-time at Staples.
With his combination of skill and a tremendous amount of talent, mixed with a balanced work ethic and a burning passion for music, be on the lookout for jev. as he might be the next big name in rap you wish you had discovered earlier.
On Feb. 6, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck northwestern Syria and southern Turkey. On Monday, rescue and recovery efforts were still bubbling when a separate 6.3-6.4 magnitude earthquake occurred
“Their building collapsed in the first earthquake… help didn’t get there for three days. When [it did], they were already gone,” said Ari Inceer, a Turkish student studying at Concordia who lost one of her childhood friends. Inceer is from Kahramanmaraş, a city hard-hit by the disaster.
Over the past two weeks, the death toll has climbed to over 46,000. Around the border between Turkey and Syria, there is a convergence of tectonic plates that makes the area seismologically vulnerable. Millions are displaced.
“I don’t know if they were alive [or died instantly]. I don’t know if they called for help,” said Inceer, referring to her friend.
“I haven’t seen my brother, sister, mother [in years]… almost losing them, even just one of them, is so scary,” said Inceer. At a cousin’s home in Istanbul (further from the earthquake’s epicenter) her family waits for answers. Their home in Kahramanmaraş has not collapsed, but it may be unstable.
Sarah Dadouche, a Syrian student, described parents that are unable to reach dead or trapped children. “People are going crazy…They know they’re dead, but…they want to take them and bury them with their own hands.” Dadouche’s family is physically okay. “They were very shaken. They [fled onto] the streets…I was thinking, ‘this is down in the south in [Damascus].’ If you go up to the north, it’s crazy.”
International sanctions have made getting aid to Syria difficult. “Because of the sanctions… no one [cares] about us,” said Dadouche. “My mind is with my parents, my mind is with my people… I don’t feel like I deserve to be here.”
“Sometimes you need to be like an actor [when] coming to class and deliver the content to the best of your ability; irrespective of what you feel,” said a Turkish professor at Concordia who wished to remain anonymous. “You need to go on and start the show.”
Furkan Göçmez is another Turkish student. From Malatya, his home has been destroyed. “I don’t know how long they’re going to be on the streets. My family just became homeless, in like two minutes,” he said.
“I’m kind of pinching myself like, ‘oh, is this really happening?’” said Göçmez. While fleeing their building, his mother fell and broke her nose. “I don’t know where to call home. If I decide to go now, where would I go?”
While some students report professors being insensitive to their experiences, others feel supported.
Inceer said, “All of [my teachers] separately asked if I needed anything from them personally.”
Karam Helou is the internal vice-president of the Syrian Student Association at Concordia (SSA). “[One professor from JMSB] reached out to me on the day of the earthquake. She made sure that my family was okay. I thought that was really sweet of her,” he said.
On Feb. 7, the International Students Office (ISO) at Concordia sent an email to members of the Syrian and Turkish community offering support. “We are devastated to hear of the earthquakes in Syria and Turkey this week. I would like to personally let you know that we are thinking of you and your families,” wrote Kelly Collins, manager of the ISO. The email contained links to various University resources.
From international students to Quebec residents, a number of University members received the email, including Inceer. Göçmez, Helou, and Dadouche are among students who reported not receiving the ISO’s message.
Dadouche feels that the University was very outspoken when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. “[It] was like, ‘the news that is happening in Ukraine is a lot on all of us, so take all the time you need and these are the mental resources that you may need.’” Dadouche does not feel the same message was put out by Concordia after the earthquake. “I just keep thinking, are we not human? Do we not matter?”
“The notice for students was posted on the Student Hub [on Feb. 13] when we realized this was not done [on Feb. 10] which was an oversight on our part,” said Concordia spokesperson Vannina Mestracci.
“I don’t think we’re waiting for any sort of statements from [President Carr]… we’ve [gotten] used to it,” said a Syrian student studying at JMSB. “We got used to being left out,” they added.
“Hearing the voice of the administration a little bit louder would be helpful. Helpful to whom? Helpful to us, to the people here [in Montreal]. But hearing that, [will it] do anything to the people who simply perished under concrete over there?” said the anonymous professor mentioned earlier. “From a PR point of view, this is important. I wish there was a louder and more compassionate voice from the administration.”
Tuana Bıçakcı is a Turkish student who has been a part of fundraising efforts on campus. “The lack of acknowledgement and support from the University is a little sad…It is really heartbreaking and scary to be so far away from your loved ones when a tragedy like this happens… we could have been so grateful if the University supported us a little more.”
Hindered by international sanctions, getting aid to Syria has been tough. “[Syrians are] human just as much as the Turkish people, just as much as the Ukrainian people,” said Dadouche. “I think the bare minimum [that] the dean or the president or any professor can do is just raise awareness for a couple of minutes. For example, at the beginning of the class.”
Inceer has felt differently. “I actually didn’t pay attention to [the University’s acknowledgement]… I had other worries.” She has been preoccupied with her family feeling secure again. “I’m just trying to find work and help my family…They left everything they own…it keeps me up [at night] and I just want to be able to help them and send money to them. That’s my main focus right now.”
Göçmez also has finances on his mind. “Concordia could open up bursaries for people who are impacted by these events…My family lost their house. My father’s business has stopped there. I will be having financial hardships,” expressed Göçmez.
Combating feelings of helplessness, Göçmez and Inceer volunteered at the Turkish Student Association’s (TSA) donation site. The site was on the seventh floor of the Hall Buildingfrom Feb. 7-10. While the TSA is no longer taking material donations, they are still taking monetary donations.
“I focus on what I can control and I feel like this is something I have to do,” said Mert Kaan Kaseler, co-president of the TSA. From sanitary pads to flashlights, the collected materials were swiftly flown to Turkey.
Turkish Student Association’s donation site in the Hall building. Photo by Tristan McKenna
Tolga Osmancik is a Turkish student heavily involved with the fundraising efforts. “This can happen to anyone in any country. When something like this happens, we should remember that we are human beings,” he said.
On Feb. 13, the SSA had an event in the Hall Buildingas well. In order to support the SSA, you can follow them online.
Jana Noufal Al-Atassi is the SSA’s vice-president of finance. “It would be great if more people talked about what’s happening and what’s been happening even before the earthquake.” She discussed how the world let politics block humanitarian hurdles. “You have to keep in mind [that Syrians are] not numbers. These are humans that are dying.”
“There’s one difference between what’s happening in Turkey and Syria… the sanctions placed on Syria,” said Helou.
“If certain powers wanted to send aid to Syria, they could have,”
Said Talal Akkad, A Syrian Student.
Inceer discussed how Turkey could have been better prepared. “It’s a big earthquake. Three of them happened on the same day… another one happened two weeks after…[but] this shouldn’t have been the result,” she said.
When growing up, Inceer would hear discussions about her area (atop the East Anatolian Fault) being overdue for an earthquake. She is perplexed at how Turkey was unprepared. “You think [the overdue earthquake] is a myth because you trust that the system knows better…when it actually happens, you feel so helpless because it’s the system… you by yourself can’t change the system.”
Four months after its announcement, the first recommendations outlined in the task forces final report are starting to reach fruition
On Feb. 6, Concordia’s President and Vice Chancellor Graham Carr unveiled a temporary plaque to commemorate the 53rd anniversary of the 1969 Black student protests. The plaque, which will be replaced with a permanent plaque in the coming months, stands as a reminder of the events that lead to the protests and the presence of anti-Black racism at the University.
Angélique Willkie, former head of the President’s Task Force on Anti-Black Racism, said it was important for the university to commemorate the significance of the 1969 Black student protests ahead of the upcoming anniversary.
Willkie elaborated on the added importance of marking the site of the Sir George Williams protests with a physical representation of the event.
“And subsequently, it remains the location of the largest student protest for anti-Black racism in Canada,” said Willkie.
The event was the first of many initiatives that the University intends to implement in hopes to combat anti-Black systemic racism within the institution. In late October, President Carr pledged his support for the 88 recommendations included in the final report of the President’s task force on anti-Black racism. Concordia’s official apology is primarily in relation to the mismanagement of Sir George Williams University’s former administration throughout the 1969 Black student protests.
In addition to the commemorative plaque, the University also launched a website detailing the experiences of those who lived through the events of 1969. Willkie also stated that the University is pursuing its plans to create a new program for Black and African diaspora studies in the Canadian context, as well as founding a Black Student Centre.
Willkie says that since the anti-Black task force disbanded in the fall of 2022, she is no longer responsible for the implementation of the task force’s recommendations. However, Willkie insisted that the university intends to actively pursue all of the recommendations outlined in their final report.
“So there are many things ongoing, but of course, not everything has the same timeline, either,” said Willkie. “So certain things can be completed relatively quickly, others less quickly.”
Willkie said that she has experienced no pushback from individuals, but rather from institutions as a whole.
“Institutions have square wheels, and they’re made to reproduce themselves” said Willkie. “So somehow or another in order for the system to work differently it takes a while for the actual procedures to change. In the meantime I kind of go around them,” she added.
Despite this, Willkies said that the cooperation of the University and actors within it should be a point of celebration.
“When those 88 recommendations were published, none of them came as a surprise to any of the people who were responsible for their implementation,” said Willkie. “They had all been consulted beforehand, every single one without exception. And that’s huge.”
Learn about the secret to growing healthy cut flowers
During the month of August, Au Beau Pré is a sight to see. Over 300 varieties of Dahlias are in full bloom. They come in every shape, size, colour and texture that one could only dream about. This flower field gives visitors the option to come and cut their own flowers to take home. Walking through the rows of the field, it could be hard deciding which Dahlias to add to your bouquet.
The methods of production for flowers have always involved the use of pesticides, which in turn harm the people that produce them. 2,000 Canadian farms are trying to find better solutions to produce them organically, without pesticides. The Slow Flower Movement (SFM) is one of those remedies in terms of how farms treat their soil.
According to Flowers Canada Growers, there are over 1,600 flower producers in Canada. Flower farms cover over 75 million square feet of land combined. Among these flower producers is Sarah Beaupré Quenneville, a young entrepreneur heading her family’s beloved flower farm. Au Beau Pré flower farm sits in Saint Anicet, also known as “Quebec Florida” for its higher humid temperatures than the rest of the province. Au Beau Pré implements the SFM.
The secret to success for this flower farm is in their soil. “For the soil, we put compost every year or every two years depending on the crop,” Quenneville explained.
According toArchitectural Digest, the Slow Flowers Movement refers to the methodical preparation of soil before a seed is even planted. Farms across Quebec are slowly adopting this movement, like The Enfants Sauvages, among others.
Before Quenneville took on her family’s farm, her parents Roger and Lilianne were in charge and adopted the SFM. They started the Au Beau Pré farm back in 2007.
Lillian Quenneville cutting off the roots of the dahlia bulbs Dalia Nardolillo/ THE CONCORDIAN
“This is my parent’s project. They were selling Dahlia flower bulbs for years,” Quenneville said. “Before, they specialized in wheat production and made grain based products.”
Growing up, Quenneville had no interest in the agricultural sector and she didn’t want to be as involved in the farm.
“I saw my dad working hours and hours on end, with no days off,” Quenneville recalled.
With a family of her own, Quenneville explained that she didn’t want her children to experience the same memories she had as a child.
Quenneville studied communications during her undergrad and worked in media for a couple of years.Though she would sometimes help, Quenneville never envisioned the farm as a potential career opportunity.
“With each year that passed, my parents kept on asking me, ‘Are you sure you don’t want to do anything with the land?’” Quenneville recalled. “I proceeded to telling them, ‘No it’s not my thing, it’s maybe yours but not mine.’”
However, one day her mother told her about the endless possibilities of utilizing cut flowers. A cut flower is a bud or a flower that is cut from its bearing plant. Customers usually opt to buy cut flowers solely for decorative purposes, such as a bouquet.
According to Slow Living LDN, the SFM aims to not only have a better understanding of the soil before a flower is planted but also a more mindful consumption of how they’re cut.
Dahlia Flowers in the summer Dalia Nardolillo/THE CONCORDIAN
A TURNING POINT –
“We discovered I had a certain talent with selling flowers. I always helped my parents during the summer. My parents always said, ‘You’re good with the flowers,’” Quenneville recalled. During the times where she couldn’t be as involved in the field, she would help her parents with the website and the online selling of the products. “My parents are not really good with selling their stuff online, they’re good producers but not very good sellers.”
For newer flower producers like Quenneville, ressources and helpful guides are always available. At Flower Canada Growers in Toronto, Pest Control specialist Cary Gates explains that the SFM may work for some flower farms but not all.
“I don’t know if I see a lot of farms embracing that kind of approach,” Gates explained. “I am supportive of it, I just don’t know logistically if it is super functional, I see it for smaller acreages as being very achievable.”
Smaller farms like Au Beau Pré implement the utmost care into the soil before the Dahlia flower bulbs are even planted. “I really like the focus that farmers put into soil health,” Gates said. The care that is put into the soil equates to better quality flowers.
Quality control is also very important to the family. Roger and Lilianne make sure that the Dahlia flower bulbs don’t have any illnesses; however, sometimes unpredictable things can happen.
“One year we lost 75 per cent of our bulbs, we didn’t know exactly what happened in the fridge but they all rotted. I tell our customers I am not selling ‘Post-Its,’ we are selling living things and sometimes things like that can happen,” Quenneville recalled.
With Quenneville taking the reins on her parent’s farm in 2019 came its problems. “The first challenge I really faced was that I didn’t know how to produce flowers,” Quenneville said.
As the years progressed, Quenneville took more of an interest in the cut flowers business and became a project that she eventually took on. Quenneville explained that at Au Beau Pré, they sell flowers when they are cut from the stem itself. When guests come to visit the field in the month of August, they pay per flower stem.
With the help of various workshops through an American cut flower guru called Floret Flowers, Quenneville learnt the ins and outs of how to produce cut flowers.
Learning how to produce cut flowers with Floret Flowers also taught Quenneville another important lesson of the SFM: how to produce flowers at the most optimal time.
Au Beau Pré tries to keep up with business year-round. The winter season preparations start in October, right at the first freeze.
“We do some chores with an old tractor, but most of the time we work the soil manually. This way we don’t mess with the soil structure too much and we can start working in the field faster in the spring,” Quenneville said.
LOOKING AT OTHER PROVINCES –
One of the ways floral producers band together is through flower associations to help each other learn about sustainable ways of production.The Flowers Canada Growers Association (FCGA) has members all over Canada, including Bailey Dueker, owner of The Boondock Flower Farm in Saskatoon.
Dueker got into the business by accident, she recounted. “This will be my fourth season growing in 2023. In the spring of 2019 I was sick of Facebook so I joined Instagram. I wanted to see flowers in my recommended page, so I started to follow all these flower farmers,” Dueker said.
Seeing the flower farmer feeds inspired her to get into the field and she did not return to her regular job following her maternity leave. During the fall of 2019, Dueker did what she called a “soft-launch.” She acquired all the sunflowers and zinnias from her garden. Over the winter she spent her time buying seeds. “You really don’t know how much you don’t know until you get into it,” Dueker explained.
Across Canada, flower farms are underestimated in terms of the leg work that it takes to produce. According to a Chatelaine article on the subject flowers have brought in an estimated $158 million in profit in 2021.
FCGA represents floral producers all over Canada. Their members across Canada include greenhouse growers, distributors and importers/exporters all dealing with cut flowers, potted plants, bedding plants, cut greens and specialty suppliers and services to the industry.
Dueker explained that the main goal of being a part of the FCGA is providing more knowledge about the floral industry to others in the country. When you have a question that needs to be answered, there’s always someone there to help. “Connecting and marketing with other growers is the main idea of the association,” Dueker said.
Dueker also explained that there is a Facebook group for the association where members can connect with a community of flower growers.
According to Deuker, the future of cut flowers lies with the grassroots movement, which has a similar idea to the Slow Flowers movement. “I see a lot of people getting out of it in a couple of years because they come to realize that you have to do quite a bit of an investment to make it a living,” Dueker explained. Dueker has seen within the industry that perhaps selling to florists is maybe the way to go.
Roger Quenneville preparing the Dahlia flower bulbs for winter at Au Beau Pré Dalia Nardolillo/THE CONCORDIAN
FUTURE OF THE AU BEAU PRÉ FLOWER FIELD –
As the farm plans for the future, Quenneville explained that the future lies within the flowers themselves. “I really want to try to make products from the flowers themselves. We worked a lot from the dried flowers and we liked working with them.”
Working with the dried flowers over the past summer was a trial and error process. We weren’t quite there in terms of the final product with the dried flower bouquets,” Quenneville recounted.
Before perfecting any sort of dried flower she wants to master the production of them.
“We try different things, of course our Dahlia bulbs are our most popular product. We try to keep the cut flowers during the summer. This year was the first time that we tried the tulips but I don’t want to get into making my own seeds because that’s its own production.”
Quenneville believes that the future of her business lies with online sales through her website. While visitors travel to Saint Anicet during the summer to get the cut flowers from the farm, Quenneville wants to have flower-based products that she can sell year-round to customers.
The cut flower industry is always changing and florists are always trying to adapt, whether that is in the different dried flower products or brushing up on their knowledge of how to better treat their soil. Gates explained that the future of the cut flowers isn’t going anywhere for now. “I see the cut flower industry as pretty stable, I don’t know if I see it expanding exponentially like other ornamental commodities grow.”
Griffyn Bibbings (left) and Jack Vandenberg (right) at the Concordia Gymnasium, 2023. Maria Bouabdo/ The Concordian
The rookies brought their positive vibes from Vancouver to Montreal
On July 27, 2022, Jack Vandenberg flew out from Vancouver to Montreal. The following day, Griffyn Bibbings followed, and the two were probably the only students at Concordia’s campus residence for the next few weeks.
The two British Columbians — Vandenberg, point guard from Central Vancouver, and Bibbings, forward from West Vancouver — bonded and started a friendship that earned them the nickname “B.C. Boys” from their teammates.
“When we got here, he was probably the first person I met,” Bibbings said about Vandenberg. “It was the morning after I landed, and because we’re both from B.C., we’re both on res [residence] as well. So we kind of do everything together. Our teammates just call us ‘B.C. Boys,’ and they just mean me and Jack.”
“Coaches have mentioned a few times, they don’t really see us without each other,” Vandenberg added. “Because we have a similar schedule apart from classes. It’s just practice, and then we go eat, and then we go back to the res [residence].”
Although the two rookies were both only 18 years old at the time, they didn’t feel that moving to a new city on their own was intimidating or particularly difficult to navigate.
“At no point was I just in my room not knowing a single person or not knowing what to do,” said Bibbings. “The morning after I got here, I met him [Vandenberg]. I probably met like 20 people on the first day. So it wasn’t really that hard.”
Vandenberg and Bibbings had the chance to meet the rest of the team at practice before playing exhibition games against NCAA teams in August.
They acknowledged that being part of a team can definitely make moving across the country a lot easier.
The “B.C. Boys” during the national anthem before a game. Kyran Thicke/ Concordia Athletics
“I feel like in our situation, it might be a little different than most,” Vandenberg explained. “Because when we came here we had the support of the coaches, teammates, like we already kind of had a friend group going into it with our teammates.”
Although the pair only met here last summer, they had played against each other in B.C. at some point, so they knew of each other.
Bibbings played high-school basketball at Rockridge Secondary and club basketball with 3D Basketball Academy during the spring and summer time, while Vandenberg played at St. George’s School and DRIVE Basketball.
Like all student-athletes, the two basketball players missed some time due to COVID-19 shutdowns. But according to them, this time off really helped separate the players who had been practicing during the shutdowns from those who hadn’t. They both stayed active with their respective clubs, which held outdoor sessions.
“Before COVID… I wasn’t that recognized [or] that good,” Vandenberg said. “Then I started getting more recognition because I put in more work whenever, I guess, a lot of people were chilling out.”
Stingers’ head coach Rastko Popovic also appreciates how hard his rookie point guard has been working.
“At the point guard position it’s tougher,” Popovic said. “Because we do have two really good point guards on our team, but what I like about Jack a lot is he’s a competitor, he competes, he’s not afraid, and he works really hard.”
Popovic has also been impressed by his two players’ maturity and ability to adapt from a high school setting to university, while juggling basketball and school.
Bibbings is currently enrolled in sociology, while Vandenberg is studying psychology, but they’re both keeping their options open, as they’re not sure if they want to stick to those programs yet.
Another thing that has impressed Popovic is the duo’s work ethic.
“They want to get better everyday, they’re very coachable, they listen, they’re both going to keep improving and hopefully by next year they’ll be able to make bigger contributions to our team,” Popovic said.
But that’s not the only thing that matters. Popovic also looks at the kind of people he’s recruiting and what they’re like off the court, and it was all positive when it came to Bibbings and Vandenberg.
“They’re very very good kids in general, they’re good people, and that’s important to us when we recruit players.”
