The Tribune
TUESDAY, JANUARY 28 2025 | VOL. 44 | ISSUE 16
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
What is Coming is Greater: Gaza’s Victory and the Fight for Divestment PG. 6
Published by the SPT, a student society of McGill University
FEATURE Eleven years of eco-resistance PGS. 8-9
THETRIBUNE.CA | @THETRIBUNE.CA
OFF THE BOARD People-pleasing won’t lead to true friendships PG. 5 (Armen Erzingatzian / The Tribune) Tribune)
NEWS
Supreme Court of Canada denies Mohawk Mothers’ appeal Court-mandated archeological panel remains dissolved
Jasjot Grewal Editor-in-Chief
T
he Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear an appeal from the Kanien’kehá:ka Kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers) on Jan. 15. The Mothers filed a motion with the Court on Oct. 15, seeking a comprehensive investigation into possible unmarked graves at the site of McGill’s New Vic Project, and a reinstatement of the court-appointed archeological panel that previously oversaw the investigation.
Since 2015, the Mohawk Mothers have been advocating against the construction and renovation of the New Vic Project, as it is located on the land of the former Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH). The hospital was the site of the Allan Memorial Institute—one of many locations across North America on which the CIA conducted MK-ULTRA mind control and chemical interrogation experiments. On April 6, 2023, the Mothers reached a historic settlement agreement with McGill, the Société québécoise des infrastructures (SQI), RVH, the City of Montreal, and the Attorney General of Canada, which man-
dated the archival and archeological investigation into the site of the New Vic Project. As per the agreement, this investigation would take place under the oversight of a court-mandated panel of archeologists jointly appointed by all parties. In August 2023, the Mothers alleged that McGill disbanded the archeological panel before the investigation had been completed. However, McGill maintains that the panel dissolved after completing its mandate and issuing a final report in July 2023. In November 2023, Justice Gregory Moore ruled to reinstate the panel of archaeologists. PG. 2
EDITORIAL
Indigenous reform cannot end with Kimberly R. Murray The Tribune Editorial Board
I
n December 2024, Kimberly R. Murray, Canada’s Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Residential Schools, reached the end of her mandate, concluding a term that had started in June 2022. Her work in this role culminated in a
Final Report, presented in October 2024 at the seventh National Gathering on Unmarked Burials, in which she outlined several actionable obligations that Canada’s government and other public institutions have to Indigenous Peoples. Despite the far-reaching and positive impact of Murray’s work under the Special Interlocutor role, the Canadian government has made the conscious decision to neither extend her term nor identify a successor. Beyond the research Murray conducted to inform this re-
port, her mandate with the Office of the Special Interlocutor (OSI) also involved serving as an impartial third-party mediator in court cases relating to residential schools and unmarked graves. Murray’s role in such cases was to fact-check and to intervene if other parties made derogatory comments about Indigenous peoples, offering a platform through which survivors could be properly represented in legal matters without the fear of being shut down or ridiculed. PG. 5