The Tribune
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25 2025 | VOL. 45 | ISSUE 12
STUDENT LIFE
Borderless World Volunteers raises funds for Sudan genocide relief through Battle of the Bands
Published by the SPT, a student society of McGill University
OFF THE BOARD
Self-care is the opposite of revolutionary
PG. 12
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FEATURE
Keeping the channel open PGS. 8-9
PG. 11
NEWS
Unity Flag. (Mia Helfrich / The Tribune)
The Unity Flag: A conversation with Tekarontakeh
Tekarontakeh recounts how McGill flew this Kanien’kehá:ka flag without corresponding decolonial action
Trans rights are human rights—and Canada is infringing on them EDITORIAL
The Tribune Editorial Board
O
n Nov. 20, communities across the world recognized Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day honouring the lives of trans and nonbinary people lost to anti-trans violence. However, this year’s commemoration in Canada was countered by an unprecedented wave of political hostility toward transgender youth. The Alberta government, in particular, has taken an especially hostile stance. The province introduced three anti-trans laws last year: Bill 26 bans puberty blockers and hormone therapy for most minors, effectively politicizing a treatment otherwise prescribed through medical as-
sessment; Bill 27 requires schools to obtain parental permission for name or pronoun changes and turns gender and sexuality education into an opt-in system; Bill 29 bars transgender girls from gender-aligned sports participation. The province recently tabled new legislation, Bill 9, which invokes the notwithstanding clause in an attempt to shield the three previous bills from legal challenges regarding potential Charter rights violations. This surge in transphobic legislation under the guise of children’s safety is a coordinated political effort to restrict the autonomy of trans and non-binary people, and McGill’s own failure to guarantee access to gender affirming care (GAC) for its students reveals how deeply this disregard has been propagated PG. 5 throughout Canada.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Moyse Hall
katzenmusik: Social inequality explored at
A compelling performance of a town in turmoil
Alexandra Lasser Staff Writer
T
PG. 3
he McGill Department of English Drama and Theatre Program presents Tom Fowler’s katzenmusic, a darkly compelling exploration of social inequality and civil unrest in the fictional town of Burnside. Told in reverse chronological order, the play recounts a cat massacre that devastates the town and forever tarnishes its reputation. Each scene allows viewers to piece together the truth as they witness events unfolding backwards, observing consequences before motives.
The reverse storytelling creates a tale that individualizes as it progresses. The show opens with a cacophony of rings and answering machines as townspeople rush hurriedly across the stage, talking over each other. Confusion and anxiety permeate the first half of the play, as news headlines spin an easy narrative around the tragic event. As the story rewinds, however, the underlying issues in Burnside are revealed. The massacre was not an isolated act of brutality, but rather the climax of long-simmering frustrations among Burnside’s working-class residents, many of whom lost their jobs after the abrupt closure of a large car manufacturing plant. PG. 7