The Tribune Volume 46, Issue 1 by The Tribune

The Tribune

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 2026 | VOL. 46 | ISSUE 1

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Remembering Oliver Jones PG. 10

Published by the SPT, a student society of McGill University

OFF THE BOARD

Belonging is not something we have to earn PG. 11

THETRIBUNE.CA | @THETRIBUNE.CA

FEATURE

Blackface at McGill PGS. 8-9

NEWS

McGill has entered into at least $19 million CAD in contracts with security company GardaWorld. (Zoe Lee / The Tribune)

McGill security required to wear recognizable badges per new policy

Student-proposed initiative mandates campus security to wear distinct alphanumerical IDs PG. 3

McGill science Montreal’s gutted motion SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY students: You don’t pacifies Israel’s apartheid regime and shirks precedented municipal need to know where you’re going yet responsibility EDITORIAL

The Tribune Editorial Board

n Aug. 24, the Montreal City Council adopted a motion introduced by the Official Opposition, Projet Monatréal, that expresses solidarity with the Palestinian people and civilian casualties under the Israeli siege. Passed by a 54 to 6 vote, the approved motion diverges significantly from Projet Montréal’s initial proposition. The original motion called for the City of Montreal to suspend all institutional ties with the Israeli government, and to use the terms “apartheid” and “genocide” when referring to the Israeli occupation in Gaza and the West Bank—terms that the United Nations and Amnesty International uphold as

legally correct. However, before the City Council meeting adjourned, Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada delivered a speech arguing that international affairs are not a municipal responsibility. She cited rising incidents of antisemitism in the province as further justification against Projet Montréal’s motion. Following her lead, the Official Majority, Ensemble Montréal, proposed amendments to scrap provisions calling for Montreal to cut its institutional ties with Israel and change official terminology. The amended version of the motion now not only lacks concrete calls to action or any quantifiable economic or bureaucratic boycott of the Israeli government’s occupation in Gaza, but also fails to condemn the apartheid regime at all. PG. 5

McGill alum Annie Bernier shares how curiosity and networking shaped her path through research, industry, and project management Avery Berry Science & Technology Editor

eing unsure of what to pursue after university is not an uncommon feeling among McGill students. A string of interests fostered by your academic pathway and environment does not always lead to an obvious next step. Most of the time that is the last thing it does; the endless course selections, varied student body, and plethora of clubs and activities that fill our campus broaden our prospective career interests every day. For those studying science, the pressure

to solidify post-grad plans can often unidirectionally orient students towards a career as a physician. This path is an apparently straightforward one: A science graduate can complete their degree, write the necessary exams, apply, and begin their medical school program in predictable succession. But what happens when that pathway does not feel so linear? Annie Bernier completed her PhD in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at McGill in 2018, her research focusing on microRNAs’ roles in hepatitis C PG. 13 viral infection.

NEWS

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 2026

McGill Wellness Hub reinstates GAC for trans American students TPU discusses discrepancies underlying Hub’s initial March 2026 GAC suspension text in the U.S., is very risky to a lot of trans students.” Gimbert similarly discussed how, considering some American students may he Montreal Trans Patient Union be attending McGill in large part to avoid (TPU)—a collective advocating anti-trans legislation at home, GAC must for healthcare for trans and nonbe assured by the university. binary people—announced on July 12 “[GAC] is a necessary thing that trans that McGill’s Student Wellness Hub will people often need to improve their menonce again provide gender-affirming care tal health and to feel more comfortable (GAC) services to trans American stuin themselves, and recognizing [through dents under the age of 19. This reversal GAC provision] that it’s [a form of] followed months of negotiations between healthcare same as anyone else would rethe Wellness Hub and the TPU, after the ceive, and not some special, discrete catWellness Hub decided in March to susegory, helps to affirm that [GAC] is somepend GAC access to this demographic. thing that should be supported across the The Wellness Hub halted certain board,” she said. American students’ access to GAC in Eike further emphasized that GAC light of United States President Donald must not be “medically gatekept.” Trump’s executive order in January 2025, “An issue in the whole Quebec which banned young Americans from achealthcare system […] is that providcessing this essential care. Following this ing [GAC such as hormone replacement ban, the Trump administration released a therapy (HRT)] is viewed [as] specialty form in April of the same trans care,” Eike stated. year, allowing people to “Oftentimes, doctors will whistleblow on Amerirefer you to an endocrican and Canadian docnologist, [though] any tors who provide GAC. family doctor in Quebec The Wellness Hub is able to provide HRT. cited related liability A lot of doctors assume concerns about poten[this care] is out of their tial American legal reprofessional bounds, but percussions for McGill it very much is not.” doctors performing GAC Eike then called out as the reason behind the the Quebec medical syssuspension. However, tem’s undue treatment of the TPU and other adGAC procedures as exvocates for GAC argued ceptional. that precedent shows “If you were going American executive orto a doctor who had ders have no legal force gone to [medical] school in Canada, rendering the decades ago, and they Wellness Hub’s decision [said], ‘I never learned to suspend this care unabout that new cholesternecessary. ol medication, so I just In an interview with don’t prescribe it,’ you’d The Tribune, Emma say, ‘No. You’re a docGimbert, a U2 McGill tor. It’s your job to stay student and member of up to date on the current the TPU, shed light on care that you can prohow the process of reinvide your patients.’ And stating GAC at the WellHRT is just not held to ness Hub unfolded. the same standard,” Eike In the Fall 2025 Students’ Society of McGill University Referendum, a fee establishing consistent GAC insurance was narrowly approved by 51.1 “After some discussaid. “The bar is on the per cent of voters.( Eliot Loose / The Tribune) sions with the [Wellness] floor for all of this.” Hub, and after [the TPU] had a couple [Montreal] clinic and get [GAC],” they Chloe*, a collective member of The Beyond the Wellness Hub’s reversed interviews with some local newspapers, explained. “But being a new international Union for Gender Empowerment—a trans- decision, Eike also spoke to the TPU’s [and made] some social media posts, student in Quebec, […] if you’re getting positive and feminist McGill service—ex- wider fight against barriers to GAC in [there was] pressure towards the [Well- care through the public system, you don’t pressed the importance of sustained, col- Montreal. ness] Hub,” she stated. “[After] internal have [RAMQ] and [must rely] on your lective action to protect trans rights amid “[Limited GAC access] is partly discussions [between the Wellness Hub international student [health] insurance, growing uncertainty. In an interview with downstream of transphobia and not necand the TPU], we eventually came to the [so] you really don’t have other options The Tribune, she highlighted the insecu- essarily caring about trans people,” they agreement [in May 2026] that it would be than the [Wellness] Hub [unless] you have rity of trans healthcare in Canada and the stated. “And it is partly just down to a lack up to the doctor’s individual discretion of hundreds or thousands of dollars to go pri- backslides to trans rights in the U.S. as of resources. The [Quebec] medical syswhether they wanted to provide HRT to vate.” reasons for demanding stronger institu- tem in general, and family doctors espe19-year-olds based on their personal asMcGill’s Media Relations Office did tional accountability and support. cially, are very overburdened, and so we sessment of the legal risks involved with not comment to The Tribune on the Well“The consistent crux of trans health- [at the TPU] are starting to run into more the situation […] and we know that there’s ness Hub’s recent GAC provision guide- care is that it’s always very precarious, systemic problems in addition to these at least one doctor [at] the [Wellness] Hub lines. and we always have to fight for every smaller ones. And so that’s what we’re who [is currently] willing to prescribe that In an interview with The Tribune, inch,” she stated. “So it’s always kind of a working to address more broadly.” care.” Celeste Trianon, Montreal trans rights ad- consistent combat with organizations like *Eike and Chloe’s last names have Eike*, co-administrator of the TPU vocate and reporter, reiterated TPU mem- [universities] who […] without outside been omitted for the sake of their privacy. and recent McGill graduate, explained in bers’ assertions that the Wellness Hub’s pressure, will just kind of revert to underTo learn more about GAC, visit an interview with The Tribune how the GAC offerings are essential for interna- funding and neglecting trans healthcare transpatientunion.org, where you can also Wellness Hub’s initial GAC suspension tional students who struggle to navigate [....] We need to just keep the pressure up sign an open letter stating your support demonstrates greater concern over doc- the francophone public healthcare system [and] keep fighting for more because […] for the TPU’s current advocacy for shorttors’ hypothetical safety than the imme- or come from countries where GAC is not any step back, especially given the con- er GAC wait times in Quebec.

Mairin Burke Editor-in-Chief

diate safety risks caused by limiting students’ GAC access. “It is incredibly unlikely for a doctor from Canada to actually face action over [Trump’s executive order],” they said. “[An adult patient’s] parents [would] have to get access to their medical records, [and] then have to report [them via the whistleblowing] form [....] Then, the Trump government [has] to decide [to] give this list of doctors to every border station [between Canada and the United States] and [have the] police ‘do something’ [....] I do think that the concerns by doctors have been somewhat exaggerated, [seeing as] it really is a very specific sequence of events that cause things to go wrong.” Eike then noted that for some trans students, McGill campus services may be the only avenue for receiving the medical support they need. “In theory, students can go to another

legally available. “The [Wellness Hub’s decision] to implement a ban on [GAC for] U.S. international students […] is confusing,” she said. “Why [is GAC then] allowed for someone fleeing from Russia or Saudi Arabia or all these other countries where trans healthcare is banned [or restricted], even for adults?” Trianon also echoed Eike’s perspective, stating that the Wellness Hub’s GAC interruption posed a much greater risk to trans students than doctors, considering Quebec’s broader anti-trans climate. “In Quebec, there are several antitrans policies which are currently active,” Trianon said. “In the public sector, the word ‘iel’, the equivalent of ‘they/them’ in English, is prohibited by force of government policy, and there’s also current policy throwing trans women into men’s prisons, […] which can […] expose [them] to increased risks of sexual assault.”

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 2026

NEWS

AMNAS challenges McGill at the Tribunal administratif du travail

Court hearing follows McGill’s contestation of AMNAS’ union certification Asher Kui Managing Editor

bune, Norma Ponzoni, assistant professor of nursing, mirrored the same sentiment, citing the disproportionate workload as a major challenge the Nursing faculty faces. “The number of students in some Nursing courses has increased substantially, while at the same time faculty are being allocated fewer teaching credits for essentially the same work,” Ponzoni wrote. “We’re facing a difficult combination: more students and greater teaching demands, but less recognition of that work through teaching credits. That is simply not sustainable over the long term.” Ponzoni also expressed that AMNAS allows the faculty to hold collective bargaining power, providing a more effective avenue to improving working conditions. “Under the existing collegial and

with our certified unions and to reaching collective agreements that are fair and sustainable for everyone involved,” the MRO wrote. “The question currently before the Tribunal administratif du travail is not whether nursing academic staff can unionize; it’s about which bargaining unit is the right fit for certification. That’s a legitimate legal question, and the Tribunal is the appropriate place to resolve it. McGill will present its position there, as any party to a certification process is entitled to do.” According to Assistant Professor of Nursing Caroline Marchionni, the School of Nursing has the highest concentration of Contract Academic Staff (CAS)—representing 17 per cent of all CAS faculty at McGill, and 47 per cent of CAS in the FMHS. While CAS faculty are still ex-

“What we’re arguing is that [FMHS] is different from others in the sense that it’s n Aug. 28, the Association of made of a bunch of professional schools McGill Nursing Academic Staff who are very distinct, and that we don’t (AMNAS) and McGill attended really talk to each other,” Archambault a hearing at the Tribunal administratif du noted. “I don’t know many people in meditravail. AMNAS represents academic staff cine or in physiotherapy [....] I wouldn’t in the Ingram School of Nursing, one of feel comfortable being represented by six schools that fall under McGill’s Facone of them, just like how I wouldn’t feel ulty of Medicine and Health Sciences comfortable representing those schools be(FMHS). Represented by Sibel Ataogul, cause we don’t know [each others’] realiAMNAS disputed McGill’s contestation ties.” of AMNAS’ union certification. The union Both Marchionni and Archambault first filed for certification before the Trialso pointed to a Nursing pharmacology bunal on June 29, representing McGill’s course that originally had two sections— seventh academic union to file for accredione conducted completely in-person, and tation. the other entirely remote. However, McShortly after, McGill contested Gill fused the two sections into one in AMNAS’ certification, 2025, so that all students stating that AMNAS now must attend both should be unionized in-person and online inunder its broader faculty struction. Marchionni rather than by the school explained how professors itself. Currently, there were forced to then take are 19 unions and 2 nonon extra work to fulfill unionized associations the credit requirements. at McGill. This includes “Now [the profesthe McGill Association sor] is getting three of University Teachers credits for the whole (MAUT)—an existing [course], so then he has organization that aims to a spot in his credit load include faculty in univerbecause we have to teach sity governance in order 18 credits,” Marchionni to advance the working said. “But 300 students conditions of McGill’s mean 300 emails. He academic staff and liwasn’t compensated for brarians. more work.” AMNAS has already Archambault comobtained a membership mented that the repercusof over 75 per cent nurssions of McGill’s deciing academic staff—exsions are felt most acuteceeding the 50 per cent ly by the course’s profesthreshold in Quebec for sors and instructors, as union certification. If well as students—rather McGill’s nursing acathan the administration demic staff accepts Mcitself. Gill’s proposal to union“Pretty much all the In August 2024, the Tribunal administratif du travail issued a safeguard order concluding that McGill is likely interfering with and obstructing ize under the FMHS, the union matters.( Claire McCallum / The Tribune) students were unhappy,” union membership rate Archambault said. “Bewould drop significantly, effectively re- administrative model, faculty can raise pected to work full-time, much like Tenure cause it happened so quickly and [the starting the unionization process. concerns, participate in committees, and Track Academic Staff, they do not receive course] wasn’t designed for that, the qualiIn an interview with The Tribune, seek support from organizations such as the equivalent hiring benefits, pay, and ty of the course definitely went down. And William Archambault, assistant professor MAUT,” Ponzoni wrote. “Collective bar- contract length as their tenured colleagues who got blamed for that? The professors. of nursing and AMNAS interim president, gaining changes that dynamic. It gives do. But it wasn’t our decision. We were told highlighted the unfair working conditions faculty a formal seat at the table when deIn an interview with The Tribune, basically two months ahead of September that nursing academic staff experience, cisions about our employment conditions Marchionni emphasized that the need for [2025], in July, that this was going to hapunderscoring the urgency to unionize amid are being made. Instead of simply raising the School of Nursing to unionize indepen- pen. So those are examples of decisions McGill’s budget cuts. concerns or making recommendations, dently stems from its large proportion of that were made top-down without consul“Over the past year and a half, we we can negotiate those conditions with CAS faculty. tation that directly impacted the student were asked on multiple occasions to take the employer. And once an agreement is “Our needs are different, and our pri- experience and learning.” on more work without more pay and reached, its provisions aren’t just recom- mary job is to teach. My job is to educate According to Archambault, when Mcother compensations,” Archambault said. mendations—they’re contractual commit- nurse clinicians and nurse practitioners Gill does not renew some CAS faculty “Workload increases for the same con- ments [....] That creates a different level of […] for the Quebec health system and contracts, extra work will be piled on to ditions, which is one thing when you’re accountability.” advance nursing education,” Marchionni those who stay, or the university will opt told it’s just going to be for one semester, In a written statement to The Tribune, said. “[Other schools in the faculty] have to hire more course lecturers. while [McGill] gets the [financial] situa- McGill’s Media Relations Office (MRO) different mandates, some more focused “No matter how good [a new] course tion under control. But no, whatever was maintained that McGill respects the Nurs- on research [....] Given the varied mis- lecturer is, there’s a lot more rotation. added, we’re being told that it’s the new ing faculty’s right to unionize, arguing sions and methods of renumeration across They don’t tend to stick around for many normal now, and it looks like it might that the university’s decision to contest the six schools, it would never work [....] years, which may leave a gap in the curkeep happening for a bit [....] It was not the accreditation stemmed from concerns We’re so different in the way we function riculum,” Archambault said. “On average, a discussion. We were basically informed over the union’s fit rather than opposition on a daily basis that it’s just [McGill’s] it takes about three to four years minimum of decisions that were made without con- to unionization itself. way to make [our own union] not happen.” to build a good course and to have it runsulting us, and that’s the biggest source of “We have never opposed unionization Archambault shared a similar perspec- ning. If that [course lecturer] doesn’t frustration among faculty.” as a matter of principle, and we remain tive, illustrating the difference between the stick around, then everything has to be In a written statement to The Tri- committed to bargaining in good faith School of Nursing and the rest of FMHS. started over.”

NEWS

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 2026

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‘The Tribune’ Explains: How to vote in Quebec’s 2026 general election

Quebec heads to the polls on Oct. 5 under Premier Christine Fréchette Ilia Mehr-Bakhsh News Editor

he Quebec general election falls on Oct. 5 of this year, when voters will choose their representatives in the Quebec National Assembly. For many students and first-time voters, the voting registration process can be confusing. The Tribune breaks down what the Quebec general election is, who can vote, and how you can register to vote. What is the Quebec general election? Quebec is divided into 127 electoral divisions, corresponding to the number of seats in the Quebec National Assembly. The political party with the most members elected forms government. A majority government is one which wins at least 64 seats, representing over 50 per cent of the seats. If it wins fewer than 64 seats, the leading party forms a minority government. The current Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government is a majority government led by Premier Christine Fréchette. According to Leger polling, the leading political parties in this election are the Parti Québécois (PQ), the CAQ, and the Parti Libéral Québec (PLQ), while the Parti conservateur du Québec (PCQ), and Québec solidaire trail behind. Students can stay informed on the provincial parties’ platforms by attending a debate

hosted by the Students’ Society of McGill University in collaboration with the McGill Law Students’ Association and the Black Students’ Network. The event is open exclusively to McGill students and will take place on Sept 10. in the University Centre. Am I eligible to vote? There are four requirements for voting in Quebec: You must be 18 years old or older, a Canadian citizen, residing in Quebec since April 5 or earlier, and have a domicile in Quebec. According to Élections Québec, a domicile and a residence are different. The domicile is a voter’s primary address that is listed on pieces of government identification and used by the voter for tax reasons. Whereas one could have multiple residences where they live regularly, their domicile is the primary address used to practice civil rights. This means those who submit their taxes and list their Quebec address as their permanent address, and have been living in Quebec for at least 6 months, are eligible to vote. Students who are official residents of Quebec can vote on campus for the riding in which their domicile is located. Out-of-province Canadian students, however, can only vote if their domicile address is registered in Quebec. Am I registered to vote? In order to register to vote, your name

must enter the permanent list of electors.Voters can apply to join the list on the Élections Québec website. To verify their registration on the list of electors, voters have until Sept. 21 to confirm with Élections Québec. Registration and address-changing remain available until then. Voters who have moved within The 2026 Quebec general election campaign is underway, with the election Quebec may still scheduled for Oct 5. (Eliot Loose / The Tribune) need to change their information on the list province. Advance polling will take place on of electors, as the list of electors does not au- Sept. 27 and 28 from 9:30 am to 8:00 pm. On tomatically update a voter’s address upon a election day—Oct. 5—polling stations have voter’s change of domicile. the same hours of operation. McGill classes will be cancelled on Oct. 5 to account for the Where can I vote? election. McGill University will host polling stations where students and staff members can What should I bring to the polling station? vote directly on campus. Advance polling If you have registered to vote, your stations will be organized in Redpath Li- name should automatically be on the list of brary on Sept. 25, 29, and 30, from 9:30 a.m. electors. In order for the polling station staff to 8:00 p.m., as well as on Oct. 1, from 9:30 to verify your identity, you must have one of a.m. to 2:00 p.m. the following documents: a Quebec driver’s In addition to advance polling stations license, a health insurance card, a Canadian at McGill, voters have access to polls near passport, a certificate of Indian status, or a their residential address throughout the Canadian Forces identification card.

McGill security required to wear recognizable badges per new policy Student-proposed initiative mandates campus security to wear distinct alphanumerical IDs Shea McDonnell Staff Writer

ollowing a joint meeting with student leaders and members of McGill Campus Public Safety earlier this year, a student-led initiative mandated McGill campus security to wear visible, distinct badges on their uniforms starting at the beginning of the 202627 academic year. These badges contain six alphanumerical digits—three pronounceable letters followed by a combination of numbers and letters. The resolution comes months after the McGill Board of Governors ratified the Identification Policy for Access to Properties Owned, Occupied or Used by the University in April 2026, which granted McGill security the right to request identification from anyone on campus grounds. In a written exchange with The Tribune, Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) President Hamza Abu-Alkhair explained that the badge policy is a meaningful result of community members expressing concern the past few years over campus safety and officer accountability. “[This is] a project proposed […] and heavily consulted on [by student leaders],” Abu-Alkhair wrote. “SSMU Senators last year had been discussing the ID Policy […] in particular to how it reflects on the policy having a dual context of both academic and discipline.” In an email to The Tribune, McGill’s Media Relations Office (MRO) highlighted that the new badge system gives community members greater clarity when interacting with

security on campus. “The new agent badges improve transparency and help the McGill community better identify security personnel,” the MRO wrote. “[The Identification Policy] establishes a framework for requesting identification from people on properties that the University owns, occupies, or uses for its operations and activities.” Naya Wardeh, former president of the Arts and Science Undergraduate Society, reiterated this perspective, explaining that the new badge policy allows for simpler identification of security staff for easier reporting purposes in an interview with The Tribune. “[Agents previously] kept IDs in their pockets that they were to show on request,” Wardeh said. “We wanted something visible and, because the whole point of the ID implementation was to develop the reporting system, we also needed something easy to memorize.” Wardeh worked with McGill Associate Professor of Psychology Oliver Hardt to design the six-digit badge identifiers, accounting for colourblindness and visibility in low-light conditions as well as alphanumeric distinctiveness. According to Wardeh, this design and the process behind it has helped increase opportunities for students to hold security accountable. “Our main duty in the [Chief Security Officer (CSO)] meetings was advocating for and relaying student concerns about campus security, especially given [its] heightened presence recently,” Wardeh said. “As the meetings progressed […] [CSO Tom O’Neill and security representatives] became a lot more collaborative.”

McGill has entered into at least $19 million CAD in contracts with security company GardaWorld. (Zoe Lee / The Tribune) Tribune) The meeting that brought about the badge Public Safety, the website contained little to no policy came shortly after McGill appointed reachable contacts. This is still the case today: O’Neill. Wardeh underscored that students and The link to the Senior Director’s email is for campus security under O’Neill’s leadership Pierre Barbarie, who left the post a year ago. now have a set of action items for future meetDespite the positive exchanges between ings and are working to implement a reporting security representatives and student leaders system. throughout badge policy negotiations, Wardeh “It’s the middle ground we reached to remains skeptical about the future. give students the ability to report agents in case “I don’t want to sanitize the issues with of emergencies, all the while protecting the campus security and admin by saying all of agents’ identities,” Wardeh said. this. I think it’s important to also acknowlIn March 2025, a security guard detained edge the problems in the same conversation,” a University Affairs (UA) staff member with- Wardeh said. “[It was previously] understandout probable cause, refusing to tell her what able to wonder if our communication efforts she was being held for. When the staff mem- with McGill admin [made] any difference at ber tried to report the officer through Campus all.”

opinion@thetribune.ca

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 2026

T EDITORIAL BOARD Editor-in-Chief Mairin Burke editor@thetribune.ca Creative Director Zoe Lee creativedirector@thetribune.ca Managing Editors Asher Kui akui@thetribune.ca Ellen Lurie elurie@thetribune.ca Clara Smyrski csmyrski@thetribune.ca News Editors Ilia Mehr-Bakhsh Josette Chandler Helene Saleska news@thetribune.ca Opinion Editors Moyo. Alabi Lulu Calame Camila Sierra Ordóñez opinion@thetribune.ca Science & Technology Editors Avery Berry Sarah McDonald scitech@thetribune.ca Student Life Editors Rachel Blackstone Tamiyana Roemer studentlife@thetribune.ca Features Editor Kaitlyn Schramm features@thetribune.ca Arts & Entertainment Editors Norah Adams Annabella Lawlor arts@thetribune.ca Sports Editors Merce Kellner Ivanna Zhang sports@thetribune.ca Design Editors Eliot Loose Gwen Heffernan design@thetribune.ca Photo Editors Emiko Kamiya Sophie Schuyler photo@thetribune.ca Multimedia Editors Will Dawson Daphne Short multimedia@thetribune.ca Web Developers Zola Ball Kate Lauro webdev@thetribune.ca Copy Editor Ella Bachrach copy@thetribune.ca Social Media Editor Chloe Ross socialmedia@thetribune.ca Business Manager Amy Xia business@thetribune.ca

TPS BOARD OF DIRECTORS Zain Ahmed, Nour Khouri, Celine Li, Lialah Mavani, Aleks Rohozinski, Alex Hawes Silva

STAFF Zain Ahmed, Alex Hawes Silva, Helena Helms, Dylan Hing, Shea McDonnell, Lialah Mavani

CONTRIBUTORS Lia James, Shivaani Mohanraj, Jenna Payette, Julie Raout, Nina Tang Yun Sing, Siena Torres, Lawson Whitman Holden Callif, Lilly Guilbeault, Claire McCallum

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OPINION

EDITORIAL

Montreal's gutted motion pacifies Israel's apartheid regime and shirks precedented municipal responsibility The Tribune Editorial Board Continued from page 1. The amended motion— and the rationale that led to it—fails the city’s Palestinian and Jewish populations alike, reflecting a deliberate and hypocritical recalcitrance towards the city’s precedented responsibility to take a stance beyond just symbolic solidarity. Ferrada’s leading argument for erasing the economic and institutional boycott provisions from the motion is that municipalities have neither a role nor a responsibility to engage in international affairs—despite her mayoral campaign’s emphasis on reviving multinational diversity in Montreal and increasing the city’s international profile. While it is true that municipalities do not have independent constitutional jurisdiction over international affairs, municipal governmental intervention in global issues is politically and economically salient, and such intervention from Montreal’s government specifically has strong historical precedent. Previously, the Montreal municipal government has independently cut economic and institutional ties both in the 1990s with the South African apartheid regime, and in 2022 with Russia for its war of aggression against Ukraine. During his tenure as mayor of Montreal, Jean Doré led the city’s government to adopt a resolution demanding that all city contractors end transactions with South African businesses, and established a committee tasked with auditing the city’s economic ties to the apartheid regime. More recently, after Russia invaded Ukraine, thenMayor Valérie Plante publicly condemned the invasion, while members of Ensemble Montréal called for the city to cut economic ties with Russian businesses. The city also sent a donation to the Canadian Red Cross to aid recovery efforts in Ukraine.

These demonstrations of independent municipal condemnation and boycotting of violent regimes affirm that municipalities like Montreal can exert prominent political-economic power in international issues. It is a lack of political will, not constitutional constraint, that prevents Montreal’s enactment of similar boycotts of the Israeli state. The municipal government is a Montrealer’s closest point from which their voice can be communicated to an echelon capable of real change. Yet if municipal politicians refuse to enact economic sanctions or explicitly condemn Israel's atrocity crimes, there is significantly less pressure on the federal government to do the same. Municipal governments, as the first rung in the ladder between citizen and prime minister, have a responsibility both to amplify constituents’ voices, and to take legislative steps to reckon with any and all issues relevant to Montrealers—as Montreal residents and global citizens alike. Further, if Montreal’s bilateral economic and institutional collaborations with the Israeli government are substantial enough to have been at the center of Projet Montréal’s original motion, their role in enabling this violence must be equally salient. The existence of these ties to Israel in the first place speaks to the city’s direct involvement in, and active promotion of, Israel’s occupation in Gaza. Ferrada’s argument that the city cannot and should not involve itself in human rights issues overseas, while garnering tangible financial and institutional benefit from the perpetrator of that violence, is violently hypocritical. The amended version of the motion that the Montreal government did adopt is a symbolic gesture of solidarity—gutted of accountability infrastructure or actionable demands—that extricates the municipality from any real commitment. When an

expression of solidarity is the beginning and end of a city’s stance on an apartheid regime, the scope of future municipallevel action becomes similarly limited to symbolism. Ferrada's second argument for the amended motion was based on the documented rise of antisemitism in Montreal— claiming that economic and institutional boycotts, along with the formal change in the bureaucratic language used to describe the Israeli occupation, would represent a failure on the part of the city to support its Jewish community. Ferrada’s argument is based on the fundamental conflation between antisemitism and anti-Zionism—a conflation that hurts Montreal Jews and Palestinians alike. In fact, equating continued support for the Israeli state with support for Montreal’s Jewish population has the potential to exacerbate antisemitism, as it incorrectly aligns Judaism with the abuses enacted by the Israeli government. A growing population of Jewish Montrealers outwardly condemn Israel's violence in Gaza, reiterating the distinction between their Jewish identity and the Israeli state. Ferrada’s appropriation of antisemitism as rationale for the municipal government's inaction is a divisive nonsequitur that threatens the very Jewish Montrealers whose wellbeing she is claiming to champion. Condemnation of the Israeli state and support for Montreal’s Jewish community are not mutually exclusive. More broadly, the acquiescent attitude towards Israel's genocide reflected in the amended motion aligns with a long track record of hostility towards Palestinians in Montreal and Quebec as a whole. Palestinians immigrating to Quebec from Gaza, for example, receive provincial public healthcare for only three months before they are expected to fund their healthcare out-of-pocket. Meanwhile, for more than two years, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has refused to process

the study visa applications of 130 Palestinian graduate students who have been accepted to Canada’s most competitive graduate programs but remain stuck in Gaza awaiting visa approval. Disproportionate police violence against proPalestinian protesters also persists, along with structural barriers to Palestinians’ participation in political conversations in the first place. Even on the City Council discussion floor for this very motion, the city prohibited hijab-wearing attendees from wearing their religious garments in alignment with the province’s ban on visual religious symbols—a restriction that disproportionately targeted Muslim community members seeking to participate in the meeting. The Montreal government has a responsibility to follow its own municipal precedent and enact economic and institutional boycotts of the Israeli state. Such legislation must also be explicit and condemnatory in its use of language: Israel is committing a genocide in the Gaza Strip, and Montreal’s legislation must address the conflict as such. Yet even if the municipal government continues to ignore its imperative to act, no individual is helpless in stirring political action: Voting in municipal, provincial, and national elections is foundational to any future reform. Last municipal election, Montreal saw a mere 37 per cent voter turnout. Showing up to vote armed with an educated understanding of who is on the ballot is a necessary condition for constructive legislative reform. Finally, as students at an influential institution in Montreal with its own undeniable complicity in the Israeli genocide, we must not cede in this war of attrition. As inaction persists, incessant demands for a politically responsible municipal government are more important than ever.

OPINION

COMMENTARY

opinion@thetribune.ca

Meta’s $18 billion USD settlement is just loose change

Nina Tang Yun Sing Contributor

eta Platforms, Inc. has signed an $18 billion USD settlement resolving claims brought forward by nearly every American state that the corporation violated the Federal Trade Commission’s Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule. The lawsuit alleges that the company built Facebook and Instagram’s algorithms, autoplay features, and notification systems to keep children scrolling long after they wanted to stop, told parents and regulators for years that its platforms were safer for teens than its own research showed, and improperly collected personal data from users under 13. Signed on Aug. 26, 2026, the settlement is now the largest state-consumer protection deal in American history, trailing only the 1990s Big Tobacco settlements in scale. Yet, treating this settlement as an isolated, first-of-its-kind reckoning neglects a long-standing pattern of addictive, poorly safeguarded content in children’s digital media, one Meta itself has demonstrated long before this lawsuit. In her book, Digital Playgrounds, Sara M. Grimes, a McGill University professor of art history and communications studies and Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy, argues that industry responses to children’s safety controversies tend to follow a consistent script: shifting the conversation away from children’s right to data privacy and instead toward children’s need for protection from other external dangers online. This reframing

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allows platforms to cast themselves as the fix for a problem they created—a script Meta followed to a tee throughout this most recent settlement. While Meta rolls out teen accounts, message request defaults, and parental supervision tools that promise protection from predators, harassment, and other outside dangers, its attention-maximizing platform design that made children vulnerable to those very dangers in the first place goes untouched, ultimately undermining the purpose of the entire settlement. Under the settlement’s terms, Meta must enforce time limits, blackout periods, parental controls, and limits to social comparison features for its users in the United States. The settlement also limits when Meta can serve ads to teenagers and dictates when certain features must be switched off; however, it leaves untouched the system dictating what appears next in a user’s feed. That algorithm optimizes for one variable: time spent in the app. The same system—according to internal research Meta’s own employees produced years before this settlement—disseminated a disproportionate share of content linked to eating disorders and self-harm to teenagers, all in a reckless effort to keep users scrolling. Social media addiction and misuse also bears profound impacts for youth anxiety and depression, forcing young people into dopamine-seeking cycles and threatening prefrontal cortex development. These symptoms, in the case of students, are also directly correlated with lower engagement in academics, impaired cognitive functioning, and antisocial behaviours.

Nothing in the settlement requires Meta to redesign the system to address these pitfalls. Instead, social media companies scapegoat children’s behaviour on platforms as the core issue, distracting from their own role as perpetrators and leaving the infrastructure that enables youth addiction and misuse unquestioned. To be fair, the settlement is not negligible. Its restrictions are substantial enough to measurably reduce engagement, and its terms could tighten further if rival platforms agree to adopt similar limits. However, the settlement costs roughly $1.7 to $1.8 billion USD a year, only a fraction of the $60.5 billion USD in net income Meta reported in 2025, and under one per cent of the $196 billion Meta owns several major social media and communication USD the company earned that platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Threads, WhatsApp, year in advertising revenue and Facebook. (Gwen Heffernan / The Tribune) alone. Against those numbers, Meta’s payout is merely loose change at the experiences for teens reveal themselves as bottom of its bucket of wealth. A settlement merely a selling point, masking the veritable of such a pathetic, fractional size does not issue the company will not address. This is create any sense of accountability: Meta’s not admission. This is Meta paying the price bucket was never any lighter for it. of getting caught: a settlement low enough Amidst it all, Meta admits no to barely register against its profits. True wrongdoing. After all, an admission accountability would demand that Meta would mean conceding that its platform change its fundamental model. Until its design itself is the problem. Suddenly, the algorithm itself is put on trial, Meta’s bucket very measures Meta claims provide safer remains just as full as it started.

Clear bags: A simple remedy for Montreal’s lacklustre composting habits?

Lulu Calame Opinion Editor

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 2026

n her most recent annual report, Montreal’s Auditor General Andrée Cossette found that the city is far behind its composting target. Right now, about 55 per cent of the waste Montrealers send to the landfill is organic material that could have been composted instead; the city aims to bring that proportion down to 15 per cent by 2030, as part of its zerowaste target. Disposing properly of organic waste is undeniably more onerous—and more odorous—than sending waste indiscriminately to the landfill. Thus, a successful municipal composting system requires particularly strong accountability infrastructure. Simple and effective means of accountability have been implemented elsewhere in Canada—Montreal just needs to follow suit. In Montreal, a clearbag requirement for trash would make fast accountability possible for improper organic waste disposal, establishing the foundational incentive necessary for Montrealers to properly sort their waste and lead the city to its zerowaste goal. It must be noted that improper compost disposal is anything but innocuous. When organic waste is deposited into landfills between layers of non-organic material, it decomposes without proper oxidation, releasing methane into the atmosphere—a greenhouse gas with a heating potential 80 times more

potent than carbon dioxide. In fact, Canada’s 2023 greenhouse gas inventory reported that landfills accounted for 17 per cent of the country’s national methane emissions—further accelerating short-term warming that causes severe flooding, stronger storms, worsening wildfires, and prolonged droughts. Seeing as composting holds immense power over decreasing Montreal’s greenhouse gas emissions, the city must find a way to close the gap between the amount of compost Montrealers currently send to the landfill and the much-lesser amount necessary to meet the fast-approaching 2030 zero-waste deadline. A simple solution can be found on Prince Edward Island (PEI), where, for years, residents have consistently created less garbage and kept significantly more organic waste out of landfills than anywhere else in Canada. Among a number of successful initiatives under its Waste Watch program, PEI implements a clear bag policy for garbage. This way, trash collectors can efficiently ensure that residents are not sending organic waste to the landfill on a case-by-case basis: When collection drivers encounter bags containing organic waste, they simply refuse to collect them. In Montreal, regulations and penalties do exist regarding proper compost disposal, but unlike PEI—and other compostforward Canadian cities like Vancouver and Calgary—these regulations are not backed up by substantial incentives to follow them.

For example, Montreal does threaten a $300 weekly to bi-weekly trash collection in some to $1,000 CAD fine for improperly sorted boroughs, and the distribution of almost half a waste, but it is difficult to enforce when trash million brown bins for organic waste. is collected in opaque bags, and thus cannot be These efforts should persist, but there is assessed upon collection for poorly separated no reason that they should not be accompanied waste. In the case of successful composting, by the baseline level of oversight ensured by transparency is literally the key. clear bags; it is, really, a no-brainer. Clear trash bags’ track record is Montreal should look to PEI’s clear bag consistently successful far beyond just PEI. policy as an economical and straightforward In Orilla, Ontario, the clear trash bag policy model that would establish a system-wide led to a 40 per cent reduction in organic waste foundation of accountability for residents to sent to landfills and a 20 per cent increase in adhere to proper compost disposal practices— the amount of captured organics. In Muskoka, for the sake of the city, the country, and the clear trash bags reduced landfill waste by 37 ozone layer. per cent and increased proper organic waste disposal by 80 per cent in just one year. This is not to say that clear bags will solve all of Montreal’s composting problems, nor should this tactic replace the other initiatives the city is taking to close the waste gap by 2030. The city is pursuing a number of promising strategies to improve its composting system, such as the new Saint-Laurent compost With organic waste being constantly put in the garbage, Quebec’s largest processing facility, the landfill in Terrebone—responsible for 30 per cent of Montreal’s waste—is city’s recent move from set to overflow in less than a year. (Holden Callif / The Tribune)

arts@thetribune.ca

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 2026

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

The Riffo Gómez brothers immerse audiences in a poignant exploration of belonging ‘In the end, it’s all the same thing’ shines in SAT’s immersive dome theatre Julie Raout Contributor

rothers Cristo Riffo and Francisco Riffo Gómez explore cultural roots, memories of family, and the nostalgia around having moved away from their home country of Chile in their audiovisual experience In the end, it’s all the same thing, projected at the Société des arts technologiques (SAT) from July 28 to Sept. 18. What started out as a live artistic performance project was partially adapted into an immersive 40-minute recording, projected in the looming dome-shaped theatre of the SAT—a space that allows you to melt into a beanbag and slip into a unique sensory universe. Viewers first voyage into a 3D-modeled projection of the Andes. The globe presents a disorienting virtual reality (VR) world of deserted nature that weightless watchers drift through. Your gut twists with building motion sickness from the immersive journey; the camera traverses grass blades and canyons before leading you into a house nestled in the mountains. Suddenly, the screen turns plain. Messy handwriting scribbles messages that blend English and Spanish expressions—“familia,” “hogar,” “Who are you?” The dome becomes a whiteboard, recording cultural confusion and nostalgic memories of the brothers’ native Chile. Cristo Riffo’s face appears against a blurry background, erasing those final words— “Who are you?”—with slow, swaying movements, his cheeks pressed against the screen to silence the attempt to question his identity. From handwritten notes and verses by

Chilean poet Enrique Lihn to a VR exploration of the inside of a soccerball, the project’s contrasting scenes retrace an intimate story of belonging through sensory immersion in multiple acts. “It’s an opera [....] Every act is very welldefined and talks about different problems […] and then, by the end, it makes sense,” Francisco Riffo Gómez explained in an interview with The Tribune. With its 93 speakers and eight video projectors, the theatre dome brings to life the brothers’ artistic partnership: While Cristo Riffo designed the visuals for the project, Francisco Riffo Gómez composed the music. “My brother has been working with this concept of home, genetics, human relationships, and microorganisms in time. He has this theory that microorganisms behave very similarly to human societies,” Francisco Riffo Gómez said. Cristo Riffo took videos of microorganisms interacting with each other under a microscope to feature them in the project. After seeing his brother’s visual work, Francisco Riffo Gómez composed the pressing electronic and experimental music that completes it. The project heavily relies on audiovisual synergy. According to Fracisco Riffo Gómez, the creative process followed a very instinctive flow. “The microscope part where you see all of these things and then this repetitive music, it reminded me of a film called Koyaanisqatsi,” said Francisco. “It’s a very visceral feeling. In the first three seconds, I was like, that’s the music that has to go there.” The creative duo does not shy away from incorporating digital technology into a personal performance rooted in intimate creation. They

built In the end, it’s all the same thing not only from handwritten messages, but also using JavaScript, microscopic images, and 4K resolution cameras. “We just don’t separate human sensitivity from technology. Technology is just something we use,” Francisco Riffo Gómez stated. “Every tool has its way of expressing a different idea of humanity. That was one of the most beautiful things about the show, in my opinion.” The Riffo Gómez brothers let you float within a scene and sit with the feelings it evokes. The fact that the movie itself is a recording of

a live, partly-improvised performance is what makes In the end, it’s all the same thing feel so alive. The film is only one take—one recorded version of the brothers’ multiple and mutable live performances. “I think the role of improvisation was to make sure that [technological instruments] are [used only as] tools and that we’re not fixing anything in time,” Francisco Riffo Gómez explained. “We wanted to add our own quota of humanity [to every take] [....] It was really refreshing to see how [one live version] would change at a certain moment.”

“It just feels like a creative endeavour of two brothers,” said Francisco Riffo Gómez. (Julie Raout / The Tribune)

Know Your Artist: Stina Baudin

‘The Sky Still Carries the Stories’ weaves textile and sound together Ellen Lurie Managing Editor

ased in Montreal, Haitian-Canadian interdisciplinary artist Stina Baudin combines textile, sound, written text, and archival data to represent Black and Afro-diasporic identity. She describes her approach as bricolage, a mixed media practice that transforms readily-available materials into a composite work. In an interview with The Tribune, Baudin shared how she became involved in textile-based art. “After I graduated university, I took a trip to Cambodia alone, and I stumbled upon a collective of Cambodian women weaving. I didn’t know what the loom was back then, and we didn’t speak the same language, but I just sat there for hours watching them weave [....] I was fascinated by the loom itself,” she said. Baudin incorporates found objects, multicoloured beads, and a wide range of fibres into her textile pieces, allowing her to innovate beyond the inherent capabilities of fabric. In this way, she practices bricolage— not only within her textile practice, but also by combining her weaving with writing or sound. According to Baudin, this innovation is intimately related to the political intention of her work.

“I wasn’t interested in just aesthetics or creating something for a [function]. I was interested in developing political themes within the work, and fabric […] [has] its own language [for doing so],” she said. “It’s found in almost every culture. Fibre arts, as a medium, […] [is] not just cotton. It can be cables, hair, anything fibrous, depending on where your imagination brings you.” Her latest work, The Sky Still Carries the Stories, epitomizes her portfolio’s signature emphasis on bricolage. Installed on the roof of the Adélard barn in Frelighsburg, Quebec, the piece is a tapestry depicting a night sky in black and indigo thread, with hand-sewn mirrors forming its stars. Baudin described how the project began with the intention of commemorating the site’s Black history and community. “The story goes that there were Black people in America who took the Underground Railroad […] and found themselves in Frelighsburg,” she said. “This barn is 100 years old […] [and] in speculation, it could have been a place where Black people lived and worked, like many of the barns in the town.” The architectural location of The Sky Still Carries the Stories grounds the work in the town’s Black history, while simultaneously forcing the viewer to gaze up at the tapestry-adorned roof from their place on the ground.

“When I first looked at the barn from the back side, […] the backdrop was the sky [....] I was instantly reminded of […] the stars that guided [Black people] to freedom,” Baudin said. “[I see] stars as a place where we can think [of] our ancestors in the sky, watching over us, divinely protecting us.” In their research at Adélard, Baudin’s team discovered several Black historic residents of Frelighsburg who had lived in the town, but were not named in its archives. Baudin highlighted the inherent complexities of remembering individuals whose histories are unrecorded or hidden behind unmarked graves. “There were 220 Black people [who] lived there at some point, but there were not 220 names in the archives, so I started thinking about […] how to account for this absence of names, […] how to commemorate all these people that are unnamed and [buried] in graves that are unnamed, some that exist on private property,” she said. “This [was] my first large-scale project, and it was a great exercise for me in terms of taking up space […] to make a history that hasn’t been visible, visible.” The Sky Still Carries the Stars is also accompanied by a soundscape, which combines a musical composition by Markus Floats with spoken-word poetry and sporadic, out-of-order counting. “I had personally recorded Black Cana-

dians […] counting numbers at random, and I thought about these numbers as being representative of the names that were not found in the archives […] [and] the scatteredness of not being found and not being known,” she said. Baudin’s work gracefully weaves unknown Black histories into the threads of the present, depicting Black identity through her signature bricolage approach. The Sky Still Carries the Stories is on display at Adélard until Nov. 2, 2026.

Baudin used 2,000 mirrors to create this piece. (Stina Baudin / Photo by Alex Chabot)

Blackface at McGill

DECADES OF STUDENT NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS TESTIFY TO HOW ANTIBLACK CARICATURE WAS NORMALIZED AS CAMPUS ENTERTAINMENT

Written by Ellen Lurie Managing Editor

rom 1906 to 1946, McGill student newspaper archives record definitive evidence of blackface on and around campus. Although the majority of clippings publicize nearby local theatre productions of minstrel shows, several excerpts explicitly describe blackface performances as taking place at McGill. Persisting in Montreal today, blackface is a form of representational violence that dehumanizes Black people while reinforcing white supremacy. A tool historically used to justify the systemic oppression of Black people in North America, blackface normalizes racial humiliation as entertainment, inflicting intergenerational, psychological wounds in Black communities.

‘theatre night’ - McGill Daily Vol. 12 No. 122 rary race relations. (March 17, 1923) and lazy were the two common tropes that circulated through the visual culture, and in the WHAT THE ARCHIVES REVEAL: absence of a [Black] political class, why would BLACKFACE AT MCGILL the dominant culture believe anything other?” The McGill Outlook—McGill’s weekly student The most famous of minstrel show acts during newspaper from 1896 to 1908—offers the earlithis period was American blackface performer est available record of an assumedly on-campus and playwright Thomas Dartmouth Rice’s char- production of blackface. In an article published acter Jim Crow—portraying an enslaved stable- in 1906, two student actors are said to “oblige man with a physical disability. Rice combined with a black face clog dance during the love blackface, imagined vernacular speech, song, scene in the first act.” A decade later, a 1915 and a shuffling dance to depict the character. A article in the McGill Daily states that the McGill 1690 United States law had long forbidden en- Mandolin Club would perform alongside a “wellslaved people from most forms of dancing and known black-face act.” The most recent archival musical performance, inspiring Black people to evidence of blackface at McGill, however, is an shuffling dances to bypass the legal defi- article published in the McGill Daily on Oct. 17, A BRIEF HISTORY OF BLACK- develop nition of dancing—which involved crossing one’s 1946. It reads: FACE IN NORTH AMERICA feet. Rice’s signature dance style appropriated “Upper classmen [dressed as stormtroopers,] North American blackface performanc- this technique, exaggerating and ridiculing an robed in McGill blazers [and] swastiked sleeves, es were first popularized in 1830s New York, already suppressed form of Black artistic ex- […] brought [the freshmen] to trial for their where white performers would darken their fac- pression for the amusement of white audiences. misdemeanours […] during initiation week [....] es and bodies with burned cork, grease paint, The Jim Crow character quickly spread Each culprit […] heard her sentence read [....] or shoe polish and dress in tattered clothing. across the United States and Canada, becoming The freshmen, thus purged of their guilt, put These performances mocked Black Americans a popular minstrel performance. Thompson ex- on a Minstrel Show, proving they were endowed enslaved on Southern plantations, propagating plained how the ability of white performers to with both beauty and talent. Then both prosecuderogatory stereotypes of Black people as lazy, caricaturize and mock Black identity and cul- tors and prosecuted reconciled by indulging in dangerous, hypersexual, and even content with ture stems from racial power imbalances. sandwiches and bottles of pepsi cola [sic].” slavery. “The stage has everything to do with politics, An overt example of how caricature acts as In an interview with The Tribune, Cheryl with culture [....] Parody, caricature, [and] satire Thompson—author, associate professor and re- all come from the theatre. But it’s only people search chair at Toronto Metropolitan University, with power who can parody other people,” she founder and director of Mapping Ontario’s Black said. “Until we’re actually taken seriously as a Archives, and archival scholar of North Amer- political class and not seen as a comedy class, ican blackface—described how 1830s minstrel [these dynamics] are never going to go away.” shows constructed false narratives of Black peoYet paradoxically, Black people would perple as acquiescent. form these caricatures themselves, since perfor“Black people [were depicted] as happy, con- mance opportunities for racialized artists were tented, always smiling. You’ll never see a Black largely restricted to blackface roles. Systemic minstrel not smiling,” she explained. “Happy racism in the entertainment industry cornered Black artists into participating in their own degradation—or risk being excluded from the performing arts world entirely. According to Thompson, this pattern continues today through stereotypical roles for Black actors in television and film. “[As long as] the Black actor or the comedian continues to wear the caricature in the absence of the blackface mask, […] it’s never going to change,” she said. “You have to resist that impulse to slip into what is essentially a minstrel character.” Within 10 years of Rice’s first performance, Jim Crow was a racial epithet for Black people; within a century, Jim Crow was the chosen name for the United States’ codified system of segregation. This trajectory from visual culture to law reflects the per‘erring freshies’ - McGill Daily Vol. 36 No. vasiveness of racial caricature within the racial psyche of North America: Although Jim 013 (Oct. 17, 1946) Crow Laws were formally abolished with the a vessel for not only anti-Black racism, but also landmark United States Supreme Court case antisemitism, this article’s casual register tesBrown v. Board of Education (1954) and the tifies to how deeply normalized discriminatory Civil Rights Act of 1964, blackface is still performances were within McGill’s campus cul‘theatre night’ - McGill Daily Vol. 12 No. 122 practiced in the United States and Canada to- ture during this period. (March 17, 1923) day, and bears critical relevance to contempoBeyond examples of blackface occurring on

campus, numerous other student newspaper articles publicized minstrel shows occurring at other venues, including the Orpheum, Gayety, and Imperial theatres. These articles described performers fondly as “comedians of the funniest kind,” “[making] millions laugh,” “bring[ing] forth well merited applause,” and “enjoy[ing] a great […] reputation.” By applauding these performances for their humour, McGill student newspapers further contributed to the normalization of racial impersonation—not only as entertainment, but as a reinforcement of community ties. Thompson noted how blackface has historically acted as a source of social connection, reflecting white reluctance to abandon a racist status quo. “What does it mean that people of a certain class are doing [blackface] to form social bonds? What does that speak to in terms of the ways that white supremacy actually becomes a kind of comfort?”

has a lot to do with how those stories are used.” Dunbar’s research proposes the use of counterstories—the purposive inclusion of people of colour and their experiences into dominant culture narratives—to subvert what is typically viewed as objective, neutral, or even true. However, the ability of an oppressed group to contribute their knowledge to the archive is closely determined by their access to record-keeping resources. “Saving [records] costs money, whether it’s digital or in storage. It’s a bill that you never really [finish paying],” he said. “The reality of caring for [records involves] fiscal and personal commitments. That transcends [the archival process] at a base level [....] That power and control and sustainability, [those] operational opportunities, don’t often exist for Brown folks.” According to Thompson, power and resources have decisively, historically shaped the ability of Black people to dissent against the mainstream visual culture, particularly during the 19th century when Black literacy was climbing low. THE ROLE ROLE OF OF THE THE THE ARCHIVE ARCHIVE IN IN but “People always [ask], ‘Was there backlash INSTITUTIONAL MEMORY INSTITUTIONAL MEMORY AND AND to blackface in the 19th century?’ But all they could do back then […] is write a letter to the ACCOUNTABILITY ACCOUNTABILITY Uncritical reviews and advertisements for newspaper expressing concern [or] discontent. blackface productions in Montreal fallacious- Otherwise, the Black Canadian in the 19th cenly construct an archival memory of blackface tury is a disenfranchised group,” she said. “It’s as normal during this period of North Ameri- not a coincidence that […] Black people protestcan history: When the only accessible records ing against [blackface] started in the 1920s and of blackface at an institution are neutral if not accelerated into the 1930s because there’s more positive, the institutional and collective memory evidence of it through the visual and the audio shaped by this archive becomes sanitized and medium […] with the advent of cinema.” By consequence, archival records like Mcpartial. Gill’s—which are rife with articles praising In an interview with The Tribune, Anthony blackface, but lack any apparent evidence of disW. Dunbar, professor at Dominican University, sent—can depict blackface as acceptable during founder and leader of the Critical Race Theory this period. Yet, the gaps themselves tell a story: collective (CRTc), and creator of Critical Race The first step toward understanding and learninformation Theory (CRiT), described how the ing from the archive is a cognizance of how archive itself can be a mechanism of power and power directly shapes one’s ability to express accountability. “There’s power and archives and then pow- and record their own dissent. er in archives. We live in a capitalistic society where most power shows up in one of two ways, CONTEMPORARY INCIDENTS OF either in some form of fiscal component, or in some sociocultural aspects. In archives, those BLACKFACE IN MONTREAL In the past 15 years, blackface incidents things hybrid[ize] and overlap,” Dunbar exhave accelerated within Montreal’s visual culplained. “The folks who have money are usually ture: In 2014, a white actor with Montreal thethe ones who have the power [to] use archives atre group Théâtre du Rideau Vert wore blackin those social, cultural, beneficial manners for face to portray Montreal Canadiens player P.K. themselves. Who has fiscal or custodial control Subban—unfortunately just one incident within a common, decades-old pattern where Quebec theatres cast white people for non-white roles. In September 2011, a group of about 30 students at HEC Montréal wore green and yellow tracksuits, spoke in mock Jamaican accents, chanted about smoking marijuana, and carried around a stuffed monkey during a freshman orientation sporting activity. And in 2012, McGill students dressed in blackface at a 4Floors Halloween event at the University Centre, accompanied by several other costumes that caricaturized Indigenous and Latino people. Clearly, the 19th- and 20th-century-era practice of white people engaging in caricature for the purposes of community bonding and entertainment still persists—and so too does its psychological afterlife. In an email to The Tribune, N. Keita Christophe, associate professor in McGill’s Department of Psychology and principal investigator of the Cultural Development Science Lab, explained how blackface enduringly remains a source of harm for Black people through intergenerational storytelling. “From a racial trauma perspective, often histories like this come with a lot of pain and distress for those that directly [experience] them, and these emotions and accompanying ‘the imperial’ - McGill Daily Vol. 13 No. recounting[s] of the event are often then […] passed down through generations [as] historical 033 (Nov. 7, 1923)

trauma,” he said. According to Christophe, the historical trauma that results from a national or institutional history of blackface poses profound risks toward racial identity, particularly through internalized racism. “We know that discrimination can sometimes result in people […] asserting pride in their identity in response to discrimination, but often it can also […] lead to internalization of the negative stereotypes that blackface and other experiences of discrimination often perpetuate,” he said. “This phenomenon of internalized racism has been described as the most harmful form of racism because it comes from within the marginalized person themselves.” In 2020, McGill introduced its five-year Action Plan to Address Anti-Black Racism, now extended through 2027. The plan tackles anti-Black racism across five axes—students, faculty, research, outreach, and physical space—and seeks to investigate McGill’s historic connections with the transatlantic slave trade. In a written statement to The Tribune, the McGill Media Relations Office (MRO) empha-

‘at the gayety’ - McGill Daily Vol. 17 No. 086 (Jan. 28, 1928) sized the university’s stance as committed to addressing anti-Black racism on campus. “McGill unequivocally denounces all forms of racism, very much including anti-Black racism, and reaffirms its dedication to preventing and combating such discrimination,” the MRO wrote. While a crucial starting point for institutional reform, McGill’s reconciliation efforts must acknowledge the breadth and depth of historic forms of anti-Black violence on its campus that stretch beyond slavery and colonialism—including blackface caricature. With the psychological aftermath of blackface still acute and the practice itself still ongoing, McGill’s archives cannot remain a repository of unexamined racial violence. It is time for the university to confront its place in the history of North American blackface.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

arts@thetribune.ca

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 2026

Remembering Oliver Jones

Revisiting the Montreal native’s life and his earliest recordings

Eliot Loose Design Editor

n Wednesday, July 22nd, Montreal-born jazz pianist Oliver Jones passed away at the age of 91. Jones’ start in jazz performance could be described as that of a late bloomer, yet his brilliance at the piano was evident from a young age. In 1940, he played in public for the first time at the age of five for Montreal’s oldest Black congregation, the Union United Church. By the time he was nine, he made his debut in the nightclub scene. During his youth, Jones’ neighbour Daisy Peterson Sweeney classically trained him in piano. Living 12 doors down from Jones in Little Burgundy, Sweeney and her brother, Oscar Peterson, helped Jones develop a musical style that merged classical fundamentals with uncompromising blues and swing. Jones’ classical training shaped his predominant performance style during his 16-year tour as the creative director for the Kenny Hamilton Showband. Jones, with the group, toured in the Caribbean, the United States, and Puerto Rico throughout the 1960s and ‘70s. When Jones returned to Montreal in 1980, he committed his time to jazz and studio recordings. Though the pianist was on the tail end of his forties, Montreal immediately appreciated his late, but welcome, arrival on the jazz scene. The year following Jones’ return, he made his debut

performance at the Montreal International Jazz Festival (Jazz Fest). That same year, bassist Charlie Biddle and entrepreneur Georges Durst opened Biddles Jazz & Ribs, where Jones became a regular performer. Jones’ first record—Live at Biddles Jazz & Ribs, released in 1983—immortalizes the nightclub, which ultimately closed under the name House of Jazz in 2020. In the performance, Biddle plays the bass and Bernard Primeau is on the drums, joining pianist Jones to form a trio. The record’s first tune, “Mean To Me,” breaks into a swing beaming with enthusiasm and a noticeable touch of the Calypso influence that Jones inherited during his time abroad. Following the opening number, Jones transitions into the ballad, “It Might As Well Be Spring,” demonstrating his ability to play brilliantly melodic standards that are equally as breathable as they are monumental. The dichotomy in character between the two performances is a theme present throughout the duration of the set. The record also features Oscar Peterson’s prominent civil rights tune “Hymn To Freedom,” a piece Jones and Peterson iconically performed in tandem at 2004 Jazz Fest. Peterson remained Jones’ greatest inspiration throughout his career. Notably, Peterson is credited as a pivotal source of encouragement for Jones’ commitment to jazz performance; Peterson indebted much of his style to his classical background, and, following in his mentor’s footsteps, Jones channeled his technical precision and

intentionality into an intuitive and volatile medium of music. Jones’ 1984 record, The Many Moods of Oliver Jones, helped to actualize Peterson’s ambitions for solo jazz piano to receive equal reverence as solo classical piano. The record paints a comprehensive picture of Jones’ technique and his ability to pull listeners into a musical world embellished with elegant phrases and strides. Though the mentioned recordings do not provide a comprehensive measure of Jones’ musical talent or ability, they em-

phasize the reality of who he was as a musician: someone who could play happiness in one measure, despair in the next, and do so in a way that was as honest as it was direct. Jones’ playing was imbued with curiosity and excitement, and such emotions are transmitted seamlessly through the recordings he published and the countless performances he gave during his sevendecade-long career. His memory will be a cherished token in the history of Montreal, the musical identity of Canada, and the legacy of international jazz music.

Jones was the second recipient of the Montreal International Jazz Festival Oscar Peterson Award. (Eliot Loose / The Tribune)

What we liked this summer break

Exploring the media that entertained our free time

The Lunchbox: A Musical Dylan Hing Staff Writer

ver the summer, I caught the world-premiere musical adaptation of The Lunchbox at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California. Based on the 2013 film of the same name, the musical centres on Mumbai’s famously precise dabbawala food delivery system; in a rare mix-up, a lunchbox prepared by Ila (Kuhoo Verma) to win back her husband’s love is accidentally sent to retiring office worker Saajan (Manu Narayan). What follows is a unique friendship facilitated through letters sent by lunchbox. Ila, stuck in a loveless relationship, and Saajan, alone and trapped in a mundane job, find themselves as pen pals, a premise which is simultaneously simple and fresh. The intricate, tightly-choreographed dances of the performance contrast sharply with Ila and Saajan’s loneliness. Early in the show, Ila, struggling to find comfort in her husband’s coldness, contemplates suicide in a letter to Saajan. Singing from her balcony, she questions, “Does it take courage to live, or does it take courage to die?” Ila considers whether her death would be courageous, but Saajan responds with the simple belief that it would be bolder to instead over-

come loneliness. This mesmerizing story is one of courage—bound, one day, to reach the Broadway stage.

Sterling Point Lia James Contributor

very summer, we seek out media that connects us with the rapture of the season while also containing just enough drama to keep us engrossed. The August release of Amazon Prime Video’s show Sterling Point fills both of these desires. Sterling Point follows the life of New Yorker Annie (Ella Rubin) as she visits a fictional island where her deceased mother grew up, located in the Muskoka Region of Ontario. Over the summer, Annie encounters new friends, unexpected family, and buried secrets that will forever change her life. Sterling Point explores the bittersweet nature of uncovering an unknown past: The process can be painful, but it also helps reveal hidden parts of one’s being. While the show begins with Annie attempting to connect with her blood relatives, she creates a newfound family along the way, illustrating the beauty that emerges from making vast discoveries about her mother’s life. The show grapples with themes of queer love, class division, and grief, while also providing

moments of comic relief to maintain emotional lightness throughout the series. If you are still in denial about the end of summer and wish to watch something that will make you think and laugh at the same time, then Sterling Point may be the show for you.

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante Siena Torres Contributor

back to the character list—even though its core focuses on the bond between Elena and her “brilliant friend” Lila as they grow from young girls into teenagers. While part of the novel is set in the beachside town of Ischia, My Brilliant Friend is not a light beach read. Ferrante refuses to hide the violence of the girls’ impoverished neighbourhood and the abuse they face from men and loved ones. The book forced me to consider a not-so-distant past when girls’ education was still in peril in the aftermath of fascist Italy. But what most gripped me in my reading of My Brilliant Friend was how Ferrante constructs a fraught female friendship marked by jealousy, resentment, and at times, tenderness.

his summer, I set myself the task of beginning the Neapolitan Quartet by the pseudonymous Elena Ferrante, a series spanning decades of the lives of two girls in postwar Naples. Recently named the best book of the twenty-first century by the New York Times and adapted to critical acclaim by HBO, My Brilliant Friend is unsurprisingly a masterclass in characterization. By the end of the novel, I was left feeling deeply intertwined with the characters’ lives. The novel is decorated with a cast of peripheral characters so large that I often The complete Neapolitan Novels series, of which My Brilliant Friend is the found myself flipping first, totals approximately 2,000 pages. (Sophie Schuyler / The Tribune)

studentlife@thetribune.ca

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 2026

OFF THE BOARD

STUDENT LIFE

Belonging is not something we have to earn

Camila Sierra Ordóñez Opinion Editor

was 16 years old when I first encountered anti-Latino racism. I was in high school, and a professor suggested that my family had ties to drug cartels. I froze, and without knowing what to do or say, I nervously laughed. I was 18 years old when my family experienced anti-Latino racism. My mom had come home from the supermarket with my brother, looking distraught. I asked her if something was wrong. She explained that a man in the grocery store parking lot had yelled at her: “Go back to where you came from!”—words she never thought she would hear after having lived more years in Canada than in her hometown in Mexico. Such blatant acts of racism often get dismissed as expressions of ignorance or, even worse, as tasteless humour. However,

the profound effect that anti-Latino racism has on Latino identity and community is far from harmless. These experiences are neither unique to me nor my family. In fact, they are a reality millions of Latinos in Canada and the United States know all too well. According to Statistics Canada in 2021, more than two in five Latinos described having experienced discrimination in the past six years. It is notably during this time, in 2016, that U.S. President Donald Trump was elected and began his first presidential term. Only 100 days into Trump’s tenure, a coalition of 46 Latino organizations published a report outlining the devastating effects the Trump administration was having on Latinos—such as significant budget cuts across social assistance services and the mass targeting of undocumented immigrants. Nearly ten years later, racism against Latinos living in the U.S. and Canada has only escalated. According to the FBI, 2025 was a record year for hate crimes against Latinos in the U.S. In Canada, hate crimes targeting specific ethnic groups such as Latin American and South American populations increased by 23 per cent from 2023 to 2024. What I, my family, and many Latinos across North America experience are not isolated events: They are a response to the

increasing normalization of anti-immigrant sentiment driven by anxieties surrounding unemployment, housing shortages, national identity, and perceived failures in migration governance. Anti-Latino discourse from political figures like Trump conflates Latino communities with criminality and illegality, further allowing racial profiling and other race-based violence and discrimination to become quotidian for Latinos. This process of vilification not only harms the way Latinos are perceived, but also negatively affects the way they perceive themselves. Latino youth who have left their native countries for Canada or the U.S. are torn between their Latino heritage and current citizenship. Growing up in a society in which Latino communities are consistently surveilled, detained, and deported creates a deep-seated fear of deportation. These fears fracture family bonds and leave youth struggling with mental health issues that can endure far into adulthood. Social media further normalizes antiLatino racism by disseminating dehumanizing content online. Videos of Latino families being torn apart by immigration officers and people pleading to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents that they are legal citizens reach thousands of viewers within seconds. As content circulates, what initially sparks rage can begin

to feel routine. Numbed by endless exposure to hatred and violence online, viewers become disconnected from victims shown in videos and habitualize racism as just another event. Therefore, challenging and redefining what is deemed as normal becomes a first step in ending anti-Latino racism. The mass targeting and deportation of Latino citizens and immigrants is not normal, Latinos fearing violent and potentially fatal encounters with ICE agents is not normal, and wanting to hide one’s visible cultural traits to appear less suspicious in front of authorities is definitely not normal. The realities across different Latino communities are not the same, and I am aware that growing up in Montreal has afforded me a certain safety and privilege that others do not have. But I also know what it feels like to be othered by public discourse surrounding my heritage. Even if my experience feels like an alternate reality to other Latinos in North America, I refuse to accept that Latinos must hide what defines their identity and connects them to their ancestors—simply to be seen as less of a threat or more of a citizen. Belonging is not conditional, especially not when it comes to heritage, and it is not something Latinos should have to earn.

Tricky transitions: How McGillians are adjusting to a new semester Balancing a full course load after summer break is never easy Rachel Blackstone Student Life Editor

ith winter semester exams concluding on April 30 and fall semester classes beginning Aug. 31, McGillians were given four luxurious months to let their minds roam free from endless readings, WeBWorKs, and lab reports. Many students leave Montreal, returning to hometowns and part-time jobs that barely pay a livable wage. Others stay in the city, enrolling in summer classes or simply savouring the fleeting Montreal warmth at Parc Jeanne-Mance. A few did it all: work, travel, and time with friends. Although all their summers may have diverged tremendously, returning students are united by the same struggle: mental disconnect from the academic vigour of McGill that we all love to hate and hate to love. It only takes a few days of uninterrupted Instagram scrolling and aimless neighbourhood walks before the Summer Brain (SB) switches on. Your SB is so happy and naive; it believes that a day consisting of tanning, eating out, and partying is a triumph of productivity. The SB, unchallenged for weeks on end, may go into shock when you find yourself back in the McIntyre Medical Building at 8:30 a.m. But fret not: As your SB scrambles to take notes, set up a Notion, and jump into a hefty reading list, you are not alone. Transitions are challenging—even when those transitions are back to a place you’re wellacquainted with. In an interview with The Tribune, Léa Neblai, U2 Arts, shared that returning to McGill after a summer relaxing at home on Gua-

deloupe beaches brings some anxiety. each year, and that enjoying campus while change, it’s new, it’s stressful, but at the “I mostly struggle with the routine be- it’s nice out is the best remedy. Sirois ex- same time, it’s new, so it opens you up to so cause I’m not so organized […] and there’s plained that switching the mental gears many more opportunities.” a lot of time management and realization from summer relaxation to the rigour McSo here’s some Tribune tough love. that you [can’t] take too long to [do] your Gill expects is part of what can make the Remember that transitions are a challenge readings,” Neblai said. “It’s difficult for me transition a challenge. for everyone, no matter how far from home to set a strict routine and stick to it.” David Flexer, U1 Arts, acknowledged you may be, or what year you are embarking Many students find organizing their that back-to-school anxiety isn’t always a on. Let your SB go, as it has served its purtime a difficult and daunting feat after a terrible thing in an interview with The Tri- pose and will always come back. With this summer off. Ivy Luders, U2 Arts, mirrored bune. in mind, allow yourself some grace to feel the worries that Neblai expressed. “The good thing about being anxious multiple things at once as the course load “I feel like even though I’m a junior, is that it’s kind of like the double-edged inevitably picks up. Don’t forget—anxiety I still don’t know how to balance all of the blade of, [you’re] anxious, because it’s and excitement can go hand in hand. readings I have to do,” Luders said. “It takes so much time and I’m such a slow reader, and I get so distracted. I’m still sorting it out.” Despite shared anxiety about the incoming heavy workload, Neblai feels that an enjoyable, manageable routine will fall into place in time. “I’m looking forward to learning new things [and] discovering new people,” she added. “[I’m taking] classes that I’m really interested in, so I hope I’m going to learn stuff that I like and enjoy working in these circles.” Lucas Sirois, U3 Arts, echoed these ideas in an interview with The Tribune, highlighting that the back-to- The McGill Arts Internship Office connects students to international experiential learning opportunities in the school transition gets easier summertime. (Emiko Kamiya / The Tribune)

STUDENT LIFE

studentlife@thetribune.ca

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 2026

The five stages of back-to-school grief: How to be cheap while you grieve

The Tribune’s guide for those who are emotionally and financially underprepared Asher Kui Managing Editor

buttered popcorn in one hand and a fountain drink in the other.

verybody knows the five stages of grief, but McGill students know of a sixth— perhaps a seventh. The sixth is coming back to school in August, a week before your friends at other schools; the seventh is coming back with more money on your oneCard than in your bank account. Even if you’ve drained most of your student card’s $500 CAD balance, the new school year comes with a consolation prize: discounts! From entertainment to travelling, The Tribune brings you a guide to grieving the end of August without breaking the bank.

Anger - Tuesday Everybody is suspiciously unworried, in line outside of Redpath (the library, not the museum) to get into OAP. Your carefully schemed plan to sneak in for a $5 CAD hotdog is derailed by hundreds of clueless first-year students who still don’t know they’re not getting in. With every afternoon lost to the OAP line, your anger moves from a simmer to a boil. Luckily, yoga classes are cheap and a great way to soothe your nervous system! Who needs an OAP hotdog when you can channel this rage into a few downward-facing dogs at Fyra Yoga for discounted prices? Until Sept. 13, you can get 10 classes for just $160 CAD. Drop-in community classes are also available for less than $7 CAD. Yoga won’t fill your stomach up, but it will fill you with peace over the fact that you are also not getting into OAP.

Denial - Monday It’s Aug. 31, you’re trekking to McConnell Engineering at 8:30 a.m. for your first class, where a two-star professor on RateMyProf— armed with their 17-page syllabus—reminds you that the summer is, in fact, over. Although your student card can’t help you escape McEng 11, it gets you $11 CAD movie tickets. It’s even cheaper on Tuesdays—$8 CAD all day, with a $5 CAD popcorn and drink combo! Cinéma Beaubien, Cinéma du Parc, and Cinéma du Musée offer you a chance to double your course load and give it to the next day, because if tomorrow’s the day you “actually lock in,” you might as well reject the impending stress and gift yourself another day of summer. Reward yourself by watching Backrooms, with

Bargaining - Wednesday After yesterday, you’ve decided that food is essential to the human body. But McGill Math dictates that if food is on sale, you’re not spending money—you’re making it. Hop over to Metro on Mondays to enjoy 10 per cent off groceries! If not, check out Shawarmania and Poke Monster for their hefty student discounts. Forget an apple a day; two discounted meals a week should keep your economics professor away!

Depression - Thursday The unopened Outlook emails are piling up, and the number in your bank account is plummeting faster than your Frosh situationship lasted. You have already pondered banishing yourself to northern Quebec to start over as a lumberjack. Alternatively, head to Bar des Arts for $1.50 CAD beers and grilled cheeses! There’s nothing a sweaty basement full of Arts kids can’t fix. And if you’re still spiraling, students also get a 15 per cent discount on VIA Rail tickets. McGill wants you to finish your degree, but the SSMU is committed to helping you escape. But before you change your legal last name to Bûcheron, remember that McGill offers free mental health support through the Student Wellness Hub.

Acceptance - Friday It’s Friday, happy Friday! You’ve cried. You’ve crashed out. You’ve even considered beginning your chopping era. Somehow, you have also survived a crazy week full of first-years and wicked professors. Now you have the whole weekend ahead! Treat yourself to a free visit at the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal—it’s a hard-earned reward. If you’re under 25, you have free access to the museum’s permanent exhibits all week. But here’s a reminder for the certified curious minds: Temporary exhibits are only free to visit the first Sunday of every month. Don’t get too excited and show up at the doors on a random Friday. You’ve reached acceptance, and we don’t want you to start your five stages of grief again.

Montreal rent prices have increased nearly 70 per cent since 2016. ( Emiko Kamiya / The Tribune

Your McGill program, your next cafe

Programs don’t define us, but they might point us to a suitable coffee shop Tamiyana Roemer Student Life Editor

offee shops are an undeniable cornerstone of student life in Montreal. While our campus libraries are left hollow by the mass removal of books, cafes beckon us warmly with romantic decor. When we earnestly fight sleep during a three-hour lecture, cafes promise caffeine in all its finest forms. And when friend-group gossip requires a degree of anonymity, cafes cloak us in ambient noise, giving us the space to speak freely. But with new spots popping up seemingly every week, choosing your next cafe can feel like an endless scavenger hunt. Using categories most befitting a student paper, The Tribune recommends your next cafe stop, based on your McGill program. Arts

In your time as an Arts student, you’ve likely had classes in almost every building on campus—except the actual Arts Building. With every passing semester, you’ve grown more and more accustomed to wandering down unfamiliar hallways and up questionably lit staircases in search of the correct classrooms, only to find abandoned dreams and the ghosts of TAs past. So, if there’s one thing this degree is preparing you for, it’s locating Savsav’s front door. Hidden inside an otherwise office-filled building, Savsav isn’t exactly a place you’ll stumble upon. First, you’ll need to find the entrance, and then navigate a series of corridors. But successful completion of this maze will reward you with something far better than anything found in the depths of the Stewart Biology Building. Discover Savsav and find a spacious

study spot, equipped with seven-metre ceilings, abundant natural light, and matcha by the pitcher. Consider Savsav the perfect Arts cafe: lacking a clear path forward. Music In the lush jungle of Montreal’s music scene, Music students are some of the city’s most well-travelled explorers. It’s hard to deny that the vast majority of vibrant sonic discoveries are nocturnal in nature. From classical concerts to late-night DJ sets, musical moments are typically reserved for the night owls. But at Le Dépanneur Café, you can enjoy live music every day from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. For almost 25 years, this cafe has featured up to eight acts each day, with performances ranging from Irish traditional music to jazz. This is a neighborhood spot where you want to stay awhile, so check out the array of classic breakfast sandwiches that they offer. While you’re there, take it easy on the musicians playing. You’re in Music— you’ve been critiqued enough yourself.

cafes will relegate you and your screens to a single, overcrowded, work-friendly table, Café Parvis is perpetually poised to accommodate your sprawling study spread. Besides its conveniently large tables, this spot further differentiates itself with its menu, which includes all-day pizza offerings with toppings ranging from braised beef to courgette. The mitochondria may be the powerhouse of the cell, but a personal pie can keep any Science student running. Engineering If you’re an Engineering student, then the

new semester signals the impending doom of countless new group projects. Although The Tribune can’t secure you group members with time management skills or even ones with the decency to reply to your check-in texts, we can recommend a comfortable location for your group meetings. Café Falco, located in a sunny Mile End warehouse, is equipped with extra-long tables and plenty of seats to accommodate you and all your group members. And if the threat of academic failure isn’t enough to get your group together, perhaps Falco’s weekday lunch specials of onigiris, soups, and salads can serve as motivation.

Science Between the cell diagrams on your iPad, the bullet points in your notebooks, and the textbook you’re forced to lug around, you require study spots with ample table space. While many of Montreal’s Europeans first introduced coffee to Montreal in the 18th century as a luxurious commodity. (Sophie Schuyler / The Tribune)

scitech@thetribune.ca

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 2026

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Reading the static and exploring long COVID’s impact on the brain’s electrical rhythm

McGill researchers found patterns associated with fatigue in people with long COVID Shivaani Mohanraj Contributor

as she completed her PhD at McGill’s Brain Research and Imaging for Neurorehabilitation Lab (BRAIN) under the supervision of Marieor some individuals, recovering from Hélène Boudrais—identified measurable difCOVID-19 is only the beginning of ferences between brain activity in people with a longer battle with persistent symp- LC versus those without LC. As people with toms. The World Health Organization esti- LC report experiencing fatigue, brain fog, and mates that 10 to 20 per cent of people infected post-exertional malaise (PEM), the researchwith COVID-19 develop long COVID (LC), ers concluded that these patterns warrant fura condition marked by more than 200 symp- ther investigation as potential biomarkers for toms that can emerge and persist months after LC. initial infection. Yet despite the prevalence of The BRAIN researchers were motivated LC, there is still no diagnostic test or validat- to investigate LC because of their concerns ed biomarker that can identify the condition, about the limited scientific understanding of forcing clinicians to rely largely on patients’ LC’s genesis and its effects on patients. self-reported symptoms. “There were two main things that were In a recently published paper in the really worrying [about long COVID]. One, Journal of Clinical Neuroscience, a team that symptoms were very debilitating, and working with Monserrat Casado Sánchez— two, that [its] origin was seriously misunderstood,” Casado Sánchez said in an interview with The Tribune. Brain imaging studies have shown that LC leaves physical traces on the brain, including reduced grey matter volume and weakened thalamus-to-motorregion connections. Researchers have linked these changes with symptoms such as fatigue, impaired attention and memory, and slower processing speed. Less is known, however, about how these changes in brain activity are directly linked to long EEG scans record the brain’s electrical activity through sensors COVID symptoms. placed on the scalp. (Lilly Guilbeault / The Tribune)

To investigate this connection, McGill researchers from BRAIN studied 20 righthanded adults with LC who reported fatigue, brain fog, and PEM, comparing them with 20 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects. First, participants completed three validated symptom questionnaires designed to assess the presence and severity of their LC-related symptoms. Then, days or weeks later, the researchers recorded all subjects’ electroencephalogram (EEG) activity over the left motor and somatosensory regions of the brain during both rest and sustained handgrip contractions, measured using a handgrip dynamometer. The BRAIN team focused on two measures: post-movement beta rebound (PMBR)—a burst of activity after movement—and alpha central frequency—the pace of brain waves at rest. A smaller beta rebound may reflect differences in how the brain regulates activity after movement, while a slower alpha rhythm may reflect differences in how it functions at rest. Compared with healthy controls, participants with LC showed reduced PMBR following handgrip task and a slower alpha central frequency at rest. These changes correspond to specific LC symptoms: Participants with more severe brain fog tended to have smaller PMBRs, while those with greater fatigue tended to have slower alpha frequencies. Since both measures correlated with participants’ reported symptoms, the findings suggest that, in people with LC, the brain

regions involved in movement and sensation may have difficulty regulating their activity. Casado Sánchez and her colleagues suggest that the findings could reflect that LC causes a disruption in the balance between excitatory and inhibitory brain signals, possibly involving neurotransmitters: though they remain uncertain of the underlying mechanism. However, these associations alone do not definitively establish that altered brain activity causes fatigue or brain fog in patients with LC. “It is super important to remind everyone and to remember that correlation does not equal causation [....] This was a small sample size and it was an exploratory study, so we cannot draw any hard conclusions to what these correlations mean,” Casado Sánchez cautioned. Furthermore, similar alpha- and betaband abnormalities have been reported across conditions including Parkinson’s disease, fibromyalgia, and myalgic encephalomyelitis/ chronic fatigue syndrome, suggesting that these EEG features may reflect a broader response to chronic fatigue-related states rather than being unique to LC. The researchers suggest that these EEG features could eventually contribute to the development of objective biomarkers for LC, although further research is needed to determine whether they can reliably distinguish LC from other conditions. “[We now] need validation in larger, more diverse groups, alongside longitudinal studies,” Casado Sánchez said.

McGill science students: You don’t need to know where you’re going yet

McGill alum Annie Bernier shares how curiosity and networking shaped her path through research, industry, and project management Avery Berry Science & Technology Editor Continued from page 1.

he later moved to work in cancer research at Institut Curie and in the biopharmaceutical services industry at CellCarta before transitioning into scientific project management at Consortium Québécois sur la Découverte du Médicament. “I didn’t have a clear path at all [....] You don’t have to follow a single traditional path. You can have a very meaningful scientific career in a broad diversity of things,” Bernier said in an interview with The Tribune. Bernier’s range of experiences, consistent curiosity, and desire to learn provided her with tools that ultimately transferred to her career progression. When beginning her PhD, she became the first student to join a new laboratory still establishing its flow and procedures. This unique circumstance gave her the unexpected opportunity to set protocols and to help hire new students, ultimately leading her towards a more administrative scientific career. “My goal at every step was always, ‘How do I learn new things and keep feeling like I’m building something?’” Bernier said. “When you pick a position, always ask yourself, ‘What can I learn from it?’ and, ‘Am I

interested [in learning] those things? Are they going to be useful to me?’ Always take what you know and then try to add something on top of it in your next position.” Rather than pursuing the traditional postdoctoral route after her PhD, Bernier moved to Paris to work at Institut Curie. The position allowed her to continue doing research while building on the laboratory management skills she had developed during her PhD. During her time in Paris, she worked on understanding how cancer-associated fibroblasts can influence T-cell penetration in lung cancer. Bernier emphasized how this unique experience differs from her other professional progressions that resulted from making connections. “Do not underestimate the power of networking,” Bernier said. For Bernier, networking does not necessarily mean attending professional events or marketing yourself to prospective employers. Many of her career connections came from casual conversations that only became relevant months or years later. Networking, she explained, also introduced her to an abundance of careers that are much less known to the typical science undergraduate.“I wish students knew how many different careers exist in science beyond medicine, beyond academia [....] [There are also] biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, […] intellectual property, […] science policy

regulatory affairs, […] project management, […] medical communications, […] government, […] [and] non-profit organization [jobs],” Bernier said. “The skills you develop during your scientific training are super transferable.” While the number of possibilities might feel overwhelming, Bernier sees career uncertainty as an opportunity rather than a setback.

Her own career path demonstrates how one experience can build on another in unpredictable ways, unveiling new interests and possibilities along the way. “You don’t need to know exactly where you’re going, but every conversation is going to [add] another piece of the puzzle on the things that you like and the things that you might want to do later,” Bernier said.

Bernier once took a summer course at Harvard that helped spark her interest in RNA biology. (Zoe Lee / The Tribune)

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

scitech@thetribune.ca

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 2026

HIV care informed by social determinants of health

McGill researchers find material deprivation does not impact HIV clinical outcomes

Sarah McDonald Science & Technology Editor

n 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a report listing 2021’s leading causes of death worldwide. Unsurprisingly, at a global scale, ischaemic heart disease remains at the top of the list, with COVID-19 not far behind. However, when data was divided between high- and lowincome countries, leading causes of death diverged. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is one such example. Still listed as the 10th leading cause of death in low-income countries, the HIV epidemic continues to kill hundreds of thousands each year—yet in Canada, there were only 126 deaths directly affiliated with HIV in 2023. HIV does not yet have a cure, but it can be treated. Most treatment plans use antiretroviral therapy to control virus levels, ultimately reducing symptoms and making patients’ viral loads low enough to prevent it from being detectable or sexually transmittable. Through access to these treatment plans, Canadians with HIV are able to live long, healthy lives with significantly lower risk of severe infections. However, while Canadians are largely protected from HIV through national health infrastructure and insurance, many migrants are denied this protection. Dr. Bertrand Lebouché and his PhD student Moustafa Laymouna explored this care gap in a recent study. In their paper, published in HIV Medicine, the two researchers explored the link between

Canadian migrants’ material deprivation—a poverty standard—and their HIV clinical outcomes. “There are studies that talk about the relationship and the link between clinical HIV outcomes and material deprivation. [However], no study has been conducted in a context [focusing on] migrants, or the barriers that we try to remove for these participants,” Laymouna explained in an interview with The Tribune. “This is what makes our study more interesting and new.” Taking place over the course of a year, Lebouché and Laymouna measured the material deprivation of 48 participants at the 4- and 48-week mark. Patients were provided with free HIV medication, along with further medical support such as access to pharmacists, doctors, and social workers. At each check-in, the effect of patients’ material deprivation on their clinical outcomes was measured—a relationship that research has shown to be negatively correlated. Previous literature shows that material deprivation leads to poor clinical outcomes, as poverty can create additional barriers within care. Critically, this relationship was not confirmed in Lebouché and Laymouna’s study. Instead, there was no statistically significant relationship between material deprivation and HIV clinical results. “We saw that there is almost no significant impact in [the participants’] clinical outcome, so it means two things,” Lebouché said. “First, they are very resilient people. It means that they fight a lot to survive in Canada, to

survive in Quebec, and they succeed [....] the global HIV epidemic. They still are very poor, but they survive. And “Something we push for [is that] antiretthe second reason is possibly because we give roviral therapy needs to be free for patients,” them good care [....] The focus of our research Lebouché explained. “Of the characteristics team is patient-centered care [and] patient- of this population, it’s very important that centered research [....] [We] give medication [patients] don’t have to choose to pay [for] on site, free of charge, and […] [patients] see their treatment, their care, or to pay to feed pharmacists, nurses, physicians, social work- their family.” ers, and psychologists or psychiatrists.” These findings underscore the importance of accessible public health infrastructure. Consistent access to affordable care counteracted the negative health effects of material deprivation, allowing for these patients to have significantly better treatment outcomes. Lebouché and Laymouna’s study highlighted that overcoming systemic barriers is necessary to improve patient outcomes in Canada. By providing vulnerable communities with additional support, HIV treatments were successful. By investing in support systems, Canadian health practitioners can make a significant difference in the lives of those with HIV; in countries like Canada, where transmission rates have been reduced, improving clinical outcomes and livelihoods An estimated 65,000 people live with HIV in Canada. (Gwen is the next step in combatting Heffernan / The Tribune)

DAT and MCAT preparation: Expectations, pressures, and balances Students share their summer experiences preparing for the DAT and MCAT

Helena Helms Staff Writer

or many professions, undergraduate education is the final step before entering the job market. However, for the medical field, it is only the preface for an additional four to eight years of schooling. Prerequisites for dental and medical school include the Dental Aptitude Test (DAT) and Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), respectively. These exams have several cycles throughout the year and require an immense amount of preparation. Students study for hours a day, for months at a time—often while simultaneously being enrolled in university curriculum in hopes of being admitted to medical school in the future. In interviews with The Tribune, Jane Hostetter, U2 Arts and Science, and Sofiya Turban, U2 Science, provided insights into their experiences this past summer studying for the DAT and MCAT. Hostetter began studying for the DAT in May, leaving her four months to prepare before her exam date. She split up her days between content review and practice, all while working evening shifts at a local restaurant. “Everything felt manageable up until the final month, where I started to feel guilty for doing other activities when I could have been studying,” Hostetter said. “Even though I knew I was well-prepared,

the exam was really daunting, and I got nervous as I got closer to my testing date.” There is a lot of pressure associated with the lead-up to the exam, and while many are dedicated to their study strategies, Hostetter and Turban both expressed a decrease in confidence as they got within a month of their exam dates. While Hostetter favored half-day study sessions and working part-time, Turban gave herself roughly three months to study for the MCAT, and committed 10 to 12 hours per day instead, a schedule she has adapted to under McGill’s rigorous curriculum. “This is extreme and not necessarily productive, but I prefer to sit down and get it done,” Turban said. “I followed the exact same day-to-day schedule as I do […] during finals here at McGill.” In terms of the mental health impact of this strict and aggressive schedule, Turban described a similar trajectory to Hostetter. Both students reported decreasing social engagement and extracurricular activities as the exam dates approached in August. “In the first one-to-two months [of studying] I was able to keep up with my daily activities,” Turban said. “But in the third month, I really felt the pressure of the exam […] and cut out other events.” An additional source of students’ apprehension derives from family members and friends. Hostetter expressed that everyone knowing about her exam and asking for scores after the fact added another layer of

stress and a stronger fear of underperform- ban expressed that their exam preparation ing to the testing experience. Similarly, Tur- limited some activities this summer, and reban’s mother went to medical school, and quired intense self-discipline. However, as while her parents were supportive, she did they return to university this fall semester, not want to disappoint anyone. a huge step in their career paths has been Another influence on the study process completed. was McGill’s impact on the test takers. “[Organic chemistry] was the most helpful for content preparation on my exam, and it was reflected in my Natural Sciences section score,” Hostetter said. She also expressed the benefits of the first year science requirements, such as General Chemistry 1 and 2, reporting that her knowledge from these classes proved beneficial in building a strong base going into the exam study period. On the contrary, Turban felt McGill’s foundational science curriculum was less helpful than she expected. While the courses’ content proved useful, MCAT questions are very specific, so she found it more effective to master the question style than to memorize information The MCAT was established in 1928. (Gwen Heffernan / The while studying. Both Hostetter and Tur- Tribune)

sports@thetribune.ca

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 2026

SPORTS

After McGill Athletics cuts, teams navigate a new future under SSMU

The Tribune interviews newly-instated SSMU athletic teams to discuss what it takes to keep McGill’s cut teams alive Ivanna Zhang & Zain Ahmed Sports Editor Staff Writer

cGill Athletics and Recreation announced last November that it would cut 25 varsity and club teams across 15 sports, citing issues with human resource capacity and budget constraints. Since then, most of the 25 teams have worked with the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) to reinstate their programs by shifting their organizational authority from McGill Athletics to the SSMU. The McGill Nordic Ski Team is Canada’s first collegiate skiing program. The club president, Céléna Cossette-Chan, U3 Science, explained her initial shock that her team was cut in an interview with The Tribune. “We never thought that [the cuts] would come down to the self-led teams. We train outside [of McGill], and we only store our equipment in a small closet that [McGill Athletics] gave us,” Cossette-Chan said. Since the club is self-funded, its athletes were accustomed to handling finances on their own. Now, the athletes must learn to follow SSMU’s guidelines for creating a club, such as writing a constitution and transferring over their bank account. “[The SSMU has] been really helpful and supportive. They sent a lot of emails, and they’ve been reaching out to let us know the deadlines,” Cossette-Chan continued. SSMU’s Legislative Council discussed how to best assist teams after the topic was brought forward by the Council’s Athletics Representative. SSMU Vice President (VP) of Clubs and Services, Acadia Knickerbocker, explained the transition in more depth in an interview with The Tribune. “At that time, the […] Council decided to integrate the [cut] teams as interim clubs until […] they were either reinstated by McGill Athletics or a more comprehensive solution was created at SSMU,” Knickerbocker said. “Then, the Council created a task force which addresses what that solution would look like, and that task force operated from the last academic year.” The McGill Fencing Club, formerly associated with McGill Recreation, had to rename itself the McGill Students Fencing Club after the cuts. “Since McGill owns the images and the name of ‘McGill Varsity,’ the teams have had to rebrand themselves as SSMU groups,” Knickerbocker said. In an interview with The Tribune, the president of the Fencing Club, Claire Han, U2 Science, said the team’s biggest challenge has been managing its finances. “We have a higher [rental fee], so we have to decide how to compensate our instructors and how much to charge for [our] registration fee,” Han said. “SSMU offered a discounted rate, but it’s still not a lot compared to when we were under McGill Recreation. But after some meetings with [McGill Recreation], we figured out a new deal that ended up working out, so they have been quite helpful on that end.” For the baseball team, a former Tier 2 varsity team, off-field logistics now depend more on the athletes than on the support McGill Athletics previously provided. In a joint interview with The Tribune,

team captain Agastya Kushari, U3 Arts, and the team’s VP of Operations and Communications, Marcus Dela Cruz, U3 Arts, explained that interest in their team has not wavered. “Probably 30 to 35 players have expressed interest in joining [the team], and we definitely don’t have that many spots, so [we are in a] good position,” Dela Cruz said. Both student-athletes expressed that there are many unpredictable factors as they head into their first season under SSMU. On the other hand, they believed that the switchover helped the team to gain greater autonomy over their program, as well as to bond as athletes. “We are planning out our budget, booking our field times, coordinating with Coach [Christopher Haddad] about our selection criteria,” Kushari explained. “These are things that we have never seen before, but it makes us [have] more ownership of the team.” “I think that it’s honestly been a positive experience for [athletes] to […] promote their teams based on the hard work that they’ve done,” Knickerbocker echoed. Regarding its transition from McGill Athletics to SSMU, the baseball team expressed some frustration with the information they’ve received from the former. “Communication with [McGill Athletics] has been a test of our patience, to put it bluntly,” Kushari said. “I completely understand why it takes time, but it limits what we can do.” For McGill Tennis, the cuts affected the former club team’s eligibility to compete on a wider scale. For the past few years, the team had been communicating with McGill Athletics to confirm its eligibility to compete at U SPORTS Nationals. Although Tennis Québec still allowed the team to compete in provincial tournaments after it was cut, the situation underscored McGill Tennis’s inability to compete at the national level. Women’s team captain, Charlie McNeil, U3 Management, spoke to the team’s frustration in an interview with The Tribune. “Last year at provincials, the men won and the women were finalists, so the men should have gone to nationals, and the women were very close. But now, it’s not even worth trying [to get the eligibility],” McNeil said. “[The SSMU have been] talking to the competitions that [teams] intend to compete at and providing documentation [so they are] allowed to compete on behalf of SSMU,” Knickerbocker explained. For McGill Women’s Rugby, November’s cuts stung but did not shock. Elisa Abergel, U3 Engineering, a fullback and one of the team’s new executive members, spoke to The Tribune about the restructuring. “The school itself never really gave that many resources towards women’s rugby,” Abergel said. What followed the announcement was less devastation than confusion, and a scramble by players to navigate the team’s uncertain next steps largely on their own. Rather than continue fighting for varsity reinstatement, the team registered with the SSMU, prioritizing certainty over a tedious battle. “The longer we waited, the less certainty we’d have about a future season,” Abergel explained. “The SSMU hadn’t anticipated absorbing so many teams at once, and untangling the nuances tied to ex-varsity programs

took weeks of back-and-forth, [but] we made it through.” Senior members took on executive roles spanning hiring, finances and logistics, and running a student-led committee. They also brought in men’s rugby alumnus Nicolas Dube-Mercier as head coach. Registering as a club under Rugby Québec proved costeffective, as many players already competed with the organization in the summer so their insurance carried into the fall. The team floats coaching, kit, and an independently hired physiotherapist through fundraising, alumni support, and sponsorships. The rugby team is hardly scaling back. Three practices a week build toward an eightgame season against university and club sides, including Norwich University, Laval University, Université de Montréal, Sherbrooke University, Bishop’s University, and Carleton University, with the long-term aim of earning their way back into the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec. For Abergel and women’s rugby, that ambition is the story. “Many students stepped up to make this happen, and it’s really exciting that we’re able to continue playing, continue competing,” she said. “It’s a new beginning, and [there is] a lot of potential for growth.” As for McGill Field Hockey, the team negotiated with Carleton University and the University of Ottawa with the goal of competing as much as possible. Changes they face include sharing the field with other teams during practice.

Tess Schreyer, U3 Arts and Science, told The Tribune that the planning process has been “bittersweet.” “It’s definitely nice to be in [collaboration] with my teammates and us having more of a role, but it’s hard when you have so much unknown,” Schreyer said. “[The SSMU] were very responsive, and it seemed like they were ready for a big turnover of a lot of teams.” Knickerbocker emphasized the SSMU’s goal of supporting students and highlighted the importance of transparent communication with McGill Athletics. “McGill has been responsive with all of our questions,” Knickerbocker said. “For us, the best-case scenario is open communication […] and that’s what we’ve seen so far from McGill.” A McGill Athletics spokesperson stated that representatives from Athletics and Recreation, Student Life and Learning, and the SSMU have been working closely together to ensure a smooth transition in an interview with The Tribune. “The priority for us was always supporting students, their well-being, and their goals,” Knickerbocker said. “Our focus was always to make sure that the students were able to [compete] […] safely, and to come up with a long-term plan so they could continue in the future.” Managing Editor Clara Smyrski is captain of the McGill Women’s Field Hockey Club. She was not involved in the writing, editing, or publication of any parts of this article pertaining to the Field Hockey team.

Women’s rugby opened their season on Sept. 5 with a dominating 100-5 win over Norwich. (Gwen Heffernan / The Tribune)

SPORTS

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 2026

sports@thetribune.ca

Cycling world championships return to Montreal after 50 years Which athletes to watch, and how race week will reshape student commutes Lawson Whitman Contributor

hen Magdeleine Vallières won cycling’s world title in Rwanda last year, she became the first Canadian to wear the sport’s iconic rainbow jersey: the mark of the reigning world champion. This month, she will defend her title in Montreal in the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Road World Championships for the first time in over 50 years—just one week after the city’s annual Grands Prix Cycliste de Québec de Montréal. The 2026 UCI Road World Championships, running from Sept. 20 to Sept. 27, has been named the largest sporting event in Montreal since the 1976 Olympic Games. During the event, over 1,000 athletes from more than 80 countries will compete in 13 events across Montreal and the South Shore. 50 years after the Olympic Games, the city of Montreal expects nearly half a million people to attend the championships, with free admission for all spectators. Montreal last hosted the event in 1974, when it became the first city to hold the World Championships outside of Europe. The Grand Prix Cycliste is considered one of the hardest one-day races in North America, with 16 laps and 4,304 metres of climbing up and down Mount Royal. The race serves as a dress rehearsal for the World Championships—which will be held on many of the same streets just a week later—when many of the same riders will trade their team jerseys for national colours. The four events expected to draw the big-

gest crowds are the shorter men’s and women’s Individual Time Trials, both 39.9 kilometres on Sept. 20, and the much longer Road Race with 273.2 kilometres of men’s and 180.4 kilometres of women’s racing on Sept. 27. The winners of these races will each earn the right to the rainbow jersey, which they will wear in competitions until the next year’s title is decided. Current rainbow jersey holder Magdeleine Vallières, who is from Sherbrooke, returns home no longer an underdog, but as the defending champion: racing on the same streets she trained on growing up. Her main challenger, Demi Vollering, a member of the strong Dutch team and last year’s Tour de France Femmes victor, seeks a first World Championships win. The climbing-heavy nature of this year’s course has led to its description as Vollering’s “race to lose”. Vollering has had a mixed relationship with cycling since the start of her career; the 29-year-old did not grow up in a cycling academy. She was previously a speed skater and trained as a florist, only taking up cycling in her late teens. Defending men’s Road Race champion and current rainbow jersey holder Tadej Pogačar will not be competing in Montreal due to a crash in 2026 La Vuelta a España that caused him to suffer a neck and collarbone fracture, as well as a concussion. The five-time Tour de France winner underwent successful surgery on his left collarbone on Aug. 31. With the absence of Pogačar, reigning Individual Time Trial champion and Road

Race runner-up Belgian cyclist Remco Evenepoel is now considered the man to beat this year. Thirty-nine-year-old Canadian Michael Woods, who retired from cycling in 2025, will return for one final race on his home soil, supporting Canadian team leader Derek Gee. Due to these events, major driving disruptions will be in effect throughout the month, with 36 kilometres of streets affected across seven Montreal boroughs. Av. du Parc between Mont-Royal and av. des Pins will be closed from Sept. 4 until Oct. 4. Other streets included in the races are expected to be closed

during the events and reopened later in the day. Students commuting from the Mile End and the Plateau who rely on the 80 Du Parc bus should consult the Société de transport de Montréal’s trip planner for information on live diversions and cancellation updates. When the road race takes place on av. du Parc, the rider currently defending the rainbow jersey will be on the same streets she once trained on: the same ones that helped cycling grow in North America, and the same ones McGill students use to get to class every day.

The finish line for the 2026 World Championships will sit beneath the Georges-Étienne Cartier monument in Jeanne-Mance Park. (Eliot Loose / The Tribune)

Final farewell: Lionel Messi retires from the Argentine national team The Argentine icon leaves behind a career that reshaped soccer and inspired generations Alex Hawes Silva Staff Writer

or more than two decades, Lionel Messi has been the most watched, celebrated, monitored, and scrutinized soccer player on earth. On Aug. 31, at the age of 39, he finally put down the Argentina jersey for good, bringing an extraordinary international career to an end. It was not quite the farewell Messi might have imagined. In July, Argentina lost the 2026 World Cup final to Spain, falling just one goal short of defending the trophy they won four years prior at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The 2022 Final was a glorious match where Messi brought home the Golden Ball for the second time in his career. However, even though his career ended with a loss, Messi’s place in international soccer history was already secured. Yet, Messi’s journey to this acclaim was anything but easy. Long before he became the player who could fill stadiums just by stepping onto a pitch, Messi was just a boy from Rosario, facing a critical problem that threatened his dream. He had been diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency that stunted his height and required expensive treatment. Not letting his size hinder his incredible talent, he moved to Spain at the age of 13 to join La Masia, FC Barcelona’s youth academy—leaving behind his family, friends, and home in hopes of pursuing his soccer dream.

As we all know, his gamble paid off: FC Barcelona saw something extraordinary in the teenager, and Messi eventually became one of the greatest players the sport has ever seen. Playing for Argentina, however, was a different story. When Messi made his senior international debut in 2005, he was only 18. The years that followed brought him plenty of frustration and required even more hard work. He reached the 2014 World Cup final, only for Argentina to lose to Germany. Then came defeats in the 2015 and 2016 Copa América finals. After Argentina’s 2016 defeat to Chile, Messi briefly retired from international soccer. For a player who had won almost everything at the club level, his inability to win a major trophy with Argentina had become a wrinkle in his legacy. In 2021, Messi finally got the chance to hold a major international trophy after leading Argentina to victory against Brazil in the Copa América. A year later came the defining moment of his career: At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Messi captained Argentina to glory, scoring twice in the final against France and finally winning the trophy that had escaped him in 2014. Then came one last World Cup run in 2026. Messi helped Argentina reach another final, scoring eight goals throughout the tournament. This time, there was no fairytale ending. Spain defeated Argentina, leaving Messi to walk away in second place. Still, the numbers tell only part of his

story. Messi finished his Argentinian career part of Argentina’s identity. This weekend, with 207 appearances and 125 goals, both of soccer matches across the Argentine League which became national records. He leaves will pause in the 10th minute for one minute as a World Cup winner, a two-time Copa of applause in his honour. Messi may no lonAmérica champion, and the player who ul- ger wear Argentina’s jersey, but his legacy timately turned years of disappointment for with the national team is forever woven into Argentina into an era of unprecedented suc- the country’s history. cess. Not only did Messi achieve unparalleled accomplishments, but he also made a name for himself apart from Argentina’s other leading soccer legend, Diego Maradona. For years, Messi was compared to Maradona, with an expectation that Messi had to match Maradona and carry forward Argentina’s legendary status. One would assume that Messi felt strained by this pressure—almost as if he owed it to his country to not just follow in Maradona’s footsteps, but to surpass them. Yet, that was not the case; Messi himself said that he felt no extra pressure as he already lives with a constant internal expectation to play well. He moved beyond the burden of replicating Maradona’s legacy and created his own. The boy from Rosario, who once left Argentina because of a medical condition, became the captain who brought the World Cup Lionel Messi’s first-ever contract with Barcelona was written home. Messi’s No. 10 has become on a paper napkin. (Gwen Heffernan / The Tribune)