The Tribune
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 2025 | VOL. 45 | ISSUE 3
SPORTS
Remembering Ken Dryden: Canadiens legend and McGill alum PG. 15
Published by the SPT, a student society of McGill University
OFF THE BOARD Embracing the unaesthetic PG. 5
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STUDENT LIFE
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer! PG. 11
NEWS
Amid the upcoming strike, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante announced five names of new stations that will be built as extensions of the Blue Line, including Vertières, Mary-Two-Axe-Earley, and Madeleine-Parent. (Armen Erzingatzian / The Tribune)
McGill community considers transportation alternatives in the face of upcoming STM strike Transport society reports workers have scheduled a strike from Sept. 22 to Oct. 5
PG. 2
With far-right extremism FEATURE Bills, borders, and on the rise, McGill must breaches An investigation into the militarization, actively counter hate EDITORIAL
The Tribune Editorial Board
O
n Sep. 9, white nationalist group the Second Sons announced the opening of a Montreal division. This expansion is part of a rising wave of extremist ‘active clubs’ across Eastern Canada. Framed as organizations propagating a combination of fitness and men’s mentorship, these ‘active clubs’ coopt medieval aesthetics and martial rhetoric to recruit young men and promote an ethos of nationalism, misogyny, and white supremacy. The group’s rhetoric frames white Canadians as victims of cultural displacement, a narrative rooted in the “Great Replacement” theory, which villainizes immigrants and people of colour. This growth is not atypical: neo-Nazi active clubs have increased by 25 per cent worldwide since 2023, with more than 181 ac-
tive chapters operating in 27 countries, including Canada. The announcement of the Second Sons’ Montreal chapter follows a recent march by a “Canadian men’s nationalist” group, which took place in Ontario’s Niagara Region over Labour Day weekend. Resurging white nationalism across Quebec and Ontario poses pressing questions of student susceptibility and institutional responsibility at universities like McGill. Universities are not only targets for recruitment, but also risk becoming complicit in fostering hate when such conversations are presented as innocuous ‘debate.’ These organizations openly encourage violence and target marginalized communities that form much of McGill’s diverse and international student body. While recruitment for these groups often happens off-campus, universities are crucial in shaping whether such rhetoric is PG. 5 normalized or rejected.
surveillance, and foreign influence behind Canada’s ‘Strong Borders Act’
Helene Saleska News Editor
I
n December 2024, the Government of Canada announced a $1.3 billion CAD plan to expand militarization and surveillance along the U.S.-Canada border. The plan includes the deployment of drones, helicopters, and mobile surveillance towers as part of a new Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Aerial Intelligence Task force, along with a commitment to 24-hour aerial surveillance. Nicknamed the ‘Strong Borders Act,’ the project is now part of Bill C-2, introduced in the House of Commons in June. By increasing border surveillance, imposing new immigration and visa restrictions, and expanding law enforcement powers, Bill
C-2 is a direct attack on human rights. It limits migrants’ abilities to claim refugee status and broadly revokes many resident and work visas. The bill also undermines the rights of all Canadians by expanding private, military, and police surveillance capabilities, while allowing broad international data sharing. To many, Bill C-2 is an effort to appease U.S. President Donald Trump, who repeatedly accuses Canada of allowing undocumented migration as well as gun and drug smuggling into the U.S. Consequently, this bill begs the question of whether Canada, in the name of security, is pursuing the same political path of racist exclusion, surveillance, and human rights abuses as the United States. PGS. 8-9
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