The Tribune
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10 2024 | VOL. 44 | ISSUE 2
EDITORIAL SPVM racial profiling perpetuates racist systems within and beyond McGill
Published by the SPT, a student society of McGill University
FEATURE Is oral tradition dead? PGS. 8-9
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NEWS SPHR at McGill calls on students to wear keffiyehs as sign of Palestinian solidarity PG. 3
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(Shani Laskin / The Tribune), PG. 2
TAs urge McGill to uphold contract at back-to-school rally Unions from across the university show support Mairin Burke Staff Writer
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all-and-response chants of “Union! Power!” punctuated the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM)’s back-to-school rally on Sept. 4. AGSEM, the union representing teaching assistants (TAs), exam invigilators, and Academic Casu-
als such as graders and tutors at McGill, held the event to mark their full return to instruction after a lengthy TA strike in the spring. The strike, which lasted three weeks, came to an end on April 15 when AGSEM and the university formed a new collective agreement (CA) dictating pay and working conditions for graduate employees. Although the CA ensured a pay raise for TAs—six per cent retroactively
EDITORIAL
and three per cent in future years—McGill has not yet met the deadlines for remittance established by the backto-work protocol agreed upon. The university agreed to compensate TAs for any unpaid hours worked before the strike. They additionally agreed to retroactively compensate TAs by paying the difference in the hours paid at the pay raise level established by the new CA versus the original pay level. PG. 3
Word on the Y: Returning students’ legacy
McGill must confront its reliance on SPVM’s racist policing
Some tips for first years to start the semester off right
The Tribune Editorial Board
Auxane Bussac Student Life Editor
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istorically, police units have been known to target unhoused, queer, transgender, disabled, mentally ill, lower-income, Indigenous, Black, and other marginalized communities. Unhoused individuals sleeping on a park bench in Mon-
treal can get fined up to $1000 CAD. Atif Siddiqi, who is transgender, alleged that the police laughed at them when they attempted to report their assault and robbery. Most recently, the Superior Court of Québec confirmed that racial profiling is a systemic issue within the city’s police force, establishing that Service de Police de la Ville
de Montréal (SPVM) uses discriminatory and racist policing tactics. Taking all of this into account, McGill continues to make the deliberate choice of calling SPVM on campus for student and staff demonstrations. Beginning in November 2023, President Deep Saini called police on pro-Palestine demonstrators. PG. 5
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tarting your journey as a first-year university student is an opportunity for a fresh start. Your first few weeks will likely be dedicated to balancing academic deadlines, navigating campus, creating a social life, and learning how to live away from home. Some students show up with a game plan, while others enter the year with an open mind, ready to dive into the unknown. In any case, every single stu-
dent will have something to learn. The unknown—as exciting as it can be—is scary. Here are some things that upperclassmen would have wanted to know when first arriving at McGill. In a huge university like ours, it can sometimes feel like you lack guidance. Organizing your degree is not an easy task, especially when you’re trying to do it on your own, without any counselling. In an interview with The Tribune, Jeanne Lotz, U2 Arts, urged students not to be afraid of asking for help. PG. 7