The Quid Novi MONTREAL, QC
MCGILL UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF LAW - FACULTÉ DE DROIT DE L’UNIVERSITÉ MCGILL
46 07 3 DEC 2024
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Saying Goodbye–and See You Soon–to our EIC Anna McAllister Pablo Mhanna-Sandoval | 2L
Law school is often described as a marathon. Marathons, like law school, are difficult even under ideal conditions. Ideal conditions are rare; life often gets in the way. When it does, having a friend in your corner is a blessing. Having a friend like Anna McAllister, however, is a benediction. In this semester’s final issue and the last with Anna’s name on the masthead, it’s my honour to participate in the Quid Novi custom of sending off our editor-in-chief with this letter. Anna has been co-editor–in-chief of the Quid Novi since winter 2022, entering the role halfway through her 1L year. Her mark is undeniable, bringing the publication back into print for the first time since the pandemic and continuing the diversification of its content. Anna also helped shepherd the Quid through a difficult time in the Faculty’s history starting in October
2023, committing to both the virtues of collegiality and frank dialogue. Throughout her tenure, Anna believed in the important role the Quid Novi plays in Faculty life. Her sustained efforts in both operations, recruiting, and training are only some examples. But it’s my time as Anna’s co-editor-in-chief and indeed as her friend that I’d like to highlight in this final issue. Anna reached out to me in the summer of 2023 with a proposition: to co-edit the Quid Novi with her in the upcoming academic year. Kneedeep in summer training in Valcartier, Quebec, I first considered but quickly accepted her offer. I had been a 1L columnist with the Quid the previous year and enjoyed the work. That I quickly took a year-long leave of absence from my studies in October 2023 didn’t shake Anna. She continued to train me in her role as senior editorin-chief and lend an ear as a friend.
Boy, did I ever need a lent ear. To put it politely, the last two years haven’t been a walk in the park for me. Throughout it all, Anna was ever generous in her patience, her grace, her advice, and her kindness. I don’t know where I would be without Anna’s friendship. I’m even unsure if I would have decided to come back to my studies at McGill Law. As I listened to her speak at last Thursday’s 3.5L sendoff party at Thomson House, I could not help but feel immense gratitude for having had people like Anna with me in these trying times. I can only hope I will live up to her example of a good friend. I think I’ll leave you with a quote from Yeats before getting too sentimental. “Think where man’s glory most begins and ends, and say my glory was I had such friends.” From all of us at the Quid Novi: Thank you, Anna. Have fun in Toronto.
CETTE SEMAINE... INSIGHTS
COMMUNAUTÉ
8 | KHUDADADI
2 | THE CLIMATE CORNER
Une réfugiée qui incarne l’esprit des Jeux
6 | “IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME COMING”
A Lifelong Fan’s Reflection on the Eras Tour
9 | PUNCTUATION AS A PRECAUTION AGAINST ACCUSATIONS OF INCEST Some McGillians Continue Their Law Studies at Oxford, the Rest of Us Are Obliged to Study its Eponymous Comma
4 | LONG LIVE THE SNAIL 5 | PAUSE-ÉTUDE
Feat. les best biscuit butterscotch
10 | LAW AND DIVERSITY EVENT 11 | GOODBYE FOR NOW QUID!
Vol 46 ● No 7 Presented by the McGill Journal of Sustainable Development Law, the Climate Corner is a new biweekly column in the Quid focusing on the intersection of climate and the law, highlighting news, cases, and stories from campus to COPs. Nuclear Energy for Dummies (Law Students)
QUID NOVI • 3 DEC 2024
Hello dear Climate Corner readers. Have you been thinking about nuclear energy lately?1 Should you be? Maybe you heard that Microsoft recently made a deal to reopen the three-mile island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. Or that other big tech companies, like Google and Amazon, are investing huge amounts in nuclear power to fuel their shiny new (questionably functional) generative AI. As demands to decarbonize our electrical grid grow louder under the ever-more-present pressures of climate change, nuclear power is being presented as a viable solution to the massive energy needs of the modern world. But what images come to mind when you picture a nuclear future? Do they perhaps resemble scenes from HBO’s Chernobyl? People have a lot of questions, and a lot of feelings, about nuclear power today. And as I do with any subject which falls outside my humanities-pilled worldview, I asked a slightly more educated friend to tell me what to think. This issue, I present an interview with my friend Martin, rock-climbing partner of yore turned My Colleague at MIT. Martin studied sustainable energy systems at the University of Toronto, has done work and research on the subject, First tip: do not pronounce it “nuke-u-lar” or you will be made fun of by fellow C.C. editor 1
Adele Weschler for the MJSDL | 2L
Issue 3 and is currently completing a Technology and Policy Masters at MIT. Strong disclaimer: Martin is by no means an expert on nuclear energy. However, he knows more than me, and as someone who is immersed in the policy debates around sustainable energy, I found his perspective to be informative and thought-provoking. I hope you enjoy!
ates, for example, when people come home from work and turn on the lights. But there’s always a baseload, which is constant. To supply the baseload energy, nuclear energy is great because it runs steadily once you turn it on.
Adele: In simple terms, how does nuclear energy work? What is required to create nuclear energy?
Nuclear energy is not great at responding to fluctuations in the grids. In Microsoft’s case, they want to run their servers using nuclear power, which is a good idea, because servers require a large and steady amount of energy.
Martin: Basically, you have uranium, which is radioactive. It decays into other molecules, and during that process it emits heat and a neutron. When you put lots together, the neutrons hit other neutrons, and generate a chain reaction which produces more heat. This is used to boil water, and spin a turbine, which creates electricity.
Environmentally, nuclear power is low-emitting. It’s not zero admitting—there are lots of emissions in the supply chain, for example, the concrete used to build the plant. But obviously, there are a lot less emissions than fossil fuels. Nuclear plants create a huge amount of power with comparatively very few emissions.
What are some advantages and disadvantages of using nuclear energy?
What about radioactive waste?
Energy-wise, the first advantage is that it’s a great source of ‘baseload power’. Let me explain what this means. On a normal grid, use fluctu-
Nuclear power does create radioactive waste, and we deal with it by burying it deep underground. This waste will last for centuries. However, there are lots of dangerous chemicals, like mercury
A yellowing illustrated infographic pasted inside the kitchen cupboard of the author’s apartment, presumably left over from the Cold War. The infographic details what to do in case of a nuclear attack. In order: “1. Remain calm 2. Avert eyes from flash 3. Brace for blast 4. Duck and cover/ place newspaper over head 5. Reserve medical attention for priority evacuees 6. Have food and water for several weeks isolation 7. Comfort the dying 8. Isolate corpses to prevent the spread of disease”. Each step is illustrated with pragmatic stick-people.
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and lead, which can be dangerous for a similar amount of time. Nuclear waste can be stored safely, but you need the right institutional structures and regulations to do it, and this can be costly. A huge barrier to using nuclear power is that no community wants nuclear waste stored on their land. In this way, the power of local governments often stands in the way of progress when it comes to nuclear energy. In contrast, a country with more top-down governance, like China, has been able to build many more nuclear plants. Yes, I think a big concern is that communities that are historically disadvantaged will be negatively impacted by these decisions. Yes, that’s true. To that I would say that energy plants can be a net positive for a community. For example, there are big hydro plants in Ontario and Quebec that are owned, operated and supported by Indigenous communities. It can be done right, though it’s easy to get it wrong. Community perception is a persistent problem with renewable energy projects. They are often postponed or cancelled because of local pushback, and the reason for this is there is not an adequate upfront consultation process, education, or community engagement. This problem is not exclusive to nuclear power. How might nuclear energy alter the economic landscape? What kind of jobs would it create? Nuclear tends to create stable, long term, technical engineering jobs— it needs people with degrees. This often means it garners less political support than other renewable energy sources like solar panels and turbines. These create many blue-collar jobs during installation, however, once they are installed, the long-term jobs they create are more specialized. Economically, nuclear power is very expensive, and costs have gone up because there is increasing regulation around it. However, we should compare
this to other renewable forms of energy. For wind and solar, they’re cheaper upfront, but you need batteries to back up your system, which can be expensive.
tainty, and it’s certainly very dreadful, because of its association with radioactive weapons and disasters in the early days of nuclear power.2
Is nuclear energy the best option for sustainable energy going forwards?
Should we be afraid? What is the chance of spillage of radioactive waste?
Nuclear has its place, and I believe that if a country has existing plants, they should continue to run them. In terms of building new nuclear power plants, though, it depends. It’s very expensive, and by the time it gets built, the cost of other technologies, like solar, will have come down. It might be necessary to build more nuclear plants to support our baseload needs, but at the end of the day, it will be solar power, and nuclear power, and batteries that will create a solution.
Today, regulators have very strict guidelines. Experts say there is a 10(-9)% chance of any kind of accident, and the chance of a failure must be smaller than that amount. If institutions enforce these regulations, an accident should not happen. I suppose the main risk is cooling. Nuclear plants are so big because of the giant parabolic cooling towers which create spaces for exhaust. However, the chance of a failure is again incredibly small, and so many regulations have been tightened since the last heat-related incidents in the 1970s.
What are some conceptions/misconceptions about nuclear energy? Has public perception changed recently? Initially, nuclear energy actually had a favourable reception. Then, in the 1960s, there was a surge of environmental activism partly tied to the Cold War. People were against nuclear weapons and this transferred to nuclear energy— this fear of radioactivity persisted for a long time. Greenpeace, for example, is still anti-nuclear, though newer environmental agencies are saying this view is outdated. Germany, under pressure from environmental activists, deactivated its nuclear plants in 2008. I think what most people fear are nuclear accidents. Objectively, when subject to the right regulatory processes, nuclear power is very safe compared to other processes for creating energy. Experts say that in terms of the number of deaths, nuclear power is the safest out there. Coal plants have killed millions, while proportionally, deaths from nuclear plant accidents are far lower. But the public perceives risk differently than experts—public risk perception is primarily based on how uncertain and how dreadful the risk is. Nuclear power creates a lot of uncer-
What about the barrels marked “XXX radioactive waste XXX”? We store these barrels deep underground. Even an earthquake wouldn’t pierce these containers. The barrels are sealed and insulated so the risk of contamination is extremely low. Even so, the anxiety which nuclear waste causes in communities where it is stored is worth considering. In your expert opinion, how do we solve climate change? I think that the focus on technology is misguided—while getting to 0 emissions would be a huge technical challenge, reducing them to 80 percent of current rates is not hard at all. The main challenges are political and economic. It is the right type of advocacy and regulatory action that will mitigate the effects of climate change. Thanks Martin! (Everyone say a big “thanks Martin!”) For proof of dreadfulness, see the above infographic which eerily remains in the kitchen cupboard of the author’s apartment. Nuclear anxiety strikes me every time I seek an obscure kitchen implement. 2
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Vol 46 ● No 7
LONG LIVE THE SNAIL Michael Kowalsky | L.L.M. Candidate – Université de Montréal
Dear student community:
QUID NOVI • 3 DEC 2024
In light of the strife in the world and the doom and gloom that fill newspaper pages, I aim to provide you with some comic relief. ‘Twas perchance Polonius who quoth that levity is the soul of wit? In any case, I want to talk to you about SNAILs: the infamous and reviled ‘Students Not Actually In Law’(which I used to be). I confess, alas, that I used to be a SNAIL at the faculty. Without getting into trouble and tarnishing my reputation, or perhaps ruining the fun for others, I want to write a SNAIL story, based on my perspective as a former SNAIL. I would attend lectures announced online or on the bulletin boards and occasionally partake in a cocktail hour or a free lunch. Who wouldn’t want a thought-provoking lecture and a complementary goblet of Chardonnay? If only my time accumulated in the faculty classrooms amounted to registered Bar hours, then I might’ve been the happiest gastropod in the land. True, I hobnobbed with magistrates and notables, scribbling chicken scratch into my notebooks while wearing an unabashedly ubiquitous bow-tie. At the apogee of my existence as a SNAIL, I had a locker at the faculty and was even fortunate enough to witness Roderick MacDonald interpret Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Universal Soldier on the guitar one afternoon. It was a riotous time, and I must try to bite my tongue to avoid boastfulness.
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This experience was not a loss because my legal education didn’t stop there. I went on to undertake a paralegal program in college, a graduate diploma in labour law and eventually embarked on a Master of Law degree. Now I’m a columnist for my faculty’s newspaper, and I poise my plume toward the Quid Novi in a gesture of networking outreach. My years as a SNAIL instilled in me the notions of discipline, decorum, and determination. I survived to tell the tale. I ponder the zeitgeist of the SNAIL. Is it appropriate to compare a human being to this crustacean or this insect or this je ne sais quoi? Are they a parasite or an invasive species? Could our xenophobia reflect our overprotectiveness of our delicious hors-d’oeuvres? How dare they have the gall to sully the hallowed halls of the sacrosanct Ivory Tower? These are all questions that the genius who minted the mnemonic moniker must have asked themselves. Snails move slowly, are brainless, and react negatively to sprinkles of iodized salt. They are slimy and kinda look like aliens. They are, nevertheless, a delicacy of fine French cuisine, eaten with garlic butter and served in a particular dish with a special fork. I’m uncertain what the original intention of the wordsmith was, but impressionable learners and garden-variety gastropods are definitely cut from different cloth. Poseurs and party crashers position themselves
to swoop in on the produce, while students who plan to learn, but who are not enrolled, don’t pose a threat to the rows of carrots and snow peas. The lectures are public: anybody can attend. All you need is two feet and a heartbeat and you can hike up the hill to get your fill. Nowadays, more and more conferences are offered online so the would-be SNAIL can take an intellectual trip without even leaving the house. The gig has never been easier – and I hope that the SNAIL will live on into the next generation of law students. But to be the only barista, bagel chef, or bicycle messenger in a room full of legal scholars offers one a certain currency of leverage and curiosity in conversations with colleagues. SNAILs have their own cache. Whether you laughed or cried while reading this brief missive I hope, dear law student, you won’t squander the opportunity to greet the SNAIL with open arms. They might have an enlightening anecdote to relate or a perspective you haven’t yet considered. After all, as Euripides wrote, ‘Leave no stone unturned’, because beneath that boulder you might discover a delectable colony of snails. For those of you who are a SNAIL and en route to a colloquium at the faculty, if you have time to make it through crosswalk at your molasses pace, may your lights be green!
PAUSE-ÉTUDE Feat. les best biscuit butterscotch Caroline Homet | 1L
Pardonnez-moi mon manque de créativité cette semaine-ci, mais je joue la carte de fin de session. Je sais que vous la tenez tous dans votre jeu aussi. Alors, j’espère que vous allez me concéder ce classique: les best biscuits butterscotch. Pourquoi ce sont les meilleurs? Ça fait tellement de biscuits. La dernière fois que j’ai tenté de compter les fournées de ma mère, je me suis rendue à trois ou quatre douzaines. J’ai perdu le compte entre mes bouchées. Et oui, c’est une autre recette de maman, alors si vous étiez fan de sa croustade aux pommes, vous allez capoter sur ses biscuits. Vous vous demandez peutêtre, quand est-ce que je pourrais bien avoir le temps de cuisiner des biscuits en
fin de session? Qui peut se permettre de mettre de côté leurs dissertations et examens pour allumer le four, ramollir le beurre, ramasser la farine qui saupoudre le comptoir et terminer toute la vaisselle? Et sans parler du souper qui reste à cuisiner! Mon opinion peut sembler controversée. Prendre le temps de cuisiner une récompense pour mon cram session de l’après-midi me rend plus productive. Oui, devoir utiliser ma cuisine pour plus longtemps que réchauffer une pointe de pizza au microondes implique que je vais devoir la nettoyer après l’aventure. Alors, j’aurai non seulement une récompense après mon grand nettoyage, mais aussi un espace de vie ramassé. Étant donné que la vaisselle se retrouve souvent
au bas de ma liste de priorités, le ménage devient tout aussi productif que l’étude en fin de session. À mon avis, je n’ai jamais été capable de m’asseoir devant mon écran d’ordinateur pendant une journée entière. Je développe un mal de tête, je suis continuellement distraite et je finis par souffrir en n’avançant pas mon travail. Je suis la reine des study break. Je trouve que je termine la journée avec ni plus ni moins d’accompli que si je m’étais soumise au grind, mais définitivement avec plus d’énergie et de joie. Dernier argument au cas-où que l’odeur imaginée de biscuits chauds du four n’était pas déjà assez convaincante. Comme Ryan Gosling l’a si bien dit dans The Fall Guy: “Your brain needs carbs!” Le cerveau se nourrit de
glucose. En effet, il utilise à lui seul la moitié de la réserve de sucre dans notre corps1. Mieux encore s’ils viennent en format à partager avec un study group et des pépites de caramel au beurre.
https://tenor.com/view/you-needcarbs-colt-seavers-the-fallguy-carbs-are-essential-nbcgif-15165421292485261189 Scott Edwards, “Sugar and the Brain” (Spring 2016), online (publication): <https://hms.harvard.edu/ news-events/publications-archive/ brain/sugar-brain> 1
Les best biscuits butterscotch Ingrédients: 1 ½ tasses farine tout usage 1 c. à thé bicarbonate de soude ½ c. à thé sel ½ c. à thé cannelle 1 tasse beurre ramolli ¾ tasse sucre granulé ¾ tasse cassonade 2 ouefs 1 c. à thé extrait de vanille 3 tasses d’avoine 12 onces de pépites butterscotch Préchauffer le four à 375°F. Combiner la farine, le bicarbonate de soude, le sel et la cannelle. Réserver. Dans un grand bol, battre ensemble le beurre, les sucres, les oeufs et la vanille jusqu’à ce que le mélange soit crémeux. Incorporer l’avoine et les pépites de caramel au beurre. À l’aide d’une cuillère à thé, déposer de petites montagnes de pâte à biscuits sur une plaque de cuisson. Cuire pendant 7-8 minutes. Partager les 48 biscuits cuits avec tous ceux qui ont partagé leurs notes de cours avec toi cette session-ci.
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Vol 46 ● No 7
“IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME COMING” A Lifelong Fan’s Reflection on the Eras Tour Maddie Adams Alexander | 1L
QUID NOVI • 3 DEC 2024
I have been an adoring fan of Taylor Swift since I was six, when my babysitter used to play her music videos on Youtube on her dad’s desktop computer for us to watch. I still remember watching the “Our Song” music video for the first time and thinking she looked like Cinderella in her blue ball gown. I remember buying her debut album on CD years later, with my own money. I was so excited to take the lyric booklet out of the case and decode the secret messages she had hidden throughout the lyrics with strategically placed capital letters. Even in her earliest days as a musician, Taylor Swift was committed to making her fans feel like they shared something unique; like they were in on something with her. While my admiration of Taylor Swift began at age six, it has lasted every year since. My admiration only grew the longer I listened to her. When she announced the concept of The Eras Tour amidst new hype around her album re-recordings and the fanfare for her most recent original album, Midnights, I was immediately dying to attend. When her Canadian dates were finally announced, after much stress about whether or not there would even be any Canadian tour dates, I made everyone in my 6
family sign up for TicketMaster’s ticket lottery code system. Luckily for me, my dad had gotten a code and my sister and I, after fight-
I had already watched the tour movie start-to-finish at home, and popped into many a blurry live-stream to watch bits and pieces of the show on various other nights, so I had figured
there were some things you can’t know until you have attended. For one, I could not have imagined how much each and every one of her outfits would glitter. Even when she was at the far end of the stage, she was always identifiable because it looked like she had been dipped in crystals. I am not sure if it is the lights, or the flash of the cameras, but no photos I have seen of her on this tour have done the glittering of her bodysuits and dresses justice. Another somewhat hilarious thing one cannot possibly know unless they’ve attended is just how strongly you can feel the heat emitted from the pyrotechnics showcased during “Bad Blood”. The room fills with heat and light for a few beats each time the fire is blasted.
ing a fearsome battle in the queue, managed to secure two tickets to one of the Toronto shows. On November 22nd of this year, what felt like an eternity later, my sister and I finally got to attend.
I knew exactly what to expect, and yet, the way it felt to be in the room that night is still borderline indescribable for me. While I had known the general order of the setlist,
Another thing that I believe you simply cannot grasp unless you have attended is just how much stamina she has. She is not lip-synching. You can hear her voice come through on each and every song. It is clear and it is emotive and beyond anything else, it is what most makes the show worth attending. The ode to Birth of Venus in the choreographed opening Lover set, the deep red costumes and lights that fill the stadium during the youthful and heartbreak-
ing Red set, the indulgent satisfaction of revenge that electrifies the room during the Reputation set, the novelty and vulnerability showcased throughout the The Tortured Poets Department set; all of it is painstakingly planned to be as simultaneously exciting and intimate as possible for the fans. And yet, the most exciting and intimate set of all continues to be the one in which her voice is showcased most: the acoustic set. A crowd of nearly 50,000 people, and its just her, on the stage, with a guitar or a piano. Just as it was only her on the stage, with her guitar, when she started touring at 15. The glitz and glam present in the other sets are just the cherries she has added on top of this gift to her fans. If all of the theatrical magic were stripped from the show, it would still be mesmerizing to watch and listen to her share her decades-worth of stories with you. During the acoustic set, she personally picks the songs she wants to play for that evening’s crowd, leading the fans present to feel as though they have shared something special with her during their time together, as has been her MO since the days of writing codes in the lyric booklets. In the more recent shows on the tour, she has chosen to play “mash-ups” of her songs, choosing those that share thematic elements, or choosing those that, when pieced together, tell a different story than they do as stand-alone songs.
At my show, she played a mix of “Ours”, from Speak Now and “The Last Great American Dynasty” Folklore on guitar. She then played “Cassandra” from The Tortured Poets Department, mixed with “Mad Woman” from Folklore and “I Did Something Bad” from Reputation on piano. While I won’t bore anyone with analysis as to what I think those choices are intended to mean, I believe the fact that I could illustrates just how gifted she is when it comes to communicating to her fans via song, in a way that goes beyond surface-level meaning. Before she began playing “Ours”, she asked the audience to wish her luck, as if any of us believed she needed it. After a few strums, she paused to admit to the audience that she had started strumming the song in the wrong key, before picking the song back up again, requesting that the audience “wish [her] more luck than that”. Her fallibility was a charming reminder that she is so much more than the robotic performing machine she has at times been made out to be. Taylor Swift is Time’s 2023 Person of the Year, a Grammys darling with 3 Album of the Year awards; to some she is a billionaire eco-terrorist, a maneater, a lonely, childless cat lady. Regardless of whether it is a positive reputation or a negative one, it is true that her reputation often precedes her as an artist, and that her reputation is often bigger than her. But she is at her
best when she is just her. While her songwriting gifts have rendered her this larger-than-life popstar, they are also what permit her to remain relatable. When you are listening to her music, she is still just a heartbroken girl who was stood up on her birthday the way some of us have been (“The Moment I Knew”). She is still just a girl with an overwhelming crush that keeps her from thinking clearly (“Gorgeous”). She is still just a girl who has felt the weight of getting older and feeling like your novelty and sparkle may be forever lost, when in reality you are just 22 (“Nothing New”). She is still just a girl who has embraced the nauseating balance
of excitement and fear one feels when they realize they may be falling in love again (“Labyrinth”). The reason Taylor Swift at times feels unfathomably famous and successful is because her fame and her success were never an inevitability. She was not destined to be a pop star; she was born to be a songwriter. Taylor Swift is unfathomably famous and successful because she was just a girl who loved to write and sing when it all began, and even now, when the room has cooled from the pyrotechnics, the sparkling costumes have all been hung, and the confetti has all been swept up, she is ultimately, still, just a girl who loves to write and sing.
OVERHEARD Prof: “Your answer has some good elements...” 2L: “And bad elements?”
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Vol 46 ● No 7
KHUDADADI Une réfugiée qui incarne l’esprit des Jeux Jacob Shannon | 3L
QUID NOVI • 3 DEC 2024
Image: REUTERS/Maja Smiejkowska Voilà bien une image qui illustre la joie immense d’un rêve enfin réalisé. C’est Zakia Khudadadi, la paralympienne qui a marqué l’histoire en remportant la première médaille de l’équipe des réfugiés à Paris, en taekwondo. À ses côtés, son entraîneuse Haby Niare, la porte triomphalement. Lorsque la nouvelle de sa médaille de bronze a été annoncée, Niare a soulevé la championne dans un geste de soutien qui a fait le tour des réseaux sociaux. Pour l’équipe olympique des réfugiés, ce podium est une première, mais pour Khudadadi, elle représente une plateforme de visibilité qu’elle peut utiliser pour sensibiliser à la situation des femmes 8
afghanes opprimées. Les Jeux ont fait de Khudadadi une icône paralympique, et à juste titre : elle incarne l’esprit de persévérance de ces femmes en luttant à la fois pour ellemême et pour leur droit à l’égalité.
Khudadadi est une inspiration non seulement pour les personnes en situation de handicap, mais aussi pour les réfugiés. En effet, son accomplissement est déjà porteur d’un grand sens pour cette nouvelle équipe.
Devenir paralympienne était un rêve pour Khudadadi, mais à l’origine, elle voulait représenter son pays natal, l’Afghanistan. Elle s’était préparée à Kaboul pour les Jeux de 2021, mais elle a dû fuir le pays lorsque les Talibans ont pris le pouvoir.. Désormais en sécurité en France, elle concourt pour l’équipe des réfugiés tout en restant engagée dans la cause des femmes afghanes. Alvin Koualef, journaliste pour **Ouest France**, souligne que
Ceci étant dit, la vie n’est pas toujours idyllique pour une réfugiée. Sophie Hienard, journaliste pour **Le Point**, explique que Khudadadi a non seulement risqué sa vie, mais aussi sa participation aux Jeux de Tokyo en fuyant l’Afghanistan. Soutenue dans sa fuite par plusieurs pays, elle n’a pu rester en France que deux semaines avant de devoir repartir pour les Jeux de Tokyo. Même face à une situation nécessitant du repos, le choix de Khudadadi
de participer souligne un dilemme pour les athlètes réfugiés qui doivent trouver l’équilibre entre leur bienêtre et la reconnaissance du public. Aujourd’hui, l’athlète profite de sa liberté pour vivre pleinement et pour s’exprimer sur la situation en Afghanistan. Dans une entrevue accordée à France 24, la paralympienne a déclaré croire que sa notoriété découlait de son histoire unique, dans laquelle
ses sympathisants se reconnaissaient. En effet, son parcours atypique s’inscrit dans les valeurs des Jeux : elle est admirée pour avoir surmonté des difficultés considérables afin d’obtenir une vie meilleure. Ses supporteurs n’acclament pas qu’elle : ils soutiennent toutes les femmes afghanes qui ne connaîtront peut-être jamais une telle liberté. Les Jeux paralympiques nous émeu-
vent parce qu’ils nous rappellent l’importance depersévérer. La réponse du public à la victoire de Khudadadi démontre la nécessité d’avoir une équipe de réfugiés et démontre que ses athlètes incarnent véritablement l’esprit des Jeux. Le handicap de Khudadadi la définit comme paralympienne, mais c’est sa capacité à devenir un phare d’espoir qui fait d’elle un symbole si puissant des Jeux paralympiques.
PUNCTUATION AS A PRECAUTION AGAINST ACCUSATIONS OF INCEST Some McGillians Continue Their Law Studies at Oxford, the Rest of Us Are Obliged to Study its Eponymous Comma Ordren Deko | 4L
Many great things have been introduced to the world by the hands of Oxford scholars—penicillin, bungee jumping, even Cambridge University itself. Yet no invention nor discovery is as hotly contested as the Oxford comma. Also known as the serial comma, its usage was mandated by former head of the Oxford University Press, Horace Hart, in his work Hart’s Rules for Composition and Readers. Its purpose is quite straightforward: it is a comma placed after the penultimate term and before the conjunction in a series of three or more terms. Here’s an example: I love to read, dance, and sing while I wait for my flu shot. The fact that this punctuation is referred to as the Oxford comma, and to a lesser degree the Harvard comma, reinforces its cultural importance to the English language as opposed to foreign languages. Indeed, in French, no such term exists, and it is even considered agrammatical to use it. As previously mentioned, we are talking about one seriously controversial punctuation mark. British journalist and writer Lynne Truss puts it quite aptly when she states that “there are people who embrace the Oxford comma, and people who don’t, and I’ll just say this: never get between these people when drink has been taken.” American copy editor Mary Norris adds to this vision by writing that such a convention operates as a “bulwark against barbarism.” The sardonic words of both Truss and Norris are lent credence by the very fact that style guides across the Anglosphere—the States, England, Australia, and Canada—are torn on whether the comma should be mandatory, optional, or wholly unnecessary. Still, in my eyes, its virtue results from the ambiguity it seeks to erase. For example, let us consider the following sentence: “I went to Palm Springs with my best friend, my wife and my sister.” The absence of an oxford comma
invites the scenario where, while it is sweet your wife is your best friend, it is disturbing she is also your sister! The comma, in this case, therefore, prevents any assumption of incest on your part—a very serious accusation indeed. As ridiculous and far-fetched as this example may seem, the presence or absence of oxford commas sometimes result in real world consequences, even financial ones. This was exactly the case in the landmark decision O’Connor v. Oakhurst Dairy, arising from the state of Maine. O’Connor concerns five truck drivers who did not believe their employer, Oakhurst Dairy, was properly compensating them for overtime work for the long cross-country trips they took. However, Maine labour law states that workers are not entitled to overtime pay for the following activities: “The canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of: (1) Agricultural produce; (2) Meat and fish products; and (3) Perishable foods.” Without the Oxford comma, the line “packing for shipment or distribution,” could mean two different things: a single act or as two separate tasks. In O’Connor, it was the omission of the Oxford comma that favoured the plaintiffs. Hence, it serves to refute rather than support the thesis of its loyal followers. Even still, the multi-million dollar litigation it found itself in presents a lesson for law students and emerging lawyers. Meticulousness is not strictly an exercise of choosing the most accurate words, but also the non-verbal elements around them: question marks, periods, and most definitely commas. Beyond the confines of employment law and general contractual disputes, this is perhaps even more pertinent when you are introducing your spouse to your colleagues and want to eliminate any suspicion that they are also your direct family member. 9
Vol 46 ● No 7
LAW AND DIVERSITY EVENT
QUID NOVI • 3 DEC 2024
On Monday, November 11th, the North African Law Student Association, with the help of a dedicated student committee, hosted the second edition of the Law and Diversity Night at the Omni Hotel. This evening included great cocktails, sparkling conversations, and good company. Thank you to all our sponsors: the firms, Lexis Nexis, the SSMU Equity Fund and the Alumni Student Engagement Fund. Thank you to everyone who attended and made this evening special. We look forward to seeing you there next year!
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GOODBYE FOR NOW QUID! Anna McAllister | 4L
As this is the last edition of the Quid before my graduation, I wanted to offer some words of reflection about my time serving as one of your Editorsin-Chief of this revered publication. My goal with joining the Quid was always two-fold: support a sense of community that could both have serious conversations and laugh at our quirks and create a record of the events at the Faculty that future generations can study. Student newspapers are one of our most precious archival sources. I am so tremendously grateful to everyone who contributed to the Quid over the last three and a half years to continue this tradition in a world where one has a million options for platforming their opinions and reflec-
tions. Choosing to share those opinions and reflections with us was such an honour for me, and I hope I treated them with the care they deserved.
to the plate this year, demonstrating enormous care for this publication and skill in managing it. The Quid is left in incredibly capable hands.
This paper would not have been possible without the many people who work tirelessly behind the scenes. Our incredible art director, Souang Wu, brings the paper to life weekly with diligence, care, and dedication. Gabby Torrealba ensured that people knew how to read our publication and propelled the Quid to new heights by being the sole reason we received the best communications two years in a row. Our entire writing and editing staff is so talented and brings their unique perspectives to each edition. Finally, Jessica and Pablo have gracefully stepped up
The Quid is a beautiful time-honoured tradition at McGill Law, and I hope it continues to live on. It is far from perfect, but I know that the strong reactions the Quid provokes are indicative of how much we all care about this institution remaining a vibrant component of life at the Faculty. Being a part of student journalism's rock and roll world is an experience I will cherish forever. With all my love always, Anna 11
EDITOR-IN-CHIEFS | RÉDACTEURS EN CHEF Anna McAllister Pablo Mhanna-Sandoval Jessica Keer Li SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR | DIRECTRICE DES RÉSEAUX SOCIAUX Gabrielle Torrealba ART DIRECTOR DIRECTRICE ARTISTIQUE Souang Wu LAYOUT EDITOR | ÉDITRICE DE MISE EN PAGE Camille Duhaime COPY EDITORS | SECRÉTAIRES DE RÉDACTION Faith Dehghan Jacob Kasirer-Kettner Jerod Miksza COLUMNISTS | CHRONIQUEURES ET CHRONIQUEUSES Caroline Homet Ordren Deko Maddie Adams Alexander CONTRIBUTORS | CONTRIBUTEURS Adele Weschler Jacob Shannon Michael Kowalsky Special thanks to Prairie Koo for designing the layout. ~ The Quid Novi is published weekly by the students of the Faculty of Law at McGill University. Production is made possible through the direct support of students. All contents copyright © 2024 Quid Novi.
Les opinions exprimées sont propres aux auteurs et ne réflètent pas nécessairement celles de l’équipe du Quid Novi. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views of the McGill Law Students’ Association or of McGill University. Envoyez vos commentaires ou articles avant jeudi 17h00 à quid.law@mcgill.ca. Toute contribution doit indiquer le nom de l’auteur, son année d’étude ainsi qu’un titre et un sous -titre pour l’article. Les images doivent être soumises séparément. L’article ne sera publié qu’à la discrétion du comité de rédaction, qui basera sa décision sur la politique de rédaction disponible sur notre Facebook @quidnovi.mcgill.