“Overwriting Palestine: History, Genocide and Denial Today” is the title of the seventh installation of the “On Gaza” speaker series co-sponsored by the Critical Media Lab (CML) and the Research Group on Democracy, Space and Technology (RGDST). On Monday, October 10, students and faculty were invited to come listen to Dr. Ussama Makdisi talk about the importance of acknowledging the active denial and replacement of Palestinian history and the importance of promoting and supporting Palestinian narratives. Dr. Makdisi, is a Professor of History and Chancellor’s Chair at the University of California Berkeley.

Co-organizer Professor Ipek Türeli emphasized the importance for universities to have an active role in challenging dominant Western narratives. “What has been unfolding before our eyes in Gaza and now in Lebanon on media screens is not an issue that is detached from our campus, nor from our academic communities. Students and faculty demand for events such as the “On Gaza” series which are critical to imagining liberated futures for all of us.”

In the past year the whole world has witnessed the killing of an estimated 43,000 Palestinians, a majority of which are children, women and elderly, and over 2,865 Lebanese people, by the Israeli military. Scholars and media have categorized the ongoing brutal killing of Palestinians as the “first livestreamed genocide in history,” however Dr. Makdisi insisted that facts are not enough. He explained that “Calling history into question helps us understand how colonialism in the name of protecting civilization has been legitimized and what is ethically unbearable becomes morally tolerated.” The lecture he gave provided the answer, shedding light on “the ruthless double standard which underlies Western support of Zionism, with Jewish and Israeli life cherished as part of an alleged enlightened Europe after World War II, while Christian and Muslim Palestinian life and history is devalued.”

Makdisi continued his lecture by discussing the history of Palestine, the rise of Zionism and the systematic work of Western liberal leaders and thinkers for the past hundred years to not only deny Palestinians of their history, but also substitute it with Eurocentric visions and racist portrayals. He emphasized that we should go beyond obvious denial of history, and focus on what it has been substituted for. What is actually chosen to be talked about? And how does this play into the passivity we see around us?

The central issue discussed in the talk was how we approach history, emphasizing the need to recognize the instrumentalization of historical narratives and misinformation in shaping public opinion and influencing the international community’s response to the genocide in Gaza.
“The obvious reality is that long before October 7, there was October 6, and October 5, going all the way back to 1948, and before that 1917, and before that 1897 when European Jewish Zionist nationalists met in Basel to put Herzl’s vision of a Jewish State in motion […] even when they knew that there were people living on that land,” explained Dr. Makdisi.

While the Holocaust was a turning point in solidifying international sympathy to the Zionist cause and led to a massive displacement of European Jews, Dr. Makdisi pointed out that neither the U.S. or Britain allowed for big waves of migrations into their territories. Instead they pushed for European Jewish survivors to settle in Palestine in the name of “decency and humanitarianism.” This led to the 1947 UN partition plan, “which gave the Jewish minority a majority of Palestine.” The Nakba followed as a result of this partition plan, with Zionist militias expelling between 750,000 and one million Palestinians from their homelands and forcing them into refugee status.

He explained in this partition plan western leaders “rationalized the idea that the creation of a Jewish state trumped the suffering of Palestinians, and that the natives of this land were irrational, primitives, and aggressive, because they opposed what Western philosophers and politicians thought of as a fundamentally decent and good thing.” Before adding that for the next 60 to 70 years the “consistent denial of the Palestinian relation to Palestinian land and the substitution of Palestinian history with a different narrative had profoundly corrosive moral, political and ethical effects.”

Dr. Makdisi concluded his presentation by highlighting three dominant dogmas. The first is that, in the liberal West, questioning Israel as a Jewish state — regardless of its actions or history — is proscribed, as it challenges the West’s self-perception as having moved beyond its antisemitic past. The second is the philo-Zionist view of Israel as an extension of an idealized West. The third dogma is that Palestinians are increasingly erased—not only stripped of historical context but also depicted as incompatible with Western humanism. Except when they are considered “negative value” as expressed by Palestinian scholar Edward Said, and any attempt to challenge this narrative is framed as violent or antisemitic.

The lecture was aimed at helping us understand the “self-righteous morality” that has been widespread since October 7, 2023. Makdisi highlighted how despite the clear evidence of genocide most Western leaders and politicians are reluctant to acknowledge this history and condemn Israel’s genocidal actions.

Dr. Diana Allan, associate professor in Anthropology at the Institute for the Study of International Development at McGill and co-founder of the Critical Media Lab, told the Daily that “Ussama Makdisi’s scholarship has done so much to illuminate the richness of Palestinian civilization in the multireligious Ottoman Mashriqi region prior to the Nakba, and to trace how the historical arc of Zionism — a European solution to a European problem — began in racist ignorance and erasure of that world, and bends now toward its complete destruction.” She added that “his talk was a rigorously detailed reminder of the devastating cost of mainstream anti-Palestinian colonial ideology, which our governments and institutions continue to uphold.”

Another point Dr. Makdisi touched upon was the crucial role of students in the creation of new narratives. “The students in particular who have not been indoctrinated in the same way into this liberal language and narrative […] who are empathizing with people that they can see suffering, and are not overwriting that suffering with a completely ideological narrative, are outraged. And the students represent the future,” he told the audience.

Will Roberts, co-organiser alongside Professor Türeli, wrote to the Daily saying that “the importance of Dr. Makdisi’s talk — and of the “On Gaza” series in general — is that there is far too little basic truth-telling in the academy about the ongoing genocide in Gaza.” He denounced the McGill administration for making “the University into a space hostile to basic public scholarship and truth-telling, stoking people’s fears and inciting paranoia.” One example of this hostility was the vandalization of posters promoting Dr. Makdisi’s talk, even during the event itself.

“It is so clear, once you know some history, that racism, apartheid, [and] the weaponization of charges of antisemitism will not succeed in making Palestinians disappear as people, nor stop them or their allies around the world of all faiths from fighting and advocating for liberation,” Dr. Makdisi concluded. “But until that future is achieved each of us has a fundamental choice to make. Each of us has to decide on which side of history we want to stand.”

The livestream of the event is available on YouTube: www.youtube.com/live/ORq2yUC1dd0. You can follow the Critical Media Lab on social media to stay updated with their upcoming events.

The post Dr. Makdisi on Overwriting Palestine: History, Genocide and Denial Today appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Numbers and events may have changed between the time of writing and the publishing of the article

It has been one year since Hamas launched Israel’s deadliest terrorist attack, killing over 1200 Israelis and taking more than 250 hostages. The immediate Israeli military response has since devastated the Gaza Strip, displacing around 90 per cent of its population, and killing 41,788 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health authorities. Israel has also continuously been putting pressure on neighboring countries. In the past weeks, the Israeli army has pursued increasingly violent attacks on Lebanon, severely weakening Hezbollah’s leadership, prompting Iran to retaliate with a large-scale missile strike against Israel. Meanwhile international organizations have proved incapable of bringing an end to the violence.

Despite multiple international calls for de-escalation and investigations into Israeli war crimes, Israel has continued to navigate multiple military fronts. In the past weeks, it has continued its relentless bombing of the Gaza Strip while also targeting Yemen, Syria, Iran and Lebanon. For the past three weeks, Israel has bombarded Lebanon with airstrikes, killing over 2000 people while injuring nearly 7500 others. In addition to their aerial attacks, Israel announced its decision to begin “ground operations” in Southern Lebanon, reminiscent of their invasion four decades ago. While the Israeli government’s stated goal has been to take down Hezbollah’s structural organization, calling this a “limited, localized and targeted” operation. But the reality on the ground is far from this as shown by the growing number of civilian deaths.

The tensions between the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Israel are decades old. The militant group Hezbollah was founded in 1982, after Israel seized Lebanon, creating a humanitarian crisis in the southern part of the country. Israel has been targeting Hezbollah leadership in hopes of dismantling the organization, launching one of the most intense aerial campaigns in the Middle East within the past two decades, as Airwars, a nonprofit that monitors military conflicts on Islamic states, reported. Following Iran’s missile strike against Israel, Iranian spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani, said that they are not seeking a broader regional war. However, as tensions increase between Israel, Lebanon, and Iran, hopes for de-escalation are slim.

As Israel pursued its systematic attacks on Gaza, with disregard for civilian victims and the urgent calls for humanitarian aid, the government increasingly faced criticism from its citizens and grew more and more isolated from the international community. Over the course of the year, thousands protested across Israel calling for Prime Minister Netanyahu’s resignation, and for a cease-fire allowing hostages to return home safely. From the perspective of many of these protesters, Israel’s image as a regional superpower was damaged following the October 7 attacks and their failure to safely return all the hostages. However, since the pager attacks in Lebanon, the current seems to have changed. Recent polls show that Netanyahu’s far right coalition party, Likud, is steadily recovering. The series of successful targeted attacks on leaders of Hezbollah boosted a renewed support for the offensive warfare and created a rally round- the-flag effect in favour of Netanyahu’s government.

For the past year, international organizations and world leaders have been faced with the fact that stability will not be reached unless a solution responding to both Palestinian and Israeli national aspirations is reached. Today, a negotiated settlement seems more distant than ever.

There are several reasons why ceasefire deals and talks for consensual agreements have fallen through. Democratic countries such as the US and Israel “are essential for promoting the rule of law…and for ensuring public trust in democratic systems of governance,” the UN announced in a statement. However, Israel’s impunity from its crimes against Gaza, as well as the US and Israel’s threats of retaliation against ICC and ICJ have demonstrated their lack of intention to end the war and protect human rights. Furthermore, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to launch military bombardment across Gaza, despite there being no real progress in achieving a ceasefire deal.

International structures designed to maintain international peace and security have consistently failed to effectively carry out resolutions. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres released a statement with Al Jazeera on the failures of the Security Council to bring about political change in the region. He believes that the Security Council’s mechanisms at resolving conflict are outdated, referencing the permanent members’ veto powers and the severe obstacles it poses for action. Furthermore, if the Security Council cannot tackle the humanitarian crises that it was designed to, it hinders other UN agencies, such as the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) from completing their tasks. With the recent developments regarding Israel’s shifted focus on Lebanon and Iran, UN experts admitted that “the ballooning violence adds immensely to the instability and the ongoing suffering of civilians in the wider region, including in Palestine.”

Previous peace frameworks, such as the Oslo Accords in 1993, have been unsuccessful at mitigating tensions between Palestinian self-determination and Israel’s desire for domination. For years after the failure of the Accords became evident, the United States and other major powers took a back-seat role in possible negotiations between Palestine and Israel, allowing these tensions to worsen.

What comes next? After one year, the conflict shows no signs of ending. It seems that with US continued support of Israel, refusing to restrict its weapons shipments, alongside Hezbollah’s commitment to continue attacks on Israel until a Gaza ceasefire is achieved; and the ongoing collapse of ceasefire negotiations in Gaza the situation won’t change.

This has also been a year of student uprisings, protests and counter protests. Students in Montreal have been relentlessly organizing marches and protest in solidarity with Gaza and now Lebanon, continuing to call upon the government and university administrations to divest from Israel and recognize the ongoing genocide. Additionally, the Palestinian Youth Movement, alongside other student led organizations held marches commemorating “One Year of Genocide, One Year of Resistance” from October 5 to 7.

On October 5 the Palestinian Youth Movement called for an International Day of Action. Thousands of people marched in over 50 cities across the US and Canada to mark one year of mobilization and solidarity with the people of Palestine and Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and all those victims of Israel’s violent attacks. Here in Montreal thousands met on Place des Arts. Students and Professors from McGill, Concordia and other institutions joined the rally to the rhythm of drums and slogans. Amongst the speakers was activist Katsi’tsakwas Ellen Gabriel. She spoke out to the crowd, denouncing the genocide, celebrating the strength of students and others to stand together, and reaffirming the shared struggle of Indigenous peoples and Palestinians against colonial oppression and occupation. “We see, as Indigenous people, commonalities between our struggles. We know what genocide is like. Our people united, our people are strong in standing with Palestine” she said. For hours, the steps and slogans resonated through the streets of downtown until Atwater, reminding the world that “the people united will never be defeated”

As a response to the different calls to mobilize McGill and Concordia have decided to restrict access to their campuses. At the time of writing, it has been communicated with students that access to the downtown campus until October 7 will require a McGill ID or a permission letter for visitors to enter. They justified these measures to “prioritize the stable continuation of critical academic activities at a time when there is an elevated potential for disruption” even if there have been no threats to physical safety.

Students at McGill and in the Montreal community at large have displayed their solidarity with the Lebanese people. On October 1, Students for Palestine’s Honour and Resistance (SPHR) McGill and Concordia alongside other student-led groups held a vigil for Lebanon on the campus lower field. Speakers were students from McGill and Concordia, and professor Michelle Hartman reading out a poem written by professor Rula Abisaab. Around 100 students gathered, with candles and Palestinian flags being held next to Lebanese ones. Speakers later condemned the systematic violence carried out against Lebanese people and the genocide in Gaza, while praising the power of resistance and the sustained need for solidarity and collective actions.

A member of Montreal’s Lebanese community has shared their perspective on issues ensuing back home. “As a Lebanese student living in Canada, I can share that many of us are deeply concerned about the ongoing threat in southern Lebanon, even though we’re miles away,” said Sarah Tehini, a U1 Computer Engineering student at McGill. “The situation with Israel is something we’ve grown up hearing about, but now it feelslike things could escalate at any moment.” She expressed concerns about the future state of Lebanon if Israel proceeds with its current military tactics. “We worry about being able to visit home, or if there will even be a ‘home’ to return to. There’s this overwhelming sense of uncertainty about whether Lebanon will ever find stability again, and it’s heartbreaking,” she said on behalf of herself and other Lebanese students in her community.

In light of Tehini’s worries, she still believes there is room for hope. “Despite everything, the resilience of the Lebanese people keeps us hopeful. No matter how much we’ve been through, our love for our country keeps us holding on to hope for a better future,” she concluded.

The post An Analysis of Israel’s Actions Since October 7 appeared first on The McGill Daily.

As the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation approaches, and with McGill hosting its annual Indigenous Awareness weeks, The Daily decided to focus on the precarious housing situation for Indigenous residents in Montreal. We looked at the shortcomings of institutional and government measures, systematic discrimination, and the work of several organizations providing services to Indigenous homeless populations.

Delving into the failures of institutional and governmental responses, reinforces the understanding that colonial legacies and ongoing systematic discrimination  continue to increase the risk of homelessness for Indigenous peoples. There are very limited services dedicated specifically to Indigenous peoples experiencing homelessness. The Daily had the chance to interview Na’kuset, the executive director of Native Women Shelter, and David Chapman, the executive director of Resilience Montreal, two Montreal-based organizations leading numerous initiatives and projects to help indigenous communities.  

Assessing the Indigenous Homelessness crisis in Montreal

Montreal’s homeless population, totaling 4,690, is the largest in Quebec. Indigenous people are overrepresented in this number. While only making up 0.6 per cent of the city’s population, Indigenous peoples represent approximately 12 per cent of Montreal’s visible unhoused population. Indigenous people experiencing homelessness in Montreal also tend to be underserved by shelter and transitional housing systems and experience more long-term and cyclical homelessness.

The issue goes well beyond numbers. In their April 2024 report Eyes Wide Open, the Montreal Indigenous Community NETWORK defines Indigenous homelessness as “the historic and ongoing displacement, geographic separation, mental disruption, imbalance, cultural genocide and spiritual disconnection experienced by First Nations, Inuit, and Métis individuals, families, and communities,” in addition to “[their] state of lacking permanent, stable, and/or basic living conditions.” While aspects of this specific form of homelessness overlap with traditional material precarity, it is inextricably linked to the legacy of historically constructed and ongoing settler colonialism and racism. For generations, these systemic forces have displaced and dispossessed First Nations, Métis and Inuit people from their traditional governance systems and laws, territories, histories, worldviews, and ancestors. 

Roots of Indigenous Homelessness 

Today’s exclusion of Indigenous people from housing has its roots in systemic and institutional marginalization and discrimination, trickling down from Canada’s colonial history and government policy failures. The enduring impact of colonial policies, such as the Indian Act and the 1975 James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement, has disrupted Indigenous communities, displacing them from their traditional lands and undermining their cultural and governance structures. The legacy of residential schools play a significant role in perpetuating homelessness among Indigenous peoples. Intergenerational trauma has disrupted family structures and community cohesion, contributing to the instability and vulnerability that often leads to homelessness. Other causes include failures of social systems, including thorough overrepresentation in the criminal justice and prison systems and child welfare programs. Together with other failures–such as economic barriers, bad living conditions (approximately 75 per cent of reserves have contaminated water), insufficient educational structures, these factors push Indigenous people to move to urban centers such as Montreal. However, the high influx of people faced with inaccessible housing and a limited supply of appropriate services leads to the augmentation of homelessness. 

Addressing the factors leading to Indigenous people experiencing homelessness requires long-term systemic change, including repairing the historical and ongoing impacts of colonization, providing culturally appropriate support services and preventative initiatives, and creating opportunities for Indigenous communities to thrive culturally, socially, and economically. Though much of the burden falls on the government, this is first and foremost a human and community responsibility. 
When discussing the causes of Indigeous homelessness, David Chapman, the executive director of Resilience Montreal, told the Daily that “the 100 years of cultural genocide through residential schools where Indigenous people lost their language and culture very intentionally [was clearly] a policy of the Canadian government.” He notes that “as people suffer the implications of this loss, it makes them more susceptible to things like addiction, for example, social problems, family breakdowns and violence. So, of course, there’s a reason why there’s such a high concentration of Indigenous peoples on the streets of Montral.” Chapman concludes that “part of the challenge is educating people on the history of genocide in Canada and when they are a little bit educated, it does help when you’re trying to implement new resources.” 

What initiatives have been developed to tackle this critical issue?

In 2020, the city of Montreal launched its 2020-2025 strategy for reconciliation with the Indigenous peoples. Among the objectives stated are “Support the urban Indigenous community”, “Improve the feeling of safety of Indigenous people in Montreal”, and “Support the economic development of Indigenous peoples in Montreal”. With 2025 just a few months away, are we anywhere near reaching those objectives? 

Continued institutional abuses, compounded by the Government’s inability to help improve the living conditions of Indigenous communities in urban settings such as Montreal, forced local initiatives to step up to the challenge. Created in 1987, the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal (NWSM) is the only shelter in the city to provide support for First Nation, Inuit and Metis women and their children. The NWSM provides a safe space for Indigenous women and their children to heal and build better futures. Through support services and programs tailored to specific needs, they aim to accompany these women towards independence and foster empowerment.  The Daily spoke with Na’kuset, the executive director of NWSM since 2004. She notes that the shelter has “programming specifically for Indigenous women who come to spend time with us. Each person who comes in is assigned a support worker, and each week we are updating to see how the progress is helping them in everything that they need. And then we have the outside project, like the Cabot Square. So we go over and above to help the Indigenous population, but the demand is high of course.” 

With the increasing demand in recent years, existing resources have not been able to provide sufficient support to everyone. This has also caused people to find shelter in unsafe places. Homeless Indigenous women are particularly affected, facing gender-based violence in addition to a lack of material support. “There needs to be more spaces like the Native Women’s Shelter because we are exclusively the only Indigenous shelter that serves Indigenous women and their children. No one else does that,” Na’kuset told the Daily. 

She then added that “every woman who comes in has different issues. It’s not like just painting everyone with the same brush, right? We accept them when they come in, and then we find the appropriate resources for them. We support them with what they need, and we accompany them because there are issues with all the institutions, whether it be education, whether it be hospitals, whether it be welfare, whether it be finding housing. There’s always challenges. We actually get used to it. But when we support the women, we go with them because they shouldn’t have to deal with it for themselves. And when you have a staff that accompanies them, then that door gets jammed open, which is what we want.” 

Last June, Resilience Montreal held a memorial to honour the lives of over 30 homeless people who have died since 2021. Chapman observed that “when you look at the photos, about half of the people who’ve died–who’ve used our services in the last few years – have been young Indigenous women.”
First founded in 2019 by the Native Women’s Shelter, Resilience Montreal has established itself as an independent day shelter. The organization provides basic need services, including three meals a day, showers, and hygiene, as well as Intervention Services such as Indigenous-centered wellness services, government documentation assistance, and a housing program. 

 Challenges to carrying out efficient services

“What’s interesting to me is that people love the idea of accessible services to unhoused populations. In theory, this is a very popular idea that people will support. The problem lies in trying to implement these accessible services. And the problem is no one wants a homeless resource in their neighborhood.It’s worse than that, when you try to implement a homeless resource, sometimes not only will neighbors try to block you but some may even try to sue you. In fact and in fact right now there’s a class action lawsuit in the Plateau,” explained Chapman to the Daily. 

Class action suits have been brought by neighbours and nearby business owners against Hotel Dieu hospital on St-Urbain Street (serving as a shelter since 2021) and the Open Door Montreal shelter on Park Avenue. “They’re suing for 25.000$ per citizen for diminished quality of life,” added Chapman. Resilience Montreal has faced similar issues in the past years. 
Cohabitation is one of the biggest challenges faced by organizations helping homeless people. Class actions such as this one are also a reminder that difficulties don’t solely come from the government, but also fellow citizens. 

Chapman elaborated on this, saying that “everyone’s demanding their rights. One of the challenges is to have a bigger conversation in human society about, what does collective human flourishing look like, you know? Instead of these human rights standoffs, which is what we’re looking at right now, and it’s growing in Montreal.” He then added that efforts went beyond pointing fingers at the government. 

“What’s hard to come to terms with is that we talk about the precarity of services for Indigenous women, for Indigenous peoples in general, in the city of Montreal. Yet in trying to move forward and implement these services you’re always given many obstacles and frequently you just can’t succeed,” said Chapman before adding that “I’ve had this conversation with people where I’ve explained that by blocking homeless resources from your neighborhood, you’re just going to have more unnecessary deaths of unhoused persons. Unfortunately it’s a sad reality but your average citizen doesn’t care, and governments don’t care because your average citizen doesn’t care.” 

On September 30, the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, citizens of Montreal must ask themselves, what sacrifice should we be able to make for healing and efficient solutions to occur? 
Discussing the ninth anniversary of the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Na’kuset told the Daily that “the TRCs were created for institutions, and for institutions to apply, which they don’t, and nobody’s forcing them to. So although it may be a government thing, I would say it’s across the board for people to choose not to apply them. […]  There’s many different ways that social services or youth protection could amend their ways, but they don’t do it. So everyone is ignoring these recommendations that they’re supposed to implement, and the government, again, is not doing anything to enforce it. So it’s pretty distressing that we continue to be ignored.” 

Emerging new initiatives and hope for healing process to take place 

Although both Na’kuset and David Chapman highlighted the dire circumstances faced by Indigenous peoples and the limitations of the organizations trying to assist them, they also spoke about emerging initiatives that offer signs of hope. Na’kuset mentioned the new two stage housing program launched by the Native Women’s Shelter, Miyoskamin. 

New initiatives include the Mitshuap near Cabot Square, which has recently opened its doors for homeless people to find refuge. It is the first urban shelter created and run by Indigenous people. Chapman explained how it was an initiative by the Innu Nation in response to the tragic death of Raphaël André, an Innu man who froze to death in an outdoor public toilet in January 2021. At the time, homeless people had to hide during the night because if they were found by the police, they would receive a $1,000 fine. 

“This example is a representation of Indigenous leadership resurgence, where in the past Indigenous leaders living on reserves would not involve themselves in the processes of larger cities. But there’s been an Indigenous resurgence in Quebec and other parts of Canada as well, and we’re seeing a new pattern of Indigenous leaders taking more initiative to make sure that their community members are well treated in urban centers and I think this is a good sign. I think we’re going to see more and more Indigenous-led initiatives in urban centers and this will be part of the healing process,” expressed Chapman as a sign of hope. 

Efforts and work towards healing and restoring dignity to Indigenous peoples is going to take a long time; even if the city were to approve the building of new centres, they would take years to build. But efforts are there, and people need to continue contributing to organizations such as Resilience Montreal and the Native Women’s Shelter. 

“There’s a reason why we call Resilience Montreal, Resilience Montreal, and it’s because obviously we’re recognizing the strength of the people we’re working with and we’re recognizing their resilience,” concluded Chapman. 

Getting more involved as students and residents of Montreal 

The issue of Indigenous homelessness should be of the utmost priority in government policy-making. It should also be part of the citizen’s responsibility to work towards healing and restoring dignity to the Indigenous peoples. “Volunteering is a great way to set  an example of how societies can look at solving the challenges we face collectively. With people who are afraid of a new homeless community, or project in their neighborhood, if they would just come in and actually volunteer in a homeless resource for a few days somewhere, they would find that many of their fears are reduced,” said Chapman. Resilience Montreal has daily volunteering shifts, where the main tasks include either assisting in the kitchen, service or working in the clothes distribution section of the shelter. 

“Students should try to do fundraising initiatives for the Native Women’s Shelter, they should show up when we have vigils, they should show up when we have marches, said Na’kuset. “They should find a way of trying to challenge the institutions that are not applying the recommendations for the TRC, asking them why they’re not doing it. Who does it serve when you don’t apply them?” 
The NWSM is organizing the Every Child Matters: A Day of Action for Truth and Reconciliation March in partnership with Pop Montreal and the David Suzuki Foundation. The rally will start at 1 p.m. in Parc Mont Royal.  

Indigenous housing precarity has been ignored for too long. It is necessary to move beyond a competition of rights and privileges that sets a dynamic of us versus them. We must strengthen bonds between individuals and communities and tackle this issue as a collective community, because it is a matter of common good. 

The post Mobilizing Collectively to Tackle Indigenous Homelessness appeared first on The McGill Daily.

“I don’t understand why it seems like it’s open season on Indigenous people and it’s just fine to kill us and no one’s going to complain and no one’s going to make a fuss about it.”

Na’kuset’s words echoed through Place du Canada and resonated in each of us present at the vigil on September 18th. Behind her were six posters with the faces of Jack Piché, 31 years old; Hoss Lightning-Saddleback, 15; Tammy Bateman, in her 30s; Jason West, 57; Danny Knife, 31; Steven “Iggy” Dedam, 33; all of whom were killed by police officers since August 29.

Na’kuset, executive director of the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal, along with the day shelter Resilience Montreal, held a vigil to honour the lives lost, offer prayers to their families and loved ones, and denounce systematic police brutality against Indigenous people. The speakers called out the Canadian government’s complicity, saying that “injustices like these don’t have a place anymore [in our country].” As McGill begins its annual Indigenous Awareness weeks, the memorial served as a grim reminder of the ongoing abuses against Indigenous peoples and the Canadian government’s failure to ensure meaningful accountability for these crimes.

As people gathered around the fire and the speakers took their places, Bryce Morison opened the vigil by singing a sundance song in honour of the victims and to give strength to their families. Fay Desjarlais then addressed the group by talking about her 20 years working with Indigenous women, calling out the brutal realities they face on a daily basis, and then proceeded with a powerful chant. Among the speakers were also representatives of the Black community: Svens Telemanque, representative of Union United Church, and Claudette Soeurette, activist).

The vigil highlighted the importance of community building and mutual support of different anti-colonial and anti-oppression groups. Na’kuset made references to the common struggle of the Black and Indigenous communities, and the Palestinian liberation movement: “I think there’s a lot of work that the Black community and the Indigenous community can do together because we face so many of the same issues.” Ellen Gabriel, activist and artist from the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation, spoke about the pattern of dehumanization these groups face and how it serves as justification for the killings: “The dehumanization of Indigenous Black people of color, and especially now, as you think of Palestine, the dehumanization of people is unacceptable.” She related this to Judith Butler’s conceptualization of grievable and ungrievable lives. Butler writes in their book Frames of War: When is Life Grievable: “An ungrievable life is one that cannot be mourned because it has never lived, that is, it has never counted as a life at all.”

In its 2024 report, Human Rights Watch denounced Canada’s persistent abuses against Indigenous peoples, alluding to issues of underfunding, and citing the Line 5 pipeline case. Police brutality is part of the systematic violence that Indigenous and people of colour face in Canada and in other parts of the world. Tracking (in)Justice, a Canadian law enforcement and criminal legal data and transparency project, has been accumulating data on police-involved deaths in Canada. Since 2000 they’ve established that 774 instances of police use of force involved death, and that Black and Indigenous people are overrepresented. According to their data, Indigenous people die at eight times the rate compared to white people. Additionally, Black and Indigenous people account for 27.2 per cent of the police-involved shooting deaths, when and where the race of the victim has been identified by police authorities, yet they represent around 8.7 per cent of the population in Canada.

“When I look up the RCMP and I look at their mission statement, this is what it says …] we commit to preserve the peace, uphold the law, and provide quality service in partnership with our communities. […] Quality service in partnership with our communities doesn’t look like the lives that are lost behind me,” said Svens Telemanque. He then added that “Systemic racism is not written in black and white. It’s hidden underneath policies, attitudes, beliefs, and the way that people get treated.”

As the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation approaches on September 30, as well as the 10th anniversary of the release of the findings from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC), activists and community leaders say change is urgently needed. “We need you, every one of you, to help us get out of this cycle of genocide that many generations continue to feel continue to feel its impacts,” concluded Ellen Gabriel.

To conclude the vigil, people formed a line and, one by one, placed tobacco in the fire while offering prayers for the lost lives and their families.

If you want to get more involved, there are volunteering opportunities organized by Resilience Montreal and the Native Women’s Shelter.

The post “They Do Not Protect Us” appeared first on The McGill Daily.

The Summer Olympics this year were set in Paris between July 26 and August 11. The United States dominated with a total of 126 medals, right ahead of China (91) and Britain (65). Team Canada won 27 medals despite being embroiled in a series of drone-spying scandals.

Spending the summer in France with my family meant that it was almost impossible to avoid having a conversation about the opening ceremony, the performance of swimmer Léon Marchand, minister Oudea Castera swimming in the Seine, or my personal favorite: the Turkish shooter Yusuf Dikeç’s nonchalant pose with his hand in his pocket. For two weeks, it seemed as though everything revolved around the Olympic flame.

This said, these 15 days of global competition left me somewhat puzzled and confused. The unexpected reaction to the Games, especially on the part of French people, is what surprised me most at first. Just weeks ahead of the events, France found itself in a political deadlock following two unforeseen rounds of legislative elections that threatened a bleak future. For months, we heard complaints about Paris being flooded by tourists, the unreasonable price of the metro, and outrageous rent prices due to the upcoming Games. The Games are over and all of these problems remain; yet, upon exiting the Games, the image France presents to the world has become one of newfound self-confidence, pride and some might even say sympathy. After spending a hefty sum of 4.8 billion dollars planning and organizing the global event, I’d say it’s best to be content with the results. France won 64 medals, finishing in fifth place, and despite all the tensions and conflicting insecurities, the Games kept citizens glued to their TV screens, rooting for their team – united. Isn’t it absurd that Léon Marchand managed to garner more support than any candidate in the legislative elections?

Enough about politics. But is that even possible? Sports and politics have always been intertwined. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) persists in declaring that the Games should remain politically neutral, but this goal has always been far-fetched. While the Olympic flame brings people together from around the globe, it has also shown the potential to intensify the deepest divisions and instabilities of the time. Since their debut, the Games have been a hub of political action and protest. In 1920, the countries defeated during World War I were denied participation in the Games. Later, in 1968, U.S. track athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their hands in the Black Power salute. Many African countries boycotted the 1976 Montreal Games after the IOC allowed New Zealand to compete, despite the nation’s rugby team playing in racially segregated South Africa.

Rule 50 of the Olympic charter states that “no kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.” Needless to say that in Paris, this did not go as planned. Controversies at this year’s tournament concerned the ongoing genocide in Gaza, gender identity and inclusivity, and France’s restriction on the hijab among other issues. Many expressed outrage over Israel’s participation in the Games, instead of receiving the same sanctions as Russia and Belarus over their invasion of Ukraine. Even Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, used the games as a political truce to delay appointing a new prime minister. The end of the Games felt like the end of an enchanted dream. Despite the IOC’s best efforts to portray the Olympics as an apolitical, ideal utopia straight out of the Greek myths, this failed. The Olympic Games have always been, and will forever be, steeped in turbulent political currents.

Overall, though, the Paris Olympics delivered! The Games kept us entertained in all of their glamour, presenting a dream-like sequence. But waking up from this one won’t be an easy task! This tension creates a mixed feeling between the lightness of competition and the grim reality of a world where the ideals of freedom and justice are crumbling away. Should we feel guilty for having binge-watched the matches and admired the athletes’ abs? It can feel good to watch the Games: you feel pride, belonging, and a sense of being part of something greater. But I cannot stop thinking that the Games are as fleeting as fireworks: one second they shine and you can’t take your eyes off them,and the next they disappear into thin air, leaving only strange marks in the sky and a noxious smell.

The Olympics are not just for entertainment. The commitment and involvement necessary are too substantial. While I don’t have answers to most of the questions I’ve alluded to,I am of the opinion that they shouldn’t be completely written off. I would say that in light of everything happening, the possibility of uniting shouldn’t be forgotten. I am still left with mixed feelings, but it’s clear that sports build our collective sense of community. However, this should not impede us from seeing beyond the fireworks: it is our and our governments’ role to address the power dynamics at play, to prove that the Olympics are not just a smokescreen to distract from more pressing issues.

The post Looking Back on the Paris Olympics appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Certain quotes have been edited for brevity and clarity

March 7, 2024 marks five months of the war in Gaza. At the time of writing, the death toll in Gaza has surpassed 30,000 people, including more than 12,300 children, 1,139 people in Israel, and 411 people in the occupied West Bank. Meanwhile, an estimated 1,200 journalists in Gaza continue to be targeted and face precarious conditions as they relay information about the daily events and conditions on the ground. On February 28, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released a preliminary investigation of journalist deaths in the violence since October 7. The account showed that at least 88 journalists and media workers were among the more than 30,000 killed since the war began on October 7, making Gaza the world’s deadliest place for journalists.

On February 20, the Critical Media Lab hosted the hybrid panel “Journalism under siege” in collaboration with McGill, the Research Group on Democracy, Space, and Technology, and Tufts University. The panel is part of the “On Gaza’’ speaker series, and panel members included Sherif Mansour, the CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator; Nidal Rafa, a Palestinian journalist and producer; Ghoussoun Bisharat, the editor-in-chief of +972 magazine; and Palestinian journalist and human rights activist Mahmoud Mustafa, reporting from north Gaza. Previous events included discussions on health care and infrastructural ruination.

Dr. Diana Allan, associate professor in Anthropology at the Institute for the Study of International Development at McGill and co-founder of the Critical Media Lab, introduced the event as a discussion on the “war on Palestinian journalism.” Professor Amahl Bishara, the moderator of the panel and associate professor at Tufts University, added that “we all, and not just those concerned with Palestinian and Israeli people and places, but all those concerned with the fate and processes of human rights, decolonization and striving for justice, all rely on the work and words of the Palestinian journalists who are on the ground doing this work every day.”

The Daily spoke with Dr. Allan about her work as an anthropologist, archivist, and ethnographic filmmaker with Palestinian refugees living in the camps in Lebanon. She explained that the “On Gaza” series emerged from conversations with two of her graduate students about “the urgent need for a space on campus in which to discuss what is happening in Gaza.”

She further added that “as is often noted, we have been watching a genocide unfold in real-time — literally, the obliteration of a world and a people, which is unprecedented and horrifying in ways that are hard to describe or bear. And yet, outside of the student mobilizations on campus — which have been so amazing and inspiring — there has been almost no public discussion of these world-transforming events at McGill.”

“In convening these talks the aim has been to open a space for critical discussion about the material conditions of life and death in Gaza today, and the broader implications of Israel’s genocidal war on besieged Palestinians. Beyond simply sharing information, my hope is that these talks can also help to build solidarity and community, which is why they have been in- person,” she told the Daily.

Panelist Sherif Mansour expressed his concerns regarding the unprecedented killings of journalists in Gaza and their consequences. He emphasized that the alarming situation stems from a pattern of violence and killings that goes beyond the beginning of the war in October. Referring to the CJP’s 2023 report “Deadly Pattern,” he explained that there is a “precarious, dangerous and deadly environment, specifically for Palestinian journalists covering Israeli army operations.”

Killings of Palestinian journalists are not isolated occurrences. Since 2001, CPJ has documented at least 20 journalist killings by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).

“What we see is that this deadly pattern continues unchecked because we haven’t seen accountability,” asserted Mansour. He explained that the Israeli army only committed to doing an investigation if the journalist killed had a foreign passport or worked for an international media outlet. Even then, “it doesn’t lead to anything: no one is charged, no one is held accountable.”

Such was the case with the Palestinian-American television journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, killed by the IDF on May 11, 2022. The IDF investigation determined there was a “high possibility” that one of their soldiers “accidentally” shot the journalist while engaging Palestinian gunmen. This announcement came five months after her death. To this day, no accountability has been reached.

Mansour warned that since 90 per cent of the journalists killed in this war were Palestinians, this systematic targeting would compromise the ability of Palestinian journalists to cover IDF activities. “The deadly pattern has not just continued, but has turned what was a chilling effect before this war into a news blackout and forced on the media especially Palestinian journalists that were said to bear the brunt of Israeli fire and bear witness of all journalists worldwide about what is happening in Gaza.”

In late October, Israel’s military told Reuters and Agence France Presse that they are unable to guarantee the safety of journalists operating in the Gaza Strip, due to the ongoing Israeli bombardment.

Journalists in Gaza face immense challenges in carrying out their work. The Israeli army has destroyed around 50 local and international media outlets in Gaza since October 7, as reported by the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), in addition to the devastating loss of life. In addition to the killings, reports have also emerged of different forms of violent “incidents” with the aim of reinforcing the “news blackout.” This comprises 25 arrests, various cases of assaults, threats, cyberattacks, and censorship. According to CPJ’s data as of February 27, 19 journalists were reported to be in Israeli custody.

Bisharat asked Mansour about the “horrific arrests of journalists,” which have been “somewhat neglected in this scheme of things.” He explained that every year, CPJ produces a report on journalists who have been incarcerated.

“For the first time, Israel was one of our top war jailers of journalists,” he said. Throughout the war, they have documented 25 arrests with a majority in the West Bank. All were Palestinian journalists put in military trials under administrative detention. “Under those tribunals [journalists] can be held indefinitely [without a trial] for the suspicion that they could incite violence in the future.” He then added that among them, five had been beaten and tortured during their custody. Mansour then explained that these incarcerations were part of a wider pattern of censoring Palestinian journalists.

The families of journalists in Gaza have also been targeted by the IDF. For instance, according to reports from Reuters and The Guardian, eight members of photojournalist Yasser Qudih’s family were killed on November 13 when their home in southern Gaza was hit by four missiles. On October 25, Wael Al-Dahdouh also lost his family to Israeli bombardments, after having moved to a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, where they though they would be safer.

“People didn’t hear the story about Wael Al-Dahdouh when he lost his kids and wife […] If his name was John Smith I’m sure that it would have been a headline in Europe and America,” said Rafa. “It is so sad to see that there is such hypocrisy and such double standards when it comes to this. But this is reality.”

“All of us can only learn journalism from the journalists in Gaza,” declared Bisharat, pointing to the immense challenges and risks taken by the journalists on the ground. She explained that there exist three main challenges in covering what is happening in Gaza. Firstly, “we need to make sure that audiences outside Israel and Palestine understand that history didn’t begin on October 7 […] and that there is a regime of apartheid in full force in Israel/Palestine” she said. The second challenge regards getting the information out of Gaza, highlighting difficulties with the internet, blackouts, and concerns for their safety. “The third challenge is trying to connect the dots,” she explained. +972 continues its efforts to cover simultaneously what is happening in the West Bank in terms of settler violence and the expansion of settlements, but also events in Israel.

She then proceeded to share the story of Ibtisam Mahdi, mother of two children, who “while trying to feed them, does amazing work of journalism.” Her last work was on the destruction of Palestine’s historical sites. She also recalls Mahmood Mustafa, who wakes up every morning to find food and internet while trying to report and take care of his parents.

“They are the heroes of this war,” said Bisharat. “Despite having to take care of their own safety, taking care of their family, they keep doing amazing journalistic work.”

“Mainstream Western media has consistently marginalized and silenced Palestinian perspectives and have served to center and bolster Israeli narratives,” declared Dr. Allan to the Daily.

During her section of the panel, Rafa spoke out about issues in the international media coverage of Gaza. “There is a pattern here, not to put the context,” she explained, adding that “there is no conflict here, by the way, it’s an occupation. But if you don’t use the word occupation, how do you expect our audience to understand what is going on?” Rafa warned that not including the context and explaining the larger unfolding of events is not only “dangerous” but is also done “intentionally.”

“I think terminology is very important […] Instead of saying massacre they will say incident, instead of saying occupation they say conflict […] Things are not done by accident […] the problem is with the narrative, who is telling what, when and who is listening to what when how,” declared Rafa.

In 2002, Dr. Allan co-founded the Nakba Archive with Mahmoud Zeidan, a Palestinian educator and human rights advocate from Ayn Hilweh camp in South Lebanon. This community-run oral history project influenced her formation as a scholar of Palestine. She shared with the Daily the significance of oral history in highlighting the Palestinian experience and challenging dominant narratives about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“I think Palestinians are often understood as abstractions — as humanitarian victims, as “terrorists,” but rarely as political subjects with legitimate aspirations for national self- determination, liberation, and the right to live dignified lives in peace and security,” she explained.

As part of the Nakba Archives, Allan and Zeidan recorded around 500 interviews about the 1948 expulsion of Palestinians, during the creation of the State of Israel, with first-generation Palestinians in camps across Lebanon over five years. Their aim in creating this archive is to re-centre Palestinian narratives, including those of Palestinian refugees, and expose the violent history of Israel’s state formation in the Middle East.

“A definitive history of the Palestinian Nakba, as told by Palestinians, has yet to be written.” she added. “Oral histories can fill some of these gaps, shed light on subaltern experience, and challenge settler colonial narratives — refugee narratives also have the power to transform our understanding of history itself — its form, substance and purpose, the matter of who tells it, what constitutes an ‘event’ or ‘truth.’”

While he wasn’t able to attend the panel in-person, journalist Mahmoud Mustafa sent a video describing his everyday struggles in getting news out of Gaza. “No words can describe this agony of life,” he says. While testifying to the inhumane consequences of the warfare carried out by the IDF — the constant worry, hunger, lack of sleep, search for shelter, and so on — we could hear sirens and loud noises in the background. “The Israeli army is trying to mute us,” he asserts, adding that “our rights to be journalists are denied.”

Mustafa responded to accusations made against him for not being neutral. “Why are you asking me to be neutral while my friends have been killed? What do you mean by ‘you have to be neutral’? I am facing the killing and the dangers every day.”

“We need the support of other journalists outside Palestine to complete our work, to amplify our voice,” he concluded.

Dr. Allan told the Daily that “in this moment, when the censorship and silencing of Palestinian voices and those in solidarity with Palestinian liberation is stronger than ever, supporting and amplifying the work of journalists like Mahmoud Mushtaha or Nidal Rafa is really vitally important.”

She concluded by empathizing with many students’ reaction to the McGill administration’s communication since the beginning of the war, highlighting the “unseemly power dynamics” at play in the unequal treatment of pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel voices on campus. “These forms of censorship and intimidation are very troubling and are something that all members of our community need to actively challenge,” she added.

Nidal Rafa prompted that “the world has to stop with their double standards and to say enough is enough. I think Palestinians are not asking for much. […] I say it’s very simple. There is an occupation here and Palestinians are asking for freedom and self- determination.”

On a more optimistic note, Bisharat added that “we are witnessing cracks in the international media in its coverage of Israel/Palestine,” referring to the work and fights of journalists such as Chris McGreal from The Guardian.

Sherif Mansour brought the event to a close by saying: “The consequences of what happens to Palestinian journalists are going to stay and go beyond this war, beyond this region. Because impunity like violence does not know boundaries.”

“Poetry as Resistance,” the next event on the “On Gaza” speaker series, is scheduled for March 12. The panel will be held in the Critical Media Lab, Peterson 108, from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m. Prof. Rula Abi Saab from IIS, herself a poet and novelist, will be moderating.

The post Journalism Under Siege appeared first on The McGill Daily.

For Divest McGill, 2023 ended on a positive note. Months of petitions and advocacy efforts led to a pivotal decision by the Board of Governors (BoG) on whether to remove the remaining fossil fuel holdings from the McGill Investment Pool (MIP), which currently account for less than one per cent of the University’s endowment fund. On December 14, the BoG unanimously voted to divest from direct investments in fossil fuel companies of the Carbon Underground 200 (CU200) by 2025. This came days after the COP28 signed an agreement laying the groundwork to phase out fossil fuels.

Between 2019 and 2022, the MIP’s carbon footprint was reduced by 49 per cent. With this announcement, the university entered Phase 2 of its Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) strategy, which aims to reduce its carbon footprint. Currently, the CU200 holdings in the MIP make up only 0.5 per cent of total assets. This new eight-point plan builds on the university’s previous achievements and targets.

The BoG also approved other SRI commitments, including allocating 10 per cent of the MIP to Sustainable Investment Strategies aligned with the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) by 2029, and integrating an Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) scoring system and risk metrics into their fund manager monitoring processes.

This decision culminates 12 years of dedicated efforts by Divest McGill to get the university to divest from fossil fuels. The Daily met with Laura Doyle Péan, a McGill graduate who was part of Divest McGill between 2019 and 2023; and Emily Hardie, a current member, to discuss the implications of this announcement and their next steps moving forward.

India Mosca for The McGill Daily (MD): What significance does the December 14 announcement hold for you and the community of Divest McGill?
Emily Hardie (EH): This is a huge win for our campaign because this has been the main focus, but it’s also a win for the rest of the community, all the students, staff, and faculty that have endorsed divestment for so long now. When I first heard the news, alongside other members of Divest, I was definitely in a state of shock, because this campaign has been running for 11 to 12 years now, and it’s incredible to experience this win within my time at McGill. At the same time, it did take 12 years for the Board to make this decision, which is really unfortunate.
Laura Doyle Péan (LDP): I think for myself, there was a fear that they would change their mind at the last minute. So until it had been officially stated, even if at that point we were expecting it, it was hard to be certain. Even after it had been announced, I think it took a while to digest the news and actually feel the victory, in a sense, and understand that it was real, because the campaign had been going on for so long. But now that the weeks have passed, I think what Emily said as a victory for the community is really true, because it reinforces a great precedent [for] other campaigns that are looking for divestment for human rights. We’ve been part of a coalition with SPHR [Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights] and other groups for a couple of years now, [and they] can use that precedent to get the Board to divest from other companies that are causing human rights abuses.

MD: What made this announcement finally possible?
EH: The recent announcement is due to the work that has been done for the past 12 years, it’s not a decision that’s just been made over the past year. We’ve been in communication with CAMSR [now known as CSSR, the Committee on Sustainability and Social Responsibility], which is a committee on the Board of Governors, and we were invited to do a presentation in September to the Board. I don’t think we would have had the opportunity to do this presentation for them if we hadn’t made a name for ourselves over the course of 12 years. Although the SRI review was supposed to be for next year or the year after that, we accelerated the SRI review in advance, in part due to the presentations and communications that we’ve had with the Board recently.

MD: What do you think the impact of this announcement will be? Do you believe it will influence other universities and the broader movement to divest from fossil fuels?
LDP: It’s kind of funny at this point, because one of our arguments in the campaign for so long was that the impact goes beyond McGill and it will influence so many other institutions. But McGill took so long to make up their mind about divestment that we’re one of the last universities in Canada to make this announcement. But I do think that it still has an impact on the movement, because it is further proof of the potential of collective organizing, mobilization, and the power that students have when they come together to push for these sort of things. So, I think, even though it’s not the first victory that our movement has seen, it’s still something to be celebrated and something that can serve as fuel, no pun intended, for mobilizing for climate justice.
EH: It’s important to note why McGill has divested. I think a large part of why we have divested, [which] was also communicated to us in meetings with CAMSR, was because Harvard, the University of Toronto, and other major universities have also divested. [With] the more institutions and schools that divest, we continue to slowly tear at the social license of fossil fuel companies, and we continue to delegitimize their operations. So hopefully, this will lead other schools to divest as well, as it was a large part of the reason why McGill divested. But I also wanted to add that divestment isn’t only about fossil fuels. We fully endorse SPHR’s campaign goals to get McGill to divest from the arms and weapons industry, particularly Israeli arms and weapons companies. Similar to what Laura said, we hope we set a precedent for McGill to divest from these companies and that [other groups] can use this case to help support their campaign. Part of the other sustainability commitments that McGill has made, in addition to divestment, to reinforce and endorse the ESG principle. If McGill is serious about committing to that, I think that can be used to argue that we need to also divest from socially destructive and extremely unethical companies.

MD: Why do you think it took so long for McGill to divest?
LDP: The reason it took so long for McGill to divest is the fact that that decision was not democratically made. Most of the people on the Board are not elected to be there. They’re appointed by other members of the Board. For a long time, those against fossil fuel divestment had the majority and would appoint other people that had similar values in them. We were lucky that [attitude] shifted inside the board thanks to our organizing. But had we had more power over how decisions are made, that decision could have been made earlier. Hopefully, that’s something we’re able to push for in the future that could help other campaigns.
EH: I just want to reinforce what Laura said. The reason why it took McGill 12 years to reach this conclusion is because we’re fundamentally an undemocratic institution. Almost every governing body at McGill has already endorsed divestment way before this decision was made. The Senate, SSMU, and student associations, not only endorsed, but re-endorsed divestment, and the Board only decided now that they were going to go with divestment. So, clearly, there’s a disconnection between the community and the Board that really needs to be addressed.

MD: What were the biggest challenges you faced during this 12-year campaign?
LDP: There’s the financial incentive, so money was definitely one of their reasons. But I also think it was just a disconnect in values and priorities. [Previously], there was a refusal of associating the harm with the industry, which is something I’m really glad we were able to break through. Part of removing the fossil fuel industry’s social licence is making it very clear that this industry is responsible for the climate crisis, that this industry is responsible for land theft and for violence against Indigenous communities and so many other communities.
EH: The argument for divestment is very simple. We have so much evidence of the social injury that fossil fuel companies cause, and yet it wasn’t really about that. It doesn’t matter how much evidence we have, it didn’t seem to matter, or else we would have divested a long time ago. For instance, McGill is investing in TC Energy, which is building the CGL [Coastal GasLink] pipeline. The CGL pipeline is going through unceded territory without consent from the hereditary chiefs. McGill is investing and profiting off of these extremely socially destructive projects. As a school, we’re also producing research on the climate crisis and we teach courses to students about how our planet is completely going to be destabilized by the climate crisis. Yet, as an administration, we’re also simultaneously funding the very sources of the climate destruction. There’s such a disconnect between the two and I think the struggle has been trying to explain, even though we have so much evidence, why these companies are causing social injury. And it’s come down to a matter of communication. How can we most effectively explain and try to communicate this to individuals who have different values than we do?

MD: What were your main strategies for the past 12 years?
LDP: I think one thing that has been quite effective for us is adopting a dual approach where on one side, we have people that are trying to make connections with people on the board and explain things to them and trying to change their mind with a very friendly approach. Then on the other side, having Divest organize more pressure tactics. We had a lot of marches, a lot of petitions that were sent to the Board. That dual approach, I think, was effective, because the harder we would push with the pressure tactics, the friendlier those that were making presentations would seem. But we were both asking for the same thing. Another one of the tactics that we had was to follow the money by putting pressure on the financial relationships and incentives that McGill has.

MD: What are your next objectives?
EH: One would definitely be supporting SPHR and other groups on campus that are in support of Palestinian liberation. But also, looking into whether McGill follows through with their commitments. So whether they follow through within the next year because they committed within 2024, by the end of it, they would phase out all the investments. McGill has only committed to divesting their direct investments, but this excludes the indirect investments that are still in fossil fuels, […] so advocating to divest the remaining amount.

MD: Is there anything that you would like to add?
LDP: I think a lot of students feel like they don’t have enough knowledge, time, or experience to get involved, and that keeps a lot of people from reaching out to campaigns to join them. I want to tell those students that anyone and everyone is welcome, and that everyone is needed in this movement and that there is a place for them. […] I’d encourage anyone who is interested by this article and is excited about what the future of climate justice at McGill and beyond can look like to reach out to Divest so that we can start building it together.
EH: I also feel like a lot of organizing on the McGill campus right now in regards to climate action revolves around individual actions or changing individual lifestyles and less on systemic action. And I hope that we can see in the future more of a turn towards what is McGill doing about addressing the climate crisis or what is our government doing, what is their plan to address the climate crisis? Is it adequate? What is Canada doing? How can we think about bringing about systemic changes in addition to individual ones?

If you are interested in joining Divest McGill, you can reach out to them on their social media: www.facebook.com/DivestMcGill/ and www.instagram.com/divestmcgill

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“Unfortunately, history gives few examples of people who learn the lessons of their own history.”

– Time for Outrage by Stéphane Hessel

Stéphane Hessel, resistance fighter, diplomat, and co-author of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights wrote these words discussing the aptitude of humans to forget their history and repeat past errors. Following the Second World War, the concept of “never again” emerged as an international commitment to prevent genocide. However, since then, this expression has needed to be invoked too many times. 

History has shown that the international community has stood by, again and again, as genocide unfolds. Since 1945, there have been more than 50 instances of such crimes against humanity, according to scholar Barbara Harff. Genocides have caused more civilian deaths in this period than all civil and international wars combined. This represents a massive failure on the part of the international community, which committed itself to the UN Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of  Genocide, adopted in 1948. 

As genocide happens again and again, “never again” has become an empty slogan, a lost promise, or an unattainable ideal. The international community seems to have little power to fulfill its promise to prevent genocide. From Bangladesh to Darfur, humanity is still struggling to meet its commitment. Many have argued that this is in part because of a misunderstanding about how to define genocide and what genocide prevention looks like. 

Polish-Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin first coined the term ‘genocide’ in 1944. It consists of the Greek prefix genos, meaning race or tribe, and the Latin suffix cide, meaning killing. Under the 1948 convention, genocide is an internationally recognized crime where acts are committed with the intent to destroy — in whole or in part — a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. These acts fall into five categories: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has repeatedly stated that the Convention embodies principles that are part of general customary international law. This means that whether or not states have ratified the Genocide Convention, they are all bound as a matter of law by the principle that genocide is a crime prohibited under international law. The ICJ has also stated that the prohibition of genocide is a peremptory norm of international law (or ius cogens) and consequently, no derogation from it is allowed.

However, trying to build an exhaustive list of genocides is an impossible task. Too many times has either disagreements, disregarded evidence or political agendas come in the way of recognizing a genocide for what it is. 

Rapidly, the use of the term genocide or the lack thereof has thus become a political tool. Sadly, recent events in Gaza have exemplified the debate over the use or not of the term genocide. Marie Lamensch, the Coordinator of  Program and Outreach of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Study, explained in an interview with the Daily why the term genocide is a source of political contention: 

“Genocide doesn’t happen in one day. It’s a process that takes time. It’s not like the murder of one person, it is something usually that is organized at least a few years in advance because it requires such an apparatus. […] For example, during the Rwandan genocide, France and the US, refused to use the term genocide because they knew what kind of an impact it would have on people’s minds and they thought, “oh if I use the term genocide that means I have to do something. I have to act. So that is why it is often politicized.””

In the intricate realm of the politics of genocide, the term itself has transformed into a multifaceted tool shaped by geopolitical interests, influencing its application and reception on the international stage. This selective usage, often witnessed when powerful nations refrain from labeling the actions of allies as genocide while readily condemning adversaries, has the potential to erode the credibility and universality of the term. For instance, the Rohingya Crisis in Myanmar, widely acknowledged as ethnic cleansing and genocide by human rights organizations, exposes the hesitancy of certain governments with economic and political ties to Myanmar in employing the term “genocide”.

Moreover, political leaders strategically wield the term as a rhetorical instrument to rally public support or condemnation, as observed in the conflict in Darfur, Sudan, where the United States’ declaration of genocide in 2004 was perceived as a calculated political move to exert pressure on the Sudanese government. Lamensch commented on the impact of using the term genocide saying that while “in 2003, in Darfour, for example, it did lead to concrete action. But, for example, now there is a genocide going on once again in Sudan. Now nobody’s talking about it when it’s a clear case of genocide.” The UN has reported that since April 2023 more than 9000 people have been killed and 5.6 million have been forcibly displaced. The fact that ten years ago similar disturbingly violent events were unraveling and recognized as genocide and now no one even dares to mention it clearly shows the political motivations of the international community at the time. In addition to being a geopolitical issue public opinion also matters in the denunciation of genocide. “So it’s a double standard because they are African people, it seems far away from us. So it’s also a case of probably racism” Lamensch told the Daily. 

Instances of denial emerge when governments accused of genocide vehemently reject allegations, exemplified by the Turkish government’s persistent denial of the Armenian genocide, framing the events within a broader wartime context and asserting that the term “genocide” was misused. 

Lastly, the term’s impact extends beyond legal ramifications, influencing public perception and historical memory. In the case of the Uyghur genocide allegations, the term “genocide” is not only a legal designation but also a potent tool that resonates in the public consciousness, shapes diplomatic engagements, guides international responses, and contributes to the long-term historical narrative. Lamensch explained how genocide recognition shapes geopolitics:

“It can bring important tensions between geopolitically as well not to recognize a genocide. If you look at China currently committing grave human rights violations against the Uyghur in China […] the Canadian government has not recognized a genocide, but the parliament has. One of the reasons that a lot of governments refuse to use kind of the word genocide for what’s happening in China, even though there’s growing evidence that genocide is taking place, is because they know that if you use that term, there’s going to be consequences for the country.” 

The ongoing debates surrounding the term underscores its significance in framing discussions on human rights, accountability, and the global responsibility to address alleged atrocities. 

The collective acceptance that certain acts of genocide are “genocide” while others are “ethnic cleansing,” “civil war,” and “ethnic conflict” showcases the role played by a collective understanding when defining something as a genocide. That collective understanding exists in collective memory, which refers to the shared memories, experiences, and interpretations of a group or community. It is a form of cultural memory that transcends individual recollections and becomes part of the broader identity and consciousness of a societal group. 

Genocide and collective memory are inextricably linked, given that the process of memory construction is inherently political. Memory is a site of power construction, where power relations, dynamics of oppression, and political discourses are shaped. Collective memory is mobilized at different stages of a genocide. It is first mobilized during a genocide by the perpetrators and the victims. The perpetrators manipulate collective memory to justify their actions, asking the population to justify the massacre according to widespread historical narratives of oppression, marginalization, or exclusion. As genocide is prepared through the diffusion of genocidal intent and messages, perpetrators are able to influence collective perceptions through propaganda and hateful messages.  In the case of the Rwandan genocide, the government had been encouraging the population to participate in the genocide through continuous broadcasting of hateful ideology on state radios. Radios congratulated citizens for killing Tutsis and encouraged those who hadn’t to partake in the action. Lamensch explains that “in order to accept that the government is going to kill this many people, you have to start hating the other.” 

Collective memory is notably mobilized post-genocide as a site of power construction, where perpetrators can find consequences or absolution for their acts, while victims can find recognition or face the risk of their experiences being questioned and discredited. Thus, post-genocide, there is an immediate interest in shaping the narrative. It is easier for perpetrators of genocide to frame their actions as non-genocidal if the international community did not refer to their actions as “genocide” during the genocide. Moreover, it is also easier for them to be absolved if there are few survivors left to advocate for international recognition of genocide. 

Therefore, the recognition of an event as a genocide shapes the experiences of perpetrators and victims. It also influences collective memory. Almost everyone still remembers the Holocaust  as a horrifying genocide perpetrated by Hitler and the Nazis against the Jews during World War II. The Holocaust has done irreparable harm to Jews across the world and has caused severe intergenerational trauma, PTSD, and cultural damage. Recognizing the Holocaust as a genocide creates a collective space of memory where the atrocities committed against the Jewish population are rightfully remembered. 

Lamensch explained that recognition of genocide within collective memory is also essential for victims: “I know it’s just a recognition and it’s very symbolic, but that symbol is important for the victims because at least it doesn’t deny the death of their family members. So I think that’s something very important for the families and for the victims.” She then added that “even though the Armenian genocide took place more than 100 years ago, a lot of Armenians are still fighting for that kind of recognition. The government of Canada has recognized it, but a lot of governments have not.”

However, many populations who have experienced genocide do not benefit from the existence of a collective memory acknowledging their experiences. As genocide aims for the complete elimination of one group, the elimination of said group’s culture, history, language, or customs is often a part of the process. Fostering spaces of collective memory helps to keep these elements alive. When collective memory does not accurately recall a genocide due to the political manipulations of perpetrators or the international community, the desired impact of the genocide continues as affected populations are not supported in their recollection processes.

Lamensch also mentioned our collective duty of remembrance. She mentioned that the presence of a Holocaust museum in Montreal and the fact that from now on, in Quebec the study of genocide was going to become mandatory in curriculums was a crucial aspect for each one of us to uphold this universal responsibility of memory. She explained: “I think that’s one way that you prevent hate and anti semitism and different forms of hate, islamophobia because we always say that genocide begins with words. Because in order to accept, for example, that the government is going to kill this and this many people, you have to start hating the other. So there needs to be a lot of hate speech for someone to start seeing the other as a threat. So that’s also something that kids should learn at school. How does genocide happen and what does it mean?”  

Lastly, collective memory also plays a crucial role in preventing genocide. When genocide is collectively condemned and remembered, it allows for a reflection on the power dynamics that leads to such extremes and for a reflection on what can be done to prevent them from happening in the future. 

The post The politics of genocide and memory  appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Cheers and waving flags resonated throughout campus on Thursday afternoon as hundreds of students from McGill, Concordia and UDeM, as well as different CEGEPs, gathered at the Y-intersection in downtown Montreal calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza strip.

The rally was originally slated to take place at the intersection of Guy Street and Maisonneuve Boulevard near Concordia University, but the location was changed after an altercation took place in the university’s Hall Building between Jewish and Palestinian student groups. The Concordia administration addressed this violent incident in an email, expressing concern about the rise in acts of intimidation motivated by Islamophobia and antisemitism throughout campus and around the city.

In light of Israel’s continued assault on Gaza, more than 500 students and demonstrators made their way to the Roddick Gates and continued to the entrance of Scotiabank on Sherbrooke Street where they joined another pro-Palestine demonstration. Speeches were given by different organizations and speakers, expressing their support for Palestinians, condemning all forms of oppression, and celebrating student activism. 

Leaders of the rally said they were inspired by the turnout and encouraged the crowd not to lose hope. “The more we are silenced, the more we will continue to fight and the more people will be drawn to our cause” said one of them. Another speaker echoed “do you really think that a population as resilient as Palestinians will be silenced?”  

Salma, a McGill graduate student, spoke out about “the beauty, the resilience and the strength of a united student front for justice.” “Let me make one thing clear,” she said. “Do you know why administrators feel the need to condemn student solidarity? Because they know that student activism works! That student awareness works!” 

Her powerful speech continued by recalling the multiple campaigns successfully carried out by students. “It was students like you that forced McGill to divest from the apartheid in South Africa 38 years ago this month,” she said.

As the voices of students rose, chanting “the students, united, will never be defeated!” or “Free, free Palestine,” hands raised in applause and held up signs saying “Ceasefire Now. Stop the Genocide.”

A speaker from Independent Jewish Voices McGill also took the stage to reaffirm that “all forms of oppression of Jewish or Muslim students were inherently linked.” They then called for an end to the violence, intoning: “How can anyone with a conscience try to silence activists for human rights?”

Despite the cold weather and snow, students stood together behind the Palestinian flag and marched towards Scotiabank, continuously calling for peace as well as official recognition of the genocide and apartheid currently being enacted towards the Palestinian people of Gaza. The rally persisted in front of the Scotiabank, as the bank is a prime target of the Canadian Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement. They are a major shareholder in Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest private weapons manufacturer, whose weapons are frequently used against Palestinians. Students have persistently criticized their universities for investing in companies associated with Israeli arms production, accusing the administration of complicity in the ongoing genocide.

Over the past month, student groups all over the world have been organizing and using their voices to advocate for the respect of human rights and decency, rising together to use their right to speak up for Palestinians. 
Similar events in support of an end of violence in Gaza will continue to be organised by organizations such as the Palestinian Youth Movement Montreal and Independent Jewish Voices McGill. 

The post Student Rally for Gaza appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Since October 7, the Western province of Herat in Afghanistan has been struck by a series of powerful earthquakes and aftershocks, causing extensive human, psychological, and infrastructural damage. As of October 19, aftershocks are continuing, leaving communities in a state of fear and worry.

Devastating Earthquakes Hit The Western Region of Afghanistan

As of October 19, aftershocks are continuing, leaving communities in a state of fear and worry. The first earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.3, hit about 40 km northwest of Herat, the province’s capital, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). This earthquake was followed by a series of strong aftershocks. This earthquake was first said to have caused more than 2,000 casualties, but on October 11, the Afghan Minister of Health Qalandar Ebac revised his statement by saying that the death toll from the quakes amounted to around 1,000. The last known earthquake, also of 6.3 magnitude, hit the same region on October 15.

Even though reporting on exact numbers is a challenging endeavour due to the remote area where the earthquakes occurred, multiple NGOs have been multiplying efforts to collect information and provide adequate aid. According to the latest WHO health situation report, nearly 43,400 people across the districts of Injil, Kushk/Rabat-being, Zildjian, Gulran, Herat, and Kohsan have been directly impacted. 23 per cent are reported to be children under the age of five. Based on their assessment of material destruction, at least 40 health facilities and 3,330 homes have been damaged, together with infrastructure such as the water network. This has left thousands living in open areas and temporary shelters, with limited access to food and water and vulnerable to natural elements, such as aftershocks, cold, and sandstorms.

The situation is especially dire for women and children. On October 12, UNICEF wrote in a press release that over 90 per cent of those reported killed were women and children. The NGO launched a 20 million USD appeal to provide humanitarian assistance to the over 200,000 people in need, including 96,000 children in the most affected areas.

Context on Existing Health Crisis in Afghanistan

Adding to this crisis is the pre-existing exposure of Afghans confronted with a long-standing health crisis resulting from decades of political and economic instability, social issues, and malnutrition, amongst others. “In Afghanistan, this is a disaster on top of a disaster, on top of a disaster, on top of a disaster,” said Philippe Kropf, head of communications at the World Food Programme (WFP) Afghanistan, in an interview, urging the international community to provide humanitarian aid to the war-torn nation.

Afghanistan has been ranked within the top three countries most at risk of a worsening humanitarian crisis in the International Rescue Committee’s (IRC) Emergency Watchlist. Poverty remains one of the main causes of this ranking. IRC explains that since the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, more commonly known as the Taliban, took power in August 2021, international actors, on which most of the healthcare system depended, suspended most of the non-humanitarian funding and froze billions of dollars in assets. In addition, decades of conflict, and the intensification of climate change-related disasters (droughts and floods) have contributed to the vulnerability of both the people and the country’s infrastructure. IRC claims that 28.8 million people are currently in urgent need of support, with nearly 40 per cent of the Afghan population facing severe food insecurity.

A report published earlier this year by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) shed a light on the multiple factors that have been contributing to increases in people’s medical needs and the struggling healthcare system. The report found that socio-political factors, widespread poverty, strict restrictions on women, and decades of conflict were the strongest determinants of this crisis. Over 60 per cent of people surveyed declared that women already face greater obstacles than men when trying to access healthcare, mainly due to movement restrictions linked to the long-established socio-cultural practice known as “mahram.”

The Daily spoke with Dr. Maureen Mayhew, a former McGill student who worked for ten years with MSF in Afghanistan. She shared her account of working in Afghanistan and her thoughts on the current situation. “One thing to understand in Afghanistan is that the war has been going on for a long time, and it’s many wars, right? And so a lot of destruction had happened to the healthcare system, and a lot of the people who were educated had left the country. So therefore, you’re not going to have educated healthcare workers, because all of those people were able to leave the country and go somewhere else, like Canada or the US or Europe. So there were a lot of challenges in setting up anything,” said Dr. Mayhew.

Difficulties in Organizing and Implementing Response and Relief

The multi-sectoral Herat Earthquake Response Plan targets approximately 114,000 people living in high-intensity impact areas. By October 17, WHO and Health Cluster partners had reached 32,511 individuals across multiple districts. In collaboration with the Afghanistan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (AFSOG), WHO has deployed a dedicated team of 21 female healthcare workers from Kabul to Herat. Multiple international organizations, such as IRC, CARE, Save the Children, UNICEF, and the European Union, have been mobilizing to provide aid. However, since the de facto Taliban authorities came to power in 2021, not only has there been a large withdrawal of humanitarian agencies, but there have been many constraints on NGO work, especially women-led organizations. In addition, many countries have been reluctant to provide aid because of political disagreements and a lack of recognition of the Taliban government. Another factor that impedes aid provision in Afghanistan is the high degree of misinformation.

Victoria Jahesh, executive director of the Afghan Women Center of Montreal (AWCM), spoke to the Daily about the Afghan community’s organization in light of the earthquakes and their thoughts on the international community’s response. The AWCM aims to “empower socially isolated immigrant women within Canadian society by designing and implementing programs tailored to their specific needs and also through self-development workshops and collective actions or collective projects,” she explained. As an immediate response to the disaster members of the organization came together and “gathered donations, from the community members to provide this money to the family members living in the region through Western Union. And they will distribute it to the people affected. So far it gathered around $4,000. It’s not too much, but it’s still something.”

Jahesh raised the issue of the lack of action taken by Canada’s government. She explained that “according to Canada’s law, Bill 41 recognizes the Taliban regime as a terrorist regime. So according to this clause and law, Canada refuses to provide any humanitarian help for the terrorism group.”

“There’s a lot happening in Afghanistan, and we see every day that women are banned from school, every day their rights to freedom are restricted. It’s shown in the media. Everyone now is aware. I believe it is our collective responsibility and efforts to shed light on how we can bring awareness and to shed light on the injustice and suffering faced by Afghans and especially the magnitude of violence inflicted through gender apartheid.” Jahesh then defined “gender apartheid,” saying “it means that Afghan women and girls are forced in systemic isolation, restricting their freedoms of assembly movements or maybe employment beyond their household, or they’re ultimately forced to function as an underclass in Afghan society these days.” In terms of international responsibility, she added that refusing to recognize and act upon gender apartheid in Afghanistan “sets a dangerous precedent for young girls as the systemic erasure of rights and freedoms become a norm in Afghanistan now.”

When asked if they had had any direct contact with people affected by the earthquake, Victoria Jahesh introduced one of the members of AWCM, Mohammad Tawfiq Fushanji, whose family lives in Herat. He described the difficulty his loved ones were going through, saying that “the services are not available for those in need there. No access to hospitals or medication. And people cannot do anything. They are all outside their homes.” He added that women were facing a difficult situation because their movements were restricted.

Focus on Women and Child Health

Women and children make up a majority of the victims of the earthquakes. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates that there are 3,000 women of reproductive age affected by the earthquakes, making it one of their priorities that they receive urgent maternal and reproductive health care. When the Taliban regime first came to power in 1996, the country had one of the world’s highest maternal, infant and child mortality rates. However, due to significant investments in health and the establishment of midwifery programs, the maternal mortality rate declined from approximately 1,450 to 658 deaths per 100,000 live births, between 2001 and 2017. Yet, it is important to note that since the Taliban took over, women have been experiencing the most drawbacks in terms of freedom and are amongst the most affected by the economic and health crisis, especially mothers and children. This contributes to their vulnerability in events such as the recent earthquakes.

The Daily talked with Dr. Mayhew about public, maternal and child health in light of the earthquakes and within the general socio-political context of Afghanistan. Referring to factors that contributed to the fragility of the health system and the vulnerability of women and children’s health, she mentioned the sustained climate of war for the past decades, the lack of medical infrastructures in rural areas, and the high rates of illiteracy, especially for women, which hinders the possibility of women working in the health system: “If you think about the lack of education of girls at this point is you’re going to run into a problem, a pipeline problem of human resources for educated girls to become healthcare workers and teachers who it’s really important to have female healthcare workers because men in Afghanistan, it’s not okay for them to do female examinations and things like that. Because of those cultural rules, male OBGYN, obstetrical gynecologists are not going to be able to provide adequate care because of the repercussions to them, even if they wanted to do it,” she explained.

Dr. Mayhew added that “the international community stopped funding a lot of NGOs, and a lot of NGOs pulled out. And because of that, the funding of healthcare workers was greatly reduced and hospitals were left to their own resources. Clinics were left to their own resources. And we do know that historically the healthcare sector was propped up by international funding. And because of political disagreements, that funding was removed. And so you could say that the international community is not supporting women and children because of political agendas. You could say that that in and of itself hurts women and children.”

Next Steps and International Responsibility

Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, as it lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates. So what will happen next? Many international organizations are calling on international actors to provide financial aid to Afghans.
Looking back at the projects that were established in the years she worked in Afghanistan, Dr. Mayhew told the Daily that “having a midwifery program was working. So that needs to continue to happen. It also means that women and girls need to be allowed to go into that and to be educated enough. And then to provide family planning in the ways that are acceptable in Afghanistan.” She highlighted that “to do that in the current milieu, you’re going to have to work with the Taliban to make that happen. And you’re going to have to swallow some of the judgment that you might feel while you move that agenda along. And then, of course, enough food is going to be important as well. So then you get into agriculture and social determinants of health. All of those things are going to be necessary to help women and children.” She also added that “another thing that people in North America often don’t know or forget about is that Afghanistan is a collectivist society. It is not an individualistic society. So if we can reframe health to be more family health, I think that would be helpful.”

Finally, what can we, as students, do to support Afghans? Victoria Jahesh suggests that students should gain more awareness of what is happening and highlights that she wishes to see more students get involved in terms of ideas and advocacy. “It’s all happening with the youth,” she says.
Dr. Mayhew concluded by saying “the first thing I would say is you need good information. Look for information that isn’t the same as what you would usually look at. Go look at Al Jazeera, or look at a Muslim source of information and just see. Is there a different perspective?” She then discussed the difficulty for North America to separate from the dogma that Muslim women need saving. She recalls, “Not all Afghan women need saving either. And there is power that these women have. And being able to recognize that power and then help capitalize on it, I think that would be a wonderful way to go.”

The post Devastating Earthquakes in Western Afghanistan appeared first on The McGill Daily.

A year later, the Daily met with Delali, the general coordinator of Midnight Kitchen, to discuss the service, the progress they have made in the past year, and their plans for this year. 

The McGill Daily (MD): Could you briefly explain what your association does? What are your main activities and goals? 

Delali: Briefly, our goal is to provide alternative food options on campus. One of our biggest programs is our free lunch program that we do on Thursdays at 1:00 p.m. in the ballroom of [the University Centre]. Our goal is to serve approximately 150 meals this year at each service. But we do a lot of different things. 

MD: Could you explain what an “alternative food option” is?

Delali: Typical food options are grocery stores, restaurants, and stuff like that. And usually there’s a big price tag attached to those things, especially in recent years. Prices keep going up, but it’s not accessible to everyone. Food is a necessity. There was a point where people could access food by growing it themselves or trading for it, but as things have progressed, [this has] become less of an option, or it’s a lot harder for people in the city to grow all of their own food to provide for their family.  So Midnight Kitchen just adds another option that doesn’t require money. 

MD:  Do you feel like the food situation on campus has worsened in recent years, with the inflation of food prices and COVID-19?

Delali: For sure. I feel like even before COVID, prices for food on campus were  pretty steep for a student coming to campus every day. If you weren’t making all of your own meals and you had to buy lunch every day between classes, often people choose whatever is around, and what’s around is usually quite pricey. 

MD:  Have you seen an increase in student demand? 

Delali: Absolutely. A lot of mobilization came from frustration with the current food situation on campus. It’s great that people love our service and use it, but we’re not going to solve the issue as one service. But I feel like there have been new things popping up that are trying to offer alternatives, such as the grocery store in [the University Centre] with cheaper lunches.

MD: How has McGill responded to your actions? Has there been an increase in support? 

Delali: No, we’ve never had support from McGill, and there’s not been an increase. Since we’re a student service, and most of our interactions are with SSMU, we don’t really have a relationship with the administration.

MD: Would you like McGill to get involved and help? 

Delali: Of course, we would love that. 

MD: Can you discuss the fee increase that happened last year? How has that helped? What were the reactions? 

Delali: We’re really happy about the fee increase. Our biggest goal was just to expand our food budget so that we could not only cook with donated food that we get through Moisson Montreal – which is a food organization that distributes food that would have otherwise been thrown out. We do get a lot of free food through them, but it’s also nice to have the option of buying more fresh stuff to cook while keeping an inventory of options of things to cook for students. So in order to make sure that we can still provide all the same services and more, the increase has been really helpful. 

MD: Have you been receiving a lot of student support? 

Delali: Yes, but we always get lots of student support, which is always very heartwarming. There’s always a lot of students who are interested in volunteering with us and helping to cook. Honestly, I wish our kitchen was bigger so we could have more people in the kitchen helping us cook. 

MD: How do these volunteer training sessions work? 

Delali: Usually we will have people come to a training session, happening next week, and then also fill out a little form just so we know that they’re coming. Then, we have a big sheet with the shift times and stuff like that. Usually, shifts are two hours. And anybody is welcome to come – you don’t have to have experience cooking at all. Just an interest, curiosity, and [willingness] to help out in any way.

The Midnight Kitchen Collective will be hosting its volunteer orientation on Monday, September 18, from 5:00–6:00 p.m. at the University Centre (Room 304) and on Tuesday, September 19, from 5:00–6:00 p.m. at the University Centre (Room 302/304). To register for an orientation session, fill out the form on Midnight Kitchen’s website.

The free packaged meal service schedule can also be found on the Midnight Kitchen website. The next free meal service will be held on September 21 at 1:00 p.m. on the third floor of the University Centre. The food provided is plant-based and nut-free, and Midnight Kitchen asks that participants bring a reusable container and utensils.

The post An Interview with Midnight Kitchen appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Within days of each other, two North African countries were severely hit by disasters affecting thousands of civilians. The magnitude 6.8 earthquake that struck central Morocco on the night of September 8 originated in the High Atlas Mountains, 45 miles southwest of Marrakech, causing extensive damage in nearby rural and urban areas. As of September 15, over 3,000 people have been killed and 5,500 injured in what was the country’s deadliest earthquake in over 60 years. As search and rescue operations continue these numbers are only expected to grow. 

Earthquakes are commonly caused along the line where two tectonic plates move against each other, and in Morocco, earthquakes mostly happen where the African and Eurasian plates meet. Scientists have explained that the earthquake resulted from a geological phenomenon called a “reverse fault”. This phenomenon occurs when tectonic plates collide, causing the Earth’s crust to thicken. The stress along these fault lines can induce earthquakes as rocks abruptly shift to release accumulated stress, which is characteristic of a seismic fault.

The earthquake caused severe damage, rendering thousands homeless, forcing many people to evacuate, and prompting the authorities to declare three days of mourning. South of Marrakesh Al-Haouz was the hardest-hit region, but other provinces – including Ouarzazate, Azilal, Chichaoua, and Taroudant – were also left devastated. Some isolated villages have been destroyed, and rescue teams are struggling to reach others. Government inspectors have informed residents that they must evacuate their homes because the earthquake has rendered them unsafe. Nevertheless, many residents are hesitant to leave because they lack alternative shelter and are afraid of possible aftershocks, leaving hundreds of survivors sleeping in the streets.

Questions about the preparedness of the country

The amount of material destruction caused by the earthquake raises questions about Morocco’s ability to withstand major disasters. Indeed, the earthquake seemed to highlight the vulnerability of a large number of homes to widespread damage, particularly in rural areas. The earthquake has revived a national debate on the strengthening and application of anti-seismic standards. In recent years, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has stressed the need to promote “build back better” mechanisms following disasters, in order to mitigate future risks.  

A week after the disaster, the Daily met with Simo Benkirane, the Co-President of the Moroccan Students’ Society (MSS) to discuss the impact of the earthquake and the response that has been organized both on-site and on campus. Simo explained that “the reason villages got destroyed was because the houses were made using traditional methods. A lot of wood and clay. These materials are not resistant, they are not earthquake-proof. That’s the problem.” Compliance with anti-seismic standards was similarly put on the agenda following the February 2023 earthquake in Turkey and Syria, which killed 56,350 people.

Initial response

The focus is now turning to rehousing the survivors and rebuilding villages to respect anti-seismic standards. According to an International Medical Corps situation report, Morocco’s Ministry of Health and Social Protection confirmed that more than 300 tons of medicines and medical devices have been delivered to the Al-Haouz province this week. The national stock is anticipated to meet the needs of those injured at this time. In addition to trauma and health needs, additional areas of support requested include food and water, shelter and non-food items, and mental health and psychosocial support services. Additionally, the report highlights that delivering aid is currently hindered by several factors, including roadblocks resulting from the earthquake, the risk of landslides, and existing infrastructure challenges, particularly in the mountainous terrain. 

Benkirane emphasized the amount of solidarity within the country and the Moroccan government’s response: “The Moroccan people have been very united. I don’t know a single Moroccan who hasn’t been helping in their own way”. He told the Daily that “whether they’re in Morocco or whether they’re outside of Morocco, like us, raising awareness on the issue, everybody is contributing,” and added that “the Moroccan government is helping the people affected. Our king and the government have opened up a huge fund to build back the villages using the proper norms.” 

Geopolitics and politicization of international aid

However, debates have emerged regarding the management of foreign aid. Indeed, the mobilization of aid on a national and international scale was, from the very first days following the earthquake, tainted by a phenomenon of politicization of emergency aid. The Moroccan government has been selective in terms of accepting aid, only allowing support from Spain, the UK, Qatar, and the Emirates, despite numerous offers from governments worldwide. Meanwhile, countries such as Tunisia, Algeria, France, Germany, Italy, and Canada – as well as the United Nations – have all said they are prepared to intervene but are waiting on authorities to respond. There are different explanations for this reluctance from the Moroccan government to accept all foreign aid. One is political and the other is logistical. Some have interpreted the non-recourse to French aid as a reflection of the tensions between the two states. Relations between Morocco and France, a former colonial power, have been tense for several months, over issues of visas for Moroccan nationals, the recognition of Western Sahara, and relations with Algeria. Currently, Morocco doesn’t have an ambassador in France. The two countries broke off diplomatic relations in 2021 after French President, Emmanuel Macron, tried to get closer to Algeria. 

One one hand, foreign aid can be seen as a tool of foreign politics and as a way for the donor to expand its influence and power. Indeed, it can be used by policymakers to further their foreign policy objectives, as it allows the donor state to assert its military capacities and ability to shape international affairs.  This is especially relevant when taking into consideration the France’s  colonial past. On another hand, the Moroccan government and experts have been sustaining that too high an input of foreign aid can be more of a hindrance and weakens the possibility of efficient coordination. “There are huge logistics issues that accompany the inflow of international aid. In my opinion, having hundreds of countries come and just do whatever they want can cause huge chaos,” said Benkirane. “ Our centralized government is very organized. We know the ins and outs of the affected regions and are dispatching the needed resources as efficiently as possible in such a situation.” 

Student support and engagement

The Daily asked the MSS if there were ways for the students to mobilize in relief efforts and how their society had been organizing their engagement from campus. Their main goal is to be a central “point of communication by raising awareness and trustworthy sources” for students on campus. One of their first actions was to share reliable links that would allow students to get involved in the relief response. Benkirane also mentioned that they are “also working with SSMU and different associations around Montreal to be able to raise donations and gather items of clothing and camping equipment that we can then send back to Morocco.” He added, “we’re also going to have a bake sale to raise money for Libya which has had floods, and Morocco and that’s mostly all that we can do.” This will probably be held next week on campus and will be advertised through their social media platforms. In moments like these “it’s really nice to see that people care and want to help. Even one dollar makes a difference” added the MSS. 

Recurrence of catastrophes: Libyan floods

In addition to earthquakes, climatic catastrophes are becoming increasingly frequent and widespread – as in Libya, where Storm Daniel struck on September 10, causing unprecedented flooding, leaving thousands dead and injured in the Derna region. On Friday, Libyan authorities limited access to the flooded city of Derna,  to make it easier for searchers to dig through the mud for the more than 10,000 people still missing and presumed dead following a disaster that has already claimed more than 11,000 lives. Libya is particularly vulnerable to the impact of natural disasters as it has no unified government, since two rival administrations that are locked in a political standoff following a civil war that began in 2014. Moreover, it is interesting to look at how Libya and Morocco have very different responses to their disasters, and the way in which it reflects the current state of the two countries. While the two countries are geographically close to each other – 2,000 kilometres – there is a stark difference in their ability to respond to the disasters. Indeed, whereas in Morocco people have been mobilized on a large scale in coordination with the central government hours following the earthquake, in Libya international aid was able to reach Derna only two days after the disaster struck. This gap in response between the two countries shows how Libya’s divisions have exacerbated the ongoing disaster. More than a decade of war has weakened infrastructures and state services, and an inability to coordinate, leaving the country dangerously unprepared to respond to this mass-scale humanitarian disaster. Experts say that the near-simultaneous occurrence of these two events in the Mediterranean is symbolic of the major challenges posed by climate change. 

During a UN News Briefing, Martin Griffiths, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator at the United Nations, said that “climate and capacity have collided to cause this terrible tragedy”, acting as “a massive reminder” of climate change and the challenge it poses. 

If you would like to keep being informed on the possibilities of helping on campus visit:  https://linktr.ee/mssmcgill. 

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This summer, Canada has suffered its most record-breaking fires, fueled by months of hot and dry meteorological conditions. More than 15 million hectares have been scorched – representing a surface greater than Greece (13.19 million hectors) – breaking the previous record set in 1989 of 7.6 million hectares. Since January 2023, the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre declares that there have been 6,118 wildfires, with six still ongoing in British Columbia, Ontario, and the Northwest Territories. This forced over 200,000 Canadians to be evacuated and caused 17 fatalities. The Donnie Creek wildfire began on May 12 and became the largest fire ever recorded in BC, surpassing the size of Prince Edward Island. The wildfires have had a serious impact on air quality in Canada and the neighboring United States, with Air Quality Index (AQI) values often exceeding safe levels in the Midwest and Northeast United States, and in some cases approaching record levels. 

These natural disasters have been multiplying in number and intensity in the last decades, not only in Canada, but in the rest of the world. While statistics for  2023  have yet to be published, in 2022, the Emergency Event Database, EM-DAT, recorded 387 natural hazards and disasters worldwide resulting in the loss of 30,704 lives. On September 6, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) reported that the period from June to August was the hottest on record, with an average global temperature of 16.77°C. This is well above the previous record set in 2019, set at 16.48°C . C3S’s Climate Change Service Director Carlo Buontempo declared that “ we are observing, not only new extremes but the persistence of these record-breaking conditions, and the impacts these have on both people and planet, are a clear consequence of the warming of the climate system.” Scientists explain that human-induced climate change is due to the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas, as well as a natural phenomenon known as El Niño, which is a temporary warming of certain parts of the Pacific Ocean that alters weather conditions worldwide. 

Furthermore, on August 22, the World Weather Attribution published an in-depth scientific analysis proving that climate change more than doubled the risk of extreme weather conditions for fires in Canada. By focusing on “fire-weather indices” they were able to identify the role of human-induced climate change. In their findings, they noted that seasons with similar severity as the one we saw this summer are now at least seven times more likely to occur. Additionally, they found that the intensity of these seasons has risen by approximately 20 per cent due to human-induced climate change. A crucial point highlighted in the report is that the wildfires disproportionately affected Indigenous communities. These groups faced heightened vulnerability because of limited access to services and challenges in responding effectively to the fires. Indeed, climate change has significant impacts on ongoing social issues. The World Bank has linked climate change to global inequality patterns. In other words, climate change sheds light on deeply entrenched social vulnerabilities and imbalances. While they are those to least contribute to climate change, the most impacted social groups are female-headed households, children, persons with disabilities, Indigenous Peoples and ethnic minorities, landless tenants, migrant workers, displaced persons, sexual and gender minorities, older people, and other socially and economically marginalized groups. These disproportionate effects can be felt in terms of health consequences, food, water, and livelihood security, migration and forced displacement, loss of cultural identity, and other related risks. This is a reminder that climate change is not simply an environmental crisis, but also a social crisis and it should be reflected in the solutions offered. 

The recent forest fires in Canada serve as a clear illustration of this situation, as they have exacerbated existing problems like the housing and homelessness crisis and the vulnerability of Indigenous communities. To understand this phenomenon, it is first crucial to grasp the situation in Canada. In recent years, affordable housing has become increasingly  rare. Indeed, Canada has some of the highest housing prices compared to income in the G7 countries. According to the 2023 Mercer Cost of Living Survey, Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal are the three most expensive cities in the country. Unaffordable housing can be explained by multiple factors including growing inflation rates – for the past ten years, inflation was between one and three per cent but in 2022, it reached 6.3 per cent – low supply clashed with a high demand of mainly foreign investors and short-term rentals which contributed to increasing prices and housing shortages. In the last year, interest rates have also doubled. Finally, building materials have recently also been facing price increases. Overall, in Canada, housing has evolved into a genuine crisis, forcing a growing number of individuals into a state of economic vulnerability.

Moreover, unaffordable housing is one of the leading causes of homelessness. The Homeless Hub has estimated that between 150,000 and 300,000 individuals experience homelessness each year in Canada. This is disproportionately affecting Indigenous populations. In one of their studies, the Homeless Hub estimated that in urban centers, one in fifteen Indigenous people experience homelessness, compared to one out of 128 for the general population. This is the result of centuries of economic exclusion and discriminatory policies. The study finds that different historical traumas including Canada’s colonization and exploitation of indigenous lands and populations, and policies such as the Doctrine of Discovery and the Indian Act forcibly putting Indigenous children into residential schools led to diverse issues such as familial dysfunction, addictions, and social marginalization contributing to homelessness. Other factors include transitions from reserves to urban living in search of employment and increased opportunity, racism, landlord discrimination, high incarceration rates, compromised education opportunities and support, and unemployment.

How does climate change contribute to these problems? Numerous articles have highlighted how climate change exacerbates pressures on housing, homelessness, and the vulnerability of Indigenous populations. With increasingly frequent and severe wildfires, we see a rise in destroyed homes, leading to greater displacement, delays in obtaining construction materials, increased housing insurance costs, and ultimately unaffordable housing, weighing most heavily on the most underserved communities. The UNHCR recently published a report addressing the climate crisis and the right to housing, stating that “the climate crisis is severely threatening the enjoyment of the right to adequate housing around the world. Marginalized groups and their homes are at particular risk and exposed to the impact of climate change and therefore need to be involved in climate responses at all levels.” 

Furthermore, not only are Indigenous populations more exposed to homelessness, but they are also more vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Professor Amy Janzwood, from the Department of Political Science and Bieler School of the Environment at McGill, has been researching environmental politics and governance. In an email to the Daily, she recommended one of her recently published articles, co-authored with Professors Minh Do and Kristen Pue: “Multilevel governance, climate (in)justice, and settler colonialism—evidence from First Nations disaster evacuations in so-called Canada”. The article, published in the Critical Policy, Studies Journal explains how Indigenous populations in Canada are disproportionately affected by climate change because “disaster management reproduces settler-colonial dynamics of displacement in so-called Canada.” In other words, through an analysis of policies and priority setting during the recent wildfires, their research asserts that because of the refusal of the federal and provincial governments to take into account the position of Indigenous governments and their unique vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, a colonial framework of governance is perpetuated at the expense of Indigenous peoples. Despite the federal government’s recent acknowledgment that First Nations, the Métis Nation, and Inuit peoples experience disproportionate impacts from climate change, the article underscores that “Indigenous peoples’ strategies to address climate change issues continue to be systematically excluded from the development and implementation of climate policies.”  Indeed, by analyzing data from Indigenous Services Canada, they found that “First Nations are disproportionately affected by largely climate-related disasters, evacuating at a higher frequency – 328 times higher, on average.” The article later expands on how emergency management is supposed to be a shared responsibility between the different levels of government concerned with the event. In addition, as stipulated by the Indian Act (1876), the current paradigm of reconciliation between the state and Indigenous populations recognizes the jurisdictional authority and self-autonomy of Indigenous governments. However recent events seem to be showing that effective coordination between the different levels of government and Indigenous governments is missing. Furthermore, they highlight that the Indigenous government’s continued reliance on federal funding illustrates the perseverance of a hierarchical relationship between these levels of governance. However, the article concludes that better collaboration with Indigenous communities on evacuation procedures “has the potential to reduce the risk of these interventions compounding experiences of marginalization.”

Once we acknowledge that human-induced climate change acts as a catalyst for the intensification and frequency of wildfires and other natural disasters, it is important to look beyond its material and quantitative effects. Indeed, these climate disasters don’t function in a fair and equal way. Not only does it disproportionately weigh on the most marginalized, acting as a magnifying glass on issues such as Indigenous discrimination, it also reinforces economic inequality by amplifying the current housing and homelessness crisis, giving way to expressions such as “environmental racism”.  This term refers to the disproportionate exposure of marginalized communities, mainly low-income communities to environmental risks. This systemic form of discrimination perpetuates social and economic inequalities, including colonial frameworks, leaving vulnerable populations to bear the weight of climate change.

As these events worsen and widen socio-economic disparities, it becomes imperative for governments to address housing issues and discrimination to ensure everyone can withstand the climate crisis.

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Recently reported food insecurity on McGill’s campus reflects a city and nation-wide trend. Overall, the leading causes of food insecurity are poverty and an economic climate that has recently further exposed and entrenched people in poverty. Indeed, since 2019, food bank visits have skyrocketed, with the highest year-over-year increase in usage since the aftermath of the 2008 to 2009 recession. Stagnant provincial social assistance rates, end of pandemic-related benefits, and soaring inflation have all affected the ability of individuals in Canada to feed themselves and their families. Statistics Canada stated in January that Canada’s Consumer Price Index rose 6.3 per cent year-over-year in December 2022, fuelled by an 11 per cent jump in prices for food purchased from stores. Food inflation hovered around the 11 per cent mark during the last five months of 2022. To face this food crisis, various people and organisations are mobilising and trying to meet rising need. Among these, Resilience Montreal, created in 2019 by the Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal,  is a community-led project to support the homeless population in the Cabot Square area.

The number of individuals experiencing food insecurity in Montreal has continued to increase since the onset of the pandemic. According to Moisson Montreal’s Hunger Report, nearly 900,000 requests for food assistance were made to Moisson Montreal’s partner organizations in 2022 – an increase of 25.8 per cent  from the previous year. Rising inflation and the pandemic have given way to this rapid rise in food insecurity. For context, Moisson Montreal reported 600,000 requests to food pantries made in 2019, which was a continuation of a downward trend in previous years. 

Furthermore, food insecurity is a crucial issue in Montreal because it persists in circumstances of already existing crises regarding homelessness. In March 2020, the city of Montreal declared a state of emergency regarding the population of homeless people. Montreal has the highest number of homeless people in Quebec. The Canadian Observatory on Homelessness estimated in 2018 that 3149 people were experiencing homelessness at the time. While the effects of COVID-19 cannot be fully measured yet, many experts believe this number could be multiplied five or ten times this year. According to a 2020 report from the Milton-Parc Citizens Committee, out of these individuals, an Indigenous person is 27 times more likely to experience homelessness than a non-Indigenous person, and an Inuit person is 80 times more likely to experience homelessness. According to the Milton-Parc Citizens Committee, Indigenous people often find inadequate support systems in cities and discrimination in housing and job markets. 

Organizations like Resilience Montreal have noticed an uptick in their number of clientele seeking food support and services. They provide access to sleeping areas, showers, computers, clothing, first aid, a host of intervention services, and notably, three meals a day. Resilience offers a hot breakfast, a hot lunch, and a takeaway dinner for after the shelter closes every day at 3 PM. 

Margo Buchanan, Logistics, Community Program and Volunteer Coordinator, tells the Daily that Resilience’s food services have changed since the onset of the pandemic. When the organization started in 2019, they served three hot meals a day to roughly 60 to 80 people, Buchanan explains. Because of COVID-19, they had to begin providing their services outdoors in the park mid-2020. Individuals seeking meals went up to 100 per meal, as they were serving an open park and anyone could now get food. Consequently, they had to reduce their services to two hot meals a day and one takeaway meal. In September 2020 they moved back inside, but the demand kept climbing. “When we moved back inside, […] we started at 100 and then word got out that the food was good and we hired a lot of kitchen staff and then it went from 100 to 150, and then within three months, we were already up to 300,” says Buchanan. As of January 2021, Resilience serves around 300 people per meal. 

Buchanan stresses the importance of ensuring their food is not only nourishing for their clientele, but also delicious. Once a week, Resilience Montreal has “Traditional Food Tuesdays,” where they provide traditional meals for Indigenous people. On these Tuesdays, they will serve seafood, often raw, and other traditionally Inuit cuisine, as that is the largest group of Indigenous peoples served by Resilience. She further explains that if there are First Nations clientele in the area, they will also serve a traditional First Nations meal – such as caribou, tacos with local meats, or moose burgers – alongside the Inuit meal. “The overall goal of providing traditional food Tuesdays is to give people a sense of home and community and make them feel seen and understood and highlight how important their culture is to us as well,” adds Buchanan. Meals from recent weeks include cold caribou, arctic char and hot caribou ribs with rice, and caribou heart stew with bannock, frozen caribou and arctic char.

Buchanan explains that it is mostly the intervention workers at Resilience who coordinate and prepare the hot meal service. Because of the large clientele that they serve, Resilience mostly relies on big collectives – such as the Community Cooks Collective – to make individual elements of the meals for them to then be combined on site at Resilience. They also have networks of organizations and individuals throughout Montreal who donate baked goods for the takeaway lunches, Buchanan says, and the organization Bread and Beyond makes sandwiches for Resilience (which they need by the thousands every week). They also get a large amount of food every week from Moisson Montreal. “It’s a huge group effort [from] people across the city,” says Buchanan, “That’s the only reason we’re able to reach the numbers that we are.” 

Resilience does everything possible to ensure they provide the best quality food for every single person. Buchanan explains that Resilience “[tries] to do our best to remind them that they’re important despite their experience in the street every day.” Buchanan adds that for Traditional Food Tuesdays, because it’s often seafood they offer for Inuit clientele, they will often buy ingredients in store if they don’t have the donations. “We take so much pride in the work that we do, which is why we spend so much money despite having this huge network of people that make us food, because we really do try to give them the best quality food,” she says, “and honestly, [the food] is great.” 

Despite this large network of support, Resilience is always looking for more people to get involved. Buchanan stresses that donations from Bread and Beyond to Resilience often drop off over the summer in particular, as the organizations partners with elementary and high schools to make the sandwiches. She explains that a great way to help would be to volunteer for Bread and Beyond over the summer, or other organizations like the Community Cooks Collective, which also in turn help support the other shelters across the city. Beyond that, Buchanan says that they are always looking for volunteers at Resilience to help serve and make food, either on site or at home. 

If you are interested in getting involved, you can email resilience.volunteer@gmail.com.

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During the talk, the Mohawk Mothers discussed the New Vic case; their experience dealing with the Canadian legal system; the importance of raising awareness about the human rights violations and injustices that Indigenous people still endure; and their responsibilities and duties as Ka’nisténhsera’. 

Panelists began by defining the word Ka’nisténhsera’, or “life-giver,” which refers to women and mothers, and includes their connection to nature and creation. Ka’nisténhsera’ have a responsibility towards  Ienthi’nistenhah tsi ionhontsá:te’, Mother Earth, and to the tahatikonhsontóntie, the children yet to come. The Ka’nisténhsera’ then discussed how their language highlights their ties to the earth. Engaged in the struggle for Indigenous rights since the 1960s, Kahentinetha  added that “our language is the vehicle of our way of life”. During a discussion with the Daily, Kwetiio emphasized the importance of the role of women and specifically mothers: “Women have a specific duty of caring and nurturing [which] comes from their way of living. Ka’nisténhsera’ comes from the word O’nísta, which means the umbilical cord connecting a child to its mother and a community to Mother Earth.” 

When asked about their activism and fight in the New Vic case, the Ka’nisténhsera’ responded that “this is not simply activism, this is our life […] to us, it’s just survival”. In 2015, speculation started to circulate that there may be unmarked graves of Indigenous people, including children, present at the Royal Victoria Hospital site resulting from unethical experiments carried out in the 1950s and 1960s. On October 27, 2022, the Mohawk Mothers made history when Justice Gregory Moore granted them an interlocutory injunction to immediately halt “any excavation in furtherance of the redevelopment of the Allan Memorial Institute or the Royal Victoria Hospital.” This decision marked the first time in Canadian history that self-represented Indigenous people won an injunction without the use of attorneys, and instead based on their own governance system, the Kaianere’kó:wa (Great Peace). When discussing the New Vic case, the Mohawk Mothers agreed that “this is an opportunity for Canada and Quebec to have a new relationship with the people and the land.” 

However, the Mohawk Mothers emphasized the crucial importance of raising awareness and consciousness of our surroundings and of how we act. They said that “this knowledge will no longer stay silent […] if you know something and do nothing, then you are part of the problem.” They added that things needed to change. Kwetiios’s mother emphasized the fact that “being sorry is not enough,” to which Kahentinetha responded that “the word sorry is empty. In our language, there is no word to say sorry […] instead you make it right.” 

Finally, the Mohawk Mothers explained the necessity to uncover the truth and end these human rights violations by reevaluating the whole judicial system, which systematically reproduces injustices while giving the “illusion of empowerment.” The last question asked by Torrado was about their vision for the future, to which they responded that they would like “the land to be respected again, returning to a value system and stop taking things for granted.” They added that they would like women to be able to properly care for their children. Kwetiio said, “We will do whatever we have to do to have our dignity respected. Creation stands with us.” 

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