In 2026, Deloitte predicts that women will make up less than 30 per cent of the global technology workforce, given that they are consistently underrepresented in academic programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). What is more, women make up only 25 per cent of tech positions on a global scale, as reported by Forbes and the National Center for Women and Information Technology. 

Girls Who Code confronts gender disparity in STEM by making the field inclusive and accessible for women and gender-diverse people. With an eye towards breaking gender barriers, the organization offers computer science lessons and mentorship for elementary and high school students across Montreal. It also runs hackathons for university students, networking events, and workshops. 

The Daily spoke with Girls Who Code executives Jenna Cacchione and Virginia Ceccatelli, U3 students studying Computer Science and Economics at McGill. We talked about the creative side to coding, imposter syndrome, and why young girls and gender-diverse students belong in the computer science field.

This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Enid Kohler for The McGill Daily (MD): How did you get involved in Girls Who Code, and why? 

Virginia Ceccatelli (VC): I was never really exposed to coding in high school. It wasn’t really a subject that was taught, and I always thought it was scary as a field and very masculine. When I started my studies in International Relations in university, I got a bit of exposure to Python and R and had so much fun with it, so I transferred into Computer Science. I want to give girls the opportunity to get into coding and see that it’s a creative process as well. 

Jenna Cacchione (JC): Similar to Virginia, I did my first year in [another program, Economics,] and then I switched into Computer Science. My high school didn’t have anything computer related…Had I had a program like this, maybe I would have switched into CS a little bit earlier. I really just wanted to give back [by giving] other girls that same opportunity. 

VC: CS really is like learning a language. Like any language, the more you speak it and the earlier you’re exposed to it, it’s so much easier to pick it up. 

MD: That’s a really good comparison. For those who aren’t familiar with your organization, can you pitch Girls Who Code in a few sentences? 

VC: [Girls Who Code] a way to make coding fun and creative, and to change the narrative that [coding] is anything relegated to the masculine sphere. We give back to young girls [by seeing] them learn every week. It’s really rewarding.

JC: [Coding] can be really daunting. Sometimes I look at my computer screen and I’m like, ‘oh my God, what am I even doing?’ For younger girls especially, it can be super intimidating, especially since it’s a male-dominated field. I hope our facilitators can act as big sisters to our students. 

MD: Why is it important that young girls and gender-diverse students have access to program like Girls Who Code? 

VC: In general, the CS field is massively male-dominated. Most role models in the industry are guys. So for us, it’s really to show girls that they can do it; it’s not that hard. For guys, this message is something they might have been told growing up, and for girls, it’s not necessarily the narrative. 

MD: You mentioned that the Computer Science space is predominantly male-dominated. In your own professional and/or academic experiences, what kind of patterns have you observed in terms of female representation and inclusivity? 

VC: I’m not working in the field yet, but through research projects, I’ve found that you have to prove yourself more. If you’re in a room that has seven guys and two girls, the two girls have to prove that they know what they’re talking about, that they can actually do everything that everyone else can. I feel like there’s this constant voice that’s second guessing my abilities as a girl coder. 

JC: I have to agree. I also find imposter syndrome is very much there. Exactly what you said, if you’re sitting at a table with a bunch of men, and you’re the only two girls, I sometimes feel like, ‘I don’t belong here.’It’s a mental challenge. Like, ‘no, I’ve put in the work. I do belong here. 

MD: On that note, what do you hope students will take away from the program beyond practical coding skills? 

JC: I hope that students realize that it’s okay to ask for help. Sometimes you do need guidance. I had tons of [it], and I was very lucky to have had mentors who were part of Girls Who Code. I hope that [these girls are] able to ask for help and possibly find a mentor later on in their academic career. 

MD: Do you have a favorite memory of your work with Girls Who Code? 

VC: In my year of being a facilitator for Girls Who Code, I taught at the same high school and a lot of the girls stayed the entire year. In the beginning, they were shy about asking questions, but it was really nice to see them gradually gain so much confidence. 

JC: I like the fact that our whole executive team is going through the same thing: we’re all looking for internships, we’re all studying pretty much the same classes. It’s nice to have that community. 

MD: The theme of this column is “good people doing good things.” In the context of your work with Girls Who Code, what does being a “good person” mean to you?

JC: To me, being a good person means giving back and helping younger girls. Acknowledging that I didn’t have the guidance or knowledge that I do now, and then giving it to the next person. 

VC: Instead of resenting the system and having to stretch myself to catch up to get to where I am now, I can give these girls what I wish I had. Being a good person also means sticking together as girls and by helping girls realize that they can do it if they want to. There’s nothing stopping them. 

Learn more about Girls Who Code and opportunities to get involved on Instagram, @girlswhocodemcgill, or through their website, girlswhocode. ssmu.ca

End note: If you know good people doing good things who you would like to see featured in this column, email news@mcgilldaily.com

The post Rewriting the Code: McGill Students Break Barriers in Computer Science appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Play is critical for children’s physical and mental well-being, but not every child has the same access to recreational athletics and community socialization. Founded in 2000, Right to Play is an international non-profit organization that seeks to protect, educate, and empower children in disadvantaged communities through the power of play. Since its foundation, it has reached millions of children in Africa, Asia, and North America, namely, Canada; with the aim of harnessing play to support youth enduring conflict, disease, and poverty.

Since 2006, students have been the official university representatives of the Right to Play organization at McGill. They volunteer in local Montreal schools to promote inclusive and accessible play, fundraise for the international organization, and run community events like toy and food drives for underprivileged communities in the city. The Daily spoke with Co-President and U3 Biology and Math student Jack Gill about Right to Play. We spoke about his involvement in the club, the importance of play and physical activity, and why curiosity should be encouraged in youth.

This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Enid Kohler for the McGill Daily (MD): I’m curious about your own involvement with Right to Play. How and why did you get involved?

Jack Gill (JG): I’m on the varsity swim team at McGill, so I’ve been swimming most of my life. We train almost every day, sometimes twice a day. So sports and being active have been a really important part of my life. It’s allowed me to develop a sense of community, make tons of friends, and build my confidence in and out of the water. I wanted to encourage that in other kids. I started volunteering in winter 2025. I worked in a class with students who have learning disabilities and autism, to encourage more inclusive play. It was really fun to build connections with these kids and slowly see throughout the semester how they got more comfortable and open with us.

MD: How would you pitch Right to Play to a first year student at Activities Night?

JG: Right to Play is not just a club we founded here. It’s a broader international organization. Their whole goal is to empower kids through play to overcome adversity, especially less privileged kids. In Canada, the branch focuses more on [BIPOC such as] African communities who might not have … access to [the] resources that we do, as well as Indigenous communities who similarly don’t have the same resources or access. Our chapter takes from that. We have a lot of events where we fundraise in order to support local schools and youth groups, as well as give back to the broader Right to Play organization. We also volunteer in schools to encourage active lifestyles and fun activities.

MD: Why is it important for kids to have play in their lives?

JG: A lot of children we volunteer with don’t necessarily have access to play. For those with learning disabilities, their parents try to protect them a lot and they don’t necessarily let them do the things other children would do. It doesn’t necessarily give them the opportunity to learn and be curious. Being able to encourage that and let them try things and maybe fail and letting them explore is really meaningful to me.

MD: Do you have a favourite memory of your work with Right to Play?

JG: At one of our schools where we volunteer, we go sledding on this little hill in the winter. One of the kids at the beginning wasn’t able to get up on his own. We would encourage him to get up, but we’d end up having to help him. But later, near the end of the semester, he was able to start getting up by himself with all of us cheering around and encouraging him. It was just so nice when he was able to stand up by himself and show [that] he was fully independent. And now he’s able to do that all the time. His parents might have just always helped him and would never have let him learn to do it by himself. That was probably my favourite moment.

MD: What do you hope kids will take away from Right to Play programming into university and beyond?

JG: I think just life skills, like being able to be independent and do things on your own and interact with other people. Also a sense of community as well as teamwork and the idea of an active lifestyle. With this generation we’re kind of leaning away from that with technology, but it’s so important.

MD: The theme of this column is “good people doing good things.” In the context of your work with Right to Play McGill, what does being a “good person” mean to you?

JG: I think what it means to be a good person is to be able to listen to people and kids and let them guide you. One of the big things I like with volunteering is not necessarily forcing kids to do things but guiding them and helping them choose their own path.

To learn more about Right to Play and opportunities to get involved, visit @rtpmcgill on Instagram.

End note: If you know good people doing good things who you would like to see featured in this column, email news@mcgilldaily.com

The post The Power of Play appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Over the reading break, I had an in-depth conversation with Baybayon on his motivations to run, his campaign strategy, and his upcoming plans for the 2026-2027 academic year.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Sena Ho for The McGill Daily (MD): What motivated or inspired you to run for AUS president? What experiences or moments throughout your time at McGill led you to this decision?

Keith Baybayon (KB): came to McGill with background in student government, because I had served as a student trustee for my school board in Toronto. So I had already done a lot of advocacy work, such as recognizing the pride flag [and Pride Month in my Catholic school board, etc. I had been in important operational and standardized meetings with the school board, which gave me the experience I wanted to take forward at McGill University. I think student advocacy is very important because we’re at a very unique standpoint in our lives, where the systems in place constantly affect us, and we have the least representation at these decision-making tables. Growing up with that mindset, I’ve always wanted to fight for my peers.

I first got involved with the AUS in my first year as a committee’s volunteer, through the Arts Student Employment Fund Committee, as well as the Valedictorian Selection Committee. I wanted to test the waters a little bit of what student government was like in this new environment – because, [Montreal] was just completely different: a new language, new government, etc. I later was elected as Arts Representative to the Student Society at McGill in my second year. That got me more familiar with the environment of how student government actually works. I’ve come to really love the Arts community, because I feel we’re so unique. We have so many different disciplines, and so many different programs under our portfolio, to the point where it’s so diverse – it’s so full of life. And that’s why I wanted to continuously expand my horizons within the AUS and explore more positions to get more involved with the art student perspective at these decision making tables.

Once I leave McGill, I want to, and hope to, leave the Arts community better than I found it.

MD: Was there anything that you observed while being an Arts Representative or Arts Senator, that institutionally you wanted to change as president?

KB: One thing I definitely wanted to change was the structure of power that was distributed within the SSMU I feel like it was just a bit imbalanced. You have, for example, the Legislative Council in which you have all the elected representatives from different faculties. But then you have the Board of Directors (BOD) who have the last say in a lot of the things we try to pass at Legislative Council. I feel like the distribution of power was very imbalanced [because the BOD were elected for different positions that don’t necessarily represent every single faculty, point blank.

Right now, we’re in a review period for the Student Society of McGill University Constitution, which I’ve been able to take part in. There was also the recent plebiscite released to the Student Society [asking] who should have the power of operations. The results [displayed a preference for] Legislative Council over the BOD or the executive committee. I hope to see that implemented very soon. What I’ve been wanting to focus on when entering the Arts Representative role is changing up operations to ensure that whoever gets these positions is elected by the students.

MD: Are there any initiatives in which you are planning to enhance Arts student life and community on campus?

KB: I hope to continue my advocacy work from my role as Senator into my presidency. A lot of things that we at the Senate Caucus focused on has been the Policy on Assessment of Student Learning. The policy was implemented just last year, and because it’s so new, there aren’t really strong mechanisms in place to hold those responsible for enforcing it accountable within their classrooms.

This policy is so important because it protects a lot of rights for students. For example, PASL requires that assessment methods, including their structure, weight, and due dates, be outlined in the syllabus, which raises questions about practices like pop quizzes. Under this policy you also have the right to receive feedback from your assignments or assessments. So I want to create a mechanism in the Faculty of Arts, where we can track violations of this policy. We need to make this clear amongst our faculty, professors, and students, so that they can report these violations, [observe how trends are increasing, and [learn] how to mitigate them.

I see the future of working alongside the Vice President Academic, Lucy, and our senators, who are interested in working on this mechanism. Another thing I’d like to focus on is the state of learning at McGill. A lot of students are very vocal about how these classes with hundreds of kids are just not conducive to learning. Whereas, for example, the Education Student Senate has been a leader in assessing the state of learning for students through capstone projects and experiential learning experiences that I would love to see in the Arts. So, I want to work with the Office of Arts Education on that end to identify the best pedagogical practices for our faculty.

Another aspect on the operational side is accountability. My campaign focused a lot on keeping executives and any student elected positions accountable to their responsibilities and our recently amended AUS Constitution makes it easier to achieve that. I don’t want to take a punitive approach to keeping people accountable. I want to take a more collaborative approach. So I focused my campaign on co-creating an accountability plan with executives, departmental executives, and students of the Arts Faculty to see how we can keep ourselves accountable to our responsibilities and pitches from the beginning of the year.

I want to kind of take some time from now up until September to create a plan in which we can keep ourselves accountable, whether that means identifying what our specific focuses are for the year, alongside our mandates within our positions, [or] doing midterm check-ins, which we already do in Legislative Council, but also making that more public and visible to the general student community.

MD: Switching gears to another tenet of your campaign: student internships. I’m wondering, what steps are you planning on putting in motion to give students better access and opportunity to internships? Considering the present economy and job market, in what ways does the AUS plan to support Arts students financially and in their career prospects?

KB: There’s going to be a lot of collaboration on that for sure. We have our Vice President External that’s in charge of partnerships and postgraduate opportunities. But I don’t want to solely focus on just postgraduate opportunities. An important partner that we have is the Arts Internship Office (AIO) – they provide a lot of opportunities for our students already. I want to make that more visible [since] McGill is notorious for having so many things going on, but students just aren’t aware about them. It could be through a centralized database within the AUS or an internship event where partners of the AIO can come to the AUS to talk.

On the internal side of things, we actually have the Arts Student Employment Fund. This is an opportunity for students to get work experience, like research on campus alongside a professor. This can be very intimidating, I’d say, especially for first or second years who don’t really know much about the processes of requesting for research opportunities. I really want to demystify the Arts Student Employment Fund for students to simplify that process for them, and work with VP Academic on that end.

Another thing I’d like to really promote is cross-faculty opportunities. I feel like we shouldn’t leave ourselves to just the Arts when, for example, the School of Population and Global Health have so many opportunities under their belt, and are constantly promoting it to different faculties. Last semester, I did a Department of Equity, Ethics, and Policy internship. My project was stationed at the Department of Integrated Studies of Education in the Faculty of Education where you have so many different departments working together. I see the power in collaboration, I see the opportunities found in other faculties, and we need to work with each other.

With the upcoming President’s Roundtable of the different faculty presidents, I’d love to garner their knowledge and also their expertise in how we can provide more opportunities for all students using our resources.

MD: What were your main goals during the campaign process to get your message across to students?

KB: To simplify, I had a really fun time doing it just because it’s an opportunity for the students to get to know me. For me, it was more [focused] on authenticity because I’ve been with the AUS for a while now. I know a lot of people can vouch for wanting new leadership, but what was a very important pillar for myself was institutional memory. Over three to four years at the AUS, I’ve seen so many different initiatives and projects take place – I’ve seen a lot of things fail, too.

I was able to work with that in my campaign because I was focused on what’s happened in the past year and how we can improve things for the coming year. I wanted voters to see that the AUS should be a space in which they feel comfortable learning and being in; it should be a society that functions, works reliably, and follows through on their commitments, not just making huge promises during the elections. My platform focused onaccountability, student rights and advocacy, and community engagement. An important thing for me was making accountability a very central expectation because it’s really tough not having any visible outlets for students in the General Assembly. One big frustration I’ve had over the years is that sometimes governance [is not] accessible to students. So that was a very important priority of mine – I wanted students to feel less disconnected from the student society. Whether that means more town halls, more roundtables with, for example, the President and VP Academics to talk about PASL, the Policy and Student Assessment and Learning, or VP Finance to study the finance mechanism for the Financial Management Committee.

Another thing in my campaign was empowering students to build community under the AUS. Over the years, you start seeing the LUTHOUL in voting increase. During my Arts Rep year we had 13 per cent turnout, while this year we had almost 18 percent. Another one of my pillars was to reduce the barriers to student initiatives under the AUS. Making it easier, for example, to start clubs, which you don’t have under the AUS. It could be a future endeavor that is possible after consulting departments, students, and executives.

MD: A more lighthearted question – in terms of your campaign, you had a very clear branding. How did you envision that? Did you come across any obstacles or road blocks throughout that brainstorming process?

KB: I feel like my campaign brief was just an accumulation of everything that I’ve experienced at McGill in the past three years: every conversation, debate, project I’ve taken on, motion I’ve written, etc. Everything kind of led up to that moment because all of these ideas were not created from thin air. It’s been built upon those that came before me.

I’ve shown a lot of appreciation, and I will continue to show a lot of appreciation for the past presidents. I’ve worked with each of them, and I’ve seen their leadership has accumulated over the years too. This year, I just wanted to take that opportunity to show that collaboration is really possible. This platform was really built on the students, because, like a lot of the pillars I’ve mentioned, they were also in consultation with departmental executives or even just my friends, gauging their interests and thoughts.

With my branding and messaging, that was just like my own little twist to it. I’ve seen so many fun, creative things happening online. I remember I did a dance to Sabrina Carpenter’s “Man Child,” because I just woke up one day, saw it on TikTok, and thought ‘let me do this.’ So I called my friend and we did it right there. I felt like taking a fun twist to things was very important for my campaign, because that’s who 1 am.

MD: Are there any future projects or initiatives planned that you want to mention?

KB: I am very excited for my executives – we have so many amazing individuals in these positions, and they’re going to have their own passion projects, too. I’m very keen to support each of them. The president’s role is very all-rounded. I feel like when people see it at first glance, they think, ‘Oh, you’re just the spokesperson and on the operational side of things.’ I want to ensure that the AUS is in a stabilized state so that you can actually do what you want to pursue. Without transparency or accountability, the AUS can fall short on their promises just because we don’t have the internal structures in place. So that’s been a very important focus of mine for these next few months.

Afterwards, I’d love to be able to see all of their projects come into action too [as well as any students that want to do a project with the AUS. I’ve emphasized an open door policy a lot in my campaign. A student can book a meeting with me and I’ll be happy to talk to them. I want to foster that sort of environment within the AUS as a whole.

The prospective executive team will not officially take office until May 1, and are currently undergoing a period of transition from the current AUS board.

The post A Plan for the Future: A Chat with Keith Baybayon appeared first on The McGill Daily.

The theme “Voices and Visions,” set the tone for the evening: one where students could share their experiences with representation, access to resources, and mechanisms of discrimination, all while envisioning a future of equity and opportunity. Grassroots efforts have succeeded on campus: this February marks the ninth year of McGill’s official celebration of Black History Month, a mark of progress in the recognition of Blackness at McGill. But the single- digit anniversary is also an indicator that equity efforts are still in their formative stages.

One of the key topics of discussion at the event was Black student representation at McGill. Many voiced frustration regarding the lack of Black presence in various faculties, as well as the student body. Black people make up over four per cent of the Canadian population, yet many McGill faculties maintain significantly lower representation. Students at the roundtable expressed how seeing members of their community in positions of embodied knowledge is crucial for self-esteem and inclusion. Mauffette Alavo stressed that while the university still has crucial improvements to make, Black excellence remains integral, and more effective publicizing should be done to make the community more visible. Williams further underlined the necessity to target efforts in underrepresented areas, like STEM faculties and executive faculty positions. Both speakers recognized that initiatives of further inclusion need to be led by students. Brittany Williams noted that the university’s administration is highly receptive to students’ demands and encouraged the development of the resources they already have, such as SSMU’s Black Equity Fund, Black student internship, and research summer programs. Key people and projects are in place, but students are the fuel to the fire, the roundtable concluded.

Towards the end of the evening, the discussion progressed towards aspirations for the future. “The support of Black students is not a trend,” Mauffette Alavo asserted. Organizational stability and reliable frameworks guarantee long-term commitments and partnerships, both within the university and with outside partners.

Events like the roundtable and organizations like the BSN, MASS, and ASSA provide spaces for Black students to not only support each other but also to share their knowledge and collectively organize towards common goals. The Voices and Visions roundtable was yet another successful outcome of student-led, community-building initiatives.

The post An Evening of Unity appeared first on The McGill Daily.

GardaWorld’s involvement with ICE was revealed last July in a Miami Herald report that detailed how a subsidiary of the Montreal- based firm, GardaWorld Federal Services, was approved as one among ten companies to aid in running Alligator Alcatraz. The company was awarded eight million USD by ICE for the security contract.

Montreal activists — accompanied by Québec solidaire, Amnesty International, and several union representatives from the Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux (CSN – Federation of National Trades Unions) and the Fédération Autonome de l’Enseignement (FAE) — gathered at Place Vertu, before making the approximately two-kilometre march towards the security firm’s headquarters. A McGill contingency also attended the protest.

The university has historically procured at least $19 million in GardaWorld contracts for campus security services. McGill currently continues to hire security officers from GardaWorld, with job listings as recent as February 4, 2026. Student organizers joined the march with a banner stating: “Garda Off Our Campus.”

McGill students departed from the McGill campus and joined other demonstrators at Place Vertu. The organizers, who have asked the Daily to remain anonymous, elected to create this contingent to encourage students to travel to the protest despite being 55 minutes away by public transit. They sought to highlight McGill’s involvement with GardaWorld in a written statement to the Daily: “McGill contracts GardaWorld to police its students. Students have observed an increased presence of GardaWorld security in the semesters that followed the Gaza Solidarity encampment.”

The McGill organizers further stated that, “McGill has been extremely willing to pay large amounts of money to “securitize” its campus … Considering that a good portion of this money must have gone to their partnership with Garda[World], the students have a responsibility to demand an end to our University’s complicity in ICE’s terrorism, which we know is facilitated by GardaWorld.”

When asked about their personal feelings about having GardaWorld’s security officers on campus grounds, the organizers said that, “we are outraged. It is extremely unsettling to think that the same security guards who follow around students and encroach on their right to protest” work for the same organization that helps “ICE dehumanize and terrorize people in Alligator Alcatraz.”

When asked about why McGill students should mobilize, student organizers responded, “Students should be in charge of what occurs on their own campus.” The contingency outlined future steps that McGill students can take, should they also feel outraged by the GardaWorld contract: “We need to mobilize to show admin that we do not agree with the securitization of our own campuses. We refuse for our tuition to go towards security that we don’t want … our money going towards a company which funds ICE.”

Before leaving from Place Vertu, Celeste Trianon, one of the protest organizers, led a series of speakers to the fore. Each condemned GardaWorld’s collaboration with ICE and their participation in detaining over 6,000 individuals at the South Florida detention centre under inhuman and unsanitary living conditions.

An organizer from Indivisible Québec said, “While ICE operates in the United States, the infrastructure that enables it does not stop at the border. GardaWorld, a corporation headquartered here in Quebec, is one of the private contractors involved in the immigration detention systems.” In 2022, Investissement Québec, a provincial investment agency, invested $300 million CAD in the firm; while nationally, the Canadian federal government has entered into significant, long-term contracts with GardaWorld, including a deal brokered with Canadian Air Transport Security Authority in 2023 for $2.7 billion.

“Let us be clear: when public funds strengthen corporations tied to detention systems, when subsidies and contracts flow without scrutiny, and when profit is made from incarceration that is not neutrality. That is participation,” the speaker continued.

A Montreal local who wished to remain anonymous spoke with the Daily, stating that it was vital for Canadians to show up and protest, “especially when we are seeing this rise in right-wing conservatives who are not afraid to assemble on the other side.” She noted that attending protests such as this one is important for building community and creating active change in the world we live in.

“There’s a lot of action in the US [against ICE], which makes the world think that Canada isn’t doing anything, but we are,” she said. “Canada is also participating in protesting here — that’s why it is so important.”

So far, the protestors mentioned there have been no talks with the McGill administration regarding its affiliation with GardaWorld. The students urged that there is a chance for dialogue should there be more pressure on the University through popular support and direct action. As they put it, “They will not change unless they are cornered into doing so.”

The Daily has reached out for comment from McGill University. As of the time of writing, we are waiting for a response.

Upon arriving at the firm’s headquarters at 5 PM, the demonstrators were met with riot police and GardaWorld’s security staff. According to the Montreal Gazette, the confrontation resulted in officers spraying the crowd with pepper spray and tear gas. At least one demonstrator was arrested, reportedly throwing a piece of ice at an officer before being pinned to the ground.

The post One Thousand Protest McGill-Contracted Security Firm Operating at ICE Detention Facility appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Approached by ICE Out MTL organizers clad in bright orange and neon green vests, protestors and passers-by were offered a slip of paper that asked the question many in Canada  have been struggling with as the US seemed to spiral: “What can we do from Canada?” One such person was Jacob Wesoky, president of Democrats at McGill, who The McGill Daily interviewed prior to the protest. As an American abroad, Wesoky cited combatting this sense of hopelessness as a driving force behind helping to organize ICE Out MTL: “There are a lot of Americans here, and it’s easy to feel powerless watching all of this chaos from afar. But in Canada, we’re not powerless. We still have a voice.”

Olivia, a second-year McGill student who braved the -10 degree weather to join the protest, indicated a similar sentiment: “I wish I could participate in all the protests happening in the US right now. It’s really hard to see everything going on from here and feeling kind of helpless.”

In addition to calls for the abolishment of ICE, bluntly referred to by one speaker as the “new American gestapo,” ICE Out MTL was also intended as a wake-up call for Canadians. As such, Wesoky outlined the details behind Indivisible Québec’s demand in their pre-protest press release to end “Canadian firms’ complicity” in financing ICE. His examples range from post-secondary institutions like McGill to firms based in Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia. 

“McGill holds over $2.2 million in investments in Palantir, the AI surveillance company that’s behind ICE’s immigration crackdown and the illegal surveillance of millions of Americans. Ontario-based Roshel supplies armoured vehicles to ICE. Montreal-based GardaWorld staffed Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz, which was the site of some of the worst human rights abuses in modern American history. Vancouver-based Hoopsuite provides social media services that amplify ICE’s propaganda.” Exemplified by chants of “Quebec stop funding ICE’s crimes.” Participants of ICE Out MTL made it clear that they would not tolerate Canadian complicity in funding and supplying ICE.

At around 1:30 PM, protestors were led around the corner to Dorchester Square, where they were presented with a QR code to contact their MPs in support of the No More Loopholes Act. The bill, first proposed in 2025, seeks to tighten export restrictions for Canadian arms manufacturers. As the website handed out through that QR code during ICE Out MTL puts it, the hope is that the No More Loopholes Act will stop the Canadian funneling of “unrestricted and unregulated arms to Trump’s illegal wars, ICE’s campaign of terror, and Israel’s ongoing genocide.” 

Their breath floating into the cloudless sky, the multigenerational crowd assembled in Dorchester Square cheered and jeered as vested organizers, including Wesoky and lead organizer Michael Lipset, delivered passionate speeches against ICE and in support of immigrants and those protesting in Minneapolis. Lipset, a Montreal resident originally from Minnesota, compared Trump’s America to Nazi Germany and declared, “This is not about border security. This is about state power without constraint.” 

Wesoky made a direct appeal to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in his speech, referencing Carney’s widely covered Davos address: “Part of taking down the sign from the window, part of no longer living within the lie, is recognizing the reality in the United States right now. […] If Canada is the beacon of hope and freedom that you say it is, then Canada will open its doors and protect the rights and dignity of migrants and asylum seekers.” Wesoky also called for an end to the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) between Canada and the US, which requires refugee claimants to request protection only from the country they arrive in: “[The STCA exists] under the premise that the United States is a safe country for immigrants to seek asylum. […] The United States does not respect immigrant rights.” 

At around 2:30 PM, protestors walked back to the cramped sidewalk in front of the US Consulate. Despite a reduced headcount, the crowd resumed loudly chanting, shouting through megaphones, and holding up their signs. Refusing to go unnoticed, one person rattled a green tambourine, while another blew through a harmonica. Half an hour later, just before the scheduled end of the demonstration, ICE Out MTL organizers thanked those still remaining and made a final appeal: “Keep making your voice heard. Keep showing up.” 

ICE now has the largest budget of any US law enforcement agency in history. Nevertheless, Wesoky, who began efforts to protest against government-sponsored brutality by organizing a walkout at his middle school following the 2018 Parkland school shooting, seemed undeterred. In organizing ICE Out MTL, he hoped Americans back home could see that “the world is noticing what’s happening in the US, and we’re not going to sit back and just watch it happen.” 

The post McGill Students Rally Against ICE  appeared first on The McGill Daily.

A science student bar has been a work in progress for over four years. Prior students in SUS’s VP External position made efforts to organize a faculty bar, but logistical complications kept the idea from materializing. “The problem that we’ve always had is that we don’t have a good space,” Padilla told the Daily. “Arts has their basement, same for Engineering, and Management as well: they all have really large spaces with limited exits.” The Burnside basement had been the ideal location for a Science-faculty bar, but using the entire open space would have been a fire hazard. Last year, two adjacent Computer Taskforce rooms were reallocated to SUS, which inspired Padilla to present the idea to the SUS executive board.

“It wasn’t the most popular idea, using two study rooms of limited size in the basement of an academic building,” Padilla told the Daily. The SUS executive team began discussing The Lab over the summer, and had prepared to present the idea to the McGill administration by September. Getting the idea off the ground required discussions between SUS executives and McGill staff, including McGill’s Burnside building director, the Spaces Administrator, and administrators from the Science Faculty’s student affairs office and Security Services. After four months of emails, meetings, and negotiations, the idea was approved and planning for opening night began.

The Lab is run by SUS’s pre-existing after-hours committee – which exists year-to-year, planning after-hours events – including Padilla, directors Ella Rikley and Madison Brass, and five coordinators. There are currently 30 student bar staffers, as well as multiple staff photographers. Padilla stressed that organizing The Lab and preparing for opening night was a joint effort across SUS: “I’ve been lucky to get a lot of support from everyone who’s been willing to help wherever it’s needed,” he told the Daily. “It’s been a very collaborative process.”

The Lab’s doors opened only three and a half weeks after being confirmed for operation, a feat Padilla attributes to “an incredible, dedicated team.” An estimated 300 to 500 students came to the basement on opening night. Some waited for over two hours, and many who packed into the adjacent stairway reported line-cutting and rowdy crowds. The organizers, who had an hour to set up the room, did not realize how many people had congregated until the bar was ready to open. For future events, the committee plans to schedule staff to monitor the line during and before opening hours. “The capacity is limited, so we try to work the best we can,” Padilla said. “We definitely had at least twice our capacity show up, which was a little bit intimidating. It was a little scary, but things were good in the end.”

Organizing a student bar is a large undertaking, especially for McGill’s second-largest undergraduate faculty. “There was a lot to do, and very little time to do it. I think everyone really learned how to be overwhelmed and yet still take one thing at a time,” Padilla told the Daily. He added that the launch has also been a learning experience for those involved within the SUS executive committee, and working together to set up The Lab has been another instance of successful collaboration to serve the needs of the Science faculty. “Being thoughtful in our communication and including everyone is the biggest thing that we’ve learned, but I think that’s something that the SUS team is really good at.”

Ultimately, Padilla reported that opening night was a success: they opened, served drinks, and closed without any incidents or destruction to the basement. Beyond the primary goal of having fun, the team’s aim for the bar’s initial nights is “to show SUS, admin, and all the parties involved that this is something that can work.” Padilla described this semester as a “proof of concept,” a demonstration that the space can bring the faculty together safely without disruptions. The Lab’s biweekly schedule was designed for the committee to troubleshoot between events and learn from any setbacks or unexpected chaos, through their own observations and their anonymous feedback form. The team hopes for the schedule to shift to weekly in the upcoming Fall semester, once staffing and routine are solidified.

The Lab will be open five times this semester, including this Friday, February 20. The concept – drinking a warm, two- dollar beer out of a plastic cup in a crowded basement – is shared among McGill’s other student bars, yet The Lab was designed by and for McGill’s Science undergraduates as a place for the community to come together. “It’s a spot that you can go, as Science students, every other week or every week in the future, and know you’ll have friends there and people from your faculty that you can hang out with,” Padilla told the Daily. “I’ve heard from a lot of people that they’re super excited to finally have their own space, ad I hope it continues to be that.”

The post Welcome to The Lab appeared first on The McGill Daily.

In preparation for the nomination period, the Quebec Public Interest Group at McGill (QPIRG-McGill), a SSMU-affiliated, student-run social and environmental justice organization, held information session Wednesday January 21 in Leacock 110, on how and why to run for the SSMU. QPIRG staff, SSMU employees, and former SSMU executives gathered to express the importance of active participation in student democracy and to demonstrate what “[it] could look like.” While outlining the requirements for candidacy and explaining how to organize a campaign, the presentation stressed that the main objective of a student union like the SSMU is to make McGill better suited for the needs of its students.

As a non-profit that has supported student and community activism for over forty years in association with the SSMU, QPIRG organized the information session with the hopes of encouraging students to make their voices heard in their union. Full-time QPIRG staffer and McGill alum Nelly Wat expressed to the Daily that although student politics can seem confusing, there are many valuable things that the SSMU can offer to its students. “A student union is what students make of it,” she shared. “Students have a lot more power than they think [they do]. It’s so important for students to be informed.”

Wat continued, “To a lot of students, [getting involved with the SSMU’s affairs] can seem really intimidating; it can seem like ‘there’s so many things to be done, I have so little power, and there’s so many things that can be different. But it’s so possible to make these changes happen, and there are a lot of other students who would be there to support you.”

The SSMU legislative and executive governing bodies have the power to propose motions on allocating resources to student clubs and organizations, determining referendum ballots, adopting new policies, supporting student strikes, and collaborating with local initiatives – all with the aim of representing student interests alongside those of the McGill administration. To ensure that student voices are heard and advocated for, balancing the powers between councillors, executives, and the SSMU members – in general assemblies and student referendums – is essential. To underscore the importance of democratic participation, from staying informed on the SSMU’s affairs to running in the upcoming elections, QPIRG speakers contextualized the SSMU’s history of advocacy as the result of initiatives led by executives who were passionate about social issues. “We have things at McGill, like QPIRG, Midnight Kitchen, and CKUT because there were execs who wanted those things to exist, and therefore they [came to exist],” the primary speaker, a SSMU member of staff, shared in the presentation. She stressed that during this election cycle, students must “make sure that the students elected care about democratic accountability and protect student services.”

While discussing how to get involved with the SSMU beyond the election period, multiple student attendees expressed difficulty understanding how the SSMU operates. “[Transparency] is a huge problem,” the speaker answered. “We need people to know what’s going on in the SSMU, and it’s a high-effort thing to find out, but you can go to legislative council meetings and hear about things that [councillors and executives] are voting on. You can also email your execs; they are meant to represent you and you can discuss what they’re doing.”

“People don’t know what’s going on at SSMU, and it’s a real problem,” the speaker continued to the Daily. “I just think that it’s really important right now, especially around elections, to get the word out in a way that will have an impact on these elections. It does really matter for the future of student democracy.” She added that students often don’t realize the role SSMU plays in their university experience, from activity nights to graduation.  “Engagement is really the only way [to ensure that student needs are advocated for]. If SSMU doesn’t actually represent us, that just gives McGill the ability to go against what [students] actually want.” She urges students to start getting involved through voting, but also encourages them to support a campaign, submit referendum questions, and hold the SSMU’s representatives accountable: “the more people hold them to account, the more accountable they will be to us.

The SSMU also hosted an information session on Thursday, January 22, for students interested in running for an executive position. The presentation covered an overview of the electoral process and gave potential nominees the chance to pose questions to current execs on what working at the SSMU is really like.

For those who missed the info session but are inspired to run for candidacy, the nomination kit, which outlines requirements, is available on the SSMU website under “Elections and Referenda.” Students can also reach out to incumbents to learn more about the details of their position and what being a SSMU executive really entails. The deadline for nominations is February 12, and the voting period will begin on March 9.

The post QPIRG Prepares Students for SSMU elections appeared first on The McGill Daily.

The strikes have resulted in reduced metro and bus service: the metro is currently running between 6:30a.m. and 9:30a.m., between 2:45p.m. and 5:45p.m, and from 11p.m. to closing time; buses are running between 6:15 a.m. and 9:15a.m., from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., and between 11:15 p.m. and 1:15 a.m. Most buses will complete the routes they have started. Paratransit services will continue as normal.

The Syndicat des chauffeurs, opérateurs et employés des services connexes-1989 has also expressed intent to strike on November 15 and 16, but the STM stated on Thursday, October 30 that they had not yet received official notice of these strikes.

Since public transit is an essential service, the striking union and the STM must discuss what threshold of services to maintain after a strike is announced. The STM claims that they have been attempting to negotiate an increased level of metro service during the strike through discussions over the past week. The final decision is then made by the Tribunal administratif du travail (TAT), who rule on the adequacy of the level of essential service provided.

The month-long Syndicat du transport de Montréal-CSN maintenance workers’ strike is the third instalment in a year-long struggle with the STM, while the SCFP-1983 strike will be the union’s first in 38 years. The maintenance workers’ union stated in April that they are striking against the creation of atypical work schedules, staff relocations, reduced job protections against subcontracting, job insecurity through the creation of part-time positions and additional shift workers, the rejection of vacation quotas, and the removal of clauses protecting weekday work schedules. The SCFP-1983 said in an October 14 statement that it is asking the STM for more humane working hours, fair wage increases that reflect the current economic climate, a better work- life balance, and no rollbacks in job security.

The STM strike comes at a crucial moment for workers’ rights and union power. Bruno Jeanotte, president of the Syndicat du transport de Montréal-CSN, told the Montreal Gazette that “we wouldn’t be in a strike of this magnitude” without the looming Bill 89, as the bill “forces [the union] to apply much more aggressive pressure tactics.” As of November 30, Bill 89 will come into effect in Quebec, which will give the Minister of Labour the power to unilaterally end strikes if they are deemed detrimental to the public, and expands the amount of essential services which must be maintained while workers are striking. The bill, which was sponsored by Quebec’s current Minister of Labour Jean Boulet, purports to “give greater consideration to the needs of the population in the event of a strike or a lock-out,” but has been criticized as a “major retreat in workers’ rights” by three labour law professors at the Université de Montréal and members of the Interuniversity Research Centre on Globalization and Work (CRIMT).

McGill students who rely on public transit to go to and from campus are struggling to work around the strike. Lindsy Yang is a fourth-year neuroscience student who commutes to school every day via metro. When metro service is regular, Lindsy’s commute usually takes 30 minutes. On days when she has an 8:30 a.m. class then choir in the evening, she would normally go home in the interim. But due to the strikes, stranded by the gaps in service, she is spending up to 14.5 hours on campus. “[The strike] very much fragments my time,” Lindsy told the Daily.

Eva Leblanc is a U4 history student who has also been impacted by the STM strike. She sees the strike as a differentiating force which acts disproportionately on some students. “Students who have to commute are put at a disadvantage academically, and are at the whims of the metro,” she says. Mariana Monsalve, a U1 political science student minoring in sociology, identifies this disparity as based in social class: “[The strike] will disproportionately affect… poorer students that don’t have the means to pay for an Uber or a car, or students that aren’t able to bike or use alternative modes of transportation.”

There have been attempts to close this gap between students who can easily get to campus during the strike period and those who cannot. The Student’s Society of McGill University (SSMU) posted on Instagram last Wednesday that they will be reimbursing students for transport-related expenses incurred as a result of the altered transit schedule. Organized by the SSMU Equity Commissioners and Vice President University Affairs Susan Aloudat, the Emergency Transportation Subsidy Project evaluates submissions based on the information submitted alongside the application and uses equity programming funds to reimburse SSMU members for transportation costs throughout the duration of the strike. Acceptable submissions include Bixi fees, fees for rides between campus and the home address listed on a student’s enrollment letter, parking passes, and other transportation passes.

During the November 6 SSMU Legislative Council meeting, as of the third day of the support project, Aldoudat expressed to the Daily that while she hopes students can recognize that this is an unprecedented pilot project, “the intention is to subsidize and support as many students as we can.” Requests will be evaluated based on which submissions yield the greatest “return on investment,” but SSMU is focused on accessibility and will thoughtfully consider the explanations students provide in their submissions. “I really hope that students will feel that this is one way that [they] can get support from SSMU and that they can benefit from [it] more than anything,” Aloudat shared. SSMU is open to hearing commuter experiences as feedback on this program to ensure that members are being adequately supported throughout the strike.

Subsidiary requests can be submitted throughout the duration of the strike through a webform on the Resources page of SSMU’s website, under Funding Opportunities.

Some McGill professors are accommodating students’ inability to attend classes, and McGill has posted a statement encouraging employers and instructors to “show flexibility.” However, there is currently no blanket mandate for McGill faculty to accommodate students’ transport needs. Monsalve said we sees this as a failure on the part of the university: “The university is capable of accommodating,” she says. “It’s that they don’t want to.”

Editor’s Note: In the print version of this article, it was written that the Emergency Transportation Subsidy Project was organized by the SSMU Equity Committee rather than the SSMU Equity Commissioners. This is the correct version.

The post STM Workers on Strike Again as Negotiations Continue appeared first on The McGill Daily.

On Monday, September 15, the Fédération des médecins spécialistes du Québec (FMSQ) instructed members to suspend teaching and supervision of medical students as part of the ongoing dispute with the government over Bill 106.

Presented during Quebec’s National Assembly in May 2025, Bill 106 is a government initiative aimed at improving access to family doctors. The bill introduces a capitation model, in which physicians’ compensations are partly based on the number of patients they care for and the complexity or vulnerability of those patients, rather than solely on fees for individual visits or procedures. Doctors could still be paid through other methods, such as hourly rates or per-service fees, with the government regulating the mix of payment types. The legislation encourages physicians to see more patients by setting appointment goals and introduces performance targets that can influence physicians’ compensation. Health Minister Christian Dubé has indicated that up to 15 per cent of doctors’ incomes could be linked to meeting these performance benchmarks.

What does this mean for the general public? Many physicians have voiced concerns that Bill 106 could affect access to care. Patients with less urgent and more minor medical needs might face longer waits for appointments, which are already difficult to secure, while doctors prioritize more complex or high-risk cases that are weighted in performance calculations. As doctors are expected to see more patients to meet performance targets, the bill could lead to shorter, more rushed appointments, reducing the time doctors spend addressing complex or chronic conditions. Increased pressure on physicians could also lead to increased stress and burnout, which could further compromise patient care. Overall, these changes may have a direct impact on both the availability and quality of healthcare for the public.

The primary concern for the FMSQ was that the government had established conditions without
engaging in negotiations. The association disagreed with several aspects of the legislation and sought to have these points reconsidered. As a result, 91 per cent of FMSQ members voted to suspend medical school teaching as a means of pressuring the government to open discussions. The Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ) has stated that its members will participate in the FMSQ’s teaching strike beginning on October 4.

While medical students support the FMSQ and FMOQ’s demands, the teaching suspension has had adverse effects on their education and training. First and second-year students have to rely on recorded lectures to learn, and some can only virtually access anatomy labs via Zoom. This limits hands-on experience due to the absence of in- person supervision.

Ryan Kara, the president of the McGill Medical Society, mentioned in an interview with CBC that third and fourth-year medical students are the most affected by the strike. They are currently in their clinical rotations, seeing patients in hospitals under the supervision of specialists. With the strike, they do not have, “any clinical exposure at the moment. This means a risk of delayed graduation. As of July 2026, a new cohort of doctors are going to start in the hospital […] These doctors may not start in July 2026 if the negotiations continue and graduation is delayed.”

Such delays could increase staffing shortages and place additional pressure on current physicians.

Medical students spend time in hospitals across different specialties to explore which field they want to pursue and eventually apply for in residency programs after medical school. With teaching and clinical training disrupted by the strike, students risk losing valuable hands-on experience that helps them make these decisions. This not only leaves them less certain about which specialty to choose, but could also weaken their applications for the Canadian Residency Matching Service (CaRMS), the system that assigns students to residency positions.

Disruptions in clinical training may leave future residents less prepared for hands-on patient care. In addition, this reduced exposure to practical experience can affect the skills and confidence of upcoming doctors, potentially impacting the overall quality of care they provide and placing additional strain on the current healthcare system. Kara also clarified that although the FMEQ supports the FMSQ and FMOQ, they cannot support an unlimited teaching strike. The potential consequences on graduation timelines, CaRMS eligibility, and clinical training are significant. While students express strong support for the FMSQ’s position and urge the government to resume negotiations, they oppose any indefinite strike that would compromise their education.

To further highlight their concerns, medical students from across Quebec held another protest outside the National Assembly on October 1. According to Robin White, a first-year medical student at McGill, around a hundred students participated in the protest in Quebec City. Shuttle buses were arranged by the FMEQ to allow Montreal students to take part in the demonstration.

“We were chanting and some cars supported us by honking,” White said. “I think we definitely had a bigger impact at the parliament than in Montreal. One of the school’s presidents also mentioned that he was meeting with some people from the parliament in the afternoon to negotiate.”

“What worries me the most with Bill 106 is how it will affect the treatment of patients,” explained White. “From what I’ve seen, twenty minutes is already not enough time for most patients, so I can’t even imagine what would happen if physicians have less time than that. I also can’t imagine how the protest is affecting upper years who are doing their clerkship. I want to support them and help as much as I can.”

“I agree with the demands of the physicians, because you can’t offer treatments based on quotas,” said a medical student who chose to remain anonymous. “As first-year medical students, we are not as affected by the teaching strike because our lectures are recorded, yet I understand the stress that upper-level students feel with the ongoing strike.”

As of recently, the FMSQ and FMOQ are in mediation with the government, but it remains unclear how the situation will develop. University officials are preparing for various possible outcomes. One scenario sees the current pressure measures lifted, allowing medical teaching to continue as usual. Another scenario anticipates that the FMSQ’s pressure tactics will persist, with the possibility
that the FMOQ could direct its members to suspend teaching and supervision of medical students for an indefinite amount of time. As the suspension of teaching activities persists, upper-year medical students face growing anxieties regarding their futures. The clock is ticking.

“The healthcare system is already challenging to navigate. Putting additional pressure on doctors won’t help patients, it will only make things harder to access,” said an anonymous protester. “I hope the government and physicians can reach a fair compromise on Bill 106. It’s important that doctors have the opportunity to make their concerns heard, but I also hope that medical students won’t be forced to suffer the consequences of this dispute any longer than they have to. We need a solution that addresses the issues without compromising our education.”

The post White Coats on Hold appeared first on The McGill Daily.

On October 1, five Midnight Kitchen (MK) employees were laid off by the SSMU Board of Directors (BoD) without notice. This action came as a shock to the MK employees, the SSMUnion, their labour union, and McGill students who use the service. Following the employees dismissal, all SSMU members were informed of the BoD’s decision via a mass email titled “Reorganization of the Midnight Kitchen Service.”

The email has become a point of contention between MK supporters and those in favour of the reorganization. The email cites that the primary reason for reorganization came from a review of MK’s “operations and finances,” which revealed that only a “small portion” of the budget went towards food. The BoD states the reorganization will be to create more “paid and volunteer” opportunities for students, and also will “no longer be limited to exclusively vegan options.” Though in the email, which includes no concrete plan for how meat will be included in the service in the future, the BoD cites their inclusion of meat as a part of their goal to make “food services more accessible and responsive to all.” The inclusion of meat in the service would not necessarily cater to students who have vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free, halal, or kosher diets; however, the vegan and nut-free meals previously provided by MK made their service accessible to a diverse range of people with different diets. To “ensure transparency,” the BoD included MK’s fiscal budgets from 2022 to 2025 in the notice. These budgets were not accompanied by additional context detailing how MK operates, notably excluding how the service receives many donations from food security groups and farms to sustain their operations, outlined in an FAQ posted to the Instagram account @save.mk.coalition. The email also omitted the BoD’s plan for MK’s future and dates where members could expect the service to return.

From this email, many were driven to @save.mk.coalition’s comment section, an account created in solidarity with MK, to share their opinions on MK’s restructuring. Several arguments ensued in the comments of their first post. These responses demonstrated a roughly even split between those for and against the MK’s restructuring. One user left a comment beginning with “It is very disheartening to see the SSMU board-glazers in here celebrating the shutdown of this campus institution.” Others left comments such as “me when 75% of their budget goes towards salaries (crying emoji) but remember they’re a ‘non-profit, volunteer run’ service.”

The comment section under the post has become a microcosm for students’ reaction to MK’s restructuring. Students expressed their inability to understand how MK operated with the organization’s budget reports due to the lack of context in the email sent by SSMU. To combat misinformation, the account posted an FAQ which directly addresses the commenters’ questions. This post draws comparisons between MK and the People’s Potato, their Concordia University counterpart, who is able to serve free lunch four times a week, but primarily due to the fact that they have “a much larger kitchen space and a significantly larger team of staff.”

Nonetheless, there is still ambiguity for what the future of MK will be like. One of the primary concerns of those who utilize MK’s meal services is when they will return. In an email to the McGill Daily, SSMU’s president Dymetri Taylor, stated that the “‘best case scenario’ is that five weekly servings will be undertaken starting the first week of January 2026; however, our more realistic estimate is that it’ll be three servings per week, starting in the first week of January, with an escalation to five servings starting in mid-February.” Despite his announcement, there remains uncertainty on whether or not MK’s new structure will be able to achieve this “best case scenario.” Taylor further estimated that weekly lunches would return by mid- November, leaving students without the service for over a month.

In addition, Taylor clarified what MK would look like after undergoing reorganization. The role of the new Food Services and Hospitality Manager, would be to “manage and guide the service while also serving as a mentor to students,” a role which he compared to the “Gerts Bar Manager and the Gerts Cafe Manager” in his correspondence with the Daily. Though these positions have worked for Gerts Bar and Cafe, Orion, one of the recent MK hires who never received a contract from SSMU to make their position official, doesn’t believe it will work for MK.

In a verbal statement to the McGill Daily, Orion mentions how the format of a singular person overseeing student labor “simply will not work in the MK kitchen.” They, similar to other recent hires, believed that since they were offered a job in September, MK would continue to operate smoothly. Unfortunately, Orion states that they and the other new hires were not given their contracts before learning of MK’s restructuring, despite “a direct promise from Dymetri Taylor during the most recent General Assembly.” Cecelia Callaghan, a U2 student, also mentioned hearing Taylor promise to send the contracts during her speech at the rally following the announcement of the reorganization. Though the BoD claimed the restructuring would afford students “a range of paid and volunteer opportunities,” Cece and the other student hires, as of now, have not been given a role in the reorganized MK.

On October 2, a rally in solidarity of MK took place featuring speakers from SSMUnion, the Association of Graduate Students Employed at McGill (AGSEM), People’s Potato, and two of MK’s recent hires that were never given their contracts. This rally follows directly on the heels of the October 1 inter-union rally held by AGSEM, as well as the Association of McGill University Support Employees (AMUSE) and the Association of McGill and Professors of the Faculty of Arts (AMPFA), that called out the McGill Administration for their austerity practices in light of the recent budget cuts. In their FAQ post, @save.mk.coalition asks the SSMU for “democracy, accountability, and representation that protects us from austerity.”

In its 22 years of operation, MK has made inroads within the greater Montreal area and among the radical community. Beyond their weekly lunch service, MK has formed relationships with community organizations like QPIRG McGill and Happy Belly, hosted workshops, and maintained a community garden. They have pledged solidarity with Palestine, Sudan, and Congo, and have catered at many different events like QPIRG McGill’s Rad Frosh. These kinds of relationships are extremely important, and caused many commenters to lament the loss of this iteration of the service. One user who ended their comment with “MK provides an invaluable service to the community” sums up the sentiment.

The five laid-off MK employees have been most impacted from this reorganization. Many of these employees had been working at MK for more than five years. Yet, per the budgets attached to email and as mentioned by Orion, they were being paid below the livable wage according to l’Institut de recherche et d’information socioéconomique.

Beyond MK, Queer McGill has also undergone upheavals, such as the emptying of their library room on the fourth floor of the SSMU building. In a statement sent to the Daily from Juno Cinq-Mars, U2 student, and the rest of the coordinators on the Queer McGill team, it was revealed that even after filling out an Office Relocation Proposal, their request for a new library space was “denied,” while the space “appears to be empty and is not bookable on VEMS.” They also point out how these changes “have not benefited us as students, especially queer students, whatsoever. We are constantly being swept under the rug.”

The post SSMU Cuts Midnight Kitchen appeared first on The McGill Daily.

Combining forces with John Abbott College, the Powwow was moved off of McGill’s downtown campus for the first time. Situated on Watson Field at McGill’s Macdonald campus, a monstrous white tent sheltered hundreds of people clustered around the center stage, enraptured by colorful regalia and thundering drums. Toddlers, teenagers, and adults alike took to the stage in small groups, competing for prize money in various traditional dances. Vendor tents dotted the field surrounding the tent, selling Indigenous artwork, jewelry, and promoting services for the Indigenous community in the greater Montreal area. The change of venue took the event out of the Tomlinson Fieldhouse and helped smooth its transition from an exhibitionary format with no prizes, towards a traditional powwow in which the dancers compete for prize money and bragging rights.

“It’s easier for the dancers and the vendors coming with equipment and setups, parking … there’s not as much construction,” comments Kim Tekakwitha Martin, Dean of Indigenous Education at John Abbott College. “But also, it’s being able to utilize this wonderful space that we have our shared campuses on.”

Martin worked alongside McGill’s Indigenous Initiatives Office to provide the opportunity for students to engage in this cultural experience on campus. Not only was it her first time being able to attend the McGill Powwow, but the new venue extended the opportunity to other John Abbott and Macdonald campus students, and various communities closer to the West Island that might have typically been too far to attend the powwow before. “It’s the 24th annual McGill Powwow but this is the first annual McGill x John Abbott Powwow … I think that it will be something that will continue because it really has been a wonderful experience.”

While the two schools sharing a campus have the occasional collaboration, such as the weekly Mac Market publicized at John Abbott, and other programs, this is a stride towards organizing larger events together.

Martin remarked that powwows typically come out of harsh times within an Indigenous community. Kahnawake, where she is from, began hosting the annual Echoes of a Proud Nation powwow after the 1990 Oka Crisis.

In Martin’s words, the event serves to celebrate Indigenous resilience: “That was to signify the community coming together, and what we had done, and that we are a proud nation.”

Al Harrington, of the Ojibwe people of northwestern Ontario, competed in the men’s 18+ traditional dance. Taken from his culture and home during the Sixties Scoop, he was unable to connect and learn his roots until he turned 18. In 2009, he began to organize his own powwows, including facilitating the annual springtime Montreal Powwow until 2020. Working to break the cycle of Indigenous disenfranchisement, Harrington runs cultural workshops in the Montreal area and has his children enrolled in a Mohawk immersion school in Kahnawake. His children have been raised speaking Mohawk, Ojibwe, English, and French. “They know their culture,” he said, with an air of determination.

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Professor Derek Nystrom, Secretary for the Association of McGill Professors of the Faculty of Arts (AMPFA) and Associate Professor of English, stated to the Daily that “the ‘Horizon Plan’ has been communicated mainly through press releases and one- directional town hall meetings from the administration, rather than developed through genuine shared governance, so I have very little solid information about how the cuts that I and my colleagues are feeling [the repercussions of] have been determined.” He also clarified that his comments are based on his own personal views and may not be the same as those of AMPFA.

While the Horizon Plan is meant to be a long term solution to McGill’s financial concerns, Professor David A. Stephens, Academic Lead at Horizon McGill and Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, told the Daily that “Horizon was not established to manage McGill’s budget deficit.” Rather, “budgets are set by the Provost’s Office, and it is Faculties/Units who determine how to spend their funds.” He clarified that “Horizon’s mandate is to help us use our resources as wisely as possible, strengthen academic program delivery, and help McGill work better.”

Horizon McGill asserts on their website that “Decisions related to budget, staffing levels and unit resources fall outside of the Horizon team’s mandate, as does oversight of Faculty/unit projects.” However, they also stated there may be more layoffs as well as attrition, such as retirement, in the future, though McGill does not intend to provide retirement incentives. Layoffs are already expected to cut 350-500 jobs.

According to Christian Blanchette – the president of the Bureau de coopération interuniversitaire (BCI), responsible for Quebec’s universities – the budget deficits arising for several Quebec universities stem from lack of government accommodations for inflation and increasing salaries, as well as a decrease in international student enrollment. The latter is a result of the Quebec government’s limit on the enrollment of international students – who pay quadruple the tuition of Canadians – at post-secondary institutions, decreasing by 20 per cent this year.

Prof. Stephens further stated that “Given government cuts, growing competition for top students, and other challenges, we need to make the most of our resources.” He also attributed the introduction of the Horizon Plan to “inefficiencies” which McGill has developed over time in their administrative processes.

Horizon McGill is utilizing UniForum — a platform for comparing services between universities — to collect data through two forms: the service effectiveness survey, taken by faculty and staff regarding administrative and support services used (not those provided), and activity data collection, where managers report on the allocation of administrative and support functions. The latter tracks data as an aggregate rather than by the individual. Prof. Stephens clarified that the employee satisfaction data gathered did not include academic functions.

“Despite McGill’s efforts to describe Horizon as a ‘home- grown’ effort, it is the product of a consulting firm called NousCubane or the Nous Group [which owns UniForum], which McGill hired and is allegedly paying hundreds of thousands of dollars,” said Prof. Nystrom, clarifying he cannot confirm the actual amount the firm is paid. He added, “Apparently, the administration sees this as a smart way to deal with a budget crunch: hire a bunch of expensive outsiders rather than work with their own faculty, staff, and students.”

The Nous Group has already greatly reduced budgets at other universities. Critics fear the firm is corporatizing these institutions through encouraging centralization and streamlining decisions to higher ups.

According to Prof. Stephens, earlier in 2025, data collection was completed by Horizon McGill for the 2025 Fiscal Year (FY25), running from May to April. The quality of the data was reviewed over the summer. Prof. Stephens stated that: “By December we’ll better understand how much McGill spends on those [administrative] functions compared with other universities.” Later, he added, “We aim to have a preliminary dashboard outlining [McGill’s] progress later this fall.”

After data is collected about faculty and staff satisfaction regarding administrative processes, Horizon McGill looks at the time and money spent on those functions, and compares them to the other universities that are UniForum members. If there is a lack of faculty and staff satisfaction, as well as a greater amount of resources being spent on a service compared to UniForum member universities, the Horizon team will work to analyze and improve the situation.

Lisa Shapiro, the Dean of Arts, is a part of the institutional data group and is currently the only Faculty of Arts member listed as a member of Horizon McGill. In response to being asked how Horizon McGill ensures appropriate representation of the Faculty of Arts in decision-making, in the management office and work group, Professor Stephens said that “We are working with academics and administrators from all Faculties and Units across McGill.”

Prof. Nystrom states that “The cuts have meant that Arts departments are getting pressure to increase enrollments without adding faculty or TA support.” Elaborating on the impact, he adds that “undergraduates have fewer class choices and are often unable to enroll in classes they need for their program requirements because the courses are already at capacity.”

A U1 first year in the Faculty of Arts faced these challenges firsthand: “I had a scholarship, which means that I could register for class three days before everyone else, and yet, I registered the second when Minerva was opened, and I only got three classes. One of them was not for my level, so I had to drop it, so I only had two classes.” The same student later added “the fact that I had a scholarship means that I had to have at least five classes per semester…and if I don’t have it, well, I lose the scholarship.” As an international student, she faced additional challenges: “[As] an international student [from France], if I don’t have four classes, my study permit is not correct, and so I would have had to go back to France.”

“So basically, I went to every counselor, advisor. I went to Arts OASIS, but they didn’t know anything…I went to see advisors, other than the Arts OASIS department, and basically they all said that they did not have power over…registration,” she continued. She added later that “I think I got my [last] class three days before [the add drop deadline].”

In the English Department, Prof. Nystrom noted that retired faculty have not been replaced, meaning “we do not have the ability to offer as many diverse course offerings as we have in the past.” He further emphasized that “there are fewer faculty and staff available to support and guide them [students] through our programs.”

Prof. Nystrom said that since the cuts, “faculty find themselves overworked without adequate teaching support, which not only affects the quality of our instruction but also the time and energy we have to pursue our research.” He adds that these pressures are also being felt by graduate students, who have been denied teaching opportunities due to a decreasing number of TA positions. Ultimately, “these working conditions are already significantly degrading McGill’s status as a world-class research and teaching university.”

In Prof. Nystrom’s words, “the only real solution to [budget] dilemmas is not to hire outside consultants with a track record of taking a wrecking ball through other universities, but in working with faculty, staff, and students here to determine how best to address these challenges.”

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The Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between McGill and SSMU is a formal contract governing their relationship, dictating issues such as the SSMU’s ability to collect student fees, use McGill’s name, and access campus spaces. Under Article 10 of the agreement, either party may terminate the relationship, provided a mediation process is undertaken first. The current MOA, signed in 2022 and set to expire in 2027, has now been called into question due to what McGill administration views as SSMU’s failure to disassociate from activist groups. In the aforementioned email, Interim Deputy Provost Angela Campbell wrote that “SSMU allowed and, at least tacitly, supported a three-day strike that further divided a campus community already deeply cleaved and hurting,” referencing incidents during the April strike that the administration described as disruptive and unsafe.

The university’s decision came shortly after the end of the student strike. Endorsed by Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR), the strike was enacted through a motion passed at the March 27 Special General Assembly, where students voted in favor of divestment and public solidarity with Palestinians. Throughout the strike period, students organized picket lines, teach-ins, and demonstrations.

While many of these events were peaceful, some rallies brought demonstrable acts of violence and the obstruction of classes.  The administration cited an incident involving vandalism in the James Administration Building as an example of unacceptable behaviour. In an email addressed to all McGill students, Interim Deputy Provost Angela Campbell wrote that the strike created “a campus environment in which dozens of classes were blocked or interrupted.” She claimed that the university’s “goal is not to silence dissent, but to affirm that all students—whatever their identity or politics—deserve to live, learn, and express themselves on a campus freedom of fear, harassment, or violence, where their dignity is respected.”

In response to McGill’s notice of termination, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights McGill (SPHR) – though not an SSMU-affiliated organization – issued a statement accusing the university of “attacking student democracy.” In an Instagram post on April 7, SPHR wrote: “McGill has once again attacked the pro-Palestine student movement, intending to crack down on democratic forms of protest like a strike.” They described the decision as a “strategy of extortion” and a response to “pressure from Zionist donors and our warmongering political class.” The group called on the SSMU to refuse further concessions during negotiations and to “stand firmly with Palestine and our democratically enforced demand for divestment.”

In a statement issued to the McGill Daily, SSMU President Dymetri Taylor reassured that organizational “operations are normal,” noting that SSMU-affiliated clubs, services, and staff employment will remain unaffected during mediation. Taylor emphasized SSMU’s commitment to advocacy and the democratic representation of its undergraduate constituency.

One senator from the Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS) also weighed in on McGill’s decision. Anzhu Wei, who attended the GA and supported the motion, called the university’s termination of the MOA “ridiculous,”  adding that students are being punished for their political beliefs.

The termination of the MOA places the future of SSMU in limbo. Without the agreement, SSMU could lose the right to collect fees, occupy space in the University Centre, and coordinate student services in their current capacity, per Taylor’s statement. Campbell stated that the university remains “fully committed to ensuring that students continue to have strong, democratic representation and uninterrupted access to critical services.” Still, for students, the structure of that future representation remains unclear.

According to McGill’s public letter, the university will enter mediation with SSMU within two weeks of the termination letter. Until June, both parties will attempt to resolve the conflict, with the possibility of renewing or restructuring their agreement.

As the mediation process begins, SSMU has committed to transparency and regular updates. Students are encouraged to follow SSMU’s social media platforms and official channels for developments. Campbell similarly assured students the University would “keep [them] informed as we navigate this process.” In the meantime, McGill students continue to express concern over the long-term implications of the termination.

SSMU’s ability to function as an independent student union, manage funding, and maintain club spaces depends on the resolution of this process. As such, both the administration and student leadership face a critical moment in reshaping undergraduate representation at the university. McGill’s decision to suspend its agreement with SSMU signals a new and uncertain chapter in campus governance. What began as a student-led strike has sparked a broader reckoning over the limits of protest and student power.

The Daily reached out to McGill’s media relations team to provide comment on the administration’s rationale regarding the termination, how it perceives its relationship with SSMU, as well as what they expect from the negotiations. As of publishing, McGill has not given the Daily a response.

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Get Organized! is a workshop series launched by SSMU External Affairs earlier this year. The series offers students a chance to connect with local movements, learn political organizing skills, and build relationships rooted in action. 

“The workshop series started and was kind of inspired by a similar series at the CSU at Concordia that was called Get Radical,” shared Jamila, who works as the Policy and Mobilization Researcher at SSMU External Affairs. “It’s a really clear entry point for anybody at McGill who’s been looking to get involved but finds it overwhelming or doesn’t know who to reach out to or what to join.”

When she first arrived in Montreal, Jamila wanted to be politically active, but found it intimidating to join spaces without knowing anyone. “Get Organized has been a really, really wonderful way for people to just get to know each other and make friends with people that share an interest in being politically active,” she stated.

Each session  featured local grassroots organizations doing movement work, including SLAM-MATU, Students for Migrant Justice, the Immigrant Workers Center, and Mobilizing for Milton Park.

“Each workshop has one or multiple local organizations doing some kind of grassroots organizing,” Jamila explained. They noted how the workshops “make it possible for people to feel more empowered politically by making friends and comrades, learning about things that are already happening, and then learning skills so that they can start things autonomously if they like.”

Though McGill has cracked down on certain forms of campus advocacy, particularly around Palestinian solidarity, Pitre says Get Organized! hasn’t encountered those barriers.

“I think that we’ve been able to put forth some quite radical programming and have really candid discussions about things like protest safety and knowing your rights when interacting with the police, but also McGill security.”

For Pitre and her team, part of the series intends to introduce students to new avenues of involvement beyond what’s already visible. “There are so many other ways for people to get involved … and we wanted to broaden the different range of struggles and local groups that students are aware of so they can get involved in other things.”

Harlan Porfiri, a student from the US, shared that the political context at home deeply shaped their motivation to join: “In the United States, the rise of fascism is particularly concerning. The rise of anti-trans rhetoric and legislation as well as weaning access to reproductive healthcare immediately threatens the well-being of my friends and family.”

Harlan heard about the workshop series through McGill Students for Good Jobs and signed up right away. Sharing their experience, Harlan said they “feel more knowledgeable about the organizing happening in my community and how I can make an impact as a student. I am impressed and inspired by the number of people interested in organizing, as well as the resources available to us as students to do so.”

“The current state of the world often moves me to fear, but I can say with absolute certainty that putting my energy toward community organizing has given me hope and the strength to look forward. It’s a very powerful feeling to be in a room full of people who see some injustice or some lack in the community and agree that they want to do something to fight against or change it.”

When asked what she’d say to someone on the fence about joining, she replied:

“It just feels so empowering to get to know other people and skills that make it possible for you to just do something, without waiting for the opportunity to come up. You look around and see things that you want to change in your community … having other people and skills to make that happen is really empowering.” 

For future workshop or mini-series opportunities, follow @ssmu_ea on Instagram.

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