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News December 15 2011
Read by Tara Brockwell.
Produced by Sofia Gay.
Stories by Esther Viragh, Shaun Malley and Cynthia Othieno.
Transgender student gets full support from CSU
The CSU held its final Council Meeting for 2011 yesterday.
It included a motion to support transgender students in their fight to have whatever name they feel comfortable with on their transcript.
Students who are uncomfortable with their birth name are stuck with it in the current system at Concordia. They must legally change their name and/or undergo invasive medical procedures to physically appear their desired gender.
But Council voted to support the 2110 Centre for Gender Advocacy project to allow gender non-conforming students the right to be called what they wish. President Lex Gill offered her full support to help present the case to Senate.
Council also had to shape up their standing committees after a number of people stepped down from their positions.
They named one new student to the Financial Committee and two more to the Events Committee.
Nearing the end of the meeting, Bruno Joyal announced his resignation from council. This is after six months of representing the faculty of arts and science.
YEAR IN REVIEW 2011: Tuition Hike Protest
As soon as the Quebec government announced higher education fees, student mobilization began.
The fee increase meant an extra $325 a year for the next five years. Making tuition sixteen hundred and twenty five dollars higher in twenty sixteen.
A red fabric square pin has became the symbol of the anti-tuition hike movement.
On November 10th, students from across the province went on strike for the day and marched downtown against the proposed hike.
Over twenty thousand students showed up. It all went peacefully until the very end. 13 students occupied a McGill administration building and were forcefully removed.
Over one hundred riot police came and forced the rest of campus. They used pepper spray and four arrests were made.
Montreal police has denied any wrong doing in the matter. Meanwhile, the Concordia and Mcgill student unions condemned the police action.
Students at Concordia overwhelmingly voted to continue fighting against the tuition increase in November’s CSU by-election.
Chuck Ragan & Dave Hause on Hooked on Sonics THIS Thu 6-8pm ET
Modern punk legends Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music and Dave Hause of the Loved Ones dropped by CJLO's studios in the mid summer of 2011 to record a session and interview for the Hooked on Sonics program. Tune in this Thursday from 6-8pm ET to hear the guys chat about the relation of punk rock to folk music and hear exclusive collaborative versions of each others' songs and a cover of Canadian cult singer-songwriter Northcote that the guys worked out on the spot in CJLO's studios. Following the airing, streams of the mp3s and videos of the performances will be made available, as well as a download of the Northcote cover. Tune in - Hooked on Sonics Thursdays 6-8pm ET!
YEAR IN REVIEW 2011: Canada votes blue and orange
Canada’s voters dramatically changed the makeup of their Parliament this year.
2011’s federal election ushered in a Conservative majority while the NDP gained its largest share of seats in its fifty year history. This made Canada’s leftmost major party the Official Opposition to Harper’s right-leaning government.
The most monumental political shift was seen in Quebec, as Bloc blue was swept away by an orange wave of NDP support.
The NDP’s share of seats in Quebec vaulted from one to fifty-seven after the election.
The loser in this equation? The Liberal Party. The Grits plummeted from a seventy-seven seat Opposition to a thirty-four seat outsider. This came as a result of an election they forced with a vote of non-confidence in March. The disappointing result cost Party Leader Michael Ignatieff his job.
YEAR IN REVIEW 2011: Canada loses Jack
He had been battling prostate cancer for months, but had apparently gone into remission before the 2011 Federal election.
Fashioning a cane during the debates, Layton was seen as a feisty and inspirational leader to many. Being voted in the CBC election poll as most favourable leader to Canadians.
His beloved NDP was rewarded. They won the most seats in party history at 103. In Layton’s home province of Quebec the party earned an unprecedented 58 new Members of Parliament.
Following the election, Layton’s health took a turn for the worse. Looking extremely ill, in July, Layton announced that he would temporarily step down as party leader. But he never returned.
On his deathbed Layton wrote a letter addressed to Canadians which finished with these inspirational words:
"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world."
YEAR IN REVIEW 2011: Your Concordia wins CSU election
This year saw another highly contentious Student Union election.
Mostly composed of newcomers, the Your Concordia slate took on the Action-Vision-Fusion dynasty and came out on top.
Before the campaign, VP Morgan Pudwell created chaos in the CSU with her resignation. She said the CSU she ran with was corrupt. So it was not a surprise to many when she showed up just a few weeks later on the challenging slate.
Nothing seemed to go right from there on in. Illegal campaigning and general misconduct were some of the many election violations.
Chief Electoral Officer Oliver Cohen disqualified both teams following the election. But the Judicial Board overturned the ruling and re-instated both teams in the summer.
YEAR IN REVIEW 2011: Wintery Hot Accessible Love-in for Education is a success
Up sixteen hundred and twenty-five dollars for Quebec residents in five years.
So by joining forces with anti-tuition groups, the Concordia Student Union called a special general meeting to organize a Day of Action.
But there was a dilemma. No area on campus is large enough to house the twelve hundred students needed to reach quorum.
On Valentine’s Day, the Reggies terrace was crammed past capacity.
The Wintery Hot Accessible Love-in for Education or WHALE was a success.
Students also voted to lower the quorum to prevent the same capacity problem from happening in the future.
YEAR IN REVIEW 2011: Judith Woodsworth "resigns"
Twenty-eleven began with Concordia finding itself leaderless. Again.
President Judith Woodsworth was pressured to resign less than two years into her term. But not before agreeing to a huge severance package of nearly a quarter million dollars.
Which is equivalent to less than two years pay.
News came out in January that the Board of Governors had given Woods- worth an ultimatum. Resign and collect, or face an embarrassing public dismissal.
Concordia’s previous President Claude Lajeunesse was also told to leave by the Board before finishing his term in 2007.
Former President Dr. Fred Lowy has taken over on an interim basis until Concordia finds a new President.
China and India blast Canada for leaving Kyoto
China and India have blasted Canada over their decision to leave the Kyoto Protocol. This comes after Canada vowed to reject the Kyoto Protocol this week. Canada said the two highly populated Eastern nations were barriers to a better climate deal.
China’s state run news agency called Canada’s decision was preposterous and irresponsible. And an Indian official said Canada has jeopardized the whole UN convention on climate change.
But Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canada is still working towards an agreement that would bind all the world’s emitters.
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