[timeline_excerpt]In an article titled “And the Notorious McGill connection,” The McGill Daily outlined the implications of McGill officials continuing financial dealings with apartheid South Africa at a time when much of the global community had started divesting from the racist government and openly condemning the inhumane discrimination experienced by Black South Africans.[/timeline_excerpt]
Author: Aishwarya Singh
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Dawson College divests from South African investments.
[timeline_excerpt]In November of 1978, Dawson College’s board of governors voted to withdraw their accounts from the Bank of Montreal (BMO) because of its involvement with the South African apartheid government. Meanwhile, McGill and SSMU both continued to deal with BMO. McGill did not fully divest from South African investments until 1985.[/timeline_excerpt]
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Demonstration held the racist deportation of students.
[timeline_excerpt]In 1859, construction workers building houses at the corner of Rue Metcalfe and Boulevard de Maisonneuve unearthed remnants of skeletons, fire pits, tools, pottery, longhouse posts, and other evidence of an Iroquoian village formerly being located on the site. At this time, leading Canadian scientist and geologist William Dawson was the director of McGill College, responsible for developing the school into a major educational institution. Dawson examined this site – now referred to as Dawson Site – and concluded that it once held the village of Hochelaga. He published his findings the following year and many were quick to pronounce his conclusions correct so as to satisfy the intrigue surrounding Hochelaga’s enigmatic disappearance.[/timeline_excerpt]
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The Committee Against Racism (CAR) led a demonstration protesting student deportations and Canadian immigration policy. After the implementation of bill C-55, which imposed strong immigration restrictions, a number of students from so-called developing countries were deported often without a chance to appeal. At the beginning of the December of 1975, 13 students had been deported from Montreal. CAR’s demonstration came specifically in response to two Guyanese members of the committee being threatened with a deportation order. The specific charges against the two students were vague. One, Rasheed Sattar, was charged with having insufficient funds to support himself while studying in Montreal. Sattar was able to show Immigration officers a bank manager’s statement attesting that he had enough money to live in Montreal for a year, which was normally all that is needed for a student visa. However, one of the officers felt that Sattar was being “immoral” for leaving his wife and children in Guyana to complete a one year course at a Montreal technical school. CAR also believed that several Indian, Chinese, and Caribbean students at McGill had been threatened by the Immigration department and some deported.[/timeline_content]
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Robert Houle graduates from McGill.
[timeline_excerpt]Robert Houle is a Saulteaux nation contemporary artist, curator, critic, and educator. Houle is mainly a painter working in the tradition of Abstraction and his art takes up issues related to the aftermath of colonialism. Houle is shown both nationally and internationally. Of particular importance is his involvement in important high-profile exhibitions, such as Land, Spirit, Power: First Nations at the National Gallery of Canada.[/timeline_excerpt]
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SSMU Security introduced.
[timeline_excerpt]SSMU security was introduced when SSMU council restricted SSMU executives from calling in Montreal police to arrest anti-zionist protestors. Originally SSMU hired two agents to patrol and secure the University Centre. In the 1980s and 90s, SSMU security began to employ McGill Redmen football players. SSMU eventually felt the need for more a professional non-student security force and in the 2000s SSMU security became a more integrated operation of the Society. The service prevented thefts in the Schatner building and even worked on defences to computer threats. In the later part of the decade however, McGill security services made the decision to staff SSMU on-campus activities. The cost of McGill security amounted to a downturn in SSMU’s security services.[/timeline_excerpt]
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A Black Panther Party minister comes to McGill.
[timeline_excerpt]Ray Masai Hewitt, Minister of Education for the Black Panther Party, speaks at McGill university “to roughly 400 McGill students in an address about the civil rights struggle.”[/timeline_excerpt]