“Tis the season”

As the holiday approach, stress levels arise and Montrealers don’t know how cope with all of this. In addition to the holiday stress, construction around the city is unbearable. Blocked streets and detour route commuters around the city, although these repairs need to be completed, taking a longer way to your destination is frustrating. For people taking their car into the city finding free parking or a reasonably priced parking meter is nearly impossible. In addition during the winter seasons there is a snow removal hour which Montreals need to worry about. All in all Montreal is a very festive city around the holidays however does come with a price with heavy construction and no parking.

Victor Mancini

Montreal makes NYT list of "hip" cities | Daily Brew - Yahoo! News

Montreal makes NYT list of "hip" cities | Daily Brew - Yahoo! News

The Underground City and Recycling

The underground city of Montreal is used by many people who are commuting to, from and through various places. This display of art  is made of re-used carton boxes and recyled paper, and is located in the Eaton Center mall, right by the St. Catherine Street exit. Since the Eaton Centre is one of the most popular underground malls in Canada, it can be used as a platform to convey global and social messages about the environment. Materials, such as water bottles, cardboard, and recycled paper are collected and made into beautiful art that is put on display for millions to see.

The recycled art is seen by many people who shop, or who simply use the exit to get to the metro. This snowman is made of green, orange, and brown re-used bottles and is located in Les Cours Mont-Royal, right by Peel Metro. In addition, this kind of recycled art is put up throughout other connecting malls, such as Les Cours Mont-Royal.

This tree is made of recycled bottles and is in Les Cours Mont-Royal:

 Text and photos by Sabrina Principe

Personality

Climate has a strong correlation with the mood of people, their social life and their state of mind. We aren't favored with a mild weather in Montreal, cold and long winters are a struggle for some and we can see it in the change of people's lifestyle during those months of frost. Who stays outside in the winter? People don't do it unless they have to. How long do they stay, how often do they go out for a breath of fresh air, how often do they go on social meeting? The cold cuts people's contact with the outside world and shows the dark side of our city. The unsocial coldness of Montreal is reviled.

Who's Occupying?

In the last few months, "Occupy Montreal" is being a subject of numerous discussions and debates and even though, it's a bit of a "cliche" now, I feel that there is a lot to do and improve about it. Personally I support the idea, and when I first heard about it, I was pretty excited and loved the idea that people were willing to sleep on the street in the name of a global cause. My imaginations though, were ruined when I first got there. The whole square was occupied by "bums" with tents. There was no enthusiasm at all, dirt was everywhere, and people were just not the kind I was imagining. I recognize my biased opinion about that protest since, I only went there once and I was totally discouraged to participate. Maybe the day I went was not a good one, maybe my expectations were drifting way to far, but it just didn't seem right. Where were all the middle class personages, where were all the students that have to carry all the economic dishonesty for their entire lifetime? The majority of the participants at that day were homeless people, for whom, in my opinion, living outside on the street is a personal decisions and being at the occupation is just a way to have a shelter and socialize. I personally think that the idea of the "occupy" movement all over North America is brilliant and there is a potential of a change. But don't you think that goal wasn't even understood by some of the participants, and the image was ruined?

History of Dawson College

HISTORY OF DAWSON by

Stéphanie Giannuzzo

Marjorie Ann Alcantara

Suganya Thangarajah

TIMELINE: History of the Building

-1908: Mother House

-1970: Number of Sister decreased

-1972: The secretarial school moved to a smaller building

-1977: Building was classified as a Historic site

-1982: Dawson College made its bid on the property 

TIMELINE: History of Dawson College

-1945: Dawson College located at St-Jean sur Richelieu/McGill satellite campus

-1950: Dawson College as McGill’s branch campus is closed

-1968: Dawson received its charter with a mandate: the first English language Cegep in Quebec

-1968: Dawson College opens its doors at 350 Shelby street and other locations in Westmount

-1988: Dawson College settled at the Mother House (present day campus)

-2006: Dawson Shooting

-2010: Pepsi Forum classes

-2010: Unveiling of Peace Garden

-2011: Students strike against rising tuition fees

In 1968, Dawson received its charter with a mandate to establish the first English-language Cegep in Quebec. Dawson College first opened its doors to students in 1969, making it the first English-language Cegep institution in the Quebec network of CEGEPs. There were approximately 1,200 students enrolled in its first fall semester. In 1969, the only programs offered were... Today, there are almost 10,000 students, which include around 7,5020 day students and 2,500 part-time students. Dawson College offers 25 pre-university programs designed to prepare students for university studies in Creative Arts, Literature and Languages, Science, Social Science, and Special Areas of Study and 21 career/technical programs in Business Administration, Computer Science, Design, Health and Medicine, Laboratory Technologies, Media and Publishing, Photography, Professional Theatre, Nursing, Photography, Social Services, and Radiological Technologies. Through its Continuing Education division, the College provides for-credit and non-credit professional training and preparation programs and 2 pre-university programs in Science and Social Science. Dawson’s students are among the most ethnically, culturally and linguistically diverse of any Quebec Cegep. * The dean of Dawson College is Robert Kavanagh.

The College was originally housedin a converted pharmaceutical factory in Westmount. In 1970, a second campus (used mostly for Creative Arts programs) was opened on Viger Street close to Old Montreal. Two years later, its third campus was opened near Parc Lafontaine. And by1988 it settled at the Mother House of the congregation de Notre-Dame, which is the building where it is situated today. Dawson completed the wing the houses the technical programs and the physical education facilities in 1997.

The college was named after Sir John William Dawson, who was a professor of geology and the principal of McGill University from 1885 to 1893. So a bit about Dawson, he was born on October 13,1820 and died on November 19, 1899. He was Nova Scotia's first superintendent of education, between 1850 to 1853. He made a discovery about the first fossil plant found in rocks of Devonian origin; he is now considered one of the founders of the science of palaeobotany.

Dawson College-Pepsi Forum

As a solution to the overcrowding, Dawson has been having classes held in the Pepsi Forum since August 2010. The Pepsi Forum (otherwise known as the P-wing) used to be the former home of the Canadiens on Ste. Catherine Street between Atwater Ave. and Lambert Closse Street. Now they are hosting lessons on sociology and other academic subjects. The Pepsi Forum became the best choice because of the short time that Dawson had to build the classrooms, the rental cost and the location.

There has been a 17.9% spike in population in English CEGEPs across Montreal. That translates to an extra 300 more students for Dawson forcing the creation of nine classrooms and two social science laboratories. The Ministry of Education has been asking English CEGEPS to accept more students than their capacity and has given $1million for funding to do so. Since Dawson is a heritage building, that does not permit them by Westmount laws to build extra space internally so, they had no choice but to opt for external space.

The population bulge is expected to last until 2013. Dawson has signed to remain at the Pepsi Forum for three to five years. Dawson school officials also plan to permanently expand to the Forum to teach adult education classes.  

Dawson’s Future

Dawson looks to the future with confidence and optimism.  We have indeed come far as an institution, but we envision even more development and continuous improvement in the coming years.  This progress will be all the more assured if the Government of Quebec reiterates its support for Dawson College and the range of instruction we offer and awards Dawson greater institutional autonomy, which is appropriate to the effective, high quality institution of higher education we have become and for which we have convincingly demonstrated our readiness. 

Rock That Stache!

November, newly branded Movember is slowly changing the face of men’s health. Thousands of men around Canada sport their various forms of moustaches throughout the month to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer.

How does this movement work? At the start of the month, men, called “Mo Bros”, register at movember.com with a clean and shaven face. Throughout the course of the month, they act as walking billboards creating awareness of this movement and raise money with the help of those around them. Towards the end of the month, Mo Bros and Mo Sistas get together and celebrate the success of the month at a ‘Movember’ Party or at the Gala Party held by Movember. The funds then get processed through Movember and Prostate Cancer Canada.

How does this relate to The City? This movement began in Melbourne, Australia and it has made a global impact. It is now practiced in New Zealand, the US, Canada, the UK, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, South Africa, Ireland and many other countries support and recognize Mo Bros and Mo Sistas globally. Through urban living and city life, messages like that of Movember and other heatlh issues are brought to the eyes of many that are unaware and encourage support. On a positive note, in 2010, nearly 119,000 Canadian Mo Bros and Mo Sistas got on board, raising $22.3 million CAD. As Movember nears an end, embrace the stache!

For more information and how you can participate visit: http://ca.movember.com/?home

Amanda M.