(La version française suit)

Dear McGill Finance Community Member,

The Procedures for Travel and Other Expenses have been updated:

• P4 has been modified to indicate that when an amount is to be returned to the University, the method of payment is via Interac e-Transfer. Payments via personal cheques will no longer be accepted.

Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced plans to phase out some food dyes, most of which remain allowed in Canada. CBC News spoke to experts about the safety of these dyes and how they are regulated in Canada.

Food banks across Canada set a new record for demand in 2024, with more than two million monthly visits—nearly double the rate seen five years prior, reports CBC News.

One reason for the spike in demand is the rising cost of food.

"What we're encountering right now is a problem where food inflation is bigger than general inflation," economist and agronomist Pascal Thériault, Senior Faculty Lecturer at McGill University, told CBC.

La version française suit.

To all Finance Users,

May 1, 2025 is the first day of Fiscal Year 26 (May 1, 2025 to April 30, 2026). For your reference, attached are the FY26 Month End Deadlines for submitting financial transactions in Banner (including Finance Accounts Receivable and Feed File submissions).

These deadlines are posted on the Financial Services website.

Need HELP?

April 11th, 2025 | In an interview, Pearl Eliadis critiques Quebec’s newly proposed Bill 94, which expands the province’s secularism rules by extending the ban on religious symbols to all school support staff and volunteers, mandating uncovered faces in educational institutions, and prohibiting religious accommodations across the education system.

The Department of Bioengineering would like to congratulate Professor Sara Mahshid on being selected as the recipient of the 2025 

An international study co-authored by McGill psychologist Caroline Palmer suggests our brains and bodies don’t just understand music, they physically resonate with it. These discoveries, based on findings in neuroscience, music, and psychology, support Neural Resonance Theory (NRT). 

NRT maintains that rather than relying on learned expectations or prediction, musical experiences arise from the brain’s natural oscillations that sync with rhythm, melody and harmony. This resonance shapes our sense of timing, musical pleasure and the instinct to move with the beat. 

The Department of Bioengineering enjoyed a fun and enriching retreat at the Gault Nature Reserve on Monday, April 28. Faculty and staff came together to connect and share ideas in the reserve’s beautiful natural setting. A big thank you to everyone who took part and helped make the day memorable. The department now looks ahead to another exciting year! (April 2025)

Presentation of the Letter of Engagement (LoE) at the DLR site in Cologne: The DLR Institute of Air Transport and the Institute of Air and Space Law (IASL) at McGill University in Montreal are initiating an interdisciplinary collaboration in the field of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM). The aim is to jointly research the legal, technological and societal aspects of future air transport systems and to incorporate them into the design and evaluation of sustainable mobility solutions. Pictured from left to right: Tim Alers (DLR Programme Directorates for Aviation), Dr.

February 26th, 2025 | MPP ’21 Alexandra Ages examines the growing concentration of power held by big tech companies like Meta, Amazon, and Google, highlighting their expanding influence not only in politics and geopolitics but also in everyday life through data commodification, surveillance, and labor exploitation. She underscores the urgent need for stronger regulations to protect personal privacy, ensure workers’ rights, and prevent the erosion of democratic accountability in the face of a digital oligarchy that increasingly shapes society and governance.

February 18th, 2025 | MPP '21 Alexandra Ages writes how the alarming rise in intimate-partner violence and femicide across Canada, emphasizing that urgent action and accountability are needed to address this crisis. She argues that appointing a national gender-based violence commissioner would provide crucial oversight and help ensure effective implementation of the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence.

April 21, 2025 | In an interview with The New York Times, Aengus Bridgman warns that Meta’s 2023 news ban on Facebook and Instagram in Canada has left the country’s online media environment vulnerable to disinformation and polarization ahead of the federal election. With mainstream news blocked, hyperpartisan pages like Canada Proud have surged in popularity, spreading misleading content and amplifying political division.

April 13th, 2025 | In a recent interview, Taylor Owen warned that Canada’s online media environment is more fragile and susceptible to manipulation than ever before. As trust in journalism declines, he explained that political support for far-right parties abroad often backfires, making Canadian politicians cautious. He highlighted the challenges of detecting foreign interference on platforms like Twitter, especially without strong transparency laws such as the failed Online Harms Act.

April 23rd, 2025 | Taylor Owen, principal investigator for the Media Ecosystem Observatory, highlights the growing challenge of disinformation in Canada’s high-stakes federal election. In an interview with Steve Paikin on TVO Today, Owen explains how the rapid spread of false and misleading information online is making it increasingly difficult for voters to distinguish fact from fiction.

April 24th, 2025 | With less than a week before the federal election, Taylor Owen sat down with Jim Balsillie—former co-CEO of Research in Motion and one of Canada’s most prominent business leaders—to discuss why Canada’s economy is falling behind and what must change. As Donald Trump escalates attacks on the Canadian economy and hints at turning Canada into the “51st state,” Balsillie argues the real threat to Canadian sovereignty isn’t Trump—it’s decades of political complacency and corporate capture.

March 24th, 2025 | In a recent interview with CBC, Taylor Owen, Director of the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy, warned that Canada’s online media environment is more fragile and susceptible to manipulation than ever before. As trust in journalism declines, Owen explains, disinformation that once existed on the fringes is now entering the mainstream—largely through social media platforms.

April 16th, 2025 | In an interview on The Paul Wells Show, Taylor Owen, founding director of the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy at McGill University, raised urgent concerns about online election interference in Canada. Drawing from his work with the Media Ecosystem Observatory, Owen explains how foreign and domestic actors attempt to sway public opinion through misinformation and platform manipulation. He emphasizes that while online interference is not always overt, its cumulative effect undermines democratic processes.

April 18th, 2025 | In an interview with The Guardian, Media Ecosystem Observatory Executive Director Aengus Bridgman warned of a dramatic surge in fake political content on social media as Canadians prepare to vote in the federal election. Bridgman explains that, despite Meta’s ban on Canadian news sharing, more than half of Canadians still rely on Facebook for political information—now increasingly shaped by fake headlines, fraudulent ads, and deepfake videos.

As the U.S. government moves to erase large amounts of scientific data, including climate data, from its websites, researchers at McGill University in Montreal are helping the scientific community safeguard what might otherwise be lost.  

In a 2024 policy brief for the Collectif québécois pour la prévention de l’itinérance (CQPI), Pearl Eliadis, alongside Melissa Shemirani and Angelina Freeman, highlights the urgent need for increased investment in second-stage shelters for women and children fleeing domestic and intimate partner violence. Building on a 2022 recommendation from CQPI’s Gender Research Stream, the team conducted a rapid literature review that found second-stage housing plays a vital role in bridging the gap between emergency shelters and permanent housing.