McMaster hunger strikers feel fossil fuel divestment movement is ‘gaining momentum’

They call it the Hunger City."

You'll find it nestled in the corner of the Donaldson Family Marketplace inside the McMaster University Student Centre. It consists of several couches that have been pushed together, makeshift beds made cozier with blankets, pillows and artwork.

It's the place Mac students Mila Py, Navin Garg and Sydney Szijarto have called their makeshift home for the last week amidst a hunger strike that takes aim at fossil fuel divestment at the Hamilton university.

The trio of students, who are all part of MacDivest, have been following a liquid-only diet since the morning of March 20. A fourth student, Sharang Sharam, joined on March 23, while others have had to drop-out along the way due to health concerns and Ramadan.

The end goal? A stop to the construction of natural gas-powered generators being built next to Cootes Drive and a transparent commitment to fossil fuel divestment from the institution.

The generators have received approval from the City of Hamilton, but still require approval from the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks before being operated.

Part of a project intended to save money on electricity costs during peak times, they are expected to increase the university's greenhouse gas emissions by 415 tonnes per 60 hours of operation and would operate between 40 and 100 hours a year.

Meanwhile, back in 2020, McMaster had $22 million - about two per cent of its portfolio - invested in oil and gas, down from $37 million in 2019.

The Spectator visited the strikers on Saturday after they'd passed the 124-hour mark of their protest. While morning nausea, headaches, weakness and brain fog had set in, they said they remain committed to their demands.

We were never expecting to have to strike for this long," said Szijarto.

However, Garg said their hunger strike was the harshest form" of advocacy the group felt they could take on after years of rallies at the school that were allegedly ignored by leadership.

This was nobody's first choice," said Py. This is an emergency and that is what we're communicating through the severity of our actions. We should be met with the same kind of urgency."

In an email statement Friday, Mac spokesperson Wade Hemsworth told The Spectator that administration has continued to ask the students to stop putting their health at risk and find productive ways of joining in on the university conversations on these critical topics."

Hemsworth added that while the university has made a lot of progress" in divestment, the hunger strike does not change the due diligence that we have to undertake as we make critical investment and other decisions."

Py said the group had not heard from university officials as of Saturday but she believed their message was gaining momentum."

MacDivest held a rally Friday afternoon that saw dozens of students and faculty come out in support of the hunger strike. Ward 13 Coun. Alex Wilson and Hamilton-Centre MPP-elect Sarah Jama also spoke at the event.

Garg said while there is no end in sight for the hunger strike, the students are hopeful that the university will come up with a plan" to address their requests.

Even if they never respond to this, there is going to be a lot of ongoing pressure," said Garg. The university needs to do better."

Fallon Hewitt is a reporter at The Spectator. fhewitt@thespec.com