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Updates from September, 2019 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

• Kate 10:58 on 2019-09-22 Permalink | Reply  

  The start of the Montreal Marathon was delayed nearly an hour because of some holdup in securing the route – La Presse says not enough people showed up to do the work, so police had to be called to sort it out. The organizer admits the delay was his fault.

  Streets were expected to reopen around 3 p.m. but this too may be somewhat delayed by the late start.

  At 11 a.m. the marathon winners have already been declared, with two Kenyan runners taking the race at 2:15 and 2:40 (♂ and ♀).

  Update: A participant in the demi-marathon collapsed and was given CPR then brought to hospital. This report suggests it was a person in their twenties.

  Further update: the young man who collapsed has died. I suspect from the tone of some things I’m reading that the disarray of the marathon this year will be blamed for not having first aid people at hand immediately.

  Dan, Kate, Mr.Chinaski, and 3 others are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • Brett 15:13 on 2019-09-22 Permalink

    We say half marathon ☻

  • Spi 19:06 on 2019-09-22 Permalink

    They failed to recruit enough volunteers to man the intersections and gates along the course. It’s much graver than people not showing up to do the work.

  • Kate 13:05 on 2019-09-23 Permalink

    Maybe that suggests they need more paid staff?

  • CR 19:03 on 2019-09-23 Permalink

    I’ve never understood why people volunteer at for-profit events unless they’re going to get free admission or something. I can understand working a day at a music festival to get a free ticket for the next day but what are you getting out of volunteering at a marathon where you won’t be competing and watching it is free?

  • Mr.Chinaski 09:50 on 2019-09-24 Permalink

    Sometimes you volunteer because of the law, community-work hours and small sentences.

  • Kate 10:09 on 2019-09-24 Permalink

    But the Montreal marathon is part of a profit-making venture, Mr. Chinaski. Can that be considered community work?

  • Dan 10:49 on 2019-09-24 Permalink

    Volunteers at running events tend to be of a different sort, often athletes themselves who’ve participated in the event in the past and know the value of helpful, cheering folk along the route. Having done it myself it’s usually quite a rewarding experience.

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• Kate 10:54 on 2019-09-22 Permalink | Reply  

  What an absolutely glorious autumn Sunday. I have some history pieces for leisure reading.

  Radio-Canada has a piece with text and video clips about the life and death of the Montreal tramway. It’s a theme that’s often pondered because it’s hard to believe we wilfully destroyed such a comprehensive transit system – obviously it would’ve had to be updated and upgraded over the years, but it was already in existence and functioned well for decades. (I happened on the construction site for the Pie-IX bus corridor recently and it’s a serious dig running for many blocks. We just had a new bus corridor ordained on Papineau in about ten minutes for the 445 route, so what is that thing? I suspect strongly it will be turned into a tramway before we’re done with it, because there’s no other explanation that makes sense. Why would you have to dig to make a bus lane?)

  CBC has text and an audio excerpt about a man who made his home in Montreal after surviving the Holocaust. It’s a clip from a longer audio piece designed as a guide to the postwar Jewish history of the Plateau and Mile End, on a site conceived to tell the stories of a number of refugees.

  The Centre d’histoire piece is about the Hélène-de-Champlain restaurant. The building dates from 1936, part of Camillien Houde’s park construction make-work campaign, and used at first as a sports chalet. It was turned into a restaurant in 1955, had its moment in the sun during Expo 67 and basically coasted on that reputation for years afterward. It’s been closed for ten years now.

  The Gazette’s ongoing archive series includes Michael Jackson’s 1984 tour, a huge show at the Olympic Stadium that September 16.

  SMD, Blork, Ant6n, and 3 others are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • DeWolf 11:23 on 2019-09-22 Permalink

    The Pie-IX SRB involves such a big dig because they’re taking the opportunity to completely redo the underground infrastructure (same as St-Hubert, Ste-Catherine, etc.). That’a also why it isn’t slated to open until 2022, which is apparently when we will have an entire new light metro system up and running.

  • Kate 11:58 on 2019-09-22 Permalink

    Maybe you’re right. But it would be a sensible route for a tram, and has been proposed in the past – let’s say, it could happen.

  • TC 22:12 on 2019-09-22 Permalink

    Streetcars systems were replaced by buses all over North American, and in many European cities. Buses have some major advantages: they are maneuverable, if one breaks down it doesn’t impede the rest of the line, or other vehicles on the route. Passengers do not have to get on and off in the middle of the roadway. You can dispatch buses quickly, and they can skip stops easily. No masses of ugly overhead wires to maintain. I suspect that when buses were substituted, no one expected that cars would overwhelm streets the way they have. Gas engines vs. electric was not a factor in the decisions.

  • Ant6n 11:05 on 2019-09-23 Permalink

    That sounds like the advantages of new buses over of streetcars back in the fifties. Or perhaps it’s a view colored by Toronto’s 50s style system (‘ugly overheat wires’, ‘get on and off in the middle of roadway’).
    Not at all relevant for a potential tram on pie9.

  • Blork 13:40 on 2019-09-23 Permalink

    Buses do have the advantage of being more maneuverable and can go off-route (for example, if there’s road construction or an accident a bus can just go around) but they have the major (to me) disadvantage of being as uncomfortable as heck. Particularly the Nova buses, which always feel like the driver is popping the clutch when the bus pulls away, or that the driver is stomping on the brakes when the bus slows and stops.

    Maybe it’s the low center of gravity, but I constantly see standing riders holding on for dear life and I’m amazed more people don’t fall given how abrupt the stops and starts are.

    Then there’s the side-to-side lurching as the bus changes lanes or dekes around (or goes through) pot holes. Pulling into the Terminus in Longueuil is a nightmare because there are so many sharp turns, and the buses generally take them going pretty fast, as if the driver is trying to fishtail the bus.

    By comparison, any trams I’ve ridden (Canada, US, Europe) have always been smooth rides with minimal jostling about. The older I get and the more neuropathic my legs become, the more I really value that smoother ride.

  • SMD 14:50 on 2019-09-23 Permalink

    I recommend this academic history on the introduction of buses in Montreal, which were promoted by the Canadian Autobus Company, and the opposition faced from the monopoly of the Montreal Tramways Corporation. From the conclusion

    “Frustration about the tramway service of the MTC, a private company of public transport, was manifested by the support given to the proposal of the former CAC, another private company of public transport In light of the conflict that this proposal initiated, the history of the motor vehicle seems much more than the opposition between individual and public transport It is also the competition between two private corporations backing different technologies of public transport — the bus and the tramway.”

    Veilleux, D. (1996). Buses, Tramways, and Monopolies: The Introduction of Motor Vehicles into Montreal’s Public Transport Network. Michigan Historical Review, 22(2), 103-126.

• Kate 23:57 on 2019-09-21 Permalink | Reply  

  There was a double shooting in Côte-St-Luc Saturday evening (TVA helpfully explaining it’s “une municipalité située dans l’ouest de l’île de Montréal”) when a man rang a doorbell then shot up the two young men inside. Police are still trying to track him down.

  Sunday morning, one of the victims is still in critical condition.

   

• Kate 18:13 on 2019-09-21 Permalink | Reply  

  I had no idea that marathon runners throw away a huge pile of sports clothing as a race starts, but they do, and the Maison du Père is going to pick it all up after the start on Sunday morning, and dole it out to people who need it. They’ll also get the unclaimed free snacks at the end.

  Kate, Daisy, MarcG, and 1 other are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • Mr.Chinaski 09:14 on 2019-09-22 Permalink

    It’s hard when there is such a difference in temperature early in autumn, say 5-10C in the morning while it can go easily in the upper 20’s especially when running on hot asphalt. Most experienced runners will start with an upper shelf that you know is old and you would have given it anyway.

  • MarcG 09:27 on 2019-09-23 Permalink

    *upper shell?

  • Daisy 12:36 on 2019-09-23 Permalink

    When you are standing around waiting for the race to start you will be very cold if you wear only the clothes that you will be comfortable in during the race itself. I always buy a hoodie at a thrift store with the intention of shedding it right at the beginning or at the first aid station.

  • Kate 12:54 on 2019-09-23 Permalink

    That makes sense. (I’ve never undertaken anything like it, as you can probably tell…)

• Kate 16:06 on 2019-09-21 Permalink | Reply  

  Apparently it’s a big deal that Montreal is the only Canadian city to see the Bat-Signal Saturday evening, even though it’s being projected onto Place Dupuis rather than some grand monumental building.

  Update: Police shut the projection down quickly because of an incident in Émilie-Gamelin park involving a distraught man who had climbed up a structure (the flickr link above says it was a tree) and the square was cleared while they talked him down. I guess Batman was not much use in this crisis.

  Kate and Mr.Chinaski are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • Mr.Chinaski 09:17 on 2019-09-22 Permalink

    Before people ask why they did it at Place Émilie-Gamelin, Warner Brothers is a company that has their Montreal HQ just in front at Place Dupuis. This is marketing disguised as a public event.

  • Kate 11:20 on 2019-09-22 Permalink

    That faintly crossed my mind, Mr. Chinaski, so thanks for pointing it out.

• Kate 07:58 on 2019-09-21 Permalink | Reply  

  A brave QMI journalist got himself hired at one of the firms that sorts recycling and found it was a pretty disgusting job and evidently many residents simply treat the recycling as a second garbage pickup.

   

• Kate 07:55 on 2019-09-21 Permalink | Reply  

  I wonder why CTV is floating the idea that the Conservatives could win St‑Léonard–St‑Michel next month, as it’s definitely a when‑pigs‑fly idea.

  Mr.Chinaski, Hamza, Kate, and 2 others are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • ant6n 15:17 on 2019-09-21 Permalink

    I don’t think that the Conservatives have any chance anywhere in Montreal. So supporting the Liberals anywhere in Montreal in order to keep the Conservatives at bay doesn’t make any sense.

  • Ephraim 18:08 on 2019-09-21 Permalink

    I see they gave up on winning Mount-Royal riding… they are running a no-name there.

  • Kate 18:32 on 2019-09-21 Permalink

    They ran out of ex-mayors of Côte St-Luc.

  • Hamza 18:37 on 2019-09-21 Permalink

    There is a concerted effort by all mainstream outlets *except* the CBC who seems to clearly see that this is the Liberals’ election to lose – to try and make something of this race and trash the Liberals as much as possible.

    See the Postmedia/Bell/Rogers corporate conservative Western alliance

  • Mr.Chinaski 09:23 on 2019-09-22 Permalink

    http://canada.qc125.com/districts/24069f.htm
    Candidat-poteau would have been a better word! It’s one of the highest % of PLC vote in Canada, higher than west-island ridings.

• Kate 07:31 on 2019-09-21 Permalink | Reply  

  The CAQ’s Sonia LeBel, no less than Quebec justice minister, as well as responsible for Canadian relations, made a fascinating gaffe this week, telling Paul Arcand that Quebec is the only bilingual province.

  Not only is Quebec officially, one might even say passionately unilingual, it’s New Brunswick that’s the only self-declared officially bilingual province.

  Bonjour Hi, Ms Lebel!

  SMD, dwgs, Kevin, and 2 others are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • qatzelok 07:49 on 2019-09-21 Permalink

    It’s not a gaffe at all. In reality, Quebec is a much more bilingual place than New Brunswick. It’s virtually only the francophones in NB who speak the “other” language. The anglos are mostly unilingual rednecks.

  • dwgs 08:03 on 2019-09-21 Permalink

    qatzelok your bigotry is showing.

  • Kevin 08:55 on 2019-09-21 Permalink

    Sonia LeBel’s first statement was correct *from a legal standpoint.*

    Health care and criminal trials are required to be in English if a person chooses. English testimony and documents cannot be refused at civil trials. Every piece of legislation in the National Assembly must be written in English.

    There’s more, but certainly a lawyer like LeBel knows the difference between what is mandatory and what is suggested.

  • Kate 09:05 on 2019-09-21 Permalink

    That much is true. When I was summoned to jury duty, it was evidently for a trial meant to be held in English. I found it so odd to be in the Palais de Justice, with hundreds of other folks, being addressed by the authorities in English. (I wasn’t selected, but I’ve told that story before.)

    Still, one fact that’s drilled into us is officially unilingual. It’s even the very first statement in Montreal’s charter, chapter 1, verse 1.

    Which reminds me, I was listening with half an ear to the radio news yesterday, and they had a brief clip from (I think) some spokesman for Mitsubishi, which is opening a new facility in Boisbriand. The man spoke a couple of sentences of standard corporate boilerplate in English about how they were very pleased to be opening this thing in Montréal, giving the name as in French. I’ve never heard that done vocally before, even by politicians or entertainment figures.

  • qatzelok 08:19 on 2019-09-22 Permalink

    @dwgs: “qatzelok your frankness is showing”

    While most of Quebec’s anglo minority get to co-exist with the most urban and sophisticated francophones in North America in our city, Acadians have had to co-exist with exactly the opposite level of tolerance and sophistication since their ethnic-cleansing in 1755.

    This is another unequal situation for francophones in Canada.

  • Kate 10:17 on 2019-09-22 Permalink

    qatzelok, are you saying that Bill 101 and its fallout on the anglo community since 1976 are a justifiable punishment to anglos as a group in revenge for the expulsion in 1755? Does that seem reasonable to you?

  • dwgs 15:51 on 2019-09-22 Permalink

    Well since Montreal is the largest French speaking city in North America I guess you’re right, it does have the most urban franco population. Or perhaps you meant urbane?

  • qatzelok 18:37 on 2019-09-22 Permalink

    Kate, all I’m trying to point out is how much worse Montreal anglophones would have had it if they had been made to live as minorities in the backwoods of rural northern Quebec. Likewise, the francophones of Ontario live among the most intolerant and racist populations of anglophones.

    It’s “death by redneck culture” for francophones in the ROC.

  • Kevin 08:00 on 2019-09-23 Permalink

    @qatzelok
    That’s not a theoretical, because we know exactly what did happen: their descendants became Quebecers with English names who don’t speak a word of English.

  • dwgs 13:16 on 2019-09-23 Permalink

    qatzelok your theories are tired and trite. As someone who grew up in northern Ontario I can tell you that there is very little tension between the two communities. As a matter of fact there is a lot of intermarriage (and no, it’s not an attempt to eradicate Franco culture). There is however a fair amount of animosity towards francophone Québécois from some Franco ontarians

  • SMD 14:21 on 2019-09-23 Permalink

    Relevant quote from former Acadian MP Yvon Godin in La Presse this morning:

    « Au Nouveau-Brunswick, le français, ça s’apprend, mais l’anglais, ça s’attrape. »

• Kate 12:20 on 2019-09-20 Permalink | Reply  

  Train tracks started to collapse near the REM construction site by the Lachine Canal Thursday, after vibratory pile-driving on the site.

  Faiz Imam, ant6n, and Ephraim are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • Ephraim 15:04 on 2019-09-20 Permalink

    We names that bridge in the photo “Pont Pauline Marois”. It goes no where, does nothing, was useful at one time, etc. etc. etc.

  • ant6n 20:28 on 2019-09-20 Permalink

    That bridge is annoying. Basically this is a heritage site, that turning rail bridge and the Wellington tower there. So they put that concrete-ramp-bridge there in order not to touch that turning rail bridge. It would’ve been much better visually if they’d built a bridge next to the existing CN bridge across the Lachine canal, and then figured out the ramp situation (to get across the CN tracks and yards etc.) a bit further South.

    This set up also makes a possible shared system between REM and heavy trains (ARTM, VIA) more difficult if they ever decided to fix the mess they’re creating now, because heavy rail trains would need a way to get off the REM tracks at that point, which is not really possible with the current layout.

    This project is such a mess.

  • Faiz Imam 01:26 on 2019-09-21 Permalink

    One other thing you may not be aware of, but the final location of the Bassin peel station is still not confirmed.

    The initial plans were a station right by the Basin, but its being speculated that there will now be TWO stations. One further north between Dalhousie and Ottawa st, and another south of the Basin designed to integrate with whatever mega-project happens there, with or without a Baseball stadium.

    This would be much better for ETS and residents of griffintown, but we shall see if that’s actually finalized.

• Kate 08:27 on 2019-09-20 Permalink | Reply  

  Aaaand, your weekend driving notes. Also there’s the Marathon. And then there’s Friday’s parking day.

  jeather and Kate are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • jeather 13:58 on 2019-09-20 Permalink

    I really appreciate that you do this, btw, Kate.

  • Kate 08:50 on 2019-09-21 Permalink

    Cheers, jeather.

  • jeather 13:54 on 2019-09-22 Permalink

    Weird, these were not the actual closures.

• Kate 08:03 on 2019-09-20 Permalink | Reply  

  The Bird brand has rolled out several hundred powered scooters in our streets, to compete with Lime. Toula Drimonis wrote recently about how these companies simply release their vehicles into a city, making the public forces of order deal with the consequences.

  Faiz Imam, Blork, Ephraim, and 3 others are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • Chris 09:03 on 2019-09-20 Permalink

    This was of course the same with cars, companies built them, people bought them, used them on public roads, and the public dealt with their consequences.

    One difference this time is that though you can buy your own scooter, it’s not actually legal to ride one! Only this legally forced duopoly is allowed. Imagine if you could only use cars from two City approved car companies.

    I wonder if Bird will become a verb like in California. “I’ll meet you soon, I’ll bird there now.”

  • Michael Black 09:05 on 2019-09-20 Permalink

    I joked in rehab that they should put some electric scooters on the floor to represent obstacles on the sidewalk. But on Wednesday we went around the block, and there was a green Lime scooter leaning against a car. Not as bad as lying sideways on the sidewalk, but it seemed so stupid it seemed like it might have been deliberate. That was in CDN next to Martin Luther King Park (previously Kent

    And the day before), someone on a Lime scooter whizzed by, I didn’t notice a helmet), on the sidewalk, using the wheelchair ramp at the corner to get onto the sidewalk.

    Considering I haven’t been out much since the end of March, this makes it seem like these things are common. Time will tell since I finally got out Wednesday evening, thiugh I won’t be going for long walks for a while.

    Michael

  • jeather 13:55 on 2019-09-20 Permalink

    I just saw two today in the dead centre of the sidewalk, blocking everything. I was wondering what they were.

  • Ephraim 15:08 on 2019-09-20 Permalink

    $1.15 to start and $0.35 a minute and geofenced (as Lime should be). Lime is $1 to start and $0.30 a minute. I’m wondering why Bird would think that they are worth 16% more than Lime scooters.

  • Faiz Imam 16:04 on 2019-09-20 Permalink

    Particularly since Lime has the advantage of the Uber app, which many thousands of people already have. Bird is starting from scratch.

    I’ve known about bird for years because I follow this stuff, but how are most people suppose to be onboarded? The only way i can think of is them literally finding one on the street and following the instructions to get the app.

    The higher price is not particularly impressive, especially with Bixi being so much cheaper.

  • Blork 23:04 on 2019-09-20 Permalink

    I don’t think Lime is connected to Uber. Perhaps you’re thinking of Jump bikes (which is Uber) and their advantage over Bixi.

  • Blork 23:08 on 2019-09-20 Permalink

    I stand corrected… apparently Uber and Lime have a deal, so you can rent your Lime through the Uber app.

  • Faiz Imam 00:50 on 2019-09-21 Permalink

    Yup, Uber took a significant minority stake in Lime last year.

• Kate 07:47 on 2019-09-20 Permalink | Reply  

  The two massive glass boxes that constitute the new Université de Montréal campus are officially opening Friday. I tried to photograph them from the middle distance a couple of months ago and didn’t have much success, but you can see here in the Gazette photos, by a skilled photojournalist, that they’re not amenable to being photographed, as they’re so large and tend to half vanish into the sky no matter what you do.

  Update: CBC shows us the new campus, and Le Devoir’s survey of the negative side of the whole thing, including an excerpt from an open letter from SMD which I mention in comments below.

  Tim, Kate, Faiz Imam, and 4 others are discussing. Toggle Comments

   

  • Max 08:23 on 2019-09-20 Permalink

    The place looks gruesome from the photos.

  • Chris 09:05 on 2019-09-20 Permalink

    I biked around there maybe a month ago exploring, it is pretty brutal, almost entirely paved (with stones at least, not asphalt). Very little greenspace, it’s nothing like McGill’s campus for example.

  • CE 09:08 on 2019-09-20 Permalink

    The place is terrible but I’ve definitely been enjoying my new bike ride from Parc Ex through Outremont! No underpasses and and I get to avoid riding on Parc for quite a while.

  • DeWolf 12:04 on 2019-09-20 Permalink

    I’m not a fan of the glass boxes, and I think the footbridge is ugly (though undeniably useful). But the surrounding area will be quite nice when it’s filled in with the residential developments that are currently under construction. There’s a triangular plaza with a fountain that will eventually be fronted by retail. I’ve already seen kids playing in it at dusk. And even if it’s all hard paving, there are enough trees that it will be quite shady in a decade or so.

  • Faiz Imam 16:21 on 2019-09-20 Permalink

    Oh hey, the head planner is Pierre St-Cyr, I know that guy. He’s one of the most influential leaders of the Canadian sustainable planning movement. He’s great, one of my major intellectual influences.

    That Q&A is worth a read. the entire campus has only 100 parking spots, and the entire residential development adds only another 300. He lays out some really good points about why and how they are adding new streets, and how they try to integrate with the local immigrant community.

    The Gentrification concerns are still legitimate, but maximizing the use that site was a massive opportunity. Building ~1000 new residences is a pretty great, as are those public gardens.

    I’m still not clear why the design had to be so spartan and lacking on trees though. Perhaps its something that will grow into, and they are just not done yet?

  • Kate 17:41 on 2019-09-20 Permalink

    how they try to integrate with the local immigrant community.

    Faiz Imam, what colour is that Kool-Aid? I’ve just read a letter by someone who comments here, who lives in Park Ex, and who says the university has rejected attempts to “integrate” with the existing community in the neighbourhood. So I have my doubts about your starry-eyed view.

  • CE 17:45 on 2019-09-20 Permalink

    If they were actually interested in integrating the project with Parc Ex, they would have moved the tracks to the south rather than the north (which would have had the added effect of making metro access better). Any mention of Parc-Ex and its “immigrant communities” is pure lip service and nothing more.

  • Faiz Imam 18:55 on 2019-09-20 Permalink

    OK, i’ll take that comment back, I was speaking from pure ignorance on that point, basing all my information from the article.

    See? that wasn’t too hard.

  • Kate 09:18 on 2019-09-21 Permalink

    I’m not sure what you’re implying with your tone, Faiz Imam. Nobody was giving you a hard time.

  • Tim 14:38 on 2019-09-21 Permalink

    I wonder if the people opposed to the Outremont parking law changes are singing a different tune now. If anything the changes need to be more restrictive so that locals won’t have to compete for parking with university employees and students..

• Kate 07:43 on 2019-09-20 Permalink | Reply  

  A car left in the middle of Walnut Street, an obscure spot in the Tanneries neighbourhood in St‑Henri, was put to the torch overnight, and burned hot enough to damage nearby parked vehicles.

   

• Kate 12:24 on 2019-09-19 Permalink | Reply  

  I’ve seen questions asked on Twitter about whether one has worn a racist costume. I don’t think I have, although I once dressed up as Theda Bara‑as‑Cleopatra for a silent-movie-themed party. At a stretch, I suppose that could be called Orientalism at second hand, although it was all about the eyeliner, no teint basané. No, there are no photos.

  I knew about the burnt cork thing, growing up, only because my mother once used it to draw tiger stripes on my sister’s face for Halloween.

  I think we’re facing a Conservative government, and I am not happy. Can I blame Justin Trudeau? Yes, because if nothing else he grew up in a household that should have made him aware of the possible consequences of having public light shone on your activities. He should have known better.

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  • mare 14:56 on 2019-09-19 Permalink

    I have; when I was young in the seventies.

    For Carnaval I once dressed up as “an Indian” with a red-ish skintone and a feather headdress, I once wore brownface during the oil crises impersonating a sheik who came drilling for oil (I used a car jack as a drill and won first prize for the best costume in the parade) and I’ve been Black Peter a couple of times, to make some money when I was in high school.

    Not once I thought any of that was racist, and neither did any adult around me. We’d never heard of minstrels, and the first time I saw a first black person was when I was 8.

    Different country, different times. (I’d be totally unelectable, and not only for those costumes.)

  • Blork 17:38 on 2019-09-19 Permalink

    I’m not sure which is dumber; Justin Trudeau dressing in brownface, or most of what’s being said about it.

    To be clear, it was a stupid thing to do, and I do not in any way defend anyone who chooses to wear brownface or blackface. But let’s talk for a second about the possible differences between the two.

    The main problems with blackface are tied to the legacy of slavery in the US and how that legacy lives on to this day. I could go on for days about that, but I think we all get it. In particular, blackface invokes the “minstrel shows” of 100+ years ago, which belittled and demeaned African-Americans and black people in general, both specifically in the moment and largely as a cultural phenomenon. The on-going legacy of racism against people from Africa and of African descent is reason enough to condemn blackface.

    But Trudeau’s was in “brownface,” because he was dressed as an “Arabian.” While there is no shortage of racism against arabs by white people, it’s mostly a recent phenomenon and it pales greatly in comparison with history of racism against Africans. Also, there is no legacy of slavery to deal with. In fact, the “Arabians” that Trudeau was dressed as were slavers, not slaves. Between the 16th and 19th century, more than a million Europeans were captured and enslaved by Arabians, as were many more Africans.

    So yes, it was dumb, but not nearly as dumb as blackface, and the two are not really comparable. I should also add that I find it condescending of white people to think that brown people are so frail and delicate that this will have any harmful effect on them short of a brief pain while they roll their eyes. I’m pretty sure the only brown person to shed a tear over this was Jasmeet Singh, who I had a lot of respect for until yesterday. My limited research indicates an awful lot of brown people agree, and have been calling Singh out for that performance.

    BTW, you will note that I said (twice) that it was dumb. It would be dumber of anyone to come in here and accuse me of defending blackface or brownface. Just sayin’

  • Blork 18:07 on 2019-09-19 Permalink

    Update: I’m just finding out on the news that apparently there are more pictures, which include JT in actual blackface. If that’s true then I retract everything I wrote in the previous comment.

  • Kate 19:05 on 2019-09-19 Permalink

    Blork, I too was thinking about how dressing as Aladdin (as he’s supposed to have done) might have been silly, but not meant to be offensive. There’s a long tradition of dressing up for pantomime and costume parties that involves that kind of thing, and while people in the present day might be a little more circumspect about how they dress up, inherently it is not evidence of a buried racism.

    But the blackface gags – do you remember in 2011 when HEC students were reported to have donned blackface and put on Jamaican accents? Pat Donnelly references this in a piece from the Gazette in 2014 when another blackface incident broke out here, and in which she enumerates others. That’s the educational matrix in which Justin Trudeau grew up, and as a young man without political ambitions at the time, it likely never crossed his mind that it could have repercussions.

    I’m not saying this exonerates Trudeau, because on the other side of the scale is that he was born into a family that should have given him exceptional political instinct, but a man with that kind of instinct would not have done this, even if his friends and associates thought it OK. I still don’t think it means he’s a racist at heart, as some have been tweeting, but it sure does underline his poor grasp of cultural tone.

    All that said, I do not think it disqualifies him from being prime minister. He’s not the political hero some had hoped, but he’s still far preferable to Andrew Scheer with his ragtag cohort of liars and racists.

    Also, and maybe I’ll get in hot water for saying this, but I don’t think incidents like this so much harm others, as give a lot of people a good excuse for enjoyable outrage, or poorly concealed delight at a political misstep. However, as a pasty white person, I cannot speak for anyone who has legitimate reason to be upset and angry over this business.

    As usual, I liked what Toula Drimonis had to say about the whole affair.

  • JaneyB 19:21 on 2019-09-19 Permalink

    I think JT was raised in the way Quebecois normally are eg: kind of earthy, sociable, animated. His dad was shrewd in a legal way and simply charismatic. I strongly doubt there was any self-editing encouraged in his upbringing.

    I think it’s only in the last ten or fifteen years or so that Anglophones have linked dressing up as a minority to the larger problem of racism. I lived in Toronto for 10 years (before that), and was interacting with people of every group and background, hearing about the many forms of daily racism that people of colour were living with but I don’t recall any mention of blackface or its legacy (and I work in a social justice friendly field). I think this has only become known in Canada due to news story scandals of the past few years and increasing American media content. It’s explosively resonant with Americans due to the centrality of slavery in their history but my guess is that the average Canadian would not even be familiar with segregation in the US let alone minstrel show acts from the early part of the century. I’m learning now that those acts toured here too but who would know that 20 years ago or imagine that Vaudeville was segregated? I’m just not sure that every white guy in Canada in the 80s or 90s who was dressing up as the then god-like Michael Jackson was a secret supporter of the KKK. I don’t even think it was an issue of blindness of privilege; they were acting like fans. I think we need to consider the possibility that more contemporary dress-up activities might have different motivations than they had a century ago.

    As a side note, the couple of people I’ve talked to about this, coincidentally members of racialized minorities, regard the coverage of this news as mostly over-loud white anxiety that is simultaneously oblivious to the daily drip of weird comments, awkward jokeyness, police attitudes etc that they deal with all the time from the white majority.

  • Ephraim 19:31 on 2019-09-19 Permalink

    It’s interesting that this was timed to coincide with Andrew Scheer being asked why he won’t apologize for his stance on Equal marriage and LGBT rights.

  • Blork 20:33 on 2019-09-19 Permalink

    Well put Kate, and JaneyB. Personally, I doubt Trudeau is even remotely racist. Most acts of blackface are done out of ignorance, not malice, and that was particularly true 20ish years ago when the conversations around blackface were scarce. All this shows is that he was particularly dumb as a 20ish-year-old.

    And that’s a key point. If he did this now, or even recently, it would show a level of ignorance that’s beyond belief, and would — I think — disqualify him for the PMship. But anyone over 40 should ask themselves (and people should ask this of Andrew Sheer and Jasmeet Singh): “have you learned anything in the last 20 years?”

    Hell yeah! And I’m sure Justin Trudeau has too. So putting this in perspective isn’t a matter of asking how racist he is or isn’t right now, because it should be pretty clear to anyone paying attention that he isn’t. The perspective is how dumb was he then (very) and how dumb is he now (much less so).

  • Hamza 21:14 on 2019-09-19 Permalink

    We most certainly are not.

    Actual brown person here. We loved peter sellers in the party. We dont care if someone belittles us, we belittle ourselves too all the time. We do care if we someone tries to ban us or strip us of our rights. So uh nobody cares!

  • Tim S. 21:29 on 2019-09-19 Permalink

    “he’s still far preferable to Andrew Scheer”
    I think I do this every election cycle, but let me just drop in the link to the Mouseland video:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqgOvzUeiAA
    I do this not to endorse any particular party, but just to keep reminding everyone that as long as we limit ourselves to two choices, we’ll always be disappointed. I think limited choice is a big part of why the US is so messed up.

    Oh, and as for the argument that Trudeau has learned over the past twenty years, I’ll point out that it was this March that he was making fun of the Grassy Narrows protesters. I don’t think he’s racist, although I suppose it’s not my call to make. I think he’s a jerk who has never faced serious consequences for his actions, and for the moment he acts for all of us.

  • Mark Côté 23:55 on 2019-09-19 Permalink

    I cringe when I hear people arguing about whether someone “is” or “isn’t” racist. It’s not binary. This Twitter thread is a good take: https://twitter.com/RitikaGoelTO/status/1174516789453250561?s=19

    One particular quote:

    “The problem is that this dichotomization of racist and not racist with good and bad causes huge barriers to very important conversations that must happen about how our whole society is racist, and we have all been taught and likely think and express racist feelings and ideas.”

  • qatzelok 08:44 on 2019-09-20 Permalink

    “Liberal heartthrob Justin Trudeau dressed up in blackface on at least three different occasions. MSDNC’s Andrea Mitchell, a fan of the Prime Minister of Tar Sands, delicately described Trudeau as “applying skin darkening makeup.” But are they sure he didn’t just coat himself in crude oil?”

    -Counterpunch
    https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/09/20/roaming-charges-pompeo-and-circumstance/

    : )

  • Chris 10:07 on 2019-09-20 Permalink

    Good comments.

    It also seems to me that JT and the Libs have marketed _themselves_ as super-woke, and now this may backfire. Will be interesting to see what poll numbers do. Are Liberal supporters more interested in Liberal policies/platform, or more concerned with offence to group identities?

  • ant6n 11:36 on 2019-09-20 Permalink

    Trudeau is the kind of guy for whom other cultures are just a costume he puts on and it’s fun for him! Just like it’s fun for him when he puts on the costume of being a progressive.

  • dhomas 06:21 on 2019-09-22 Permalink

    Trudeau has been Prime Minister for a full term now and has not shown himself to be a racist asshole. Meanwhile, a great number of representatives of the Conservative party (and the People’s Party) ACTIVELY CAMPAIGN on racist themes. The timing of this definitely shows it is a smear campaign.

  • Tim 08:05 on 2019-09-22 Permalink

    The release of the first photo came from Time magazine. @dhomas, are you suggesting somehow that the CPC leaked it through the American media?

    As for smear campaigns, the Liberals released a couple of their own just a couple of weeks ago. I find the timing of the release of Trudeau’s photos to be highly ironic.

  • Dhomas 14:22 on 2019-09-22 Permalink

    @Tim I’m not saying the Liberals don’t do the same. But I have hard time believing they just now found these 20 year old photos. I’m sure they’ve been floating around for some time. The timing seems suspect.

• Kate 08:08 on 2019-09-19 Permalink | Reply  

  Valérie Plante is to welcome Greta Thunberg to city hall when she comes here next week.

  Plante is also going to address the United Nations next week on the subject of climate change.