Ali Ngarukiye, in Rivière-des-Prairies jail on suspicion of being the real perpetrator of that incident in Park Ex in January when policeman Sanjay Vig had his gun stolen, is accused of killing his cellmate on Wednesday night, but I don’t see a homicide number.
Updates from June, 2021 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
A man died Friday on the Back River when he pointed his boat at a concrete pillar of the Olivier-Charbonneau bridge and drove right into it. The report says he was looking at a device, not at where he was going.
David643
I wonder if modes of death are getting more idiotic as technology improves.
Kate
We are getting a little too accustomed to trusting devices when we should be relying on our own senses. Says the woman who has missed a bus because she was fiddling with Transit.app on her phone.
Thomas
As a resident of Ahuntsic living near the river, I’d just like to take a moment to savour Kate’s use of ‘Back River’, a term I have heard fewer than 5 times in my 15 years living here. I feel like I’m part of a secret club of old-timey anglophones every time I hear it
JaneyB
@Thomas – I often/only hear it on CBC local news traffic reports eg: near the ‘Back River Bridge’. It is not on a map though. Have to be part of the club. 🙂
Kate
It’s terminology I picked up from my parents. Also I tend to perceive “Rivière des Prairies” as a neighbourhood, not as a river, if that makes any sense.
dhomas
Anglophone radio uses “Back River bridge” all the time for traffic reports.
Ephraim
@Thomas – Grew up with it being called the back river and I lived in New Bordeaux. But there are a few that are much more hidden today. My grandparents banked at BMO St-Jean Baptiste (Market), most people couldn’t even tell you what part of town that was in (St. Lawrence at Rachel, now the Parc des Ameriques) . And the Normandie shopping centre was one of the few places that had both a Steinberg’s and a Dominion store.
Thomas
The first time I came across the term was at Sauvé metro where there is a Jewish cemetery called Back River. And then a few years later looking at some old black & white photos of old streetcars. And most recently at the new Pavillon d’accueil for the Parcours Gouin built at the foot of the Viau bridge there are some historical placards that mention that anglos used to call it Back River.
For those who have mentioned the Back River bridge in traffic reports, which of the many bridges crossing the river would they be referring to?
Francesco
Same, grew up in Pierrefonds near the Back River and that’s *the only* name it had among locals, even francophones who spoke English. We rode our “motocross bikes” at the Back River Pits, a kid died messing around on the Back River train bridge. It’s the Back River. “Rivière-des-Prairies” is some bourgeois suburb “Up North.”
Thomas
Interesting that you should say that Francesco, as I’ve always perceived Pierrefonds as part of the bourgeois suburb known as the West Island 😉 (although admittedly I know nothing about the area)
Francesco
Lol there are some newer RDPesque subdivisions, but with trees ;). Most of it — and it is fairly huge — is middle or working class, and a lot of retirees. There are also some areas that are more economically disadvantaged — including Cloverdale, with 768 units, the second largest housing co-op in Canada.
Francesco
Dhomas, only the Stonecutters know to *which* Back River bridge anglo radio might be referring! Louis-Bisson? Médéric-Martin? Lachapelle?
Ephraim
I always assumed that the back river bridge was the Lachapelle bridge.
Kate
Until relatively recently there were trailer parks in Pierrefonds. Also, I have a friend whose family in Petite‑Patrie (I don’t think that neighbourhood was even called that, then) used to go to Pierrefonds for a week or so in the summer and stay in a shack to fish and swim in the river. Pierrefonds was a road trip then, a poor man’s resort town.
Ephraim
There are still mobile homes in L’Île-Bizard and Sainte-Geneviève
Thomas
This is all great information 🙂 15 years in Montreal, and still so much to learn!
dhomas
@Francesco I have no clue which bridge it is. 😀 I usually tune out during traffic reports and I live on island specifically so I DON’T have to deal with bridges.
Max
I grew up anglo in DDO. In the 60s and 70s the “Back River” was the only name I ever heard it called by. I vaguely remember there was even a local rag that went by the name “Back River News” in those days. It wasn’t until I came back from uni in Ontario in the late 80s that I realized it even had another name.
Francesco
@Max Same same. Never heard it called the “official” name until I was well into my 20s.
FWIW, “Back River” exists in an officially-recognized Québec toponymy reference https://www.worldcat.org/title/toponymie-de-la-region-metropolitaine-de-montreal/oclc/5935170 and apparently, in local indigenous language it was called “Skowanoti,” meaning “the river *behind* the island.”
Kate
Francesco, that’s good research! I’m happy that “Back River” carries on the indigenous perception of the river.
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Kate
Although evidence shows the REV is a success, Denis Coderre will get rid of it if elected. Oh right, he’ll have a public consultation. Then he’ll get rid of it.
If Coderre’s elected we’ll see the clock go back, on the REV, on the big park in the West Island (where he wanted to see rows and rows of condos), on livability in general while he strives to make Montreal “world class”.
Has it occurred to Coderre that the people who want to live in an alpha city like New York or Paris (or, god help us, Toronto) have always left Montreal for the megalopolis? People stay here not because it’s “world class” but because it has the potential to be a satisfying city on a human scale. But being the mayor of a human scale city won’t make Denis the kind of bigwig he wants to be.
Spi
If PM had done proper consultations he wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. Working and consulting stakeholders is far from being a PM strong point. Just as Coderre has pushed through pet projects Plante has done the same with hers.
DeWolf
London, New York and Paris have also been playing from the same handbook as Montreal. Coderre is apparently friends with Anne Hidalgo, and yet he doesn’t seem to be aware that she is transforming her city in a way that makes Projet Montréal look arch-conservative…
DeWolf
Spi, the REV went through a multi-year consultation that included in-person workshops and online surveys open to the general public. The plans weren’t drawn up until after the consultations were completed and they were based on the feedback received. What would you have done differently?
Ant6n
What makes nyc, Berlin, London interesting to go to isn’t condos in the suburbs, demolishing a newly created bike path network or attracting events like the formula 1/e/?
If he was running for nyc he‘d probably propose making Broadway/times square for cars again, introducing a subway night break to save money and converting theaters on, off and off-off broadway into condos.
Spi
@Dewolf, open online “consultation” (which are frankly at times more like Pinterest boards) is great for the appearance of transparency and input but let’s be honest we all know exactly what type of person that draws in and it’s far from being representative of all stake holders. If you randomly asked local residents if they that they’re being “consulted” through realisonmtl.ca for dozens of project across the city I’m fairly confident that percentage wouldn’t exceeded 10%
The city knows exactly who this will impact, a propre consultation would have involved actually reaching out to all of them from the beginning instead of laying out a formed project on the populace and then taking criticism. We’re far from day one consultations. They did the same thing with Camilien-Houde and the rushed pedestrian streets last summer.
DavidH
@Spi, for the REV St-Denis, the city literally went door to door and reached out to business owners months ahead of the planning to get their input. Then, they wrote to them asking to submit more input if they had more to say. The people impacted had multiple occasions to voice their concerns without lifting a single finger. This is a rare case where the consultions actually were thorough and sincere.
The people opposed are a very small minority, always the same 60 people (out of a few hundred storefronts). The REV is what people wanted and the people were right. The old car-centric St-Denis was a failure. You can’t window-shop from the center lane of a 4 lane boulevard doing 70 km/h. Successful commercial streets rely on good, relaxed ambiance, not noisy and speedy traffic. See here: https://www.ledevoir.com/societe/586318/le-reseau-express-velo-de-la-bisbille
Coderre is using it because it exists as a cause in the social media world, not the real world. The people impacted are voting PM. Coderre can’t win Plateau and isn’t trying either. This is for the peanut gallery.
David690
It’s nothing to do with consultations, social media, or any of that. It’s all about the motorist/suburban/JdeM axis that forms Coderre’s base against PM, and drawing the contrast there to get them on the team and/or out to the polls.
(That said, I doubt he’s get rid of it if elected, it’ll be too popular by then.)
mare
Almost all people I met the last couple of years who don’t live in Montreal, brought up the fact that Montreal removed parking to make bike paths. And that the city hates cars. If your source of info is the Journal de Montréal (or Quebec) and TVA that’s what you know. A lot of people *in* Montreal have the same sources of info, and driving is seen as a fundamental human right. I wouldn’t be surprised if he made mayor again.
I wonder if, when that happens, he’s going to redo the bike path next to Parc Laurier again?
walkerp
He’s desperate.
qatzelok
The consultations for the REV happened, and interested parties participated in them. Our roads were transformed into car-sewers over the last 80 years without any general public consultation.
I think that when Spi uses the word “stakeholders,” he means *the 1%* (and not the general public). Those kinds of “stakeholders” gave us our current highway-connected sprawlscape.
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Kate
Rentals in the Plateau are out of reach for many of its traditional residents, according to several tenant groups.
Blork
Isn’t this a headline from 25 years ago?
Here’s my Montreal claim to fame: in 1999 I literally moved from the Plateau to WESTMOUNT because I could not find an apartment on the Plateau that was in my price range.
The numbers look silly now of course. I gave up my one-bedroom 5-1/2 on Hotel-de-Ville, where I’d paid $600 a month for four years with no increase, because it was a bit dark and I wanted more light. Whoops! I wanted a two-bedroom 4-1/2, and the only ones available were recently renovated places where they were asking $1300-$1500 a month, and there were lineups to view them and it was known that the highest cash bidder got the place (bring your envelopes; and that cash was under-the-table and just for the nod; it wasn’t even applied to your rent). I saw a couple of places in the $800 range but they were absolute dumps.
But tony Westmount had vacancies, and it wasn’t under the spell of OMG THE PLATEAU! so I got a really nice two-bedroom 4-1/2 just off Ste-Catherine street for $825 a month. Unfortunately it wasn’t all that much brighter than my old place, and it was in a biggish building and there was no street life. But I could walk to work (downtown) and I had the great pleasure of single-handedly lowering the neighbourhood’s property values simply by parking my rarely-used and rusty AF beat up old Jetta on the street out front.
Ant6n
Huh. In 2013 I got a small 4 1/2 for 950$ Or so near Reachel/St Denis.
Ephraim
You should try near Square St-Louis. Bachelors are over $1300.
Blork
2013 is a long way from 1999. People under 50 probably don’t remember the insanity of the Plateau rental market in the late 90s. Insanity is an understatement. Vacancy was like .0001% or something, and those few places that were available were outrageously priced. (I think it was a rebound from the grimness of the mid-90s referendum era, plus a few other things.) it calmed down a bit after we all got depressed and doomsdayish after 9-11.
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Kate
Canadiens coach Dominique Ducharme is in isolation after testing positive for Covid, and will not be at the Bell Centre with his team Friday night. All reports say Ducharme had two shots of vaccine, so who knows what’s up with that.
The vaccine clinic at the Bell Centre has been extended.
SMD
The vaccines have two measures of efficacy, developing an infection and hospitalization. The ones currently approved by Health Canada prevent on average about 95% of people exposed to the virus from developing an infection. Of the remaining 5% (of which Ducharme seems to be part) almost 100% only have minor symptoms and never need hospitalization.
David690
Could also have been a false positive, as recently occurred with a Spanish soccer player.
Kate
CBC says Ducharme is confirmed positive.
Kevin
It has been 1 week since members of the team (no idea how many abstained) were vaccinated, and it takes a few weeks after the second shot to be immunized—usually more the older you are.
That and Ducharme constantly takes off his mask to talk to people…
GC
I’ve noticed that with pretty much all the coaches. They pull their masks down whenever they have something to say, which is actually a more important time to wear it than if they are just standing their silent.
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Kate
Here are some weekend driving notes.
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Kate
The teenager struck by an SUV in Pierrefonds on Thursday has died.
Saturday, Global has a brief statement from a relative and comments from people in the area, who say the street is hazardous and that this has been generally known for a long time.
Francesco
Plante just couldn’t resist blaming EM borough mayor Jim Beis. Un-effing-real. She’s a heartless person with zero tact.
JP
How is she heartless exactly in this situation? Nothing in what she says in that video clip makes her seem heartless. In fact, she actually seems to have an emotional reaction.
I don’t know whether it’s true that they’ve been sitting on a plan to improve safety on the street for the past 5 years, but if they have been, then I think it’s ok to call it out.
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Kate
A man who sent threats to a QUB radio journalist is facing charges in court. Many journalists face harassment, and women in particular face a sexualized kind of abuse that’s becoming recognized both as a danger and an emotional burden. It’s no longer enough to tell people to man up and cope.
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Kate
A woman burglar is alleged to have committed a series of break-ins in St-Michel and Park Ex through last winter, while afflicted with Covid, and she is said to have coughed and spat on police when arrested.
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Kate
A parked car was shot up in Sud-Ouest borough early Friday, but no human victims were found.
In an unrelated incident, a teenager was arrested for having a Glock on his person, and this kid was already known to police.
qatzelok
“Car shot by Human” isn’t really a compelling story-angle in a human-targeted news site like yours.
Unless you think that cars are reading your blog, now that they have onboard computers.
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Kate
Although use of public transit was way down in 2020 and hasn’t recovered yet, the incidence of sexual assaults in the metro has remained the same, pervs apparently thriving on the lack of witnesses.
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Kate
The CAQ Is freezing the number of places available for students at English CEGEPs for ten years.
Tim S.
The crazy thing is, if nationalists realized how much French is spoken in the hallways and classrooms of English CEGEPs (in normal times), they’d realize that their policies are already a success. But they can’t ever admit to success, because the whole movement relies an an other to struggle against.
Ephraim
Wonder how many kids we will lose, forever. Can’t get a spot here… go elsewhere and stay.
Kevin
These morons are just making English that much more desirable.
Paul
‘Thank you for clipping our wings sir. May we have another’
Jack
Just found out that attending CEGEP in English is comparable to going to a residential school.
This from Quebec’s intellectual paper of record.
https://www.ledevoir.com/opinion/chroniques/611985/l-assimilationJS
I graduated high school with a certificate of bilingualism, but my French was nowhere near strong enough to pursue higher education in it. What’s the plan here? To force a generation to flunk out of college and create an anglo underclass relegated to menial jobs?
dhomas
They are penalizing “their own” with this. Many Francophones realize that it is to their advantage to ALSO speak (and write) English in order to be competitive on a global scale, so they choose, as adults, to get educated in English. If this pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that a large portion of people can work from anywhere. (I myself work for a company in France where my bilingualism is seen as an asset). Will employers, even here in Quebec, be looking for unilingual francophones when they can hire remote workers that are multilingual? Doubt it.
david741
Well, the idea here is that there are finite resources to put toward education, and that as few of these as possible should be put toward education conducted in the English language. When Pascal Bérubé was jibbering about the Royal Victoria, he was explicitly framing it in terms of the government’s committing resources to McGill rather than UQAM, UdeM, or universities in the regions. He put this down as especially egregious given McGill’s endowment which, while puny by US standards and a long way from the largest in the country, is Quebec’s richest. That’s the broad idea with this move. They believe government resources should go to institutions operating in the French language rather than those in the English language, and that those who want English language education can pay for it.
Maybe more interestingly, if you talk with people in certain pro-independence circles, there is a real worry about brain drain. I think for many of these, phasing out most public funding of English language education is seen as part of a larger project to encourage the productive products of the education system (STEM graduates, entrepreneurs, people working with data, etc) to stay in Quebec rather than move to Canada or America.
jeather
Under the theory that if they don’t learn English, they can’t leave?
ant6n
Maybe some sort of …wall could keep out the angles and keep in the real Quebecers.
Tim S.
Funny how David’s observations tie in with Kate’s comment about Coderre. We can try to make this an attractive place to live where bilingualism is an asset and talented people want to come or stay, or we can make it unpleasant place and trap people here.
Uatu
David is right about it being about cash. Those who want English education can pay for it themselves if they want it bad enough ( just like all the MNAs who went to McGill and Harvard and rich Quebecois like the Desmarais that sent their kids to English schools). The rest are SOL. Also the future of hi-tech employment is supposedly online and remote so you’ll still need English even if you’re trapped in QC.
JaneyB
@Tim S – You’re totally right about the amount of French spoken in the hallways at the English CEGEPS. About 30% of the students are Franco and they talk to each other, to the bilingual Anglos and trilingual Allos. A huge success story…for the dynamism of French in QC!
@JS – Anglos can go to the Franco universities and do all their tests and assignments in English. The reverse is also true. Lots of people can understand their second language but are not so great with writing and speaking.
David690
@jeather – I think the idea isn’t just to trap Quebecois here by preventing them from getting the right mix of skills that would make them attractive in America or Canada, the idea is that if all Quebec engineers or whatever were fully bilingual, you’d have a lot more brain drain.
Kate
David, I think you’re saying the same thing in different words. Languages make people mobile. If you hobble people by limiting their ability to learn and function professionally in the dominant language on your continent, yes, you limit “brain drain” by trapping those people with one functional language. And make a virtue of it, into the bargain.
Of course the rich avoid this by by getting educated privately at least partly in English. They always have, and it never seems to be a scandal that they do.
Uatu
Brain drain can be beaten by making the city or province more livable and inviting so that relocating is more trouble than it’s worth. And if you have a multilingual populace that means you can stay in one place in higher paying jobs while working online. This whole thing is posturing for older regional voters to show that the caq is doing stuff while the status quo of the rich getting more opportunities than regular Quebecers continues
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Kate
The wild wetlands around the airport may be sacrificed to build an industrial complex. Aéroports de Montréal has control over some of the land: will they have the excuse of pandemic shortfalls to use it for profit?
JS
This will be a great shame if not a moral crime. Go visit this area before it’s too late! It is super cool. There’s a few sections to check out, so give yourself some time to explore.
Kate
JS, I wouldn’t even know how to approach the area, assuming I’d be going by public transit. Any advice?
Francesco
Kate, hop on the 810 shuttle from Du Collège to Côte-Vertu, then grab the 215 to Douglas-B.-Floreani (the very eastern tip of the REM’s elevated West Island branches!), and it’s about a 25 minute walk to the Eco Campus Hubert-Reeves in the Technoparc. When you get past the huge construction site for the mouth of the REM’s airport tunnel, you’ll see a wall of green at the end of Alfred-Nobel, that’s the entrance to the park. In the future (2024? 2025?), the REM will get you almost right there, with Marie-Curie station at the mouth of the tunnel.
Francesco
I just watched the Radio Canada report again. It’s really well done, and reminds me of the old CBC productions we used to see from Madison Radio Canada a long time ago, when Montreal’s English-language service was relevant.
Here’s the new link in case the one in the first post is broken: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/tele/le-telejournal-18h/site/segments/reportage/360070/aeroport-espace-vert-developpement-industriel-parc
walkerp 09:48 on 2021-06-19 Permalink
This story’s stink continues to evolve. Still no explanation on what actually happened to supposed victim cop Vig? Everybody seems to be laying super low on this story. Where are the investigative journalists?