Disjointed but interesting profile of Claude Poirier, crime reporter and famous negotiator.
Updates from December, 2021 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
I haven’t given the anti-vaxxers any blog time lately, but on a day that hit a peak of 3846 new cases, that someone could hold up a sign saying IL N’Y A AUCUN VIRUS in downtown Montreal simply displays the ongoing idiocy of their position.
New Quebec restrictions come into force Monday. There were reports of bars holding last dances Saturday and Sunday, but some have been cancelled.
All cross-border NHL matches are postponed, including three Canadiens games meant to be played in New York and New Jersey this week. The Gazette talked to Brendan Gallagher, in recovery from Covid, who says the virus hit him hard.
YUL514
I heard from a family member yesterday, “It’s the media blowing things out of proportion”. I didn’t know the media created almost 4,000 cases per day and a growing surge of hospitalizations. Must be because of the media that half the hospital beds are taken up Covid patients. They still don’t get it.
GC
If they haven’t gotten it yet, they’re never going to get it. I heard from someone this week who doesn’t see why he should “get a third shot of something that doesn’t work”. Not, of course, considering the vaccine actually IS working and we could be much worse off without it…
YUL514
GC, we’d be like the former Eastern Bloc countries if we were vaccinated at their horrible rates. They’re still wary of their governments though, we have no excuse here.
10 of the top 12 countries in “Deaths per million” are Eastern Bloc countries. Look at the vaccination rates of countries like Bosnia, Bulgaria, Romania etc….absolutely brutal, all under 50% with a few in the 20s and 30s.
GC
I did a quick Google of countries’ death rates and was surprised to see how horribly Peru is doing for deaths. Not that I knew much of anything about what was going on there, but it seems like Brazil gets all the media attention on South America–at least from our media.
Is the problem with Bosnia, etc. availability of vaccines or acceptance of vaccines? Both?
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Kate
I’ve put up the 2022 weblog calendar, as usual, in beta. If anyone downloads it and sees any errors, please let me know.As previously, it is laid out on thirteen 11×17″ tabloid pages (including a cover).
The theme this year is Montreal by night, and the photos were all taken by my friend Ben Soo. These were all taken 10 to 15 years ago and some views have changed since that time.
Also as previously, I’ve included some quotations from comments made throughout the year we’re still in. If you’re quoted and would prefer not to be, please let me know.
If you’re not quoted, please don’t feel left out. A project like this needs terse quotations that work on their own, taken out of context, and since most comments here are made in response to a topic, these are less easy to extract than you might think.
Happy holidays, mes ami(e)s.
Update: I’ve made a few corrections sent in by readers, and the current version of the file is the corrected one.
Second update: Added captions to the photos. Re-uploaded.
MarcG
Very cool, Kate. The photos emit a classic grungy Montreal vibe. When the quotes overlap the greyed-out previous/next month day numbers I find it a bit distracting. Thanks for including some of my anger.
Chris
Very nice work indeed! Congrats on the 20 year mark too BTW!
jeather
The first day of Passover is the 16th, the first Seder is the 15th, it looks like you have done the first night for all holidays and not the first day.
Kate
Thank you, jeather. Are there any others I should fix? I’m relying on Rabbi Google for this info.
qatzelok
Nice reversed out fonts on the cover! Congrats and Merry Xmas.
DeWolf
Thanks for running this blog and putting the effort into making the calendar, Kate. Happy holidays and stay safe!
(Glad to see you’ve quoted me about things I still agree with. Phew!)
DeWolf
Also, Ben’s photos are lovely and evocative.
JP
Very nice calendar! Thanks for the blog and happy holidays! 🙂 Curious to know where the December 2022 photo was taken.
Kate
JP, his notes say it’s the corner of Côte St-Paul and Notre Dame West in St‑Henri, taken in 2007. On Streetview you can see that the building’s been demolished and that corner has been turned into a small park.
dhomas
I’m digging this year’s calendar! On the topic of photo locations, it would be cool if the intersections and date taken would be included. For example, I know Chez Francis had since been demolished, too.
It’s cool that one of my quotes made it in this year. 🙂Kate
dhomas, this is what I have – some of the locations are pretty general:
The cover: Pine Avenue, more or less opposite Molson Stadium, 2011
January: Boulevard St-Joseph in Lachine. 2008. There’s an exo station called Canal on top of that arch now, but there wasn’t then.
February: Cityscape from the Old Port, 2007
March: Strip club on Côte-de-Liesse, 2008
April: Lachine Canal, I think that’s the footbridge that extends Beaudoin Street down to St‑Patrick, 2009
May: Dépanneur in the Village, 2008
June: Lafleur on Notre-Dame East, 2010
July: Chinatown, 2010
August: Étoile pizzeria, Ste-Catherine East, 2011
September: John Abbott College, 2010
October: Rue de la Commune, 2010
November: Lachine Canal, 2008
December: Corner of Côte St-Paul and Notre Dame West in St‑Henri, 2007GC
Thanks, Kate. Not just for the calendar, but for the whole year. Also, kudos to the photographer
jeather
I will come back with the actual first day of the holiday, you need to be careful because some websites include the first night. Honestly I usually double check any calendar I get; pre internet the synagogues or community centres would give out calendars.
Uatu
These are great photos and remind me of walking downtown on warm Sat nights…. Great work. Wasn’t quoted this year, but have in the past so no big deal. Thanks for all your work and for keeping the blog going. Always excellent discussions and never boring! And have a Happy Saturnalia, Kate!
Tee Owe
Thanks for the fix to whatever it was that made it impossible for me to download – it’s great, brings me back. Thanks for the blog Kate – Merry Christmas!
dhomas
Thanks for the update with the place names and dates, Kate! It makes it even more awesome IMO. 🙂
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Kate
A Le Devoir op-ed has made me wonder. Michèle Sirois, introduced as an anthropologist and vice‑president of a group called “Pour les droits des femmes du Québec”, starts out with a good quote from Simone de Beauvoir but – in my opinion – slides sideways after that.
This is the bit that bugs me: “la tradition française visait d’abord à empêcher les religions de s’immiscer dans les affaires de l’État, ce qui est l’essence même de la loi 21 sur la laïcité, tandis que la vision anglo-saxonne voulait protéger les religions de l’ingérence de l’État. Deux visions complètement opposées de la laïcité en découlent.”
The French tradition aims at preventing religions from interfering in the affairs of the State, which is the essence of Bill 21 on secularism, while the Anglo-Saxon vision prefers to protect religions from state interference. Two opposite visions of secularism follow from this.
I don’t think this woman understands “Anglo‑Saxons” at all. Speaking for the Anglo‑Saxons, I’d say it’s a lot less defined than that. It’s not a tender feeling toward religion and protecting it from interference, it’s more a feeling that other people’s religion is their business and need not be seen as a threat to our way of life. It’s a live‑and‑let‑live attitude. (This excludes doorbell‑ringing religions, but most religions don’t do that.)
A secondary point: had not the “Anglo-Saxon” types stuck up for the right of French-Canadians to practise Catholicism, allowing them to live and run Quebec along ostentatiously religious lines for 200 years from 1760 into the 1960s, the culture would probably have declined a lot faster: the clannishness of Catholicism helped hold it together.
A tertiary point: Sirois’ posing this as a question of the fragility of women’s rights is ironic, given that the right of Muslim women to wear what they want is under attack by rigid, authoritarian ideas about secularism.
I haven’t hammered out a clear enough argument why she’s wrong about Anglo‑Saxons – any thoughts?
Poutine Pundit
The main argument about why she’s wrong is that Anglo-Saxons died out in the Middle Ages, and there was no separation of Church and State in most of Europe at that time.
The British liberal tradition came some 700 years after the Anglo-Saxons. People like John Stuart Mill argued that “The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.” Given that religious bits of clothing don’t harm people, it makes no sense to ban them. Mill was an agnostic, and wasn’t protecting religion, but–as you say–promoting a “live and let live” attitude and the neutrality of the state toward people’s beliefs.
jeather
Given that public holidays in France include such secular days as Good Friday, Easter Monday, Ascension Day, Whit Monday, Assumption of Mary, All Saints’ Day, Christmas Day, and Saint Stephen’s Day (source: wikipedia), I’m going to say that, as always, discussions of how very secular France is are full of shit.
Meezly
“The French tradition aims at preventing religions from interfering in the affairs of the State, which is the essence of Bill 21 on secularism,…”
Yes, that’s what la laicite should be as an idealistic principle, but she’s wrong that Bill 21 represents the essence of secularism! As Yves Boivert argued so well in an article you shared earlier, Bill 21 is a hollow secularism law – it does nothing to further secularism in Quebec.
“while the Anglo-Saxon vision prefers to protect religions from state interference. Two opposite visions of secularism follow from this.”
From reading this NP article, I think Sirois may be right: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/jackson-doughart-secularisms-two-solitudes
“The cultural respect for religion’s free exercise that can be observed in Anglo-American societies is alien to the French tradition.”
However, what I REALLY take issue with is Sirois’ call to women:
“Women must exercise their vigilance to avoid being used in political conflicts involving Anglo-Saxon multiculturalism. Likewise, the political choice to defend secularism must remain for women the fruit of adherence, not to a political party, but to a model of society which defends the equality of women and men and which fights against obscurantism aimed at bringing back patriarchal domination.”That statement reeks of Islamophobia. How is tolerating the hijab in public spaces going to bring back patriarchal domnination?!
This so-called call for feminism might have worked in 2001, but these days, it’s generally understood that “white” feminists should tread carefully and question their own biases when arguing for the rights of Muslim women.
An 2015 essay about similar secular veil laws in Norway argues that this legislation is “guilty of cultural imperialism because it racializes Muslims in general as inferior, and Muslim women as passive victims in need of white women’s liberation. Jensen’s feminism exemplifies “Islamophobic victimization” because it suggests that veiled women have no agency under the entrenched patriarchy of Islam. Disguised in feminist language, her veiling legalization construes Islam as inferior and reinforces a colonial master narrative.”
Sirois may have a grasp on “Anglo-Saxon” culture, but she’s certainly a good 20 years behind in regards to intersectional feminism. We should send her some books by Bell Hooks.
jeather
I also — ok, if we call “Anglo-Saxon” traditions, say, UK, Canada, US, Australia, and if we maybe do the idealised version of “don’t let the state impinge on your religious freedoms”, then, I guess; as we know,, that’s honoured mainly for religious or cultural Christians.
Kevin
I have been reading Manu Saadia’s stuff about French political history, especially pertaining to its colonies, and essentially, the notion of laicité exists solely to keep the Algerians, other foreigners, and Muslims out of power in France.
Nick
Just for background info, my understanding is that “Pour les droits des femmes” is a trans-exclusionary feminist organization that was founded by individuals who did not approve of other feminist group’s more open approach. Not sure if this adds anything to the discussion, I only add it because the quotes in the original post seemed to suggest that it was the first time Kate had heard about it, so I thought I would throw it out there.
Kate
Nick, I had not been aware of that angle – thanks for letting me know.
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Kate
The court case concerning La Tulipe has been put off till March to give the parties involved some time to come to an out-of-court agreement about rectifying the mistake that allowed the building next door a residential permit.
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Kate
TVA says tent encampments are cropping up around town but its headline insistence that they are “campements qui dérangent” seems only to refer to Ensemble, which claims that Projet is not doing enough for the homeless.
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Kate
The SAQ has reached a deal with its warehouse and delivery workers, although shelves aren’t likely to be fully stocked again before Christmas, partly due to supply chain issues.
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