Aaron Derfel says the Jewish General ER has reached 211% occupancy amid an influx of Covid patients.
Updates from February, 2022 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Two Black teenagers have launched a racial profiling suit against three SPVM officers and the city over incidents in 2021 in which the officers allegedly knelt on the necks of the boys, both 15 years old at the time, in the environs of a big high school in Villeray.
I know the area well. It’s flooded with students at certain hours. When police have to resort to charging a teenager with jaywalking to concoct an excuse for cuffing and physically subduing him, you know there’s been dirty work at the crossroads.
NB that kneeling on necks “is part of the National Use of Force Model that is taught at Quebec’s policing school.”
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Kate
A woman was arrested Friday afternoon in connection with a fire on Queen Mary that injured three people and did considerable damage to a commercial-residential building.
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Kate
Free bus shuttles are circulating to bring people from Lasalle, Montreal North, St‑Léonard and Ville-Émard to vaccination sites, and back home again, but only till February 19. The line is called VAX‑19.
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Kate
Media are looking at this week’s shooting death of Domenico Macri, whom they allege to have been a “private moneylender.” Macri’s brother Mario was shot dead in Lasalle similarly in 2018. TVA also links him to brothers Jamie and Cody Laramée, of the West End Gang, shot dead in 2013, also in Lasalle.
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Kate
A rather cute little house in the Village was the site of a fire early Friday, which should be a warning to landlords that there are risks in leaving their buildings empty.
Jonathan
On that note, my neighbours recently bought a house out in the country and they are using their current place as a pied à terre en ville. Meanwhile, the hydro stand on their roof has been knocked down and is precariously just hovering over the sidewalk.
On the other side of my house, the neighbours (who are renters) bought a new house in the laurentiens and their rent is so cheap (they’ve lived there 20+ years) that they prefer to hold onto it for their kids to have occasional house parties.
I wonder how many houses are sitting around empty
dhomas
Whenever I see a story like this, I wonder if it was really an accident. That house was built in 1875 (https://histograd.com/graph.php?&id=1144663&street=Saint-Christophe) and perhaps couldn’t be torn down to build new condos. But if it “accidentally” burned down…
There’s also a nice empty lot right next to it. Perfect for building even more condos on a combined lot?Kate
Jonathan, a lot of residential space is sitting empty. I saw this while working for the census last summer. A whole row of duplexes on one street. An entire apartment building on another. Lots of duplex and triplex flats standing empty.
I was interested by this piece I saw about Amsterdam making it illegal to keep apartments empty, and giving itself the power to force landlords to rent places out. I wish we could do that here but I suspect Montreal simply doesn’t have the power within law.
dhomas, maybe so, but imagine owning a cute little house like that and putting it to the torch, it’s sad.
Kevin
The past two years have been weird as people figure out if they can live full time at their cottage. Or spend a month at a lover’s place to avoid commuting and curfew.
Meezly
Vancouver has been plagued by empty houses for decades for other reasons. It’s been very damaging to the city. The BC NDPs finally implemented the Empty Home Tax a few years ago. Too little too late. But yes, it’d be the province who’d have the power to do something about it.
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Kate
Errol Burke, whose racial profiling by SPVM police in 2017 has been acknowledged, says a 30‑day suspension of the officers is not enough. Not only that: the Human Rights commission ordered the city to pay Mr Burke $35,000 in damages, plus $5,000 from each policeman. The city has refused to pay up; he says the cops should be fired.
Ephraim
They should simply hire a bailiff. The costs of the bailiff are added to the bill and it’s usually really quick when a bailiff shows up and starts attaching items for sale. (And if you haven’t seen Quebec bailiff’s at work, they have a show on Noovo on Friday at 8PM showing them.) I’ve hired a bailiff once… it was quite swift, I got paid my judgement and the whole of the bailiff expense REALLY quickly.
Kate
I don’t think these rulings are quite the same kind of debt. The commission says “pay” – the city says “we don’t think we have to” – then it goes to the human rights tribunal, a higher body, which puts their foot down. It’s just a delaying tactic I’ve seen reported often.
GC
Does the fact that it’s a “non-binding decision” mean they can just feel free to ignore it? I’m not a lawyer, but isn’t that essentially a recommendation without a lot of legal weight?
Kate
I think that’s exactly what it does mean, GC. I think the commission hopes to use moral force, and when that doesn’t work, victims can appeal to the tribunal.
H.John
As Kate points out, decisions from the Commission are non-binding and not enforceable.
If the party against whom the complaint was brought does not agree to respect the decision, the Commission then decides whether or not it wants to take the complaint to the Tribunal. If it does proceed, it makes the arguments and pays the costs. If the Commission declines to proceed, the complainant can take it the Tribunal on their own, and at their own cost.
The CTV article mentions that it is before the Tribunal at this point with a hearing sometime this year.https://educaloi.qc.ca/en/capsules/the-human-rights-tribunal-introduction/
GC
Thanks for elaborating on that.
Kate
H. John, yes, thanks for the details.
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Kate
Serge Sasseville, elected as councillor for Peter McGill in November, has left Ensemble Montréal to sit as an independent. He’s only saying he has a different way of seeing municipal politics.
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Kate
The populist protest is planning to come to Montreal Saturday, gathering at Jarry Park at 10 am and holding a tantrum in the streets of Villeray. The mayor says she will not tolerate any street barricades.
JaneyB
Interesting choice of location. I guess they are planning to block the Met/Cremazie around there. Maybe add to the normal L’Acadie tangle. Apparently, some of the ringleaders are former cops and army people so they know where the cities’ vulnerable areas are.
Kate
Could be that. But I wonder if they even know that Trudeau’s riding office is near there, although it’s inside a fortress-like building now, and unlikely to be open on a Saturday anyway.
Or else they simply know that they might be able to get away with making a fuss in Villeray that would not be tolerated downtown. Populist groups have met at Jarry Park before, although not, I think, in wintertime.
SMD
La Presse has the itinerary:
« L’itinéraire des manifestants est déjà connu : ils défileront dans la rue Jarry vers l’ouest jusqu’à la rue Berri, qu’ils descendront jusqu’à la rue De Castelnau, puis remonteront vers leur point de départ par l’avenue De Gaspé et le boulevard Saint-Laurent. »
So residential Villeray.
EmilyG
Yikes, I used to live on one of the streets that’s on the march route.
Kate
Not past my place but awfully close. Thanks, SMD.
EmilyG
There will be a counter protest in Parc Jarry (Facebook link, but should be viewable) :
https://www.facebook.com/events/629896348087139Kate
Thanks, EmilyG. I’d seen that, and am not sure I want to risk injury or arrest, even if it’s the right thing to do.
MarcG
These people are going to feel pretty confused in a month when the restrictions are all gone e.g. Ireland https://i.redd.it/cfzejaj76kf81.jpg
Kate
Here are the relevant traffic cams for Saturday morning – no guarantees if they’ll be facing in the right direction or if the participants will follow the route SMD cites: de Castelnau and St‑Laurent, Jarry and St‑Laurent, Jarry and St‑Denis.
Most of the route is on residential streets without traffic cams.
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