Tuesday evening was the always frisky march against police brutality. A bit of damage was done but there were no injuries and no arrests.
Update: La Presse says there was one arrest.
Updates from March, 2022 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Montréal en Histoires, which produces the Cité Mémoire stuff in Old Montreal, has received $2.6 million to support their activities and broaden their projects around town.
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Kate
Five students from India died in a crash on highway 401 on the weekend. The Indian community is in mourning. Three had been studying at a commercial college in Montreal.
YUL514
We drove to Toronto a few weeks ago with three young kids in tow, we left after work/school at around 6PM on a Friday and between traffic to get off island and a quick stop for a bite to eat we were driving later in the evening. The 401 especially late at night is crowded with 18 wheelers (you should have seen the amount of trucks driving eastbound, insane).
One truck slightly got into our lane (without signalling) as we were ready to pass him in the left lane, I hit the brakes and he ended up veering fully into our lane. I’m convinced he fell asleep and this was at only about 11PM. This tragic accident occurred at 3:30 AM. I didn’t like driving late at night especially with kids let alone at 330AM when it’s a bunch of sleepy truckers. Yikes.
Ian
I had something similar happen to me on the Jersey Turnpike in broad daylight. Some of those guys don’t really sleep much at all.
That said, this is how we get raspberries in winter. There really are an astounding number of trucks on the road at any given time, especially coming into the big Canadian cities.
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Kate
The Ensemble mayor of Pierrefonds-Roxboro says that the city is not doing enough to stave off spring flooding.
There’s no response from the city recorded here, although there’s a suggestion that at least there’s no expectation of high water this season. Either way, though, is this something the city can unilaterally fix? People moved into flood zones, and the flooding situation will not improve as the planet gets warmer. The city alone can’t hold that back.
Ian
Pumping stations and sandbags do somehow seem like a more useful way to spend money than, say, renovating Peel , but what do I know about running a city built on an island during a climate crisis in which rising water levels is a known feature only getting worse over time?
Maybe they can help re-animate the flood zones with some clowns.
EmilyG
I’ve lived in that neighbourhood most of my life. It didn’t used to be a flood zone, but in the past few years, there is sometimes a spring flood.
I imagine there are a lot of people who moved here when it didn’t used to flood.Kate
Global warming is inescapable and its consequences are not evenly distributed. Sooner or later some people will have to move away from areas that are now flood zones – or that went from being flooded every 100 years to every 5 – and, furthermore, leaving behind houses that can’t be sold. It’s rough, but it’s only one example of the scourge of global warming that’s coming.
EmilyG
Yeah.
The floods aren’t much of a danger to my particular house, but sometimes I’ll be walking along near the water, and thinking about how I don’t want to live there because of the flood risk.Ian
@Kate “Sooner or later some people will have to move away from areas that are now flood zones” I respectfully disagree, tell it to the Netherlands
People go on about bike paths in Dutch cities, why not follow their example of dikes, dams and floodgates?DeWolf
@Ian, Peel is being renovated because the century-old water main needs to be replaced, which was also the reason behind the renovations of Ste-Catherine, St-Hubert and (back in the day) St-Laurent.
I think you’ve been reading Ensemble’s press releases too much if you think the city is taking five years and spending $108 million just to build a bike path.
Joey
I would venture to guess that more Montreal dwellings are at risk of flooding in the near term due to our terrible infrastructure and climate-change-exacerbated freeze-thaw cycles than rising water levels. Didn’t a water main break recently along that stretch of Ste-Catherine being completely redone?
Kevin
The confusion is understandable since the city replaced the water mains and sewers and electrical wiring along Peel Street in 2015, said last year that the project was completed, and last week announced another redesign (including more underground work) that will take 3 years to finish.
DeWolf
What the city announced last week was the final urban design, but the project as a whole has been in the works since 2018.
Also, the underground works in 2015 were only partially completed.
DeWolf
As you can see in the document above, two phases of the Peel Street revamp have been completed (above Sherbrooke and below René-Lévesque). This is the final phase, originally meant to be launched last year but delayed due to the pandemic.
Ian
@DeWolf re: “I think you’ve been reading Ensemble’s press releases too much if you think the city is taking five years and spending $108 million just to build a bike path.”
I said no such thing. I said “Pumping stations and sandbags do somehow seem like a more useful way to spend money than, say, renovating Peel ”
Regardless, it seems callous to have a budget for “urban design” downtown but none for critical flooding prevention in the West Island …
DeWolf
And I didn’t say anything about flood prevention, but I did take issue that you suggest renovating Peel Street is superfluous. Water mains don’t fix themselves and if digging up one of the city’s most prominent streets isn’t an opportunity to rethink the way the street is arranged, then what is?
The city should be working on flood management, yeah, but that doesn’t mean it the other things it is doing are not worthwhile.
Ian
AH ok now I understand where we are at odds, I meant renovation in the sense of sprucing up the joint. Of course I have no beef with critical infrastructure repairs &/ or maintenance.
🙂Orr
Speaking of spring flooding, I went to see the new higher dike (digue) at Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac in February.
In 2019 spring flooding, one-third of the town flooded and 5000 people were evacuated.
New digue is very big and now they’re well protected from becoming part of Lac des deux montagnes.qatzelok
Orr, did you notice that now NO ONE can see the water?
The residents have protected their ugly bungalows on cul-de-sacs by uglifying the entire shoreline and making it inhospitable for any birds or plants.
These houses should be moved, and the shorelines re-naturalized. It’s a crime that they were ever built where they are, and this needs to be corrected.
dwgs
Holy crap I actually agree with qatzelok. I have to go lie down.
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Kate
Dealers at the Casino are angry they won’t all be rehired at pre‑pandemic levels. They’re planning pressure tactics including a possible strike. The Casino reopened on February 28.
Occurs to me that if they really wanted to put on the pressure, they’d deal everyone a royal flush.
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Kate
Anglo schools say they’re prepared to welcome Ukrainian refugees, but this La Presse item leads with a detailed explanation why this would be illegal.
Kevin
It’s completely legal for someone arriving in this country from another country to go to English school in Quebec. It simply requires a bit of paperwork which many people accomplish without any problems.
My kids have had foreigners in their classes just about every year for the past decade.
Kate
Don’t they have to have some kind of attestation that they’re only in English school because their family is here on a temporary contract or something similar?
Kevin
There are multiple categories.
Most that I know of qualify under ‘temporary authorization’.
The anglo boards are asking for what’s called ‘special authorization’.
http://www.education.gouv.qc.ca/en/parents-and-guardians/instruction-in-english/eligibility/Kate
The CAQ doesn’t care, Kevin. They will have to go to school in French.
steph
Maybe russia will come save us from the nationalistic government.
Raymond Lutz
@steph, vous ne croyez pas si bien dire! Here’s an alternate history Westmount shelled again. Look, I’m against military interventions, but the hegemonic narrative “Putin started a war” is blatantly false. Russia tried the diplomatic route, Minsk I and Minsk II, to no avail.
Kevin
Kate
Oh I am well aware that the CAQ believes the only good anglo is a silent anglo who pays taxes.That doesn’t make them morally right.
Kate
Rsymond Lutz, you’ve picked a really weird platform here to spread pro-Putin talking points. You might want to read Justin Ling’s report on Russian disinformation in the Walrus. That man works hard.
Mark Côté
The Economist has an article, similar to the Chomsky one I posted before, about NATO’s expansionism and attitude toward Russian. It is interesting history and I think one worth thinking about, but in no way did these activities start a war, unless you have a very broad definition of “war”. That article itself starts off saying “There is no question that Vladimir Putin started the war and is responsible for how it is being waged.”
Netta
Unless the wholesale butchery of Russia’s war of choice is completely abstract to you, what Raymond Lutz has written here isn’t just weirdly placed, but profoundly disturbing and hurtful.
Even Russian citizens born/raised under Putin’s regime somehow broke free from Kremlin falsehoods. But ^^^such useful idiots abroad, living comfortable ignorant lives, spreading this state-sanctioned BS circular logic and whataboutism. Really troubling to see it here.
Raymond: I have friends cowering in Mariupol basements who’d like a word with you. Learn better Russian to make that possible.
qatzelok
From the Walrus article that Kate recommended:
“The Kremlin, for example, wants to paint NATO as a dangerous and oppressive aggressor”
Does NATO really need “to be painted” this color by some evil, foreign James-Bondian bad-guy ?
Tim S.
“It seems that if the U.S. cannot be blamed for these crimes, then they are not very important.”
-Yassin al-Haj Saleh, from this article about Chomsky and Syria, which some commentators here might want to ponder over.
https://newlinesmag.com/review/chomsky-is-no-friend-of-the-syrian-revolution/
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Kate
A ten-year-old girl was the victim of a random assault in Pointe‑aux‑Trembles on Monday. Bystanders flagged down a cop car and the alleged assailant was arrested. The photo in the TVA story shows a badly beaten kid, be warned.
Update: A 21-year-old man called Tanvir Singh is facing several charges and psychological assessment if there’s any way to understand his motive.
In addition: Reactions were collected by Metro, including some sad words from the girl’s aunt.
Robert H
Vraiment exaspérant. Ça me brise le cœur de voir une telle cruauté. Je suis heureux de voir que la petite Alicia a survécu et j’espère qu’elle n’a pas de blessures ou de taches permanentes. La marque permanente sur sa psyché est assez mauvaise, car cet incident demeurera, probablement dans sa conscience pour le reste de sa vie. Dieu merci pour les personnes à proximité qui ont fait ce qu’elles pouvaient. Mais je sens la futilité de protéger quelqu’un d’une attaque aléatoire et cela m’attriste. Mais nous devons essayer quand même. Quant à son agresseur, oui, il a probablement besoin d’un traitement mental, mais une aide quelconque pour lui n’est pas la première chose qui me vient à l’esprit.
Kate
Moi non plus, Robert H. Je dirais presque que le gars a eu de la chance que la police soit venue. Certains auraient pu être tentés de se faire justice eux-mêmes.
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Kate
Robert Cohen, who headed the Société d’habitation et de développement de Montréal for ten years in the last century, makes a plea for federal money for social housing generally, and more specifically in Montreal.
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Kate
A class action suit has been authorized against the Grey Nuns for their treatment of children in three orphanage schools around Montreal over fifty years in the mid 20th century. The nuns are accused of physical, sexual and psychological aggression against the orphans. One anecdote here alleges nuns were also pimping kids out to adult men.
qatzelok
When they were a startup, the Grey Nuns “secured their funding” by selling moonshine . Just like the Bronfmans did, and many other oligarchs and organized gangs did all around the world.
“Good for whatever ails you.”
Ian
Hey if it wasn’t for the Benedictines Europe might have forgotten how to distill alcohol during the dark ages. That said, qatzi, what does this have to do with nuns pimping out orphans? Are you trying to equate bootlegging with the sexual abuse of children?
Call me nuts but I kind of think child abuse is many several orders of magnitude worse than making hooch.
qatzelok
Ian, that strawman is officially slaynnn.
Ian
Strange accusation – If you’re not equating the two then your comment is simply irrelevant. Good day, sir.
Meezly
From their site:
“Since 1737, The Sisters of Charity of Montreal, “Grey Nuns”, have maintained their mission of love, respect, and compassion for poor and deprived people as it was defined by their Foundress, Saint Marguerite d’Youville. Throughout the centuries, the faces of the poor, the sick, and abandoned children have changed. However, poverty, loneliness, and exclusion transcend time. Thousands of Grey Nuns have dedicated their lives to the enormous task of bringing care and comfort to the largest number of these people they could. They vowed to “walk in the footsteps” of their Foundress, Marie-Marguerite Dufrost de la Jemmerais, the Widow Youville.”
What horseshit. Their mission aligned with the RCC – to exploit and abuse the poor and deprived, and line their coffers. The f*cking hypocrisy of the Church.
Kate
Meezly, the awful irony is that some of the statement is true, in a sense. Back in the 18th and 19th century there were no hospitals in the modern sense, and some of these nuns did look after sick people, including some with communicable diseases like smallpox and typhoid. They did what they could given the medical knowledge of the era. So many nuns died from catching those diseases, and are buried in the crypt under the building, that when Concordia took it over, they were told not to disturb the graves because of the lingering hazards of contagion from these old corpses.
Quebec’s biggest problem was that it let the Catholic church run things for too long while it looked the other way. That’s why the Quiet Revolution of the early 1960s is such a big deal. Finally, education and medical care were wrested away from secretive Catholic orders and put under civil administration like most Western societies. But a lot of reverence was still felt in some quarters so that questions were not asked that should have been asked. Finally, at this late date, the questions are being asked, but getting answers is difficult when most of the perpetrators and victims are dead.
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Kate
It’s five years since the Autoroute 13 fiasco that stranded 300 motorists on that highway overnight in a massive snow squall. The truck driver whose mishap was blamed for provoking the jam, and who refused to have his rig towed away, faced charges but was acquitted in 2019.
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Kate
There are only 19 indigenous people among 2,385 Montreal fire department workers. Radio‑Canada interviewed one of them. The city wants to recruit more indigenous workers into the fire department but hasn’t had much success so far.
CE 23:05 on 2022-03-15 Permalink
Ah, the first sign of spring!
MarcG 11:20 on 2022-03-16 Permalink
If someone gets arrested it means there will be six more years of brutality.