A young man of 22 drowned off the Verdun beach on Friday evening, and his body was found by the fire department water rescue team a few hours later – CTV says 8:30 pm but TVA says 23:05.
Updates from June, 2023 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
The St-Jean parade and concert are back in their full form for the first time since the pandemic.
shawn
I was hearing a lot of sirens in the Plateau…?
Kate
Not seeing any relevant tweets from the fire department, and nothing in TVA’s Info‑Patrouille section, which usually picks up on incidents quickly.
Reports may be slow because it’s a holiday.
shawn
Thanks.
Meezly
There was some big police situation on Wed night (June 21) on corner Christophe Colomb and Rachel. Drones and a ton of police and ambulances. Still can’t find reports of what went down that night.
waffles
Yeah, wtf was going on Wednesday at Christoph Colomb & Rachel? The cops were wearing full riot gear(all black, helmets& shields) in the park, on the street. A group of them went into the big apartment building on the corner for something (water? It was hot as b*lls). The swat cops were hostile to the people who were just trying to go in&out of their houses in that area too. It was freaky, like they were doing war games on the thursday evening before st jean long weekend
Kate
Whatever was going on there on Wednesday, it didn’t get reported. I’ve rummaged back through all the local reporting Wednesday and Thursday and found nothing.
Update: I asked on Reddit and was told: “Apparently a guy in that big apartment building took a hostage. He was talked out of it and no one died. Source: I was walking by and asked a guy what was going on.”
Meezly
Thanks for looking into that, Kate!
I wonder if it was a busy news day, or maybe there wasn’t a gun involved with the hostage taker that local news media didn’t deem it very news worthy?
Kate
Local news has been underfunded and undervalued for years. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that nobody was sent to cover this incident because there simply wasn’t anyone to do it.
There used to be summer interns covering stuff like this, but how many journalism students are prepared to do this kind of thing now?
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Kate
We’re under another smog warning for the next 24 to 36 hours as forest fire smoke tends in our direction. The fires are not decreasing and there’s a likelihood they will get worse.
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Kate
I don’t know what the terms are in the long contract the city signed with Six Flags to run the amusement park, but it shouldn’t surprise us that the American organization has let the historic elements of the park deteriorate – the carousel, a segment of the original minirail, the Gladstone fountain are all falling apart. Heritage Montreal wants the park declared a historic site.
H. John
Wiki says it’s an emphyteutic lease which means “for a given period of time (not less than 10 years nor more than 100 years) in return for a consideration.”
Here’s the full explanation:
The first time I heard the phrase was when the Anglican Bishop of Montreal used one to lease the property behind the Cathedral. At the end of the 99 year lease the property, and the building on it, return to the diocese. Coolopolis explains ,and includes a few other examples:
http://coolopolis.blogspot.com/2014/03/crafty-downtown-anglicans-and-how-they.html
Kate
Thank you, H. John.
SMD
Re: Christ Church Cathedral. I remember reading on a historic panel in the mall that the office building reverts after only 70 years. A pretty great deal.
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Kate
Seventeen sheep are keeping the Maisonneuve Park grass in order, a more environmentally sound choice than power mowers.
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Kate
François Amalega, who made his reputation as an anti‑vaxxer and anti‑masker, has decided to defy the fireworks ban although he has never let fireworks off before.
I guess it’s just a hoax that sparks can start fires, then.
Blork
The fireworks regulation is stifling innovation in fireworks displays. What could possibly go wrong?
mare
I didn’t even know there *was* a ban. Saw some rather big fireworks going off in in Montréal-Nord near Gouin last night. I presumed that to be official, city sanctioned, but I’m not sure. I was on the bike path next to the river, so couldn’t see the actual ignition or if there were some banners.
A bit later I passed something very interesting. There was a St-Jean music event in a park and there were a lot of cops, complete with a mobile commando post. Cops were checking the bags of everyone entering for alcohol and maybe other things. Real cops, not just security guards.
But the most remarkable thing, and I’ve never seen this in Montreal before, was that all surrounding streets were blocked off with heavy machinery, bulldozers and dump trucks. To protect against anti-Muslim car terrorism or maybe gang related drive-by shootings? They kept the (wide) bike path unobstructed so in reality it wouldn’t have been very effective, but again, I’ve never seen this.
Meezly
Concrete barriers and blocks have been used to block off public events and street festivals for years now. Maybe there’s a concrete block shortage and they had to resort to other means? And men of various ethnicities, including white folk, have perpetuated vehicle terrorist attacks, so car ramming isn’t exactly a specialty of one particular group.
mare
@Meezly I was referring to car ramming *against* muslims, since a large part of the demographic in the area is Muslim. But I can see that my phrasing maybe wasn’t super clear.
I’ve seen concrete blocks before but this was really a step up from anything I’ve ever seen before at events like this. If this had been around Parc Lafontaine it would have been major news. Maybe the authorities had intelligence about specific threats? I hope it wasn’t just a show of force by the cops.
Kate
mare, there’s a ban on fireworks north of the river. I don’t know whether Amalega is going to do a stunt where he goes north of the river to let off a few Roman candles but it wouldn’t surprise me.
Chris
>And men of various ethnicities, including white folk, have perpetuated vehicle terrorist attacks, so car ramming isn’t exactly a specialty of one particular group.
And don’t forget women! Like this one in court last month.
Kate
Yes, lots of women are driving vehicles into crowds – it’s rampant.
Chris
Kate, did I say lots? No. “Lots” of men aren’t either. It’s in fact very rare.
Meezly used the word “men” instead of “people”. I thought that was pretty conspicuous when calling out that it “isn’t exactly a specialty of one particular group”, but to then name one particular group.
If the wikipedia list is to believed, it’s mostly men, Muslim men, doing this.
Kate
…but to then name one particular group.
Ahem.
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Kate
I haven’t been blogging all the minor arsons around town, usually adding them to the incident map without comment, although this morning saw a car explode in Ville-Émard and it’s a slow news day.
walkerp 22:22 on 2023-06-24 Permalink
That’s really sad. The Fleuve is no joke. It looks so mellow, but it has some strong currents.
Kate 22:27 on 2023-06-24 Permalink
Yes.
MarcG 11:41 on 2023-06-25 Permalink
They should put up signs along the river warning people.
Kate 12:24 on 2023-06-25 Permalink
I don’t mean to victim-blame, but if you’ve decided that the St Lawrence isn’t too dangerous, you’re not likely to pay much heed to warning signs either.
MarcG 12:29 on 2023-06-25 Permalink
I get the feeling from personally watching people do Dumb Shit in the river that they’re just ignorant. It really doesn’t appear to be dangerous, and the fact that the beach is there makes it seem even less so.
Kate 12:46 on 2023-06-25 Permalink
So maybe a big sign saying the river has strong currents so watch out?
I don’t have a clue how quickly the depth of the river drops off past the shore. Maybe they need a diagram showing how far out you can go before the depth – and thus the current strength – gets dangerous?
walkerp 22:47 on 2023-06-25 Permalink
I’m pretty sure there are signs.
I don’t think it’s the depth, but rather the strength of the currents. You can’t get out of them and they exhaust you.
MarcG 08:49 on 2023-06-26 Permalink
I’m very familiar with the Verdun waterfront and between the Nun’s Island bridge and the rapids there is a single sign at Tutle Wharf that says “swim at your own risk”. https://goo.gl/maps/PKvozBwzx7kopu2y6
MarcG 09:03 on 2023-06-26 Permalink
And it’s not even on or next to the dock that people swim off.