Nicola Spagnolo, convicted of stabbing a man in Old Montreal in 2020, was sentenced to three years on Wednesday. La Presse says that although Spagnolo has been linked to the mob, the attack had nothing to do with organized crime. The victim was badly cut up but did not die.
Updates from July, 2023 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Both the Crown and the defence have recommended a three-month sentence for Gabriel Sohier‑Chaput, convicted of hate speech in January over a single antisemitic article on a far‑right site. Judge Manlio Del Negro said at Wednesday’s pre‑sentencing hearing that he didn’t think it was a severe enough penalty.
Sohier‑Chaput has maintained throughout that the more than 800 articles he wrote for the site were a joke. He’ll be sentenced in September.
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Kate
An amusing bit on why Montreal doesn’t know which way north is.
Kevin
Growing up in the West Island it made more sense since the angles aren’t that far off.
The corrolary, though, is that I grew up thinking downslope was toward the river to the south, and many times in Vancouver I caught myself mistakenly going in the wrong direction.
Ephraim
Tell google to fix the map and all will be right with the world
MarcG
In Verdun it’s kind of easy because it’s turned almost 90 exactly so “Montreal” West is actually South and the sun sets in the North.
Blork
Such weird geography. Here I am in Longueuil, on the “south shore,” yet I’m north-east of downtown. My house is farther north than the Jean-Talon Market!
nau
Even better, from Verdun, while “Montreal” West is South, “Montreal West” is to the “Montreal” North.
jeather
There was a great version, lost to the sands of internet, where they had fun pictures showing the south end of the Victoria bridge further north than the north end and other similar things. I have been told that the way we describe meeting at intersections (“NE corner of Notre-Dame and Atwater” etc) is uncommon.
My west facing balcony is, for plant purposes, south facing and gets full sun.
CE
I’ve noticed that there’s a very specific way to give directions that I’m not sure exists elsewhere. The first street said is the one where you’re meeting and the second is the closest intersection. So the example above would mean that you’re going to be on Notre-Dame and not Atwater. Messing this up can waste a lot of time when looking for someone, a friend of mine got very upset when someone did it which is what made me realize that this rule exists.
Orr
Fun fact: Montreal island’s most northern point is also its most eastern point.
It’s a lovely park and we should all visit it.jeather
CE, I agree, but you need to be close to the intersection. If you’re going to be farther up the street, you say Notre-Dame north side between Atwater and Charlevoix. If you’re at the intersection you can be a little bit more on the second street though, a few feet in.
I have apparently also got strong feelings about this.
Ian
I usually say the street I’m on then the intersection, or between what cross streets.
East side of Atwater at St Jacques or east side of Atwater between St Jacques and Saint Antoine.I hadn’t really consciously noticed the convention but it does make sense!
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Kate
Le Devoir extracted some facts about French from the 2021 census including that the knowledge of French has been stable for 40 years in Quebec, and half of its residents only speak French. And, to no one’s surprise, Montreal is far and away the most polyglot city in Canada with a third of us on the island of Montreal speaking three or more languages.
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Kate
A new route has been proposed for the east‑end REM which picks up some of the fabled Pink Line route.
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Kate
Heritage Montreal is offering five tours of Montreal parks and their environs, and Metro looked through Google Maps ratings to find the five best and five worst parks – some of which are very small and likely unknown to anyone but nearby residents.
mare
Some parks on Google maps don’t even exist. Parc rapide de rivière-des-prairies for instance. (That island was bought by the city years ago, but is locked off with a big fence since years. Unclear why. A bridge that’s not safe? Been a dump of toxic waste in the past? Rare animal species found?)
jeather
My favourite park is in there! (Parc des rapides. I could bring a book and sit there all day.)
Nicholas
I certainly hope Heritage Montreal is choosing guides who did the tour guide course and passed the test (but are volunteers so won’t get paid or even reimbursed after all that work), or the guides could be fined and Montrealers could get exposed to uncredentialized history. I remember going on a tour given by the Westmount Historical Association, which is not subject to the City of Montreal tourist guide rules when giving a tour in Westmount, and though I enjoyed it at the time, having learned of these tour guide rules I now realize that without a tour led by someone with a certificate issued by an institution accredited by the Ministère de l’Éducation et de la Science, and designated by the executive committee of the City of Montreal, I was getting substandard instruction from the old lady who spends five hours a month in the WHA archives. Maybe the other on-island cities will realize the error of their ways.
mare
@jeather That’s how I ended up in the parc rapides I mentioned above. The Google maps app suggested/autocompleted it when I entered ‘parc rapid…’
Don’t trust Google maps, you might end up driving into a river 🙂
(Maybe only for me, I cycle past it quite often and it might read my location data. Also regularly been to LaSalle’s rapids though.)
Orr
I give a tour every summer of the Corten sculptures throughout Montreal, both in and out of parks.
Tour Guide association didn’t catch me yet.Parc des Rapides is particularly amazing during spring high water period.
CE
The tour guide association (APGT) doesn’t care about people giving tours on specialized topics once in a while. It exists to ensure that professional guides are trained and certified.
Kate
Because I looked it up: Corten scuptures in town. I’ve always liked Porte de jour.
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Kate
A man was shot early Wednesday at Ste‑Catherine and Drummond, not fatally, but is not answering police questions.
Ian 22:37 on 2023-07-12 Permalink
Just one look at Nicky should tell you he’s not to be messed with. I’ve seen old Montreal fights, and Spagnolo clearly knows his way around a knife. That kid picked a fight with the wrong guy.
I feel bad for Spagnolo not keeping his cool but his time will be easy. Maybe the kid learned something from this experience – you can’t just waltz around town like you own the joint, there are some legit dangerous folks out there.