La Presse wanted to find out what the latest report says about the state of the Olympic stadium’s concrete structure, but nobody’s telling.
Updates from September, 2023 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
A man convicted of manslaughter may only have to serve a year of prison because he’s already been locked up since 2020. Matthew Croxen beat up a man in a park because he was hitting a woman; the man died several weeks later.
The trial has begun of Frank Cao, accused of a “mysterious” murder on Nuns’ Island in 2020. The evidence against him isn’t the strongest, going by these accounts. Nobody knew of any link between the accused and the victim, so no motive for the killing has been suggested.
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Kate
Management of the REM presented a new noise reduction plan Monday morning, both for the vibrations transmitted by the elevated structure and by contact between wheels and rail. It remains to be seen whether nearby residents will be satisfied with the results. Work starts next month.
anton
The REMs rumbly and loud ride gives steel wheel on steel track a bad rap. It’s almost as bad as the metro’s rumbly rubber tyre on concrete track (nah, not really). Especially given the kinda sluggish speed — imagine the train went 120Km/h instead of, what, 60Km/h along the highway?
Uatu
This will probably raise my bus pass by a couple of $ next year. I predict it will pass the 200$ mark in about 3yrs..
DisgruntledGoat
As a proponent of affordable housing, I support making the REM louder
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Kate
Why is this visit by the Journal’s Louis‑Philippe Messier to the cold storage at Notre‑Dame‑des‑Neiges being framed as shocking and “odious”? If you have a lot of coffins you can’t bury all at once, it’s the obvious thing to do.
A more interesting question would be why NDN built this big cold storage in the first place. Were they expecting a strike or were they expecting a pandemic?
Another interesting question is why we bury people in vastly expensive pieces of furniture with elaborate metal handles. Surely a simple shroud would be more environmentally sound?
carswell
Even sounder if the corpse isn’t pumped full of toxic embalming fluids and has any teeth with mercury-laced fillings pulled.
Will probably chose to be cremated but I do find the idea of a green burial appealing.
https://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/spirit-sanctuaryBert
One reason for the cold storage is because it is difficult / impossible to dig plots in the winter.
As to the coffin question, it’s because the burial industry is a business which is designed to play on the emotions of those left to make these decisions. The best thing anyone can do is make pre-arrangements. One of my parents did it and basically told me “when I go, call this number. Everything is chose, arranged and paid for.”
Nicholas
One of the nicest things you can do for your relatives is to make a document with all your accounts (email it to them and print it out and tell people where you’re storing it). Banks, utilities, deeds/leases, pensions, wills, lawyer/notary name and number, etc. Turn a week-long job of frustration during their time of grief into a few hours. It’s not a legal document, just a handy how-to. Especially helpful if they live in a different city.
Ian
A living will is also a good idea. Stuff like who gets power of attorey if you get dementia, whether you want a DNR, et cetera. Saves a lot of grief and heartache trying to get the right to do your parent’s taxes after they no longer recognize you.
Bert
Add to that, and this may be a touchy one, get power of attorney before you need it. Yes, there are possible family issues to deal with, i.e. siblings, and may not be viable for all. But it will certainly make things easier when needed, be it either for family reasons or questions of competence to authorize / delegate.
Not only is a living will a great idea, but communicating the contents to everyone beforehand is critical. Don’t just put it on a page, put it in people’s heads.
Kate
What do people do if they have no family?
Bert
Kate, that is very much a valid question, and that is close to the heart. You can possibly go to close friends or find a trustee of some sort. In any of these cases, the pre-planning and pre-execution is critical.
Otherwise, you wind up as a ward of the Curator and you get what you get.
MarcG
In Quebec “living will” and “power of attorney” are called “protection mandate”. https://www.quebec.ca/en/justice-and-civil-status/legal-protection/protection-mandate
H. John
The concept of a Living Will, allowing patients to self-select future medical treatment and the person responsible for communicating their choices, originated in the U.S. in the 60’s and 70’s. It’s use accelerated in Canada in the ’90’s because of AIDS – as a way of designating in writing someone who wasn’t a legal relative (before same-sex relationships were legalized).
It’s not unusual to see the term Living Will, even in Quebec. McGill’s Palliative Care Unit uses the term, and used to have a suggested form that families could use. They’re using the term as a way to get people to communicate their health care choices with their families.
In Quebec, to be legally enforceable you have to have a Mandate in Case of Incapacity. If/when you become incapacitated, it comes into force once it’s certified by a court (homologated, aka probated in common law).
Educaloi explains:
https://educaloi.qc.ca/en/capsules/protection-mandates-naming-someone-to-act-for-you/
And the BAnQ has a downloadable booklet:
https://numerique.banq.qc.ca/patrimoine/details/52327/4588020
Here’s a Quebec health care page that talks about options to make sure your choices are known:
The Mandate expresses your wishes; but, the final decision rests in the hands of the doctor.
The more recent Quebec law on “Advance Medical Directives” is legally binding on the doctor, and overrides a Mandate if there is a conflict.
The Advanced Medical Directive allows you to accept or refuse care in 3 situations:
If you are suffering from a severe and incurable medical condition, in an end-of-life situation
If you are in a coma that is deemed irreversible or in a permanent vegetative state
If you are suffering from severe dementia, with no possibility of improvement (Alzheimer-type dementia or other advanced-stage dementia, for example)For each situation, you can accept or refuse the following:
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, ventilator-assisted breathing or breathing assisted by another device, dialysis treatment, forced or artificial feeding, forced or artificial hydration.You can download a form from the RAMQ. Once filled in, signed, witnessed, and returned by mail, it’s registered.
https://www.ramq.gouv.qc.ca/en/citizens/health-insurance/issue-directives-case-incapacity
There are a number of concerns about AMDs:
https://irpp.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Improving-Advance-Medical-Directives.pdf
Blork
A container or box of some sort is useful in environments where the deceased stays around for a few days for a wake or similar sort of “viewing.” It’s also useful for transporting the deceased, as it’s easier to carry a box than to flop a body on and off a stretcher-like thing for moving them around. It also makes for neater storage while waiting for the grave to be dug.
As to why some people feel it needs to be a refined piece of furniture with flashy bling all over it, there’s no short answer for that but plenty of long ones in the various literatures of psychology and anthropology.
The short version is: humanity generally doesn’t make much sense collectively. The only reason why we’ve put people on the Moon or eradicated polio or whatever is because of the work of some individuals. As a group we’re a mess, and highly susceptible to stupid phenomenon that manifests in groups but is repeated by individuals. For example, poor people paying for elaborate weddings, or bereaved adult children making up for never calling and never writing by making a big show of putting Mom in a $50,000 coffin.
Ian
I am currently in the process of taking care of an elderly relative whose affairs are very much not in order.
As others have pointed out, “power of attorney” and “living will” are not the precise terms used by the courts in Quebec but these are understood and used by notaries, lawyers, and the hospitals.Let’s not forget that “derogation” is a term only used by English speakers in Quebec, everywhere else it’s a “waiver” … which ironically also came into use in English through French.
Kate
MarcG, H. John, thank you for the links and information.
carswell
Point taken, Ian, but, as always, it’s not that simple. Here’s the Termium Plus (Canadian government’s terminology database) entry for derogation. Other entries starting with the term will be found in the entry listing.
https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-fra.html?lang=fra&i=1&srchtxt=derogation&index=frt&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecsOrr
On the other hand, if you hate your children, not leaving a will is the way to go.
I’m talking about my grandfather, and he held a grudge.
(My actual advice: get a will, and get it today!)
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Kate
Coroner Gehane Kamel is going to lead an inquiry into the shooting deaths of three men last summer. Abdulla Shaikh, identified by the mental health review board as posing a risk to the public, was nonetheless allowed to live in the community. In August 2022, he killed three men in the street, people with whom he had no connection, then was shot dead himself by police. An inquiry was ordered shortly after the event.
I imagine the inquiry will focus on how risk is judged and whether anything in that rulebook needs to be changed. There is no way to know now what Shaikh’s state of mind was like at the time.
Update: This is a weird one. Evidence shows that Shaikh murdered two men in the street on August 2, 2022, then drove to Toronto to visit the Toronto Zoo and Canada’s Wonderland before returning here and shooting a third man in Laval on August 3, 24 hours later. Receipts found in his car support the Toronto trip, but the timing is hard to credit.
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Kate
CBC’s Verity Stevenson has done a series of interviews with people that have no permanent places to live. Her portraits of different lives are good, as are her photos of the people and their settings.
walkerp
Really tough to read but also very helpful to reinforce that these are all human beings in tough situations trying their best.
Kevin 17:50 on 2023-09-26 Permalink
$20 million just to determine how dangerous the structure is. Good money after bad.
carswell 18:25 on 2023-09-26 Permalink
There’s a reason the Stade looks like a toilet.