Adil Charkaoui, who’s been in the news before, led a demonstration through Villeray Saturday in support of the Palestinians.
Update: A Christian group held a pro‑Israel rally downtown Sunday. For them it’s probably some eschatological thing about the second coming.
The folks running Mobilité Montréal are to have their first meeting in four years later this month. This committee was supposed to coordinate with construction sites to minimize road blocks.
I notice there’s not even a mention of the pandemic as one of the likely reasons the committee hasn’t sat for so long. I’ve noticed our media have been unwilling to mention Covid, even when it’s simply relevant as a big fact in recent history up to the present moment.
Why bother? Everyone one knows covid is everyone’s excuse for everything.
Covid is not merely an excuse. There were legitimate reasons to refrain from meeting in person for the whole year before vaccines were launched – and yet we’ve already started to forget about that period of 2020‑2021 when the only protection was distancing.
After a year, we realized we had changed as individuals and as a society, and after another year or two, that some habits will stay changed.
It’s a sociological fact, and we still haven’t got a full picture of the changes. That’s the kind of thing you only get when looking back and weighing up.
But they didn’t even have virtual meetings, right? So what does COVID have to do with anything?
Joey, the article doesn’t say whether or not they had virtual meetings.
Right, it says they haven’t met. Can’t imagine they meant “haven’t met in person, but did meet virtually” (especially since their last meeting was well before COVID). After 2.5 years of pandemic life, surely the concept of “meeting” includes virtual and in-person… Wasn’t there a story a few months ago about how this committee had been dormant for years?
I guess what’s puzzled me is that the Mobilité Montréal website has continued to operate listing road traffic issues, so that the organization didn’t seem moribund.
This is just the committee that hasn’t met. Surely all the work is done by staff. This is just referring to big heads who decide on priorities and talk.
Meetings are not where most of the work is done.
Quebec has six times as many verdicts of “not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder” as other provinces. This came up in the ongoing inquest on Abdulla Shaikh, who shot three random men dead last year before being killed by police himself.
Interesting. With our legal system being a bit different, I wonder if the bar is a bit lower for being successful with that. What I didn’t see in the article is how many times it’s attempted here, versus other places. It is something the defense has to actively pursue…I think?
Even still, that’s a really big difference.
I wonder if the presence of the Pinel Institute here has anything to do with it. But I don’t know what facilities other provinces have for people whose mental troubles may be the cause of violent or criminal actions.
With such a large difference, it seems safe to guess that it’s probably multiple factors.
A 600% higher incidence than in other provinces is outrageous.
So the article mentions that these people were recently seen by shrinks, or had been admitted to mental health facilities and then discharged without a follow-up appointment. That happens to thousands of people every year, because of the lack of resources. Fortunately not every one of them becomes violent.
Maybe this is more about the state of our (mental) health system than about our justice system.
Chris 20:15 on 2023-10-14 Permalink
So today this infamous guy leads a demonstration, yesterday they chose to organize a demonstration on the day Hamas calls for a day of global jihad.
Not sure they are helping their cause here. The optics are not good.
Ephraim 07:50 on 2023-10-15 Permalink
The optics were never good, especially after the Oslo accords, the Cairo Agreement and Oslo II. But no one puts up a mirror and asks… why is this continuing when there is a de facto peace accord and a way forward. At some point someone has to ask the question…. if there was a path forward, who stopped it and to what end?
Kate 09:34 on 2023-10-15 Permalink
Chris, what less could they be doing than holding peaceful demonstrations?
Writing a firm letter to the editor?
Chris 09:47 on 2023-10-15 Permalink
I didn’t say they should do less. I’m also not arguing for or against their cause. I’m saying if you want to convince others to your cause (that’s one reason for a demo after all), you shouldn’t have someone like Charkaoui leading the way. It gives ammunition to the (false) narrative that Palestinian cause = Islamist cause.
Kate 10:47 on 2023-10-15 Permalink
Good or bad cause, some people have the ability to spark people up and unify them. Evidence shows that Charkaoui can do it. It’s not that a group of people asked him to lead. It’s that he put out a call and gathered them together.
You don’t know how many people thought “Charkaoui? No, leave me out” but there were probably plenty. If nothing else, they would know he’s under surveillance, and that his kind of surveillance is contagious.
On the other hand, feelings are riding high and, at times like this, many people will put aside reservations and just get out there.