The Montreal suicide prevention centre has seen a 31% rise in calls since last year. It’s starting its annual fundraising drive.
Updates from November, 2023 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
-
Kate
-
Kate
A Jewish centre in Snowdon was hit by a Molotov cocktail early Monday, doing little damage before police arrived. La Presse also notes some graffiti painted near a Jewish school in St‑Laurent on the weekend.
-
Kate
Forbes has a piece on cocktail culture in the city they persist in calling Montréal even though they’re writing in English.
As someone once told me, they liked writing it with the accent because it felt more exotic. Not when you live here, sweetheart.
steph
ḞǪ́℞B́ẼŞ could be a little more exotic themselves.
Meezly
I can appreciate that a major American magazine is profiling cocktail culture in Montreal because it must mean that there’s been an evolution of sorts. As someone who appreciates a nicely mixed drink now and then, it has been easier to find a good cocktail in this city than say a decade ago.
And I learned something new: the former dearly missed Taverne Square Dominion has been reincarnated as Bar Dominion. It looks like the beautiful interior has been kept intact too!
Daisy
Montréal is Montreal in English, just like Roma is Rome in English, München is Munich, Wien is Vienna, Lisboa is Lisbon, etc.
mb
I thought Montréal was the spelling of choice in Franco-friendly English. Obviously, I was wrong!
Daisy
My two cents: If you pronounce it mon-ray-AL while speaking in English, then by all means write it Montréal while writing in English. But I have never heard that from someone with high English fluency.
Ian
“Montréal is Montreal in English, just like Roma is Rome in English”
More like Bruxelles-Ville is Stad Brussel in French and Stad Brussel is Bruxelles-Ville in Flemish 😉Robert H
It’s interesting to read these articles from foreign English language media about Montreal. Obviously they vary in quality, but they are indicators that the city has an international profile. When writers use the accented spelling, that’s also an indicator of the success of Quebec’s policy of promoting a French face. Like mb, I interpret such spelling as a benign nod to supporting that policy. But I suppose it’s an easy attitude for me as a non-native to take. Perhaps an anglophone who was born and raised here, with parents and grandparents who were part of an established strong community, might see that accent as an annoying microaggression. As if one were being told, “Vous etês une honte. Nous ferions comme si vous n’existiez pas.”
Kate
Robert H, just about.
Daisy: exactly!!
-
Kate
A spokesman for the FAE says teachers are prepared to stay off work till Christmas if necessary. And presumably beyond, if no agreement is reached.
It’s a lot quieter around my neighbourhood with the strike on. The high school students are not bad kids, but there are a lot of them, and in groups they can be noisy.
Meezly
There’s a letter of support for the FAE that’s open for normal people (and apparently celebrities) to sign: https://www.lafae.qc.ca/lettre
-
Kate
The budget for snow removal this winter has reached nearly $200 million as costs rise for everything.
-
Kate
The opening of the planned ozone sewage treatment plant has been pushed back again till 2028, with a price tag hovering around $1B.
-
Kate
Owners of music venues are feeling oppressed by the trend where people move in close to a club, which is then issued with noise complaints. They want changes, giving as an example Toronto’s rule that if residential buildings go up near existing venues, it’s on the residential developer to soundproof, and to warn potential residents that there’s a music venue next door.
Blork
Remember when Montreal was the cool city and Toronto was full of straight-laced people doing dumb shit?
Ian
I also remember that the main 80s club strip in Toronto, Queen Street West, got pushed out by gentrification in the 90s. The 90s club strip got pushed out by condo development. Of course in the 70s the club strip was Yorkville and we saw what happened there, too.
But hey, before we get on our high horse about how cool Montreal is, the old Jazz district was gutted for the QdeS and let’s not forget the destruction of what was left of St Kitty and the Main for a super-hyped development that never even happened.
All that aside, when yuppies move in any “cool” neighbourhood inevitably goes to shit. It doesn’t even matter how, there’s always a way, and inevitably it turns into another bland, safe shopping district.
Tim S.
If it makes any of you feel better, I came across a bonkers twitter conversation yesterday about how allowing beer to be sold in Ontario corner stores is the end of civilization as we know it:
-
Kate
Nice piece by Émilie Côté in La Presse about the training of a metro driver and what it’s like to do the job.
-
Kate
A car was consumed by flames Saturday evening in Anjou. No one was hurt.
Around the same time, shots were fired at a mansion in TMR, again with no victims.
jeather
Jewish community centre hit by molotov cocktail overnight. No injuries, minor damage.
Kate
Early Monday, so it wasn’t included in this post. But thanks for alerting me to it.
jeather
Yes, it was in the news almost 24 hours after this post, it wasn’t a judgement that you didn’t include it, I’d certainly use my “predict the future” abilities on something other than blog links.
-
Kate
Various reports say Saturday’s Santa parade was a popular success, although the headline (as shown on the TVA front page) Une cinquantaine d’enfants malades au défilé du père Noël made me wonder for a moment what they’d put in the candy canes.
-
Kate
Retired police and calèche horses really do go to a nice farm, it’s not a dark joke.
Meezly
That’s so nice to know. There’s a very brief mention that the rescue is a non-profit (with a fundraiser on Dec. 9 with no other links or detes), but I wonder if there’s any funding from the city since the horses used to literally work for the city, either as police horses or for tourists.
-
Kate
I can see from the media attention that it’s newsy that the Montreal Carabins have won the Vanier Cup.
-
Kate
Since it’s a slow news day here, I’m posting this request from the friend who rescued the cat that became the Montreal City Weblog resident mouser.
Lady Gatta has two kittens, littermates, who are in a foster home for the moment, but the fosterers plan to go away for the holidays. So she’s hoping to find a permanent home for these two charmers before that time.
Any takers, please direct queries to ladygattarescue@gmail.com.
(The kittens are not living with me.)
Ian
Aww too cute. My 2 middle aged rescues would be super mad at me though.
Orr
Slow news day so we looked father afield for some Montreal news and we see that the Globe did a “most livable Canadian cities” ranking and Quebec’s #1 most livable city is Town of Mont Royal.
Let the debate begin.Orr
Here’s another Montreal story we have to read the Toronto media to find out about.
We were going to do a tour of Canada’s new arctic offshore patrol ship “Harry DeWolf” in the Vieux Port today but tours have been cancelled bc the ship brought some Covid back from its mission of extreme national (military-recruitment football tie-in public relations campaign) importance of physically delivering the Grey Cup from Toronto to Hamilton which let’s remember is a game Montreal won!
Toronto star and cbc have the story but don’t see it anywhere in the Montreal media.
-
Kate
You can tell there’s not much weekend news when the recent policy of bouncing smelly people from public libraries is being covered by most media platforms.
But the unwashed are not only to be given the bum’s rush. They can be fined anywhere from $350 to $3000. How someone who can’t get a shower or wash their clothes can be expected to pay fines is left to the imagination.
JaneyB
It’s not really about hygiene, as we know. It’s about having libraries function as daytime homeless shelters. This has been the case for decades and has made libraries kind of unsafe/unsettling for women and children especially. I have had many weird experiences in downtown public libraries throughout the country. Though some argue the homeless should ‘feel welcome’ in public spaces, others find puzzling a commitment to combine libraries with a population that is significantly mentally ill and/or substance abusing. Certainly the homeless need to be somewhere – ideally in a rooming house – but suggesting they are mostly patrons like anyone else seems a bit disingenuous.
Ian
While I agree it’s not entirely about hygiene, there was a big problem with bedbugs at the Grande Bibliothèque that made it necessary to remove all upholstered furniture.
Kate
I’ve largely avoided public libraries since the suggestion that they’re a possible locus for bedbugs. That issue hasn’t been mentioned in the recent law, though – only the smell.
Kate
Jinx, Ian – we were both pondering the same issue.
EmilyG
One of the articles also mentions a rule against bringing in bedbugs. Though I imagine that’s not something that people do on purpose.
-
Kate
What CTV is calling rather Britishly a Father Christmas parade starts at 11 am Saturday.
Daisy
Maybe they were translating “Père Noël” rather literally.
Daisy
It has now been changed to “Santa Claus”! Maybe they read your blog.
Kate
Daisy, I’m pretty certain they do.
Kevin
Some do, some don’t 🙂
azrhey 15:15 on 2023-11-28 Permalink
HI!
suicide.ca is not the Montreal prevention centre, it’s the chat/text service offered throughout Quebec, with “call” centers in Chicoutimi, Quebec, Grandby and Montreal, but they don’t do phone calls.. the SPCM website is https://cpsmontreal.ca/
I worked at Suicide Action Montreal, whose name changed to Suicide Prevention Centre of Montreal ( SPCM or CPSM in French ) from 2019 to 2 months ago 🙂
Thanks!
Kate 17:31 on 2023-11-28 Permalink
Thank you, azrhey. Radio-Canada included the suicide.ca link in their piece so I assumed it was connected to the story.