Last fall, a teenaged girl was stabbed by a boy whom she had rejected. She needed surgery to repair her face, and still bears scars. Tuesday, the boy was declared not criminally responsible. La Presse published a more detailed account of the incident in February.
Updates from April, 2026 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Distraction thefts have been reported on the rise (link from last fall), as in this incident in which a woman had her gold bracelets stolen in broad daylight.
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Kate
The federal government is chipping in $125 million against homelessness. I wonder whether we’ll find out later that Quebec didn’t like the terms.
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Kate
The city has ended funding for bike path traffic counters. Blocking data collection and proceeding on pure ideology is a classic conservative government move. I hope that is not what this is.
Nicholas
At least they can put that money saved into affording, uh, less than one (1) traffic light. But I’m sure someone will respond to their futuristic bespoke camera counting request for tenders (such products already exist with a few suppliers but they are more expensive and have higher ongoing costs).
Joey
Gonna be hard to do a safety audit without any data, but I’m sure SMF has it all figured out.
Nicholas
In more surprising news, Gilbert Thibodeau came out against this. I feel like the day after April Fool’s is opposite day.
Kate
CBC Radio says the decision to cease funding the counters was made by Projet before the election. Seems odd, if true. If true.
CE
The company that makes these is French but has their office for the Americas here in Montreal so this also hurts a local employer. The counter at Laurier Metro has been only counting half the bikes for about a year, it seemed like it wasn’t being maintained. I enjoyed seeing the indicator showing more and more bikes/year going up and up each summer
Andy Froncioni
There are public, citizen-science alternatives. I have 2 of these:
https://telraam.net/en/S2I put one on my balcony overlooking the Terrebonne bike path, and got a neighbour to put the other in her window, also facing the bike path.
If you have a window facing a strategic locatio and want to contribute, they are not very expensive:
https://telraam.net/#11/45.6232/-73.6798
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Kate
The book Les assassins de la mafia, on the subject of mob hitman Frédérick Silva, was just about to be published when it was withdrawn from sale by court order because it contains information likely to compromise future trials.
Nicholas
The parties seem to disagree on whether the book has information covered by a prior publication ban, which would be a no no in Canada, but if not this would not be a good precedent. But this is just a temporary ruling until they can look at it next week. Still not a great look.
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Kate
The driver who’s attained notoriety for his copious and fluent cursing at a policewoman has been named: Mohamed Bekkali, who has done things like it repeatedly, and has – it must be admitted – a real talent for invective. And at least he was swearing in French.
This piece says he was fined in Longueuil last year for cursing out the police, so evidently we do not need a new law to cover this matter.
Bekkali also says he’s racially profiled at the wheel all the time.
MarcG
That portrait is priceless
Ephraim
If you have a REAL problem with the police go to the commission and make your complaint there. BTDT and it was well worth the time and effort.
steph
Typically I’d just be posting ACAB, but in this case the cops are behaving very professional. Bekkali’s verbal diarrhea is so extreme it doesn’t even register seriously to me. It’s too extreme, actually bordering on comical. Any chance he has Tourettes?
Chris
Cops usually behave very professionally. The media (social and legacy) just amplify the cases where they do not, giving the public a skewed idea of what is typical.
MarcG
Ha
Ian
I’ll see your ha and raise you a haha.
I know you’re conservative Chris, but really?
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Kate
A coroner has been named to investigate the conditions that led to the deaths of five homeless people since last fall.
Hamza 01:03 on 2026-04-02 Permalink
It’s a cliché at this point but our justice system is broken
Kate 09:16 on 2026-04-02 Permalink
I think it’s more that we don’t have a consensus on what responsibility means. Quebec has a lot more NCR verdicts than other provinces, which can be read either as a higher level of compassion for mental disorders, or a more lax attitude to violent behaviour. Depends from what philosophical viewpoint you’re considering it.
jeather 10:25 on 2026-04-02 Permalink
He’s also a teenager being held at Philippe-Pinel until he’s 18, he’s not being just let off to go back to school. (And I believe had he been held criminally responsible, he likely would have been let out at 18 anyways, but I’m not sure about the details of the juvenile justice system.)
Kate 11:04 on 2026-04-02 Permalink
According to the report, he was 17 last October when he attacked her, so he’ll be a legal adult pretty soon if he isn’t already. The item about his NCR ends “Ayant été déclaré non criminellement responsable, l’adolescent sera suivi par la Commission d’examen des troubles mentaux du Québec.”
jeather 11:26 on 2026-04-02 Permalink
Oh at 17 he might have had more time in juvenile, not just a few months. I think I saw the victim was 14 and assumed he was the same age instead of noticing his age.
Kate 11:59 on 2026-04-02 Permalink
I’d also be curious to know how much larger he was than her, but I haven’t seen it mentioned.
Blork 13:18 on 2026-04-02 Permalink
This story has shades of “manosphere” around it, along with all the self-delusion and self-entitlement that goes with it. But presumably that’s not it, or at least not just it.
It should be noted that “not criminally responsible” does not mean “not responsible.” It means there was no criminal intent, usually due to mental illness, and as such the process is no longer a criminal one. So mental illness and responsibility (in terms of yes, he did this) are still on the table. One hopes that the necessary treatment is underway, along with any confinement that might be needed.
Kate 19:04 on 2026-04-02 Permalink
Blork, the guy is described as “il souffre d’un trouble psychotique, en plus de présenter une déficience intellectuelle.” I wonder how much manosphere content he could have encountered, read and understood. Is there much manosphere material in French? (Odds are the kid is francophone, although we can’t know that.)
I don’t think some people need coaching to feel entitled to another person’s attentions and affections.
Joey 09:45 on 2026-04-03 Permalink
From what I saw in Louis Theroux’s manosphere doc on Netflix, (a) for guys of a certain age it’s incredibly pervasive, and (b) the content is so simple (basically, that women are objects men are meant to control and that money justifies anything) that even your garden variety criminal moron will get all the nuance.