Quote of the week:

"In all my years of dealing with the police department, I've never heard this name, and that certainly raises questions about his credentials in [minority relations]." - Anti-racism activist Fo Niemi, on 42-year-old Yvan Delorme, Montreal's new top cop, in Tuesday's Gazette.

Slamming certificates

For most of the past two years, Adil Charkaoui, a 31-year-old father of two and terrorist suspect, had been held on a security certificate, a controversial measure that denied him access to the evidence presented against him and the right to cross-examination witnesses. Released on $50,000 bail in February, he remains subject to strict monitoring conditions.

Charkaoui's friends and supporters will be marching through Montreal on Saturday, March 26, as a protest against the security certificate process and what they consider the targeting of Canadian Muslims and Arabs. "We want an end to this," says organizer Mary Foster of the Justice for Adil Charkaoui campaign. "We want an end to racist scapegoating." She also wants the four other Muslim men detained under security certificates - Mohamed Harkat, Hassan Almrei, Mahmoud Jaballah and Mohammad Mahjoub - released immediately.

Not protested will be the March 1 deportation to Germany of Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel, who was also detained on a Canadian security certificate. "We're a non-racist organization," says Foster by way of explanation.

The march begins at 1 p.m. at Atwater Park. See www.adilinfo.org for more info. » Patrick Lejtenyi

Park Ex water trouble

Park Extension is finally getting a swimming pool after years of aquatic deprivation. The bad news is that you might have to look to make sure there's water in it before you dive in. Construction is slated to begin soon on the $5.2-million pool behind William Hingston High, but disappointed Vision Montreal city councillor Mary Deros says that there won't be much splashing going on this fall if the city refuses to give over the $450,000 a year required to maintain it.

"Mayor Tremblay says it's a new way of dealing with the city," she says. "He says we should tax the citizens or find other ways of raising the money."

Deros has written to dozens of companies offering naming rights in exchange for support, but so far no takers. She says the neighbourhood, one of Canada's poorest, "shouldn't be forced to pay more taxes for the pool." Villeray-St-Michel-Park-Extension borough mayor Paolo Tamburello, who recently switched from Vision Montreal to the Tremblay team, dismisses the worries. "If there was a problem with the pool, we wouldn't be building the pool," he says. » Kristian Gravenor

McGill does doob

With the decriminalization debate, the Mayerthorpe killings, former Marijuana Party chief Marc-Boris St-Maurice's defection to the Liberals, and his current legal battles, confused pot aficionados may want to hear some straight talk about their favourite weed.

This Thursday, March 24, the McGill NDP hosts a screening of the documentary Grass and a panel discussion about Canada's drug policy. On said panel will be the provincial Bloc Pot's Hugo St-Onge, unhappy about the current state of the marijuana discussion. "I think there's going to be a backlash against marijuana," he says. "You see the police are getting meaner, and the media is getting unfriendlier."

St-Maurice, meanwhile, was in court last week at a pre-trial hearing hoping to get his March 2004 arrest quashed. He argues that, because he was arrested at the Bloc Pot's Rachel E. HQ, and by undercover cops who infiltrated the party, it contravened his Charter rights. He appears in court again on May 3.

The screening/discussion takes place at the Leacock Auditorium (815 Sherbrooke W.) at 6 p.m., free. » Patrick Lejtenyi

Policies for bikers

The mood over at Vélo Québec seems pretty good these days. The cycling association and lobby group has been able to collar high-ranking brass at the provincial and municipal level over the past two weeks, with the intention of promoting bike-friendly policies, and apparently, the brass're listening.

Last week, Vélo Québec proposed that the provincial government integrate pro-bicycle measures across all ministries. One suggestion involved paving sidewalks on the Route Verte, the provincial bike path. Another was for integrating bike-friendly propaganda across all ministries. "For example, the Education Ministry could set up discussions about bicycles in schools, the Health Ministry could promote bicycling for physical activity," says Vélo Québec rep Patrick Howe. The recommendations, he says, were taken "positively."

Over at city hall, the braintrust is currently examining two studies the association carried out on the state of downtown cycling. Howe says one contains a very technical plan on expanding and improving the current infrastructure, and that it was received "very positively." » Patrick Lejtenyi

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

15 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
March 22–March 29, 1990

On the cover: Late photographer Robert Mapplethorpe's photographs "present an assortment of increasingly graphic and sexually explicit photographs," writes Sheila Urbanoski. "Urolagnia, coprophilia and scatalogical connoisseurs have a rare opportunity to see these testaments to gay hedonism."

• "When you have 32 women out of 4,000 blue collar workers, you don't need a study to identify the problem," says Action Travail des Femmes' Liza Novak.

• "Teenage Theatre is a package of vintage B-films on Channel 12, hosted by Mamie Van Doren," writes Jenny Ross. "It's worth it just for the theme song, with such lyrics as, ‘flipped-out biker babes, devil-dolls in drag, pill-poppin' punks, thrill kittens, dipstick daddy-Os, jail-bait in bondage, drag-racing debbies.'"

• "Necrophilia is such a lovely topic for a feature film," Steve Kokker writes in his video column. In Dead Mate, "Pretty Nora is dismayed to discover that her young mortician husband never lets female corpses rest in peace."

Angel >> www.stopracialprofiling.ca Last Monday, March 21, happened to be the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. It also was the launch day for a new Web site set up by a group dedicated to reporting incidents of racial profiling, and passing a bill proposed by Vancouver NDP MP Libby Davies that would ban the practice from all federal departments and jurisdictions. Opposition MPs were also asking questions about racial profiling on Monday, especially concerning Canada's plans to create a no-fly list. Public Security Minister Anne McLellan says Canada's security and border officials don't engage in racial profiling, despite testimony from minorities pointing to the contrary.
Insect >> Politicians Incredibly, politicians still lack the public's confidence (Libby Davies notwithstanding). According to a Léger Marketing poll released last Monday, politicians rank 20th on a list of 20 for the fourth year running - only trusted by 16 per cent of Canadians. That's below car salesmen (ranked 19), publicists (18) and union people (17), and way below senior civil servants (13), lawyers (14) and insurance brokers (15). Occupying the top three positions are firefighters, nurses and farmers. It seems sponsorship scandals and cuts to bursaries, social programs and the like actually do have an effect on voters. Journalists, by the way, ranked 12th, behind bankers and church representatives.