Quote of the week:

"There seems to be an urban myth that there's a switch that's flipped ... but it takes a bit more work." - Darren Becker, spokesman for Mayor Tremblay, on the Mount Royal cross's colour-change. It went from purple back to white on Tuesday with the election of Benedict XVI.

Turcotte not so papabile

While newsies were spilling flattering ink about our highest-ranking tabernacle-toter and his chance at the big job, other Montrealers were feeling that Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte would have been unworthy of the keys to the Popemobile. This thanks to his lack of compassion to the Duplessis Orphans, children transferred by the church to insane asylums in an old-time provincial scam to snatch more federal funds.

Rod Vienneau, who fights for the orphans, notes that Turcotte worked at the Mont Providence orphanage in 1955, when Dr. Jean Gaudreau arrived. On his first day Gaudreau found a small child wearing a straitjacket chained to a sink. Turcotte subsequently claimed that he'd been entirely unaware of such nightmarish conditions and has since rejected all requests for a church apology or compensation to the orphans. "We're wasting our time with that. We won't go that way," Turcotte told the National Post in 1999.

"I believe that Turcotte could not have become pope with all this on his conscience," Vienneau says. "If Jesus was standing by his side, he'd be saying, ‘Aren't you going to apologize?'" » Kristian Gravenor

Smelt this

Local organizers trying to get aluminum giant Alcan to stop its operations in the eastern Indian state of Orissa were given a morale boost last week when employees at two of Alcan's major Canadian smelting centres declared they support the resistance. That topic is sure to come up next Thursday, April 28, at the Montreal-based company's annual shareholders' meeting.

"We're going to have our own shareholders inside the meeting bringing up this topic," says Abhimanyu Sud, a coordinator with Alcan't in India, the locally based group behind much of the criticism against Alcan. "We'll be having a stakeholders' assembly outside at the same time, with people speaking on behalf of the people in the Kashipur region [of Orissa, where much of the mining is taking place]."

In the meantime, Alcan't in India will be holding two other events. The first, a panel discussion on mining and violence, is on Thursday, April 21, at the Native Friendship Centre (2001 St-Laurent), beginning at 6 p.m. Another, on Tuesday, April 26, is a speaker and film night at the Centre des Loisirs de Parc-Extension (415 St-Roch, metro Parc) at 7 p.m.

For more information visit www.saanet.org/alcant. » Patrick Lejtenyi

Mideast engagment

As the Israeli government prepares to carry out its unilateral "disengagement" from Gaza, a group of local Arabs and Jews have been taking a different approach, coming together and engaging in a dialogue to foster mutual understanding and goodwill.

"We felt there was a need on both sides to talk to, and question, the ‘other,'" says Montreal Dialogue Group co-President Ronit Yarosky. "It provides an environment where people can express their fears and anxieties, and in doing so, learn from each other. "

On Thursday, April 21, at 7:30 p.m., the group hosts "Suicide Bombings: what drives someone to become a human bomb?" which will screen part of the 2003 award-winning documentary Arna's Children about a student theatre group in Jenin. It takes place at the Westmount YMCA (4585 Sherbrooke W.), free.

On April 28, at 7 p.m., there will be a Multi-Faith Passover Seder at the Taj Mahal Hotel (1600 St-Hubert). Reservations are required and there's a $20 suggested donation. For info call 487-5787, or e-mail mtldialogue@sympatico.ca. » Chris Hazou

Hug your local Earth

Friday, April 22 marks the 35th annual Earth Day, and what with melting polar caps and dwindling ozone layers and decaying ecosystems and the like, ol' Mother Gaia could use some lovin'. Here are some ways to show your appreciation for a hard-working planet.

Give your car a check-up: L'Association québécoise de lutte contre la pollution atmosphérique is holding an inspection clinic at the CAA centre (550 Sources, Dorval) from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

On Sunday, April 24, the Co-op La Maison Verte (5785 Sherbrooke W.) is holding a bike collection and eco-friendly activities for kids from noon to 5 p.m. Bring your bike and $10 for Cyclo Nord-Sud, a charity.

See international conservationist superstar Jane Goodall speak. She delivers her speech on making the world a better place for humans, animals and the environment at the Restaurant Hélène de Champlain (200 Tour de l'Isle) on April 23, from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. Tix are $20 for adults, $15 for kids. Call 369-3384 or visit www.janegoodall.ca.

For more Earth Day stuff, visit www.jourdelaterre.org. » Patrick Lejtenyi

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

11 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
April 21–April 28, 1994

On the cover: A young bald boy named Jean-Dominic, whose non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Adriana Barton suggests, is linked to 2,4-D, a chemical in pesticides. "I'm angry because I didn't know [2,4-D] was poison," says Jean-Dominic's mother Monique Lévesque-René.

• "A while back we put the Mirror's name on a list of media that have e-mail addresses," writes managing editor Peter Scowen in a column. "It seemed like a good idea. Now, though, the wisdom of that decision seems debatable. Can you say ‘junk e-mail?'"

• To see at the 10th annual Vues d'Afrique film festival: "Le Démon au féminin, by Hafsa Zinai-Koudil. A true story about an Algerian woman whose husband, believing she was possessed by the devil, had her exorcized by the imam. She was left in a wheelchair." Also, "Journey of the Lion. A German documentary about a Rastafarian who leaves Jamaica to discover his African ‘roots.'"

• Categories in the Best of Montreal ballot: Best investment for street credibility; Most dangerous Montrealer; Best bet to beat Doré; Best beer.

Angel >> Consenting adults Lawyers for Club L'Orage and Coeur à corps, two Montreal swingers' clubs, are appearing before the Supreme Court this week. They're arguing that their clients' establishments are private and members-only, and whatever transpires within those sex-drenched walls is nobody else's business. Last July, the Quebec Court of Appeals ruled that L'Orage was a "common bawdy house" and therefore illegal, although the same court acquitted the owner of Coeur à corps of the same charge. Swingers' clubs may or may not be kind of gross, but ideally they are both private and safe. All the licking, sucking, thrusting and heaving done within is consensual and harmless.
Insect >> Minutemen north The spokesman for the Minuteman Project, whose 1,000-plus civilian volunteers monitor and track illegal immigrants along the Mexico-Arizona border and then contact Border Patrol, said patriotic Americans living along the Canadian border may start doing the same. While there is practically no illegal immigration from Canada into the U.S., Minutemen are worried about terrorists entering the country undetected. The Minuteman Project has been criticized in the States by the American Civil Liberties Union and law enforcement agencies and even President Bush, who called the group "vigilantes." While they are not armed, the prospect of paranoid pseudo-cops lurking in the bushes aching for a bust of their own is alarming.