Quote of the week:

“André Boisclair is the man we need to build a bridge between the generations.” —Youthful PQ MNA Nicolas Girard on the youthful, gay, Harvard-grad and PQ leadership candidate, on Monday. To date, Pauline Marois is the only other PQ member interested in the job.

On to Ottawa

It’s never easy going on a week-long, 200-kilometre march, especially when it’s done along some of the busiest roads in the country. But a group of determined activists and recent arrivals to Canada are going to be doing just that starting Saturday, June 18, winding up in Ottawa on June 25. The purpose is to normalize the legal position the thousands of non-status non-Canadians who “drive our taxis, clean our hotels and offices, and are an integral part of our social fabric,” says Patrick Cadorette, a spokesman for Solidarity Across Borders.

This is more than a walk in the woods. Because the group wants a high profile to spur discussion on the issue, they’ll be walking along busy highways with police escorts. To prepare, their legal committee has been in close contact with the various municipal and provincial police forces along the way. “They’ve been pretty collaborative,” says Cadorette. “Everything’s been running smoothly.” Cadorette says he expects hundreds of people to show up, “although not all of them can complete the march, of course.”

The march leaves Atwater and Ste-Catherine at noon. » Patrick Lejtenyi

Funding Mission

The Mile End Community Mission is in serious financial peril, and is appealing to the neighbourhood it serves to help avoid catastrophe.

In the past 13 years since it converted from a church to a community centre and food bank, it’s been an important institution helping local low-income families make stretched ends meet. Now, in the wake of funding cuts, they’ve had to eliminate some services and, if the situation doesn’t improve, may be forced to close forever. A weekend fundraiser and open house, Mission workers hope, will be the first step in finding much-needed dough—to the tune of $100,000.

“We have to raise our profile, to introduce people to what we do,” says Amber Goodwyn, the Mission’s assistant director.

The Mission offers community meals, very cheap clothes, outreach work, access to professional training courses and advice, all without an obvious religious bent.

The open house fundraising party begins Thursday, June 16 and runs to Sunday, June 19 at 99 Bernard W. from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Call 274-3401 for more info. » Patrick Lejtenyi

Caribbean Island

Starting on Saturday, June 25, Parc Jean Drapeau will be our cheap getaway to the tropics as the city’s many disparate Caribbean-themed festivals take place under one umbrella. A number of local organizations, including the Jamaica Association, Access Caribbean and Trinidad and Tobago Association, have pooled their festival days into a series of outdoor parties, featuring much music, food and drink, each themed and flavoured to their respective culture, running from June 25 to July 17. This way, says Dejha Carrington, the marketing coordinator for Montreal International Tropical Festival (as it’s to be known), the various organizations taking part can capitalize on shared resources and make their events “more inclusive and more of a festival.”

She stresses that moving all the festivals to Parc Jean Drapeau won’t gut communities of their summer fun. “There’ll still be block parties at Nelson Mandela Park,” she says. “Those won’t go away. But now, instead of paying $20 to see Kardinal Offishall, you can pay $10 and see 10 times as many acts.”

For more info on this year’s Tropical Festival, visit www.montrealtropicalfestival.com. » Patrick Lejtenyi

Sweepers’ solidarity

If you’re one of the 128 local janitors pushing a broom for Groupe Source France (GSF), you’re cashing in $13.15 to $14.05 per sweaty hour of labour. However, if you work for the same France-based building maintenance company’s Indianapolis operations, the wages of the mop pale in comparison. The Indianapolis janitors earn between $5.50 and $7 (U.S.) an hour.

Both groups are part of the same Service Employees International Union, but, under Indiana law, the employer—in this case GSF—has to choose to recognize the union. Montreal GSF janitors have considered striking in solidarity with their Indianapolis counterparts, who are negotiating for union recognition, but likely won’t be able to.

“It’d be hard to do that here because legislation forbids it, but we’ve advised the employer that if there’s no dialogue, we’ll picket certain buildings,” says Raymond Larcher, president of Local 800 of the 1.8-million-member union. Larcher says that pressuring management to raise wages of far-off counterparts is a new reality in the labour struggle. “It’s a strategy that’s meant to counter the effects of globalization.” » Kristian Gravenor

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

19 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
June 12–July 2, 1986

On the cover: Sax man David Murray, who, according to John Sobol, is “the dynamic force behind creative black music,” as part of the Mirror’s Jazz Fest coverage. Other articles look at Montreal jazz musicians, the Cinémathèque’s Ciné-Jazz series and a series of capsules by Sobol on the Fest’s effect on Montreal’s red light district, how to best appreciate jazz (“The best way… is to try and play it. The next best way is to listen to it. Often. The worst way is to read about it.”), and European jazz vs. “what Americans call jazz.”

• “The Pogues have a reputation as intense drinkers,” writes Brendan Kelly of the first-generation Irish-Londoner band. “A record company rep said it’s probably best to interview them in the morning since they’re often drunk by mid-day.” The article has no interview with the band.

• According to José Arroyo, Poltergeist II, Cobra, Raw Deal and The Money Pit are all examples of “propagation of right-wing ideology in American films.”

Angel >> Debt relief The G8 finance ministers announced last Saturday that they would cancel some $40-billion (U.S.) worth of debt owed by some of the world’s poorest countries. This is good news: most of the countries whose debt has been cancelled are in sub-Saharan Africa, and need the money spent servicing the debt on much-needed health care and education. But it’s only a first step. Only 18 countries are eligible to have their debt written off, the agreement is stacked with conditions and there are fears that they will make it easier for multinationals to continue to bribe their way to robbing Africans blind. Furthermore, debts to private banks are still intact. There still remains a lot of work to do to help Africa out of poverty.
Insect >> Military spending A Swedish think tank recently reported that global military spending last year topped the $1-trillion (U.S.) mark, its highest in real terms since the late ’80s. Nearly half—$455-billion, more than 10 times the amount of debt forgiven by the G8—was spent by the United States, as it continues its incredibly successful war on terror in Iraq, Afghanistan and at home. The total figure accounts for about 2.6 per cent of the world’s gross domestic product, and marks the sixth consecutive year that spending has increased. Britain, France, Japan and China accounted for most of the rest.