Quote of the week:

“These two detainees are being held in worse conditions than the worst criminals in the country.” —Alexandre Trudeau, protesting the incarceration of Hassan Almrei and Mohammed Mahjoub, who are detained on security certificates and now on hunger strikes.

Co-op subsidies

In a strange reversal of fortune, the inhabitants of Montreal’s 7,270 housing co-operative units could see their rents shoot up when the mortgages on their buildings get paid off. That’s because, back in the days of disco, when the first housing co-operatives were born, an estimated 95 per cent of them signed a side deal with the government that offered subsidies for low-income tenants. Their rent was frequently set at one-quarter of their monthly income. As those co-op mortgages are now finally getting fully paid off, the subsidy deal is ending as well. This will happen to over half of Quebec’s co-operative housing units within five to 10 years.

“It’s a big question for us,” says Éric Tremblay of the Confédération québécoise des coopératives d’habitation (CQCH). “How we’ll maintain that aid is a preoccupying debate.”

Although mortgage payments go to zero, a variety of other expenses, like upkeep, insurance and taxes, will result in increased monthly fees for the subsidized co-op dwellers. And simply remortgaging a co-op won’t renew the government deal. “There are some people whose rents will rise significantly,” says Tremblay. » Kristian Gravenor

Pollution vacuum

People driving their car around the Mont-Royal metro station this Thursday, Sept. 1, might see over a dozen people dressed in white prancing around them and waving vacuum hoses, sucking exhaust out of their vehicle. It might seem odd, but it’s all in good fun, says Nathalie Michaud, one of the event’s organizers, and it’s all about air pollution.

“It’s not going to be aggressive,” she says. “We just want to arouse people’s curiosity.”

Unlike the recent action by art group Action terroriste socialement acceptable, who placed fake tickets on SUVs, Michaud’s Fanfare de Bonheur (as the event will be known) will not point fingers—she just wants people to start thinking about the matter. And she isn’t worried about irate motorists.

“People were very positive,” she says, referring to her inaugural Fanfare last August 18. “I was really astonished. Maybe it would’ve been different if we did it at rush hour.”

The event will take place at Mont-Royal metro on Thursday, Sept. 1 at 7 p.m. Another will take place at the Jean Talon Market on Saturday, Sept. 10 at 2 p.m. » Patrick Lejtenyi

Days of men

There was a new skirmish in the gender war this week, as Rosemont-Petite-Patrie councillor Jean-François Plante tabled a motion at city hall Monday night to mark the first Sunday in April Montreal Day for Men. Protesting it was a group of about 20 people, mostly women.

Two of the women, Marie-Ève and Marie-Hélène—neither would provide their last name, claiming “masculinists” would harass them—call the proposal “an insidious attack on the rights of women.” They say the proposal belittles women’s rights and the sacrifices feminists have made since the beginning of the movement.

Plante, however, says he doesn’t want to attack women’s rights. “All I want to do is set aside one day a year to talk about problems men face,” he says, listing child custody, suicide and homelessness as particularly pressing issues.

Plante says he will continue to press the proposal, although admitted that some of his colleagues aren’t crazy about the idea. “I know it’s not politically correct to talk about men’s rights,” he says. “There’s an established dogma that makes any discussion of it taboo.” » Patrick Lejtenyi

Con U book woes

The Concordia Community Solidarity Co-op Bookstore, the only one of its kind in Quebec’s anglo universities, is in dire financial straits. Debt to the tune of $20,000 is threatening to close this eclectic bookseller, which in addition to the typical textbook fare also offers Montrealers a unique selection of books dealing with sexuality and gender.

The store was promised a better location by the prior two Concordia Student Union governments, but remains located in what is technically a fire-exit in the Hall Building basement.

“Right now, we have no visibility and we’re not accessible to all students,” says bookseller Larissa Dutil. “Any other location where we’re more accessible and more visible will automatically affect our financial viability.”

A new location remains to be found. In the meantime, the store is holding a fundraising concert at Reggie’s bar at Concordia’s Hall Building (1455 de Maisonneuve W., 9 p.m.) on Saturday, Sept. 10. Smaller events will be held throughout the week. For more information, visit www.co-opbookstore.ca or drop by the bookstore in H-127 in the Hall building. » Jason Gondziola

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

14 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
Aug. 29–Sept. 5, 1991

On the cover: Filmmaker Alan Parker, whose newest, The Commitments, about a Dublin soul band, plays at the World Film Fest. Working with an all-Irish cast, he says, wasn’t a problem because, “I don’t represent the kind of Englishman the Irish people hate.”

• In an article headlined “Nuclear Junkies,” New York journalist Karl Grossman worries that the Galileo spacecraft, with “50 pounds of plutonium aboard, theoretically enough to give a lethal dose of cancer to everyone on Earth if released,” may “drop into Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrate, showering down plutonium” as it flies by on its way to Jupiter.

• Jenny Ross writes in Notes From Underground: “Adieu to ‘Gros Michel’ Larouche, from Foufounes: doorman, motorcyclist, bon vivant, wild man, local celebrity, jeweller, dead last week of a heart attack at 34.”

• Former Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton, coming to town with his band Dark Carnival, says he no longer talks to Iggy Pop because the singer turned down an opportunity for the original Stooges to appear in Oliver Stone’s The Doors.

Angel >> Stephen Lewis The straight-talking Canadian-born UN special envoy on AIDS blasted the Bush administration’s emphasis on preaching abstinence above condom use this week, saying it’s seriously harming Africa’ battle to save lives. In Uganda, one of the few countries that has successfully reduced HIV infection rates over the past decade, there is such a severe condom shortage that men are using plastic bags to protect themselves, according to activists there and in the United States. Lewis also criticized the Christian fundamentalist base for pressuring the American government into promoting an abstinence agenda. The result, he says, will cause an unnecessary increase in preventable infections.
Insect >> Faith-based tribunals Next Thursday, Sept. 8, people in five Western European cities and five Canadian ones will be protesting Ontario’s permission to allow sharia tribunals, based on Islamic law. The decision has been strongly criticized by everyone from Muslim feminists to human rights groups, including the Montreal-based Rights and Democracy. In theory, religious tribunals in Canada, which are voluntary and already exist for Orthodox Jews and Christians, cannot contradict Canadian civil law. But Homa Arjomand, an Iranian-born Canadian woman and a chief critic of sharia tribunals, says many Muslim women are isolated and do not know their rights. These tribunals, she fears, would exacerbate the problem.