Quote of the week:

“If anyone wants to look for the cheese, they may do so.” —Cheese-maker Luc Boivin, on his 800 kilograms of cheddar that mysteriously disappeared after being submerged in the Baie des Ha! Ha! last year for scientific research reasons.

QPIRG seeks props

QPIRG McGill is looking for a kind word. The leftish, semi-autonomous, campus-based social justice organization has a meeting with the Man, in the form of a representative from the McGill Board of Directors, in the coming weeks to review its funding. The group doesn’t anticipate any big problems with the Board, which reviews funding for campus groups every five years, but is looking for people who’ve benefitted from its activities to pipe up for a report it will be presenting.

“They are happy with the agreement they have with us,” says QPIRG McGill’s external coordinator Indu Vashist. “But we need to prove that students are still interested, so we’re preparing a report of activities we’ve organized and services we offer that students have benefitted from directly.”

Besides film nights, lecture series and the like, QPIRG McGill has also provided summer stipends and research grants to get students to conduct research for community groups that may be used for course credit. Anyone with a good word to say about QPIRG is asked to call 398-7432 to testify. — Patrick Lejtenyi

Undue process

Canada’s alarmist post-9/11 legislation will be given another careful look coast to coast, and it’s all starting here. Measuring Security Measures, presented by überculture collective and the National Film Board’s CitizenShift, is a nationwide series of screenings and talks that aims to give a detailed and human account of the effects of Canada’s so-called “anti-terrorism” legislation.

“Everybody is thinking of civil liberties in times like these,” says Patricia Kearns, coordinator of outreach and marketing for CitizenShift. “I think what happens is we forget that these kinds of practices and policies are here to stay. They’re put into place and then they become the rule of law.”

The inaugural event will be held October 17, 7 p.m. at Concordia (1455 de Maisonneuve W., H-110). After the screenings, issues of media and legislation will be explored by panelists Yasmin Jiwani, a Concordia professor of Communication Studies, and Julius Grey, a Montreal lawyer and McGill law professor. The event will be introduced by Adil Charkaoui, who will leave promptly thereafter because of the curfew conditions of his security certificate.

For more information, check out:

citizen.nfb.ca and www.uberculture.org. — Jason Gondziola

Family cancer

Dr. Harley Eisman and his wife Joanne Miller-Eisman know about breast and ovarian cancer all too well. Joanne’s sister Marla died of breast cancer in March 2003, just after her 41st birthday, and she is carrying the gene that causes it. The gene is the hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (BRCA) mutation gene, and it means that there is now up to an 80 per cent chance of her being diagnosed with breast cancer, and up to a 40 per cent chance of her contracting ovarian cancer.

A month after Marla died, the couple founded the Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Foundation (HBOC) to raise awareness about the gene.

“Women with the BRCA gene tend to get breast cancer young,” says Eisman, 37. “BRCA does cause a higher grade of cancer, making it, in some cases, more difficult to treat.”

The HBOC will host an information night on Wednesday, Oct. 19, at the Marriott Chateau Champlain’s Cartier Ballroom (1050 de la Gauchetière W., 7 p.m.–9 p.m.). Call 481-7408 ext. 230 or e-mail brca@odon.ca for reservations. Visit www.odon.ca/brca for more info. — Patrick Lejtenyi

TOHU trash

Make a hat from garbage and parade around with it on your head.

That’s one option the crowd at Action RE-buts, a local waste-reduction citizen’s coalition, suggests to minimize your ecological footprint. There will be others at EXPO 3R (as in “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle”), Action RE-buts’s day-long waste-management festival, which kicks off Waste Reduction Week, Oct. 16 to 23. A workshop for parents and teachers will give ideas for arts and crafts activities for kids, while juggling, recycled-material music, educational films and discussion forums will round out the day.

“It’s a two-sided approach,” says TOHU rep Sandra O’Connor. “The whole event is organized around creativity and fun, but there’s also the more serious side, which looks at the real issues of waste management.”

Activities will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., while kiosks present recycled-material wares and participating organizations spread the 3R gospel.

For more information, visit www.tohu.ca, or call 376-TOHU (8648). The event takes place Sunday, October 16, at TOHU, Montreal’s circus arts complex (2345 Jarry E.), free. — Marc Apollonio

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

13 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
Oct. 15–Oct. 22, 1992

On the cover: Peter Wintonick, Mark Achbar and philosopher/ media critic Noam Chomsky, as the Mirror interviews the two Montreal filmmakers behind Manufacturing Consent. “If we’re doing anything, it might help people, as Chomsky says, develop a course of intellectual self-defence,” says Wintonick.

• McGill’s 400 teaching assistants are on the verge of forming a union, as are the university’s 200 library workers.

• At the New Cinema & Video Festival: Don McKellar’s Blue, Guy Maddin’ Careful, Anand Patwardhan’s In the Name of God, Gregg Araki’s The Living End.

• At Montreal’s first-ever Festival international du cinéma fantastique: Peter Jackson’s Meet the Feebles on opening night, a visit by Roger Corman and a tribute to Troma studios.

• Some picks of the year, according to Mirror critics in the Fourth Annual Record Guide: Think Tree’s Like the Idea (Richard Bird); XTC’s Nonsuch (Andrew Jones); Nirvana’s Nevermind (Chris Yurkiw); U2’s Achtung Baby (Martin Siberok); RHCP’s Blood Sugar Sex Magik (Ava Chisling); The Fall’s Code: Selfish (Jenny Ross).

Angel >> Trying to help Despite initial confusion and missteps, relief efforts are getting underway following last weekend’s horrific earthquake in Kashmir. Canada, which was criticized for its underwhelming offer of blankets and $300,000, upped it this week to $20-million (although some are saying it is still not enough). The biggest donors, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, each pledged $100-million (U.S.). And you can help too, despite not being awash in oil money. Here are some charities asking for cash donations to assist disaster relief in Kashmir and Guatemala: Red Cross 1-800-418-1111, www.redcross.ca; UNICEF Canada 1-877-955-3111 www.unicef.ca; World Vision Canada 1-800-268-5528 www.worldvision.ca; Oxfam-Québec 1-877-937-1614 www.oxfam.qc.ca.
Insect >> More wiretapping As the feds prepare to introduce new legislation on wiretapping next month, privacy advocates are worrying about an increased encroachment on civil rights, and telecom companies are worried about how much it will cost. Ottawa wants telecom networks to be equipped with facilities that would let law enforcement agencies have round-the-clock access to up to 8,000 individuals’ e-mail, Internet use and phone lines at any one time. ISPs, phone and wireless companies would, if the bill passes, basically duplicate private data and send it to police. At least one privacy advocate has said this legislation will eventually lead to it being abused.