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Quote of the week “It’s at least four hours of overtime per day.” —Kathleen Roby, a nurse at Sainte-Justine and union rep, on the increasing strain placed on them. She says her hospital alone needs 150 more nurses to do the job properly.
Critical commission The People’s Commission on Immigration Security Measures is releasing its final report this Thursday, Feb. 1, after hearing testimonials from 30 people from across the country. The commission, composed of various civil rights, immigration and anti-war groups, is highly critical of the way Canada deals with security matters and detentions, and the perceived gross human rights violations of detainees. In its report, the commission—which does not have any government backing—will publish a list of recommendations for elected officials and popular actions, says spokesperson Mary Foster.“In all, 30 people testified, some representing their communities and others were advocates or legal representatives [of security detainees],” she says. The commission began hearing testimony last March and, while based in Montreal, distributed information about it across the country. The 80-page report is based along four broad themes—national security and racial profiling, the judicial system, the experiences of detention and deportations—with recommendations attached to each. And while the report is going to be presented “back to ourselves, to the people who participated in the process for follow-up actions,” says Foster, the federal New Democrats did express an interest in their work last summer. The report will be presented at 3300 Crémazie E. at 6:30 p.m. The report will soon be online at www.peoplescommission.ath.cx. Pro-freeze protest “We want the tuition freeze to remain in Quebec, so we are demonstrating to ensure it remains,” says Steven Rosenshein of the Canadian Federation of Students in Quebec. “Financial barriers are the most commonly cited reason for people not attending university, so we want financially accessible and quality, government-funded education.” Last week, Concordia University president Claude Lajeunesse called on the Quebec National Assembly’s commission on education to end the provincial tuition freeze, while McGill principal Heather Munroe-Bloom recently backed the same position. The cost of a university education in Quebec remains one of the lowest in the country, the result of a 13-year freeze on tuition. Despite the Quebec freeze, costs of post-secondary education are steadily creeping up, with many universities piling on administrative fees. Montreal universities are also increasing the bills—at McGill, students are being charged an estimated $1,000 per year in recently created fees. Demos get started at Berri Square and Concordia at 1 p.m. For more information, visit www.cfs-fcee.qc.ca. —Stefan Christoff Anarchists
call out But as any experienced anarchist will surely tell you, putting together an exhibition of this magnitude requires serious advance organization, so the festival has now officially begun accepting submissions for those who’d like to see their art and/or theatre works displayed/performed at this year’s event, scheduled to take place over the entire month of May. “Basically,” says organizer Norman Nawrocki, “we’re looking for art and theatre pieces that are anti-state, anti-capitalist, non-sexist, non-homophobic, anti-empire and anti-authoritarian—content created by anarchist artists, or artists sympathetic to anarchism.” To submit your visual art, send an e-mail with “Gallery Submission” written in the subject line to artanarchiemtl@hotmail.com along with a bio and a few samples of your work. For theatre submissions, send an outline of your proposal to anarchistfestival@yahoo.ca. Deadline is February 7.
Lights
out REAR-VIEW MIRROR  Canadiens, is
examined by Juan Rodriguez. Lafleur and the Habs parted badly, he
writes, but that hasn’t dampened Montreal hockey fans’ love for the
37-year-old Flower. “A poll revealed 86 per cent of Montrealers backed
his comeback and split (46 per cent) over whether les Canadiens was
still the NHL’s top organization.”• From Jenny Ross’s Notes From Underground: “The writing is on the wall for Graffiti, the slick-surface cool magazine with the snideness between the lines zinging right over the heads and out the other ear of Philistines who won’t have it to kick around anymore.” • Eric Bogosian’s character Barry Champlain in Talk Radio, the Oliver Stone film adapted from Bogosian’s play, is described as a “combination of Geraldo Rivera, Morton Downey Jr. and Ted Teevan.” • “Somehow arrivin’ in Copenhagen,” Slum Dog “falls into the fiendish hands” of “sleazebag pornographers.”
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environment—specifically, global warming (or
climate change, depending on where you sit)—is going to be a hot topic.
But that hasn’t stopped the government from blowing hot air. The
Conservatives released attack ads this week criticizing Liberal leader
Stéphane Dion’s watch as environment minister, as Canada’s
greenhouse gas emissions rose considerably. But that takes some
chutzpah: the Conservatives’ previous green plan was so roundly
criticized that the minister lost her job. Despite the Prime Minister’s
antipathy to an election this year, the ads reek of early campaigning,
and Prime Minister Harper must know that Canadians—who recently put the
environment ahead of health care as their number one concern—are
getting tired of
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