Quote of the week

“I was disappointed because I was lied to.” —Former Montreal Conservative candidate Liberato Martelli, testifying before a House committee on the his party’s funneling $14,000-worth of campaign funds into and then out of his campaign’s bank account. The committee is investigating widespread financial irregularities during the Tories’ 2006 electoral run.

Riots no surprise

Members of the city’s black community say they aren’t surprised at the violence that flared up Sunday following the police shooting of 18-year-old Fredy Villanueva in Montreal North. “People here are, collectively, fed up,” says Jean-Yves Sylvestre of the Maison d’Haïti, a Montreal North community centre. “This was a popular revolt of people who are expressing their unhappiness. It didn’t surprise me one bit.”

On Sunday, stores were looted, cars and a fire station burned and one policewoman was shot in the leg. Six people were arrested.

“What you have here is a mix of frustration and police abuse of the rights of the people,” says Dan Philip, president of the Black Coalition of Quebec. “When you feel your rights are being violated… at some point, there is going to be some kind of action.”

Both men condemned the looting, but deflected questions about it back towards the police.

Sylvestre says the riots now mean “there is very little margin to manoeuvre. This is now the standard way to protest. The situation is similar to Paris, except instead of young Arabs, it’s young Latinos and Haitians.

“One thing you have to understand, this was a demonstration against the system, and all who work for it.”

Cops and watchers

The city’s unofficial police watchdog, the Collective Opposed to Police Brutality (COBP), believes the weekend shooting of Fredy Villanueva will likely end with a cover-up and exonerate the officers who shot the 18-year-old Honduran immigrant.

COBP spokesperson François du Canal says the fallout from Saturday’s shooting of the unarmed teenager, along with two others who were injured, will exemplify “the impunity police have when they kill people. They know they will never be charged, so they will kill again.” Du Canal says Villanueva’s killing is the 43rd by Montreal police since Anthony Griffin was shot in 1987. The Sûreté du Québec will take over the investigation of the incident, another move du Canal deplores.

“We don’t trust the process,” he says. “They say it’s to increase transparency, but it’s not transparent at all. It can take months—it took 11 months for the decision on [Mohamed Anas Bennis, shot by police on Dec. 1, 2005] to come out, and there were no charges laid.”

Other than provide support for Villanueva’s family, and encourage others in Montreal North to file complaints against perceived abuses of power by police, COBP isn’t planning any particular demonstration regarding the case. They are planning an event in October, for the anniversary of the Bennis decision.

by Patrick Lejtenyi

Kids party

Street kids and their friends take over Place Pasteur (corner St-Denis and de Maisonneuve) near UQÀM next week for the 12th Festival d’expression de la rue (FER), featuring street performers, workshops and a whole lot of music.

“We want [the kids] to have fun,” says Isabelle Gauvin, a peer counselor with the Collectif d’intervention par les pairs. “It’s one of the only festivals where you can bring your dog and your big backpack without being kicked out.”

Running from Tuesday, Aug. 19–Thursday, Aug. 21, this year’s theme, “I AM la rue” (which stands for “Implication, Affirmation, Mobilization”), emphasizes positive action and personal responsibility. “It’s about not just being a victim of society, and about being someone that can participate and be productive without forgetting their roots,” says Gauvin.

Hip hop dominates the opening day of the festival, with performances by Monk-e, Amerythmes and others. The second day will feature a fire show by Wal Kyries, and a variety of musical acts including Vander (aka Bass ma Boom). Punk rears its ugly head, with bands such as Chemical Nurslings and Deadly Pale taking to the stage on the final day. The festival begins daily at 4 p.m., all free. For more info, call (514) 879-1949.

by Christopher Hazou

Fierté on parade

Célébrations LGBTA, the upstart alternative to last month’s Divers/Cité, gets underway today, Thursday, Aug. 14 and runs until Sunday, Aug. 17, with a parade through the Village from de Lorimier to St-Hubert at 1 p.m. A whole whack of events is planned in between, mostly in the Village.

To kick things off, the Chambre de commerce gaie du Québec hosts a festival partners’ cocktail at Sky (1474 Ste-Catherine E.) starting at 6 p.m., with a performance of Bathhouse: The Musical at the same venue starting at 9 p.m. Repeat performances run through Sunday.

On Friday and Saturday, Ste-Catherine will be transformed into “Health and Well-Being Avenue,” where a wealth of info on STI prevention and treatment, as well as therapeutic massages and organic products, await. Saturday is also Community Day, where 85 different community groups will set up kiosks on Ste-Catherine to meet and greet friends, neighbours and allies from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Music rounds out Friday and Saturday nights, beginning at 6 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Saturday at Berri Square.

After the parade, participants can join the party already underway at Berri Square, with live music going till 11 p.m. Afterparties await those not working Monday. For more info, see www.fiertemontrealpride.com.

by Patrick Lejtenyi

Rear-view mirror

15 YEARS AGO - AUG. 12–119, 1993

On the cover: Radio-Canada’s Julie Snyder, with the question, “800,000 Quebecers know talk-show host Julie Snyder—do you?” Her show L’Enfer c’est les autres, writes Gaëtan Charlebois, is never far from the absurd. “There was a time when I proved how bad my English was,” she says. “Anglos are crampé when I speak English.”
•Cops crack down on Tam Tam vendors, but haven’t eliminated craftier entrepreneurs. “I just wait until all the busts are finished [by 1:30 p.m.] and then I go back to work,” says a beer seller.
• Far-right radical group Heritage Front hosts a concert/recruitment drive in Montreal, featuring bands like Bound for Glory, Brutal Attack and RAHOWA.
•Asked how she got k.d. lang, Corey Hart and Holly Cole to help over the years, Jane Siberry says, “I offered them huge sums of money—they’re all prostitutes.”
•Robert Townsend’s Meteor Man “battles crack pushers, thieves and an international drug cartel. The cartel is represented by blacks, but Townsend hints at their assimilation by having them sport blond hair.

Angel >> More daycare space The good news about the 18,000 new daycare spots opening across the province by 2010 is that almost 10,000 of them will be in Montreal. The not-so-good news is that 10,000 spots aren’t enough. Still, it’s a step in the right direction, with Quebec—long Canada’s laggard in baby-making—recording the highest number of births in 2006 in nearly a century. The baby boom-let is probably, demographers say, the result of the province’s generous parental leave program and subsidized daycare, but the resulting scarcity of available places is an added headache to expecting parents. The new spots will ease the strain, though not entirely.

Insect >> The war on arts Canadian artists won’t be getting any more money to promote the country abroad, thanks to two new cuts by the ruling Conservatives. The newly axed programs, PromArt and Trade Routes, collectively worth almost $15-million, were designed to show off Canada to the world. But maybe it was too much Canada, or the wrong kind of Canada, for the Tories: According to a government spokesman, the funding was going to “highly ideological individuals exposing their agendas or wealthy celebrities or fringe arts groups that in many cases would be at best, unrepresentative, and at worst, offensive,” reports the Globe and Mail.