Quote of the week

“We are watching their comings and goings. But we were not expecting this. We were very surprised that it happened.” —SQ spokesman Ronald McInnis, on the tanker truck attack that destroyed the Hells Angels’ Sorel bunker on Saturday.

Homeless
to Quebec

If you feel like letting the provincial government know you’re not happy with the way they’ve dealt with homelessness issues in recent years, or for that matter, just feel like taking a free day trip to Quebec City to hang at the National Assembly for an afternoon, the good people over at Réseau Solidarite Itinérance du Québec (RSIQ) will be providing transport to do just that on Wednesday, Oct. 29, leaving at 9 a.m. from the corner of Berri and de Maisonneuve.

“The government is currently developing a mandate to deal with the homeless situation across Quebec, so we’re not only holding a demonstration, but we’ll also be presenting a memo to the National Assembly that day,” says RSIQ coordinator Nathalie Rech. “Basically, we’re demanding a comprehensive policy on homelessness with new initiatives directed towards affordable housing, income levels, access to health services, a better education system and better ways to help homeless people get back in the workforce.

“Also, we want more funding for the agencies who deal with homeless people because, while there’s been some progress on this end, we still don’t have nearly enough funds to substantially improve the situation.”

To secure yourself a seat, call (514) 879-1949 or e-mail rapsim@qc.aira.com.

Pushing for
package-free eating

The second edition of the Défi survivre sans emballage wraps up this weekend as concerned Quebec consumers try to reduce their use of packaging materials for a week.

“Today, we have solutions to reduce the amount of packaging by about half, globally, but the problem is about 10,000 times worse than it is for plastic bags,” says Stéphan Lagassé, director general of the Festival Mondial de la Terre Canada, which is behind the Défi. “[Packaging is] almost impossible to avoid completely these days, but people can try to buy their food in bulk, avoid buying coffee in Styrofoam cups and bring reusable cloth shopping bags to the store.”

The challenge finishes up Saturday, Oct. 25, with a free “buffet sans emballage” at the Montreal Science Centre (at the Old Port’s King Edward Pier) at noon. Lagassé says work is already underway on a campaign to be rolled out next month encouraging individuals and businesses to observe a weekly “no packaging” day.

“If businesses can have casual Fridays for clothing, why not no packaging Fridays?” he asks.

For more info, visit www.festivaldelaterre.ca.

by Christopher Hazou

East-End
vs. bigots

The KKK isn’t visibly active in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve anymore, but organized racism in the East-End borough hasn’t disappeared entirely, says the Montreal chapter of international militant anti-fascism group Antifa. And that alone is enough to take extra steps to reinforce racial harmony.

Antifa Montreal is hosting an anti-racism block party in Préfontaine Park on Saturday, Oct. 25 to unite anti-racist skinheads, ethnic minorities, blacks and whites alike to promote multiculturalism and stamp out pockets of neo-fascism and racism in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.

According to Antifa, the late ’80s and early ’90s saw a surge of race-related violence in the East End, which served as a bastion for neo-fascist and white supremacy groups. But as recently as this spring, Antifa has linked neighbourhood violence against bars with a left-wing clientele to right-wing extremists.

Antifa are hardly saints. Some autonomous chapters in the U.K., Germany and other European nations have reputations for fighting violence with violence. In Montreal, though, Antifa is simply going to hold banners and block parties to remind us that racism has no home here.

The Antifa party kicks off at 2 p.m. on Oct. 25 at Préfontaine Park (in front of Préfontaine metro). Expect food, music and skateboard and graffiti competitions.

by Tracey Lindeman

Culture politics

With allegations of racial profiling in Montreal-North and attacks on Native protesters in northern Quebec spattering the headlines recently, it may seem all is not well in the multicultural utopia of Canada.

“Canada likes to celebrate itself as a multicultural place where everyone gets along, but this masks serious indigenous popular struggles and immigration questions that are unsettled,” says QPIRG McGill’s Leila Pourtavaf.

For the third year, QPIRG, along with the Student Society of McGill and the McGill Anti-Racist Coalition, is organizing Culture Shock (Monday, Oct. 27–Monday, Nov. 10), a two-week event of films, panels and workshops that aims to probe the concept of multiculturalism in liberal society.

Many universities hold multicultural events, but these tend to ignore political content, says Pourtavaf. “There are food fairs, workshops on belly dancing, a general celebration of diversity, but a real lack of political analysis,” she says.

Culture Shock is not above food fairs, but organizers hope to use theirs to highlight the use of migrant labour in local food production. “It’s great to eat locally, but when we celebrate that, we turn a blind eye to how these things are produced and on whose backs,” says Pourtavaf.

For the full schedule, see qpirgmcgill.org.

by Matt Jones

Rear-view mirror

19 YEARS AGO - OCT. 20–26, 1989

On the cover: “Independent film’s new star,” Atom Egoyan, whose Speaking Parts is showing at the Festival of New Cinema and Video. Discussing his hectic festival-hopping schedule, he says, “Making the kinds of films I do, distributors expect me to be there to talk about them and provoke response.”
•In an article on Quebec’s crime tabloids, Allô Police editor Richard Desmarais says his paper now includes more sex because, “Readers don’t want to look at cadavers every week.”
•“After snorting up most of Peru, Steve Tyler and Joe Perry are out to prove that most current heavy metal blues brats have cucumbers in their spandex,” reads the review of Aerosmith’s Pump.
•A mini tech supplement contains articles on innovations in home entertainment, the CD revolution, “idiotic” PCs versus “sophisticated, intuitive” Macs and a satirical computer game addict’s obit.
• A personal ad: “BM, 24, sitting in Mirror’s offices not knowing what to write to impress SF. I’m going for pizza after & I’m still single. Pix appreciated.”

Angel >>Stéphane Dion He wasn’t the most charismatic leader the federal Liberals ever had, but the bookish Montreal politician had a lousy hand to start the election that would end with a crushing defeat and cost him his job. But he is not a bad politician, and his choice of enemies says more than what he actually achieved while holding the top Liberal job. Sovereignists detested him for his tough stance while Intergovernmental Affairs Minister under Jean Chrétien, and Stephen Harper’s Conservatives mocked his entirely sensible Green Shift plan. But a brutal leadership race and other woes bankrupted him and the party, leading to disaster. He has done the honourable thing by choosing to step down, and it will benefit both him and his party in the long-term.

Insect >>Canada’s widening income gap According to a new study by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, a group comprised of 30 mostly developed countries advocating economic growth and fighting against poverty, Canada is suffering from an ever-increasing income gap between rich and poor. The culprit, says the OECD, is Ottawa, for spending less on cash benefits than other developed countries. Between 1995 and 2005, income inequality and poverty rates spiked above the OECD average. The study also found that the number of Canadians living in poverty—defined as living on less than half the OECD average income—rose from nine per cent in 1995 to 12 per cent in 2005.