Quote of the week

“Canada is in the right place at the right time.”—FutureBrand’s Rina Plapler, author of a study that found Canada to be the world’s second best “country brand,” right behind Australia and ahead of the U.S., whose image has been damaged by the Iraq War and the faltering economy.

College incorporated

Strolling through one of our province’s beacons of learning these days could be likened to an afternoon of mall-ratting. Costly exclusivity contracts render the Coca-Cola vending machines ubiquitous, generous corporate donations are rewarded with campus pavilions bearing the names of said donors, and the list goes on.

It’s with that in mind that the Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante (ASSÉ), the umbrella organization for CÉGEP and university student unions across Quebec, is renewing its yearlong pledge to campaign against the privatization of public services.

“Apart from heightening public awareness, our short-term goal with this campaign is to prevent the Minister of Education’s recently announced Bill 107 from moving ahead,” says ASSÉ executive member Éloi Bureau.

The bill in question would affect the composition of a university’s board of governors, stipulating that two-thirds of its members be independent administrators. Bureau considers this to be another example of rising corporate clout in the public sphere. He argues that decisions relating to a university’s governance should be left in the hands of those who actually frequent these institutions.

On Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 2:30 p.m., ASSÉ will rally at Berri Square in Émile-Gamelin park for a solidarity march. Info: www.asse-solidarite.qc.ca.

Savage hate?

McGill Chancellor and International Olympics Committee representative Richard Pound has gotten himself into a pickle, it seems, because he never learned a few run-of-the-mill anthropological facts: when we Europeans first came across Aboriginals, our lot were smellier, unhealthier, lived fewer years and killed in much larger numbers.

In August, Pound defended the IOC’s decision to grant China the Olympics by saying that “400 years ago, Canada was a land of savages, with scarcely 10,000 inhabitants of European descent, while in China, we’re talking about a 5,000-year-old civilization.” Native organizations took offence and called for his resignation from McGill. A group of McGill students have now organized a demonstration for 3:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 17, outside Pound’s law firm at the corner of Peel and René-Lévesque, to second the demand and draw attention to violations of Native land rights in B.C., home of the 2010 Olympics.

Student organizer Nat Marshik says Pound’s comments are “evidence of an unchecked current of racism and colonialism within the administration of institutions like McGill and Olympic 2010 organizing.”

Pound had a scheduled appearance at McGill cancelled last week, and although that event’s organizers claim the Chancellor was willing to speak, Marshik says life on campus will be made difficult for Pound until he tenders his resignation.

For more info, e-mail resignation.campaign@gmail.com.

by MARTIN LUKACS

Hot for
hormones?

As appetizing as Bovine Growth Hormone sounds, its effect on our health is uncertain, if not downright dangerous. Inconclusive test results led Health Canada to decide in 1999 not to allow the additive, which speeds up lactation in cows allowing higher yields of milk.

The decision was not easily obtained: in fact, it followed a two-year battle by Health Canada scientists Shiv Chopra, Margaret Haydon and Gerrard Lambert to get the agency to even pay attention to it.

The three doctors were invited to testify before the Canadian Senate in 1998, complaining they had been pressured to fast-track approvals for new drugs.

“Ultimately, it blew up because of my whistleblowing,” says Chopra. “Health Canada became worried about libel if [rBST] was approved.”

Five years later, the three doctors were fired from their positions at the nation’s highest food regulating body for insubordination, a decision Chopra says was punishment for speaking out. The case is still in appeal.

Chopra will be speaking at Dawson College (4001 de Maisonneuve W., Auditorium 5B-16) next Tuesday, Nov. 18 to launch his new book, Corrupt to the Core: Memoirs of a Health Canada Whistleblower.

by MATT JONES

Anglo art with ELAN

If you’re an artsy sort of anglo-Quebecer looking to connect with other artsy anglo-Quebecers, then you should probably be aware of the English Language Arts Network [ELAN], a thoroughly worthwhile organization that will be marking its fourth anniversary with something called Art Storm at la Sala Rossa (4848 St-Laurent) on Tuesday, Nov. 18, at 8:30 p.m., for $15.

“ELAN is basically a social network of Quebec artists who work primarily in the English language,” says interim executive director Guy Rodgers. “We’re up to 1,500 members now, existing partly to provide encouragement to one another, partly for sharing ideas and information and partly as a venue for those looking to meet other artists to collaborate with on various projects. Quite often, our meetings are genuinely inspiring.”

Tuesday’s wingding gets underway at 5:30 p.m. with ELAN’s annual general meeting to elect board members and the like, “but once we get that out of the way,” adds Rodgers, “we’ll be setting up for the Art Storm mega-schmoozer, highlighted by two sets of mixed arts entertainment consisting of contemporary dance, video arts, poetry, photography, you name it. Later, the Cockroaches will be performing and this thing will turn into a party.” Info: www.quebec-elan.org

by CHRIS BARRY

Rear-view mirror

16 YEARS AGO - NOV. 12–19, 1992

On the cover: Two women wearing jackets emblazoned with the Walk-Safe logo. McGill’s take-back-the-night initiative, along with foot patrols, warning-letter campaigns and columns in student papers fingering potential suspects (!), are part of the community’s response to a reported rise in violence against women—the article claims that police are indifferent, and that the McGill Ghetto is “one of the most dangerous areas in Canada for women.”
•Indie filmmaker Hal Hartley hopes to shake fellow Americans out of “homogeneity and complacency.” “Advertising, film, TV—they constantly reinforce how fucking uncool it is to do something out of the ordinary.”
•The Tragically Hip’s Gord Sinclair comments on Canada’s recent rejection of the Charlottetown Accord, saying the band was split on the constitutional issues. “But it’s very un-Canadian to actually be interested…in the future of the country,” he says. “It’s really just a Quebec phenomenon where people take politics that seriously.”
•The Tragically Hip’s Gord Sinclair comments on Canada’s recent rejection of the Charlottetown Accord, saying the band was split on the constitutional issues. “But it’s very un-Canadian to actually be interested…in the future of the country,” he says. “It’s really just a Quebec phenomenon where people take politics that seriously.”
•A controversial “art about AIDS” show comes to the MAC. Lucinda Catchlove and Cathleen Skidmore wonder, “Why is Montreal the only Canadian city that will host it?”

Angel >> Reprieve for Griffintown After much protest from neighbourhood residents, who were concerned about the lack of consultation and feared gross gentrification and big-box proliferation, the razing of Griffintown is on hold. But not because of the outcry. Real estate developer Devimco has halted its plans to raise $1.3-billion to finance its project due to the economic crisis. However, construction is still set for the summer of 2010, rather than the fall of 2009, and the company has already raised $210-million. But at least residents can breathe easy a little longer.

Insect >>Harper and Guantanamo Our Prime Minister is the only leader allied to the U.S. who hasn’t called for the closure of the infamous detention centre. He has also refused to repatriate Canada’s Omar Khadr, the only Western citizen left in the Cuban prison, suspected of killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan in 2002, when he was 15. Even now, as President-Elect Obama and his team are drafting plans to close the facility and either prosecute or release its prisoners, Harper remains mum. Khadr’s controversial war crimes case goes to trial six days after Obama’s inauguration in January.