Quote of the week

“The Canadian election was so meh.” —The example used by the Collins dictionary for its new publicly suggested addition—“meh”—meaning “an expression of indifference or boredom,” or an adjective meaning “mediocre or boring.”

Sex, violence and justice

This Wednesday, Nov. 26, the Montreal courthouse will be hearing the case of Giovanni D’Amico, who is alleged to have assaulted several sex workers on the streets of Montreal between 2001 and 2008. And sex workers, for once, will have something to celebrate.

“We’re not going there to celebrate the justice system, but to celebrate the courage of the seven women who came forward and made accusations. Usually these women are too afraid to do so because they are operating in criminality,” says Émilie Laliberté, an outreach worker at Stella, an advocacy group for women working in the sex trade in Montreal.

Laliberté says that assaulters who attack sex workers often find themselves off the hook when the identity of their victims becomes known, citing the case of Jean Noel, who received a year-and-a-half prison sentence in 2005 for beating, raping and leaving for dead five women in the east end of the city.

Nevertheless, the D’Amico case reflects a change in attitudes recently. “It seems that more and more women are coming forward with their stories,” says Laliberté, adding that the media and the courts appear to be more open to discussing sex workers’ rights.

See www.chezstella.org for more information.

Shooting site
shot down

While it’s true most people might not exactly start dancing for joy upon learning a safe-injection site would open next door to them, finding rational arguments against the facilities aren’t all that easy to come by.

“The benefits of supervised, safe injection sites are innumerable,” says Nicole McNeil of Le Réseau d’aide aux personnes seules et itinérantes de Montréal (RAPSIM), whose organization is currently circulating a petition in the effort to encourage Quebec Health Minister Yves Bolduc to reconsider his recent decision forgoing establishment of any such sites in la belle province.

“They not only have a significant impact towards the prevention of diseases like hepatitis and HIV, supervised injection sites result in fewer people shooting up on the street, leaving their discarded syringes behind them. And also, because they’re in direct daily contact with health care workers who can steer them towards rehabilitation, addicts don’t tend to stay addicted to drugs for as long. Supervised safe injection sites don’t endorse drug use, but they do worlds of good so far as harm reduction is concerned.”

RAPISM is hoping to add 5,000 signatures to their petition by January 5, 2009. To make yours one of them, go to rapsim.org.

by CHRIS BARRY

Women, violence
and politics

Most Quebecers remember Dec. 6 as the day 14 women were killed in the 1989 Polytechnique massacre, and, with the upcoming provincial elections on Monday, Dec. 8, the Fédération des femmes du Québec wants the government to remember them.

The federation has organized a 12-day white ribbon campaign to combat violence against women, from Tuesday, Nov. 25 leading up to Saturday, Dec. 6. The FFQ coordinated the pan-Canadian action calendar to bring awareness to gender-based violence—what FFQ president Michele Asselin says is a human rights issue.

“We’re attempting to alert the public, and especially, to break the silence about the violence done to women,” she says.

The FFQ will also ask for a financial commitment from the provincial government to fight for the cause. The FFQ will call on all candidates in the current election campaign to promise to help bring an end to violence against women.

“We want a promise from the Quebec government,” Asselin adds. This year, over 16,000 women in Quebec sought refuge in a women’s shelter as a result of violence, abuse or sexual assault, she says.

Check the schedule of activities at www.ffq.qc.ca.

by LINA HARPER

Emergency at 10

If you’re looking for a special way to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights, make your way to Montreal’s Place Émilie-Gamelin (Ste-Catherine and Berri) for the 10th annual État d’Urgence (Nov. 26–30), five days of socially-conscious partying with international artists, activists and our city’s homeless in a makeshift refugee camp.

The festival, organized by Action Terroriste Socialement Acceptable (ATSA) and Amnesty International, will feature music, film, hot meals, spoken word events, circus acts, art and photography exhibits, lectures and collaborative art workshops. Special guests include screenwriter François Avard, spokesperson for this year’s edition, music from Catherine Major, Vulgaires Machins, Les Voix Ferrées and 3 gars su’l sofa and Japanese artist Kyohei Sakaguchi, among others. On opening night, festival-goers are asked to bring pots and spoons to help make a communal racket.

“We are trying to raise awareness and stop the oppression and mistreatment of homeless people”, explains ATSA co-founder Annie Roy. “Every day, police ticket these people, who obviously do not have the money to pay their fines. They wind up in jail and end up costing the taxpayers. This is money that could be used to help the homeless.”

For programming info and donations, see www.atsa.qc.ca.

by STEVE ZYLBERGOLD

Rear-view mirror

15 YEARS AGO - NOV. 16–23, 1995

On the cover: “Race+Politics+Quebec+Canada,” as Chris Sheridan examines all four in an essay three weeks after the referendum. “The question of race should… be an issue at the heart of which includes the creation of a more just, tolerant and equitable Quebec inside or outside Canada,” he writes.
•Ashley MacIsaac wants to do a “really flaming Cape Breton disco album…. I thought of me in a kilt, playing the fiddle, and Ru Paul singing, and we’d be doing a disco version of ‘Step-Dancing Queen’ by Abba.”
•In Rob Reiner’s The American President, “Richard Dreyfuss plays a Newt Gingrich/Bob Dole hybrid” and Michael Douglas is “what every American who voted for Clinton hoped they were getting.”
•In his Inappropriate Behaviour column, Josh Bezonsky writes, “The Beatles are coming out with an album this year (Anthology), just in time for the Christmas rush. With this act, I feel as though the fab three are trying to take away my very first birthday present: their break-up.”

Angel >>Smart green stimulus packages A growing number of environmental groups and think tanks on both sides of the border are urging their respective governments to think green to solve both the current economic crisis and save the planet. By providing money for new technologies like wind and solar power generators, and smarter, more efficient public transportation and cars, the U.S. economy in particular may see its heartbeat return. And while the solutions are by necessity long-term, thinking about the future now could put us on a path to averting catastrophe.

Insect >>The Grey Cup TV coverage This Sunday marks the first time the Grey Cup has been shown exclusively on cable TV, thanks to CTV-owned TSN and RDS having obtained exclusive rights when they outbid the hapless CBC two years ago. The only way Canadian fans of our storied second-rate football can get their fix now is to pay the cable fees. So CTV continues to whip its public rival and gouge viewers, while the CBC continues its slide into sports oblivion— don’t look for 2010 Olympics coverage on the Ceeb either: It was outbid by a CTV/Rogers consortium in 2005.