Quote of the week

“Canadians are great with their passports. It’s part of the culture.” —U.S. port official Steven Bronson, on the first day that Canadians had to present their passports at border crossings into the U.S.

Save our sin

Most of us know the lower Main as a good spot to grab a cheap poutine and take in a transvestite cabaret show. But the city’s plan to revitalize the area threatens to wipe away the neighbourhood’s reputable sleaze along with the buildings it intends to raze. On the chopping block are not only the hot dogs steamés at the Montreal Poolroom but also the steamy drag shows that take place at 35-year-old staple of sin Café Cleopatra (1230 St-Laurent).

“I think municipal promoters and owners didn’t consider that we’re actually thriving there,” says Eric Paradis of Club Sin, a monthly fetish night at Cabaret Cleo, on the building’s second floor.

This Saturday, June 6, the Coalition des Artistes du Cabaret Cleo will be taking to the streets to demand a say in the plans.

One of Paradis’ concerns is that the new buildings, part of the Quartier des Spectacles, are sorely lacking in space for spectacles. “There’s no inclusion whatsoever of performance space. These are administrative offices with businesses on the ground level,” he says.

The Red Alert rally beings at 2 p.m. at Parc de la Paix (St-Laurent, north of René-Levesque). See clubsin.ca for details about the Coalition’s campaign.

MATT JONES

Tiananmen’s
spies

If you’re in Chinatown today, Thursday, June 4, and notice a major Amnesty International gathering marking the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square tragedy, you may be asking where all the pro-democracy Chinese people are. There’s a pretty good reason why they’re keeping a low profile, though. That’s right, you guessed it: spies.

“We don’t get many Chinese people coming out because they’re afraid, and with good reason—they’re still being watched by Chinese spies here in Canada,” says Amnesty International China Co-Group coordinator Yvonne Christiansen. “Every year, we discover strange people taking pictures or videotaping these gatherings, people who we have no idea who they are, and it scares the Chinese people quite a bit, especially those who still have family in China.”

For those with no obvious reason to fear the heavy hand of Chinese authority, the memorial takes place at Sun Yat Sen Park (corner of de la Gauchetière W. and Clark) between 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Amnesty International is asking people to bring flowers.

“The people who lost family members at Tiananmen Square can’t place flowers there, but we can here.”

Details: protectthehman.com/tiananmen.

CHRIS BARRY

Khartoum and kites

Supporters of Montrealer Abousfian Abdelrazik hope to put some last minute pressure on the federal government with a kite rally next Wednesday, June 10, just two days before the Sudanese-born Canadian citizen makes his second attempt to fly home from Khartoum, Sudan, and out of a Kafkaesque nightmare that’s lasted nearly six years. “The symbolism of the kite is twofold,” say Project Fly Home’s Mary Foster. “On the one hand, it’s about him coming home, but on a more profound level, it’s about questions that Canada needs to grapple with about racism, two-tiered citizenship and CSIS involvement in torture. The government can’t keep these questions down by keeping Abousfian out of the country.”

Abdelrazik’s previous attempt to return home in April was aborted after Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon refused to issue the necessary travel documents. This time around, a delegation of Canadians will be flying to Sudan with the intention of escorting him on his journey. Last month, in a show of support, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs issued an invitation for Abdelrazik to appear as a witness.

The rally begins at noon at the corner of Peel and Ste-Catherine. Organizers ask that you bring your own kite. For more info, visit peoplescommission.org.

CHRISTOPHER HAZOU

More than
sorry

The one-year anniversary of Stephen Harper’s apology for the residential school system lands June 11, but survivors in the Algonquin First Nation of Barriere Lake won’t relish the moment—they say the government’s continued assault on their community’s rights makes the Prime Minister’s gesture look like crocodile tears. So, the same day, Montreal sympathizers will host Beats for Barriere Lake, a night of musical solidarity and a call-to-action at Petit Campus (57 Prince Arthur E.), 8 p.m., $10–$12.

“People fought hard for that apology, so on one level it’s a tremendous victory,” says organizer Martha Stiegman. “But the words remain empty unless they’re translated into action, which Canada could do by ratifying the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and honouring a widely praised land rights agreement with Barriere Lake.”

The concert bill features Algonquin rapper Samian, Cree rockers CerAmony, Mohawk and Ojibway singers Cheri Maracle and Marc Nadjiwan, as well as Nomadic Massive and Sola y las Lolas.

Funds raised will help pay for the legal defence of community members charged during peaceful blockades of Quebec’s highway 117 last fall.

For more info, see barrierelakesolidarity.blogspot.com.

MARTIN LUKACS

Rear-view mirror

11 YEARS AGO - JUNE 4–11, 1998

On the cover: Evil clowns Rutabagan and Bob, stars of the Fringe’s Penitentiary of Love, for the Hot Summer Guide.
•Summery articles subjects include the Prodigy, Rufus Wainwright, Wide Mouth Mason and summer cocktails (with recipes for Pimm’s, a Car Crash and a Treasure Island).
• In a commentary, ICI news editor Mark Fortier writes about William Johnson, newly elected as Alliance Quebec president. “What’s really funny about William Johnson is that he has come to embody everything he so dislikes about sovereignists,” he writes. He and AQ delegates “are the mirror images of the ‘secessionists’ they so eagerly accuse of being fascists.”
•Neko Case discusses porn. “I like home-made porn…. I think hardcore porn can be really good, but no one ever goes that extra mile to make it good.”
•Reviewing Wilde, Matthew Hays describes title character Oscar as “a gay martyr; a one-man ACT UP float in a gay parade before his time.”
•Under the logo: “Our red noses are real.”

Angel >>Government-owned eco-friendly GM cars If there’s one silver lining to GM’s plunge into bankruptcy, it would be stricter fuel efficiency for cars made by the 72.5-per-cent-government-owned auto giant. On Monday, as GM was formally applying for bankruptcy protection, U.S. President Obama said new GM car emission standards would have to be higher than previous ones—a policy GM and other auto companies had in the past rejected as too expensive. According to
policy laid out by the new president in January, fuel economy for new cars has to rise from 27.5 miles a gallon to 35, and hybrid car technology is to be further subsidized. So if the current economic crisis has you choking, with luck the new standards will help you breathe a bit easier.

Insect >>Conservative fire sales The party that boasts of its fiscal responsibility and savvy may not be as inept as its counterpart in the U.S., but the Conservative Party—that of a $50-billion deficit, after a decade of Liberal surplusses—is aping it the best it can. Faced with a whopping shortfall in cash, the Conservatives are looking to sell off a number of its assets, and everything is under review: from the CBC and VIA Rail to Montreal’s Old Port and the Royal Canadian Mint. Despite the depressed economy, Prime Minister Stephen Harper clearly believes selling off our heritage is a sure-fire way to grab a quick buck.