Quote of the week

“I would have liked to hear from Vincent Lacroix’s mouth that he’s really sorry, not from his lawyer’s mouth.” —Investor Pierre Gravel, after the Norbourg CEO pleaded guilty to nearly 200 charges of defrauding some 9,200 small investors of over $115-million on Monday.

Mystique folds for good

After 37 years, Montreal’s oldest gay bar is closing its doors for good. The downtown institution le Mystique (1428 Stanley) will finally fold after what management acknowledges has been a steep uphill battle to remain open.

“We’ve lost a lot of customers over the years,” says manager Steven Wells, citing Internet sex sites, smoking bans and a loss of electronic poker machines as some of the reasons for a loss of business. Founded in 1972, le Mystique holds a unique place in the history of the city’s nightlife. In 1977, clients at le Mystique and Truxx, a bar next door, were arrested en masse by police in a raid that was seen as the last straw for the city’s gay community. Protests followed within 48 hours and the backlash against what many charged was homophobic police brutality led to the PQ government’s inclusion of sexual orientation in the province’s human rights legislation. And that was a first for any Canadian province.

“We are sad, for sure,” says Wells. “It’s like a bit of history will be gone. But we’re going to have a big party to celebrate, and all of our former staff will be attending.”

The final party for le Mystique happens this Saturday, Sept. 26, beginning at 7 p.m.

MATTHEW HAYS

Abdelrazik talks

Two months after returning from his involuntary exile in Sudan, Montrealer Abousfian Abdelrazik heads out on the road again, this time on a speaking tour of eastern Canada that kicks off in Montreal tonight, Sept. 24, at CEDA (2515 Delisle).

“He wants to meet people face to face and tell them what happened to him,” says Mary Foster of Project Fly Home. “It’s partly to hold the individuals and institutions responsible for his ordeal accountable, but also to break the fear and silence around CSIS and this kind harassment.”

Abdelrazik remains on a UN al-Qaeda watch list that technically makes it illegal for anyone to give him money, whether in the form of a salary, a loan or even a gift, making it difficult for him to earn a living and lead a normal life. The Harper government, which recently revealed that it spent more than $800,000 in legal fees in its failed bid to keep Abdelrazik from returning to Canada, has shown little interest in helping him get off the list.

Abdelrazik’s talk will be preceded by a free dinner beginning at 6 p.m. and followed by a public discussion period. For more info visit peoplescommission.org or e-mail projectflyhome@gmail.com.

CHRISTOPHER HAZOU

Charkaoui’s last step?

After living through more than six years of imprisonment, house arrest or round-the-clock surveillance as a security certificate subject, Montrealer Adil Charkaoui may finally walk out of court this week a free man.

A federal judge will rule whether to quash or ask the government to revoke his security certificate, based on the government’s admission last month that they have insufficient evidence to uphold it. That revelation came on the heels of the government’s decision to withdraw evidence against Charkaoui rather than disclose it under judge’s order, evidence that was used as the basis for his imprisonment in March 2003 as an alleged threat to national security.

“But while the judge might quash this certificate, there is nothing to stop the government from turning around in a few months and laying another certificate against him. Throwing out the certificate against Adil will be a major victory and begin the process of clearing his name, but the real challenge is to abolish the whole unconstitutional, draconian, two-tiered security certificate system,” says Amy Miller of the Coalition Justice for Adil Charkaoui.

The Coalition wants supporters at the Federal Courthouse (30 McGill), 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 24 and Friday, Sept. 25. Call to confirm at (514) 222-0205 or (514) 813-4918.

MARTIN LUKACS

Running for Romaine

Contrary to what you might have heard about the clean green energy of hydroelectricity, while it might be a more carbon friendly power source than, say, coal, it’s still a long, long way from being environmentally neutral. Apart from flooding boreal forests, a pretty damn serious consequence in its own right, hydroelectricity dams displace trappers, mess up commercial fisheries and essentially just wreak environmental havoc upon their surroundings. Since 1960, 14 of Quebec’s 17 major rivers have been dammed or modified by hydroelectric projects.

With that in mind, as of Sept. 9, a team of environmental runners has been crossing the province on a 50-marathon, 2,000-kilometre jog to demand a moratorium on large-scale hydro projects and protected status for the endangered Romaine River.

“We’ve been doing this run to raise awareness that one of Quebec’s last great rivers is in the process of being dammed,” says Sean Kropveld, who’s accompanying the runners as part of their road crew. “Our goal is to unite people in opposition to the project.”

The team is expected to pass through Montreal on Sunday, Sept. 27 before continuing eastward to the Romaine River hydro site for Oct. 9. To learn of their of their present whereabouts and/or lend support, go to allianceromaine.org.

CHRIS BARRY

Rear-view mirror

14 YEARS AGO -SPET. 21–28, 1995

On the cover: Blur. Damon Albarn reminisces about the band’s first American tour in 1991. “It was a disaster, really…. We started the tour the weekend [Nirvana’s] Nevermind came out, and there couldn’t have been anyone more unfashionable than us. We just spent a lot of time in our tour bus getting drunk.”
•A judge dismisses almost all the charges stemming from the Feb. 17, 1994 police raid on gay club K.O.X
•aving received an invitation to her high school reunion, sex reporter Sasha Van Setten writes that “High school, for me, was a series of unrequited crushes and sexual catastrophes (I give you a blow job; you leave me vomiting in a field in DDO while you take off with your friends?).”
•Writing about the hoo-ha surrounding Windows 95, Emru Townsend says the OS performs “better than expected.”
•At a Cannes press conference for Robert Lepage’s Le Confessionnal, reports Joanne Latimer, a “crabby journalist from France stood up intermittently to complain about the Québécois dialect, suggesting subtitles were imperative.”

Angel >> Rajendra Pachauri The head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize along with Al Gore, had some strong words for Canada while in Montreal this week. Just two days before a UN summit on climate change, Pachauri said Canada has to step up and do its part to fight global warming—and that may include putting Alberta’s tar sands development on hold until technology catches up to exploit them more cleanly. His pleas will likely fall on deaf ears though: Prime Minister Harper has said Canada’s target, like that of the U.S., is cutting emissions by 20 per cent below 2006 levels, a far cry from the 25 per cent below 1990 levels that the Europeans are pledging.

Insect >> Montreal’s contract culture When the city’s auditor-general Jacques Bergeron tabled his report on the bizarre, now axed water-meter contract on Monday, we knew fireworks were expected. And he delivered. Besides blasting the $356-million contract itself and the secrecy with which it was handled, Bergeron also singled out the culture surrounding the awarding of big contracts to outside firms. He found mismanagement, poor oversight and communication with elected officials and gross overspending running rampant in the city’s bureaucratic machine. The irregularities were so striking that he handed a pile of documents over to the SQ for further investigation.