Quote of the week

“We’ve demonstrated that people who report crack cocaine smoking daily are four times more likely to contract HIV than those that don’t.” —Evan Wood, of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. The provincial government is considering opening a safe crack inhalation site, similar to Insite, Vancouver’s safe injection site.

Green noise for Harper

Local environmentalists raise a ruckus this Saturday, Oct. 24, to mark the International Day of Climate Action and to send a message to the Harper government ahead of December’s UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Organized by Greenpeace, Équiterre and the David Suzuki Foundation, amongst others, the Great Stephen Harper Climate Cacophony will see protestors make as much noise as possible for 350 seconds. Scientists believe that 350 parts per million is the maximum amount of carbon dioxide that the atmosphere can safely absorb.

“Canada is one of the worst players in the world when it comes to climate change,” says Marie-Ève Roy, communications coordinator for Équiterre. “We need [the federal government] to understand that a vast majority of Canadians and Quebecers are willing to do their part to stop climate change, and we need them to stop defending the big oil companies and the tar sands.”

The Great Stephen Harper Climate Cacophony takes place at Place des Festivals (corner de Maisonneuve and Jeanne-Mance) starting at 2 p.m. Participants are encouraged to bring musical instruments, noisemakers or anything else that makes a racket. For more info, visit equiterre.org.

CHRISTOPHER HAZOU

Free Kahnawake!

Ever wonder what goes on behind those crazy shops where you can buy buckets of cigarettes and a bag of chips for a few bucks? Here’s your chance to learn. The Indigenous Sovereignty Week kicks off Sunday, Oct. 25, with a guided tour of Kahnawake leaving from Angrignon metro at 2 p.m. sharp. According to spokesperson Dru Oja Jay, the tour is of particular interest to Montrealers. “It will explain the history of the reserve and its relationship to Montreal and Canada,” he says.

Organized by several different groups including Defenders of the Land, Missing Justice, QPIRG Concordia and Le Frigo Vert, Indigenous Sovereignty Week also promises panel discussions, film screenings and an “Anti-Colonial Thanksgiving” dinner hosted at the Native Friendship Centre. Discussions will revolve around the indigenous struggle against Canada’s colonial agenda and the resistance against the upcoming Olympics. A Halloween party brings the week’s events to a close on the 31st with a performance by a Cree rock band and an art auction.

“The idea is to raise awareness,” says Jay. “Canadians are woefully misinformed about the situation in indigenous communities. We want to give people a different perspective, not from the media, but from the people themselves.”

Check defendersoftheland.org/montreal for more information.

ROXANE HUDON

Free Ste-Anne!

Ryan Young is hoping that the forced merger that eradicated Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue and 26 other Montreal-island municipalities back in 2001 comes back to haunt two mayoral candidates. With just over a week before Election Day (Sunday, Nov. 1) Young is presenting a free screening of his documentary, The Village Resists, about Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue residents who fought to get their autonomy back, and won.

The bilingual film—at the NFB (1564 St-Denis), on Friday, Oct. 23, 7 p.m.—is Young’s “gift to Montrealers,” he says. “I want to remind them of the mergers and how they may play a role in the upcoming administrations.”

Young is particularly alarmed about the prospect of a Louise Harel victory, since she oversaw the forced mergers as PQ Minister of Municipal Affairs. “I can’t believe she’d dare to run for mayor of Montreal,” he says. He’s no fan of Mayor Gérald Tremblay either, whom he accuses of betraying the de-merger movement after promising to remain neutral in its fight against the provincial government.

Ste-Anne, like every other municipality in Quebec, is having its own election, one in which Young is running as an independent for city councillor. As a former federal Green party candidate, he says he wants to protect the l’Anse-à-l’Orme forest from further development.

PATRICK LEJTENYI

New life for old PCs

According to a recent study undertaken by Recyc-Quebec, the average Quebecer keeps their personal computer for approximately two years before upgrading to a newer model. As a result, since 2006, some 40,000 tons of computer waste, consisting of countless toxic elements that eventually find their way into the water supply, has been relegated to local landfills.

“People need to understand that simply throwing your old computer into the garbage has terrible consequences for both the environment and public health,” says Marie-Ève Deguire, spokesperson for Communautique, one of several organizations that will be participating in the Give a Second Life to Your Computer information campaign today, October 22. “There are many businesses and organizations across Montreal that either recycle or re-use these old computers, so the idea of the campaign is to sensitize people to just how important this issue is and direct them to places where they can dispose of their old hardware in an environmentally responsible manner.”

To this end, Communautique is teaming up with several organizations, including neighbourhood Éco-quartiers, to collect your old hardware and turn it into something more useful than landfill. To find a location near you, go to sqrd.org/calendrier_quebec.php and click October 22 or call (514) 523-9220.

CHRIS BARRY

Rear-view mirror

13 YEARS AGO - OCT. 24–31, 1996

On the cover: Two young men about to kiss, for John Greyson and Michel Marc Bouchard’s Lilies, about same-sex love in pre-WWI Lac St-Jean. “I wanted something where we talked about love, about emotion,” says Bouchard. “So much of what I saw was a dead end—on the one hand you have a dick, on the other a coffin.”
•Columnist Josh Bezonsky’s Halloween suggestions: “Commie Hilfiger,” “Björky Pig,” “Homer O.J. Simpson.”
•Discussing the evolving British music scene, Republica vocalist Saffron tells Gavin McInnes that, “The raves got so out of control in London that everything was pushed into the clubs. The music was becoming mainstream and rubbish and so basically, I wanted to form a band and go on tour and be great. Know what I mean?”
•Michael Welden’s “incredibly comprehensive” 646-page Psychotronic Video Guide, Johnson Cummins writes, “covers such genres as women in prison, nudist colony, anti-communist, blaxploitation and mondo documentaries, as well as Spaghetti Westerns, sexploitation and biker movies.”
• Under the logo: “The easiest pick-up in town.”

Angel >> Medical marijuana progress It’s a baby step, but the news that the U.S. government won’t prosecute medical marijuana users or its distributors is another sign that the country is slowly emerging from its war on drugs quagmire. The U.S. Justice Department acknowledged this week what millions of people already know: going after pot smokers, especially those who smoke it for medicinal purposes, is a colossal waste of precious resources. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be much progress on any other front. The new directive only applies to the 14 states that already allow medical marijuana. Still, with George W. Bush visiting Montreal today, Oct. 22, it’s worth remembering how bad things were under the previous administration.

Insect >> Our crappy broadband A Harvard University study on broadband availability, quality and price among 30 developed countries ranked Canada a dismal 22nd last week—which shouldn’t be that much of a surprise to anyone here. Politicians being what they are, the federal NDP and Liberals immediately bashed the Conservatives for giving succor and free rein to a small group of cable giants and ignoring progress on open access and net neutrality in the U.S. and Europe. The report’s timing is prescient: the CRTC is due to pronounce its findings from network management hearings held over the summer. The report will lay the groundwork for Canada’s own net neutrality policy.