Fares and race

Even if you pay your fare to get on the metro, chances are you’ve been riding it illegally. The little-known regulations of the Société de Transport de Montréal (STM) require users to keep their proof of payment with them at all times, so if you toss your ticket in the trash or diligently place it in a recycling bin before you get out of the station, you could be slapped with a $214 fine. The chance of being caught for such a transgression is fairly low—unless you happen to be young and black, according to the Centre for Research Action on Race Relations (CRARR).

CRARR is worried that STM security officers are disproportionately targetting ethnic minorities—especially black youth—for this kind of offence. CRARR’s Adrienne Gibson says these fines are often accompanied by a quick resort to violence by peace officers.

“If this happens on an individual basis, people generally won’t take action. But if there really is a systemic problem then we need people to come forward and share their stories so it can be addressed at a systemic level,” says Gibson.

The organization is currently preparing to submit a complaint to the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal. To report a story, e-mail crarr@primus.ca or call (514) 939-3342.

Cola flick fizzes

The Coca-Cola Case, an NFB documentary examining the soft drink company’s troubled labour relations in Colombia, Guatemala and Turkey, doesn’t paint the company in a flattering light, with allegations of complicity in kidnapping and murder of Colombian union leaders. And recent lawyerly developments may also affect its cutesy, wholesome and much-valued public image.

According to Ezra Winton, the founder of the Cinema Politica documentary series, the cola company says the film violates a confidentiality agreement reached in a U.S. court mediation between the company and a Colombian union. Coke sent Winton a sternly worded letter dated Jan. 8, prior to a national campus tour Cinema Politica was about to begin, that put CP on notice that screening the film would violate that confidentiality agreement and that “[Coke] reserves all of its rights and remedies with regard to any future showing of the Film.”

“It’s not a cease and desist letter,” says Winton. “It’s more of an intimidation tactic.” He adds that since NFB lawyers already signed off on it, he isn’t worrying too much, although he expects to field calls from worried affiliates in the coming week. The film screens in Montreal on Monday, Jan. 18 (1455 de Maisonneuve W., Room H-110), 7:30 p.m.

Homeless wishes

It’s doubtful too many homeless people raised their glasses of Colt 45 in celebration of the new decade last New Year’s Eve. After all, few people expect 2010 to be much kinder to the no-fixed-address crowd than any other year of the last decade, homelessness being one of those things that perpetually suck. Nevertheless, Pierre Gaudreau, whose organization Réseau d’aide aux personnes seules et itinérantes de Montréal (RAPSIM) is on the frontlines of the battle to improve the lot of Quebec’s homeless contingent, has created a list of 10 wishes for 2010 that RAPSIM would like to see the provincial government adopt in the effort to remedy the current dire situation.

“Quebec made progress in 2009 by creating an action plan on homelessness which recognizes the issues involved,” says Gaudreau, “but the money’s still not there and they’ve yet to devise any concrete actions to deal with most of their points. We still urgently need a global policy on homelessness. What we’re saying with these 10 wishes is that it’s time not just to study the issue, but to act. If the province and the city were to adopt even half of our demands, they would see tremendous results.” To read RAPSIM’s “10 souhaits pour 2010,” go to rapsim.org.

Southwest morph

Nothing is safe from the wrecking ball in the Southwest, it seems. And yet for all the big announcements of big projects to come, very little gets done. This decade alone has seen the coming and going of the Peel Basin casino and the Griffintown development projects, and the Turcot interchange’s once imminent destruction has been sent back for further study. But another megaproject is in the works, with the great rethink of the Bonaventure expressway. Public consultations are already underway, and the critics are sharpening their knives.

One of them is Derek Robertson, an outspoken and passionate veteran of the Turcot and Griffintown battles. According to Robertson, the city’s project of tearing down the expressway and replacing it with an urban boulevard isn’t a bad one—it’s just too secretive, expensive, chaotic, impersonal and impractical. He’ll be speaking at the next public consultation (Monday, Jan. 18, 1550 Metcalfe, 14th floor, 7:30 p.m.) to critique some old-fashioned solutions to long-standing problems.

“They’re approaching this problem with a 20th-century mentality,” he says. “They’re rebuilding the gateway to a 21st-century Montreal, so they need a 21st-century vision. And they’re doing it behind closed doors, again.”

For more info on the Bonaventure plan, see ocpm.qc.ca.

Rear-view mirror

14 YEARS AGO - JAN. 11–18, 1996

On the cover: The finger, capped by a cable input, to illustrate how local cable companies “aren’t giving you the community programming you have a right to.” Cable companies like CFCF and Vidéotron prefer spending less money by buying American shows than producing original ones, the article asserts.

• “Armpit odour as an alluring scent is a new concept to me,” writes “Sex Reporter” Sasha.

• Opining on the re-burgeoning Montreal ska scene, Kingpins keyboardist and Ska Goes North ’zine editor Ian Hodkinson says, “I think it may be because Montreal has a more global outlook than most Canadian cities. Unlike, let’s say, Toronto, which never really looks past Toronto.”

• In If Only I Were An Indian…, a doc about young Czechs who decide to adopt the Native American lifestyle, right down to loincloths and sweat lodges, a visiting Canadian aboriginal elder asks, “What’s wrong with this picture? The Natives are dressed as Europeans and the Europeans are dressed as Natives.”

• Under the logo: “News from the wacky left.”

Angel >>Academics against proroguing Lord knows, Canadian politics can be dull. But by proroguing Parliament, Stephen Harper is sure getting us all hot under the collar. Even the eggheads: In an open letter published this week, over 175 academics, spearheaded by McGill’s Charles Taylor, UdeM’s Jeffrey Weinstock and University of Victoria’s Jeremy Webber, are wagging a stern professorly finger at bad, bad Stephen Harper for proroguing Parliament. The letter accuses him of “evading democratic accountability,” “making cavalier use of the discretionary powers” and worst of all, “undermining our system of democratic government.” Well said! If that doesn’t get those knuckleheads back to work, we can always count on gut-gnawing guilt, right? Well, no. But widespread resentment is simmering. This government may have finally overreached itself, and none too soon.


Insect >>Green brain drain According to an investigation by La Presse, the Harper government’s ongoing war on science is bleeding Canadian climate research institutions dry. The cutbacks to the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Science, the chief funding agency for academic environmental research, to the tune of $100-million a year, is forcing some of the best climate scientists to look for work elsewhere. La Presse says at least 20 have left so far, largely because of the funding cuts. The Harper government says it’s investing money into physical infrastructure for new labs and such, revealing yet again just how little they value brains in this country.