>> Public security ain’t cops, say cops

>> Canadian Rainbow Family welcomes American kin

>> UFOlogy in Montreal

>> The Kristian Perspective : Customer Disservice

>> People : Good Grass and Bright Bulbs

Babies in the streets: A group of irate parents use their offspring to send an angry message to the Quebec government about the price of daycare. According to the Association des haltes-garderies communautaires du Québec, which took part in the Sunday afternoon march down St-Laurent, there are only 141,576 subsidized daycare spots for over 400,000 Quebec children between the ages of 0–4.

Photo by Jason Felker >>

Legendary shoe guy sues fire department

ALudwig Karls, owner of the landmark shoe store at Rachel and the Main that went down in flames February 18, wants legal revenge. “I’m suing the city for negligence because they let my building burn. They didn’t want to put it out,” says Karls, the cantankerous character known for his loud “ARE YOU GONNA BUY THOSE SHOES?” sales pitch.

Karls believes the fire folks were unwilling to save his building due to a simmering disagreement dating back to October 1994, when inspectors condemned his building as a fire hazard. After a botched repair on a wall, the building was condemned but reopened in early 2000. At the time of the blaze, the embers of the dispute were sparking anew as Karls reports that fire inspectors had ordered him to “lower shoes from the ceiling.”

A fire inspection representative told the Mirror that, prior to the blaze, they had been preparing to order Karls to make further repairs to his store. Karls, whose family had been selling shoes on the Main since 1936, says his building was uninsured and wants to rebuild with the $700,000-$999,000 settlement he’s hoping he can wrest from the city.

“The basis of the action in damages against the City of Montreal is the faulty firefighting procedure that was adopted,” says Karls’ lawyer Jérôme Choquette. “The firemen used Mr. Karls’ building to extinguish a fire that started in the adjoining building. They sacrificed Ludwig Karls’ building in favour of saving another one.” :
-Kristian Gravenor

Mile-End fire
likely no accident

Authorities investigating the Mile-End blaze that destroyed seven apartments on the corner of St-Laurent and Villeneuve the night of Wednesday, August 21, are considering the sudden inferno suspiciously. That, however, may come as little comfort to the 11 people left homeless and who lost everything, much of it uninsured and irreplaceable.
Among those now relieved of worldly goods is Mitch Lenecki, better known as graf artist Omen. “Everything was gone in a matter of hours,” he says. “All my canvases, all my sketchbooks, all my photos, everything except for a pretty trivial amount.” Other residents lost a collection of old board games, pinball machines, vintage clothes and old books.

Fire department inspectors investigating the five-alarm fire were unable to determine what caused it, and have turned the matter over to police. Fire department spokesman Richard Liebmann says, “The cause is undetermined, but it doesn’t look accidental.” At least one resident of the building, which stood above an old textile shop, believes the fire was deliberate.

Finding out what caused the fire, however, won’t bring anything back, so a benefit concert is planned for tonight, August 29, at the Casa del Popolo (4873 St-Laurent) and La Sala Rossa (4848 St-Laurent). Nutsak and 1-speed Bike will play at the Casa, while Fly Pan Am, Hrsta, Amon Tobin, Sixtoo and others will provide festivities at the Sala. Cost is $5 for the Casa show or $10 for both. Donations of clothes and furniture are also appreciated. :
-Patrick Lejtenyi

Villeneuve
gets off light

Monday’s decision by a Quebec Court judge to serve convicted FLQ bomber Raymond Villeneuve with a three-month suspended sentence for criminal harassment has riled more than just the victim, Alliance Quebec head Brent Tyler. The decision is “shocking and disappointing” to Fo Niemi, executive director of the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR), a high-profile anti-discrimination group in Montreal.

“We spent $8,000 to $9,000 in court costs to get this recognized as a hate crime,” says Niemi, “but the judge didn’t say one word about hate. All [Villeneuve] got was a three-month vacation. Now we can look forward to a special Christmas edition of his newsletter, which may be… still committing civil rights abuses.” Villeneuve can’t make any public statements for the duration of his sentence.

The judgement is particularly disappointing to Niemi because, he says, it highlights the continuing lackadaisical approach the Quebec justice system has towards hate crimes. In a statement issued Monday afternoon, Niemi appealed to Quebec to create a provincial strategy to deal with hate crimes and a hate-crime law enforcement unit. He wants to see both, and other measures, in place by March 21, 2003, the next International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

“Police must really set up a hate crimes unit,” Niemi says. “It can’t be an off-shoot of organized crime units. It requires people skills and outreach to communities. The police and the Crown, working together, can really improve the ability of law enforcement to combat hate crime.” :
-Patrick Lejtenyi :