Quote of the week:

"I'll tell her she can even wear her sweater and we won't make fun of it," Moncton Gay Pride co-founder Art Vautour, on inviting Tory MP Elsie Wayne to this year's festivities, in Monday's National Post.

Canadians trickle back to Quebec

Those who tabulate the migratory trends of Quebec residents might have worn out a few minus signs on their keyboards over the past few decades. However, a strange thing happened when the number crunchers analyzed the latest round of comings-and-goings from this province: for the first time since Guy Lafleur was a rookie, our province has seen more Canadians move to Quebec from other provinces than the other way around.

According to StatsCan's analysis, the period of October to December 2002 marked the first quarter that bucked the 30-year trend of continued annual interprovincial population deficits, when 365 more Canadians moved here than moved away. Usually the data shows a loss of 1,000 to 5,000 per quarter to Ontario, but this period showed that 97 more people moved from Ontario to Quebec than vice versa.

Jack Jedwab, who heads the Association for Canadian Studies, says it's not all great news. "A lot of Quebecers are leaving Canada to go abroad rather than another province," he says. "Instead of going to Toronto, a lot are choosing the States."

Jedwab predicts that Toronto's ongoing economic slump and the psychological effect of SARS could combine with local political changes to bolster our new advantage. "According to the last 35 years, when Liberals come to power, fewer people leave as opposed to when the Parti Québécois is in power, so it's a whole set of circumstances coming together now." » Kristian Gravenor

Guyanese still pursuing Cambior

Sheesh, can't a giant mining corporation get a break? You dump 3.2-billion litres of cyanide-laced toxic mining waste into the main source of drinking water for the 23,000 residents of Guyana's Essequibo region all the way back in 1995, and these people never want to let you forget about it.

Such as it is, earlier this week, representatives of GREEN (Guyana Research Education and Environment Network) served notice to Montreal-based Cambior that a spanking new $1-billion class action lawsuit will be filed against the mining company on behalf of area residents, who allegedly continue to suffer the effects of what has been described as one of the worst gold mining disasters in the history of the industry. The latest in a series of so-far unsuccessful legal challenges to Cambior stemming from the incident, the suit will reinstate a 1998 action that was initially dismissed by Guyana's high court. Restitution to people living along the river remains a sore sticking point.

"In 1995 Cambior paid several fishermen $100," says GREEN lawyer Dennison Smith, "and about a year ago they paid maybe 100 or 200 residents perhaps $200, but there are over 20,000 people who live along that river, and the majority of people haven't gotten any settlement at all."

A spokesperson from Cambior had no comment on the issue, and directed the Mirror to the company's Web site, where a statement denies all allegations. » Chris Barry

Over the Rainbow

EGALE Canada - a national organization dedicated to the advancement of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered communities across the country - is hosting its first major conference this weekend (May 16–19) at McGill University. Entitled Rainbow Visions: Building a Pan-Canadian Queer Agenda, the conference will feature 87 different workshops and promises to address a variety of issues facing the gay community today (and the many communities within that community).

"Workshop topics range from the legal and political, to health and wellness," says Chris Broodam, the conference coordinator, "though it seems like the greatest focus is on youth and education." Broodam feels that this agenda shift is the logical result of "a perception in the community that many of the legal and political battles are already being won."

EGALE, which was started in a basement back in 1986 by a few Ottawa activists, now boasts over 3,000 members from across the country. Though the head office remains in Ottawa, the choice to hold the conference in Montreal seemed obvious.

"Montreal's just a really big and fun city, it's easy to get to, but most importantly it's bilingual and we are trying to encourage more francophone membership," says Broodam. Most of the conference will be held in both official languages.

For more information about EGALE Canada or to register to attend the conference, call 1-888-204-7777, or go to www.egale.ca. » Alexandra Spunt

Rear view

13 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

On the cover: The Mirror's Crime Fiction Supplement, featuring an interview with James Ellroy, author of L.A. Confidential and The Black Dahlia, and reviews of books by Charles Palliser, L. R. Wright, Mickey Spillane and P.D. James. "I think crime fiction's the classic voice of American tragic realism," Ellroy tells Marian MacNair.

• Mount Royal becomes the centre of a police crackdown on the three perils of unleashed dogs, off-path cycling and gay cruising. The police morality squad confirm that they have made 15 recent arrests on the mountain.

• Montreal-based, Brazilian-flavoured "tropicalistas" Paolo Ramos Band try to define their sound. "For me, it's a kind of pop," says Ramos. "In the beginning, seven years ago, people used to call it jazz, then samba rock, but I think we tend to have our own sound."

• A review of House Party - "a teenage film à la John Hughes, but with Black high-school students" - is used to look at the state of black films and filmmakers in Hollywood.

Angel >> Hippocampus denise, the world's smallest seahorse Discovered off the coast of Indonesia recently by Sara Lourie, a McGill marine biology doctoral student and member of the Project Seahorse marine conservation team, this tiny seahorse has just been recognized as its own seahorse species, the world's smallest. With an average length of only 16 millimetres, it was initially thought to be the young of another one of the 32 known species of seahorses. However, the find, while scientifically interesting, may be overshadowed by recent decisions by Indonesia, Norway, Japan and South Korea to withdraw from the international convention covering trade in seahorses. Project Seahorse served as the convention's lead scientific advisor.
Insect >> More Iraq debacles While flag-wavers in the United States are glowing in the bask of a job well done, chaos seems to reign in Iraq. Earlier this week, the U.S. recalled Barbara Bodine, the so-called governor of Baghdad, in the wake of failed attempts at establishing law and order, not to mention sanitation, electricity and garbage collection, in the capital. Her boss, retired lieutenant-general Jay Garner, who is responsible for running the rest of the country, will follow in a couple of weeks. While the U.S. is expected to announce the formation of a new postwar interim government soon, the need for real leadership can't wait any longer.