Quote of the week:

"I can't talk to you anymore tonight, because I have to leave my house." - Kanesatake Grand Chief James Gabriel, to a reporter shortly before his home was burned down Monday night, in the Journal de Montréal.

Tenants poorer than ever

Looking at crunched numbers compiled in the 2001 census got the people at local housing advocacy group FRAPRU raising their eyebrows in alarm. According to the figures, says FRAPRU coordinator François Saillant, Quebec tenants are poorer than ever, and their median income (the income of the person halfway between the group's richest and poorest) was 17.5 per cent lower than it was 20 years ago, using fixed dollars. Saillant has three reasons why that may be.

"First," he says, "more people are becoming landlords, so the people who can afford to buy - high-income people - are no longer renting. Many of the people renting are lower income people who can't afford to buy a house." Occupant-owners now account for 57.9 per cent of Quebec homes in 2001, as opposed to 53.3 per cent in 1981.

"Second, tenants have changed. We're seeing more single people and single parents who are renting, and they tend to have lower incomes. And third, sources of revenue for low-income tenants, like welfare and the minimum wage, have not kept up with inflation."

The figures, which were released last May, have been compiled and put into a report that was posted on FRAPRU's Web site (www.frapru.qc.ca) late last week. He says the number that surprised him most was the amount of Quebecers who spend over 80 per cent of their income on rent: 111,385.

"That's a lot of people," he says. "That leaves absolutely nothing for other essentials like food and clothing." » Patrick Lejtenyi

Non-profit cash crunch

Giving people who have difficulty taking care of themselves a roof over their heads is a good start, but by itself won't do much, says a coalition of non-profit housing organizations. The organizations need more money - which was promised to them in the last budget presented by the Péquistes before they were turfed out of office, but was never delivered. Without it, they won't be able to offer the kind of day-to-day services that make the difference between offering their clients quality care and seeing them slip through the cracks. And they're calling on the Charest Liberals to cough up.

"We already have one building in the Gatineau that has 26 rooms, but it won't be opening because there isn't any support for the financing of services," says François Vermette, general manager of the Réseau Québécois des OSBL d'habitation [RQOH - the Quebec Network of Non-Profit Housing Organizations]. "In other places across the province, we're going to have to close down our facilities or offer reduced services."

Vermette estimates that the RQOH needs about $10-million a year to provide services to their clientele - mostly the elderly, the mentally ill, the homeless or those at risk of becoming homeless. He says the last PQ government promised them the money, but it was buried in the Health Ministry's budget. But when the Liberals took power last year, they couldn't find it. Since then, he says, his organization has been talking to the government, but, "The Liberals are proceeding too slowly." » Patrick Lejtenyi

Bird watching fever!

Many aren't aware that some of the best bird-spotting happens during our cold months. "Plenty of interesting birds stick around here in the winter and it's a good time to see them - the trees are leafless and there's a snowy white backdrop," says David Bird, aviary specialist at McGill. "We do bird counts every year at Christmas and you'd be surprised at the birds you see. You sometimes see herons and others that you'd think had flown south sticking around for the whole winter. You also get various interesting birds, like red-tailed hawks and rough-legged hawks, that come down to this area from up north for the winter."

The Bird-man encourages residents to fill home feeders, "and if you put out peanuts still in the shell, then you might get blue jays coming in. It's incredible how fast these birds will pass the word out."

The city is offering a free tour of its bird-watching chalet at Pointe-aux-Prairies (14905 Sherbrooke E.) Saturday at noon onwards and Sunday at David Bird's favourite local site, the Île Bizard nature park (2115 Bord-du-Lac), and on Jan. 31 at the Bois-de-Liesse nature park (9432 Gouin W.), with other dates in February. Call 280-6829 for deets.

Bird, meanwhile, hosts a separate event Feb. 7 in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue. His Owl Prowl bus tour features a view of such beasts as "the tiny boreal owl, and the absolutely gorgeous bard owl." Cost is $45, call 514-457-9949 for more info. » Kristian Gravenor

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

11 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
Jan. 14-Jan. 21, 1993

On the cover: A baby, as the Mirror takes a look at 1993: The Year in Preview as seen from eight activists' point of view. Racism, environment, economy, homophobia, disability, First Nations, immigration and housing are discussed. Much work is needed to address societal shortcomings in all those fields in the upcoming year, the activists say.

• In the main arts feature, Gaëtan Charlebois offers theatre types publicity advice: hire a publicist, keep an updated media mailing list, have a complete press kit and follow up (but don't push too hard). Make sure to give away tons of tickets for opening night, collect all press clippings and rely heavily on volunteers.

• Jenny Ross wishes readers a heartfelt Akemashite omedetoh gozaimasu, which is apparently the Japanese greeting for the New Year.

• Rob Brezsny's Real Astrology makes its Mirror debut. He tells Capricorns that the "laws of karma seem to have been suspended in your vicinity. Rarely has your will been so free to attempt miracles without having to answer to the ponderous demands of the past."

Angel >> The demise of the Pine-Parc interchange After much, much talk, the reality of the dismantling of the Pine-Parc interchange is finally coming close. The plan, unveiled and rubber-stamped by the executive committee this week, calls for the dangerous, decrepit interchange to be dismantled and replaced by a flat surface and the eventual installation of a light rail train. The idea behind the project is to facilitate pedestrian traffic and improve access to the mountain for Milton Park residents. The eyesore, which has claimed its fair share of bended fenders and caused innumerable headaches to strollers and cyclists, won't be missed.
Insect >> Wars of choice Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill's revelation last week - that Team Bush had been planning Saddam's removal since the administration's early days - confirms what the war's skeptics have suspected all along: the invasion of Iraq was sold on the flimsiest of grounds and worked against America's long-term security. These coincide with the findings of a report published this week by the U.S. Army War College, written by respected veteran defence specialist David Record, who called the invasion a "strategic error of the first order" and a "an unnecessary preventive war of choice against a deterred Iraq." Criticism of the war is gathering steam - but November is still a long way off.