Quote of the week:

"If you don't resign, I will demand that you resign." - Then-Quebec deputy premier Bernard Landry to then-Premier Jacques Parizeau, shortly after the 1995 referendum, from Jacques Parizeau 1985-1995: Le Régent, an unauthorized biography released this week.

Berri Square soon squeaky clean

The Réseau d'aide aux personnes seules et itinerantes de Montréal (RAPSIM) is watching with some concern the changes slated for Ste-Catherine E. Last week, the city unveiled its plan to pump $3.2-million into renovating one of downtown's seedier strips, from St-Urbain to de Lorimier, which also happens to be both home to a good number of young and old homeless people and close to summer-festival central. The proposed renovation would also reach completion just in time for Rendez-Vous 2006, the huge and hugely-anticipated gay athletic event.

RAPSIM community organizer Bernard St-Jacques sees the encroaching sprightliness as a further clampdown on an already squeezed marginal population. "Their space is now even more restrained," he says. "We've seen the transformation of public spaces into municipal parks over the years, with park regulations enforced on them, meaning less tolerance. So when we have these kinds of large projects, we see that the city isn't interested in us. Our worries are amplified, and we know summer is coming."

With the construction of the Bibliothèque nationale and the police force's focus on community policing, St-Jacques says life for Ste-Catherine E.'s denizens - especially the younger ones - isn't going to get any easier. "We don't know how these changes are going to present themselves, but we do know the police are targetting petty crime and have been talking about enforcing zero tolerance this year," he says. "This announcement is well-timed. Now is the time to do it, because people know that there will be more kids coming to Montreal in the summer." » Patrick Lejtenyi

A minute for Rwanda

Callixta Kabayiza was one of Rwanda's lucky ones. He somehow managed to escape the slaughter that erupted 10 years ago this week, claiming an estimated 800,000 to a million of his fellow Tutsis before it was ended 100 days later. Today, he is the president of the local organization Parents et amis des victimes du génocide au Rwanda (PAGE-Rwanda) and will be taking part in the April 7 ceremonies marking the anniversary. The official commemoration begins with a minute of silence at 12:30 p.m. at UQÀM's pavillion Judith-Jasmin (405 Ste-Catherine E.) and will continue at the Old Port's Science Centre at 2 p.m.

"We don't usually have any monuments," says Kabayiza. "Because so many bodies were thrown in rivers - some were thrown into toilets as well - we are going to have a ceremony where we throw flowers in the St. Lawrence River, in homage of the victims. It's very symbolic and very significant for us."

Kabayiza also says that this year will be the first time in many years there has been any significant media interest. "For the first few years, we would do a march down to the river for the flowers ceremony, and there would be a few journalists covering it," he says. "But as the years went on, I guess they forgot or found something else that was more interesting."

There will be other events, including an ecumenical service on Saturday, April 10 and a fundraiser on Sunday, April 11. For more info, visit www.page-rwanda.org. » Patrick Lejtenyi

Cat saviour found guilty

A cat lover who dramatically defied bulldozers in an attempt to save felines from a condemned building has had her days in court. Since last fall, Monica Campo - the proprietor of an East End shelter of 100 cats - has faced obstruction of justice charges for having chained herself to 2042 St-Antoine W. last July 7. She had saved 16 of what she believes to have been 18 cats from a derelict building before the building was knocked down. Campo had hoped to defend her cause by using a federal law that deems it "a criminal act to inflict unnecessary pain on an animal" but says the court "wouldn't even consider listening to that."

The good news is that she walks away from court without a criminal record, as her charges were reduced to a bylaw infraction forbidding one to interfere with the work of a police officer. Campo was fined $300 plus court fees.

"Luckily, my lawyer charged me minimally because she's involved in animal defence," says Campo, who spoke briefly because she was "on her way to help a dog that somebody tried to strangle with a wire."

"We couldn't prove the point that we wanted," Campo laments, "that it's against the Criminal Code to be cruel to animals." But on the bright side, city officials have reacted to Campo's protest by promising to check with her before demolishing a building that might have animals inside. » Kristian Gravenor

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

13 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
March 28-April 4, 1991

On the cover: Jean Leloup & La Sale Affaire. Brendan Kelly writes that Leloup's "mauvais garçon" image is overstated in his home province. "Quebec has become very nice and polite," says Leloup. "It's not hard to be bad in Quebec. In French, they've never had a Jim Morrison."

• In his Urban Ecology column, Jeremy Searle criticizes the city's plan to demolish the Forum. "The Forum could be the perfect location for the expansion of university and college sports in the downtown area," he writes. He also believes it could continue hosting major entertainment events.

• "[Distributors] said it was too intelligent and no cares about intelligent films. I was insulted not once, but 20 times from buyers in different countries," says Dutch filmmaker George Sluizer, of the three-year delay in bringing his creepy The Vanishing to North America.

• "Fashion for Dogs!" pre-empts the Slum Dog strip. According to hostess Leeza Poodles, the "purple paisley down coat is perfect for après-party nocturnal nooky in the back alleys, darlings!! Hee hee!!"

Angel >> Old dead Englishmen Death claimed two talented, grey-haired Brits this weekend, leaving the world's cultural stage that much poorer. The elder of the deceased, Alistair Cooke, 95, had broadcast his weekly Letter From America for the BBC for 58 years - the longest-running series in history presented by the same person. He had only recently retired, due to poor health. The other, younger Englishman to pass this week is Peter Ustinov, 82. The hammy Oscar-winner and playwright, best known for his roles in Spartacus, Quo Vadis and Topkapi and as Agatha Christie's Inspector Poirot, tended to be more entertaining when being his own charming, genial, roly-poly self. Both will be missed.
Insect >> Shmata offensives Peerless Clothing Inc., a Montreal garment business, is annoyed that the government is making them pay their workers an outrageous $8 an hour, a full 70 cents above the minimum wage. It is so annoyed that it's taking the matter to the courts. Peerless's vice-president Elliot Lifson (who's also the head of the Canadian Apparel Federation) says his industry is so embattled these days he has no choice, despite how much he absolutely wants to hire Canadians, but to outsource work to other countries - presumably those without such astronomical wages.