Quote of the week:

"I think you have to explore other methods of punishment before you reach the final one." - Quebec Premier Jean Charest, discussing the CRTC's decision to deny Quebec City radio station CHOI a licence renewal because of its raunchy morning host, on Monday.

Shoplifting therapy overlooked

While male miscreants choose to vent their criminal tendencies through a cornucopia of misdeeds, misguided females tend to focus their efforts on a smaller batch of crimes, including the ever-exhilarating sport of shoplifting. Some women who get caught - as most eventually do - might want to know about the Elizabeth Fry Society's shoplifting therapy, which can keep a naughty girl out of the slammer.

The centre treats about 330 women a year through discussion sessions, and boasts an 85 per cent rehab rate. Although it's been rolling for 15 years, not all lawyers and judges are aware of the program, according to its director Nathalie Thibodeau - thus some boosters might end up unnecessarily in prison, without proper therapy.

"There are new lawyers and judges each year and we don't always have enough time to inform everybody," she says. Thibodeau, who has heard countless women discuss their compulsion to shoplift, says there's no single reason why women boosters keep hauling stuff off.

"It's a complex thing," she says. "Some might have anxieties and get a big adrenaline rush from doing it - they feel it takes courage and they feel an energy, which causes the anxiety to disappear. They also have the thrill of feeling superior to security guards. It's a whole cat and mouse game."

Thibodeau says families and friends have to hold fast against their loved ones' delinquent practices. "The moment you accept a stolen gift you're not helping that person. It's the same thing as giving a drug addict money for drugs." » Kristian Gravenor

12-step eco-program

Eco-activist types at Equiterre want Quebecers to get wired to improve the world - to the Internet, but maybe also next Wednesday, Aug. 4 at a Sala Rossa concert aiming to get the word out about their latest campaign. "Changer le monde, un geste à la fois," launched last spring, gives visitors 12 suggestions on how to make their ordinary, daily lives more eco-friendly and internationally conscientious, like buying fair trade coffee or tea, taking shorter showers and supporting local non-profit or community organizations. Simple and easy stuff that can make an impact if enough people do it, says Equiterre media relations rep Brigitte Geoffroy.

"Our goal is to bring 50,000 Quebecers together over the Internet and have them fill out a questionnaire that asks them what they are doing, or what they would like to do, for the environment," she says. "We want to stimulate a citizens' movement for a sustainable environment and international solidarity." After filling out the questionnaire, respondents will be e-mailed a monthly newsletter relating to environmental issues.

If the campaign sounds familiar, it's because it's the francophone version of the David Suzuki Foundation's Nature Challenge, which urges environmentally worried people to do similar green acts like reducing household energy consumption by 10 per cent, using public transit and buying local produce.

Equiterre's "soirée concert enviro-électro-gitane," with musical guests Blues Gitan, Métatuque and others, takes place on Wednesday, Aug. 4 at the Sala Rossa (4848 St-Laurent), $12. To learn how to leave a smaller footprint, visit www.equiterre.org. » Patrick Lejtenyi

Volunteers wanted

Quebec residents volunteer less than residents of other provinces. "Lack of time is the most common reason cited for not volunteering and yet Quebecers watch an average of 23 hours of TV a week. It's interesting to look at those statistics side-by-side," says François Lahaise, communications rep for the Volunteer Bureau of Montreal, a 67-year-old group that now helps 800 community groups recruit volunteers for countless types of unpaid tasks.

He says only 19 per cent of Quebecers volunteer, compared to the national average of 27 per cent - and well behind Saskatchewan's 42 per cent volunteer rate. Lahaise says another common reason for dodging volunteer work is "fear of long-term commitment," but he notes that volunteering can require as little as three hours of work a week.

Quebecers do loads of other volunteer chores that don't get calculated into the stats, he notes, like "cutting your neighbour's lawn or fetching groceries for an old lady," yet we still lag behind other provinces such as Ontario, which in recent years has tried to encourage volunteerism by requiring that students do 40 hours of community service before grabbing a high school diploma.

"I think it's a good idea but others think it might make volunteering seem like an obligation," he says. Corporations can also volunteer, says Lahaise, citing the example of the Montreal branch of the accounting firm KPMG, which will send its roughly 400 employees into volunteer tasks for one day next month. "It's something we'd like to see more of," he says. Those with the urge to volunteer can find more info at www.cabm.cam.org. » Kristian Gravenor

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

10 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK
July 28–Aug. 4, 1994

On the cover: A photograph of a small boy carrying a huge, superimposed box of Arm & Hammer baking soda, as the Mirror investigates the world of retail giants. Two articles deal with Club Price, another with Wal-Mart. "Grandeur was everywhere," writes Henry Lehmann about his Club Price expedition. "It was as though I had entered a beautiful civilization where stacking was a philosophy."

• An editorial celebrates the rib steak and calls for its elevation into the iconic Montreal food canon, like bagels and smoked meat.

• Montreal's Lollapalooza "featured almost twice the number of spoken-word performances as any other city on the tour," says the review in the Streetseen column, suggesting that this was a good thing.

• In the Life in Hell strip, Simpsons creator Matt Groening illustrates 15 common comments and questions he hears from fans, such as, "Is Smithers gay???", "If you ever need a new voice for Homer, I'm your man!" and "I wrote you three times but you never sent me a drawing of Marge Simpson naked."

Angel >> Doonesbury Continental Features, a Sunday funnies consortium, will no longer feature Doonesbury after a poll of its 38 client papers last week revealed that the Bush-bashing strip was too controversial for 21 of them. It hasn't announced when the cut will take place. Continental's president says the decision to carry out the poll wasn't politically motivated, but the Anniston, Alabama, Star, a Continental client, protested the decision, saying Doonesbury was singled out and calling the vote an attempt to silence minority opinion (Continental's clients are mostly in the U.S. Southeast). Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau, a 2004 Pulitzer Prize finalist and a former Yale classmate of the President's, called the selection process unfair and based on the opinion of one person.
Insect >> Immigration Minister Judy Sgro Taking a hard-hearted view of frightened, desperate people who just won't leave when they're told to, last weekend Sgro said that churches should refuse sanctuary to refugees as it constitutes a "back door to enter Canada." Even though there are very few refugees hiding in church basements - several of them in Montreal - this is apparently a big enough abuse of the system for the Minister herself to step in. Maybe she doesn't realize that refugees don't consider living in cramped quarters, unable to work, study or enjoy any other benefit of not living in a war zone much of a life, but it beats being dead.