THE FRONT

Promised homes, please—Five years without Anas—Christmas redone—Native arts and culture nights.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “The person … knows that this is Pat Burns’ stuff.”—Montreal police Constable Anie Lemieux, after the car of Line Burns, widow of late Pat Burns, was bro­ken into following the former NHL coach’s wake downtown. Burns was robbed of 30 signed NHL jerseys, clothing, jewellery, an iPad, a watch, photos and bedsheets.

Homes wanted

While it undoubtedly comes as no surprise to any Montrealer who’s shopped around for an apartment lately, local rents have spiked dramatically in recent years, leaving countless folk forking over an unhealthy amount of their incomes simply for shelter. So in the last provincial election campaign, when the Charest government announced they would be build­ing some 15,000 new social housing units within the next five years, it was music to the ears of those on the front lines in the battle against homelessness, people like François Sail­laint, coordinator of social housing advocacy group FRAPRU.

“They promised to build 3,000 new social housing units every year for the next five years, but so far they’ve only committed to building the first 3,000 units, and unless new funds are allo­cated for social housing in the next budget, we really can’t be sure any more will be built,” he says.

In order to keep pressure on the government to make sure those funds are indeed allocated in the next provincial budget, FRAPRU have organized a demonstration involving a deliberately unspecified “direct action” to take place at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 9, outside 747 Square Victoria.

For more info go to frapru.qc.ca.

—CHRIS BARRY

Anas death at five

The idea that the best people to investigate police abuse is the police themselves was dealt a blow in 2008, when Quebec’s chief coroner ordered an inquiry into the death of Mohamed Anas Bennis, who was shot and killed by Montreal police officer Yannick Bernier as he returned home from a mosque in Côte-des-Neiges five years ago this Dec. 1.

Bennis’s family and supporters in the Justice for Anas Coalition will be marking the anniversary of his death with a demo on Saturday, Dec. 4 at 1 p.m. at Parc Troie (Queen Mary and Côte-des-Neiges).

The coroner’s inquest was initially blocked by the Police Brotherhood until the Quebec Superior Court ordered it to continue this September.

The plot thickened when Bernier’s partner the day of the shooting, Jonathan Roy, was found guilty this June of five ethics violations in another case in Côte-des-Neiges that coalition spokesperson Samir Shaheen-Hussain describes as having “racial profiling written all over it.”

“The fact that the Brotherhood is going to such great lengths to stop the coroner’s inquiry only suggests they have something to hide, whether it’s racial profiling, Islamophobia or any oth­er reason,” says Shaheen-Hussain.

The inquiry’s next date has yet to be announced. For details, see justicepouranas.org.

—MATT JONES

Christmas recycled

Re-gifting around the holidays might be frowned upon, but Environment Canada would like you to consider giving something used this Christmas. To help in the idea department, it’s host­ing a series of events promoting recycling, reuse and, if not reducing, then at least more of the other two.

First is ONE: Outfits From a New Era, an exhibition of 16 Montreal fashion designers’ works made from things like used car parts, fish scales and pill boxes, will be on display at the Biosphère (160 Chemin Tour-de-l’Isle) starting Friday, Dec. 3.

“I’ve always been fascinated by the use of outdated industrial materials, outside of their original function,” says designer Valérie Bédard, the founder of Audiofil, a fashion company that designs clothing and accessories incorporating donated VHS and cassette tapes. “I was giving weaving demonstrations to children and, to pique their interest, I used the tape of a cassette in the fabric I was making. The result was a revelation, a material that was both shiny and sturdy.”

Environment Canada will also be hosting a Recycling-Artists Eco Fair, featuring jewellery and other gift-able items from Dec. 3–5.

For more information about recycled gifts, visit ec.gc.ca, and for more information about Audiofil, visit audiofil.ca.

—CHRISTOPHER OISON

Nights of native art

Many cultural events in the city highlight our diverse heritage, but aside from summer’s First Peoples’ Festival, few focus on First Nations artists. The First Nations Circle of UQÀM, in partner­ship with the recently formed Montreal Urban Aboriginal Strategy Network, aims to change that with a monthly event celebrating these artists.

Started in September, the Native Art-Culture evenings are held on the first Thursday of every month, inviting musicians, performers and storytellers to share their art and meet other members of the city’s growing Aboriginal community, which today comprises almost 18,000 people.

According to the First Nations Circle’s website, the event’s purpose is for “members of the urban Aboriginal community and the Montreal population to get the opportunity to share a moment of exchange in a festive atmosphere. It also offers great visibility for Aboriginal artists and a space to express themselves.”

This month’s edition takes place at Café l’Escalier (552 Ste-Catherine E.) at 9 p.m. with a special appearance from Kathia Rock. She is one of the only Innu women allowed to play an ancient drum traditionally reserved for men. Her performance will be followed by an open mic and a musical jam. Bring your own instruments (ancient drums optional). For more info, visit cpn.uqam.ca.

—ROXANE HUDON

REAR-VIEW MIRROR

18 YEARS AGO – DEC. 3–10, 1992

On the cover: A camera lens, for an essay by Gaëtan Charlebois about the increasing number of screen adaptations of books. “The flood of adaptations comes partly from the fact that many novelists don’t write novels anymore; they write ‘treatments,’” begins the article.

•                 “I see people trying to sing along and stuff, which I usually get a yuk out of,” says Chris Yow of Jesus Lizard. “To me, the idea of singing along to Jesus Lizard is just ridiculous.”

•                 Jenny Ross reviews Makvirag’s show at the Lion d’Or: “Makvirag warmed the room with songs from Romanian and Hungarian Transylvania, Romanian Moldavia, Hungarian Christmas carols, with an emphasis on Gypsy music. This is real Gypsy music, not the restaurant tourist variety.”

•                 Letter-writer Jane S. applauds a Nov. 12 article about McGill’s Walk-Safe program, noting that the service is for McGill students only. “I am a woman before I am a Concordia student. Rapists do not ask where your educational dollars go before beating you up and sticking it in you.” ■

ANGEL: Cactus Montreal’s safe injection site It isn’t set in stone yet, but the downtown needle exchange says it wants to open a safe injection site (SIS) in their office by June. Good luck to them: Although the idea is sound—junkies shooting up in a safe and supervised space, with access to clean syringes and medical attention and counselling, is preferable to junkies shooting up in a park, nod­ding off and dropping their needles in a sandbox—the current federal government is still trying its hardest to close Vancouver’s SIS InSite, with a Supreme Court decision expected in April. No word yet from the city or province, but any step forward in a stupid drug war is probably a good one.


INSECT: The price of everything That ballooning pressure you’re feeling behind your eyeballs is probably the feeling of being squeezed—again and again and again. This week, Montreal’s mayor Gérald Tremblay announced yet another transit fare fee hike—around four per cent—along with boosts to property, water and roadwork (!!!) taxes. Also, a new $45 vehicle tax. Oh, and the administration is also trying to slash a quarter-billion from the city’s budget by 2012. There’s no shortage of people to blame for this mess, from the provincial and federal governments and their anemic public transit funding to a city hall that can’t manage its money—and this isn’t even including the cost of organized crime siphoning taxpayer money. Thank goodness our wages are keeping up, right? Oh, wait a minute…

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