The city of Laval says it is turning the page on corruption a decade after former mayor Gilles Vaillancourt was convicted of fraud, breach of trust and conspiracy to commit fraud.

Quebec's housing minister has pitched the new law as a way to “re-establish balance between renters and landlords and increase housing supply.” Advocates worry it will make things worse for tenants by making it easier for landlords to refuse lease transfers.

What will it take to end homelessness? And how do we go beyond offering temporary shelters? One Montreal housing group is exploring this topic with national stakeholders.

Both the Crown and the defence agreed that Marc-André Grenon caused the death of Guylaine Potvin but they disagreed on what he was doing in her apartment and how her death happened.

The post QCT Online Print Edition – February 21, 2024 appeared first on The Quebec Chronicle Telegraph.

Work has been temporarily paused at a Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) warehouse facility in Montreal, after the Kanien’kehá:ka Kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers) joined forces with another group to highlight the possibility of unmarked burials of Indigenous and non-Indigenous children.

“There needs to be reparations for this happening to these people,” Kwetiio, one of the Mothers said in a press conference outside of the distribution site on Monday. “For us, archival work is imperative to start this. That’s where it needs to begin, and a full investigation using best practices needs to happen.”

The Committee of Duplessis Orphans Victims of Abuse, who are campaigning with the Mothers for a full archaeological investigation into the site, are a group of survivors who were wrongfully taken to psychiatric institutions in Quebec during the 1940s and 1950s. There they suffered intense abuse at the hands of the provincial government and private institutions, including the Catholic Church.

They met the Mohawk Mothers during continued court proceedings concerning construction at the former Royal Victoria Hospital, where the group believes there may also be unmarked graves of Duplessis Orphans who were subject to experiments at the Allan Memorial Institute, also formerly at that site. 

“It needs to be a human right for these people to know what happened in their history,” Kwetiio said. “They didn’t live this for nothing. They lived this, and they’re survivors of it, and it just shows that there’s mass lands across our territories that need to be investigated.”

The site of the SAQ warehouse on Montreal’s Futailles Street, where the expansion is planned, was a known informal cemetery, often referred to as “the pigsty” by survivors as animals were also kept there. Court records show that more than 2,000 bodies were buried there and unclaimed by families, and in the 1960s exhumation efforts saw bones recovered. 

It’s understood that expansion projects in 1999 saw further bones discovered, which the SAQ said were animal remains, though no proof was provided by the SAQ or provincial government at the time.

Survivor Pierre Nadeau told reporters on Monday how children were taken from single mothers and confined to institutions where they were beaten and forced to do physical labour.

“Priests encouraged women to have lots of children; it was their duty as women. Unfortunately, when the mother died, or the father beat the mother to a pulp, what happened? Welfare came knocking and took the children away, took possession of the children because she wasn’t working,” he said. 

“You’re beaten up, you’re doing work at the age of seven, you’re cleaning up messes for children, employees, no pay,” he said. “In Quebec, I call that slavery. Children were exploited in these institutions.”

Kwetiio said it’s possible Indigenous children may also be buried at the site, as children may have been taken from those who had Indigenous partners, as those children were viewed as illegitimate. She said that the Mothers will continue to fight for the children who may be buried there.

“As a Kahnistensera it’s my duty in who I am,” she said. “I need to assist these gentlemen and all the rest of the survivors of the Duplessis Orphans. This ground needs to speak.”

Anthropologist Philippe Blouin, who often accompanies the Mothers and translates for them in court, said it’s crucial the ground is searched with advanced technologies.

“In the 1990s and in the 1970s, there were no ground penetrating radar and technology that could determine the exact extent of the cemetery. Back then it didn’t exist,” he said. “Now, it’s a simple request to use these means to respect these human remains that may still be there, so that they’re not found by accident, so they’re found in a respectful way that also respects Indigenous protocols regarding burials.”

In a statement to The Eastern Door, the SAQ said they are concerned by the information that the Mohawk Mothers and Duplessis Orphans shared concerning the potential unmarked graves. 

“Our intention is to do things right, and in the right order. That’s why we’re developing an action plan,” said spokesperson Clémence Beaulieu Gendron. “This will determine the next steps, which will be carried out in complete transparency.”

The Mothers and the Duplessis Orphans said that they had not received formal communication from the SAQ concerning the possibility of an archaeological investigation, but that the SAQ had immediately halted plans to start work upon notification of the potential graves, making them optimistic that a thorough investigation will be completed.

[email protected]

This article was originally published in print on February 16 in issue 33.07 of The Eastern Door.

When it comes to sponsoring a foreign spouse, common-law partner, child or parent, there are bureaucratic delays — and then there are Quebec bureaucratic delays.

Currently, if you’re a Quebecer wishing to reunite with a family member living abroad, you’re out of luck. While Canada’s reunification system has often been criticized for long processing delays — with average times hovering around 12 months — in Quebec, processing delays are currently triple that. 

The reasons are directly linked to the CAQ government’s limits imposed on admissions for family reunification, which lead to profoundly heartbreaking human consequences.

Unlike other Canadian provinces, Quebec decides how many permanent residents it accepts each year and how many are issued the Quebec Selection Certificate. When applying, a sponsor will need to submit the application to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and to Quebec’s Ministry of Immigration, Francization and Integration (MIFI). The federal government can only process the total number selected and chosen by Quebec. Since IRCC routinely gets more applications than Quebec will accept, this leads to significant backlogs.

Currently, the annual quota for family reunification has been set by the CAQ government at 10,400, a total that also includes parents and grandparents. With 38,600 Quebec families currently waiting to be processed, it’s impossible to catch up to these delays without increasing annual quotas. As a result, thousands and thousands of Quebecers are separated for years from the people they love. And wait times only continue to grow. 

Québec Réunifié, a collective comprising over 1,800 families and representing a diverse array of citizens and permanent residents from all regions of Quebec, recently addressed an open letter to Quebec’s immigration minister, Christine Frechette, imploring her to resolve these unacceptable delays.

“We wish to draw your attention to the alarming reality of the delays, which have been recently a high as 42 months in Quebec, compared to 10 to 12 months in other Canadian provinces,” the letter states. 

So far, there has been little if any indication that the government is listening. 

Marie and Will: Living apart since 2019

Québec Réunifié campaign coordinator Marie-Gervaise Pilon, a 47-year-old English CEGEP teacher, is one of many Quebecers who simply had the misfortune of falling in love with a foreigner. Since 2019, she and her partner, 41-year-old Will Blewitt, a computer programmer from Britain, have been essentially living apart. In their 40s, they’re eager to start their lives together, hoping there might still be a small chance they could have a child and haven’t missed that window of opportunity. She says these delays are tampering with her right to procreate and start a family.

While Gervaise-Pilon considers herself privileged compared with some sponsors — as a teacher she can spend summers with her husband, and him living in Britain makes travelling to and from much easier and Visa-free — separation has been extremely hard. 

“We were apart 13 months during the pandemic,” she says. “It was traumatic. It had an emotional and psychological impact for us.” 

Since she submitted her spousal sponsorship application in August of 2023, the processing times have only gotten longer and longer. For spouses living abroad, she says, the delay hovers around three years. For spouses living in the country, it’s around 24 to 28 months, but still double the standard for ROC applicants. “Delays reached an all-time high of 42 months in Quebec a few months ago,” she says. “They decreased slightly to around 37, 38 months, but they’re still triple what they are in the rest of the country.”

With roughly two thirds of sponsors being francophones and the percentage of sponsored people who speak French being quite high (even her British husband has advanced French), the frustrated Quebecer fails to understand how the government isn’t prioritizing family reunification. “Most of these applicants are highly educated,” she says. “Many work in professions and trades that are needed in Quebec. In the context of labour shortages, these delays make even less sense.” 

Gervaise-Pilon recently heard of someone who left for Ontario and a month later received permanent residency. She’s now considering a move as well. 

Sponsors responsible for those they sponsor

Even as Canada grapples with a national housing and healthcare crisis, Quebecers unfamiliar with the family reunification file might not know that sponsors are financially responsible for three years for the spouse or common-law partner they bring into the country. That increases to 10 years if they sponsor parents or grandparents. That means housing, travel, food-related costs, as well as healthcare and prescription drugs. That obligation does not cease to exist in the event of divorce or separation. 

Some opposition parties like Québec Solidaire (QS) and the Quebec Liberal Party have voiced concerns about the delays. QS Immigration Critic Guillaume Cliche-Rivard has been critical of the imposed limit by the CAQ government, which he says is significantly lower than other provinces, and the source of many of these delays. Federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller has also applied pressure on the CAQ to increase its family reunification capacity, reminding Frechette these are people waiting to be reunited with their families. 

This past December, in order to reduce waiting times, Minister Miller proposed that the federal government continue to process files for which Quebec has already issued a Certificate of Selection. Minister Frechette’s office, in return, emailed the federal minister reminding him that the threshold for family reunification was already set by the Quebec government, and without acknowledging how low reunification limits were creating these backlogs, told the federal government it must prioritize requests that have been pending the longest. 

On one hand, the CAQ government is trying to simultaneously limit immigration in Quebec and assert even more control over its own immigration, and on the other hand the federal government is trying to speed up the process without stepping on Quebec’s toes. Even though immigration lawyers involved in the file argue the Quebec government doesn’t have the right to set a quota for admissions in the family reunification category and the government of Canada doesn’t have to respect that threshold imposed by Quebec. In the meantime, while bureaucrats and politicians duke it out, Quebecers wishing to be reunited with their loved ones are human collateral. 

Gervaise-Pilon says the provincial government’s messaging has been confusing, with Minister Frechette insisting the federal government speed up the process, somehow implying that they’re the ones responsible for the delays. 

“It’s been extremely frustrating to hear all this contradictory messaging from the provincial government,” she says. “We’re talking about families who need to be together. Keeping them separated will cause immense suffering to fellow Québécois struggling with distress. Men and women who need their spouses or partners.” 

Evgeny and Anastasiia: worn down by the stress of separation

One of those couples who’ve felt the stress of long-term separation caused by these unacceptable delays are Quebecer Evgeny Golubev and his wife Anastasiia. 

When 38-year-old Golubev, who emigrated with his mother to Quebec in 1999 at the age of 15, first met his wife Anastasiia (a Russian national) on a Cuban getaway in November of 2021, he initially thought it would be a fun vacation fling. But life — and love — had other plans.

After deciding to stay in touch, they eventually entered a long-distance relationship, and in February of 2022, they reunited in Cuba. “We had four extraordinary days together,” says Golubev, “and then the war started.” At that point, Anastasiia, who’s a councillor helping people with PTSD and can work remotely, wasn’t sure if it was safe to return to Russia. She decided, instead, to fly to Mexico and work from there. She temporarily returned to Russia after being diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety after three visa refusals to visit Golubev in Canada, and then returned to Mexico again, to be a short flight away from Golubev. In May 2022 they married and the following month they started the family reunification process with an immigration lawyer. 

Almost two years later, they’re still waiting. 

Golubev, who works as an engineer with Hydro-Québec, and tells me he’s never had a bout of depression before, recently found himself diagnosed with severe depression and insomnia. 

“It’s the uncertainty that kills you,” he says. “It makes you depressed and anxious. You feel hopeless.”

Research has indicated that family separation is associated with increased risk of depression, anxiety, suicide and post-traumatic stress disorder. For the first time in his life, Golubev went on medical leave. “Thanks to antidepressants, I’m now doing better,” he says. “I can function.” 

His wife has also been severely impacted by the separation. “When I went to see her, I was horrified,” he says. “She had lost weight and had bags under her eyes as she became depressed and anxious being alone.” Anastasiia is also reticent about returning to Russia because she’s been vocal about the war and worries her political views could make her a target.

While they live parallel lives in separate countries, Golubev works overnight shifts in addition to his day shifts to accumulate overtime so he can visit Anastasiia every few months. But with processing delays continuing to grow and a provincial government unwilling to help speed up the process, Golubev is ready to throw in the towel and move to another province to start a life with his wife. It’s not something he wants, but something he says he’s being forced to do. 

“I love Quebec and my job here,” he says. “I have property here, I have tenants, I have a life. I don’t want to move, but we feel like we’ve been left hanging. I’ve already started looking at jobs and already received offers in Ontario.” His case, he says, hasn’t been touched since April of 2023 and backlogs indicate 37-month delays right now. 

“I’m so grateful to Quebec and Canada for giving me a life here where I became an engineer,” he says. “But I work hard, I contribute, I pay my taxes, I volunteer. I’m not asking for much. None of the concerns cited regarding immigration are relevant to my case. I have a house my wife would live in; I’d be responsible for sponsoring her for three years.” 

Golubev says he and other applicants feel like they’ve been thrown under the bus for political reasons. “I feel like collateral damage,” he says. “I did everything by the book. I had faith in my government, and I’ve now realized that all they care about it using this as a voting issue. Their reply is generic and aimed at appealing to the majority who may not be keen on immigration. They’re keeping the numbers low for political gain.”

He plans on leaving this April. “The uncertainty that we’ve lived in the last two years has taken a toll on both of us,” he says. “The toll is not just financial but emotional. It hasn’t just cost us money. It’s cost us time. We’re not ready to lose another two years.”

As Quebec grapples with an aging population and severe labour shortages, Golubev wonders what the long-term repercussions of family reunification delays will be. “At Hydro-Québec, many are now retiring,” he says. “We have huge turnover and severe shortages. And some of these positions require five to ten years of experience, you can’t just slot someone in there. We have no one to replace them.” 

He cites the example of another Quebecer he knows waiting to be reunited with his wife, a cardiologist with thousands of patients under his care. He, too, is considering a move to another province rather than wait three more years to be reunited.

“I think it’s really important that people realize the impact that these delays have on so many of us,” he says. “It really ruins lives. I’ve never been depressed before, but I can easily see how these delays and the anxiety and uncertainty they generate can create suicidal thoughts or make people resort to alcohol. I hope others going through this are getting the support that they need.”

Léa and Ilkay: Stuck in limbo

Not everyone waiting for their file to be processed is separated. Some left Quebec to live abroad with their partner while waiting for their file to be finalized, unwilling to put their lives on hold. And many couples in the family reunification file met while working abroad and are currently living together, waiting to move to Quebec. 

Back in 2018, Léa Beauregard moved to Turkey to teach French as a second language and met Ilkay Cem Karakurt a Turkish banker. “We started dating and immediately knew we were compatible,” says the 31-year-old Quebecer. “After a few dates, we bought plane tickets to travel to Cappadocia together.” 

Then the global pandemic hit. 

“Suddenly, we couldn’t go anywhere,” Karakurt laughs. The next two years and Turkey’s strict lockdowns were a trial by fire. The relationship not only survived but flourished. By the end of 2022, they finally managed to go to Cappadocia, this time on their honeymoon. 

As Beauregard and her 35-year-old husband started thinking of starting a family, she convinced him that moving to Quebec would provide the opportunity to raise their future kids in a multicultural city and a francophone environment, something she says was a deciding factor.

“Being able to offer my children both a French and English education is important to me,” she says. “I want to be able to transmit my French culture and language to them and it would be far more expensive and difficult to do in Turkey.” 

Despite both having very successful careers and an established and happy life in Istanbul, they decided to apply for family reunification and a future in Montreal — a process, they were initially told would take under a year when they applied seven months ago. By their calculations, they would be receiving final approval to move by February of this year. With this in mind, and with plans to move in July and hopefully start a family by 2025, Beauregard resigned from her job.

“I didn’t renew my contract at the school where I was employed for the last five years,” she explains. “It was a good position, but I resigned because we were told we would receive permanent residency in early 2024. But now, with delays extended to 37 more months, I feel robbed. I had a job I loved in a school that was treating me very well and now my position has been filled, and I lost the good career path I was on.”

The backlogs have left them both feeling frustrated and angry. “It’s been days and days of complete desperation,” she says. “We were told that this is what we had to do, and we did it. It’s all too hard to accept. I now need to find a new job in another school, and I feel like our lives are pending.”

Karakurt says the uncertainty has left them in limbo. “If we decide to start a family here, we’ll need to move to a bigger apartment and purchase furniture,” he says, “not knowing when we’d receive a notice we were approved.”

Another emotion, Beauregard says she’s grappling with, is shame. “I’m the one who convinced Ilkay to move to Quebec,” she says. “We have a great life here, I love Turkey, we’re both successful in our careers, he has his family here.” But once she persuaded him, Ilkay was all in. Her husband who was educated in French started listening to Quebec radio and music in preparation for the move. “I feel guilty because I promised him this would work and thanks to the government not doing its job, it’s turned into a logistical and financial nightmare.”

They say MIFI employees advised Karakurt to bypass the system by applying for temporary residency, moving to Quebec and then waiting for a work permit — something neither of them is willing to undertake. “Why would we put ourselves in that unpredictable position where nothing is certain, and he might be stuck at home unable to work?” says Beauregard. “We did everything by the book and they’re advising us to cheat? How will the backlog ever be resolved that way?” 

The irony is that, in many ways, this couple — as are all the people interviewed here — are good candidates for Quebec. The province has a dire need for teachers, a profession Beauregard wants to continue working in, and Karakurt has been educated in French, therefore requiring no francisation courses or additional steps for his degree to be recognized here.

“I can’t swallow this pill,” Beauregard says. “I’m a born and raised Quebecer who can’t raise my kids in French. If the delays continue, we’ll stay here. I love Montreal and my French culture, but at a certain point, I’ll let go. It shouldn’t be this hard.” ■

Read more weekly editorial columns by Toula Drimonis.

The post The CAQ’s anti-immigration policies have made family reunification a nightmare for Quebecers appeared first on Cult MTL.

Indigenous families, community members, and advocacy groups convened at a downtown Ottawa hotel last Friday, singing, dancing, drumming, and cheering. 

The celebration was a reaction to news that the Supreme Court of Canada had rejected an appeal from Quebec against a landmark law which gives Indigenous communities jurisdiction over child and family services.

“It was a happy moment, but it was an emotional moment,” said Ghislain Picard, chief of the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL), who was in Ottawa for the historic decision. “It’s a very, very positive outcome.”

The celebrations came after years of waiting. Back in 2019, the federal Bill C-92, An Act Respecting First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Children Youth and Families, became law, affirming the right of Indigenous communities to have jurisdiction over child welfare services. That law was appealed by the Quebec government, which argued that Bill C-92 essentially recognizes Indigenous people as a third order of government, infringing on Quebec’s provincial jurisdiction. 

That appeal was partially successful, with a Quebec Court of Appeal declaring in December 2022 that the law is partially unconstitutional, holding that Indigenous child welfare laws can’t prevail over provincial ones. 

But that appeal was reversed with last Friday’s Supreme Court decision, which stated that the act as a whole is constitutionally valid and advances the process of reconciliation.

David Taylor, a lawyer for The First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada (The Caring Society), which was an intervenor in the Supreme Court appeal, said the decision will have an immediate and long-term impact on vulnerable children.

“What it means now is that the people who are closest to kids, such as their own community, can make the laws and rules about how to address concerns about whether kids and families are safe in their communities,” he said. 

Here in Kahnawake, the decision will also be impactful, said Derek Montour, executive director of Kahnawake Shakotiia’takehnhas Community Services (KSCS). Montour is also president of the board of directors for the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador Health and Social Services Commission (FNQLHSSC), which was also an intervenor in the appeal.

“The next step for all of us is to create our own law in the community, and it’s critical that community members get involved and give their voice to how child welfare and youth protection should look in Kahnawake, and how we see it delivered,” he said. 

Montour said that Kahnawake has been making many of its own decisions about child welfare for the last 40 years, but emphasized that those decisions could have been shut down by Quebec’s director of youth protection at any point. He said that under Bill C-92, a law can be established to protect the integrity of those services and to create new programs that increase the scope of services in the community. 

“We’d like to add more into family preservation types of approaches, where rather than looking at placements and removing children, we try to prevent these types of situations from evening happening,” he said. 

“That involves the community being involved in parenting classes, and language, and culture, and ceremony. It means getting involved in healthy activities, and reducing addictions, dealing with trauma, dealing with grief.… It needs to be a comprehensive approach.”

Minimum standards of care are outlined within Bill C-92, which were created via consultation with over 2,000 groups. These include that child and family services must be culturally-appropriate for Indigenous children, that a child and family service provider must demonstrate that they made reasonable efforts to have a child continue to reside with their parent or other adult family member before removing them from their care; and that prevention services must be prioritized over protection services.

Under the law, Indigenous children cannot be apprehended solely on the basis of their socioeconomic conditions.

Taylor said that with these guidelines, communities can have alternative models to determine the safety of children and families, for instance in cases where decisions about a child’s welfare were heard before a provincial court.

“Rather than having a judge in a provincial court, who’s most likely not going to be Indigenous, making these decisions, they’re having a different decision-maker doing that. It’s not necessarily court, it can be something else,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to have innovation and more flexibility than really what’s a one-size-fits-all case with the provincial government system.”

For Picard, the decision should encourage an ideology change within the provincial government system. He said that Quebec’s resistance to consider First Nations a third form of “government” at the table alongside federal governments is fundamentally challenged by this decision.

“It requires a very serious reflection on their part,” he said. “To me, the decision confirms that our laws can prevail over federal and provincial laws if they’re not compatible. I think we have a very strong stance here.”

Quebec has not reacted publicly to the decision, though the Supreme Court is the highest court in Canada, and the province will not be able to appeal any further. Montour said that though it’ll be interesting to see the province’s response, the main victory is the safety of future generations of Indigenous children. 

“Our primary concern is the safety and wellbeing of our families and our communities,” he said. “That’s what we’re focusing on, not what Quebec’s going to do.”

[email protected]

This article was originally published in print on February 16 in issue 33.07 of The Eastern Door.

A coroner will investigate the death of a 13-year-old French tourist who struck a tree during a dogsled ride northwest of Montreal, provincial police said Tuesday.

Maison Boulud — Daniel Boulud’s acclaimed restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton, Montreal — has announced a collaboration with French chef Glenn Viel as part of Montréal en Lumière. Viel, who presides over the Provence restaurant Oustau de Baumanière, has been awarded three Michelin stars and one green star.

Chef Daniel Boulud and Executive Chef Romain Cagnat from Maison Boulud will welcome Viel to collaborate on a six-course menu that promises to “captivate every guest with culinary dreams and subtle emotions.” Reservations are available between 6 and 9 p.m. on Feb. 23 and 24.

The price is $360, with an optional $225 wine pairing featuring six wines selected by Maison Boulud’s Head Sommelier David Goirand.

For reservations, please contact [email protected].

For more on Maison Boulud, please visit their website.

For more on the food and drink scene in Montreal, please visit the Food & Drink section.

The post Daniel Boulud and 3-Michelin-star chef Glenn Viel unite for Montréal en Lumière this weekend appeared first on Cult MTL.

Canada's Leylah Fernandez is out of the Dubai Tennis Championship after losing 6-3, 6-4 to Italy's Jasmine Paolini in the second round Tuesday.

Nearly a quarter of the students enrolled in Quebec's accelerated and paid construction training program did not start classes in January as planned.

The following capsule review of Lou’s appears in the 2024 Montreal Restaurant Guide. To read the complete issue, please click here.

Lou’s

This swanky New American spot from restaurateurs Max Ruiz Laing (Loïc), chef Liam Barron (Loïc) and Peter Mant (Apt. 200, SuWu, École Privée, Name’s on the Way) brings nostalgic fine dining to the heart of Pointe-Claire Village. The stylish, late-’60s-inspired dining room by designer Kyle Goforth (Sid Lee) oozes sophistication and serves as the perfect backdrop for Barron’s steakhouse-meets-diner menu. Vintage steakhouse classics like Parker House rolls, onion dip and dry-aged steaks feature prominently but the signature cheeseburger might be the very best in the city. On the beverage side, cocktails are king and damn-good martinis are the star of the show. (309 Chem. du Bord-du-Lac-Lakeshore)

For more on Lou’s, please visit their website.

For more on the food and drink scene in Montreal, please visit the Food & Drink section.

The post Montreal Restaurant Guide: Lou’s appeared first on Cult MTL.

A look back at the Montreal musician's most essential songs ahead of the 2024 Juno Awards.

Actor Robert Englund, who played Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street films, is the first guest of honour to be revealed for Montreal Comiccon 2024.

Englund, who has also appeared in the TV series Stranger Things and V, among many other titles, will be accompanied by his Nightmare on Elm Street co-stars Amanda Wyss and Lisa Wilcox to mark the 40th anniversary of the franchise. They will be at Comiccon on July 6 and 7 for a photo session, autograph signing and on-stage discussion.

The complete lineup for Montreal Comiccon 2024 — which will take place from July 5 to 7 at Palais des Congrès — will be announced on March 19.

For our latest in film and TV, please visit the Film & TV section.

The post Robert Englund revealed as first guest of honour for Montreal Comiccon 2024 appeared first on Cult MTL.

Streaming guide JustWatch has revealed the top 10 TV shows streaming in Canada. Topping the charts following the return of Jon Stewart is late-night talk show and satirical news program The Daily Show, which is streaming now in Canada on Paramount+.

“Jon Stewart and The Daily Show news team cover the biggest headlines of the day.”

In second and third place are True Detective: Night Country (Crave) and Monsieur Spade (Prime Video).

For previous updates on the top movies and TV shows streaming in Canada, please see our weekly streaming report.

For our latest in film and TV, please visit the Film & TV section.

The post The Daily Show returns to #1 on streaming following return of Jon Stewart appeared first on Cult MTL.

This initiative is thanks to a partnership with Les Produits du Québec, a non-profit organization that, funded by the provincial government, aims to promote local products by certifying those made in Quebec.

Photographer Vania Larose has created an exhibit highlighting the stories of 27 people in the Sherbrooke, Que., area who have African heritage, in collaboration with the group Black Estrie.

The jury that will decide the fate of a Quebec man charged with the first-degree murder and sexual assault of a 19-year-old junior college student in 2000 was sequestered today after the judge began delivering instructions.

Antoine Bittar and Elizabeth Rivera told a legislature committee two weeks ago that a staff member of the CAQ said they should attend a $100-a-head fundraising cocktail if they wanted to meet Transport Minister Geneviève Guilbault.

In this episode of Changemakers, host Dionne Codrington speaks with Mubeenah Mughal about her acts of service.

Community members were notified about the presence of fuel in a creek by the Zachary Road area this Monday – days after the Kahnawake Environmental Protection Office (KEPO) first learned of it on Friday, February 9. 

Workers with KEPO discovered the fuel that Friday after a complaint came from a resident about the odour of gasoline, the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) shared in a notice Monday.  

It was later discovered after the complaint came in around 7 p.m. that fuel was leaking from a resident’s sump pump into a run-off ditch, KEPO shared in a statement with The Eastern Door. It was also then found in a nearby creek that leads to the Suzanne River. The fuel there isn’t believed to have originated from the homeowner, the office said. A clean-up started immediately after, running until 3 a.m.

“As soon as they got the call and monitored everything out there they started to deal with it,” said MCK chief Cody Diabo, the lead on the environment portfolio. 

A stretch of the Suzanne River in Kahnawake’s territory up to the Chateauguay border was also found to be contaminated, KEPO said.

The fuel discovered last Friday may have originated from a spill in Chateauguay that spread from a site near the river the city shares with Kahnawake, KEPO stated..

“They do have oil on site there in tanks,” said Diabo. “We had witnessed some fuel spillage in a ditch there and can trace it into Kahnawake.”

The chief has been in contact with the mayor of Chateauguay as the two jurisdictions collaborate with each other to tackle the problem.

Quebec’s environmental ministry confirmed the presence of fuel was reported to them by Environment Canada at a site near the Kahnawake-Chateauguay border earlier this Monday. It’s likely the remnants of a spill from a tank truck at a parking lot there on February 1, said Ghizlane Behdaoui, a spokesperson for the ministry. 

Firefighters and police responded then, she said, cleaning up the site and doing their best to prevent spread toward the river – however it seems their efforts weren’t fruitful. On Wednesday, a spill-response team from the province also attended the site, located at 2325 Ford Boulevard, she said. 

“They’re going to return and continue monitoring to ensure everything is going well and that the environment is protected and the population remains safe,” Behdaoui said.

Whether this is the source of the fuel in Kahnawake however is still being determined, she said, as the investigation is still ongoing. 

“Is it from the spill that happened on February 1? Or was it something else? I don’t think we can pinpoint something right now,” said Chateauguay mayor Eric Allard, who added they’re still awaiting the findings of the investigation. 

KEPO is continuing to carry out the clean-up, working in collaboration with Public Security, Public Works, and a spill-response team from the federal government.. Since then, workers have taken measures to absorb fuel from the creek. Outside professionals were also hired to vacuum out pooled fuel found in ditches by homes in the area.

Water safe to drink

Kahnawake Shakotiia’takehnhas Community Services (KSCS) has been testing the drinking water from wells along the road since Monday, reporting the water in the area is safe to drink. Some residents however were unhappy to hear they’d been drinking water for days without any knowledge it could have been contaminated.

Many residents in the area were only notified by the MCK about the spill on Monday, through a Facebook post at noon. It asked residents relying on wells there to avoid drinking the water and to avoid the impacted creek and river.

One mother who lives nearby said her children were drinking their home’s water because they had yet to learn about the spill until then. She declined to share her name, citing ties to someone involved in the response to the leak.

“Why were we not told right away not to drink it?” she said. “I would have expected a knock on my door.”

Diabo understands why some in the area are upset. If there’s some on Zachary Road who’ve yet to be contacted, he said it’s only because they weren’t identified as being at risk. 

“When everything was unfolding on the ninth, we didn’t know yet the information we know today. We had limited information at the time and we were still assessing,” he said. “I know there’s individuals who are rightfully so concerned. I think at this moment it’s best to remain calm.”

The Environmental Health Safety (EHS) team from KSCS also dropped off pamphlets at homes in the area earlier this Monday, said Mark J. Horne, the team’s lead. Any residents who want their water tested or have something to report are also being encouraged to reach them at 450-635-9945.

“If they detect the scent of diesel fuel or oil, then they’re to notify EHS or Public Safety immediately,” Horne said. 

The drinking water from the homes nearby will also continue to be monitored for up to the next two weeks, Horne said. 

Karihwanó:ron School, which is near the creek, temporarily moved its classes to the Kahnawake Youth Centre (KYC) on Tuesday as a precaution. They reopened the next day after water and air quality tests revealed nothing to worry about, said Joely van Dommelen, administrator at the Mohawk immersion school. 

[email protected]

This article was originally published in print on February 16 in issue 33.07 of The Eastern Door.

A study by the Angus Reid Institute has found that support for Donald Trump in the 2024 Presidential Election decreases the more educated one is.

The study found that President Joe Biden and Donald Trump are currently tied in support at 37% apiece. Included among the Americans planning to vote for Donald Trump are 41% of those with a high school diploma and 40% of graduates with an associate’s degree. Just 30% of Americans with university degrees plan to vote for Trump, significantly lower than those who plan to vote for President Joe Biden (50%), whose support increases the more educated one is. (For the complete table of results, please see page 3 in the report here.)

While favourability of Joe Biden is roughly equal between men (38%) and women (37%), Donald Trump is significantly more popular among men (42%) when compared to women (33%).

A separate Angus Reid study also found that 2 in 3 Canadians believe U.S. democracy ‘cannot survive’ another four years of Donald Trump.

The Angus Reid Institute conducted an online survey from Jan. 9 to 12, 2024 among a representative randomized sample of 1,178 American adults who are members of Angus Reid Forum USA.

For our latest in news, please visit the News section.

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Massimadi Foundation president Larent Lafontant has been working to bring these stories forward for over 15 years.

Quebec Premier François Legault announced on Sunday that the provincial government has made an offer — one that he refers to as a “big move” — to teachers and education staff including an increase in both salary and support. This comes at the close of the latest round of negotiations on collective agreements with unions that were one strike prior to the holidays.

Legault said that the new starting salary for Quebec teachers, should this agreement be accepted, would be $65,000, while the highest salary level would be $109,000, representing increases between 18.6% and 27% “with the compound effect.” The province would also commit to creating 5,000 new permanent positions for teachers and 4,000 full-time equivalent classroom assistants.

“I am confident that with the agreement we signed, salary conditions in the education sector will become much more attractive and that we will gradually fill all positions.

“But I want to say to all Quebecers: this choice will have financial consequences. The next budget will be largely in deficit because of this choice, among other things. But we do it for the good of the Quebec nation. As Premier, I fully accept this. It’s the responsible choice to make!”

For our latest in news, please visit the News section.

The post Legault announces ‘big move’ salary pitch to Quebec teachers and resulting budget deficit appeared first on Cult MTL.

Following a three-week survey, the Association québécoise des centres d'intervention en dépendance (AQCID) identified 93 high schools that do not offer drug prevention services.

The role of casinos in Canadian entertainment

According to the Canadian Gaming Association, the total income from the gambling industry nationwide is about $10-15 billion annually, which is quite a lot for a country with a population of ~37.59 million. Today, Canadians play in the most prominent gambling platforms, like, for example, Pin Up casino, where anyone can become a guest and try their luck in slots, card, and table games. In addition, the gambling industry has a significant impact on the entertainment industry.

Show business goes hand in hand with gambling in Canada

The gambling industry has been regulated by law since 1999, which means that operates is Pin Up casino legal. Attracting tourists to Canada is similar to how world-famous gambling houses in Las Vegas invite famous artists to entertain guests. In local casinos, you can meet pop stars and even enjoy performances by Cirque du Soleil. Dance and orchestral show programs, theatrical performances, and performances by famous singers and DJs – guests of gambling clubs in Canada have access to various entertainment.

Casino de Montreal, located in the vicinity of Quebec, is one of the largest gambling establishments in Canada. This and other large casinos in the country have gained popularity due to several factors: 

● legalization of gambling in Canada (since 1999);

● exciting, colorful show programs and various events;

● infrastructural development;

● diversification of services. 

Every major casino in Canada has a luxurious concert hall where comedy stars, singers, theater, and show business artists perform on stage. You can meet celebrities like Bryan Adams, Celine Dion, and Jim Carrey.

Economic and cultural influence

The active development of the Canadian gambling industry since the legalization of gambling has had a significant impact on the economy and culture of the country. Casinos, directly or indirectly, influence the volume of jobs in Canada, developing not only gambling clubs but also related areas – hotel business, restaurants, and service personnel. Gambling in North America helps increase incomes and reduce unemployment.

Moreover, local establishments attract tourists from all over the world, which strengthens the region’s economy. Canadian casinos often support the arts and culture sector by organizing exhibitions, concerts, theater productions, and other events.

Problems and opportunities of gambling in Canada

Gambling operators in Canada, including Pin Up casino, are subject to strict regulations and legislation. Gambling laws, taxation, labor protection, and other legal acts make operating establishments somewhat more complex. Plus, there is competition: it is difficult to stand out and attract visitors in the free world. The gambling industry in Canada is developing dynamically, offering guests more exciting options and integrating VR technologies and artificial intelligence.

Casinos in Canada – a combination of leisure and excitement

Gambling casinos in Canada, including Pin-Up casino, offer guests a lot of exciting entertainment in addition to gambling. Visitors can take their minds off gambling by enjoying performances by world celebrities on stage in the casino’s concert hall. The gambling industry influences the entertainment sector and the country’s economy, although it faces some specific difficulties. But this does not prevent the flow of tourists hungry for thrills from increasing.

The post How do Canadian casinos affect the country’s entertainment industry and economy? appeared first on Cult MTL.

Near the mid-point a journey from Senegal to Italy, a teenage boy named Seydou is kidnapped and ransomed by Libyan gangsters. Beaten and tortured, his hallucinations spill into the film. The shaman he encountered before his journey appears in a dream, offering to send a message to his mother. In the crowded cell, the young man screams out for her, “Maman, Maman!” Amidst the careless violence we’ve seen up to this point, the casual disregard for dignity and life, the men in the cell comfort Seydou. Martin (Issaka Sawadogo), an older man, cradles him in his arms. It’s a moment of tremendous tenderness, shedding light on the darkness. 

Io, Capitano is Italy’s official submission for the Best International Film at the Oscars and Matteo Garrone’s latest directorial effort. Garrone, best known abroad for his first film, Gomorrah, injects a fantastic atmosphere into the tale of a young man’s journey to achieve his dreams. It’s a movie that captures the space between law and disorder, where criminal activity flourishes. As we watch as the innocent Seydou, who dreams of helping his family and achieving his musical dreams, descend into hell, we see the complex system of oppression that spreads in a world ruled by fear and greed. 

For the most part, the film showcases a rather “naturalistic” view of Seydou’s journey. It’s a film that takes its time and shows how each step of the way isn’t exactly what it seems. The writing strikes a careful balance as it shows Seydou as a young man who doesn’t have an especially hard life but whose naivety guides him along the path of the desperate, along with his cousin Moussa. The film never abandons classical forms as it aestheticizes Seydou’s journey rather than merely documents.

Though the trailer and some reviews make note of the film’s fantastical elements, and they are certainly present, they are brief and sparse. They feel like a filmic gift on the part of the filmmaker, a way of allowing the inner world’s imagination and traditions to become integrated into the fabric of the storytelling. While some films allow trauma and pain in fantasy to overwhelm the substance of a message, here, it only enhances it. It allows for threads of belief to change perspectives and offer new ideas. It forces the audience to imagine what happens to the souls lost on this journey, lost to their families and loved ones, the intimate connection to their ancestor’s lands and beliefs potentially severed forever.

While mostly successful, Io, Capitano does falter in some ways. As mentioned earlier, the very conventional aesthetic form ends up hampering a sense of intimacy, rendering the journey more fictional than not. This connects with the film’s intense subjectivity, which forces events through the eyes of Seydou. While mostly effectice, this does lead (particularly in the final act) to some clumsy storytelling as Seydou stumbles upon people and incidents that are more narratively convenient than especially motivated. 

Yet, it’s difficult to ignore the film’s overall power. In the film’s final part, Seydou must take charge of a boat. Once again, it’s a narrative convenience, but as we watch this child manoeuvre a boat, it’s difficult not to imagine how he’s been forced to take charge of his life and the lives of others so suddenly and so brutally. It’s a moment that paradoxically is hopeful and tragic, as the boat feels like a metaphor for our world — how young men like Seydou will inherit the earth, and instead of uplifting them, we spit on them. It’s a film that captures his resilience, but above all, how his grace allows him to survive without compromising his core beliefs. The film’s subtext seems well aware that this is a narrative conceit, and it is not just luck that casts a happy eye on Seydou’s fortune but the power of the pen. 

Io, Capitano avoids many of the pitfalls of tragedy-porn but also fails to transcend them fully. It’s a film that aims to humanize, but that only fully works if you’re building on a perceived lack of humanity in the first place (if not out of malice, out of a lack of care). The film, a Senegalese story made by an Italian, is a European film for a European audience. It’s well made but hampered by convention and an outsider’s gaze. ■

Io, Capitano (aka Me Captain, with English subtitles) opens in Montreal theatres on Friday, Feb. 16.

For more film and TV coverage, please visit our Film & TV section.

The post Io, Capitano is Italy’s contender for the Best International Feature Oscar appeared first on Cult MTL.

A 51-year-old woman is dead after being critically injured in a knife attack Monday in Saint-Basile-le-Grand, Que., on Montreal's South Shore.

Before the Château Montebello was even called the Château Montebello, it inspired an imitation from a hard-partying member of one of Ottawa's most prominent families.

With the Paris 2024 Olympic Games fast approaching, young athletes tried to catch the attention of talent scouts at the RBC Training Ground on Sunday.

Elaine Chuli made 21 saves for her fourth win in as many starts as Montreal defeated Minnesota 2-1 in the Professional Women's Hockey League on Sunday afternoon in Laval, Que.

"The choice we made to invest massively in public services will have financial consequences," warned Quebec Premier François Legault ahead of next month's budget.