Authors > P.A. Sévigny
P.A. Sévigny
Montrealers take to streets to support Iran’s people
By P.A. Sévigny on July 2, 2009
Over the past 10 days thousands of Montrealers have marched through the downtown core to protest what they described as a “stolen election” and Iran’s “Islamic coup d’état”. As the march made its way through the downtown core on its way to the Guy Favreau complex on Réné Lévesque Blvd, many participants told The Métropolitain they were there to support all their friends and relatives who were facing gas, water cannon and police bullets on the streets of Iran’s capital city, Teheran...
City taxi bureau’s RCG 08-022
By P.A. Sévigny on July 2, 2009
As the poorest of the city’s working poor, Montreal’s cab drivers are caught between a rock and a hard place. Once a cab driver gets behind the wheel and puts the key into the ignition, city by-law RCG08-022 will define the next 12 hours of his working life. In section 1 of the city by-law, article #59 defines a working taxi as any vehicle on the road with a dome, a working meter, a working radio and a visible pocket number. As article #59 draws the line between the city’s working taxis and everybody else on the road, city cab drivers are warning city authorities there could be serious trouble if police don’t stop their discrimination against them and their business. While everybody is supposed to be equal under the law, several city cab drivers say the city’s by-law turns them into second class citizens subject to a series of rules and regulations which is ruining their business and their means to make a living...
Ticketing our trash (DATE DE PARUTION 10 JUILLET 2008)
By P.A. Sévigny on June 18, 2009
Last December, shortly before taking a taxi to the airport for an early-morning flight, Montreal writer Alan Hustak dropped a small bag of garbage into one of the city’s garbage cans in Old Montreal. Only a few days after he came back from his Christmas holiday, he received a letter from the Ville Marie borough authorities with included a $187 ticket for having broken one of the borough’s new municipal garbage by-laws...
“It’s been fifteen years…” Michael Manning
By P.A. Sévigny on May 28, 2009
As of two weeks ago, it’s been fifteen years since Michael Manning heard his daughter Tara’s alarm clock go off while he was making an egg sandwich for breakfast. When nobody turned it off, he went to her room to wake her up for school.
“I still remember how the cover was drawn up to her chin,” he said as the tears flowed down his face. “I still recall how I thought she was sleeping until I touched her….and when I pulled the cover off, that’s when I knew my baby was dead.”..
City’s red light district moves to the ‘Net
By P.A. Sévigny on May 6, 2009
Police officials report street prostitution for both genders has nearly been eliminated and swept off the streets in both the downtown core and the east-end’s Hochelaga-Maisonneuve districts.
There’s always a market for sex,” said one downtown police officer, “…but now it’s off the streets and on the web which is fine with us.”
Sunday’s C.R.A.P. demo
By P.A. Sévigny on March 19, 2009
Last Sunday afternoon, only minutes after they began to gather in front of the Mount Royal Metro station, Montreal’s CRAP (La Coalition contre la Repression et les Abus Policiers ) lost no time as they began to pick their annual fight with city’s police...
A 3.5 million dollar miracle on Hickmore St.
By P.A. Sévigny on February 26, 2009
All of the pallets measure four by four by four feet high full of shrink-wrapped cases of macaroni and cheese, soup, pickles and jam. Rented cube vans wait patiently for their turn at the loading docks while lift trucks race around the warehouse piled high with crates full of broccoli, potatoes, onions and apples. In the back under the lights, at least two dozen volunteers are sorting through thousands of oranges as the bad ones are tossed into a loader at the end of the table...
Traffic cops rack up record city revenue
By P.A. Sévigny on February 5, 2009
For the third year in a row, the city broke its own record as police and parking authorities managed to rack up almost $200M for assorted parking and driving code offenses committed on the island and in the city. Based upon a 6% increase over the number of tickets issued during the previous year, informed critics and more than a few outraged drivers believe the city’s draconian parking policies are nothing less than a “hidden tax”.,,
City still working on anti-poverty initiative with Quebec
By P.A. Sévigny on January 15, 2009
Just before Christmas the ruling majority at City Hall voted down a request for an emergency $500 000 donation to the city’s desperate food banks...
No charges to be laid against Mtl. North police
By P.A. Sévigny on December 18, 2008
Following a two-month investigation and the intensive SQ (Sureté du Québec) inquiry into the shooting death of 18 year-old Montreal North teenager Freddy Villanueva, Québec Justice Official Louis Drouin recently confirmed no charges would be laid against SPVM constables Jean-Loup Lapointe and his partner, Stéphanie Pilote...
SAQ coming down on east-end topless landmark
By P.A. Sévigny on November 27, 2008
At 8:30 in the morning, the fast-food restaurant on Hochelaga Street was just as busy as any other fast-food joint in the city — perhaps busier. While Les Princesses served fast-food breakfast meals just like any other of its kind in the city, the well-known restaurant also had a liquor license. For almost 10 years, Gaetan Thomas, its owner, said the restaurant was doing good business before Quebec liquor board authorities recently decided to revoke his liquor license. Now he will probably have to close the business.,,
“..Some things are worth fighting for!”
By P.A. Sévigny on November 13, 2008
Last Sunday, Montreal’s St. James United Church held its annual Remembrance Day service to honor all who served and died for this nation during all of its wars.,,
Call it ‘The Sandwich Generation’
By P.A. Sévigny on November 13, 2008
Last Sunday, a new resource group called The Professionals Network for Caregivers, (Réseau des Professionels pour les Proches Aidants) held their annual resource fair at the Centre Mont-Royal in the downtown core...
Concordia’s Place Norman Bethune finally taking shape
By P.A. Sévigny on October 30, 2008
After years of discussion, assorted arguments, endless urban planning and a lot of construction, a statue raised to honor the memory of Dr. Norman Bethune, a hero of the Chinese revolution, will be located at the heart of one of the city’s more successful urban design projects...
Trudeau takes north end riding
By P.A. Sévigny on October 16, 2008
ustin Trudeau learns fast. He waited till all the votes were in and counted before thanking his wife, his friends, his campaign workers and especially the people of his riding for their faith, their trust and their votes...
A pastor for Jeanne Le Ber
By P.A. Sévigny on October 2, 2008
When Darryl Grey realized he couldn’t think of anybody he would want to vote for, he saw no reason why he shouldn’t run for parliament. As the pastor for Little Burgundy’s Imani Family and Full Gospel Church, he knew why he had to run for parliament...
Concordia back at the table
By P.A. Sévigny on September 18, 2008
Just days after classes resumed at Concordia, the university’s part-time faculty association is getting ready to pull the rug out from under the administration’s feet...
Police walking “thin line” in Montreal North
By P.A. Sévigny on September 4, 2008
Only days after the shooting of Freddy Villanueva and the ensuing riot that ripped through the streets of Montreal North, SPVM Police Chief Yvan Delorme said the city’s police were doing everything possible to re-establish law, order and “a sense of security” in the district...
What constitutes appropriate force?
By P.A. Sévigny on September 4, 2008
Canadian police and other law enforcement officials will have to wait until 2009 to answer questions posed about the safe and efficient use of their ubiquitous ‘Taser’ stun guns...
Garneau still holds healthy lead
By P.A. Sévigny on August 21, 2008
With only three short weeks to go before polling day in the Westmount-Ville Marie by-election, Liberal candidate Marc Garneau seems to have a healthy lead and there’s no reason why he should lose it before election day...
Ottawa should learn from Québec’s censorship history
By P.A. Sévigny on August 21, 2008
The federal government should take the time to watch Québec journalist Eric Parent’s new film, “Les Ennemis du Cinéma” before letting Canada’s fundamentalist evangelical groups bully him into making a humiliating, and possibly fatal error for his party’s chances in a not-too-distant election...
It really does take a village
By P.A. Sévigny on August 7, 2008
After years of work spent on the cutting edge of the city’s paediatric medicine field, Dr. Gilles Julien and Dr. Nicholas Steinmetz aren’t ready to give up on the children...
Ticketing our trash
By P.A. Sévigny on July 10, 2008
Last December, shortly before taking a taxi to the airport for an early-morning flight, Montreal writer Alan Hustak dropped a small bag of garbage into one of the city’s garbage cans in Old Montreal. Only a few days after he came back from his Christmas holiday, he received a letter from the Ville Marie borough authorities with included a $187 ticket for having broken one of the borough’s new municipal garbage by-laws...
Marc Garneau et « la cohesione sociale »
By P.A. Sévigny on June 26, 2008
When Marc Garneau flew in space, he could see the entire country from coast to coast and then some. Years later, now that he’s Stéphane Dion’s Liberal candidate in Westmount-Ville Marie, he’s still gets to cover a lot of territory but this time it’s on the ground as he gets to know the streets of his riding...
Women protest global sex trade
By P.A. Sévigny on June 26, 2008
As Formula-One festivities were taking over the streets in the downtown core, a small but determined group of women stood their ground against the passing crowds on the corner of Montreal’s party central- Crescent and Ste. Catherine Street. While the women, all dressed in solid black, stood out among the crowds, they still managed to convince hundreds of people to sign their petition and to send signed postcards to Prime Minister Stephen Harper asking him to do something about the globe’s flourishing trade in human flesh...
Reasonable accommodations
By P.A. Sévigny on May 29, 2008
Le complexe d’Icare de Sébastian Maltais
By P.A. Sévigny on May 29, 2008
Dans un monde où la communication visuelle se trouve souvent réduite à guère plus qu’un gribouillage bidimensionnel non loin du plus commun graffiti de banlieue, certains pourraient considérer la plus récente exposition de Sébastian Maltais comme le début d’une ère nouvelle pour la communauté d’arts visuels montréalaise...
Le Quartier des Spectacles
By P.A. Sévigny on May 15, 2008
So what about the toilets? That was just one of the questions asked of the Ville-Marie urban planning commission during last week’s public consultation meeting...
Ottawa should learn from Québec’s censorship history
By P.A. Sévigny on May 1, 2008
he federal government should take the time to watch Québec journalist Eric Parent’s new film, “Les Ennemis du Cinéma” before letting Canada’s fundamentalist evangelical groups bully him into making a humiliating, and possibly fatal error for his party’s chances in a not-too-distant election...
Community action saves Montreal’s music chapel
By P.A. Sévigny on May 1, 2008
When Tremblay administration executives threatened to cut off all the funding as required by the downtown core’s Chapelle Bon Pasteur concert program, an outraged protest from every corner of Montreal’s music community forced the mayor’s office to back off. Once the protest began to work its way into the city’s media, city officials were forced to restore the funding required to maintain one of the city’s more successful and cherished cultural programs...
