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Montreal Gazette
2 hours ago
- Health
- Montreal Gazette
Letters: 28 Years Later offers lessons in humanity
The poster for the film 28 Years Later features what appear to be hundreds of human skulls stacked in a pyramid. Presumably, these are skulls of those who have fallen to the 'rage virus' first introduced in 28 Days Later in 2002. But this third instalment in the series is about far more than incredibly disturbing sequences of bloody mayhem. Surprisingly, characters like Dr. Kelson, played by Ralph Fiennes, have many poignant lessons to teach us about humanity. Physicians should watch this movie because it shows how to communicate with a patient in a respectable way. Politicians should watch it because it proves that beauty in the world trumps the ugliness of war. And people in general should enjoy it for the perfectly balanced action and horror tempered by genuine moments of affection. Nathan Friedland, Roxboro Sowing the seeds of peace We must be grateful to Allison Hanes for her column about the tragedy of genocide and mass killings and for shedding light on Heidi Berger's work in genocide education. Instead of subscribing to war, let us follow the inspiring example of the Green Legacy Hiroshima organization, which has distributed, worldwide, the seeds and saplings of trees that survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. These trees have served as an inspiration for the rebirth of Hiroshima and are considered trees of peace. Montreal and Hiroshima are sister cities, and saplings from a surviving ginkgo biloba tree were planted in Montreal in 2018 in the name of peace. Let us plant trees instead of killing people with bombs. Shloime Perel, Côte-St-Luc Education is key to disease prevention In the 1950s, '60s and '70s, parents had their children vaccinated against serious and highly communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, polio and measles, for their own health and for society at large. Many parents today are ignorant of the harm such diseases cause or are misinformed about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines. We need to better educate people about the science and importance of disease prevention and ensure all children are vaccinated against any communicable disease before they enter the school system. We do not want to repeat the tragic past of children dying from preventable diseases. Mary Armstrong, Montreal Call for vigilance in Côte-St-Luc Re: ' Côte-St-Luc mayor proposes measures Montreal could take to help Jewish community feel safer ' (The Gazette, June 10) As a resident of Côte-St-Luc, it was reassuring to read that our mayor, Mitchell Brownstein, urged Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante to take immediate action in response to rising security concerns for the Jewish community. Since Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, there has been a spike in antisemitic incidents. In response to this grave situation, Brownstein proposed several measures Plante could take, including the creation of buffer zones around vulnerable locations. He also appealed to citizens to be vigilant and report anything suspicious. We all have a civic duty to protect our freedom and security. Vivianne M. Silver, Côte-St-Luc Submitting a letter to the editor Letters should be sent by email to letters@ We prioritize letters that respond to, or are inspired by, articles published by The Gazette. If you are responding to a specific article, let us know which one. Letters should be sent uniquely to us. The shorter they are — ideally, fewer than 200 words — the greater the chance of publication. Timing, clarity, factual accuracy and tone are all important, as is whether the writer has something new to add to the conversation. We reserve the right to edit and condense all letters. Care is taken to preserve the core of the writer's argument. Our policy is not to publish anonymous letters, those with pseudonyms or 'open letters' addressed to third parties. Letters are published with the author's full name and city or neighbourhood/borough of residence. Include a phone number and address to help verify identity; these will not be published. We will not indicate to you whether your letter will be published. If it has not been published within 10 days or so, it is not likely to be.
Montreal Gazette
a day ago
- Politics
- Montreal Gazette
Letters: Opportunity knocks for Pablo Rodriguez and the Quebec Liberal Party
Re: ' PQ and Liberals battle it out in new poll as CAQ droops ' (The Gazette, June 26) The most recent Léger poll has the Quebec Liberal Party trailing the leading Parti Québécois by just two percentage points and ahead of the Coalition Avenir Québec by 11 points. What an opportunity for Liberal Leader Pablo Rodriguez. For an example, take the sizzling New York City mayoral campaign of young, new political star Zohran Mamdani. His campaign is focused on hope for every citizen, embracing immigrants and a promise 'to reach further, to understand the perspectives of those with whom I disagree, and to wrestle deeply with those disagreements,' as he said in a speech last week. Voters are searching for enlightened leaders. If Rodriguez can deliver on a similar vision, I think the premiership of la belle province awaits him. Barry Beloff, Montreal Redefine limits of academic freedom Re: ' Prayer rooms, student groups increased tensions over Israel-Hamas war at CEGEPs: report ' (The Gazette, June 27) The results of a Quebec government investigation into allegations of tensions at Vanier and Dawson colleges are not surprising. A climate of hostility has been reported at universities and colleges not only in Quebec, but across the country since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israeli civilians. Aggressive student groups and course content with a political agenda are driving factors of a well-documented campaign that has taken root in our academic institutions. The teachers union's contention that CEGEPs must remain spaces where young people can be challenged and feel free to debate is quite valid. However, the present boundaries of academic freedom do not promote this vision. Instead of being encouraged to enter into dialogue, students with differing opinions are shouted down or silenced in classrooms and public spaces on campus. Pluralistic views on the conflict in Gaza are seemingly not tolerated. It is high time to redefine the limits of academic freedom so that this hallmark of democracy is not used to justify aggression. Students deserve an education, not indoctrination. Marcy Bruck, the Foundation for Genocide Education, Montreal Campus prayer rooms aren't the problem Amid the findings of the government report on tensions at CEGEPs, there was one in particular that I feel is not just misguided, but downright offensive: an argument against the presence of prayer rooms for Jewish and Muslim students on campus. Let's be clear: Prayer rooms aren't political soapboxes. They're spaces for quiet reflection, for people of different faiths to practise in peace. In a city as proudly multicultural as Montreal, offering them isn't some special 'privilege' to be revoked when situations get tense. It's basic respect. Lumping prayer rooms in with student groups that use divisive slogans or escalate conflicts is absurd. The two aren't remotely the same. One exists to deepen understanding of self and community. The other actively tries to fracture it. If we want to cool tensions on campus, removing places for respectful spiritual practice is exactly the wrong move. We should be modelling tolerance and accommodation, not punishing it. Lindi Ross, Carignan Submitting a letter to the editor Letters should be sent by email to letters@ We prioritize letters that respond to, or are inspired by, articles published by The Gazette. If you are responding to a specific article, let us know which one. Letters should be sent uniquely to us. The shorter they are — ideally, fewer than 200 words — the greater the chance of publication. Timing, clarity, factual accuracy and tone are all important, as is whether the writer has something new to add to the conversation. We reserve the right to edit and condense all letters. Care is taken to preserve the core of the writer's argument. Our policy is not to publish anonymous letters, those with pseudonyms or 'open letters' addressed to third parties. Letters are published with the author's full name and city or neighbourhood/borough of residence. Include a phone number and address to help verify identity; these will not be published. We will not indicate to you whether your letter will be published. If it has not been published within 10 days or so, it is not likely to be.
Montreal Gazette
4 days ago
- Politics
- Montreal Gazette
Quebec report reveals Dawson student admitted to writing messages in private social media group
News A Quebec government report into tensions at two Montreal colleges has revealed new details about hateful messages posted in a social media group, singling out a Dawson student as one of the 'main participants.' The report, published Friday by Quebec's Ministry of Higher Education, noted Dawson CEGEP received an anonymous email on May 9 containing screenshots from a 'social media sharing group' involving students from several institutions. The messages were described in the report as 'hateful, antisemitic, racist, and threatening to various groups.' While the platform is not named in the report, The Gazette understands the group operated on Discord and was known as Med serveur, a private channel for aspiring medical students with more than 1,400 members before it was shut down in May after the messages surfaced. According to the report, Dawson took 'swift action' in response to the anonymous complaint. 'The articles concerning the student were removed from the College's website and a meeting was arranged with the student,' the report observed, alluding to previous unrelated Dawson announcements about the individual. 'During this meeting, he confirmed that he was the author of the messages and provided certain explanations.' The student in question has declined to be interviewed by The Gazette. The report adds while 'some comments are deemed inappropriate,' they did not constitute incitement to 'violence.' Part of the section concerning the student was redacted. It remains unclear what disciplinary measures, if any, were taken. In a statement earlier this year, Dawson confirmed it had completed its internal investigation, but could not disclose the outcome because of student privacy laws. 'We had no awareness of this group before the complaint,' Donna Varrica, Dawson's director of communications, wrote in an email. 'It would be impossible to monitor the use of all social media platforms among a population of nearly 10,000 Dawson students.' The report acknowledges the student's posts would have violated the college's Code of Conduct if they were made in an academic context or explicitly linked to the institution. 'The decision to intervene is difficult,' the report stated, 'because institutions do not have control over everything that is published on the internet. Their only leverage … is when the College's identification (official name) is included in the publication.' The case was part of a broader government investigation into tensions at English-language CEGEPs following the outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war. The report, which also reviewed Vanier College, raised concerns about political student groups and the presence of prayer spaces. It recommends clearer guidelines on academic freedom and stricter enforcement of Quebec's secularism law, known as Bill 21. This story was originally published June 28, 2025 at 2:44 PM.
Montreal Gazette
6 days ago
- Business
- Montreal Gazette
His St-Henri apartment burned down. Now he has less than a week to find a new home
By A Montreal man whose St-Henri apartment burned down is scrambling to find a new home less than a week before Quebec's traditional moving day. Egor Matveev, 23, says finding a replacement has been 'taxing' in Montreal's cutthroat housing market. 'Every day, we have this anxiety,' said Matveev, because he says landlords move quickly from one rental candidate to the next, and leases for affordable rentals get signed fast. Matveev was at a cottage with his girlfriend on the weekend of June 14 when they learned from The Gazette that the roof of their apartment building at 3617 Notre-Dame St. W. burned down. 'My girlfriend started crying when we saw it,' he said in an interview, adding they drove home right away to inspect the damage. 'It was terrible.' Matveev and his partner, Kathleen Hare, 29, had moved into the apartment only two weeks before the building caught fire, leaving multiple units damaged. They have been in a long-distance relationship for three years, and Hare moved from Ontario to Montreal at the beginning of June so they could finally live together, just before their three-year anniversary on Fête nationale. 'It was a big move. We had a filled-up U-Haul truck all the way from Ontario. And I had six guys, six of my friends. Everyone helped us move. … It was a big triumph at the end when we finished.' Losing the apartment two weeks before moving day, Matveev has been forced to apartment hunt during one of Montreal's most competitive housing markets in decades — the housing vacancy rate sat at 1.5 per cent in 2024, and rent prices have been ballooning since the housing tribunal set a steep 5.9 per cent rent increase guideline this year. A recent report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation also estimates that Montreal faces the largest housing supply gap of all Canadian cities with a population above 100,000. Matveev says compared to other tenants in his building, he feels like 'one of the luckier ones.' 'I have a stable job, I have somewhere to stay, and I'm not looking for the place I'm gonna sleep tonight,' since he and his girlfriend had been staying at his mom's home in LaSalle and moved to an Airbnb on Saturday, which is partly covered by their tenants' insurance. When Matveev saw one of his neighbours right after the fire, 'he was curled up in a ball, (with a) dead stare.' Until Wednesday, Matveev hadn't received word from the landlord, Sergakis Holdings Inc., about reimbursing the rent for the second half of the month. Matveev said he'd tried to reach the landlord several times by phone since the fire, and planned to visit their office in-person after the Fête nationale. One day after The Gazette emailed Sergakis Holdings Inc. with questions about reimbursement, Matveev received a general communication from the landlord promising all tenants in the building they'll be able to collect the reimbursement in cheque form sometime next week. Sergakis Holdings Inc. did not provide any further comment in time for publication. A professor in McGill's Urban Planning department, Anna Kramer, says residential fires often benefit landlords. 'They have insurance. They get to, most likely, kick their tenant out and raise the rent to whatever they want. They get money to renovate their building,' she said in an interview. 'Sure, it's an inconvenience, but in a way, it's a strategic game for them.' Unless the building is a write-off, tenants have the right to return to their apartment after it's been repaired and pay the same rent price as before, which Kramer says many tenants are unaware of. But in order to do so, the tenant must file an application no later than 10 days after the fire. Kramer says residential fires have been a common problem in Montreal, particularly in old rental units. Older wood-frame buildings with outdated electrical setups are at higher risk of fires, she said. That's not the case for the St-Henri apartment building, which was built in 2006 according to the city of Montreal's property roll. 'There's really no incentive for (landlords) to keep the electrical safe, and that puts a huge risk on tenants who, you know, not only potentially lose their homes and belongings, but also potentially their lives,' Kramer added. A dearth of affordable housing Matveev and his partner were paying $1,550 for the one-bedroom apartment, plus utilities. He's been searching for places in a similar price range in Verdun to live close to his work, but says the competition has been intense for older and cheaper units. 'The landlord could go like, 'hey, actually, I have another person that signed. Sorry,'' which he says happened to him days ago after he pressed the landlord with follow-up questions about the building. When he moved to the St-Henri apartment, Matveev said he was visiting up to three apartments per week for a month and a half before finding something. Now, with Quebec's moving day approaching — a tradition where many leases begin on July 1, causing a surge in apartment hunting — he's stepped up his search, visiting 'four or five places a day' to keep up with the competition. According to Arnold Bennnett of the Arnold Bennett Housing Hotline, people who lose their homes to fire are meant to be given priority for public housing. But Kramer alleges 'there's not nearly enough social housing for the demand and affordable housing … a lot of people are just left to their own devices.' 'If (the city) were actually doing something to build non-market housing, then there would be more housing available for all the people who need it,' she added. Kramer pointed to an inclusionary zoning regulation that the city adopted in 2021, the 20-20-20 policy, that she believes has been a failure. The law compels construction companies to ensure that 20 per cent of a project is social housing, 20 per cent is affordable housing and 20 per cent is family housing. 'They completely let that slide and didn't enforce it,' she said, and is uncertain whether a single housing development has been compliant with the regulation. The Gazette reached out to the city for comment, but did not get a response in time for publication. Kramer pointed out that the rate of available housing supply is unhelpful if new developments are not affordable. 'This whole idea — that building more luxury housing means that we're going to have more affordable housing — doesn't actually hold out.'
Montreal Gazette
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Montreal Gazette
Letters: MNAs' salary hike should be sacrificed to fund schools
Re: ' Quebec children are paying price for CAQ's reckless spending, English school boards say ' (The Gazette, June 20) François Legault once criticized the then-Liberal Quebec government for slashing education budgets, saying he would never allow such cuts to happen if he were premier. Well, it's happening and the next generation of children will pay dearly for these impossible cuts to funding. Why doesn't Legault's government cut 30 per cent from MNAs' salaries? Wouldn't they want to sacrifice that 2023 salary hike to ensure schoolchildren get the best education possible? Joyce Stempkowsky, N.D.G. English schools due for reorganization Badmouthing the Coalition Avenir Québec government for budget cuts to public schools does not address the real issues. A defensive strategy is essential, as there is no doubt that these budget cuts will have negative effects on the well-being of students by either eliminating or diminishing critical services. The English sector must confront reality: Its on-island schools are facing dwindling enrolment. The community should consider reorganizing its school network by either closing, merging or transferring underused schools to the French system. This strategy would enable the community's educational funds to be allocated more efficiently and facilitate the establishment of larger English schools. By extension, there would be more student services, which would prove advantageous for kids. Short-term pain for long-term gain. Chris Eustace, Pierrefonds Foster growth with bilingual designation for city Re: ' We're unlikely partners with a shared vision of a better Quebec ' (Opinion, June 19) Frédéric Lapointe and Eva Ludvig underline that the best solution for Quebec is for anglophones and francophones to respect and support each other while working together to build a better, healthier and wealthier Quebec. Most anglophones realize being bilingual strengthens their ability to help build that Quebec. Political anglophobia, however, must end. I would like to see a brighter political and financial future for Quebec by Montreal being declared a bilingual city. This would attract new businesses to build up our economy. Jack Hoffman, Côte-St-Luc Not all holidays are treated equally Imagine my surprise when shopping recently at an IGA and seeing a sign on the door informing customers the store would be closed on June 24, but fully open on July 1. Were they trying to tell us something? André Bordeleau, Dorval Shining a light on seniors' concerns Re: ' A head-to-toe look at keeping an aging body healthy ' (Alice Lukacs, June 17) As an octogenarian in a society where ageism often plays a major role, I offer kudos to Alice Lukacs for so effectively describing the challenges of life as a senior when 'age takes its toll and even a great doctor can't stop that.' The fact that space was allocated to address the health concerns of seniors acknowledges that life for them and for all of us is sacred. Lukacs appears to be on the same page as celebrated Belgian fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg, who so aptly said: 'Aging is out of your control. How you handle it, though, is in your hands.' Brahms E. Silver, Côte-St-Luc Submitting a letter to the editor Letters should be sent by email to letters@ We prioritize letters that respond to, or are inspired by, articles published by The Gazette. If you are responding to a specific article, let us know which one. Letters should be sent uniquely to us. The shorter they are — ideally, fewer than 200 words — the greater the chance of publication. Timing, clarity, factual accuracy and tone are all important, as is whether the writer has something new to add to the conversation. We reserve the right to edit and condense all letters. Care is taken to preserve the core of the writer's argument. Our policy is not to publish anonymous letters, those with pseudonyms or 'open letters' addressed to third parties. Letters are published with the author's full name and city or neighbourhood/borough of residence. Include a phone number and address to help verify identity; these will not be published. We will not indicate to you whether your letter will be published. If it has not been published within 10 days or so, it is not likely to be.
