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News October 4th 2011

Produced By Dominique Daoust

Read By Luciana Gravotta

Articles By: Michael Lemieux, Brandon Judd, Niki Mohrdar and Nikita Smith

Quebec Activists Want Safe Injection Site Too

homelessActivists across the country are advocating for safe injection sites after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of allowing it under provincial jurisdiction.

A group of Quebec activists want the government to open a supervised drug injection site in multiple locations throughout the province. 

They hope by doing so they will stop the spread of disease caused by used needles.

Montreal currently has a needle exchange program where people can go to inject their drugs under the supervision of medical professionals.

But renovations and distance from downtown has warranted criticism of the Saint-Roch facility.

Quebec Health Minister Yves Belduc said in May that the province would look into more sites if the Supreme Court made this ruling.

Nobel Laureate Dies

Dr. Ralph Steinman of Rockefeller University speaks during a news conference in Albany, N.Y., April 24, 2009. (AP / Mike Groll)

One of the winners of this year’s Nobel Prize in medicine died Friday.

Dr. Ralph Steinman, a Montreal born scientist, was announced as one of the recipients three days after his death.

The decision comes as a surprise. The Nobel foundation does not give prizes to deceased scientists. However since he died after being chosen for the award, the prize is allowed. 

He was honoured with the award for his work on dendritic cells. Cells key to fighting infections and cancer.

He was 68 and working at Rockefeller University. He died of pancreatic cancer.

The award was shared with an American and French scientist.

 

Daniel Paillé Announces Bloc Leadership Bid

Paillé in 2009Daniel Paillé entered the Bloc Quebecois leadership race last night. The former Parti Quebecois Cabinet Minister won a seat for the Bloc in 2009. But he was unseated this year by a member of the NDP. The 61-year old initially ruled out running for the job. But he changed his mind after party members asked him to reconsider.

Paillé served previously as the public-contracts watchdog for the Harper government. He harshly criticized them for spending too heavily on polls.

There are now three candidates vying for Gilles Duceppe’s old post.

Air Canada Apologizes for Racist Memo

Air Canada has apologized after a memo stating that crew would no longer use downtown hotels in Winnipeg for layovers was deemed racist.

Aboriginal leader Derek Napinak called out the airline for its negative portrayal of the First Nations community.

The memo stated that downtown hotels in Winnipeg would no longer be used due to the fact that some of the hotels where located in places where there had been cases of public intoxication. The memo continued that police had noted that these areas were vulnerable to crimes of violence and oppurtunity.

These hotels however, are being used by 1,000 people from rural Manitoba displaced by the flood that affected the province last spring. Many of these people are from First Nations communities.

Nepinak stated that linking the aboriginal families staying at these hotels as a security risk is irresponsible and ignorant on the part of Air Canada. He stated that that viloence in downtown Winnipeg happened long before the displaced families arrived.

Air Canada apologized for the memo, stating that inferences had been drawn, and that it never meant to insult any individual or group.

Pop Montreal: Ford & Lopatin + Sleep Over + d'Eon + CFCF

I arrived before the show to check out the venue, which is a very cool open space, and had been decorated for ArtPop. There were some interesting installations including a pile of spectrographs and radio equipment, as well as a stage setup featuring taxidermied wolves, and an owl, lit with a black light. The open space and big sound made it a great venue for the show that was about to take place.

First to take the stage was CFCF. He played in front of a backdrop of perfectly cheap and cheesy looking new age visuals which brought to mind a time when the internet was a baby and the soft synth, bell pads and pan flutes samples on display would be more likely to be found on an Enya or Kitaro record than at a show for the cool kids. He played a set with peaks and valleys, anchored by rumbling bass, booming electronic drums and woven pan flute and bell. This recent resurgence of interest in new age soundscapes has been anchored by fellow local artist, and next to play, d'Eon.

His show was a looser affair where miscued samples abounded, but once the songs got going we were brought into his world of chiming bell pads, strange pummeling rave-like rhythms, screams and weird RnB. His music got the quiet crowd moving a little more, and people were excited to hear songs like "Transparency," with its catchy vocals and banging 90's hip-hop on ecstasy inspired beats.

The show took a different direction when Sleep ∞ Over came on. Their set took on a slower pace and had a more enveloping sound, drawing from some similar influences as d'Eon with a distinctly RnB feel mixed with late 80's dream pop and shoegaze. The band rolled through newer sounding arrangements of songs like "Casual Diamond" and "Romantic Streams," which were only recognizable once I heard the familiar vocal melodies buried beneath the synth wash and echo. The set had a great druggy quality to it that brought you into the world of Sleep ∞ Over's haunting melodies and darkly beautiful synthesizer music. It was definitely far too brief, though.

Last to play was the great duo of Joel Ford and Daniel Lopatin. The show started out with some drifting ambient synth, reminiscent of Lopatin's solo work as Oneohtrix Point Never, but once the beat dropped you were transported into the 1980's, complete with boom-bap drum machine, which brought to mind the early years of hip-hops golden era, and glistening poppy synth. The music hit hard and each sample was perfectly placed as they ran through songs off their new record, Channel Pressure. The performance ran a lot like the record, with more contemplative moments between songs, and pure 80's pop bliss bursting throughout. A definite highlight of a great weekend, and a fantastic way to end a very interesting show.

-Marshall V hosts Fear Of Music every Thursday night from Midnight to 1am

Cancer Awareness Group to Use Lennon and Ono’s Bed-in Room

Breast Cancer Montreal will use the room of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s 1969 bed-in for a campaign. They will occupy the room in the Queen Elizabeth hotel Thursday morning.

The group is asking for mandatory labeling of products that can cause cancer. They want warning labels on products with links to cancer like cosmetics and processed foods. They hope to get enough signatures from the public for a petition.

Lennon and Ono famously stayed in the hotel room for seven days to protest the Vietnam war. They recorded “Give Peace a Chance” during their stay.

A Breast for Cancer member says they are doing this to give prevention a chance.

Occupy Wall Street Comes to Canada

The old Toronto Stock Exchange under the new Ernst & Young Tower Flickr: gingermaddy

Rallies of protest against the global financial system in cities across the United-States have spread to Canada.

Occupy Toronto organisers expect hundreds of people to show up at the intersection of Bay and King streets on October 15. They will prepare for a march for the week after the Toronto Stock Exchange opens.

Canadian protests are also being organised in Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary, Victoria, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, according to the Occupy Together website.

To learn more or join the protests being arranged in Montreal check out the Facebook page.

By: Greg Wilson

October 3rd 2011

Produced By Melissa Mulligan

Read By Sarah Deshaies

Articles By: Joel Balsam, Esther Viragh, Audrey Folliot

ASFA By-Election Campaign Gets Started

asfa.caThe Arts and Science Federation of Associations (ASFA) by-election campaign kicks off today. Candidates will be trying to convince voters for the next week and a half that they are right for the job.  

The VP Communications and Promotions position remains open as no one ran for the position last year. But Katie Brioux, Alexis Suzuki and Laura Robbins will be vying for the job this time.

Brioux is a Communications student in her fourth year from Brampton, Ontario. She plans on creating an “open communication platform” on ASFA’s website to keep students informed. Brioux is currently the Graphics Editor at The Concordian newspaper.

Suzuki is in her third year studying English, Art History and Studio Art. She is the VP External for Concordia Volunteers In Action (VIA) club. Suzuki plans to add a “sustainable” twist to getting students informed about ASFA events.

Robbins is an activist on campus with student-led movements. She promises to provide students with ways to be involved while doing her part to keep ASFA transparent and accountable.

The position for VP External and Sustainability is also up for grabs. Boris Degas and Paul Jerajian will go head to head in the by-election.

Degas is in his fourth year in Biochemistry from Marseille, France. He plans on starting a ride share program as well as reviving the annual Green Week.

Jerajian is in his second year of Actuarial Mathematics and Finance from nearby Saint Laurent, Quebec. He plans to focus on fighting tuition fee hikes and to create more sustainability-centred events on campus.

Also looking to get elected, Yazzy Zahar and Sian Mill will try and fill the vacant Independent Councillor slot. 

Zahar is a second year student from Washington D.C. specializing in Environmental Science. She wants to incorporate international students into ASFA as well as increase its visibility on campus.

Mill is in her fourth year from Vancouver, B.C. studying Geography and Urban Studies. A former VP Internal of the Geography Undergraduate Students Society, Mill also wants students to know what ASFA is all about by increasing student "awareness" of the organization.

Stay tuned to cjlo.com/news for continued coverage of the 2011 ASFA by-election.

Arts and Science students can vote in various locations around campus from 10am to 8pm on October 12th and 13th.

 

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