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Ahmad Moujtahed

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NDG

Montreal police announced that a public meeting will be held on Monday March 16th to provide the public with information on the plan to merge Station 11 on Somerled in NDG and Station 9 in neighbouring Cote St. Luc.

News on the merger has sparked opposition in both boroughs. NDG borough mayor and Côte-Saint-Luc mayor are calling for public consultations on the issue rather than an information meeting.

The information meeting will be held from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Cultural Center of NDG at 6400 Monkland Ave.

COVID-19

Justin Trudeau: “Our government will be creating a billion dollar COVID-19 response fund; which will provide money to the provinces and territories to deal with preparation and mitigation for the virus. I want all Premiers and all Canadians to know our government is here for you. We will make sure you have everything you need”. 

Justin Trudeau’s announcement in Parliament Hill comes after the WHO declared the global spread of COVID-19 a pandemic. 

The $1.1B will be invested in funding for research on the virus and in funding provincial health care system needs, including access to testing, equipment and enhanced surveillance and monitoring. 

The government will also waive the one-week waiting period for employment insurance to assist workers and businesses affected by the virus.

INTERNATIONAL

Hollywood movie producer Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault. 

Last month, Weinstein was convicted of sexually assaulting an actress in a New York City hotel room in 2013 and forcibly performing oral sex on a film production assistant in 2006. Both victims appeared in court to give their victim impact statement. 

Weinstein did not apologize, but expressed deep remorse for his actions and maintained that his sexual activities were consensual. Weinstein’s trial energized the #MeToo campaign of speaking up about sexual assault and holding perpetrators accountable. 

Photo Credit: Akeem Johnson

March 1st marked the 4th edition of Gala Dynastie, an event which honors achievements and efforts from the best and brightest of the Montreal Black Community.This year’s Gala took place at Place Des Arts, a symbol of growth for the event.

The night was more than an award show, it was a celebration of black excellence, something that is often overlooked in this province. From the moment, I stood across from the black carpet and laid eyes on the nominees. I could feel the overall understanding that the gala is about more than handing out awards, it was about celebrating local black culture. The Mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, and Bloc Québécois leader, Yves-François Blanchet, were among the attendees.

Whether people choose to bring out their best dress or suit, some decided to wear more traditional garments, everyone brought out their Sunday best. Speaking of Sunday’s best, the comedian Preach, of Aba and Preach, once again played the role of host for the night and did not hesitate to play on the fact that the night was on a Sunday. He tore the house down with his impression of a preacher, yelling out bible clichés and hymns. He continued to be energetic, witty, and insightful throughout the remainder of the show. 

The show started off on a high note, as we were pleasantly surprised by a performance from Corneille, a staple in this city. The Montreal legend sung some of his best hits from back in the day, and threw in some newer cuts in his set.

The night went on smoothly as the winners of each category accepted their awards and each delivered a speech that accentuated the importance of recognition among peers.

For most award winners, this was their first time being recognized for their work by a major award show. This, as they mentioned, was not for their lack of effort, but rather the lack of effort other institutions in Quebec put towards promoting black artists.

Some of the winners were: Djely Tapa for Best World Music, Nicola Ouellet for Best French Radio Personality, and Best Sports Personality went to Chris Boucher who currently plays for the Toronto Raptors.

The night went on to feature a great comedic performance by Dolino, a special tribute to long time promoter Ricky D, and a stand out musical performance from Naya Ali who also took home the award for English music artist of the year.
 
The Gala proved to be an entertaining evening on all fronts, as  the audience remained enthusiastic  throughout the entire show. Preach ended the night on a more serious tone, explaining that the night is not about segregation but about representation and giving people flowers while they can still smell them.

He went on to say that as important as it is to celebrate the current achievements of Blacks in Montreal, it is more important to set up platforms like Gala Dynastie for the next generation.

Akeem Johnson is the co-host of The Kitchen, a show that blends everything from trap music to afrobeat. It plays every Wednesday at 9:00 p.m EST.

Hadassah Alencar

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Special COVID-19 training for General Hospital 

The Jewish General Hospital has been designated as a treatment centre for Coronavirus.

It is one of four Quebec hospitals assigned by the province to handle the outbreak.

The hospital’s new wing called Pavilion opened in 2016. 

It was designed to handle outbreaks such as COVID-19.

Hospital staff in the new wing have received special training.

Quebec's dangerous dog law comes into effect

Dog owners across Quebec are now subject to the province’s new dangerous dog legislation which came into effect on Tuesday..

The legislation is designed to prevent dog attacks and maulings.

Under the new law, veterinarians must report dog bites.

An assessment will follow, to determine if the attacking dog is dangerous. 

If so, the dog may be sterilized, microchipped or in severe cases, euthanized. 

Quebecers support Indigenous causes according to poll

Quebecers continue to  support Indigenous causes even if they don’t like rail blockades. 

That’s according to a new poll from the Canadian Press.

It found that nearly 2 in 3 Quebec respondents felt Indigneous land claims were legitimate.

Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs are in talks with the federal government to end the standoff. 

Blockade movements across Canada remain in place.

As you may already know, a lot of metal bands are obsessed with violent imagery. Look no further than the album covers of bands like Cannibal Corpse and Exhumed for the most gruesome depictions of gore and violence. The subgenre of death metal takes inspiration from horror and slasher films, and its lyrics tend to describe scenarios of murder and torture. However, the music sparked a fascination with what’s inside the human body. This has led to an interest in medical science, with bands singing about biology and pathology, some taking the themes more seriously than others. So how did this happen?

We begin with British death metal pioneers Carcass, when members cut out autopsy photos from medical journals and created a collage of corpses for the cover of their 1988 debut album Reek of Putrefaction. Songs like “Carbonized Eyesockets” and “Pungent Excruciation” went into nauseating detail about all matters of bodily fluids oozing out of multiple orifices. They repeated the process for their second album Symphonies of Sickness, released in 1989. In 1993, Carcass proved that they’re more than a one-note band by venturing into a more melodic style on their album Heartwork, writing songs about existentialism. More recently, Carcass has returned to their themes of pathology with their 2013 album Surgical Steel. 

The early style of Carcass spawned a number of clone bands. It created a sub-subgenre called goregrind, which used the extreme speed and aggression of grindcore but threw out the political themes and replaced them with lyrics about mutilating the human body either out of malicious intent or for surgical reasons. Many musicians would scour medical journals, looking for the most disgusting of diseases, usually relating to genitals or the rectum. Another stylistic choice was to  sing about forensics and medical malpractice. Bands like France’s Pulmonary Fibrosis and Japan’s Viscera Infest would write various songs about diseases and would use vomit-inducing photos of infections for their album covers; while bands like Sweden’s General Surgery and Spain’s Haemorrhage would take the gimmick further and perform live in blood-stained hospital gowns, surgical scrubs and nurse uniforms. 

The gag hit its peak in 2001 with the formation of The County Medical Examiners, whose members actually all worked at the morgue or were studying medicine. Frontman Matt Widener (also known for being a member of bands like Cretin and Exhumed) briefly went by Dr. Morton Fairbanks as a pseudonym. In an interview with Pitchfork, Widener said he “wanted to take the Carcass clone phenomenon to its extreme conclusion.” Even the cover of the debut album Forensic Fugues and Medicolegal Medleys pays tribute to Carcass’ cover for Reek of Putrefaction. Bassist Dr. Guy Radcliffe was reportedly 60 years old when he joined the band, having no previous interest in death metal. The band has never performed live and band members used aliases so as to avoid compromising their medical careers. Their second album Olidous Operattas has a scratch-n-sniff on the CD face. The liner notes describe the smell as “corpse reek,” taken from a John Doe at the morgue.  

A common argument against heavy metal is that it desensitizes listeners from the sight of death and gore; but that could be used to an advantage. An entire generation of death metal fans have likely flocked to medical schools, unafraid of encountering blood during their studies. So the next time you go in for surgery, don’t be surprised if your surgeon happens to be a metalhead. Hell, they might even put on some Carcass in the operating room.