Montréal Contre-information
Montréal Contre-information
Montréal Contre-information

Reportback from Montreal’s May Day Against Borders

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May 142019
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

On May Day 2019 in Montreal there were four different demonstrations at different times and locations across the city. The CLAC (Convergence des Luttes Anti-Capitalistes) called for their annual anti-capitalist May Day demonstration to be held in the theme of “No borders”, in the context of the rise of the xenophobic far right in Quebec and the ongoing attept to construct a new migrant prison in Laval, QC. We attended the CLAC’s No Borders May Day, which gathered at 6:30pm at Square Cabot in the west end of downtown Montreal.

Shortly after the few-hundred strong group left the square, heading south on Atwater towards St Henri, a small black bloc at the rear of the demo took shape, shielded by a rear-facing banner reading “All Bosses are Bastards”. Construction fencing, pylons, and other materials were dragged into the street, creating distance between the demo and the cops following behind. Flyers had been passed out at the departure point encouraging people to take both sides of the street and the sidewalks as an attempt to prevent cops from using the sidewalks to flank the demo. This largely worked, no side cops were able to take position.

The demo turned west on Notre-Dame and then north on Greene, heading towards the headquarters of Lemay, an architecture firm designing the proposed migrant prison. As the demo approached the building, a dumpster was lit on fire at the back of the demo and rolled backwards towards the bike cops trailing the demo, creating a bit of a buffer in the lead up to what was to come. At Lemay, people attacked the building, breaking the large windows at the front and side of the building with rocks, billiard balls, and improvised battering rams. Paint bombs covered the facade on two sides of the building as well. Flyers were distributed explaining Lemay’s role in the construction of the migrant prison.

Riot cops deployed, too late, in front of the Lemay building, and were met with rocks. They responded to the escalating situation with tear gas, and the demo turned north off of St-Jacques. Though the demo split and some people scattered due to the tear gas, minutes later two large groups met up on St-Antoine, a major artery leading to a highway on-ramp — the dispersal attempt was unsuccessful! Marching against already backed-up traffic, the raucous group dragged garbage and recycling bins into the street, lighting some on fire. Though the group continued to thin out over the next 15 minutes, a sizable demo marched east on Notre-Dame, leaving graffiti in its wake, and defending itself with fireworks shot at the cops.

This May Day was a marked improvement from last year, when a confrontation between flanking sidewalk cops and a black bloc at the front of the demo two minutes after departure isolated most of the bloc from the rest of the demo, leading the demonstration to continue but without most of the bloc. Since that confrontation, the cops have consistently kept their distance at major demos, testifying to the success of a combative demo culture. However, they are positioning themselves to go on the offensive very quickly after attacks have taken place, and we will need to continue responding to this change in strategy.

This year, the distribution of groups of anonymous and confrontational people throughout the demo appears to have prevented the isolation of the bloc from the rest of the demo. It also helped to mitigate the negative effects of dispersal attempts — having groups of people throughout the demo that are prepared to stick it out after tear gas and charges means that many others can build the confidence to do this as well. This year’s successful regroupment and the long continuation of the demo even after it had wreaked havoc on Lemay are testaments to this.

****This year, we noticed a lot of people in the demo with cameras or filming with their phones. Filming and taking pictures puts people at risk, whether or not you’re the mass media. Even if you don’t intend to hand your footage to the cops or have the intention to blur out identifying features before you post your pictures, you might get arrested with information that incriminates others. A reminder: don’t film in a demo, and don’t be surprised if you get pushed out of the demo if you do.

The success of the demo’s attack on Lemay was also an exciting development in the struggle against the migrant prison. Lemay has already been attacked multiple times in the past year (its condo projects have been attacked, and the building it is headquartered in had crickets released into it and all its locks destroyed as well), but these attacks have not been as public as this demonstration, and have presumably involved smaller groups of people. We are heartened by the strength and solidity of hundreds of people who stood and stayed together while this abhorrent architecture firm had its building fucked with in broad daylight. It’s this kind of collective strength and daring that will continue to be necessary as the fight to prevent the construction of the prison heats up in the coming months.

Long live the uncontrollable demo! Long live the struggle against the migrant prison! Against borders and against prisons!

Fuck Lemay, happy May Day!

“Blue Wave” hits a wall in Montreal : antifascists force a nationalist identitarian demonstration to hide (yet again) behind the police

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May 072019
 

From Montréal Antifasciste

Montréal, May 6th, 2019 –The Montreal police (SPVM) was out in force today to protect several hundred Quebec nationalist bigots who had been mobilized by a handful of identitarian groups.

As we reported last week, the “Vague bleue” (“Blue Wave”) was in fact organized by activists associated with Storm Alliance, the Front patriotique du Québec, and various far right keyboard warriors. In the end it was the crème de la crème of Quebec’s frustrated nationalists, wannabe militia members, and flea market patriots – not more than 400 people – who found themselves enveloped by two lines of riot cops in front of the TVA network’s building in Montreal, supposedly to support Bill 21

As to our side, in less than 10 days the Montreal antifascist milieu carried out a solid information campaign and managed to mobilize between 150 and 200 determined people who forced the police to deploy themselves heavily around the nationalist demonstration. A police presence that the antiracists nonetheless managed to get around not one but three times!

While it was certainly a strange day in many ways, in the end we feel it was a success. First, we had a good time circling around the bozos and making the cops run all over the place. Also, if we compare the net result of the identitarian mobilization to our own, we clearly come out ahead. A complete success would have been us physically preventing their event from happening or forcing it to be canceled, but in the context we found ourselves in, such a thing was simply not possible. In such a situation, maintaining maximum pressure becomes the best we can aim for, and that is something we clearly managed to do.

In these terms, note that after three months of intense organization, out of the 2,300 people who confirmed their participation and the 5,400 who signaled their interest on Facebook, only several hundred Catholic-secularitesmurfs answered the call on the day in question. The Catholic-secularites found themselves isolated behind police lines for several hours, without access to water, food, or toilets, where nobody could see or hear them other than the police who were deployed to protect them (and even the police seemed to find them pathetic). What’s more, the lines of cops made it difficult for people who wanted to get in to their demonstration; one needed to be vouched for by someone on the inside who needed to come and meet you as you entered. Such measures were the direct result of the pressure we managed to bring to bear, and helped to reduce the number of people in their blue puddle.

On our side, we had more counter-demonstrators on the ground than Facebook users who had signaled they would be there!

What’s more, our information campaign culminated on May 4th with our distributing 5,000 flyers in the neighbourhood, to people who live in the area, to tourists and passersby. So in some ways the blue-brown demonstration by the nationalist Catholic-secularites helped us to carry out popular education and to deepen our roots in the neighbourhood.

Tactically, we managed to get around the police three times : first on AlexandreDe Sève, a second time on Papineau (where our initial contact with the “Vague bleue” immediately degenerated when police fired tear gas at the antiracists at head level; note that one demonstrator was injured when they received a canister in their face), and a third time, 45 minutes later, when the antiracists managed to regroup, taking up space directly by the “Vague bleue” in front of TVA, at the corner of de Maisonneuve and Champlain. One consequence being that the “Vague bleue” organizers had to quickly move their sound truck, which deprived them of their sound system for the rest of the day!

The third and final chapter of the counter-demonstration took the form of a protracted standoff with the “Vague bleue”, which remained contained by police lines on de Maisonneuve between Champlain and AlexandreDeSève. Once again, the mobility of the antiracists allowed them to carry out ongoing popular education around the identitarian demonstration, engaging in dozens of conversations with people from the neighbourhood (and even with some nationalist demonstrators), and to document the presence of numerous individuals involved with the far right among the ranks of the “Vague bleue”.

Amongst those we identified were many known members of Storm Alliance, the Soldiers of Odin, the Front patriotique du Québec and its security group, La Meute, the self-styled « Gardiens du Québec », a two-bit militia called the Ragnarok Nordique Société (real secular that, by the way) whose leader goes by the moniker Rednek Breault, the antisemitic tweedle dee and tweedledum from DMS (once again, real secular, those monarchist Catholic traditionalists!), « Q Anon » true believers, and all kinds of representatives of Quebec’s brotherhood of keyboard warriors, such as Robert Proulx, Stéphane Gagné, Michel Meunier, Donald Proulx, René Blaireau, Michel Éthier, Stéphane Dufresne… and at least one lost bozo wandering around wearing an Atalante t-shirt.

Finally, it is worth underscoring the irony of this demonstration for « secularism » taking place under the very ostentatious (!) Carillon-Sacré-Cœur, an old version of the Québec flag that is promoted today by the ultra-Catholic wing of the Quebec nationalist movement, including elements of the Fédération des Québécois de souche.

At least one person on the blue side got sunstroke, and we are sorry to say that there was one injury and two arrests on the antiracist side for minor offenses.

///

Overall, this long day out against the identitarian « Vague bleue » was a real success. We certainly had a lot more fun than the boxed in secularites! The neighbourhood defended itself against this passing shower, and reminded everyone that despite the reactionary noise and the intense opposition from the SPVM, Montreal is and will remain antiracist!

///

Photos:

Une revue de presse sommaire :

La Presse :
https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/grand-montreal/201905/04/01-5224686-manifestation-en-appui-au-projet-de-loi-sur-la-laicite.php

Huffington Post :
https://quebec.huffingtonpost.ca/2019/05/04/quelques-centaines-manifestants-defilent-appui-projet-loi-21_a_23721675/

Radio Canada :
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1167921/manifestation-projet-loi-21-laicite-montreal-antiraciste-vague-bleue

Reportage de TVA :
https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2019/05/04/face-a-face-entre-les-partisans-et-les-opposants-de-la-laicite-1


*Le Journal en ligne Le Peuple, l’un des sites les plus prolifiques de la fachosphère national-populiste, parle plutôt de 300 personnes…

 

For an Earth Night (every night): 40 cars have tires slashed in the Montreal area

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Apr 232019
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Earth Day, 2019: floods spread across southern Quebec, federal police protect fossil fuel companies against indigenous land defenders from coast to coast of so-called Canada, climate refugees are held at gunpoint by right-wing gangs in Arizona, 150 species go extinct on an average day, while people in different parts of the world brace for record-setting forest fires, hurricanes, and typhoons. And a handful of environmental nonprofits and their paid activists bankrolled by elite philanthropists beholden to big corporations expect us to believe that we’ll convince governments to enact the change needed to save the planet if only we march in orderly circles enough times with enough people, handing ourselves over to the police if we temporarily disturb anyone’s daily routine.

We take the climate strikers’ proposition seriously: by refusing to go to class, without asking for permission, if only for one afternoon per week for now, they show the necessity of acting directly to interrupt the normal reproduction of this society that is killing the earth. We, too, think we need to leave the path of legality, as well as the path of civil disobedience, the one that leads from sit-ins for the cameras to nights in jail and interminable court dates, which make it quite a bit harder to stay in the struggle.

So instead of participating in Earth Day festivities, on the night of April 22, we slashed tires of 40 cars in different Montreal neighborhoods. We don’t claim to have done anything significant in itself towards defending a livable future. Nor do we wish to put personal consumer choices such as car ownership at the center of a strategy for fighting ecological devastation. We chose this small gesture to offer a glimmer of the quality of disruption that this economy and society require if future generations and our own are going to have a chance at a dignified life on this planet.

We chose neighborhoods occupied by the rich, mostly luxury cars in the driveways of million-dollar homes. We targeted those who profit off the unfathomable level of destruction incurred on the earth by capital and colonization, and who will be the most sheltered from the impacts of the climate catastrophe that is just beginning, if they have their way. The wealthy can afford to move when their houses are flooded year after year. The rich will have the largest economic buffers as the state tries to individualize responsibility for the climate crisis, and carbon taxes and other last-ditch efforts at maintaining this society place the burden on the poor.

Earth Day, 2020: climate riots in every major city. Practically no one can get to work in the morning, if their factory or tech startup hasn’t yet been decommissioned and looted by former pacifists. Indigenous land defenders and allies have fought off incursions by oil companies and are enlarging pockets of autonomy from the Canadian state. Networks of solidarity and attack considerably impede border enforcement. Carbon emissions have begun falling drastically due to the sheer drop in worldwide industrial activity brought about by the revolt. The effects of a changed climate will be felt for centuries still; people die in floods and hurricanes, in conflicts with reactionary forces and the state, and some of old age, with the knowledge that they fought, and that others will keep fighting.

We can dream (and slash tires).

Migrant Prison: Nighttime Sabotage at Lemay Company Headquarters

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Apr 182019
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

On the night of April 14th, we paid a visit to Lemay’s headquarters in St. Henri to make a contribution to the struggle against the construction of a proposed new migrant prison, set to open in 2021 in Laval, QC. Lemay is a major architecture firm involved in designing the prison. We shut off access to the building by gluing all the locks, smashing the electronic sensors that permit access to the building by key cards, and u-locking door handles together at multiple entrances. The garage doors were blocked by a combination of spike strips and smoke bombs, which were rigged to go off if the garage doors opened. We assume that employees and company clients had a hard time accessing the building the next day, and hope they will continue to feel the effects of escalating actions against them and others involved in the project.

We want to stop this prison from happening. We want to undo the institutions of exclusion, confinement, and surveillance that uphold white supremacy and capitalism, and send our solidarity to all those struggling against the violence they depend on.

Let’s shut it all down.

No borders, no prisons.

Rage for Lucy: Bring Her Back! No More Detentions and Deportations!

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Apr 172019
 

From Solidarity Across Borders

One year after the deportation of Lucy Granados, Montreal community gathers to denounce racist and colonial immigration system and demand her return.

Photos here!

On April 13th, friends and supporters of Lucy Francineth Granados marked the one-year anniversary of her deportation with a rally at the Laval Immigration Detention Centre. One year ago, they had gathered in the same location in an attempt to physically block her deportation.

Lucy Francineth Granados lived in Montreal from 2009 to 2018. In March 2018, she was violently arrested at her home by four CBSA officers. She spent 24 nights in the migrant prison before being deported, still injured from the CBSA attack. To date, she has not received an answer to her application for permanent residence on humanitarian and compassionate grounds- if it is accepted, she could return. She is in daily contact with her friends in Canada, and the campaign to bring her home continues.

With chants of “Bring Lucy Back,” “Solidarité avec les sans papiers,” “No borders, no prisons, stop the deportations!” and “Migrant Prison? Shut it down!” the colourful crowd redecorated the fence around the detention centre with silhouettes of Lucy and other detained and deported community members, banners, flowers, and clothing, to represent migrants like Lucy who defy borders around the world in search of safety for themselves and their children.

“We are gathered to show that, despite the violence of colonial borders, Lucy is still a dear member of our community,” said Bill from Solidarity Across Borders. “We have not stopped and we will not stop working to bring her back to her home,” he added.

The group was prevented by a heavy police presence from going to the back of the detention centre, where Lucy had been forced by CBSA through several fences into a waiting convoy. In sharp contrast to the armed force beside them and the cruelty of prisons, supporters sent powerful messages of solidarity and love over the prison walls. Carmelo, from the Mexicans United for Regularization (MUR), and Jihad, from Solidarity Across Borders, both of whom spent time in the migrant prison, courageously denounced the violence of Canada’s immigration system and demanded Lucy’s return. Lucy also addressed the crowd by phone, speaking movingly of her struggle and expressing gratitude for the ongoing support of her many friends.

The group then marched to the planned site of the new migrant prison, where Amy from Solidarity Across Borders shared information about the new prison and the important campaign to stop it from being built. Slated to become operational in 2021, the new migrant prison represents an investment into the state’s continued capacity to detain and deport migrants like Lucy. Construction has not yet begun, beyond a large pit dug at one end of the site. Supporters threw seed bombs, in a symbolic act of defiance that aimed to reclaim the site and to prepare the muddy grounds for better uses.

Idil from Solidarity Across Borders wrapped up with a powerful speech, beginning with Home by poet Warsan Shire, and concluding, “They can dress this project up as nicely as they want but those of us here see it for what it is and it is our responsibility to make sure we let as many others as we can know as well. It is our responsibility to push back against this project, to fight, and to ensure that it never sees the light of day.”

More context about Lucy’s campaign: www.solidarityacrossborders.org/en/bring-lucy-back-the-campaign-to-support-lucy-granados-continues

More about the new prison: www.stopponslaprison.info

Doxxing the Canadian Border Services Agency

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Apr 132019
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Like ICE in the United States, the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) operates a deportation force, tearing migrants away from their friends and loved ones on a daily basis in the name of a colonial nation-state’s rule of law. Though brutal and well organized, this immigration enforcement system is not a faceless machine. The agents who carry out its vital functions have names and addresses, which is what concerns us today. Well, their names at least.

In advance of this year’s No Borders May Day, below you will find the name of every member of the Enforcement and Intelligence Division of the Quebec Operations Branch of the CBSA, categorized by job title. This information comes from the response to an access-to-information request that was published by the Twitter account @cdnati, to which we are unrelated. Those documents, linked here, contain the names of all CBSA employees across Canada. The organizational charts drawn from below are dated November 2017.

We hope this information serves as a resource for a diversity of projects opposing border enforcement. Whether a particular ‘Inland Enforcement Officer’ or ‘Intelligence Analyst’ is an active white supremacist, doesn’t think much about politics and believes it’s a job like any other, or feels shame and remorse about their work, their continued activity in the CBSA puts migrants and migrants’ communities at risk.

It should come as no surprise that people will identify these agents and make it clear that their role in a violently racist and colonial system won’t be tolerated.

Love & rage,

anarchists

Investigations & Removals

Inland Enforcement Supervisors
  1. Cathy Chan
  2. Shawn Erridge
  3. Eric Gagnon
  4. Daniel Godin
  5. Genevieve Gratton
  6. Tonina Iermieri
  7. Leon Kabongo Katalay
  8. Roberto Mancini
  9. Audrey Sawyer
  10. Louise Starnino
  11. Valerie Surpris
  12. Miruna Vasilescu
Inland Enforcement Officers
  1. Karine Amato
  2. Francis Bard
  3. Catherine Barthelemy
  4. Reed Barthelemy
  5. Carole Bergeron
  6. Josée Blackburn
  7. Karine Blackburn
  8. Daisy-Ivy Bode
  9. Daniel Bordeleau
  10. Daniel Eduardo Borja Torres
  11. Stéphane Boudreau
  12. Mina Boukdjadja
  13. David Bowles
  14. Maryse Breault
  15. Dominic Brisebois
  16. Valeriano Cassetta
  17. Roger Casseus
  18. Benoit Chausse
  19. Jean-Luc Day
  20. Mathieu Dépatie
  21. Steven Derick
  22. Patrick Desjardins
  23. Daniel Deslauriers
  24. Josiane Desnoyers Gaulin
  25. David Dickson
  26. Antoine Doyon
  27. Alexandre Duchaine
  28. Luc Ferlatte
  29. Dominique Fillion
  30. Sébastien Fortin
  31. Michel Gagnon
  32. Patricia Garofano
  33. Nicolas Geoffroy
  34. David Ghilarducci
  35. Vincenzo Giobbi
  36. Nicolas Girard
  37. Matthew Goodsell
  38. Nadine Gregoire
  39. Penelope Gutierrez
  40. Simon Halle
  41. Josée Hogue
  42. Alexandre Horvath Callender
  43. Goulnara Iskakova
  44. Pascal Jacques
  45. Nadia Jarwa
  46. Jeff Jean Baptiste
  47. Isabelle Joseph
  48. Tarrah Khan
  49. Henry Kwan
  50. Eric Lacombe
  51. Eric Lafreniere
  52. David Laroche
  53. Francois Légaré
  54. Normand Lesperance
  55. Louis Lessard
  56. Francis Letellier
  57. Liette Malenfant
  58. Nancy Marois
  59. Jessica Martin
  60. Véronique Massignani
  61. Adlane Merioud
  62. Caroline Messier
  63. Martin Meunier
  64. Josée Moreau
  65. Matthieu Ouellon
  66. Alfred Pichard
  67. Roberto Raschella
  68. Nadine Sarette
  69. Esther St-Onge
  70. Aristophanes Tsiampouras
  71. Edith Turcotte
  72. Kari Warren
  73. Chrisandra Watson
Enforcement Case Officers
  1. Chantal Bissonnette
  2. Stéphanie Bousquet
  3. Catherine Chilakos
  4. Natacha Da Silva
  5. Bruno Estebeteguy
  6. Snejinka Koen
  7. Marie-Claude Turgeon
  8. Isabelle Valade
  9. Dominik Verville
Immigration Advisors
  1. Sandrine Chapados
  2. Linda Coulombe
  3. Nathalie Daoust
  4. Julie Plouffe
Investigation Assistants
  1. Nadine Behnam
  2. Lyne Bellisario

Intelligence

Regional Programs Managers
  1. Gabriel Duteau
  2. Adriano Giannini
  3. Jimmy Giguere
  4. Nicolas Légaré
  5. Silvain Loiselle
  6. Khalid Meniai
  7. Danielle Pouliot
Intelligence Officers
  1. Harinder Bhangoo
  2. Julie Charette
  3. Francois Comeau
  4. Chantal Coulombe
  5. Pierre Fortier
  6. Daniel Gariepy
  7. Serge Goneau
  8. Melanie Granger Meunier
  9. Justin Hawkins
  10. Denis Hetu
  11. Ann Joly
  12. Jeanne L Heureux
  13. Mathieu Lachance
  14. Suzanne Laferriere
  15. Richard Lamoureux
  16. Lyne Landry
  17. André Latour
  18. Lucie Leblanc
  19. Robert Leduc
  20. Silvain Loiselle
  21. Benoit Marchand
  22. Eric Martineau
  23. Hugo Morissette
  24. Eve Morrier
  25. Karine O’Connor
  26. Jeremy Pearce
  27. Sébastien Pelletier
  28. Martin Prud Homme
  29. Yannick Riopel
  30. Jessica Robichaud
  31. Louis Sanson
  32. Mark Solomon
  33. Mario St Denis
  34. Marcel Theberge
  35. Roberto Villa
Intelligence Analysts
  1. Anna Biello
  2. Marie-Julie Bouffard
  3. Manon Brunet
  4. Karine Caron
  5. Francois Chamberland
  6. Marie-Josee Delorme
  7. André Desgreniers
  8. Charles Dudemaine
  9. Nelson Guay
  10. Frédéric Letarte
  11. Barbara Martel
  12. Linda Ouellet
  13. Jean-Francois Pinard
  14. Scott Ramaglia-Mega
  15. Julie Roy
Intelligence Researchers
  1. Kenneth Alarcon Vilchez
  2. Éric Coutu
  3. Victoria Do Rosario
  4. Lucia Graziani
  5. Sylvie Grégoire-Trudel
  6. Hicham Kahwaji
  7. Sebastien Lavergne
  8. Mélanie Nizza
  9. Nancy Racine
Intelligence Clerks
  1. Denise Lecavalier
  2. Dimitri Levin
  3. Maria Paula Manzanares

Hearings & Detentions

Regional Programs Managers
  1. Melanie Gosselin
  2. Isabelle Trottier
  3. Sandra Guilmette
  4. Lyne Campbell
Hearings Officers
  1. Lisa Abraham
  2. Josee Barrette
  3. Jean-Claude Bastien
  4. Jean-Christophe Berthold
  5. Josée Blackburn
  6. Chantal Boucher
  7. Myriam Paris Boukdjadja
  8. Maude Brais
  9. Maxime Brodeur
  10. Daphnee Clement
  11. Lucie Cliche
  12. Ariane Cohen
  13. Salvatore D’Aloia
  14. Jean-Francois David
  15. Miriam Ettinger
  16. G Guerrier
  17. Phoebee Jean-Pierre
  18. Sylvie Lacaille
  19. Marie-France Lambert
  20. Alexandre Lampron
  21. Anthony Lashley
  22. Melanie Leduc
  23. Farah Merali
  24. Mike Milette
  25. Valery Naamo
  26. Sonia Parsakhian
  27. Lyzann Penwarm
  28. Jessica Plourde
  29. Isabelle Poulin
  30. Zofia Przybytkowski
  31. Nadine Saadé
  32. J-D Saint-Pierre
  33. Karine Santerre
  34. Chantal Sarrazin
  35. Léa Adrienne Spigelski
  36. Gabriele Spina
  37. Ludmilla St Sauveur
  38. Ewa Staszewicz
  39. Anne-Renée Touchette
Hearings Assistants
  1. Marylyn Andrada
  2. Beverly Beauchamp
  3. David Bouchard
  4. Fanta Camara
  5. Ketly Castel
  6. Mario Chabot
  7. Marthe Contre
  8. Anica Felicin
  9. France Fortin
  10. Diane Francoeur
  11. Daniel Hurtubise
  12. Jenneil Ifill
  13. Margaret Jones
  14. B Lebel
  15. Arnold Ng
  16. Arnaud Normand
  17. N Okbi
  18. Linda Pelletier
  19. Line Piche
  20. Sebastien Plourde
  21. Sébastien Roy
  22. Sabrina Soria
  23. Peggy Pik Wah Woo
Hearings Advisors
  1. Naomi Alfred
  2. Krystel Baaklini
  3. Nathalie Belanger
  4. Nada Berechid
  5. Brigitte Bilodeau
  6. Josée Cholette
  7. Michèle-Andrée Cromp
  8. Stéphanie Doiron
  9. Josiane Gauthier
  10. Nathalie Guillaume
  11. Natacha Jankovics
  12. Johanne Laforce
  13. Marie Chantal Laroche
  14. Patricia Papanagiotou
  15. Martin Rémillard
  16. Sylvie Roy
  17. Nathalie Sabourin
  18. Yan Ste Croix
  19. Michèle Théroux
  20. Lien Danielle Tremblay
  21. Alain Vadeboncoeur

Criminal Investigations

Regional Programs Managers
  1. Genevieve Cogne
  2. Hathia Brillon
  3. Peter Storr
  4. Éric Béliveau
  5. Sébastien Foisy (Montréal)
Investigators (** = Montreal)
  1. Eric Allard
  2. M Aubry
  3. Annie Aubut
  4. Claude Beausejour
  5. Calvin Bedros
  6. Patrycja Brones
  7. Jean-Francois Carrier
  8. Shirley Cavanagh**
  9. Sandra Chaillou
  10. Christina Chiechi**
  11. Daniel Cote
  12. Jeremie Dion
  13. Marie-Josee Dionne
  14. Tony Dos Santos
  15. Stéphane-Patrick Dubuc
  16. Caroline Faille**
  17. Estelle Forget
  18. John Gagnon**
  19. Claudine Gariépy
  20. Sabrina Gauthier**
  21. Francois Julien Girard
  22. David Giroux
  23. Stéphane Guitard**
  24. Isabelle Jamison
  25. Alexandre Lefebvre
  26. Christine Levac
  27. Danielle Masson
  28. Edmund James Mclaughlin**
  29. Anthony Mercier
  30. Veronique Moreau
  31. Jocelyn Nadeau-Lapensée
  32. Patrick O Neill
  33. Sylvie Paquette
  34. Marie France Parent**
  35. Richard Patenaude
  36. Martin Pelletier**
  37. Michele Proulx
  38. Guy Ratte
  39. Philippe Recupero
  40. V Sabourin
  41. Mariejosee Simard**
  42. Stephanie St Pierre
  43. Nathalie Surprenant**
  44. Sylvie Thibeault**
  45. Pascale Trachy
  46. Isabelle Trinque
  47. Brigitte Watkins
Investigation Support Clerks
  1. Denise Boivin
  2. S Bombardier
  3. Adela Lemus
  4. G-V Revatta
  5. Nathalie Roy

Leadership*

Director

Annie Beausejour

Assistant Directors
  1. Éric Caron (Criminal Investigations)
  2. Christine Groleau (Hearings & Detentions)
  3. Maurizio Mannarino (Investigations & Removals)
  4. Alain Surprenant (Intelligence)

* These names are mostly already publicly available.

Miscellaneous

C & I Services Assistants
  1. Masha Abdulhaq
  2. Jean-Francois Aubé
  3. Neelam Bansal
  4. Alexandre Baril
  5. Sébastien Bois
  6. Valérie Brodeur
  7. Valérie Brunet
  8. Sophie Cauchon
  9. Diane Colella
  10. Myriame Denis Charles
  11. Alain Desgagné
  12. Annie Francoeur
  13. Mirlène Gilles
  14. Marie Guenette
  15. Deborah Loverso
  16. Giovanna Marigliano
  17. A Mastrogiacomo
  18. Cong Minh Nguyen
  19. Benjamin Nicolas
  20. Daniel Nobert
  21. Julie Pilon
  22. Caroline Veillette
  23. Jocelyne Yeon
Office Assistants/Administrative Assistants/Administrative Officers
  1. Sophie Archambault
  2. Julie Bois
  3. Francine Bres
  4. Judith Gosselin
  5. Céline Grégoire
  6. Diane Hachey
  7. Assunta Iasenzaniro
  8. Pauline Paradis
  9. Émilie Pélissier
  10. Diane Perron
  11. Lise Régnier
General Duty Clerk
  1. Robert Leblanc

Report-back on the March 16 Solidarity Vigil/Counter-demo

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Apr 082019
 

From Montréal Antifasciste

On March 16, the day after the massacre in Christchurch, New Zealand, Montréal Antifasciste organized a rally in solidarity with the victims, which was simultaneously an antiracist counter-demonstration, given the presence on the site of notorious Islamophobes, one of whom publicly “thanked” the terrorist responsible for the attack.

Here’s a report back:

The day after the white supremacist and fascist terrorist attack in New Zealand found us in a state of shock. Besides the absolutely despicable nature of the attack—the killer filmed and live streamed the murders of fifty people at two different mosques—two things jumped out at us. First, the terrorist’s manifesto indicated the influence of an “ecofascist” discourse, which calls to mind ideas advanced by Atalante Québec and other neo-fascists. Second, he paid homage to Québec terrorist Alexandre Bissonnette by inscribing Bissonnette’s name on one of his cartridge clips.

We were also shocked by what was being published by the Québec fascist scene, which at best claimed the attack was a false flagaction and at worst celebrated it. Adding insult to injury, we soon found out that a number of Islamophobes were planning one of the weekly demonstrations of the (phoney) “Yellow Vests” outside of the Montréal offices of TVA television on Saturday, March 16.

Wishing both to honour the memory of the people who had been murdered and to prevent racists who were celebrating the event from gathering outside of the TVA building we decided to hold a solidarity rally at their usual meeting point. Time was short, and we didn’t know that approximately ten other solidarity events would follow ours, with hundreds of people in attendance. We had hoped that our gathering would make the Islamophobes think twice about showing up outside of TVA out of a basic and obvious respect for those who were in mourning.

We had underestimated their lack of basic decency…

By 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, about a hundred people from different scenes had responded to the Montréal Antifasciste callout to gather outside the doors of TVA behind a banner reading “Contre le racisme et la haine” [Against Racism and Hatred]. The people present were taking turns leading chants, when, at 11:30 a.m., people sporting yellow vests arrived on the sidewalk across the street from us. We were (disagreeably) shocked to discover that the leading the packwas none other than Pierre Dion, the Islamophobic militant recently banned from social media following a series of threats and a pattern of verbal aggression. Eventually, the “Yellow Vests” numbered a few less than twenty. We know that there were people among them who had no idea they were surrounded by Islamophobes, and we don’t hold them in any way responsible. We do, however, believe that this article should be a wake-up call for them.

Here’s a list of the far-right militants who were present:

Pierre Dion, homophobe, and conspiracy theorist who aspires to be the leader of a motley crew of nationalist whack jobs who make La Meute look like diplomats par excellence.
Michel Meunier, aka Mickey Mike, Mickey Mayer or Mickey Myers, Islamophobe and apologist for terrorism (for example, he has called for another Islamophobic attack at a Québec mosque and expressed his “gratitude” for the terrorist attack in Christchurch).
Michel Ethier, aka “Le Piratriote” [roughly, the Pirate Patriot], a vulgar Islamophobe, a fan of ALL CAPS insults, and a member of the Front patriotique du Québec.
Mario Dallaire, an Islamophobe regularly spotted at Storm Alliance rallies and on the “security”team at far-right demonstrations.
Robin « Le prophète » Simon, member of the Front patriotique du Québec and its securityteam, the GSP, now associated with the III % militia.
Claude Roy, an Islamophobic tinkerer known for his Styrofoam creations of questionable taste (and repeated complaints that nobody wants his shit).
André Boies, Islamophoboic propagandist and conspiracy theorist, owner of the Les Manchettes disinformation website, and the translator into French of the manifesto released by the terrorist responsible for the attack in Christchurch, New Zealand. (Boies says he was there by mere happenstance, but we are highly skeptical.)

Without really having to work at it, we identified seven known Islamophobic and racist militants in a group of at most twenty people, which raises some serious questions about the Québec “Yellow Vests” pseudo-movement!

Obviously, as antifascists and antiracists, we couldn’t either just sit around twiddling our thumbs or limit ourselves to a silent vigil. From 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., the time set for the “Yellow Vests” rally, we drowned out their chants and their diatribes with our own slogans and prevented them from crossing the street twice, in spite of a muscular police presence.

We were astonished to discover what this “Yellow Vest” movement actually is and who it is made up of. Honestly, up to this point, we hadn’t paid all that much attention to them, but we must say, we did learn some interesting things. . .

Four years of experience tells us that the Islamophobic far-right groupuscules in Québec (first and foremost, PEGIDA Québec, as well as La Meute, Storm Alliance, the Front patriotique du Québec,and all their sad little spinoffs) have a consistent need to demonstrate to justify their existence and disguise their lack of significance, a sort of mad plunging ahead that grows increasingly laughable. They are calling their upcoming ritual demonstration, called for May 4, the“Vague bleue” [Blue Wave]. . .Once again, outside of the TVA offices. It’s obviously an obsession! All of the Islamophobic groups—real and virtual—with the exception of La Meute, are apparently calling for people to join this“Vague bleue.”

Another thing we’ve noticed in this four years is that every time we prevent the far right from demonstrating it grows weaker…

Critical Balance Sheet

We are aware that our gathering on Saturday, March 16, had more of the flavour of a counter-demonstration than of a memorial vigil. We would have liked to hold a memorial, but the presence of Islamophobes across the street made that impossible. Thankfully, in the following week, numerous gatherings reflected the true nature of Montréal: a dignified and diverse city.

In spite of everything, we came out of the experience feeling stronger. We mobilized rapidly (in less than twenty-four hours) and in good numbers (more than one hundred people turned out),including some our closest allies, as well as members of many of Montréal’s diverse communities.

Also notable and encouraging was the obvious popular support we received, even though the chosen site—outside of TVA on Maisonneuve—is in a low-traffic and unappealing area: for example, the group of joggers who passed by middle finger erect in Pierre Dion’s direction, the cyclists and taxis that gave us regular shout-outs, the neighbours who brought us gallons of coffee and hot chocolate, those who came to thank us, infuriated by the weeks of Islamophobic and racist comments on their doorsteps, and the occasional passerby who stopped for a few minutes to talk and share their thoughts with us or to shout a few choice words at Pierre Dion and his gang. We are grateful for everyone’s support. Solidarity is also a matter of small gestures.

– Montréal Antifasciste

///

P.S. Things fall apart for the “Yellow Vests”

When we were outside of TVA on March 16, it was impossible not to notice the silly antics of Anderson Dufresne, who spent the day flailing about in all directions on his “hoverboard,” dancing, singing, not infrequently falling down… and providing a useful foil in the face of accusations of racism (Dufresne is black). The phoney “Yellow Vests,” with Pierre Dion at their head, repeated at least fifty times in three hours: “We can’t be racist; we have our black friend with us!” However, in the few weeks since that gathering, things have gotten tense between Anderson Dufresne and that racist piece of shit Michel Meunier, whom we mentioned above. Things have heated up, with Meunier calling multiple times for Dufresne to be purged from the “Yellow Vests.” Meunier finally let loose with a stream of racism of the vilest kind, egged on by a few other “Yellow Vests,” shining the light of day on the internal contradictions that plague this pseudo-movement. Read Xavier Camus’ report for more details.

Unist’ot’en Camp Gearing Up for Spring Construction Camp

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Apr 042019
 

From the Unist’ot’en Camp

UPDATES FROM THE FRONTLINES

HEAL THE PEOPLE – DEFEND THE LAND
6TH ANNUAL SPRING CONSTRUCTION CAMP

Volunteers Needed for Cabin Building Projects in May!

Spring camp runs from May 6 to 31

With spring coming early to the north, plans are underway for new projects across WET’SUWET’EN TERRITORY, including cabin construction for WET’SUWET’EN PEOPLE. Following the invasion of our territories by RCMP and industry, we are continuing to reoccupy our lands – helping our people reconnect with, reclaim, and protect our homelands

We need people with CARPENTRY, COOKING, AND CAMPING SKILLS, or a good attitude and a willingness to learn. “Many hands make quick work!”

The UNIST’OT’EN CAMP is not a blockade, a protest, or a demonstration – it is a permanent, non-violent occupation of UNIST’OT’EN TERRITORY, established to protect our homelands from illegal industrial encroachments and to preserve a space for our community to heal from the violence of colonization. This year, UNIST’OT’EN volunteers will be working with other WET’SUWET’EN clans to support WET’SUWET’EN sovereignty.

We prefer volunteers who are able to spend two weeks or more supporting us, but welcome any contribution of time and effort.

Please be prepared to work under the leadership and protocols of the Indigenous stewards of the YINTAH. Supporters are asked to register here in advance: http://unistoten.camp/come-to-camp/camp-registration/

Our spring camp will run from MAY 6 TO MAY 31. Supporters are needed prior to and following the work camp as well, so if your schedule conflicts with our work camp dates, please apply regardless.

If you are not able to make it in person, consider sending a financial contribution to help cover our operational costs.

DONATE TO UNIST’OT’EN CAMP

To maintain safety and security we prefer volunteers to either have previous experience at the Unist’ot’en Camp or be able to provide references from one or more persons who have been to the Camp or are known within the movement.

If you meet that criteria and are physically fit for the hard work of supporting the camp and checkpoints, prepared to commit at least one week or more and are prepared to work under the leadership and protocols of the Indigenous stewards of the Yintah then register HERE.

… AND ONE MORE SPECIAL REQUEST TO SUPPORTERS IN THE LOWER MAINLAND AREA OF BC:

Please reply to this email if you can possibly billet volunteers passing through the Vancouver area and needing a place to stay – usually for just one night – in order to connect with their ride to Camp.

The Bunkhouse was built in the summer of 2014 followed by the Healing Centre constructed in stages over the next 3 years.

THE PROTECTION OF INDIGENOUS SOVEREIGNTY AND MOTHER EARTH MUST BE FOUGHT BOTH ON THE LAND AND IN THE COLONIAL COURTS. WE NEED YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO SUCCEED IN BOTH. PLEASE CONTRIBUTE GENEROUSLY, WHATEVER YOU CAN AFFORD.

DONATE TO UNIST’OT’EN LEGAL FUND

DONATE TO GIDIMT’EN ACCESS POINT

STAY UP-TO-DATE WITH LATEST DEVELOPMENTS AS THEY HAPPEN

It began with the UNIST’OT’EN CAMP in 2010. Then as the RCMP prepared to assault the Healing Centre checkpoint at the Wedzin Kwah bridge the GIDUMT’EN CLAN stepped up with their own Access Point at KM 44 of the Morice River Forest Service Road. Now other WET’SUWET’EN clans have joined the effort to protect the entire territory of the Nation. Things are moving quickly on both sides of this pivotal confrontation between present-day colonialism and still vibrant Indigenous sovereignty so we urge you to bookmark these links to stay informed and be prepared to respond on a “real-time basis”:

Unist’ot’en Camp
Wet’suwet’en Access point on Gidimt’en territory
Sovereign Likhts’amisyu and Namoks
Tsayu Land Defenders
Unist’ot’en Website
Gidimt’en Website

ADDITIONAL IMPORTANT UPDATES FOR SUPPORTERS

If you are planning a fundraising event or campaign make sure to read
the newly released fundraising protocols.:

Unist’ot’en

Gidimt’en

SIGN THE PLEDGE

Join hundreds of organizations and 13,843 individuals in signing the pledge to support UNIST’OT’EN and the WET’SUWET’EN:
https://goo.gl/forms/GE5bfm5ITDTyNPy12

#UNISTOTEN #WETSUWETENSTRONG #WEDZINKWA #NOPIPELINES #NOTRESPASS

Collaborators of the CAQ

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Apr 042019
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

** To be shared widely in teaching milieus and beyond **

The Coalition Avenir Québec is moving forward with its ban on the wearing of religious symbols by many public sector workers.

No matter the party in power, we’re against the government telling people how to dress, as well as feeding fear and hatred of Muslims, and Muslim women in particular, under the pretext of “secularism”.

Any government policy takes effect only through those who apply it and collaborate. For this reason we are making a call to identify those who participate in the enforcement of this law in public institutions. For example, someone who calls the police on an employee in their workplace for wearing a religious symbol, who harrasses them, who denounces them to their superior, who fires them, or who refuses to hire them for this reason.

We invite you to send the information you have about the person who is applying the law (name, organization, job title, photo, etc.) with a description of their actions and their consequences to doxxlescollabos@riseup.net. We’ll do our own research so that we can then publish as much information as possible about the person enacting state-sanctioned racism.

We’re aware that the law will also apply to cops of various types. Cops are the guard dogs of this rotten system based on colonialism and racism, so we have to say that we really don’t care about a cop’s job security, regardless of their religion. As a consequence, let us clarify as a matter of form that any information received about a police service or prison guard will only be used to support research into the links between these agencies and far-right groups in Quebec.

We won’t calm down. If you collaborate with the government by policing religious symbols in a workplace, we’re watching you!

Call to Disrupt the Nature Champions Summit

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Apr 012019
 

 From Printemps tout le temps [Facebook page]

April 24th and 25th, Montreal will host a “Nature Champions Summit” bringing together “major philanthropists, business leaders, non-governmental organizations, United Nations agencies, Indigenous leaders and environment ministers from around the world”.

While the planet burns, the poorest populations suffer the violent consequences of ecological disasters, and animal species rapidly disappear, politicians hope to gather peacefully for one more congress. We don’t need yet another summit organized by the Canadian state, known for its extractivist economy, and which just bought a pipeline for 4.5 billion dollars, telling us that a “new partnership” between a handful of ministers and major capitalists will save us from the climate crisis. These “Nature Champions” are responsible for the catastrophe in progress. There is no way we can let them continue to administer disaster with their hollow promises.

April 24 and 25, 2019, let’s disrupt their summit! Let’s multiply actions and demonstrations to show that the “Nature Championship” will be won by those who defend the water, the land, and all that lives on it, not by those that exploit them.

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