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

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

Sodexo Attacked

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Apr 012019
 
Suzanne Bergeron, présidente de Sodexo Canada

Suzanne Bergeron, president of Sodexo Canada

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

In the early morning of March 29th, the president of Sodexo Canada was visited at her home in Brossard. All the tires of the two cars in her driveway were slashed, their windshields were smashed in, and FUCK SODEXO and (A) were written on their hoods.

Sodexo profits from imprisonment around the world. They offer among other things management services for private prisons and migrant detention centers, and cafeteria services for prisons.

In Canada more specifically, they profit from the extractive economy by offering security and cafeteria services for extraction sites.

This action is in solidarity with anarchist prisoners everywhere.

Prison profiteers must not sleep peacefully. The companies considering taking contracts for the construction of the new migrant prison in Laval should think twice.

Migrant Prison: Attacks on Lemay Condo Developments

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Mar 262019
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

On the night of March 19th, the sales office of Humaniti had its windows smashed and two Lowney towers were redecorated using paint-filled fire extinguishers. What do these condo developments have in common? They were both designed by the Lemay architecture firm, which is helping to build a new migrant prison in Laval, Quebec.

Why not disturb the peace and quiet of the citizens occupying these luxury condos, whose wealth and comfort are founded upon the dispossession, exploitation, and imprisonment of those who have been here since before the colonization of this continent, those newcomers seeking a better life, survival, or pushed here by empire, and everyone who resists the prevailing order?

Lemay, we hope you enjoy informing your future potential clients that their projects will be sabotaged if they hire you. Should you choose not to inform them, we will enjoy giving them a costly surprise.

To all those struggling against borders in so-called Quebec and Canada: let us relentlessly attack the companies and agencies involved in any way in the construction of this migrant prison, so that it can’t be built!

Fire to the prisons! Sabotage borders, their enforcers, and collaborators!

Updated Call! Deadline extended until April 1st

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Mar 242019
 

From Stoppons la Prison

The government has announced that they are extending the bidding period until April 1, 2019. We hope this means that the companies have received many calls and are refusing to bid on the contract! Regardless, even a small delay of the construction calendar is welcome. We encourage people to keep calling until April 1st to make our message clear! See revised details below, including contact information for one additional company.

Call in, email, and fax campaign background

The Canadian government is attempting to construct a new migrant prison in Laval, QC. The building, set to be built by 2021, would hold 158 people, including children, increasing the government’s capacity to control and deport migrants in a context of rising xenophobia and racism across Canada and in Quebec specifically. Though the prison is being billed as “more humane” than the current detention centre, it’s clear that aesthetic improvements will not stop this from being a prison: it will still rip people from their families and communities and be an integral part of the deportation machine.

The land at the site of the proposed new migrant prison has been readied for construction, and the bidding process for the General Contractor has begun. On February 20th, a group of people shut down a planned visit to the construction site for interested companies. They talked to company representatives about the nature of the project and why they should not participate in building this prison. Many companies are unfortunately still bidding for the contract.

Let’s show these companies that there is widespread disapproval for this project, and that there will be resistance if construction begins! WE HAVE UNTIL APRIL 1st, the deadline for bids, to get these companies to pull out of the process.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Join the campaign to let these companies know that what they’re doing is reprehensible! Get together with friends and family, send some emails, make some calls, or send some faxes between now and APRIL 1st.

Free faxes can be sent using any of the following websites:
https://www.gotfreefax.com
https://faxzero.com

When you get in touch with these companies, here’s a sample script you can draw on if you want:

Hello,
I’m [calling/e-mailing] you today to tell you that you should drop your bid for the Laval immigrant detention centre. It’s a morally reprehensible project, and it faces widespread opposition – being involved with it will reflect badly on your company. It’s designed to imprison and deport people who are trying to immigrate here, and it will rip apart families and violently take people out of their communities. That’s part of a racist approach to migration on the part of Canada that we need to challenge rather than support. It’s not something I stand for, and I’m far from alone in that position. Make the right choice and drop your bid for this project.

Groups

If you’re a community organization or activist group, we encourage you to ask your members to call/e-mail/fax. Invite people to your space to make calls & send e-mails and faxes together!

THE COMPANIES

These companies want to build a new migrant prison in Laval. Contact them to tell them to drop out of the bidding process!

1. COMPANY: Corporation de construction Germano
REPRESENTATIVE NAME: Richard A. Germano
TITLE: Président
EMAIL: info@germanoconstruction.com
PHONE: 450 668-7807
FAX: 450 668-5002

2. COMPANY: Construction SOCAM ltée
REPRESENTATIVE NAME: Richard Paradis
TITLE: Estimateur Senior
EMAIL: r.paradis@socam.ca
PHONE: 450 662-9000 #223 or 450 662-9000
FAX: 450 662-9838

3. COMPANY: Groupe Geyser
REPRESENTATIVE NAME: Lina Tremblay
TITLE: Estimateur
EMAIL: ltremblay@groupegeyser.com
PHONE: 450 625-2003
FAX: 450 625-2883

4. COMPANY: Tisseur Inc.
REPRESENTATIVE NAME: Jacques Hosson
TITLE: Estimateur
EMAIL: estimation@tisseur.com
PHONE: 819 322-1523 #258
FAX: 819 322-6766

5. COMPANY: Construction CYBCO
EMAIL: info@cybco.ca
PHONE: 514 284-2228

6. COMPANY: VCI Contrôles inc.
REPRESENTATIVE NAME: Joseph Jacob
TITLE: Chargé de projet
EMAIL: jjacob@vcicontrols.ca, pcraig@vcicontrols
PHONE: 450 442-3555 poste 101
FAX: 450 442-3337

7. COMPANY: Bruneau électrique Inc.
EMAIL: info@bruneauelectrique.com
PHONE: 514 353-4343, 450 759-6606
Fax: 450 759-2653

8. COMPANY: Standard Building Contractors
REPRESENTATIVE NAME: Shane Ross
TITLE: President
EMAIL: shane@standard.builders
PHONE: 613 847-7258

9. COMPANY: Securassure
REPRESENTATIVE NAME: Matthew Poplaw
TITLE: Sales
EMAIL: matthew@securassure.ca
PHONE: 514 373-3131
FAX: 1 855 439-9500

10. COMPANY: ALTEL inc. a Convergint Company
REPRESENTATIVE NAME: Jean-Hugues Thibault
TITLE: Sales Director
EMAIL: jean-hugues.thibault@altel.ca
PHONE: 4389907791
GOOGLE+: http://www.altel.ca/en/home/

Notes on Our March 15th

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Mar 182019
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

I want to remember how it felt to be shook by the beauty of the crowd. Fear and anxiety dissipate as a hundred-strong black bloc takes the street, realizing its collective power that compels police units to maintain a safe distance. It’s happening. We can do this.

Attacking luxury cars, hotels, and banks when the police have been made unable to defend them is an attack on the police, which depends on the perception that it can maintain law and order to be respected by good citizens and feared by the excluded. A call-and-response of shattering glass echoes down Peel Street, as projectiles fly at bank windows in quick succession. Not to worry, several rocks, flares, and at least one decent firework are reserved for the SPVM.

Spontaneity works pretty well sometimes, and it’s cool when people roll a dumpster out of an alley, someone else drops a flare in it to start a small fire, an “ACAB” gets tagged on the front, and others decide to charge with it at some cops up ahead, all in the span of sixty seconds, as though carefully choreographed. Our time together is limited, yet expansive.

Riot cops arrived from behind on Maisonneuve and quickly shot tear gas, which had its usual effect on such a relatively small demo. Two people were arrested, and some people were hurt. This brings us to the requisite tactical suggestions for next time:

Making dispersal dangerous (for the cops): when a demo splits into multiple directions after the police attack, we could try to keep our composure, check in with our friends and new surroundings, and see if we can regroup with the others who turned the same corner. We may be smaller in number, but the cops’ attention is divided, and they are unlikely to be positioned to attack us again right away. We might even come across isolated groups of police that are unprepared for a hostile crowd. The state is using chemical weapons and blunt force to cut short a joyous departure from the devastating routine of a prison society, and it might be injuring our friends: let’s respond to the height of their aggression.

Accelerant: let’s bring some/use it? The aforementioned dumpster would have made a better battering ram if it was more fully on fire.

Review of Black Bloc Manual 13th Edition, Chapter 12: choosing the right tool for the job. Not everything is a substitute for a good hammer. Secondly, covering your face isn’t enough to be anonymous. If your mask or something else about your attire stands out amongst the crowd, it could help the cops track you (via undercovers, livestream, or video footage after the fact), which could put you in greater danger as the demo is ending or afterwards.

The rear of the demo: the dispersal tactics on Friday and in the election night demo last October were identical: riot cops arrive about a block away behind the demo and shoot tear gas. The panic that circulates can allow them to drive vehicles straight into the running crowd, accelerating the dispersal. What could a combative crew of people holding down the rear of the demo accomplish? No specific proposals to make here, but we think this is an area for improvement.

Warm greetings to all the other crews and individuals who came out, and to everyone who was there in spirit. Let’s take care of each other and destroy all authority. We would like to hear how you experienced this March 15th.

Sending love to all the rebels behind bars. Fire to the prisons.

We also remember the sacrifice of Anna Campbell, an anarchist who fought with the YPJ in Rojava, who was killed along with four comrades by the fascist Turkish army one year ago, on March 15, 2018.

See you on May Day, or sooner! Fuck the police.

Stop The Prison, Open The Border

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Mar 152019
 

From From Embers

This week’s episode features two interviews with people involved in the struggle to stop a new migrant prison from being built in Laval, Quebec. Topics discussed include:

-the project and how the government is trying to frame it as a “nice” cage.

-senses of strategy and what might work to actually stop a project like this.

-actions that have taken place against the prison, how they’ve gone, and what actions might be on the horizon.

Stop The Prison

Ni Frontières, Ni Prisons (facebook link!)

Solidarity Across Borders

Banner Drop in Solidarity with Unist’ot’en

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Mar 152019
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

14th of March, 2019
Tiohtiá:ke, so-called Montréal

This morning at 7:34 AM at the intersection of Papineau and St-Grégoire streets, a banner with the writtings “Solidarity with Unist’ot’en” was erected on a viaduc.

This action is a symbolic gesture in relationship to the 15th of march, on this day two importants protests are to be held, the student protest in defense of climate and the protest against police brutality.

It is important to remember that day in and day out, native peoples find themselves everyday on the frontlines defending against environmental colonialism defended by the police and state institutions.

On the 7th of January of this year, RCMP agents dismantled by force the access point Gidumt’en of the unsuceeded territory of the Wet’suwet’en nation, where is located the Unist’ot’en camp. The native peoples protecting the access point were brutally removed from their territory by the armed forces of the RCMP in order to allow the start of the construction work of the pipeline (Costal GasLink project) of the TransCanada company.

The Unist’ot’en camp, established on the Wet’suwet’en territory since 2009, is an important living environment, that holds a healing center by reconnection to the environment. One of the camps roles is to assure a presence on the territory in order to protect it from the many high-environmental-risk projects that are planned without the consent of the first-nation peoples. Up until now, the presence of the camp has lead to the abandonnement of many pipeline projects.

This banner drop is also a denouncing the hypocrisy of the Trudeau government. The prime minister feigns reconciliation with the first nations, while remaining silent when faced with the recent events in Unist’ot’en. Moreover, his support for the numerous environmentally damaging projects demonstrate an opportunistic immobilism that defies all logic in the current environmental crisis.

“The invasion of the Wet’suwet’en territory by TransCanada is but one example among many that proves the proximity between climate violence, police brutality and native struggles. This banner is a reminder of the convergence between theses struggles as well as a message of solidarity with the peoples who are currently fighting in Wet’suwet’en territories” cries a participant of this action.

Callout for the March Against Police Brutality 2019

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Mar 062019
 

From the Collective Opposed to Police Brutality

As is the case each year, the COBP organizes a week against police brutality which starts on March 8th and ends on March 16th, 2019.

State brutality must be denounced, whether this brutality is coming from police, politicians or judges. Especially considering the massive over reach of the criminal injustice system this year alone.

  • Was there any justice for Nicholas Gibbs, assassinated in broad daylight? By those so-called “peace officers?”
  • Is there any justice for the migrants? For which we refuse to give the quality of life that was stolen from them by canadian companies abroad?
  • Is there any justice for the people of Unist’ot’en and Wet’suwet’en? Taken away yet another time from their ancestral lands?
  • Is there any justice for environmental activists? Imprisoned for blockading projects leading to our own destruction?
  • Is there any justice for all minorities, whether racial, religious, queer and/or native, which are constantly profiled and imprisoned by a system trying to erase their very existence?

Because the judiciary system, the political system, and their state agent lapdogs (RCMP, SQ and SPVM, etc.) have nothing to do with protecting minorities. Their role is to answer to the needs of the better off: the rich and privileged. Their role has nothing to do with justice, and all with the defence of the castle of the privileged. A castle which is, every day, less sustainable, and less acceptable.

There cannot be peace in a system who keeps acting unjustly and refuse to admit it. It is a sanpshot of justice built as a system. And an unjust society cannot be peaceful.

This is why we invite you to the activities of the week against police brutality along with the one of March 15th. The March 15th event takes place at Norman-Bethune Square and starts at 6PM with food organized by Food Against Fascism, along with speeches. The annual protest against police brutality will start at 7PM at the same place.

NO JUSTICE? NO PEACE!

* As an organization, we recognize that all the events of the Week against police brutality take place on unceded Kanien’kehá:ka territory of Tio’tia:ke, here on Turtle Island. As an organization, we express our solidarity with local and global native communities in their struggles for their right and we honor the guardians of this territory.

**Sexual abusers are not welcome to the activities*

 

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