Adbusters inaugurated

Ad Just declares cultural war with a series of creative acts and covert ops coming soon to our city’s streets

by LIZ FAURE

May 26, 2011

MADDER MEN: Erik Chevrier and Jay Lemieux Photo by Micheal Beaulieu

Agroup of Montreal adbusters is turning up the heat on companies they claim are wrecking our city’s culture. Through culture jams and stealth campaigns, they’re hoping to raise awareness and ruin commercials along the way.

“We’ve declared cultural war on ads in the city,” says Jay Lemieux. He’s with the Montreal Infringe ment Festival and heritage lobby group Save the Main. Both are part of Ad- Just (ad- just.ca), a loose coalition of various cultural groups opposed to big advertising. “I’ve been looking at ads in this city since 2004, and they’re becoming more and more invasive,” says Lemieux, who is making a documentary on the topic.

Ad -Just has plenty of targets to choose from. As festival season gets underway and corporate logos pop up around town, Ad -Just is planning lots of creative (ahem) civil disobedience to achieve their goals. Tactics will range from live street performances to viral videos. Covert operations may or may not include stencils, stickers and spray paint.

One thing Ad -Just dislikes? Billboards, particularly in the Plateau. Following a borough wide bill board ban last fall, ad companies fought back, challenging the ban with a lawyer’s letter.

Mile End city councillor Alex Norris, who calls billboards “visual pollution,” says that there has been no follow up in the wake of the letter. The companies were given a deadline of one year to take the bill boards down, so they will likely stay up through the summer. Whether they respect the deadline remains to be seen.

Another Ad -Just enemy? YUL- Lab, a consortium of local advertising agencies that promotes Montre al to international corporations as the ideal “human laboratory” in which to test their campaigns. “It’s basically saying, ‘We’re going to take your money and use you for experiments,’” says Erik Chevrier, not ing that YUL- Lab receives some provincial funding. Chevrier, who is helping Lemieux with his doc, is the founder of Ad- Just. His Master’s thesis was a critical study of advertising, and his PhD focuses on alternative economics. Chevrier doesn’t think the province should fuel YUL.

“We should be proud in Montreal, we have the creative DNA to service the world,” counters Yanik Deschênes, president of the Association des agences de publicité du Quebec (AAPQ), which represents 68 Quebec advertising agencies and oversees the YUL -Lab. Advertising is a $5 billion a year industry chez nous. Deschênes recently met with Chevrier and Lemieux to discuss their concerns.

Deschênes argues that the big advertising Ad- Just is targeting is on its way out. “The consumer now has control,” he says. “It’s not about interrupting, noise…having your brand be everywhere.” Deschênes says media fragmentation means the future of advertising lies in giving consumers an emotional, one on one connection to the brand.

“The meeting went well, but I don’t really see how we can bridge our differences,” says Chevrier. “We are against what [Deschênes] is promoting.” Ad -Just plans to continue opposing the YUL- Lab, and to follow through with their summer ad attacks.

What about people who argue that there are more pressing issues than visual pollution, like real pollu tion or homelessness? Lemieux replies, “This city and its culture belong to all of us. People should care, because when you go to a big festival and there’s tons of ads everywhere, what they are really trying to do is brand your memories. What’s next? Branding our dreams?” ■

Spray can crackdown

NDG councillors butt heads with the graffiti community over a proposed paint ban for minors

by ELISABETH FAURE

May 5, 2011

MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE: Graffiti artist Regimental Oneton at work behind the No Damn Good skate park/shop
Photo by SHARON DAVIES

The ongoing battle between the city and street artists may soon advance to the provincial front.

At an April 4 borough meeting, NDG councillors approved a motion asking Quebec’s government to enact an under-18 spray-can ban, citing graffiti’s “negative impact” on the neighbourhood.

It’s part of Operation Graffiti, a borough-wide initiative. Loyola councillor Susan Clarke heads up the file. “Banning or controlling the sale of spray paint is just one of many measures to deal with the problem,” she says. She claims that the borough spends $600,000 a year cleaning graffiti from public spaces, and that graffiti was one of the “most important” issues she heard about from constituents while campaigning.

Sterling Downey, co-founder of the annual Under Pressure graffiti festival, doesn’t think much of Operation Graffiti, starting with its title. “Wow. Who thought of that name?” Downey wonders. “It sounds like it was created by people who know nothing about the subject.”

Once a vandal, now a graffiti artist, 38-year-old Downey works with city officials and youth to create platforms for dialogue about graffiti. He thinks officials need to consult with the graffiti community before moving ahead with ban. “The public doesn’t realize that the majority of people doing graffiti aren’t minors. How about Operation Intelligence?”

Clarke insists that many minors are active vandals. Downey argues that NDG sends mixed messages by holding legal graffiti workshops while they’re cracking down on vandalism, pointing to an event in Benny Park on Oct. 23, 2010. Clarke defends the workshop’s success, and says the “body language” of some participants led her to believe that they were the same kids doing illegal tagging in the borough.

REPRESSION AND RESISTANCE

Melissa Proietti’s Master’s thesis focused on graffiti as an educational tool for youth. “As far as a ban being an effective method, I believe that attempts to repress people of any age group leads to resistance,” she says. “That’s especially true for adolescents, who are trying to form their identity.” Proietti thinks a spray-paint ban will only provide more of a challenge to teens doing illegal graffiti, increasing its allure and blocking constructive dialogue between young street artists and the community at large.

Graffiti complaints in NDG have grown louder since last summer, when the war memorial in Girouard Park was tagged, drawing the ire of residents. The young tagger was later apprehended by a local veteran, at a (legal) neighbourhood graffiti workshop. Projet Montréal CDN/NDG councillor Peter McQueen, the lone opposition member on council, responded by demanding a spray-paint ban. McQueen calls graffiti a “serious crisis” in NDG.

A spokesperson for Projet confirms that the party is considering a ban, as well as a proposal to charge deposits on spray paint. Unreturned deposits would go into a fund for graffiti clean-up.

For Downey, the suggested ban exposes a fundamental misunderstanding of graffiti culture. He says determined teens will find a way to get their hands on spray cans, regardless of the law. “Last time I checked, you can’t buy cigarettes or alcohol if you’re under 18 either.” He adds that there are plenty of ways to create graffiti without spray paint, and worries that a ban would dis courage younger vandals from becoming legitimate artists when they’re older.

Clarke agrees that Operation Graffiti isn’t the ultimate solution to making graffiti go away, “but it’s one more quiver in the bow, if you will.”

TRAGEDY AND PROGRESS

The proposed ban comes at a hard time for the graffiti community, following a year book-ended by tragedy. In November 2009, 19-year-old Brian Kachur was killed in an alleged tagging dispute (graffiti writers interviewed for this article questioned this account of events), and almost exactly one year later, three teens lost their lives in a VIA train accident while walking on train tracks by the Turcot Yards, a popular spot for graffiti painters. Both the dangers of railways and of graffiti culture in general are mentioned in the Operation Graffiti motion.

Downey thinks the media has sensationalized both events, giving ammunition to graffiti opponents. He was deeply saddened to learn of the VIA deaths, but maintains, “If you ban the sale of spray paint, you’re not going to prevent further accidents.”

Clarke argues that the ban would be a useful tool in the battle against illegal graffiti, and hopes to see progress on the file when she meets Quebec Justice Minister Kathleen Weil (the MNA for NDG) sometime in June.

Proietti is disappointed that the anti-graffiti movement is focusing on negative stereotypes of the culture as a whole. “There are a lot of positive initiatives taking place right now, for change,” she says. “The media could do more to cover this. We do have people who are involved—youth, artists, educators —who are passionate, who care. There’s a lot in our community to be proud of.” ■

Joints and jail time

This year’s Global Marijuana March invites concerned citizens to show solidarity with former compassion club employees facing a minimum of five years in prison

by ELISABETH FAURE

May 5, 2011

GUILTY OF SOOTHING THE SICK: Ex-Compassion Centre admissions offcer Stephane Gauthier, a free man for now
Photo by MICHEAL BEAULIEU

This Saturday, May 7, Montreal potheads will peel themselves off their couches and hit Carré St-Louis at 2 p.m. for the annual Global Marijuana March, filling the Plateau streets with festive smoke. Only this year, the air will also be thick with anger over the fallout from last summer’s Compassion Club raids. “The charges are trafficking, possession with intent to traffic and conspiracy to traffic,” says Marc-Boris St-Maurice, founder of the Compassion Centre on St-Laurent (formerly the Compassion Club on Rachel). St-Maurice, the ex-Grimskunk bassist and Bloc Pot founder, who’s also run for office as part of the Marijuana Party and federal Liberals, founded the centre in 1999. It was shut down fol lowing the bust on June 3, 2010, along with three other, similar centres in Montreal.

The Compassion Centre provided cannabis, hashish and “edibles” (pot brownies, cookies etc) to clients suffering from such maladies as multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS and chronic pain.

St-Maurice acknowledges that Health Canada offers legal pot to sick people, but says rigorous testing conducted by his centre found the government’s ganja was crap. He adds that it’s “virtually impossible” for most people to get approved for medical weed by a doctor in Quebec.

There’s lots St-Maurice won’t discuss—where the centre got drugs, how much money it was making or his own personal toking habits, or lack thereof—but he has plenty to say about fellow compassion-club founder Gary Webber. “He’s dishonest,” says St-Maurice, claiming that business at his own illegal centre rolled along for years with no problems, until Webber opened an upstart club in Lachine, harshing everyone’s buzz.

“When the other club opened, I knew [the bust] was about to happen,” says Stephane Gauthier, former admissions officer at St-Maurice’s centre. Gauthier is not a Webber fan, and says the sloppy way Webber’s club sold buds is to blame for the mass raid. “He screwed up access for thousands of patients with real, diagnosed conditions. It’s disgusting,” says Gauthier.

Unlike St-Maurice’s centre, which Gauthier claims did rigorous client background checks, insisting on Health Canada papers and physician verification, Webber took a different approach, requiring only that customers produce a notary-approved letter stating that they needed herb for medical reasons. This made his centre’s product very accessible, leading to rumours that healthy people were using the centre to score.

Webber refutes St-Maurice’s criticism, saying, “as far as I’m concerned, our club was the most responsibly run.” Webber estimates his club made $30,000 a day, and says notarized documents were only accepted for hard-to-diagnose chronic pain cases.

Today, those charged live in a cloud of uncertainty. Gauthier and other ex-employees face a maximum of five years in jail if found guilty. St-Maurice could get life.

But the gang has high hopes that it won’t come to that. They plan to challenge the constitutionality of the law that saw them charged. “The good thing to come out of this is we get our day in court,” says Gauthier, who is confident that the group will win.

Rain or shine, St-Maurice hopes stoners come out on Saturday to show their support. Featuring live music by Hombre, Mad’MoiZèle Giraf and Colectivo, the afternoon should be an all-round smokin’ good time. ■

The horror of the 105

Sherbrooke West has become a nightmare for commuters

by ELISABETH FAURE

March 31, 2011

BUS ROUTE OF THE DAMNED: Traffic at Sherbrooke and Cavendish
Photo by RACHEL GRANOFSKY

Grumpy NDG riders are raising a bus fuss over service on the 105 line. Residents and commuters alike claim delays and overcrowding on the bus, particularly during peak hours.

“The 105 sucks,” says Clifton dweller Mark Culligan, who has given up on the bus and now rides his bike to get to the metro.

“Sometimes I walk from the metro and I end up beating the bus,” claims Rhea Nelken, a theatre student who takes the 105 to classes at Concordia’s Loyola campus, and to her job at Co-op la Maison verte.

The 105 runs along Sherbrooke from Vendôme metro station to the Montréal-Ouest train station by Loyola. It’s a key bus for lower-NDG residents travelling downtown. It also fer ries hundreds of students a day, and is heavily used by non-NDGers who work in the borough.

Kathryn Ayres works at Loyola campus, and takes the 105 from Vendôme. She says that this fall and winter, she was often late to work. One February morning, she was offered a taxi lift by two female co-workers fed up with waiting for the bus.

“We just vented the whole way,” says Ayres. En route, the ladies hatched a plan and went to work.

A petition was prepared, deploring the sorry state of service on the 105 route. For the rest of the winter, the group busied themselves collecting petition signatures from disgruntled passengers waiting in line for the bus at Vendôme. Ayres alone has collected over 100 signatures.

An online version launched on March 10 (ipetitions.com/petition/105bus_ndg/). Petition comments call 105 service “awful,” “dismal” and “hellish.” “During rush times, people are packed into the bus like sardines,” gripes one signatory.

“I support the petition,” says CDN/NDG Projet Montréal councillor Peter McQueen, the lone opposition member on the Union Montreal-controlled borough council. McQueen wants to see articulated (aka accordion) buses on the 105 route. Ayres says she would be happy with articulated buses, or just more buses, period.

Snowdon councillor Marvin Rotrand is vice-chair of the STM. “The 105 is definitely NDG’s busiest route, and we’ve increased service several times in the past year,” he says.

Rotrand doesn’t rule out articulated buses in the future, but says currently, such plans are “premature.” He says the 105 has been targeted for a “major boost” in service come September, estimat ing 10–15 more buses will be added to the line.

Construction at the MUHC superhospital means more headaches are looming for 105 riders. Work on a sewer at Decarie and de Maisonneuve is set to expand, closing the southern sidewalk, and likely causing the 105 to re-route. Instead of turning down Decarie towards Vendôme, it would travel another five blocks, to Claremont. Rotrand argues Claremont is the best alternate route available.

Re-routes aside, Ayres doesn’t understand why it’s taking so long to improve service. “It’s not a difficult route, it’s pretty straightforward. They go to the end of Sherbrooke, they turn around, and they come back—that’s it.”

For the meantime, Ayres is resigned to more long morning line-ups for the 105. “You know you’re going to be late when you get on,” she says. “There’s a huge sense of frustration, of injustice. It promotes negativity, and it’s stupid. All they need is a couple of extra buses.” ■

COVER: Pet heaven’s waiting room

Critics say the Berger Blanc pound is cruel and kill-happy, but its director says the allegations are overblown. Contract negotiations with the Plateau may change the way it does business

by ELISABETH FAURE

March 24, 2011

FINAL DESTINATION? Berger Blanc
Photo by RACHEL GRANOFSKY

What is the truth about the Berger Blanc? That’s the question being raised by concerned pet-owners across the island. A movement online and on the ground against the city’s for-profit animal pound is growing.

“The Truth About the Berger Blanc” Facebook page created by the pound’s critics has over 700 people Liking it. The page’s creators accuse the pound of lousy customer service and various nefarious activities. And an online petition opposing the pound’s activities currently has over 2,700 signatures (petitions24.net/petition_berger_blanc).

Critics charge that the pound isn’t helpful to owners who’ve lost their pets, with wild and unsubstantiated rumours accusing the pound of everything from selling animals to labs to gassing them to death en masse.

“There are many, many, many rumours,” acknowledges Pierre Couture, Berger’s owner and executive director. “It would be impossible for us to keep all our contracts if we did those things.”

Open since 1983, the Berger Blanc services over 30 boroughs and municipalities in Greater Montreal from its location at 9825 Henri-Bourassa, two blocks east of Rivière des Prairies Boulevard. It receives an estimated 18,000 stray, lost or abandoned pets a year. Animals—either pets or captured strays—are usually dropped off, but the pound does have a van that can come and collect strays or pets with a 24-hour notice. The pound’s capacity is about 100 cats and 55 dogs. Unlike non-profit shelters like the SPCA, the Berger is a business, with out an animal-welfare mandate.

PLATEAU PROTEST

The Plateau borough is a key battleground for Berger opponents. At a Dec. 6 borough council meeting, resident Anjali Choksi deposited a printed version of the petition and claimed the pound doesn’t wait the mandatory 72 hours required by the borough contract before euthanizing animals. “We have multiple testimonies saying there are many animals who enter and are euthanized one or two hours later,” said Choksi.

Émilie Sauvé also spoke at the Dec. 6 meeting. She said she had to make a four-hour round trip to the Berger every three days to search for her lost cat. Sauvé (whose pet returned home on its own) made serious allegations against the BB, claiming, “I saw cats there dying in their cages.” Both Choksi’s and Sauvé’s allegations can be seen online at webtv.coop.

Borough mayor Luc Ferrandez appeared to take the concerns seriously. Ferrandez formed a citizen’s advisory committee on the spot, mandating them to examine animal control in the bor ough.

The most common complaints against the BB? It doesn’t check for microchips; its primitive website doesn’t display many photos (only a tiny fraction of cats and a total of two dogs); and it insists pet owners travel to the pound to ID their pet, which, given its location in the city’s northeast, is especially hard if you don’t have a car. Critics also complain the pound doesn’t spay or neuter animals before adoption.

Couture defends his pound’s intake procedure. “We always check for microchips before euthanizing an animal,” he says. As for forcing owners to come to the pound in person, Couture acknowl edges the pound isn’t centrally located, but argues, “It’s the responsibility of the person who lost their pet to come down.” He says the website is under construction and will re-launch by the end of April.

VISITING THE CONDEMNED

In order to find out what it’s like to deal with the Berger Blanc firsthand, I called the pound two weeks ago claiming to have lost a black-and-white, microchipped cat in NDG. Staff said they couldn’t check to see if any animal recently brought in matched that description, because, “They all look the same.” Berger staff said they don’t check for microchips. I was told to travel to the Berger every three days to check for the cat.

While Couture says the facility is clean, my visit to the pound was greeted with a strong smell of urine and feces, noticeable from the moment I entered. In the main room, rows of cats for adop tion sit in stacked cages. A room on the left houses more rows of lost cats awaiting owner pick-up. The metal cages contain no bedding, and many cats sleep in their own litter boxes for warmth. One cat’s litter box was completely overturned, and dirty litter was scattered across its cage. Dogs are kept in a narrow, L-shaped room. The cages have central drainage holes. Urine flows down the hole and into an uncovered metal bowl. At the time of the my visit, most of the bowls were full.

Berger’s refusal to check animals based on telephone descriptions has led to a legal ruling against the pound. In 2010, a woman won a small-claims court ruling after the pound euthanized her dog, Zazi, despite her multiple telephone calls describing the animal. Couture admits the pound was in the wrong, but says it was an isolated incident in 25 years of business. “It is only one case, and there will be no more.”

CHIPPED AND CHOPPED

SCAN, STERILIZE, SAVE: Caroline Ross
Photo by RACHEL GRANOFSKY

Other animal welfare groups in Montreal also have reservations about Berger Blanc’s alleged practices. Caroline Ross, the founder of Eleven Eleven Animal Rescue, a non-profit organiza tion specializing in finding homes for difficult-to-adopt animals, says, “My biggest issue with the Berger Blanc is that they are doing nothing when it comes to animal control. They don’t steril ize their animals, and their adoption fees are higher than most private shelters, who offer animals who are microchipped, neutered and fully vaccinated.”

Ross visited the pound and says she was so “heartbroken” at what she found that she adopted three dogs. She claims that the staff were unhelpful when asked about the animals’ tempera ment.

Alanna Devine, the SPCA’s director of animal welfare, says, “We scan every animal brought in for microchips.” At the SPCA, animals must be spayed or neutered as well as microchipped and vaccinated before adoption—an essential step to prevent overpopulation not practised by Berger Blanc. “I don’t believe it’s our job to do that,” responds Couture.

Contradicting what some critics claim, Couture says the only time the pound will euthanize an animal upon arrival is if the pet’s owner asks them to—legally, Berger can’t refuse. Oth erwise, Couture says animals are kept on-premises for three to five days, depending on the contract the Berger has with the area the animal comes from.

Unclaimed animals are evaluated for adoption. Sick animals, dogs aged seven and older and cats aged three and older don’t make the cut. If you surrender your older pet to the pound, it’s automatic euthanasia. “No one wants a seven-year-old dog,” a BB staff member told the Mirror.

Animals are individually euthanized via injection. “We don’t have a gas chamber, we never will,” Couture says.

Another rumour concerns a secret room full of cats that’s off-limits to visitors. Asked about this, Couture bursts into laughter. “Yes, it is true—this section is for pre-adoption cats,” he says. The room is for unclaimed cats being evaluated for adoption. Couture says visitors cannot enter the room for fear of compromising the cats’ health.

As for the charge that the animals are being sold to labs, Couture says, “Find me someone who can prove that I am selling animals to labs, and I will close the Berger Blanc right away.”

FOES IN HIGH PLACES

Meanwhile, Berger Blanc’s contract with the Plateau borough is up for renewal.

Projet Montréal’s Plateau borough councillor Piper Huggins is in charge of the animal-control dossier. Huggins is tight-lipped about her committee’s work, but acknowledges she has received complaints about the Berger Blanc. The committee will release its report this spring.

Staffed as it is with vocal anti-BBers—Anjali Choksi, Émilie Sauvé and committee president Isabelle Poitras—the committee is expected to insist on new practices before they renew the con tract. BB’s contract, originally slated to expire in April, has been given a two-month extension while the committee prepares its report.

Regardless of the criteria the borough sets for bidders, the borough may have no choice but to renew with Berger: last time around, in 2009, BB was the only bidder. At the Dec. 6 meeting, Ferran dez lamented that Berger holds a “quasi-monopoly” on local animal control, and let slip that the borough has asked the SPCA to enter a competing bid, but was turned down. Devine says the SPCA’s animal-welfare mandate doesn’t allow it to consider standardized city contracts—for instance, they won’t euthanize healthy animals surrendered to the pound.

Berger opponents are waiting anxiously to see how the situation turns out. Couture fiercely defends his business, and cautions citizens not to confuse the BB with organizations like the SPCA. “We are not there to save all of the animals,” he says. “We are an animal-control service, not a humane society.” ■