Montreal taxi Driver Guercy Edmond appears in court Wednesday. (CBC)

Dozens of taxi drivers gathered in front of a Montreal courthouse Wednesday morning in support of their colleague, who faces charges in a hit and run. (CBC/ Dan Halton)

Montreal's taxi drivers, 2012

Cabbie hit and run followed racially charged fare dispute
Cab driver accused in incident captured on video gets bail
CBC News Posted: May 2, 2012 7:57 AM ET Last Updated: May 2, 2012 5:36 PM ET
Montreal taxi Driver Guercy Edmond appears in court Wednesday. (CBC)

A Montreal cab driver has been freed on bail after a weekend hit and run that reportedly came after passengers disputed a fare and made racially charged comments.

Guercy Edmond, 47, who is charged with aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, hit and run and dangerous driving, got bail with several conditions after the incident early Sunday morning that was captured on camera by at least two witnessess and left a 23-year-old man in hospital.

Edmond’s wife must sign an undertaking with the court, meaning she would forfeit $3,000 if he breaches his conditions.

Edmond is also not allowed to contact the victim or take customers in his cab on Saint-Laurent Boulevard between Sherbrooke Street and St. Joseph Street, from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m ET.

Omar Khadr image from video leaked to CBS

Sgt. 1st Class Christopher J. Speer was killed by terrorist Khadr

Convicted terrorist Khadr coming home: Toews

10:10 pm, April 19th, 2012
4:37 pm, April 19th, 2012

MARK DUNN | QMI AGENCY

OTTAWA – Convicted al-Qaida terrorist and killer Omar Khadr is coming home.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said Thursday the government won’t block the transfer of Khadr from a cell in the Caribbean to a Canadian prison.

Toews squelched speculation the government was considering using a clause in the International Transfer of Offenders Act to keep the 25-year-old, Toronto-born Khadr out of Canada on national security grounds.

MORE BLACK PUBLIC TRANSIT RIDERS DENOUNCE RACIAL PROFILING AND EXCESSIVE USE OF FORCE

Montreal, March 29, 2012 — There should be an inquiry into patterns of public transit racism by Montreal Transit Authority (MTA or STM) inspectors, said several Black Montrealers who have been the target of these practices.

At a news conference held today in Côte Des Neiges, one of the Montreal’s most multiracial districts, some Black public transit riders denounced the MTA for resorting to a pattern of selective interception, excessive use of force, violent detention and arrest, and abuse of authority that point to systematic racial profiling.

Disturbing practices include the aggressive interceptions and the rapid excessive use of physical force by MTA inspectors, that result in serious injuries and penalties for Black riders. These practices have been frequently reported since the coming into force in 2009 of the MTA’s policy on proof of payment (POP) checks, which empowers inspectors to stop riders and which can lead to fines of $124 for failure to show POP and $324 for obstruction of inspectors’ work.

Retarded vandals broke into and defaced about 15 of 50 Jewish-owned summer homes in Val David. In one home, at least one of the vandals defecated on the floor, said Pinkas Feferkorn, director of the Val Morin synagogue. Photograph by: Pinkas Feferkorn

Vandals paint swastikas on Jewish-owned summer cottages in Quebec
By Andy Riga, Postmedia News April 16, 2012

Vandals broke into and defaced about 15 of 50 Jewish-owned summer homes in Val David. In one home, at least one of the vandals defecated on the floor, said Pinkas Feferkorn, director of the Val Morin synagogue.
Photograph by: Pinkas Feferkorn

MONTREAL — Vandals broke into several Jewish-owned summer cottages in Quebec in recent days, defacing at least two of them with anti-Jewish hate messages and swastikas.

The Quebec provincial police is investigating the break-ins in Val Morin, 90 kilometres northwest of Montreal in the Laurentians, but could not confirm Sunday that anti-Jewish graffiti was present.

No one was in the homes during the incidents.

Some break-ins occurred Thursday and others were reported Sunday, said Surete du Quebec spokesperson Ingrid Asselin. The vandals broke into about 15 of the 50 Jewish-owned homes in the area, said Pinkas Feferkorn, director of the Val Morin synagogue.

(…)
Furniture was damaged, clothes and toys were thrown out windows and in one house, at least one of the vandals defecated on the floor, Feferkorn said.

Swastikas were spray-painted on the outside of one house. In another, swastikas were painted all over the interior, along with at least one phrase: “F–k Juif.”

Immigrants prioritized over ‘white’ Canadians for public housing, human-rights complaint says

Gary Dimmock, Postmedia News

OTTAWA — An Ottawa man who was living in a shelter with his wife and two children took the City of Ottawa to a human-rights tribunal last month, alleging that immigrants are given priority over “white Canadians” for public housing.

Kirk Munroe and his family lived at the Carling Family Shelter for months last year while waiting for a public housing unit to call their own. Munroe grew frustrated with the wait after immigrant families at the shelter were offered public housing in only a “matter of weeks.”

In his application to Ontario’s human-rights tribunal, Munroe quoted an Ottawa public housing manager as saying “whites have less chance of getting a home and they have to stay in shelters longer than immigrants new to Canada.”

The tribunal heard that the quick turnaround time for immigrants was in “distinct contrast to the experience of white Canadian families” at the shelter, including his own, who had to wait months for housing.

A lawyer for the public housing agency denied it gives priority to immigrants, and a lawyer for the City of Ottawa told the hearing that the immigrants in question may have been victims of domestic violence, which, he said, would account for why they were offered social housing so quickly. The tribunal also heard that the public housing manager denied saying that immigrants have a better shot at getting public housing.

Fine arts student Sooraya Graham, 24, took this photograph as a class assignment in hopes of humanizing women who wear the niqab.

Photo of Muslim woman holding bra causes tensions The Canadian Press Date: Fri. Apr. 13 2012 7:54 PM ET KAMLOOPS, B.C. — An art student who wears Muslim headdress is defending her right to freedom of expression after a photo she snapped was removed from public display at a British Columbia university. The large black and white print depicts a woman in full Islamic scarf and cloak holding a flower-embossed bra while folding laundry. Sooraya Graham produced the image and presented it earlier this year for a class assignment as part of her fine arts degree at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops. Not long after it had been hung in the school hallway, she overheard a woman who also wears a head scarf saying she had peeled the artwork off the wall. That decision inadvertently put the photograph into greater public view, and has now generated debate about cultural misconceptions, community representation and censorship.