The McGill Tribune Vol. 14 Issue 15

Page 1

P u b lis h e d b y th e S tu d e n ts ’ S o c ie ty o f M c G ill U n iv e r s ity

Marri-not? N ew s

To strike or not to strike. SSMU considers Jan 25 national day of protest. See Page 3

A look at crime in Canada: gun control and the young offenders act. See Page 9 E d ito rial Putting your mouth where your money is: a look at the virtual econo­ my. See Page 6

ENTERTAINMENT A look at five of Montreal’s biggest, baddest, unsigned bands. See Page 14

SPORTS Redmen basketball steals the Stingers’ honey in an overtime thriller repre­ senting McGill’s first win over Con U. in 5 years. See Page 17 C o lu m n ists P. Darvasi..............Page 15 T. Frankel................. Page 7 B. Van Dijk..............Page 7 D e p a rtm e n ts Crossword................Page 8 Observer................... Page 8 What’s O n.............Page 19

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• Renegotiations cast uncer­ tainty on future o f SSMU food service contract with Marriott Food Corporation. B y T yla B e r c h t o l d ____________

Marriott, the food corpora­ tion that provides food and bev­ erages to 16 different locations on the M cG ill cam p u s, has called for a re-negotiation of its c o n tra c t w ith SSM U . Negotiations will begin later this month. SSMU and M arriott signed a fiv e -y e a r c o n tra c t in M ay 1992. It called for a base pay­ ment of $350,000 or 12 percent of total revenue to SSMU with a 5 percent increase each year. The contract contains a provi­ sion that allows either side to opt out of the agreement within 90 days in the event that it is unsatisfied. Marriott has reached the 90 day limit. M arriott’s concern with the c o n tra c t is fin a n c ia l. M artin Genereux, Marriott Management S ervices account d irecto r for McGill, explained. “We asked [SSMU] to re­ negotiate because there was a financial clause in the contract that we were not satisfied with. Let’s say that [Marriott] is not making any money,” he said. SSM U VP F in a n ce Paul Johnson said that SSM U has faced a series of financial obsta­ cles since signing the contract. “We got hit with a recession as soon as we signed the con­ tract w ith M arrio tt,” Johnson said. “We hoped to increase rev­ enue by installing a Pizza Hut and a Tim Horton’s and updat­ ing G ert’s. Based on an exten­ sive survey done by M arriott, P izza H ut and Tim H o rto n ’s ranked at the top of what stu­ dents want. Unfortunately these didn’t meet our expectations.” In response to the lack of revenue from Pizza Hut and Tim H o rto n ’s, SSM U d ec id e d to increase cafeteria prices across campus. This also failed to bring in the revenue that SSMU need

MUC Police under pressure By D a w n W

estley

The M ontreal Urban Community Police has come under severe criticism in the past decade for questionable behaviour. A series of events and actions on the part of the police has led to allega­ tions of brutality, racial discrimina­ tion and homophobia. Those accu­ sations, and the general deteriora­ tion of public opinion have prompt­ ed a vast array of changes to the police force in both form and con­ tent. • The Police and the Black Community On the morning of Wednesday July 4, 1991, a police cruiser quiet­ ly shadowed a red Buick down St. Antoine Street. The police officers were pursuing two suspects believed involved in a shooting several weeks earlier. At the comer

of St. Antoine Street and McGill Street a SWAT team intercepted the Buick and surrounded the car, guns drawn. A few minutes later, a member of the vice squad fired two shots into the passenger side of the car hitting 24-year-old Marcelus François in the head. François, unarmed and not the suspect the police were looking for, later died in the hospital. The black com m unity was outraged. A march of protest was organised the following day and rioting broke out in the east end of Montreal. While chief of police Alain St. Germaine admitted that it was a case of mistaken identity, he made no comment on the fact that the victim was unarmed. The inci­ dent marked the third death of a young black man at the hands of police within a year. The event and others like it have created tension between the black community of Montreal and

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the MUC Police. At the time of the incident prominent members of Montreal’s black community came forward and expressed fear and anger with the events. Dan Phillips, spokesperson for the community of Notre-Dame de Grace, was quoted in the Gazette: “We cannot stand for this any longer. The justice sys­ tem has failed the black communi­ ty. Changes to the MUC police must be vast and drastic. Racism must be eradicated from the police force.” The criticism generated by these events prompted the MUC police to engage in new approaches with the communities they service. Roy Giddons, coordinator of the NDG Black Community Centre, is encouraged by the changes. “We have a working relation­ ship with the police. If the police have problems with a youth in our community, they come to us and See MUC, Page 9

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January 17th, 1995

Page 2 N e W S

Council chaos over January

2 5

Day of Strike and Action

S S M U c o n d e m n s s tu d e n t e g g -th r o w in g B y Ro n L evy

C o n fusion re ig n ed at Thursday’s SSMU council meet­ ing as co u n c illo rs voted to involve SSMU in the January 25 N ation al Day of S trike and Action, and to condemn student egg-throwing. The strike day was proposed by the C anadian Federation of Students as a protest against fed­ eral Hum an R esources D evelopm ent M in ister L loyd Axworthy’s proposals to reform the funding of higher education. Voting on the issue did not begin before the number of coun­ cil members present at the meet­ ing had dw indled to below the quorum of sixteen. The vote did not proceed until council waited several minutes for VP External Nick Benedict, who excused him-

lors raised the question of poten­ tial student support for the strike day. “W hat’s the point if we are going to have six people at this strike?” asked Yeghoyan. Residence Rep Amin Kassam pointed out a paradox in the idea of a strike to support access to education. “We are saying we value our education... but then we’re going to turn around and skip classes,” he said. “The message is that students care enough to m obilise them ­ selves,” countered Wong. The final decision to support the strike was made at the meet­ ing, with 10 of the 16 members voting in favour. The q u estion o f how Benedict will interpret the resolu­ tion that “SSMU involve itself’ in the day remains. While Benedict was unavailable for com m ent, sources clo se to him told the Tribune that Benedict was likely to put m inim al effo rt into the strike day. Earlier in the meeting, coun­ cil debated the appropriate eti­ quette for student protests. Egg­

throwing and “defacing private re sid e n ces o f M in iste rs” are among the means the councillors voted to condemn. Calling these “political actions that are outside the bounds of legitimate protest,” the condemnation is in part meant to distance SSMU from protesters p lan n in g to carry out actio n s “including, but not lim ited to” those involving eggs. B en ed ict was am ong the eleven who helped to carry the m otion in a vote which, in the night’s spirit of confusion, had to be taken twice. “Students have a perception of being whiners,” Benedict said. “We have tried to change that. Every tim e students go to Mr. A xw orthy’s house, the govern­ ment’s poll numbers on this issue go up.” The ten co u n c illo rs who opposed the motion put forward a range of arguments, with some, such as W ong, suggesting that council may be interfering with students’ freedom of expression. “ S upposedly we live in a dem ocracy,” W ong said. “This motion, to me, harks back to Big Brother, Big Sister.”

one a re a ,” he said. “We have businesses at 16 different points ed. As a result, Marriott became and it’s not true to say that Gert’s increasingly concerned. is responsible for Marriott losses. “It got to the point where Blaming Gert’s was ‘à la mode’. M arrio tt said ‘O kay, nothing The issu e is not only G e rt’s. Some cafeterias may g en erate “L e t’s say th a t [M arriott] is not more sales but don’t necessari­ m aking any m oney.” ly make a prof-

first priority of SSMU would be to re-negotiate the contract, there are other options. Currently, the students are preparing to meet with all cafete­ ria staff members to discuss how McGill can improve its food and beverage service. Johnson feels this will help SSMU to prepare itself for the negotiations. “We are constrained by the current contract and this is a win­ dow to explore other options. If we are changing the rules of the game, we should inject creativity and jump start the food and bev­ erage service on cam pus,” he said. As the two sides have yet to meet, any details concerning the negotiations are not yet elaborate. Genereux maintained, however,

self earlier in the meeting to deal assem bly. A general assem bly w ith “urgent b u sin ess” , to be requires a minimum of 200 stu­ dents and has the decision-making called back to the meeting. Clubs Rep Chris Carter had power of council. Yeghoyan argued that a gen­ harsh words about the meeting. “This happens at virtually eral assembly would publicise the every council m eetin g ,” said issue and add weight to a decision C arter. “I find it "SSM U condem ns all forms of p o litipathetic on the part of cal action th a t are outside the c o u n c il... bounds of legitim ate protest, inclu despecially ing, bu t not lim ited to, egg-throwing when they talk about a t M in is te r s ...” the w on­ SSM U resolution ders of democracy.” to strike. “Student fees are as much of The nature of the proposal was the subject of debate when a student issue as we can get,” he SSMU P resid en t Sevag said. “I know we can get 200 stu­ Yeghoyan, hoping to avoid a vote dents.” The suggestion was rejected altogether, moved to bring the m atter before a student general by council after several members argued that it would be impossible to organise on such short notice. “I don’t really understand the logic of a general assembly,” said S enate/B oard Rep Joe W ong. “Rather than dilly-dallying... we should start a huge campaign to get people out for the strike.” Yeghoyan and other council­

Marriott... Continued from Page 1

M a rtin Q enereux, A ccou nt D irector for M arriott a t M cG ill

W ed n esd ay

ADRIENNECLARKSONPRESENTS THE NANNY

LIBERTY STREET DREAM ON EMPTY NEST

seems to be working so we need to change the rules of the game,’ w hich I think is fa ir ,” said Johnson. Questions have been raised concerning w hether or not the loss of revenue is related primari­ ly to the decreasing number of p atro n s at a o nce-boom ing G e rt’s. H ow ever, G enereux maintained that though Marriott was not profiting, it was impossi­ ble to hold one area of the cam­ pus responsible for the loss of revenue. “I t ’s co m p licated , so it would be difficult to point out

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11 M arrio tt Will present its new offer to the SSM U on January 20. At last T hursday’s SSMU council meeting, Johnson stated that he believed M arrio tt’s new offer would probably mean a revenue loss of up to $100,000 for SSMU. “We struc­ tured the bud­ get with that in “If w e are changing the rules of m in d ,” said the game, w e should inject cre­ Johnson. “We have a d iscre­ ativity and jum p sta rt the food tionary budget and beverage service on cam pu s.” this year of $180,000 so we should com e P aul Johnson out o f this SSM U V P Finance fin a n c ia lly okay.” He fu rth e r stated th at the that he was confident about the SSMU had been extrem ely co­ outcome of the negotiations. “I cannot com m ent on the operative with Marriott thus far. “We are under no obligation details but we want to negotiate to be as co-operative as we have an agreement that will be winbeen... W e’ve gone above and win for both sides,” he stated. beyond the call of d u ty,” said “I’m pretty confident that we will reach an agreement. We have a Johnson. Marriott is the third food cor­ very good relationship with the poration that McGill has contract­ SSMU and I don’t see reaching a ed w ithin the last nine years. agreement being a big, big prob­ Johnson stated that although the lem.”


N eW S

January 17th, 1995

Page 3

Referendumania heats up in St. Henri — Westmount By Steve Sm it h

With the tattered remnants of the recent municipal election cam­ paigns still clinging to its walls, the district of St.Henri-Westmount is about to undergo its fourth elec­ toral redecoration in less than two years. On February 13, residents of the St. H enri-W estm ount will return to the polls to elect a replacement for Liberal MP David B erger. B erger, who rode the L iberal landslide to victory in October, 1993, stepped down in late December at the request of Prim e M inister Jean C hrétien. Replacing Berger as the Liberal candidate for St.Henri-Westmount is Lucienne Robillard, a high-pro­ file former provincial cabinet min­ ister who served under R obert Bourassa and Daniel Johnson. The reasons behind Berger’s bump from the political ring are not difficult to understand. Despite the McGill law graduate’s 15 years experience w ith the federal Liberals, Berger’s political martyr­ dom was a necessary step in O ttaw a's cam paign against the im pending referendum on Quebec’s sovereignty, scheduled for this summer. A ccording to McGill political science professor Alain Gagnon, one of the facts that sealed Berger’s fate was his reput­

ed stance on the 1989 Meech Lake Accord, which would have guaran­ teed Quebec’s status as a distinct society in the C anadian Constitution. “One of the problem s with Mr. Berger was he was viewed as an opponent to Meech Lake. With Mr. B erger in St. HenriWestmount, this wasn’t seen as a good thing,” commented Gagnon. The October 1993 election witnessed a majority of Quebec's voters turn to the sovereigntist Bloc Québécois. Gagnon observed that in order to build-up the pro­ federalist, francophone presence in Ottawa, Chrétien had to make sac­ rifices — of which Berger was one. “[The federal Liberals] have to present a francophone candidate in a winnable riding. They had to find someone expendable. That was Mr. Berger,” Gagnon said. The riding of St. Henri-Westmount is regarded as one of Quebec’s most secure federalist preserves. Berger asserted that his deci­ sion to step down did not reflect a loss of confidence in his ability to serve St. Henri-Westmount. If a product of anything, it was a prod­ uct of circumstance. “Many friends and supporters were disappointed to see me step down but they recognise that these are not ordinary tim es,” Berger

said. “Wë have to be organised to face the referendum and I support the Prime Minister in that regard. The Prime Minister has said his first duty is to keep the country together.” Berger is now employed by the Prime Minister’s Office as a special advisor on policy issues concerning economics, science, technology and innovation. Berger noted that Robillard’s extensive experience in provincial politics made her an ideal candi­ date to help spearhead the federal campaign against the referendum in Quebec. Under Premiers Robert Bourrassa and Daniel Johnson, R obillard served as both the provincial M inister for Higher Education and Science and the Minister of Health. “One of the reasons that Mr. Chrétien wanted her to join our ranks was she was an important cabinet m em ber,” com m ented Berger. “Mr. Chrétien wants to maintain a good working relation­ ship between the provincial and federal Liberals — and she has a more extensive background with the provincial Liberals than I do.” Despite her credentials, resi­ dents of St. Henri-Westmount have raised concerns about Robillard’s ability to represent their riding’s interests in Ottawa. Robillard had represented the district of Chambly

McGill libraries hike photocopy costs By Sa ra - | ean G reen________________

re p a ir and the p u rc h ase o f new equipment. Hedge-Corm ier would not tell the Tribune the amount of profit generated by photocopy use or the am ount o f money directed towards the purchase of books. Arts Undergraduate Society VP Finance Rick Savone is disturbed by the fact that students are forced to incur higher prices as a way to make up for budget cuts introduced by the administration. “W e’re going to let them know w e’re upset about [the increases]. It’s a weird thing to do, putting stu­ dents in a comer,” he said.

Increases in photocopying costs were implemented January 1 in all campus libraries. The new charges are an attempt to offset budget cuts introduced by McGill’s administra­ tion last fall. T he p ric e o f p h o to c o p ie s increased from 7 to 10 cents with a d e b it card w h ile co in p ay m en t in c re a se d fro m 10 to 15 ce n ts. H o w ev er, th e c o st o f u sin g the m icro fo rm re a d e r p rin te rs has re m a in ed fix e d at tw e n ty -e ig h t cents with a card and thirty cents without. Donna Hedge-Cormier, the Library Administrative Officer, exp lain ed th at the in creases were necessary to help supple­ ment the budget for book pur­ chases and inter-library loans. “T he re aso n [fo r the increases] is because the bud­ gets are being cut across cam­ pus. A large num ber o f stu ­ dents use the facilities [and] we still offer com petitive prices com pared to ex tern al fa c ili­ tie s ,” she said . “B ut we are looking to derive some profit in order to supplem ent our own book budget.” The incom e raised from the lib ra rie s ’ p h o to co p y in g fa c ilitie s is u sed to co v er e x p e n ses such as m achine The cost o f the paper?

in Quebec’s National Assembly until last October, when she lost her seat to the Parti Québécois. W estm ount m ayor P eter Trent acknowledged these concerns but was sympathetic to the position in which the Chrétien government finds itself. “A lot of Westmounters are concerned that because we are a safe riding were being used but extraordinary circumstances dictate the need to fight the referendum,” stated Trent. “I can see the overar­ ching need for this and I’m very supportive of her and what she wants to do.” Trent admitted, however, that such a procedure would not be acceptable in less-difficult times. “I w ould hope th at in the future there would be a normal process, including a nominating hearing,” added Trent. C laude Longpré serves as David Berger’s political attaché and is currently m anaging Robillard’s election campaign in St. Henri-W estm ount. Longpré asserted that Robillard is qualified to fulfill her duty to her new con­ stituents and has the experience necessary to succeed at her other task — convincing fellow fran­ cophones that federalism is Quebec’s best option. “It’s not you and me who has to be convinced — it’s the people

in the eastern regions. She’s one of them, she’s a francophone, she’s got a good track record as a minis­ ter. She’ll be able to speak to the people who need to be convinced as one of them,” claimed Longpré. Gagnon argued that the extent to which the francophone commu­ nity will follow Robillard depends on her ability to avoid “small poli­ tics”. “I think she could maintain a positive opinion,” he said. Anne Michèle Meggs will rep­ resent the Bloc Québécois in the b y-election. She questioned Robillard's ability to foster fran­ cophone support for federalism "Whether or not Robillard can really be an effective, credible spokesperson for French Canada remains to be seen - I don't think so," commented Meggs. "This is a woman who has supported Meech Lake, the A llaire report and Charlottetown and now she’s in Chrétien's camp . She'll have to defend the fact Chrétien's not inter­ ested in changing the constitution." M eggs also questioned the very fact there is a by-election at all. "Quite frankly, we find the byelection costly and unnecessary. They've shunted aside the person the riding has chosen - it seems to demonstrate a lack of respect for the choice of the voters."

McGill students to join the national student tug-of-war C lubs Rep C hris C arter agreed, stressing the need to m a in ta in a u n ite d stu d e n t A fter several m onths o f front, and defending CFS. promises, SSMU council final­ “This is one o f the m ost ly confirm ed its intention to important and tense moments become a founding member of in s tu d e n t h is to ry ,” said th e C an ad ia n A llia n c e o f Carter. “Now is not the S t u d e n t time to be making alter­ A sso c ia tio n s, a “ [T h e creation of a rival associanative student organisa­ m ove th a t som e tion] factionalizes and creates tions.” observers argue will “ [CFS] seem to be te a r th e C an ad ia n disu nity. It is a common concept the only organiztion that stu d e n t m ovem ent of dividing and controlling.” are mobilising organisa­ apart. SenatefB oard representative tio n s and c re a tin g SSM U VP Joe Wong events. It’s only going E x te rn a l N ick to do harm for Students’ Benedict has been at S o ciety by b u rin g * the fo re fro n t o f Benedict presented coun­ bridges with them,” he contin­ M cGill’s attacks on the exist­ ing C anadian F ed eratio n o f cil with a series of letters from ued. R e sid e n c e R ep A m in Students and efforts to form other Canadian student unions, Kassam questioned the infor­ p rim a rily th o se in A tlan tic the rival CASA. At Thursday’s c o u n c il m e e tin g , B e n e d ic t provinces, criticising CFS and mation on which council based repeated charges that CFS is supporting efforts to create an its decision. “I have heard nothing but an unduly expensive organiza­ alternative association. backlash for CFS,” he said. “I O th er co u n c il m em bers tion that doesn’t fulfill its role as a national student organiza­ rem ained unconvinced, how ­ have not seen any productive ever, arguing that the creation dialogue with the CFS.” tion. Benedict dism issed these “CFS has been asleep at of a new national student asso­ arguments. ciatio n w ould only serve to the wheel in Ottawa,” he said, “The student movement in c a u tio n in g co u n c il th a t his d iv id e th e n atio n al stu d en t Canada is already irreparably statements were not intended movement in Canada. “ [The creation o f a rival split,” he said. “The best we for hearing outside McGill. “T h ere w ill be no in ter association] factionalises and can do is make the most of it.” A general meeting for the d is u n ity ,” said CASA-CFS debate in public,” c re a te s he said, arguing that the two Senate/Board Rep Joe Wong. founding of CASA will take organizations w ill cooperate “ It is a com m on co n cep t o f place in Fredericton at the end of January. on o p p o sin g the A x w o rth y dividing and controlling.” By M

o n iq u e

Shebbeare________

J.

reforms to education funding. F ed eral H um an R eso u rc es D evelopm ent m inister Lloyd A xworthy released a discus­ sion paper in October that rec­ ommends changes to Canada’s social safety net.


January 17th, 1995

Page 4 N e W S

Student money finances Friday study hours By Sylvie Babarik

Students who depend on the M cLennan-Redpath Library as study space, have found temporary relief in the return of Friday night hours as a result of funding provided by the Arts Undergraduate Society. The hours had initially been reduced due to university-wide bud­ get cuts forcing all McGill libraries to accommodate a 15% decrease in

The AUSpublicizes its generosity

their casual budget. From the beginning of last semester until December 2, students were forced to leave the McLennanRedpath Library at 5:45 p.m. Having received a number of com­ plaints from students, the AUS undertook negotiations with the library administration. On November 23, the AUS unanimously voted to assume the $2500 necessary to re-open Friday night study periods until the end of the 1995 W inter term. Since the deci­ sion, the library has been able to remain open until 9:45 p.m. “We were thrilled with the decision,” stated McLennan librarian Margaret Monks. “I can’t express my gratitude enough for the help this has pro­ vided.” “We are such a heavily used library that cuts affect many students,” she added. Monks des­ cribed the initial decision to cut the ^ hours as being a nec•g essary sacrifice. ~o Other options would $ have entailed jeopar­ ds dising the library’s ?5 ability to provide

Other libraries have also been logistics.” quality services. Despite the library Cuts in the Engineering and administration’s intentions, many forced to implement changes. Many students were displeased with the have likew ise opted to reduce Physical Science Library budgets access-hours in the hope of preserv­ have not brought about a particular­ reduction of hours. ly vigorous response as of “There was not yet. However, the library adequate studyhas been forced to reduce space when Friday “O f course, w e recognise th a t as b u d­ the number of journals nights were taken which it receives by 10% getary choices are being m ade a t away,” stated AUS President Leslie M cQ ill, the u n iversity w ill not get into since the budget reductions took effect, and cuts to the Ravestein. “We the h abit of turning to stu den ts to p ro ­ access hours may still be thought we would vide essential services like stu dy space necessary. help while we The Engineering could.” w h en stu den ts n eed i t . ” Undergraduate Society Since D ec­ A U S P residen t plans to conduct a survey ember, many stu­ Leslie R avestein to determine which ser­ dents have contacted vices the students regard as the AUS to express most important. This would be used their satisfaction with the re-opening of Friday night study hours. ing the quality of services. to establish priorities should future However, questions have arisen However, all seem to recognise the cuts become necessary. “We did not want to do it [cut over the possibility of setting a need to remain open as long as pos­ precedent of using student associa­ sible so as to allow students to make hours] because the payment of fees warrants that minimum services tion funds to compensate for the full use of the facilities. “Libraries do try to provide should be provided,” said EUS VP university’s inability to pay for ser­ long hours and weekend access,” Academic Mitch Ingham. “If push vices. AUS members were wary of noted Education librarian Marilyn comes to shove, we would consider setting a negative precedent and Cohen. “When I first started here, it.” Ingham, who also sits on ue recognised that they had assumed a the [Education] library was not open responsibility which should not be on Sundays. With the introduction Library Advisory Committee, has theirs. Ravestein stressed that the of new equipment like C.D. ROM, been studying ways of reducing library expenditures. He suggests decision was taken as a temporary the demand for access is greater.” The student associations of that projects such as linking services measure. “Of course, we recognise that other faculties have also been look­ with other universities may have to as budgetary choices are being made ing for ways to reduce the impact of be considered if a balance is to be found between constraining budgets at McGill, the university will not get recent cuts to the library budgets. “We were faced with a similar and maintaining services. into the habit of turning to students “We must re-evaluate our deci­ to provide essential services like problem,” noted Management VP study space when students need it,” Finance Laurence Wilks. “Yet we sions,” said Ingham. “Its all a matter have not come to a consensus due to of prioritising.” she said.


N ew s

January 17th, 1995

Network Briefs •

Page 5

STEAMED

No more smokes in drugstores

The Picadilly General Store located in the University of Western Ontario’s Community Centre may no longer be able to sell cigarettes as a result of recent amendments to cigarette sales. Legislation passed by the Ontario government on November 30, 1994 banned cigarette sales in pharma­ cies and raised the legal smoking age to 19. The Rae government also outlawed cigarette vending machines and imposed a $2,000 fine for any establishment violating this law. Although The Pic is only a general store and should not be affected by the new legislation, its proximity to the pharmacy at the Community Centre may prohibit cigarette sales. “If there’s a pharmacy on the premises, you cannot sell tobacco,” said Dan McMillan, the coordinator of Tobacco Control Act Enforcement division of the Middlesex-London Health Unit. “Even if the pharmacy is on the opposite end of the establishment from the cigarettes, they still have to not sell cigarettes.” Mark Hooey, the owner and proprietor of The Pic was unsure as to whether he could find legal means to circumvent the law and continue to sell cigarettes. Hooey stated that he intended to seek legal council on the matter. ♦TAX

-with fdes from The Gazette

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McGILL TRIBUNE Hockey schmockey sums for ridiculous time periods. Rickey Jackson played like an allstar again this season, because he wanted to win a Super Bowl before his career ended. And the financial incentive doesn’t hurt either. He wins. The 49ers win. San Francisco’s fans win. Only the Dallas Cowboys lost in this equa­ tion. But someone has to — that’s the nature of sport. Not money, competition.

t4The less you write, the better it must be.” —Jules Renard M ichael Broaphurst

Editor-in-cbief C hristopher Rigney

Steve Sm iih

Assistant Editor-in-cbief

Assistant E ditor-in-cbief Edito

Virtual banking: all the eggs in one basket By H arris N ewman______________________

For even the most technologically impaired, few will question the convenience and pervasiveness of the bank teller of the '90s. the ATM banking machine. Basic banking services, such as withdrawals, bill pay­ ments, withdrawals, cheque deposits, and withdrawals can all be performed in seconds at almost any urban center in the world. No annoying lineups or messy communication with another human being, just cash at your finger­ tips. The security advantages are also clear. No more worrying about mug­ gings and carrying around large sums of dough. The Interac direct payment system means money travels straight from your bank account to your local merchant’s pocketbook, no change required. Welcome to the virtual econo­ my. As stores begin accepting bank cards, a type of ‘smart card’ that can store information magnetically, the need for real money, as in nickels and fivers, shrinks. STCUM passes with their magnetic stripes are another example — no tokens, no coins, no problems. According to a Maclean’s story tided ‘Stashing the Cash' (by Warren Caragata, December 26, 1994), Interac direct payments are used by over 85,000 merchants in Canada already, and nearly half of Canadians who have bank cards use the service. The faster Canadians pick up on the direct payment trend, the sooner production of cash money can chop. Money is expensive — it costs two cents to make a copper penny, and there is dis­ cussion of switching the much abused 2 dollar bill over to coin, which has a longer life. Consumers and merchants alike fail to appreciate the nuances of conventional money, the fraudulent abuse of cheques, or the interest rates and pass-the-buck mentality of credit cards. Bank cards put all of your resources at your disposal 24 hours a day. Often overlooked are the dangers, both long and short term, of a virtu­ al economy. The security on a street crime level may undoubtedly be high­ er, but this type of money management opens more doors to the world of fraud and the still poorly controlled realm of computer theft. An electronic signature (your PIN) is much easier for professionals to crack or ‘forge’ than a handwritten one, especially since computerised banking requires no face-to-face contact. Considering the ease with which most people entirely abandon their finances to the supposedly flawless digital domain, the potential for massive errors and even information highway robbery grows daily. Plus, the underground economy and the Mack market would buckle under this system. Try finding a pot dealer with a direct payment machine, or a way to settie up your Super Bowl bets without the benefit of hard cash. Remember how all the women in Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale lost their bank accounts en route to the end of the free world? Big Brother is watching these days — every transaction you make is stamped with the who’s, what’s, where’s and when’s. Privacy cannot exist when everything you earn or spend is monitored, be it by a docile bank comput­ er, or perhaps a government tax agent. This system sells off the rights of the poor in order to favour those who control the world banking systems. Is convenience worth sacrificing security and anonymity? Every step of progress in the virtual economy means a further loss of independence by those who place all their resources in the virtual economy.

The NHL strike is over. And aren’t we all happy about that? As several hundred overpayed and overprivileged high school drop outs go back to work this week, in the employ of several dozen overprivileged and greedy corporate magnates, Canadians from sea to sea rejoice. But why? In this the year of labor unrest in professional sports, North Americans have discovered that their obsessions with violencefilled and testosterone crazy “ath­ letic” events weren’t really that important. Anyone who can really say that their Saturday nights were drastically affected by Don Cherry withdrawl should check into a psy­ chological counselling centre. As far as I ’m concerned, sports are fine. 1 even get interest­ ed in many of them come playoff time, when you get to watch the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. At least when the hockey season ends, games start to mean something. The winner goes on, the loser goes home. Pro sports used to be about hero worship; players like Gordie Howe and Maurice Richard, Guy Lafleur and Lanny McDonald, gave one the impression that they played the game not so much for the money they made but for the thrill they derived from competi­ tion and the drive to win a champi­ onship — to be the best they can be, to borrow from the U.S. Army. But in the age of greed, bit players make an average annual salary that m ost working folk would require ten or fifteen years to accum ulate. Som ething is indeed rotten in the state of Texas when Manny Lee, who’s never seen a strike he wanted to swing at, makes $1.1 m illion dollars for booting balls about the Rangers’ infield. This weekend illustrated how sports contracts should really work. Rickey Jackson, a former NFL all-star linebacker, signed a one-year contract last summer to play for the San Francisco 49ers. His salary: $162,000, the NFL minimum. However, if the 49ers made the Super Bowl, which they did on Sunday, he receives a bonus of $838,000, making his salary for the year a cool $1 million. That’s a salary structure that works for

everyone. The 49ers get a quality player at a reasonable price, and then if he helps the team to a cham­ pionship he reaps part o f the reward that the owners realise. Instead, pro sports owners have spent the past twenty years guaranteeing players ridiculous

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O p in io n Blind worship, Super Bowl style

As the h o lie st day o f the year approaches, the high priests of football diligently prepare for their January festival. The Super B ow l, played this year in the sunny mecca of M iami, is less than tw o S u ndays aw ay. To ensure all proper rituals will be respected, the follow ing is an ab rid g e d v ersio n o f the holy book of spectating. I have been careful not to offend the name of our revered deities, Papa Bear Halas and “Ickey” Woods. Civil man, gentle wom an, innocent child, condem ned CFL fan — heed the word! Madden 1:1— And He said unto thee: “Let the stain on thee p ant leg be from a F rito -L ay

product.” T his passag e d en o tes the importance of pre-game prepara­ tion. It b eg in s, as you m ight expect, with the fundamentals — food and drink. There are two good rules o f thum b to follow when planning your snack out­ lays. The first is that all items must come in a sealed package, the second that it must leave a perm anent mark if dropped on your carpet. A cceptable foods include Cheetos, Smarties (the kind that melt in your hands, on your couch, and in your mouth), and Spam. Wash it all down the d o m estic ale o f y o u r ch o ice. Don’t fear your halftime stomach pain — it’s just the gods tickling

your insides. Montana 1:6— Do not dress in robes when sweats will do. Humble attire is required for this ceremony. The Super Bowl party is the only event during the year that it’s permissible to wear sw eatpants. W orshipping fans wearing anything marked with a brand label besides “Starter” will be kindly asked to leave. T a y lo r 5 :6 — The ailin g prophet reckoned: it is better to be savage and cruel than a wussy. Your behaviour during the great game must be guided by primal instincts. Feel free to emit gas through any orifice, regard­ less of the proxim ity of loved ones. T he ru le also in v o lv es adopting a certain attitude. Act on every whim to curse out the refs, players, anthem singer, etc. O penly p ro c la im in g the line judge to be a “piece of dogshit” or a plain old “motherfucker” is

looked upon favourably by the divine authorities. Mock threats are also well received, especially w hen d irec ted at hot dog showoffs like the 49ers’ Deion Sanders and boneheads like the Cowboys’ Leon Lett. Remember th a t leav in g th e room at any point during the afternoon, even to relax on the porcelain throne, is forbidden — the high-priced TV ads are usually more com ­ pelling than the game. Jimmy 2:1— The wise man noted: “Give the points when the underdog is ailing.” The message here is prove yourself the more knowledgeable pigskin follower by putting some coinage on the lin e. B et on ev e ry th in g from who’ll win the coin toss to who goes home with the MVP Chevy S edan. This y e a r’s co n test is especially interesting because ABC’s resident blabber mouths Al, Frank and Dan will call the action. Have each m em ber of

y o u r clan p re d ic t how m any tim es the words “ K athie L ee” will be uttered, with the winner taking the pot and the most inac­ curate lo ser saying a hundred “Hail Regises”. Well, I must go now to start brewing the sacred lager. In case you were wondering, the faithful sages predict the NFC represen­ ta tiv e to rom p o v er th e AFC team . E ven th o u g h b oth the C h arg ers and S te elers have defences more dangerous than a pack of anti-abortionists, expect the NFC to keep their winning streak alive. O bey the law s th at have been set out and your Sunday will indeed be super. May your Bugles be crisp and your beer strong. Ted Frankel sustained over twenty concussions in his PeeWee football career.

Car alarm conditioning difficult to de-program

My nine-year-old American cousin came up to Toronto with my uncle for a v isit this Christmas. Poor little Charlene was in for a bit of a culture shock. When her first shock symp­ tom s wore off, the hard-core Canadians and plain old progres­ sives at my house made sure to reactivate them. After all, we had some serious indoctrinating to do if we wished to counteract the effects of Rush Limbaughland. The Brooklyn baby alm ost couldn’t sleep on her first night in Canada, accustomed as she was to being soothed by the gentle song of myriad car alarms bleeping into the dawn. (My uncle has had two cars stolen in two months). C h arly ’s disco m fo rt was nothing compared to the squirm­ ing at our dinner table the night the Toronto van Dijks found out that Brooklyn Uncle has been lost forever to the stone-age civiliza­ tion of the south. You guessed it — the man d o esn ’t believe in health care as we know it. He lit­ erally doesn’t believe in the health care most Canadians experience. Lim baugh-lies have convinced Uncle that we practically have to wait two years for a goddam n checkup! My uncle used to be a sensible New Zealander, but the melting pot has mushed him. Cousin-conversion resumed with a vengeance after, the dinner debate. My family plays a game in which contestants describe wellknown figures to their teammates w ithout saying the ce le b rity ’s name. For example, teammates

might have to guess who is “first name am phibian, last syllable filthy capitalist” (Newt Gingrich). C harly described her man most succinctly: “Form er Vice P resident” . U nfortunately, my team didn’t say “Dan Quayle” fast enough to win that round. We w ere too busy ex p lain in g to Charly that she was no longer in A m erica and th erefo re had to specify the nationality of the Vice President she referred to. (Who were we trying to kid?!) The Christmas culture clash continued with a conversation about peacekeeping. Somehow we got from “L ittle Tow n of Bethlehem” to Sarajevo — don’t ask me. U ncle tried to claim that peacekeeping is impossible. His argum ent was interrupted by a loud wine-sharpened comment: “W hat w ould you know about peacekeeping? Y our country doesn’t send troops anywhere. It ju st bosses everybody else around! It’s not even qualified to com m ent on peacekeeping and neither are you.” Could it have been me who spoke so rudely to my uncle? It m ust have been someone else. Even if I had spoken so shrewishly to Uncle, forgiveness was definitely in order. You see, all holiday I read The B est o f Granta Reportage. It has stories on V ietnam , El S alvador, Panama.... Need I say more? My reading left me a little depressed and not at my most charming. My d ep ressio n ' deepened

w hile I was playing w ith my cousin in the park. We were chat­ ting and giggling on the junglegym when Charly suddenly froze and stared w ide-eyed at the entrance to the playground. What scared her? A muscular black man w ith long dreadlocks is what. H e’d ju st come to pick up his kids, and we had a nice chat about the muddiness of the play area. I may be prone to hyperbole, but I am definitely not exaggerat­ ing my cousin’s look of scared defensiveness as the black man approached us. The cops in Toronto may be racist pigs, and all is not racially peachy up here, but I do not assume that every black stranger I see might shoot me. Ah, America — land of the free. Christmas was most fun when Canadians and Americans forgot their differences and celebrated cultural sim ilarities. Both my brother and my cousin wore the same look of pleasant trendiness when they were blessed with gifts from The Gap. My mother, Charly and I sobbed in unison when we went to see Little Women. Who cares if Louisa May Alcott was an American? She provided us with fine female-bonding material. All in all, it’s nice having an American cousin. If it weren’t for her, I m ight forget that all Americans aren 't like Gingrich and Bob Dole — thank goodness Charly isn’t old enough to vote for them, so I can’t even accuse her of that. Next time she visits, w e’ll rent My American Cousin. I hope she visits again soon, because while she was here I forgot to tell her about the war of 1812. I’m not sure if they teach about that down there. Beatrice Van Dijk has never had her car stolen in Brooklyn.

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Page 8

eyes melted the grocer’s hard tool, as he overcharges you for dinner.... I don’t feel it snacking.

BY DJ "l 8 A RITA MACNEIL TOSTADA, AND NOW I SIT..." ANDPOO JONSON AND Seamus 'B lasted altitudes creep KNOWINGLY INTO MY HEART OF Stretch ' Iones .___________________

ARIES (MAR 21- APR 19) My monkey your monkey everybody’s monkey; and you believe that too. Digesting enchiladas is your way of getting through to mommy. I can’t help but wonder Aries, what the hell do you think you’re doing? First you’re on-line and then you slow dance with Courtney Love. We smile and you smile, Carpe Diem.... I don’t feel it lacking. TAURUS (APR 20- MAY 20) Blasted spot, cooking like cus­ tard on horizon of good times. Why did you ever believe that you could set the standard for Chevy Novas in

the sixties? I wouldn’t slip like jelly into your threshold if my goggles bore designer emblems.... I don’t feel it smacking. GEMINI (MAY 21- JUNE 20) “Irish onions in my pants? I think not, Deacon!!” You reply in your husky, bold, yet effeminate voice: The times are changin’ and aren’t we all but time? That means you are changin’ Gemini into a con­ crete mold of your former integrity... I can’t but wonder, what does the future hold? Answer: You Gemini in its puss fdled claws.... I don’t feel it cracking. CANCER (JUNE 21- JULY 22) You know its true. Listen t’ the big ol’ musak as yuz confronts the demons inside like, for to be brave, like a birdie in a 308 course. And you know its true. Don’t fight tonight. Dance tonight. Your Spanish

LEO (JULY 23- AUG 22) Ozzy Osbourne once said, “ Treble mix my salad into two parts, sissy!” Two toned and skankin’ you understand, as you are once again alone in the shower, looking down and smiling knowingly. The brief caress from your imaginary friend is enough to melt your backside. Try treating it with lots of garlic... I don’t feel it quacking. VIRGO (AUG 23- SEP 22) Mmmmmm, local protocol leaves you dirty. You stare into your best friend Bunny’s face, trying to read some emotion... why did it leave? Was it a hostile fracture that belted the satin curtain into retire­ ment? (if you know what I mean).... and why did Tina take you so seri­ ously when you mentioned rubber­ necking ....stop... I don’t feel it track­ ing. LIBRA (SEPT 23- OCT 22) Playing your solar powered nintendo in the closet has never been a wise venture. Even your prof says he

long puzzled by the weak sales of the Nova in Latin America until it was pointed out that No va in Spanish means “won’t go” . Then A lex U sh er there was Branniff Airline’s wellpublicized effort to woo the American hispanic community with a set of radio commercials which in Spanish sounded suspiciously like an invitation to “fly naked”. Still, Spanish has nothing on Chinese when it comes to having potential to cause translation chaos. In the mid-1980s, Pepsi was all geared up to finally chal­ lenge Coke in the huge Chinese market when its “hip” advertising campaign flopped. The reason? Their youth-oriented “Taste of a New Generation” slogan was unfortunately rendered as “Drink Pepsi and Bring Your Ancestors Back From the Dead”. Similarly, Kentucky Fried Chicken’s best effort to translate “Finger Lickin’ Good” into Mandarin fell somewhat short of the mark; the best they could do was “Bite Your Fingers O ff’. The greatest book in the history of communication errors is an English-Portuguese dictionary written in 1883 by Pedro Carolino. Carolino did not consider his utter lack of knowledge of the English language an impediment to his work since he possessed both a French-English and a Portuguese-French dictionary. Among the useful idioms contained in the book are such gems as “the stone as roll not heap up not foam” and “the dog than bark not bite”. These phrases are ren­ dered even more surreal by the fact that they are not listed as “idioms” but rather as “idiotisms”. Finally, we should examine the suspicious phe­ nomenon of deliberate miscommunication, of which Vatican I is probably the greatest example. At this meeting in 1870 — the first conciliar meeting of the Catholic church in over 300 years — Pius IX was try­ ing to ram through a number of unpopular reforms, including acceptance of the doctrine of papal infallibili­ ty. Apart from using such normal methods of persua­ sion as bribery and physical coercion on opposition bishops and cardinals, Pius IX decided to hold the meeting in St. Peter’s Basilica where he knew the acoustics to be terrible (even worse than at Olympic Stadium — and if you think it’s a coincidence that the Big O is on Pie IX, think again). This prevented some of the older clerics, whose hearing was poor, from properly following the debate. Papal infallibility was thus assured through the wonders of miscommunica­ tion. mmmm

The Faculty of Ephemera Communication is such a difficult thing, particu­ larly when there are cultural or linguistic barriers in the way. Even at McGill we have this problem. All the English sections of the university continually explain to the French language and literature department that there are quantifiable standards that everyone in the university must adhere to in the areas of teaching and research, and the French department just keeps shrug­ ging gallically. (Can someone explain to me how an anglophone university in Quebec that is continually protesting how attached it is to French Canada can have a French department which, after having been put under trustee­ ship in the 70s, still gets among the worst cyclical review reports in the entire Faculty of Arts? I swear, this university never ceases to amaze me.) This is particularly a problem in the area of inter­ national diplomacy. Some historians believe that the Second World War would have taken an entirely dif­ ferent turn had Mussolini had a better command of German language. An extraordinarily vain man, Mussolini claimed to speak German even though his grasp of the language was somewhat tenuous. He there­ fore declared that he had no need of interpreters during his conferences with Hitler and members of the German General Staff. Italian officers would therefore sometimes have to waste valuable days trying to recon­ cile the strategy that Mussolini claimed to have settled upon with the aide-memoires drawn up by the Germans on the basis of the same meeting. More recently it has been American Presidents who have stumbled in the international arena due to communication problems. Kennedy’s 1961 “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech made good play domestically because Americans assumed that he had declared his solidarity with West Berliners in their war of nerves with East Germany. Germans, meanwhile, were less impressed: “Ich bin ein Berliner” actually means “I am a jelly doughnut”. Central Europe was also the scene of one of Jimmy Carter’s less spectacular forays into foreign affairs. Upon landing at Warsaw Airport in 1977, Carter’s interpreter rendered Carter’s phrase about his “desires for the future” as his “lusts for the future”. Later that day, he told puzzled Polish journalists that Carter had left America “never to return”. Mistranslation has been a particular bugbear of international business. Executives at Chevrolet were

Alex Usher still doesn’t understand the word “deadline

knows this is a dream, tell him he’s wrong , rub his face with the sand­ wich. Who cares, you cares sponge cares. Believe in yourself — every­ one else is maggot feed, you know it’s true... I don’t feel it yacking. SCORPIO (OCT 23- NOV 21) Why try to hide it... Guy Faukes day in Brussels was a stupid idea. Warts, blemishes, and endearing cards to remember me (it) by. Oh, the times we had were real, mostly loving, and above all technological. Enter beautiful human, who teaches you tricks with spirograph. You like game. You like word.... I don’t feel it plaquing. SAGITTARIUS (NOV 22DEC 21) You are not a micronaut. I have seen the future and it involves you playing solitaire. Dance not with the wet human who embraces your pro­ jections, dance with me , the one who will embrace your every particle of soul. Guess What? Chicken Butt.... I don’t feel it hacking. CAPRICORN (DEC 22- JAN 19) Don’t tough out your belly ache

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by THOMAS JOSEPH ACROSS DOWN 1 C loth 1 In v e rte d e ta tte r 2 W a tc h 6 Id a h o ’s a tta c h ­ ca p ita l m ent 11 D is h e s 3 J e w e lry 1 2 A rre st buys 1 3 G ra p h ­ 4 In o lo g ist’s a d d itio n s tu d y 5 T hey put 1 5 B a rris te r’s stu ff in to p p e r hock 16 H enpeck 6 S h ip c e lls 1 7 — Aviv 7 N ot a t 18 R e­ hom e sponses 8 M ono­ 2 0 A c tre s s g ra m p a rt L upino 9 W ith o u t a 21 M ine yield d a te s e t 22 Show er 10 London 2 3 L ooks lo c a le upon 1 4 S te a k 2 6 Like b a th flo o rs 2 7 A u s s ie ro ck b a n d 2 8 Brit, fly ers 2 9 S p ig o t 3 0 Military d o in g s 3 4 In th e sty le of 3 5 Fall m o. 3 6 M id e a s t­ e rn fruit 3 7 S e e r ’s s p e c ia lty 4 0 Briefly 41 Like O din an d Thor 4 2 Im p o v er­ is h e d 4 3 R id er’s h o rs e

styles. Don’t even touch it. If you do, it might invert and swallow you up whole. It will pulsate to the music of Lionel Richie, all red and veiny and shiny and above all, very unlucky. See the storm set in your brewing froth of compassion (damned froth: apes!).... I don’t feel it kyacking. AQUARIUS (JAN 20- FEB 18) You are inquisitive about the pigeon-faced woman in your psych class. Playing with the veins in your inner thigh, you explore new percep­ tion as to what reality is; the test tube in your pants grows weary of the ridicule of peers. Shake hands not with the Lord, but with the special hair products you buy for your grandfather.... I don’t feel it stacking. PISCES (FEB 19- MAR 20) Laugh not at your shrunken domain of sour words gone awry in the night, in the night. Sword fights, laughing munchkins grab at your torso but you care not for trivialities. In rating your tax return files we gagged (as if you weren’t going to claim a credit for honesty).... It does not rhyme at the end, perhaps it implies a postmodern jab, all I can say is: KA KA FAJITA....

c L E A R

H I N D U

A B O M B

C O R A L S

A D U L A T

M O B S T E R

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M P E L L A N B E L T U S R B E V H E E R R S

C A M I P R S S N P E R C E T A R S

A L L■ H E A D A O R I N A P T A M P E R I E A D E R C H E C K W A N B I D E A N G E A G E S

Last Week’s Answer o rd e r 19 Im p re sses g re a tly 22 Jazz p h ra se 23 A or C 24 Q ueued up 2 5 W id e sw eep 2 6 P laid

p a tte r n s 2 8 T ra c k event 3 0 Like b a d a p p le s 31 B lazing 32 W ash er cy c le 33 G oaded 3 8 B ad bom b 3 9 M o rse E


Page 9

January 17th, 1995

MUC police re-establishing their place in the community... we deal with the youth and their arg u in g that tw o co n se n tin g p a re n ts ,” ex p lain e d G iddons. adults having sex in a public “We try to avoid any situation place does not give the police the with the police. Our best means right to arrest everyone in the to do that is by educating every­ area. The follow ing night 200 one in the centre as to their rights people gathered in the village, in and the laws. We don’t want spe­ fro n t o f K ataco m b es, and cial trea tm e n t, we w ant w hat marched to the D istrict 33 sta­ tion. During the march protesters every other citizen expects.” The centre takes part in an accused the police of homopho­ annual softball gam e with the bia and discrimination against the Plattsburg, Vermont, police in an community. The Centre Communauté des attempt to acquaint young people with police officers while they L esb ien n e s et des G aies de are off duty. Giddons feels the Montreal (CCLGM) offers ser­ MUC could do more to improve vices for the gay, lesbian, and relations between themselves and bisexual community. It is a refer­ ence centre for gay and lesbian black youths. . “Community sports is some­ literature and provides legal help thing that the police could do to its constituents. Denis LaPorte, of the here to create CCLGM, is m ore c o n ­ “The goal of the program is for the o p tim is tic tacts with the representation on the police force to about re la ­ peopl e. tio n s w ith D is c u s s io n reflect the ethnic diversity of the the MUC groups could Montreal community.” p o l i c e also be p ro ­ Sergeant Van Damme, although he ductive. I am Problems division, is aw are pleased with the ch anges MUC th ere are obstacles. that are cur­ “We sponsored a hotline for rently taking place. Things seem more open, but I feel more could peo p le to ca ll co n cern in g be d o n e,” stated G iddons. “A encounters with police brutality police officer has to do the job of because much of this violence a social worker. More than any­ goes unreported. In 70 percent of body else in society, their job cases the perso n w ish ed to remain anonymous, even to us. requires compassion.” For the other 30 percent m ost only gave th e ir firs t nam es. District 33, the Gay Village People are intim idated by the On the morning of February p o lice who have not show n 17, 1994, police from District 33 re sp ect to th e m ,” claim ed raided Katakombes, a bar in the LaPorte. “We believe that the Gay Village. In the raid 175 peo­ best we can do is to show [the ple were arrested on charges of police] gay and lesbian reality in being in a bawdy house. Several order to educate them. More and were brought up on charges of more we share greater coopera­ obscenity, but the vast majority tion with them.” L aP orte is encouraged by of those arrested w ere sim ply p atro n s o f th e d isco th eq u e . attem p ts by law en fo rcem en t Members of the gay community authorities to im prove'relations charged police with harassment, and dispel the myths that create

The people will have more trust homophobia. “Homophobia is a product of and the police will be more effec­ a lack o f ed u catio n . T here is tive,” stated Van Damme. O t h e r some under­ changes include stan d in g of “We don’t want special treat­ the restructuring this on their ment, we want what every other o f the d is tric t p art. The system proposed S u rêté du citizen expects.” by the new Q uebec has Roy Qiddons, co-ordinator of the Chief of Police, a p p ro a c h e d NDQ Black community centre S e r g e a n t us to help D u chesneaux. them in te ­ grate awareness of the gay reality In an attempt to get officers more into their training program. We in v o lv ed in th e ir d is tric t, are also in the process of devel­ D uchesneau x w ants to create oping a program with D istrict substations and put the police on b ik es. P art o f the plan is to 33,” said Laporte. “The current problem is [the increase the level of responsibili­ police] are consumed by myths. ty by assigning each watch com­ The cadets came down to the vil­ mander of the substation specific lage last month. One of them had responsibility for a given area. to go to the bathroom but he re fu sed , he was a f ra id ,” explained Laporte. The Rate of Change Since the beginning of the decade the MUC Police has been undergoing a series of transform ations. In 1991 St. G erm aine instituted the E qual A ccess p ro g ram in order that visible and cultural m in o ritie s w ould share greater representation in the MUC police. “The goal of the program is for the representation on the police force to reflect the eth n ic d iv e rsity o f the M ontreal com m unity,” said Sergeant Van Damme of the Problems division. Today the force has made efforts to ensure that the force MUC cruiser: friend or foe? includes 33 percent fem ale officers, seven percent visible Under such a system a specific minorities, four percent cultural o ffic e r w ould be c o n tin u a lly a ssig n e d the sam e area as communities. “We understand that this will opposed to rotating officers from im prove the relations between one area to another. This way the the com m unity and the police. officer could develop personal

relationships with the community and the community could learn to trust their officer. Another proposed reform is to give the c h ief in sp ecto r of each district greater control over the program executed in his dis­ trict. C h ief In sp ecto r R ichard Carlisle of D istrict 12 believes that this is positive step. “Each station and district has different needs. A uniform policy is counterproductive to effective­ ly serving the public. The local officers who work the area are far m ore aw are o f th at a re a ’s needs then is the central adminis­ tration,” claimed Carlisle. The changes are encouraging signs fo r the afo rem en tio n ed co m m u n itie s, b u t the topic rem ain s a c o n te n tio u s one. Few people were w illin g to address past tra n s g re s ­ sions of the MUC Police or th eir effe c ts on c o m m u n ity re la tio n s . W h i l e re d e fin in g and develop­ ing workable relationships are u n d e r­ way, all par­ ties are wary o f th re a te n ­ ing the process. “We live in a society with police. We are finding ways to deal with the police and the problems in our community. This process is threatened if everytime a case comes up someone cries discrimination,” said Giddons.

Violence against clinics: serving the “greater cause”? by

Liz Lau

The recent random shootings at two abortion clinics in Brookline, M assachusetts have sparked serious concern over the extreme means practised by radical anti-abortionist groups south of the border. On December 30, a gunman opened fire in a suburban Boston clinic, killing one and injuring three others. He then ran the twokilometre distance to a second clin­ ic where he found three more vic­ tims. The event resulted in the death of two women and the injury of five others. There have been three previ­ ous murders committed by anti­ abortion activists in the United States. In March 1993, Dr. David Gunn was killed by anti-abortionist M ichael G riffin in Pensacola,

Florida. Just over a year later, in July 1994, Dr. John Britton and his escort, James Barrett, died after being shot by Paul Hill near an abortion clinic in the same city. Altogether, there have been five deaths connected to radical mem­ bers of the anti-abortion move­ ment. Questions have arisen as to whether the use of violence to serve a greater cause is turning into a new trend. A ssistant District Attorney of Norfolk County, Molly Chaudhuri, claims that that is not the issue at hand. “The jury is out on whether this is part of a conspiracy,” said Chaudhuri. “For me it is irrelevant because it is he who pulled the trig­ ger. If he was part of a movement that was fighting the “good fight”, he should have gone to the state house, drafted legislation, or initiat­

ed legislation. But he shouldn’t have pulled the trigger.” Fran Hogan, executive director at C itizens for Life, one of Boston’s pro-life organisations, also advocated a non-violent approach to spreading her group’s message. “We lobby, educate and fight for legislation in order to reach the hearts of people,” Hogan said. Many pro-life groups, howev­ er, fear that the shootings have alienated people who had previous­ ly been at least sympathetic, if not supportive, of their cause. Most organisations have been quick to voice disapproval over the use of violent and radical measures to per­ petuate the pro-life message. “There is no question that the shootings are reprehensible,” stated Teresa Donovan, manager of edu­ cation at Citizens for Life. “This is

not part of the pro-life movement. We have an outstanding record of non-violence out of any other movement.” Nonetheless, the question of a woman’s autonomy over her own body still remains at the centre of the entire debate. Chaudhuri argued that the B rookline killings are indicative of a growing hostility towards women as they gain more rights. “Men don’t want women to have control over their bodies,” said Chaudhuri. “It’s a gender war. The ambivalence of women exer­ cising their rights is deep within the fabric of American society.” Canada has not been immune from the violent trend. On November 8, 1994, Vancouver doctor Garson Romalis was seri­ ously wounded in his kitchen when a gunman shot him through the

window. Dr. Romalis volunteered periodically at an abortion clinic. Despite the com bination of these events in both the U.S. and Canada, local M ontreal clinics have not felt the need to bump up security. “I t’s not exactly the same problem. In the U.S. they are more drastic,” said nurse Odile Loulou of the M orgentaler C linic. “We haven’t had as many problems. We have protestors but they are not so aggressive.” According to Anne LeBlanc of the Centre de Santé des Femmes, protestors are few. The majority of disturbances come in the form of letters and phone calls. “Pro-life uses a psychological sabotage. This attempt at control is like an act of violence,” stated Leblanc, adding that it is no less terrorizing than the physical threat.


January 17th, 1995

« f t* * * * 1.

Page 10

CON : Is Rock sb

PRO: A strong case for gun control reduce the overall level of crime in Canada.” Zukhar expressed opti­ Ju stice M inister A llan mism about future gun control Rock’s September 1994 pro­ legislation, but was dissatis­ posal to toughen C anada’s fied with Parliament’s treat­ gun control laws has brought ment of the issue. attention to the question of “It’s a sad reflection on how Canadians feel about gun the political system. So many ow nership and use. S pear­ politicians base their positions headed by the Alberta-based on the volume of mail they N ational Firearm s A ssoc­ receive, with the result that iatio n , the C anadian gun the groups with the m ost lo b b y ’s vocal cam paign resources or money are the against Rock’s proposal has ones they hear about. In the fueled public reaction against case of the Reform Party, for what has been termed a more instance, it’s no coincidence ‘A m erican ’ approach to that the Party is anti-gun con­ firearms in civilian society. trol because they are funded There is much evidence to by the gun lobby.” support the claims of groups When asked whether uni­ such as the Coalition for Gun versal registration of firearms Control, who argue that more would be feasible, Z ukhar gun control is needed to replied, “technically or eco­ reduce the misuse of guns. nomically, there’s no reason F ounded in 1990. the we shouldn’t be able to regis­ Coalition for Gun Control is a ter every gun in Canada. If we non-profit organisation work­ approach it the same way as ing to reduce deaths, injuries registering every car in each and crimes due to firearms in province, it should be possi­ Canada by raising awareness ble. Of course the cooperation and promoting more effective of gun ow ners w ould be gun control laws. It is sup­ instrumental in determining ported by over 200 national, the success of such a ven­ provincial and local organisa­ ture.” tions, with over 5000 individ­ U niversal re g istra tio n ual C anadian supporters. would supposedly help police Their activities were instru­ respond to crim es such as m ental in prom pting the those involving domestic vio­ recent gun control proposal. lence. By know ing w hich A m ajor issue o f co n ­ guns are in w hich house, law enforce­ m ent agencies might be in a bet­ ter position to deal k n o w th a t th e O m b u d s p e rs o n c a n with poten tial firearm misuse. • lis te n , Although increased gun con­ • a d v is e a n d trol is opposed by a vo cifero u s lobby, m ost • h e lp y o u Canadians, in both rural and urban th r o u g h th e b u r e a u c r a tic m a z e to e n s u r e areas, remain anx­ ious about the misuse of guns in th a t y o u a r e tr e a te d f a ir ly a n d e q u ita b ly a t s o c i e t y . P a rlia m e n ta ry M c G ill? conclu sio n s of R o ck ’s proposal D o y o u k n o w w h a t th e E q u ity O f f ic e D o e s ? could be forthcoming as soon as February. S to p b y a n d fin d o u t w h a t w e a r e a ll a b o u t! by

H ugo C ameron

tention in the gun control debate focuses on Rock’s rec­ ommendation that gun owners register all guns and rifles; currently only 2 million of the estimated 8 million guns and rifles in Canada are registered with the police. This would mean that all sporting rifles and shotguns, which by law do not need to be registered, would come under new regis­ tration requirem ents. Ac­ cording to the October 1993 Reid Report, a full 86% of Canadians are in favour of a proposal of this kind, includ­ ing strong support in the Western provinces. New legislation may also seek to limit or possibly even ban the sale and use of hand­ guns for personal protection. Again, such measures are sup­ ported by a m ajority of C anadians: nationw ide, an average of 71 % supported an outright ban on their use in a civilian context. Public sup­ port for banning these types of weapons is rooted in the ease with which they can be misused. In 1992, handguns w ere responsible for 128 Canadian deaths, a significant figure when contrasted with 33 handgun-related deaths in Britain, 36 in Sweden, and 60 in Japan in the same year. Further support for the

gun control lobby em erges from the United States, where rifles and handguns are rela­ tively easily acquired. In 1992, 13,220 people fell vic­ tim to handgun use, w hile $US 15 billion is spent annu­ ally to treat gunshot wounds. A m ajority o f g u n-related deaths in both Canada and the United States are in fact sui­ cides. And in the U .S., a youth aged 10-19 com m its suicide with a gun on average once every 6 hours. The powerful American gun lobby, led by the National Rifle A ssociation, uses the rhetoric that the United States has a crim e problem , not a gun problem. This argument is also espoused by anti-gun control proponents in Canada such as Reform Party justice critic Paul Forseth. Wendy Zukhar, head of the Coalition for Gun Control, finds this type of logic ironic. “There’s no coherence in the Reform Party’s stance on the gun control issue,” she said. “They believe that gun control is not part of crime control, however they seem to ignore the fact that further gun control is supported by both Chiefs of Police across the country and by the Canadian Bar A ssociation, who see it as a m eans to

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In an effort to reduce the violence caused by the misuse of guns, the federal Justice Minister, Allan Rock, has proposed amend­ ments to gun-control legislation in Canada. At present, Canadians who want to own a gun must be screened and complete a safety course. Fully automatic weapons are prohibit­ ed. Ownership of semi-automatic weapons and handguns is tightly restricted and must be registered. All weapons must be stored safely, but ordinary rifles and shotguns are not sub­ ject to registration. Rock’s new legislation calls for tougher controls: a possible ban on handguns and semi-automatics; a mandatory registry of all gun owners and all firearms; a crackdown on gun smuggling; tougher penalties for smug­ gling, illegal possession of guns and for their use in crimes; and strict control over the sale of ammunition. Most Canadians support these proposals. A 1993 poll showed that 86% of Canadians supported gun registration, 84% would like semi-automatic weapons to be banned and 71% wanted all handguns to become illegal.

leasi aver voc; Part and Roc

Assi the Crii whii one jud] enfc to p law: Lay revt

by

C hris M ac D ougall

The C anadian D epartm ent of Justice esti­ mates that there are over 6 m illion firearm s in Canada today and that the total num­ ber of guns in the country is in creasin g each year. Although there is no evidence that the total proportion of all crim es co m m itted w ith firearms is going up in a cor­ responding manner, gun con­ trol has become a major pub­ lic issue. On May 15, 1994, Prime M in iste r Jean C h rétien lau n ch ed a new attack on firearms as a way to combat crime by pledging that Justice M inister Allan Rock would bring in the toughest possible gun co n tro ls in the near future. This announcem ent came soon after the im ple­ mentation of an earlier set of reform s to firearm s legisla­ tio n , know n as B ill C -17, w hich cam e in to effec t in January, 1994.

D raw ing hea Bill C-80, anoths proposal which w; three years ago by lobby o f gun oi manufacturers, Bil an amendment to tl Code designed to out of the hands o It essentially exj requirements to bi F irearm s A C ertificate (FAC in clu d e a mull choice examinatio a practical handlin Before they are the rig h t to pure any type o f fin Canadian citizens d em o n strate an q uate know ledg types of firearms, : ing range procec safe h an d lin g , t portation, and st procedures, as w firearms laws. The new est age of reforms to ti<

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[anuary 17th, 1995

ting to miss? The case against gun control upport for the reforms is not equal­ ed across the country, a, where 40% of households own at ;un compared to the 24% national is been the main source of a very sition to Rock’s plan. The Reform se support lies mainly in the West anada, is likewise unconvinced that posai will be useful, aycock of the National Firearms n in Calgary argues that much of ition is political pandering. The 7ode already contains article 84 ides a mandatory sentence for anyt using a weapon in a crim e. If d /or crow n p ro secu to rs fail to s law, they themselves are subject ion under the law. Neither of these ever come into effect in Canada, easons that since the authority to article 84 is within Rock’s power, Justice Minister seems more comnaking a public gesture than stop:k and other opponents fear that the ill simply create another layer of y bureaucracy, especially mandato­

ry registration which will cost an estimated $85 million over five years. He points out that most guns used in crimes are illegally owned and registration would be hard to enforce: “W e’ve had registration of handguns since 1936 but studies show that 70% of handguns used in crimes were unregistered. The only purpose registration has ever been used for is to identify gun owners so that when the gov­ ernment can’t solve a crime they have a politi­ cal whipping-boy.” In 1965 Laycock headed up a government study on the in tern a tio n al re la tio n sh ip between firearm control and violent crime. Results of this study showed that countries with the lowest violent crime rates concentrat­ ed not on gun control, but on the punishments for the misuse of those guns. The study also concluded that registration of firearms has never accomplished any positive benefit any­ where in the world where it has been used. Laycock advocates severe penalties for those who misuse guns and believes that gun restriction will simply drive the market under­ ground. “There are citizens who strongly believe in their right to protect their life, property and

heritage (i.e. hunting). If people are no longer give citizens a feeling of security, is it the real able to access handguns legally, smuggling issue,” she asked. Maheux noted that it has never historical­ will become a flood instead of a trickle,” he ly decreased the murder rate. The problem, as said. Laycock is also concerned that the restric­ the Reform Party sees it, is not the average tion of guns to the law-abiding citizen will law-abiding citizen, but the criminal. Maheux simply make the gun-toting crim inal less supports Rock’s vow to make the possession of an illegal weapon a greater offence. afraid. “We need to put more resources into our The most common com plaint by gun owners opposing Rock’s plan is that they feel armed forces. I used to live across the street they are constantly being blamed for crimes from a police station and one of their main despite having paid their customs, duties, concerns was that they felt restricted in their taxes, and obtained one o f the 27 legal action by the Charter of Rights. And although Canadian firearm permits. Line Mahcux, a there has to be a balance between the rights of Reform Party candidate in the upcoming fed­ citizens and the police, the balance at the eral bi-election, cited a recent study which moment is in favour of the criminal.” concluded that 0.78% of crimes arc commit­ ted with weapons that are legally owned and H a v e a p ro b le m y o u r ro o m m a te thus subject to regis­ c a n 't solve? tration. “Crime control is Is y o u r ro o m m a te th e problem ? not an easy problem and although gun con­ trol might be accom­ plished quickly and

M c G IL L

^ N IG H T L IN E

trol: Bill C

said. The C rim in al C ode of C anada cu rren tly contains more than 30 sections regard­ ing firearms regulations and offences (Sections 84-117). The main proposals contained w ithin the new leg islatio n w ould see som e m ajor changes to the clauses con­ cerning what procedures must be satisfied to make firearms legal in Canada. Along with set t i ng upper limits on the cap acity of gun m aga­ zin es, Bill C-272 calls fo r a com ­ p re h e n siv e registration system for all firearms, including shotguns and hunting T h e n e w g u n c o n tr o l p ro p o s a l rifle s, two gisla- owners, indicating that the types of guns which previous­ in law project may have a rough ly have not required registra­ tion, although one still needed a d a ride in Parliament. The logic of the new pro­ a FAC to purchase them. The iv ed read- posals was o u tlin ed by St. bill also proposes to employ change of address procedures n the Paul’s MP Barry Campbell. “G uns k ill p eo p le and so that guns follow only their se of mons handguns in particular have legal ow ners. T his w ould o th er pu rpose. enable the governm ent to n no mber Registration of all weapons keep track of both guns and 994. would only be a minor incon­ their owners. These proposed measures >272 venience for those who need o se s long guns to hunt. Handguns represent an attempt to tighten G en­ and assault weapons are not control on guns and gun own­ trie s needed for hunting, pest con­ ers. There are other measures anges tro l, or [any o th er p riv ate in the p ro p o sal, how ever, ; cur- fu n ctio n ]. The rig h t of which are intended to make it n t C anadians to ch oose th eir ea sie r for resp o n sib le and trm s hobbies must be respected, law -abiding gun ow ners to 1 1 a - but hobbies should not dictate m aintain their perm its and n s . public policy. Race car dri­ registrations. Accomplishing in a vers do not control highway this goal, according to Bill Cdays policy; sport shooters should 272, requires reducing the first not try to dictate gun policy... complexity of the documenta­ i n g , Public safety is the paramount tion required to maintain the e n concern of gun policies,” he registration on firearms. That

rom law ated erful and was ninal

598-6246

- 2 7 2

before many M Ps had any meaningful chance to research the m atter or receive input from their constituents, there w ere n early a dozen com ­ ments made in the House of Commons on the proposal. About half of the comments were statem ents of support. The other half were generally stern warnings that the pro­ posals w ould not be w ellreceived by C an ad ian gun

is, the process of registration will be simplified for those who have owned guns since before 1979 without incident and the re-regis­ tration of firearms will be consid­ erably simplified.

( W e liv e fo r th is s o r t o f s tu ff)

O P E N 7 DAYS A WEEK

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See Legislation Page 12

M c G ill Faculty of Science

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S C IEN C E W ANTS YOU!

The Science Undergraduate Society (SUS), in conjunction with the Student Affairs Office of the Faculty of Science, is introducing a new service at McGill: THE PEER ADVISING PROGRAM for science students. We are seeking dedicated U2 students to^^om^geer advisors. Responsibilities would include helping fellow students in djp^^rTmpk^ig, exjSfeUping drop/add procedures and clarifying university policies. Th^’^ s^io^^uifes-a ^n^ml^ent of one academic year, beginning in late August 1995. Vo^fnteers accepted towrejpr^gram will be trained by an advisor from the Student Aff<#s^fi<^of the Faculty oT§c« q» p^ letter of recommendation ices provided. from the Faculty will be su QUALIFICATIONS REQUI Applicant must: • have a minim • be in U2 (sec year program) • have an ability compassionate, • be prej 1995 • to atten and

cÇnsilJered individually ;f^(j|/third year of a four i|

enfal/manner, to be er students The academic year iths of February

It is not necessary for applicants to have^îbFéÿpêtîence, however, relevant skills would be an asset. If you have any questions, please call Drew Moncarz, V.P. Academic Affairs of the SUS at 398-6979. Applications and position descriptions can be picked up from a box in the lobby of Dawson Hall. Completed applications (and related documents) must be submitted to the Leacock porter or to Dawson Hall, room 110, in a sealed envelope labelled "Science Peer Advising" by January 26, 1995.


Page 12

January 17th, 1995

V'

Allan Rocks the boat with changes to Young Offenders Act By D ayna A rron and Eryn Pond __________

On June 2, 1994 the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Allan Rock, tabled amend­ ments to the Young Offenders Act, including provisions that would crack down on violent young offend­ ers who commit serious crimes. The proposed changes have provoked controversy among all sectors of Canadian society. The amendments to the Young Offenders Act include increased youth court sentences for teenagers convicted of first or second degree murder to ten and seven years respectively. In addition, 16 and 17 year old juveniles charged with seri­ ous personal injury offences will be transferred to adult court unless they can persuade a youth court judge that public protection and rehabilita­ tion can both be achieved through

youth court. The bill plans to extend the time that 16 to 17 year old juve­ niles, convicted of murder in adult court, must serve before eligible parole. Furthermore, these changes will improve measures for informa­ tion-sharing among professionals including school officials and police, as well as selected members of the public, when public safety is at risk. Amendments also encourage court officials to seek alternatives to incar­ ceration for violent offenders. These options include rehabilitation and treatment of young offenders in the community when appropriate. The bill is the first in a two-part strategy to reform the youth justice system. “The purpose of the amend­ ments were to improve the youth justice system over time, and result in fewer youth entering the justice system ,” said Cyrus Reporter, Special Assistant to Allan Rock. Critics of the proposed legisla-

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tion do not believe these measures will deter youth offenders from com­ mitting more crimes. “Incarceration and harsher penalties have not proven to deter crime or affect recidivism. With more youth caught up in an adult system, they will be more suscepti­ ble to being influenced by the adult prison subculture,” said Margaret Stanowski, executive director of a non-profit Toronto community ser­ vice and law agency called Operation Springboard. “If the pub­ lic thinks they’ll solve the problem of crime by these amendments, they are being misled in terms of false perception. What about the other youths going in that path?” Much of the debate concerning the proposed changes to the YOA revolves around the nature of its intent. “The proposed changes to the YOA pre­ sent an equal balance in addressing public safety and juvenile crime issues,” said Reporter. However, according to some observers, the issue of public safety has primarily arisen from increased public outcry. William Trudell, vice-president of the Criminal Lawyer’s Association in Toronto, commented upon the impending legislation. “Mr. Rock’s legislation is a response to increased fear of too much crime and too many offences committed by juvenile offenders. This is just not true in Canada. Sensationalised cases give rise to sensationalised fear, and this is the worst time to initiate new legisla­ tion,” said Trudell. Much of the impetus for this new legislation stemmed from the high profile case of Ryan Garrioch, a 13-year-old Calgary boy who was stabbed to death by a young offender in May 1992. His death provoked extensive media coverage and pro­ pelled a widespread movement to increase penalties for violent offend­ ers. Stu and Margaret Garrioch, par­ ents of the victim, have founded Families Against Crime Today Society, whose purpose includes lobbying to amend YOA as well as the parole system. “I was pleased with some of the changes that were made but I feel the government didn’t go far enough,” said Garrioch. Sergeant Blonde of the Victim’s Assistance Unit in Calgary sympa­ thised with the trauma that victims

and their families have to suffer but expressed disagreem ent with Garrioch’s lobbying efforts. “I think Stu Garrioch deserves some criticism for making the death of his son into a job which has resulted in unfounded public out­ cry,” said Blonde. Prue Rains, Sociology professor at McGill University specialising in

offences to adult court. “This would in effect say that if you’re 16 or 17 and you’ve committed this particular offence, then you’re no longer a child. It kind of undoes one of the points of the YOA which is to say that a child is a child.” Those advocating Rock’s legis­ lation claim excessive attention given to issues concerning violent

deviance, echoed similar sentiments. Ms. Rains cited that for youths between 12 to 17 years of age, less than 0.5 percent included youth who committed murder, attempted mur­ der, manslaughter, aggravated sexual assault. “Increasing sentences for teenagers convicted of first or sec­ ond degree murder is largely sym­ bolic politics, because there are very few young people who commit mur­ der.” “The public is really misin­ formed by feeling that this new leg­ islation will make the community safer. The public is saying we need to see punishment, we need to see these youths being put away. But they don’t consider that the risk is compounded by the incarceration period. Much more has to be done on how to prevent those youth from engaging in these crimes, how we can make fewer victims,” asserted Stanowski. Furthermore, there is concern over whether the proposed measures will have rehabilitative effects. “What you can’t presently do in five years, you won’t possibly be able to do in seven to ten years. There’s just no point. Prison and penitentiaries can do no good to any­ one,” said Jean Trepanier, University of Montreal criminologist. Rains disagrees with the move to transfer 16 and 17-year-old youths charged with serious personal injury

youth crime have overlooked the positive aspects of the bill. According to Stanowski, alternatives to custody for less serious crimes will prove to be advantageous for youth offenders and will be more beneficial to the maintenance of public safety. The proposal to share informa­ tion among professionals and select­ ed members of the public has met with criticism as well. “The reason for treating them differently from adults is to protect their reputation, to allow them to learn from their mistakes. Solidifying their reputation around them kind of undercuts that,” said Rains. While Stanowski does agree with Rains for the most part, she does not believe in a complete halt to all information sharing. “I don’t have a problem about releasing information if it includes a responsi­ ble exchange of information between the school, social workers and courts.” For Trudell, Rock’s proposals will do more harm than good for the justice system and youths. “[Mr. Rock’s legislation] is a radical change in response and quite disap­ pointing. If you think you can stamp out youth crime by getting tough, when a troubled kid can’t even fig­ ure out why he’s in trouble, you’re in trouble.”

Legislation... Continued from Page 11 T here is also a p ro v isio n w hich o u tlin e s a p ro cess by which restricted or prohibited weapons can be bequeathed to family members, so long as cer­ tain conditions are met, and a provision which provides for the compensation of those who will be forced to hand over newly pro­

hibited weapons. W ith reg ard s to crim in al weapons offences, there are two main changes being proposed. First, firearms offences that are related to the display, storage, handling and transport of legal registered guns will be decrimi­ nalised. Second, people charged with such offences will have to be

shown not just to be “careless”, but as having “wanton or reckless disregard for the life or safety of others” under the new proposal. Finally, the proposal recom­ mends a comprehensive review of all existing and proposed firearms legislation to be undertaken in the near fu tu re by the H ouse of Commons.


January 17th, 1995

EN TER TA IN M EN T Singleton’s school of Higher Learning By Kurt N ewman H arris N ewman

and

The highly touted “new wave of Black cinema” that, at the cusp o f the ’90s prom ised to be as exciting as the Italian-American wave of the ’70s, seemed to fizzle as the prime auteurs (Spike Lee, Ernest Dickerson, John Singleton et al.) got trapped between the sig­ nature boys with guns motifs, and maudlin, sentimental tripe. John S in g le to n ’s new film H igher Learning demonstrates that while predictions of a veritable artistic movement might have been pre­ m ature, som e g re at art may emerge from these very talented directors. Higher Learning is a tour de force — a dense, multi­ layered examination of the anato­ my of hatred, a dark deconstruc­ tion of the university film that plagued cinema for much of the early '80s (and on which most of us were weaned), and a polemic against ignorance of all kinds. The film follows the experi­

ences of Malik (Omar Epps, in a riveting and star-making perfor­ mance) as a black freshman, and R em y, played by M ichael Rapaport, as an alienated, socially awkward Midwesterner lured into a neo-Nazi group. Kristy Swanson also appears as an idealistic young woman who must confront her politics and, in a somewhat jarring ju x ta p o sitio n , her sexuality. Singleton takes great care to cover every conceivable base, providing ch aracters of v irtu ally every minority group, who often muddy the picture’s themes by existing only for the sake of representing extremes. John Singleton’s characters each function as vehicles for exploration of the film’s most rel­ evant issues. T his is both a strength and a flaw; the polyphany of experience lends the film its emotional depth, but certain char­ acters are reduced to being defined by th eir social roles. Lawrence Fishburne recreates his Boyz In The Hood didactic-father

figure role, only this time with a Jamaican accent and a pipe. Some of these characters are wonderful­ ly drawn, however — Ice Cube’s turn as a misguided, black nation­ alist super-super-senior is con­ vincing without being overblown. Singleton is truly a child of the '8 0 s-u n lik e other directors who talk a good game about all their quirky pop-culture fetishes, Singleton approaches his camera like Public Enemy DJ Terminator X on the wheels of steel, splicing in references (both musical and cinem atic) that are potent and evocative. From the Shaft-style opening credits to the A nim al //ouse-turned-on-its-head motif that runs through the film , Singleton unapologetically mines history’s reels, relentless in his search for the evil underbelly of com placent, norm al A m erican society. Michael Rapaport wears the repulsive mask of absolute stupidity, the kind that is so terri­ fying that it may doom him to the B-movie purgatory of Malcolm

Little Woman Armstrong reinvents women’s film By Lori Fireman

the road to adulthood. Each sister is unique. The Does anyone rem em ber story centres around Jo that nice Brian de Palma who (W inona Ryder), the aspiring set out to capture on film the writer and fledgling intellectual, greed and selfishness of New considered during Alcott’s time York City found in Tom the first real feminist hero due Wolfe’s Bonfire o f the Vanities? to her need to marry a man of Oh, you remember. How about her equal, regardless of eco­ the recent film adaptation of nomic status or physical appear­ Isabel Allende’s The House o f ance. Meg (Trini Alvorado), the the Spirits? Didn’t see it? Too oldest sister, is desperate to find bad. This is moviemaking at its a suitor and convinced she is worst when a group of ambi­ nothing on her own. B eth tious directors attempt to re-cre­ (C laire D anes) is the gifted ate on screen the perfection of pianist — a tortured, compas­ the written page. sionate loner who is always on With that in mind, I held the outside, looking on proudly my breath as I entered the the­ at her sisters’ accomplishments. atre to view G illian Finally, there is Amy (Kirsten Armstrong’s version of Louisa Dunst), the spoiled and petulant May A lcott’s tim eless novel, yet beautiful youngest daughter Little Women. An hour and a who has always believed she half later, I let out my breath — was m eant to m arry rich. one long satisfying sigh that Rounding out the cast is Susan com es only from know ing Sarandon, whose saintly you’ve w itnessed som ething Marmee does for motherhood truly in cred ib le. K udos to what Ebenezer Scrooge did for A rm strong. T his, the first misers. screen rem ake of the M arch Although everyone gives a fam ily saga, has fin ally winning performance, it is new­ achieved the paradoxical mix­ com ers C laire Danes and ture of despair and hope that the Kirsten Dunst who are the clear other two lacked. standouts. Danes, best known The story itself is moving, for her portrayal of angst-ridden telling the tale of four sisters Angela on TV’s My So-Called (Amy, Jo, Meg, and Beth) and Life, manages with few lines to their mother Marmee, who find convey Beth’s inner struggle for strength in the family as they happiness, and looks rem ark­ face cold New England winters ably at ease playing such a trou­ and longingly await the return bled young woman. Dunst, sure of- their beloved father from the to garner an Oscar nomination war. Along the way the sisters for her brilliant portrayal of the fall in and out of love and cope vam pire w om an-child in with their individual insecuri­ Interview With The Vampire, ties and everyday dilemmas on delivers yet another stirring per­

formance as the older-than-heryears Amy. Unfortunately, as the story moves on and picks up four years later with Amy as a budding artist busy perfecting her craft in P aris, D unst is replaced by a somewhat wood­ en Samantha Mathis. The surprise talent of the movie, however, is the virtually unknow n C hristian B ale as Laurie, the rich yet reclusive boy-next-door who becomes an important friend to the March family. Among such talented actors as Eric Stoltz and Gabriel Byrne, Bale single-handedly steals the p ictu re w ith his inspired, honest perform ance and boyish good looks — guar­ anteed to turn at least half the wom en in the audience into swooning fools. Nonetheless, this movie is not for everyone. In fact, this is quite pointedly a women’s film. T here may be some women who might find it sappy, unreal­ istic or even trite. It is a roller­ co aster ride o f em otional extremes, chronicling the lives of five extraordinary woman who needed only their imagina­ tion and the strength of their convictions to realise their dreams. Still, it is a movie remake, and even director Armstrong knows that nothing can ever be as good on screen as it is in one’s mind. Yes, it is a (dare I say it) “chick flick”, but who cares? At least it’s wonderful. Women, bring your kleenex and men, well... bring your girlfriends.

M cDowell, who audiences can never disassociate from his role as Alex in A C lockw ork Orange. Stanley Kubrick’s film serves as a palimpsest for the scenes of neoNazi violence, from the leader’s scary eyes to the droog-like chore­ ography of the thugs. Music references abound as Singleton manipulates the contrast between musical ghettos to illumi­ nate the d ifferen ces betw een social ones. Singleton uses the college film typescene of students setting up their dorm rooms to foreshadow the coming unrest. The loud beats that Malik blasts while he puts up his posters of black heroes are countered by the soft, Wonder Bread feminism of Liz Phair that Kristy Swanson’s character plays as she pastes up family polaroids. In this instance, the co n tra st is harm less, hum ourous; however, it is this tendency that provides most of the film ’s flaw s. It is not clear if Singleton is ready to deal with the im plications of his contrasts —

American flags and swastikas, the pat victim politics of neo-Nazis and black students, the reaction of campus police to the partying of black students and fratboys. Once again, Lawrence Fishburne is as much a thesis as he is a character; whereas his character was a plea for black father-figures in Boyz In The Hood, here he instuntiates the need for the shedding of igno­ rance and apathy. It is obvious that the film was made in order to provoke strong reactions about crucial issues. At times, Singleton is begging for audience reactio n , w hich he receives in ways that run contrary to his ultimate message. The audi­ ence responded strongly to the racial content of the film, but curi­ ously took the equally serious sex­ ual content as humour. However, Singleton is not dealing in AgitProp — the film ’s flaws can be forgiven in light of the courage it displays in adding a voice of rea­ son to a highly explosive d is­ course.

The final word on Rosebuddy By Brendan C ully

As I headed for my interview on Saturday morning, three figures slowly emerged from the mist. I came upon Neil, Rod and Kris, who together form Rosebuddy. Early last year they released the album (“demo tap e” insists Neil) Sled, a five song sampler which received excellent reviews from the higher-ups in local media. Neil, the guitarist, professes adoration of Hiisker Dii and Dinosaur Jr, a fact he doesn’t conceal very carefully on this tape, which possesses a sort of Dii-onProzac sound; the Orson Welles obses­ sion is somewhat less obvious. They have existed as a group since August of 1993, when Rod answered N eil’s ad in the M irror reading “singer/guitarist looking for people to play with, M/S” thanks to a serendipitous slip­ up in copy for “M/F” that Rod, the bassist, inex­ plicably found intriguing (one can only speculate on how cool they’d be if the ad had read “...S/M”). Their rise in the local scene has been rapid, to say the least. They wrote their first song at their first practice. Three weeks later they had their first gig come to them, and had recorded Sled before the end of the year. Photo Caption

With friends and compatriots Crash 13 and The Stand, they hopped on board local indie-label RightWide Records (Neil liked them so much he bought the company...well he’s working there now anyway). Rosebuddy has been playing regularly and often ever since. By August they’ll be on a national tour with Crash 13. After that, who knows? Kris, the drummer, claims his highest ambition is to be one of the guys-thatsuck on Beavis and Butthead, and at the rate they’re going that’s not too far out of reach. Rosebuddy seem to be riding the Crest of the M ontreal Scene Reformation. Rod and Neil remember See Rosebuddy page 16


Pageh

ENTERTAINMENT

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January 17th, 1995

: The Year Ska Broke

By Sue G lover

ally know how to play their instru­ The sax player, who has lived in cian-wanted ads. “First we played ments, and are tighter. “Yeah, tight Zim babw e, also cited A frican the songs as punk, but they didn’t “This is the year for ska!” as jello,” smirked Skowronski. music, but then admitted to listen­ sound very good, so then we tried This daring statement came A ccording to the two ing to Slayer as well. Collyer’s ska, and it all came together,” said from Matt Collyer, vocalist and Smashers, the history of ska in influences are “all punk rock and C ollyer. T his conglom eration guitarist for Montreal’s own up- M ontreal is a series of ups and ska”. Taking a brave stand for a resulted in what he calls the band’s and-coming Planet Smashers, dur­ downs, coupled with a surprisingly punk rocker in a scene where the “punk-ska mentality.” ing an interview with him and fel­ constant show of support from the term ‘sellout’ is applied to any Shifting gears a bit, I asked low Sm asher, saxm an Andrew fans. From the first, all they had to band that m akes it big, M att them what they thought of the Skowronski. Well, if 1994 could do to attract people to their shows proudly announced his apprecia­ state of indie music in Montreal witness the selling of punk to the was to put “ska” on the posters, or tion for bands like Green Day. and in Canada as a whole. “It’s masses, perhaps 1995 will be the the two-tone checker design that is Asked about the other band thriving in diversity. The indie year that ska finally breaks free of s y n o n y m o u s scene is where it’s the club scene and hits the charts. with skanking to a t,” claim ed For bands like the P lanet even the m ost Collyer. Sm ashers, who routinely draw casual ska fan. S k o w ro n sk i large crowds when they play both As Collyer said, added th at al­ in and out of town, ska meets a “everyone gives though there’s not dem and th at has been largely up on ska”, citing much backing for ignored by the mainstream, despite the erstwhile ska alternative bands the occasional resurrection of such band Me, Mom in M ontreal, aging ska kings as the Specials, and Morgentaler which C o lly er who played Montreal last month. as a good exam­ calls the “land of Formed in October 1993, the ple. discos” , Toronto Planet Smashers consist of Matt “We really and W estern and A ndrew , b assist Ceco w ant to stick C anada hold M unaretto, drum m er Dave with ska,” Skow­ much more Cooper, and Travis W ilkinson, ronski stated. “I prom ise for the v o calist and trom bone player think we can get independent (apparently also in charge of toast­ a wider audience scene. “ Here, ing duties fo r the band). The and still stay ska. The Planet Smashers — deadlier than the Death Star ‘a lte rn a tiv e ’ is Smashers played their first gig in But it’s not our anything not March 1994, which was followed aim to get on the Coca C ola m em bers’ m usical tastes, played on CHOM.” by shows with local bands like the Countdown,” he added. Munaretto was pinned as liking ‘The shows are bigger almost Kingpins, Mobster Syndicate and This devotion to ska led to the '5 0 s music and the Gruesomes. anywhere outside of Montreal, like newcomers Cheesecake Circus. inevitable question about the musi­ Cooper was said to be a huge fan Toronto or Kingston,” lamented When asked what the difference is cal influences of the band mem­ of '80s rock, as well as being able Collyer. Both Smashers then went between those early shows and bers. “As a horn player, I listen to to play absolutely any song on the on to castigate the Montreal club now, Matt said that now they actu­ a lot of jazz,” said Skowronski. guitar. F inally, according to owners, who often charge high C ollyer and Skow ronski, fees and give very little back to the Wilkinson listens to nothing but local bands. One suspects that may BONNI BOUFFI CHIZ Beck. Looking from Skowronski’s have a lot to do with why our local longish, curly bluesman locks to scene is so sporadic, and why Collyer’s recently shaved hair, I many bands are on tour more often asked how did all of these dis­ than at home. parate tastes combine to form a So w hat are the P lanet ska band? Apparently, the mem­ Smashers doing to help bring ska 1 0 C H O IC E S bers met through a series of musi­ to the great unw ashed? They OF S A N D W IC H E S & M O R E !

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already have a self-titled cassette out that contains eight lovely track s, including “My Love (V am pire)”, about the angst of having a blood-sucking girlfriend, as well as the ever-popular “Pee in the Elevator”, about... well... an unfortunate neighbour situation. They are working on putting out a split 7” with either the Skanksters or Skavanga, hopefully to be played on college radio. The Smashers aim to have a full-length CD out by mid-April, which will be on Cooper’s independent record label, Cut the Crap. “We are? Mid-April?” asked a confused Skowronski, who still looked flustered about my ‘boxers or tighty-w hities?’ question. (It was an overall “boxers” for the band, although I noticed that Skowronski didn’t say anything after peering down his pants.) “Yeah, that way we can tour the country,” said Collyer, who unabashedly wears boxers. The Planet Smashers play the Purple Haze with two-tone mas­ ters the Kingpins, January 20, and are cracking the States with a show in Boston, home o f ska-punk g ia n ts the M ighty M ighty Bosstones, later this month. They are also playing in the eastern tow nships on January 28 with lo ca ls A D ream I Had, Cheesecake Circus and Mobster Syndicate. For this, the vehicleimpaired Smashers and the other three bands are renting a huge bus, and invite any interested par­ ties to fork over ten bucks fo r the privilege o f travelling with them to the show in luxurious bus-com­ fort. Sounds like fun to me.

Salad Days are here again By H arris N ewman

can make it anywhere,” suggested Vince. The adm it allegiance to Montreal, but would welcome the opportunity to travel outside of the city, especially to the States. However, the lack of support and funds still stand in their way. “Hey, maybe Neil Young will say, ‘Hey, I really like Salad Days’ and take us

Punk music has always been rooted in the disillusionment of youth. Salad Days, an unapologetically punk rock quartet made up of LaSalle residents, three still in high school, are no exception. Having been together for just under a year, they’ve already learned some hard lessons about being a fresh-faced band in big bad Montreal. When guitarist Vince and drummer Sam were interview ed, they were both quick to confess that the best thing that could happen to a Montreal band might be that they get to leave. “Opportunity runs out pretty quickly in Montreal” explained Sam. With limited venues to play in, an apathetic scene and an inhuman climate, it’s a difficult task to provoke enthusiasm and Peavey — powered punk rock support in the indie music scene. But all is not lost. Citing people on tour” joked Vince. Hey, are you such as Paul Gott of Ripcordz and certain you want to go touring with EnGuard records fame, along with the king of grunge? newer label RightWide records as But Salad Days need not fear stout supporters of the fledging falling into the depths of alternative scene, Salad Days haven’t lost all despair. With oldskool influences hope in Montreal. like the Exploited, the U.K. Subs “If you’re exceptional at what and early Bad Religion (“before you do, if people dig your sound they sapped out”), along with new and you’re doing quality stuff, you kids on the block Seaweed, Rancid

and fellow young’uns Green Day, Salad Days’ fixations lie due south of Seattle. “I’d say we’re darker sounding than Green Day” said Sam, who co­ writes the majority of the band’s material with Vince. Bassist Mike and vocalist Chrissy fit the picture well (although Vince admits their interests sway a little into the noise rock world of Sonic Youth and such fod­ der), and together they slam out good o l’ angry youth music, the way it was meant to be heard. “Lyrically we’re usually either sad and depressed or shouting out at som ething” explains Sam. Getting people to believe in them has been a long ordeal for the group, one often impeded by their ages. Said Vince, “We’re one of the youngest bands out there, and it’s hard to be taken seriously, so we have to look at it and make it clear that we’re not a joke. We can’t do funny songs or anything, we need to prove that this is all very real to us.” “We did a recording for See Salad Page 16


V E N T E R T A IN M E N T

January 17th, 1995

Page is

The Local Rabbits: Go West, young men By G abriel Levine

It may come as a surprise to some that not all o f M ontreal’s rock bands live deep within the depths of darkest Bifteck. In fact, one of this city’s finest (and cer­ tainly youngest) musical groups hails from the West Island, the land of endless McDonalds, malls, and classic rock cover bands. In fact, listening to the Local R abbits’ bluesy and hyperactive boy-rock, i t ’s hard to see much common ground with the angst-ridden sludge of bands who call the Main their home. The Rabbits are pos­ sessed with one o f the rarest of rock virtues: a sense o f humour. M aybe it comes from living in sem i-suburbia. M aybe it comes from the thrill of being members of a just-out-of-high-school band who no longer have to merely dream about being rock stars. But whatev­ er the reason, the Local Rabbits, with a 7” record coming out on Halifax’s murderecords, are poised to rock their way to the top. “The murderecords thing was totally grassroots,” says guitaristvocalist Ben Gunning. “We just gave a demo to Jay Ferguson from Sloan when we w ent to go see them. He phoned me back about a month later, basically surprised the crap out of me.” The result o f the R ab b its’ scheming is the upcoming 7-inch, entitled Put on yo u r snow-suit, you 're going to hell, which should be out by mid-February. Although advertised as a two-song package, bassist-vocalist King Johnny Starr confides that “there’s actually three songs on the record. There’s a hid­

den track; it’s our masterpiece. It rocks hard, man. You think Thin Lizzy rocked, man? You haven’t seen anything like this.” Although the R abbits have probably never played any Thin Lizzy, they do have an illustrious history o f playing covers.

T b e L o c a l R a b b it s

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we’re...” “Sheryl Crow,” suggests Pete. “Meets Foghat,” Starr quali­ fies. “A mix of Sheryl Crow and Foghat mostly, with a bit of BTO,” chimes in Gunning. But despite the ironic references, the Rabbits do

b e tte r h a ir th a n P h il L y n o tt

According to Gunning, it all started when the band formed in grade 9. “Our first gig was at a West Island street festival, playing pretty much classic rock covers. We only had one original. I wrote the music, all four chords, and [guitarist-harmonicist-vocalist] ‘Montreal’ Pete added the element of ‘vocal jazz’. It was kind of a ‘scooby-doo-wahwah’ thing.” Adds Star, “It was like early Hawkwind. Most bands start out conventional, but right from the beginning we were like Yes. Now

have a sincere love for the music they grew up on. After they out­ grew their cover-band days, says Pete, they “started doing a lot of ’80s covers. Songs like ‘Carribean Q ueen’, ‘M aneater’, ‘H eart of Glass.’” Although the Rabbits par­ ody these songs, they don’t dis­ guise their affection for them. Their anarchic performance of ‘Carribean Queen’ regularly sends their fans into a teeming frenzy; instruments and bodies are thrown about the stage with gleeful abandon. At one show, drum m er-vocalist ‘Big

The Tinker Dynasty By Kurt N ew man ____________________________

“Happiness in the face of apocalypse and Armageddon, strength in the face of despair, and brooding optimism,” is how Tinker singer/guitarist Steve Durand describes his band’s sound. Musically, Tinker (who cite influences as far aflung as Polvo and Simon and Garfunkel), well, rocks, which could be a good tiring or a bad tiring, depending probably on whether 7” bring to mind Sub-Pop or Subway. Unlike many of their con­ temporaries, Tinker play arena-ready rock with­ out being swathed in irony, turning earnestness and a layer of fuzz into instruments unto them­ selves. In this age of the big smirk, their sincerity is indeed refreshing. Their tunes bristle with ener­ gy, tapping a Sebadoh-m eets-Sm ashing Munchkins vein. Sure, sacrilege to some, but name ten cool indie-boy-tock guitar bands that don’t sound like equally-silly-on-paper algebra. The meditative, almost folky vocals ride atop syncopated drum grooves, muscular bass, and spiky six-string mangling, sure to soon inspire legions of devil hand-signs. Montreal is not exactly known as a rock and roll mecca. In fact, many of your aspiring angstridden superstars have thrown down their guitars in disgust, after realizing that the prize at the bot­ tom of the Lucky Charms box is shelling out their life savings to play at bars named after Jimi Hendrix, CSNY and Elvis songs. Tinker offer these thoughts on our fine burg. “We talk a lot about Montreal — people give up quickly, and they get discouraged. At times the scene is so powerful, it makes club owners go ‘whoa, we gotta cater to these bands’... Some people lose it along the way, and then (die scene) is weakened, and the club owners have the power again.”

Decrying the lack o f government support for

artists, Steve continues, “If you can justify 40 hours a week working on your band, don’t feel guilty about going on welfare, or whatever you’re on,” further proclaiming, “I think there should be government handouts of 4-tracks.” The Tribune pledged not to bring up a cer­ tain subject, whose midriff can be spied in the current issue of some big, fascist music mag. In any case, Durand had no choice but to invoke her in his run-down of the band’s history, which il seems, has seen 3,000 bassists and guitaristf come and go. Steve is quite resolute in the perma­ nence of the new line-up, citing the importance of personal chemistry to a band’s success. He fur­ ther elaborates on the defining elements of the band’s sound. “If you look at any of the record­ ings from the first one to the last one there’s a common theme — the sound of my guitar, the singing, the mood...” Mood pops up a lot in conversation with Tinker, who state that their sound is “an emotion­ al thing.” Clearly they’re succeeding in convey­ ing that passion — their records are getting good press in Canada and the States (even landing a positive review from annoying industry rag Billboard), and are receiving dollops of radio play. Tinker plan on doing a large scale American tour after they finish recording their imminent CD. For those needing an immediate fix of the Tinker magic, they’re playing the Stargazer bene­ fit on Sunday, followed by a small Ontario tour with fellow scenesters Stellar Dweller. The Stargazer show, also featuring The Nils, Goldfish, Stellar Dweller, and Rhinolift, happens at 6:30 on Sun. Jan 22nd, at Woodstock, 3781 StLaurent. Tickets are 8 bucks/7 in advance.

Brown’ Brian Waters took the mic and sang the song’s final chorus in falsetto while the other three mem­ bers flailed about on the drum kit. Sometimes this boisterousness can overshadow their original songs, which don’t have the instant nostal­ gia appeal of their covers. But the Rabbits can achieve a kind of transcendence with a transform ed cover, creating a kind of “rock m om ent” rarely seen in these jaded days. The R ab b its’ greatest rock moment undoubtedly came the first time they played outside of Montreal, at a date with their friends Thrush Hermit in Toronto. “We were really excited to be out of tow n,” says ‘M ontreal’ Pete. “It was the night of the World Cup final, and everyone was in a really good mood.” “There were peo­ ple going through restaurants in mambo lines, whistling and bang­ ing on pots, and girls were coming up to you and kissing you, just because B razil won,” enthuses Gunning. Pete continues: “It was an all­ ages show, and things were going really well. Our manager Tim ran into Snake from Degrassi Junior High on the street. People in the audience were all yelling ‘play the Degrassi theme song,’ cause every­ one knew we played it. Suddenly Snake runs up on stage, and we

play the Zit Remedies’ ‘Everybody Wants Some,’ without ever having played it before. Snake was jump­ ing around, hugging the micro­ phone. It was amazing.” “It was the best night of my life,” sighs Starr. But the Local Rabbits, like Joey, Snake and Wheels, are still in school, and can’t let their rock-star dream s get out o f hand. While being young and enthusiastic (verg­ ing on m anic) is part of their appeal, the Rabbits are often the victim o f agist m usic-industry snobbery. The producer of their debut CD The Super D uper ep “was totally patronizing to us,” complains Starr. “He acted like our Dad. Some people think, ‘ah, these little kids, they don’t fuckin’ know anything.’ Sometimes we’ll show up to a show, and people will just laugh at us, but then we’ll show them we can play, and they’ll start trying to be nice to us.” As the Rabbits age, this snob­ bery will undoubtedly disappear. Gunning and Pete are in their last year of CEGEP, and are warily eyeing the future. Both are apply­ ing to university, and Gunning admits to being a little scared. And Starr, although still in CEGEP, is a self-described ‘hard-drinkin’ man.’ “You can quote that I go through a bottle of Jack Daniels every night,” he jokes. Hopefully, the Rabbits’ exu­ berant rock playfulness w on’t become soured by liquor and libraries. But th ere’s probably nothing to worry about; as anyone in school should know, classes are no obstacle to rock stardom. After all, there’s always the summer.

B A C K TO S C H O O L S A V IN G S A T B U R G ER KING*

V A L ID O N L Y AT B U R G E R K IN G 2 0 0 1 U N IV E R S IT Y M E T R O LEVEL


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January 17th, 1995

ENTERTAINMENT

Rosebuddy... Continued from Page 13 what it was like when their previ­ ous bands (Subterraneans and War Brides) were trying to carve a niche for themselves: “there was hardly any support system at all, there were two clubs where you could play unless you knew somebody...it was like us against the world,” says Neil. Now many more venues have opened up, thanks largely to the

Salad Days

appearance of several excellent young promoters. Also, as Rod puts it, “every­ one’s in a band” now, which has the benefit of keeping shows well attended but also results in what the group sees as the biggest flaw in the current scene, incessant back­ biting. If Rosebuddy were leading the revolution, the Mirror’s Rant-line

AQUATICS DANCE

school party stereotypes or viceversa. As a young band trying to dig its way out of the sinkhole called Montreal, Salad Days have a long climb ahead of them. That’s why the youth need all that energy. Besides, what could possibly pro­ vide better fuel for more angry punk rock songs? Hard work and a strong D.I.Y. ethic (“We’re the reigning champi­ ons of blatant self prom otion” laughed Sam) can certainly be test­ ed by the local music scene. Look for a cassette to be available in midFebruary, with possible 7”s to fol­ low. And if you missed their show at Purple Haze last weekend, keep your eyes peeled for a possible date at new venue Rage at the end of January or shows to support their full length cassette release later in February.

O F F E R E D

IN :

FITNESS OUTDOOR PURSUITS MARTIAL RACQUETS VARIA

Register now in Office G-35 Currie Gym 08:30-18:30 hrs. Most classes begin this week. McGILL

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single (they expect their own out with Crash 13 soon). Montreal’s diversified scene may give it the edge as this new model takes hold. In spite of their rapid rise and full immersion into the business side of the music world, Rosebuddy still see their work as basically play. When they started the band they did it for fun, and that sense has yet to leave them. Yet they are not self-indulgent about their music. Neil says they are known as the “benefit band” because of the large number of, well, benefits they’ve put on or par­ ticipated in through the last year. From the beginning they’ve attract­ ed larger crowds than they them-

selves predicted. And little wonder, their music is w ell-crafted and attractive power-pop, the kind that Montrealers seem to love, attached to an energetic live performance. A lthough they are steadily climbing the rungs of the music industry, Rosebuddy refuse to make plans or predictions for the future. They prefer to cross bridges as they come to them, an adaptive policy which has done them well in M ontreal’s unstable scene. But they’ve got the talent to make it, and luck hasn’t frowned on them. Catch them at their next show, which should be early February. They’re as fun a way to support the local music scene as can be found.

• • •

Continued from Page 14 CKUT’s Noisy Neighbours, and they were like, ‘Aww you’re so cute’, and they put flangers and stuff on our song to make it all cute sounding,” said Sam. However, their shows are prob­ ably not the best place to start in order to get a level headed look at Salad Days’ serious side. At Purple Haze last Saturday, the band held true to. their California influences, along with a healthy helping of Ramones-style barre chord blasting. Chrissy’s voice suggests a genetic relation to Dead Kennedy’s scream­ er Jello Biafra, as do song titles like ‘Something’s Gotta Change’ and choruses such as “Kill the Politicians...” Between cries for ‘anarachy’ and beer (often at the same time) and the all-male, shirt­ less mosh pit, it was easy to wonder if the media generates these high

C O U R S E S

would be the first against the wall, as well as age-restricted shows and long sets. Nevertheless they have undoubtedly done well by the almost incestuous connectivity of the new scene. Rosebuddy hope that what has happened to Montreal in the past couple of years will happen to Canada in general. At the moment they see the U.S. as years ahead in independent-m usic technology. Canada is still dominated by corpo­ rate labels and their imagem achines, but the band seems hopeful. Small labels like their own are beginning to exploit the tradi­ tional means of indie-music pro­ duction in the States, the 7” split-

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Sex Cells About 700 words B y Paul D arvasi

The major aspects o f courtship seem to be appearance, persis­ tence, appeasement, persuasion, and even deception. They had made meaningful eye contact at the library, and now, that she was alone at a carrel, he seized the chance to make his move. “I’d like to have your num­ ber,” Mark ventured, after a brief introduction. “I’m sorry...” “I’m really quite harmless,” he interjected “Oh, I don’t feel threatened,” she assured him and quickly direct­ ed the subject to school. “Do you know anything about reproduc­ tion?” “Of course, why do you ask?” He was encouraged by the ques­ tion. “Just something I’m doing I thought you might help me with.” “Sex Ed.?” “N o,” she pushed, “Advertising.” “I know lots about advertis­ ing,” he lied. Adine exam ined him for a moment. “Well then,” she contin­ ued “I’d love to pick your brain.” The encounter ended with an exchange of numbers. Like visual signals, a sound for advertising purposes usually encodes several pieces of informa­ tion; the signals usually reveal to the receiver the caller’s species, its sex and whether or not it is mated. The phone rang. She checked the display and verified the number with the one scrawled on the match book. It was him. She let it contin­ ue ringing and picked it up. “Hello.” “Hello, may I speak to Adine please?” “Speaking.” “Hi, this is Mark” “Hi. Uh, look, I’m not in the habit of giving my num ber to strange men, and I still feel the whole thing is pretty weird. You don’t even know me. Give me a good reason to continue this con­ versation.” “Whoa, well, uh O.K. Well. I

was nervous about the calling... and... and... OK... the last time I was stressed I went to the hospital emergency room and snuck into neurology and saw a man in a mess of tubes and wires. His heart moni­ tor was fading and the nurse was anxious to get him up. All her attempts proved fruitless. The line was going up and down, fading into a sm aller and sm aller wave. Thinking no one was looking, the nurse grabbed the guy by the crotch, and surely enough, his tam tarn started beating harder and harder, until it stabilized. I nearly got into a fight with a security guard who caught me and accused me of being a thief.” In certain grouse, females are most attracted to males that engage in the greatest amount o f fighting. “What an asshole, didn’t he know you were stressed?” she teased “I don’t think he took the time to find out,” Mark answered in a playful tone, unaware of her little irony. “So have I passed the test?” he asked. “Do we have a date?” She paused for the eternal moment and answered. “I ’d be a fool to turn away such a fine specimen.” They made arrangements to meet. The so-called prenuptial molt in many male birds results in the attainment o f the nuptial plumage, which often differs radically from that possessed by the bird at other times of the year. Allen showered and shaved. He tried on several different shirts, but finally ended up borrowing his roommate’s sweater. The hindquarters o f fem ale baboons become bright red in colour, which indicates, or adver­ tises, the fact that she is in estrus and sexually receptive. On the rare instances when she wore cosmetics Adine would invent slogans to make up for the make­ up.

The occasion merited a dab of Bijou. The discreet bouquet that keeps the pigs at bay and harbours in the gentlem en. And for the rouge, Terra-cotta Spangle, honey glow cream to flush your face magenta, delicately accentuating your tongue in cheek. She was ready to go. The rise in aggression takes the form o f territoriality, in which an individual, usually a male, defends a particular location or territory by excluding from it all other males o f his own kind. They met at Le Milieu for a drink. After the initial awkwardness of direct and personal confronta­ tion, Mark complimented her on her appearance, and seized the theme which had earlier sparked his interest. “What do you have to- learn about reproduction?” he began with a steady grin. “D epends how much you know,” she asked, meeting him smile for smile. “More than any other guy in this bar,” he continued, determined. “Prove it.” The glove had been dropped. Advertising signals also serve to repel other males; a classical example is the territorial song o f many songbirds. He swaggered to the Jukebox, took centre stage, and affected a James Dean cool in making his selection. He pulled out his air gui­ tar and began to bellow along with the ballad. Adine stood up and went to the door. “Hey! Where ya going,” he followed. “I don’t like the music,” she bellow ed, walking towards the door. So, what music do you like?” he suggested hopefully. “I think I like Madonna,” was the last he heard of her, left only with the scent of her red silk scarf. One fem a le silkworm moth carries only about 1.5 micrograms (0.0015 gram) o f its sex attractant, called bombycol. Theoretically, this is enough to activate more than 1,000,000,000 males, surely more than exist in any one place at any time. Paul Darvasi recently read his encyclopaedia.


Men’s basketball throws ConU down in overtime thriller By A llana H enderson

Basketball at its best. What a night for the fans who turned up at C urrie Gym last Saturday to watch the men’s and women’s basketball doubleheader against the Concordia Stingers. It just doesn’t get much better than this-a one-point last second win for the Martlets when Jen Stacey sunk a foul shot with barely any time remaining on the clock, and an overtime victory thriller for the Redmen in a game which lasted two and a half hours in front of a boisterous home crowd; a crowd of fans anxiously awaiting the first M cGill win over C oncordia in almost five years. At the end of it all, the scoreboard read 96-89 for the local team

in red and white. As unbelievable as it sounds for those who are familiar with the two rivals’ histo­ ry, the story behind the score is even more incredible. M cGill led throughout the game but was unable to extend the margin due to the Stingers’ trade­ mark full-court pressure which caused the Redmen to make some costly turnovers down the stretch. Concordia took the lead 81-79 with under a m inute left and had a chance to put the game out of reach for McGill when Stinger veteran Emerson Thomas was sent to the line for two foul shots with nine seconds remaining in regulation time. Thomas, despite a 17-point performance on the night, failed to hit either of his free throws, bring­

ing hope back to all those who had given up on the home team. McGill’s Todd McDougall, deter­ mined to dominate the boards on the miss, leaped higher than he had all night, and grabbed the rebound outletting the ball to sharp-shooter Rick Varisco with the nine seconds left. TSN “Highlight of the Night” material; Nine seconds left. Do or die with the ball in Varisco’s hands. A fter battling Stinger rival Maxime Bouchard throughout the entire game in a war of words, points and a substantial amount of “attitude” from both players, the pressure was on. Varisco had to put his money where his mouth was. See Stung Page 18

Saturday night, live at the Currie Gym By Scott Broady

Pandemonium ensued on Saturday night when the McGill Martlets seized a thrilling 70-69 last second victory over the Concordia Stingers before a p ac k ed h o u se at C u rrie G ym . P o in t guard Jennifer Stacey sank a foul shot with one second remaining to snap M cGill’s four-game losing skid which included a dissapointing 68-59 loss at the hands of Université Laval Friday night. The M artlets w ere never really a factor in Friday’s game against Laval, in which the Rouge et Or dominated the boards and forced McGill to take bad shots. Laval led 38-32 at the half and never looked back en route to an easy victory over an obviously fru strated M artlet squad that shot a measly 33 percent from the field. The next night was a different story however as McGill came out firing on all cylinders against their divisional nemesis. They jum ped out to an early 18-8 lead with an effective use of the fast break, while on the defensive side they forced the Stingers into poor shots. After McGill’s initial outburst the tide turned in the Stingers favour as they launched a 15-point run before the M artlets finally drained a threepointer to tie the score at 23-23. Concordia took a 35-33 lead going into the second half which saw the two teams go head-tohead in all out grudge-m atch under the basket. Elbows were flying and it was obvious that there was no love lost between these two teams as they tu rn ed things up a n o tch in a see-saw battle. McGill was then able to generate some momentum

as they pulled out to a 51 -44 lead to the delight of a frenzied crowd who were, at times, being dis­ tracted by the notorious Joe Cocker-like antics of Stinger head coach Mike Hickey on the sidelines. The Stingers refused to give up, however, and thanks to a couple of Sharon Sandy bombs from three-point land, got right back into the thick of thihgs by pulling within one with just under five minutes remaining. A nne G ild e n h u y s w ent on a te a r fo r the Martlets, scoring 11 of her 17 points in the second half, including a pair from the foul line with 3:35 left in regulation time to give McGill a 62-61 lead. “We executed our offense and worked the ball around very well, and they had trouble defending it,” said would-be hero Stacey. It looked to be smooth sailing the rest of the way for McGill until, with 27 seconds left and the Martlets leading 69-67, Melanie Gagné got called fo r a controversial travel when it appeared as though she’d been fouled. Stinger Pat Dem ers’s jum p shot from inside the paint then tied the score at 69 with 16 seconds left and it looked like the game would go into extra minutes. When McGill regained possession of the ball, however, Demers fouled Jennifer Stacey on her way to the hoop giv­ ing her two free throws with the clock reading 0:01. Stacey didn’t buckle under pressure, stepping up to the line and knocking in the first shot to seal the Stingers’ fate and m issing the second try to allow the clock to run out. Forward Vicky Tessier was a flawless nine for nine from the foul line and six for 15 from the floor as she led all scorers with 21 points. “We re a lly needed this win to turn th in g s around after having stru g ­ gled the w ay we d id ,” co m m en ted Stacey. “Our spirits are really high right now and ho p efu lly we can c a rry th is m om entum the rest of the way.” The Martlets are c u rre n tly b eh in d L aval in second place in the league standings. They host the B ish o p ’s L ady Gaiters on Saturday night at 6 pm at the Currie Gym.

Stinger Maxime Bouchard entertains the McGill crowd with a missed dunk under pressure

Women’s volleyball storms the capital By M att C ampeau

The McGill women’s volley­ ball team continued their impres­ sive season last weekend by going undefeated in five matches and winning the Carleton Invitational Volleyball tournament in Ottawa. The Martlets clearly felt right at home in the nation’s capital as they had little difficulty in their march to the tournament champi­ onship. On Friday the Martlets set the tone for the weekend when they defeated Queen’s University and the University of Western Ontario. On Saturday the Marlets continued their sweep in round-robin play by knocking off John Abbott College of Ste. Anne-de-Bellevue. After posting three wins and no losses in preliminary action, the Martlets faced off against the host Carleton Ravens in semi final action. Any hopes of a home-court advantage for C arleton were quickly dismissed as the Martlets showed what they were made of, sw eeping the R avens in three straight sets. A fter ruining the w eekend for the hom e team , McGill rolled into the tournament final and faced o ff against a Western Mustang team that the Martlets had already defeated in first-round play. The Mustangs had a chance to redeem themselves and to win the tournament in jtbe.pracess, hut.they

were unable to take advantage of their second chance to derail the powerful McGill squad, and the Martlets went on to defeat Western in four games. Led by tournament most valu­ able player Anie de la Fontaine, the Martlets won the final 15-6, 13-15, 15-11 and 15-1. De la Fontaine secured a place on the tournament all-star team with 16 kills, 15 digs and three stuffed blocks in the final. McGill’s Lisa Mrak joined de la Fontaine on the all-tournament team, putting in a strong performance in the champi­ onship with 21 digs, four kills and two stuffed blocks. Mrak pointed to the 15-1 final set in the championship game as being rep resentative of the M artlets’ overall success on the weekend. She pointed out some of the key factors in McGill’s success in a tournament in which every­ thing seemed to go right for the Martlets. . “This weekend showed off the strengths of the team, especially the strength of our bench,” she stated. W hile the M artlets have played well all year, their domi­ nant performance in Ottawa last weekend has to be considered a highlight of their season thus far. The Martlets take to the court again this weekend when they host cross-tow n rival C oncordia on Sunday at 2. pm at the .Currie .Gym.


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SPO RTS

January 17th, 1995

Stung ! Continued from Page 17 Inconceivable! If ever there was a CIAU award for “Clutch Player of the Year,” McGill’s Rick Varisco would top the list of nomi­ nees. Once again, Varisco came through with a final second shot which enabled the Redmen to come out of a packed gym of sweaty bodies and quick-beating hearts — smelling like roses. A fter the outlet from McDougall, Varisco took it downcourt with a swarm of Stinger defenders buzzing beside him the whole way, and hit a sweet base­ line jumper to send the game into overtime and the Stingers back to the Queen Bee to figure out a new strategy for the extra minutes. Needless to say, the gym went wild. In the ensuing OT, the name of the game was foul shots. In the final minutes, the Stingers scored a total of eight points, hitting four of eight shots from the line and notch­ ing two field goals. The Redmen, on the other hand, scored 13 points off of 20 free throws and only one basket from the field. Had either team been able to improve their foul shot percentages earlier on in the game, the contest might have been settled a lot soon­ er and maybe a little differently. The Redmen shot 28 for 49 from the line compared to the Stingers’ 25 for 47 shot total. The final score, putting the Redmen on top 96-89, reflected som ething that has been longawaited in Redmen basketball for, yes, believe it or not, years. Although the victory was an emo­ tional boost for the team, fifth-year McGill captain Todd McDougall, who had never experienced a win

over the Stingers in his career at the university, remained focused. “I knew that we would beat them this year,” he said. “We have more depth than we have had in the past — inside with players like Chad Wozney and on the perimeter too. Our guards ju st shoot the lights out.” “It felt great to win, but I’m more satisfied than overjoyed,” he continued. “There are more games to come and we have to keep beat­ ing them — especially in the play­ offs when it really counts.” Top scorers for the Redmen were Varisco, who finished with 27 points and four three-pointers, hitting 70 percent of his free throws; and Wozney, who had an incredibly strong inside game, amassing a total of 26 points in the w inning cause — 20 of which came in the second half. Other solid perform ances came from Chris Emergui, Ryan Schoenals and M cDougall, each reaching double figures and playing key roles in the conquest. The win was bittersweet for the two Montreal rivals. Bitter for the Stingers who headed back to the Hive to find that smooth play­ making style that they are notori­ ous for, and sweet for the Redmen, who are still savouring the taste of the victory. On Friday night, the Redmen defeated the Laval Rouge et Or in Quebec City in the first half of their weekend QUBL sweep. They are now tied for second place with the Bishop’s Gaiters, who they lost to before the Christm as break. McGill will look to redeem them­ selves and advance their place in the standings this Saturday night at 8 pm when they host the Gaiters at Currie Gym.

McGill Alpine skiers finish third By Kashif Z ahoor

The McGill alpine ski team opened the 1995 season last week­ end after an eight-day training camp at Smuggler’s Notch over the Christmas break. The 22 member squad, consisting of 14 men and eight women, headed to Mt. Val St-Côme in Lanaudière for two slalom races on Saturday and Sunday. The ski conditions were less than desirable thanks to the unusally warm weather. The steady rain coupled with blinding fog made things difficult for the 170 com­ petitors from ten universities around Quebec and Ottawa. • On Saturday, the visibility was limited to only five gates, causing many falls, and led to the delay of the afternoon race. Sandy Birrell and Cassandra Osborn topped the McGill women on the first day, finishing 8th and

9th respectively. Allan Cowan led the men, completing the two runs tenth overall with a time of 1:44.41. The tem peratures rose to a balmy ten degrees for Sunday’s races, leaving wet snow in its path. Former Canadian national skier Nick Robichon had a solid perfor­ mance, finishing fourth overall in 1:35.34. Cowan and Louis-Philippe Berti also ended up in the top 20. C onsistent show ings from Cowan and Osborn put them as M cG ill’s top men and women skiers after the first race, and eighth overall in their class. After the weekend races the McGill skiers are third in their cir­ cuit, behind Université du Québec à M ontréal and U niversité de Montreal. The next competition will be a giant slalom race on the January 28 and 29 of January in Stoneham, Quebec near Mt. StAnne.

Write for the T r i b u n e — ShatnerBOlA

UQTR Hockey machine rolls over the Redmen By M ark Luz

and Ioe

W ong ___________________

keeper out of his crease. The frantic crowd watched with anticipation and support, for McGill’s first goal of the year. Alas, it was in vain for it never materi­ alised. The Redmen had a few flashes of brilliance, but were hurt by the time spent socialising in the penalty box, and by a goalie who was on the opposite team. McGill now finds itself in a virtual must-win situation against its next two opponents, the Concordia Stingers and the Ottawa Gee Gees. The McGill squad will play host this Wednesday and Friday at 7 pm.

On Friday night, Redmen hockey faced off against the Université du Québec à Trois Rivières Patriotes, dropping their first divisional game of the year, 8-0, and eclipsing McGill’s worst league loss since 1980. Soon after the boat was docked at the McConnell Winter Arena, these two reporters were told that the Patriotes exploded with a quick goal. With 3:10 left in the first period, the Patriotes scored with a bullet bringing their lead to 2-0. Richard Boscher, the starting Redmen goalie, spared him­ self the onslaught of Patriotes’ shellings when he pulled himself out of the game after period one to recover from an illness. Period two marked the beginning of the Patriotes’ record-breaking offensive attack. Three minutes into the second period, the unbeaten Patriotes potted their third goal making the score 3-0. McGill had many great chances, eventually outshooting the Patriotes, 39-36, but just could not put anything past the wall they call the “rookie sensation” Sylvain Rodrigue. He had a trapper hotter than a courier du bois. This frustration led to a display of undisci­ plined play, which reacquainted the Redmen rump with the pine of the penalty box. With multiple power plays, the Patriotes continued to fire bullets past McGill back-up goaltender Robert Bourbeau. After making the Red and White defence look like swiss cheese, the Patriotes were up 7-0 by the end of period two. The third period showed a different Redmen team. Although a win didn’t seem in sight, a lone goal would have been savoured in the most wel­ coming way. The Redmen were led by the leader­ ship and Doug Gilmour-like speed of Captain Guy Boucher while backstop Bourbeau warmed up and made a strong showing. The boys in red enjoyed a five-on-three situa­ tion for over four minutes but were once again stym ied by the unbeatable R odrigue of the Patriotes. Boucher had a breakaway but fanned on the shot after having tricked the Patriotes’ goal­ Routhier plays pin the Patriote

Women’s hockey ices opponents 2-1 The women’s hockey team continued their season in fine fashion last weekend when they defeated A. Roy Sport by a score of 2-1. McGill defender and moonlight­ ing soccer player Kirsten Greer supported the winning Martlet cause with two assists. Scorers for the Red and White were Claire Sharpe and Jody Zack, each netting a goal apiece.

Football’s Quiviger heads South fo r Shrine Bowl Matthieu Quiviger, the Redmen’s All-Canadian offensive lineman last season, has become the second McGill football player in history to be selected to the annual East-West Shrine Bowl in Palo Alto, California. Quiviger follows former Redmen Val St-Germain, last year’s representative — now playing in the Canadian Football League with the Hamilton Tiger Cats — as one of the two Canadian players to be chosen to participate in the event which showcases the best college players in the United States. Quiviger, a 6-foot-5, 276-pound architecture student and Montreal native, travelled to sunny California last week for a ten-day stay on the West Coast. He joins leg­ endary players Frank Gifford, Roger Staubach and Walter Payton as notables who once played in the event, not to mention the more recent names of John Elway, Warren Moon and Sterling Sharpe. The Tribune will catch up with Quiviger upon his return.

Molson Cup Players o f the Month named fo r November The list of Molson Cup Players of the Month for November was released just prior to the Christmas break. Making the roster of outstanding student-athletes are the following Redmen and Martlet players. Shawn Linden Football Dale Bracewell Football

Matthieu Quiviger Luciana Cifarelli Martin Routhier Doug McMahon Vicky Tessier

Football Soccer Hockey Basketball Basketball

Redmen cagers return from Florida after a little R&R The Redmen basketball team did a little postChristmas training south of the border before resuming league play last weekend. The team experienced rain six out of their eight days in the sunshine state, almost met up with a hurricane that was reported to be only ninety minutes from where they were staying, but still managed to get a little colour and enough of a workout to return to Montreal to start the 1995 portion of play with two wins.

Newcomer on the M artlet basketball team There are now two players with the last name Gagné on the Martlet basketball roster. Veteran player Melanie Gagné, who is currently finishing up her Physical Education degree, was joined on the team in January by her younger sister Genevieve. Both sisters are products of the CEGEP basketball program, where they played for College Ahuntsic. Genevieve, a 19-year-old native of Sorel, Quebec, joins the team after spending the first semester travelling in Europe. She will be studying phys­ iology at McGill.

Hockey reaches 1,000th game The Redmen hockey team played its 1,000th inter­ collegiate league match last Friday night against the Université du Québec à Trois Rivières Patriotes, chalking up another mark in the loss column on the historic occa­ sion. The team dates back to 1902 when the world’s first university league was created. Since then, McGill has posted an overall 403-519-78 record including their worst league loss to UQTR on Friday by a score of 8-0.


'ZO&at 4- O k Page 19

January 17th, 1995

Sherbrooke St. W.

Tuesday, January 17

Ongoing The Jewish Women’s Project presents a feminist Tu b ’shevat Seder. 7 pm, Hillel House, 3460 Stanley St. For more info call Tziona at 369-1378. The M cGill O ffice for Students with Disabilities presents Caravan, a showcase of the latest in high-tech appliances and equip­ ment serving people with disabili­ ties. 10 am- 7 pm, Shatner Ballroom.

QPIRG general interest meet­ ing with speaker Dim itri Roussopoulos, Montreal editor, writer, economist and controversial anarchist. He’ll tell you how to get involved in Montreal’s social and environmental change movement. 6:30 pm, Leacock 232. Friday, January 20 M cGill

L atitudes, the McGill Journal for k Developing Areas Studies is accepting submis­ sions of i n terdis-

Chinese

Beatrice disguises her identity and has a secret lover! February 8-11 and 15-18. 8 pm, Moyse Hall, Arts Bldg. For more info call 398-6070. ICSA dinner at Thom pson House, Saturday, January 28. Call 398-6816 for more info...tickets are limited.

Tuesday Night Cafe Theatre presents the Montreal premiere of Wolfboy - the story of the develop­ ing friendship between teens Bernie, a suicidal football player and David, the rebel werewolf. Monday, January 23 to Saturday, January 28. 8 pm. Morrice Hall Theatre, 3485 McTavish.

Ski trip to Mt. Tremblant with the Japan A w areness Club on Saturday Jan. 21, 7:30 a.m.-7 p.m. Sign up in the lobby of the Arts — Bldg. 11

McGill Opera presents The Bartered Bride, a comic opera sung in Czech. January 20-23. 7:30 pm, Polloack Hall. For more info call 398-8933.

Wednesday, January 18 Mo n d a y M a n a g e m e n t Undergraduate Society pre­ sents the 20th Annual Cancer A uction. Support the Canadian Cancer Society and try for great bargains on Gym Memberships, Sports Equipment, Hotel Packages and Spa Weekends. For more info call 398-4000. McGill Renewal Club is dis­ cussing “Does the Parizeau draft bill on sovereignty mean sepa­ ratism or the possibility of a free and equal union between the peo­ ples of Quebec, of Canada and the Native Nations?” 5-6 pm, Shatner 435.

4

Students’ Society reunion night: dinner, movie and lots of fun! Members are free, non-members pay $5. 6 pm, Leacock 232. Saturday, January 21 AIDS Awareness Conference presented by NACOI, ICSA, SAYAC. Starts 9 am, Shatner.

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ciplinary, undergraduate papers relating to developing area issues. Submit two copies of your paper to Latitudes’ mailbox, Shatner, oppo­ site SSMU desk. If your paper is selected, you’ll be published in an international journal by March. Deadline: January 31. For more info call 279-5413.

Thursday 19. You don’t have to be a c l u b member! For more info call 398-9153.

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Jerzy Warzecha presents “A Painting and M ixed M edia Art Exhibition.” January 9 to January 27, McGill Faculty Club.

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Thursday, January 19 Monday, January 23 The Faculty of Music presents a Clarinet Trio Recital. 8 pm, Clara L ichtenstein R ecital H all, 555

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The Drama and Theatre Dept, presents The Servant of Two Masters — the hilarious complica­ tions of love that arise when

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