theconcordian
music life
Caribou plays to a cheering crowd at Le National P. 16
Longboarding: 50s fad rolls into 2010 P.7
Stingers secure Shaughnessy Cup with comeback victory P.20
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
arts Incendies is not for the faint of heart P. 14
music A sit down with Pop Montreal founder P. 16
opinions It should be easier to opt out of fee levys P. 25
Montreal s updated take on postering draws mixed reactions Despite court backing, some doubt the city’s compromises on postering issue Evan LePage News editor Grassroots and cultural organizations around Montreal are breathing a cautious sigh of relief after the city announced last week that it would not contest a Quebec Court of Appeal decision which ruled that a bylaw rendering postering illegal violates Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. “The city of Montreal has made its position clear that it’s actually going to seek to accommodate postering in some way: by not contesting the ruling,” said Patricia Boushel, a representative for Montreal’s Coalition for Free Expression. COLLE is a group of local organizations, like Pop Montreal and the Fringe Festival, which formed last spring to try to open dialogue with the city and find out why there was no infrastructure in place for postering to happen on a more tolerated level. However, the city’s decision to not contest the rul-
See “‘Montreal activist...” on p.3 Volume 28 Issue 4
ing does not mean that all postering is now legal. While an outright ban on postering violated the Charter, the municipal governments can still limit or restrict postering to certain designated areas. In a statement released to the media by communications officer Gonzalo Nunez, the city noted that the court ruling does not specify how many designated postering locations need to be approved, and the bylaw doesn’t necessarily have to be removed in its entirety, just modified. Additionally, the current bylaw will only expire six months after the court handed down the ruling, or on Jan. 15, 2011. “It doesn’t end here because they’re going to set up an infrastructure that you’re going to have to use,” said Boushel. “And if people don’t use that infrastructure and continue postering on anything or anywhere there’s still going to be postering fines, there’s just going to be fewer because there’s seemingly going to be a place for posters.” A day after announcing they would not contest the ruling, the city also announced they would be increasing the quantity of public notice boards from under 50, to over 500. The idea of designated postering collars has also apparently been circulated as an alternative solution. In its statement, the city also confirmed that discussions had taken place with some parties that had an interest in postering, one of which was COLLE.
Woodsworth barely tested
President Woodsworth able to skirt sensitive issues like tuition increase: CSU pres Renee Giblin Staff writer Very few students were in attendance as faculty and Concordia staff members filled the seats and lined the back walls of the J.A. de Sève cinema to listen to the first talk in university president and vice-chancellor Judith Woodsworth’s “Open to Question” series. “If you noticed there weren’t many students,” said Heather Lucas, president of the Concordia Student Union. “It would have been nice to have students being represented.” Woodsworth started the discussion by addressing the accomplishments of the new infrastructure and the successes of the university. By focusing her speech on Concordia’s
See “‘Student...” on p.2
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