Nine-year-old Adriana Jackson makes her business count by giving back

Nine-year-old Adriana Jackson makes her business count by giving back

Adriana Jackson runs a small, part-time business and donates to local groups. It was the spring of 2020. A global pandemic had just been declared; schools were closed, and nine-year-old Adriana Jackson was bored. So she started a small online business, selling accessories such as bows, headbands and scrunchies. Adriana also gives credit to both […]

Stunned over the passing of Love Man Kent

Stunned over the passing of  Love Man Kent

Last Tuesday, Kent Merchant, popularly known as Love Man Kent, of Montreal, was alive, well and in his prime. But by Wednesday, he was no longer with us. And even now as I write this, I do not understand why news of his passing has shaken me so much. Both personally, and as the current […]

Montreal police stops: You can now log what happened on an interactive map

Montreal police stops: You can now log what happened on an interactive map

Starting this Wednesday, Montrealers who are stopped by police, or who have been stopped in the past, can self-report their experience via an online interactive map. The goal is to reflect a more accurate account of police stops in the city, using the open-data research initiative to collect information about the nature of the stops […]

Montreal West Island youth rally against racism

Montreal West Island youth rally against racism

  Two Montreal community groups held a rally in the Montreal’s West Island last Saturday to denounce acts of violence and racism close to home and abroad. Hundreds of people gathered in Pierrefonds-Roxboro for an event geared specifically toward teenagers and other youth. Kayla Johnson, a 16-year-old high school student, said she feels she has […]

Balarama Holness enters Montreal mayoral race

Balarama Holness enters Montreal mayoral race

MONTREAL – #Balarama Holness who is reported to be ” a distant cousin” of Jamaica’s Prime Minister #Andrew Holness, has announced his candidacy in Montreal’s mayoral race set for November this year. Holness, the 37-year-old political activist and community organizer who once played professional football for the #Allouettes, made the announcement outside City Hall last […]

IRCC now accepting applications for permanent residence from refugee claimants working in health care

IRCC now accepting applications for permanent residence from refugee claimants working in health care

OTTAWA –  Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has started  accepting applications for permanent residence from refugee claimants who work in Canada’s health-care sector and provide direct care to patients. A news release from IRCC notes that  last August, Immigragtion  Minister Marco Mendicino had announced the government’s intention to implement this special measure and that […]

Refugee advocates criticize Canada’s decision to resume deportations during COVID-19

Refugee advocates criticize Canada’s decision to resume deportations during COVID-19

MONTREAL — Refugee advocates are criticizing Canada’s decision to resume deportations before the country irons out the details of a program to grant permanent residency to asylum-seekers who have been working in the health-care system during the COVID-19 pandemic. Frantz Andre, who advocates on behalf of asylum seekers, says the decision has heightened the feelings […]

Watchdog seeking witnesses to shooting of Black man by Montreal police

Watchdog seeking witnesses to shooting of Black man  by Montreal police

MONTREAL — Quebec’s police watchdog, the Independent Investigation Bureau,  is looking for people who witnessed police shoot a Black man in Montreal last month. Sheffield Matthews, 41, was shot and killed on Oct. 29 in Montreal’s Cote-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grace borough. The Bureau  has set up a command post in the neighbourhood to receive information about the shooting. […]

Montreal should restrict police use of facial recognition technology – councillor

Montreal should restrict police use of facial recognition technology – councillor

MONTREAL — A Montreal city councillor said he will introduce a motion shortly to restrict the use of facial recognition and other “invasive” surveillance technologies by city police. The motion is based on a bylaw adopted by New York City and would be the first in Canada to address the use of facial recognition technology […]

Montreal groups collect race-based COVID-19 data after Quebec flip-flops

Montreal groups collect race-based COVID-19 data  after Quebec flip-flops

MONTREAL — Black community groups in Montreal say they had no choice but to go at it alone after the Quebec government went back on a pledge to collect race-based data to help trace the impact of COVID-19 on marginalized communities. Thierry Lindor, a Montreal entrepreneur, launched an online platform this week to collect information […]