World United News: Montreal

Showing posts with label Montreal. Show all posts

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Corruption, Fraud and Thuggery by an Out of Control Montreal STM

UPDATE: 2014 August 03 (See bottom of story for update)

Is the Montreal Transit Authority’s Claim of “OPUS Card Fraud” a Fraud itself and a Pretext to More Draconian Legislation in the Near Future? A look at Montreal’s STM (RFID) OPUS Cards, Fraud Claims, STM Security, and What Comes Next.

By: Stewart Brennan

World United News

In 2008, the Montreal Transit Commission (STM) adopted a new system for their monthly bus passes and single fare ticketing from European corporation “Calypso Networks Association” (C.N.A.) with, the integration corporation “Spirtech” assisting in the implementation and engineering of C.N.A. software.

Montreal had jumped into the RFID OPUS technology for monthly bus passes while also using a magnetic strip card reader for single transit fares. We were told then that the reason they were moving to this new $219 Million dollar system was to prevent Bus pass fraud in the old system.

On the surface it seemed that there wouldn’t be too many problems associated with this new technology, with the exception of the STM’S South Shore “Longueuil Metro Station” which did not, and still does not accept STM Magnetic cards bought anywhere else but in the Longueuil metro station. Not good if you prepaid all your STM trips somewhere else and do not have any money left to pay for an additional one…which did happen to me the first time I used the system going home from the South Shore. It was a very frustrating experience that I wont get into here.

The STM, Fraud, & OPUS Cards

Since 2009, Michele Labrecque has been the chairman and the primary representative of the STM. He oversees the performance and execution of the STM’s functions and powers…and, in agreement with other board members, sets corporate orientations. He also chairs the Board’s public meetings and approves the agenda in collaboration with the STM’s Chief executive officer and is the Transit Users’ Representative…

Recently, Michele Labrecque estimated that the STM saves $12 million a year on fraud by using the OPUS Card technology but did not give any details on how they do this exactly. His statement raised a lot of unanswered questions to say the least.

When you invest 219 million dollars of taxpayers money into a NEW system that is supposed to be Fraud proof and a benefit to the citizens, you certainly wouldn’t want to skip out on purchasing the Fraud Detection Option when purchasing this system…especially when stopping Fraud is the reason they bought the system in the first place. So it is very strange and disturbing to see more and more STM Security Inspectors harassing passengers for their tickets and bus passes in the name of Fraud.

These STM directives and security actions clearly state that either the system they bought is totally useless in detecting Fraud, that someone grossly incompetent is responsible for not acquiring the proper equipment and programming, or there is corruption happening inside the STM.

Regardless of the answer, the people of Montreal and the surrounding communities should not have to be shoulder the Orwellian directives by Government & Corporate decisions that harass the public, especially when the STM are to blame in the first place.

“Spirtech” an OPUS Technology engineering firm and partner with Calypso Networks claims that their system is virtually Fraud proof. Who am I to believe? (http://www.spirtech.com/products/fraud-detector)

If Fraud is not a problem with this new technology, then why do we need STM Security checking everyone’s Monthly OPUS Bus passes and Magnetic Strip single fare tickets?

If indeed the STM has reduced Fraud by 12 million dollars as per MICHEL LABRECQUE, why is the STM giving themselves huge pay raises as stated in an article by the Montreal Gazette on July 25^th, 2013 to the tune of millions of dollars? And WHY have they hired an army of bus pass inspectors?

Does this 12 million dollar savings at the STM mean that STM management get to pocket this money? Are the STM Security Army, who also received big raises, becoming the cash cow tool of the STM’s corporate management? (See Gazette Report for security personnel salaries)

Court Orders STM to pay $123,000.00 in back pay to STM Security Officers

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Court+orders+back+security+officers/7840875/story.html

Failure to show these STM Inspectors your ticket will land you a huge fine and in the hospital if you refuse to budge, as was the case with me on August 03^rd, 2013. One might look at it as strong-armed tactics by the STM to ensure every passenger obays whatever they are told by STM Security or face being roughed up and fined without any recourse to challenge them…because the STM Board of Directors, who are also municipal legislators, passed a municipal law that grants this corporation police powers.

As stated in the Montreal Gazette on July 25^th, 2013 the STM gave themselves big pay raises. I wonder where they got the money to inflate their already massive salaries?

STM Got Big Pay Raises

http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/managers+raises/8703628/story.html

When the size of your STM Salary is dependent on growth and there are no other means to create that growth how exactly does one create growth and give themselves large pay increases? All the pay increases of the STM payroll have to come from somewhere…and a job needs to be a benefit to the corporation for profitability. So I wonder why they have hired more people in the STM Security department?

The STM’s Michel Labrecque also stated that they want a 40% increase in rider-ship by 2020…in my opinion, harassing and beating up their customers is certainly not the way to go. If they keep up their current pace by treating everyone as a potential criminal, more people will stop using their system.

Coming to Montreal by 2015 OPUS 2.0

During his opening remarks for AQTR’s conference on Urban mobility in the age of electronic payment (Feb 25, 2012), the president of the STM’S governing board Michel Labrecque stated, “We transport millions of people…soon we will get to know who they are.” What Mr. Lebreque was referring to was the implementation of OPUS 2.0 and having access to all your personal information in the future on the Montreal Transit Bus Pass. Security related? Fraud free?

OPUS Background Info

The OPUS card uses RFID (Radio-frequency identification) technology which can be read by anyone with an RFID transmitter / receiver. The OPUS card technology is owned by “Calypso Networks Association”; this European company’s primary goal is to use this technology on all digital transactions worldwide and to eventually replace the worlds currencies to become the Global technology and system for all monetary transactions. We are already seeing this technology being used by the Banks through Debit Cards, and Credit Cards, but we are also seeing this technology on Medicare cards, Drivers Licenses, passports, and soon there will be an upgrade to the Transit Authority’s OPUS 2 Cards.

Is there OPUS Card Fraud in Montreal?

So if this OPUS card fraud is real then what makes the Bankcards safe and the Bus Pass not safe? The bigger question is, of course, why are we allowing our governments to bully us into this RFID technology if it isn’t reliable? On a larger scale, We are talking about a massive corporation merger interconnected with many national governments, banks, and powerful shareholders that have the potential to end all national sovereignty by economic merger when financial controls of this technology are in place. “Spirtech” is the company being used to help engineer the OPUS RFID technology merger between corporations, banks, and governments. So their claim to be a safe system certainly needs to be proven since it conflicts with the STM’s assessment…but then it’s all about control, money and security isn’t it; but security for who?

Is it really necessary for Montreal’s STM Security to harass transit passengers because THEY SAY there is fraud in the OPUS system? If the answer is yes, then what about debit cards, credit cards, and Medicare Cards? Are these same technology cards at risk of fraud as well? And if so are we to expect a future where security people threaten debit and credit card holders to show ID and threaten us with arrest if we do not show them what they want?

As far as “Spirtech” is concerned, programming is all that is required to secure the cards…If that is so, why is Montreal’s STM spending Millions of Taxpayers dollars to hire an army of security inspectors to harass the public, instead of fixing the system?

The South Shore Transit System (RTL)

The South Shore of Montreal has a different Transit System (RTL), which also adopted the OPUS card and has a combination OPUS card with the STM for passengers requiring both transportation systems. However the RTL did not choose to adopt the single transit fare magnetic strip cards, so there is no proof of payments or transfers for single use. Even still there doesn’t seem to be a breach of security with their OPUS cards nor do they employ an army of security people to harass their passengers.

The RTL does have an OPUS card for occasional RTL riders who can’t purchase a monthly rechargeable OPUS card. The commuter can choose to load 6, 12, 18 or 24 RTL trips on a Solo card at the regular rate ($3.25 each x number of trips). Valid on all RTL buses, where a transfer is automatically issued on the Solo card. But they do not have a single fare proof of purchase to issue a passenger when they pay $3.25 on the bus.

Although the Quebec Government represents both transit systems (RTL & STM) together for a better price when approaching corporations for retrofits or Spare Parts such as implementing the new OPUS technology, the “South Shore Transit Commission” (RTL), chose not to use the exact same system as the STM. The only difference is the magnetic strip single fare cards…and the number of security personnel hired…

RTL & Municipal Governments

I’ve learned that at the municipal council level of government on the South Shore there are Paid RTL representatives that receive a minimum $15,000.00 just for being an RTL corporate representative. In my opinion there is a huge conflict of interest here since the money comes from the citizen’s taxes to pay them this bonus over and above the salary they receive for being on the council. Those chosen to represent the RTL are usually favoured by the Mayor of the specific community, if, of course, they do not claim the bonus for themselves.

This got me to thinking, “Does the STM also Pay the City Councillors in Montreal and the West Island a Bonus”?

If we take a look at who is on the STM Corporate Board of Directors and the STM Committees the answer is “YES”. The same people are on both Corporate and government posts. My question is how much are these municipal government reps being paid just to rubber stamp their STM corporate directives? Am I wrong to think this is corruption?

STM – Members of the Board of Directors

https://www2.stm.info/English/en-bref/a-ca_membres.htm

Attacked By STM Security Agents

On Saturday August 3^rd, 2013, STM Security attacked me for not showing them the magnetic strip bus pass I received after paying for a single fare on Bus #204 in the West Island of Montreal. They put me in the hospital. The incident is an ongoing nightmare for me now because I will not take public transport for fear of a repeat performance by the STM Security. It also stops me from visiting my 87-year-old mother on the South Shore who needs help because of her complications from dementia. I don’t have a car nor do I know anyone here that can take me to the South Shore once a week so I will need to find a way to rectify this. I will not bow to this authoritarian minded corporation, nor will I allow my dignity as a human being to be trampled on.

One of my fears is based on being singled out by STM security personnel with the Security software programs the STM have installed with all of the security cameras throughout the transit system. “Facial Recognition Technology” allows the STM Security Inspectors to profile passengers at will and is reason enough for me to stay away from ever taking the bus again simply because I feel I will be targeted and because my plea for justice has fallen on deaf ears by the STM, Municipal Governments, Gazette, CBC, CTV and other mainstream media. The NEWS mediums simply have not done their jobs in investigating and bringing the public’s attention to the ongoing conflicts of interest, corruption, and unjust laws that enable thuggery by the STM and its security apparatus.

According to Calypso Network Association, the creators of the OPUS technology and the engineering group Spirtech that works with C.N.A., there is no Fraud with their system…but the STM hires security to run around all day long harassing passengers by insisting on checking everyone’s OPUS cards and magnetic strip single fare cards…In my opinion, the STM, which is a merger of government and corporation is a completely corrupt organization operating as a parasite on the tax payers of Montreal and the citizens of the surrounding service area’s. The STM and all it’s Board members need to be investigated through a public inquiry including a forensic audit investigation of their books. The Harassment by STM Security on the population using public transit has to stop!

My Personal Request to the STM

I want an apology from the STM for their security personnel roughing me up and putting me in the hospital because I wouldn’t show them the ticket I had just paid for. I want a complete stop to the STM security’s harassment of the public. I want the $333.00 fine they imposed on me for not showing them my ticket to be dropped, and I want the STM to pay for the damages inflicted on me by their security personnel.

Stewart Brennan

---------------------------

UPDATE: 2014 August 03

It has been one year to the day since the violent incident involving the STM and their belligerent security thugs who accosted me on Bus number 204 and put me in the hospital. Here’s what I hope will be my final update on this matter:

I challenged the ticket issued to me by the STM in court and won, in fact the judge shook her finger at the STM representatives for their brutality and warned that she hopes there will not be anymore incidents like this in the future by the STM and its security…not long afterwards the STM security blended into the background and stopped pulling busses over; this is a “Victory” for the citizens who use public transport in Montreal. We all win when a bully is put in its place. Stand up and don’t back down when you have been wronged. There are still some credible people within the justice system that know the difference between right and wrong. Peace!

Links:

Calypso Networks Association

http://www.calypsonet-asso.org/
Spirtech
http://www.spirtech.com/spirtech-consulting/calypso-networks-association
OPUS 2.0 Urban Mobility in the Age of Electronic Payment
http://spacing.ca/montreal/2012/02/23/opus-2-0-urban-mobility-in-the-age-of-electronic-payment/
Court Orders STM to pay $123,000.00 in back pay to STM Security Officiers
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Court+orders+back+security+officers/7840875/story.html
STM Got Big Pay Raises
http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/managers+raises/8703628/story.html
STM – Members of the Board of Directors
https://www2.stm.info/English/en-bref/a-ca_membres.htm
Calypso Networks Association & STM – (PDF File)
http://www.calypsonet-asso.org/downloads/open_session_2012/2012%2011%20STM.pdf
NOVA Bus
http://www.novabus.com/transit-solutions/service.html
RFID
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio-frequency_identification
Metro Security think they are Policemen
http://archemdis.com/2010/04/08/montreal-metro-security-thinks-they-are-policemen/
Woman Fined $219.00 for not paying bus fare with exact change
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2013/08/02/montreal-stm-verdun-pauline-tantost-fine.html
Montreal’s STM Transit Security is Violently Out of Control
http://worldunitednews.blogspot.ca/2013/08/montreals-stm-transit-security-are.html

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Montreal’s STM Transit Security are Violently out of Control

Updated: August 03, 2014 (Go to Bottom of story for most Recent update)

By: Stewart Brennan

World United News

Today I used the Montreal Transit system as I always do to go get groceries at Maxi’s on St John’s Road in Pointe Claire Quebec. I paid $3.00 and received a bus pass from the dispenser on the bus number 204, thanked the bus driver and proceeded to sit in a double seat just in front of the rear exit. Within 5 minutes the bus was pulled over by STM security who were waiting on Hymus Blvd in front of the old office of Canadian Unemployment center 2 buildings down from the Hymus Brasserie. An STM security agent who was Caucasian with an Eastern European accent entered the bus from the front and then proceeded to demand to see everyone’s bus passes.

I spoke out saying that what he was doing was harassment, wrong and that he had no right to do this. Not even the police can do this especially if there has not been any crime committed. Pure and simple what these STM employees were doing was unnecessary harassment. There was no good reason for them to do this. What was their reason?

I got up from my seat and went to the front and asked the STM security employee to ask the bus driver if anyone had not paid for their bus ticket, because what they were doing was pure harassment. To me, what they are doing is no different than what the Nazi thugs in pre World War II Germany did by stopping people and demanding “PAPERS” and threatening to arrest anyone that did not comply.

A second STM Security Employee (African origin) entered from the rear exit of the bus demanding to see my bus pass as I sat back down in my seat. I replied “ask the Bus driver if I paid or not because you have no right to harass me”. They both then came to my seat and threatened to arrest me if I did not show them my bus pass. I replied that they were not cops and had no authority to do so...to which they replied I would have to leave the bus. I told them I paid my fare and questioned them if they were told otherwise…”just ask the bus driver!”…Again they threatened to arrest me if I did not comply. I refused and asked them to call the police…

Both of these STM Security thugs proceeded to grab my arms telling me I was under arrest and had to leave the bus and I told them you are not cops and to stop touching me, they refused and pulled me up from my seat. A struggle ensued as they grabbed my arms and pulled me up where I then lost my balance. I put out my right forearm to catch my balance, which the first security thug had in his grasp.

They then pulled me off the bus threw me to the ground manhandled me and handcuffed my hands behind my back. They cut off the circulation in my right hand which turned blue I was told by the paramedics that arrived later. I was in a great deal of pain and screamed for them to take off the cuffs because of the pain and that my hand went numb.

All the while I called for help and for someone to call the police. A woman then approached and said she had called the police and that they were on their way.

My eyeglasses came off my head as I was thrown to the ground. Shortly afterwards the second STM security thug picked them up put them down again and then proceeded to step on them breaking the frames. He did it on purpose.

The Police showed up after about 10 minutes all the while the searing pain in my arm was getting worse. I was also having chest pains, back pains, and pain in my legs. I asked them to remove the cuffs because of the pain. I’m 53 years old.

The police told the STM security thugs to take off the cuffs, which they had a hard time doing because they were on so tight.

The police then asked if I was ok to which I replied “NO”. They then asked me if I needed an ambulance to which I replied yes.

I asked the police for a copy of the report and they replied that they were not going to make one, all they were going to do is give a “Call Number” which they did not even give.

I was very unsteady on my feet, very weak, felt faint, nauseous, and was in a great deal of pain in my arms, legs, back, neck and head.

The STM security thugs then issued a ticket to me for $333.00, which is what they probably wanted to do in the first place, make their quota in tickets to keep their jobs…that is the ONLY reason I figured that they entered the bus. The STM security are there to harassed people, threatened them and then fine them for not obeying their commands…pardon me for saying this but that is pure fascism…especially when a Corporation, funded by the Quebec Government can hire thugs with police powers?

I explained to the police that what they did was illegal according the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to which they replied that the STM HAD the authority in a municipal bylaw to arrest and fine people…

In the Country I was born and raised in, (Canada) a person is innocent until proven guilty but these STM thugs operate as if everyone is guilty until they say otherwise.

I spent the day in the Lakeshore General Hospital. They took x-rays of my head, neck, & back, while monitoring my heart due to an extremely high heart rate. I was beaten and fined for not obeying…and I had not committed any crime.

This is not an isolated incident. I was told by the Ambulance driver that these STM security thugs are keeping them very busy, and after my release from the hospital a Taxi driver had witnessed the same thing several times. This is the 2^nd time I was harassed by the STM Security.

I paid my bus fare and have the card to prove it. I have the Ambulance transportation doc with both paramedics willing to testify on my behalf in court of the injuries I sustained.

Busses are equipped with silent alarms, cameras and microphones for security purposes. I know this because I worked for a Bus manufacturer in Winnipeg Manitoba. Security personnel should be used to stop crime, not harass innocent civilians doing their daily routines.

What we have here in Montreal Quebec is an STM out of control and I want justice for what they did to me today but more than anything, I want this harassment of passengers on STM transport stopped before they kill someone.

Today I was beaten up by STM corporate thugs and heavily fined for not showing my papers…and the Police department thinks that’s ok. Tonight I’m on pain killer medication, extremely angry and want an end to this Montreal Stazi STM security bullshit! If you know people who have also been victims of the STM Stazi, please share this story so that they might come forward. Together we can fight against the abusive STM and stop them before they kill someone.

My father fought in World War II with the Canadian Cameron Highlanders so that tyranny would not rule here in Canada…apparently someone forgot to tell the Quebec Government and the City of Montreal.
------------------------------

Photo: STM OPUS Card (Monthly Pass) & Single Fare Receipt & Transfer

Update: August 05, 2013

I’ve heard a few people saying that there is a lot of OPUS card fraud going on and that is why they push Security harassment on the STM busses but that reasoning doesn’t add up because the same OPUS technology is being used on the South Shore but without transfers being received for people who op to pay in cash ($3.25)

So I have to ask, is the same security harassment happening on the RTL because the same technology is used and second what about the people who pay cash, are they thrown off the bus because they pay cash and have no proof of payment? The RTL busses do not give transfers or receipts as they do on the STM but the combination opus cards allow people to travel on both RTL & STM busses.

The next question is why harass the people if it is a technology thing. Get the manufacturer to change the codes or to put the security info into the card readers like they have with the security scanners?

This is not about OPUS Card fraud, this is about corporate fascism, and harassment of the public and it needs to stop.

----------------------------

Update: August 8th, 2013

By: Stewart Brennan

World United News

The STM, Fraud, & OPUS Cards

Since 2009, MICHEL LABRECQUE has been the chairman and the primary representative of the STM. He oversees the performance and execution of the STM’s functions and powers…and, in agreement with other board members, sets corporate orientations. He also chairs the Board’s public meetings and approves the agenda in collaboration with the STM’s Chief executive officer and is the Transit Users’ Representative…

If Fraud is not a problem with this new technology, then why do we need STM Security checking everyone’s Monthly OPUS Bus passes and Magnetic Strip single fare tickets?

“Court Orders STM to pay $123,000.00 in back pay to STM Security Officers”

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Court+orders+back+security+officers/7840875/story.html

As stated in the Montreal Gazette on July 25^th, 2013 the STM gave themselves big pay raises. I wonder where they got the money to inflate their already massive salaries?

STM Got Big Pay Raises

http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/managers+raises/8703628/story.html

Coming to Montreal by 2015 OPUS 2.0

OPUS Background Info

Is there OPUS Card Fraud in Montreal?

The South Shore Transit System (RTL)

RTL & Municipal Governments

This got me to thinking, “Does the STM also Pay the City Councillors in Montreal and the West Island a Bonus”?

STM – Members of the Board of Directors

https://www2.stm.info/English/en-bref/a-ca_membres.htm

Attacked By STM Security Agents

My Personal Request to the STM

Stewart Brennan

Update : 2014 August 03

Links:

Calypso Networks Association

http://www.calypsonet-asso.org/

Spirtech

http://www.spirtech.com/spirtech-consulting/calypso-networks-association

OPUS 2.0 Urban Mobility in the Age of Electronic Payment

http://spacing.ca/montreal/2012/02/23/opus-2-0-urban-mobility-in-the-age-of-electronic-payment/

Court Orders STM to pay $123,000.00 in back pay to STM Security Officiers

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Court+orders+back+security+officers/7840875/story.html

STM Got Big Pay Raises

http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/managers+raises/8703628/story.html

STM – Members of the Board of Directors

https://www2.stm.info/English/en-bref/a-ca_membres.htm

Calypso Networks Association & STM – (PDF File)

http://www.calypsonet-asso.org/downloads/open_session_2012/2012%2011%20STM.pdf

NOVA Bus

http://www.novabus.com/transit-solutions/service.html

RFID

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio-frequency_identification

Metro Security think they are Policemen

http://archemdis.com/2010/04/08/montreal-metro-security-thinks-they-are-policemen/

Woman Fined $219.00 for not paying bus fare with exact change

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2013/08/02/montreal-stm-verdun-pauline-tantost-fine.html

Corruption, Fraud and Thuggery by an Out of Control Montreal STM

http://worldunitednews.blogspot.ca/2013/08/corruption-fraud-and-thuggery-by-out-of.html

Friday, June 1, 2012

No end in sight for Canada student protests as tuition talks collapse

Students protesting tuition fee increases on May 30, 2012 in Montreal

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/06/01/244072/talks-to-end-quebec-protests-collapsed/

Canada’s eastern province of Quebec is bracing for more mass demonstrations as talks between students and the provincial authorities aimed at ending months of anti-tuition hikes protests were deadlocked.

Four days of talks over the proposed tuition fee rises reached an impasse on Thursday after Premier Jean Charest’s government walked away from the negotiating table and refused to change its plan to increase university fees.

The talks were considered as the provincial government’s last chance for an immediate resolution to end the mass demonstrations that has swept across the country for about four months.

Student unions have asked for a tuition freeze but the government has ruled it out and passed an anti-protest law to limit student demonstrations across the province.

Student union leaders believed that the government had no intention to compromise with students to end the conflict, and that Minister of Education Michelle Courchesne only used the students as pawns in a political game.

“The Minister of Education said that for political reasons she could not accept a freeze on tuition fees,” spokesman for the student group CLASSE, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, said.

“The government is using the youth to make political gains. They only wanted to sit us down for a public relations move, for a political move, not to negotiate,” said Martine Desjardins, president of the Quebec federation of university students.

The student groups then called on students to pour into the streets of Montreal again on Saturday to voice their opposition to the government’s plans.

Over 2,500 people have been arrested since student protests began in February at over a dozen colleges and universities in Quebec.

The protests against tuition hikes spread throughout the country.

Thousands of people marched in Toronto On Wednesday in solidarity with protesters in Quebec.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International called on Quebec authorities to rescind the emergency law, which outlines strict regulations for demonstrations and conditions of heavy fines for students and their federations.

Two United Nations special reporters also voiced concerns on Wednesday, urging “federal and provincial governments of Canada and Quebec to fully respect the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, expression and association of students affected by two new legislations.”

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Government Repression of Quebec Student Movement Sparks Massive Protests

By: Roger Annis

Source: Global Research

Quebec's student movement and the swelling ranks of its popular allies staged a massive rally and march in Montreal on May 22 in favour of the students’ fight for free, quality public education and against government repression. Estimates by some mainstream news outlets and by independent observers place the number of participants as high as 400,000. It was the largest social protest in Canadian history and amounted to a massive display of civil disobedience against a special law adopted by the Quebec government four days earlier that aims to break a more than three-month long strike of post-secondary students in the province.

Lead banners on the march read, “100 days of strike, 100 days of (government) contempt!” and “Block the sexist tuition fee hike!” A massive banner of the militant, CLASSE student association was carried overhead by hundreds of marchers and read, “May 22: This is only the beginning!”

Contingents of teachers, professors, high school students, public service workers and other trade unionists joined the march. Marchers bused into Montreal from across the province while people streamed into the city center from neighborhoods throughout the metropolitan region. French-language media termed the march a “monster” demonstration. Montreal's English language daily covered its front page with an aerial photo of the march and a headline reading “River of Red,” referring to the symbolic color of the student movement (symbolizing student indebtedness) that was omnipresent that day.

Leaders of the three largest student associations held an impromptu press conference along the route of the march. Léo Bureau-Blouin of the association of junior college (CEGEP) students (the FECQ) told journalists, “We are united today in this huge demonstration aiming not only to mark 100 days of the strike but also to denounce the Charest (Quebec) government and the course of events following its decision to choose repression over discussion...”

Referring to the draconian Bill 78 that was adopted by Quebec's National Assembly on May 18 and that effectively proscribes the right of students to strike and to protest, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, a leader of CLASSE, the largest of the student federations, told reporters that the law is “absurd and unenforceable. The proof of that is here today, where the street is speaking forcefully.” Challenging Quebec's minister of public security, he stated, “If the minister wants to be true to his law, he will have to levy fines on tens of thousands of people.”

Cops Wield Truncheons and Handcuffs

The students are on strike to block a proposed 75 per cent hike in post-secondary tuition fees over the next seven years. Many consider their fight to be one front in a broader struggle for a society of social and environmental justice.

François-Xavier Clermont, a student at CEGEP du Vieux-Montréal, told the Montreal daily La Presse, “We are fighting against the tuition hike, but we're also fighting against the Northern Plan (a proposal by the Quebec government to expand natural resource exploitation in the vast, north of the province) and against this corrupt government.” He continued, “We have succeeded in opening up a debate over the future of Quebec society. This is already a victory.”

The government of Premier Jean Charest has made an apparent about-face in agreeing to resume talks with the student associations on May 28. But this comes on the heels of a massive escalation of repression in the preceding days, so the government's intent is not clear.

During the evening of May 23, provincial and municipal police forces arrested 518 protesters in Montreal and 150 in Quebec City. Thirty six were arrested two nights earlier in Sherbrooke. The number of arrests in Montreal that evening exceeds those during the infamous declaration of martial law by the Canadian government in October 1970.

Police held the arrested Montreal protesters in buses overnight. The cops had declared an evening protest “illegal” under municipal regulations. One young woman who was detained told CBC Radio that police acted like “animals.” The detainees were denied bathroom access and one man who suffered a cardiac emergency was denied emergency medical treatment. The fine for the alleged offences is $634.

Commentators widely noted that while the arrests in Quebec City and Sherbrooke were done in the name of Bill 78, the eventual charges were for violations of municipal regulations or provincial traffic laws. The government is without doubt aware of the tenuous legality of its law. A two-front legal challenge to Bill 78 has been launched by lawyers on behalf of the student associations. They are seeking a ruling that the law is unconstitutional, which could take a year or more. More immediately, they want the Quebec court to immediately suspend the law's applicability.

Bill 78 allows for fines of student associations that could easily bankrupt them. It assigns criminal responsibility to the associations if they fail to control the acts of their individual members.

While there were few arrests during the monster demonstration on May 22, 113 people were arrested at the evening protest that followed. Some 2,500 arrests have been made since the onset of the student strike.

Repression is Backfiring

The government is counting on a combination of threats, fines and police violence to quell and eventually discourage the student movement. But the opposite is happening – the protest movement is growing. The nightly protests in Montreal that students and supporters have been waging for 30 consecutive nights are now growing exponentially. Roger Rashi, a longtime activist with the Quebec solidaire party, reports that the nightly march of May 24 drew several tens of thousands of participants, ten or twenty times the pre-Bill 78 nightly numbers. What's more, multiple marches are taking place concurrently.

One of the inspirations of the spreading movement is “Angry Mothers in Solidarity” (Mères en colère et solidaires). Nightly, spontaneous protests by mothers in support of the students began weeks ago in working-class districts in the center of Montreal such as Rosemont, Villeray, and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. It began with the banging of pots and pans each evening from apartment balconies and streets, gradually emerging into street protests.

The “pots and pans” movement has now coalesced into multiple, nightly marches and is spreading like wildfire throughout the province. (RT Video Link).

Pots & Pans Protest: Angry Canadians make a bang

Timing and locations each evening are coordinated via Twitter. Thousands of mothers from the movement joined the May 22 March. “I march alongside the other mothers because I am one, but this is really about future generations,” Marie Christine Chabot, 45, a nurse, told the Montreal daily The Gazette on the May 22 march. “The more that education is accessible to everyone, the more society is likely to make the right choices. I see it in my work: People with more education smoke less, eat better, exercise more, and have less stress. We'd all be better off if people were better educated.”

“It's important to show it's not just students out in the streets protesting,” Marie-Claude Gagnon, a social worker and founder of Mères, told the paper. “The symbol of mothers is a good one, and it also helps protect us in the crowd,” said Gagnon, whose children are aged 3, 9 and 13. “The police think twice about wading into a group of mothers and children.”

A new website invites people to post personal declarations of defiance of Bill 78 by posting a photo of themselves along with their written dedication. Called “Arrest Me, Someone!” (Arretez-moi, quelqu'un!) The site has more than 5,000 declarations and the number is growing.

Protesters of all political persuasions are also taking to wearing face covering, in defiance of a Montreal municipal law rushed into adoption May 17 and a similar law threatened by the federal government that makes it illegal to wear a face covering (mask) at a protest declared “illegal.”

A micro-brewery has placed its ‘Grande Noirceur’ beer on special sale. The name translates as ‘the great darkness,’ a term deeply embedded in popular culture that describes the years of rightist government in Quebec under Premier Maurice Duplessis from 1944 to 1959.

The brewery says its daily production is limited to less than 50 bottles in deference to the provision of Bill 78 that requires protests of more than 50 people to seek advanced police permission.

Trade unions, opposition political parties and the Quebec Bar Association have all denounced Bill 78 and called on the government to reach a negotiated settlement with the students.

Discussion Over the Future of the Struggle

The largest student association, CLASSE, is calling for defiance of Bill 78. That issue is being widely discussed among progressive social and political forces, including among members of the Québec solidaire party. The party has voiced strong support for the strike and its members have mobilized.

During the course of May 22 protest, CLASSE did not inform the police of its route for the protest that day, as required by Law 78. The two other large student associations as well as the large trade union contingents joining with them on the march did so. Nevertheless, the vast majority of demonstrators followed the lead of CLASSE in marching on the route of their choosing for hours through the downtown core of the city, including during the afternoon rush hour. The police were powerless to act.

Some student and union leaders quietly project an eventual, electoral outcome to the struggle over tuition fees and the broader issues it has sparked. The opposition Parti québécois, which is supported by most trade union centrals, sits well in polls. The bourgeois nationalist party says it would immediately repeal Law 78 if elected.

But it's not at all clear if the government can call an election. It has problems not just with the student struggle but also with a corruption scandal weighing heavily on it. Last year, the government was obliged to convene a special commission of inquiry into the close ties between the criminal syndicates that run much of the construction industry in the province and successive Liberal Party governments.

Coincidentally, the commission began its public hearings on May 21 and these will continue into the autumn months. Testimony is expected to be especially damning to the party and the current government. A recent poll showed 80 per cent of the population believes the Liberal Party to be thoroughly corrupt.

The Parti québécois is also threatened by potential revelations before the commission. The same poll showed 65 per cent of respondents say they consider past PQ governments to be tainted by similar corruption. The party governed the province for 18 of the past 36 years.

Support for the student strike in Quebec from the rest of Canada has been building, albeit slowly. Students and unions in Ottawa are organizing a solidarity action on May 29, to include a march across the Ottawa River into the neighbouring Gatineau region of Quebec. Ottawa students have already joined several actions in Quebec, including the May 22 march. Hundreds of people attended a solidarity rally in Vancouver on May 22. In Ontario, a student solidarity network has been formed to step up support action in that province.

Trade unions in Canada have provided financial support and contingents of activists came to Montreal for May 22, including Ontario Federation of Labour president Sid Ryan. News of the student protest is spreading around the world and solidarity actions have taken place in Paris and New York City.

On the other hand, support from the NDP, the federal party to which many trade unions in English Canada are affiliated, has been all but absent. Party leader Thomas Mulcair explains his party's silence by the fact that education is a provincial responsibility. However, Bill 78 is a massive violation of the rights and freedoms supposedly guaranteed by the Canadian Constitution.

In last year's federal election, the NDP became the official opposition party for the first time in Canadian history. Nearly 60 per cent of the party's MPs represent electoral districts in Quebec. They have apparently been muzzled by the party brass.

The student protest is beginning to worry business interests in the province. A string of large summer events and festivals, including a Grand Prix auto race next month in Montreal, draws hundreds of thousands of cash-wielding visitors each year. Already, hoteliers in Montreal say that bookings in May were down ten percent compared to last year.

In a delicious irony for striking students, a co-leader of CLASSE, Jeanne Reynolds, has won an award for academic excellence from the office of the titular head of the provincial government of Quebec, its Lieutenant Governor. Her “excellence” on the picket lines and in street protests, along with that of tens of thousands of student colleagues, is also winning awards – in the hearts and minds of growing numbers of working-class people in the province.

The Quebec government risks being swept away by a growing tide of human solidarity, with important repercussions for all of Canada. •

Roger Annis is a retired aerospace worker in Vancouver who recently spent time in Montreal reporting on the student strike. He can be reached at
rogerannis@hotmail.com

A legal defense committee for students and student associations in Quebec threatened with legal action has been established and can be reached at the following link.

------------------------------------------
Links & Information:

Current Quebec PM: Jean Charest
Martial Law - The 1970 October Crisis
Student Unions join Forces - Legal Challenge to Law – Bill 78
Website for Citizens Defiance of Bill 78
Quebec Dictator – Maurice Duplessis
Student Association: CLASSE
Quebec Government Corruption Scandal
Ontario Student Solidarity Group
NDP Muzzles Party on Student Strike in Quebec
Legal Defense Committee

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Quebec protests no longer simply a student issue – journalist

A protester is pepper sprayed during a protest against student tuition hikes on the 100th day of Quebec's student strikes, in downtown Montreal May 22, 2012 (Reuters/Brett Gundlock)

Source: Russia Today
http://www.rt.com/news/quebec-protest-wider-issue-282/

The streets of Montreal have been the scene of massive protests against planned tuition hikes, as well as a law that seeks to limit the right to demonstrate. RT discussed the issue with Corey Pool, an editor of Montreal-based newspaper “The Link.”

RT:Do you believe the protests can sway the government’s position on both the fees and civil rights?

Corey Pool: I guess that’s kind of difficult to answer. It depends on who you ask. The problem with this issue is that it’s extremely polarizing. Some people see these mass arrests as a sign that the government may be winning. Some people use these situations as justification for why this movement exists.

RT:Do you think the protests are still about the fees only, or have they turned into something else now?

CP: The movement has been going on for a long time now. The mainstream media has only caught onto this recently. But now, I think, the best way to describe it is it is an ideological movement. It no longer just encompasses the issue of tuition increases. It’s no longer simply a student issue. I think that’s really exemplified by the nightly demonstrations. This past Tuesday there were thousands of people in the streets and many of them were families, young and old. It’s no longer just an issue of a tuition increase. The issue is much larger now.

RT:What do the people of Quebec think of the strike and the protests?

CP: I think the government is trying to keep it as a student issue led by students that can be quelled with some simple negotiations. But I don’t really think that that is exactly the case. I feel that it’s an ideological issue. It’s a movement that’s grown beyond the simple fact of tuition increases, and now encompasses many problems that are being brought up in the Quebec government – mismanagement of funds, corruption within the government itself, mismanagement of the university system, and generally people are extremely upset. And I don’t think that this issue will simply go away. We are now 103 days into the movement. I don’t think it’s a simple issue that can be resolved.

RT: Are clashes with police likely to continue, given the contentious issue of the emergency law?

CP: It depends on who you ask, but in my opinion, I believe so. Bill 78 is an extremely contentious issue and it’s been opposed by many people, as well as some prominent organizations and unions. I don’t think that this bill, which some consider an unenforceable law, will necessarily quell demonstrations. In fact, over the past few days, what we’ve seen is a more unified body of people. Now there are demonstrations not only every night, but there are people in the streets every single day. At eight o’clock, they come out and they bang pots and pans. I think this one law, if anything, has galvanized the movement in a way.

Over 700 people were arrested throughout Canada on Wednesday after they clashed with police during regular protests against planned tuition hikes and a new moot emergency bill that bans spontaneous demonstrations of over 50 people, requiring organizers to inform the police of the rally's planned route eight hours in advance. This followed a bevy of other rowdy rallies during which skirmishes between protesters and the police broke out.

On Thursday, the government agreed to start negotiations with the four main student groups protesting the tuition hikes. In the meantime, students, unions and around 70 community groups asked the Quebec superior court to throw out most of the law on the grounds that it violates the constitution.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Mass arrests: Over 700 Canadian protesters detained in police crackdown

Montreal police watch protesters on May 23, 2012 during a demonstration against student tuition hikes (AFP Photo / Andre Tremblay)

Source: Russia Today
http://www.rt.com/news/canada-police-arrest-students-tuition-110/

Over 700 students have been arrested in Canada during the latest night of rallies against tuition fee hikes and the adoption of controversial bill that is widely seen as a tool to limit freedom of speech, association and assembly.

Police in Montreal dispersed unsanctioned protests and arrested 518 demonstrators on Wednesday night. The arrests were also made in Quebec City, where some 170 were detained, and in Sherbrooke. There were no reports of injuries or casualties.

Police used kettling tactics to encircle the protesters and contain them within a small space. People reportedly threw projectiles such as fireworks and bottles at officers, forcing them to carry out extensive arrests.

Most of those detained have already been released. Some face $1,000 fines.

For over 14 weeks, Canada has been facing the most sustained student demonstration in its history. The protest on Wednesday started as a peaceful march of thousands, just like the majority of previous rallies.

In order to give the police another non-lethal means of pressure on protesters, Quebec’s legislative assembly adopted a bill that introduces enormous fines of $24,000 to $122,000 against unions and student organizations which do not stop their members from protesting. Individuals found guilty of organizing a protest now face a fine of some $34,000.

On Tuesday, the movement marked the 100th day of demonstrations against the tuition hikes of around $250 per year with a massive rally in Montreal. Over 120 people were detained following the event.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Quebec: Huge protest supports striking students, denounces Bill 78

By: Keith Jones

Source: Global Research
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=30996

More than 100,000 people took to the streets of Montreal yesterday to mark the 100th day since the beginning of the Quebec student strike and to denounce the Quebec Liberal government’s Bill 78.

Adopted in less than 24 hours late last week, Bill 78 criminalizes the student strike by outlawing picket lines anywhere in the vicinity of the province’s universities and CEGEPs (pre-university and technical colleges) and by threatening teachers with criminal prosecution and massive fines if they make any accommodations to striking students or fail to perform all of their normal functions

Bill 78 also places sweeping restrictions on the right to demonstrate anywhere—and over any issue—in Canada’s second most populous province. Any demonstration of more than 50 people is illegal unless demonstration organizers submit to police in writing more than eight hours in advance the route and duration of the protest and abide by any changes requested by the police. Demonstration organizers are also legally compelled to assist the authorities in ensuring that protesters do not transgress the police-prescribed protest route.

The same day the Liberals rammed Bill 78 through the National Assembly, Montreal’s municipal government, meeting in special session, adopted its own emergency bylaw compelling police authorization for demonstration-routes and making it illegal to wear any form of face covering—including face-paint, a nijab, or a scarf—while participating in a demonstration.

Quebec’s corporate elite has strongly supported Bill 78, just as it has the government’s insistence that its plan to raise university tuitions by 82 percent over the next seven years is non-negotiable.

The huge turnout for Tuesday’s demonstration is testimony to the widespread support for the students and recognition that Bill 78 constitutes a sweeping attack on the democratic rights of all

There were numerous hand-made placards denouncing Bill 78. One read, “Academic Freedom=Free Speech and Free Assembly”; another “Bill 78, May 68”; a third, "A government that uses repression is a government that is afraid. We won’t give up.”

While students comprised the majority of the protesters, there were also large numbers of workers, a significant contrast from the massive province-wide demonstration in support of the student strike held in Montreal on March 22. There were union delegations, including of teachers, and Montreal blue-collar and transit workers. But most of the workers did not appear to have come as part of an organized contingent. Some were recent university or CEGEP graduates, others retirees.

Midway through yesterday’s march, CLASSE (The Broader Coalition of the Association for Student-Union Solidarity)—the province-wide student association that initiated the current student strike—broke away from the police-approved march itinerary and led tens of thousands on an alternate course through downtown Montreal, briefly paralyzing rush-hour traffic. Police did not intervene.

The breakaway march was meant to exemplify CLASSE’s vow, announced Monday after a meeting of its leadership, that it will not submit to Bill 78. “We believe our fundamental rights should take precedence over respecting an unjust law,” announced CLASSE spokesman Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois. “The Liberal government talks about intimidation since the beginning of the conflict. But with this law as it is, it is practicing intimidation.”

CLASSE’s defiance, however, is not from the standpoint of making the students’ strike the catalyst for the mobilization of the working class against the austerity program of the Liberal government and of the Quebec and Canadian ruling class as a whole. Rather it is entirely within the framework of a single-issue protest aimed at pressuring Premier Jean Charest and his Liberal government into a negotiated settlement—a perspective typified by the refrain taken up by many of yesterday’s demonstrators, “Criions plus fort que personne nous ignores” (Shout louder so that nobody can ignore us.)

On the basis of this perspective, CLASSE negotiators already put their signatures to an entente with the government—later massively repudiated by the students—that imposed the tuition fee increases in full and would have established a government-business dominated tri-partite committee to cut university spending.

Although police did not immediately intervene to arrest CLASSE leaders for defying Bill 78, Justice Minister Jean-Marc Fournier emphasized that the government will not tolerate civil disobedience. “Civil disobedience,” he declared, “is a nice word for vandalism.”

Later Tuesday the state struck back, invoking for the first time the draconian provisions of Bill 78.

For almost four weeks there have been nightly demonstrations in Montreal in support of the students. On Tuesday evening, no sooner had protesters converged on the park that has become the starting point for these nightly protests, than police declared the gathering illegal under Bill 78, since demonstrators had not obtained police sanction for the demonstration.

This clearly was done with a double purpose. First to show that notwithstanding yesterday’s massive protest, the government intends to pursue its campaign to forcibly break the student strike. Second, to provoke a violent confrontation that could be used to drown out coverage of yesterday’s massive march and provide grist for the government-corporate media campaign tarring the students as violent.

Unlike, CLASSE, the other two province-wide student associations, FECQ (Quebec Federation of College Students) and FEUQ (Quebec Federation of University Students), have declared they will comply with Bill 78, while contesting its constitutionality in the courts.

FECQ and FEQ, which have close ties to the trade union bureaucracy, are also placing renewed emphasis upon their campaign to defeat the government at the next election. The call for students to pursue their strike at the ballot box is a transparent attempt to boost the electoral fortunes of the big business Parti Quebecois, a party which when it last held office instituted the greatest social spending cuts in Quebec history, then slashed taxes for big business and the most privileged sections of the population.

The trade unions have denounced Bill 78 as a grievous attack on democratic rights, but also said that they will comply with the law, which stipulates that they use all means at their disposal to ensure that teachers and other university and CEGEP employees assist the government in breaking the student strike. Earlier the unions played a major role in pressuring the student associations to accept the sellout entente that was subsequently repudiated by the students.

At yesterday’s march supporters of the Socialist Equality Party and the International Students for Social Equality distributed a thousand copies of a statement titled “Faced with state repression, students must turn to the working class.”

It read in part: “The passage of Bill 78, which criminalizes the student strike and tramples on the right to demonstrate, shows that the ruling class is ready to use authoritarian and anti-democratic methods to impose its class program—the dismantling of public services and the impoverishment of broad layers of the population.

“This assault on living standards and democratic rights cannot be repelled by single-issue protests, no matter how militant.

“What is required is the independent mobilization of the working class, in opposition to the pro-capitalist unions, in a counter-offensive against government social spending cuts, the destruction of jobs and wage cuts. Such a mobilization must be part of a political struggle uniting the working class, French- and English-speaking and immigrant, in Quebec and across Canada in the fight for a workers’ government. Such a government would use the vast resources created by workers’ collective labor to meet the social needs of all, not fill the pockets of a tiny capitalist elite.”