UPDATED: "Allahu akbar!" à Montréal? Errr, not exactly

The headline is pure speculation. The gunman who shot dead a civilian and a policeman today in Montréal's mainly Jewish Côte-des-Neiges ghetto neighbourhood may have been a Muslim. Or he may have been some other kind of anti-Semite. Or someone who decided to kill a few people regardless of their ethnicity or faith.

First the facts, then our questions. Just before noon EDT, Montréal police were called to the scene pictured above near the intersection of Trans-Island Ave. and Ave. de Courtrai, near the Supermarché PA on Westbury Ave. A man dressed in camo gear and armed with a "long gun" killed a civilian and a cop. A second cop, a woman, was wounded. The shooter was also shot dead.

The "armed threat" alert issued for the Côte-des-Neiges area was lifted around 1515. as "the immediate threat to the public is no longer present." Although officers on the scene initially told The Gazette they were searching for a possible second suspect, Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) Chief Fady Dagher later said he believes there was only one suspect involved in the shootings. 

The buildings in the area house condos, rental units, offices and commercial spaces, and are also home to many Jewish residents, many of whom reported numerous antisemitic incidents since the 7/10/23 attacks in Israel, including mezuzahs being knocked from doorways in the complex. 

More recently, the social-media account Leviathan identified a Montréal man who allegedly praised Hitler and threatened Jewish Montréalers, raising further alarm on Jewish social-media platforms. Police had not confirmed that the shooting was directed at the Jewish community, nor would Chief Dagher confirm who was responsible for killing the civilian victim. 

He urged the public and media outlets not to circulate graphic images, rumours or unconfirmed information. "Be very careful of rumours," he said. "The event that concerns us today has been neutralized. What motivated him is still unclear."

Well (Walt sez), what else could he say? Dead men, of which the shooter is one, tell no tales. The cops know his identity of course, but are keeping shtum about his ethnicity, his status in Canada ("refugee"? asylum-seeker? illegal alien?) and his religion (if any). Was it a hate crime? Or terrorism? Or both? Forgive us if we jump to a conclusion. If anything that suggests a possible motive is ever divulged by the politically correct authorities, we'll let you know.

UPDATE ADDED 23/6/26 at 0625 FMT: The man accused of killing a Montreal police officer in the city's heavily Jewish Côte-des-Neiges neighbourhood before being shot dead by police left behind a 104-page manifesto filled with explicit antisemitism, anti-Zionist rhetoric, Communist ideology, and grievances commonly associated with the online "incel" movement.

The manifesto repeatedly attacks Jews and Zionists, claiming there are "many Jews" within the Western ruling class and stating that the author sometimes refers to it as the "Judaeo-bourgeois class." 

A copy of the document obtained by Rebel News further alleges that "the influence of Zionist Jews upon the western bourgeoisie is in fact so strong" that it has shaped Western society itself, and goes on to assert that "Jewish interests dominate the levers of finance, media, and politics," describing this alleged influence as "pervasive and corrosive." 

Source: Sheila Gunn Reid, in Rebel News, 23/6/26. 

2024 Wally Awards: Most Egregious Reverse Racism

Rather than do a lengthy yearend review of stuff you already know and will read about elsewhere, we've decided to just hand out the coveted Wallies, without further ado. There were plenty of submissions from the US of A for the Wally for Most Egregious Reverse Racism, but they were pipped at the post by news from Montréal of the cancelling of this year's Shake La Cabane FAM-JAM, a community dance planned for December 23rd. Here's a photo of last year's soirée.

The organizers of the Shake La Cabane party said on Instagram, "we looked around and were not satisfied with the diversity of our parties." They quoted an American (of course) group saying, "micro-reparations in the name of solidarity, not charity, like these stand to gesture towards ways we can create more access."

"Micro-reparations"? What did they mean? Just this: White people would have paid a premium to attend the multiculti bash. The cost of a ticket was $15 for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, or People of Colour) adults, but the price jumped close to $26 for adults with paler complexions. 

But wait, there's more! While "racialized" yoofs under 12 could attent for free, their white peers under 18 would have paid $13. 

Reaction from the larger community was instantaneous and negative. Lawyer Julius Grey said the pricing policy was not only discriminatory, but unlawful. "This flies in the face of the Québec Charter of Rights," said lawyer Julius Grey. "All of the charters have exceptions for affirmative action...but this is not one of them." 

Université Laval law professor Louis-Phillipe Lampron called the scheme "a clear cut case of direct discrimination." Mathieu Lacombe, Québec's Minister of Culture, wrote on X, "This is completely unacceptable." Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said, "[this] now opens to the door to laws and social programs that would apply by racial group, again increasing tensions and finger-pointing."

On Saturday night, La Cabane posted on Instagram and Facebook that they had cancelled the event after their team was flooded with hateful and "threatening" comments, and would refund all ticket holders. "We received SO much hate and misunderstanding about our BIPOC ticket pricing, that for the safety and security of all, we prefer to stay on the safe side with this one. We really regret this situation and are so deeply disappointed."

Walt hopes receiving the prestigious Wally Award will assuage their hurt feelings.

Walt reveals reason for cancellation of Montréal Pride Parade

Queer story out of Montréal this afternoon, and I mean "queer" in two senses of the word. Pride Montréal abruptly cancelled its iconic annual parade hours before it was to get underway this morning. (The photo is allegedly from a previous year's parade.)

The official reason for the sudden cancellation (can you say that without lisping?) is security concerns stemming from a lack of volunteers for the event. Festival Executive Director Simon Gamache said the march, which was to cap days of celebration of LGBTQ2S++ (and so forth) communities would not have been able to proceed safely.

"We were missing more than 80 people this morning, it's a lot," he told the meeja, adding the absentees represented more than a third of the number needed for the parade to go ahead. 

Montréal Mayor Valérie Plante said on Sunday she was shocked to learn of the cancellation, which she called it "completely unacceptable". She professed to be taken by surprise, and claimed to have no idea what the problem could have been.

M. Gamache, however, said this year's Pride festival fell prey to the kind of "human resource issues" currently plaguing numerous sectors in Québec and across Canada. He also said several cases of Covid were reported among the volunteers, in addition to heatstroke and heavy fatigue, which made them "just so tired!"

Walt's National Sports (as long as it's hockey) Editor, Poor Len Canayen, has good contacts in Montréal, and has uncovered the real story behind the cancellation. According to Len, the public health authorities contacted the parade organizers on Saturday, and warned them that the parade could be a super-spreader event, for which they would be held accountable.

Super-spreader of what? Why, monkeypox of course! Montréal is the epicentre of the outbreak in Canada, and is also home to 100s of African queers who are claiming asylum in Canada because homosexuality is illegal in their homelands. 

Of course no-one is going to say that publicly because to do would be to acknowledge that some 95% of the victims of the loathsome disease are fudge-packers, and it's not politically correct to suggest that there's anything wrong with deviant sexual practices, especially when practised by BIPOCs. Such views are completely and totally unacceptable in Trudeau's Canuckistan.

UPDATED: Monkeypox: haven't we seen this movie before?

Readers of a certain age [Not you, Jimmy. You're too young. Ed.] will remember HIV/AIDS, the Great Plague sent by God to punish us for the promiscuity and perversions which had become "normal" in the hippy-dippy 60s. The loathsome disease originated in central Africa, and is similar to a simian virus found in chimpanzees. 

The earliest known infection of an identified human being dates back to 1959, found in a plasma sample taken from an adult male living in the Belgian Congo (later Zaire and now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). It was widely assumed that it was transmitteed by that person, or someone he knew intimately, having sex with a chimp.

In fairness, it's equally possible that transmission occurred when that person ate a chimp, or "bush meat" as it is known in Africa. Or it may have occurred when chimps were used in developing a polio vaccine for humans.

In any case, an African passed on the disease to Gaëtan Dugas, a Canadian flight attendant, who was once regarded as "Patient Zero". M Dugas, who died in 1984 from kidney failure caused by an AIDS-related infection, was very open-minded when it comes to race, and evidently a very active homosexual [A gay flight attendant? Really? Ed.], and was found to payed a role role in a cluster of 40 cases in wait for it... New York and San Francisco. The rest is history.

Fast forward six decades to this spring, when we were alerted by the World Health Organization [WHO? Ed.] to a sudden and dramatic rise in the incidence of monkeypox, a viral disease endemic in central and west Africa. The name comes from the initial discovery of the virus in monkeys in a Danish laboratory in 1958. The first human case was identified in a child in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (again!) in 1970.

According to the United Nations Aids agency (UNAIDS), "a significant proportion" of recent monkeypox cases have been identified among "gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men". But how did it spread to Europe and America so quickly? More than 100 cases of monkeypox have now been reported across Europe, with a handful (so far) in New York and, through an illegal border crossing at Roxham Road QC, to Montréal.

The UK Health Security Agency has said a notable proportion of recent cases in Britain and Europe have been found in gay and bisexual men. Where did they get it? Probably at the Maspalomas Pride Festival held in the Canary Islands between the 5th and 15th of May. The queerfest attracted some 80,000 visitors from Europe and Africa, including many who have since tested positive for the monekypox virus.

Meanwhile, the usual suspects have told the media to STFU about any links between the monkeypox cases and the LGBTQ2S+++ celebrations, warning that "racist, homophobic and irresponsible language is undermining the response to the outbreak, by "reinforce homophobic and racist stereotypes and exacerbating stigma."

Experience shows (the same people are telling us) that Èstigmatising rhetoric can quickly disable evidence-based response by stoking cycles of fear, driving people away from health services, impeding efforts to identify cases and encouraging ineffective, punitive measures." So forget you read this, and stop talking about it, OK?!

Footnote: Smallpox vaccine is said to be 85% effective against monkeypox, so, if you're 60 or under and were never vaccinated against smallpox, book your appointment now. Although, if you're straight, white, and avoid sexual contact with monkeys and other at-risk groups, you'll probably be OK, even without the jab. 

UPDATE ADDED 27/5/22: Canada's Global News reports that monkeypox cases in Canada are suspected to have originated at G.I. Joe's, a Montréal sauna frequented by members of the fudge-packing community. The country's first two cases were reported by Québec public health officials on May 19th. 

Officials say the majority of confirmed cases in the province are tied to men aged between 20 and 30 years, who have had sexual relations with other men. There has been one case in a person under 18.Until now, government officials have steered clear of confirming the origin of the loathesome disease due to "concerns of privacy and stigmatization."

UPDATED: If Canadians are Islamophobic, perhaps there's a reason

The Canadian mania for self-flagellation ["Is that a sin, Father?" Ed.] continued last week with back-to-back conferences on anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, which, as everyone knows, are hard-wired into all "old stock" (read: white Christian) Canucks.

Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, MVS (Master of Virtue Signalling) told a "national summit on Islamophobia" on Friday that "government agencies need to do more to help end the problem." Canadians [as well as Americans! Ed.] cringe when they hear words like that. "I'm from the government and I'm here to help you," is one of the Three Greatest Lies in the English language.

What does Blackie McBlackface have in mind? This, for starters. Now that the Americans are admitting defeat and getting out of Afghanistan, there are 1000s of Afghans who collaborated with them (and the Canucks, who hauled down their maple leaf flag years ago) clamouring for asylum before the Taliban can behead them.

On Friday, M Trudeau announced that those Quislings and their families will be "welcomed" to Canada as refugees. Who will do the welcoming is unclear, as are specifics of the plan, but (Just in sez) his minions are on the ground in Afghanistan, working to identify those eligible for a new "path to protection." 

The Canadian public seems not to share their leader's sentiments. Comments in the Groan & Wail were unavailable due to "technical difficulties" within an hour of the story being posted.

In his opening remarks at the snorefest, Mr Socks called on the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and federal security agencies to stop practices that "target" Muslims. He repeated the "diversity is our strength" mantra, calling on weary Canucks to fight for a Canada "where we celebrate diversity, where we stand together." 

How the CRA and federal security agencies will "help" is as unclear as anything else M Trudeau says, but Agent 3 warns that if anyone dares to write, say or even think anything even vaguely anti-Muslim, they can expect visits from the tax guys and/or the Mounties. M-106 is still in effect!

When he spoke of "security agencies",  the Canuck PM somehow failed to mention the Toronto Police Service, one of whose members -- Constable Jeffrey Northrup -- was laid to rest just a few days earlier, having been killed by a vehicle in the city hall parking garage while trying to apprehend Umar Zameer, who now faces a charge of first-degree murder. PC Northrup's bosses have declined to released any information on Mr Zameer's nationality, ethnicity, religion or immigration status. M-106.

Yesterday saw the opening of an inquest into another "interaction" between police and a follower of the Prophet, although this time it was the civilian who got killed. Ali Zaraeeneh was shot by a York Regional Police sniper on 13 December 2017, inside a bank in the city of Vaughan, just north of Toronto. He was armed with a gun and claimed to be wearing an explosive "suicide vest". Negotiators were called to the scene to reason with the "emotionally disturbed" man, but police were ultimately forced to "use lethal force in order to gain control of the suspect."

Three years ago last week, another "emotionally disturbed" "new Canadian" shot and killed himself in Toronto's Greektown, after first shooting and killing 10-year-old Juliana Kozis and 18-year-old Reese Fallon, and wounding 13 other people. Faisal Hussain opened fire on people sitting on restaurant patios and walking along Danforth Avenue, for no apparent reason. 

The so-called Greater Toronto Area is the destination of choice for 1000s of immigrants, "refugees" and asylum-seekers fleeing the Muslim civil wars in the Middle East. There's no news from there this morning, but in Montréal -- preferred by Muslims from North Africa -- police have just cancelled an Amber Alert for 16-year-old Zahraa Jaafar, after she was found alive. She had reportedly been abducted by her brother, Mohammad Jaafar, 22, in what was undoubtedly an affair having to do with the family's honour.

Of course not all the "refugees", asylum-seekers and other Muslim immigrants are like that. Some of the followers of the "Religion of Peace" (TM) are actually peaceful people who work as Uber drivers or run shawarma shops or halal butcheries. But with a federal election almost certain to be called for the fall, and immigration being a top-of-the-mind issue for Canuck voters (so much so that pollsters won't even ask about it -- M-106), M Trudeau will probably not show up for a photo-op with the next planeload.

UPDATE ADDED 29/7/21:  Toronto Police are looking for the public's help in find someone who our old friend Mark Steyn would call "yet another Mohammed". Mohammed Maboob is a suspect in an investigation into two instances of sexual assault that took place over the course of this summer. 

It is alleged that on June 9th, a 49-year-old woman was sexually assaulted in the Firvalley Court and Warden Avenue area. In a second incident, police say a 27-year-old woman was sexually assaulted in the Victoria Park and Danforth avenues area. 

Mr Maboob, age 55 [Really? 55?! Ed.] is wanted for two counts of sexual assault and one count of fail to comply with a release order. (That means he was already out on bail.) Police have said nothing about his ethnicity, religion or immigration status.

Where's Walto (again)?

Ed. here. Walt is ill. I have asked Poor Len Canayen if he could write about something other than hockey and our beloved Habs (4-0 victors over New York Islanders last night), and he says he will think about it and get back to me.

All I've heard from Walt is that he thinks the New Zealand and international politicians and media have gone over the top... WAY over... in their response to the Christchurch mosque shooting. Non-Muslim female cops and politicians wearing headscarves. Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules banned by NZ booksellers. Yet we hear nothing about the 1000s of Christians killed by Muslims in places like Nigeria, the Netherlands, you name it... Having said that, Walt went back to sleep.

Footnote: In Montréal this morning (Poor Len writes), Father Claude Grou, recot of Saint Joseph's Oratory, was stabbed during Mass. He was lightly injured on his upper body, according to the director of communications for the Oratory. A suspect -- a man with a beard -- was taken into custody and will be interviewed by investigators later today, she said. No word on the ethnicity or religion of the attacker. If shouts of "Allahu akbar!" were heard, the Canuck media aren't saying.

Footnote to the footnote: You think I'm jumping to conclusions there? You don't think a Muslim would attach a priest saying mass? Cast your mind back to July of 2016 when Father Jacques Hamel was attacked and killed by two Muslim fanatics while saying Mass in the parish of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, France. The two Islamic extremists had pledged allegiance to ISIS and thought murdering a priest would be a good way to show their devotion to the Prophet.

Chinese-Canadians protest hijab hoax

For Canadians, today is National Hug-a-Muslim Day. Canuck snowflakes, liberals and SJWs are busy in Québec City and elsewhere in the Great No-longer-white North, kicking off "Islamic Heritage Month" (seriously) by commemorating the first anniversary of an attack on a Québec City mosque that left six dead and several others injured. See "What REALLY happened at Québec City???", WWW 5/2/17 (includes VIDEO with Gavin McInnes).

Unfortunately for the Canadian Islamists (read: the National Council of Canadian Muslims) and Islamophiles, their "day of action" to "memorialize Islamophobia" -- see "Canadian Islamophiles plan National Hug-a-Muslim Day", WWW 18/1/18 -- has had a shadow cast over it by rallies in Montréal and elsewhere at which hundreds of Chinese-Canadians protested last month's "hijab hoax", in which a Muslim girl slandered their community by falsely claiming that an "Asian" (read: Chinese) man cut her hijab as she walked to school. See 'Anti-Muslim hate crime' hoax embarrasses Canuck Liberals", WWW 15/1/18.

In a presser organized by (((Shari Schwartz-Maltz))), media officer of the loony left Toronto District School Board, Khawlah Noman, an 11-year-old sixth-grader, accused "an Asian man" of pulling off her jacket hood and cutting the bottom of her hijab. The girl's emotional pain and suffering -- "I'm just a kid!" -- made headlines around the world, with politicians and public figures furiously signalling their virtue and their support for diversity in general and Muslims in particular. "My heart goes out to Khawlah Noman following this morning's cowardly attack on her in Toronto," tweeted Prime Minister Trudeau II. "Canada is an open and welcoming country, and incidents like this cannot be tolerated."

Miss Noman's claim was later rubbished by Toronto, who announced on January 15th that an extensive investigation had been conducted, as a result of which they had concluded that "it did not happen." Period. No explanation, and no apology at the time, although the girl's family later issued a rather mild apology to "all Canadians". The TDSB and Ms (((Schwartz-Maltz))), the Prime Minister and the lesbian Premier of Ontario merely said they were "relieved it didn't happen."

No-one was ever charged with, say, public mischief or filing a false report, let alone inciting hatred against "Asians" (read: Chinese). Jenny Wong, a Chinese-Canadian living in Montréal, told People's Daily Online, "The nature of this incident is vile. It is definitely a humiliation to Asian community, which has always been picked on. Even an 11-year-old knows that we are easy targets. This is unacceptable,” Jenny Wong, a 25-year-old Chinese Canadian living in Montreal, told People’s Daily Online on January 24th. "My friends and I will join a rally initiated by the local Chinese community in Montreal this Saturday, demanding an apology from the girl, the Canadian government, as well as a voice for the Asian community."

Two protest rallies were held in Toronto and Calgary earlier last week. Jenny Liu, a Chinese student at the University of Toronto, said "The Asian community in Canada doesn't have political muscle and is discriminated against or victimized. Canadian authorities and media outlets did not even carry out a thorough investigation before supporting the liar. Our rally slogan is focused on that lie: 'Hoax Today, Horror Tomorrow.' We feel hurt, and we demand that our voice is heard."

VIDEO: "Canada is open!" comes back to bite Junior Trudeau

How President Trump must be laughing! Back in January, with a couple of days of being sworn in, he made good on his promise to cut illegal immigration and send all the bogus refugee claimants, asylum-seekers and criminal trash back where they came from. Much hand-wringing ensued, amongst the chattering classes in the New York-Washington-Los Angeles corridor. If all the illegal aliens were deported, who would clean their toilets, mow their lawns and diaper their kids? The illegals themselves went into panic mode until a white knight (pun intended) took the stage, in the form of Canuck Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, son and heir of PET Himself. "Canada is open!", he told the world. "Send us your huddled masses, your filth, your scum. We'll take all comers!"

Canada already had the reputation of lying prostrate with her legs open (so to speak), offering "refugees" and other invaders free housing, free medical care (including dental care which Canadians have to pay for), free education... hell, free everything! The trouble was it was so damned hard to get to. And it's cold too! So lassitude led a lot of the illegals who had already made it to the Land of the Free -- the one south of the 49th parallel -- to stay right where they were. Until President Trump started signing executive orders. Then, suddenly, Canada started to look pretty attractive, in spite of the cold.

There's nothing colder than a prairie winter, the frostbacks say. (And remember, "Don't eat the yellow snow!") That notwithstanding, this past March saw what the Canuck government called "a bit of a spike" in the number of "refugees" crossing the undefended border at places like Emerson MB. See "100s of Muslim invaders pour through swiss cheese-like Canuck border", WWW 6/3/17.

They were Africans -- Somalis, Ghanaians and the like -- fleeing the privations of... wait for it... Minnesota. A couple lost fingers and toes due to frostbite. One Ghanaian lady froze to death in a ditch. The denizens of Emerson grumbled a little bit and called on M Trudeau for help which never came -- no photo ops there -- but Emersonians didn't worry too much because they knew the unwanted guests would be heading for Toronto soon enough. Public opinion in Canada as a hole [Watch it! Ed.] was strongly in favour of turning back the illegals, but Trudeau's Liberal government paid no attention.

TheRebel's Brian Lilley, featured in this video, was one of those (including Walt) who said "Just wait until summer when the weather gets better." Sure enough, March's trickle has become a flood, not at Emerson, but at the small Québec border town of Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, where the scabrous masses are crossing the ditch which marks the border at the rate of 150 per day. That's according to the government. RCMP and border security agents say (off the record) that the real rate is double that.

To be clear, what these "asylum-seekers" -- mostly Haitians this time -- are doing is illegal. RCMP officers stationed at the ditch dutifully shout out warnings that this is an illegal border crossing and that anyone attempting to enter Canada will be arrested. The warnings are immediately ignored, because the entire point of this trek is to get arrested, to get out of the American immigration system and into the Canadian one, where their cases will take years to be heard, while the claimants suck on the Canuck tit the whole time.

The oh-so-polite mounties help the "migrants" with their designer luggage and herd them aboard the bus which shuttles back and forth, 24/7, between the border and Montréal's Olympic Stadium -- the infamous "Big Owe" -- where they are put up until "permanent accommodation" (!) can be found. That's a telling phrase, coming from the mouth of Québec's Minister of Immigration, for it gives the lie to the Liberal fiction that not all of the invaders will be allowed to stay.

Over 50% of these bogus refugee claims are rejected, the government says. Let's do the math. 150 border-jumpers per day (at Lacolle alone) X 365 days a year X 50% means over 100,000 unemployed, unskilled and unwelcome "newcomers" will have been admitted to the Not-so-great, Not-so-white North in 2017. As Brian Lilley warns in his "I told you so" video, this will not end well for Canada and real Canadians.

UPDATED: Canadian media name Montréal Muslim who stabbed pregnant spouse, killing baby delivered by C-section

Canuck Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (aka the Hair Apparent) keeps rabbiting on about how diversity is Canada's strength. He keeps admonishing old stock Canadians about their dislike of Third world "refugees" and other immigrants, especially Muslims. Last spring, his Liberal party rammed a motion -- M-103 -- through Parliament to discourage people from saying anything which would tend to fan the flames of Islamophobia which are sweeping Canada faster than a BC wildfire.

Although the motion only confirms the "sense of Parliament" -- an oxymoron if ever there was one -- it has had a profoundly chilling effect on the pussies in Canada's lamestream media, notably the state-owned Canadian Broadcorping Castration. Today's case in point is "Husband arrested in stabbing of pregnant woman, whose baby died after C-section", a report on the CBC News website. Here are the first three paragraphs of the CBC News report.

A baby delivered by C-section after the child's mother was repeatedly stabbed has died in a Montreal hospital.

Police arrested the woman's husband, the primary suspect in the stabbing, not far from the apartment building where she was attacked. The man could face murder charges, according to police spokesperson Cmdr. Michael Chartrand.

The man's name has not been released. [My emphasis. Walt]

Neither Kamila Hinkson (the CBC typist who got the byline for the story) nor anyone else in the Canadian English-language media has so far had the intestinal fortitude to name the accused. (Ed. hasn't checked The Rebel, yet.) Could their reluctance to name names (from which we might guess the ethnicity and/or religion of the perp) have anything to do with M-103 and the government's dislike of anyone saying anything that would put non-Christian, non-white "newcomers" in a bad light? Let's check the French-language media to see what we can find out.

Turns out Ms Hinkson and her PC colleagues have been, errr, a little economical with the truth. La Presse tells us:

Le Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) ne voulait pas confirmer l'identité du suspect avant la fin de son interrogatoire hier. Mais sur le boulevard Langelier, à Montréal-Nord, plusieurs ont immédiatement fait le lien avec un locataire connu pour son problème de toxicomanie.

Sofiane Ghazi, 37 ans, était en couple avec une femme de 33 ans qui avait déjà deux jeunes enfants et qui attendait son troisième. La dame avait parfois peur de son conjoint, ont raconté plusieurs sources fiables.

For those not versed in the language of Molière, Walt can reveal that although the Montréal cops didn't want to disclose the ID of the culprit until they had finished their interrogation [Pass the rubber hose, please. Ed.], neighbours told La Presse they figured it was a 37-year-old crack addict by the name of... wait for it... Sofiane Ghazi. M Ghazi was coupled with a 33-year-old woman who already had two young children and was awaiting her third. Let's see. "Sofiane Ghazi". Doesn't sound French to me. Or English. Or anything else "old stock". If M Ghazi's ethnicity, religion and status in Canada are ever disclosed, Walt will let you know. But don't hold your breath.

Meanwhile, down at the courthouse... an interesting legal question arises. After being stabbed repeatedly in the abdomen, M Ghazi's partner was delivered of her child, by C-section. The mother survived, but the child, born live, did not. Was the child, then, a murder victim? Canadian courts will now have to revisit the question of when a fetus becomes a human being.

Under the Canadian Criminal Code (Agent 3 advises), "a child becomes a human being...when it has completely proceeded, in a living state, from the body of its mother, whether or not (a) it has breathed; (b) it has an independent circulation; or (c) the navel string is severed." By that definition, the "thing" that M Ghazi stabbed, while still inside "its" mother, would not be considered a human being. That, of course, is what the pro-abortion people keep saying. It will be interesting to see what position the feminist Justin Trudeau and his feminine Minister of Justice take on this case.

UPDATE 26/7/17: The English-language Canadian media have now overcome their shyness to reveal the identity and other details of the murderer. We can call him that, for Sofiane Ghazi has been charged with the attempted murder of his wife, Raja Ghazi, and her baby. In an updated report by a different typist, CBC News reveals that, according to his Facebook page, M Ghazi moved to Montréal from Oran, Algeria, in 2012. Something like 95% of Algerians are... wait for it... Muslim. Unless and until M Ghazi says otherwise, we'll assume he too is a follower of the Prophet. Perhaps he will say that this was an affair of honour for which he should be excused in the name of "accommodation".

M Ghazi's FB page says he works at clothing retailer Lacoste and formerly worked at a heating, ventilating and air conditioning service located in Saint-Bruno. Last month, he was arrested and charged with assaulting his wife. Around the same time, he was arrested for allegedly stealing perfume from a Jean Coutu pharmacy.

Nothing  has been said yet about M Ghazi's immigration status, but Walt predicts (lifetime pct .988) that no matter the disposition of these and the latest charges, he will undoubtedly remain in Canada for a long time, possibly forever. After all, Junior Trudeau says Canada must welcome Muslims because they add to the diversity which makes the country strong.

VIDEO: Poor Len introduces a hockey show Habs fans should watch

Poor Len Canayen here. With SuperBowl coming up, it's time to talk hockey! High time too, because, since the beginning of the NHL season, Ed. hasn't allowed me any space at all -- zero -- to talk about how right I was that the Montréal Canadiens would be a vastly improved team this year, thanks to Marc Bergevin's genius trade to Nashville of P.K. Subban in return for which the Habs got one of the two best defencemen in the league -- Shea Weber.

I content myself with saying that I was right, and Dave Stubbs and all the other flaks for the "transcendant defenceman" (Stubbsy's phrase) were wrong. The Predators are having a mediocre season. Les Glorieux started off like gangbusters, causing some -- OK, me -- to wonder if they were going to finish the season with under 10 losses out of 82 games, like the 1976-77 club which still ranks as the Best. Hockey. Team. Ever.

First in their division, first in their conference, first overall in the NHL. Then came the 10-0 debacle in Columbus and we fans readjusted our expectations. The Habs had a very good record through October and on into November. Then came the injuries. I need both hands to count the number of regular players who were out of the lineup in December and January. Suffice it to say that at times it seemed there were more members of the St. John's farm team on the ice than members of the Big Club. Thank the hockey gods that Carey Price remained healthy, although arguably not at the top of his game.

In spite of the injuries and a pretty tough schedule in January, the Canadiens remain at the top of their division, and by the end of the month should be assured of a berth in the playoffs. The regulars are returning, one by one, with only Brendan Gallagher not able to answer the bell for tomorrow's afternoon game against OV and the Washington Capitals. Moreover, the Habs have added a good, experienced defenceman, Nikita Nesterov, acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning. He scored his first goal as a Canadien in last night's rather shabby 3-1 loss to Philthydelphia.

Nesterov and the other Russians -- Montréal is beginning to look like the old Red Army squad -- are the subject of this week's discussion Hockey Inside/Out, a weekly quarter-hour of hockey chatted produced by the Montreal Gazette. It's a good little show that all Habs fans ought to watch, if only to enjoy "Knucks" Nilan's Montréal accent. Do all Canadians talk like that? Check this out...



Note from Ed.: This is not a promo piece for Poor Len. He is not one of the panelists on the show.

VIDEO: Advice on moving to Canada (in case Trump wins)

Poor Len Canayen passed this along. For sure he likes the guy's toque, eh!

Gavin McInnes of TheRebel.media has some advice for Americans threatening to move to Canada if Donald Trump is elected president

VIDEO: Olex caveman commercial, in ENGLISH

Ed. here. I've been in Walt's doghouse -- damn cold out there too -- for not having found the English version of the too funny "Cavemen" commercial, created by Montréal advertising agency Bleublancrouge [They've gotta be Habs fans! Poor Len] for Olex, a brand of antacid. Here it is.



And here are the credits: Creative Directors: Gaëtan Namouric, Jonathan Rouxel; Art Director: Sébastien Lafaye; Copywriters: Maxime Paiement, Crystal Béliveau.
Well done, folks!

If you want to see the French version, Hommes des cavernes, you'll find the link in "Funniest. Caveman. Commercial... Ever!", right here on WWW.

VIDEO: Woman NOT eating raw bird on Montréal subway

The Internet is a wonderful thing -- a great way to disseminate misinformation around the world in a millisecond. Nowhere is this more amply demonstrated than on YouTube, where things are seldom what they seem. ["Skim milk masquerades as cream..." I know that one. Ed.] Here is what the YouTube caption describes as a "woman plucking and eating a live bird" on the Montréal Métro (subway).



To set the record straight... Yes, it is a woman. She has bravely come forward and identified herself as Christina David, an Inuk -- "Eskimo" is not longer PC -- and former resident of Nunavik, in the far reaches of the Great White North. And yes, she is plucking a large bird -- a goose her aunt brought her from home. But that's as far as it goes.

The goose had already been killed. And Ms David did not eat it on the subway train. She was just making good use of her time while taking the bird home to be cooked. On Facebook she explained: "I couldn't wait. I only had one this year it's not like we get to eat our country food everyday it's very very rare that we can eat like we usually do up North. But I didn't care. I was just...enjoying [it] and on top of it I couldn't wait to go home so I can put it on the big pan with onions and mushrooms."

After the YouTube video went viral, Ms David had her collar felt by the local gendarmes, and was made to appear in provincial court on Thursday last. But she stood by her actions. "I will never ever forget anything. I will always be a real Inuk for ever 'til I'm gone," she wrote on FB.

Walt says good for her, and shame on people who take and post cellphone vids which, through malice or (more likely) ignorance, they totally misrepresent. To whoever took this one, Walt says, mind your own business!

Another good reason to ban the burqa (and the hijab and the niqab)

Disclaimer: Walt is posting this true story "straight" -- no smart remarks or editorializing -- to make the point that covering one's head with any kind of scarf or hood may not be the safest thing to do if you're going out in modern Western society.

A report from Montréal today says that a woman in her 30s is dead after her "headscarf" -- the word used by the QMI agency -- and hair became caught in an escalator at the Fabre Metro (subway) station.

A bystander found the woman lying at the base of the escalator and alerted transit workers, who called police. When first responders arrived, the woman was unresponsive. "We tried to perform resuscitation," a paramedic told QMI, "but we weren't able to save her."

Montréal police spokesman Jean-Pierre Brabant said the exact circumstances of the woman's death weren't immediately clear, but it appeared "her headscarf and her hair got stuck in the escalator. Was she strangled by her scarf or was she the victim of an illness before falling? It's too early to say."

Police shut down the Metro station for the investigation, and are examining surveillance video to find out exactly what happened.

Note from Ed.: Since the QMI report quoted the policeman as calling what the woman wore a "headscarf", you may ask why Walt has mentioned "hijab" in the headline. It's because that was the word used by QMI in their headline. It might have been a niqab, or a burqa...or just a headscarf with no religious or ethnic significance at all.

Further reading on WWW:
"Hijab, niqab, burqa -- what's the difference?"
"VIDEO: Culture clash! Québécois uncomfortable with Muslims importing their customs to Canada"

No more special treatment for Jews and Muslims at Six Flags Montréal park

La Ronde is a popular amusement park in Montréal. Kids love it, including, of course, the many children of Montréal’s large orthodox Jewish community. For the boys who attend Camp Gan Israel in the Laurentians, the trip to La Ronde is one of the highlights of the summer.

One of the reasons Jews (and Muslims) like La Ronde is that they’re allowed to bring their own kosher (and halal) snacks, contrary to the park’s policy that visitors have to buy the food sold in the park. The park doesn't sell kosher (or halal) food, so Jewish and Muslim kids are exempt from the rule, as a deep bow to "celebrating diversity" and "religious accommodation".

This was revealed by Le Journal de Montréal in "Lunchs interdits à la Ronde sauf pour les juifs et les musulmans", a feature story which ran on July 16th.  But now the concession to "those of other faiths" is over.

In a statement released yeseterday, spokesthingy Catherine Tremblay told the media "After hearing feedback from our guests, La Ronde would like to clarify that only guests with special medical dietary needs will be considered to bring outside food with them as they enter the park."

The escalating pushback against "reasonable accommodation" of Québec’s religious minorities comes as the government of la Belle Province prepares a new charter to protect "Québec values" against assault by minority religious groups and the "human rights industry".

As reported here ("PQ not so PC as TROC?"), the Québec Soccer Federation made headlines when it tried to ban turban-wearing Sikhs from playing. It was forced to reverse the rule ban after FIFA -- "football"’s international governing body -- said they had nothing against the headgear.

A month earlier, Bernard Drainville, the minister responsible for the values charter, denounced another policy of the city of Montréal, under which Jews are allowed to park wherever they like during their high holidays.

Le Journal de Montréal has been accused by the usual suspects of "accommodation vigilantism". Looks to Poor Len as if they just want to know when the pandering is going to end. The 19,000 Québecois who signed an Internet petition against special treatment for minorities would like to know too.

Footnote: La Ronde is owned by Six Flags Entertainment Corp., in the news this week for allegedly failing to take proper care of morbidly obese people who like to ride its roller coasters. Stay off the La Ronde coaster, eh!

"They're not very nice" -- a view of Americans and Anglo-Canadians from a neighbour (?)

Big news from Montréal, where, just in time for the Glorious Fourth -- well, almost -- Michel Brûlé has thrown his chapeau into the race for the mayoralty, in the municipal election due in November.

At the moment, Montréal is under the leadership of its third mayor, so far this year. The one who was elected resigned in the wake of revelations at the provincial Charbonneau Commission concerning corruption in the awarding of municipal construction contracts. This is something of a national sport in Québec, but the magnitude of the graft this time -- not to mention connections with a group of patriotic Italian-Canadians -- was such that nothing would be but a change at the top.

Sadly (but not surprisingly), the interim mayor -- a bilingual Jew, this time -- appointed to clean up the mess, was quite quickly accused of being likewise tainted by the stench of "business as usual at la Mairie". So now there is a second interim mayor, and a vigorous campaign to be next at the trough is under way.

Yesterday, staunch Québec indépendentiste ["separatist", surely! Ed.] Michel Brûlé announced his long-shot candidacy. The writer, book publisher, and, errr, former bar owner says he doesn’t expect English-speaking Montréalers to vote for him – and says he isn’t working to get their support, anyway. He doesn't like les maudits Anglos, as a group.

On an individual level, it's a different story. M Brûlé has said in the past that he doesn’t have anything against Anglos as individuals; he could even have one as a girlfriend. But still, he says now, the English culture is not  very nice. And "English is not a nice language," he told Métro reporter Catherine Girouard in April 2009 (according to yesterday's report in the Montreal Gazette) while promoting his published essay on the scourge of English.

"Intolerance and all the most extremist, racist, segregationist movements -- they’re the KKK, White Power, the expression 'Speak White' -- these are all English things. They come from the United States, Canada, England."

Walt notes that Americans are at the top of M Brûlé's fecal roster. In the same 2009 interview, he allowed that not all Americans are dumb, obese, imbecilic, uncultured ignoramuses -- only about 80% of them! "If I say Americans are a bunch of big, obese, imbecilic, ignorant, uncultured dummies, it’s the truth," he told Métro.

"Of course it’s sure bet that out of 303 million Americans, there are maybe 50 million who aren’t like that. But, collectively, they’re still a bunch of uncultured imbeciles."

So far, no other candidates for the mayoralty have taken issue with M Brûlé’s statements.

It could happen anywhere

I have hesitated for two days to write about the Newtown massacre. I wanted to be sure my brain was engaged before opening my mouth, so to speak. Now that the hysteria has died down [Has it really? Ed.] and the stores are sold out of flowers, candles and teddy bears, perhaps we can begin a rational discussion.

Yesterday I saw a video clip of "streeters" -- interviews with men (and women) on the street -- around the world. Someone from Moscow said it could happen anywhere. Someone from Brazil said it could happen in his country because lots of Brazilians have guns, as do lots of Americans.

But the random killing of innocent people doesn't happen just anywhere, at least not with the alarming frequency with which it occurs in the USA. For the record -- and not blaming the Prez of course -- this is the fourth senseless massacre on his watch. Four years, four groups of grieving families, four sets of wounded survivors, four terrorized communities.

Not quite five months ago, a deranged man used a cinema in Aurora CO as a shooting gallery, leaving 12 corpses on the floor. Last year shootings in Tucson left six dead and 13 wounded, including Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who is slowly (but not completely) recovering. In November of 2009, 13 service members who were killed at Fort Hood by another soldier. And now this.

Some smug Canadians rushed to the on-line fora and speak-your-mouth shows to say such things could happen only in the sick society that is today's America. Apparently they forgot or ignored a couple of events in the Great Not-so-white North.

On 6 December 1989, Marc Lépine, a deranged misogynist, singled out and killed 14 women l'École Polytechnique in Montréal. In 2006, again in Montréal, and again for reasons only he knew, a young man named Kimveer Singh Gill killed a business student and wounded 19 other people before turning his gun on himself.

Canada has much stricter gun control laws than most of the United States. Assault and other military-type weapons may not be owned, except by the military, police and other champions of justice. Few people are allowed to own hand guns -- legally -- and fewer still can get permits to carry such. Canada's laws did not stop Lépine and Gill.

Is the answer tighter gun control laws? After the Colorado shooting in July, the White House made clear that Obama would not propose new gun restrictions. There was an election going on, you see, and millions of Americans still believe the Second Amendment is to be taken literally. About the most anyone with a hope of getting elected can say in an election year is that existing laws should be better enforced, more must be done to help the disturbed and deranged, yada yada yada.

Now that he's safely back in the White House, Obama said (at last night's vigil in Newtown) that the killing must stop. And, he said, America must change. He only talks about change, now, not hope. But, when the nation cries out for leadership on this issue -- an issue of life and death, literally -- the Great Partly-white Hope offers... well... Nothing.

It is with some reluctance that Walt puts his toe into the murky waters of the gun control debate, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the more people have guns, the greater are the chances of another Newtown.

Statistical analysis has never been my long suit, but here is a little experiment you can try at home. Take a deck of playing cards. Remove three cards. Put in one joker. You now have 50 cards, including one joker and 49 "normal" cards.

Let the joker represent someone who is emotionally or mentally disturbed. Shuffle the deck. Now assume that 20% of your cohort (the entire 50 cards) has access to a gun. Deal out 10 cards. Is the joker in the first ten? No? That's good luck then, as the odds were (roughly) 5 to 1 on the crazy person being one of the 10 gun owners. Increase the percentage of gun owners to 30%, or the number of jokers to two. What are the odds now?

Lesson: You've got next to no chance of reducing the number of crazy people in today's America (or any other country). So if you want to increase the odds against a lunatic shooting someone, your best bet is to reduce the number of guns in circulation. Lifetime pct .983.

Walt can think of two arguments that might be raised against this proposition. Someone is bound to say that some of my 50 "cards" must be children. Answer: a loaded gun in the hands of a 5-year-old is about the same as a loaded gun in the hands of someone with a mental capacity of 5. Especially if you're looking at the wrong end of the gun.

The second argument is that if you completely ban handguns or all guns, the criminals will still have guns and the law-abiding citizens won't. Yesterday, Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX) told Fox News that the tragedy could have been prevented if only the school principal had herself been armed. "I wish to God," Gohmert said, "she had had an M-4 in her office...so when she heard gunfire she pulls it out and...she takes him out, takes his head off, before he can kill those precious kids."

Louie... Listen, Louie... We're not talking about criminals here. The gangstas with the long rap sheets [Is that what we mean by "aspiring rapper" nowadays? Ed.] will always have guns, sure. But we're talking not about diamonds or spades [That's enough innuendo. Ed.] but about the joker in the deck -- the sicko beset by feelings of inadequacy or rage who goes to his mother's bedroom, takes the Glock out of night table and goes out to blow away the next nine (or nine dozen) people he sees.

Walt's argument for stricter gun control is not perfect. I think a man should be able to have a long gun -- a rifle or shotgun, not an assault weapon -- with which to go out and kill a couple of squirrels for the stew pot. And I don't much like the idea of the police -- the Bullies in Blue -- being the only ones who have guns. But reducing the number of firearms in the hands of ordinary citizens is about the only solution I can think of. If you have a better idea, don't write to me. Send it to the Prez, c/o the White House, Washington DC.

To all Walt's friends in the US of A: Happy Independence Day!

A big Wide World of Walt 4th of July greeting to all my friends and followers in the Excited States of America! "Excited" because Americans always seem to be all hyped up about something, even when the weather suggests a nice snooze in a hammock.

Walt has a little present for you Americans, a gift from your friends on the north side of the world's longest undefended border.



Walt sincerely regrets the graphic, knowing that soccer (or "football", as the foreigners call it) is not really an American game -- nor Canadian either. The singer, however, is the late, great Roger Doucet, who for years sang the national anthems at the old Montréal Forum. I have heard a lot of singers attempt the Star-Spangled Banner -- not an easy tune -- and fail. I have never heard anyone sing it better than M Doucet.

One last word. The USA is about four months away from a Very Important Election. When you vote, please don't forget the concept represented by that lady at the right of the picture. The USA is about nothing, if not LIBERTY. Don't give up any more of it!

PS - Click here to hear Roger Doucet sing both national anthems. In the video clip, which I think dates from 1976, you'll catch a glimpse of Walt's old friend, Don Cherry, behind the Boston Bruins' bench.

5 lessons learned -- maybe -- by the Occupiers

Walt didn't have much to say about the OWS gangs which infested parks and similar spaces in many cities of North America and elsewhere. Really, for those of us who remember the hippy-dippy 60s, Haight-Asbury and all that, there wasn't much to say. Been there. Done that. Got the herpes.

Some commentators, however, have waxed thoughtful, among them Eric Duhaime of QMI. In "Life lessons learned by Occupiers", he points out that, if they were paying attention, the LIANE (Loonies Indignant About Nearly Everything) could have learned Five Stone Truths that the rest of us already know.

- The first lesson came out of an incident that occurred at the beginning of the occupancy of Victoria Square in downtown Montreal. Late one night, a protester came back to his tent to discover that two homeless drunks had taken possession of it. When he gently invited them to leave, he got hit in the face. That’s when he understood the idea of private property. Lesson No. 1: Down with public property.

- During the protest, organizers of Occupy Montréal collected donations from the public, and kept $10,000 in a tent. One morning, the money had disappeared. Those who were rebelling against great financial thieves learned there was at least one thief among them. They ran to the closest bank to open an account. Lesson No. 2: Banks fulfill an essential function.

- Almost two weeks ago, mass fights erupted in the camp, with some even receiving death threats. Those in charge of the camp had to ask the police to chase the most violent away. Lesson No. 3: Law and order help when you’re being pushed around by criminals.

- As meal times came and went, organizers realized that some who came to eat at the “people’s kitchen” were not protesters but freeloaders, so they refused to feed those who did not give them a hand. Lesson No. 4: You need to work before you eat.

- When the temperature at night dropped below the freezing point, the elite of the camp left the plebs alone and went to sleep in their warm and comfy homes. Lesson No. 5: The leaders of the left — from the former USSR to the Occupy NoMatterWhere — never practise what they preach.

Jamaican Olympic team starts training

Much interest in Montréal as a group of young people with black faces and Jamaican accents assembled at the Université de Montréal stadium for a light workout in track and field sports.

Much consternation when it turned out the athletes were students at the Hautes Études Commerciales, the Université de Montréal’s business school. Evidently inspired by the almost-forgotten black-and-white minstrel shows -- popular in Canada and Britain as well as the USA well into the 1950s -- the kids painted themselves in blackface and chanted "Ya man!" for a frosh-week stunt.

Participants were encouraged to dress in Olympic-themed costumes, with one group choosing to portray Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. Along with donning the colours of the Jamaican flag, several students also covered their face, arms and legs in black paint.

The colourful attire included at least one Rastafarian hat and a pair of green shorts patterned with monkey faces. A large stuffed animal resembling a green monkey -- "un vrai Jamaican eh" -- was paraded around as a mascot.

Much soiling of silks by the school's administration and university officials, who were predictably accused of racism the moment vids appeared on YouTube and the lamestream media. One witness, who is of Jamaican descent, said he was shocked to hear some students chanting, “Smoke more weed.” More shocking still was the fact that they were chanting in English, contrary to Québec's language laws!

Law student Anthony Morgan said he found the display deeply offensive because of "the troubling historical connotations of blackface.... It is connected to a longer tradition of minstrel shows, reducing black people to pretty much jokes. They're put on as a spectacle, to almost look grotesque."

A spokesman for the business school said Morgan must have misunderstood the point of rap and hip-hop concerts, not to mention such events as the Caribana weekend. There were no ill intentions, said Michael Lartigau, but "the students interpreted the theme poorly."