Two decades ago, the district of Hochelaga-Maissoneuve, a once mighty industrial hub in East End Montreal, was in the midst of the same decline that Detroit, Manchester, Pittsburgh and other Western World centres were suffering. Abandoned buildings became havens for young squatters from across Quebec […] See more
Simon is codependent – emotionally dependent on others. Clinically, the term is “schizo-dependent.” He needs other people to survive – to an unhealthy extent. He can be dominated, or he can be controlling. When he hits a crisis moment in his life he lapses into […] See more
At first, they forget a few of the smaller things – addresses and phone numbers and TV channels that can be looked up. Not a disaster. Age catches up with us all, and in your 60s, how are you supposed to remember everything when you’ve […] See more
The debate over how prostitution should be handled in our society has elicited lively opinions for a long, long time. Here is the opinion of one woman who worked as a hooker for a year and a half. She wrote this 5 years ago, but […] See more
The Inuits: A culture many think they know. Once termed “Eskimos,” a term insulting to this ancient northern people, a lot of southerners see Inuits as Indians who live in the snow. To counter this sort of ignorance, a group of secondary 4 and 5 […] See more
It is break time at the prison upholstery shop. We work in a large, brightly lit room with a high ceiling and concrete floors. Along one cinderblock wall, chairs are lined up, mostly facing outward. This is where we sit for the 15 minutes we […] See more
Last year, we were asked to remove all the religious symbols from the Chapel in Cowansville Penitentiary (Quebec), a men’s federal prison with close to 700 inmates. A chapel that was previously decorated with Christian symbols now became a neutral space within the barbed wire […] See more
My father, deceased for some years already, would have been very happy being in prison. Not because of the food, the filth or the confinement. But because in his salad days he was a crime reporter for the Montreal Star, a daily newspaper that closed […] See more
Note: Jean-Pierre Bellemare was convicted in 2021 of a crime committed in 2018, and is currently incarcerated. I awake in the middle of the night beset by a nightmare. Shaken, tense, I have to write down the contents of my dream. I’m hoping to put […] See more
“I got out of it for my kids” It’s next to impossible for an ex-heroin addict and dealer to make peace with his old demons. Pierre had to pass through dark periods of remorse and rejection before he could feel reborn. And during his climb […] See more
Copyright © 2024 | WordPress Theme by MH Themes
