The Old Adidas Project

So after a long weekend of driving everywhere in the damned province, I decided to reward myself with a new pair of Adidas. This brings about the official retirement of my old Adidas as my everyday shoes.


Meaning that as of right now I would like to launch a project (that probably won't catch on) but here it is anyways:

The Old Adidas Project:
- Email me: oldadidas@gmail.com and give me your name/pseudonym and an address where I can post my shoes.
- I will send you my old Adidas and all I ask is that you take a picture of the Adidas somewhere in your surroundings, your city, your travels and that you post them back to me along with your story.
- Once I have a few stories I will start a new blog detailing the new adventures of my old and well traveled shoes.
- (Don't worry they don't smell)

Memories of a School Shooting

3 years ago tomorrow will mark the anniversary of the death of Anastasia De Sousa, a first year student at Dawson college who had started school just a few days earlier.

I had my little cousin living with me at the time, he was from the country and wanted to come to the city to attend college, so he chose Dawson because it's the city's largest English college and is in the heart of the city. So, like Anastasia, he was also a first year student.

I remember it like it was yesterday...

I was sitting at the office when the rumors started, something was happening at at Dawson. People checked the news websites, listened to the radio but all you would hear was "Police officers entered Dawson college..." And this, in a city the size of Montreal is nothing to worry about, it happens often enough.

Then, a woman that I worked with came into my office and said: "... They're reporting that there's been gunfire at Dawson..."

I picked up my bag, I tried calling someone I knew who worked near Dawson to confirm, but I got no answer.

I picked up my things and ran down the street to the metro station. To get to Dawson from my office I had to go 4 metro stations on the orange line and then change to the green line and go 1 station. But when I got inside the metro station I heard an announcement saying that the green line was closed to a police intervention.

So I ran, in my suit, my dress shoes, my tie worrying sick. I ran up Beaver Hall hill, all the way to Maisonneuve and ran the 18 or so major blocks to Dawson college.

Along the way the street was full of people running away from the very Place I was going, tears running down their faces or in various states of shock. I kept asking people what had happened. I got a few different versions. But the consensus was this: A guy came into the school with handguns and an automatic weapon and opened fire and was now in the middle of a showdown with Montreal Police.

So I ran as fast as I could making my way through the crowd, searching and searching for my little cousin's face. Hoping that he hadn't been shot on his first week in the city.

Finally I found him, and a group of his friends, among the thousands that were now in the streets of downtown. I took him and his friends to a nearby coffee shop and had them call all of their parents to tell them they were safe.

That night my cousin and I were sitting in my kitchen drinking a beer and he cried. Many nights after that he cried, he couldn't sleep, he couldn't talk about it. Being trapped in a school with bullets flying, with a child dying, being trapped and not knowing why this is happening or if you're going to make it out.

In the end he did escape; but in the end for him and many Dawson students they will never escape the memory of that day and even if they weren't physically injured by the gunman, a little part of their souls will be scarred forever.

Police Called Because Man didn't Speak French.

Yet another blow to my fair city... A foreign student studying in a Master's program at Concordia University was the latest victim in Montreal's ongoing and everlasting language war...

He got on the 66 bus in NDG (a mostly English neighborhood) to make his way to school, he asked the bus driver what time it was in English (as he doesn't speak French) she answered in French. When he told her that he didn't understand and that he didn't speak French, she told him that she didn't speak English. To which he answered something along the lines of: I can see that.

After which the bus driver pressed the emergency Police call button reserved for dealing with dangerous and aggressive passengers, locking the bus and forcing the confused man to wait for the police. No charges were laid against the man and I've to find a comment anywhere from the STM (Montreal Public Transit Authority) anywhere.

This really makes me ashamed, I mean really ashamed that an employee that is paid with my tax dollars does not have to speak both official languages, does not have to answer to anyone for her actions and can bully people this way. This man who is here from Pakistan to study is fluent in four languages and is on his way to learning French but says he doesn't yet know enough to put a complete sentence together. I know I'm not the only one who's ashamed an witness who was asked by the Montreal Gazette how she felt about it said: “I was so embarrassed. This is the first time I have ever been embarrassed to be a Quebecer. Everyone was outraged over this”

This can't keep happening, this can't keep going on... How long can we possibly continue to live with this hatred and intolerance? What kind of examples are we setting to the for the world, for ourselves and for our children when someone has the police called on him for asking what time it is in English?

Cuban Health System

"It was just mentioned to me by our esteemed speaker, 'Did anyone say
anything about the Cuban health system?' And lemme tell ya, before you
say “Oh, it’s a commu–”, you need to go down there and see what Fidel
Castro put in place. And I want you to know, now, you can think whatever
you want to about Fidel Castro, but he was one of the brightest leaders
I have ever met. [APPLAUSE] And you know, the Cuban revolution that
kicked out the wealthy, Che Guevara did that, and then, after they took
over, they went out among the population to find someone who could lead
this new nation, and they found…well, just leave it there (laughs), an
attorney by the name of Fidel Castro…"

Oh man... I came across this video and transcript (thanks Charlie) of a congresswoman from L.A. praising the Cuban Revolution and Fidel Castro stating that he is one of the brightest leaders she's ever met and that the health system in Cuba is one that America should aspire to.

No offense lady, but have you been to a Cuban hospital? I don't mean the nice one for tourists that Michael Moore went to, I meant the "REAL" hospitals that regular every day people go to? Didn't your mother teach you not to be a Communist? Didn't you grow up in the land of opportunity? I bet you never tried to get on a raft made of tires and driftwood to sneak INTO CUBA!

Anyways... Enough said, read the transcript or watch the video and I dare ANY of you to come up with something positive to say about Watson's stance about Castro.

"Canada...the most racist country in the world.”

Brandon Huntley, a white South African was granted refugee status in Canada after he claimed that he was attacked 6 or 7 times and that he could not find employment because of the color of his skin. South Africa's white population is about 10% of the overall population while whites hold about 60% of hugh paid executive jobs in the country.

I'm not going to discuss the refugee board ruling because I don't know enough details to be able make a good and fair analysis, but what I will comment on is the backlash from South Africa calling Canada racist.

South Africa's ANC (Nelson Mandela's party) said “Canada's reasoning for granting Huntley a refugee status can only serve to perpetuate racism.” Local papers called the ruling “shocking and saddening" and added "the truth is that the overwhelming majority of crime victims in this country are black and many of the perpetrators are white." Locals even went as far as to say: “I will never set my foot in Canada, it's officially the most racist country in the world.”

Now while some may not agree with the ruling, I can't believe people see this ruling as being racist. It is neither pro-white or pro-black. It is pro-civil-liberty. To me this just means that anyone from anywhere regardless of color can get a shot at being protected in Canada. If a black South African came and claimed refugee status and it was granted, no one in South Africa would care... But because it's a white man all of a sudden Canada is the most racist country in the world? Please, STFU and open your eyes!

Canada is a haven for anyone who feels they are persecuted, treated unfairly and need a place to start over, to find the safety they were lacking back home. I hope that this ruling stands and that it is not overturned because of some overzealous reporters in South Africa that see this as their next meal ticket.

Another Country, Another Journalist, Another Jail Cell

A Sri Lankan court has sentenced Tamil journalist J.S. Tissainayagam to 20 years in prison because he "criticized the government's conduct and accused authorities of withholding food and other essential items from Tamil-majority areas as a tool of war."

The government of Sri Lanka claims that although “the constitution guarantees media freedom, but no one has a right to deliberately publish false reports that would lead to communal violence.” All the while Mr Tissainayagam's defence lawyer upholds that the journalist has been a tireless fighter for Human Rights and has been jailed for simply doing his job.

Both Amnesty International and US President Obama seem to agree, as they have both singled out this reporter as an example of journalists being jailed for simply doing their jobs. Amnesty International also states that 14 journalists and media workers have been killed since 2006 and that 11 journalists were forced to flee the country since the end of the 25 year civil war in May of this year.

I don't really know what to add exactly to all this, I mean how many times can one speak of anger and outrage and shock at situations like these? God knows I've written about prisoners of conscience over and over again on this blog and I'm pretty sure that everyone who reads this agrees with me that it is wrong. The good part in all this is that being Canadian, I have never had to worry about being jailed for expressing my opinions and I've never had to watch over my shoulder for fear government assassins were following me around.

So my heart goes out, again, to all those who are jailed for expressing their thoughts, their opinions and all those who fight for the rights of others despite the possibility of losing the very rights they are fighting for.

No Justice for Man's Best Friend.

People always ask you if you have any regrets in life... Whenever I'm asked I always say no. But that's a lie, if there is one thing that I regret in life it is not rescuing my dog's brother from the puppy mill where we found her.

About 8 years ago my little girl came into my life. From an add in the newspaper advertising golden retriever black lab mixes... So I drove out to the place in the country where they told me I could have my pick of the litter. I showed up to a beautiful house on a huge piece of property. The owners took me to the back of the house where they said the kept the dogs. I walked in to the this little shack about the size of my bedroom and in there must have been about 25 dogs in tiny little cages, sick, underfed, abused and neglected. It took everything I had not to beat the shit out of the woman who was showing me around then and there. Really.

In this tiny tiny cage made for a house cat, I saw two little black dogs, a boy and a girl. The girl looked the sickest, she had fleas and her belly was swollen, she was quiet and minuscule (about 4 weeks old)... I took the dog and if I could have I would have taken them all. At the time I told myself that one dog was all I could do, I lived in a small apartment where pets weren't allowed and I felt okay about it. I reported the puppy mill to my vet and my vet reported it to the authorities.
But every now and again I ask myself what happened to my little girl's brother and I regret not having taken him...



The video above was sent by a good friend of mine who works with a puppy mills rescue team with the Montreal SPCA, in fact she has taken in one of the dogs that she helped rescue. These dogs have all sorts of physical and emotional problems that will most likely plaque them their whole lives and they need a special kind of love from their caretakers.

I would like also, to take the time to express my opinion that this country needs tougher laws on people who abuse and mistreat animals. Puppy mill owners should be doing jail time, paying heavy fines and have criminal records.

Please help shut down puppy mills by not purchasing dogs in pet stores because they most likely get their dogs from these mills or contacting you local SPCA to see what else you can do. Please feel free to repost the above video and help raise awareness about the mistreatment of animals.