The Société de transport de Laval (STL) says it will be adjusting its bus times beginning next weekend, in order to handle the gradual reopening of the Quebec economy announced by the provincial government.
The STL says its bus service will be improved during the morning rush hour and bus frequency will be increased throughout the day starting on May 9. With these changes, the STL says it is hoping to provide Laval residents with a safe service adapted to their needs. The STL reminds public transit users who can work from home that they should continue to do so, or else plan their commutes away from peak hours in order to foster social distancing.
The STL says these changes will improve connections with other transit modes such as commuter trains and the Metro. On a related note, the STL says it will be adjusting the times of buses serving the Sainte-Dorothée station in accordance with rail shuttle times, in response to the restart of Réseau Express Métropolitain work and the closure of the Mount Royal tunnel on May 11.
BUS TIMES UPDATED AND IN REAL TIME
Due to the unprecedented COVID-19 situation, the transit agency says there are currently no print versions of bus schedules available. They say they will be posting new schedules on STLaval.ca on May 7. In the meantime, they are urging users to either:
* Consult the STL schedules page: https://www.stl.laval.qc.ca/fr/horaires-et-trajets/autobus/stl/; * Send a text to 511785 with the number appearing on the bus stop sign (bottom left) to find out when the next buses will be arriving, in real time; * Or call the Customer Contact Centre: 450 688-6520
Martin C. Barry, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter for the Laval News, marty@newsfirst.ca
Quebec Education Minister Jean-François Roberge says the province’s English-language school boards don’t have a right to set their own timetable for re-opening, as life begins to return to a semblance of normalcy in the midst of the COVID-19 panmedic.
Roberge was reacting on Sunday May 3 to a statement issued on May 1 by the Quebec English School Boards Association. The QESBA said leaders of its nine member school boards would decide for themselves when classes will resume – but they won’t necessarily be following the strict timeline assigned by the provincial department of education.
“English school boards don’t have the legal power to push back the opening of school establishments,” a spokesperson for the education minister’s office said in an e-mail sent to two Montreal media outlets. A few days earlier, the QESBA maintained it had the legal authority to set its own agenda.
“While no English school board will reopen any of its schools and centres earlier than the dates proposed by the Government of Quebec, the respective English School Boards will decide if and when each of their schools and centres may reopen, once they determine that all the conditions required can be met in each instance,” said the QESBA.
“As of April 30, there are still far too many unknowns that compromise the ability of school boards to safely and effectively reopen schools,” said QESBA president Dan Lamoureux. “Our assessment is that the implementation of these measures will vary significantly in different school boards and regions and may not even be possible in some areas,” he added. “We are also convinced that the international health considerations cannot be met in many schools by the deadlines the government is imposing.”
Lamoureux said that the member school boards “wish to respectfully remind the Government of Quebec and the Minister of Education that we continue to assert our legal & constitutional authority to control and manage our minority language school system and it remains our public responsibility to make the right decisions for our communities.
“Rather than inspiring confidence in the public, this hastily announced plan by the government has had the effect of significantly raising anxiety and stress levels among teachers and parents in particular, as well as the general population,” he continued. “This is clearly evidenced by a petition to delay school reopening until September, already signed by over a quarter of a million citizens. We believe that local school boards are best placed to determine when and under what conditions schools and centres should open.”
According to the provincial government’s plan, grade schools and daycares are scheduled to reopen starting on May 11 outside the greater Montreal region, although class sizes will be limited. In Montreal, in Laval and in the surrounding suburbs, daycares and grade schools will open May 19. As for high schools, colleges and universities, they are not scheduled to reopen until late August. The government has also said the return to school on that timeline is not mandatory.
Martin C. Barry, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter for the Laval News, marty@newsfirst.ca
Sainte-Rose MNA Christopher Skeete has announced additional financial support for groups in his riding that distribute food and other necessities to the needy.
Sainte Rose CAQ MNA Christopher Skeete has announced nearly $63,000 in subsidies from the provincial government to a half-dozen charitable organizations in his riding which distribute food and other necessities to needy individuals and families.
According to a press release issued by Skeete’s office last week, the Centre de bénévolat/Moisson Laval, the Saint-Vincent de Paul Societies in Sainte-Rose, Saint-Ferdinand and Saint-Léopold, the Centre d’aide Portail, as well as the Maison de Quartier de Fabreville, will be receiving a total of $62,973.
“This financial assistance was necessary so that they could live up to the growing demand for food security,” Skeete said. “I would like to point out the inestimably valuable support of volunteers who work hard during these difficult times. I can see an enormous amount of determination faced with this pandemic, and this brings me to say that together we will overcome this crisis.”
Martin C. Barry, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter for the Laval News, marty@newsfirst.ca
L’Éden, a seniors retirement residence on Lévesque Blvd. East in Laval, has been temporarily placed under the day-to-day management of CISSS de Laval after being unable to cope with staffing shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
CISSS de Laval has confirmed that the owner of a private seniors’ retirement residence on Lévesque Blvd. East has voluntarily relinquished everyday management of the facility to the regional public health care agency after being unable to continue providing adequate service because of a staffing shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of Saturday May 2, 84 residents in the 130 bed facility had tested positive for COVID-19 and 30 residents had died, according to the CBC and Radio-Canada. The owner, Éric Lavoie, said that although the situation in the residence was improving, at one point up to 50 per cent of staff had been infected and were off the job as a result.
Martin C. Barry, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter for the Laval News, marty@newsfirst.ca
Unifor Quebec, the labour union representing workers at the Société d’assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ), issued a statement on April 30 denouncing the closing of the SAAQ outlet at 3100 de la Concorde Blvd. East in Laval’s Duvernay district, putting 10 SAAQ employees out of work.
According to the union, the Laval Chamber of Commerce, which was the sponsoring organization for the outlet, announced the closing on April 9.
“It was done during a teleconference and everybody was in shock and shaken up by the news,” said Nicolas Lalonde, secretary and finance officer for Unifor local 698. “This is really not easy, because in addition to the anguish that the pandemic is causing, this loss of jobs is catastrophic.”
The union maintains that the driver’s licensing outlet did a lot of business, and they don’t understand why it had to close. “It’s too bad for the people who were used to coming to this office,” added Lalonde.
In the meantime, the SAAQ has two other outlets in Laval: 798 Curé Labelle Blvd. in Chomedey, and 1545 Le Corbusier Blvd. at Les Galeries Laval.
Caroline De Guire, CEO and president of the Chambre de Commerce et d’Industrie de Laval, said the CCIL faced a difficult decision in closing the SAAQ outlet it sponsored for more than two decades. She said the SAAQ’s services and methods for dealing with clients changed a great deal in recent years, and that online transactions are increasingly becoming the norm.
She said the COVID-19 pandemic had nothing to do with the decision, which she insisted had been taken some time before. “It was a hard decision to make,” De Guire said. “But we had noticed already changes in how the population was going online for services. They will be increasingly doing so, because the SAAQ will be increasing its online presence to make more services available to people more easily.”
She said the the CCIL has been working with management at the two remaining SAAQ outlets in Laval to find new jobs for the terminated employees from the closed outlet.
Martin C. Barry, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter for the Laval News, marty@newsfirst.ca
Following a suspicious fire at a cell phone tower in Chomedey last week, Laval firefighters and crime investigators from the Laval Police Department were on the scene a few days later at a second suspicious cell phone blaze in Laval. This time it was on Lindbergh St. in an industrial section of Fabreville on May 5.
Investigators were on the scene during the early afternoon of May 1 at a cell tower behind the Plaza Laval Élysée shopping mall on Samson Blvd. in Chomedey, where a fire the previous night badly damaged a 28-meter tower owned by Rogers Communications, but also used by Telus.
This cell phone tower behind the Plaza Laval Élysée shopping mall on Samson Blvd. was badly damaged by fire during the early morning hours of May 1.
According to initial news reports, the police were investigating the possibility the fire was a deliberate criminal act. The tower’s antennae and transmit/receive components were at first said to be state-of-the-art 5G, a new wireless technology in the midst of being implemented across Canada and the U.S.
Rogers later clarified to media that the tower is in fact a 3G or 4G, which are earlier cell phone technologies. Families from several nearby homes had to be evacuated temporarily because of concerns the fire could spread.
At 2:13 am on May 1, the Laval Fire Department tweeted that they estimated damage to the structure and its components at around $1 million, while adding that they had entrusted the investigation to the Laval Police in accordance with standard protocol.
In recent years there have been vandalism incidents in some parts of the world involving vandalism to 5G cell phone towers, as well as controversy over the Chinese government’s high-pressure campaign to have its 5G system made by Huawei installed in western countries. In some incidents, it is believed, vandals mistook 3G and 4G towers for 5G.
On Tuesday this week, around 20 Laval firefighters responded to reports of a fire at the Lindbergh Street cell tower at just after 4 am. Although the fire department maintained it was relatively easy to put out, they were estimating about $250,000 worth of damage. These cell phone tower fires in Laval are in addition to two similar incidents reported to have taken place in two Laurentian towns last weekend.
Martin C. Barry, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter for the Laval News, marty@newsfirst.ca
Keep your distance, or run the risk of catching this.
Officials with the CISSS de Laval opened a COVID-19 testing and diagnostic clinic at the Cartier Arena in Pont-Viau beginning on the morning of Thursday April 30. It will be open to all Laval residents and workers from 8 am to 4 pm every day.
Before going to the clinic, people are asked to call 1 877 644-4545 for an evaluation, after which they will be told either to remain at home or go to the clinic. It is important to note that only those referred to the clinic will be able to get tested once there.
The CISSS de Laval expects to test an average 500 people per day with the opening of the Cartier Arena clinic. Until the opening of the clinic, the average number of tests was 315 per day. The CISSS says that a COVID-19 testing facility for workers that had been operating at Cité de la Santé would be closing on Friday May 1.
Martin C. Barry, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter for the Laval News, marty@newsfirst.ca
In order for the residents of Laval to have access to a detailed picture of the spring flooding situation, the city has posted a new map and other details on its web site. Both can be viewed on the web (in English) at inondations.laval.ca. According to the city, the map shows streets that are susceptible to flooding, as well as areas where temporary measures have been set up.
In as much as river levels are lower than they were last year, the city says it continues to monitor the situation and public safety and works crews are standing by ready to get into action should this prove to be necessary. The city says it has divided the region up into operational planning zones (ZPO). Each zone is graded A, B, C or D, where A represents areas where water rises most rapidly.
Martin C. Barry, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter for the Laval News, marty@newsfirst.ca
After completing an inventory, the Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux (CISSS) de Laval issued a statement on April 28 saying they now have a sufficient amount of face masks and other protective equipment to ensure the safety of its employees, clients and partners from being infected by COVID-19.
A spokesperson for the health and social services agency said it was important to note that management of the inventories is taken care of by the Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS). According to the CISSS, the provincial ministry is responsible for shipping loads of protective equipment daily, depending on the needs of institutions.
“Like all players in the health network, the CISSS de Laval has put into place a very rigorous management of individual protective equipment in order to assure the fairest used,” the statement continued. The agency said that follow-up measures were being taken to make sure quality protective equipment was being made available in sufficient quantities and in places where it is necessary.
“All decisions taken with regards to the security and the dispensing of care to users are based on scientific facts,” said the CISSS. “In that sense, all the measures which are put into place to ensure the security of our employees are dictated by the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ), in conjunction with professionals from the infection-prevention team at CISSS de Laval.”
The CISSS’s statement came following widespread news reports over the past few weeks of drastic shortages of protective gear, including N95 face masks, gowns and facial shields, at long-term care residences (CHSDLDs) during the COVID-19 pandemic in Montreal and Laval, including CHSLD Sainte-Dorothée where reports of the problem first surfaced.
Martin C. Barry, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter for the Laval News, marty@newsfirst.ca
Moisson Laval among the beneficiaries from $110,000 donation
The Laval region’s largest central food bank is one of the many organizations across the province that will be receiving a share of $110,000 worth of pet foods and gift cards during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis thanks to a donation by the Mondou retail pet food chain.
While many families and pet owners are going through particularly trying times in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, Mondou issued a statement last week saying it decided to do its part by providing more than a hundred thousand dollars worth of help to Moisson Montréal (which works closely with Moisson Laval), as well as to to animal shelters.
Helping pet owners in need
“Through this initiative, Mondou wants to help pet owners in need, so as to prevent them from having to abandon their pet because of financial hardship,” the company, whose headquarters are in the Montreal suburb of Anjou, said in a press release.
Several generations of the Legault family are seen here with the company CEO. From the left (top row): Jean-Philippe Legault (Living Environment and Wellness Agent), Marc-Antoine Legault (Content Strategy Specialist), Marie-France Legault (Special projects analyst), Marie-Josée Legault (Financial Analyst) and Martin Deschênes (CEO). Bottom row: Philippe Legault (co-owner), Câlin (mascot), Nicolas Legault (Business Development Director) and his dog Fusain.
“Given the current context, it was only natural for Mondou to continue to be socially involved and to play an active role in a mutual aid movement aimed at helping those most in need,” said Martin Deschênes, Mondou’s CEO and general manager.
Mondou a family business
“Mondou is a Quebec family-owned company that has been caring for the well-being of animals as well as that of its customers and community for more than 80 years. Thanks to our collective effort and – especially to the dedicated work of the wonderful volunteers at Moisson Montréal and at animal shelters – we are convinced that soon it’s going to be OK.”
In an effort to help pet owners directly affected by the current situation, says the company, Mondou will be donating canned cat and dog food, as well as cat litter, to Moisson Montréal. Moisson Montréal will then distribute the products in several Quebec food banks, including Moisson Laval. The company says 5,000 families will have benefited from this assistance by the time the distribution is completed.
Cards worth $30 each
Given that many families currently have no other choice but to turn to various alternatives in order to feed their pets, Mondou said it wanted to help prevent an increase in the number of abandoned animals by giving away 2,100 gift cards valued at $30 each to a dozen animal shelters that in turn will help families in need. The gift cards can be used at any of Mondou’s 67 retail outlets all over Quebec.
Since it was founded in 1938, Mondou has supported a number of causes dedicated to animal welfare. In addition to its popular Mondou Mondon campaign for the MIRA Foundation which has raised $1.6 million in five years, the company, which is owned by the Legault family, has been holding a fundraising campaign to assist animal shelters for the past two years.
Major donations
To date, according to the company, the campaign has raised more than $281,000. Each year, they add, Mondou also donates $1 million dollars’ worth of food to a number of shelters across the province, for a total of 12,000 kilograms per month, the company says. Mondou, which has a longstanding policy of not selling pets, launched adoption zones for cats from rescue shelters at its Saint-Jérôme and Anjou stores last year. However, these are temporarily closed as a result of health and safety measures currently in place to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Martin C. Barry, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter for the Laval News, marty@newsfirst.ca
